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I gave away a skein of yarn through my Buy Nothing group.
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A neighbor posted on Facebook about how a local carwash had used overwhelmingly scented cleaning products on her car’s upholstery and was asking for advice. I offered to lend her our portable shampooer, which she’s now coming to pick up this afternoon. Both a borrower and a lender be.
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I had an e-coupon for a free medium Domino’s pizza, which I’d earned from ordering gluten-free pizzas for my daughter. Unfortunately the gluten-free crust only comes as a “small” as the crusts are pre-made. In the past I’ve gone to the physical location to switch the order, but the staff wouldn’t budge this day on using my “medium” coupon for a “small” pizza.
I’m not one to force my will on retail workers, so I stepped aside and scoured both the app and dot.com website until I found a decent coupon that worked for a gluten-free pizza. $7.99 later and I was able to bring my daughter a treat.
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One of our kids is off on a two-week European vacation and I let them borrow a number of things from us. Think portable cell phone charger, small toiletry bags, etc. I also treated them to a variety of flight friendly food options from H Mart and a ride to the airport.
I like to have a set routine for frequent tasks so I’m not reinventing the wheel, but somehow I’m always at a loss when it comes to figuring out food for longer flights. I end up wandering around Trader Joe’s and am never happy with what I’ve chosen. However, H Mart had excellent inexpensive premade food choices and will definitely be my go-to for future flight prep!
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I didn’t buy a Lear Jet.
{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }
This night was not a promising start to the day. About 3 am we were jerked awake by the sounds of the Dane puking; at least he did it in the bathroom instead of on carpeting. While we were cleaning that up with rags that we then threw away, the elderly lab waddled in and started to puke. A quick forensic exam showed that they had gone out after dinner and had a large dessert of voles. Seeing this made my husband start gagging and pretty soon I was at it, too. Four mammals in a small room, all gagging and/or puking. It took an hour to clean things up, but at least we used rags instead of paper.
All of us went back to bed. Husband got up first, to make coffee (him) and tea (me). Sudden cursing caused me to do my version of leaping up, thinking the dog may have left a mess in the kitchen, too. Nope. Remember when Grandma’s fridge had sturdy metal shelves? Well those days are long gone and the shelves are plastic around the edges, and glass shelves rest atop them. So, the fridge always look dirty and the plastic often breaks, shattering the glass or at least breaking it in two. Three gallons of liquid were on the floor, as our fridge had elected to have a shelf breakdown this morning of all mornings. Husband was ready to order a new shelf but it was very expensive and by the time delicate things like glass make it to Alaska, they are often broken. Husband ate breakfast and disappeared into the garage. Hours later he came out and said, “You are going to hate this.” This usually means the fix will be butt-ugly. Then he went on: “Remember when we were on our first vacation together and I had to buy an exceptionally long nail? You wanted me to throw it away when that trip was over, since you never intended to go camping again in your lifetime. Well, this is that nail. It has been waiting to be used for 43 years. HA!!” The fix was perfect—super glued the frame together, then super glued the 10 inch nail over the spot of the break, and then applied duct tape. (Husband’s life motto is the old saying, “If it moves and it shouldn’t, use duct tape. If it does not move and it should, WD-40 it.”) You cannot even really see the mending job and it was free.
It is not long after noon and I am going to take a nap before something else happens around here.
OMG Lindsey. just O. M. G.
what possibly could cause the two dogs to lose their voles?
I am not puzzled they would partake of them, however.
I have a dog.
As for the fridge shelves letting go, you both probably are thinking ‘but of COURSE this would happen today of all days”. I have some painful memories of trouble multiplying during times of exhaustion, so I am not surprised to read of yours. You have my sympathies. and a virtual hug and blankie for your nap.
.
As for the very long nail in the workshop – reminds me of my dad, who had purchased a broken pinball game when he was around 15. He took it all apart, just to see how it worked. He saved many of the parts in his VERY unorganized workshop(s) and when my mom and dad got together the pinball parts came with, to Mom’s ongoing and vocal dismay (not that she used the workshop…).
Dad was the household ‘fixer of things’ and would disappear into the workshop with whatever ‘thing’ Mom had given him, only to appear, hours later, ‘thing’ repaired and his eyes just twinkling with glee. Invariably, he would inform us that he had used a pinball part. It was a source of much joy/groaning/laughter in my family, when I was young. Thank you for reminding me.
What an awful experience. I hope they pass on the roles next time
I’ve always said dogs eat first and think later. If I lived next door you could have called me for clean-up duty. Likely saved you a number of rags.
Lindsey,
OMG! What a Monday morning! Just proves that Morton Salt is right: when it rains it pours.
Glad your dogs are OK now, and that your fridge is fixed. Hope the rest of the week is much, much better.
Lindsey, I add my OMGs to everyone else’s, and I hope that all parties have now gotten over their puking. (I know better than to hope that the dogs swear off voles after this, however. I’ve had dogs myself, and their fondness for eating everything they shouldn’t and/or decorating their ears and necks with it remains a pungent memory.)
Oh dogs and there dietary indiscretions! Cats would have probably presented you with a stunned or still warm vole. My dog (who can really empathize about eating what you shouldn’t) and I hope all of you feel well by now.
At the dog park yesterday there was an explosion of small toads hopping everywhere. The puppies were extremely miffed that I wouldn’t let them hunt their prey and wouldn’t let them eat their prey.
The worst was a llong-ago beagle of mine who decided to eat a bee, which then stung her throat, which involved an emergency vet.
My outdoor shower developed a nice hole in the copper pipe over the winter. I guess I really don’t know how to winterize it. I duct taped the hole and now it’s even worse spraying random water. Fail.
Lindsey,
Here’s hoping today finds you better rested and having started the day with tea uneventfully.
Your story reminded me of my childhood rescue collie mix who used to hunt voles and use them as squeeky toys. I don’t, however, think she ever ate one.
Try s muffler band aid on the hole. Maybe use some silicone caulk first.
I have repaired a lot of things with both.
JC
Good idea–thanks, JC!
I really thought I had figured out how to winterize the damn thing. Oh well. It always astounds me when I see a very sturdy copper pipe have a rip in it from expanding ice.
Just wrote down your husband’s “fix it” words of wisdom. One of my best Christmas presents ever was a set of duct tapes in multiple colors. Mind you, I had only hinted that a roll of blue would be nice.
A beautiful weekend after a chilly week. I ended up catching my husband’s cold but y hit me lighter than him.
Two weeks in Europe sounds wonderful!
1) Have stretched out my deodorant way longer than I expected when the last piece crumbled..still working through the last bits jammed back in trhe applicator.
2) My scaredy cat wanted to go outside so I carried her out to sit with me (she’d bolt and we have coyotes nearby so none of them go out without being carried/held) … Well something freaked her out and she clawed a nice hole in my good shirt. I mended the black shirt with hot pink thread so I know it’s now a sleep shirt and not one to pull for regular use.
3) My chive seeds have germinated finally. Will bring some seedlings to my sister’s next month.
4) have been watching free films/documentaries via YouTube on rationing and the home front in WWII in Britain. Enjoyed both episodes of 1940 House as well. Not for Memorial Day, just ongoing interest.
5) – sold an item for $31 on eBay, motivating me to lift a few more items.
Thank you for your site. I’ve read for a while but lately thought posting would keep me more mindful.
*Maybe* 20% of today’s US residents could handle rationing, I’m likely being generous. Of course if WWII happened now, we’d lose the war.
I just discovered A Real Vintage Dolls House on YouTube and I’ve been enjoying her content so far about WWII and the 1940s!
I discovered her site too! I really enjoyed her video of living 8 days like WW2 rationing
It made me think how all my frugal friends would excel if we had rationing again. Everyone else would be miserable
I, too, have found her videos and enjoy them! I’m fascinated but also know the stresses of it all would have really made it much tougher than I can imagine.
While I’m vegan now, I most likely wouldn’t have been if lived then. I probably would have been vegetarian and thought their food ministry just seemed to cover so many bases – if you were vegetarian, you got extra cheese vs. meat rations and if you had chickens, you got chicken feed instead of egg rations when they were laying. I feel like solutions were well thought out vs just “my buddy owns this company so we’re working with them” mentality.
There’s an excellent book titled “Eggs or Anarchy” about how Lord Woolton set up the Ministry of Food that got the British empire through the war. The homefront during WWII is one of my favorite time periods to read about.
The beagle puppy chewed a hole in one of my favorite ($$$) Liberty of London shirts. He was sitting in my lap and I didn’t pay enough attention to what he was chewing. Grrr. Luckily my daughter quilts and loves Liberty fabric so she can cut it up.
Literally last night thought, “Why DO I have dogs, anyway?”
Bonnie, have you considered a harness for scaredy cat? They’ve been around enough to show up thrift, and they’re incredibly helpful for vet trips as well as safe outings.
Things. not all frugal, during some bad-cold-downtime.
1. I picked up a (Gasp) new 25 pound kettle bell. I have been trying to find one on the various online markets and have had no luck at all for over a year. I did get extra points back using my card etc, so there is that.
There was a second 10 pound kettle bell on discount (like, 5% of the original sticker price). YES, I will take that, too.
I got my workout just carrying the two to the counter to purchase them, LOL. This is a weight lifting tool that I am already using at the gym, and loving it. The dumbbell weights I have at home are not the right shape for certain actions, and this purchase has taken me a year of deciding to pay. And still, why do I feel guilty for buying new?
2. I used some of the frozen onion-carrot-celery packets (thanks for the idea, @Katy) that I made up last week to address my aging veggies issue. I pulled the tray from the freezer, put most packets back for later and popped three into my instant Pot. Added a cup each of barley and red lentils, some mushrooms that had self-dessicated in their paper bags (I intentionally had pulled them out of the fridge when I saw their initial dryness, and left the bags out on the counter. They were as dry as they could have been in my dehydrator), a past-dated can of mushrooms, and 4 cups of chicken broth that needed to be used. Added more than another 4 cups of water after contemplating what I had put in there (Barley expands well past the amount I every calculate, and all those mushrooms to rehydrate). Cooked for a little past the recommended 30 min, and am really happy to have soup as I now am suffering from the chest cold my two grown sons had 2 weeks ago. Soup to the rescue!
3. #2 son and his girlfriend helped with the anti-eagle strings over my large and small chicken runs. The one run (which is full of fruit trees) is a surprise that I need to protect, however the eagle was picking off my girls, so everyone has been cooped up (literally) for 2 weeks. #2 son is a softie and although he knew I was pretty sick, he coddled me along to get the job done and free the hens. Unfortunately we didn’t fill in all the holes and the eagle got another one, so all chickens are still locked up until I can finish the stringing job. I have some ideas.
I have 20 new hens, in a second coop, and on the first day everyone was released the one rooster that avoided being sent away (by not being home on gathering night ) abandoned the old hens and is happily hanging out with a large new harem. He’s a fast one, that boy!
The new hens should begin laying in the next week or so, right now they are roosting in the rafters of their coop!!! and I have had two small eggs from them. More and bigger, soon.
4. Our strange Spring weather continues – last long weekend (Victoria Day) is the one when we usually have everyone outside madly planting their summer gardens. The garden expert on the CBC radio shared that he was advising everyone to wait at least a week, and probably two – that it is too cold to put out heat loving plants, and the soil is too cold for heat loving seeds.
5. Great excuse for me to not get to my garden quite yet. A friend started a LOT of tomatoes that she has had me grow in my grow room. They are in tiny tiny pots and must be transplanted really soon, however I have managed to keep them watered. As I didn’t start any, these will be the bulk of the plants put out in the newly recovered big greenhouse. She came by today and we got some of them transplanted to bigger pots, but they have suffered the lack of water.
6. When stringing anti-eagle defenses in the chicken run, I brushed by what I thought was lemon balm – however instead it was MINT – and a kind that I thought I hadn’t managed to get flourishing here (moving it from my old place over 14 years ago). I had clippers in my pocket so picked a huge armful that went into my dehydrator. It is now waiting for me to pull off the stems and store.
With the thought of herbs front of mind, I dragged my sorry sick self out and picked sage, rosemary and a lot of oregano, and those are now dehydrating. I think I need to do more sage, and even more rosemary, as they do shrink down when dried.
7. Moved hostas in pots around to my front steps – I keep my perennials in pots, due to a bindweed (morning glory) infestation. Once advantage of that is I can re-decorate by simply moving pots around. During the winter (helebore) and spring (daffodils and other spring flowers) I have other options, but now that those plants are finished or looking worse for wear, the very exuberant hostas are coming into their own. Keeping these perennials alive and flourishing year after year has been so frugal, and the pleasure I get from seeing my old friends pushing up spikes in the spring is priceless.
I don’t know if this will be of any help to you but…
I keep chickens and have had a terrible hawk problem until I strung heavy duty fishing line from one side of their very large yard to the other and then I got some chip bags from family ( I don’t buy/eat them) cut them into strips along with a mylar balloon and tied them to the strings. The shiny chip bags and ballon did the trick. The hawks will not fly into or around the chicken yard because they are confused by the strings and shiny things.
The mylar ballon blew into my yard, I would not buy one.
JC
1. Mended some small holes in a t-shirt for my son.
2. Turned a long-sleeved lightweight shirt into a short-sleeved one. The bonus is I prefer slightly longer short sleeves and hemmed them at my preferred length. Also modified the far too loose sleeves on another shirt. Now I can raise my arms while wearing it without giving folks a look at my bra!
3. Cooked our traditional Memorial Day lunch of burgers with the fixings, baked beans, chips, and homemade apple pie. Pinched a bit off the edges of the uncooked premade burger patties to make a small burger for myself. The buns had been in the freezer quite a while and the bottom half of four of the eight had dried out, so my burger was served on two bun tops. It was yummy! The remaining tough buns will be turned into bread crumbs for making meatloaf.
4. Patient waiting paid off and cat kibble and dog treats finally went on sale at the grocery store. Saved $2.50.
5. Dried a bunch of laundry on a rack on the sun porch.
1. It’s been a chaotic weekend with kids in and out. DD#1 and her husband went to the Indy 500. DD#2 and her husband went camping. I shared dog sitting chores with my mom and son-in-laws mom. Their dogs don’t get along and one no longer has the use of his back legs so like dealing with a baby. My youngest watched DD#2’s cats. Frugal for them. It’s nice that we can all watch each other’s animals.
2. My son-in-law was invited to ride on the Good Year blimp. So he went to Indianapolis on Saturday. They got a hotel room two hours away for $130 at my suggestion since Indy hotels were $800 a night. He was planning to drive all the way back to my house and then back to Indy the next day. I drove my daughter to the hotel Saturday night so my son-in-law didn’t have to drive all the way back here. This saved him four hours of driving. Frugal for them and much less exhausting. They’ve had a rough few weeks with their dogs injury. No sleep and very stressed. It’s nice to be able to help them out.
3. My sister helped me with my yard work as I’m a little overwhelmed. I did pay her since I would have hired someone anyway. She was grateful and so was I. Not frugal but at least I kept it in the family.
4. We all met up today for lunch. Daughter and son-in-law brought sandwich fixings and salads. Much less expensive than a restaurant.
5. My daughter’s new job has health insurance!!!! That saves me $333 a month. Woo hoo!!
Did anyone else watch the Wiener 500? The six regional Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles took on each other for five miles around the track on Friday.
Bummer about the pizza coupon.
1. Found a dime on the street. There is surprisingly little change to be found on the streets of Philadelphia, but I keep scanning.
2. Came home with plenty of leftovers from my parents’ BBQ yesterday. I contributed homemade potato salad.
3. I have resisted the urge to buy annual flowers to plant. Today I realized I have extra oregano that I can transfer to a flowerless spot out front — it will be in bloom at some point, works for me.
4. I still haven’t bought a car — still making do with one vehicle, though today my husband managed to damage the front and lose the front license plate…
5. A friend asked if I wanted to meet for coffee today; I asked if we could walk instead and she was all for it. Today was the best weather of the weekend and it was a lovely walk, around a nearby lake.
1. Delightful neighbor girl stopped by to sell raffle tickets for her fastpitch softball fundraiser. It was $20 per ticket so I limited it to one. Her family has been very good and generous to us, so it was worth it. It would be really worth it if I win one of the 15 cash prizes – anywhere from $100 to $2,500.
2. Husband and I went to a coffee/OJ/donut get-together to welcome a new neighbor. This was hosted by the new neighbor’s son who lives next door to his dad. Stayed until the end and took a cup of leftover coffee home to dilute and drink during the week.
3. Received several things from Buy Nothing: two packs of coleus, produce box of onions and potatoes, shirt for husband and two large bottles of hand sanitizer. My husband used hand sanitizer well before Covid and hasn’t stopped. Was able to fulfill several requests from other Buy Nothing members, including large pieces of cardboard for a weed barrier, packing materials, and something else that I can’t remember.
4. Received $10 off groceries at Target using a Circle Bonus.
5. Made two loaves of homemade bread.
I’ve claimed over $40 from Fetch and Ibotta combined to add to my Christmas Club. I’m going to a book swap tomorrow with a friend – free fun, plus I have a bag of grown up books and four boxes of children’s books to donate. Had a nice Memorial Day outing with my daughter, SIL, and hubby today. Comforted our sweet waitress who I walked in on getting chewed out (unnecessarily) by the cook at the diner where we had lunch. I must have made a face at the cook because the waitress apologized for me seeing that, wherein we all told her she did nothing wrong! I made a page for my junk journal for today – I love using scraps or junk from our little fun days for this new hobby. My son starts his new job tomorrow – YAY!!
When I see the PDX carpet, I know someone is about to have some fun!
1. I am hanging around the house today, because I’m sick, so I’m eating from the freezer.
2. I needed a mattress and box springs for my kid who is moving to their first apartment, and I found a nice set at an estate sale for $50. They might be nicer than the ones I have.
3. I found 2 pennies at Winco!
4. I got a free Big Gulp with my 7-11 app.
5. I’m pleased that my kids never saw the Ten Commandments posted at their schools, and that they ended up with stronger moral fiber than the average Christian nationalist.
1. I picked up a free back of hamburger buns via Stop & Shop email offer.
2. We met up with friends at a state park for a walk around a lake. Afterwards, they asked if we wanted to get lunch – we went to a local small grocery store and bought sandwiches from a the deli. Partner and I split a small grinder and drank the water that we brought with us.
3. I made an apple crisp using two giant apples that were languishing (that we had gotten from CSA box), and a quiche using up other remnants of cheese and broccoli. Homemade all butter crust, but the butter had been purchased on sale.
4. Placed an order with Chewy, taking advantage of the $30 gc if you spend $100. The girls (cats) needed more kibble, and they love their tuna tubes. Luckily, they do not seem to treat on vols, but we do find the occasional dead bird and baby rat or mouse.
5. I didn’t tweet about US citizens being “scum” on Memorial Day nor give a commencement address to West Point graduates discussing trophy wives….
Not sure I have 5, but here’s off the top of my head:
1. Dogsat Peanut the granddog, so saved our DD and SIL money, plus he got me out walking.
2. Cat puked on the quilt but I washed and hung it out to dry, solar style.
3. Peanut puked on the sofa, but I always cover the furniture with beach towels when he comes, so easy cleanup.
4. Husband had a bellyache overnight and ate chicken ramen and pot pie today, both from the pantry/freezer. No takeout.
5. I cooked beans in the Crockpot, washed clothes before the rates go up in the afternoon, and charged the EV in off hours.
I did it!
I never think about including using appliances at low rate electricity hours but that is a big one over time. I too do laundry during them and our dishwasher has a delay setting so we run it late at night after the rates go down.
1) Baked 6 loaves of bread today
1.5) My husband will be taking one of the loaves to his coworker to trade for some golf clubs
2) Weeded the [very] neglected garden beds and took some of the material off of the raised beds to repurpose into another bed for the back yard so I’ll have something nice to look at from the window above the kitchen sink and our back door once we get some flowers growing
3) Wrapped some birthday gifts for some of the kids with upcoming birthdays in my family using upcycled and thrifted paper and bags
4) Watched YouTube and worked on a crochet project for a birthday in November, trying to do my best to make as many gifts as possible from yarn I already have
5) Had a simple dinner of scratch made refried black beans. Didn’t haven’t any tortillas or chips so I sprinkled some coarse salt on top to scratch the itch of chips and beans. Worked better than I had hoped and I didn’t have to run to the store!
Rerun from Frugal Girl comments, apologies to those who read both:
1. Picked up 2 more store shifts from other workers who wanted off for the holiday and for a graduation party.
2. Got a free hamburger from a coupon I found on the sidewalk in front of the school.
3. A young man from our church just graduated high school and is headed out of state for college. It’s also his birthday. Rounded up some school supplies from my teacher’s supply closet to put in a care package for him. (Sadly, I know I won’t ever get hired for a FT teaching job again at my age, + my teacher certification has expired. So no need for a second electric pencil sharpener, several staplers and scissors, etc.) Also found some goodies from my Xmas gift closet, such as a bedside phone charger I’d gotten at Habitat ReStore. In addition, I bought him a college flag and a set of playing cards with their mascot on it from our store. (Would’ve thrown in a matching set of poker chips, but his mom might object.) It all goes in a “Happy Birthday” gift bag I’ve saved to reuse.
4. Our local Fuzzy’s Tacos and Applebee’s restaurants have both closed. I still have some gift cards from both places. Looked it up online, and they are still operating in the young man’s college town. Those gift cards will go in his care pkg., too.
5. Frugal fail, but one I couldn’t resist: when buying dog food and chew bones, I saw that Walmart had doggie T-shirts including one that says “The Snuggle is real!” Mr. Snuggles Dog now has a Size Large he is wearing around the house. He looks sooooo handsome in it!
Fru-gal Lisa, what a smart idea to give the unused GCs to the graduate going to a school town that still has the restaurants. Brillant!
Oh, I wish we had a picture of Mr. Snuggles looking so handsome in his new duds! That is not a frugal fail, bringing joy into the world is a neccessity.
FFT, Memorial Day Edition (“simulcast” here and at The Frugal Girl):
(1) Summertime, and the weather has finally improved enough for folks to want to be outdoors. So the pickin’ is easy: I’ve found $2.55 in NY State deposit containers and 27 cents in change in the last two days. Cha-ching!
(2) I took my NDN down to Country Max on Monday so that she could pick up her usual petunias and geraniums (she still enjoys planting a few window boxes), and so that we could use my 20% Memorial Day discount on all nursery stock. I used the discount myself to pick up four pots of spearmint, since I need to replant my spearmint, and since none of my usual “mutual mooching” gardening friends have any either.
(3) And tomorrow, NDN and I will enlist the help of her home care aide in planting our usual two tomatoes in pots behind NDN’s 8-foot chain-link fence. My ribs are much better, but I still don’t think I’d better be hauling 40-quart bags of potting soil around.
(4) I was finally able to get out in my garden beds for a little much-needed weeding with my trusty “Hula-Ho” (hey, that’s the brand name; don’t blame me) scuffle hoe. No complaints from my ribs or any other portion of my aging anatomy so far.
(5) And I enjoyed a Memorial Day gathering Monday evening with like-minded friends. We set the world to rights generally, and made plans for supporting the best candidate in our upcoming mayoral primary in particular.
1. Spent long weekend at friend’s cabin on lake for free, local listings start at $300/night.
2. Kids caught fish with other adults already licensed, so no cost to us, plus hours of fun, then a free fish fry dinner for all thanks to the kids’ efforts!
3. Did meal swaps for our cabin stay, so each family provided one breakfast & dinner for all, all made from items we already had in the pantry, fridge & freezer.
4. On drive home, stopped at a major waterfall & explored the trails at no cost to us as we pay annual $9 state park fee with our vehicle registration each fall.
5. Planned to stop to get ice cream treat out for kids to wrap up holiday weekend adventure, but the two places we tried were closed. Got kids to agree to “being flexible” plan, where we were able to arrive home sooner & have ice cream right away with their favorite flavor already waiting in the freezer (for a fraction of the price).
1 Finished a very much needed clean up of the yard yesterday. Soooo happy with how it looks. I can actually enjoy the yard now. Hubby helped haul all the weeds and branches out and cut down a few things I wasn’t able to. My fountain is set up and working. I got a little solar pump for it last year and it still works!
2. Attended a neighborhood girls night at my BFFs house. We drank wine and ate snacks (I made a black bean hummus) in her tiny garden which is covered in Christmas lights. We call it the fairy garden.
3. Dinner was burgers on the grill, steamed broccoli and potato salad.
4. After yard work and before fairy garden gathering I took a tiny nap.
5. Did not go to the annual Arts Fest this year thus not spending any $ yesterday. Worked in the yard instead as per #1. Also didn’t call anyone scum yesterday
1) FINALLY the rainy 40+ degree weather subsided here. Sunshine!! 60’s!! Dear Wife and I spent most of yesterday working in the vegetable garden. We had talked about raised beds this year to make things easier, but we were able to rehab three of our different beds thanks to some cedar planks and excellent weed blocking ground cover. Knee high grass where there was no cover. Planted two kinds of bush beans, beets and radishes. More to go, but a good start. And I can still stand upright today! Arnica and Tylenol for the win.
2) Our friends, who are away, gifted us their spring CSA this week. Greens and eggs! And herbs if we would like to pick them as well.
3) My Subaru has satellite radio capacity which I have never paid for, but Memorial Day weekend/week there is an annual “free preview”. DS scrolled through all the stations for fun and then we went back to regular radio. This preview reminds me annually why I don’t pay for a subscription.
4) Laundry outside yesterday and today. Hoping for some natural bleaching on a couple of shirts in the process.
5) Made strawberry rhubarb compote in the instant pot with a block of strawberries from the freezer and rhubarb from friends. Now I just need to make some yogurt to go with it!
1. Picked up a can of black beans at a free pantry.
2. It’s street sweeping day, and cars that are parked on the wrong side of the street will get ticketed. I walked to my son’s neighborhood and made sure that my grandson had parked the car correctly. He had.
3. Haven’t done this yet, but today I’m making chicken soup with veggies and egg noodles, using up leftovers.
4. Picked up another book from a little free library. On the same walk, I picked up a bag full of random litter, and deposited it where it should be.
5. Made pancakes for breakfast, using bacon grease instead of butter in the pan.
1. DH had a lesson in making sour dough bread from my cousin, and so far has made two loaves, successfully.
2. My cousin has booked a house for a week in a beach community on our west coast, through homeexchange.com. He has invited us to stay, and we’ll go for 3 nights in July, and are able to take our dogs. Accommodation in this town is very expensive is summer, and hard to find.
3. We spent the day yesterday cleaning out our RV in preparation for its first trip out next week. I am ashamed to say it was extremely dirty, I had no idea. We haven’t used it in a couple of years, but have used it as a bed when we’ve had lots of overnight guests. I feel like I want to apologize to those people, as even though we gave them clean bedding of course, it was pretty gross. Found several things to donate/toss. This trip is to decide if we are going to keep it or sell. Seems wasteful for it to sit and not be used, but I don’t think it’s suitable anymore as we will be taking two dogs, and it’s pretty small. I’m not really a camper at heart, TBH.
4. DH made a cutting board that fits over the sink in the RV, from scrap wood in his shop.
5. I have two pairs of the same capri pants, one is a size up from the other. Wore the bigger ones yesterday, and the butt seemed very loose. I tried on the smaller ones this morning, and was very happy to zip them up! I will donate the bigger pair, and with about another 5 lb weight loss, the smaller ones will be fine. Sometimes hanging on to clothes that are too small does pay off.
1. had a family fun filled Holiday weekend, cemetery visits and a picnic in a riverside park.
2. did extra yardwork myself instead of paying for it. Heavy labor but I take it slow and drink plenty of water so my muscles don’t cramp up.
3. Baked a fresh loaf of bread and have a double recipe of cinnamon roll dough raising now. To share with family.
DD bought donuts one morning and she paid 8.70 for 6 donuts…. that’s crazy and she said will not happen again. My cinnamon rolls are better anyway
4.Used whey from homemade yogurt in bread and rolls.
5.transplanted tiger lilies I love them so much.
JC
Re a stinky car: it sounds counterintuitive, but spritz a ton of vinegar and leave the windows o pen and the smell will be gone. Vinegar (for most smells) and hydrogen peroxide (for urine) will take care of 98% of household stink, I find.
1. I met my sister on Sunday morning for a hike at the state rec area, before it got crowded. Other than that, no traveling for us over the holiday weekend.
2. Our local animal shelter tries to get as many animals as possible in foster homes for the long weekend, so we agreed to foster a dog. Our dog is not a fan, but is being grudgingly tolerant, so I said we could keep the foster longer. Thankfully, only a few fireworks went off in my area.
3. I walked up to the post office this morning and mailed out 4 packages from ebay sales. I got some new listings up over the weekend also.
4. Our 2007 fridge was making the death rattle and I ordered a new one before the tariffs rolled in. Rather than pay for disposal for the old one, I scheduled a recycling pick up with Detroit Edison.
5. I mentioned to my neighbor that I needed to buy basil. She gave me one of her basil plants plus two packs of seeds. I gave her a Blue Fescue plant in exchange.
also, FWIW, I find packing a good amount of cracker cut cheeses and crackers keep me happy on long flights. Some nuts and dried fruit or veg round it out. But then I’m a cheese fiend, so.
1. On my drive to school I saw more college moveout goodies. I snagged 4 cans of Topo Chico hard seltzer and 4 cans of another brand of canned cocktail. Also found 4 cans of orange ginger sparkling water.
2. Got a free queen bed frame with head & foot board on Craigslist. It is a bit masculine for my taste but is better than “no” bedframe at all.
3. Husband went to pick up a free Ikea full-size bedframe for the double bed. My early American furniture does not go with the modern look of the new house. I have updated my furnishings for next to nothing. If you are patient, you can find most things free.
4. I made a Katy Non-consumer lunch. 2 veggie tortillas languishing in the fridge. Spread them with a bit of leftover refried beans, added leftover mexican rice, grated some cheese on it and cooked in a skillet. Viola, I had a quesadilla.
5. My sister bought 2 pr of shorts at GW. They did not fit her. She gave them to me. They fit & I needed some shorts that were not denim.
6. Found a Martha Stewart matelasse’ quilt that will go with the Q bed. It was on top of some other discarded items. Wet due to recent rain. I washed & dried it. It is ready to use.