Good Morning to you all, so far it has turned out to be a beautiful day, no rain yet, as we had been forecasted. Anticipation to the dreary day, I went out and picked a bouquet of flowers from my yard this morning, to add a little brightness to the house.

It's best to pick your flowers in the morning and use scissors rather than just pulling. You may think you don't have what you need to make a beautiful bouquet, but most of all of you do, in fact. As you will see, hosta's, ornamental grasses, clips from your spirea bushes, wild geranium, all make excellent arrangements.

Use the larger flowers toward the base of your arrangement, and smaller flowers for the longer in the middle or back of your arrangement. Spirea and hosta's both make great filler at base. Believe it or not, even some weeds look great in arrangements! Always make a fresh cut off the end of the flowers as you are putting it in your vase, to aid in longevity. Oh, and you do not have to have a fancy vase, a pop bottle or sparkling water bottle work great!

The Sandwich Basket

I want to share with you something that is working great for me, just a little organization tip, to save you time. This is my sandwich basket. I put everything that we use to make a sandwich in it and store it in the frig this way. I have mayo, cheese and my deli meats in mine and when I have leftover chicken or steak to go in sandwiches, I even put it right in there also, so we don't forget to use it. (Saving money in the long run, not forgetting about leftover meat in the frig that gets lost in the back) It's been working out great, it saves me time having to go back to the frig two or three times to get what I need, or most cases, forgot! Every night when I pack Jeff and Drew's sandwiches, I just grab the basket and when finished, just place everything back in the basket and then in the frig. I bought the basket at Wal-mart for under $2.00. Any container would work, I would suggest something washable and with some type of handle.

Another thing I put in their lunches, is Yogurt parfaits, the ones like at McDonalds. I layer vanilla yogurt(bought in a 32 oz. container at Alid for $1.59) strawberries, blueberries and lately I add a few raspberries, because they are in season and are a $1.99 at Fareway. I put some the granola in a ziplock for them to add, so it doesn't get mushy. They are delicious! And healthy!!!!!

I have found a lot of my ideas by surfing the web and reading articles in magazine, they certainly are not all my creations alone, but I hope that some of you are getting some good tips. Please feel free to share some comments on this blog, I would love to hear your feedback, to see if anyone is getting good ideas from my blogs.

Just a few more tips while I'm thinking of it. I have a little grocery diary, I have taken past grocery reciepts and have staple grocery items with price and from what store which they were bought. It makes me aware of what I am spending for items, so that I know when there really is a good sale and that I also have an idea of what it cost to make a recipe. It's not worth making something that I have to go out and buy so many things that I will never use the rest of the items in other recipes. I have been guilty of that a few times. I will try to make sure that I am passing on recipes that are such. Everyone's family is different and what works for some, may not work for others. Good Luck!