More Friday Randomness

The cutest thing I've seen all day! via cuteoverload

ASL Stephen doing Jonathan Coulton's The Future Soon

Ramdomly Awesome Videos

via thereifixedit.com more fantastic Diego Stocco music at DiegoStocco.com



via wimp.com



from the BBC Life series

Coupons

Like a lot of people, money is pretty tight for me right now. My husband and I do a lot of things to keep our expenses down. We don't eat out, we buy things used, we shop sales when we do buy new things or we make do without. Something that I've been experimenting a bit with in the last couple weeks is couponing; using coupons in conjunction with sales, rebates and other deals to get things for free or for very little money. Some people, mostly women, are experts in couponing, buying weeks worth of groceries for pennies. And though their skills are enviable, I don't want to take things that far. My biggest qualm is most of the food you can get for free or nearly free is packaged and processed and full of ingredients I can't pronounce. I really prefer to cook with fresh and often local ingredients that you just don't find coupons for. However, there are some truly awesome deals to be had on drug store items. Normally, we buy our shampoo, dish washing detergent, and toilet paper from Costco, paying less than normal retail prices, but my goal is to cut our spending by getting these same items using coupon deals. I'm happy with our success so far. We've bought about $90 worth of hair products, hygiene products and cosmetics and spent only around $15. 

Here's how it works. It's all about combining deals. For example, on Saturday, I purchased $25 worth of Aveeno hair products from CVS for about the price of the tax. I did it by taking advantage of a manufacturer's mail in rebate worth $10, a CVS ECB deal (think store credit rebate) worth another $10 and combined that with $5 worth of coupons. Now, I did have to pay $20 up front, but I have a rebate check coming from Aveeno and next time I shop at CVS, I can use the $10 ECB. Being the lazy person that I am, I don't want to take the time to put these deals together myself, so I let others do it for me. There is a plethora of coupon blogs where people tell you exactly what coupon to use where to save on your shopping. I personally subscribe to three of them. Two of them, The Krazy Coupon Lady and Money Saving Mom are fantastic resources for anyone and the other is more specific to my area. Krazy Coupon Lady has a very nice step by step guide for beginners. It tells you where to find coupons, how to negotiate with cashiers and managers and how to take full advantage of deals and stock up on things. 

There are a few little caveats that you need to consider before jumping in. First, you must be flexible about brands and be willing to use whatever brand is on sale. Second, don't feel like you need to take advantage of every deal. If you do, your house will be bursting with more stuff than you could possibly use. There are lots of deals on household cleaners that my husband and I skip because we just don't use those products. (I prefer to clean with baking soda, vinegar and other equally friendly agents.) And third, when you do find a good deal, be willing to stock up on that item. Even in a small apartment, you can find space in a closet or under the bed to stash some extra things until you need them.

Woo Work

Howie Woo, a Canadian artist, crochets whimsical amigurumi and showcases them through playful photo comics on his blog. I love the sweet, friendly nature of his work. 

I first came across his amigurumi on Craftster.org, where Howie Woo posted the story of the loss and return of his sense of smell, accompanied by a crocheted nose. 

Later, I stumbled across another WooWork project on the Urban Knitting pool on flickr. This time it was a public installation piece called "Raining Cats and Dogs" featuring raindrops with adorable cat and dog faces. Super cute! 

Intrigued, I went to Mr. Woo's website, WooWork.com and found a plethora of equally adorable amigurumi, photo essays and comics. The site is kid friendly, yet engaging for people of all ages.

Butternut Ice Cream

Oh my goodness! Yum!

I subscribe to a CSA and I am head over heels in love with it... except for one little thing. The butternut squash. I've really tried to like it, and it's okay baked into muffins, but for the most part I just can not stand butternut. It must be a bumper year for butternuts because I have a stock pile of them collecting in my kitchen. It was completely out of hand, so on a quest to use the squash, I came across a fantastic food blog - Not Eating Out In New York. If you like food blogs, I highly recommend you check this one out. I am smitten. I love the recipes, the DIY attitude and the farm postings. Her ice cream recipes in particular look amazing. I can't wait to try the chai tea ice cream.

So, armed with my ice cream maker and butternut puree from my freezer, I set about to make this recipe for Rum Butternut Ice Cream, minus the rum. (We were out and I didn't feel like making a trip to the store for a single teaspoon of rum.) Other than omitting the rum, I only changed a couple things from the original recipe. I strained the custard mixture to remove any lumps and chilled it in the fridge over night before putting it into the ice cream maker. It came out amazingly well. It tasted just like smooth, frosty pumpkin pie topped with lots of whipped cream. The only thing I will do differently next time is to cut down on the amount of white sugar. The butternut has a lot of natural sugars already and I prefer ice cream that isn't super sweet. But over all, it really is excellent ice cream and I'm thrilled that I've added a winter squash recipe to my arsenal.

First Post! - Make Something Cool Everyday

I'm loving the whimsical work of Brock Davis from his Make Something Cool Everyday 2009 project. The visual puns make me smile and his commitment to faithfully create something every single day is awe inspiring. Check it out!

Make Something Cool Everyday 2009 on flickr
Brock Davis