We celebrated a daughter’s birthday at home with a simple party at home and a homemade cake. I have pictures that I hope to share soon in a birthday post. I used the leftover icing to decorate cupcakes as a snack one afternoon. I had some rather old quarts of canned pears that, while…
I pulled the Thai basil plants (above) from the grass that had grown on their own. I’ll replant them in the garden this week. I harvested colander of tiny tomatoes, 4 1/2 butternut squash (2 decent-sized ones, 2 tiny ones, and half a tiny one; the other half was bug eaten), green onions, garlic…
My husband gave our two older boys’ haircuts. We gladly accepted a gift of a package of turkey bacon and a package of beef from our neighbor. She said she hadn’t liked the turkey bacon (we don’t mind it at all!) and had bought too many packages of the beef and didn’t think she could…
Thank you, everyone, for your kind and encouraging comments and emails last week. I really enjoyed them! Here’s what we did to save money last week: My husband cut my hair for me. It took all of 3 minutes–less time than it would have taken me to gather my purse and keys and get…
I picked red noodle beans, butternut squash, Armenian cucumbers, grapes, Swiss chard, and a few tomatoes from the garden. I cut oregano and basil from the garden to dry. My drying process is simple: I rinse the herbs and lay them to dry on a cooling rack. Our climate is very dry and the bit…
My daughter brought home some leftover greenery and two roses for me from a floral arranging class she took because she knew I would like it. She also brought home an arrangement that we enjoyed on the table all week. She learned how to make a simple arrangement and a boutonniere. The woman who taught said…
I made a triple batch of laundry soap. I reconfirmed that we don’t need to buy any school supplies this year (except printer paper, and I’m good for a while). I thought I might need one thing, but my son informed me that we had 4 or 5 of them in the drawer. I collected…
I picked five baskets of figs from my Mission fig tree. I canned rosemary fig jam. I used the water from rinsing figs to water potted garden plants. I also collected water from the air conditioner drip and used it to water potted plants. I picked tomatoes from the garden. I also cut rosemary, garlic chives,…
I’ve been seeking new ways to save money all month, as our finances are particularly tight at the current time with a lower income, increasing expenses, and an emergency trip to the hospital earlier this month. I have found that if I look closely, there’s always another way or two to save money in addition…
We harvested grapes, peaches, tomatoes, chives, basil, chocolate mint, New Zealand Spinach, arugula (which had self-seeded!) and apples from the garden. I made a turkey salad (aka chicken salad, but with turkey I cooked last week) using apple and grapes from the garden, a few pecans, two stalks of celery, and some homemade Greek yogurt…
We harvested red and green seedless grapes, peaches, tomatoes, and apples from the garden. I cut chocolate mint for a large batch of herbal tea. I went to the Joann’s on the 3rd of July to buy a few items on sale, including some broadcloth in black, white, and navy at 50% off at $2.49 a yard…
Pavlova with peaches and blackberries from the garden (that I froze) and the strawberries I bought on sale and froze earlier this year. Recipe here. I picked more apples from our tree and canned applesauce, using resuable canning lids. (I shared a few photos on Instagram). I harvested Swiss chard, basil, garlic chives, chocolate mint,…