OK, I know this is another food post, but it's yummy!

I don't like to waste things. That applies to food, too.When we've eaten up a loaf of bread and the ends are left, I stash them in a ziplock in the freezer.  When we have leftover pancakes or waffles?  Yep, stashed in the freezer.  The kids will pull out frozen waffles or pancakes and heat them up for breakfast, but sometimes it feels like the freezer is getting over-run by leftover carbohydrates.

Not really a bad thing, but in the effort to make some room in the freezer to keep stashing bread, I made some bread pudding. 

Not all in the family are in love with bread pudding.  I know, weird.  So I made individual servings in canning jars.  Because much like bread pudding, I am in love with canning jars.  But that romance is for another day.

Even though bread pudding is relatively easy to make, it is usually soggy and heavy.  That is not my favorite.  So I looked for a good recipe to try and came upon this one from Amy at Angry Chicken.

I modified it just a smidge.  Here is what I ended up doing:  I let the ziplock of stashed carbs sit for a bit on the counter until it was partially thawed.  Then I tore them into bits.  This bowl includes pieces of homemade bread, store-bought bread, pancakes, chocolate chip pancakes, and even a stray biscuit.

Then I mixed the wet ingredients together and poured them over the top.  Not so tough.  I also threw in a couple of handfuls of chocolate chips, since there were already some in the pancakes.

Then I spooned them into 1-cup canning jars (this made 7 of them), set them in a cookie sheet, covered them with foil and refrigerated overnight.  I agree with Amy, this made a huge difference and gave the pudding an airy, spongey texture.  I also baked on the cookie sheet and added some boiling water to the cookie sheet as a water bath.  I'm not sure if that was necessary, but they turned out great!  See the yummy chocolate chips?  Heaven!

Bread Pudding in a Jar:

6 cups (or so) of bread, or an assortment of what you have, torn into pieces
1 (or so) cups chocolate chips
1/4 cup melted butter (1/2 cube)
2 cups milk (I used skim! and it was still great!)
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla


Tear bread into a large mixing bowl. Add the chocolate chips.  The more, the merrier!

In another bowl, melt the butter and let cool before adding the other ingredients.

Pour the wet ingredients over the bread and toss.  Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour to let the bread soak up the custard.

Prep the canning jars by buttering or spraying with a non-stick cooking spray.  Spoon the bread into the individual jars and place onto a cookie sheet.  Cover all with one large sheet of aluminum foil and refrigerate overnight.  Pour boiling water a 1/2 to 1 inch in the bottom of the cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes (my oven is a little hot, so things tend to take less time)  If they brown too quickly, just put the foil back on top.

Enjoy!


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What's for Dinner? Week 3

Since Weeks 1&2 were so easy to put together, we thought we'd keep going with week 3.  Our meal planning this week started with the all-important question "Does anyone have any suggestions or requests for dinners this week?"  I got two answers.  "Pizza" from Monkey; "Enchiladas" from Brian.

We've had pizza the past two Fridays, and Enchiladas in the last week.  Thanks for the help, guys.

I like to plan my menu by looking at two three things:

1. What do I already have that needs to be used up?
2. What are my staples that I always have on hand?
3. What is on sale at the grocery stores?
   

To use up:  half a bag of potatoes, more hamburger in the freezer from the last 2 weeks.
On hand:  rice, eggs, pinto beans, canned tomatoes, tortillas
On sale:  stirfry vegetables, brown rice, broccoli, pork, bacon and chicken. 
                (Pork and chicken for next week)


Monday:  BLT's and Country Potato Salad

Tuesday:   Stirfried vegetables with brown rice and egg rolls

Wednesday: Pasta (somthing easy since there is a softball game AND Cub Scout pack meeting)

Thursday:  Burrito Casserole in the Crockpot
With Spanish Rice

Friday:  Navajo Tacos
I'm making these on Friday (instead of pizza!) because we'll be gone most of the weekend and the "fried food" smell will have time to dissipate.  I really don't like frying food in oil because it seems like the whole house stinks like a greasy-spoon! (Does anyone use the term greasy-spoon anymore?  Come to think of it, I haven't heard anyone but my Grandma or Mom use that to describe a restaurant.)

For a treat I'm thinking about trying Nanaimo Bars.  Strictly as an experiment, mind you.  I'm not planning on eating them at all.  No, not at all.

As I make my menu and check off the things I have on hand, I'm also making my grocery list for the rest of it, usually fresh fruits and veggies and the meat and dairy.

I also write the main dish down on the calendar for each day.  Then everybody knows the answer for that age-old question, "Mom, what's for dinner?"

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Flowers-How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

 Almost every page or project that I make seems to have a flower or flower-ish shape gracing it, even though 3 out of my four kids are boys.  This is a page I made a few years ago about Joe's flower pot that he painted, planted a flower in, and gave it to me.  The journaling is on the tag tucked behind the picture.  I used Jenni Bowlin papers, Cloud 9 chipboard, the frame around the picture is My Mind's Eye, the tag is Jenni Bowlin and I can't remember where the blue quote is from.  The sheet of music is from an old music book.

Here's a close-up of the flower. I cut the circles free-form using scalloped scissors, layered them and just stitched an X over them. When I sew on pages I use very little adhesive, just enough to tack things down. Then I use my sewing machine to do the rest! Like the recipe book I made for my sister using no adhesive. It's easier on the scrapbooking budget, that's for sure, because I go through a lot of tape runners!

This page uses papers from K&Co., Cosmo Cricket, Jenni Bowlin, and one other paper.  Good golly, I keep forgetting one product!

You'll also notice that I use a lot of shipping tags.  Because I love them.  Really, they are so versatile.  This one has the sonnet XLIII by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  I realize that it is no longer in the 14 line sonnet format because I had to change it to fit the tag, but the words are still just as beautiful.

This flower was made by first punching a circle out of an old cardstock sticker that I wasn't going to otherwise use.  {Yes, I recycle my scrapbooking supplies!}  Then I covered the top side of the circle with adhesive and started winding the lace from the outside edge to the inside, like a reverse funnel.  The button stuck on with a pop-dot.

Add caption

The little flower is three layers of cardstock mod-podged together, then covered with patterned paper and punched twice to make a fake chipboard fake button.  {Yes, I meant to type fake twice.  I not only recycle my supplies, I fake it when I scrapbook.  I also use "mod-podge" as a verb.  It is an action word, you know.}

I backed this fake chipboard fake button with a layer of the same lace as the top button by zipping some adhesive on the back side edges.



This scalloped fake button is made like the button above, except with the scalloped circle punch.

 

Now, onto the next page...the Christmas card picture.  This is a little bit busy since sometimes I just keep adding things until the page weighs about two pounds.  Notice the tag again?  Why mess with a good thing?  I also used the lovely scalloped circle-pseudo flower again.  I dug into my stash to find a Rhonna Farrer diecut patterned paper from a few years ago.

 

In this close-up you'll see baker's twine, another of my go-to items, and a lovely jumbo button.  Have I mentioned my love affair with buttons?  I'm sure I have somewhere along the line!

And also some stitching details.  If I am at home near my sewing machine the page gets stitched.  Just saying, nothing is safe from the needle and thread.

Have a great weekend!

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My old curtains could have a trendy twist

Remember these valances from a couple weeks back?

I picked up the March Country Living Magazine at the library yesterday, and look what's on the cover! 

Photo from Country Living

The same fabric made into lovely curtains and scalloped cover.  Love that they paired it with the BLUE (kind of a periwinkle, which I love)!  I don't think I would've dared, but it looks so fresh!  Loving the ottoman, too.

The valances were hung in a yellow living room in our last house on the farm, which I really liked, but I don't adore the dark red wall in the living room.  But it shall stay the way it is.

What's for dinner? Week 2

This is the second week of the two weeks worth of menus that we planned during Family Home Evening.

Monday:  Taco Soup
I'll change this up a bit by browning the beef {actually using the meat I browned and seasoned last week}and putting everything in the crockpot.  We also like olives added in at the end.

Yo-Yo Cookies for FHE treat


Tuesday:  Enchiladas
    *We switched some things around last week so we didn't get to the enchiladas.  


Wednesday:  Pasta with pesto and Green Salad
We have this pretty much every week.  My favorite way of making homemade pesto is here, but in the winter time we don't have fresh basil growing in the garden, so I've been making a spinach pesto.

Spinach Pesto for Winter
1/2 of a 1 pound bag of frozen spinach, thawed but not drained
1/4 cup dried basil
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
2-3 garlic cloves
1/3-1/2 cup Olive Oil
Water if needed to thin it out

Just put everything in a blender pitcher and blend it until it is fairly smooth.  Pesto will be a bright, springy green and delish!  You can also add a handful of nuts if yo want.  Toss this with hot, cooked pasta and serve.  We always top our pasta with cheese instead of adding it to pesto. 


Thursday:  Irish Chicken and Dumplings


Friday:  Relief Society Dinner (leftovers for the kids)


Saturday:  Homemade Pizza made with whatever we have on hand and this dough recipe.


Sunday:  Lasagna

I like a basic lasagna recipe, but with spinach, minced garlic, and basil added into the cheese layer.  Sometimes I make the sauce extra saucy and used uncooked lasagna noodles, but usually I just cook the noodles until they're al dente first.

The Times In Which We Live...

I've been reading this article "The Times In Which We Live"  after hearing the talk again on the internet radio station. I remember well the feelings I had while listening to these words the first time, just weeks after the attacks on 9/11.  I can still feel my heart jump to my throat when I heard these words:  "a U.S. missile attack is under way."

These words reassured me:  "We are people of peace. We are followers of the Christ who was and is the Prince of Peace. But there are times when we must stand up for right and decency, for freedom and civilization."

They made me think:  "As we have been continuously counseled for more than 60 years, let us have some food set aside that would sustain us for a time in case of need. But let us not panic nor go to extremes. Let us be prudent in every respect. And, above all, my brothers and sisters, let us move forward with faith in the Living God and His Beloved Son."

 They lifted my spirit.  "Are these perilous times? They are. But there is no need to fear. We can have peace in our hearts and peace in our homes. We can be an influence for good in this world, every one of us."

I agreed with them, and still do:  “Religion offers no shield for wickedness, for evil, for those kinds of things. The God in whom I believe does not foster this kind of action. He is a God of mercy. He is a God of love. He is a God of peace and reassurance, and I look to Him in times such as this as a comfort and a source of strength.”

They gave me counsel:  "As we have been continuously counseled for more than 60 years, let us have some food set aside that would sustain us for a time in case of need. But let us not panic nor go to extremes. Let us be prudent in every respect. And, above all, my brothers and sisters, let us move forward with faith in the Living God and His Beloved Son."

And I am thinking about these things again as the people of Japan are struggling to make sense of their new reality. I am amazed by the dignity and  We feel helpless, like we can't do much, but we are going to send some blankets here to be sent on to Japan to hopefully warm some hearts along with some feet. Contact Juli at julinewman@gmail.com if you can help.

One more quote:  "Let us be prayerful. Let us pray for righteousness. Let us pray for the forces of good. Let us reach out to help men and women of goodwill, whatever their religious persuasion and wherever they live."

The people of Japan are in my prayers, as are my brother-in-law Mark, who is over there, and Elder Voss who is serving a mission from our ward.  Be safe.

I've been pinned...

This is what I found on my pincushion:

Mom I {heart} u!

Thanks, Joe.  I {heart} u 2.

 

What's for dinner?

I hear that question at LEAST 4 times a day, sometimes more.  Most of the time I have dinner planned in advance, but whoa, you should see what the reaction is if I decide that we'll just have leftovers, or (gasp!) cereal!  You'd think I was trying to feed them this.

For FHE last night, Natalia decided to incorporate a Personal Progress goal, and we made up a 2-week menu plan.

I've been trying to get a lot of the cooking or prep work done on Mondays since the week just gets busier as we get further into it.  This is the menu we decided on for this week:

Monday (yesterday!):  Honey BBQ Chicken, Twice Baked Potatoes, Green Salad
*This is a big batch of chicken, but I'm using the leftovers on Friday for BBQ Chicken Pizza.  I just pulled the meat off the bone, chopped into bite-sized pieces and packaged it into a freezer container to freeze until then.
*I also doubled the potatoes and made twelve, and packaged the other six up in the freezer for another meal.

• Honey BBQ Chicken 

          2 whole chickens, cut into pieces
         1/2 tsp. salt
         1/2 tsp. pepper
         For Sauce:
         2 large onions, chopped
         1 16 ounce can tomato sauce
         1/2 cup cider vinegar
         1/2 cup honey
         1/4 cup Worcestershire
         2 tsp. Paprika
         1/2 tsp. hot pepper sauce (Tapatio or Tabasco)
    
         Place chicken, skin side down in 2 prepared 9x13 pans.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Mix sauce ingredients and pour over the chicken, (makes about 4 cups of sauce) half for each pan.    Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 3 minutes.  Turn chicken and bake 20 or so minutes longer, until done.
Tuesday:  Green Pasta (pesto), Veggies, Garlic Bread, Salad

• Twice-Baked Potatoes

         6 medium sized Russet or Baking potatoes, scrubbed and baked (microwave works, too!)
         1 cup sour cream
         1 cup shredded cheese
         1 Tablespoon powdered Ranch dressing mix
         pepper to taste

        Slice the top off of the potato and use a tablespoon to scoop the cooked pulp into a bowl.  Add the other ingredients and mix together.  Stuff the potato mixture back into the potato skins using the tablespoon again.  Bake on a cookie sheet or 9x13 pan for an additional 10 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Wednesday:  Hamburgers, Salad, French Fries

Thursday:  Corned Beef and Cabbage, Irish Bread 

Friday:  BBQ Chicken Pizza

• using leftover chicken from Monday, this pizza crust recipe, and BBQ sauce instead of pizza sauce
• Pizza dough in the Bread Machine

          1 1/4 cups plus 2 Tablespoons warm water (80 degrees)
          2 Tablespoons Olive oil
          2 Tablespoons sugar
          2 tsp. salt
          2 Tablespoons dry milk
          3 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
          1 cup whole wheat flour
          2 tsp. instant yeast

          Add all ingredients into the bread pan of the machine in the order given.  Use the dough setting and when it is done, punch dough down and let rest for 10 minutes.  Form into a crust and top with pizza toppings.

Saturday:  Leftovers Buffet with Caesar Salad and Breadsticks

• For Breadsticks, make another batch of the Pizza dough above, adding 1 Tablespoon of Italian seasoning to the dough.

•  We like Ken's Lite Creamy Caesar Dressing

Sunday:  Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas, Broccoli, Green Salad
(I'm making 2 pans of Enchiladas and stashing one in the freezer for a rainy day, you know, so my kids don't have to eat cereal for dinner EVER.)


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Daily Organized Chaos

I Don't Know What to Title This So It is What it is:)

Yo Peeps:) It's me, Natalia. I am really bored here at home so I decided to do a post on my mom's blog while she is visiting with her Visiting Teachers. Anyways, I guess I'll tell about some of my recent uh, things I've done.

Okay, well first off, on March 9, I had a Medieval Feast at school. I had to dress up(yes:( dress up) as a Lady, since I was the Lady of my Manor. My history teacher, Mr. Scudder, split my history class into Manors and we had to have a name(ours was the Steed Riders, and don't worry, I didn't come up with that), make a banor, build a castle(the castle, by the way, did not have to be life size, hehe:) just big enough for people to see the different parts of it, and small enough so we could get it through the classroom door), AND write a story of at least 8 pages.

Doesn't seem too hard, right? Wrong. It was especially hard because it was hard to find days everybody in our Manor(we had 6 people) could meet to work on the stuff. Our story also had to have a whole bunch of facts, with end notes(end notes are little um things that we had to put after the facts we had so that my teacher knew we didn't plagiarize), and we had to do a Works Cited page. Oh, and if you don't know what that is, look it up on Google or something. Anywho, to make a long story short, it was a hard and long project. I have to say, I'm glad it's over with. You should see my dress.....

      Haha:) Sorry about the bad picture. I was talking apparently.                                                       

Let's see...what else have I done? Oh yeah, I'm playing softball this year. So we haven't had our first game yet but practices like 3 or 4 times a week. It's been pretty fun.

I like it here, if anybody was wondering. Its nice. I have friends lol:) I don't know why but, I felt like you should already know that. Hehe:)

Yesterday, we went to Santa Rosa. Sadly, we couldn't leave like, Friday or anything because Brian had to give a talk at church:( Ugh. Jimmy(my cousin) was at Nonni's(my grandma) house, back from Army training. And you know what??  We only got to see him for 3 hours!! 3 hours!! That's it! We hadn't seen him since Christmas and now when he comes home for a few days, we only got to see him for a whoppin' three hours. It's depressing. It really is.

He and Dani and Kaelin are leaving  for Texas. And we had to say bye to them last night after only spending 3 hours with them when we aren't gonna see Jimmy for like a whole year. Hopefully Dani and Kaelin come visit this summer like Dani said they might. :'(Its sad to think about.

I can't wait til Auntie Tara and Auntie Emily come visit with Jeremiah and Ebers Lyn!!:) It's gonna be soooo fun! I hope I don't have to babysit alot though..haha. Anyways, I don't really want to write anymore so if you want to know anything else just like leave a comment or something.

Hapy Pi Day!

Today is 3.14, or pi day, for those of you who may have flunked math like I did.

Bake a pie, eat a pie!

That's how we're celebrating!

Here are some of our favorite pies.
Humble Peach Crumble Pie



Cherry Cream Pie  tip:  I like a little bit of almond extract mixed with the cherry pie filling.


And I am still missing my favorite Pie Maker at the Pie Hole, but, {Whoo-hoo!}  I found full episodes here, so now I can watch them all again!

On another note, Project Simplify is working on paper clutter this week.  Ugh.  Wish me luck!

Seeking What's Good...

We've been listening to this song a lot lately. Natalia first heard it at a Young Women's meeting, and it's got a great message!

The song goes along with this year's theme for the Youth, the Thirteenth Article of Faith:

"We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul--We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things."





For Family Home Evening we worked on the 13th Article of Faith. Monkey THINKS that he is in charge of FHE every Monday.  He wrote the agenda down on the bottom left hand corner of the board.  I'll translate for you:

• Oponing Prer = Opening Prayer
• Oponing Song = Opening Song (pretty obvious) 
• Toke = Talk (lesson)
• Aktevt = Activity (he wanted to watch 101 Damsos {Dalmations}) it didn't happen.
• Kosing Prer (Closing Prayer)

Artwork was provided by Natalia and Joe.

Here is a game on lds.org to reinforce and practice the Articles of Faith. There are three different levels, so it's fun for beginners or for those who already THINK they have them memorized!  We have used the songs to help learn and reinforce the Articles of Faith, too.  Joseph is memorizing them to sign off for the Faith in God program, too.

Most of the time, holding Family Home Evening is HARD!  I am tired at the end of the day.  I get up early, and by that time of night the house is a mess, the dishes need doing and the kids are all getting tired, too.  We try to keep FHE short, and sometimes the kids are cooperative and helpful.  Sometimes they are wrestling on the floor or pouting in the corner.  There is no telling how it will go, but again, we do try.  And I try NOT to pull my hair out.

Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance

Be Prepared.

Almost every time my family goes on a trip I am the last person out of the house. I stop and look around, just to make sure I am not forgetting anything. I want to be totally prepared for whatever we might encounter. Do I have extra water bottles? It never fails that a mile or two down the road Monkey will be "so thirsty!" Did I remember to pack the toothbrushes, the hairdryer, and extra socks?

Preparation is so important, no matter what we are doing. In order to do something right, we need to have all of the proper tools. One of my Grandmother's sayings was "Prior planning prevents piss-poor performance." If we didn't have something fully planned out and it showed, she would say, "PPP!" And we knew what she meant. And she really had a point!


I recently read an article that recommended starting with an emergency water supply and a 72-hour Emergency Kit.  That really is common sense stuff, so why hadn't I thought of it that way?  The most important thing we will need in an emergency is water, then food and other emergency supplies.

The earthquake in Japan yesterday just drove home that point to me.  If there was an earthquake, fire, or any other kind of disaster (Katrina ring a bell?), are we prepared to evacuate our home on a moment's notice?

We have 72-hour Kits.  They are stashed in the hall closet.  Each of the kids has a backpack with supplies, food, clothes, and water.  We go through them twice a year and rotate the food out, packing new items in their place.  There are ready-made kits available, but ours are morphed together from my original Emergency Kit that my parents had for me and things that we've added along the way.

Some things we have in the kids' packs:

• change of clothes and shoes (shoes can be tied onto the outside of the backpack to save room)
• small first aid kit
• toiletries including:
• small bottle of shampoo
• small bar of soap
• toothbrush and paste
• toilet paper
• whistle
• flashlight with batteries packed separately
• waterproof matches
• emergency blanket
• poncho
• food to last 72 hours*
• a book and a coloring book and pens or crayons
• multi-tool or pocket knife
• some hard candy or fruit snacks (in an emergency you need something feel-good, too!)
• several water bottles, plus two 2 liter bottles of water

*The food we pack is VERY simple.  I buy boxes of Protein bars at Costco and divy them out.  I'll also add things like trail mix, fruit leather,  regular granola bars and jerky.  I even have cans of peanuts, cans of sardines and small tins of beans and franks (they have pop tops to eliminate the need for can openers.)  I try to keep it to food that does not need to be cooked.  We've packed hot cocoa mix and oatmeal packets, but those would require hot water to prepare them properly, even though they could actually be eaten cold or even dry.  I don't think beggars will be choosers. I also like to keep a combination of carbs and protein to keep energy up.  If there is an emergency, chances are calories will be burned with the adrenaline that is pumping!

Some things I want to add:

• a rope
• garbage bag
• plastic spoons
• a paper or tag with contact information and phone numbers for home, cell phones, and family in another area that may not be affected by the emergency.
• travel pack of baby wipes (always handy, especially when you don't have a lot of water available)
• a couple of matchbox cars for the little boys

Other things to pack for young children (of which I have none anymore):

• diapers
• baby food/formula
• medications
• small toys
• extra extra clothes
• receiving blanket 

Can you think of anything else that should be added to a Kids Emergency Kit?

I hope we never have to use these, but I feel better knowing they are ready and available.  And I don't want my grandma shaking her head and saying, "PPP!"

Here are some more links for 72-hour Emergency Kit information:

Ready.gov

72hours.org

The American Red Cross

Article from TheProvince.com

Project: Simplify Master closet cleanup...

I'm on a never-ending quest to simplify and de-clutter.  I have to say that things are less cluttered since getting rid of so much before moving, and I really like it.  Once in a while I'll look for something (or Andy will look for something!) and we'll realize that it didn't make the trip out here.  Which also means that my mom and sister had to deal with it.  Sorry!

I have a tendency to be in a rush all the time.  I'm rushing to get the kids to school, to get breakfast made, to get a project done, you know what I'm getting at.  With all of that rushing around things do not get put back the way they should.  So, now there is a big mess!

The main rooms of the house are usually picked up, even if they need a good dusting (which usually happens on a Saturday morning) or another vacuuming (which happens several times a week).

The bedrooms, on the other hand, are the junk depositories.  The kids haul their stuff to their bedrooms and dump it.  I toss things into my room, or closet, and don't get around to putting them away properly until the stacks are threatening to topple over.

Here's where Project: Simplify comes in.  I'm participating in Simple Mom's 5 weeks program to get 5 hot spots dealt with.  This week was just the master closet, which actually took me very little time, two blocks of about an hour each.  Not bad! 

Here is before...See what I mean about the piles toppling over?  And the shoes.  Yikes!

 

Hangers all willy-nilly, and more of the piles

Now for the after...

Voila!

Spring has sprung...

Branches from a tree in our yard.

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Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without...

Curtains:

We've been needing them in our living room, and I wasn't quite sure what to do for them.  Anything that I really wanted would cost way more than I HAD or WANTED to spend, so I dug out these tried and true Waverly Toile (I'll admit that I have a tad bit of toile in almost every room in the downstairs) print valances that I made 6 years ago when we first moved to our little house in Missouri, and this is the third living room they have graced the windows of.


I knew that I wanted that slightly pointed, scalloped shape, so I made a template {maybe with some newspaper?  I can't remember now}.  There was some waste of fabric since this is a one-way print, but I put the scraps to use elsewhere.  I wanted to do this as cheap inexpensively as I could, so I passed on buying new decorative rods and just used regular curtain rods.  The vertical blinds are a bummer, but I've got to leave them for privacy.  Oh, well!  But I like the way the valances give the windows a more finished look.

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