Johnson Home of Eastern North Carolina

   The Junk Drawer might be the greatest or the worst drawer in your house. For me, it's the greatest. At least since I organized it. I know you're thinking why organize a junk drawer, it's suppose to be unorganized, chaotic, and crazy. I could never find what I needed that I knew was in that drawer. It wasn't until after I cut.my.finger! that I decided that drawer needed a good cleaning. Of course I went to my trusty Pinterest to see what I could find.   Here's what I found:  Take everything out of the drawer. Yes, everything. Leave only the dirt and dust. Vacuum out said dirt and dust. Use a wet cloth and disinfect the drawer (my vinegar mixture did the trick). Decide how you need to sort things. Pens/pencils, batteries, note pads, miscellaneous, etc. Save boxes such as cereal, rice, whatever (these types are easier to cut with regular scissors.) Cut the bottoms off of those boxes. Wrap boxes in pretty scrapbook paper… or wrapping paper… or anyt...

  Well, this wasn't fun! Definitely had a trial and error moment.   After researching several blogs on how to make these money-savers, I decided on the paper towel ones. Apparently I should have found the blog with pictures before attempting this. I followed the directions, so I thought.   Here's what went wrong and where I went wrong: Cut the paper towel roll the short way; not the long way. AKA cut the fat way, not the skinny way. Do not take the cardboard piece out until after the paper towels have soaked.   I wish I had taken a picture of the disaster. Sorry!   When I was ready to use a wipe, I opened the reused diaper wipes container to find a big pile of mush. Basically I wasted an entire roll of paper towels. Awesome.com   So I went back to the drawing board… or the other blogs, and found another recipe. This time I decided not to waste any more Bounty since the idea is to SAVE money and not waste it. I had my husband clean out his whit...

  Instead of adjusting our monthly budget plan like I should be, I'm procrastinating and blogging. I'm not ready for the automatic depression that is sure to come as I try to figure out where to subtract $80 a month from our already tight budget. Thanks, lawmakers, for tightening the EVER SO TIGHT ALREADY belt of the middle-working-class.   Anyway, since I've been staying home with my little man to save money on daycare costs as well as because he has been on 3 daycare waiting lists for 10 months now, I've had to go green, homemade, penny-pinched, etc. I've always been quite a bit frugal with my money but now that we are down to one income, I've had to get resourceful. I cannot take all the credit for some of these ideas as I've found them on the Internet. Who doesn't Google/Pinterest these days? These are all money-saving things that I have tried and still use to save money. No, I haven't figured out exactly how much you'll save, but use your i...

Vinegar is the new duct tape. You can use it anywhere for anything! I use vinegar to cook, clean the bathroom, disinfect, wipe down countertops, degunk the garbage disposal, etc. Not to mention, it is super cheap! Once you quit being a brand snob and train your nose/brain to think the vinegar smell is a disinfectant, it'll be one of the best money saving experiences of your life. I'll just paraphrase some things I've read about household cleaning products. Do not quote me. Google it for the "facts". Everything on the Internet is true, right? Ha! Household cleaners do not have to put what's in their products on the label, only the active ingredients and "other ingredients" which are not listed. So, who knows what those actually are. Don't get me wrong, there is always a bottle of knock-off Clorox under the sink because, let's face it, somethings just need to be Cloroxed occasionally. I actually just got that bottle out from under the s...

Well, never say never but I found these two gems on Pinterest and haven't looked back. It's so nice knowing what your food is made of, not to mention being able to pronounce the ingredients. Most of the ingredients were already staples in my kitchen and I'm not much of an adventurous cooker or baker. Did I just say "cooker"? Wow. Chef is probably the term I was looking for. Simply Brownies- though no brownie is healthy, these are great and you can substitute the oil and egg for other healthier options (Google it!) 3/4 cup flour 3/4 cup sugar Play around with the sugar and flour if you want them more fudgey or cakey. 1/3 cup cocoa powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 2 eggs 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Bake on 350 for 20-30 min or until the toothpick comes out clean. Disclaimer: I don't like measuring. Eyeballing it is more my thing so good luck. Taco Seasoning 1 part cumin 1 part garlic powder 1 part onio...

  Who doesn't love Pinterest? I think it could quite possibly be one of the best websites around right now. It might even be the next Facebook… it just won't go away. So many ideas all in one place. Sure, you could just Google anything you want but in the words of the glorious Sweet Brown, "ain't nobody got time fa dat!" Also, who sits around and THINKS of the these amazing ideas? Probably stay-at-home-ers like me. Except, I don't have a creative bone in my body. I can't sing even though I will most certainly belt out any tune at any given time, splitting Brad's ears. I can't draw. Even my handwriting is atrocious. I've tried my hand at photography and I'm not terrible at it but I've never been a patient person and frankly, I don't have the care to figure out what the hell apperature is.   Anyways, in the little over a year that I have been a "pinner", I've tried recreating some of the ideas I've seen on Pinteres...

  Alright, alright. I'm sure to have multiple disclaimers throughout this blog's lifespan (Lord knows how long that'll even be…). Disclaimer #1- I have a potty-mouth. I will try my best not to drop bombs all over the place because, well, it's just tacky and damnit, unnecessary.  Okay, now. What the heck is a Rivah Cricket you ask? I shall do my very best to explain. Disclaimer #2 (and I'm sure this will be the last one I number because I will most likely forget I have even numbered the dang things): if you are not from the Northeastern part of North Carolina around a small little river called the Meherrin (most commonly pronounced mah-her-ron… just kidding. It's really pronounce mah-hair-in.) somewhere near Como or Murfreesboro, then this explanation may be a bit confusing. For that, I will not apologize.   I grew up in the itty-bitty hole in the wall called Como and spent most of my life on the Meherrin River, named after the smallest NC American Indian tribe...