All posts by Becky

Saving Money

Weekly Update–Saving Money–March 18, 2018

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This weekend was not as fun as last weekend.  I caught some kind of crud and have been on the couch, whiny and grumpy and bored.  I am a terrible patient!  But, Rob has taken excellent care of me, it’s nothing serious, and I’ll soon be back to my regular ways.  So, since I do most of my chores, money-saving activities, and projects on the weekends, there’s not much to report.  There were a few things that did happen, though, so I’ll get on to those.

One of my orchids re-bloomed.  I accomplished this amazing feat by putting the plant in the laundry room, forgetting all about it, and barely ever remembering to water it.  It rewarded me with these delicate blooms that are a little over an inch across.  I’m enjoying them so much!  I moved it out to the main part of the house when I realized it was going to bloom. I hope the extra care and attention doesn’t mess things up for the plant!

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Earlier in the week, I hoed out a small area in my garden, under the trellis where I grew purple pole beans last year.  It was very wet, and I don’t like to work in the garden very much when it is so wet, so I removed the weeds, poured down a little super-cheap topsoil from Walmart, and planted Alderman Tall Telephone peas.  Hopefully, they will come up and start growing.  I can get in there and straighten up the trellis and replace the baling twine when the garden dries out a bit.  Once it does, Rob can till a small area and I can get some early cool-weather crops planted, such as carrots, beets, lettuce, onions, etc.  The greenhouse plants are doing well.

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I cooked one of the turkeys I got last Thanksgiving for a super low price.  I boiled the bones, and Rob strained the broth and froze it.  The meat was supposed to be for Sunday dinner today, but they are sick over there, too, so I froze most of it.

Rob went shopping for me and got all the bargains from 2 stores, even visiting one of them twice.  Some of his notable finds were:  butter for $1.89!!!  (As most people know, I’ve been on a butter hunt for months, trying to find it for $2/lb.  I’ve found a few, but not many boxes at my price point.  My Safeway app popped up with this deal.  He went and asked, there was no limit, and he got 10!!  That is a man who knows how to make his wife happy!!) 2-lb bags of shredded Kroger cheese for $3.99/bag.  He got the 5 allowed.  He got the Friday Freebies, and even got them to substitute for the item they were out of.  I hadn’t been to that store for a while, so he got 3 weeks worth.  Chips and candy.  Yum.  He got 2 more jugs of laundry soap for $5 each.  1 carton of 18 eggs for 99c.  Those were the main stock-up items he got along with a few other items on the list.  I was impressed.  The Great Butter Hunt is over for a while…..at least until Jake comes over for bagels and popcorn!!

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I picked a bouquet of daffodils from my yard.   The previous owners had planted quite a few in various places. Along the sidewalk, Patsy’s daffodils are blooming like crazy now, and promise to fill out more and more each year.

Some weeks are like this.  It’s a part of my crazy, wild life, and getting sick sometimes happens, even though I’d rather skip that part.    Still, I am very glad to get this sickness out of the way now, since I plan to go on a little trip at the end of the week.  Rob and I are planning to slip away to visit friends for a couple of days.  Just us.  A rare, priceless gift, that so seldom comes my way.  I can’t wait!

Menu plans, Saving Money

What Did We Eat? Apparently More Than I Thought:). March 15, 2018

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Less than a week ago, I was blithely posting about how I wasn’t going to shop much this week–I didn’t need anything–and so on.  That’s not how it turned out!!

Last Saturday, I thawed pork with the intention of making Asian pork meatballs, a new recipe that called for water chestnuts, for the week ahead, as I often do.  I only use about 6 cans of water chestnuts per year, and last time I checked, I had some.  On Sunday, when I went to get them, I didn’t have them anymore.  Other people cook when I’m not here, and I’m very thankful they do, so this was not a tragedy, just a bump in the road.

Then, I noticed the A1 sauce was gone.  The Worchestershire sauce was nearing the bottom of the bottle.  The maraschino cherries were completely gone, even the juice which was used in popsicles.  We were down to the last bit of bread.  It became almost comical as I realized the peanut butter was again almost empty.  The mustard was almost gone.  The pineapple chunks were gone. As I checked things over, trying to cook for the week ahead,  I had to just laugh!  What are the odds of all of that running out in the same week?

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I found that the Safeway app had a coupon for the laundry soap I always buy, for $4.75 per container.  I have paid from $11.99-14.99 on numerous occasions for the exact same container, so I though it was a mistake.  But, since I wanted to get the 2 packages of chicken breast for $1.49/lb that I was allowed, I headed over there after church on Sunday to check it out while I bought chicken.  (That is a really good price around here for the chicken).  The packages were huge, and I ended up with around 15 pounds of chicken–more than I expected to be allowed to buy.  The soap was not a mistake, so I got 4.  I repackaged and then froze the chicken, so we will have many meals from it.  I had a raincheck for bread, for 99c a loaf.  Water chestnuts were 99c/can, so I got 5.  We got Michaela a Coke and a donut–lucky girl–because you don’t break tradition without a good reason with that girl:).

I saved enough chicken out to make the stir-fry in the first picture, and the chicken parmesan in the second picture.  The Asian meatballs turned out great, when I finally made them Monday morning.  Rob made a large pot of white rice, which was used up this week for meals.  I just finished the last of the Jedi burgers tonight.

The extended family was very hungry on Sunday, and used up most of the food I had made and what was brought by others. We had soup, enchiladas, chips, and mountain bar no-bake cookies.  I had a little chicken-rice soup left for the week, but very little.  It’s gone now.  Rob shared that he needed lunchmeat and lunch stuff for the week ahead.  I hadn’t realized that,  so we went to Grocery Outlet and got a bunch of that kind of thing, snacks for his classroom (he’s an instructional aide and they give food out frequently–he takes things when he finds them cheap), and some produce.  Once we realized that we were shopping after all, we decided to get as much as we could for 2 weeks, and skip shopping this weekend. We made a good list, emptied out the remaining money in the grocery envelopes and spent it!

I got what I could there, and finished up at Winco.  I don’t want to go there on Sunday night ever again.  It was so busy, and it looked as if the shelves had been stirred and emptied.  They were out of pineapple, except some really expensive cans.  They were completely out of 1/2 and 1/2.  I did get some produce, and some other items I had on the list. So, I do have a couple of things to get this weekend after all, but not much! (Or so I think!!)

So, why did I go ahead and empty my grocery envelopes for all those groceries, some of which were not needs at all?  Clearly, we don’t need A1 sauce, for one, we just like it.  One reason is because I like to keep my pantry up as much as I can.  I don’t want to run my stockpile down too far.  It defeats the purpose of keeping one.  Yes, there are times when I just pay the asking price for something I only use 1 bottle of in a year, but for the vast majority of my shopping, I shop sales, discount stores, buy bulk items, and use coupons or grow, can and freeze my own.  To pass up laundry soap that is 1/3 of what I’ve paid at times, is only going to cause me to spend more in the future, because I will always wash clothes.  It doesn’t rot, so it’s a good choice to stockpile. (I know people make their own, but I continue to buy the kind that I know doesn’t make my husband break out in a rash, as many kinds do.)

When you cook at home as much as I do, some of these flavorful items make the food more palatable and less boring, which keeps us eating at home.  Also, the family ate things up, and seemed hungrier than usual (sometimes it happens).  So, I needed more of those often-used items as well as the rarely used ones.

I had grocery money to spend.  I wasn’t shopping because I couldn’t, I really thought I didn’t need this many things.  (I must be blind or kind of dingy!)  I knew the fridge was pretty bare, but I was trying to empty it so I could clean it!  (It’s very clean after the salas explosion last Saturday) If I had not had any budgeted money left this month (mine goes from mid-month to the next mid-month), I would have waited for things like maraschino cherries and focused on produce, bread, dairy and peanut butter.  I would have skipped some of the fresh produce, and used more canned and frozen.  I would have continued pulling items from the pantry and freezers for meals.  Now that I’m out of the amount I budgeted, I will choose to wait until I get paid again to load the envelopes up again.  I did save out enough for 1/2 and 1/2, pineapple and milk, if needed. Since I get paid in the next couple of days, we will not suffer a bit. (It was easy to cruise through this week, as well) I was able to pay off the bills I wanted to pay–the braces are completely paid for!  Hip, hip hooray!!  I won’t have any extra money to roll over to next month like I did last time, but I can live with that.

Sometimes, you just can’t plan everything out perfectly, and things don’t work out the way you planned.  But, going with the flow is a great skill to have!  I am very grateful that  I had the privilege of being able to fill up my fridge and restock my pantry.  I’m very aware that I’m blessed to be able to laugh instead of cry when things ran out.  I’m happy that people can have food they want, as well as food they need, and that we have more than enough.  For these things, and more, I am truly thankful.  I never want to lose sight of those things in the midst of my little self-imposed challenges!  They are fun for me to do, and help me make budgeting fun instead of drudgery.

 

Menu plans

Weekly Update-Saving Money-March 10, 2018–Star Wars Food Edition

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We had the boy all weekend!  He was on a Star Wars cooking kick, because his mama got him a really cute Star Wars cookbook and sent it along so we could all have fun!  Here, Uncle is supervising while he made Han-burgers (Han Solo).

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Uncle was even teaching him how to flip burgers!

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Uncle rose to the occasion and made up some planet onion rings to go with the Han burgers.  He used onions that had been given to us last weekend and made a coating with rice flour, egg and water and gave it a Star Wars sounding name.

 

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Jedi juice pops were a real hit–literally!  They fought with them.  We had to color them red with maraschino cherry juice to make it the right color for the dark side–otherwise, it was just apple juice poured into a popsicle mold.  The book had more complicated directions, such as put strawberries and apple juice in an ice cube tray and insert toothpicks when they had frozen for 2 hours……this was easier!

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That would be a Chewybacca pancake.  They were supposed to be C3PO pancakes with pineapple, but that was a no-go.  They had to be Darth Vader pancakes at first, covered with chocolate chips for the helmet with a cherry for a lite saber.

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Of course, we converted everything to gluten-free with the good old Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour!  These pancakes were really good.

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Chewbacca got really brown, but Jake thought that was good–he is brown! As Jake explained, he wasn’t going to eat any of those toppings….they just made the pancakes look good.  Patsy ate them for him.

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Although the book had a different recipe for Wookie Cookies, Patsy decided to make Mountain Bars (no bake chocolate-oatmeal cookies) and they decided to call them Wookie-Cookies.  The Star Wars Weekend was really fun.  No matter what we cooked, we gave it a Star Wars name.  Jake was super hungry and ate a ton of turkey-rice soup that was supposed to be for lunch tomorrow.  No worries–I’d rather have him eat it any time–it’s one of the few real foods he eats–I made an enchilada casserole from odds and ends and we will heat it up with the rest of the soup for tomorrow.  Everyone’s coming here tomorrow, as some have meetings and things in the afternoon and need to eat and run.

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We also drove down to the beach yesterday afternoon for a few hours.  It’s really not that far from here–we just usually forget that it’s so close.  There was no school Friday, so all the kids and Rob were off, and that’s why we had Jake that day–his mama was working.  Rob had done some errands in the morning while I went to the YMCA and took an exercise class.  It was a new-to-me one, and said on the description–“Low impact/barre” so I assumed low meant easy and we would hang on to a bar and ??? I didn’t know what, but how hard could it be?  Hard.  Let’s just say hard.  There were resistance bands to work our shoulders and arms, lots of jumping around (with one foot on the floor at all times),  and so forth for 45 minutes.  THEN we went over to the barre and held on while doing lunges, squats, pulses, etc. for another 30 minutes.  Yikes!  To make it worse, there was a lady, who had to be close to 80, just going like gangbusters!  She was amazing!  Again, as usual, pretty humbling:)  The teacher was also new-to-me, but she was super helpful and kind, and I hung in there.  I was pretty sore all the way to the beach, and beyond.  So, I was glad to crawl into the van and let Rob do all the driving.    All I asked for was a Diet Root Beer float from A and W, and I was good to go.  Ice cream fixes everything!  We shall see if I can talk myself into going again next Friday.

I also had done my 2 regular Pilates classes earlier in the week, and am hoping to try to do at least one extra class or other exercise time each weekend as well, from now on.  I could take classes all day, every day, with our membership, I just don’t have the time or energy.

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The most fun we had was looking at the seals on the dock at Newport.  Jake spent most of his time imitating the sounds the seals were making–arr, arr, arr, arr.  They were so funny, knocking each other off the docks, pushing and shoving like children.  Then some college students showed the kids the red rock crabs they had caught, and caught a rock fish while we watched.  Docks and kids = Fun!

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The Mark Hatfield Marine Science Center was near closing by the time we meandered down there, but we enjoyed it for the short time remaining.  They are re-doing the exhibits and most of it was closed anyway.  It looks like they will have new things to see in a couple of weeks.

It was a fun time with the whole family, as the 2 big girls got to go as well.

 

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We stopped at a candy shop, and let everyone choose 1 thing.  We ended up our evening by going out to dinner; a super fun, rare occasion with the whole family.  IMG_0069

I had some money that was given to me a while back as a gift, that I used for our dinner out, and was very satisfied with my day!  I especially enjoyed the drive up the coast from Newport to Lincoln City, as the weather was nice, and we stopped off at Depot Bay to look around.  The spouting horn was not spouting. It was the wrong time, but no one cared. We enjoy looking at the ocean under any circumstances.   The entire afternoon was a lot of fun.  I need to remember more often that we really aren’t that far from the ocean!

The rest of the week was full of normal activities.  I went to work, appointments, did homeschool, and let the dishes pile up in the sink and the mountain of laundry grew pretty tall.  Then, on Saturday, I tore into the neglected work and did some cooking, cleaning and laundry.  I also got some more transplanting done in the greenhouse.  I do water the baby plants every single day, no matter how busy I am.

One of the biggest ways I’ve saved money this week is by not shopping very much.  After spending a whopping $21 last weekend, I never did make it to the store again.  And, I still haven’t made it this weekend, either.  I do need to stop in after church tomorrow, but my list isn’t very long.   I’ve been digging in the freezers and cupboards and feel good about some of the thing that have been used up.

I downloaded my Friday freebies from Fred Meyers, but haven’t picked them up, since I haven’t had time to go to the store.   So, if you want to save money by not shopping, borrow a little boy for the weekend and you won’t have time to go, but instead, can cook Star Wars food all weekend from pantry staples!  It’s more fun than the store, believe me.

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I planned to clean the fridge this weekend after it emptied out a bit more, and was working hard all week to continue emptying it.  This morning, when salsa hit the floor and spewed in all directions, painting the fridge door, wall and floor red….I knew the time was at hand!  I washed the entire thing… and the floor in front of it…and the cupboard beside it….and……The food fit easily inside and there was room for leftovers and food for tomorrow’s Family Sunday Dinner.  I love having a clean fridge!

I was able to pull a few more green onions that had overwintered in the garden and use them in the casserole I made. I used some turkey bits from the freezer for both the turkey-rice soup and the enchilada casserole.  This turkey was cooked last summer, and needs to be used. I used home-canned chicken broth in the soup.  We used some frozen corn my sister grew and froze, for us, last summer.  I’ve been offering the family canned peaches frequently, and there have been takers, as the fresh fruit is mostly gone now.  The applesauce is going down the hatch, too.  I will likely pick up a few bananas the next time I make it to a store.  I still have carrots, celery, and of course, onions to cook with this week, as well as some lettuce, still looking great, from that huge package I bought at Costco a couple of weeks ago.  I am surprised at how things have held out with as little shopping as I have done the last couple of weeks.    I am delighted that I have been able to meet my goal of completely paying off the rest of Patsy’s braces–what a great feeling.  I thought I had held out plenty for groceries, and it’s turning out that I may even have some left to roll over to next month (which starts mid-month for me, as that’s when I get paid). We’ll see, as I noticed the evening Melatonin/Sunthenine bottle is getting empty, and that stuff’s expensive.  But, it works to help both Patsy and Jake go to sleep, so…..cheap at any price:).

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Garden, Menu plans, Saving Money

Greenhouse Update–What Shall We Eat?–March 7, 2018

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I love the little artichokes!  Now that they each have their own little pot, they are continuing to grow like crazy.  So encouraging!  Out of my 6 seeds, I ended up with 4 strong ones, and one little, tiny one.  I’m giving it a chance.  Who knows what it will do:)

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As I find a few minutes, I slip out to the greenhouse and transplant what I can in the time I have.  So far, I’ve done all the Willamette tomatoes, the San Marzano Giagante, the artichokes, and the basil.  I still have the cherry tomatoes, and a few more things to do.  Once I transplant them, the plants are growing rapidly.  I can clearly see that it’s time to get out there and get the rest done.  Soon it will be time to plant more little seeds.

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Outside, various daffodils have burst into bloom.  There are several varieties here, and so they bloom at different times.  So pretty!

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This week’s menu plan is all about cleaning up odds and ends, and using stored food.   With the fridge emptied out a little, I hope to wash it out this weekend.

I took this little pile of apples, cut them into chunks and cooked them with raisins, cinnamon and sugar.  It was delicious.  I made mini muffins from the one, lonely, sad banana.

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I pulled chicken legs from the freezer and marinated them in home-made teriyaki sauce. I squeezed soy sauce out of all the little packets in the cupboard, left over from long past Chinese food meals.  Once I read the labels and realized they were gluten-free, there was no need for them to languish in the cupboard any longer.  I added a couple packets of sesame seeds, brown sugar, water, 3 green onions I pulled from the garden (yea!),  and marinaded them all day, then baked them.

Last night, we cooked for the college age gathering/worship night at church and most of the family ate there with them. (I actually got some super great chicken and rice at my sister’s house–she was cooking that, before I got there).  They provided us with a budget, and we made tacos/nachos, corn, and cake. We made it possible for gluten-free people to have plenty of choices, such as taco salad or chips and toppings.  I love my own home-made refried beans (not trying to brag, they just have so much more flavor from the peppers and onion I add), so decided to make a big batch.  I was happy to donate those, and also to keep a few here for our family to use.  They have a brilliant way of using up their left-overs.  (It was our first time cooking for this group, so we are learning).  They package them up, and the college kids take them home to eat the next day for lunch.  So, we rolled up the leftovers into burritos and put them in ziplock bags. Some were pretty plain, some had more fillings.  All had beans and cheese and tomatoes at least.  There were a very few baggies of lettuce, a few bags of corn chips, and several bags of corn.  We got a great feeling for how much food they eat, and will know better next time.  All in all, we were super pleased with how the food to hungry person ratio worked out.  There were leftovers, but not an enormous amount, and they all went home with the young adults.

We’ve eaten up the leftovers from last weekend, including the chicken/rice soup, and a lot of turkey hot dogs have been eaten.  We had a big package of those.  We are eating a lot of salad this week, since I bought that huge bag of romaine from Costco 2 weekends ago. The 5 dozen eggs have been hit hard, with all the baking plus scrambled eggs, but there are still a few cartons left. There’s lots of cheddar cheese, and a little bread left.   I only spent $21 last weekend because I stocked up so well that first weekend of the month, but needed milk and a few other very-much-on-sale items, like water for $1.50/case.  This weekend, I will spend more and stock back up on produce, and get whatever super sales items that show up on the ads.  I will plan that out on Friday, when I get time.  I will make more chicken/rice soup for this weekend and maybe another kind of soup as well, for Sunday.  I have bagels frozen for Jake, as he is coming over.  He has a new Star Wars cookbook his mother bought him, and is dying to make something from it.  We will!

There is enough chicken for tomorrow.  There are still a few refried beans, and a very few tortilla shells we had on hand. We will use canned fruit for the next few days as most of the fresh has been used.  I need one more main dish for Friday, and will figure it out Friday:). I’m very pleased with how this moderate-budgeted month is going!  I’m getting some odds and ends used up, and hopefully will clean the fridge.

 

food preservation

A Gift of Onions to Preserve

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Today, we were able to add onions to our freezer, and to our bucket where we keep fresh onions.  The easiest way to preserve onions is to dry them and keep them in a cool, dry place, so that’s what we do.  I was down to 3 onions from the 25 lbs Rob picked up a few months ago, so I was delighted when he, again, brought home the….onions!

We were shopping after church for some food we needed for the week ahead, and he went out to put the groceries in the car while I redeemed some Safeway Monopoly coupons.  (Amazingly, we actually won $5!!!). A total stranger approached him in the parking lot and confided that he had bought a huge bag of onions, and had already taken out the ones he wanted.  Some were going soft, he said, but there were lots of good ones.  Did Rob want them?  You bet!  He happily accepted them.  There had to be 15 pounds or more still left in that bag!

Later, once home, he sorted them.  All of the best ones, he put in the bucket we keep onions in.  We store them in the garage, where it is much cooler than the rest of the house.  Even so, at this time of year, they want to sprout and grow, so I have to keep an eye on them.

A few he threw directly into the garden, where he will till them in for compost when it dries out because they were over the hill.

There was a sizable pile left that were starting to “go.”  He peeled them, and trimmed away all the soft/brown/bad spots.  He then chopped all the good parts and pieces into small chunks and we put them in quart-sized ziplock bags.  We did not over-fill the bags so each bag ended up as a flat, thin layer, and we laid all the bags out flat inside of a super large bag.  There are 5 or 6 small bags in the big one.  We did this so that they won’t get lost in the freezer and so that a piece of the desired size can be easily broken off of the frozen chunk for quick meal prep.  Then they were popped into the chest freezer in the shop, and they will freeze flat.

I will use the fresh ones as much as possible, and then freeze more of those if they start going bad quickly.  When I’m in a hurry, or run out of fresh ones, I now have frozen ones to use in a pinch.  What a totally unexpected blessing!  I mean…we don’t even know the man that gave Rob the onions.   I’m amazed at how God is providing for us this month.  We are very thankful!

 

Saving Money

Weekly Update–Saving Money–New Towel Week!–March 3, 2018

12 Comments

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I don’t know where my kitchen towels are.  I mean, there are a few left in the drawer, but where are the rest?  Nobody knows.  And, when questioned, no one, and I mean NO ONE took them or has them.  So, I can only conclude that they grew legs and walked away.  Or something:).  But, God knew they were gone.  My sweet aunt noticed last Sunday that there was a problem, and picked up a few more for me from a sale she saw.  Then, when visiting my sister, she asked if I wanted the embroidered ones–her daughter was cleaning cupboards  for her, and they discovered she had too many and wasn’t able to use them all.  She didn’t even know I was running low.  I said yes in a hurry.  So, after I run them through the wash, I will have a drawer full again.  It was so sweet of both of them:). I just hope THESE don’t grow legs……

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I’m soaking beans for refried beans.  We are going to make dinner for the college age group at church on Tuesday night, and we will do tacos.  This will be our first time cooking for them, so we will know more after Tuesday about what works well and what doesn’t.  They do provide us with a budget, so we aren’t going to provide much from our pantry, but I want to make the beans myself.  We like them so much better.  I will make a big batch, and have some for us, and some for them.  Because we both have to work that day, everything will be made and chopped ahead of time, and all we will need to do is keep warm food warm in a Crock Pot, cold food cold in a cooler, and set things out when we get there.  We’ve been told there is paperware there.

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I’m trying to use fruits, meats and vegetables from our freezers and cupboards.  Tonight, I sautéed some frozen green beans in butter, and added garlic.  Yum!  We ate some of the 10c/can  pickled beets Rob bought last fall.  I made a casserole from frozen broccoli, rice, tomato sauce, and turkey kielbasa sausage, and chicken-rice soup.

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I made some turkey meatloaf.  There is still ground turkey from the turkeys Rob raised at  our old place.  It’s time to target it and actively use it up before it gets freezer burned.  I will be sorry when it is gone, but there’s not use letting it go bad.  It turned out great.  I also made potato salad, and am going to make coleslaw from the cabbage I picked from the garden for Family Sunday Dinner tomorrow.

I spent some time today organizing out in the canning cupboard, which is in the shop; putting away the empty jars in the right places, getting out new jars to bring into the garage for the week ahead, etc.  It does take some time, but I use things more if I have a good supply within reach. So, most weekends, I bring a jar or two of each thing into the garage and have it handy for daily meal preparation and take the empties out.

I also grabbed a couple of handfuls of frozen items from the freezers and brought them in.  I found a loaf of bread–yea!  I thought I was out of that bargain bread I got a while back, but there it was:). There again, I use things more if I physically look in there with the intention of bringing some in–I often find items I’ve forgotten about.

What I did not find time for today was shopping, except for a gallon of milk, a bunch of celery, and 1 head of garlic.  I just got those from the store that is about 1 block from my house.  I have some good coupons, but didn’t use them today.  So, $5.16 was my weekend shopping total so far.

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I got a few more plants transplanted today.  There are quite a few more to do, but I keep working on it when I have time.

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Rob took Patsy fishing today.  He had been told about a pond that isn’t too far from our home, and so they went today.  They did not catch fish, but they did get some bites.  Maybe another day…..

Our van had a bad flat tire.  We took it to Les Schwab Tires and they fixed it for free, as they do when you buy your tires there.  We had to wait for a while, but it’s fixed!

Patsy counted 106 buds on the daffodils she planted out front.  This is the 2nd year for them.  Last year, we only got a few blooms, but she has high hopes this year that those 106 buds will bloom, and is very excited.  The bulbs were free from my sister’s yard.  We have several tiny, yellow ones blooming now, and some pale ones as well.  We recently had snow, so things slowed down a bit, but before that, we were having an early spring.  So confusing.  Thank goodness daffodils are hardy!

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These 2 enjoyed their trip to the park very much.  Such joy!  Auntie Rosalie took them:)

How did your week go?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garden

Greenhouse Update-Feb. 27, 2018

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Last evening, after work, we were able to do some transplanting.  In the back of this picture, you can see the hybrid broccoli blend (Territorial Seeds) looking great after each got their own little cell.  This entire tray is now broccoli, and that is more than we can use, so we hope to find homes for some of it.  We use a more coarse planting mix for the second stage of growth.  You can see that the onions are still in the finer starting mix.  They didn’t come up as thickly as I would like.  I will be planting some more in another tray, soon.  (Look at the ones on the left).

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The cabbage mix (Pinetree Garden Seeds) was ready to transplant as well.  You can see how the little tiny red one barely made the cut, but I wanted at least one red one, so I gave it a cell even though it was behind the other greener ones.  I’ve done this mix before, and there are several kinds that grow.  Just like the hybrid broccoli blend, they don’t all get ripe at once, which is helpful to me.

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A few days ago, I put the Corinto Greenhouse Cucumbers (Johnny’s Selected Seeds) into a pot with lettuce in front.  There was an escapee onion in the broccoli, so I put it in this pot.  This is an experiment.  I’ll see how it grows.

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I dragged the parsley pot from last summer into the greenhouse, and it’s starting to grow well.  The cilantro on the left is as well.  I will add a little more potting soil to each pot, and perhaps some fertilizer, especially to the parsley.  Cilantro is an annual, but it self-seeded into the pot where it was growing, so there are lots of babies in there.  I won’t turn down fresh herbs.

There is much more to be done each week now, as spring comes closer.  Every single day, we water everything a little bit to keep it moist.  Soon, I will plant some more flowers and other veggies, and transplant the tomatoes.  It was very fun and relaxing for Rob and I to slip out there last evening and work for a little while.  It didn’t take long, and gave us a good chance to talk for a few minutes.

Saving Money, Watching my pennies

Weekly Update–Saving Money–February 24, 2018

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We’ve had snow 3 times this past week–twice over an inch and a half, and once, just a skiff.  Crazy!  It’s been such a mild, spring-like winter!! There was not enough on the roads to close school down, so neither Rob nor I missed any work.  We only get paid when we work, so we were able to enjoy the beautiful sight of snow without any of the inconvenience that usually comes with it.  In fact, on Thursday, when I took this picture, we were the only area that had much snow.  When you went even a few blocks, there was basically none.

Despite the thrills of excitement we all feel when it snows here, since it is so rare, our week went pretty smoothly.  Monday was a holiday, and I sewed.  I watched the Olympics several times.  We also did some cast iron cooking.  We are testing out some recipes for an upcoming 4H class we have been asked to teach.

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Chicken pot pie.

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Gluten-free biscuits.

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Apple cider and onion pork.

They were all good, and we had a fun time testing them out, and got good food to eat for the rest of the week.

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You can bake in a cast iron kettle quite nicely if you put coals on the bottom, place the spider cast iron pot on top, then put coals on the lid.  We were delighted with how the things came out.  It does take practice, though.  We actually got too many coals on the pork, and it was super brown (slightly burned) on top,  but was still good.  We used liners, because we are going to do this at a class and it makes it easier.  I prefer the flavor when they are cooked right down in the cast iron, but this makes clean-up a breeze. The class is for older youth, so needs to be more advanced than the stew in a pot, roasted hot dogs, etc. that we have done before for younger kids.  I hope to practice a little more.

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We also cooked Rice Krispie treats, (Jake was here for the weekend), pizza, salad, several baked potatoes with cottage cheese on top, and I bought a $4.99 chicken from Costco when I was there.

I spent a lot of time Friday shopping my way from store to store, getting the best bargains.  I had the time to do that while J was in her house-cleaning job for 2 hours and I didn’t want to come home.  I shopped at Grocery Outlet and Fred Meyers while she cleaned.  At Grocery Outlet, I got 99c gluten-free cookie mix, a little produce, and a few other things.  I was able to pick up all my Friday Freebies at Fred Meyers and get a substitution for the one I had not been able to get twice before.  I got the Cliff bar easily. There was an extra freebie of yogurt on my app this week, and when read carefully, you could choose between a single yogurt or a 2-pack.  Of course, I took the 2-pack. I got more cottage cheese, as it’s really been on sale lately and people are eating tons of it.

Then, I got J and we went over to Safeway, where I had coupons from my aunt for 99c sugar(2) and $1.99 butter (2). A free cream cheese showed up on my app, so I got that.  We chose herb flavor.  We also got Oreos for $1.99, and a very few more things.  I don’t go there much, so haven’t won very many items on the Monopoly game they are playing there.  On this trip, J helped 2 elderly ladies get sugar from the bottom shelf, in the back, so they wouldn’t have to crawl down on the floor.  They were very thankful for her kindness.   At check out, one of them gave J her Monopoly tickets.  Another lady who was standing there did too.  I got my few, and we left.  I was surprised to see, when opened, that we won a bottle of aspirin, a bottle of salad dressing, and a few coupons.  When Patsy stuck the tags on the game board, we won $5!  Wow!  So, I need to redeem those tickets.

Last month, I found I had  $100 left over from last month in my grocery envelopes when I went to fill them up again.  So, I decided to spend it at Costco on Friday, and got a few things I could use from there.  J is taking snacks to youth group Sunday night, and so we got one of those huge bags of corn chips, which she will put with the bean dip and salsa I got very inexpensively at Grocery Outlet.  Her snack will be way under $10 and I’m sure there will be some left.  (She says it ranges from around 15 to 40 kids, depending on the day or night, meaning she has no idea how many there will be, so better safe than sorry).  I got one of those cooked rotisserie chickens at Costco.  I wanted lunch, but there aren’t very many things I can eat at Costco, so I just got that, ate some then, and saved some for later.  J had pizza.

Today, I had Rob pick up the Yoplait fridge packs of yogurt that were a Saturday special at Fred Meyers for $1.99/pack.  He got the 5 allowed.  That’s 25c/yogurt, as there are 8 in the pack.  He and Patsy will burn their way through those 40 yogurts plus the 2 free ones I got.  I buy them frequently for a lot more than that!  He got the 99c cereal, too. (5) and some milk. It’s a long story, but we had 2 Visa gift cards of $15 each.  He used them, and there is still a little money on one for next time.

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So, the fridge in the house is stuffed, as is the camper one.   I’m in a great place for groceries and grocery money for the month ahead.  We take grocery money from our mid month paycheck each time.  That’s just working well right now.   I’m hoping to be able to skip a week of shopping this month some time, or at least only buy a few items one week.  We’ll see how it goes.  I don’t want to get over stocked and have things start to go bad.

Tomorrow, Family Sunday dinner is here.  At last count, there may be up to 13 or 14 young adults and kids here, with Rob, myself, and my aunt. We will see how many really show up.  Some of the friends may not actually be available.   I love cooking for a crowd, but since Michaela spent part of the weekend, and Jake the entire weekend, I want it to be easy.  So, I’m using some of the 50c/lb rotini I got last week with some canned pasta sauce.  I’m making meatballs from beef.  All of this will be in separate bowls.  I’m under orders from Alissa, my niece, to keep it separate. (I’m using regular wheat pasta for all of them, to save a bundle of money, and I have a little gluten-free for me.  The trick will be that I will wash the pan and colander myself to make sure it gets super clean, so the separate bowl idea works really well for me, too).  Then, I’ll do salad with some of the 6-pack of romaine from Costco, and my aunt will bring chips and Oreos.  Simple, easy, and us aunties will keep our “spoiler of children” status:). I love it that they come, and bring their friends.  It keeps us all young and on our toes.

I took Patsy and Jake swimming at the YMCA today, and took 2 exercise classes this week.  I was very sore after Thursday’s class, so stretched out really well and exercised a bit at home on Friday.  Jake joined me, pointed out how easy it was, tried to get me to put one leg on the ottoman, my head on the couch, wave my free arm around and kick my other leg up, like he did, but………

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We have moved on to reading “On the Banks of Plum Creek.”  He’s enjoying “Good little Mary and bad little Laura” very much.  I know Laura portrays herself as a spunky, slightly naughty child in the books, but I was surprised when he started calling them that:).  In the very first book, Laura slaps Mary and gets in bad trouble.  He was appalled.   Kids are funny. He won’t forget or stop thinking about Laura’s naughtiness:).  Today, I dug out the original Little House on the Prairie movie, I think from the 70’s, and he watched it.  He loved it!  Rob and he watched “The Apple Dumpling Gang” on Friday night, and he liked that, too.  He’s really branching out.  He played with Legos we have, my treasure chest of Transformers and other toys, and the box of play food we’ve had for years.  He made meals for the Transformers, and us, and then the Transformers shot everything in sight:). We read a lot of little books, too, and he read to himself for a while.  I cooked him bacon and pancakes, and he ate most of a package of mini bagels.  My house is a train wreck, but at least everyone is clean, safe and happy, at least for the moment!

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Michaela spend one night, and she was quiet, in her personal cocoon, at first, then watched tv with Patsy nicely, and slept in this morning.  Her older sister came and took her to Horses of Hope (she volunteers and grooms them, then gets to ride.). She liked that a lot.  I will get her back at 11 tomorrow, for her weekly after-church Coke, then lunch.  I would have liked to do something fun Friday night, such as take her swimming, but she would not leave the house, even though there were only snowflakes for about 1/2 hour, and they did not stick.  She is terrified of snow.  Still, she is doing quite well at coming over to spend the night more often and I’ll try again another time to take her to the pool.

All-in-all, it was a busy, productive week, with the beauty of snow for part of it.  Now, though, that can go away as far as I’m concerned, and spring can come:). My baby plants are up and growing, and I have some transplanting to do that did not get done this weekend.  Maybe tomorrow…..Maybe not…but soon!

 

 

 

Sewing

Sewing Day–President’s Day, 2018

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I decided to use my days off for sewing.  It’s quite a process around here, as everything has to be taken out of the garage, and all parts and pieces have to be found.  So, I took over the table, told people to eat elsewhere, and got busy.  I got started on Saturday afternoon.IMG_6398

I finished up this skirt for Patsy I had started quite some time ago.  Thank goodness it still fits.

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I moved on to a pair of pajama pants for Ja’Ana.  This was a piece of fabric I’ve had for years, and I went out to the shop and dug it out since I knew it would be perfect.  I spent quite a bit of time Sunday afternoon cutting it out so the plaid would match.  I haven’t matched plaids for a long time, so it took me a long time.  Success comes from careful cutting with plaids.  I sewed the pants on Monday, and was delighted with how well the plaids matched.   It actually took around the same amount of time to cut them out as it did to sew them!

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A nightie for Patsy was the next project.  It went together quickly.

I got another skirt cut out as well, and even got started, but I’ll show that one when I get it done.  It will be a while before I get another chance to sew.

You may notice that I chose projects that were very simple and quick.  I feel great about getting them done, and using some fabric I’ve had for a while.  The girls will really benefit from some new nightwear.  I’m also very happy to have finished the skirt, at long last.

I cleaned up the entire mess, but hopefully put the machines and all parts and pieces in handy places so I can pick them up easily if I do get a chance to sew again before long.  We did a few other fun things on our days off, as well, so I feel pretty good about this weekend.  Good thing….it all starts up as usual tomorrow, bright and early!

 

Saving Money

Weekly Update-Saving Money-February 17, 2018

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The beginning of the week was sunny, but cool.  One afternoon, when she got home from school,  Michaela and I went down to the river to watch the Wheatland Ferry.  She needed to buy some Valentines, so we did her errands first, then decided to take a little ride, since it was so sunny.  So, with French fries in hand, we drove down to the sparkling river, and spent some time throwing rocks into the river, counting the cars that crossed on the ferry, and just enjoying the afternoon.  It really perked up her afternoon, and I enjoyed myself very much, as well.  I’m always delighted to find a low-cost outing to do with her.  It does her good to get out into the fresh air.

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In fact, she had so much fun, that she came up with a plan for Tuesday afternoon.   On Tuesdays, Jake stays after school for choir, so we decided to take him to a near-by park to swing, even though evening was approaching.  Unfortunately, we were only able to stay for a short time, when he began to feel poorly.  We went right home.  He stayed with me Wednesday morning and all day Thursday.  He laid down or sat down all day, both days, at my house.  My mom took him to his house Wednesday afternoon, where he proceeded to sleep for 2 hours.  I’m sure he is fine now, but his daddy was able to care for him after that, if he needed it.

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In the midst of it all, life went on, as it does.  I made fajitas with some pork chops that were getting old in the freezer, an old pepper I found in the fridge, and an onion.  Rob ate that for a couple of day for dinner and in his lunch.

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I made rhubarb/strawberry crisp with some frozen fruit that had been there for quite a while.  I made some ground pork-vegetable soup with frozen veggies, pork, potatoes, etc. Alissa made biscuits.  We snacked on popcorn.  I made pizza from pre-made crusts I had on hand.  At the end of the week, my schedule got crazy, and so we had food from Wendy’s, and then Rob got me a real treat, Chinese food, on Saturday, because I was correcting and grading school work.  He was treating me because he knows how much I love teaching and don’t love correcting.

I corrected home-school work for about 7 hours on Friday night and Saturday, most of that being on Saturday since I was gone all day Friday.  We have a meeting coming up where I need to turn in grades, etc., for the diploma program the girls are enrolled in.  It’s still significantly less money than a private school, so it’s worth it to me to do all the correcting, etc.

The price wars continue in the grocery stores near where my aunt and sister live.  It’s only about 20-25 minutes away, and we go there frequently, so I’m not complaining. (It’s not far in miles, it’s traffic that takes the time). I got potatoes for 10 lbs/99c (2 bags), Ritz for 99c/box (1), apple juice for 99c (I ended up with 7 because 2 stores were doing this one), pork loin for 99c/lb (2-4 lb chunks), 25c cans of tomatoes (2), Honey Nut Cheerios (99c/box), and chili-48c/can (2).  At the Fred Meyers near me, I got the other apple juices and peanut butter for 99c (5), tuna for 50c/can(5), pasta for 50c/lb(5),  and my free candy bar. Going to multiple stores, shopping the sales, downloading and clipping coupons, and keeping track of prices takes a lot of work, but since it turns my modest grocery budget into a nicely stocked pantry, I don’t mind.

Ja’Ana cleaned house for the lady she works for weekly.  She also had a youth group outing where they planted cherry trees to earn money for their upcoming mission trip to help at a camp in Montana during spring break.  We aren’t going this time, just her, and I’m sure it will be a great experience for her.  I’m really glad they give them opportunities to earn money for these trips. It helps us a lot, and teaches the kids to value their trip more.  Both girls had extra youth group outings this week, along with the normal meetings.  So, we were very busy this week.  You could say we were fueled with all the chocolate from Valentine’s Day.  Too bad the car can’t run on chocolate:)

I was able to go to JoAnn’s and use the last gift card I had in my stash.  Patterns were 99c, so I got a handful.  I got some floss, as I have been embroidering towels, and can’t find my extra floss stash.  Thankfully, it’s not expensive and I only needed a very few colors for what I’m working on.  I will continue to look through the bins in the shop for my floss!  So frustrating when I had my hands on it so recently, but……it happens.

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A couple of years ago, I was given a huge ziplock full of floss.  I recently put that floss in a very safe place.  In a bin.  In the shop.  It’s still there.  Very safe.   Very, very safe.

I was able to use a 20% off my entire purchase coupon.  I got a little fabric, too.  I want to sew a few items for Patsy, and will also use some of the fabric I still have in my stash in the shop.  I hoped to start on that today, but the correcting and house chores took my time (plus the fact that I fell asleep on the couch late this afternoon!!!). Thankfully, tomorrow is another day and floss is inexpensive:)

Have you lost anything lately?