Harvest is currently going on around us. We live in Central Illinois where the two main crops are corn and soybeans. It has been very dry not to mention hot, so the combines are kicking up lots of dust and dirt around us. The other night when they were picking soybeans a few fields over, it was like we were living in a fog. Having a clean car is almost impossible during this time. 

My DH's daughter will be getting married in a week at our place. We have worked hard on some of the decorations, including wrapping tin cans with burlap and lace for "vases." I wrapped a wine jug (our church buys communion wine in a large Mogen David jug) with material to make a stand alone vase. 

I melted down some old candles to make new candles for the tables since she has a harvest theme. I doubt if we will light them unless it is a calm day, but they at least look fall like. 

When we were cleaning out the pole barn I found a metal lantern. I don't think it is old. It looks like a reproduction. I've been told we will have straw bales around an arbor for the wedding so I looked up how to convert this lantern into one that can hold an electric candle. Who knew a painted tuna can could do that? I know the bride to be used to laugh at me about saving stuff like cans and paper bags and all that, but not any more. The lantern's wick had something that stuck up to hold it, so I needed a level surface and the tuna can fit the bill.

The bride to be bought plain burlap and then realized the holes were too large to cover anything. I suggested we make table runners out of it by weaving very thin ribbon down the sides and hemming the ends. She liked that idea so I did that.

I mentioned the paper bags...I grew up using them and the few times we get them, I just cannot bear to throw them away. I started a new hobby and I am no way professing to be great at it, but I wanted to try and make bars of soap. I thought, well, what can I put around them and then it dawned on me, why not cut stripes from a bag and label them. So, I had some scissors that make a design when you cut with them and I did that. I'm into homespun, so it works.

Recently I painted a coffee plastic can so I had an additional container to hold seeds. I have been saving seeds from what I've grown to be able to plant them next year. I've been using old prescription bottles and even plastic spice bottles to hold them. I then put them in the coffee containers. I had one originally, now I have two. I like the idea of reusing stuff. 

I had a pair of work jeans that were getting so worn, that they were starting to separate. I saw something about using the canning jar rings and cutting strips of the denim and tying them around the ring to make a flower. I had some rings that were starting to look pretty bad so I figured, why not? I had a piece of burlap to use for the center and I went outside and found some sticks to glue on as stems. 

The other day we went to an orchard to buy some apples. I like to make applesauce besides having the apples to eat. I'm always reading things and discovered you are supposed to be able to make apple cider vinegar with cores and peels, so I have 4 quart jars fermenting with my leftovers. I like the idea of using things and getting as much as I can out of something. I made and canned apple sauce and with the juice made some apple jelly. 

How can it be we are already at the first Monday in September and Labor day weekend is here? One of the local drugstores on their sign said "Summer ghosted me." How appropriate!

It's been a busy week here working on things, picking some vegetables, and just trying to survive in the heat. The back garden has been pulled up other than the pumpkin plants. I planted some seeds for a fall garden, but without rain, I doubt if anything will come up in this heat. 

I so have 4 tomato plants in another garden and they have been producing some, but I think their days are numbered. But I cannot complain. This has been the best garden I've ever put in. Some success as well as some failures, but plans for next year are in mind. I have canned some tomatoes and made some tomato sauce from cherry tomatoes which I put in the freezer. I also made pickles. So, not a bad gardening year. 

Yesterday we drove and hour and 15 minutes for DH to go to the dentist. I had been bugging him about going since he was experiencing pain. Well, there was good news and bad news. The good news is he was treated and is on antibiotics for an infection and it was caught. The bad news is he has major work scheduled and it will cost over $11,000. Ouch. It's a good thing we are savers. So, after he gets over the infection, they will pull teeth and than make a temporary bridge before making a permament one. 

One of my hobbies is making candles. Of course I try to do is frugally. I had an idea to remake candles and asked some of the ladies at church if they had any old candles they would like to part with. One lady was more than generous, she gave me a box of candles and most had never been lit. I've been melting them down and making new candles in containers. Another lady said she had these glass jars from yogurt and could I use them. I said that would be great. She gifted me 45 of them. I'm making some to sell at the bazaar for a fundraiser for the ladies guild. So, other than the wicks, some extra soy wax and safety stickers, all I basically have in them is my work. I've read that mixing soy wax with paraffin often helps with the burning of the candles. I'm not going to put very much on them, because it will basically be pure profit for the ladies' guild. Plus, a lot of these customers are looking for frugal finds. I've crocheted some key chains and made some scrubbies for the table as well. 

Like other parts of the country it has been very hot here. It has limited any work outside because I don't handle the heat very well. 

DH and I sat down and ran through our list of subscriptions to things. I have a few more days of one subscription taht I'm trying to get as much out of before the cancellation goes into effect. DH is doing the same for one of his. Others we just stopped. One was the paper. What a joke it has become. The deadline is like 3 p.m. It is printed two hours away from the town and then trucked back. So, most of the news is two or three days old. They discontinued the Sunday and Monday editions. One of my friends works at the paper and they are down to three full time reporters so the coverage is sparse since they are run ragged. Anyway, the ongoing joke is if you threaten to cancel they will give you a better price. We went to online because it was cheaper a few years ago. DH has negotiated over and over everytime it comes up. Now one doesn't even speak to a person; it is probably AI. The new negotiated price he was quoted when he said unsubcribe was a dollar more than what he was paying. He had to go through three screens to finally unsubscribe. But success...finally! We are saving a bit of money, but we didn't have that many subscriptions to begin with. DH did subscribe to Peacock for a couple of months for a special rate because I had been watching Downton Abbey and hadn't finished the series. But as soon as I was finished, he made sure it would not renew. 

Other than that, just working around here, which I guess is appropraite for Labor Day. Any big holiday plans for you?

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. 

Beware, I'm starting this as a bit of a rant...we have noticed that some of the young people in our lives are not good about thanking us for birthday/Christmas/graduation gifts. I'm not expecting a huge thank you note, but a text or phone call or email would be appreciated. I'm not talking about a small gift like a candle; I'm talking about a large amount of money. The checks were cashed, but we did not hear from them at all. 

Fast forward to this May and June...a friend's twins graduated from college. Each graduated from a differrent school. We sent a check to each and my husband made each of them a Christmas ornament with a graduation cap, their name, and the year. We received a thank you note from each. A real snail mail one in fact. It meant a lot. The sad thing is these kids probably aren't going to get anything else from us unless they pursue another degree because we aren't really close so it wasn't like they had an excuse to write in hopes of further gifts. Another friend wrote a thank you note to us because we treated him to a meal. So, in the span of two weeks we received three thank you notes. It was wonderful!

Being the frugal (or cheap if you want) person I am, I decided to figure out a way to recycle the fronts of the cards. I bought some cards and envelopes at the dollar store and so I cut the fronts to fit on the front of the empty cards. I decorated them with a few things that I have since I make many of my own cards. I like the idea of reusing the fronts of the cards. 

It was a good exercise getting to work on these because our "craft" room (read craft, but really it's a room with lots of uses) is in the basement and it's cool there. We are under quite a heat wave here in Central Illinois.

Hope you all have a great 4th of July if you are American as we celebrate the 250th anniversary. I've had the privlege of celebrating both the 200th and now the 250th anniversary.