Curbly has a tutorial on how to reupholster an ottoman. It seems to me that this is one of the easiest things to reupholster and can be a stylish addition to the living room. This would be especially great if you need seating but can’t afford a new chair right now. (Or, if when your mother comes over, she always complains that she doesn’t have anything to put her feet up on. Not that I would know about that.)

In this case, they turned this:

To this:

Using plaid from a vintage pleated skirt. It looks like the legs were changed too. They were stained and screwed in where the old legs were. A great project for very little money and work.

According to my Price Book, I bought cheese five times this month. I was surprised. That is a lot of cheese for two people. Cheese isn’t cheap, either. In fact, the price has been going up significantly.

I bought:

11 oz of mozzarella for $3.58, or $.32/oz
2 lbs of cheddar for $6.99, or $.22/oz
15 oz of ricotta cheese for $4.49, or $.30/oz
11 oz of goat cheese for $3.99, or $.36/oz
2 lbs of provolone for $7.59, or $.24/oz.

Apparently I like variety in my cheese. I did make several pizzas and raviolis this month, so none of that cheese got wasted. I notice that when I buy in bulk there are definite savings–$.22/oz vs $.36/oz. Still, who needs 2 lbs of goat cheese? (Apparently I do, given the amount of cheese I consume.)

I don’t think that $30 a month in cheese is outrageous, although is seems a little high in fat. I have considered making my own cheese. If my calculations are correct, homemade mozzarella would cost about $.16/oz. If I made 6 pounds instead of buying it all, I could cut my cheese costs in half. Of course, homemade cheese isn’t the same as the real stuff, so it’s unlikely I would stop buying cheese completely. Maybe the solution is to simply think of dishes that don’t have cheese in them…

But where’s the fun in that?

I love this idea from this sneak peek of Charise Harper’s house. It is a painting of a head with two chalkboards underneath, making a kind of ever-changing self-portrait. From the site:

We change the drawings whenever we want, because they are just chalk. Of course her face always stays the same. The artist is from Chicago but I have forgotten her name.

Not too long ago, I was in my local bookstore and came upon this Little Red Riding Hood cup. It struck me as completely adorable and I debated buying it. I did not, however, because I remember it being a little on the expensive side ($12 or $14) and also the store had a mug shaped like a mushroom that I liked better.

Now I find out that the cup is from Decole in Japan. It also has a matching teapot for $28.

AND a better cup for $14.

There’s also Alice in Wonderland and The Three Little Pigs.

All so adorable. And literary! For some reason, mugs and teapots are my weakness. If I had the space, I would have dozens of them. I don’t have the space, though, so I will restrain myself and enjoy my mushroom cup instead.

This weekend, I made my own sausage for the first time. It was extremely easy and cheaper than buying sausage in the store. I did not put the sausage in casing since most of the time I cut the casing off (plus I don’t have the attachment for that). It took about 20 minutes and I ended up with 2 pounds of sausage, which I froze in half-pound sections for easy use.

Italian Sausage

Ingredients:

2 lbs of pork shoulder
1 Tbs salt
1 1/2 Tbs paprika
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp pepper
1/3 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
3 Tbs parsley

Directions:

A couple of months ago, I bought several pork shoulder steaks for cheap at my local market. I wasn’t sure what to do with them, since the steaks are tough and have a lot of fat. Since someone gave me a sausage attachment for my KitchenAid Mixer, I decided to try making my own sausage with the meat.

First, I cut the pork into cubes and combined all the herbs in a bowl. I mixed thoroughly to combine the herbs and meat.

Next, I simply ran the meat through the attachment. I used the smaller of the two blades I had, put the meat in the top, and watched it come out of the blade. I did a little bit and then fried a piece up to make sure it tasted good. It did–it tasted like a mild, properly seasoned sausage. Satisfied, I ran the rest of the meat through and ended up with this:

To store, I separated the meat into half-pound sections, wrapped them in wax paper and plastic bags and put them in the freezer. Well, all except the bit I fried up and put on homemade pizza.

Now that I have had a taste (no pun intended) of making sausage, my mind is open with possibilities. Chicken-and-apple sausage. My own Chorizo. Lamb sausage with Mediterranean spices… Hmmm….

Cost: 2 lbs pork shoulder: $1.69; Spices: $.40-ish.
Total Cost: $2.05 for 2 lbs, $1.05 a pound.
In the stores: In my grocery store, country sausage–i.e. Italian-ish sausage outside the casing–goes for $1.99 a pound. Sausage in the casing seems to be much higher, 4-5 sausage for about $5.99. However, for the sake of comparing apples to apples, we’ll go with the $1.99 a pound price.
Total Savings: $.94 a pound

It seems to me that very few things in this world range in price as much as spices do. Yesterday I went to the grocery store to buy some fennel seeds because I am planning to make my own sausage in the near future. (Stay tuned for a blog post on that.) I walked down the spice aisle of my store and compared prices.

There were about three different brands of fennel seeds to choose from. A typical 1.8 oz bottle ranged from $4.89-$5.99. That’s $43.50-$53 a pound for fennel seeds.

Reluctantly, I took the cheapest bottle off the shelf and wandered over to bulk foods. This particular store also has bulk spices as well as cheaper spices in the Mexican food section. The Mexican food section didn’t have fennel seeds but the bulk food did. It cost $10 a pound, or $.63/oz. That means the same 1.8 oz of fennel seeds cost $1.13.

So, simply by walking to a different section of my store, I saved $3.76 for the same thing. And while that’s good, it still doesn’t explain to me why the spice companies are charging so much for fennel seeds in the first place.

When I first saw the Slanket about 3 or 4 years ago, I thought it was great. I am often freezing and wrapped in a blanket and it’s annoying to pull my arms out to type. Therefore a blanket with sleeves seemed perfect. Perfect, that is, until I looked at the price. At the time, Slankets went for $60 each. (Now they are around $45.) That’s still a lot for a fleece blanket with sleeves.

Now I learn about the Snuggie, which is the same thing but much cheaper–$28 each, including shipping. That’s a lot more reasonable. Still. Fleece is pretty cheap in the fabric store. Is it worth it to buy a Snuggie? Especially since there are patterns out there for making your own?

According to the pattern, a Slanket/Snuggie takes 3 yards of fleece at 60 inches wide. I just called my local fabric store and they told me they are selling fleece for $3.99 a yard. That means my Slanket would cost $12 when finished, saving about $16. It would also take about an hour of my time.

Personally, that’s not enough savings to make me go to the trouble. (I really don’t enjoy sewing.) However, there’s always the fabric store clearance rack. If I could find fleece for cheaper–say $1 a yard–then we’re really talking savings here. It also seems likely that I could find fleece for that price since I don’t care what the Slanket would look like. So I’ll have to keep my eyes open.

Martha Stewart is really mean. She knows everyone is on a diet right now and yet she does an entire show and issue of her magazine on cupcakes. In fact, she has an entire slideshow of cupcake recipes. I am drooling over:

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla French Buttercream

Strawberry Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream

Mexican Chocolate-Pudding-Filled Cupcakes

Banana Cupcakes with Honey-Cinnamon Frosting

Mean!

I don’t like that my foil, plastic wrap, etc., takes up an entire drawer in my kitchen, so I like this little solution from The Container Store for $8.99. It’s tempting to get one and free up that drawer in the process.

Now, how to best store all my paper grocery bags … ?

The bad news: One of my favorite thrift stores is going out of business. The good news: Everything in the store is 60% off. Between that and another thrift store, I came home with a lot of great stuff. I bought four new drinking glasses for under $1.50. I found a high-quality dutch oven for $3 and a cool 1970s mug for $.75. But perhaps best of all was this beautiful upholstery fabric:

According to the tag, a yard of this stuff goes for $156. I bought three large samples for under $2.

Close up on the detail of the fabric.

I’m thinking these might become my new placemats.