Filling Your Own Tea Bags!

I love to drink tea. Not as much as coffee mind you. I mean I don't get up wanting a cup of tea in the morning. No sir, I want coffee. But sadly this post isn't about coffee, maybe later.

I usually drink tea (or coffee) in the afternoon. And I love a good variety of teas to pick from.
My favorite boxed tea is this.
But it can get quite expensive.

I then decided to buy loose tea and make my own blends. So I bought these tea strainers.But they are kind of a pain to empty and clean.

That's when I started using these.

And I know they've been around forever but I'm just now getting around to using them.
They are so simple to use and you can get quite creative with your tea blends.
Here's how you do it.
Open up the... uh...... well..... open end. LOL!

Put your 2 tsp. of loose tea in.

And then with your iron set on low, simply set it on the open side of the bag for a few seconds to seal the tea bag.

Then just put them in a ziploc bag and label what tea it is and how long it should steep!

Cool huh?
Much more cost efficient.
I got a bag of 50 empty tea bags for $5.75. That's only .ll a piece.

Hope this inspires you fellow tea drinkers to try something new!

Have a fabulous day!

This post is linked up to

Works for me Wednesday! Me Money!

This actually worked for me last week but since our computers crashed it had to wait until this week.
I just saw that this weeks theme was to share an organizing tip. I'm pretty sure this can be categorized as "organizing" your spare change right? So if you're interested, read on.

My husband and I have a 5 gallon container that we put spare change in. He and the kids recently rolled it all and it came a little over $500.00. Not bad for only being about a third of the way full.
But enough about them, let's talk about me. My daughter gave me this little smiley face bank years ago and for the most part it just sat there. But then I had the idea to start putting only quarters in there and my husband told me that whatever I rolled from it I could spend on whatever I wanted. So the first time I "filled" it I got $56.00 out of it. Well this time I shoved so many quarters into that bad boy they were sticking out the top. And this time I rolled $70.00. Sah-weet!! It's amazing how quickly it adds up.
So what's working for me this week is spare change baby. Run it by your hubby and see if he's good with it and if he is, go get yourself a little piggy bank and before you know it you have a little mad money. Or should I say "happy" money. You know for some very very important things, like, chocolate, Starbucks, chocolate!
Now this does not give you permission to break a dollar if your total comes to $10.01. LOL! Give the cashier the penny and walk away and plan your purchases a little better next time. Anything around .30 cents and over, you can justify handing them another dollar! LOL .
Yes there is a strategy to it! Ha! Ha!
Here is evidence of my reward!I'm already filling it up again! It only takes about 2-3 months to fill that thing. Not to shabby eh?
You got something that's working for you? Well head on over to We are That Family and link it up!
Big GIANORMOUS hugs to you all!

Works For Me Wednesday- Cleaning Stained Tea Cups

I have a nice little tip to share with you all today.
Most of you know (well those of you who read my blog) that I recently started collecting tea cups. Up until now the ones that I have gotten have been in excellent condition. But recently I received 2 tea cups and saucers that came from an estate sale in which it looked like the lady must have smoked. Why? Well because the whole top of the saucer was yellow and the cup was yellow on the inside and in spots on the outside. They looked really dingy but I knew there was beauty underneath.
What did I use to clean it?
Baking soda, a little water and my fingers.
I just mixed it up to a thick paste and rubbed it all over the cup and saucer until the yellow was gone.

Here are some before and after pictures.
In the picture below I had already cleaned the saucer but you can see in comparison with the cup (that I didn't do) how clean and white it came after I cleaned it.

And the after. See the difference in the cup? It came so clean.
Here's the front of the cup! I believe it's hand painted and it's numbered so maybe it's worth something. ~LOL~ Not that it matters. I'm just going to have tea parties with it! But maybe the tea will taste better if it's worth more money! Hey it's a theory.
I did another tea cup as well but the pictures didn't come out as well so I won't bother showing you. But it came out just as pretty and white as this one. I'm so happy that the baking soda trick worked.
In other words, don't judge a book by it's cover because something beautiful may lie beneath!

Well that is what's working for me this week. What's working for you?
Head on over to We are that Family to see what's working for everybody else!

HUGS!

Works For Me Wednesday! - Back to School Edition!

There is a themed edition this week and I thought I would participate in it since it's all about back to school planning.

MY plan was to homeschool all year this year and take off weeks here and there. Well as I quickly saw that plan make it's way out the virtual window I just took a deep breath and said, WHATEVER! And am now starting anew. It's looking more like we will start around the same time public school starts.
Speaking of public school, as I was in Wal-Mart yesterday I heard moans and groans from what I'm going to assume are Mom's. I look and they are wondering aimlessly through the school supply aisle with a list a mile long in their hand. Is it really that bad? Yikes!
Our lists consists of 3 ring binders, lined paper, crayons (just because they were 25c a box and I couldn't resist me a new box of crayons!), page protectors and the SAME glue from last year, the SAME pencils from last year, the SAME ruler from last year, etc. Do you buy new at the beginning of every school year if you already have some left from last year? Just wondering.

So that part of my school planning is done.
This year I chose to use Far Above Rubies (that I snagged when it was on sale) for my daughter's curriculum. She's entering the 10th grade. It's all inclusive (except math) and based on Proverbs 31. For math we will be using Abeka Consumer Math.

My 7 year old son is continuing his phonics and starting to read quite well.
He excels in math so we try to keep him challenged there. I think we are leaning toward Math U See with him in the near future. Each day he does copy work, keeps a weather journal, studies nature, does artwork and this year I am going to start reading some old literature to him.

My 4 year old is learning to write the alphabet and his name. He doesn't speak very clearly right now but is greatly improving. So we will keep on that track with that and see how he progresses. Math with M & M's sound like fun! LOL!

Don't let this post fool you! I do not always have it together. In fact I struggle daily with it all. But I've learned to just relax, keep in prayer and make sure I have my coffee every morning before they wake up!
So what do you do to plan for your school year?
Check out We are That Family to see others!!

HUGS!!

Works For Me Wednesday

Here's what's been working for me. A while back I discovered Cozi. I'm not sure how.
It was probably from stumbling across another blog, but I really do like it. First of all it's Free! You will have to check it out. It's not complicated and it has pretty much everything you need to keep your thoughts straight. You can designate a different color to each member of your family on the calendar to keep everyone separate. I downloaded the screen saver for my pictures and am loving that. It's really cool. The website tells about it better than I can so go check it out here! Tell me what you think of it.

For those of you who were wondering about my "shopping trip" yesterday. Oh boy, do I have pictures for you! Come back tomorrow to check it out. Today me and Kathy are doing our annual photo shoot! Don't worry that to will be a post!

To see what's working for everyone else, go to We are That Family!
HUGS!

Works For Me Wednesday- Noah Websters 1828 Dictionary

What's working for me today are these two books!

I can't do this book justice. I believe that every homeschooling family should own one and if you love the English language and it's roots, then you would love this as well. Noah Webster defined the meaning of the words in relationship to Jesus Christ. They aren't watered down and diluted to make the next generation happy, as what is happening with the "new" dictionaries of today. I believe you won't find such a valuable resource as this for your library. You don't even need an English curriculum as this fully covers that. I recommend it highly. Click here for a comparison of this dictionary and dictionaries now.

While I'm at it we found one more gold nugget. It's called The Original Blue Back Speller and it was also written by Noah Webster. Take a peek inside! It a book of common sense things and was used to homeschool kids way back in the day but is still applicable today. It's small but packed full of useful information. Talk about simplifying the way we educate our children.

Going back to our roots is working for us today.
To see what's working for everyone else head on over to We Are That Family!

HUGS!

Works For Me Wednesday

I wasn't sure if I had something that was working for me this week but then realized I did. Woo! Hoo! My recipe binder. Most of you know that I have a cooking blog, but I also have those recipes neatly tucked away in one handy dandy binder.
All you need is a colorful binder, one that will stand out and you'll know exactly what it's for. Some page protectors, page tabs and a printer.
Simply print out your favorite, tried and true recipes, put them in a page protector (helps protect your recipes from spills, for those of use who have a reputation for being a bit messy), make category dividers and you're done.
Here's mine. I picked a binder that stands out from my plain ol' white binders. I know without a doubt that this is my recipe book. (Word of caution. Don't set plastic binder on hot burner and then wonder what smells like burning plastic. Just don't.)
Here's a peek inside.
I take all my favorite recipes from all my cookbooks and compile them in this one. Then there isn't any hunting around for your family favorites. I used these free printable dividers from Sheri or you can make your own.

To see what's working for others head on over to We Are That Family.

Works For Me Wednesday- Free Coffee Maker

Most of you know I enjoy a cup of coffee in the morning. It's just that go to thing that makes you feel good. I usually drink it while "blogging", hence the reason why there is a cup right here in front of me! Woo! Hoo! Well the coffee maker that we had was a hand me down and well on it's way out. We had been half heartedly shopping around for one but most of them weren't any better than the one we had and the ones that were ended up being pretty expensive.
My friend Kathy had told me about the Gevalia deal so I decided to check it out. Usually I think that anything that is "free" really isn't "free". You know what I mean? Like there is a hidden charge of $50.00 for shipping or your obligated to buy something else for the next 10 years. But throwing caution to the wind I ordered one and just got it in the mail 2 days ago. They said it would take 2 weeks but it took like 4 days. And they were true to their word. I was only billed $14.95 and that included the coffee of your choice to come with it. Now if there is a "catch", here it is. You are on auto ship for the coffee of your choice, BUT you can make the shipments as far as 12 weeks apart. Plus I'm pretty sure you can cancel at anytime. But I kind of like the idea of getting coffee shipped to my door so I put mine on 8 week auto ship. Oh and it's like a $100.00 coffee maker "so they say"!
Here's a picture of it as it's brewing my morning coffee, LOL! Not that you can see it brewing but I thought you could just visualize that part yourself!
SWEET HUH?

If you want to check out what's working for others head on over to We are That Family who is the host of this carnival!

BIG HUGS!

Works For Me Wednesday

I have a confession to make. I don't use a microwave! Gasp! I know! I know! However do I survive? LOL. Believe me I manage. When we did have a microwave the only thing I really used it for was melting butter and popping corn. So when we got rid of it, I missed my popcorn terribly. Hence the reason for this post. It wasn't long after we got rid of the microwave that we purchased this Hot Air Popper. We've had it for a few years now and love it. I thought a demonstration would be fun, so enjoy. Oh and you may need to tilt your head just a little because the person doing the video taping didn't realize that you couldn't switch from vertical to horizontal without messing everything up. But you'll get the idea just the same. Please watch it as it took me over an hour to upload it! LOL.

Wasn't that fun? You too could have that much fun right there in the comfort of your own home. Yes sir, for just $19.99 you could own your own Hot Air Popper and make your own silly videos of your family getting all excited over something as simple as popping corn! Oh and I highly recommend the white corn not the yellow!
This not doing it for you? Well then hop on over to We are That Family and see if you can find something that will!
Big Giant Hugs!!

Works For Me Wednesday- Seasonal Decorating

It's time for a little more seasonal decorating. I hope you enjoyed my little table setting yesterday. Today what's working for me is seasonal wall art. I was thinking about this the other day as I stared at the blank wall space in my kitchen. We have TONS of pictures but not a whole lot of wall space. So I opted for less is more, smaller is better. I used to believe that EveRyThinG had to be blown up into at least an 8 x 10. But as kids started to multiply and wall space started to shrink I had to reevaluate my bigger is better theory.
I went to Wally World with my SD card, printed out 6 springy like pictures and got 6- 4 x 6 picture frames and went to work.
Here is the wall space to the right of the door before.

And here is the after.

Here is the before left side.
And after.
Here is the whole wall space before.
And after.It just adds a nice splash of color to the white walls don't you think?
I'm eventually going to put a scripture verse above the door.
Now here is where the "seasonal" part comes in. The hard part is over. I got something hung on the wall. Now I can change the pictures based on what season or time of year it is. Just keep these pictures behind the new ones and rotate every season. Cool huh?
To see what's working for others today, go visit We are that Family.

Big Seasonal Hugs to you all!!

Works For Me Wednesday- Backwards Edition

In this edition of WFMW I ask you a question and you help me out. And boy am I in need of some help. I am in desperate need of a new pair of sneakers. I have pretty much run these into the ground. Don't believe me? Take a look.

Pretty sad huh? They used to be white! Yup, I can not stand looking for work out shoes. First of all I'm a size 10.5. You can't find a 10.5 in a store. 7.5, 8.5, 9.5 yes but 10.5 NO! I'm not sold on the type of shoe I've been wearing either. It's AVIA. I've had Nike's and Reebok as well. So I'm not loyal to any one shoe, YET! So here's my question. What works for you? Do you have a favorite shoe you work out in or wear daily and love? If so tell me ALL about it. Please just don't say, "I have Nikes" and leave me hanging for what kind of Nike's. We all know that each shoe manufacturer has about 15 million zillion different "types" of sneaker. If you can give me more specifics and help me narrow down my search I would greatly appreciate it. AND if I pick the shoe that you suggested I will send you a $5.00 gift card to Starbucks so you can celebrate the time and effort you spent on helping me, with a cup of joe! I'll be searching for a pair this weekend. Another reason I need your help is because I may buy them off the internet since that's the only way I can get a size 10.5 and I won't be able to try them on. So be as specific as you can about why you love your sneakers. LOL. Better yet blog about why you love your sneakers and link here. LOL. I am so kidding.
Thank you for your help in advance!!
Head on over to We are that Family for more WFMW!
BIG HUGS!

Works For Me Wednesday- As Seen on TV

We don't watch "tv". We have one but we don't watch shows or anything on it but when we used to years ago I always enjoyed watching the infomercials. I always wondered if they really worked as good as they did on TV. Well I bought this handy little gadget the other day and on the package was As Seen on Tv and at first I thought, "Oh here we go. Is it "really" going to work?" But I bought it anyway because it was replacing a big bulky electric one that was attached to under our counter. What is it you ask? Well it's this.
The One Touch Can Opener.

I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised by how much I like this. Yes it does take 2 AA batteries but I've had it for over a month now and it's still running strong. What I like about this is that you just set it on the can, push the big black button and let it go. It cuts "around" the can, so no sharp edges. Also this would be great to take camping or if you live in Florida, for possible power outages due to hurricanes. But I like it for every day. It was $19.95 at Wal-Mart. So not a big investment.
Well that's what's working for me today. To see what's working for everyone else go check out We are That Family.
Big Gianormous Hugs to you all!

Works For Me Wednesday- Affiliate Links

We all know that we could all use a little extra money. Right? Well why not do that by promoting wonderful websites that you buy products from yourself. Oh my side bar I have 4 affiliate links that when you click through them and then buy something I get a percentage of the sale. It's really easy to sign up to be an affiliate. Just simply go to there website and click on their affiliate link and follow the easy instructions. I am all for helping people and I would love to know if you have affiliates as well that I can check out.
Here is a little about the 4 that I am affiliated with.

More Than Alive has great vitamins, herbs, health books etc. They offer free shipping over $75.00 which is great and they ship really really fast. I love buying from them. Great service!



Notebooking Pages.com is great for you homeschoolers. They have all the notebooking pages that you could ever need already made up for you to use. I got the whole set and we use them all the time.


Graham Family Ministries website! is a wonderful family based business. Sheri Graham has such a great heart and has written some wonderful e-books, that I have plenty of and they are worth every penny. And she doesn't charge that much for them. Each month she has a special sale on one of her books or set of books. It's all based around keeping the home and homeschooling.


The Homemakers Mentor I just recently joined and I love it. They offer a mentoring program with 2 lessons a month to print out and use. Plus a forum to ask questions and get to know other housewives like yourself. It's been great.

Well that is what's working for me today.
For more of what's working for others go to the new home of Works For Me Wednesday at We are That Family.

Big Hugs to you all!!

Works For Me Wednesday- Who Knew?

Many of you may already know this little tidbit of information but I didn't realize it until earlier this year and if just one person benefits from it, it is worth the post I'm writing it in.
I've been using tin foil and plastic wrap for many many many years. And for many many years I would pull the whole roll out while trying to rip a piece off, making me want to throw it out the nearest window. Well to my amazement they had created something to remedy that. If you look on the end of the cardboard container you'll see this.

Duh! How long has that been on there. You simply push that little tab in and it holds the roll secure so it doesn't come flying out when you try to get a piece. HELLO!!! Did anyone discover this on their own or did someone have to tell you like they did me! Oh the ease of it all now. Now the hardest part is finding the beginning of the roll. LOL! I am now a self proclaimed box checker for all things good and useful. Want to see what else is working for others? Go to Rocks in My Dryer to find out! If you have any neat tidbits of information leave them in my comments so I don't have to hunt them down on my own LOL.
BIG HUGS my friends!!

Works For Me Wednesday- Inexpensive Valentine Decorations

I hereby dub myself the construction paper queen. What is not to love about this stuff? Here's what's working for us this week. The past week we've been hard at work on our Valentines Decorations. My kids always look forward to decorating the house in some way for most of the holidays. So this past week this is what we have been doing and I know you'll have a blast doing it too. My husband was so surprised when he walked in the door from work and saw our homemade decorations. In these two pictures below we have homemade heart garland. What we did was take different colored construction paper and cut it into fourths. Make 4 hearts, one out of each piece. Then take your crayons and write your "sweet" phrases on there. We started to get goofy on some of ours so if you click on the picture you can probably read some. Then take your hole punch and punch a hole on each side of the heart and loop a long string of yarn through each heart. And Voila', Sweetheart Garland. It's so cute. In this picture I just took and made big hearts, one out of each piece of construction paper and then made the little swirly thing below by cutting the paper in half and then cutting in a circle about an inch thick until you can't cut anymore. Then just glue it onto the heart and you have a neat little hanging thingy. That's the politically incorrect term for it! Leftover hearts got put on the wall as festive wall decor. Oh how my kids love doing this. And don't forget the fun holders we made last week. They are now hung on the wall and receiving Valentines to be read on the 14th.There you have it. Some wonderful inexpensive Valentine Decorating ideas. To see what's working for others visit Rocks in My Dryer.
Big Hugs!
P.S. Can anyone tell me what movie is playing in the background of picture #2? LOL. Just thought it would be fun to see!!!