Back in the Frugal Saddle and Upcoming Surgery

      I'm back...hopefully on a more regular basis once again.  😉   We have been extremely busy with home improvement projects, gardening and just life in general.  I've been pushing myself to the limit and then between being exhausted and the weather changes, have found myself in bed a lot.  No, I still have not found the balance that I need in my life.  It's either full throttle or crash it seems with me.  Maybe I just need to accept that is my pattern and live with it.

   Hospitals are reopening for regular surgeries once more and we finally have a date for Jeff to have his total knee replacement.  July 7th is the date...the day before my birthday.  Honestly I am glad he is having it that day so that we can spend more time together.  From what we are understanding, he may be out recovering for 2 months or more.  The first month is covered pay wise by his sick leave and vacation pay...they next might be tight though.  To that end, we are doing everything we can NOW to cut costs and put money into savings.  

   We have been planting like crazy in the garden and I harvested my first radishes yesterday.  I have a bunch of mint, thyme, sage and oregano to dry since the plants are going nuts!  It won't be long until some of the dill is also ready to harvest and dry. Jeff borrowed Uncle Bob's tiller and got the front garden all ready for me to get the peppers, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and pole beans in.  I already got some yellow bush beans seeded in today.   Instead of buying hanging baskets, I recycled some of my older hanging basket/pots and bought pony packs of flowers on sale and repotted them into the hanging baskets and bigger display pots.  I figured I have saved at least $200 doing this.  I do need my flowers and luckily Jeff understands and supports this.  I will also be seeding in zinnias and cosmos in the fruit and veggie gardens.  I want to attract all those lovely bees for good pollination and I love flowers!

   Jeff and I continue to build up our pantry and I am so glad we did.  We are seeing a uptick in Covid-19 cases in our area.  I knew this would be the case so I planned for NOT being out among the crowds.  Unfortunately, while shopping on Thursday, we saw the craziness of people who are having a total disregard for wearing masks and social distancing.  Thank goodness Jeff and I had our N95 masks on.  There is a slight chance that we may have been exposed to it that day by Chris who might have been exposed to it by a coworker...just waiting on test results from the person that was around Chris (who was then around us) to see if they got it from being around one of their family members who has it.  Is that convoluted enough for you?  YOu get a gold star if you followed that explanation.  We cancelled the family birthday party this weekend because we did not want to take the chance on anyone getting this thing.  Praying that we are all virus free starting with Chris's coworker.  So this weekend is a stay at home weekend for us all. Chances are very slim that Chris got it though even if his coworker tests positive since Chris was not around him for more than a few minutes and they were at least 6 feet apart even then.  Isn't life in this day and age fun???  NOT!!!!

   Anyway, back to the frugal stuff.  Jeff and I are putting a water saving plan into place so that we do not use so much water in the house so we can save it for the gardens.  We do have our rain barrel in place and are already using it to water potted plants.  We will be doing some heavy mulching with wood chips once we get the rest of the garden planted so that we also conserve water that way.  The bird netting is going up over the cherry tree to keep the birds from eating the fruit now that it has been severely pruned back.  

   Other things we have done are redoing the back screened in porch with mainly recycled and free materials.  It looks great now and I don't worry about falling through the decking.  We also ordered some outdoor blinds from Lowes using a gift card to cover most of the cost.  We use that porch a lot and with it promising to be a scorcher of a Summer, I wanted to keep as much of the direct afternoon sun that comes pouring in from heating things up as much.  This will keep the deck and the house cooler and hopefully will help me to not get as ill and go into some really severe flares like I have in the past with the heat.

   Before Jeff's surgery, we will be doing a big restock on things like dog food, cat food, kitty litter and at least a month's worth of groceries.  We do not want to have to go anywhere, other than doctor's appointments, while he recovers.  His body is going to need all the energy it has for recovery and I don't want him or I getting sick.  Jaysn has already said he would come over and mow the lawn for us if needed and I know the kids will be more than willing to help pick things up for us in town since I do not drive out of our small town anymore.  My plan is to also cook up a bunch of freezer meals and have them ready to just pull out and throw in the oven.  I'm cooking up a big turkey today so part of that will be made into turkey pot pie filling, soup, slices with gravy and whatever else I can think of.  I will also be making homemade mac and cheese (at least 2 pans full) and maybe a few more lasagnas.  I already have 1 lasagna in there waiting.  I do have lots of frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts and thighs that will be easy to make into meals.  I also want to get more burgers and smoked sausages, cook them up ahead of time and be able to just pull them out of the freezer and zap for dinners on those days when I have no energy at all.

   So that is the update and plan so far.  Be blessed and have a lovely weekend!