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Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–August 23, 2020

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I had a little visitor today. I’d like to introduce you all to my grandson, Malcom. His mama is in town, visiting, with him, and Rob and I got to see him for the first time. He’s so precious and special, as all babies are. But I have to say right now, he’s by far the cutest baby I know:).

Of course, he stole Grandpa’s heart, too.

Last year, Ja’Ana got married in a private ceremony. She and her husband live in Hawaii, and now they have Malcom. At that time, she asked for privacy, and I have respected that on this blog. But now…..she’s letting Grandpa post it all over Facebook….and fair is fair….so–Whoo-Hoo–! The cute little guy that we have Facetimed with several times a week since he was born in early July has finally come to visit. Lovana actually flew to Hawaii to help J on the plane with baby–she never left the airport at all, just met J there and flew right back.

Alissa picked them up at the airport, brought them here for a visit and brunch, and then they went to Lovana’s house to hopefully get some rest. I also loved seeing Alissa–she’s been working at a camp most of the summer, so we don’t get to see her very often.

Jake wanted to make Snickerdoodles for our upcoming camping trip. Or should I say Jake wanted to eat Snickerdoodles before our upcoming trip. A few were frozen for the trip. A lot were eaten. It will be the first time we’ve been camping for an entire year, so we’ve spent quite a bit of time getting the camper ready. It’s a project. We are putting together an outdoor school/camp experience for both Patsy and Jake with lots of activities, learning and fun. What Jake remembers is decorating sugar cookies and having lots of glow sticks. So we will, plus a bunch of other fun things.

In the meanwhile, we are still preserving everything we can get our hands on. I’ve canned tomatoes, pears, 2 batches of salsa, bringing my total up to over 30 jars (I want 50, but we’ll see), 3 small batches dill pickles, one small batch of sweet pickles (the ones that take 4 days, dumping and pouring each morning and night according to the directions), dried peaches, pears and apples from the reduced produce rack at Freddies, done fruit leather, and finished the fruit cocktail. Rob went to a fruit stand that we know of and got my apples, which are ripening for applesauce. I have a lot more tomatoes to do, plus more pickles, more salsa…..you get the idea. Some days, I’ve worked for over 12 hours, but most days it’s way less than that. A little each day, and it’s stacking up. I’m gaining on it, but not quite there yet.

Rob tilled another section of the garden after I pulled up spent plants. I’ve planted cabbage, Chinese cabbage, boc choi, lettuce, spinach, cilantro, broccoli rapini, and snow peas for a fall/winter garden.

The right hand side of the compost bin in the back of the picture is ready and Rob started digging it out. Once it’s empty, that’s where our scraps and weeds will go and we will let the other side finish making its compost. It took about a year of us just dumping scraps and weeds in there for it to break down–we do nothing special to it–just pour it in there as we get it. That picture is from last spring. What a change in the garden!

It’s been an amazing gardening year, and we feel very blessed. That trellis of beans is now hiding the compost bins. I got a few beans from it at first, but then..nothing. Now, I notice lots of little blooms all over, so I have high hopes for eating beans in a week or so. We’ll see. They were not happy with the 90+ degree days last week.

I grocery shopped for the first time in about 3 weeks. I used lots of Bottle Drop money I’d been saving for quite a while, a $5 coupon I got in the mail, my last Fred Meyer rewards and got out the the store for under $40 cash. I also had several Ibotta rebates from the trip, which I’m leaving in that account for now. I got lots of groceries, and they will last for quite some time. I’ve saved some grocery money this month and will make an Azure Standard order next month with it (bulk products). It’s the easiest time of the year to save money with all the produce that’s available, plus my aunt gave us some extra lunchmeat, which has come in handy to snatch and eat when I’m so busy canning. There is some extra expense for canning supplies, but I still come out ahead since so much of what I can, freeze or dry is free or very inexpensive.

food preservation, Garden, Saving Money

Thriving In My thrifty Week–August 10, 2020

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The canning is stacking up around here! This week, one of the things I did was pull the carrots. Some we ate and some were canned. Frankly, my carrot crop was small, and not impressive, but I dealt with what there was. I grew multi-colored colored carrots, for part of what I grew, and I like how they look in the jars. During a normal winter, I use between 5 and 10 pints of canned carrots, that is all. I use them for one purpose–making chicken-rice soup when I’m in a big hurry. Therefore, I don’t can them every year, but this year, I’m down to one jar left, so it’s time.

Pickles are made every few days and the tomatoes are just barely starting.

We have a peach tree in the back yard. It’s somewhat pathetic and the peaches that grow are usually eaten off by squirrels before they even ripen. The peaches are often covered with scabs. But, this year, some survived–probably 20-25 pounds and they are quite nice. I was expecting very little-none as usual, so this gave me extra peaches. I have been freezing them in slices for smoothies, gave some of the frozen ones to my sister, froze a few for a friend, and made another double batch of peach jam.

We are eating so well from the garden now.

My lettuce is really good right now, but some of it wants to bolt soon. I will be hauling some out to family members on Wednesday so it gets eaten.

Rob has been saving seeds from some of our open-pollinated flowers and vegetables to use next year. It’s his first try, but he’s become very infested in the process–so I’m on board. I’ve got a small patch of the lettuce in the center of the picture saved and will let it go to seed for him. I’ve got a huge cucumber yellowing on the vine for the same purpose, and one freaky carrot that bloomed so is being left alone to see what happens.

I’ve been working hard in the garden to pull up old bean bushes, pull the onions so they can dry, and otherwise clean up out there. One day, Rob tilled this section and I planted cabbage, some sad broccoli plants and a few seeds. The plants are not amused at the 90+ degree day we had today. I’ve ran the sprinkler daily and hauled a few watering cans full of water out to them, so they will likely survive if I keep doing it. I have plans to plant a few more fall/winter crops when I get the section where the onions were prepared.

I went to the dentist today and got a filling replaced. It had a small crack in it. They felt I could wait until after Rob recovered from surgery, but not 6 months…..I really don’t like dental work, but was glad to get it fixed before it caused problems down the road. I was able to use my insurance, so that helped ease the pain.

Rob has been helping my sister/brother-in-law on their peach farm a little over the past couple of weeks. They are in a busy time, and he’s available. While he was there today, he picked wild blackberries and we made jam this afternoon.

My aunt and sisters picked and snapped more green beans for me while I was at the dentist. Rob and I canned them this afternoon. I got 7 more quarts and 18 pints, plus 4 baggies to freeze. Thanks, guys!

Rob gathered free wood from the side of the road and made me screens to dry my onions on.

One day, while we were watching Michaela, we packed a picnic and took her up to Silver Creek Falls State Park to dip her toes in the creek, and enjoy her picnic. We are all trying to find things for the kids to do while still staying safe–so although the park was somewhat crowded, we just stayed away from people as much as we could, so we were able to find a way to social distance. We did take a walk, but it was around the parking lot and a field–we never got anywhere near the falls this time around. It was still extremely fun!

What did you do this week to save money or have an awesome week?

.

Homeschooling, Saving Money, Summer Fun With Kids, Vacations

Thriving In My thrifty Week–August 2, 2020

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Way before Rob’s surgery, my sister booked a cabin at Detroit Lake and invited us to come with their family for a few days. She wanted him to have something to look forward to post-surgery. As we discussed the upcoming trip, we talked about how he would probably need help up the few stairs, a ground level room so he could lie down when needed, and maybe could or maybe could not walk the 50 feet to the lake or go out on a boat one day. What a different, and wonderful, scenario it was!

Instead of sitting in the cabin, he went down to the lake several times. While down there, he fished, helped the kids fish and swam more than once. He had no trouble on the stairs or anywhere else, but made sure to use his trekker poles and follow his hip surgery precautions at all times. One morning, he and I walked all over the tiny lake town for exercise. It was nice to have a different change of scenery.

He took some of the kids rock collecting and creek walking.

On the day my sister rented a pontoon boat, we all fished for the morning, and swam during the afternoon. We took a picnic with us to enjoy at lunch time. Michaela got a fishing license before she went on the trip, with Rob’s help. Then, of course, she wanted to fish. He helped her hook this one, and she landed it. She was SO excited.

I caught a fish, too! It was the biggest trout I’ve caught in years, well over 12 inches, and we ate it for dinner that night, along with the one Rob helped Michaela catch.

Jake’s parents have chosen to continue homeschooling next fall, and are continuing his education during the summer. So, 2 of the days we were there, he did schoolwork. His mom organized it all, and his dad and mom both worked with him at times. Uncle helped him with science projects twice. I read two entire short chapter books to him. One was school, one was for fun. He would lay in wait for me to come out to where ever he was and get me to read to him,–it was so cute and fun. He commandeered everyone he could to play air hockey and foosball in the basement game room the cabin had, and although he beat me at air hockey, I did win the foosball game:). He talked every single one of us into Yahtzee at one time or another, and even used my phone to text Grandma for her Yahtzee-winning secrets one time, and then won the game!

We took all of our food, and cooked every meal at the cabin. We had a blast, and got some rest. Which was good because……

When we got home…..yikes! I had picked the garden produce before we went and processed everything or packed it for the trip. I needed to work for 12-16 hours a couple of days to get it taken care of before we left, but nothing was neglected or forgotten, except 3 pickling cucumbers that grew too big to use while we were gone, and about 10 beans that went over the hill. I can so totally live with that!

Since I’ve been home, I’ve canned beet pickles, dill pickles, blueberry pie filling and green beans. I’ve frozen the last of the peaches, some strawberries and blueberries.

Yesterday afternoon, we had a bean-snapping/canning party at my sister’s house. My other sister is growing tons of beans and is sharing. So after virtual church, Rob and I went over to Gail’s and joined their family and my aunt, who were all snapping like crazy. We got 28 quarts done! We took our canner, used their canner, and one that Rob’s friend gave us just last week. They never use it anymore, so we gratefully accepted. Rob stood by the canners, keeping time and keeping them all at correct pressure–that was his exclusive job, and the rest of us snapped and filled jars. When I left, they were all sealed, except one, and I’m sure it did. It sure speeds things up with multiple canners and lots of help!

I’ve been working on my garden in the evenings and mornings. I’m removing old bushes, harvesting produce, and weeding. I’m getting an area ready because I plan to plant a fall garden.

We ordered some more seeds from Territorial Seed Company for fall planting. They were out of a lot of things in their on-line winter gardening catalog, but we were able to get enough. We just wanted a few things like spinach, cabbage, etc. If they didn’t have the variety I wanted, I just chose another one, figuring they all must have some merit or they wouldn’t have made it into the seed catalog in the first place! Maybe I’ll find a new favorite. We have eaten and shared so many of our vegetables this summer–much more than we usually do, so I’m excited to get more going.

Rob took this picture of the clouds. I really like it, so thought I’d end the blog post with it, just because:)

food preservation, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–June 27, 2020

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This week revolved around food preservation, at least at my house! What a nice change from everything revolving around the pandemic:) I didn’t want to go anywhere, or do anything else but preserve food anyway:). This is truly one of my favorite times of year. So what did I do?

I went and picked New Haven peaches at my sister’s house on Friday. Rob went back this morning. What they had left after a super busy u-pick day Saturday, was what my sister calls “uglies.” I purposely asked Rob to pick a bunch of those. I froze a lot of them for smoothies. The blender isn’t going to care how beat up they were in the orchard:). I blanched them with boiling water, peeled them, sliced/chunked them and froze on a cookie sheet, then transferred into bags so they are separated for smoothies.

I canned 35 quarts.

I made a double batch of peach jam with some of the “uglies.” I also made a batch of spiced peach-blueberry jam, using 4 cups of blueberries from my bushes.

Of course, the garden still produces, peaches or no peaches. In almost every “peach” picture, you see beans in the background. So far, I have canned 31 quarts, 1 pint, and frozen 3 baggies. I did help her snap those, by the way:), and a big bag was saved for eating over the next couple of days.

And, dear, sweet Patsy got to shred 32 cups of assorted zucchini this morning. We froze it in 2-cup packages for winter baking. It was a mixture of tromboncini, yellow and green zucchini. After the 32 jars of relish the other day, I thought maybe it would slow down?????? Not yet, I guess:). Believe it or not, there’s plenty saved out to eat over the next few days.

My Glacier tomatoes yielded 2 bowls. They are early, but small, so I cut them in 1/2, crushed and boiled, then used my food mill on them to make tomato juice. I then added lots of herbs and spices and garlic powder, salt and pepper and cooked. There wasn’t much there, so I poured in some vegetable/tomato juice that was originally purchased at a discount grocery store and forgotten. I then stirred in some tomato paste to thicken it up a bit, then canned my pizza/pasta sauce. I got 9 or 10 jars, of assorted sizes.

I’ve done dill pickles whenever I get any cucumbers from my patch. So far, I’ve done them 3 times and now have a total of 2 quarts and 9 pints. I will do more in the morning. They don’t seem to give me very many at once, but they add up over time. My dill isn’t growing well. I don’t know why. The ones in rows are stunted. The few that self-seeded from last year are growing merrily in the onions, middle of the rows, or amongst the carrots and beets. I guess they call it “dill weed” for a reason:). So, I’ve just been picking those, and hoping I will have enough.

We used up a lot of my canned and frozen goods this past winter, so I have a lot of canning to do this summer and fall. It is because we were home more, I think. I love that! It keeps the canned and frozen food current and fresh.

We did do a few other things this week. We had Jake and Michaela both Friday and Monday, because of extra work their mama had to do, along with an extra day last Tuesday, and Jake’s normal Wednesday-Thursday “spend the night” time. Michaela is getting a little bored at home, so she was excited to come over. We had a pool party, complete with 2 kiddie pools with water in them, lot of cottage cheese cartons, squirt guns, and ice cream cones. It was very hot today for around here, upper 90’s, so the kids stayed out in the water for several hours. They pretty much stayed in the shaded area they found, sitting in the water most of the time. We used the water left over in the pools to water the strawberries next to the shop. they never get enough this time of year.

While at the restaurant supply store gathering things like celery seed, green and red peppers and vinegar for canning projects, Rob stumbled upon this 25-lb bag of gluten-free rolled oats for $5. It had a torn corner. He grabbed it. He also grabbed 50 pounds of Jasmine rice for $10–they said it had been ordered by mistake and they didn’t want it.

This last week has been rigorous. I’m looking forward to a few restful days after the peaches are done. I need to freeze one more batch of slices in the morning. Still, I love the process of food preservation. My mom calls it my useful hobby. I love seeing those shelves and freezers fill up, and I really love knowing what’s in those jars and packages– good, healthy food that gives us a tremendous variety of delicious food all winter long.

How about you? Are you preserving any food this summer?

Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–July 20, 2020

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Every day, Rob has been walking and doing his physical therapy exercises. He is getting a little bored of walking around and around the block near our house, so we’ve been venturing out to other areas. One day, we drove over to the coast and walked on a concrete trail at South Beach State Park. We started at the South Jetty, walked over to the campground and scenic boardwalk viewpoint, and back to the jetty. We are still looking for places that are relatively flat, and smooth, as he is still in the middle of the 6-week “be careful” phase after his surgery. He is easily walking around 2 miles at a time now.

Lovana had the day off, so we picked her up and took her along. It was nice to spend some time with her. Her job is just as busy as it was pre-Covid, in the little coffee/crepe shop. They had a time period, at first, where business was very slow, but now, it’s picked back up, due to the added orders coming in from Uber Eats and Grubhub, coupled with the fact that people can come in and eat at tables that are distanced from each other.

I got my first canner-load of beans this morning, and every one sealed! That makes it a very good morning for me:). I also got my first dill pickles canned–just 4 pints, but it’s a great start. Rob eats a lot of pickles, so I’m hoping to get lots more.

I keep doing yard and garden work at every opportunity. The weeks keep growing, produce needs harvesting, and we did some tilling and transplanting where crops were finished.

I’ve been picking berries and freezing them and now have many, many baggies in the freezers. I was able to freeze 3 baggies of green beans this morning, as well, from what wouldn’t fit into the canner load. We’ve been eating lettuce daily, as well, and the zucchini is trying to take over my fridge! I’ve been sharing, both with the relatives, and also with my neighbor over the fence…I wonder if she would notice if there were zucchini scattered over her yard one morning–maybe the boys would think they grew there……..or not. Actually, I think I’ll shred some up and freeze the baggies.

It’s been pretty hot, for our area–upper 80’s and low 90’s. I dug out some squirt guns and water balloons, and the kids, small and large, had a nice afternoon getting wet.

Those kiddie pools have come in handy since last summer when we bought them! They ended up using buckets, milk jugs, bowls that had berries in them for a snack, and a plastic water pitcher when they felt the squirt guns weren’t enough! Lots of fun for everyone:)

Rob's hip surgery, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–July 14, 2020

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I’ve been picking so many berries that we decided to spend a morning making jam on Monday. For this batch, I used frozen peaches and a few frozen raspberries, along with the pan full I picked, to have enough for the batch.

I had to get out the pizza pans to hold all the Marion (black) berries one day. I froze these and picked that many more another day. Those I made jam from. There are still some every couple of days, but I don’t think I’ll get as many at one time again this season.

It’s been sunny and warm, and sun tea has been made several times.

Last week, various family members came Monday, Wednesday and Friday to help me out. We weeded, did laundry and baked at various times. This week, I haven’t needed anyone to come help because Rob is back to driving, as of Monday. He’s also doing dishes, folding laundry, cooking a bit, and doing his therapy. Every day, he does the exercises multiple times, and we are taking 1-2 walks of various lengths, but mostly .7-1/5 miles. I’m still amazed! We see the doctor tomorrow, and I’m excited to see if he thinks Rob’s recovery is as amazing as I do:)

I hadn’t shopped for over 2 weeks. and didn’t need a thing. Until I did! All of a sudden, I ran out of lots of items, mostly staples such as onion powder, red pepper flakes, raisins, odd things like that. I went to a couple of stores, and also decided to place an Azure Standard order, since Rob was doing so much better than I though he would be. I took him to see his mother for a visit, as she was wanting to see him after the surgery, then picked up my order, as my drop is in the same town as she lives in. It was great to get him out. He was going crazy!

Which is why I loaded Rob, Patsy and the dog up and drove to nearby Silver Creek Falls State Park. We found a concrete trail that we could feel comfortable with Rob walking down, quickly slapped a mask on if anyone came near, and walked about a mile. Of course, we were not able to walk the trails to see the falls, yet, but had a wonderful time anyway.

Of course we had to cross the bridge, and Rob was careful to keep his trekker pole tips out of the cracks, since we saw where some other poor person had lost theirs!

There were quite a few people there, so after our walk, we drove down to a place where few people were and chose a picnic table. I cannot express to you how wonderful and different it was to choose a table that was a little ways away from the car, next to the creek, not the one right next to the car. Rob easily navigated his way over there, was able to sit up and down at will–something that has not happened for years, and was able to take a short walk when he needed to! And, better yet, looked baffled for a minute, because the idea suddenly struck him that life was different now, and then said, “I’ll come back in a minute. Because I can.” Every single time he stood up and sat down before surgery was so painful, that he would just go the smallest possible distance, sit down, stay there until time to leave, then go straight to the car. Every decision was based on how far he would have to walk and how many times he would have to stand up and sit down. This is so different and amazing! We don’t take it for granted, and are praising the Lord every single day for the blessing this surgery has been for Rob.

Rob's hip surgery, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–July 6, 2020

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The garden is really starting to pump out the produce. I’m having to spend more and more time picking and dealing with it all! What a wonderful “problem” to have:)

Most of these greens were chopped up and put in baggies in the fridge for Rob to stir-fry for his breakfast scrambles. The bowl of blueberries was full last night. I guess everyone was super hungry for blueberries!

In the past, I’ve had trouble with these blueberries being too sour. My mom suggested that maybe I was picking them too soon–so I waited 2 weeks longer than I have in the past, and picked very carefully. They are nice and sweet! There are a lot more out there and I will start freezing some soon, but we might as well eat what we want while they are fresh because we won’t get that chance again until next summer once they are gone.

After Rob wore the tips off his walker by taking so may walks, he changed over to trekker poles as he was starting to make gouges in the floor. He is going out 2-4 times per day for a walk, with company, and with all the trips added up, went about 2 miles yesterday. Today marks 1 week since his surgery. I’m completely amazed, but so happy. He hasn’t been able to walk this much for years.

I have family members coming in Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to help me out this week. It’s so nice of them to come, and we plan to garden, do laundry, and things like that.

Rob's hip surgery, Saving Money

thriving In My thrifty Week–June 28, 2020

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We got the chance to pick cherries this week. My sister has several trees and shared them with the family. I canned some and made a cherry crisp. Yum!

Since there were several nieces, my oldest daughter, both sisters, it was like a family reunion, and we all worked hard on scattering the required 6 foot distance from each other while trying to get the best cherries. It was a little comical at times, and some finally went and got masks to help the situation out a little.

Rob got the tiny tiller going and I tilled up 2 small sections where other crops had been pulled. In this place, I planted several small lettuces he had grown in the greenhouse, and some Russian Frills kale. My friend, Jeannie, sent Rob the seeds for both the kale and the Red Merlot lettuce. He planted only part of the seeds she sent, and plans on growing more in the fall. He also grew Buttercrunch lettuce and Drunken Frizzy-Headed Woman lettuce. I watered them in and netted them. We have so many birds, they are hard on lettuce.

I picked berries several times this week. Besides the raspberries and strawberries, I picked a small handful of Marion (black) berries. The blueberries are turning blue, but are still sour, so I’m leaving them for a while. I froze most of them, and we ate the rest.

I picked cabbage, snow peas, green onions, basil, cilantro, 2-4 try tomatoes and 2 tiny zucchinis.

We went to the dentist for cleanings and check-ups. It took a long time, due to the extra Covid cleaning, but I am so grateful they could do Rob’s teeth before his surgery. I am the only one who has to go back, they need to replace an old filling.

We spent hours cleaning and organizing for the upcoming surgery. I finished today with a thorough cleaning/bleaching of the bathroom, mopping all over, bleaching doorknobs, doing dishes, cooking a little, and a little garden work. We now have a shower/bathtub bench (after all our scurrying around looking for a free/cheap one, we found that our insurance covered a brand-new one, in full. Hmmmm. Wish we had known that first. We are the proud owners of compression socks and trekker poles. The rest of the little gadgets will be given to us at the hospital.

Rob had his Covid test this morning, and tested negative. Praise God! Now, we just go down there in the morning, and get the operation done. The nurses at the orthopedic clinic said the cafeteria either isn’t open at all, or is open for very short hours only. I’m taking no chances. Instead, I’m taking a lunch:). I’m so grateful I can go at all, at first only the patients were allowed in the hospital. I will need to come home at 7 p.m., as that’s as late as I can stay. If all goes as it should, I will bring him home on Tuesday. We have people for Patsy to be with, and people lined up to help when Rob first comes home. I’m as ready as I can be, and Rob is more than ready. Since they made him stop his ibuprophin a few days ago, his pain level is very high.

Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–June 23, 2020

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This week, I was able to preserve some cherries. A friend had some left-over cherries that his friend had not sold at a farmers’ market and gifted us a box. I had a little sorting to do, as some were over the hill, but most were wonderful!

I was able to freeze several baggies and can 11 pints. My fingers are still purple:)

The everbearing raspberries and strawberries are really pumping out the fruit right now. Every other day I have been picking them and flash freezing the ones we don’t eat right up or give away. Then, I package them up for winter use. Since most strawberries are used in smoothies, we like them frozen separate, not in a big clump, to make it easier to drop into the blender.

Patsy has been working at odd jobs. She’s been doing yard work for the aunties and got to mow the neighbor’s yard for money when their lawn mower broke. She had wanted to get a job when she turned 16, but Covid-19 has put a hitch in her plans. It’s been wonderful that other jobs have turned up that she can do.

Rob found an entire van load of good firewood in the free pile. We spent a day helping him get that put away for winter. He can stand by his chop saw and saw it into pieces and Patsy and I can haul it. The wood shed is getting very, very full, which is nice because he will be unable to work with wood at all for a while after his surgery. I think I have convinced him to let it lie, no matter how wonderful the wood looks that he might see, until after the surgery!

We are trying to get all the odds and ends done around here, as we are planning for me to do only the bare minimum right after he gets his surgery and cannot help. We have the relatives lined up to help, which is a great relief, but don’t plan to make them do things like collect and saw free firewood, fill yard debris bins full of trimmings, or other jobs like that. (I’ll bet you relatives are relieved, huh?).

I finished a baby quilt I’ve been working on for a few months. I really like how it came out.

I sold and shipped some more of Patsy’s old school books.

Rob's hip surgery, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–June 14, 2020

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A cascade of slippery plastic bags full of garden produce slid out of the fridge one too many times this week. I completely cleaned the fridge and re-organized it with a couple of old baskets. Now, the baggies can go in the drawers and baskets, and hopefully everything will be easier to find and use.

I washed and re-used many plastic bags this week.

The garden is producing more and more each day, and we are eating a great deal of lettuce. I picked one last picking of spinach and pulled the plants. I froze a lot of it. Of course, it shrank down to almost nothing, but I put it in very small baggies. Rob can put one of those in with his morning stir-fry if he needs more greens. I picked snow peas, lettuce, spinach, the last of the boc choi, broccoli, raspberries and strawberries. I froze 7 bags of broccoli, in 2 different batches. We also ate it a couple of times.

I picked strawberries several times. I made freezer jam one day. It did not set very well, but I froze it anyway and it will either set some more and be good jam, or it will be berry syrup for pancakes or ice cream. We’ve also been eating sliced berries for dessert.

I got a ripe tomato on Wednesday! It’s a Glacier Ultra Early, but for around here…it’s really early. I’m thrilled!

We worked with the kids a great deal this week. Rob took them for a drive and looked for trains. This time, they saw some. Yea! We did school with Jake on 2 days, took him for walks, read for hours, had him help me with chores, and he helped me pick strawberries in the yard.

Our biggest news is that on Wednesday, Rob had appointments regarding his upcoming surgery. There are many things to be thankful for. 1) His wounds on his legs are healing nicely and will not delay the surgery. 2)His weight is at a great level, several pounds below the weight required to have the surgery. 3) The date of the 29th is a “go.” 4)They just changed the policy again so that I can accompany him to the hospital and be there during surgery, and into the evening. I cannot stay the night, still, but I can live with that!

In response to things the physical therapist we met with told us, I rearranged our bedroom to make it better for Rob’s upcoming recovery. We have some work to do on our bathroom–we need to tear off the shower doors. We are waiting for a new shower curtain to arrive from Amazon, and we will do that. Rob found a walker at a thrift store quite some time ago, but now know we need a bathtub bench, so will go look for one before we buy new. The doctor wants Rob to get tracker poles for after he uses the walker for a while. So that’s another item to look for used, or order new.

It’s going to be another busy week around here!