Weekend Update

Well, it's Monday.  After a VERY busy two days of running around, tracking things down, we have some progress.  Here's what we managed to accomplish:


TO DO LIST:

 - library

- craft shopping  (but didn't find all the things I needed...)

- dog vaccinations

- Stone Mt

- build a coffee table  (STARTED the coffee table)

- reupholster dining chairs  (couldn't find the fabric I liked from the store, now I have to pick a new fabric...)

- jeans shopping for Kevin

- Old Navy

- work on some documents  (tried, but was really tired by Sunday night)

- make wood decor for bedroom (got the (free) wood on Friday, just need the paint)

- Farmer's Market

- inventory spices


I'm taking step-by-step pics of all my projects and will be sharing them as they are finished.  We found a LOT of good deals this weekend, thanks to sales, coupons and the kindness of strangers.  I can't wait to see how our house looks with all the stuff we've figured out how to DIY.

Cheers!

Weekend Plans

Lots to do this weekend!!  We'll see how much actually gets checked off the list on Monday...

Cheers to Friday!

TO DO LIST:

- library

- craft shopping

- dog vaccinations

- Stone Mt

- build a coffee table

- reupholster dining chairs

- jeans shopping for Kevin

- Old Navy

- work on some documents

- make wood decor for bedroom

- Farmer's Market

- inventory spices

Thrifty Tips #4 and 5 (Dog Edition)

Hey there dog lovers!  Our furry babies are part of the family, and when a family goes on a budget, they don't have to be excluded.  Everyone needs to pitch in, right?  :)

I was recently told that there are a lot of things that we buy for our pets that we can make ourselves.  My mom told me about a DIY flea spray and itchy skin bath that she learned about watching her favorite PBS show, Deals.  I haven't tried them yet, but they are on my radar...

Here are some of the things that work with our dogs.  Try them out and see if they work for yours.  Cheers!

#4.  Milkbones can be pricey.  Everyone likes a treat now and then and dogs are no different.  But since it IS a cookie, stretch the box even farther (and healthier for your dog) by breaking a milkbone in half.  Chances are, your dogs will just be happy with the treat, regardless of size.

#5.  We've recently discovered that "treat" has many meanings to a dog.  For training, you can use a piece of dog food as a treat.  Our dogs really like ice cubes.  Ices cubes have now become a inexhaustible treat source that is practically free and they can have as many as they want.  Ice cubes also help them get some water when they are too tired to go their bowl after a walk.

Rude

You would not believe how many times I see things like this.  Next time, I leave a note...

Cheers.

Weekend of Free

Labor Day weekend is also known as "Kevin's Birthday Weekend" here at the Haus of Kendi.  I wanted to do something special for him, but being on a tight budget ruled out all the trips I would have liked to take.  So, we decided to be tourists in our own town for the weekend.  And we managed to do it for (almost) free.  :)

We started with DragonCon.  I had been hearing about DragonCon for years but had never been.  Tickets to the convention were pretty pricey but the parade was free.  You go to comic book conventions for people watching and this one puts it all on display for nothing.  Kevin and I had a great time seeing all the costumes and celebrities, plus the trip down memory lane was fun.  Plus, were we ended up parking (for free) took us through a bunch of cool art I didn't even know was downtown!



The DragonCon parade starts with dragons.  :)



No comic book convention would be complete without superheroes





Back to the Future!!



Some of the random art on the street...

 





After the parade and taking pics with all the cool street art, we headed to Little 5 for some ice cream cones from Zesto.  With a Scout Mob offer, the cones were free.  I happen to think that free ice cream tastes better.  :)



For Kevin's actual birthday, we went on our first trip to the Atlanta Zoo.  Our new library cards came in handy for this one.  The Atlanta libraries have teamed up with the zoo for a promotion.  If you check out the zoo dvd, you get a free family pass for 4 upon return of the DVD.  That's right, the library sent us to the zoo for free!  It would have been a completely free day had we known that you can bring in your own food.  We bought some pizza slices for lunch.  We got to see the pandas eat and all the baby gorillas (my fav).  We even got to see them feed the male gorillas oranges, which was really cool.  Cheers!





Birthday boy at the zoo



We even stopped by the Cyclorama




Birthday dinner.  (I made the cake.  It was buy one get one free ;)







Thrifty Tips #1-3

New segment on Kendi Haus:  money-saving tips we have figured out, heard about, like, don't like, etc.  Hope this will be enlightening to all of you that work hard for your money, and hate to throw it away.

#1.  Most of the time, block cheese is cheaper than shredded cheese.  So, we just buy the block cheese and shred it ourselves.  It's visually more appealing than the shredded because it doesn't have that anti-caking chemical they add (WTH is that anyway?!).  Because of this, it clumps together.  But that's easy to work around.

#2.  When milk is close to its expiration date and we aren't going to use it all, we freeze it in an ice cube try.  Each cube is equivalent to one ounce.  This is really handy for buttermilk, which is pricey (we have a great pancake recipe that uses buttermilk).

#3.  We make great chicken noodle soup over here in the Haus of Kendi.  Recently, we did the math and found out that if you buy the jar of bouillon, it is significantly cheaper than buying the cans of chicken broth.  The jar makes about 10 cups for half the price.  And you can get it in the low sodium version (which we prefer) which really saves you moola.

Cheers!

Stone Mountain

This past Sunday, we decided to take a chance and go to Stone Mountain with the boys.  I want to get them used to hiking and being out in the woods because there are a TON of great camping spots near us.  And camping is the cheapest vacation that I know of.  I can remember camping with my parents when I was really little and I loved it.  Kevin's first camping experience was last year when my ATL friends all migrated up to Helen, GA for the annual fall camping trip.  I love Helen and I hope to be able to take Chester and Freeman soon.  They really well on the nature trail, it was the main path with all the people that was a struggle.  And they were pretty tired for the rest of the day (which is secretly why we take them ;).

Cheers! 


Car rides are our favorite!



We came prepared with doggy water bottles equipped with built in bowls

Freeman and me posing by the yellow daisies on Stone Mt

The boys

Summer TV

This summer, right after the Olympics, the Haus of Kendi discovered two new TV shows and quickly became obsessed...

For those of you that like Glee, you will love Smash too.  The singing is fabulous and the story line quickly sucks you in.  You'll root for Kathrine McFee's character from the pilot.

I have been wanting a good science show for a while now, and I got one.  This show is hilarious and very clever.  We just need to Netflix the first 5 seasons...

Cheers!

Library Books - Week 2

Went to the library this week.  Here's the latest round-up...

Mandi's picks

Kevin's picks

As you can see, I'm still grabbing books on interior design and fashion.  Also got bite by the travel bug, which explains the books (and DVD) on Ireland, Germany and Maryland (plus, reviewing Kenya for all my pics).  Kevin is still reading all his Ebay books from last week so not that many new reads for him.  Just another Ebay book and a man cave book he found while I was trying to pick up my book pile off the floor in the design section.  :)

Cheers!

Motor City Transplant

It may come as a surprise to some of you that MI has certain edible traditions/old wives tales that almost every MI child is raised on.  The top one being that Vernors is good for an upset stomach (and it also makes an amazing float known as a Boston Cooler).  Vernors, the ORIGINAL ginger ale, was invented in MI as well as the aforementioned Boston Cooler (named after a street, not the city...).  Among other well-noted, MI-born beverages are Faygo (Red Pop and Rock n Rye!), Strohs and Bells beer (I think tapping the first kegs of Oberon of the season has became a holiday for us), and wine from up north.  For solid food traditions, we have bbqs with Better Made potato chips and Koegels hotdogs, a Fat Tuesday packzi, and no trip to Mackinac would be complete with some Mackinac Island fudge.

I wouldn't say we are a foodie state, but what we do, we do well.  And we are very proud of it.  So, you can imagine my delight/surprise/skepticism when I spotted a sign in the Hobby Lobby shopping center near my house that said "Coney Island".  Those of you from Metro Detroit are probably familiar with Coney Island, or Coney as we call them.  They are little dives that are famous for low prices and "the Coney" (a hot dog topped with chili sauce, diced onions and mustard).  At first I was indignant, how dare they steal that name!  But after a drive-by and a Detroit "D" sighting, the evidence was starting to pile up to suggest that this might be a REAL coney.  The more we investigated, the better it got...



Notice the Koegels sign, the "D" and the official name - Motor City Coney Island





All the proper brands are there....

Yup!  That's a Coney!!



It's pop people, not soda



Real coneys are eaten with forks



That's one happy Michigander!


I still can not believe that after living (off and on) in ATL for almost 6 years that I found a real coney island.  We ended up meeting the owner (who is from Livonia) and told him we were so excited that someone brought this to Atlanta.  I hope that the people of Georgia embrace his new business, but I doubt that they will truly understand what they are having.  After all, some things are just too PureMichigan to transplant...

Cheers!

Daily Deal #1

This is going to be a re-occurring thing on Kendi Haus.  We're just going to do a quick post of some great deal we find.  First up, the bakery.

How much do you think all this cost?



4 loaves of wheat bread, 1 pk of hot dog buns



Give up?  $1.79.  Pretty sweet, huh?

Cheers!

Library Books - week 1

Kevin and I recently realized that we were letting a perfectly good, free resource go unused in our neighborhood:  the library!  So, we headed out to get library cards and see what they had to offer.  We were hoping for movies to check out, but that was a fail.  We did end up scoring an awesome freebie (more on that later) and Kindle books!  Here is what's on our minds this week...



Kevin's picks




Mandi's Picks

Kevin's topics of the moment are how to manage people and starting an Ebay business.  I am more scattered with fashion, interior design, Ireland, New England and the Carolinas on my mind. 

Cheers!

Pin: Candlestick Bracelet Holders

I am obsessed with Pinterest.  I've pinned hundreds of things but I've only tried 4.  The DIY Laundry soap was a pin.  That worked.  Here is another that I've tried:



Original pin from Style Me Thrifty


I've been searching for candlesticks for this very reason.  I couldn't decide if I wanted colorful glass or clear, sliver or gold, or if I was going to spray paint some.  I ended up piecing together a few from sales at antique stores.  I got 3 for $9.  Now I'm hunting for a really tall one...

And as Kevin pointed out, if I ever need to decorate for dinner, I can just take the bracelets off!

Cheers!




Here's my version!



Dijon Fish Cakes

Real Simple magazine taught us how to cook fish.  This recipe has become a staple in the Kendi Haus because of its reliability and speed.  Now, Real Simple has taught us how to make fish cakes!  If you have ever been to a restaurant and wanted crab cakes, you probably saw the price and was like, DANG!  They aren't cheap.  Well, Real Simple has a great alternative and you can't beat the cost.  I present, Dijon Fish Cakes!  They taste amazing and I think I like them better than crab (I never liked how crustaceans were cooked...).

Cheers!

Frying up the fish cakes!!

They got a touch darker than they should have, but they aren't burnt and taste really good!

Stats:
Cost:  about $3
Servings:  4 (two cakes a serving)
Leftovers:  Yes
Time:  1 hr

Beef Stir Fry

Every now and then, Kohls does their Kohls Cares promotional merchandise.  One round included a "weekend" meals cookbook by Good House Keeping.  It caught Kevin's eye on the bookshelf last week and he dog-eared a bunch of recipes that were quick and easy.  The first one we tried was Beef Stir Fry.  We had always made chicken stir fry so beef was a nice switch.  The streak continues, Kevin nailed it.  :)

You can find the recipe here at GoodHouseKeeping.com  (We added baby corns because they we on sale at Kroger.  They are NEVER on sale!)

Cheers!

I always eat stir fry with chopsticks.  It's just faster.  :)



Here's the money shot...

 Stats:
Cost:  about $8
Servings: 4-5
Leftovers:  Yes
Time:  15 min

Happy 34th B-day, Kevin!!

Happiest of birthdays to my wonderful husband, Kevin!  I hope you had a fun day today and I can't wait to share many more b-days with you!  

Love you,

Mandi

Happy Dirty 30, Lo!

We miss you tons and love you more!  Can't wait to hear all about the amazing year you have ahead!

xoxo,

Haus of Kendi

Geeks of the World Unite

This weekend is the annual DragonCon convention in downtown Atlanta. I thought it would be cool to check it out. And then I saw the ticket prices. A pass for the entire weekend is $120 and single day passes range from $30-$50. The parade, on the other hand, is free. So we got up this morning and made the drive downtown. We thought about taking MARTA but decided it would be cheaper to pay for parking downtown. That decision almost turned into a disaster when we got downtown and traffic was backed up onto the freeway. I ended up getting off at a different exit than I had planned which led us to a parking lot that didn't appear to have an attendant on duty. I never expected to find free parking downtown. Score! We only had to walk a couple of blocks to the end of the parade route. I figured there would be a few people lined up along the route and the parade would last maybe half an hour. Boy was I wrong. The sidewalks along the route were packed. And the parade was way longer than half an hour. We left after about an hour and it was still going strong. These people are hardcore and they didn't limit themselves to comic books, Star Trek, and Star Wars. There were groups dressed up from lots of video games I had never heard of, quite a few movies, and several TV shows. We were surprised to see Stan Lee, Dean Cain, and Lou Ferrigno riding in cars in the parade. Check out the pictures below.

The official start

Love this

Stan Lee

The Batmobile

Dean Cain

Lou Ferrigno

Tetris!