Summer Colds and Appreciating the Beauty Around Me

 

I finally succumbed to  hubby's cold that he has been fighting for a couple of weeks now.  He felt so bad that I got sick and did the sweetest thing for me.  He surprised me with some daytime cold meds and a Snickers candy bar.  He knows what I needed and also what would put a smile on my face.  I love that man!

 

Our garden is starting to produce and I got harvested these beauties yesterday afternoon.   They are really mild tasting, with just a hint of peppery heat to them.  The lettuce and spinach are also looking like they are about ready to start cutting and eating.  I love being able to go out and cut lettuce from the garden and making a fresh salad for lunch or dinner.

 

Our Columbine plants have just multiplied so much this year and are providing us with a profusion of blooms to enjoy!  I dug up a huge clump and sent it home with my mother for her garden and you can't even tell that I did it. :)

 

Just look at the detail on those beauties!  I think they are one of the prettiest flowers around and bring me such great joy.

 

Every year I pick a different color of geranium to have in pots on the front porch.  This year I found such a great deal on geraniums that I was able to have 4 huge pots of these delicate flowers.  I have one pot on my front porch and 3 lining the breezeway in the back near out hot tub.  They just make me smile every time I see them. :)

 

  One of my friends handles the annual plant sale that is a fund raiser for the local Grange.  She hand picks all the plants that they are going to sell and she tries to get a really nice variety of flowers, herbs, fruits and veggies.  This year she was able to score a limited number, seven to be exact, gorgeous fuchsia plants.  I bought seven of them as soon as she opened for business because I knew they would go fast.  I asked if she was going to be able to get any more and she said that was all she would be getting.  I am so glad I went early and got the three that I did!   The hummingbirds have been loving them and I of course love watching the hummingbirds.

I think that it is so important to appreciate all the beauty around us and the wonderful people who do those special little things for us that make our life easier. No matter what is going on in our lives, big or small, we can all need to take a moment to focus on our blessings. 

 

 

 

 

 

A Few Items on the Menu from the Past Weeks

Baked salmon with butter and lemon, boiled new potatoes with butter and fresh parsley from the garden, watermelon and a nice glass of wine.

Garlic and herb pork roast, baked potatoes, strawberries.

Cheeseburger over potatoes casserole inspired by Trisha Yearwood's cooking show.

My family's favorite pasta salad minus the cheese this time.

My husband's favorite tuna pasta salad with green onions and green peppers.

Comfort food:  Teriyaki venison steaks, rice with furikaki, corn and watermelon.

Cheap and Free DVDs

The Summer months bring lots and lots of reruns on TV and quite frankly, I get bored with them.  I am always on the lookout for free or cheap DVDs to add to our collection for us and for the grandkids.  I have been having great luck lately finding some screaming deals!

First up, for your viewing pleasure, is Handy Manny: Fixing It Right.  I joined the Disney Movie Rewards Club and enter codes from movies I buy online at their site.  When I have enough points, I trade them in for a free DVD.  I just got this one in last month and ordered another in the series for free yesterday.  Bradley loves Handy Manny and Isaiah is starting to get into it also. :)

Next up in the free movie category are some of my favorite movies from the 80's.  I do the Swagbucks program and earn points there that I cash in for gift cards.  The two places that I usually cash in for are Walmart and Amazon.  I was able to get Pretty in Pink, and the Brat Pack set that includes The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles and Weird Science all for free after using my gift cards.  Woohoo!

 Up next is my .25 movie that I found in the clearance section at Bed Bath and Beyond.  Brewster Place is one that Oprah Winfrey did and I am looking forward to seeing it.

 You see that huge stack or DVDs.  I found all of them at one of my favorite thrift stores for $2 each.  I am beyond thrilled to have found The Cat From Outer Space since it was one of my favorite childhood movies!  There are fun movies for me and "guy movies" for Jeff. ;)

 Last but not least was one of my biggest scores DVD wise.  I found multi movie packs for $2 each.  The Classic Movie Musicals had 4 dvds with a total of 20 movies.  I love the old musicals and am so looking forward to watching these!  The Holiday Family Classics also has 4 dvds and features 12 Holiday movies and 27 Christmas cartoons.  I'm not sure who was more thrilled with this purchase, Jeff or I, because it means we can whittle down some of our single dvd movies of the same titles. :)  I know it may seem strange, but I love to watch Christmas movies on hot Summer days...it helps me not feel the heat so much if that makes any sense at all.

 I think these DVDs, along with some other ones that we own and have not watched yet, will keep us entertained through the entire Summer.   That does not mean however that I will not be on the lookout for more! ;)

Tutu and Grandpa Came to Play!

My parents recently came for a visit.  What they thought would be a relaxing trip turned into anything but...

Thursday evening found us on a picnic up at Kamiak Butte where the view is great and there are fun paths to explore and a great playground area for the little ones.  It was a nice way to spend the early evening with family.

Chris sprained his ankle badly so my mother, father and I took him to the emergency room early on Friday morning.  That was not in the plans at all.  We went out to breakfast after that and the grandkids joined us there.  Tammy, their other wonderful Grandma brought them into town for us.

Saturday found us packing Jaysn and Rachel's apartment up and bringing the rest of their things out here to store in our garage until they closed on the home they are buying.  They moved in with us until they were able to pick up their keys yesterday.  That was the fastest closing I have ever seen or heard of in  my life and we are thrilled for them to be homeowners!  They worked hard to make it all happen. :)  Chris, Heather and the boys came over for a BBQ that evening.  Jaysn and Rachel were busy cleaning their apartment, so they did not make it in time for dinner.  Something to know about Tutu and Grandpa is that they always come bearing gifts and blessing us all!  That night we all got our birthday presents from them and as you can see, their great grandsons were especially pleased with their wonderful gifts!  Bradley kept saying "I love my moose, I love my moose!" and Isaiah was just doing his cute little happy wiggle that involves his whole body! :)

Thanks Mom and Dad for always being willing to pitch in with everything at any time.  We love you and we hope that when we come over there for a visit, we can help you out with projects that need doing as you have helped us!
 

On the Menu These Past Few Weeks

   Some friends and I have a website where we share what we have made for dinner, how we have saved money, recipes, pray for one another and share our lives among other things.  I am inspired and encouraged by them and I constantly learn something new.  They really do bless me!  Here is just a sampling of some of the meals we have had here over the past few weeks.

Venison Roast, Cheesy Rice and Orange Wedges

Meatloaf, Baked Potatoes, Garlic Roasted Carrots

Coleslaw made with Cabbage, Apples and Craisins

Chicken and Veggie Potstickers

Venison, Yellow Pepper and Onion Stir Fry (this was served with Baked Potatoes)

Spinach, Carrot, Tomato and Cottage Cheese Salad

Bangers (wonderful sausage that brings back all kinds of great childhood memories for me) with Fried Potatoes and Onions

Udon and Miso Soup with Spinach and Green Onions

       Some of the other meals we enjoyed were Pork Roast with Mashed Potatoes, Homemade Chicken and Rice Soup with Homemade Garlic Croutons as a garnish, Smoked Sausages served with Grilled Potatoes, Chips and Carrot Sticks and a big Asian Salad with Shrimp.  I'm thinking that this coming week I will cook up some Salmon and make an Italian Pasta dish of some sort. 

Living Well on a Budget Lately

   The work year for me is starting to wind down and with me also catching yet another virus that is making the rounds, I have not got many days of subbing in lately.  We also still have some major medical bills we are paying on but that has not stopped us from living well while on a tight budget.  Here are just a few things we are doing or have found lately that show that you can live well while on a tight budget. ;)

Yard sale season is upon us and I scored this beauty for $12 last weekend.  It is a large opal and gold scroll work ring.  I looked at the makers mark and found it was made in the early 1900's by a very well known jeweler and is worth quite a bit.  Opals are my favorite gemstone so I was thrilled with this find.

Another yard sale find from last weekend.  Jeff and I loved the show Quantum Leap when it was on TV and were looking for more fun series to watch over the Summer when most of the stuff on TV are reruns.  I got all 3 seasons for $4 each.

I had recently cashed in at Swagbucks for Amazon.com gift cards and was able to get all of the DVDs above for free after my gift card credits.  Handy Manny is for the grandsons and since it is a Disney movie, I added the included code to my Disney Movie Rewards account and am close to being able to get another free movie from them.

While shopping that the Dollar Tree the other day, I ran across these cracker packs that we marked down and are still in date.  They had 7 multipacks (each package has 6 packs) and I got them all at .25 each.  These are so handy to grab and go.

I pulled some previously homemade chicken and rice soup out of the freezer this morning and it is thawing in a pot on the stove.  I'm sick with a cold right now, so this is a perfect, quick and frugal meal for Jeff and I and it sure tastes better than something canned.

The library is our friend. ;)  We borrow dvds from them on a regular basis.  Here are the ones for this week.

I potted up the bottoms of some celery and green onions from the grocery store after I had used up most of it, just leaving the very bottoms.  I now have celery and green onions growing in my pot there.  I am wondering if this would also work with Romaine lettuce and will be trying that.

While cleaning out the raspberry patch, we found these stragglers that went out of the patch boundary so I potted them up and will be giving them away.  While pricing plants the other day at the store, I found these would be selling for $5 and up per start.  I just saved someone $20!