Composting is easy. I hate going out on the internet and seeing all these sites about how to compost and they make it sound so damn difficult! Sure,  you can get all the gadgets and this that and the other thing but really just keep an even mix, add water if it’s getting too dry, turn it occasionally and just let it cook. It’ll do it’s own work.

from http://www.ecogloballiving.com

What’s the point of composting? Okay, other than the fact that it’s great for gardens, the other major reason is to stop spending money on “garden soil”, which is pH balanced compost which you can make on your own out of your own grass clippings and left over food waste. (and other things if you have ‘em)

It also keeps stuff out of the land-fill, which you would think “well wouldn’t it just compost there?” Um, not exactly. When it’s in airtight garbage bags, compacted by tons of other garbage bags, with no air or water, all you really get it icky brown fluid in the bottom of a garbage bag….Organic material should make it’s way back into earth, not rot in a bag.

Okay, so what makes up a compost pile? a good mix of “Greens” and “Browns”.

Would you categorize poop as brown or green?  It’s actually green.

Typical green materials are:

Fresh (green) Grass clippings
Fresh manure (horse, chicken, rabbit, cow)
Kitchen scraps (fruit, vegetables, coffee grounds, tea bags)
Weeds
Green leaves
Leftover fruits from the garden

Typical brown materials include:

Brown, dry leaves
Dried grass
Cornstalks (shredded)
Straw
Sawdust
Shredded paper– you know those credit-card offers you shred but you’re still afraid to put in the trash? Put it in your compost pile!

Treat your compost as if it was a pile of money; it actually kind of is!
It provides you with valuable soil that would otherwise cost a pretty penny at the store. It’s what makes your veggie garden grow like mad, saving you a fortune in groceries too. And if you have too many vegetables and can’t eat ‘em all, guess what? It goes back into the compost pile.

If you live in the city, you’ll probably want some type of container for composting instead of an open one. (Mine is literally a pile, that’s it). This can be anything from recycled pallets (which you can paint to look better and not so much of an eyesore) or you can purchase one.  Home depot has some great tumbler composters (so handy for not having to turn your pile manually like I do), and I’m sure pretty much any major garden center is going to have some awesome composters.

Me, I’m all about the free, so if I had contain mine, I’d go with the pallets which you can get for free all over the place.

Now I just have to go buy a replacement cuz I know my husband is going to pitch a fit.

We’ll officially be eating Tuna Noodle Casserole all week as I made a massive casserole of it tonight.
I took a basic recipe and improvised a little.

4 cans of tuna (I have the large 7 oz cans because I got them really really cheap), 25 cents/can = $1.00
3 cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup, $40 cents/can= $1.20
2 cups frozen peas- (99 cents, half a bag, =$0.50)
2 cups milk= $0.20
1 large dallop of sour cream- price? I buy big tubs, so probably 20 cents worth?
1 bag of No Yolks wide egg noodles, cooked and drained, $0.79
a dash of Garlic Supreme seasoning (Allison’s Pantry Bulk Spices)- pennies

Topping:
1/2 bag of favorite shredded cheese or whatever you have in the house, $1.00
1 sleeve Ritz crackers, crushed. $0.57

Cook noodles, drain, and put back in the pot.
Add everything else except the cheese and crackers.
Move mixture to a 9×13 casserole dish
Bake uncovered in preheated oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Add layer of cheese and then crumbs, bake for 5 more minutes.

The sour cream, garlic supreme seasoning, cheese and crackers was added to the basic recipe and it really made it quite delicious!  This filled the entire 9×13 pan to the brink, there’s a LOT.

Ray and I each had 2 helpings, and there was enough to set aside 5 more helpings for lunches.

7 servings, $5.55 for entire batch, 80 cents per serving.

$0.80 vs $8.00+ for Ray’s lunches if he goes to McD’s or Jack in the Box

Acceptable!

Installment 1:  The Meat Slicer

In 2006, my sister sent me a gift-card for my birthday. I didn’t really know what I wanted personally so my husband and I decided to go buy a meat/cheese slicer. After using it a few times, we emailed her and said “Best Present Ever, Thanks!” and I still can say that.

Almost 6 years later, it’s still getting used and proving more valuable than ever.  Lately, sliced deli meat has been around $8.00 a pound (or higher). Occasionally I can get it for $6, but generally it’s a lot more; especially for decent stuff.

A couple weeks ago I went to SamsClub with my friend Lisa and realized that they had the huge hams and turkeys ready for slicing there. Mind you, these were the same ones that my grocery store slices up and sells to me at a premium.

The price breakdown ends up between 1.79-2.99 a pound depending on if it’s on sale or not.  (I bought my ham and my turkey at 23 each, but they had them at 17-19 each a few weeks before, I just missed the sale.)

We go through a lot of deli meat for lunches so this little slicer makes all the difference. I wouldn’t have thought to bring it up but I was talking about cutting up meats the other day and someone else mentioned they do theirs too and our friend was wondering where in the world did we just randomly find meat slicers?

Honestly I got mine online I think through walmart or target. They don’t have the above one anymore but they have one from magic chef that looks pretty wicked.

So if you happen to make sandwiches for lunches and find yourself gawking at the price of sliced deli meats, this might be a way to go. Just thought I’d share!

and PS…. yes, bologna is cheap… but then again does anyone really know what it’s made of?

My decision is based on the fact that over an 18 week time-period, I will be saving myself about $600.00.
That’s a lot of cash! That’s a lot of cash I don’t really have!

So here are the factors that played into my decision:

Pros:

1. Not dealing with rush-hour traffic, the bus driver can deal with that for me.
2. Not having to pay parking fees (12.00 a day)
3. Cuts my gas costs in half
4. Only adds 1/2 an hour to my time per day, an hour per week, which surprised me.
5. I’m a student so my bus pass is cheap.
6. A little less pollution in the air

Cons:

1. There are  no nearby buses cuz I live in the outskirts of town so I still have to huff it into Mesa.
2. It’s a pain to figure out the system online. (Phoenix’s lightrail/bus/metro system online map is awful!)
3. If you miss the bus, you’re still going to have to drive farther to get to the next park-in-ride or risk missing class, or end up parking on campus and paying for parking… so it takes being diligent and prepared.

Okay, so here’s the breakdown on cost based on $2.99 per gallon (on a jeep which gets 15 mpg, my husband has the Ford that gets better mileage because he has to drive way farther than me:)

Driving to ASU Tempe and parking there, 2 days a week:

• Miles per week: 132.8, cost =$26.47 per week x 18 weeks per semester = $476.49
• Parking fees per week: $24.00 x 18 weeks per semester = $432.00
• Total per semester: $908.49
• Total Time Spent driving: 117 hours per semester

Driving to Power Rd Park-n-Ride

• Miles per week: 66, cost=$13.16 per week x 18 weeks per semester = $236.81
• Parking Costs: $0.00
• Bus/Lightrail Pass (for the semester)= $75.00
• Total Per Semester = $311.81
• Total Time Spent on the bus/train: 135 hours per semester.

I’ll be saving $596.00 over the course of 18 weeks so I think it’s pretty much a no brainer.

Now on the “time” spent— people might perceive the difference of 18 hours over the course of 18 weeks as a lot of time wasted. However those 18 hours will be spent reading whatever I want, catching up on my texts, studying extra for an exam, etc, because I won’t be driving.

I also don’t have to deal with the road-rage and aggressive rush-hour traffic because most of rush-hour dies off at Power Road which is where my park-n-ride is.

The reason I’m not losing much time is because of trying to get out of ASU’s parking ramps at 4:15, which is when everyone else is leaving and I don’t get out of the ramp till 4:45 and then I have to battle the insanity known as Mill and University Ave and try to make it to the highway. I’m not losing much time there, and I’m saving a lot of sanity.

So now the real question is how long would it take me to get out to visit friends in North Phoenix via bus and lightrail? Makes me wonder!

I had a shelf for storage in my office.
I moved that shelf to the kitchen for more food storage.
I didn’t have a plan for all the stuff I was storing on it to begin with…

Bad planning on my part….

So this is me now: (in fact, I think I may use this for all future “rant” posts)

Piles, piles, piles. They’re everywhere.

So right in the middle of trying to deal with the piles and get my homework done (which is due tomorrow morning), I went to print out my assignment and the ink on my printer ran out which p***es me off to no end since I just replaced the cartridges last month and I have only printed probably 20-30 things.

Out of frustration (and the fact that I can’t afford to keep buying cartridges but I have to be able to print because of a Paper-Happy professor… come on lady, get with it, all of this could be saved and sent digitally damn it!) I went and bought a new printer. (It was 25.00 more than the replacement cartridges I was going to have to buy but supposedly the new printer can print out about 400 more copies than the previous printer.)

So I got home and started tearing into the box. More stuff everywhere. Then I realized that the new printer was too big for my wall shelf or the cubby that my computer desk has, so I had to haul out the old filing cabinet so that I had a place to set it on.

Everything is upside down!!! There are piles on the floor… piles on the desk…. piles on shelves on the wall…. and worse, my baby’s pack-n-play has the printer box and even more papers in it at the moment!

On a positive note though, the printer is wireless so that’s one less cable I need to worry about….. and just realized while I was typing I could have put the printer anywhere… aw &*%$

So we continue with the ongoing saga of  “how the hell do I organize my kitchen space, or lack-there-of”.

I have a surplus of “Cream of ‘whatever’” soup cans for use as a base in my crock pot meals.  The problem I’m having is that I’m running out of cupboard space.  I have a large shelf that I will be converting into a “pantry” (since I don’t have one) but I have major issues with is displaying ugly cans of soup, pasta, etc in my kitchen since it’s an open shelf.

So I came across an idea on Pinterest, the original idea came from Then She Made, which is a fabulous blog I plan on spending a lot more time reading!

With a little bit of decorative paper, some mod-podge, and a couple empty boxes of soda, I’ve got something I’m actually don’t mind displaying!

(I take horrible pictures, they are MUCH cuter in person and brighter.
My kitchen is just too dark for picture taking)  

I do have a few little places to cleanup but overall they came out great. The result is cute boxes for storing soup cans in a rotational manner and also re-uses 12 pack soda can boxes.

I know you can use those soda dispensers for soup cans but it doesn’t take out the “ugly” factor.

Some tips:

• Find cute corresponding paper at places that have scrap-booking paper. I got my sheets at Hobby Lobby , 6 for $1.00.  The outer shell took 2 sheets, the “front cap” took 1 and actually made 2 front pieces so I could do another box. So for 4 boxes in alternating patterns, was 10 sheets of paper, so $1.80 in paper.
• Cut the back hole where you insert cans out BEFORE applying paper. Kinda forgot to do that on the last 2 boxes and it wasn’t fun trying to cut out while the glue was still wet.
• Trace the front pieces with a pencil, cut out one side and then trace it on the other side of the paper so you have 2 front covers… also add a little bit of padding to wrap it into the inside of the box. I traced it,  but then about 1/4 of an inch above the trace, added dashed lines.
• When using mod-podge, put glue on both the paper, and the box. Smooth for 1-2 minutes with your fingers to keep bubbles from showing up.
• You’re gonna end up with glue on your hands and everything else. Put something on top of your work station if you don’t want to scrap glue later.
• Apply mod-podge to the outside to seal it and give it extra strength.
• Use a paint brush, not paper towels, to apply the glue. Learned that on the first box.   Also, if you can find a paint brush that has a hook on it to keep it on the lip of the mod-podge jar, it’s very handy. Keeps your brush from getting stuck to surfaces or dripping glue. I found mine at walgreens.
• Final thing, these are NOT meant for stacking– they won’t be strong enough to stack once the first row of cans are out.

(Source: Uber Review)

Okay, on a side note for accuracy, the blue is a little too vibrant, it’s missing the light on the top (which personally I would make it light up when the fridge door was open), and a side-by-side fridge would be more appropriate, to match the way the door opens on the actual tardis.

Sadly, my fridge is not mine technically and I’m pretty sure my mother-in-law would kick my ass if I did this to her fridge. (My fridge died and she had a spare one so she lent it to us until we got a new fridge…. 2 years ago. Oops!)

Some day I’ll go fridge shopping and my new set of criteria will be that it has to take paint well. In my geeky household, I’m fairly certain my husband would be okay with me doing this.

This is how!!!  Meet my freezer’s new best friend, the “Large Freezer-Mate” with adjustable dividers and trays by Tupperware®.

I’ve used the small ones before, they’re really amazing, and my favorite feature is that all the ice ends up collecting on the inside of the lid instead of on the meat itself, saving the food from freezer burn.  It’s perfect for freezing large quantities of meats or vegetables which is going to come in really handy for my vegetable garden foods. It includes two trays with handles and four snap-in dividers.  They are flexible too so when I need something, I just bend it and pop that area out.

Oh… did I mention is has a life-time guarantee and it’s 50% off right now? Oh yeah! I bought 2 of them for my freezer.  ((Note- this blog is time-sensitive so if you’ve come across this past January 2012, it might not be 1/2 price or available. If it’s not, sorry, but check my friends site, they may have other sales on other freezermates and stuff going on. my.tupperware.com/lisazarecki)

(There’s a link below to an online “party” I set up through my friend who’s a representative… click “No” for the RSVP and it will let you shop the exclusive area!!!!)

The reason this one grabbed my attention (other than the 50% off price, ha!) is because I buy these bulk packs of chili cilantro chicken from Fresh-n-easy that come with 8 thighs and 8 drumsticks per pack for about $7.00, pre-marinated, and they are divine!
Unfortunately, I need at least 8-9 containers to store them in “meal size” sections since there’s no way my husband and I can go through 16 pieces of chicken in one setting.

So when I saw these, I had to have them. They come with moveable dividers so that you can section off the room  you need for the meats or vegetables.  This is what I did with mine.

I have 6 “meals” broken up of the chicken (I set aside the last set to cook up for dinner), and I used the last slot for hamburger. (That’s 2 lbs of hamburger on each side, lol. 4 lbs between that one divider, and please note, I think I was supposed to break that up into smaller sections, we’ll see what happens when it expands from freezing, ha!)

Then I just threw ‘em in my freezer:

I have plenty of room to stack vegetables or other frozen goods around the boxes.

So I set up a party through my rep and I’m throwing the link out for my chicky-followers.

Click the link below, make sure to RSVP   NO  to the party (since it’s not an in-home party), and then go to “Online Exclusives” !

Liz’s TW Party

 NOTE::: Online show is only through January 27th, 2012. If you come across this post later than that, just go to http://my.tupperware.com/lisazarecki which is my rep’s site and contact her (Lisa) for any specials going on.

PS… I was not paid to review this and opinions expressed are of my own.

Plus I’m too tired to think of something to write.