7 Quick Takes

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1.  Happy Friday!  How has your week been?  The kiddos here have some sniffles.  Sadly, I think that they are seasonal allergies.  Hopefully they will pass soon.  In other news, we recently saw a cute family movie, How to Train Your Dragon.  Take a quick look at the picture below.  Was that a still from the movie?  Nope.  It's cake.  You can see more at the Cake Wreaks Blog. (Disclaimer: While the blog has a Sunday showcase of amazing cakes it really is about the messed up cakes found for sale in bakeries.  Many of these cakes are somewhat accidentally vulgar.  Just exercise some caution while looking through.)

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2.  I was browsing Pinterest and came across this ecard that made me laugh out loud.  (Seriously.)

3.  I keep seeing Gwyneth Paltrow popping up for her $29 a week food budgeting fail.  I don't want to debate food stamps, or what they can be used for, or what was her plan with all of those limes.  I would like to offer in her defense that meal planning and shopping on a budget takes a bit of planning and time.  It can take years of trial and error, of learning coupon policies, store habits, creative cooking, etc. to master food budgeting.  That being said, my family of four doesn't come even close to spending $29 a week per person.  In fact, that number seems shockingly high to me.  But I don't live in NYC, and I shop sales, the discount stores know us, I am quite familiar with coupons, and I am a half-way decent home cook.  Ok, I give in, what would you do with that many limes in one week?  (Assuming you aren't allowed to use any pantry items.)

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4.  I've mentioned my love of Lands' End clothing a few times on this blog.  They tend to wear well, keep forever, and have fairly classic lines.  Unfortunately, regular price is well beyond my budget.  Sales, coupons, and generous gifts have helped many pieces land in my closet.  This week I found a new way.  Thred Up had some nice items in my size, and since I had a $10 credit burning a hole in my virtual pocket, I ordered myself some new summer pieces.  You should sign up too!  If you use my link we both will get a $10 credit to use.  Yippee!

5.  Now, you might be asking "How does buying more stuff fit with your slimming down the wardrobe desire that you mentioned just last week?"  We are going to be moving this summer to a much warmer climate and my warm weather clothes needed some major overhauling and updating.  Thanks to pregnancies, gaining weight, losing weight, and the like, I had very few shorts that fit properly.  After reading various bloggers that have done the minimalist (or capsule) type wardrobes all of their clothing had one thing in common: everything fit well and they loved wearing it.  So while I might be ordering two new pairs of shorts this week, my plan is to get rid of five pairs that just don't work for me.  What's your clothing philosophy?

6. Do you crochet or knit?  I'd love to have you link up your projects at my weekly Yarn Fanatic Party!  (There's also a great little giveaway there.)

7.  I'm hosting a Lilla Rose giveaway!  Also, they are having a sale right now.  (Just in case you needed an excuse.)