I went to the garden with a large bowl, and picked every beet that was of good size. I was hoping to get a big batch of pickled beets. I got 2 pints:). Sometimes it turns out that way. I am glad to have the 2 pints, though, and there are more beets that will grow larger. It was odd because the ones that were large were getting quite large, and were needing to be used, and the rest were super tiny.
I used strawberries that were frozen in 2015, plus the small amount I picked from my bushes to make a batch of jam. I am only picking a handful of berries at a time from my bushes right now, so will freeze them when I get them for smoothies next winter if they don’t get eaten on the spot. I was happy to use up the older berries in a yummy way.
I processed 40-50 lbs cherries into pie filling, canned cherries, cherry jam and frozen cherries.
I picked and froze more raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. I weeded and hoed. I planted a few more lettuce, snow pea and fall zucchini seeds. Towards the end of summer, my zucchini often succumbs to the powdery mildew so I usually plant another bush or two that will come on then and just pull out the bad ones.
We had a simple 4th of July celebration at home, and my aunt and niece came over for that. We bought a very few fireworks, and my niece brought some, too, and the girls had a great time lighting them off. Then, my niece was still wound up from the excitement, and didn’t want to take her dog home while others were still blasting off fireworks, so she, Patsy and I watched the movie, “Heidi” until 11:30. We really had a good time. I was a little tired the next day…..I’m not as young as I once was:)
We had a wonderful birthday breakfast with my Mom yesterday. Rob and I went to a few garage sales later in the day. I found several things that were on my list: very small Rubbermaid containers with lids for 10c and 25c (somehow they have disappeared, probably due to the amount of lunches we take places and the fact that they are sometimes put in the microwave), a large tea ball that I will use for spices when I make relish and so on for a quarter, and some children’s books for 25c.
I got a dress for Patsy for $2. I’m very pleased with how far the clothes money I set aside last spring is stretching. I got her a sweatshirt and 2 tops down at the beach last week, which were new and on great sales, but the rest have been from yard sales. 
The best find of the day, though, was a hiking backpack and mat for $10. This will go to our niece, Alissa, as she was using a borrowed pack on the last trip and it was not adequate for the hike. It was more like a day pack, and this one will hold enough items for the 2-night hike she is planning on joining in on next.
I am still searching for a few things, but am super glad with what I found so far. It is taking time, but right now, I have more time than money.
I am very happy to report we now have health insurance. My daughter actually had a need to go to the doctor, so that happened just in time.
This week will be pretty calm, as my kids are going to camp, and I will not have my niece and nephew until Wednesday. I hope to get a few projects around the house done tomorrow and Tuesday.
I took Patsy to the library and they are no longer going to charge money to borrow DVD’s. I’m super excited and will be checking their movies out ASAP! We only saw the sign as we were checking out, so hadn’t even looked at them, as they have been $1 each to borrow the entire time we have lived here. At our old house, we didn’t have hooked-up t.v. for 10 years, but instead used library videos because they were free there. I’m going to check out their selection here and see what they have.
So happy you have insurance. That is so important.
I am so happy. We both have quite a few medical needs.
YAHOO! for insurance. I hope you NEVER need to use it. I know that is not possible, but I can wish anyway.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
Thank you. Unfortunately, I have been diabetic for years and years and that causes me to require a large amount of medicine and frequent doctor visits, and blood draws. Then, add in all the eye checks, foot check ups, etc. and it all adds up.
Plus, Rob is suffering with an extreme problem with his hip. They are still figuring it out, but it doesn’t look good. So, now that we have insurance again, he can start back up with doctors, who are figuring out how to help him best. He had been taking a break from that. while we figured things out.
I cannot go without my medicine, and having no insurance would mean an extreme financial burden for us, so I am very grateful that we are back on track with that. In the end, we were only un-covered for about a week, and I had enough meds to easily cover that, but we were not sure that was how it was going to turn out. We are very thankful.
I am glad doctors have been able to help you. We (Bill and I) are not on medications, have great insurance, but have continually heard, “Sorry, there is nothing we can do for you.” I would prefer medicine, at any cost, if only there were solutions. My heart breaks for Rob. Perhaps they can do something.
Jeannie
Thank you. I think they can help him, it’s just going to take a while. First, you have to jump through all the hoops, such as going to this doctor and that one. He has seen several doctors. He has already had several injections in both his back and hip. Physical therapy is on the list, although the last time he was actually going to the appointment, they called and cancelled, saying they had looked at his x-ray and there was nothing they could do, so he should go to _____ physical therapy place instead. So, he was back to square 1, and that’s how far we’ve gotten:). These things take time. I think it is time to really pursue this for him. It’s getting worse.
Thank you for the encouragement. We have tried everything, spoken to everyone, then tried again. Just this week, I suggested to Bill we should start the process all over again. There is always something new being discovered and maybe, maybe, maybe….
Jeannie
I sincerely hope someone finds out the answers that you are searching for! Before long:)
I am so happy for you that you got the health insurance. One less thing for you to worry about. You got some great finds at the yard sales. I just love when that happens. Have a wonderful week. Sending lots of prayers your way.
Thank you. Yesterday was a great day for me. Without any kids/schedule/direction, I can tend to wander around in circles a bit, but yesterday, I made a list, and finally got a bunch of projects done. It included 30 minutes of intense cleaning on my room–badly needed. I hope to do 30 more today:). I worked like a beaver all morning, read a book all afternoon, then did some more in the evening. It was a satisfying balance for a rare day alone:)
I do 30 minute intervals too. It is enough time to get a lot accomplished but not so long that I get nothing else done. Even if it is something I hate doing, I can do it for 30 minutes. Glad you took some time for yourself.
What book are you reading? I am reading Niki Jabbour’s Veggie Garden Remix. Its really interesting.
I have a couple of mysteries from the library, a book called “I Love My Instant Pot”, an old Grace Livingston Hill book, and a couple of library books about sewing gifts with small amounts of leftover fabric. I tend to flip back and forth between different books, depending on what I’m in the mood for at that moment. I usually don’t get a long period of time to read, so things like cookbooks and craft books are great for those times. I love mysteries, but it has to be pretty riveting for me to forget everything and just read–none of the ones I checked out were–they were easy to put down:(. That’s what I love about the library. I don’t feel like I have to read a book because I spent $25 on it–I’m heading back down there today with my nephew and will change out most of the books for new ones. I’m also going to check out their video selection, since this will be the first day I can get a movie for free! Yea!! They were charging $1 per movie until now, and I refused to pay for them, and we got X-finity because of that when we first moved in here. We have to finish our contract with them, but then we will decide if there is enough of a selection or not to stop the channels. Also, we have to get internet no matter what, so we will still have a bill–we will have to check out the price difference.
Lots to consider. My husband did some phone calling and got our phone bill lowered by $35/month, though. We have a plan with less data, as we weren’t using all of ours, and are doing auto-pay, which saved us $10 per month.
So happy to hear that you’ve got medical insurance, Becky.
tThank you! Me, too:)
Oh, I’m so happy to hear (er, read!) about the insurance coverage. And such perfect timing, too. YAY!
Looks like you found some great deals and had all kinds of fun. Very cool about the library changing their DVD policy – we rely heavily on our libraries for DVDs and I’ve never heard of them charging for borrowing. High fees for late returns (one of our libraries charges $1 per late day) but have not had to deal with a fee to borrow. Ouch! It would cost us a fortune to do that. Glad you can now take advantage of their offerings without the fees.
I checked the movies out today. As expected, there weren’t nearly as many as our old library had. I guess charging money for them caused them to not get as many as our old system had, which makes sense. I’ll bet in time, the supply will grow. I did get a copy of The Sound Of Music and some old Little House on the Prairie disks and Jake got a couple of Lego movies. I figure he will watch all of those over time, as he and I will be hanging around a lot since he is now home from vacation. We do chores, activities, etc. in the morning, then he gets to watch something in the afternoon. Today, we went to a library program–a silly magician who kept the kids entertained for nearly an hour. We got books, too, since reading daily is on our list.
We also went to 7-11 since today between 11 and 7 they are giving our free Slurpies to everyone because it is 7/11:). So we got some.
I know the whole health insurance thing has been a huge worry for you and am so glad you have some now. 🙂 Great finds and how on earth do you have the energy to process all those cherries? You are Superwoman!
Thank you. Getting the insurance is a HUGE relief, to be sure.
I just did the cherries over 2 days. I started super early in the morning so I could pick while it was cool, then went home and started at it. When I was too tired to move anymore, Rob put them in the camper fridge for me, and I started up again the next morning. My joy in getting that many cherries gave me adrenaline, I think. I admit, I was very tired afterwards:). But happy. I really like canning and preserving.