Good Neighbors: My 50's year

In true Housewifery fashion I'm going to be sure to pay a visit or two to my Neighbors. I happened upon a very interesting Neighbor today.

My 50s year

Very much inline with the PBS series that used to take a family and make them live like a 1940s family (which I loved by the way), this lovely gal is living a year as a 50s housewife. She's going all out and doing her best to use only the things that were available to a 50s housewife.

As you'll see, she's learning that it's very hard work indeed. The poor dear seems a little stressed though and I hope maybe she'll check out my blog and I can help her to have a little more fun with it.

She's very much a 2008 girl and still hasn't fully let go of it for the year.

I wish her the best of luck and look forward to reading more of her posts!

Hurried Hors d'Oeuvres

Unexpected guests.
We all love to spend time with friends but what do you feed them when they show up unannounced? Never fear! Being the amazing Hostess that you are you have these recipes in your arsenal.
All of them can be made with things that are most likely already in your kitchen so you don’t have to spend a fortune to entertain.






It’s important to be prepared for unexpected guests, but there is no need to spend forever in the kitchen preparing a gourmet meal for them. Remember, they came to see you, not your hors d'oeuvres.

Time Warp Wives Interview

I had a lovely interview with Carmen at Time Warp Wives! She's such a sweetie and I was very flattered to be asked!

Here's an excerpt but you should hop on over there to get a full read! She has a great site.

"Dolly works full-time as an event planner for a social networking site. In the morning she normally has a couple of meetings to go to, depending on which event she’s planning. “After work I’ll walk home and start planning dinner. I normally have a few hours before my man gets home so I’ll use that time to pick up around the house, light the scented candles, and start to prepare dinner,” she said."

Decorating Bug

I've been on the lookout for lots of great mid-century goodies for my redecorating project. I've noticed more and more furniture stores are offering their takes on mid-century. IKEA had some great dining table and couches but my heart really skipped a beat when I received an email from Urban Outfitters!

Gorgeous yes? Although I'd really like to get as many authentic pieces as I can, these give me hope. If for any reason I simply can't find a great storage piece I can always check out more modern retailers!

Do you Halloween?

I love Halloween and I love to decorate for it! I'm really excited this year because we have a house in a real neighborhood. I'm hoping to go all out with the decor this year. That brings us to this week's question: Do YOU decorate for Halloween?

Fall into Fall

It’s Fall!

I’m going to let you in on a little secret… I absolutely adore fall scents. If you come to my house you’ll smell cinnamon, vanilla and even some pumpkin spice throughout the year. I can’t get enough. I just love walking into a house that smells spicy and warm, even if it’s 80 degrees outside. In fact, I even have a cinnamon scented candle on my desk!

It can be hard to find these scents outside of fall though. As soon as September hits it seems like the stores are full of deliciously scented candles, plug-ins and potpourri. I use this as an excuse to stockpile! How else can I get my pumpkin fix in mid July?

This September was no different. I went on my pilgrimage to Target ready to buy out their entire supply! I always throw the Pumpkin Spice candles in my basket. Those are a time-tested favorite of mine. I also bought the triple layered soy version, which is such a great, long –lasting candle.
This year, though I decided to try a few new varieties.

I’m a plug-in addict. Name a brand and I’ve tried it. I love them. I seriously have lots of empty holders and packets of unopened refills under my sink. During my normal browsing of the air-freshener aisle I noticed that Febreze has a plug in with alternating scents.

I am a huge fan of Febreze. I love their candles. They last forever and, unlike some candles, they actually smell while burning. I picked up the Autumn Spice & Harvest version of the Noticeables plugin and grabbed the Air Effects in Autumn Spice & Crisp. Delicious!

Fast forward a week and I am very impressed! I was skeptical that I would actually be able to notice the changing scents but I did! A week into it the scents are still as fresh as when I started. My other plug-ins always seem to fade quickly.

I’m definitely going to stock up on these before the scents retire. A quick peek at the Febreze website and I see all sorts of yummy holiday flavors are coming!

My obsession with scent doesn’t stop there though. I noticed an apple and spice scented dish washing liquid by Dawn so I just had to have it. Now I can have a lovely waft of my favorite scent while I’m scrubbing pots and pans. Even better, this one has an open bottom so it works as an air freshener as well!

Do you use scented candles and plugins to add to the homey feel of your house? What’s your favorite scent?

Grocery dot com

Sometimes there is just so much to do and so little time!

One great way to cut a few hours of errands out of your day is to do your grocery shopping online. If you haven’t done this yet it may seem like a strange idea but grocery shopping without leaving the house isn’t such a new concept. Years ago my friends and I used to use Schwans.

Schwans day was always a great day. The man in the van would stop by our houses every week, present us with a glossy catalog and we’d pick out all of the frozen items that delighted us. He’d head to the van and bring in our order. It was just that easy. Their food was great too. Well, Schwans has now embraced the internet age and you can order their items online for delivery to your home. I do hope they still have the Van Man. There was something so decidedly retro about having a food salesman bringing your items. He always had the best tips and was known to thrown in a freebie or two for you to try!

More recently I was without a car and in desperate need of some groceries. I had a coupon for free delivery from Safeway.com so I decided to give it a go! I was delighted to find out that their “personal shoppers” are trained to select the freshest produce and you can even put notes on your order for special requests. Need some very ripe banana’s for the Banana Bread you’re baking? Just put that in the notes section and they’ll be sure to seek out the ripest bananas. You can also specify back up items in case the one you really want is out of stock. One feature I really loved was being able to save my favorite items to a shopping list for me to revisit regularly. No need to search around later.

With Safeway you can schedule your delivery date and time for as early as the same day (if you place your order early enough in the AM) or up to a week from now. Be sure to pay careful attention to the sale dates if you’re ordering food for delivery a few days out.

There are lots of online grocery options these days and there are lots of reasons to try them out but I won’t be switching permanently. I love wandering the aisles and discovering new products. I actually really enjoy grocery shopping. I get some of my best meal ideas by adventuring through the store. But the next time I’m in a rush and need to stock up without running out I’ll definitely be using my online supermarket!

Give one of these a try!

Net Grocer
PeaPod
Albertsons
Amazon Groceries

Mashable has a great listing of all the regional and national online grocer sites.

Hot Apron Love

Are you lusting after those aprons in my last post? I know I am!

You can find them at two sites:

Carolyn's Kitchen & Girly Aprons

You'll find the aprons and the gloves there!

Cleaning Fashion

A lady always has to look the part so I've picked out the cutest Cleaning Fashion for you! Housework needn't be boring, inject a little personality and color into your every day chores.

Weekly Poll

I want to know more about you so that I know what you need/want to see here. So... take my cute little poll! I'll post a freshly baked one each week!

Redecorating

I'm seriously itching to redecorate the house. Unfortunately, there is a budget to contend with so I shall have to exercise those creative muscles. Our house is already pretty well furnished except we want to change the overall look and feel. Alot of stuff can be re-purposed. I've already made an unused TV stand into a Bar in our foyer. I've been collecting pictures of things I like and inspiration. Once I get them in some sort of order I'll start posting them here!

In other news we went out for a lovely dinner last night and I veered away from my normal Grey Goose & Tonic. I tried a Gimlet and I have to say - I'm in love. :)

Off to the kitchen. I am making a good old fashioned meatloaf and mashed potatoes for dinner tonight.