Author: thefunkyfrugalista

I live in a cozy old home in the Piney Woods of east Texas. This is my journal Follow me on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/stacy.kappelmanbruce Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thefunkyfrugalista

Hair Day

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn familyLeave a comment

Well, today wasn’t exactly my hair day except I was getting ready this morning and walked into the living room to tell Donny something and he just started laughing and asked me if I had looked in the mirror. I never really think about what I look like while I’m getting ready, but Donny has never really seen this. I have to straighten my hair in sections due to it being so wavy so I clip half of it up.

He actually thought I had styled it like this.

It was the kids’ actual hair day. Jackson had asked me last week if he could get his hair cut. I think he was just sick of it being long. This is the only picture I got, but it actually ended up much shorter and more layered.

When Hannah found out the Jackson was getting his hair cut, she wanted to get hers cut also. Luckily Desiree had an opening a few hours after Jackson’s appointment.

The girl has so much hair. She just got the ends shaped up and more layers. We all go to Graffiti Hair Studio. Desiree is so good. You should definitely check her out if you’re in Longview.

I will need a cut soon, but right now I’m liking my hair. I have no idea why my eye is swollen. It finally went down a little bit. I think my allergies are getting bad because they itch and I sneeze a lot.

Also, if you have an Aldi, their spiral sliced ham are 49 cents a pound right now. When Hannah and I got home from her appointment Donny had just pulled it out of the oven. Of course this was taken after we had pigged out on it.

He didn’t use the glaze that came with it but instead used hot honey. Sooooo good!

Comfort Food

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The snow and ice seems to have skirted us. It’s still very cold and rainy, but luckily nothing too bad. It’s days like this that I like some good old comfort food. Tonight I decided to make Chicken and Dumplings. It’s a good stick to your ribs kind of meal. I have the copycat version of Cracker Barrel’s pinned to my board on Pinterest. This is my favorite Chicken and Dumpling recipe.

No matter what, when I use flour, baking soda/baking powder, I ALWAYS sift it. Sometimes the soda or powder can get clumpy and if you get a bite with a clump it is SO bitter.

The dumplings call for 3 cups flour, 1 T baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp salt and 1 cup + 2 T milk. just mix that together, roll it out into a big rectangle about 1/4 inch thick and use a pizza cutter to cut it into squares.

Cook your chicken breasts (or whatever chicken you like) in 6 cups chicken broth. I only had 2 cups so I used to bouillon cubes. You would think just boiling the chicken in water would be enough, but you really want that chicken flavor. Add 1/2 onion and some celery. Cook it partially covered for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is done.

Remove everything but the broth. Bring it to a simmer and add the dumplings. Make sure you add quite a bit of flour to the dumplings when you roll them out. This makes the gravy. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the shredded chicken and that’s it. I add a lot of pepper once it’s cooked, but I find I don’t need any extra salt.

It was so good.

The other night Jackson wanted shrimp Po boys again. I found this shrimp at Super 1. It’s breaded raw shrimp and I just pan fried it.

It was SO delicious! I only cooked half of the bag and there’s plenty left for the next meal. I think it was $17.49 for the box, but if you think about how much a shrimp dinner is at a restaurant, it’s a good deal.

Arctic Blast

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

Yesterday the wind was howling. Things were flying all around the patio, all around the yards, it was a mess. This morning we woke up to temperatures in the 20’s. I realize it’s nothing like the more northern states, but for us, it was COLD. Once I get cold it takes forever for my body to warm up. In fact, this is how I walked around the house until Donny left for work and I actually got dressed for the day.

I had no plans to leave the house today. I still had laundry and some baking to do. I had cooked and mashed some sweet potatoes so I decided to make some spiced muffins.

I’m still not sure how I feel about having to take care of a sourdough starter. I have moved it to a larger container and fed it again.. Maybe, if some bread turns out okay, I will feel more confident about it. I don’t know why I feel intimidated by some dough in a jar.

I am almost through all of my meal plans for the week. Tonight was meatballs, mashed potatoes and gravy. I did not serve a vegetable because no one seemed particularly hungry and I knew it would just get shoved back into the fridge.

I don’t know if anyone else does this, but when I’m cooking I always wear an apron. I end up just leaving it on, sometimes just taking it off when I’m ready to get dressed for bed. I was telling Donny that things were made so much better decades ago. This apron was from when I was 18 years old and working at Catfish Charlies in Corpus Christi. I worked there for 3 years and this is the only apron I have left from that time, but even the name is still legible. How crazy is that?

Yep, I’m wearing a turtle neck and a heavy sweater. I’m telling ya, I get cold easily.

Now I’m going to go ready the Daily Bible book. I’m still in Genesis, but I’m learning a lot. Especially learning that the very early biblical names are very hard to pronounce.

Project Pan – Skin Care

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Project Pam is where you use up what you have before you purchase anything else. I recently went through my skin care to take inventory of what I have, what I use and what I need to throw away. I found that I had several samples that I wanted to use up.

Most of these were half full so I’ve been using them up before I use my normal skin care.

These are what I use as a daytime moisturizer. I really like the Hempz oil. It only takes a little bit and really hydrates my skin. I have a backup of this so it’s going to last for a while. The bee venom cream is also good. I don’t know if I would buy the bee venom again. I like it, but I think there are probably better products out there.

I love all three of these serums. I’ve used Mad Hippie for years and they are cruelty free and plant based. I will definitely purchase all three of these again. I layer them under my moisturizer.

Again, I love all of these products and will repurchase them. The cleansing oil is so good at removing makeup. The triple C night cream leaves my skin feeling so soft. The microdermabrasion treatment is something I only use twice a week so it lasts a long time. As you can tell I love the Mad Hippie line of skin care.

Hannah has sensitive skin and we have found that this keeps her skin clear of breakouts but doesn’t strip it. I have been using it also and really like it. So we will be repurchasing this when it runs out.

I guess I don’t really have a problem with buying extra skin care because I tend to be brand loyal. If it works for me I’ll just keep using it. Even after using the more expensive mini sizes that I have I still stick by my Mad Hippie as the best skin care for me.

Easy Pizza Dough

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn RecipeLeave a comment

Tonight I used the leftover pork from last night’s dinner to make a stromboli. I have a go to pizza dough recipe that I use for everything. Here it is:

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1 tsp sugar

1 cup warm water

3 T. olive oil

1 tsp salt

3 Cups flour

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water. Give it a few minutes to foam up. Add the salt and olive oil. Use a bread hook attachment and mix it all up. Add the flour and mix until it’s not super sticky. Lightly flour a surface and knead the dough for a few minutes. Grease a bowl, put the dough in and cover it with a dish towel. Let it rise for about 45 minutes. Punch it down and use it for whatever you are making.

Tonight I rolled it into a rectangle and put BBQ sauce, pork and shredded mozzarella and Colby jack. Cut strips on the side and fold them over. Bake in a 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

The chickens are acting like the velociraptors in the first Jurrasic Park checking the fences for a weak spot. It’s always the same 3, but I am happy to say that they gave up after a while.

A friend brought by this sourdough starter for me. I am hoping I don’t kill it.

And lastly, I finally got Hannah’s little astronaut set up in her room. I love the way it changes colors. I think she’ll love it.

Thank you Tiktok shop.

Rip Van Winkle

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

This afternoon I went into our bedroom to plug in my phone. I was sleepy and decided to just lay down for a few minutes. The next thing I know I’m waking up looking at my phone and seeing that its 5:19. There was still light in the window and my brain could not figure out why it was light so early in the morning when it’s normally still dark. I also could not register why I still had my shoes on. I thought to myself, well since my alarm isn’t going off until 6 I can go back to sleep for a little while. That’s when my brain woke up and realized that it was 5:19 in the evening and I still needed to run to the grocery and I hadn’t even started dinner.

I cannot even begin to explain how groggy I was at the grocery store. Donny was at the self checkout and I walked over to look at a display that was at the end of the checkout lanes. I went to tell Donny something and was literally talking to another man, that was obviously not my husband, and was extremely embarrassed. I think that I’ve had too many late nights and early mornings and everything just caught up with me. I definitely needed that nap.

Luckily, I had taken a pork roast out of the freezer yesterday. I got the pre-seasoned BBQ one from Aldi. Before we left to go the store I put it in the Insta-Pot and set it on manual for 60 minutes. We found some Hawaiian Bread sub rolls that I thought would be perfect for the meal. By the time we got home It was almost ready.

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The meat was so tender. I just put out different condiments and let everyone fix it how they wanted it. Super 1 was having a sale on Sun Harvest chips so if anyone wanted those they could just grab some.

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I added some coleslaw that I didn’t eat from LJS last night. Perfect simple meal. (and incredibly easy too)

P.S.

The scarecrow barrier must be working because no chickens came near the gate today

Reinforcement + LJS

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

Lately some of our chickens have been very bad. There are 3 ring leaders that insist on flying over the gate and running amok in our yard and all of the neighbors’ yards. I spend a lot of time during my day herding chickens back to their yard. Donny and I spent a lot of the day outside. I was taking down the Christmas lights and he was adding more insulation to the coop because we are supposed to be getting some colder weather later this week. Those 3 chickens plus some other followers in the group kept getting over the gate. Donny realized what a pain it was to be wrangling chickens multiple times. He brought out more chicken wire to raise the gate area even more. We thought that worked until one of the chickens flew right over it. I had had enough. I decided to do whatever it took to keep them in our backyard.Donny told me, “you can be serious?’. Oh, but I was. All it took were 2 brooms and a rake plus several zip ties. I also got our scarecrow out of the shed and made sure to chase the chickens around waving it and growling loudly. I figured if they were scared of it they wouldn’t come near it. This is how it turned out.

Donny’s first reaction when I was finished was, “what are the neighbors going to think?’. I told him I didn’t care because I was sick of chasing chickens. Let’s cross our fingers that this works. Let’s hope the HOA is okay with it. Ha had, just kidding, we could never live with an HOA because I’m pretty sure we would get fined every day and/or kicked out.

Hannah treated her boyfriend to dinner since tomorrow is his birthday and she has to work tomorrow night. Since they were already going to eat we decided to try out our new Long John Silver’s. I know, I know, most people think it’s gross, but it has a special place in our hearts here in Longview. You see almost 2 years ago it was not doing so well and they were going to shut it down. That’s when our Facebook group “All Things Longview” went on a mission to save it. And save it we did. Several months ago they completely tore it down so they could build a new store that wasn’t grimy and greasy like the old one. The brand spanking new LJS opened a few days ago and I’m happy to say that we had to wait in the to-go line for quite a while. Even the inside was full and there was a line in there also.

The food was actually SO good. Everything tasted so fresh and it wasn’t overly greasy. I was quite pleased. They also got the order 100% correct. Go LJS! I hope you stay this busy.

Happy New Year

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Last night there was no big party. In fact both Donny and I were sacked out by 9. I don’t feel like we really missed anything and we were both just exhausted. I did manage to make a really yummy, super easy dinner. It’s Kevin’s sheet pan enchiladas.

Cut up corn tortillas into triangles. Put them in a large bowl and add green enchilada sauce, corn, black beans, shredded cheese, and shredded chicken. Mix it all up real good. Spread it out on a baking sheet. Add more shredded cheese on top. Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes. We put the Mexican Crema on ours. Y’all it was so good!

I, of course, forgot to take a picture, but Donny put the leftovers in this container.

I don’t really do New Year Resolutions, but I am committed to reading these books every day. Streams in the Desert is my constant reader, but this year I decided to add the daily Bible readings. I grew up in church, but admittedly, have never really read the Bible except for verses, if that makes sense.

Now it’s almost time to go pick up Hannah and Jackson is coming with me because Hannah wants to go to the mall afterwards. I hope it’s not as busy as Walmart was last night. That was a madhouse.

I’m so ready for 2025! It’s going to be a great year

Project Pan

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Project PanLeave a comment

I’ve seen a trend going around social media called Project Pan. It’s where you don’t buy any new lotions, skin care, fragrance or basically just anything new until you use up what you have. I have always “tried” to do that but sometimes I will see something that I feel like I just “need” to have.

Today I am focusing on body lotion. I dug out the last of the product that I could from this Bath and Body Works lotion. I really did like it. It smelled really good. Would I purchase it again? Probably not because I have more bottles that I prefer.

The next one I want to finish is Kate’s Magik Earth. I really do like this one. I always have to give it a good shake before I use it because it contains a lot of essential oils and it tends to separate. It smells amazing and leaves my skin incredibly soft. I would purchase this one again. It was on the more expensive side, I do like the way my skin feels after using it. I just put it on after my shower and I cannot get over how good it smells. There are several scents, but this one won hands down. In case you are wondering it’s vetiver and cedarwood. I don’t like floral scents and will always go for the more earthy ones.

These are the rest of my stash that I will be using up before I buy any more. My go to will always have on had is the Zum. I use both the patchouli and the Frankincense & Myrrh, but I haven’t been able to find the Frankincense on for a while in the stores. Zum is my ride or die. It smells amazing and makes my skin so soft with no greasy feeling. Also a little goes a long way.

I recently got the EOS. After all the hype I saw about it, I’m not really impressed and won’t be buying this one again.

I used to love Bath and Body Works, I have about a third of this bottle left and also have a full bottle of it in back stock. It smell good, works okay, but I probably wont be purchasing it again.

I absolutely love the Ruby Rain. I got it at a craft show. I got the Hippie chic that smell like Nag Champa. Hannah got the Vanilla Bean. Both scents are so good and the lotion works very well. I would probably buy it again if I saw them at another craft fair.

For some reason I picked up this unscented lotion a while back. I only use it on my legs because who cares what your legs smell like in the winter. You just need to keep them hydrated. I will not be purchasing this again because it’s a bit watery and isn’t nearly as hydrating as my other ones.

So, even though I’m committed to using up all of these products before purchasing more, I will definitely be buying the Zum and Kate’s Magik again.

Shrimp Po Boys + Ambien Chair

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

Sundays are short days for me. Donny works from 1-5. This Sunday Hannah worked from 8-1:30, but ended up getting out closer to 2. After I made everyone breakfast I ran to Aldi to do a food shop for the week. I had been wanting a shrimp Po boy so that’s what I decided to make for dinner.

Every time I buy bakery bread I’m never quite satisfied with the quality so I decided to make the sandwich buns myself. I had pinned a recipe on Pinterest ages ago.

This was one of the quicker bread recipes. The dough only needed to rest on the board for 10 minutes. After that you just make loaves and let them rise for 30-40 minutes on the baking sheets.

I just egg washed and popped them into the oven for 22 minutes and they turned out great.

I’ll be using the larger loafs for garlic bread in recipes coming up.

You can’t have a shrimp Po boy without remoulade sauce so I whipped that up. I’ve been making my own sauces for a while. They just taste better than anything that comes out of a bottle.

It was a build your own with the sauce, popcorn shrimp from Aldi (seriously so good) and lettuce, tomatoes, onions and pickles. I served a fruit salad on the side. Everyone in the family loved it because it really doesn’t get much better than warm bread right out of the oven.

This morning, though, I woke up not feeling well. I am super congested with body aches. I hope I’m not getting the mysterious virus that is going around. I decided to take it easy and have been in the Ambien chair binge watching Fear Thy Neighbor. It’s actually pretty good if you like true crime.

This is the Ambien chair. We call it that because every single time I sit in it I fall asleep. It doesn’t matter if I’m not even one bit tired, BOOM, I’m asleep. I think it’s just because it’s so comfortable. I got it super cheap on the last day of an estate sale (50% off) when we first moved here. One of my best purchases ever. So I think I’ll just take a little nap now and try to sleep off this sickness.