Trails of Hats'n Hospitalitea

What would Christmas be without tea / coffee scrapbooking and a tree? Welcome to my #6th tea time Tuesday. I’ll be joining Sandi over at Rose Chintz Cottage as Tuesday is a great time for tea.

Missing  my daughter Jennifer in NC a lot this week and I have been thinking about her. 

Again I looked through my collection of tea cups and didn’t find anything close enough to a Christmas tree or poinsettia on a tea cup, however, being the scrapbooker I am and not wanting to miss out on today’s special tea with Sandi I am joining in.

 The studio called me early this morning for I had a project and mission in mind.  It is Christmas and to celebrate we share, care, and give blessings to one another.  I thought about going out this week with the little or no money I have and purchasing a tea cup and saucer to share with you all.  Then when I didn’t do that I wasn’t going to post this morning.  I’m glad I’m frugal and fun all in one and that is what makes me a special grandma….I had better hurry up as I”m on duty at 8:15 this am.

This is a coffee cup I’m sharing today and it is lovely adorned with poinsettias and bells.

Yesterday was a beautiful day on Prince Edward Island and my mind kept going back to what I was going to show for my hard work all week.  With my grand-daughter Ana around even scrapbooking has been a little bit of a challenge as she is at the age where, “I wanna do it.” So I have put a number of thing on the back burner so to speak.  

Oh, I was saying about the beautiful day yesterday and anyway a voice came to me, my husbands asking if we could go beachcombing as there might not be many days like this left.  I figured I’d think about my tea cup situation while driving in the car and have a beautiful array of candles, cakes, and tea cups for eye candy bliss today.  So instead of cakes I would like to share this piece of seaglass found on the beach here in PEI.  

Before I go I’d like to also share with you a scrapbooked mini tree that I have been working on. I had a gazillion pictures of the kids growing up and at Christmas each year and they sat like everyone’s in a box.  This year I wanted to share so I made a centre piece that stands 12 inches tall and has 5 rings down the spin and all kinds of memories of Christmas past.

Thank you for coming along on my tea time adventure I’m having coffee this early morning and by the time Ana goes down for her nap I’ll be back reading about your Christmas Tea.

You know you want to, so if you’re going to, please remember to re-wrap, re-card and remember who you re-gifted to.

I came up with a few reasons to re-gift but thinking only about what attracted you here I might have only three reasons you stopped by.
*1* Maybe you think re-gifting is so not cool, but you are hoping to get rid of some gifts you are embarrassed to say you don’t like.
*2* You are the queen of re-gifting like my friend Charlene, but need a few new spins on the old record to re-energize your efforts.
*3* This is a totally new concept to you and you want to know more about it.

With the holidays around the corner and the economy the way it has been perhaps this might be a new trait to learn. Don’t be embarrassed about re-gifting, it is something we do and let on we don’t.

Random gift cards. People buy gift cards because the picture on the front is colourful. You can re-gift gift cards but you had better go to the store and make sure of the money on the card. I mean what would be worse than receiving a gift card with $19.62 left on the card. I did some volunteer work one time and was given a gift card as a thank you. I went to use it, bought something I would normally not buy myself and guess what? There was no $$ amount on the gift card. This one was a mistake.

So at this point your asking yourself, “is it frugal or just down right cheap?” The difference between Frugal and Cheap is; Frugal is making your own gift wrapping paper while Cheap would be to re-gift someone without wrapping it up. Either way, the first step is to make sure to change the card before you re-gift.

How’s the re-gifting business doing after these steps…

OMG, please if you are going to re-gift don’t, don’t I can’t stress this enough. DON’T EVER re-gift something so lame as free CD’s marked “not for re-sale.” Already scratched scratch and win tickets. Soap, old soap gets a residue making it a dead giveaway. Fruitcake, regardless of what your grandmother says, “it doesn’t keep forever.” last but not least samples of perfume, or bath supplies. Oh I almost forgot, anything outdated, PLEASE DON’T re-gift software on a 5 1/4 floppy disk even if you think it is a good piece of software.

Don’t give me no hand-me-downs please, I have some already, as the Guess Who said. This is not a re-gift it is something already used not to be re-mixed up with re-gifting. That’s just not right, even I couldn’t do that. However I gifted my son a new shirt last night that I picked up at a garage sale. I was going to keep it for him for Christmas but decided that was just not right so I just gave it to him.

Gimme gimme never gets! Always keep track of who gave it to you in the first place. Have a bin full of gifts and write on them with sticky notes who you got them from so when it comes time for re-gifting the item you are worry free. I had an awful experience one year when my sister-in-law opened her gift and I could hear her say, “didn’t I get this last year?”

Check your re-gift before it goes out the door. You look in the mirror to make sure you don’t have a hair out of place why would you not check to see that the wine glasses you re-gifted don’t have a ring of wine in the bottom. And make sure all the pieces are there. I once got a re-gift of a stacking bowl set that never stacked just right because the giftee kept the most used size of bowl or it had been broken.

Modern day approach. So you got it yesterday and want to give it away tomorrow. The next common mistake in re-gifting would be to re-use the same wrapping paper, all torn, crinkled and old scotch tape still attached. Do you think someone will figure out that this is a re-gift? Duh. You want to try and make it look like it might be new.

Never say why! After all you are giving this as a gift, why would you spoil the fun by saying something like, “You’ll like this, but I have no use for it so I’m giving it to you.” So you just told the person you are giving them something you wouldn’t be caught dead using but here its yours. Be kind and rewind your words.

Yes, its ok for your re-gifts to be funny. I have two aunts who live far apart from each other and have a stuffed animal that they dress in fashionable clothing and mail to each other each year. It keeps them young, and keeps them from giving each other something they will only otherwise have to re-gift to another. So ya, funny re-gifts are on the top of Santa’s list.

Well that wraps it up for another post. I guess you and I have some re-wrapping to get to so I wouldn’t keep you much longer.

So I can’t re-gift these cute salt and pepper shakers according to my own rules… and if anyone is interested in a free gift I’ll be giving these away. I tried already to give them away to my daughter Vicki who lives on a dairy farm with lots of cows but she didn’t find the need to put them on her table.

Thank you friends for stopping by and learning about the art of re-gifting. xo cindy

Lately I have been visiting the “No Frills” store over in Stratford PEI.  Great buys however I found something today that I have to share, do you dare to compare.

This is a box of No Name Jelly melt in your mouth Chocolate Mallows,

No Name $1.49 a box

This is the competitor brand, Dare makes a difference.

These decadent chocolate mallow cookies, without jam and with real chocolate are yum

The Whippets sell for  $4.29 a box

So ya, I got a box of each.  The Whippets do have real chocolate, no jam and the cost of calories is way more than I want to pay for.  If I’m going to eat something that is going straight to my soft parts, I’d like to saver the flavor in a frugal sort of way and save some money doing it.  I had my French gardener in for milk and cookies and he was sweet on the NN brand and sticky jam.

This has been Grandma’s view, ~00~ w glasses on.

xoxo

Want Frugal Fix your own box of chocolate mallows (recipe)

Chocolate Mallow Cookies
borrowed from “Martha Stewart’s Cookies”
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa (Natural and not Dutch Process)

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk (2% or whole)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
12 marshmallows, cut in half along the round part so the two halves are round

3 cups powdered sugar
6 Tbs. unsalted butter, room temp.
1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup + 2 Tbs. milk (2% or whole)
1 tsp. vanilla

1.  Preheat oven 375 degrees.  Cream the butter and sugar for 2 minutes on medium-high.  Then, on medium-low add egg, milk and vanilla.
2.  Combine the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Add the flour mix a little at a time.
3.  Scoop dough on greased cookie sheet in 2 Tbs. increments, or using a medium scoop, or a scoop that is 1 3/4?.  The Pampered Chef medium scoop worked perfect for this.
4.  Bake cookies 8-10 minutes.  Put marshmallow on top and bake another 2 minutes.  Cool completely.
5.  Frosting: Melt butter and cocoa in saucepan on medium-low.  Stir to combine.  Add butter mix to powdered sugar.  Mix in milk and vanilla and stir like crazy.
6.  1 Tbs. of frosting should cover the marshmallow pretty good.  I had some frosting leftover to feel free to go crazy.

Most of you who know me know I’m frugal.  Remember my frugal flip flops?, ya, well they are still holding on.  Today I’d like to share my new plastic sunglasses with you.  They can go anywhere, match everything, be the hit at a party and even block the UV rays, 4ml and can fold away and be reused as something else. The best thing of all, they are unbreakable.

A sure thing if you plan to be on one of PEI’s beaches this summer.

Till next time, x0 cindy

Help! my kitchen is being taken over by fruit flies.  What can I do to control them and where did these suckers come from and how do I prevent them from ever coming back to my kitchen.

Signage is important at this point, to making sure the stray flies will notice the Fruit Fly Farm.  Next pour yourself a glass of wine and go sit outside and relax.  Unlike Farmville on Facebook your Fruit Fly Farm needs no tending to, you won’t have to get friends to buy into your corporation and you might even attract some of your neighbours farm animals.

After a few glasses of wine, you see that tribal fruit flies have gathered on the inside, they are flying about trying to get out and they can’t find the right hole to come out of.  Pick up your fruit fly farm and shake it! all the flies have now drowned. Pour another glass of wine and come back and repeat in 20 minutes.

Thank you for stopping by my Fruit Farm.  If you have fruit flies be sure to try this.  If you don’t and want to have as much fun as I have, then leave some fruit laying about until it is almost fermented and in no time you can start your own Fruit Fly Farm.

xo, cindy a frugal fruit fly farmer

Prince Edward Island is suffering from a poor tourism season, it is simple things are priced too high causing a lack there of business.

I took a walk about the garden this morning and was thinking about just how Budget Friendly PEI really is.  Google claims when I type Budget Friendly that a report from the Gov on the handed down budget is what I’m asking for.  Maybe I’ll include activities in this search and see what comes up.  Here we go, so for $500 dollars according to Google, pei has a  friendly budget family accommodations somewhere, I won’t report where as that doesn’t matter as much as this is what is showing up on my search results.

Here is a few Budget Friendly things to do in PEI.

1. Take in a Garden Tour at Grandma’s Afternoon Tea Room. Enjoy the gardens, pond, koi in the pond, M.J the backyard 4 legged friend who has a ball attached to her mouth. Cost is free

2. Geocaching the Confederation Trial if you have a hand held GPS the trail is full of Geo’s at geocaching.com.

3. At the Island Made Gift Shop you can “Make and take Scrapbooking.” Drop by and make  a scrapbooking tag to go along with your vacation photos.  Cost free, I like that.

4. Go to the Beach, pick one of the many beaches on the Island that you don’t have to pay to enter, have a look at your map.

5. I’ll have that wrapped thank you. Do you like Beachcombing in PEI, well while at the beach look for a shell, or sea glass and bring it into the Gift Shop and I’ll wrap that to go for you. 545 Malpeque Rd, Route 2 in Winsloe.  I’ll teach you to wrap your treasure and you can leave wearing it.  Cost is $5.00

Well I wish I had more fun activities to report to you.  I’ll keep looking in the meantime I have scones to bake and an Afternoon Tea to prepare for at Grandma’s Tea Room.

Take care,  xo cindy

You know it isn’t easy coming up with a tittle that suits a post all the time but “Roll in the Hay” came to mind when I was rolling the hay yesterday.

Here is how it started out.  Over the pond you can see what is very tall grass that is brown and left from the regimental grasses from last year.

This grass reaches a height of 14 to 18 feet and looks wonderful from the Tim Horton’s parking lot and acts as a backyard fence and wind breaker.

Click on the picture to see the tall grass, it is at 1 o’clock.  Anyway we cut it all down like we do every year.

Here is a pile of it beside M’J.  I try and get all the straight ones.  We will use them as garden stakes, or cut them up for a fire starter, homemade trellis, a switch to keep the French Gardener in line.  This time I got a different idea on what I would do with the hay grass.

Even though we haven’t had many days of sun I’m predicting a lot on the way.

I’ve gathered this all up and put it onto the table and the French Gardener says to me, “What have you got going on here.”

Remember I’m the frugal one in the family and he is very happy about that as he has told me.  So I ask him, “Do you want to Roll the Hay with me?”  and he said, “sure.”

After it is all gathered up, I cut the ends off to make it even.  I have woven each strand of hay together, do you know what it is going to be?

No, not a hay stack.  No, not a decoration at the end of the driveway for Halloween.  Give up?

Yup, a grass curtain and it works not to bad either. Except the French Gardener said, “that’s not my idea of a roll in the hay.”

This is an expression, must be a French Canadian one and thank goodness for Google because I just smiled at the French Gardener and asked Google later what a “Roll in the Hay was.”

I figured for all his help, he did earn something so I made him a glass of fresh squeezed lemonade.  ”Roll in the Hay.”

I’m going to try weaving the tall stakes of grass  together and make a garden trellis with it next.  He just said, “I have work to do.” as he walked off, so I might leave this for another day because it takes two to tangle the weave.

Thanks for stopping by my “Roll in the Hay.”

xo, cindy

If you lived through the 70′s then you know the meaning of being frugal, some call it cheap but I rather like the word frugal it sounds sophisticated while you are being cheap.

You were as always practicing being frugal because there wasn’t any money back then to go around.  If you were a parent you were interesting because most of the time you entertained your children. Lucky enough to have a colour tv and so you were the mom on the block who had every kid over after school. An allowance was something to be earned at .25 cents and it got you a bag of chips, a coke and two bazooka bubble bums with the cartoon inside.

Growing up we didn’t have a whole hell of a lot but we sure did have fun with what we had.  Our parents never got arrested for giving us a BB gun to play with, we wish they had of after shooting the back window out of mom’s old Pontiac.  A dollar didn’t go far so you had to learn how to rig things.  I learned the meaning of rigging it at a young age. Sure glad for it too, when the windshield motor went on the car and I didn’t have money to replace the motor I tied a rope on the wiper passed it inside the window and back out the passenger side and tied it back up to the other wiper, when it rained I could drive with one hand and operate the wiper with the other.

I passed all I knew on to my children about being frugal as well. I remember one time they wanted to go in the boat frogging in the Rideau River and so my Dad gave me the idea to tie two empty javex bottles to their back in case they fell, so’in I’d be able to find them splashing and screaming about. One of life’s best lessons I could have taught them was the use of duct tape, I said kids, “Duck tape is your best friend.”

Seems to me I did a good job telling the kids and my husband must have been listening because this is what

I in the hall this morning.

I have to wonder what the elastics are for? Did he need two elastics? What a waste.

There are many uses for Duct Tape

How about a Dress?

Maybe a wallet is a smaller project.

Or perhaps you are looking for a babysitter?

Ok, maybe the babysitter is going a bit far.

Just remember you’re kids will have a better memory than you some day.

xo, cindy