One Hundred Dollars a Month - I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

The Olive Branch Cafe and Tea Room in Tacoma, Washington

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on November 21, 2019 · 1 Comment

If you live anywhere near Tacoma, Washington and you love a good afternoon tea service, then you must find your way to The Olive Branch Cafe and Tea Room in Freight House Square in downtown Tacoma. The place is without a doubt over the top when it comes not only to hospitality, but decor as well.

Mrs. HB and I were overwhelmed by the kindness of the staff and the quality of the afternoon tea service. So much so, that we are already making plans to go back again.

This is the table Mrs. HB and I were seated at. Isn’t it lovely?

The place settings.

We selected a white strawberry tea for our tea service.

Mrs. HB ordered the champagne tea and I had the Queen’s tea. Mrs. HB and I have been to several tea houses {and some have been better than others} but The Olive Branch Cafe and Tea Room is our favorite so far.

Shrimp cocktail…. now that was a surprise.

Prickly pear sorbet to cleanse our palates.

Scones, warm from then oven.

The tower of tidbits. No crusts!

It’s a good thing I took pictures, because I couldn’t remember everything we ate. Just that the food and setting was wonderful.

They even had a piano player. His name is Brian and he played name that tune with Mrs. HB. I had no idea what the song was, but she guessed right away.

There was even a hallway stuffed with hats and fascinators in case you were in the mood! 😉 All in all The Olive Branch Cafe and Tea Room was a big hit. We both loved the place and give it a thumbs up.

Tea and scones, is there anything better than that?

Have a great Thursday everyone, stay warm.

~Mavis

The Olive Branch Cafe and Tea Room
2501 E D St, Tacoma, WA 98402

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

WINNERS – The Great Day After Thanksgiving Sandwich – A Jam, Jelly and Mustard Giveaway

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on November 20, 2019 · Leave a Comment

A big thank you to everyone who entered our The Great Day After Thanksgiving Sandwich – A Jam, Jelly and Mustard Giveaway

The winners were selected at random and are:

Deborah who commented:

“Back in the 70’s my mom got a new oven. She set the self start timer so the turkey would be done by 3 pm. on Thanksgiving day. I don’t know what happened but it started cooking at 3 am. Needless to say the smell of turkey woke us all up. We ate much earlier then we planned. It was an awesome day. We’er still laughing.”

Karen who commented:

“Our third child was born 2 days before thanksgiving. On thanksgiving day, my mother brought pumpkin pie to the hospital for me. The nurses told her that no outside food was allowed. My mother was so disgusted at the hospital food (they brought me CANNED spaghetti-o’s on WHITE toast for my first meal after I delivered). But my mother meekly put the pumpkin pie away. When the nurse left the room, she brought the pie out again and I ate it.”

Stay tuned for more giveaways.

~Mavis

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

24 Hours with Mrs. Hillbilly

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on November 20, 2019 · 11 Comments

Friday morning I took the first non stop flight out of Boston to Seattle. When I rolled my carry on to the curb, my driver was waiting for me, sign and all so I wouldn’t miss her car.

A hot London Fog was waiting for me in the center console. 😉 Not a bad welcome to the Emerald city after nearly 2 years away I’d say.

After a few minutes of chatting away, I started to notice that cars were passing us on BOTH sides of the freeway. Which was odd because traffic was pretty light, so I checked the speedometer.

Mrs. HB didn’t even notice she was going 40 MPH. That woman. She drives like a little old lady.

First stop of the day {no, not TJ MAX} was to our new favorite afternoon tea room. I found the place online a while ago but totally forgot about it until I was walking through the airport terminals to the car and so I quickly called and made a reservation for lunch.

Turns out the place was everything I thought it would be and more {I’ll tell you all about tomorrow}. The place was so lovely though, we couldn’t stop telling the staff how wonderful everything from the food to the atmosphere was.

After filling our bellies, we headed to Gig Harbor to walk around Uptown and to pop by one my favorite garden {gift} stores to have a look around. Mrs. HB bought a pair of toddler pants {of all things to buy at a garden gift shop!}, and I found some ring a lings for the candle sticks on my mantle.

Isn’t this Merry Christmas pillow nice? I think I’m going to try and make it.

After that we walked around the harbor for a bit buzzing in and out of stores and stopped again for tea at Java Clay. Not much has changed downtown, but the walk around the harbor is still nice and across the inlet I noticed a few more houses up on the hillside. Other than that, everything was pretty much the same.

On our way to Costco to load up on supplies for our pickety bits, we drove by and took a peek at the HOA house. It looked so depressing. But the hedge I planted a few years ago was all grown in, so there as that.

Has anyone tried these hand soaps from Costco? Are they any good? I wanted to bring them home with me but I didn’t want to check a bag.

Just a wee little dinner for two.

We caught up on The Crown in matching pajamas. Or at least I think we watched The Crown. It could have been Downton Abbey. I don’t really remember.

Before we went to bed though she told me I needed to whiten my teeth and then handed me a set of whitening strips and then a dental pick and then stood there white I applied the strips.

And then she left the room and came back with some old lady face cream and told me to put that on my face. And so I did. And then she tried to get me to shave off the peach fuzz on my face {again} but that’s where I drew the line. 😉

Friends that’s what they do. They tell you your skin is dry and your teeth need whitening and are always there to patch you up. 😉

Mrs. HB’s bin of choking hazards. What do you think she has more of… scarves or chap sticks?

The next morning we took a walk around her garden, feed the chickens and got ready for the drive to see Monkey Boy and my parents. I took oodles of pictures of her snazzy new garden, but there are so many, that I’ll have to wait and share those in a few days once I go through them.

If you look closely you’ll see Pinky and friends in the background behind the red chairs. 😉

Some things never change.

Before leaving the neighborhood, we walked by my old house {the one where I was neighbors with Mrs. HB}. This is a picture of me standing in front of the cedar tree I planted as a sapling {that I harvested from the woods behind the house} 12 years ago.

When I planted the sapling it was a scrawny 3 foot little bit and the HH was so embarrassed that I had planted it out front. BUT LOOK AT IT NOW!!! Holy canolies people.

Breakfast at The Net Shed. The French toast with chopped pears and vanilla sauce has been replaced with lemon curd and blueberries. And it’s fabulous. You should try it.

Because dental care is always a priority. 😉

Our last big stop before we headed up to the east side was to Watson’s Greenhouse in Puyallup. If you’re a local and haven’t been by in a while, they have the place all decked out of the holiday and man of man is it worth the trip {don’t forget there is a cafe in the back if you want to make it a lunch date with a friend}.

Watson’s not only has the best plants around, but they always go all out on their seasonal displays and it’s always fun to stop by and see what’s new.

I told Mrs.HB, that if I end up going to a Christmas party this year, I am totally going to make this dress! Isn’t it a beauty? All you’d need is a red velvet dress, some silk plants and a serious amount of hot glue.

Good friends. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing {walking, talking, shopping, eating, driving, making each other crazy} it’s just nice to be able to hang out together.

That Mrs. HB. I miss her already.

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone, enjoy the day.

~Mavis

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Pumpkin and Cream Cheese Coffee Cake Recipe

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on November 19, 2019 · 1 Comment

I stumbled onto this recipe and knew I had to make it. It was like this cake was having an identity crisis and we were benefiting from it. Did it want to be a cheese cake or a coffee cake? It’ll be both. And being both make it a dreamy little dessert. The HH and The Girl couldn’t get enough of it. I was lucky to swipe a slice before they ate it all.

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the filling:
1 {8 oz} package cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1 tablespoon sugar

For the topping:
3/4 cup oats
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer, beat sugar, eggs, pumpkin, applesauce and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Slowly add to wet ingredients in mixer and mix until fully incorporated. Pour into a greased 13×9 baking dish.

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese, egg and sugar until creamy. Drop by tablespoon over batter in baking dish and then swirl using a knife. In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over batter. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool before serving.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

1
2
3
…
2226
Next Page »