Holiday Overload

I don't know about you guys but I have had my fill of Holiday food, so tonight I made a chicken pot pie. When I went to Concord for my Aunt's surgery she had some left and I snagged a piece, mama use to make this all the time when I was little and I see why now...its super cheap, easy and it feeds a family of 4 plus have leftovers. I made this for $8 and we will be eating on this for at least 2 days. Most of this stuff you will already have in your pantry/freezer.

Chicken Pot Pie 

2cans of chicken breast(or 2 large breasts cooked chicken)

2 cans of Veg-All

1 [family size] can Cream Of Chicken Soup(use 2 cans if smaller)

1 package of pie crust(refrigerated section of groc. store)

Preheat oven at 350, lay out pie crust to get to room temp.  Drain cans of chicken breast and pour into LARGE mixing bowl. Break up chunks of chicken. Mix in cream of chicken soup. Add both cans of veg-all-DO NOT DRAIN- add salt and pepper to taste. In a round casserole dish(NOT pie dish) lay one of the pie crust. shape to fit. Pour chicken mixture in pie crust. Lay second pie crust on top. Roll edges to close. (Don't worry about looks). Bake for 45 mins or until crust is golden brown. 

**If any one makes this let me know what you think!**

My Thrifty Kitchen

As the snowed "poured" down on Christmas evening I was bored and stuck in the house. Since Chris and I both were off what a perfect time to hang up some things. When I first envisioned what my kitchen would look like, WAY before Chris and I found this place, I saw RED. I love the color red. So when I went to my Aunt's house back in October before she had her surgery she gave me a tote full of old antique white and red pots/pans with  other kitchen gadgets. When we moved in I thought I would get a pot rack that is hanging from the ceiling but then on Christmas it hit me..."Why not put them on to,p of the window?" This may not make sense to you but to me it was brilliant! LOL. So Chris being the wonderful..ahem *tall* man that he is, arranged them for me.

 Next was on to my graters, I bought a set from a yard sale while I was in Concord for her surgery and I found two in the tote she gave me. They are not the box grater like you see above, they were flat. I had no clue what to do with them other than hanging them on the wall. I gave Chris little to no instructions and he hung them how ever. I think he did a pretty good job. :) I found a random red skeleton key at the bottom of the tote, so I just stuck it with the graters because I had no where else to put it..lol.

Eventually we will paint the kitchen. It will probably be when Chris gets a weekend off.

Most of the items used were FREE except  the three graters on the right I paid $3 for at a yard sale. When we get more done to the house I will post the pictures and stories. :)

Operation: Homemade Gifts

When I was younger I would always help my great grandmother bake Christmas cookies, we would make dozens and dozens of cookies for all the grand kids and families. So when the bestie asked me how hard it would be to make sugar cookies for the girl's preschool teachers, I knew she would not have the time or patience to make them and told her to make peanut butter cookies. They are sooooo simple to make and quick too! She has two small ones running around so she definitely needed something simple. I told her to bring the girls to my house since it is like 5 minutes from her daycare so I can give them their presents and teach her how to make the cookies. We made several batches but she still needed to make a few more, I sent home with the recipe and I have all the faith in the world that she will make some killer cookies!

Yummy!

I have known this recipe since I was 9, my great grandmother taught it to me :)

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup Peanut Butter(I use Jif)  

1 cup Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

1 egg

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together, roll in to balls and place on a UN GREASED cookie sheet. Cross hatch the tops with a fork. Bake for 5-10 minutes depends on how large you make the cookies. (You will start to smell them when they are done) Cool. Enjoy. :)

I'MMMMMMM BAAAAAAACCKK!

In a previous blog I mentioned that Chris and I found a place. We moved in a month early because we got it rent free...we seriously have the best land lady ever! So we have been without home internet service for a little over 2 weeks. But during that time I found some pretty great things for our new pad!

Cheap Dresser

 

 

 

I got the above dresser at our local Salvation Army. It looks rough but the bones are still good and its SOLID wood.  I love it, its so girly! Chris actually likes it as well but we are going to paint it a chocolate brown and get new knobs. When I first spotted this beauty it was marked $9.99...WHAT?! I couldn't believe it. I left and when Chris called me on his lunch break I told him about it and sent him the picture..he liked it...*gasp*. So I went back and bought it...but they had marked it down to $7.99. CA-RAZZZY! Chris picked it up for me later that day, so now it is sitting snug in *our* bedroom...(I love saying that haha).


When we decided to move in to this house we both agreed we did not want a "guest" bedroom. Simply because we both do not like "pretty" rooms(aka rooms no one ever uses) and we wanted to keep over night visitors to the minimum. So we made the second room a game room...I call it the "Man Cave", it's a place Chris can go play his games and I can have the living room to watch movies. In the man cave we have a love seat *snickers* LOVE seat...hehe..anyways we really needed a coffee table in there. I haven't been able to find one thrifting but we were in luck....Chris has become super thrifty. He scored a coffee table for...wait for it.......$0.54!

 

 

 

 

$0.54

Chris also scored these adorable porch trees...they retail for $50...Rose's has them on sale for $25 at the moment but oh no Chris did not pay  either of those prices...he paid...... $2 for both.

 

 

 

Trees...

In my Goodwill shopping trip, I ended up getting my nieces a Boots monkey(dora) and a build-a-bear, both for $0.99. I got a Better Homes and Garden rug for our kitchen $2 , and I got this fabulous faux pearl choker for $2.99. I also got a afghan (that Chris doesn't really like but I LOOOOOVE ) for $3.99. I heart Goodwill.


We also have our Christmas tree set up. The tree itself was a hand-me-down from my mom, who got it from my grandma. This is the only tree I remember her ever having, I'm pretty sure it is as old as I am ahaha. I had to go by new ornaments, a star, a tree skirt and stockings which set me back maybe $80 which isn't too bad. We have had so many compliments on our tree...I love it! It looks real without the mess or watering :)

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

Chris went thru our house and added up just our furniture and we have determined we have only spent $215, luckily I have a wonderful mom who has given me a lot! I don't know what I would do with out her!


Well that is all for now.

(: Jess :)


--Sorry for the bad cell pics!--

What A Steal!

  In the last post I announced Chris and I got a house....I have bought so much stuff for it, it's insane. I just bought a comforter for $35...brand new...when I got home I looked it up on the internet and it retails for $179! Check it out! I am stoked! 
  I have most of my things moved and some of Chris' things are there but we still have a long way to go before we are in. I am hoping we will be in by next week. I really can't unpack anything until we get some of our larger furniture there like my AH-MA-ZING couch. I am letting Chris and his buddy handle that because the door way is smaller there and it is going to be a tight fit.
  When I have more time I will post more info and some pictures of our house. Til then....XOXOX

...And So The Student Has Become The Teacher....

Chris totally out thrifted me this weekend! He got a box of 12 glasses for only $0.50! WHAT?! Well....actually there were 11...but still....I have never ever found that great of a deal! And it couldn't come at a better time because we got a house! Chris also scored our house for  $400/mo, no lease, no deposit. We will be moving in to our new abode in January! We are so excited, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity and we could not say no. I have been buying things little at a time and today we went to my building to see what was in there and I had way more than I thought...I had forgotten about a lot of that stuff and most of it will match the color scheme in our new house! :) I have a list made but I need to go to mom's house to go thru some of her stuff and my maw-maw said I could go out to her trailer to get some stuff...hopefully I wont need much after that! :) Oh how I love thrifting! Today Chris and I scored an Ethan Allen wardrobe for $80! Right now it is on layaway(I love the idea of a thrift store layaway its awesome) only because we need to figure out what to do with it until we can move it into our new home. This thing is MASSIVE, it's taller than Chris. We did some other thrifting  but came up empty handed. Keep checking my blog out I will have photos coming up to show "My Thrifty Home" my home being decorated on a budget! :)

With The Bad Comes The Good

I just got back to "Small Town Friendly" today from visiting my relatives in Concord. I wish I could say it was for pleasure but alas it was three days filled with stress, sleepless nights, and in my case allergies. My aunt has lung cancer and Friday morning she had surgery to remove her left lung. When she first went under they were just gonna open her up to look at her lymph nodes if they were good they were going to remove her left collapsed lung. Through some miracle her lymph nodes look good and so they went in to remove her lung. We knew it would be a few hours before we would know anything my cousin, mom, mawmaw and I went down the road to Goodwill just get out of the hospital,  we had been there since 6 am(I had been up since 4 am).I ended up getting a purple Merona skirt, an Old Navy green stripe tube top(super comfy), place mats, Gap jeans,a Fang 3/4 sleeve shirt, a pair of Mossimo blue ballet flats and a pair of Good Year sole boat shoes. When were leaving we got the call to come back to the hospital about 2 hours early. We made it back in time to hear the awesome news that Dr. Christie believes he got it all and she wont have to have chemo or radiation but he has to wait for the  biopsy to come back to be sure. BUT he got it all! He removed the lung with no problems! We all were crying with tears of joy. Aunt Tammy has been truly blessed. That night after we left the hospital and got back to the house I was still hyped up and wanted to get out of the house so knowing there were two more Goodwills less than five miles from her house I was all up for going thrifting. The second goodwill Mama found me some old cookie cutters, I got Chris a Carolina zip up hoodless hoodie (lol) and I got a Maurice's brown hooded sweater and an Old Navy pink stripe tee. We couldn't find the other Goodwill because my cell died (navigation) but we found a Salvation Army. There I got a Jessica Simpson tan faux alligator purse and a cream/tan Nine West purse. The next day we stopped at a yard sale and I picked up three old graters for $3! I'm thinking to myself..."SCOOOORE!". While driving home I asked mama and mawmaw if they wanted to stop at Goodwill in Shelby (my fav....not like they had a choice I was driving..hehe). Well there I picked up a giraffe that EVERY ONE is trying to steal, some art work, a Gap khaki skirt, a pair of Xhilaration heels (to die for), and a pair of leopard print flats. I found some pretty amazing deals and ended up spending like $100. So with the bad(Her cancer) comes the good (possible cancer free) and some good deals(my finds!). 

Part of my haul! :)

NOTE: I will be posting some of her craft items she had made, it would be great if we can sell them all to help them be able to  pay bills.