Cupcake Decorating Ideas

I have a book that is over 170 pages and it takes up precious real estate on my bookcase. I bought it for cupcake decorating ideas and in the last 10 years I have referred to this book about 3 times. I've been keeping the book for the few ideas I like. It seems silly for this book to take up space when I don't use it often. I decided to scan the pics and give the book (which still looks brand new) to my niece who likes to decorate cakes.

The ideas are easy but not always quick to execute especially the eyes on the caterpillar. I thought doing the little icing ribbons on the Starbursts would be quick but it was a major time consumer. I asked my kids to help me unwrap the candy but they were eating it so I had my husband help me instead. In other words these are not last-minute decorating ideas.

Starbursts and icing

cut marshmallows and use candy for center

chocolate candy, jelly beans and crushed chocolate cookies

the recipe for the ribbon

marshmallows, peanut butter cups, red candies, pretzel sticks

Snowmen can be cuter without the eyebrows. The directions say to make regular size and mini cupcakes. Use icing to attach cupcakes. 

fruit-striped gum and pressed fruit wrap, the hat is 2 vanilla wafer cookies with icing in the middle

Do You Know How Old that Ketchup Is?

If you're frugal like me you probably save the condiments from restaurants. But have you ever noticed they don't usually have an expiration stamped onto the packet? This could leave you with the possibility of keeping condiments way past their expiration date. It happens to all of us. The day I decided to start keeping track of the condiments was when my kid asked me for ketchup and the bottle was empty so I went to the back-up condiments that had been sitting in the pantry for a while. I opened about 15 packets and they were dark brown like A1 Sauce. Obviously out of date but how could I tell without opening the packets?  No expiration date. It made me wonder how old is this stuff anyways?  So I threw it all out and started putting the condiments in sandwich baggies marked with the year. 

So at the beginning of every year I go through my pantry, medicine and vitamin cabinet, and coupons to trash the out-of-date items (not the coupons because I send those to our military troops). Having the condiments in marked bags with dates makes it much easier to know which condiments to use first and also which ones throw out. 

So that's my tip. 

This is what I threw out also. It makes me both happy and sad.  Happy to be cleaning and getting rid of stuff and sad because I feel like I'm throwing money away.

Password Notebook

A long time ago I used the same password for every site.  It sure was easy and fast. But like I said that was a long time ago and we all know now (thanks to hackers) that we have to have a different password for every site. In order to keep up with all the different passwords I started a password notebook. My first pw notebook was a small 2 x 4 pad and not in alphabetical order. I just added the passwords to the notebook as I went along. That didn't last very long because I filled it quickly and started having a hard time finding the passwords. Over the years the notepads got bigger and bigger. I finally learned through trial and error what makes a good password notebook.  Here's what I learned:

1. Make sure your notebook is big enough to fit all the info so you don't have to start a new notebook every  couple of  years.  This is 5 x 7.5 notebook amd has 192 pages.

2. The notebook should be in alphabetical order according to the website name. Make a section for each letter in your notebook. It's so much easier and prettier if you use stickers.

3.  Write in pencil. I used to write in ink but when I had to change the password I had to mark through the old password making the notebook look messy and taking up unncecessary space.
4.  When placing the letter stickers in your notebook don't give every letter equal number of pages in between.  Some letters require more pages than others.  For example:  I don't have many accounts at sites that start with F but I go to many sites that start with S or T.  So allow extra pages in between for those letters.
5. If you have more than 1 email or your spouse is also using the pw notebook, make sure you also specify which email along with the password

6.  Make sure your spouse puts the notebook back where it belongs after using it. There's been many a time when I had to go looking for my pw notebook because "someone" didn't put it back in its proper place.