I have worked on my berries 3 or 4 times, in small bits of time.  So far I’ve finished tying up the June-bearing raspberries, the Marion blackberries and cut down 1/2 of the every-bearing raspberries.  This year, I am going to cut down the entire patch of ever-bearing ones, as that is a choice.  Rob wants to re-string the wire that was there when we moved in.  It is in bad condition.  According to the internet, if you cut all canes down, you will get one large crop mid-late summer next year.  I’m fine with that.  The June-bearing ones are finally old enough to give me some berries in the first part of summer, and I’ll rely on the other patch at the end of the season.  It’s worth a try.

It was a very dry summer.  I don’t think there are as many canes on the Marion blackberries as there would normally be.  Still, I’ll fertilize and care for what are there.  I can go to my sister’s house and pick wild blackberries if I need more next summer.  She always has lots of those.

I have shopped until I’ve dropped!  I have been to the store so many times, I’ve lost count.  It’s become comical. I’ve purchased every sale and bargain item I regularly use from at least 5 stores that are near my house. I’ve bought hams, turkeys, baking ingredients, dairy products, goodies, produce galore, normal items such as sugar, treats such as peppermint mini marshmallows, and everything in-between.  Or so I thought.  I no sooner got home and began to make cucumbers (with marked-down cakes) and onions in a vinegar-sugar-salt and pepper mixture, which is a salad Rob likes to eat frequently, than I realized I was out of sweet rice wine vinegar.  I substituted, but went back for some the next day.  I got that, and no sooner got home than I went to make something….and I was out of cornstarch.  And, so it went. “I’m out of yogurt, honey,” was the next cry! I just had to laugh.  I was able to use all the grocery money and then some, my Ibotta money, my Bottle Drop money, and then some.  I actually had fun gathering all these things, but now, I’m tired of thinking, so will cruise along on what I got for the next few weeks, and only need to get produce and milk.  Or so I think:).

I re-purposed a little container from last Thanksgiving, by putting a geranium start in it and placing it on the windowsill.  There were 5 tiny geraniums that volunteered in the compost heap, and this is one of them.  The other 4 went into a large pot, and I put that in the greenhouse to see if they will winter over.

Jake planted some seeds my friend, Jeannie, sent him.  There is a little Columbine plant in the corner of the pot, just in case he forgets about the seeds and they die–he will have something, I hope.  That went in the greenhouse, too.

Last night, we had a slumber party with Jake and his older sister, Caitlyn.  (She’s in her 20’s and works full-time, so it was a treat to have her). Patsy played games with them after church, we watched the British Baking Show on Netflix, and ate sandwiches.  This morning, we went swimming at the YMCA, and I took Caitlyn to a natural store where she could get some gluten-free rolls she really enjoyed eating here.  (I bought gf cornstarch, for one thing!). We also hit up Winco for yogurt (much better price), and she got some groceries she needed.   We can’t beat the price of the $1.17/lb. ham they have right now.   It was fun to spend some time with her.  We used to spend quite a bit of time with her when she was little, but time has a way of passing, and those days are understandably rare any more, so it was special to me to have her spend a night on my couch once again.

I did some cleaning and organizing for Thanksgiving.  I started cooking the things that could be made ahead, such as cornbread I made and froze, to add to the dressing later in the week and some candied walnuts to add to the sweet potatoes.  We should have a great day on Thursday, and every day before that promises to have a little holiday fun in it as well!  I hope you week is shaping up well, also.

I picked a large bowl of Lunchbox peppers (Territorial Seed Company) and Carmen Peppers (Johnny’s Selected Seeds).  It was like they weren’t ripe, then all of a sudden, they were!  Maybe it’s because I was so busy lately (?)….  We put quite a few of them in the fridge for fresh eating, and the rest were chopped and frozen.

I have been spending a few minutes outside every time I get a chance, working on cleaning up the garden, picking things, mowing, trimming, etc.  I only had time for a few short sessions of yard/garden work this week, but I did get a few things done.  We’ve already used a few of the Celebration acorn squash, but have plenty left.  Underneath the  spent vines, I found a small bucket of potatoes I had missed earlier.  I’ve still been picking zucchini from bushes that have clearly seen better days, but are still slowly producing.  There have been a few cucumbers, a few berries, tomatoes, and lots of cherry tomatoes.  I’ve got a lot more fall clean-up to do before I’m done!

Friends delivered another, even larger, load of wood late this afternoon.  We threw it onto the driveway and now I need to start stacking it tomorrow.  We feel so blessed by this.  Now we have enough to make it through the entire winter.

Rob went up for the second time and helped his friend get ready for new baby pigs.  He figured out a better feeder and helped build it a few weeks ago.  They checked the existing pen and made sure there were no escape holes.  Yesterday, Rob rode along with his friend to pick up the ordered weaner pigs. Then, he and our son’s friend went and got straw (Rob drove and son carried it all–whew!) I’m not sure exactly how many baby pigs there are up there (probably around 6-8), but one is going to be for us.

Rob picked several assorted, strange squash and pumpkins from the pig pen when they put the baby pigs in.  They are mixed squash that grew from last year’s dropped seeds.  The big ones are zucchini that crossed with pumpkins or something else.  The skins are tough and hard, but they are all great decorations.  He also brought home an inexpensive bale of hay (so cheap because they bought so many).  I have some corn stalks I cut from the garden that I want to add to the decoration, but so far, I’m really happy with the “presents” Rob brought home for me!  I forget if Rob said the hay was $1.50 or $2, but I feel happy that we got a really nice fall look for such a small amount of money.

The kids’ parents were working many, many hours this week, therefore we did, too.  We put Jake on the bus.  We took Jake off the bus.  We ferried Michaela from here to there, took her swimming, and packed lunches, cooked dinners there and here, and ate wherever we were.  We used food from our house and their house, the garden and the store….it’s all a blur, but we were all well-fed.

We ended the week by keeping Jake for a couple of nights–he loves coming over.  After the busy week, we were both very tired, so we had a relaxing Saturday while Rob was off with his friend.  Jake is on a “Betsy” book kick, books written by Carolyn Haywood,  and wants me to read those books for hours on end.  We finished the 2 we had ordered in from the library–“Betsy and Mr. Kilpatrick” and “Betsy and the Circus.”  No worries.  He went and dug up a copy of “Betsy’s Little Star” which we have recently finished reading for the SECOND time! I protested reading it for the 3rd time, so after one chapter I brought out a book I own by the same author, “Penny and Peter.”  He barely tolerated it, but finally got interested, but I noticed he powered through a few pages of the one he really wanted–reading himself!  He hasn’t really embraced chapter books, but I was very proud of him for at least trying.

I did some grocery shopping on Friday morning, the only morning I had off this week.  I grabbed the free item, got sales, etc.  I am stocked up for the next 2 weeks (I hope) because I really don’t want to take the time to shop next weekend, just because I’d like a little time to myself for other projects.  I made a tentative 2-week menu plan and hopefully, I won’t run out of anything much. It will be easy to send Rob to the store if I do.    The last time I did that, he brought home 50 pounds of pinto beans.  Yes.  50.  That is not a typo.  I was on board since they were so cheap–$18 for the 50 pounds.  It was cheaper than the 25 lbs I usually get every year or two.  The last time I checked, it was $20 for 25 lbs.  I have seen 25 lbs. for less than that before, but not for $9/bag–so this was a great deal.   We will share part of them, either when we cook for the college age, or at family meals, or dry for anyone who is running low.  I made a mega batch of refried beans at once, as we have been limping along with cans for a while–we love the home-made ones the best.  I froze a few cartons for later, and we ate a lot already, both plain and in a nacho for Family Sunday Dinner.

I entered my receipts on Ibotta and ended up with some bonus money, which is always a nice treat.  I’m always trying new items if they are almost free, as long as they look like something that we will eat.  Recently, there seems to have been a mayonnaise and ketchup war going on between brands, so I have a lot of that now that was free or very, very inexpensive using rebates and coupons combined.    Lovana came home with some snack food that happened to have an Ibotta rebate, and so I got another $2 of rebates, which is free money to me since I did not pay for the snacks.  I’m letting both my bottle and can money and my Ibotta account grow because I figure there will be a lot of holiday sales that I will love having extra money on hand for.

We’ve already been opening and eating jars of home-canned food.  I’m also using lots of freezer food as we anticipate our yearly 1/4 beef in a couple of months, and there’s also that baby pig…..a few months and it will need to fit in there, too.  It’s a constant rotation.

I started a dress for Patsy for homecoming.  I am working with a pattern I already owned and it isn’t the right size.  They are not on sale right now, and I don’t even know if they still make that one, I’ve had it a while.  So, I adjusted it, and cut it out from some old muslin I had on hand and basted that together.  I’m now ready to cut the real fabric, and I hope it fits as well as I think it will.  I want to work on that in-between homeschooling Alissa and working with the kids this week.  And the garden/yard work.  And stacking that wood before the rains come.  And the batch of tomatoes that need canning.  And Jake and Michaela next weekend as their parents want to attend an event with Alissa.  And…And…And…… It’s a good thing I have lots of paper to make lists on!

What did you do to thrive or stay thrifty this week?

Yesterday, we enjoyed the Iris Festival Parade with the family.

We had never been to this particular parade before, although my sister and brother-in-law have been every year, for years and years.  So, they knew things we did not.  I read a sign that said the road closed at 9, so figured we needed to be much earlier than that.  So, we were extremely early, and wondered why there were a few empty chairs along the sidewalk, but no people.  So, we waited, and waited, and waited, and wondered where they all were.  We did have a great time talking, something that is rare these days to find enough time for:) A few people trickled in, but around 9:30-10, all of a sudden, they all showed up from the side streets, carrying lawn chairs, snacks, drinks, and so on!  All of a sudden, the road was full of eager, chattering people, and soon after that the parade came along.

It was my favorite kind of parade.  There were a couple of marching bands, choirs of elementary school kids, fire trucks, classic cars, and trucks with hay bales on the back, bearing princesses of various sorts, and in one case, Santa Clause!  There were iris flowers stuck all over the vehicles, which were pretty.

A couple of ladies that Rob works with came to join us, and one brought her son.  He struck up an acquaintance with Patsy right away and we all enjoyed watching how much he enjoyed the parade.  Someone from one of the floats gave him an iris, and he promptly brought it to Patsy.  How sweet!  I really enjoyed putting some faces to names of people he works with.

There were many freebies for the kids–a bounce house, free snow cones and bubbles, candy galore…..they had a blast!   Even the Chinese food restaurant gave out free teriyaki chicken after the parade!  It was a very inexpensive outing for the family–Rob got a coffee early on, and our group bought and shared a few candy bars from the school kids who very ingeniously went along the parade route selling them before the parade started for their fundraiser and I got a cup of egg flower soup because I couldn’t eat the chicken.  We skipped the rides at the carnival, and buying anything at the booths that were set up.  It was a super fun morning!

Before the parade, Rob made this cheesy, ham and olive-filled biscuit that was probably awful for us, but tasted oh, so good!

I cleaned for several hours on Friday.  I am trying to do some deep cleaning, and worked on the kitchen.  I even got the window washed, inside and out!  The more I clean, the more dirt and clutter I see!  At least I got started:). I had to put cleaning on the calendar and was ruthless to decline other things that tried to steal my cleaning time!  Sad, but it worked, at least this time!

I worked in the yard and garden for many hours, in little blocks of time.  If I had 15 minutes, I used it! If I had an hour, I used that.  I am really getting somewhere, but have lots left to go:) We got the sprinkler system set up in the garden, and the grass chopped out around the permanent sprinkler heads in almost all of the yard.  I keep finding one here and there that I missed, but we are getting them freed from grass!

I used herbs from my herb bed.  I used rosemary on some roasted potatoes.  Yum!  I used thyme in split pea soup.  Double yum!  It’s nice to have them out there, freed from weeds and more established than they were last year.  I hoed up quite a few of the 1000 or so baby parsley plants, but there are still lots left, surrounding the turtle!  I noticed I am low on chives and parsley in the spice cabinet, so I hope to eventually dry some of each.

I was able to get both Friday Freebies from Fred Meyer this week, because I went early on Friday.  They’ve been running out of the more desirable items.  I got a free car charger and a Lara bar.  While there, I got the odds and ends of groceries I needed.

I stopped at a garage sale on my way home and purchased some picture frames to put some of Ja’Ana’s graduation pictures in for the upcoming party and the table display I have to make for the actual graduation.  I paid $2.50 for 3, in various sizes.  

I used a string, clothespins, and some push pins to put up the graduation cards we’ve received.  There are a couple more kids who may send one, so I can put up another string underneath this one if they do.

Rob and Lovana stopped and picked up some free wood and Rob plans to chop it into firewood-sized chunks.  It’s time to start preparing for next winter, and while not a lot, it’s something and was free!  He will keep his eyes out for more, and may buy a cord if he finds a good deal.