Thanksgiving is not complete without a rafter of turkeys. Here’s our little craft made with recycled materials from around the house.

The body is an empty spool of ribbon covered with construction paper. The back feathers are coffee filters that were for a smaller coffee maker that we no longer have. The wings, beak, and heart are cut from felt scraps while the pipe cleaner legs have been kicking around my craft box forever. Of course, I always have googly eyes in my stash! A bit of glue to hold everything together and a string to hang him up, and he’s finished. If you bend the legs forward, he will even sit on the table because of the width of the spool.

After helping me, Bean made her own, all by herself. Not sure where the wings went, but she managed to draw his beak on!

I’m intrigued by the style and practicality of the ERGObaby carrier. I’d love to have one to carry Mighty Man around in.

ERGObaby is offering a lucky My Wee View reader a HandsFree System, consisting of an ERGObaby Carrier, Backpack, and Front Pouch. Enter here at My Wee View.

Visit My View for lots more Christmas gift ideas too.

Bean is always asking to make sugar cookies. I don’t mind since I love eating them too! We recently made a plate of cookies for meme & pepe’s anniversary party. They have two white cats that love to chase squirrels and leaves. Most of the squirrels look a little too happy to me!

We added some pumpkin pie spice to the sugar cookie dough that gave them a nice fall flavor. The icing is made with Wilton meringue powder which dries rock-hard, but gives a nice finished sheen to the cookie.

I had started this project awhile back: To make a list of different sites that host Mr. Linky (lists with links) of giveaways. I wanted to help some bloggy friends spread the word about their own giveaways. My work is complete…I just found a very thorough list of lists already compiled here at the Mom Reviews. Thank you! If you need a diversion, this is for you too! Just don’t blame me if you get sucked in.

I dub this week “Week of the Little Piggy That Stayed Home.” I found some interesting recipes in the Grocery Bag section of this month’s Everyday Food. I’m glad this was a free subscription, since most of the recipes I have to tweak too much to fit our family’s needs and preferences. I tried the winter vegetable soup recipe last week and enjoyed it, so I’m optimistic about the companion recipes which center around ham and pork.
Stay tuned for next week, which will likely be the “Week of the Turkey.”

Sunday: Prelude to pork (aka: leftovers to make room for the week!)

Monday: Spice-rubbed pork loin with acorn squash (EF recipe)

Tuesday: Creamy Pasta with ham and broccoli (EF recipe)

Wednesday: Cubano Sandwiches (EF recipe, uses pork loin leftovers and ham)

Thursday: Leftovers eaten in a hurry since we’re going to see Miranda Lambert!!!

Friday: Baked Fish with herbed breadcrumbs and broccoli (EF recipe)

Saturday: Homemade pizza with pantry/freezer findings (maybe pork sausage??)

Shake up your meal plan with new ideas at I’m an Organizing Junkie this week. She has some great ideas for decorating your Thanksgiving table!

‘Tis the season for gift guides…

Mamanista has a list with some neat things for little kids I haven’t seen before. I think the Sprig Toys Adventures Dino Rescue Playset is my favorite from her list. She’s just started her 12 Days of Giveaways so you might win something from the list too!

I think little kids are easy to find interesting presents for, but I really need help with the tweens and teens on our list. Any ideas????

I love little boutique stores. It’s always interesting to see what little treasures people have discovered. Breezy Oaks Baby Boutique is a good example with beautiful gifts for babies and kiddies. And, I especially like that their store has a link to donate to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

After you find something you like, you can win a $25 gift card to the Breezy Oaks Baby Boutique at Two of a kind, working on a full house blog here. (through 12/2)

Yum, butter!  I can’t believe I’m writing a post about butter, but I’ve just discovered the wonderful world of making your own spreadable butter…

While I certainly don’t use as much butter as Paula Deen or Julia Child, I am a fan of the “real stuff” versus margarine.  I know it costs more, but to me it seems much better for you than using margarine (something my mother has said since I was a kid).  I’ve been reluctant to try the spreadable butter mainly because of cost, but broke down the other week and bought some.  And although hubby will tell you he can’t tell the difference, it was so much better to me than the spreads we normally buy that I’m almost willing to shell out the extra bucks.  But as I discovered today, you can make your own spreadable butter for about half the cost.  And use olive oil instead of canola and that makes it all that much better!  It’s not hard, doesn’t take too much time, and will help you make grilled cheese sandwiches a heck of a lot faster (no spreading hard butter or waiting until it softens).

Two other tips about butter:
-  If you saute using butter, start with room temperature so it doesn’t scorch before it’s all melted.
- Buy butter on sale and freeze, this cuts down on costs even more.

Just another thing added to my “make it yourself” list!

Jennifer

HAPPY VETERAN’S DAY

I will be the first to admit I have little to no memory recall on events related to wars.  Being married to a military man, this gets me in trouble a lot!  So I won’t be completely out of the loop, today I looked up the history of Veteran’s Day.  Interesting article- I did know (maybe didn’t remember, but at once time I knew) that Veteran’s Day was because of the armistice in World War I (11th hour, 11th day, 11th month) but I didn’t know that the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier also began on Nov 11 two years later in 1921. 

Next week I may not remember this stuff again, but I will remember that I am thankful for all who serve in the military, thankful for all the sacrifices made by our men and women (and of course their families) to make our country and our world a safer and better place.

Jennifer

Due to a certain hubby’s birthday yesterday (Happy Birthday sweetheart!), it seems like we’ve been eating out for the past week, or at least for the weekend! While I enjoy the meals, it seems healthier to be eating at home so I’m looking forward to getting back to making dinners this week.

Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Salmon, Pinto bean bake (something like this recipe, omitting the ground beef)
Wednesday: Hawaiian mini burgers, corn/lima beans
Thursday: French onion soup, steaks, baked potatoes
Friday: Chicken Paprikash, spaetzle
Saturday: Chicken Fingers (third try’s a charm?)
Sunday: Shrimp Linguine

Wow, looking back at the menu it looks like it would be an expensive week- steak, shrimp, etc. But we have pretty much everything already on hand. The shrimp is from my FIL- some he caught himself and the steak is moose unless I find a good one on sale at the store this morning. The only items I really need to buy for the week are Hawaiian sweet rolls for the burgers, and spaetzle (unless I decide to try to make it myself which is a distinct possibility).

Well, I’m looking forward to this week! What’s on your menu plan? If you need more ideas hop over to OrgJunkie.com and browse the hundreds of meal plans posted every week. Thank you Laura for hosting!  I have gotten so many ideas from other people’s menu plans, not to mention inspiration to get my butt in gear to make up a plan every (or almost every) week!

Have a great day!

Jennifer