Tightwad Tips for Tuesday

Heather says: We all have months where there is more month than paycheck. Here are five tips to help stretch a budget to reach the end of the month. Not all of these tips are feasible long term, but they can be a lifesaver in a pinch. Shop your pantry before the grocery store. Try …

Read more

Retro Saturday: Kitchen Towels vs Paper Towels

Retro Saturdays give Heather and Ivy a chance to spend time with their family. It also gives new readers a peek into the Home Ec 101 archives. Sit back and enjoy this blast from the Home-Ec 101 past. Dear Home-Ec 101, I use way too many paper towels and kitchen wipes.  Part of the problem is that …

Read more

Frugality Friday

Heather says: Times are tight and we’re starting to feel it here. My husband works in the steel industry which is being hit fairly hard by the economic slowdown. We’re very lucky that he works for a company that pays on a sliding bonus scale, otherwise he may have been laid off like so many …

Read more

Ask the audience: Men!

Ivy says: Or, perhaps, Women! We’ve all had moments when we wonder what in the heck our spouse/significant other/partner/etc. is thinking. Like the time Mr. Ivy decided to start painting our bedroom 2 hours before he was to pick me up from the airport. Or, Mr. Heather telling Heather to pick up some inlaws from …

Read more

Sunday Confessional: This Is How It Ends

retrochick.JPGIvy says:

My grandmother passed away at about 5 this morning. We’re sad that she’s no longer here on earth, but we rejoice since we know her name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and we will see her again one day in Heaven. As always, she was the polar opposite of my other grandmother and wound down very slowly, being off all ther tubes and IVs for the past 15 days. My confession: I’m relieved. This means things can get back to normal. A new normal, yes. One without my grandma. But one where everybody isn’t stretched so thin and we’re not all tired and somewhat angry. I feel the slightest bit bad that I feel relieved, but even as my tears fall for my lost grandmother, I know that she was one of the most practical people I have known and she would totally understand my relief.

And it’s a nice thought that she’s back to the grandma I have always known, not the hollow shell of herself that she had become these last few years because of dementia. She is no longer with us here on earth, but now I have both of my grandmas up in Heaven, looking down and keeping watch for me. That part feels good.

If I had been keeping up with my personal blog, I would give her a eulogy of sorts there, but since I haven’t posted there in more than a year, it feels false and wrong to do that there. So, I’ll do it here. Click if you want to read on.

Read more

The Great Plastic Debacle

Dear Home Ec 101, I just had a kitchen fiasco and you ladies were the first people I thought of after it happened! I burned carrots… how do you burn carrots? Anyway, while dumping the carrots in the trash the plastic bag that the carrots came in, that was in the trash can, jumped up …

Read more

Retro, uh, Thursday? 2 Sick Hostesses Edition

Ivy says: Proof positive that Heather and I are the very best of friends: we share everything. I turn on my computer this morning after getting back from the doctor. Heather says, “I think I have the flu.” I reply with, “Funny, I just got back from the doctor where I was diagnosed with…that’s right, …

Read more

Ask The Audience: Scary Story Time

Ivy says: In case you were wondering, we’re not dead. For my part, we’re still watching and waiting while my grandmother dies. If you happen to be the praying sort, drop one for my dad- he’s having a very hard time watching his mother die so slowly. It’s odd to watch the reactions you get …

Read more

Popcorn Snack Mix

Heather says: Every Thursday a group of women invade my home. We divide and rotate snack duties to keep the expense and effort minimized while providing maximum snacky goodness for all who attend. Yesterday my friend Krystal introduced me to my newest vice – popcorn snack mix, you see I’m a sucker for combinations of …

Read more