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Archive for October, 2024

A splurge and some learning

October 27th, 2024 at 09:13 pm

Near us is a John Boos showroom -- perhaps you have seen their cutting boards. I normally wouldn't be shopping there, but a local catering business combined with Boos and had a charcuterie board class. It was $60 and it included a small board, a very nice paring knife, and the food as well as instructions. I attended and it was a good class and it seemed like we got a lot for the money. My husband and I had two servings each of the food afterwards. I attended with my step daughter and she loved it as well. 

A friend of ours is a woodworker and he loves making things, so he said he'd make a personalized board. It is beautiful and such a kind gesture. He made one for our stepdaughter, personalizing hers as well. 

It was a nice splurge and I really enjoyed the time with my husband's daughter. Not a cost saving, but overall, I think we were ahead with the original board, the nice knife, and all the food. Plus, I learned something and one can never stop learning, right?

 

The local Ace hardware is going to have ladies' night to make some things (and demonstrate some tools) and we are planning on attending it. My husband already has the tool they are going to demonstrate so I will hopefully be learning how to use it. Since this evening is free, I figure if I only learn this tool is beyond my skill, at least I can say I've learned that. 

Sammy, Saving, and Creating

October 6th, 2024 at 08:42 pm

A few years ago I read about making a sourdough starter. It seemed easy enough...flour, water, and time. I named my starter Sammy and I've kept him going ever since. I've made sour dough loaves and used the extra or discard for other things and even given away discard. Then the bane of my existence...I was looking at Pinterest and it showed an easy recipe for sourdough sandwich bread that looked far less crusty than normal sourdough. I kept thinking, it won't rise without yeast, but figured I could try and if nothing else, redo the dough and add yeast. Much to my surprise, it did rise and made a beautiful loaf of bread. It just takes longer to rise and one has to make sure the starter is bubbly and ready to go. But it pleased me. My husband teases me and calls me his Prairie Woman since I'm baking bread and trying things like this.

Well, it goes beyond that as well...I'm always trying to figure out ways to reuse things. I tease about Pinterest being the banke of my existence, but I do get some good ideas from the stuff on there. Most work; a few do not. I'm working on making my own Pine Sol. We have pine trees and vinegar is cheap. Hope it works! 

I planted strawberries and blueberies  for next year and years beyond and I read where coffee grounds are good for the soil. Our soil is very clay like, so I have been adding it to other places as well as I have added sand, hoping it improves the quality of the soil. 

My husband's late wife was quite the crafter and in the basement are a lot of things. I've never mod podged stuff before, but a few YouTube videos showed me how, and I have been using material I have to decorate plastic containers of things. The other day I sent cookies with the grandson back to school in a coffee container. I save all the plastic things we get and reuse them. I sent cake home with my husband's daughter the other day in containers that were for something else and she laughed and said she liked my frugal ways. 

I had a doctor's appointment Friday and since we had to drive to town 40 minutes away, we decided to do some other errands to make it worth our while. We thought we'd get a quick lunch at a local chain restaurant. We were shocked...a sandwich, chips, and drink for each of us was over $30 before tip! So today after church we had vegetable soup I made the other day and put in the Crockpot to heat and some bread I had made for lunch. Far less than $30 and probably far better for us too. 

I was going to include a photo of the bread, but whenever I try to post a photo, I get an error message.

My post from last week asking about stocking up had some great replies. The sad thing is, I guess there was a run on toilet paper and paper towels because local stores had signs limiting these products. I wan't suggesting people hoard, just be prepared. 

Anyone stocking up due to the strike?

October 2nd, 2024 at 05:01 pm

Just curious if anyone else has been stocking up with the fear of the longshoreman's strike warning and then the actual strike coming about?

I always try to keep a few things on hand. I haven't been hoarding, but each time something comes on the news, my stomach clenches and hopes it isn't like the fiasco during the Pandemic as people go crazy and go for a hoarding frenzy. The media keeps claiming prices will go up and there will be shortages which makes me worry people will go crazy and start stripping shelves of stuff. 

I have always shopped sales and this continues. Yesterday I scored a great deal at Kroger. It was a digital coupon offer of Quilted Northern toilet paper for $4.99 for 6 rolls, normally $7.99. In addition, I had a $1 off digital coupon so I bought three packages to put back. 

I have canned some items -- I didn't have a huge garden, but hoping for a bigger and better one next year. A lot of changes this year so no time to put in a garden. But I'm planning for the future in my new home. I planted garlic yesterday. I've planted a few strawberry plants too earlier, hoping we get some next year.

So, the search has been on for reasonable priced canned goods. Dollar Tree here has had Del Monte vegetables for $1.25 plus tax. At Walmart they are $1.48 so I figured that was a decent deal. I have a few cans of stuff we'd eat. And a couple extra cans of tuna and things like that. 

Just wondering what's going on in your pantry!