Garden, Holidays, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–April 18, 2022

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We had a wonderful Easter Day, yesterday. We went to church, for the early service, and then came home to feast with our extended family.

I was especially happy with how the African violet my niece gave me for Christmas 2 years ago rose to the occasion and bloomed so festively. For decorations, I used several tablecloths I’ve had for years. They were either from yard sales or my grandmothers, and I love them.

One bunch of mini roses and one bunch of baby’s breath became additional bouquets for the tables. From those 2 bunches, I got 5 mini-bouquets and one large one.

I chose to use lots of real dishes this year. Although this decision was not made to save money, but to enjoy some pretty things I have, I was able to save the paper plates I bought for another occasion.

On Thursday, the egg-dippers did a wonderful job of coloring eggs. One dipped many.

One dipped only a very few, but they were very carefully decorated.

One was very new at the entire process, so just dropped lots of eggs into the yellow cup once he got the idea.

The supervisor supervised.

The 3 favorite eggs were given a “place of honor” on the mantle and enjoyed by all.

Many of the colored eggs were transformed and eaten on Easter. I still have several boiled ones in the fridge. With egg shortages and price hikes, I was super glad to have gotten 5 dozen for $5 a couple of weeks ago. This week, we found none on sale anywhere, and in fact, at 2 stores Rob visited for other items, he noticed there were no eggs at all in either store, except for a few super expensive organic ones.

As I mentioned last week, my menu was simple, and made ahead. Several people pitched in items, and I will say we ended up with so much dessert we all had several kinds:). There was purposefully way too much food, so everyone took home what they wanted and didn’t have to cook for a few days unless they wanted to.

My aunt brought lots of eggs stuffed with candy, as she does every year. It took Malcolm about 2 seconds to figure out that there was candy in those eggs. He quickly went over in a corner and started stuffing his mouth with chocolate. He did hunt for a few eggs, but quickly got distracted with the fact that there was CANDY in there Every. Single. Time.

Until there wasn’t:). Bummer!

Although much of my week was consumed with getting my house and food ready for Easter Day, we also a few other activities. We shopped for last minute items, but did not need much other than we got last week. We did pick up any great bargains that were offered, since we were at the store anyway.

Rob and I helped in the kitchen at a children’s event at church. We handed out donuts and fruit drink. Rob made coffee. They shot candy out of a cannon and the kids picked it up–like a glorified piñata. There was so much candy and sugar–the kids thought it was perfect! It was a little overwhelming for the Malcolm, so he happily got into my friend, Debbie’s wagon with her nephew, and they munched candy for a short time!

We experienced a crazy weather week. Although Portland, north of us, got a lot of snow, and made national news, we did get a light amount one morning. It hailed a LOT, several times. It was sunny and warm at times. It frosted hard several mornings.

Somehow my baby veggies survived it all, although some of my little broccoli plants look battered. If any of this early crop survives, it will be a bonus. I was able to pick overwintered spinach to mix with purchased head lettuce for our Easter salad. I also used lots of chives for our baked potato bar. I also put them in some chip/veggie dip I made and picked some parsley for that, as well.

It looks like a lot of rain coming our way this week, but soon I will be able to get out there in the garden and yard and really get busy growing things for this summer. I’m looking forward to it.

Holidays, Quilting, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week-April 12, 2022

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We had just a few minutes Sunday evening before we had to be somewhere, and stopped at a park by the Willamette River to take a short walk. Before it started to rain heavily on our heads and we scurried back to the car, we saw this boat full of what we believe were tourists.

After some instruction from the person standing up in the back, the whole crew started to row as per her instructions and before we knew it, they navigated away from the dock and into the river. They are tougher than I felt yesterday. The rain was icy and the temperature in the 40’s with a wind whistling over the water. Rob and I marveled at their persistence, and happily got into our car, turned on the heater and went on our way. It’s been very cold here. Portland, Oregon, got SNOW! Rare at any time, but in mid April? Crazy! We didn’t. We are a bit to the south of there, but it’s not warm here, either.

We took several walks last week. On one of our walks, we found a lady setting out a twin-sized bed frame in excellent condition, so we happily grabbed it and carried it home. I’m sure people were marveling at OUR persistence. We now have a frame for the spare bed in my back room. We made that lady very happy, too, as she wanted it to go where someone would use it. Today, we set it up. Rob cut boards he had scavenged and put the slats in the frame and we added the mattresses that had previously been on the floor of the spare room. Now it will be higher and much, much better for laying my quilt squares out on so I can see how they look before I sew them together. Visiting kids will enjoy sleeping on it, as well, I hope, although they never seem to have minded the mattresses on the floor.

I continued my project of cleaning out small areas or working on unfinished projects. Rob has been cleaning, too, which helps. Yesterday, he tackled a larger area in hopes of getting bags of trash since we had room in the garbage can. I joined him after Jake and I were done with school. We were not disappointed. We filled 2 whole bags and used every bit of space in that can. We may have a garage sale eventually, but some things just aren’t worth saving to that end or donating.

Many years ago, one of my children decided to make a “chicken” quilt. We cut out simple squares together, and they sewed a few together with my help, and then lost interest. I ripped quite a few blocks apart and started re-sewing them and made a few more. I threw away the squared with holes?? in them???? No idea what happened there… Now I’m working on putting a sashing between the blocks. Rob’s mom turns 90 this year. She loves chickens. I’m hoping to finish this one up before her birthday in July.

Jake and I got a morning of free entertainment and a free field trip all in one when two men parked this truck right in front of my house and proceeded to clean out a water line in the street. They were more than patient and answered every single one of the many questions he asked and explained it all to him in minute detail. His only disappointment was that no water shot up high and no one got squirted:). When that was shared with one of them men, he laughed and said he almost did get squirted, but they are supposed to do it in such a way that water is not wasted, so they don’t use any more than they absolutely need and reclaim it, but once in a while some does get away. Just not that day!

And, Jeannie in Tennessee, this picture is for you. Jake wants you to see this water line cleaner truck–since you’ve sent him interesting pictures of storms before. (Jeannie has been Jake’s pen pal for a few years now, although he tends to be a bit fickle–nothing for months, then out of the blue–demands I post something for her–it’s fun!)

Grocery shopping happened at 2 stores because they each had things on sale that we wanted. Rob did one store and I did the other. We got almost everything we wanted for Easter dinner along with things we were out of. I’m hoping I either don’t have to shop at all, or just buy a few things this Friday.

I spent some time today going through cupboards and pulling out some nice dishes I want to use for Easter dinner. I also pulled out any spring decorations I found and some tablecloths. I’m actually going to start pre-cooking several things over the next 2 days. We have some extra activities to do at church this weekend, including a kids’ activity we signed up to help with on Saturday. I want to have most of Easter dinner prepared ahead of time so I can enjoy the day.

I’m off to a good start. I’m keeping the meal itself simple. I’m planning ham (already in the fridge–87c/lb–great deal!–Rob will cook on the BBQ), twice-baked potatoes (ingredients already in the fridge and pantry–can be made ahead and baked easily that day after early service at church), canned corn (all the work done last summer), cupcakes (thank you, Jake–we got that done already and they are frozen waiting for frosting), cheesecake with gluten-free snickerdoodle cookie crust (again, Jake and I made the cookies last week, and I practiced in my Instant Pot already so that will go quick and you HAVE to make it ahead of time–blueberries frozen for topping from last summer, ingredients in fridge), green salad (spinach ready to pick in raised bed, head lettuce easy to get if we run out, salad dressing purchased on sale last week), dill pickle rolls (pickles made last summer, lunchmeat and cream cheese in fridge, bought on sale a couple of weeks ago), drinks purchased (seltzer and soda, tea, coffee, water), and so forth. This gives me time to indulge myself if I get a bee in my bonnet and decide to make something else at the last minute…I usually get an urge for deviled eggs…..You get the idea. Preplanning is the key for me. Then I don’t feel stressed out at all. I will even put out all the dishes and things the day before so I can focus on the family on the day itself.

I’m looking forward to the day.

Quilting, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–April 4, 2022

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Rob and I were able to take a couple of interesting walks this week. One was to Bush Pasture Park. This house is a museum, which I have never toured, but we really enjoyed the flowers today.

There were hundreds of tulips blooming in different areas.

In a different area of the park, there are large areas of Camas Bulbs. The Native American people who lived in our area used to dig them up and eat the bulbs.

There were other gorgeous wild flowers blooming, as well.

We walked a little over a mile there, and had a great time. The weather could not make up it’s mind. First, there would be sunshine and blue sky. It felt like 2 minutes later, there was strong wind and a heavy rain shower. Crazy!

It’s a good thing I took my heavy coat and my garage sale find–a $2 umbrella. The wind was so strong it blew my hair back severely and almost turned my “new” umbrella inside out. Invigorating, to be sure!

We were able to get a few flowerpots at the same garage sale. We also got baby books for 25c/each and a couple of flannel shirts for $1/each. We only stopped at the one sale, as we were on our way somewhere, but were pleased at our finds.

Rob was the chauffeur for my aunt and I, and drove us up and down the valley on a quilt shop hop. It’s the first one I’ve heard up since before Covid, so it was fun to go to 6 shops in one day and just look at all the goodies they had. At every shop, they gave us a free kit for a block to make up at home. We did the other 2 shops the next day, making a total of 8 visited in two days. We saved the ones near to home for last so they were easy for me to stop at on Saturday.

We had a lovely picnic lunch during our day out, and the weather was warm and sunny. We stopped in a little park with only one picnic table, but the solitary woman eating her first picnic of the season was cheerful and willing to share the table with us. It was really fun to get out.

Now I have 8 blocks to sew up. It feels a little like backward progress on my use-it-up project, but it was a very fun day and will be fun to have a new project.

I’ve been choosing areas and cleaning them out. I worked on the garage a little this week, but there’s lots of stuff left to go through out there. I’ve been sorting and organizing quilting fabric and unfinished projects during that project in a different room. Although I have so very many places left to clean and so very, very many projects to finish from over the years, I have been making progress.

I finished the baby/toddler quilt that used fabric purchased years ago, along with scraps from other projects. I went down to my local quilt shop to buy a backing piece and turned it in to be machine quilted. I’m kicking myself because I forgot to take a picture before I did that. I was so excited to have finished another project. I’ll post one once it comes back.

We spent quite a bit of time studying and preparing for our 5th grade Sunday school lesson. Each weeks gets easier as we adjust to the curriculum, which is set up very differently than any we have used in the past. One thing that is different is that it’s all on-line. This time there were slides that you could download onto a memory stick from one place onto our Chromebook and then fasten the Chromebook up to the tv in the classroom and show pictures/slides that went with the lesson during class. Um-huh. Right. Uhhhhh…..We figured out how to download it all from the web to our memory stick to the Chromebook, but had no idea which cord plugged in where…..

We are learning fast. You could say Rob got a free class from one of the patient pastors after he made an appointment and just went down there to figure out where each cord was supposed to attach. We didn’t want to figure it out Sunday morning. I guess the kids hadn’t had that option very many times because they were very excited to get to see something up on the tv, but not nearly as excited as we were when Rob got something to show up on the tv….. I got the easy part this week. I taught the Bible lesson, read off the review questions and kept score during the games. And ate chocolate. We actually team teach, so we decide ahead of time who does which part, and we each spend some time talking during class.

This was one of my favorite parts of class this week. Rob held the 2 Hula Hoops while the kids threw paper airplanes at him. If they got it through the hoops, they could choose the review question to answer. If they missed, Rob chose. It was Rob vs. the TEAM, and the TEAM won! Everyone had a blast, especially when one kid nailed him right between the eyes with the plane, in the stomach, and even in the sink. (He was not hurt in the slightest). Rob, being Rob, let everyone who made a spectacular hit of any kind choose the number of the question to answer. There were 42. We didn’t get quite all of them done, but had fun trying! They even got a lot of answers right, which we can take absolutely no credit for as we just started, but their previous teacher obviously taught the material well, or they are all geniuses, or maybe both:)

We also practiced the memory verse while passing a chocolate egg down the line with a plastic spoon, behind their backs, under their legs, with their left hands, etc. Then we ate chocolate. It’s turning out to be a lot of fun. They are a great bunch of kids and turning out to be delightful to work with. We have had about 9 or 10 each time, so far, so it’s a nice sized group.

I made a big batch of spaghetti sauce, using my home-canned tomatoes/tomato sauce, plus lots of onions. They have kept well. This is April, after all. But the red ones are wanting to grow, so it’s a race to use as many as I can and freeze a few now and then for later. I also made chicken soup, biscuits, and sweet and sour pork. I cooked brown rice in the Instant Pot and froze some for quick meals later one. We had pork roast meat, also, on salads and for meals. I thawed squash and corn, and cooked green beans.

Patsy came home for the weekend and I had her choose senior picture options from the 273 ones her Dad took. We will order some announcements and get some printed up from her choices very soon, along with some prints for the relatives. We picked her up Friday evening and took her back Sunday evening, so enjoyed a couple of pleasant country drives.

Garden, Quilting, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–March 27, 2022–The First Week of Spring!

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Many flowers are blooming right now. We took many walks this week and enjoyed looking at the various yards. I worked in our yard a little bit. There is so much to do this time of year! I planted a row of little pansies in a flowerbed. These were grown, by Rob, from seeds he saved from last year. They are not blooming yet, but they will. I also planted some Sweet William plants he grew. They are biannual, so won’t bloom this year, but will fill the area nicely and bloom next summer.

I’m very happy with how these primroses came back from previous years and are blooming so well. Sometimes, in the past, I haven’t had such good luck with them re-blooming, but these are gorgeous.

It’s always nice to see all the cheery daffodils. Years ago, we got most of these bulbs from my sister’s yard. They needed to be divided at that time. They have been so pretty every spring since. The tulips were here when we moved in. I dug up some from another flowerbed and transplanted them here last fall. I missed quite a few, though, so want to get the rest moved over here this year. This flower bed does not get watered in the summer, so the bulbs can grow with the spring rains, then dry up in the summer.

We took the boys for a walk and to the park to play and enjoy the nice weather and flowers along the way. They also enjoy kitties, birds and any dogs we see. Mac looks so sleepy in this picture. It must have been relaxing. We took bubbles to blow, he threw sticks into a little creek, and played on the equipment.

This week, we did a lot of extra laundry and cleaning. Patsy decided to wash most of her blankets, along with lots of clothes in preparation for camp. I had her work on deep cleaning her room, although there’s quite a bit still to clean in there. She officially departed on Tuesday, late in the day. Although she does not work on weekends, there was a first aid class she needed to take and some other things she needed to do on Saturday, so she only came home briefly to grab some things she forgot.

Rob and I have been on vacation ever since. A few weeks ago, we were supposed to have a little vacation, and ended up with a severe flu. We decided to do all the fun things we had planned, and didn’t get to do, this week to make up for it. We ordered Chinese food “to go” and watched a movie we checked out from the library. We went out to Mexican food another night, using a gift card we had. We took several long walks, including one that was several miles in a park that runs along the Willamette River corridor.

We spent a day with the boys and my Mom came over for lunch one day. Mom and I folded laundry while we chatted. There was so much this week with all of Patsy’s extra! We even went to the movies–the matinee, of course! It’s still quite expensive, but less. We have not been to a theatre for several years. We didn’t buy popcorn or anything this time, more because we didn’t want any than for any economical reasons.

One morning , Rob went to visit his Mom and I sewed on the quilt I’m currently constructing.

Even though we were on “party” mode for a few days, we still were able to do a few things around here in-between our more exciting activities.

I decided to deep clean the laundry room. There was so much dirt and grime on the floor and clutter covering the dryer. I cleaned and scrubbed and organized to my heart’s content and it looks much better now. I have several more areas in the house that need attention, and I want to tackle them one by one.

I cleaned the bathroom, which is now my chore every week, instead of every-other-week. Patsy and I used to switch off. There are a few other chores she usually did before she left, so Rob and I are working together to make sure they still get done. We used to pay her to mow the lawn, I did it yesterday. I put the clippings on the corner of the garden where the soil could use amending.

We both worked on cleaning our outside covered porch area. I recycled many boxes and empty milk jugs that were previously used to water the greenhouse. Rob got the automatic waterer going in the greenhouse, so we don’t need so many jugs filled with water. That porch area is where I do my canning in the summer and it’s a step closer to being ready for that. The plants are growing like crazy, and it will be time to plant some of them soon.

Rob spent some time cutting up onions. The red ones from last year’s garden are wanting to grow, so he froze 10 cups of chopped onion pieces. There are still lots of onions to use fresh. The yellow ones we grow keep longer than the red ones, so he targeted any soft red ones this time and will do this again another day to get them all saved and used. It’s also very handy during canning season to grab out the frozen 1 or 2-cup baggies to throw into relishes and salsas. I also use them when I’m making soup in a hurry sometimes, although right now, I’m grabbing and using any onions that seem to be getting soft or wanting to grow.

I made vegetable soup, chicken soup and potato soup this week. The potato soup is for Sunday, when my niece, Alissa is coming to lunch after church. It’s her favorite. I fed the other soups to the boys, and ate them for breakfasts and lunches. We had salads a few times. We cooked a pork roast I got for $1.99/lb. I made enchiladas, we sliced and ate it, had it on salad, and froze the rest for another day. Safeway was selling pizza for 8c. Rob stopped in and got that along with a few other things we needed. It’s not gluten-free, so it will be for him, and any kids who come over. Cheese was $5 for a 2-lb loaf, so we got a couple. We shopped a couple of times this week, gathering things we needed in smaller-than-usual quantities. I’m adjusting to feeding one less person and would rather shop more than waste food, as I make this adjustment in our family. We still have so many people though the house that I don’t think it’s going to be that drastic of a change, but I’ll find out. I don’t know if I will be sticking to the every-other-week shopping as I go through this transition, but I’d like to eventually make that work again, as I like doing that.

We went to the eye doctor. Both of us didn’t need new prescriptions as our vision had not changed much, but I always have to go each year for my diabetic eye exam. I had recently had my lenses replaced under warranty, after I got hit with a flying coaster launched by a baby, and Rob’s were just replaced under warranty as well. We had benefits available to use, though. I ended up getting new frames with lenses that are just for distance, with no reflective coatings or sunglass feature for absolutely free, covered by my insurance. They are for walks and driving on days when I don’t want my world darkened with sunglasses. Later, I can replace the lenses with a new prescription if I need to, and will need to pay for all the bells and whistles, but have this nice new pair of frames or my current frames to use when I do so. Rob did the same thing.

There’s never a dull moment around here, and this coming week is no exception. I plan to enjoy the spring weather that is expected and hope to be outside frequently. I love this time of year.

Happy spring to all of you readers!

camping, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–March 20, 2022

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We slipped away for a few days this past week to rest and spoil Patsy before she leaves for camp. We pulled the camper down to the Oregon Coast, at South Beach State Park, one of our favorite spots to camp. An added bonus this time is that it’s fairly close to home. We can get there in under 2 hours, even pulling, so even with the gas prices rising like crazy, we could still go.

It was not Oregon’s spring break, yet, so the campground was quite empty and peaceful. Pouring rain was promised and only happened during one night. We actually had quite mild, sometimes even sunny weather with a few sprinkles or mist at times. One day we did take a drive, but otherwise stayed close to the campground.

We spent quite a bit of time studying for the new Sunday school class we started teaching today. We get to take on the 5th graders. Because the curriculum is new to both of us, it needed some extra studying. We are team teaching so we split the lesson up and each of us took different parts to get illustrations, examples or little scripture cards ready or study more in depth. I’ve been helping in 3rd and 4th since Christmas and Rob’s been observing this class for 2 weeks, so that helped a lot. The class went well this morning, and each week we will have a better idea of how much time things take, which activities the kids like best, and so forth. I’m excited. It seems like we have a really nice group of kids to work with.

I did my own personal quilting retreat. Rob and Patsy went rock collecting on the beach a couple of times and I stayed back at the camper and sewed. I continued my project of sorting out old projects to see if I still had all the parts and pieces and using up scraps and pieces of fabric I’ve had on hand for a long time. I am happy to report I’ve organized yet another old project and am ready to sew on that one soon. I actually sewed on a baby quilt I’m working on that uses both scraps and fabric purchased in the past. I’m not fast, and I have a lot of old projects and fabric, so I’ll be at this for a long time.

We took walks on a trail that surrounds the campground, down on the beach, and around the campground. When we took our little drive, we walked a short distance on a trail near the town of Yachats. It runs along a rocky area of the coast. We want to go back another time and go much further as the area was beautiful, but Patsy had elected to stay in the van with the dog after Rob walked her, so we couldn’t go far. Patsy wasn’t in the mood for a hike right then and we didn’t want to just hike off and leave her in the van, so…..more to look forward to in the future.

The beachcombers were happy with their haul.

We cooked at the camper. These brand-new pans were part of a set Rob and I found on one of our walks in a “free” box alongside the road. They were much better than what we had in the camper, so we snagged them, popped them into the bottom of the stroller, and gratefully wheeled them home. Thankfully we had the baby along that day!

I felt very ill-prepared for this camping trip. Usually, I cook lots of food ahead, and all I have to do is warm it up. This time, I was too busy to get that done. We worked over 80 hours, plus babysitting and our normal life projects last week. We made out just fine in spite of it. I had to ride down to the beach with an almost-forgotten mayonnaise at my feet, and we had to loop around the block (with the camper of course) for another forgotten item, but we survived! I baked cheesy biscuits from a box. I warmed up canned chili. We used assorted crackers and chips, ate hot dogs and opened a can of pork and beans. I’m glad I always keep the camper well stocked with those kind of foods, and it’s good to use them up when the occasion arises. I emptied and took leftover food from our home fridge and we ate it the first day or so. I did get 4 potatoes baked to take and we fried them, or ate them with meals.

Part of the purpose of this trip was to spoil Patsy. So, we did Taco Bell one time, got French fries another time, and some candy another time. The beach-combing was something she loves and she got down there 2 or 3 times. We even got her a t-shirt. She also got to sleep in a lot, stay up late watching movies, and read books.

We saw the babies for hours the day before we left, and had no sooner got parked and unpacked when they showed up again Saturday afternoon. We saw them again today, so although we missed them while we were gone, we got our “baby fix” right away. Mac was a little mad at me for being gone, and I got the cold shoulder for a couple of minutes, but he soon got over it. So funny! We took him to church again this morning, and he’s loving the nursery so much now, it’s heartwarming to see.

Our camper is starting to show how much we have used it and we had a couple of things break on this trip. Although it was very annoying, we were so happy that Rob could get down on the ground to peer at the broken jack and could get up again! For you new readers, that sounds funny, but for years, before his total hip replacement, he never could have done that. We felt so blessed that he could do that and that between the two of us, we got the problem fixed enough to go home. I mean, you can’t drive around with a jack half up and half down. It involved bungee cords, an electric drill I ineptly ran, a long iron bar we got pulled out, and so forth. He was on the ground, peering up, calling out directions that I was just terrible at following, but we made it through and will make it to our 40th anniversary this fall, still happily married. That jack is completely broken and will be replaced, not a huge issue. The heater stopped working. He figures it may be a fuse and will fix it or get it fixed here at home. We just used a space heater when we felt cold, and were toasty warm.

We were talking the whole week about how 2 years ago he could not have gone down to the beach 3-4 times, walked along the trails, or any of those things. We are constantly grateful to God for His healing through this surgery.

I’m heading into a somewhat quiet week. I got a lot of rest at the beach. I slept in a lot, and even took a nap one day. Even with all that, I won’t argue if I get a little more rest after the hustle and bustle of getting Patsy off to camp. We’ll see how that works out for me:)

Homeschooling, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week-Mar.13, 2022

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It’s been a week of soup, again! Besides keeping my grocery budget down, it’s just plain good food for this time of year. After some very cold, sunny days, we are in a period of rain, rain, rain!

We finished the beef-vegetable soup, and I made both chicken with rice noodles and potato soup. I may have actually made a little too much soup:). We had tacos a few times, made with home-made, frozen re-fried beans and hamburger. We made a very small pork roast with salsa verde on it. Rob’s mom gave us 4 or 5 avocados when he stopped in to visit her, so we had those several times as they ripened. I also made a ground turkey stroganoff with noodles, which was enjoyed several times. I don’t eat a lot of noodles, but they sure go down well when the baby comes over and I enjoy a few with him when I make them. I shopped a week and a half ago, and it’s working out fine–we are into the second week and have plenty of choices left. Of course, I used, and will use, lots of frozen and canned food from my pantry.

I skipped the Azure Standard order this month, as I had plenty, but instead sent Rob down to Costco for a few bulk items. The girls also went to Costco and gave me some bits and pieces of veggies that came in such large quantities they didn’t feel they would eat them all. Nice! I had Rob grab a chicken, as I often do, and we ate and froze chicken, boiled the bones and made broth, and froze most of it for another soup-making session later on. $5 for an already cooked chicken is such a bargain.

I was delighted to get outside a couple of times. We pulled a few weeds, planted a couple clumps of red tulips someone left for free beside the road, and got the tiny tiller out and roughed up the big flowerbed out front. After the amount of rain we just received, I know that’s the last flowerbed work I will be able to do for a while, until it dries out again. The lawn was mowed as well, so things look better around here.

Rob used some money he was given for his birthday to pick up some jumbo bags of dahlias at Costco. We also have quite a few bulbs he dug up last fall, both from some we had planted in the corner of the garden and some a friend gave us last summer. We have a couple of areas we plan to fill with dahlias. It’s too early to plant them yet. The hope is that once they are established, and mulched, they will be less work than the gazillions of zinnias I planted last summer! I wasn’t able to hand-weed them enough, so they got pretty weedy by the end of the summer. Gorgeous, but a bit of a mess.

It was a week of visitors. I had Jake (my nephew) all week. For you new readers, we work with him and his sister for our job, and spend some auntie and uncle time, as well. His mom was working 12 hour days, multiple days. His dad was working a lot, as well. So he just spent the days and nights all week. His sister came one day, only, as she is enrolled in a program most days. We had the grand-babies a few days. By Friday, I was delighted to hear that my mom was coming over. She played games, held Mac, and helped eat up some of that never-ending soup while we visited. It was good to break up the fun with a new person. This is her trying to play Clue with Patsy and Jake while keeping Malcolm busy with lots of odds and ends in a basket–no wonder I can multi-task well:). I come by it naturally!

Rob took Jake to the library one day, Michaela to Bottle Drop to recycle her family’s cans and bottles, Jake out for errands and donuts and Michaela to Costco for a hot dog and her Horses of Hope lesson. I stayed home with Patsy and did school, school, school, babysat and did school with Jake. I also read aloud to him for hours, as he loves that. Right now, we are reading Trixie Belden, book 1, yet again. He loves that book. It’s a good thing that I enjoy it, too, as this has to be our 3rd or 4th time through.

You can imagine that I loved having the company I got, and I was ready for a little visiting! All those errands and activities kept the kids busy, and that helps me keep sane.

I am happy to report that Patsy is almost finished with school. Tomorrow should do it, except for a couple of very small things. Now she will be able to have a few days to do a few things she needs and wants to do to finish preparing for going off to camp to work a week from Tuesday. It’s been 7 days a week, often many hours per day, of contact school for a few weeks, ever since we found out they wanted her early to help with outdoor schools, so it will be SO good to be done with that huge project!

My niece, Alissa, came over one day just to hang out. If you are a new reader, this is the niece that I homeschooled for several years, so I miss her a lot now that she’s grown up and working. Another evening, another couple of nieces dropped by and of course, I loved seeing them, as well. I’ve just had a great “auntie” week.

We took the babies and Jake to the park. We take as many walks as we can, whenever the weather allows us to. Even when it’s raining, we take umbrellas and go. It’s only when it’s very cold or the rain is driving sideways that we stay in with the kids the whole time.

It was a great, but super busy week. My life goes that way–I’m busier in spurts, and I’ll admit I got somewhat tired this week. It turned out to be a lot, but filled with such precious people and memories. This next week will be lighter. That’s good because I have one daughter I’d like to spoil a bit before she takes off to camp…..

food preservation, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–March 6, 2022

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This week, Rob was able to take Patsy’s senior pictures. Truthfully, the final selections have not been chosen or edited, but this is one I like.

And this one….

And this one…..

There are so many good ones, I can hardly choose. Rob hopes to get down to the coast and take a few down there, but if it never happens, I can easily find good ones in the ones he took.

We took a short hike at Silver Falls State Park while we were taking pictures. I also purchased a year-long day-use park pass for $30 while I was there. We’ve been blessed with a park pass for both day use and camping for the past several years, but it is expiring as we are no longer going to have an adoptive/foster child under 18. Plus, even though she’s not quite 18, the pass only works when the child is there, and she’s going off to work at a camp before long, so Rob and I will be hiking and picnicking without her. I’m not sure what the day rate is anymore, either $5 or $3, but either way, it won’t take us long to get our money’s worth from that pass. Before long, we will be paying for camping as well, but that’s o.k. We appreciate all the times we got to go and not pay, that’s for sure.

We got bone-in chicken breasts for 99c/lb. Rob de-boned them and we froze the now boneless/skinless breast pieces for meals. We boiled the bones to make broth, then pressure canned them. We got 7 quarts and 14 pints.

A close family member gave us some extra Bottle Drop money she wasn’t using. I took that, along with $93 of my grocery money and did a big shop for the next 2 weeks. I used a $10/off $50 coupon along with many other digital coupons. I used the extra money to focus on hygiene supplies, such as deodorant– dish soap, laundry soap for Patsy to take with her, and some other items she needs to take when she goes.

I haven’t done the Ibotta rebate app for a while, so they were trying to entice me back. I got free crackers and popcorn and $8 in bonus money, over $20 in all. I bought things I was buying anyway, except for the last 3 items needed to get the extra $8 in bonus money. I got 2 candy bars and some instant oatmeal, and spent about $4+ on those, still putting me ahead. I use the oatmeal while camping, and won’t have trouble find a home for candy bars.

I made a vegetable soup with home-canned carrots, tomatoes, broth and frozen beans and dried zucchini. I used my pesto I froze in ice cube trays in there, as well, along with some rice noodles. There was a little bit of the roast beef I cooked this week in there, too. I love that particular soup and will even eat it for breakfast. Malcolm has eaten it several times this week, as well. I love to see those veggies go down the hatch! Carrots seem to be a favorite, along with beans. He pokes at them with his fork, until he either spears them and eats them, or gives up in disgust if it takes too long, and just holds the fork in one hand and grabs the carrots and beans with the other. So cute! (To a grandma, anyway. Everyone else probably thinks it’s the huge mess that it really is!)

I checked the garden a few minutes ago. I am happy to report that there are a few peas poking up at last, in the raised beds. In the small section of the big garden that was planted, very little has managed to come up. I did notice a few Boc Choi babies, though! I’m super happy. We love that in stir fry and also in chicken soup, so I hope a few of them do grow!

Rob and I drove to a county Covid-19 test give-away. I was wrapped up in taking care of Jake and Michaela and some of the things we were doing, and forgot to go right at 3 when it started. I was sure that they would be out by the time we got there around 6:30, but contrary to my thoughts, they were coming to the end of their event with a lot of the free tests left over. They asked if we would take a few extras and keep some and hand some out, if we could think of anyone who could use them. I got tests for the girls, my Mom, Aunt, 2 sisters and ourselves. What a blessing. If we need them, we’ve got them.

I also heard you can request 4 more tests from the federal government, the same as we did not long ago, starting this upcoming week. Rob and I feel we have about enough after that. But, it’s the kind of thing that when you need one, it will be so much handier to have one here, then have to go buy one, so we are happy to keep some on hand. We do need to test negative to work, if we have Covid symptoms.

There are just a few apples in our box Rob’s sister gave us. Rob made apple crisp from some of them, and we keep eating the rest.

This week will be a bit busy. We have Jake extra hours. We said we would keep the babies one day, as J is getting her hair done. In the midst of that, Patsy is doing hours of schoolwork each and every day, including Saturdays and Sundays. She is going to make it, the work will be finished. I know if she doesn’t do it before she goes off to camp, it will never, ever be finished. So that’s what we are doing. I’m working with her a little more than usual, keeping her on track and doing some things verbally, to make sure she understands it without needing to write it down, in some cases. I won’t lie, we are both heartily sick of doing school for the hours we’ve been doing it, but the end is in sight, so that’s wonderful! This week, we should finish most of it. Any odds and ends will be done the following week, and she goes on the 22nd. She will come home most weekends, and we will have her graduation party on one of those weekends later in the spring.

Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–March 1, 2022

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Last week was crazy! For the first part of the week, Malcolm spent 4 days and 3 nights with us. He’s never been with up overnight, except when his baby brother was born. We had taken him to church on Sunday, as we have been doing since his Mama has worked a lot on Saturday nights. As Sunday went on, it was apparent that his Mama was getting sick. We just kept him, hoping he would be spared and because she felt so bad that taking care of baby brother was all she could do.

We had lot of fun with him. We went to the park and took him for several walks. We read him endless books, played, danced around to “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” and I cooked and cooked.

I sent him home on Wednesday. Sadly, he got sick before he went. We made it to Wednesday night before Rob got sick, followed by myself on Thursday afternoon and Patsy that night. It was a viscous, nasty stomach bug and, as Forest Gump says, “That’s all I have to say about that!”

We saved a lot of money the hard way. We didn’t eat much of anything. We used a couple of canned soups that I keep on the shelves for this purpose. We went nowhere, so didn’t buy gas. Rob and I were supposed to have a weekend alone, thanks to my sister. Cheapest weekend alone. Ever. We weren’t actually alone anyway as poor Patsy was in the sick house with us. We slept a lot. The good news is that we are all on the mend and doing well, and although disappointing, there are many more weekends in our future to do what we want with! The girls brought the babies and a meal by, which was sweet. They figured they knew where it had come from, so wouldn’t catch it again:)

After feeling like a person again, I spent some time trying to clean up the house. It was very dirty. I started bleaching bedding and blankets, and still have wiping down to do in some places. I also got some cooking done. I made some chili, Rob made some spaghetti, and we cooked a bunch of veggies from our freezer. We opened jars of fruit and used those as well.

So, I’m sorry for not answering comments sooner, as there were several sitting there for quite a few days. They are answered now, so if you asked a question, hopefully I answered it! I hope to do more exciting activities this upcoming week:)

Baby, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–Feb. 21, 2022

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Grandpa with sweet Zai, who finally fell asleep on Grandpa’s lap after resisting everyone else.

Friday was dubbed, “The Day I Was Buried In Boys!” It was a super exciting, busy day. My nephew, Jake, had spent the previous night and the 2 neighbor boys were coming over to play with him since both of their parents had to go into work that day and there was no school here. It was a golden opportunity for Jake to have someone to play with, as well. All 3 boys had a great time. I expended a LOT of energy, especially when we all went to the park–those boys can RUN!!! Everyone was good and waited for me at the next bush, next car, next whatever while I trotted along behind, always catching up, but always making it just in time for them to run to the next bush, car, whatever:). Whew! So glad they all listened so well. On the way back, Rob trailed behind carrying badminton racquets, discarded coats, and enough other things that one neighbor lady stopped and spoke to him about it:). “Out for your daily walk ? ? ?” “need help?” etc. :):)

Badminton was played in the back yard, board games were played, books were read, bubbles were blown and there was lots of running. Jake was so tired and happy afterwards. I’m so pleased. THEN… our daughter, J, got called into work unexpectedly and I got to keep the babies for 8 hours. Thank goodness for Patsy and Rob. We divided and conquered and had a great day, at least on my end. I had fun. My life is not boring, and I love that!

I also was able to enjoy a day celebrating one sister’s birthday with our other sister, Mom, Aunt and some nieces. I had a very relaxing day. It was a week of contrasts, for sure.

I was able to slip outside a couple of times this week and get to work on my raised beds. I cleaned this double one out from all the dry plants from last fall and weeds that grew. Raised beds dry out faster than the regular garden, which is one reason I do both. The kids planted radish seeds as a fitting ending to their 4-week, 20 experiment radish science unit. I want Jake to see how much better radish seeds actually grow in the ground compared to the little planters and glass jars, etc. I got the strawberries weeded, and some early seeds planted, such as lettuce, snow peas, green onions, etc. It’s a bit of a gamble for some of them. It’s very early. But, most are pretty hardy and we’ll see what happens.

I actually got into the garden a little and planted a few things in there, such as carrots, beets, boc choi, a very few Swiss chard seeds, spinach, and winter lettuce. The garden is a little wet, but we were able to get a small area ready to plant things in. One thing I did was put some bagged steer manure/compost in that small area, and some compost from one of my bins to improve fertility. I have 2 sections of my compost bins that need to be shoveled out sooner, rather than later so we have somewhere empty to put weeds/scraps, etc. I was a bit sore from shoveling after a winter of not shoveling, so I obviously need to get out there more frequently and build up my shoveling muscles. It’s great exercise!

Malcolm tried to use his little tricycle. He’s not quite big enough to manage it alone, but between the two of us, and Donald, he had a pretty good time. This trike was given to him by another child who grew out of it. The bell is his favorite part. We took him on several stroller rides this past week, and sometimes we even let him out to walk at times now, when it is safe.

After having so many people and babies through the house, I couldn’t put off the grocery store for another week. I needed diapers for one thing, and I’m not willing to go without those when I just never know when I will need them! Saturday afternoon I finally went. I grabbed the specials and items we were out of from both Fred Meyers and Safeway and hopefully won’t have to go again for 2 more weeks. I downloaded coupons from both stores onto my phone before I went and used a gift card and Bottle Drop money for part of the bill, so that helped tremendously. At this point, I’m well within my grocery budget for the month.

We cooked brownies, chicken soup, banana muffins, steak, home-baked chicken nuggets, sandwiches, peach crisp, and more. We used a lot of home-canned and frozen items, along with many, many pantry items. I’m actually noticing a few emptier spaces in my freezers and blank spots on my canning shelves. That’s good, because Rob has my little baby plants going in the greenhouse and the cycle will start all over again.

Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–Feb. 14, 2022

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We had some nice weather this week. I took the opportunity to work outside a couple of times. I weeded out the overwintered raised bed and planted a few snow peas in the blank spot. The spinach, winter lettuce and cilantro will soon start growing. There are a couple of cabbages you can’t see that should start growing and heading up and some kale down at the end. I cleaned out and planted another bed with shelling peas. We’ve eaten about half of the ones that I grew and froze last summer.

Rob’s little sprouts are growing like crazy in the greenhouse.

We filled the debris bin with clippings. I mowed the lawn for the first time since last fall.

I was given most of a bag of potatoes that my aunt couldn’t get through before they went bad. I made cheesy potato soup, which turned out comforting and tasty. Rob made mashed potatoes and gravy to go with a pork roast cooked with home-canned salsa verde. It was surprisingly zippy gravy, since it was made from the drippings of the salsa verde pork, but it was actually delicious. We still have more potatoes left in the bag and I will target them this week.

I used some frozen buckwheat noodles I had saved from the last meal before we left on vacation in December with home-canned pasta sauce and some cottage cheese to make a vegetarian spaghetti pie.

I baked a cherry crisp with some home-canned pie filling. I also roasted a chicken. I made chili with some of the beans I cooked and froze a couple of weeks ago with the addition of a garden onion and home-canned tomatoes. My onions are keeping well so far and there are still quite a few left from last summer’s garden.

It was a week for parties and visitors. We celebrated one of our son’s birthdays with chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, hamburgers and chips. Rob watched the Super Bowl with Malcolm and Patsy, although he was left watching alone before long:). I made brownies, as is our tradition during football games. This has been going on since our boys moved in at ages 3 and 5, over 25 years ago. Whether or not football is a favorite, brownies always are.

Jake spent most of the week at our house, as his Mom had an extra busy work week. My aunt came one day and helped watch the babies for J. She’s still working nights, and it’s rough. Another day, my Mom came and played games with Patsy and Jake, which they loved.

I continued to do extra school with Patsy on several occasions and assigned her extra to do alone when I wasn’t available to work with her.

We didn’t buy many groceries this week, on purpose. I was too busy to shop, so planned ahead and bought extra last week. I did have a reward coupon show up on my Safeway app to download $20 off of $20, expiring tomorrow, so had Rob stop off there and spend it. There were a few little items we needed and he bought 2 –$1.97 12-packs of soda pop, extra salad dressing we will save for a couple of weeks until it’s needed, some salmon, and a few other things and only had to pay $12. Saturday morning, we had errands, so stopped at Grocery Outlet and grabbed a few things, using a $5 off coupon. I bought a few things for lunch, and we popped them into a cooler we took so we could finish our errands without having to buy lunch out.

We have had broken tillers for 2 years now. We had to pay to have the garden tilled last year, many places Rob wanted tilled sat untilled all summer, and we were unable to either get ours fixed or get a new one. This week the problems were both resolved. We finally got our old tiller repaired. After being unable to purchase one (we had one on order for over a year–Covid issues they said) or being unable to find anyone to fix our tillers for various reasons, we are more than happy. The man who tilled for us last year gave Rob a great tip for a repair man out in the country and he had time to fix ours! We also got an used one (medium-sized) for a better price than getting that broken one fixed and it’s in excellent condition. Now we just need to deal with the tiny tiller, which is also struggling. We’ve been married almost 40 years. We understand that things don’t last forever, but it’s been much harder to fix our problems than we ever thought. Rob has spent hours and hours on this project, making phone call after phone call and researching options for 2 years. What a relief to have this problem resolved at last!The medium-sized tiller has been broken for quite some time.

I can handle that one and the tiny tiller much easier than any larger ones, and I plan to till and till once the weather gets better. I simply cannot hand-weed and dig everything that needs doing around here. Ya think?

For Valentine’s Day, Rob got take-out Chinese food for us. Yum, yum, yum! Otherwise, we decided not to buy gifts for each other this year.

We watched the Olympics, read library books and took walks all week long.

It’s been a productive week. This one is a little easier, but still full of fun!

Making My Home A Haven