I'm a frequent Target shopper.  Too frequent. Creepy frequent.

I stalk the clearance sections. I refuse to buy something at a 30% markdown. If it's meant to be, I know it will still be there for me when it goes to 50 percent.  And chances are, it will be there for me, because I check every other day. Pathetic? Maybe. But there are serious bargains to be had.

Tonight these recipe cards were finally at 75 percent. They were less than $2 a box! A pack of 48 uber-classy recipe cards! It's craziness.  I bought every box they had.  You'll notice they're still going for $7.99 on the website.  

I have big plans for these guys come Christmas. Go. Now. Buy some!

(It just dawned on me this post is going to ruin my Christmas gift plan.  If potential recipients read this post, they're going to find out I'm cheap.)

Incidentally, school supplies, lunch boxes and backpacks were finally marked down to 50% this week. Of course, the cute thermos I'd been stalking was already gone. But see, I'm okay with that. Clearly wasn't meant to be mine. 

Bargain stalking, it's all very zen.

I have a confession, I don't use one of those fancy "feeds" or "bloglines" or whatever.  Partly because I don't understand them, partly because, well, I just don't. 

Instead, I bookmark everything.  My favorites folder is on the brink of bringing down the whole computer. It's bad news, people.  Because I don't use a feed, my blog checking is kind of crazy and random.  There are the usuals that I check every.single.day. You see them over there on the sidebar? Yup, those.

Other days, I sit down at the computer, pull down my bookmarks and peruse my favorites. Random picking. I'll think, "Hey, Dabbler, haven't been there this week! Oh, Pure Joy! Wonder what those crazy Ex-Pats are up to..." And it goes on like that, sometimes for hours.

Then, when I go through the trouble to pull up someone's blog and find it hasn't been updated since I last visited, I get frustrated. Crazy frustrated. I seem to feel entitled to regular updates on people's lives. 

And now, here I am, one of those bloggers that drives me crazy.  Unpredictable, undisciplined, unfinished...

What I'm saying is this: Your frustration? I get it. 

(and I made granola again, but it wasn't as good this time)

They started as these:

Grace Violet shows you how to make the transformation here.  Genius!

The fabric colors for the criss cross coasters were so fun I decided to make a doll quilt from them.

This is my first attempt at a pieced quilt, but so far I'm feeling good.  I haven't even completed one block, but feeling good nonetheless.

I'm trying the Disappearing 9 Patch, using this tutorial. So far, things are moving along quite nicely. Like I said, I sewed the first nine patches together, I've cut them up and rearranged. Now I just need to sew the rearranged patches together and I'll have one block completed. 

I'm not completely sure how many blocks it takes to make a doll quilt, or how long the actual quilting process will take, or how to really do the binding, but I'm still feeling pretty optimistic. If nothing else, I'm just happy to be back in the crafting groove.

Things are happening around here again.  Domestic things...

Homemade Granola! Why didn't anyone tell me how delicious homemade granola tastes? I decided to whip some up primarily as a cost saving measure (I haven't run the numbers to determine whether this was less expensive). But this stuff was delicious.  After a bit of research, I decided granola was pretty versatile, so I went with the recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (you're wondering why there's a granola recipe in a bread book, aren't you? It's to use when making the Granola Bread, a variation I haven't yet tried).  It took me five minutes to throw together, and it only took that long because I had to search high and low for my coconut. Easy peasy.

I used sliced almonds, coconut, regular oats and some raisins. I also doubled the amount of vanilla it called for, because I love vanilla granola. It's crazy good. Mr. Plaid and I were snacking on it throughout the evening.  We finally had to call it quits so there'd be some left over for breakfast.  The recipe makes about six cups...

Also in the kitchen this weekend were some delicious cupcakes using a recipe from Scholastic's Parent and Child magazine. It's a Sandra Lee recipe (find it here), so it starts with a cake mix. I didn't have all the things on hand, so I improvised. Here's what I used:

• Yellow cake mix
• Box of white chocolate sugar free pudding (I don't usually do sugar free, but this was left over from a Weight Watchers faze I went through)
• 1 cup Whole Foods Cherry Vanilla soda
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 egg
• about 1 cup white chocolate chips, or however many were left in the bag...
  

The cupcakes were great. They ended up very moist, and had such a good flavor that they didn't need frosting. You can't always say that about cakes from a mix, but these were tasty. Um...no pictures, because they were gone quickly.