A Walk Down Memory Lane - Up-cycled Bleach Bottle Tote

 I have been wanting to do this since I took up crocheting again while watching TV with the folks at night. When I was about 12 or 13, Teri you might remember this, Mom taught a couple of 4-H classes in Joseph, Oregon.

 One of them was using bleach bottles to make totes out of. I couldn't remember how we did them exactly, as far as the stitching count, but I worked it out to where the top is not larger than the bottom in width. After I cut the top off as high as I could go, there's an actual ridge in the bottle you can use as a guide. Scissors work great after getting the hole started, I punched holes around the top edge, leaving about a quarter of an inch border on top. I then did a single crochet stitch in each hole, alternating between one and two stitches per hole. At the end of each row I slip stitched into the first stitch of each row and chained 2 for HDC and 3 for DC stitches, which I alternated rows of.  There's no hard and fast rule on how many rows to make, you decide how you want the tote to look.

I then made a crocheted draw string handle to match as I didn't have ribbon or fabric available. I also added the large crocheted flower and leaves. Can you see the possibilities with this idea? Next time you are thinking of tossing out a laundry detergent or bleach bottle, even a large juice bottle, why not give this a try.

Thrifty Thursday - Best Day of the Week to Shop

 From gas....

 to groceries.....

 and clothing,

or travel, there are better days of the week to make those important purchases. Here's a great article that came out recently I'm sharing in hopes you will find a good deal by following these guidelines.
Yahoo! Finance - Best Day of the week to shop
I am planning a trip with my youngest daughter so I'm going to put this to the test. Let me know if you have some success yourself.

Blogs of Note....... and peaches and cream oatmeal

I took an opportunity to check out the blogs of note list on my blog dashboard, and am amazed at what folks think is noteworthy. There was a young mom lamenting the fact that her husband is unhappy with her right now. In her post she referred to her life in not so charming terms, using letters to represent swear words. Her big thing was that hubby was unhappy about her having photos of an ex. When you look further, in a previous post she shares how she and the 14 month old baby have been sharing the bed for months, while hubby is on the sofa. Well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand the real issue. The husband feels replaced by the baby, and is finding every other thing to blame as it's hard to blame your own child. A blog of note? Not sure why.

Here's a little tip from a not so noteworthy blog, but one you can feel assured that even your child could read....:-)

When the kidlets were young I made sure they had a lot of variety for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I love oatmeal, but my children werent't as crazy about it, so as I was cooking said cereal I would add a dollup of peach or banana, or other jam to pre-sweeten it. Whalaa, our own homegrown version of peaches and cream oatmeal! Someone may ask why I don't just buy it already made that way, well I like to know what my children are eating, and it's certainly much cheaper to do it this way. Call me stingy or cheap, but hey those pennies don't come easy! Try it the next time you want hot cereal for breakfast.