My husband and I attended our nephew’s State championship lacrosse game. My nephew’s team won. He is a fantastic player; he is the #2 player in the country right now. It was a great game and a beautiful night.
The boys participated in the Cub Scout Rain Gutter Regatta this week.
I finished Wren’s skirt. I did the embroidery using just the wren from this image. (If you follow the link, there are other birds to embroider). I embroidered the entire bird with 2 strands of brown floss using a backstitch.
I cooked a turkey. I also made rosemary olive oil bread, chicken-flavored rice, and corn and tomato salad (with tomatoes from our garden).
I picked 6 white alpine strawberries from the garden. This is my first time growing alpine strawberries. I have a lot more plants coming up in the front yard that should start giving me berries next year. The flavor was really different from other strawberries. They were very sweet and tasted like candy!
I picked the last of the peaches and the first of the blackberries from the garden.
I disposed of the grape leaf skeletonizers in my garden by cutting off the leaves that had the caterpillars and tossing them in the trash. I’m certain I’ve missed some; I’ll look for more in the coming week.
I worked in my friend’s garden this week, pulling weeds, adding a cage to one of her tomatillo plants that fell over, and hand-pollinating her zucchini. I brought home a zucchini, 2 yellow squash, a few peas, a few green beans, and some spinach. I took a thyme seedling that I had started in my garden and planted it in her garden.
On my way home from her garden on Saturday morning, I stopped at a garage sale in my neighborhood. It didn’t look like there was much for sale, but I am glad I stopped! I found a new twin-size mattress pad for $5, a shirt for Cyrus for $2, and a bag of assorted bits of yarn for $1 (the children will use the yarn for projects).
I received a free magazine in the mail.
The children had friends over to play on Saturday. I made banana bread mini-muffins for snacks while they were here. The children (especially the boys!) loved the edible flowers, and they ate most of the nasturtiums and leaves that I used to decorate the muffins.
What did you do to save money last week?
Marivene, I always look forward to your posted comment each week along with Brandy’s post. I am wishing you a smooth and full return to your previous activities (hopefully minus the knee pain / issues!) in the near future. I am so glad technology exists that allows you to have mobilization aids like CPMs and other recovery aids in your own home these days!! Blessings and prayers for you this week, Heidi
I forgot to mention I found a bag of sewing materials at the thrift store for $1–included felt, material, soft materials, cords, and lots and lots of lace.
Thank you Heidi, Susan & Mandy, for your thought & prayers. I think the person who described rehab after joint replacement as a “race against scar tissue formation” hit the nail on the head. I am so thankful to have access to the Continuous Positive Motion machine that allows me to just strap in & go to sleep, then wake up 3-4 hours later with a joint that is no longer swollen. My sweet husband had multiple ACL knee surgeries when he was younger, & if he had not told me to get a pair of crutches, I would not be doing nearly as well. A walker is fine on the flat, but not much use on the stairs, & I live in a split level home. 🙂
Marivene, I am glad that you have it, too. The woman whose garden I am tending had knee surgery a couple of months ago, but said she hasn’t had enough therapy–and she’s really struggling.
The therapy exercises are painful, & even when you know how important they are, it is difficult to force yourself to do them. Because I was bone on bone before the surgery, the ligaments & tendons around the knee contracted over time, as the cartilege was lost. When the surgeon inserted the first spacer, there was not enough room for the replacement to properly function, so he had to go with the next size up.That explained to me why my knee felt so incredibly tight & painful while I was in the hospital, & why when I work on the exercises, I see gain in flexion, but not always in extension, because the contracted tissues will take longer to stretch. My insurance will only cover the CPM for 30 days, starting the day of discharge. Most people use it for between 15-18 days, & today is day 13 for me. The physical therapist coming to the house decides when I am done with CPM.
Thank you Marivene! I have not been able to get back here and read. That is a wonderful explanation that I will use in the future when I am questioned 🙂 I hope you are feeling ok!
Do you know where your scouts found the “gutters” for their regatta? We use real gutters and they are just terrible! If you have any information, manufacturer, what they are called, etc I would love it. We would like to replace our metal gutters for ones like your scouts use. Thanks in advance!
Thank you, Debbie. I love old homes too! Our current house was built in 1927 so we are upgrading with the 8k house as it was built in 1940.
I have heard that if you order 99 prints, instead of 101 from Shutterfly’s free promo, it saves $2 in shipping because shipping fees increase at 100.
Laura, the inflatable rain gutter is available at scoutstuff.org for $26.99 online, before S&H. You may want to check to see if your local scout shop can order it for you to save the S&H. Marivene
We just returned from a wonderful week of camping. We earned enough money from a previous garage sale to pay for our gas. Our site was free because we are foster parents. We camped only 1-1/2 hours from home this time, which saved us a considerable amount of gas. This campground did not have any towns, entertainment, etc. nearby, other than the obvious outdoor activities the family could do while camping, so it eliminated any of the shopping based activities that sometimes accompany our trips.We fished and caught several trout. The kids swam/waded a lot and rode bikes and scooters. We saw momma and baby geese and duck all over the place. We hiked into a restricted wilderness trail (we got the required permits ahead of time). It was 3 miles each way. We could have slept there with our permits, but didn’t. We also hiked the trail at the campground several times.We have a camper that is literally falling apart. We are going to get an estimate for how much it would cost to repair. But, until then, we just keep using it because we own it. Our other gear is quite old and used, other than a tent we bought last summer. One thing that was very different this year was the amount of people who dropped in to visit. One family was there with us for the whole time. My husband’s mother came along from Thursday-Sunday. She has always loved camping and can fit on the camper couch. A cousin came from Friday-Monday. Our oldest daughter came from Friday-Monday. 2 friends of our daughter came over the weekend. Their family came up Sunday afternoon. We had 21 for dinner Sunday night!!!! Whew! Thank goodness for tacos and my friend whose camper was well-stocked with food as was mine. When my husband and the husband of the large family were texting, arranging this, they were asked to bring drinks, so we had lots of sodas.Obviously, these young adults were in tents. We cooked a LOT of hot dogs and sausages over the fire and my husband organized the young people into teams to wash dishes outside. We were blessed with good weather most of the time.My aunt came up for the big hike. She has always been single, and has recently retired. I feel so blessed that she wants to use her newly-found time to spend with “us girls” and our families. (I have 2 sisters and she spends time with them as well). She was delighted to go hiking as she would not feel comfortable venturing alone into the wilderness.I rested a lot on Wednesday and Thursday.
Oh, you can find the link to both my Ebay and ETSY stores on my blog At LindaShields.com. But I basically sell anything but the kitchen sink. :-). Ebay is the world’s largest flea market. I buy there first when looking for something. You might want to try it next time you declutter!
I love possums. You can send yours to me. I live in Eureka, Missouri, so the airfare might be high. I would welcome a spare kangaroo, too
My friend and her husband are visiting Thailand right now. She emailed me a photo of her with an elephant. She said they have had no problems but did change their plans to visit Bangkok since that is where the trouble is.
I agree 100% with Brandi on the oil for frying chicken. My granny never used more than 1/2 inch worth in her pan, at most. I myself brown on one side, turn, cover and then remove lid after about 15 minutes. I also do an oven fried chicken that uses next to no oil that is quite nice and crispy. I flour and season the chicken parts, put them on a well oiled pan (can use spray oil) and then I mist the top of the chicken and bake at about 400F for 25-30 minutes. You can turn half way through but it’s not necessary.
Terri, I have never done it that way, but I should try! That would be helpful to me because I wouldn’t have to stand over it and I could get other things done 🙂
Dawn you are too right it is too hot to bake a turkey in May. I usually try to do a turkey breast in the crockpot instead if I make one in summer months (May – end of September for us). Now we’ve got the covered back porch, I hope to plug in my crockpot outdoors and try cooking out there, just to eliminate some of the built up heat in the house.
Congratulations! Isn’t it a wonderful sort of feeling?
I also agree about the chicken frying oil. If people didn’t grow up around home fried chicken, they may think fried always means deep fried, a la the Colonel. In the south, many small family style restaurants will specify on the menu that the chicken is “pan fried” which is totally different from deep fried.
Hi Beth–sounds like you’re doing really well on the frugal front. Wondering if you’d provide a little more detail about Bountiful Baskets? I’m on a list for that, but have yet to respond to the emails. I’ve had a hard time getting really solid info on it. Any insight about what you get, how much food (e.g. how many people do you feed at home), how much you pay for it, etc? Thanks
Thank you all for you input on my disappearing peach saga. Since my initial comment I have been keeping an eye on the developing peach crop. I’m pleased to report that I have not spotted any possums or kangaroos in my North Carolina, USA garden. Although if I did spot a kangaroo I would happily invite him to dine on my peaches. After one visit to Australia, I found them to be rather endearing. Might be a different story if they were an every day visitor like our pesky squirrels. Which brings me to the discovery of all of my peaches being gone as of yesterday. I now know it is the squirrels who are having a smorgasboard. Grrr. Brandy, consider yourself lucky to not have them. They can be quite a nuisance. We have also had them nest in our attic which was very costly to get rid of them.Our one and only peach tree is near some other trees. I was out there weeding this morning and heard squirrels jumping from one tree to another. We might have better luck if the tree was all by itself, although they are quick climbers too.
Oh, Kim! Your comment was so funny and then I was so bummed to read about the squirrels.My grandpa had a solution for that. It was squirrel dinner. A slingshot would work 🙂
🙂 I think your grandpa is on to something. I may have to add a slingshot or two to my garage sale list.
Kim, if you plant a fruit tree where the squirrels can’t jump on it from any building or neighboring tree, and grease the trunk as high as you can reach, it might slow them down. It is really hard to deter them. They destroyed two bird feeders at our place. I then bought a truly squirrel proof metal bird feeder with a weighted perch that closes off the feed if a squirrels weight is on it. My husband had thought it was too expensive, but it didn’t cost much more than the two feeders they tore up, and has lasted 18 years now.At places like Lowes, you can sometimes buy things to attach to the tree trunks and feeder poles that deter them. Good luck with this.
I just love all your helpful comments and beautiful pictures.