NOT WHAT I HAD PLANNED

I never know what to expect when I ask SweetiePie what he would like for dinner. Most of the time it is something that he knows he isn't supposed to eat and I won't fix anyway.

Well, yesterday I asked what he would like for dinner and he said pie. He already knew that we were going to have leftovers for the "entree" so I guess he wanted to spice things up a bit.

I have made several coconut pies from a recipe I had and they turned out scrumdiddlyumptious. But coconut is very high in stuff we aren't supposed to eat so I wanted an alternative. I kinda made a chocolate meringue pie from the same recipe, a custard recipe, and it turned out, eventually, to be really good.

This is my first pie.....
Isn't it just lovely??

I have never had a pie pan to do that before. What you say?  Fold in half when I am putting it in the oven.

I had baked the filling almost done and had put the meringue on top and was putting it back in the oven to brown when the CHEAPASS metal pie pan from WallyWorld folded in half .
Yes, I had my oven mitt hands underneath the pie tin.Apparently not good enough. This mess was scooped from in between the oven door and the HOT oven. I managed to get most of it up before it ran down into the drawer under the oven and onto the floor and rug. I was just a tad UPSET!!!!!

All of this could have been avoided if I would learn to make pie crusts and use a glass pan. Grrrrrrrrrr

As I said, I was just a tad upset.  But I was determined to have a chocolate pie. So after cleaning up the hot pie mess I made another one.

And I put the crust in a glass pie pan, thank you very much Pyrex!!

It was delicious.

Here is my recipe:

CHOCOLATE MERINGUE PIE
1 deep dish pie crust, unbaked
1 cup sugar
3 Tbs cocoa
3 Tbs all purpose flour
1 Tbs melted butter
2 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups milk, separated
1 tsp vanilla
Mix sugar, cocoa, flour together. Add 1 cup of the milk. Add melted butter. Stir together gently.  Add the two egg yolks to the reserved 1/2 cup milk and beat with a fork until eggs are blended, Add milk and egg mixture and vanilla. Mix well. Pour into pie crust and bake at 350 for about 50 minutes.
MERINGUE
Place reserved egg whites in a clean mixing bowl and allow to come to room temperature while the pie is cooking. About 5 minutes before the pie is done, whip egg whites until peaks form. Add 2 Tbs sugar and 1 tsp vanilla and beat until meringue peaks are firm. Remove pie from oven and increase oven temperature to 400. Spread meringue over warm pie. Return pie to oven to brown the meringue. Depending on your oven it should take 5-8 minutes.
Let cool before digging in. Store leftover, if any, in refrigerator.

YOU GOTTA GET THIS BOOK

I picked this cookbook up on a trip my daughter and I took to Lancaster PA.  I even paid full price for it!
I know......it was a weak moment.

I have used this cookbook for a lot of different recipes and every single one of them was FANTASTIC.  What could be bad about real butter and milk and all of the other natural ingredients in the recipes?

Now my family can attest to the fact that biscuits have never been something I could master. My first efforts could have been used for boat anchors or cornerstones for buildings with equal success. In fact my first biscuits are probably going to survive cockroaches. That's how good they were.

I had a hankering for biscuits the other night when we had breakfast for dinner. I thought I had some canned biscuits but I was all out. So... I just whipped out my dusty, trusty cook book and found a recipe.

Buttermilk Biscuits, page 24

Buttermilk Biscuits!!! Believe me Joyce (the cook) knew what she was talking, or writing about.

They were fantastic and not a single tooth was lost....

FOCUS PEOPLE...FOCUS...

When I started this blog my goal was to provide tips and ways I save money by making things myself. Like soap, bread, and homemade anything that I can make cheaper than a store bought mix. I still do that and now that I have figured out the cost savings will probably always do the homemade thing. But it has been a long time since I have had time to search out new things and new ways to save a few cents.

My focus lately has been on buying treasures to resell and make some income. That is a time consuming job. Especially if your household income depends on making some extra bucks. We have learned rather quickly that a fixed income sucks, big time. Oh, we knew it would be different, but the reality is always different from the what ifs. Now, if we could only figure out how to pick the winning lottery number we would have it made.

So, the point of my blog today is that I have finally found some really cute vintage things AND remembered to take pics of them before I listed them. So my brain is finally slowing down and taking time to grasp reality!!

These were my vintage finds from several trips to various favorite TS.

I love the sneaky little fox S&P. And they were marked (Napco) which makes them easier to sell. The oriental planter is really cute and was a cheap, unmarked  Japan export. She has lips but no eyes! The little duck with the measuring spoon tail is my favorite. I just wish that TS employees would limit their use of tape on vintage ceramic. That tape could pull paint off a battleship!!

The little choir boy(?) is so cute. For some reason it reminds me of my Aunt Ruth. I think she had some that she displayed at Christmas. It certainly was not any of my cousins!!

The food chopper in the back is in perfect condition. I love the aqua, it is the color of the walls in my kitchen. The rooster mug is from 1965 Berggren Traynor and says, "Coffee maketh bright the spirit", that and caffeine.
That little Japanese planter was so dirty when I picked it up. There was still a piece of the plant that had been planted in it stuck up inside the lady figure, YUCK. I wonder what she has written on the planter.

Well, those are my finds for the last couple of weeks. Hope you had good luck finding what you needed.

WHY WOULD YOU WANT SOMETHING IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS?

I received a rather interesting email the other day from what I guessed was a young lady. She wanted to know what this was for.

Nordic Ware Bundt teacakes and candies pan

Now, call me crazy but shouldn't you at least KNOW what something is before you contemplate purchasing the item?  Well, at least she asked what it was.

Now I may have jumped the gun on this one. I seem to recall on more than one occasion that I have purchased an item and didn't know the VALUE of the item. Sometimes I win and sometimes I loose. But at least I KNEW what the item was.

WHAT DO YOU DO WITH...?

I am often asked "What do you do with ALL that money you make selling on ebay?"

After I recover from ROFLMAO I look the person straight in the eye and say, "gold, loose diamonds, and groceries"
And when I am feeling really WILD and reckless I go out an buy a super cheap printer so I can keep selling on ebay. Because when people buy things they expect to receive them at some point and you need a printer to print out packing slips and labels and all sorts of things.

Its kinda sad when the printer cost $29 and the print cartridge cost $15. Do you think HP knows they have you hooked when you buy the printer because you will need ONE printer and DOZENS of ink cartridges? Don't get me started on that.

What do you do when you find lots of great things in your favorite thrift store and then they don't sell?
Do you have a yard sale and sell them to recover some of the money?
Do you re-donate the items to the thrift store? (I secretly re-donate to a different thrift store, just to make it more interesting!!)
Or do you hold on to the items and keep paying to relist them until the cows come home?

HERE I AM......BURIED UNDER THE STUFF!!!

Whew....I gotta come up for air once in a while.

To say that I have been busy would be quite an understatement. As everyone knows who lives in shops thrift stores January is THE month for shopping. Everyone is cleaning up for Christmas and after Christmas they are making room for their "new stuff" so things end up at the thrift store.  (Gotta get that tax deduction)Yeah for us who buy thrift store stuff when there are no yard sales. I have tried to restrain myself, but that is next to impossible with all of the good stuff out there.
I have picked up a few plush animals...
I think that is all, but who knows what is hiding in the closet...

I also picked up a few items of clothing...

I think I have counted at least three more piles of clothing in various locations around the house. I have listed lots of clothing, but I still have a lot more to go.
I also like to hit the housewares section. And of course I picked up lots of stuff there but didn't get any pictures before I listed and boxed the stuff. 
And don't get me started on shoes....I picked up a bunch of those also.
Got a pair of Harley boots and bunches of children's shoes. My daughter Smarta** picks things up also and I list and sell for her and get a % of the profit. She found a pair of Triumph motorcycle boots and asked if I wanted them. They were not in my budget for the day so she paid $8 for them.

Triumph on left, Harley on right,

This particular store does not have access for my new smart phone so I couldn't check them on ebay. After we left the store she checked and found out they go from $50-$150. I have kicked myself several times over those. Oh well, I still get a % of the profit.

Here is hoping that your new year has started out with a bang.
If not, find a spark and get that fuse going.

WOULD YOU BUY THIS?

Thrift Store pickin' has been great this past week.
The stores are packed with things people are getting rid of because of holiday gifts, change of season or just plain stuff that is in the way and needs to GO!

LOVE IT!!!!

Went out twice this week "a pickin'" and found some good things and some just ok things. I guess you can't have all good stuff.

I have been having good luck with the 4/$1 bins at the really big thrift store lately. I picked up these jeans and looked them over for holes and checked the zipper, button and all of the regular stuff. How could I have missed that BIG ink stain on the pocket?

That's okay. Cause I just sold them for 32 times what I paid for them.(listed less than 5 hours!!) I know, I know....it takes just as much time to list something for $8 as it does to list something for $50.
But, let's face it more of us have $8 than $50 to spend on one item.
Got this on the same trip and listed it for a bit more than the jeans because there is nothing wrong with it, well it does have wear. But don't we all?

I feel so good today that I might just have to hit the store again and again and again........