A Crazy Wedding Find

I was actually looking up how to do an awesome way to display cut fruit.  A friend needed some assistance, so I went looking for inspiration.  I stumbled on something that may thrill some brides looking for cheap wedding ideas.  Maybe, maybe not.  But I gotta pass on a cheap party idea when I find one.  Enjoy this link to HOW TO CATER YOUR OWN WEDDING RECPTION.

Check out the new PAGE!

See up there on the top of my blog?  There’s a new page up there.  If you were one of those brides at the “Love is in the Air” bridal show, and wondered, Hey!  What happened?  The answers are there.  Offerings through ACE.  Check it out!  My email is there too.  Can’t wait to hear from you.

Where Have I Gone?

Well, I have a bit of news.  Great news really.  I have a new job.  Not totally related to this blog, but wonderful nonetheless.  I am working for a Pregnancy Care Center.  We are helping women care for their babies, and supporting them in their decision to choose life. 

This is something that has been a critical part of my life.  And now, I am in the best spot ever.

Now, am I going to totally ditch my blog?  Hmmm, I am still a crafty girl and dream of getting some product posted in my Etsy shop.  But, the adjustment to my new schedule is still happening.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me on my journey.  It feels great to be right where I am SUPPOSED to be.  I hope everyone finds that spot.  It’s awesome.

What’s All the Buzz About? Cheap Party Chick?

I bet you are wondering how this is all panning out.  Who is this cheap Party Chick?  What’s she all about?

Yes!  I will be at the bridal show.  Check my Where’s the Cheap Party Chick page for details.

Here are a couple of things you can expect.

I have made a few CUTE projects available for purchase

Tons of ideas.

Opportuinities to sign up for your personal Mastermind Session with ME!

Group Class Sign UP

And My Brand New Easy Peasy Feedback Form Option

AND there’s always the D.I.F.U. Option.  (Do It For You!) Yep, overwhelemed, don’t be.  I’ll do it for you.

DETAILS:

Show up at the Bridal Extravaganza at the Indianapolis Executive Airport on Sunday, January 17, 2010 between 2PM and 5PM.  Visit the Ace Party Rental Booth and you will find me there. 

Let’s have fun ladies.  You CAN do it!  You just need a plan, and a little help from a freind.

Big Rocks: Prioritize your Plan

My January focus for the 52 to Fabulous challenge was learning to prioritize.  In her blog entry, Linney used the letters MSN for priority organization.  This is a struggle for a people pleasing mom who likes to get it all done.  Sure, Flylady helps me with my routines, but prioritizing is something that is crucial.  Without priorities it is so easy to chase rabbit trails and before you know it you are off course.

Along with linney’s MSN principle, I am going to add one more element  to help keep priorities straight.

I’m sure you;ve heard it before, but it’s worth repeating… the rock, sand, pebbles and water illustration for keeping priorities straight.

    Pardon me, because I really don’t know it’s origin, if you do let me know and I’ll give credit. 

Here’s the illustration.

 If you give a kid a bucket, a pile of sand, a bunch of pebbles, a few big rocks and some water, and you tell them to put it all in the bucket, priorities definitely matter!  If you start by putting the water in, and then add the sand and pebbles, and then try to put in the big rocks, it aint gonna work.  You have to start with the big rocks, the big priorities if you will.  Then put in the pebbles to fill the space around the rocks.  The sand, being even smaller will fill in around the smaller cracks and crevices.  FInally, add the water.  Some will soak into the sand, and the rest will just find the path of least resistance and find it’s way in there somewhere….if necessary.  But you are definitely able to fit in more stuff if you tend to the biggies first.

This principle definitely applies to party planning.  Hit the biggies first. 

What is your overall goal?

What kind of party are you hosting? theme? special event? charity? in honor of?

What is your timeline?

What is your budget?

When will it be held?

Where will it be held?

Who will attend?

These are your big rocks.  Put these in first and you’re off to a fabulous beginning.

photo from picapp

52 to Fabulous Challenge

One of my Facebook buds, Colleen shared this challenge for 2010.  It’s called 52 to Fabulous.(Pursuit of a Better Me)  Of course the number refers to 52 weeks in a year.   Since I was just wandering through my priority list, this blog was jsut what the Dr. ordered.  Be sure to check out the 52 to Fabulous blog and try it yourself.  What can it hurt?  Give yourself a little focus and stop being so frantic.

Here’s my list.

January – Fabulous Beginnings Participating in the challenge.  Take 5 minutes a week learning to prioritize.

February – Fabulous Organization Paperwork.  Get a great flow for bills, school and just general record keeping.  I have it going, but it can always be tweaked for smoother operation.
March – Fabulous Fitness Sign up for a race and begin training to run it in May.

April – Fabulous Food Plan and prepare my Vegie Garden

 

May – Fabulous Style Just make sure I am staying true to me in the wardrobe/style department.  Don’t fall for the mavens tricks, just celebrate the me that God created in the first place.  He’s pretty good at making stuff right.
June – Fabulous Fun Go to the beach at least once a month!  And go on a date with hubby at least once every week.

 
July – Fabulous Hobbies Take time to tweak my craft.  Take one of my projects and research and become better at it.

 
August – Fabulous Finances Make sure my savings goals are still on track.  Review and plan  for any adjustments

September – Fabulous Family School is starting and things can get hectic, make sure routines are in place for the boys, and become the best listener.

 

October – Fabulous Health By now I should be at a great weight, and have developed awesome habits.  If not, what adjustments need to be made?  review.
November – Fabulous Home How am I doing on my Fly routines?  If good, things should be running smooth. 

 
December – Fabulous Blogging Be me.  Don’t try to be like someone else.  Just make sure all of my blog entries are genuine and learn about all things techie.  Ohh, and improve photog skills.

Cute Bridal Party Idea or a Great Girl’s Night

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Here is a suprising celebration that could be a wonderful idea to get your bridal party on the same page, and have a blast doing it. As I was reading my Flylady daily digest this morning, I was thrilled to read a “flybaby” testimonial. One of the ladies had purchased some calendars and pens and clingies from the flyshop. The suprising and delightful part is what she did with them.

As her family and friends (I would assume this is a rather intimate gathering) got together for a casual meet and greet, she passed out numbered index cards to each guest. On the index card, next to each number each woman wrote her favorite color, favorite birthday she ever had, favorite past time, favorite collectible, favorite animal, favorite season. Then each person signed the card. If you have five guests, each guest should receive 5 cards. Fill out each one and then hand a card to each person at the table. Then, explain to the guests that you plan to use these as jumping off points for celebrations, craft and gifts ideas.

This woman then went on to present her friends with calendars and pens and stickers. They all got a big kick out of learning about each other and chatted their time away with each other in grand fashion while sipping sodas and nibbling on chips and salsa.

One thing I have done in the past with my calendars is I’ve been very deliberate about the one I use most often. My central calendar, so to speak, (yes the old-fashioned kind you write on) hangs in my kitchen. The one I picked out this year looks like this.  It can be purchased at Calendars.com.  Click on the pic.

Pretending to be Normal Central Calendar.

I write my bills on it as they come in the mail along with balances. I also put stickers (shiny ones always) everyday that I workout. This gives me a quick visual as to whether I am on track with my fitness plan.

What a great gift to give each other, and yet another cheap party idea! Love it.

The Cake Balls go Cheesy

Ya know.  Just when you think you have something perfected.  Nooo, someone just kicks it up a notch. 

I have tried to make cakeballs a few times, and even if my attempts weren’t always gorgeous, my kids gobbled up whatever came of the attempt.  I finally thought I had it.  I was now a cakeball master right?  I mean every time you do something again, you get a little better.  I would not put cake balls on the top of my favorite things to make list.  Just because it’s a messy endeavor.   But yet, the temptaion comes again.
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Here it is the holidays, and as if I haven’t baked enough already, something in me drives me to just bake one more thing.  Well, I log on to WordPress today and there it is.  That recipe that is going to make me do it again.  I mean, I just finsihed ruining meringues, and putting together a roll of chocolate chunk oatmeal cookie dough.  The recipe is for cheesecake snowmen.  Who can resist this?  Really? 

I believe the Author of Lemon Tart Diary goes by Annie.  Her blog is darling.  And if you want to attempt her Cheesecake Snowmen.  She lays out all the steps beautifully.  Just in time for you to have one more go in the kitchen before Christmas.  I always love find recipes that could be big impact, little dough.

Cool Confetti: Who knew?

Confetti and parties, such a lovely combination.  As I was researching a bit for this confetti blog entry, I found so much more information than I ever could have imagined.  So, I am going to run through a few ideas for using confetti for weddings primarily, but use your noodle, and I am sure you can get so creative with what I am about to share.
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This particular entry is inspired by a bride on a budget,  Because she was having trouble making he tables look fab without having a lot of cash, she decided to use circles cut from paper in three different colors.  Brilliant.  Big color impact for  little coin, you gotta love that. 

Next, I found a site that sells confetti of every size and shape, and oh, yes confetti cannons. 

BUT WAIT!  What would a confetti blog entry be without a confetti launcher youtube tutorial.  Holy cow, this dude shows the mechanically inclined how to construct their very own confetti cannon.  How cool is that!  I am not suggesting you try this.  I just thought, hmmm, super cool.  If I share this with hubby, I wonder if he would make one for me.  Hey all you bar owners, maybe for your New Year’s Bash?  Hmm.

So that’s my confetti wisdom for the day.  Party on.

Thrifty Meals to Get You Through Christmas

In the hustle and bustle that comes with Christmas, life still manages to happen.  Here are a few of my favorite thrifty recipes to keep you on budget during the holidays.  Some of these cheap family meal ideas come from friends or relatives, but when I say they are cheap, I mean CHEAP.  I hate when you watch the Today Show or something, and they’re all like, you can feed your family for just thrifty bucks with this meal.  30 BUCKS?  Try three.  So as you make through the unwrapping and piles of bills.  I hope these cheap recipes will keep you full and sane.

Sausage Gravy & Biscuits by My Momma

This one will fill you up without emptying your wallet.

Ingredients:

• Bob Evans Savory Sage sausage (1 tube)
• tube of refrigerated biscuits
• 2T butter
• 1/4c flour
• 1/2c milk

Directions:

Preheat oven according to directions on biscuit package.

Crumble up the sausage and brown it in a large skillet over medium heat.  I like to chop mine up really well with a spatula as it cooks.  Once brown, kind of push the sausage to one side of the skillet. Turn down the heat.  Do this all over low heat at this point. Drain the grease to the other side of the skillet and add the butter to the grease side.  Now stir the flour into the grease/butter side to make a thick mixture (not a solid mass though).   Add some of the milk to  that and gradually slide the meat over to the milk side adding more milk and flour alternately until desired gravy consistency is reached.  Bake your biscuits according to package directions.  Spilt biscuits in half and spoon some of the sausage gravy on top.

Hamburger Hash Ala my MIL Clara

Ingredients:

• 1 pound or so of Hamburger
•  1 or 2 large baking potatoes
• garlic salt (Lawry’s is good)
• Beef bullion, onion soup mix or whatever you have that is similar
• small onion

Directions:Brown the ground beef and cook the onion in a skillet.  At this time, season the ground beef too.  Like I said, I use Lawry’s garlic salt, but whatever you’ve got that works well with hamburger.  Meanwhile, chop up the potato(s) really small like hashbrown size.  Once the beef is browned add the potatoes and rest of ingredients, plus enough water to cover the potatoes.  Cook over med until potatoes are soft.  Really good and filling, and uncomplicated.

That’s two, I’ll add more cheap recipes to this, but I wanted to share some thrifty meal ideas I’ve found while perusing online.

Check these thrifty meal links out.

A healthy choice:

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/cookbooks.asp?cookbook=58000

or

A Dollar Stretching Chicken Recipe  When you’re on this site, scroll down to Leanne Ely’s Rubber Chicken.

http://www.flylady.com/pages/kitchen2.asp

More coming soon, but this will keep you fed for now.