❈Sac Thrift Chick❈

This idea comes from the creative brain of my mother. She made napkin rings at virtually no cost. In total she spent 65 cents for 1/8 yard of fabric for 12 napkin rings. Wow! For the ring itself, she used tubes from plastic wrap. They are sturdy and the perfect size to hold cloth napkins and silverware. She cut up the tubes, covered them in fabric (a combination of scraps she already had and the little bit she purchased), added a little flourish with artificial flowers, and voila! Easy peasy! She plans to add holly or bells at Christmas.

We had so much fun making Christmas gifts last year. For my family, we made everyone a totally awesome, super ugly Christmas sweater. A couple of the sweaters were hand-me-downs and the rest were thrift store purchases. We hit the cheap, ugly sweater goldmine at The Thrift Store on Greenback in Citrus Heights (at least half the price of the ones we found at Goodwill). For decorations, we bought a bag of Christmas trinkets for $5 at Goodwill and picked up a few stockings at other thrift stores. Fabric paint, bows and ribbons were collected from our hoard of craft supplies. We incorporated each recipient's name on his or her sweater. A couple of our creations close up: My mom knew were giving ugly Christmas sweaters as gifts, so she added to the theme with an Ugly Christmas Sweater Cookie Competition. Craft stores sell the kits with everything you need for around $10.

You may think I'm crazy, but I've already begun Christmas shopping. The same day we put away our Halloween decorations, I started looking at Christmas decorations online. In my old neighborhood, we had one of the best decorated houses for Halloween and Christmas. Actually, we were usually about the only house decorated for Halloween! My childhood neighborhood is far more festive, with some houses even decorating for 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Easter. Our house totally kicked Halloween butt this year, and the neighborhood kids really loved it, which always makes me happy. But last Christmas, I felt we were outshone by our next-door neighbors on both sides. So this year I'm getting an early start so I can make some nearly-free decorations. On the agenda: Giant lollipops, like the ones from this blog . I already have most of the materials I will need. Giant wooden star, inspired by the $5 one on this blog . I might be able to make one from our scrap wood ...

Michael Myers is our grand finale of decorations, the big kahuna. The Michael Myers tradition started our first year in our first home. Aaron had the brilliant idea of stuffing Michael and placing him in my office window, which faced the yard. You had to walk right past the window to get to our door. You couldn't miss Michael; even people driving by on the street would slow to check him out. On Halloween, Michael amused many and frightened some. A few groups wondered out loud if he was real. Suddenly Michael would move (thanks to Aaron hiding in the office) and screams would ensue. Eventually, Aaron closed the blinds, quickly un-stuffed Michael, stuffed himself inside and hid behind the front door. I would answer and Aaron would creep out or jump out. More screams. The next day, we had a knock at our door. A group of kids asked Aaron if he could put the costume back on and chase them. But of course! The group waited outside, expecting Aaron to come out the front door....

"Free" just makes everything more enticing, doesn't it? As part of its Audience Appreciation Month, The Sacramento Bee hosted a free event at the California Automobile Museum on Thursday night. I predicted the event would be primarily attended by an older crowd, and I was not wrong. I don't know why more "young people" don't attend these things, but I don't mind trailing behind a group of white hairs. By comparison, I must have looked positively youthful. I found out about the event on the BeeBuzzPoints website , which is a great resource for local events and contests. The Bee's business writer and car expert , Mark Glover, gave a short talk about his background, which coincidentally, I related to. Glover said he's originally from Dayton, Ohio, and when he meets people from Dayton living in Sacramento, they often came here via transfer to McClellan Air Force Base. Both my grandfathers worked at McClellan, and my dad's family is fro...

If I'm being perfectly honest, I really only wanted to go to TBD Fest for Blondie. The majority of the music at the fest is just not my thing. I get how important and cool this music, art, food and technology fest is for Sacramento. But for me, waving a glow stick around to techno music is the stuff of nightmares. Still, I entered a Capital Public Radio contest online and lo and behold, I won two three-day passes. Then I kinda sorta felt like a jerk because like I said, I only cared about Blondie, and I know so many people who really wanted to attend this thing. Held in the dirt at River Park in West Sacramento, TBD Fest was scheduled to start at 3 p.m. on Friday with local band Autumn Sky taking the stage at 3:30. Since I actually like Autumn Sky (though I'm partial to her earlier solo stuff) my husband and I arrived by 3:30. And then we stood in line, in the hot sun, for the next 30 minutes. For some reason, no one was getting in. Nothing was happening...

Sometimes you just instantly fall in love with a song or musician, and that's how it was for me with Shannon Curtis. I can't recall exactly the year I first saw her, but I know it was roughly 12 years ago. I remember entering Heritage Festival on the grounds of Gibson Ranch and hearing a pop rock band with a female singer who could actually really sing. That band was Paradigm. I was immediately hooked. And because I co-ran a local music website and zine that did CD reviews, Paradigm sent us their press kit, so then my broke self had Paradigm music to listen to all the time . Eventually Paradigm parted ways and Shannon embarked on a solo career in the vein of Norah Jones and Sarah McLachlan. The first time I saw her perform with just a keyboard, I was blown away. I continued to catch shows here and there and do some press when I had a new music column.  I turned my husband onto Shannon's music, and despite his protests when we first met that he didn't really like...