We have enjoyed the last of the Easter food.  This gluten-free angel food ice cream cake turned out wonderful.  I just made the cake from a recipe from Taste of Home, added softened rainbow sherbet, froze, then pale green whipped cream that was lightly sweetened.  After Easter dinner, I sliced it all and froze the slices.  They have been great all week!  I also had some cupcakes my daughter made, that I also froze, and am loving one once in a while.  They were chocolate with caramel frosting.  They were gluten-free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, and… tasted amazing!  We also ate ham, lots of potatoes, etc. from the large meal.  It made cooking and meal planning easy this week.

I stocked back up on produce, dairy, etc.  I had let the fridge empty out in anticipation of the big day.  I went to Grocery Outlet for some of the groceries and got turkey lunchmeat for $1.50/lb, one box of Danimal smoothie drinks for 99c, Pretzel bites for 99c, and some other stuff.  Their produce didn’t look good that day, although it is good lots of times, so I went to another store for produce.  I’ve got to say, the produce was costly, but………..I’ve got to have salads, etc.   I did get a free grocery tote bag from there since it was Earth Day yesterday, when I shopped there.

My aunt hired the girls to do some yard work.  They are saving for a big homeschool trip next year, and it’s never too early to get started.  Of course, she spoiled them rotten with drinks, snacks, and plenty of pay……What can I say?  The yard looked great when they were done.

Ja’Ana continues to clean house for a lady to earn money for her summer church activities.  She is starting to rack up a good amount in her account there.  She needs several hundred dollars if she wants to do it all.  I’m so grateful that they make this opportunity available to the kids.  Camp, for instance, is almost $300.  She should have a ball, and even more so because she put in so many Saturdays to help get herself there.

Lovana’s job will be ending in a few weeks.  The lady she helps with is failing, and will be needing a different situation.  So, her grown children are taking her back to the country where she was born, where they feel she will be most comfortable.  I think that is touching.  Lovana has saved money, and will be looking for another summer job.  This job has become pretty difficult with the lady needing constant attention even every few hours all day and all night long, and I’m proud of her for sticking it out.

A few things have sprouted in my garden.  I’m watching them with anticipation.  We have eaten more Swiss Chard, spinach and green onions, the only 3 things we have that overwintered.  I’m shocked that the family is eating the chard.  This variety is so much more mild.  It’s pale green.  Last time, they revolted and would not eat it at all–it was the red, orange and yellow kind.

I did a little more yard work on the one nice day when I had a little time.

I exercised down at the YMCA 3 times this past week.  It’s so good that I’m using that membership.

How did your week go?

There are little viola plants coming up all over the place–in the flowerbeds, in the yard, even in the cracks of the sidewalk and the gutter next to the sidewalk.  I left this clump of them in the planter box by the door, and they are growing much more lushly than any of the other, probably from the heat of being next to the siding where the sun shines.  Patsy and I also dug up and moved several to better spots so they will add some color once they get growing in their new homes.  We also moved several daffodil plants to better places.   I trimmed things, removed many weeds and moved some other plants around.

Several times, I was able to work outside in the yard and I planted early veggies in the garden this past week before it started raining again.  In fact, there was a very strong wind storm on Friday–what a strange weather year it has been!  Many trees and branches came down around town, but nothing blew away here, except a piece of plywood, 2 sawhorses. some trash, and the lid to the yard debris bin.  All of that was easily put to rights.  4 schools sent kids home, but Rob’s school did not lose power and he worked all day.

Ja’Ana keeps plugging along with her house-cleaning job, earning $24 every Saturday morning.  At this point, she’s just having that money put on her youth group account, and it will pay for camp, activities, etc.  This is going to help our summer budget tremendously.

Lovana is continuing her job, so is home very little, since she occasionally is doing activities on the weekends with her friends.  It’s been nice for her to be able to buy herself some clothes and pay for some college classes that she started on-line this week.  She’s also saving up money.

I made blueberry smoothies with some blueberries my Mom gave me.  Ja’Ana made some wonderful turkey-vegetable meatballs, using turkey burger from the turkeys Rob grew back at our old house.  There are still a few packages left.  She made a pesto sauce for noodles to go with it, from pesto I made last summer and froze in an ice cube tray, then popped out into a ziplock bag.  The meatballs were so good, I had her make another batch for the Sunday family dinner.  They are resting in the fridge to be warmed up.

I boiled some beef bones from the freezer and froze the broth for a 4H event that is coming up.  We are going to do a class on outdoor cooking and make stew and some other things.  I’m glad to use some of those bones and free up more space in the freezers for fruits and veggies this summer.

I used Swiss chard and spinach from the garden in a vegetable stir-fry, putting the greens in at the end so they were just wilted. I only used about 2 cups of each, and they shrunk a lot.  I already had carrots, onions, and celery in the pan and used gf soy sauce and a little pesto.  I was surprised on 2 counts: 1)  The soy sauce and pesto tasted good together and 2)The entire family, including the kids ate it without grumping.  The last time I grew Swiss chard, we did not eat it.  It was too strong.  I think that growing this more milder kind has been a good move.

We ate chili, sandwiches, fish, chicken, beans, hot dogs, salads, green beans and garlic, stir fry, celery sticks, and more.  I shopped only for basics and things I ran out of, and used a lot of things from the freezers, shelves, cupboards, etc., and kept the shopping to a minimum.  I didn’t take the kids out for french fries, this week, since a treat ceases to be, a treat if I do it too often.  I did stop in this morning for a 2 lb loaf of cheese for $5.48, milk, and a couple of other things, after seeing a reader board advertising the specials at a store near my house.  I may stop into the same store for another brick of cheese tomorrow since that’s about as low as the price goes around here.

I took Patsy to the library.  I watched Jake for a while today, so I took him, too.  His mom took Alissa to her event.  His dad took Michaela to her horse ranch where she volunteers and rides most Saturdays.  That’s all the parents there were, so Auntie and Uncle got Jake.  He likes the puppets at the library a lot.  He also loves putting money in the parking meters.  I’m hoping to get him used to the library so we can enjoy some of their programs during the summer, when we have lots and lots of time to use up in useful and productive ways that help him grow and develop as a person.  Very few activities beat the library, in my opinion!  So far, I’m pleased at how he’s warmed up to the whole experience over several exposures.  He’s got his mind on baseball right now, and actually had me running around the flowerbed the other day, while I either chased him with a plastic ball, or he chased me, after wildly swinging, and occasionally hitting, the ball with his plastic bat.  It was definitely 3 strikes and you’re out…..when it was me.  When it was him, hmmm…….he wanted how every many tries it took….hmmmmmmm.  Never a dull moment with Jake!  He even recruited Ja’Ana for his game, since we were sadly lacking on team members.  Lots of frugal fun!

Ja’Ana and Alissa are both practicing driving.  Their Driver Ed class started last week.  Ja’Ana has to drive for 50 hours, plus this class,  before she can have her license.   Without the class, it’s 100 hours.  With this class, she can also get a certificate that lets her skip the driving part of the test at the DMV.  She will still have to take the written test there.  Passing this class lowers the insurance cost, too.  I feel like I’ve driven, and driven and driven with her, because it averages out to about 5 hours per week.   Rob has taken his turns, too.  She’s doing great, though and we really want her to pass, so we are doing what we can.  Alissa’s parents are taking her driving as well. So glad they each have 2 parents–we all have all we can do to get this much driving in.  So worth it if it helps them be safe drivers, though!

I’m looking forward to Easter next week–it sure came up quickly this year!  I’ve already got a ham I got on sale and you all know I have potatoes!  So, I already have a good start on the meal.  People will bring things, too, and it will be a great day.

We packed “car picnics” several times.  I usually put several food items in the little cooler and put it between the 2 front seats of the van, when we are driving that, and just hand food around as we drive to our destination.  I can think of at least 4 times I did that during the past week alone, saving a minimum of $100 ($25 x 4), and that would be for fast food–not even a regular restaurant.  That could easily run $50 – $60 per time, bringing the savings up to over $200.

We drove the van a lot last week, as the little car was in the shop.  We drove up and got it back on Friday, and it has no more wobbly bearing in the right front side, brand new back brakes (I guess they were really awful–not safe anymore), and the transmission issues from before are all fixed (some cable needed tightening or something).  Also, it doesn’t sound like a ghost is howling in the engine any more.  I guess the alternator went out and the alternator clutch was burning cherry red inside–our good friend and mechanic, Bob, took a picture of it glowing.  I though that there was an awful, new noise that developed on the way to the shop, and I just kept driving and praying and being thankful that we were ON OUR WAY to the shop when it started.  I think that one of the nicest things is putting the car into the hands of one of Rob’s best friends and knowing that he was going to fix it, fix it well, fix everything that needs fixing and nothing more, and not over charge us.  In fact, many, many times in the past, he has vastly undercharged us.   We gratefully paid what he asked, and it wasn’t inexpensive, but I still think he gave us a really good deal this time as well because there were quite a few things that needed done.  I drive so much, I wear things out, so we prefer to get the cars maintained regularly.

Rob hitched up the van to the trailer and we went down to the coast for a few days.  We decided to get away on a little vacation while he had the time off from work/school.  We used our park pass, so the campground was free, and I was far enough along on my “getting it ready” project that it wasn’t too much work.  I did find a few more things that I need to stock in there, though, so I’ll keep on with that project.  I loaded up a few freezer meals I had made a couple of weeks ago, some groceries and clothes, and we were off.    It was pouring rain, and many campsites were actually flooded and the people could not build a fire if they wanted to because their fire pits were under water. Ours wasn’t, but things were super muddy. We were fine with that.  We have a cozy camper.  I was so tired, I slept a ton, read several library books, watched multiple movies, etc.  I did not even go down to the beach.  We took the girls to the outlet mall and we all picked up a few sale clothing items (except Rob, because they took the only big and tall shop out of there, poor Rob).  We ate out a couple of times, but mainly ate simple meals from the camper.  We only roasted hot dogs and marshmallows once, when the weather cleared off a bit.  We bought seafood in a store and cooked it one evening, since we were at the beach, after all, and Rob’s 2 fishing expeditions were not successful.  He pulled up a few crabs on his crab fishing pole, but they were females.

Patsy and I did take one short hike during one clear evening.  There is a trail in the campground we were in.

We enjoyed the flowers and stream we hiked along.

My aunt gave us some food before she left for her vacation– including a few eggs, celery,  and baby carrots.  We ate them on our picnics, and I hardboiled the eggs and we ate egg salad sandwiches, egg salad and plain eggs dipped in salt and pepper for a couple of days.

We finally got a couple of sunny days.  Patsy and I worked in the yard for several hours.  We transplanted some daffodils from this flowerbed to the front.  We planted some dahlias my sister gave me in the section to the left of the little white fence, and a few out front.  We have hours and hours of yard work left to do, but it was good to get started.

Rob went and got our tillers from my sister’s farm where they were stored.  He did one trial strip in the garden and feels he can get into it before long, if it stays dry for a few days.  Then, I can plant cool-weather veggies.

I was happy to spend so much time with Rob during the week, and really glad to get caught up on my sleep.  I was able to get organized a bit for the week ahead, so I’m ready to go–back on my busy schedule!

This week was another productive one.  I decided to take on the project of working on the camper.  When we moved here, the camper stayed at the farm where we spent the summer. That kept the side area open for loads to be taken into the shop, wood to be stacked and other activities to be done.   After a few weeks, we moved it down.  By that point, I was focused on the house, and I just grabbed things out of it as I thought of them after wondering where they were, or needed them for a recipe, or a project.  So, a week or two ago, I decided to take a look around out there. Yikes!  Pretty bad!  Some cupboards look as if a giant just went through and stirred, or worse!  So, I started cleaning it out little by little.  I really, really don’t want to do it all at once right before we go on a trip since it’s a big job, and I will want to pack it with our clothes, etc. when that time comes.

Last summer was fun!  I can’t wait until we can get out again.

Friday morning, I started on 2 food cupboards out there.  I took out several partial packages of things, and used them up.  It was good for my food challenge, too.  I sorted, organized and made a list of  non-perishable items I need to replace.  I like buying them on sale, instead of waiting until the day before we go camping when I would have to buy them at full price. I keep a plentiful supply of groceries in the camper at all times because when we go camping we eat from there most of the time.

I spent a morning cooking a few freezer meals.  They will save me money later on a busy day.  I made gluten-free bread from a mix I had purchased quite a while back.  I will post about the final week of our grocery challenge (we are on week 4 now because we started the last week of February) on Monday night or Tuesday.

I was given a rose at Fred Meyers one day.  For whatever reason, each lady was handed a rose as she walked past on her way out of the store.  They may have been getting old, but it’s still going strong several days later, so it couldn’t have been on it’s last leg!

I worked a few extra hours because Michaela did not feel well.  I had to get her from school one day, and then kept her home the following day.  She was fine after that.  It’s always a balance–it cut into the girls’ homeschool time a bit (to be driving around, etc.), but I am very happy that I can be there for her, and they still finished their work just fine.  It just took until later one day, especially.  Over the course of this week, we’ve probably played between 15 and 20 games of Yahtzee.  That girl loves Yahtzee!

I had my broken filling fixed, using my insurance.  That is still wonderful to me, after over 20 years without dental insurance.  At this point, I did not have to pay any more money, because they are waiting to see what the insurance pays and they feel we may be up-to-date or even have paid a little more.  Nice!  No worries if we did overpay a few dollars–Rob’s got more work to be done–it will get used quickly or they’ll give it back.

We got a $10 check from something we accidentally overpaid a while back.  We hadn’t realized it, so it was like pennies from Heaven.

I rode the exercise bike 3 times this week at the YMCA, totaling around 17 miles between the 3 sessions, and we did the pool one night. I sat in the hot tub not exercising for quite a while that night.  Felt great!  I’m loving how much we are using our membership.

Lovana took us out to lunch.  Yum!  She has worked at her job for 6 weeks now, and wanted to treat us while she was home for the weekend.  That was nice.

Rob has been taking both girls, Lovana and Ja’Ana, driving on the weekends.  They both have their permits and it’s time for them to practice.  Ja’Ana and Alissa have driver’s ed classes starting soon and they want them to have some knowledge coming in.  Lovana just wasn’t ready until now, although she’s had her permit for some time.  I took J driving one afternoon, and she did great!  I have high hopes.  Alissa’s parents have been taking her.  It will be a few months before they can even try for the licenses, but we are on the right road.   Pun intended!  We want to get out money’s worth out of the classes, thus we are practicing ahead of time.  It would cost Lovana $1,500 for private driving lessons at her age, so……

How did your week go?

Whew!  What a busy week this has been!  I’ve had several refreshing glasses of lemon-water, and boy did they hit the spot.

On Monday, we had a snow day.  It is very rare to have one of those at all, especially this late in the year.  Although we had 4 inches, it was pretty much melted by 1 o’clock, and we were able to go do some errands.  Since my husband had the day off, due to the schools being closed, we took the opportunity to head up to Portland (about an hour away) to pick up some paper cups. They were given to us to use.  There were a lot of them (several cases) and we are going to have plenty to share with the youth group at church.  A friend has been tasked with cleaning out a warehouse, and these were in there.  Some are a bit “shop worn,” but most are in plastic packages, and can be easily sorted.  We were happy to get them, and happy to get a time where we could use the several hours it took to pick them up.  He needs the warehouse clean by a certain time, so it was get them or lose them.  Some of the items in there will be burnt or thrown away if a home is not found for them, but it looked like he was making good progress finding homes for things.

I was able to stop by the mall after picking those up and get some clothes, using gift cards I’ve had for quite a while.  I didn’t have a lot of time, as Rob dropped J and I off and took Patsy and Jake to Toys R Us to keep them busy, then kept them in the van until we finished.  He has the patience of a saint, but, we still hurried.  We got some things Ja’Ana needed desperately, and a few tops for me.   Mine are getting so worn because I wear the same ones over and over.  It’s nice to have some new ones.

I will post about this week’s grocery challenge on Monday night or Tuesday, but I will say I was very happy to get potatoes for 10c/lb.  Rob had found them last Sunday night, and got a few.  I went back Tuesday morning and got 100lbs.  Needless to say, we’ve had a lot of potatoes this week.

We had some friends drop in from out of town, and were able to easily feed them lunch with what I had on hand. I had a couple of hours notice that they were going to eat with us, so I just thawed out some more ingredients for tacos.  We had tacos several times last week.  I cooked a chicken last night.  It was a nice change, although I will say tacos are one of everyone’s favorite foods and I don’t get protests no matter how many times we have them.

Jake and Patsy enjoyed some art activities this week.   Before Christmas, I got one of those little art kits with several items in it for $3.50 at Michaels.  The quality is not high (and the markers are already drying up), but neither was the price. They’ve been using it a bit, and yesterday, they painted.  I’m not sure if Jake has painted much with watercolors before, but he wanted some “water” for his current Lego boat to float in, so I gave him a piece of paper and he painted some.  He enjoyed it.  Patsy painted and drew for a long time, even after he went home.  One thing she enjoyed is some watercolor crayons my niece, Rachel, sent along when she cleaned out.  I had some card stock, and that is what I gave them to paint on.

I also read aloud to Jake several times, re-reading last week’s library books.  Since I keep them at my house, he is learning to look forward to hearing the current ones when he comes over. I read part of a chapter book to Patsy.  We started it last summer in the camper, and it came to light when I was doing some cleaning, so she wanted me to read it some more.  It’s an old Trixie Belden book from my childhood, and she likes it.

Both Patsy and Jake built Legos for quite a while.  Patsy listened to library books on c.d.  She worked on her sewing project, a skirt, for a while one day.  We went to the YMCA and exercised while both girls were in their dance classes.  On Friday night, Rob took Patsy and Jake swimming.

This is the last scheduled overnight for my nephew, Jake,  for some time.  I’ve had several occasions to keep him over the last month, but now will go back to my regular schedule for the most part.  I’ve enjoyed the extra time with him.  Last week, I ended up getting Michaela, my niece, from school one day, as she was sick.    She watched the movie Cars, which we own, until her daddy picked her up when he got off work.

Ja’Ana was able to go to a movie night at church, which was fun for her.  She was able to clean house again for money that is put into an account at church towards her summer church activities.  She is earning money for both camp and a mission trip.  My mom came for lunch and Ja’Ana and Alissa made soup for her to practice their cooking. (They make soup almost every time, and it’s almost always potato- cheddar.  They made some broccoli-cheddar as well this time. There’s a theme here.  Let’s hope I never run out of cheese.  Good thing Grandma is a good sport!) I also showed them how to make a simple cornstarch chocolate pudding, using the microwave.  The recipe is from my “More With Less” cookbook, which I’ve had for years.

Our tax refunds both came already.  They came super fast, so we were delighted.  We’ve got good plans for the money.  One thing that we will do is get some maintenance done on the van, as well as new tires.

Our power bill went down by about 25%.  It was really high last month, and we turned a few things off, worked on shorter showers and lights off, and what ever else we could think of to cut it down.  The weather was slightly warmer and the days are getting longer, which all helps, too.

Rob had more dental work done, using our insurance, and now has his permanent crown from the tooth he broke.   Again, that is such a blessing to have dental insurance after so many years without.  Although we still have co-pays, they are so much less than we used to pay.   It’s my turn this week to get my broken filling fixed.

Last fall, Patsy planted about 50-100 daffodil bulbs next to the sidewalk.  They were from my sister’s yard, so were free.  They have started to bloom.  They are such a cheerful yellow.  There are many that did not bloom this year, but she spaced them nicely, and next year they will fill in even more.  I also have several other bulbs that came up and are blooming in the flowerbeds.

On Thursday, Jake was not feeling well.  He came to my house and rested.  Later in the day, he felt better.  I took him and Patsy to the library, where they enjoyed the puppets and checked out books.  You may notice, he was wearing his Mario outfit.  He was so cute, and got a lot of interested glances as he travelled through the building, heading upstairs to the children’s section.

They have a large assortment of adorable puppets.

We had some friends come down and go to church with us today.  We had them over for lunch afterwards.  We served tacos. I made home-made refried beans, some cookies and Patsy made Rice Krispie treats.  They brought shredded cheese, which was really helpful, as I was running a little low (until they generously left the rest of the bag).   I did a lot of other cooking this week, and used up a lot of random items, but I’ll cover that when I post about the March Low-budget challenge.  The second 2 weeks will be over tomorrow night, so I plan to post then, or sometime Tuesday.

I rode over 15 miles on the exercise bikes at the YMCA this week in 3 different sessions.  On Friday, Rob and I took Patsy, Jake, Michaela and Alissa swimming at the Y while Ja’Ana had her dance class.  I love the fact that we are using our membership so much.

The girls practiced their guitars this week for a couple of hours.  They used chord sheets we had.  Alissa recently started up lessons, and Ja’Ana had some lessons a while back.  So, they played away, and the soothing sounds of guitar chords filled the house on a few mornings.  They were so cute.  They would choose a song.  Ja’Ana would start off, playing all or most of the chords called for.  When Alissa got to the chords she knew, she would dramatically strum that chord until J moved on.  Both of them were singing, sometimes in the correct key, and sometimes not.  They had so much fun, and although there were a few false starts, they sounded  good to me.

We ran off coloring sheets for the younger kids to color.  Jake worked on some craft kits he had not finished at Christmas on the day he was sick, while I did school with the big girls.  He also played Legos for hours while here.  Patsy worked on her embroidery some this weekend.  Ja’Ana cleaned house again for money towards her summer church activities.  I worked extra again this week.  The extra hours are available for just for a short time, which is nearing an end, but I have a plan for the extra money, so am glad to get it.  So, we came out of the week earning more than we spent, which is always a triumph.

I’m really enjoying all of the bulbs that have popped up, and started to bloom, in our yard. There are several kinds and colors.  They are so pretty.

This week was a busy, productive one.  I had time to do a few more things around the house than normal, which felt good to me.  There was one day where the sun was trying to peek out between raindrops and I decided to make Rob some sun tea.  You might call it “shower tea,” but it worked despite the rain drops that fell.

I went to the shop and dug through boxes (AND unpacked and put away 3 more bins of stuff-yea!) looking for fabric.  I found several pieces and Ja’Ana immediately started sewing one of them into a skirt.  I started a sundress for Patsy.

Ja’Ana also got an opportunity to work through the “rent-a-teen” program at church.  They match teens with people who need jobs done and the money is put into an account at church and helps pay for things like camp, retreats, and the summer mission trip.  She hopes to get many more opportunities, because she has lots of events she’d like to attend! I’m delighted she can earn some money towards them.  The retreat she attended in January was over 1/2 paid for by the wood-chopping/stacking job the teens did last fall.  This job was house cleaning for 2 hours.  She felt she could do that, as she’s had plenty of practice:)

We went to a yard sale and found clothing items for $1.  I got the girls some more skirts.  I am gathering several below-the-knee skirts because of our summer plans.

The sun came out yesterday and I weeded the small winter garden I planted last fall.  It was too muddy to do much, other than pull out chickweed from around the surviving plants, but I did what I could.  There is more to do, but it was a good start.  I am hoping that the spinach will go ahead and make some leaves and the onions will start to grow into bulbs with the longer days.  Notice that red lettuce on the right hand side.  It lived through snow, ice, hail, etc.  I’m going to let it go to seed if it survives to that point.  It’s got to win some kind of prize for hardy lettuce!

I had “the boy” overnight on Friday-Saturday again.  His family was busy with his sister, Michaela, who was participating in the Special Olympics.  It was sunny and we had a great time.  We took him, Patsy and Alissa swimming at the YMCA on Friday night while Ja’Ana was in her dance class, then out and about Saturday morning while we did errands.   Then he and Patsy played in the yard while I weeded and Rob did work in the shop with the door wide open to let that fresh air in.  They even earned money for doing jobs for Rob!  I think Jake got a whole dollar for his efforts and he was very pleased!

Our taxes are done.  Yesterday, we drove over to the tax office and signed so they could be electronically filed.  We are getting a nice refund.  That is exciting!

I cooked some mystery meat from the freezer.  It turned out to be a thigh and drumstick from a turkey.  I made turkey-noodle casserole, broth and bits which I will made into soup soon, and ate some.  I used a gallon can of crushed tomatoes I was given years ago to make a mega-batch of spaghetti sauce.  I made shell pasta (like lasagna) and meatballs for the Sunday family lunch.  I have about 4 cups of sauce left for another time.  I used some of them in chili as well.  I decided not to go to the store this weekend, as I usually do, because I want to force myself to use up some of these kind of items, plus use up all of the produce before it goes bad.  Next weekend, I can replenish it, but hope to stick to my regular budget, and save this week’s grocery money for another purpose.

The train set got a good workout.  I have several classic toys I saved from when my boys were little.  I love it when they get used.