I'm feeling a bit melancholy today. 

Yesterday I went to the back garden and although I noticed things were changing, yesterday it was brought home that most of my plants are about "done." The cucumber plants are starting to die back. My cherry tomatoes which have been very generous are running out of tomatoes to ripen and the plants themselves look weary. I had been watching a cantaloupe to see if it was ready to pick. Apparently it was because it "picked itself." So, I brought it in. Sadly, when I was weeding, I pulled up another cantaloupe plant that had a small cantaloupe on it. So, I had to bring it in too since it is now an orphan. If nothing else, I'll save the seeds from it if it has any. 

It's been a pretty good gardening year. Good yes. Perfect, no. But I can't really complain. I had no luck with watermelon this year although I did multiple plantings with seeds. Last year we grew huge watermelons. I harvested garlic, potatoes, green beans, peas, and carrots, not to mention the gazillion cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. Plus the regular tomatoes which are probably my favorite. I have two bell pepper plants and they had a slow start, but are starting to produce. And my herbs have been wonderful. I picked a bunch of Basil this morning. My hands smell delicious. I'm going to dry it so I have it this fall and winter to use in cooking. I plan to do the same with Oregano and Thyme. Here is my Basil plant and then the leaves I harvested:

Earlier this spring  I attended a class on growing herbs through an county extension offering and was gifted a two tiered pot with a bunch of herbs. I've used the herbs from the planter all summer. It was a great present besides a learning experience. I used the dill when I made pickles. I made mint tea for myself. So, it has been very productive as well.

But back to my sadness. I'm sorry to say goodbye to the garden and the plants. It was exciting to watch something come up or come about and see it grow. I know there are people who are excited for the fall and pumpkin everything and that's great. I'm just sorry to say goodbye to our fresh garden goodies.

Last year about half way through the year I decided to keep a spreadsheet of how much we saved using coupons, digital or paper. I feel like it is a challenge to see what I can do. Nothing like those extreme couponers from years back however, but pleased we've saved some. Each month whatever we "saved" I deposit in our money market savings account since I figure that is saved money we wouldn't otherwise have. There is some criteria for this...I only use a coupon if it is something we would normally buy, not just using a coupon just to save money even if it is something I wouldn't use. I know some of you have blogged about the great deals at CVS and we've taken advantage of those as well as Walgreens and Kroger. I also write companies and ask for coupons and then wait on a sale to use it if I can. So...drumroll for this year so far: $618.10. 

As well as coupons, I do some of the grocery apps and then when I get enough points or whatever, I get an Amazon gift card. Sometimes when I give blood I get an Amazon gift card as well. So far this year we've gotten $180 in Amazon gift cards due to my snapping photos of my receipts as well as a couple of Red Cross gift cards. DH orders  stuff for his lasering hobby. Today he ordered some boards and with two of the gift cards put on the account, he wound up paying 56 cents. Not bad. Most of these things he lasers are for gifts. 

Some folks say they don't want companies getting their data, but I figure they probably already have it so I might as well profit from it. These are some of the apps I use and if you haven't already signed up and want to do so, once you snap a receipt, we both will get bonus points. On your smartphone, you go to the app store and download the app and fill out the code. Ibotta is the pickiest, you have to go in and choose what items you are going to buy and it takes me longer to get money from them because I don't buy a lot of the stuff, but sometimes they just give you points for any receipt. Here are the referral codes:

Ibotta referral code: wqpfuwf

Fetch referral code: QCJA5

Receipt Hog referral code: wud24099

Receipt Jar referral code: DEBBKFT4B

Are there any apps you use that I could use your referral code to give us both points?

The garden is still going strong. I have canned some tomato sauce I made from our tomatoes, onions, garlic, bell pepper, Oregano, and Basil, and I've made three types of pickles: sweet, dill, and bread and butter. We've enjoyed fresh cucumbers and tomatoes and I've gotten enough carrots for a couple of meals. Same with green beans. I planted potatoes that I allowed to sprout last spring and gotten enough for three meals. I figure that is free food. Four of my tomato plants I grew from seeds from last year's tomatoes and the two bell peppers I grew from seed from a pepper this spring I bought at the store. The garlic came from garlic I harvested last summer. The Oregano I planted two years ago and it fortunately keeps coming up. The Basil I planted from seed. I also have Rosemary I planted from seed. I attended a Master Gardener demonstration class this last spring and we were given some other herbs and a tiered pot, so that was a frugal win as well. I used some of the dill in that pot for the pickles and the other day when it was a little cooler and rainy, I made myself peppermint tea from some of the peppermint. 

One of my hobbies I started was pouring candles. I asked some of the ladies at church if they had any old candles they no longer wanted and a couple of them gave me a bunch. I bought some small glassware to put them in and purchased wicks. My purpose is to make some very reasonably priced candles to sell at the bazaar. I'm not setting up a table for myself, just donating the proceeds to the ladies' guild. Since I don't have much invested, I don't plan on putting very much on them as far as prices; one of the ladies said people come to the bazaar looking for reasonably priced items. So, here are the candles I've made thus far. Besides the glassware and wicks, I do have a little scent invested, but not ton of money. I made myself a couple of candles besides so I figure that is a frugal win. Here are a few of the candles I made for the bazaar. And you can see the sign so you now know my "real" first name as the kids in school would say when I taught. 

Sunday, after we got home from church, our plans were changed. A grandson said he wanted to come down which means I would be making lunch. I had already changed out of my "Sunday go to meeting clothes" (thank you Beverly Hillbillies) and had put on a top that was white with light flowers. However, once I learned I would be fixing lunch, I changed blouses since I would be making sloppy joes and didn't want to permanently stain my light blouse in case there was a splatter or spill. I wondered, am I being frugal trying to take care of my clothes? Am I the only one? I could have probably worn an apron, but figured this was safer. 

Very glad the blogs are back. Not sure why they were down, but as Tabs said, it's nice to have them back and we do enjoy them for free. Like many have said, I feel like we are community or a group of friends who live away from each other.

I've blogged before about keeping things since we don't have a recycling program in our town or county. One of the items is cans from soup or baked beans or whatever. DH's daughter is going to get married and she said she wanted to have a rustic outdoor wedding and so we brainstormed about "vases" for her flowers. I sent her craft idea about wrapping the cans with material and using decoupage and she loved it. She cleaned me out of cans! Yay! They are being used and she saved money! We made those. She bought burlap and I hemmed it and ran thin ribbon down the sides to make table runners. So, we are on our way to a rustic, crafty wedding. 

DH is using his laser to laser coasters and glasses for the wedding. He's doing a nice job. That's part of our wedding gift. She's marrying in our back yard by the pond. He's going to be making a few other items, but these are for the guests to have after the wedding. 

The garden is keeping me hopping. I'm glad the cucumbers and tomatoes have produced a lot. We've shared with people at church and some friends. I have frozen some tomato sauce and canned some and made pickles. We've had some green beans and I recently dug up potatoes and carrots. I am very hopeful we get pumpkins because the wedding will be in September and she wants to decorate with fall stuff. It would be nice to be able to use our own pumpkins. My watermelon seeds never came up. The corn came up, but it didn't really pollinate or something because it wasn't very good. I have dug up a bunch of onions and garlic and I am drying it. I need to cut herbs and dry them for the winter as well. If only the weeds wouldn't keep taking over. They, unfortunately, are healthy as well. Guess that's part of life though.

The heat and humidity have come back with a vegeance...it's August, so what can one expect, right? 

Kroger sent us this email that if we do a pick up, they would take $30 off of a $75 order. So, I've been making a list. I've clicked on digital coupons so hopefully this will be a frugal grocery bill. Normally we just run in, but we couldn't resist the $30 off. 

Not much else to discuss or report. We let the dogs out and let them in, rinse repeat, and we work around here. But life is very good.