Mini Pizzas

Mini pizzas have become one of our favorite quick, go to meals lately.

They take about 10 minutes to make, are easily adaptable, and delicious.

The best part is everyone can have their own with their favorite toppings. For example, I cannot eat pepperoni (as seen on the mini pizza above). I get horribly sick if I eat it, but my husband loves it so, he can have pepperoni and I can have stuff he dislikes on mine.

Here's what you'll need to make
Olive oil and herb bread rounds
Olive oil
Cheese (Parmesan, Asiago, Mozzarella, ect.)
Pizza Sauce
Toppings (meat, cheese, veggies, ect.)

Set the oven to 375 degrees, while it is preheating gather all your ingredients and split the bread rounds in half, so you have 2 thin rounds instead of 1 thick round. Brush each round with olive oil and pop them in the oven for 4-5 minutes depending on how crisp you would like them to be. After they have been toasted in the oven, pull them out and make your pizzas.

I use Trader Joe's pizza sauce ours. I then put homemade bruschetta spread on mine and cubed or sliced pepperoni on my husband's and top them with Asiago, Parmesan, and Mozzarella.

I then put them in the oven for 6 minutes. After that you have delicious mini pizzas that you don't have to share with anyone.

Laundry Detergent - Making vs Buying

This fall, I started making my own powdered laundry detergent using this recipe from shelterrific.

Prior to that, I had been using a dye free, scent free store brand liquid laundry detergent from Target.

Both of us are sensitive to certain laundry detergents, so an easy to make homemade detergent seemed like a cheaper alternative. Powdered detergent is also a lot easier to store. Last year, I stocked up on liquid detergent when it went on sale from $8 a bottle to $6. It is was really hard to find room for 6 bottles of detergent in our apartment.

The shelterrific recipe is really simply: washing soda, borax, and shredded laundry bar soap.

I ordered the washing soda and borax from alice.com and was able to find Fels-Naptha laundry bar soap at HyVee.

Using those ingredients and the recipe of 2 oz of laundry bar soap (shredded, using a free shredder I got at the grocery store), 1/2 cup borax, and 1/2 washing soda, I made 6 batches of powdered laundry detergent, which came out to approximately 2 quarts. There was just a little extra shredded laundry soap, so I threw it in for good measure as I couldn't find laundry soap in 2 or 4 oz bars. I stored it in 2, 1-quart plastic sherbet containers because they seal well and I had them on hand.

I then started making a tick mark on the lid of one of the containers every time I did a load of laundry. Tonight I did my 64th load with the homemade powdered detergent.

So, I did a little math to compare costs between the detergent I had been using and the homemade detergent I'm using now.

It costs me $8 to buy store brand laundry detergent at Target. The bottle contains enough liquid detergent to do 64 loads.

It cost me ~ $4 to make powdered laundry detergent. So far I have done 64 loads and have enough left to do at least 10-20 more loads.

That alone shows that it costs approximately half the price to make my own powdered detergent. So how much is that per load? 12.5 cents per load for store bought detergent compared to 6.25 cents per load (or less once I find out the exact number of loads I can get out of 6 batches) for homemade powdered detergent.

So, if you have 5 minutes to spare every few months I would highly recommend making your own detergent.

Thrift Store Finds

Generally, I don't have much luck at thrift stores. I love the concept, but I have trouble going to them and actually finding clothes that fit and are reasonably priced. I have much better luck finding new clothes on the clearance racks or in the clearance section of online stores.

My best clearance rack finds ever were a $50 denim skirt I got for $1 and a cornflower blue button front shirt for $3. I found those items on the same day and have never been able to top those bargains. I have gotten good use out of both those items, which were purchased in 2003. The skirt I shortened in 2006 or 2007 and then a year or two later gave to a charity thrift store and I still have the cornflower blue shirt.

I recently hit a few of the fabulous thrift stores here in Iowa City and had a change of luck. I found exactly what I wanted at reasonable prices.

I found this dress at Stuff Etc., a store I've been selling some clothes and shoes at, but haven't had much luck finding clothes at. I went in there to get the balance on my account earlier this month and found this gem. I had been trying to find another fall/winter/early spring dress and was excited to find this one and used part of the balance on my account to buy it. I'm hoping to wear it to a work event next weekend.

On Friday I decided to stop by Revival, a new and gently used clothing store on the ped mall downtown. I found a dress, shrug and a sweater/jacket amongst their gently used merchandise.

I love this dress! It is my style and in the colors that I love. I can't wait to wear it. I'm hoping to pair it with blue tights, a cardigan, and my slouchy brown boots this fall/winter and will wear it a lot this coming summer.

Something similar to this has been on my to-find list all year, so I was happy to stumble upon this. I have a black, sleeveless cocktail dress that I wore to wedding last year that I will be wearing to an important fundraiser for work in February and I need to look nice, dressy, but not too showy. Since the event is in February in Iowa I've been trying to find a jacket or fancy sweater to wear over the dress. This fits the bill perfectly. It will also work with a new black, sleeveless sheath dress that I bought this summer (on sale for $12).

I just thought this was fun and would work with a lot of tops and dresses I have.

Gothic Novels

Once a year I read a gothic novel.

I have been reading gothic novel since I was a teenager after stumbling upon several collections of them at the local public library in my hometown. The library had a large selection of Madeline Brent and Victoria Holt books left over from the 1960s and 1970s. Later, I ended up purchasing a number of those books when they were withdrawn from the library. In fact, I found out that I by me reading them I had saved them from being removed from circulation for several years.

Although I generally prefer less formalistic fiction I have a special place in my heart for gothic novels.
 
Last year, I read "A Little Stranger" by Sarah Waters.

This year, I read "Lord of the Far Island" by Victoria Holt.

Gothic novels are very formalistic and generally have a lot of the same plot points, so much so that you would think they were all written by the same person, regardless who wrote the novel. I once discovered a (now former) co-worker was a fan of gothic novels and that we had read many of the same ones. We ended up having a lively debate about the formalistic nature of them and how despite that they are enjoyable to read.

A gothic novel has any number of these characteristics:

• Poor relation or other in-between social standing.
• An Inheritance.
• Said inheritance will be received at age 21.
• Guardianship.
• A companion or relative close to the same age as the heroine.
• Mysterious accidents involving boats, cliffs, trains, guns, or cars.
• Mentally unstable relative(s).
• Castle and/or grand family mansion/estate.
• Reoccurring dream starting in childhood that continues into adulthood, but by the end of the book never occurs again.
• Crumbling family fortunes.
• Deception.
• Family secrets.
• Family heirloom jewelry, generally a necklace that has been in a family hundreds of years and has a name.
• Family member locked away in a country home, the home of a trusted family friend, a top floor apartment of a mansion, or the attic of said mansion.
• Someone died before the book started or dies during the course of the book.
• Orphaned heronine.
• Heroine is generally between the age of 17-20.
• By the end of the book the heroine is married.
• Mysterious character, family friend, or family member that is assumed to be evil, but is eventually revealed to good hearted.
• Family member or family friend who assumed to be good hearted, but is eventually revealed to be evil.
• After a brief introduction into the world in which the novel takes place, the heroine recaps her life thus far before the story moves forward.
• The final chapter(s) skips between a few months and a few years and gives a recap of where things now stand.

I tired to compile this list while I was reading the book and typed it up after I finished reading it. Then, look at what Wikipedia had to say about gothic novels and was surprised by how spot on my list was.

Although I wouldn't want to read a gothic novel every week or even every month, they are certainly a fun read every once in a while.

The Kraken Returns

The Kraken made another appearance in Iowa City last week on the roof of a building on Washington Street.

I wonder where he will show up next?

Release the Kraken

This summer, I came across a news article about an interesting art project that was being staged in Muscatine, Iowa.

This public art display featured the Muscatine River Monster aka The Kraken. A mythological water dwelling monster that has allegedly been sighted in the Mississippi River near Muscatine off and on since ~ 1838.

This gigantic tentacled piece of art has made appearances at a variety of events and locations around the Muscatine area, but has recently been making its way inland and has been spotted in Cedar Rapids and now Iowa City. Apparently he wanted to come to Iowa City for the University of Iowa's homecoming.

I took this picture of the Kraken on the morning of Saturday, October 22. He was hanging out at the former Vito's building in downtown Iowa City on the ped mall.

I hear that the Vito's building is being turned into office and retail space. Maybe the Kraken needs a space to work or perhaps a retail location to sell some of those famous pearl buttons made out of Mississippi River clams.

Getting Free Stuff in the Mail is Fun

One morning last week I was riding the bus ride to work and I began to wonder when my free samples from Target would be arriving, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a white and pink box from Target in my mailbox that afternoon.

Over a month ago, one of the blogs I read had a post about Target giving away makeup bags of free samples, so I went to Target's website and requested one. Target has done this offer before. The last time they had this giveaway, I received a blue and white makeup bag filled with shampoo & conditioner samples, a sample of lip gloss, a tube of lip balm, a travel sized bottle of hand lotion, and a coupon book.

The box I received today contained:

• A brightly colored makeup bag. 
• A sample of Burt's Bees lotion.
• A travel sized package of Pond's facial cleansing towelettes.
• A sample of L'oreal facial cream.
• 3 different sets of shampoo & conditioner samples.
• A coupon booklet for lotions, makeup, and other products at Target.

I'm really excited about the facial cleansing towelettes, because I like to take those in my toiletry bag when I travel so I don't have to lug around a bottle of face wash.

The makeup bag will go into my present box where I put things that I stick away to give to people later. I know several people who would like to have the makeup bag, but I haven't decided who I will end up giving it to.

The rest of the samples will I try out later this fall.