Luxurious feeling bed on a budget.

Not too long ago Jeff and I stayed in SpringHill Suites (Marriott) in St. Louis for a few nights, and I found what it feels like to sleep in a absolute cloud-like luxury.

This trip just happened to coincide with our decision to finally replace our 20 year old bed. Shortly after returning from our mini-vacation in St. Louis, I took advantage of a great sale and purchased a Sleep Number bed. (We've been sleeping on it for about 60 days now, and I will confidently state this is the best major furniture purchase we've ever made.)

Once the bed arrived, I wanted to emulate the luxury we experienced at SpringHill Suites. It was so simple to do, yet made a huge difference in how luxurious the bed feels - every.single.night.

The hotel simply put on the fitted sheet, then put on a flat sheet, down comforter, and then a second flat sheet. You'd think it would simply feel like a duvet cover, but it doesn't. It feels soooo rich and luxurious! Add some vintage pillowcases and the new quilt - and it is one little piece of heaven just waiting for me every night... all for the cost of simply pulling just one more flat sheet out of the linen closet.

SPEAKING OF BUDGETs...

Tonight I cooked a potroast in the crockpot. Normally I cook it with just water, herbs, salt and pepper and the usual veggies - onions, carrots, celery and potatoes. Tonight I happened to have a leftover container of beef broth in the fridge I wanted to use up, so I put that in, along with a tablespoon of worcesteshire sauce and some tyme. Once the pot roast was cooked, I poured the roast liquid through a sieve and put it in a pan on the stove and heated it almost to a boil. I mixed a few tablespoons of flour with warm water and wisked that into the hot liquid and stirred until it started to thicken, then poured in just about 1/4 cup of heavy cream, black pepper and salt to taste. Not only was it superb beef gravy, but after we'd eaten the roast with gravy for dinner, I was left with six cups of gravy, which I measured into one-cup portions and put in plastic ziploc bags, then put all these small bags into one larger freezer bag. I labeled the bag with contents, serving size and date and now I have what is equal to six cans of beef gravy in the freezer. I mentioned last week that I just stocked my freezer with 150 lbs of beef, so this addition of gravy will come in very handy. Shepherd's Pie will definitely be on next week's menu!

Along this same vein, I've just gotten in a book to review titled "Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half" by Steve and Annette Economides. Every week when I come out of the grocery store angry at the amount my groceries cost this week, I think there MUST be a way to cut down on either the amount of groceries or the cost, etc. So I am interested in reading the book to see if it offers anything other than clipping coupons and cooking meals for the freezer, as most books of this genre seem to offer. I'll let you know what I think of it! If any one has read it, I'd love to hear your comments.

Until the next time!
Joan