Shirt: Free hand-me down in like new condition, given as a birthday gift; shorts bought on clearance last year. In the background is our Early Elberta peach tree, from which we are still picking My husband cut my hair on Sunday morning. We had to replace our dishwasher this week. I compared models online and…
If you have a garden space, are you using it to the best advantage possible? I have a .24 acre lot. Most of my garden is behind the house. In that space, up until January of this year, I had 35 fruit trees, most of which are semi-dwarf varieties, and 40% of which are espaliered…
One of the most frequently asked questions in my inbox is, “What do you use for sandwich bread?” The answer is simple: I use French bread. I sometimes will make baguettes and have sandwiches like I did in France: ham, cheese, and mustard on bread. More often, though, I’ll slice the bread, and just use…
Seeded grapes from our garden My husband and I celebrated our 13th anniversary this week. I made us a late dinner for just the two of us. We had homemade tamales. I used the corn husks from the corn I bought on sale last week. I also used pork shoulder roast that I had bought…
I’ve known Cyrus’ birthday was coming but now I feel as though it has snuck up on me! I made a change to last week’s goals as part of it with a sewing project on Saturday, and I’ll have plans today for it as well, since his birthday is tomorrow! Here’s how I did last…
It’s July now, which means back to school sales are starting on school supplies in the United States. While most people know that they have a once a year shot to get the best prices on school supplies and now is the time to stock up on those items, what many of us aren’t willing…
It’s been a long time since I’ve posted a goal list. I’ve had several requests to publish my list for the week again. Here is my over-ambitious list of goals for this week! Garden Goals: 1. Paint plinth for the front garden when it arrives 2. Install plinth and urn 3….
I picked grapes, basil, Thai Basil, tomatoes, chamomile, one small cucumber, and apples from the garden. Zinnia Seedlings I planted zinnias, vincas, Swiss chard, Armenian cucumbers, and melons from seed in the front yard. The zinnias, chard, and cucumbers came up already! I collected seeds in my garden to plant again from larkspur and lettuce. I fixed two…
A few freebies that I wanted to share: Amazon.com is offering a free 30-day trial membership to Amazon prime, which includes not only 2-day shipping on any order (no minimum order size) but also the ability to borrow books from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library (one free book per month), and instantly watch over 40,000…
It was Sunday, June 30th, 2008 when I started my website with a free host site. I picked a name and found a host and template site. The next day, July 1st, I started designing the site. I told my husband I would be done in three weeks. You can stop laughing now. Here it…
I picked Genovese basil, Thai basil, and tomatoes from the garden. We also harvested Thompson’s seedless green grapes and Dorsett Golden Apples. I picked an aloe leaf from my aloe plant to put on the sunburn I got while I was out watering some things in the garden by hand. We watched the space station move…
Cooking from scratch, rather than using a box mix or pre-prepared ingredients is an obvious money saver. Taking it one extra step further by making the ingredients for those meals shaves a considerable amount from the grocery bill. What can you make at home that will save you money (and also taste better) in the…