Month: June 2015

YARD SALE SATURDAY JUNE 13 & JUNE 20

~ Jenny ~ 1 Comment

I didn’t have a lot of time to yard sale last Saturday because of some prior obligations, but I still managed to hit up the “Best Yard Sale Ever” as evidenced by the sign below. Best Yard Sale Ever everyday jenny.com

I picked up a few things there. These cute little adidas shoes for $1 for the little one and some new shovel sets for 50 cents each. There were actually a bunch of the shovel sets and I was trying to figure out a good idea of what to do with them all. They probably could have made a cute party favor if I had any kids with summer birthdays.Yard sale finds everydayjenny.com

I also bought these little hobnail candle holders in the picture below for $3 and sold them a few days later for $15. The 5’X3′ chevron rug was only $8 and the lady said she had just bought it and it didn’t work at her place.  I also picked up some super cute name brand clothes (mostly Baby Gap, Hurley, Carters) for 50 cents a piece. I had more than what’s pictured but I’ve decided it’s kind of hard to take a picture of lots of clothes. Some of the clothes were fall clothes that were a size bigger and I even got a storage container for 50 cents to store them in. A lot of times people will sell their storage containers if you ask about them and they are handy to store your new items in.  Yard sale finds everydayjenny.com

I went to a yard sale where they really wanted to get rid of their stuff so they were making deals left and right and giving away a lot of their stuff for free. Sometimes you’ll find that people really don’t want to stay out longer (especially if it’s hot!) so they are ready to make deals if you just take their stuff. I got the shop vacuum for free, along with the squirt gun and cute boy shoes. I bought the movies for $2 a piece and sold 8 of them because I had duplicates and knew that the Disney movies would go for more.Yard Sale finds everydayjenny.com

These are some other things I spotted but didn’t buy. These cute gold polka dot and striped mugs were 10 cents apiece. I actually regret not buying them because they probably could have been a cute gift with some hot chocolate. This little vintage kids hutch was $20. One yard sale had a bunch of random new toys for $1 and I also spotted a duck browsing through the yard sales. I wonder if he found anything? Yard sale finds at everydayjenny.comAlso, not from a yard sale but I saw these sweet toys on the side of the road with a big free sign. Love that!yard sale findsDid you go out yard sale-ing this past weekend? Find any good deals?

 

SUPER CHEESY LASAGNA

~ Jenny ~ 3 Comments

I don’t think lasagna was something I ever ate growing up. This was probably due to my aversion to red marina type sauces. I didn’t like pizza or spaghetti either. Plus I don’t think my mom ever even made it once. When I got married, one of my husband’s favorite foods was spaghetti and slowly I started liking it too. I also started trying different lasagna recipes, because I am always looking for the best.  I was happy with one that called for just cottage and mozzarella cheese, but then I tried this one with ricotta, cottage cheese, cream cheese, mozzarella and parmesan. It’s ooey, gooey, cheesy lasagna heaven! It is seriously the best lasagna! My friend Hillary shared this recipe with me. I love to layer it in the pan in the morning and then bake later in the day. We love to serve it with garlic knots and a salad. This makes a whole 9X13 pan’s worth, and it tastes great reheated as well. I have been using ground turkey lately and really like it with the turkey but the ground beef is delicious as well.

Super cheesy lasagna that is sure to be a hit at your house. Recipe at everyday jenny.com

Lasagna
1 pound ground beef or turkey
1 jar of your favorite pasta sauce (I like the can of Hunt’s traditional spaghetti sauce, 26 oz)
1 pkg lasagna noodles (16 oz)
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 container ricotta cheese (15 oz)
1 pkg cream cheese (8 oz) softened
1 cup cottage cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
Dried parsley flakes

Cook your noodles according to package directions. Drain and lay out the noodles flat on a paper towel (this helps to keep them from sticking together). Brown the ground beef or turkey in a large pan, adding the garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. Drain any fat. Add pasta sauce plus a little water (I usually add about 1/4 cup) and bring to a simmer, remove from heat.

In a large mixing bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, softened cream cheese and cottage cheese until smooth. Spray a 9X13 pan with a very light coating of cooking spray to prevent sticking. Put a layer of noodles in the bottom of the pan, then a layer of meat sauce (1/3 of the meat sauce) and 1/2 of the cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and parmesan. Then layer noodles, 1/3 of the meat sauce and the other 1/2 of the cream cheese mixture, sprinkling again with mozzarella and parmesan. Layer one last time with noodles, and the last of the meat sauce and cover with the remaining mozzarella and parmesan cheese. Sprinkle with parsley flakes and cover with aluminum foil.

If baking immediately cook in a 350 oven for 30 minutes total, 15 with the aluminum foil on and uncovered for the last 15 minutes.

Or you can refrigerate the entire pan to bake later, and then bake for 1 hour total, 45 minutes covered and 15 uncovered.  Enjoy!

 

RED, WHITE & BLUE GIVEAWAY

~ Jenny ~ Leave a comment
I’m excited to be teaming up with some friends to be part of a 4th of July giveaway! There will be one winner who will get a set of these four items:
Kirsten at thekusilife.com is giving away a cute printable, “God Bless America, Land that I Love”
DSC_0883
Meg at “Sew Beyond Beautiful” made this darling flag garland that would look cute pretty much anywhere in your home.
DSC_0884
Elizabeth at www.botonpurpura.com made an awesome camera strap cover. How cute will this look as you are snapping away your 4th of July pictures?
DSC_0885
I am giving away the cute tissue paper tassel banner. I love making these banners for decorations because they are pretty quick to make and you can pick so many colors. I hope you will enter our giveaway and get some fun 4th of July stuff to decorate your house with! DSC_0880
Make sure to enter the giveaway and tell your friends!
DSC_0929

YARD SALE SATURDAY JUNE 6

~ Jenny ~ 3 Comments

I had a pretty fun Saturday morning. It was kind of rainy again though, so some of the community sales that I thought may be bigger did not have as good a turn out.
One of the best yard sale tips I have is to start early in the morning (I know I hate that too, I like to sleep in but with two early risers in my home that doesn’t happen much anymore.) I look online the night before and take pictures on my phone of the ads of the yard sales I want to check out. I also check the addresses on google maps so I have an idea of which ones are closest and where I want to go to first and in which order.  After you have been yard-saling for a while you will get to know your area better and which areas typically don’t have the best yard sales. For example I have gone to yard sales in retirement communities and there’s nothing I really need there. I find better deals in areas with more families because I am looking for more kids items.
Here are a couple of my finds this week. Two gumball machines and a another water dispenser. It’s kind of funny that I bought one last week because I haven’t seen them before. This one was also $1 and I liked the beehive shape. The gumball machines were $5 and $3. I bought them because I knew right away I could flip them. I sold them the same day for $40.
Some yard sale finds. Check out tips for yard sales at everyday jenny.com

Now comes the next question I’m sure you have, how do you know what you can flip?

Here’s my advice. Stick with what you know. I flip a lot children’s/baby items, because I have kids right now and so I know their price range. So when I see kid’s items and know they are a good deal I will buy them and resell them. I also follow quite a few yard sale sites on Facebook and as I browse I will take mental notes of what items are selling for so when I see things at yard sales I know if they are good to flip. In the case of the bubble gum machines I had seen those sell fast before and ironically about 20 minutes before I posted mine someone sold another one in a few minutes.

Some other things I saw, some cool old vintage windows that were $20, another Ikea shelf, a bench and a cute little tikes car.

Yard sale finds at everyday jenny.com

YARDSALE SATURDAY MAY 30TH

~ Jenny ~ Leave a comment

I was excited about yard sales this weekend because we finally had some nice weather. The last few weeks had been lacking because of rain but there was quite a few this Saturday.

One of my favorite things to hit up are fundraiser yard sales because that means lots more people and lots more things to choose from. There are usually two types of fundraiser sales, one where people donate items and other people sell them, or like the one I went to on Saturday, a fundraiser where everyone is selling their own stuff. I prefer the former, because typically you will get better prices when people sell donated items because they aren’t attached to them. When someone is selling their favorite dress that doesn’t fit anymore they tend to ask more than someone who is selling some old dress someone donated.

A good tip is to search your local online ads, Craigslist for example ( I use ksl.com classifieds, a Utah website) for fundraiser sales. I typically search for “fundraiser”, “multi-family”, “neighborhood”, or “community”. These are going to have the most items to choose from. Most everyone will advertise their sale as “huge” or “biggest yard sale” and you show up and its tiny.  So going with group sales is usually a better bet.

Here are a couple of the deals I picked up this weekend. I found a cute pair of Nike shoes for $2 bucks that looked like they had hardly been worn. I don’t usually buy shoes from sales, but really these look like were worn once or twice so they will make some great Zumba shoes.  I got a 2 gallon water dispenser for $1, an antique milk can for $10 and some cute baby girl clothes for 50 cents each.  The milk can was a random item, but they usually sell for more, so I may flip it. I really like vintage-y, different items.  I also like to buy things that I can enjoy for a little while and then if I don’t like it or they don’t work out with my decor, I can turn around and sell it for either what I paid or a profit.YardSaleSaturdayMay31

I had been looking for a large basket to put the kids shoes in and found one for $5, and this cute little Mickey Mouse soap dispenser for 50 cents for the kids bathroom.YardSaleSaturdayMay30I also found some dvd’s for 50 cents each (Madagascar & Thomas the Train), a Halloween wreath for 50 cents that I think I will rework, and an Igloo water cooler for $1 to use for camping. It was a pretty fun Saturday!

 

SLOW COOKER PULLED PORK SANDWICHES WITH CILANTRO COLESLAW

~ Jenny ~ Leave a comment

I love a good slow cooker meal, because its so nice to have dinner ready without much prep. Pulled pork sandwiches are one of my favorite summer meals because you don’t have to heat up your whole house and you can feed a crowd. One of my favorite parts about this pulled pork sandwich is the cilantro coleslaw.  It’s different from others I have tried, because it’s not overly sweet.  It is still creamy and crunchy, plus the cilantro adds a nice freshness to it. Even if you are not usually a coleslaw person you should give this one a try! I really think the coleslaw makes these sandwiches perfect. We usually serve our kids a deconstructed sandwich and they seem to eat it better than as a sandwich.Slow Cooker Pulled Pork Sandwiches, recipe at everydayjenny.com

Continue reading →