Just Checking In?

 

Hello there friends and bloggers! Wow, where has the year gone? As usual, my attempts at keeping up with my blog have been lackluster at best. It has been a busy year for sure. I wanted to stop in and touch base.

With the year ending I am thinking about resolutions and goals for 2013. I am only going to set 5 main goals so I can keep it simple and attainable. I get all excited for the fresh start and set too many goals and have too many irons in the fire, which equals nothing finished and me being disappointed.


We have taken on extra debt this year. We purchased a new car a few weeks ago. It was time our car was 8 years old and was not reliable enough to take my husband and I both to work. We got a great deal and love our new car but I so enjoyed not having a car payment!

It's time to ramp our retirement, we have been putting this off but the hubby turned 40 this year and we decided we need to bite the bullet and do it!

Are you getting your new years goals in order? I would love to hear your feedback. I will be back to post my goals for 2013. Have a great weekend!

Hello! Remember Me?

                                                      photo credit: moejoe




Hello there family, friends and fellow bloggers. I just thought I would drop in and say hello. It sure has been hot and busy around here. I miss blogging but unfortunately I let is slide on the priority list again.

I have been very busy at our local farmer's market this summer. We have market on Wednesdays and Fridays. You can imagine that keeps me busy baking and canning. I haven't tried to expand the business any further really. Although I have picked up a few regular customers in the community, so I guess I am getting the word out!

The kids have enjoyed the summer. School starts in a bit over two weeks and they are ready to go back. We swam, visited family and hung out with our wonderful friends. Lots of great conversations and bottles of wine! (for the adults of course!)

Tablescaping has be neglected also. I have so little space for all of my dishes, they live in storage tubs on shelves in the garage.It has just been too hot to dig around down there. I have been lurking though. some of my favorites the summer have been Alycia from Tablescapes at Table 21 and Yvonne at Stone Gable.

I have been shopping sales and being frugal as possible. You know the expense of getting kids back to school. I have been enjoying my savings with my Target RedCard and have updated my savings to date. We havent paid off any debt since my last posts. But we haven't racked up anymore so that's good. I bit the bullet and joined Dave Ramsey online. it costs extra but it keeps me accountable and runs my debt snowball for me. There will be two pay offs in August due to this so, money well spent!!!!

I'm glad I stopped in to say hi, I have missed keeping up with everyone. Hope your are enjoying your summer and keeping cool!!!!
                                                               Much Love,
                                                                  Deb

Tablescape Thursday Mother's Day Table

Welcome everyone. sorry for the late posting. The camera cord walked away and the computer does not like my SD card. Mother's Day is this Sunday and I am sure you are all as excited as I am!! I wont be able to be with the Moms in my family this year so this table is dedicated to them. Mom, Barb, Jessie, Grandma and Jackie take a virtual seat and enjoy!!!!

I really enjoyed setting this table. I found this little vintage table cloth and napkins last year on Etsy I think. The fresh roses really match the embroidered ones on the table. I would the serving a brunch. Raspberry scones and lemon curd  and fresh fruit salad and some creamy baked eggs, and to finish it all off with some English breakfast tea and coffee.


I hope everyone one has a wonderful and relaxing Mother's Day!!! Make sure you let  you Mom know how truly special she is!!!!!!! Don't forget to stop by Between Naps on the Porch and thank Susan for hosting and see all the other talented tablescapers for Tablecape Thursday!

New Challenge, Expense Tracking Week 1 Update

Good Morning frugal friends and bloggers. I have decided to participate in a new challenge. Melissa at Moms Plans is hosting a weekly expense tracking challenge. I am very excited and hope I  learn a thing or two. In fact, know I have already!

Here is how it all broke down for last week. I included Monday the 30th to make it a full week.

MONDAY 30th- No spending

TUESDAY 1st- Quicktrip (gas for car) $30.01
                           Quicktrip (milk) $3.25
                           Dollar store (first aid supplies, hubby sprang his wrist) $8.93

WEDNESDAY 2nd- No Spending
THURSDAY 3rd- No Spending

FRIDAY 4th- Quicktrip- (hubby's spending) $4.30
                   Target- (household and toiletry supplies) $38.50
                    Target/Starbucks- (monthly coffee treat) $4.63
                   Spending money -(for hubby and I both) $40.00
                    Aldis (Groceries)- $94.12

SATURDAY 5th- No spending

SUNDAY 6th- Judy's bakery-( coffees, donuts and Sunday paper)-$ 8.78
                         Target- (hubby's meds) $9.13
                          Dollar Store- (Daughters Teach It Project supplies) $9.31
                          Taco Bueno-(Afternoon snacks) $9.81

The breakdown: Grocery -$97.37
                          Eating Out/Snacks- $23.22
                          Hubby Spending- $13.43
                           Gas- $30.01
                          Household- $47.43
                          Kids- $9.31
                          Spending Money- $40.00
                         Totals- $260.77


What I have learned. First and foremost, if I had not been doing this challenge I would have spent more! Writing everything down makes you think twice. I have developed lazy habit after the move. I just get bored and fritter away money, its just small things but it adds up. So we are back on the cash envelope system for our spending money, groceries, household items and I am considering gas too. The good news is that I still have $18 in my spending envelope, next time my monthly Starbucks can come from that!

I have set a $130 goal for groceries, which we were way under for that! Yea, for us! The only category that frustrated me was the eating out and snack area. We have decided one day a month yo eat out and its is scheduled for this coming Sunday. We need to reel this little habit in FAST! I knew it would be a issue, its our weakness! It would be ideal to get the expenses for household and toiletries to $30.00.


Being accountable and having every receipt staring at you to be written down helps tremendously. Accountability Rocks!!! Thanks for getting me on board Melissa!!!

Are you tracking your expenses? Give it a whirl, you will learn a lot about your habits and yourself! I know I am. Hope you all have a FAB and Frugal Monday!!!!!!
                                                             
                                                                         Deb!
                   

Week 18 Update Debt Snowflake Challenge

Its week 18 already? WOW, 2012 is zipping right along! This week is all about "slow and steady" that's our pace and I have made peace with it. I was able to pay off another small debt for April. Very exciting indeed!


I had a small balance on a store credit card that I have decided needs to go. So $120.61 went to wipe it out. I really want to close it but the hubby is too worried about the negative impact on our credit score so I will just shred it. I will never understand why you are penalized for closing accounts. Not paying or slow paying I understand.....slave to debt.


I think that we are going back to the cash envelope system. It really helps with the grocery budget and spending money. So starting Monday be are back to cash. the only category I wont be able to do cash for is household items. I am using the Target REDcard for that but it's not a category I overspend in anyway so for now it works.

This week I added $16.86 to our snowball giving us a balance of $66.99 plus a .02 interest deposit. Its sad to see the amount going down for some reason. Its not like I blew it. We are successfully paying off debt that is hanging around and slowing us down! I think my brain is weird!


I Hope everyone has had a wonderful week and a even better weekend!!! Cant wait to see everyones progress!
                                                            Frugally Yours, Deb!

My Chicken Veggie-Table

Welcome friends! Surprise! After several months away I was able to dig out enough of my dishes to do a little table scape! I am so excited I have missed participating.

I call this post my Veggie-Table. I have been collecting these little veggie trinkets for awhile and I thought it was time for them to come out to dine. In the move to the apartment I lost a dining room so we will be using the kitchen for a bit. Changes, changes....(I did gain a bathroom and laundry room)

Did you notice the chicken who is really garlic? Or the chicken pumpkin? My mother gave those to me several years ago and I just love them! The napkins are from Marshall's, the chicken soup tureen is from EBay and everything else is just everyday tableware. I am so glad to be participating in Tablescape Thursday with Susan at Between Naps On The Porch. Hop on over and look at everyone's creations.

Target Cash Back Weekly Update

Hello friends! I just wanted to get a quick post up to let you know that I gave the REdcard a try for my weekly household items. The transaction was problem free, even though I was using the temporary sales slip I was given until my card arrives.

I did check to see if the purchase had debited from my account, and it had not. Normally it would have been automatic. This is not really a problem since I write all my debits down and subtract immediately.When I was researching I did see where several commenter's raised this as a issue.

I saved $1.84 on my purchases. I intended to post a picture of my items but the library computer does not like my SD card and the blogger upload option is not compatible with blackberry. The trials of being without my laptop. Times like these really test your will, I so badly want to grab my credit card! But I'm a frugal smart gal now!!!!

Anyhoo...back to savings. My Target as most do I am sure has a Starbucks, so I decided that once a month I will treat myself to a grande Frap. I used my card there too and saved .22. Its not much but I feel better having my treat knowing I saved a bit! So my total for this weeks haul is a savings of  $2.06 total.

I am excited to use my REDcard for clothes shopping for summer and school this season too. I cant wait to rack up some change on those purchases!

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by. I am intending to link up for Tablescape Thursday as soon as I grab my camera and upload them directly! come back and check it out!!!  I updated my sidebar to include my savings.

                                                                  Frugally Yours, Deb

Updated to add shopping trip pic:

Do You Have A Target REDcard?

Welcome friends, glad you stopped by. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I was out trolling around for deals this week and it seemed Target had great coupons to print and use. This is fairly new to me and I am enjoying their deals. I used to have to drive 100 miles to get to Target so I'm like a school girl having one just down the road!

When I was checking out the cashier asked me if I wanted to apply for a REDcard. I quickly answered NO! She explained to me that it wasn't a credit card but attached to your debit card. So I asked about a thousand more questions and started holding up the line, so I took the info home to read.

After checking it out I decided to apply for one. I don't really like the attached to my bank account idea but I will keep a close eye on it. I like Target as a company. Their employees are the friendliest and I hear better paid than The W Place. Plus who doesn't like getting 5% cash back?

I also joined their pharmacy program. I had been putting off transferring my prescriptions they made it quick and painless for me. I used to hate standing in lines, they are fast and friendly even on a Friday at the end of the month. I was impressed.

It seems the only downfall is info sharing, but I can opt out and slow posting of transactions to your account. Well, I know what I spent as I set down everyday to write in receipts, to me its gone then. So I will continue to explore and try to save every penny possible with the cash back and their coupons.

Please let me know any positive or negative experiences you have had. I would love to learn more! Until then, happy saving!

                                               Frugally Yours,
                                                      Deb

Week 17. Where's My Motivation?

Welcome to week 17 check in for the Debt Snowflake Challenge at Moms Plans. I hope everyone is having a exceptionally wonderful week! I am just hanging out at the library very happy to be able to blog! Thanks goodness for wonderful public libraries!

I haven't been feeling very frugal lately. I cant put my finger on the problem, I have talked to my husband and he seems to think that its the transition from the country to the city. It isn't very much money that I am spending, but it all adds up. Since the laptop broke I drive a bit more since I have to go to the library daily. Then there is the iced coffee purchase, don't worry its a little local place for $2 not the $5 one! Still I need to find my inner cheapskate and rough her up a bit!!!

I was able to snowflake a total of $42.62 from the hubby's raise. No orders from the baking this week. That hasn't happened in two years. Sigh, maybe that's what has me in a funk. It feels so good to contribute even if it is just a bit! It might be time to look for a job! Unless I want to wait for my first Social Security check to get a new laptop! Yikes!!!! I have set up a Laptop fund in our ING account. I'm still deciding on how to fund it, debt first Missy!

I am going to organize my tablescaping supplies (aka: death by falling glass shards pile!) this weekend and hopefully I will get a Tablescape Thursday post up.  I miss all the fluffing and preening of my dishes! It wouldn't kill me to rustle up a recipe or two either!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend , keep on snowflaking! I can see that light at the end of the tunnel, can you?


                                                                    Frugally yours, Deb!

Debt Snowflake Challenge Week 16 Update

Welcome my frugal friends, talented tablescapers and from scratch cooks! Hope every one's week has been FAB! I am sadly calling this week 16 update the "without my laptop edition". I am setting here at the library blogging away. Not easy or fun by the way. But I am VERY thankful for the privilege!

Seems the 5 year old Dell passed on to computer heaven. He will be sorely missed. We had a good run. The husband says everyone had been telling him that I was lucky to have it that long! So...I will be saving for a few months to get a new one. Now, the old Deb would have just grabbed a credit card and got her a new one, Oh yes, she would have! As of right now shes not speaking to me. That's OK, I like the peace and quiet! (HE-HE)

So this week I was able to add $16.65 from the raise and $44.00 from baking giving a snowflake of $60.65! Best one in awhile. It sure will be tempting to raid the EF for funding the laptop, but I will be strong!

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and enjoy the beautiful spring weather! I will keep this post short and sweet so I can use my allotted time to stop by and see everyone else! Check out Melissa's blog Moms Plans for Week 16 progress!

                                                            Happy Friday, Deb!

Debt Snowflake Challenge Update Week 15

Hello all! Happy Friday! This week has just flown by for sure. Time seems to get away from me lately. Whats up with that? I hope everyone has had a successful week of snowflaking and general frugalness. I am working on a few new prospects for the baking business. Fingers crossed!

I was able to snowflake a total of $31.24, that is the small raise the hubby received earlier this year. Not much but it is a worthy snowflake. I made a $48 profit from the baking gig but I was out of packaging supplies so I applied that back into the business.

It is really hard keeping positive about being in a new place. I catch myself thinking of what I lost, my gardens, animals, participating in my local farmer's market, blah blah... But I gained a happier husband who is home at least 3 more hours a day, $$$ in fuel and wear and tear costs on our car, a much much better middle and high school for the kids, all in all it's positive progress.

I just have to remember that I have to make some sacrifices for now. Goodness knows the hubby did for years! I'm so darn lucky! My contribution to the family now is to keep the budget on track and get the last part of our consumer debt paid down. Also I'm going to see if I can get the grocery budget trimmed a bit now that I have more shopping options.


Have a wonderful weekend, enjoy your springy weather! I am linking up with Melissa at Moms Plans for Debt Snowflaking Challenge. Hop on over and see how everyone is progressing!

Sharing Some Documentry Love

Good morning friends! Get any frost? We didn't but to the east got a nice coating. that would have been me before the move. I am going to do something that I have never done on my little blog. My 15 year old son is a lover of documentaries, he has been sharing that love with me.

Last night we watched a game changer for me. It is called I AM. It is from Hollywood director Tom Shadyac. His credits include, Liar Liar, Nutty Professor, Bruce Almighty just to name a few. If you can get your hands on a copy, please give it a look.

Tom set out to ask some of today's greatest thinkers what is the fundamental endemic problem that causes all of our other problems. During his journey he learns about his own life and the choices he made. He confronts a life of excess, greed and healing.

I was so moved by the simple and enlightening message. We are in this together, and love is the key. It mentally and psychically binds us all. It really was a wake up for me so simple yet so powerful.

We have a wonderful library here in our new town. If you haven't already had the pleasure of watching I AM, I hope you will invest the 78 minutes to do so!

Enjoy your day! Thank you for stopping by my little part of the world!!!

                                                               Hugs, and much love!!!
                                                                          Deb

photo credit: iamthedoc.com

Here I am! All Moved In and Ready To Blog!

Hello everyone! Have you given up on me? We finally made our move out of state. We are closer to our life and work now. I miss the country house a bit, but we are all adjusting. Its great to see my husband with four extra hours in his day!!!

Now the bad news, We wiped out the savings and EF and haven't snowflaked for 9 weeks! YIKES! I have to start over and find new customers. I have faith that I will, It just takes time. The farmers market season is upon us and meeting new people and potential customers is very exciting.

I have been doing some couponing, mostly for household and health and beauty items. I do not have space to stockpile much so a new method for shopping is in the works. I cook from scratch so most food coupons are lost on me anyway.

On Friday I will link back up with Melissa at Moms Plans for the Debt Snowflake Challenge. I can't wait to catch up with everyone. Hopefully everyone is "flaking " away with success! See you soon!!!!

Debt Snowflake Challenge Week 5

Happy Friday! Another week just flew by. I am happy to report I had another successful week. I still haven't found other ways to snowflake but I am always reading all your great posts and brainstorming our budget and  remain optimistic!

Our total snowflakes for the week are $93.76, a pretty good week. This is how they broke down baking, $75.00 and hubby's raise $18.76. I am really very thankful of this money and I am trying to feel encouraged. This is about the time I get into that (expect overnight miracles phase) but I am learning now to ignore that  negative attitude.

Here is why. In the past 3 years that I have baking, NEVER have I made more than $50 a month in January and February. Business is growing and I see room for more growth. Secondly the hubby got a raise, yes it was very tiny but it wasn't expected so that's a plus! Being lazy and unmotivated about our money is not a option so NO MORE WHINING!

I saved $9.75 in coupons this week. The sad thing to report is that I am totally over budget on groceries this week! The damage was $64.62 OVER! For the life of me I cannot understand why this is out of control. I shop my freezer and pantry first, then check the sales flyer's and coupons. Next I whip out my menu planning notebook and calender and set our meals accordingly. I don't buy frozen meals or treats, all breads, granola bars, snacks are from scratch.

One problem may be my budget. I have set aside $130.00 a week for a family of 4, which includes hubby and kids lunches, and all of our cleaning and health and beauty needs. I see these blogs where $40-$60 is spent. I really do not know how they do it. Am I being unrealistic? I have only two places to shop, Aldi and Walmart. Maybe when we make the big move in a few weeks I can scout out better options. I am not complaining about Aldi at all it has really saved my budget. Its great for all my pantry staples and most fruit and produce.

So in the coming weeks I will be reevaluating my budget. If anyone has any tips or feedback I would love to hear. Maybe I am missing something here. Have a wonderful weekend! May the financial snowflakes blanket you this week!!!! Don't forget to stop in and check out Melissa's blog Mom's Plans to see how everyone is doing, make sure you leave her a comment to thank her for hosting!

                                                                 Hugs, Deb!

January Progress Update, How We Got Here Edition

                                                                          photo

The first month of 2012 has flown by! It has been a month of changes. They have been exciting for us as a family trying to live frugally and make our money serve us well. Something we never really committed to in the past.

What changed for us? I suppose it was like most couples. Being sick and tired of  the fear of the unknown financially. What if hubby's job disappeared? What if the engine blew in the car? What is one of us God forbid became ill? What would we do?

The reality finally set into our heads. We control the "what if?" We have one and only one choice. BE PREPARED!  Have a fully funded Emergency Fund, pay off debt, live within our means. Sounds easy hunh? We have tried several times over the last 5 years. Even succeeding for a while. We just would get bored, feel to deprived, have a mini emergency and have to wipe out our fund and get discouraged.

We would tell ourselves, "Why save, every time we get ahead something breaks, or someone gets ill (usually I'm the culprit here) and we are back to ZERO! Well, DUH! It finally sunk in, that's why they call in the Emergency Fund! They were Emergencies! What would have happened if the funds weren't there? We just had to suck it up and quit making excuses. There it was, stop making excuses!

Just like many couples nowadays, sick and tired of being sick and tired! Plain and not so simple! It takes hard work, just as hard as you worked to earn it. Wise spending, frugal living and financial security have to be your second job!

So when everyone else was ringing in the new year, we were sitting down with all of our bills and making our realistic budget and setting goals for 2012. We discussed our strengths and weaknesses, made sure we understood the others wants and needs and made sure we were going to attack this as a team.

OUR PLAN OF ACTION

Opened a Ing Direct account (right then and there, savers since December, 31 2011!)

Move closer to hubby's work (he drives 180 miles day round trip multiply that by 12 years!)

Set and stick to a grocery and household budget. Menu plan and clip coupons!

Snowflake, Snowflake, Snowflake!!! Make all that extra money and my little baking side gig work for us, while finding other ways to earn money.

Dust off this blog! I love to blog but got lazy about it. Now I will be accountable by posting our efforts here. Who knows maybe make some money at it someday (stranger things have happened)


We are very excited and motivated. I personally am treating it like a game. It works for me to have fun and stay interested or I get distracted. Posting here and joining some really wonderful blog challenges are working for me.

Debt Snowflake Challenge hosted by Melissa at Mom's Plans.
The Year of Zero with Frugal In Florida.


This is how we did so far.

Snowflakes for January- $494.98
Grocery budget -$ 10.35 under for the month (miracles never cease)
No spend days: 14 (still a few days left in the month but we are stocked up and should be safe)
Coupon savings- $33.44
Hopefully I can add more categories to snowflake. We are giving ourselves leeway in the budget for groceries and being realistic that our budget is a ever changing process. We are not going to make excuses and feel like we deserve rewards we haven't earned.

So, that's how it happened for us. I would love to hear about your moment. What got you on your path to freedom? Thank you all so much for stopping by. I am so encouraged by all you other bloggers out there and its so wonderful that you share your journey with the rest of us! Happy Weekend! Bring on February!

                                                             HUGS, Deb!






                                                          
                                                                     




                                                                              

Debt Snowflake Challenge Week 4 The Month In Review

Happy Friday! Glad you are stopping in for another weekly check in. I hope everyone was busy gathering snowflakes this week. Not real ones, I know this is January which snowflakes would be plentiful but not here in central Missouri, not a flake yet! But that's a different post.

The financial flakes were very good for this week. Our best week so far! The grand total for week 4 was $195.32, wwwhhhooo! They broke down like this, $75.00 for the side baking gig, $17.32 for hubby's raise and $103 for our state tax refund. That was fast, filing time and direct deposit, less than one week. We usually have two pay in a few hundred dollars, so it was nice to see a refund. My tweaking is complete, I will leave it where it is.

I would say that our first month snowflaking has been a success. It just floors me that we have never tried this before. I have read endless articles on it and never committed to it. When I found Melissa's blog Moms Plans and read of her challenge I was ready. It has been so wonderful to have accountability and encouragement from Melissa and the other participants. I get SO excited for Fridays!

So for January we were able to snowflake a total of $474.98! Just amazing! This would have just absorbed into our checking account never to be seen or served any benefit to us. I hope if you are a reader of my blog and you have not yet joined this challenge,  give it a try. Even if you don't have debt or just want to save for a vacation or beef up the kids college fund. You owe it to yourself and family to corral this loose change and put it to work! I hope I am not sounding preachy. I am just so excited for my progress and want everyone to know how it can help you too!

Drop in and see what its all about over at Moms Plans. Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Snowflaking! I will be back this weekend for a round up of the month. I will be tallying up the grocery budget and counting up the no spend days for my Year of Zero participation. See you then!

                                                                     Hugs, Deb!

Menu Plan Week 3, Better Late Than Never

Welcome all! I hope everyone had a wonderful and warm weekend. I'm running late getting the menu plan posted. I was organized with all my meals and shopping, a lazy streak developed this morning and slowed the rest of the day down. Thank goodness that's over!

Just a typical week around here again, no outings or meetings to take us away. Here is whats cookin' around here this week

Homemade Chili and buns with grilled beef franks a little fruit salad on the side

Sticky Chicken Legs, oven roasted potatoes and green beans

Butternut Squash Soup with 3 cheese grilled sandwiches on homemade white bread

Brinner(breakfast for dinner) Buttermilk pancakes, grilled sausages(turkey) and applesauce

Leftovers (anyone for a chicken leg pancake combo? Yikes!)

Chicken and rice with steamed veggies

Kids choice( They will try to get breakfast AGAIN!)

I have been in a uninspired mood this week. I guess it will do me good to stop by Susie's to see what she and the other participants are cooking! I know there will be plenty of great ideas. Have a great week of wonderful meals with your family! Hugs, Deb!

Debt Snowflake Challenge Week 3 Update

Welcome and Happy Friday to everyone! TGIF, right? I hope everyone had a successful week of snowflakes. If you haven't joined yet I suggest you hop on over to Moms Plans and see what our host Melissa and other participants are up to. It is never to late to start!

It was a pretty decent week for me here in the country. Hubby received a small raise in his pay that was unexpected and we decided to just keep on budgeting like it wasn't there. So my total snowflakes for the 3rd week of the challenge is $ 93.20. It breaks down to $26.20 from the raise and $67.00 profit from baking. Not bad at all! I'm getting very excited to find more ways to snowflake as we go.

I love checking in with everyone participating to congratulate or encourage each week. It is wonderful knowing that the same is there for me when needed. Melissa, your hard work in hosting is SO APPRECIATED! YOU ROCK!!!!

Tomorrow I will update my progress in 2012 The Year of Zero. Frugal in Florida is chronicling her year of zero. Go HERE to check it out! I'm going to make those facial wipes just as soon as I use up my stash! What a great idea!

Have a great weekend! Hugs, Deb!

First Tablescape Thursday in Ages

Welcome and Happy Thursday to you! It has been SO LONG since I posted a tablescape or linked up with Susan at Between Naps On The Porch , if you are new to tablescaping hop on over there and see what you are missing! Prepare to fall in love!

My oldest daughter who is recently out of the Army and living in Colorado Springs was passing through last week on here way to see a friend in Tennessee and decided to stop in for a quick over night visit.

So I scurried around and set a very simple and frugal table for us all to enjoy a rare meal together. We had Cranberry Cherry pork tenderloin, mashed buttermilk potatoes with rolls and salad. For dessert I made Snicker doodle sandwich cookies and ice cream.

So here it is, a little table for a cold weary traveler.

Well I guess it wouldn't have killed me to run a iron over the table runner. Everything else on the table  consists of thrift shop and items I have has for ages. The table runner was a 50% off deal from Target! Gotta love that!

Enjoy all the tablescapes today and don't forget to tell Susan thanks for hosting! Hugs, Deb!