I cut roses and larkspur from the garden and brought them in.
I made a blue skirt for Wren using fabric from my grandmother’s stash.
I gave Elsa a haircut. I bobbed her hair.
I picked peaches from our tree.
I also harvested the first of the blackberries, Swiss chard, bolted lettuce, green onions, sugar snap peas. I picked just a few blueberries (though they were covered with flowers, we only had about a dozen blueberries total from all of my plants). I also picked 8 cherry tomatoes.
I accepted a free 36″ wide set of Gorilla shelves from my parents, who don’t need them anymore. My husband will use them in the garage.
I made a pineapple upside-down cake (using a can of pineapple that I purchased in April for .68) with Cyrus.
I cut bolting chard and arugula from the garden and traded it with a friend who has chickens for 2 dozen eggs. Her chickens and goats will eat the bolted plants.
I made a triple batch of laundry soap.
I printed coloring book pictures and gave them to Elsa to paint with watercolors.
The children made shields and swords from cardboard boxes that we had, and decorated them. They then worked on staging sword fights out in the garden.
We had friends over to play. Winter went to play at a friend’s house. I love the fun it brings to the week just to have friends to play.
I enjoyed a library book this week: The Candy Shop War
Cyrus watched some episodes of Fetch online. I watched a show for free on Hulu.
I was careful with my electricity usage. I opened windows in the mornings to let in cool, fresh air, and again at night. The air conditioner only ran during the day.
What did you do to save money last week?
The granddaughter with whom I am currently reading a chapter a day (over the phone), has Aspergers, & reading a chapter a day is a real stretch for her, but she really wants that doll for her birthday, which falls in the first week of July. All of my daughters had to “Qualify” for the doll before they could ask for it, for Christmas or a birthday, by reading the entire series for that doll WITH ME, alternating paragraphs. They knew they could only get one doll, so if there was any questions, they read a 2nd & in one case, a 3rd series to be sure they knew which doll they wanted. The doll is a means to an end – – by the time my granddaughter reads a chapter a day for M-F, for 6 weeks straight, her reading will have bumped up to a grade 3 level. Our “Grandma Offer” for the dolls extends only to the historical dolls, which each have 6 books in the series. The dolls of the year only have one or two books, so I will not buy those. Besides, one of the other hidden agendas is that the historical dolls’ stories provide an anchor for that time period in history, & help them remember the history better.
Thanks!! I was thrilled. I just got back home from weeding around the edges to put up some wire fence, and the plot next to us is not being used…I’m tempted to get two..we will see! 🙂 I am soooo happy.
It sounds like they’ve changed the way they do it. Awesome!
I’m sorry about the layoff. I hope he can find a new job soon!
Thanks! You had a great week!
How exciting!
Good for you!
Good luck with your yard sale! I hope you are able to get everything you need! When I went yard sale shopping in April, I bought a like-new shirt for my son and 3 books I know he wants for his birthday. Perhaps you can go to some other yard sales to find the gifts you want as well.
Thank you. I have been over our budget a few times and we will be fine. I live frugality and being creative so i am taking a positive approach. You ladies are also very inspiring!
Some of the frugal things we did this last week were–went and saw 101 Dalmatians play my 9 yo son was in, he played Jasper!-cooked all dinners at home, mostly left overs for lunch-made orange cranberry muffins for breakfast and some corn cakes to go with the chili we had one night for dinner-cleaned up most of my garden beds and got them planted. I still have 3 beds and 12 pots to plant. I am also looking at purchasing 2 Espalier Apple trees to plant in a small 4×8 section by my fence-took a walking field trip with my sons class to 7-11, they purchased slurpees and practiced using coins. Tomorrow it’s a field trip to Petco to learn about animals and have a scavenger hunt-received a free $10 Starbucks card for taking a survey for one of the companies I represent, I think I’ll give it to my 17 yo to enjoy-cleared out 110 toys out of my sons room and donated them to the local thrift store. We are learning to keep what we love and shedding the rest. We are all doing this as a family, I can’t believe all the stuff we’ve accumulated. It feels very good to get rid of it!-I did not grocery shop this week. I was very tempted but decided to use what we have.-Picked out the 12 chapter books my son will read over the summer, we are also going to start reading Harry Potter together. If anyone has a good website I can use to print off some bridging worksheets I would appreciate it. I try and keep him learning and doing school work thru the summer so he doesn’t forget what’s he’s already learned. He will be going into 4th grade in the fall.
We are doing this challenge also, but I’ve been donating our things to a local thrift store. Let us know how your garage sale goes. I think I want to do one, but still not sure.
This is called ‘hot process’ soapmaking. If you make soap in a crock pot, that same crock should not be used for food, but you can always pick up a spare crock at Goodwill or somewhere similar for soapmaking. Susan, you don’t mention bringing the oil/lye solution to trace, which I have always done when my make hot process soap….do you do that, or does it just happen at some point in the process? I am definitely going to try this recipe, because it is smaller than the recipes I have, and I could experiment with different scents and colorants in smaller batches – thank you for sharing! 🙂
Oh, how luck and wonderful for you! One of our front brake lines snapped just outside of our driveway, too. No mechanics in our family, sadly. The garage ended up doing the other front line, too, as it was on the verge of breaking as well.
I like excel math’s summer program- its quite cheap (under $10 I think ?) and it’s very good. Just get the one for the grade he will be entering
I have 6 bushes and so far they have lived a year planted in the peat moss bags. They are leafing and blooming a little. There is another berry that is supposed to be very similar to blueberries but love alkaline soil. I pinned the info and could look it up if you are interested. Why can’t the peat moss ever dry out? We also have the awful wind.
A reason wasn’t given, but it is in the Peter Tallman information. My blueberry bush that is doing the best is in a sheltered location on the north side of my house, where the wind is blocked by either the fence, my house or the neighbor’s house. I wasn’t sure it would get enough sun there, but it seems to be doing ok. It has been growing for 2 years now.I am on my 3rd round of bushes, & this time I prepared the soil for 2 years before I planted. I lost one last Halloween when a child stepped over the fence, crowding up to the front stoop, & stepped on it! This year I will put a large pot upside down over the tiny plant that came back from those roots to protect it at Halloween. I grew up in Ohio, where they grew wild. I know there is a commercial blueberry plot in Vernal, UT, & they grow in raised beds there. I love blueberries & am determined to have them grow here.
Made Homemade Lemon yogurt.Homemade bread.Ate leftovers from a party for 4 days.Clipped coupons, price matched, etc. saving (near as I can figure) about $15.Spent only $110 on the week’s groceries (family of 6, with 4 teenagers).
I am a third grade teacher and this site has a ton of resources that I recommend to my students: http://edtechideas.com/2012/06/01/49-cool-summer-sites-for-kids-and-teachers/
With that type of soil, I would plant the blueberries in very large containers where you can control the soil pH and keep them mulched. Also, the first year or two that they are planted, remove all of the blossoms so that they do not set fruit. They should have plenty of time to establish a strong root system before trying to bear.In the wild, blueberries often grow in wet areas on hummocks. They like soil rich in organics that stays damp, but not wet. In Zones 5 & 6 it takes about five years for a bush to be a steady, reliable producer (and that’s only with the right pH and other conditions).
Andrea, good to know that the blueberries take a few years to get established. It seems that they are going to take much longer than blackberries (which make new canes every year) and as long as I can get them to survive and then grow bigger we are on the right track :)I’ll keep adding lots of compost to my berries, then. Thanks!
Thank you! I had a yard sale two summers ago and we made almost $600 – this was because we had big ticket items like xbox, tv, games, furniture and Fiesta ware dishes. This yard sale will be on a smaller scale but two other people are joining me because our house is in a great location. I have $30 in store credit at the used book store to use – I will let Hailey pick out some books/cds/dvds that she would like to give for her birthday. I traded in old books/dvds/games to get this store credit – I love doing this. I will be looking at yard sales and the thrift store for other things too. I will keep you updated on the yard sale – it is next week. 😀
Thank you.
I roast carrots, potatoes and a small onion in the oven and then dice them up in the food processor and bake them in a mini muffin tin. Here’s the link to the recipe: http://www.vanessasvalues.blogspot.com/2013/05/recipe-roasted-veggie-bites.html
I’m from the South where the conditions are ideal for growing blueberries. My bushes have been in a year. Good to know it will take a while. The other berry that is supposed to be similar and great for our climate is called haskap. I might try those as well.
I forgot to add that I now live in Utah where the conditions are all wrong for growing blueberries, which is why I might try the haskap.