Miscellany (a great pencil sharpener, a cute owl hoodie, and more!)

On Thursdays, I alternate between Five Frugal Things and a Miscellany post.   Today: miscellany is up!

Clearance Shopping

Yesterday, I had to stop at Target for a few things, and I noticed some girls’ clothes on clearance.

I bought this $3 gold and gray shirt in medium and large so both Sonia and Zoe could have one.

And then I spied this adorable owl sweatshirt for Zoe on the clearance shelf.   I knew Sonia and Zoe would both want one, but unfortunately, they didn’t have one in Sonia’s size.

But as the third girl, Zoe doesn’t get that many brand new items of clothing (all the hand me downs!), so I figure she was kind of due for something.   😉

Merry Christmas. In February.

I bought all three girls a book of stamps to put in their stockings at Christmastime and I put them in a safe spot after I bought them.

In fact, the spot was so safe, I completely forgot where it was.

Luckily, Lisey happened across them yesterday, so now the girls are all set for letter-writing.

Hot Chocolate

My kids have been choosing hot chocolate as their dessert after dinner, so the mix I made last week is almost gone.

You all suggested some delicious-sounding new hot chocolate mixes in the comments last week, so now I’m thinking I want to try several and do a taste test at my house.

Macaroons = Super Delicious

Yesterday I was bringing a meal to a church family, and since one household member has Celiac disease, I made chocolate-dipped macaroons for dessert.

They are easy and crazy delicious.   So coconutty, so chewy, so soft….

I really love that macaroons are naturally gluten-free.   You don’t need any odd flours or gums to alter them, because macaroons never call for flour.

This is perfect when I’m cooking for someone who can’t handle gluten, because gluten-free baking is a skill I haven’t honed.

Come to think of it, these flourless peanut butter cookies that Lisey and I made a few years back would also be a good gluten-free option when I’m in this spot, because it doesn’t call for any specialty baking ingredients either.

A sturdy, manual pencil sharpener

A month or so ago, a reader wrote to me to tell me about a pencil sharpener she thought we’d like.   She told me they have a program where they send bloggers a free sharpener to try out, so, even though we already had a vintage sharpener that works well, I signed up so I could try it out for you guys!

I kind of hate electric pencil sharpeners because it seems like they eventually start sharpening pencils off-center, and that is so annoying.   And that’s why we bought our vintage one on eBay (also because Sonia saw one at my mom’s house and thought it was really cool!).

This new sharpener is actually a little bit better than our vintage sharpener for most pencils.   It’s quieter, it sharpens to a finer point, and it’s easier for young kids to use.   Plus, you can buy new innards for your sharpener if yours get dull, and that’s pretty fantastic.

Mine came with a counter mount, which doesn’t work super well, but that’s not a problem because it doesn’t HAVE to be mounted.   You clip the pencil in, hold the sharpener still with your hand, and turn the crank with your other hand.

The sharpener automatically stops when the pencils is sharp, so there’s no over-sharpening.

The only downside is that it doesn’t work super well with colored pencils.   Our tend to break and get stuck in the rolling sharpeners, and then I have to take the sharpener apart and shake out the bit of colored lead.

So, we’re using the vintage sharpener for colored pencils, and the new sharpener for all of our regular pencils.

Anyway, I think this is a great sharpener. It’s heavy duty (metal, not plastic!), it sharpens well, it’s quiet, and it’s easy to operate.

You can buy these from Classroom Friendly Supplies at $25 each, but there are pretty big discounts if you buy multiples.   If you get two other friends to go in with you, you’ll pay only $17.99 apiece.

And that concludes this edition of miscellany!

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