The Sewing Mom

I know I have been missing in action here lately, but honestly, I really have been busy.  I’ve been working, cleaning, organizing and even attempting to get some holiday decorating done.  All of this while my daughter has been out of school and wanting me to keep her entertained.

Today is the beginning of a new week and I have 3 sewing projects on my to do list.  The first of which is to make this Advent Calendar which has all ready been sold (this is a photo of one I previously made).

So, I may be absent, but I’m still here!

Myspace Graphics

YAHOO! It’s Friday! The best thing abo=”ut today is it’s time to do my favorite meme, Four Foods on Friday. Here are this week’s questions and my answers:

1. Chicken soup. Regular or creamy? I prefer regular, but I have had some creamy chicken soups that were very tasty.

2. Do you have a stew recipe? Yes!

3. What’s your favorite hot comfort food? Funny you should ask! My favorite comfort food is beef stew and I especially love it when my mom makes it!

4. Do you like chicken fried steak? Well, I live in Texas, need I say more? Isn’t chicken fried steak the official food of Texas?

Now, for my stew recipe:
1 lb of lean beef stew meat
4-6 medium potatoes peeled and cut into large cubes
1 onion, cut into pieces
3-4 carrots peeled and cut into pieces
1 can green beans (can also use frozen or fresh)
salt & pepper to taste
flour
2 c beef broth

Place 1/2-1 c. flour in a ziploc bag with salt and pepper. Add stew meat and shake to coat the meat. You can also had a shake or two of seasoned salt if you like.
Brown meet in olive oil in dutch oven. Add all other ingredients and stir. If necessary, add additional water and/or beef broth so that all vegetables are covered by liquid. Simmer for 1 1/2 -2 hours. Serve over cooked rice.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Alice.com. All opinions are 100% mine.

My work hours were cut today so I made good use of my time off and headed out to run a few errands. I don’t know about you, but I hate running errands and I detest grocery shopping. I feel like it’s such a waste of time and it takes me so long because I am a price shopper. I stand in the aisle comparing ingredients, sizes, coupons and, most importantly, prices. In these times of household budget cuts, price comparison are so important to me.

In the end, I did get my shopping done this morning, even managed to pick up a couple of Christmas presents. After getting home and putting my purchases away, I sat down for some personal time on my computer and I discovered Alice.com, a super convenient way to get my weekly and monthly household shopping done while saving me money.

I signed up for a free account at Alice.com today and started putting items I normally purchase at the store into my online cart. The coolest thing is that I don’t have to print/clip coupons because Alice.com has that all taken care of and applies coupons to my purchase for me. AND, they ship my order to me free (as long as I order a minimum of 6 items). They will even keep track of what I purchase and remind me to reorder so I don’t run out of things in my pantry, whether it’s coffee or toilet paper. Plus, their prices are better than what I just found at the discount store today. I compared prices at Alice.com to my receipt for what I purchased today and I could have saved even more than I did by purchasing online because they would have given me coupons that I didn’t have with me today.

I have such a difficult time staying on a budget and this is a great way for me to be more successful because I can track my purchases.  This is the perfect way for us to manage our household purchases because they carry everything I need outside of fresh food.  I can save money purchasing everything from granola bars, to shower cleaner and they carry name brand products, the ones I usually buy.  I even found a few items that I ordered today because I didn’t care for the prices at the store, even though I needed the products.  Now I’ve ordered them from Alice.com, saved money, time and gasoline.

I highly suggest you check this site out for yourself. Click here to sign up and start saving and you’ll receive $10 off once you’ve spent $50. Plus, for anyone you refer, you’ll receive 3% of their purchases back for one year.

There are 14 shops involved in this open house (mine is not one of them because I haven’t had time to update my shop!), my sister’s included. Each shop has unique, hand crafted items and each shop is sponsoring some sort of giveaway, so check each one out and I’m sure you’ll find something (or two or three) that you just must have for yourself or need to give as a gift this holiday season.

Please also be sure to visit my sister’s shop, Keated by Karen and you may even find a couple of my own hand crafted bags there!