Embarking on and embracing this next chapter of my life where I start the great adventure of becoming a grandmother.
Tate got his Daddy-Tate golf date and absolutely loved it! This kid is already an avid golfer and practices at home a lot. They played a round of golf, hit balls at the driving range and then got lunch.
The day started off cool, so Josh got the kiddo bundled up so that he would not freeze. Nothing was going to stop Tate from golfing though. This kid is obsessed with the game.
Bradley and Isaiah have been asking for Treehouse forever. Well, Gpa, along with Chris and Isaiah, took advantage of a beautiful day and got started on it. The plan is to add the floor, railings and then a roof at some point.
Grammie brag!!! Our Isaiah is quite the hunter, he lined up his shot and got both turkeys with one bullet! We are so proud of him. His daddy also got a turkey so they now have 3 for the freezer. 😊 Isaiah is our hands on, outdoor loving kid who is happiest fishing and hunting. I love that he shares this passion with his dad (our son Chris).
Life once again got away from us. We have been so busy both physically and mentally. Many, many phone calls have been made concerning Jeff's aunt's trailer and her care. There was also a trip up there and another one coming up this Monday to hopefully finalize the Power of Attorney for Jeff's aunt and pick up the last of the items that she wants from her home. A few will be going to her at the care center to help decorate her space. I really hope that will help he feel more settled in. This has been a rough journey for her, and for someone who has lived alone most of her life, a HUGE adjustment.
Week 1:
~We went to a dear friend and his son's birthday party over the weekend and had a wonderful time!
~Jeff installed the new toilet into our guest bathroom.
~I got the steaks I bought on sale repacked up, along with 1-pound blocks of Mozzarella cheese and food savered them, then froze them.
~I marinated steak tips in red wine and Montreal Steak Seasoning and the cooked those up with onions and sweet red bell peppers. I served those with well-seasoned mashed potatoes.
~We made a last-minute trip up to see Jeff's aunt on Monday and cleared out more of her house for her. When we got home, I changed into pajamas and went to bed. I was totally exhausted and hurting so badly. Cleaning out houses when having fibromyalgia is not a good combination.
~Tuesday Jeff went to work, and I got up early, feeling an urgency to pray. As I opened up Facebook, I found out why. So many of my friends and family need prayer. This became even more apparent later in the day also. Of course, this made my fibromyalgia flare even worse and I am so glad I had leftover pizza in the refrigerator that I could warm up for lunch.
~I spent most of Tuesday on the couch, in pain, and getting caught up on a few shows on TV.
~Dinner Tuesday night was cheese and crackers. Jeff and I both thought that sounded good and it was very easy to pull together.
~I uploaded Safeway's digital coupons onto my card. I will have Jeff pick me up some of the creamer that is on sale.
~We worked on many projects around the house.
Week 2:
~Jeff and I went "treasure hunting" at the apartment complexes that WSU students moved out of. We found and collected the following: a fun t-shirt, an Eddie Bauer light down filled jacket (this is going to Chris and Isaiah), a heavy weight winter jacket, a fleece pullover, a lightweight hoodie, a Carhart jacket that fits Jeff, a round side table, 2 milk crates, and a large plastic tote (which was much needed).
~I cut a really big pork loin roast in half so it would fit in my largest crockpot and made Kalua Pig with it. I added spinach from our garden shortly before it was done and after I shredded the meat and put it back in the juices and broth.
~Jeff and I worked on the gardens, and he got the tomato support and the bean arch done and in place. He made these with pig panels and some t-posts.
~I got more things seeded in. I also trimmed back plants that had gotten hit by the frost we had about 3 weeks ago.
~We shopped the loss leaders at the grocery stores.
~Our entertainment for the week was going to a very cold and windy baseball game to see Bradley and Isaiah play. They both did great! My biggest surprise and blessing was Steven seeing Jeff and I arrive there and running up to me yelling Grammie with a huge smile on his face! We both has really missed each other. It was so good to see Jaysn and Rachel too...it has been way too long with them and us having been super busy lately. I have to give it to my family, they really do try to be there for one another as much as possible, and that makes my heart smile.
~We got to talk to Josh and Lauren about when would be best to come down and see them. Jeff and I were both giggling listening to them both stop mid-sentence multiple times to tell the little ones something. It brought back many memories of our boys growing up and us doing the same thing.
~I have been trying to use up things that have been in the freezer for a while. I will need the space when the gardens start producing so I am getting ready now.
~Jeff and I watched a disaster movie on YouTube. Yes, it is relaxing to me. Strange I know.
~I got all of Jeff's aunt's summer clothing washed and ready to go up to her. I am also throwing in some of my things that I no longer fit in, but I think she will since she has lost a lot of weight. She was very happy with that idea.
~Since the weather has been much warmer, I hung the sheets and some of the other laundry out on the line to dry.
~For Mother's Day this year I asked for and got 2 green table grape vines. I usually ask for rose bushes, but this year I changed things up a bit since I found the grape vines at a terrific price and I have always wanted some. Now to figure out where to put them.
Be blessed my sweet friends and may your days be filled with beauty, peace, and all things good!
I am beyond exhausted and just want to find a warm spot in the sun and take a nap! So much has happened over the past few weeks, and I have felt like I was in either "push it to the max" or drowning mode. We have had medical emergencies including a late night run into pick up Steven from the emergency room where Rachel was for the second time within a 24 hour period (it turned out to be a very nasty and painful stomach virus that mimic gallbladder trouble, she is fine now thankfully) and bring him home with us and then get him back into his town for school the next morning. We have had horrible news about our car and how much it would cost to fix it. The fix is more than the whole car is worth, so we had it towed home and decided we would contact a salvage company to come and get it. Jeff and I have both been battling sinus issues and our backs have been really acting up but gardening season is upon us, so we could not let down.
We finally decided to bite the bullet and start test driving cars. The first two we test drove were not our favorites and Jeff did not even fit well in either with his long legs. The salesmen there tried every high pressure gimmick they could though to get us to buy one of them though. We walked away from them and their nefarious ways! I saw a Subaru Forrester that I thought would work for us so we went down to see it and before we could even get the keys to test drive it, Jeff saw the Chevy Impala above. Jeff was sold on it! We took it for a test drive, they took our Ford Flex in for a trade in (and they are going to pay to have it towed), and we also put some money down, so our payments are around $200 a month. That is more than doable, and we will be throwing extra money at the payments to pay it off early.
I've been trying to stretch the money like I stretch a chicken! Above its meals 4, 5 and 6 off a roasted chicken that I got from the Walmart deli that was marked down to $3.32. The first two meals were chicken legs, thighs and one of the chicken breasts. Oh, I also made a chicken salad for sandwiches, so that would be meal three. I then took the remainder of the chicken and put it in a shallow crockpot along with some water and a little chicken seasoning and let that cook overnight. That gave me a rich broth that I cooked the cheese tortellini in while I picked the chicken off the bones and put most of it back into the pot. I did save some and put it in the freezer to add to some soup later. I also made some udon soup with green onions from our garden and made Jeff some crispy chicken sandwiches for dinner another night.
Jeff and I stripped out our strawberry bed in the side garden and since we had to cancel our trip to see my parents because of all the car issues, I put out a post on Facebook that I was looking for some ever bearing strawberry plants. A dear friend said she had some and that I could have all that I wanted. Upon our arrival at their home I was met with the cutest little dog who wanted nothing more than to love on us and at least 12 raised beds of various types of strawberry plants. We got ever bearing for the side and are trying some June bearing in the front around the bird bath. Luckily Jeff had our side garden bed ready for the plants and he was I both worked on getting them in after I got dinner started. We had a 30 minute window to get them planted and watered in while dinner cooked and we just made it! We were both really sore with our backs aching and mine having locked up to the point where Jeff had to help me stand, but we did it and hopefully will be rewarded with at least a small crop of strawberries this year. I am dreaming of more fresh strawberry topping for pancakes, waffles and Angel food cakes.
That is about it for now, I need to get the taxes all signed, copied and sent off in the morning after having finished them today. I have a feeling that today was a rough day for Jeff at work and I did not want him to have to help me again with them tonight. Anyone else think doing taxes is a real pain?
We got some bad news about an extended family member whom we love dearly. To say that I am frustrated with the medical system is an understatement at this point. They give you bad news and then expect you to wait for up to 2 months before they can see you. Meanwhile the disease continues to grow and spread making the person weaker and weaker and in pain with less of a chance to have a possible good outcome with treatment. My heart is just breaking for them and for their spouse and the rest of the family. 😞 I just don't understand it at all.
Update: they had a last minute cancellation and were able to get him in this morning!
Our grandson Isaiah had his tonsils and adenoids taken out last week and he is healing slower than they thought he would. Poor kiddo takes after his Grammie here I am afraid. A simple one store grocery shopping trip totally wore him out and he took a nap after getting home. I know he will feel so much better after he heals up, but right now it is hard for him to see that.
I just finished getting another bucket full of spinach from our garden all washed and most of it put in the dehydrator. The ones that did not fit will be part of a nice salad to accompany our dinner. Honestly, the gardening and preserving are keeping me really busy, even on the days when our Steven is not here. Jeff keeps telling me that I need to slow down, but there is just too much to do and anyone who gardens knows that gardens do not wait for you to be ready, but rather need to be taken care of when the timing is right for them. I have spinach and Boc Choi that are starting to go to bolt, so they both need to be dealt with. I also have more spinach coming up and have tomatoes plants that need to be put in the garden. The potatoes need to be hilled again, but I will wait for Steven to help me with that. He was a little put off with me that I did it without him last week. I won't be making that mistake again. 😉
The dryer broke and Jeff is still working on getting it fixed. Thank goodness for a gorgeous day so that I can hang out the laundry to dry! I love my old fashioned laundry line and I can imagine the generations of families that have put it to good use!
Last night, after Jeff got the dishwasher loaded, the garbage disposal stopped working. It is getting power to it, but not turning. Since the dishwasher is linked in directly with the garbage disposal, we could not get it running either. Hopefully Jeff will be able to tear it down and fix it. Meanwhile, I have one kitchen sink that is still working, so I can deal with it for the time being.
This afternoon I got 3 loaves of banana bread made and saved the peels and put them in a gallon jar, along with some water, to make banana peel fertilizer. I then made some tomato plant fertilizer using dried eggshells, Tums, and a bit of Epsom salt all powdered up. I will add the tomato plant fertilizer on top of the roots of the tomato plants. The banana peel fertilizer will be watered onto the roots of plants also when it is ready. It adds potassium to plants that is much needed. I have been taking notes and adding them to my gardening section of a large notebook that I keep on hand. I think we all need to be looking at ways to fertilize our plants naturally since it saves us money and with all the shortages, many of us would not be able to find what we need in the stores soon. Also, I am a huge fan of doing things as naturally as possible and limiting chemicals.
My greenhouse has been such a blessing. Most of the plants that I started from seed came up and are thriving, other than the peppers, which have not come up at all. After I get the plants out into the garden, I will have extras, which I am sharing with my girls, Heather and Rachel. Both of them are starting gardens at their homes and I do not want them to go out and buy plants if I have them here to share. Heather will be starting a lot from seed, but this will give her a bit of a head start.
Chris went morel mushroom hunting the other day and got close to 9 pounds! They sold 3 pounds of them already and Chris is dehydrating a pound of them for me too. What a lovely gift! Their whole family had gone previously and got about 10 pounds at that picking. They sold a lot of those too and have been enjoying mushrooms every day themselves.
So that is a glimpse of what is going on here. We are trying to stay positive despite personal setbacks, extended family illnesses and the way the world is going downhill fast. I want my home to be that soft landing spot for friends and family. I still want to cook good meals and work in my garden. I also want to preserve as much as I can from the garden. Yes, times are hard right now and are just going to get harder, which is even more reason to do all we can to try and insulate ourselves as much as possible and stock up on what we need. Be blessed my friends and continue to do all you can to live a frugal, yet beautiful life!
As I sit here typing out this post we have round 2 of our Spring snow storms. This round is much lighter than Sunday's, which dumped about 4 inches of snow and weighed down my daffodils to the ground. I had told Jeff that we would be getting more snow as he worked in the yard on Saturday leveling out an area to build a small greenhouse for me. I really want to be able to start as many seeds as I can to save money on starts and also provide more food from our garden. Saturday was a blustery but sunny day and I found every excuse I could to be outside as much as possible. 😉 Sunday found us in the house watching movies, me giving Jeff a much needed haircut, him cleaning out the back bedroom so I could once again sleep in there on nights that he, or I, was restless or having a rough time sleeping. I was so tired that day that I slept through his cleaning. I curled up on our bed in our room and apparently was out for the count.
Since we did not want to have to go anywhere over the weekend, we did our shopping on Friday night. I had gotten a phone call earlier in the day from Walmart saying that they wanted to know if I wanted to participate in a auto refill programs where they would consolidate my pick up days on my meds instead of me having to make multiple trips. Looking at when my refills were due, I could just have to make 2 trips this month. Sounded good to me! After I hung up with them I got to thinking that this program may also be so they knew how much medications they were going to need in advance for their regular customers. I know that there are shortages on some medications and there have been times when they have had to order in more of one of my medications because they did not have enough of it on hand. I asked my neighbor, who works at a hospital about this and she confirmed that it was most likely what was going on. So off we went to Walmart once Jeff got home.
On the way into Walmart, I floated an idea to Jeff about getting an electric long reaching tree trimmer. They had them on sale at Harbor Freight and it would make Jeff's life so much easier and I would not have to worry about him as much. He quickly agreed! I told him that would be our "gift" to each other for past birthdays and our anniversary, along with Mother's Day for me. This will cut down on the time he has to put into pruning all our fruit trees each year and our kids can also borrow it to do theirs as well.
Along with Walmart and Harbor Freight, we also stopped at Safeway and Grocery Outlet. I had uploaded digital coupons onto my Safeway card for milk, pizzas, and a case of water. I found some marked down pork in the reduced section and grabbed that quickly and added it to my cart. My biggest score though was found in the bakery. There was a worker in there and I asked if they had any food grade buckets that I could have. He said they had a lot of them and asked how many I wanted. I told him I would take them all! He filled a large shopping cart up with them and the lids and sent me on my merry way with all those lovely FREE food grade buckets! I had already filled up the last 6 I had picked up from there previously and needed more. These will be used for more long term food storage, homemade laundry detergent, some for gardening and some to share with my girls. SCORE!!!! I only found a few items at Grocery Outlet, mostly snacks for Jeff, but overall, I did not spend much at any of the grocery stores since I am pretty well stocked on most items and am trying to be really careful with money right now since we ended up owing on both Federal and Idaho taxes, so I had to get those sent off earlier in the day.
Our weekend meals were simple and frugal to boot. I had thawed out some homemade Zuppa Toscana for dinner on Friday and got that heated up while Jeff took a shower after we got back from our shopping trip. Saturday I cooked up a Bacon and Ranch Suddenly Salad kit and added cheddar cheese, some leftover bacon, half of a bag of coleslaw mix and a diced up Roma tomato. I served it with some Little Smokies sausages, and a cut up apple for Jeff and some grapes for me. Jeff made up some brownies later that evening and they were so good! You can never go wrong with chocolate brownies, am I right? Sunday night we just threw a pizza in the oven and had that for dinner. Easy Peasy and yummy!
Today I am playing "catch up" and trying my best to make the most of what we have here. Earlier I got 2 loaves of bread mixed up and kneaded and then set them on top of the pellet stove to rise, which they did beautifully! While those were baking, I cut up the last of the bread from the previous week and got those ready to pop in the oven. I love making homemade croutons. They are great on salads, as toppers for soups, and just to snack on. Two loads of laundry are now finished and ready to be folded. I put away a bunch of cases of water and consolidated them into one spot. My next project of the day is going to be organizing my sewing supplies and trying to get most if that in one spot also. At this point in my life, I really crave organization so that I know what I have and can find it easily. This saves me so much time and money, so that I don't buy things that I already have on hand and don't need more of. For example, I have enough white thread to last me for years! No need to buy any more of that. I am however in need of replacement needles for my sewing machine because I don't have any on hand if I break the one that is on my machine now.
I suppose I should get off the computer and get working on that last project. I'm still trying to decide what to do for dinner. I may just go with cheese tortellini and pesto sauce, along with some fresh fruit. That does sound good. Okay, that will be the plan. Be blessed!
Well, yesterday proved to be a day of unexpected bills. I did the taxes and we thought we were going to be getting a refund...NOPE! We owed both Federal and Idaho state taxes. Jeff works in Idaho, so we have to pay non resident taxes in that state. I paid online for the federal, but we are mailing in the Idaho stuff since Tax Act wanted to charge me for it. Luckily we did have the money in savings to cover it all, so that was a huge relief. Jeff came home to me just finishing up the taxes at dinner time and took pity on me and made grilled cheese sandwiches for our dinner. I love that man! 😘
That being said, today is one of those "I'm on the frugal warpath" kind of days. Luckily the weather is cooperating, so I was able to hang the laundry out on the line to dry. It is unseasonably warm (in the low 70's), but we are expecting more rain, freezing temps and even snow within the next 7 days or so. There is something so calming to me when I am hanging out laundry to dry...I have no idea why, but hey, I'll take some moments of calmness in this world that has seemed to have gone totally crazy.
While the laundry was going in the washer, I got some water boiling and thinly cut up a potato into small dices and then added it to the water. I the added some Auguson Farms cheesy broccoli soup mix to it, along with a handful of frozen broccoli that I had in the freezer that need to be used up. I let that simmer while I moved on to my next project.
Remember those large cartons of ricotta cheese that I found for $1 each, well I had one left that needed to be used. I mixed the ricotta up with some parmesan cheese and some Olive Garden herb mix. I then layered the sauce, noodles (uncooked), ricotta cheese, a handful of mozzarella cheese from a bag I pulled out of the freezer, and then repeated that pattern all over again until my pans were full and the top layer of noodles was covered with sauce. I was able to make 3 pans to pop into the freezer. This is our idea of convenience meals and makes it easy to grab one to give to someone who might also need a meal.
I had to break the lasagna noodles up to fit in the pans, so I had lots of broken pieces of noodles. I never throw them away. I put them in a bag to use in homemade soups in the near future. This is something that I learned many years ago from my mother, who was a great teacher in all things frugal!
While out in the freezer putting the lasagna in, I grabbed some cotta salami for Jeff and also a bag full of frozen Zuppa Toscana. The soup will be dinner tomorrow night since we are expecting bad weather to move back in. Soup on a rainy night is something that brings me comfort and makes me feel all cozy. Again, having that soup all made and in the freezer for me to just pull out is convenience food at it's finest. I may make some garlic and cheddar biscuits to go with it. That just sounds delicious and I know Jeff would love it!
It's now mid afternoon and I am going to take the rest of the day off, other than bringing in and folding that laundry when it is done drying. Jeff has bowling tonight, so I don't have to make dinner for the two of us. I'll just grab something easy, maybe those egg rolls from the freezer??? 😉 I am in the middle of a bad fibro flare, but have been pushing myself to get some things done. My pain levels are going back up again, so I may have to talk to my doctor about raising me pain medication dosage. I need to get adjusted to it before I have Steven here a few days a week this Summer. Sometimes it takes me a good month or more to adjust unfortunately.
So that is it for today...stay busy, stay frugal and stay prayed up and sane!
I just got up (yes, it is close to 1 p.m. but in my defense I did not go to sleep until 5:30 a.m.), got the coffee going, wiped down all the outdoor furniture after yet another dust storm, and am settling down to drink my cup of liquid gold (Coffee). I'm seated at my outdoor table on the back screened in porch, cats lounging in the sun spots, and am greeted with a picture of my youngest grandson Tate on my computer screen. How can you not smile when you see that little cutie? All my grandsons bring me such great joy but since I can see and hug the others in person, this little guy gets the place of honor as my screen saver. 😘
At the moment it is blissfully peaceful out here in my little oasis. No dogs barking, the wind is blowing through the trees and the birds are singing their beautiful songs. I am savoring every moment because I know that it can quickly be shattered at any moment by a screaming lady and her yapping dogs that is back up here for about 6 months again. Honestly, it is like nails on a chalkboard. I have tried so hard to be nice and to model good behavior in how to treat your pets for her, but nothing seems to work. It honestly makes me sad for her dogs and for her family too. She has been this way for as long back as I can remember her coming up here. With that said, I am going to continue to soak in the peacefulness for as long as I can. 😉
Onto other thoughts...lucky you! LOL! Jeff and I were supposed to get our Johnson and Johnson covid-19 vaccines yesterday. We were woken up early in the morning with phone calls from his work, messages from the doctor's office and our kids messaging me on facebook that the government put a "pause" on giving that particular vaccine due to rare blood clotting reactions with it. YIKES! I talked to my nurse friend who was helping us to get the vaccine and she recommended the Pfizer since we could not do the Johnson and Johnson. With the cases rising in our county and being put back into Phase 2 with some pretty restrictive measures in place once again, we were getting worried. So now we go in this Friday night for that and have the weekend to get through the worst of it praying it does not send me into a huge flare since we are helping Jaysn and Rachel move the following weekend. Jeff is taking that night off. And then, the icing on the cake, is that we get to do it all over again in a month's time. 😞 Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, at least that is the way I am choosing to view it. Given that I already have anxiety issues, that waiting after the vaccine for a couple of weeks after the J and J vaccine to see if I would get that rare blood clotting issue is not what I need and would have keep me heavily medicated to avoid major panic attacks. I already am dealing with high anxiety and a few panic attacks at the moment, but I am able to deal with them, even if they are unpleasant and also bring nightmares with them.
Given that we did not get our jabs yesterday and it was a nice sunny and warm day, Jeff was able to finish building the raised garden bed boxes for both the front and the side gardens. I am so proud of him for not only building them, but using free lumber and old roofing metal that we had here on hand to do so. Love that talented and ingenious man of mine! He was so cute, having me come out and check the heights along the way to make sure that they are just how I want them. I now have 4 lower leveled ones for taller plants and a taller one for things like lettuce and lower growing plants so I can easily harvest from them with out having to bend too much. 🎕
One of the other things I had done was cook up a huge casserole dish full of homemade macaroni and cheese, 2 loaves of bread and 3 loaves of banana bread for after our jabs on Tuesday. Well, we are now working on that and I am coming up with plan b for food to get us through the weekend. I will make more sandwich bread, am making breakfast sausage sandwiches with precooked sausage patties and English muffins from the freezer (I'll have those ready to go in a container in the refrigerator), I cut up a cantaloupe (but I think Jeff will have that gone before Friday so I may have to pick up another on Friday and cut it up that night before the shot really kicks in) and will most likely make some sort of casserole that is easy on the tummy. In addition to that, the freezers and pantry are stocked with lots of easy precooked foods that will be easy to grab. I have lots of other fruit on hand and already have water bottles by the beds (I frequently sleep in the guest bedroom since that bed is better for me in dealing with pain), bathrooms are stocked with toilet paper, and I am keeping up on the laundry so we will not have to deal with all that. I'm thinking the one thing I have not planned for and need to is digging out 2 more sets of queen sized sheets (I know I have at least one extra set) so we can quickly change the sheets if they become sweat soaked (gross right). Hopefully though, our reactions will be minor like my parents were. They got the same vaccine and only had sore arms and a little bit of fatigue.
So I was in for a shock last night when I was looking through the grocery ads. Have you noticed a HUGE jump in the price of bacon? Oh my goodness, it's over $9 a package here and we are not talking those huge deli sized packages, but rather the regular small sized ones!!! Holy piggies! 😲 Packages of crackers have also doubled in price...thank God for the Dollar Tree and Grocery Outlet or we would not be getting any more of those either for awhile. This is one of those moments when I am so glad that I try to keep a very well stocked pantry so we can avoid having to buy things at outrageous prices or just go without them. I fear this is just the beginning of prices going through the roof on food. So glad we are planning for a bigger garden and really working on having great and productive soil this year.
I think I am going to end this here. I hear Jeff stirring and I want to be able to just finish my coffee while visiting with him without any other distractions. We shall see what the afternoon bring us...be blessed!
Buckle Up Baby! It's About to get Rough Again...
I'm getting that worried feeling again. Covid-19 cases are climbing with the new variants in our state and is being made so much worse by the partying college kids at WSU. Our county is going to have to revert back a phase with further restrictions going into place that we just had come out of. That is what is going on locally here. Now add to that all the national debt that our country is adding, inflated housing prices and rising taxes to pay for all the "special programs" and things that for some reason are seeming to be prioritized over what is good for and helps the actual American people as a whole. Why we are paying for gender studies in other countries just baffles my mind when we have so many people hurting here right now that do need help. All this frivolous government spending with no regard to the amount of debt we are saddling our children and grandchildren with just ticks me off to no end. I can also see a huge economic crash on the horizon with hyper inflation, lots of home foreclosures and even more suffering. If you have studied that stock market crash and what led to the Great Depression, you will see a lot of similarities to what has been going on currently. Buckle up people, we are in for a world of hurt if we are not prepared for what is to come.
Bearing all of the above in mind, along with having a goal of Jeff being able to at least semi retire at age 65 before his back gives out (degenerative disk disease that runs in his family), Jeff and I have decided to buckle down even more and try to pay off debt at an more accelerated rate than we have been. Our goal of having 3 months worth of income in our emergency fund is just about there so once that happens, every spare bit of money over what is needed to pay for basic living expenses and some big projects around here will be going to debt repayment.
While Jeff is outside right now working on getting the garden cleaned out and trimming trees, I am inside working on a few things myself. I have rice cooking to go with our dinner of leftovers. We have have lettuce, tomatoes, salmon loaf, carrots, and tamale pie that need to be eaten tonight. I am cooking a large pot of rice to go along with this, making sure that I cook extra to us in future meals. Two loaves of homemade bread just came out of the oven and the leftover bread from earlier in the week has been made into homemade garlic croutons (which Jeff loves). I quickly broiled some asparagus while the oven is still hot and use that to have with dinner also and use some cold in a pasta salad also. Asparagus is one of my favorites and I only buy it when it is on sale in the Spring. By using the same pan that I did the croutons on, I was able to not only use the heat from the oven, but also save on washing another pan and the pan itself already had olive oil and garlic salt on it. All I had to do was add a bit more oil, roll the asparagus around on it and then add some freshly cracked pepper and Himalayan salt to it and pop it in the oven. Easy, quick, frugal and will make for a delicious treat! I will have half of the asparagus with dinner and use the other half in a future pasta salad.
Jeff has been working on making my raised garden beds with free lumber and some old metal roofing. He took down a fence in our yard today and will use some of that on the raised beds also. We are going to go out to Chris and Heather's to see if the dirt that they had cleared for a pad for their future shop will work to help fill the raised beds and all we would have to add is some compost that we are going to be buying in bulk. Jeff has been really good about using our compost pile to put dead grass and kitchen scraps in along with weeds so they can compost down. Tomorrow I need to put the leftover used coffee grounds around the blueberry bushes. They love the acid in it and it helps keep them healthy and productive. Since it is so warm, I am thinking it might be I will get some of the cold weather crop seeds started within the next few days. The hot tub area is the perfect area to start seeds in because it is protected from the wind and if you put the seed trays on the hot tub cover, the warmth from the hot tub helps the seeds get off to a good start.
I want to encourage people to learn as many skills as they can and always look for new ways to save a penny here, a dime there and a dollar today and tomorrow. Be conscious of food waste and freeze things if you cannot use them up right away IF they can be frozen. Try to eat what is in season and stock up on fruits and veggies at their lowest prices. Enjoy them in season and freeze some for later. When you see a good sale on canned goods, pasta, or things that you use on a regular basis and can safely store, buy them so that you do not pay inflated prices later. Look at the thrift stores for things that you need. I even find new sheet sets at Goodwill for 1/4 (or less) of the retail prices. The hand held high pressure shower head Jeff found for $12.99 and installed in our shower retails for about $50 and it has 6 settings. We love it! It has excellent reviews and makes showering much easier for me since I can then direct the flow of water water where I need it and not have to bend and twist as much. I know I sound like a broken record, but YouTube is your friend. You can learn so many new skills, see how to do repairs, learn a new craft, cooking videos and even find some amazing movies there. This is how Jeff and I watch the news too. Honestly, you do not need to be paying for cable TV or monthly streaming services. The Dollar Tree is a great place to buy laundry detergent, dishwashing soap for your dishwasher, huge packages of napkins, bags of Himalayan salt, cotto salami, medicated body powder and the generic version of Neosporin. I also buy my jarred pesto sauce there, garden seeds, kitchen gadgets like scrapers, ziplock type bags and parchment paper, foil containers for freezing homemade make ahead meals in, etc.. I even found a small front door mat there that Isaiah and I will be painting together. Try to think outside the box and substitute things when you can. Even though the road ahead may be rough and bumpy, we can still find ways to cut costs and enjoy life!
Oh my goodness, we had a wonderful time while Tate, Josh and Lauren were here for a week! Jeff and I enjoyed those baby snuggles, coos, smiles and his little "snorts". 😍 We were able to get the whole family together one night and celebrate Bradley's birthday early while his Uncle Josh, Auntie Lauren and new cousin Tate were home. We also had many nights of family here for dinner and even had my sista/other mother to my boys Roni up for dinner one night so she could meet Tate. We had lots of photos taken, which I will do a separate post on once all of them have been uploaded from the rest of my crew.
Now that Josh, Lauren and Tate are back home in Las Vegas, life is starting to return to semi normal, but the excitement is not over yet. Jaysn, Rachel and Steven came out for a visit and told us they put an offer on a house. A day later, they found out the offer was accepted! The house sits on 2.5 acres so there is lots of space for Steven to run, climb trees and for Rachel to be able to have a garden. Congrats to them all!!! They are even talking about getting a dog, which I think will be a wonderful idea since Steven LOVES dogs. 😊 Oh, Rachel also is going to be going back to SEL where she used to work and Jaysn has been working for years. She is really happy about that because it will be a lot less stress and the benefits there are amazing! We are really happy for her and know this will take a lot of pressure off her.
Chris, Heather, Bradly and Isaiah are adjusting to Chris being on 12 hours work shifts again, which is also the overnight shift. It is a rough one and will take awhile for them to all get used to. Since Chris is a police officer, his shifts change over the year and by the seasons. He will also most likely be getting more overtime put in which will come in handy since they just bought a much needed new to them car. They picked up a nice Honda Pilot after seeing how nice my parents' one is. We are really happy for them since Heather's car was on it's last legs. 😀
Jeff is also back to work again after being off for a little over a week. Last night was his first night back and after us both getting used to sleeping at night when the kids were here, it has been an adjustment. I have a feeling this week will be really rough for Jeff as he makes the switch back and gets used to doing the heavy lifting again that comes with his job. I'm not doing well sleep wise without him here at night either. I tossed and turned for much of last night. I have a feeling that I will be making the switch back to sleeping during the days when he does since that works better for both of us.
Covid-19 cases are once again on the rise here in our area again with the additional tragic deaths of 4 more people last week in our county alone. Our town also has seen 5 new cases within the last 2 week period and we only have a little over 600 people here. It is scary to see the numbers going up so quickly and all the despite the increase in people being vaccinated. I know the Kent variation of the virus is in our state and the Brazilian one is in Idaho already. I am wondering if they have made their way up here to our little part of the world yet since the increase is so sharp and the death rate is picking up. 😢 Looks like that little bit of freedom we had to actually be able to go out to eat and such is coming to an end for the time being.
Jeff and I have been busy tackling a lot of projects here around the house and have a lot more to do. We got the back guest bedroom all set up for the kids while they were here and I am hoping to keep it company ready at all times now. I am finding myself retreating to it for naps also, which is now going to come in real handy with Jeff back to his swing shift. We have decided that we need to do some painting, replacing of doors and trim, installing a fan in our bedroom and a few other projects when the weather warms up again.
Speaking of the weather, we went from that polar vortex to temps expected near 60 this week! 😎 I went outside yesterday and found that my primroses are already starting to bloom and that the rest of my Spring bulbs are putting up shoots! I am hoping that we do not get another deep freeze or killing frost because all the plants now are waking up and I need then to do well this year. I bought some more flower seeds and want to create an English Garden type bed right off the back porch since we don't have a dog who will be digging it all up this year. I think it will look really nice there and make the view from the back covered porch even nicer. We had thought about possibly moving to Idaho sometime this year but that has been put on hold now so I will continue to just enjoy my little paid off home and increase the beauty and productivity of the gardens. Jeff seems to be more accepting of this also since we really do not want to incur any more debt but rather sock away even more money into savings. You never know what will happen in the future and I want to be prepared financially.
As for now, we will keep on living our happy frugal lives and try to stay healthy and avoid the dreaded virus. With Spring coming, I am even more hopeful since I can once again get out into the garden and grow some more of our own food. I love seeing things bud out and seedings pop out of the ground. It fills me with a sense of wonder and thankfulness for all we have been blessed with. We really are fortunate and having the kids and grandkids all together again just filled our "love tanks" to the brim. Hopefully we will all be together again in June for a few days...looking so forward to that! Be blessed all!
