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Mish Mash

August 24th, 2020 at 09:04 pm

This is just a mish mash of thoughts...

This spring when people were hoarding things and panic shopping, one big ticket item that people were desiring was a freezer. I thought, well, if they want freezers, then this summer canning supplies may be in short supply. I made sure I stocked up on lids (I have the jars and rings) so I would have what I needed for this year's canning. So, turn the calendar pages a few months and a friend asked me if I knew where she could get lids and rings (she found jars at a thrift store) because every store in our town was out. We were going to a bulk food store in an Amish community so I looked. They also were sold out of all canning supplies. Wonder what will be next!?! My prediction will be flour, sugar, butter, and other baking things. Unless things change drastically, my church will not be having its Christmas bazaar and a lot of people go to these to get cookies and sweet breads and pies so I think they will bake at home. I plan to pick up an extra bag of flour and sugar this week to have in case the rush starts.

I have slowly been working on my stock pile of things. Yesterday we picked herbs and I washed them and prepared them to let them dry in the sunroom. We also picked bell peppers and I washed and chopped them to freeze them in freezer bags to have to cook with. Other than applesauce my canning is done for the year. I'm waiting for apples to hopefully go on sale. I have picked up an extra can of this and that when we go to the grocery so I don't feel like I'm hoarding, just preparing.

My dishwasher died over a week ago. We went to purchase one and the sales person reassured me they could get the particular model that we picked out. A week goes by and I get a call saying they aren't delivering it because they can't get it. I call and try to talk to the sales person who conveniently isn't working when I call only to find the thing is on back order under November 1st. I was not happy. She said the warehouse had it! The new sales person asked if I would be willing to consider another model. I finally said yes. Hopefully it will be delivered today. I feel the person who did the original sale should have called and told me that instead of making me wait almost a week before finding out. Customer service is a joke most of the time. This is just one reason I hate shopping.

We hit the thrift stores last Friday. One had new boxes of stationery for $1.50. It is name brand stuff. I got a few boxes. I write letters and I like nice stationery, but I refuse to pay $7 and $8 a box. I felt I got a bargain.

Hope everyone has a great week and stay safe and healthy!





Groceries and the Garden

August 16th, 2020 at 10:01 pm

It's August and before we know it, fall will arrive.

At least I hope we have a fall. It seems like the past few years we had summer, a day or two of fall, and then wham, winter! Same thing with spring, winter which lasted like forever, a day or two of spring, then summer.

DH's garden is slowing down. For a few weeks we were getting tomatoes galore. It was amazing! I canned and canned. At first, DH said maybe I should wait, and I said wait for what? We have the tomatoes, we want them this winter, so I need to can. He gave away tomatoes too. Well, it seems that was the big influx and now things are slowing down. As long as we still have some for the table, I'm happy. I'm just glad I canned and made spaghetti sauce.

Today we dug up the first planting of onions. I have used quite a few already so there were not many still in the ground, but we dug those up, and planted the last of the onion sets. I know we won't get any big enough for slicing, but we will have green onions into the fall. Although DH works the soil and has put down top soil, it was still kind of clay like. I think we are going to have to invest in some sand to loosen the soil up. I put egg shells, tea bags, and coffee grounds throughout the year to help replenish some nutrients and DH uses Miracle Gro granular fertilizer. Anyway, that was hot, dirty work to get the soil ready to plant the rest of the onion sets.

I think I have spent more time outside this year than I have since we married. I don't "do" outside due to allergies, but with DH's garden, I felt I needed to help him. He planted more tomatoes this year. I also helped him when he was trimming bushes earlier this summer.

The last few weeks our grocery bills have really gone down. I have worked to make things that we get from the garden. For brunch today we had tomato-basil omelets since we had a bunch of cherry tomatoes and plenty of basil. Last night we had chicken stir fry. I used onions, and bell peppers from the garden and mushrooms I had in the fridge. I normally also have zucchini and celery, but we didn't have either, so I just added more pepper and onion. It was delicious and hubby was happy to eat the fruits of his labor, so to speak.

I thought I did pretty well as far as the chicken. I bought a package with two chicken breasts. We had one chicken breast sliced in half long ways for supper Friday night, Last night was chicken stir fry with rice. So, one package of chicken and two meals. It sure helps with the grocery budget.

I have started picking and cleaning herbs and putting them in the sun room to air dry. Hopefully I will get the bulk of this done before fall arrives instead of rushing to finish like I normally do.

DH's bell peppers are really starting to come on. I normally chop a bunch up and freeze them so I have them for soups and casseroles during the winter.

I thought I'd post what our menus were this past week:

Sunday brunch: scrambled eggs with onions, bell pepper, Avocado, mushrooms, and oregano, sliced tomatoes, fruit salad

Sunday supper: Italian wedding soup (from freezer), applesauce

Monday lunch: Salad with cherry tomatoes

Monday supper: tuna cakes, risotto, sliced tomatoes, fruit salad

Tuesday lunch: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sliced tomatoes

Tuesday supper: Leftover beef roast from the previous week, mashed potatoes, carrots, sliced tomatoes, fruit salad.

Wednesday: sandwiches with thin sliced chicken and cheese, potato salad, sliced tomatoes, applesauce

Wednesday supper: spaghetti with homemade spaghetti sauce, green beans, cottage cheese, fruit salad

Thursday lunch: we went out!

Thursday supper: scrambled eggs, toast, sliced tomatoes, fruit salad

Friday lunch: Deli meat sandwiches, sliced tomatoes

Friday supper: thinly sliced chicken breast floured and seasoned and browned in olive oil, mashed potatoes, bell pepper, sliced tomatoes, peaches for dessert

Saturday brunch: we went out to a local restaurant

Saturday supper: chicken stir fry with rice, sliced tomatoes, fruit salad.

Food Follies

August 9th, 2020 at 07:40 pm

Our pantry is getting pretty full. No complaints either! DH's tomatoes have really been producing, but have sort of slowed down in the past week. We had a few days of cooler temps and I think the plants took a break. But that was fine. I started canning a few weeks ago when things were going hot and heavy and I think I have more then enough tomatoes and spaghetti sauce made for the winter. What a blessing that is!

Our neighbors shared some of their cucumbers so I'm going to make a few jars of sweet pickles and then give them some. It's nice when there are good neighbors, not just ones that share, but just nice people who realize that there is something about being kind to each other. Last winter I gave them some jars of green beans and spaghetti sauce and asked they return the jars and rings. They did. We've been passing things back and forth ever since -- baked goods, vegetables, and it's really nice.

I have a friend who lives a couple states away and she said she found a salsa recipe that is a little beyond what she considered the norm: it also incorporates cucumbers. I had never heard of that. But, I Googled it, and there are a couple of recipes like that. It's nice to learn something new. I don't make salsa, so I don't think I'll try it, but nevertheless, I learned something.

My state, Illinois, seems to continue to have large numbers of the virus cases, so I don't look for our church to be able to have our church bazaar the first Saturday in December. It breaks my heart. We bake cookies and sell them by the pound as well as other sweet treats. I guess I'll bake a lot of stuff this year and give as gifts.

I was discussing with a friend some of the meals I've made this week and she was teasing me about my using the Crockpot so much. I guess I really do. I used it three times this week. Twice because I would be canning and it was easier to just have supper in the cooker than to have to stop everything and take things off the stove to cook supper. I have read some of the blogs where people really like their Instapots. I haven't succumbed to one yet. But, I can see the draw.

Since we have been eating a lot of fresh foods from the garden, our grocery bills haven't been as high as they were in the past. That's a nice relief. We normally spend over $100 each week and the past three I've spent less than $60.



Tomatoes and Teeth

August 2nd, 2020 at 09:11 pm

No crystal ball needed here...I can see more tomato canning in my future!

Not that I mind. It sort of gives me a little bit of security knowing I am using some of our garden to provide for us this winter. I also use some of our canning as presents at Christmas. Fortunately I have some friends who like home grown, home canned produce. After awhile, what do you honestly give to people who basically buy what they want? Especially when they offer to buy some of your canned goods from you? I would never accept money, so I often wrap up some for Christmas and they are happy and so am I.

DH has given away tomatoes to 6 different families just this week. He wound up planting more than he usually does. Due to our shelter at home early this spring, he prepared his garden a little earlier and some of his plants were nipped by frost although we covered them. He then bought some others to make sure the original ones were to be replaced, except they did OK once he cut away some of the nipped parts. He planted the new ones too and I guess we are in tomato heaven!

July was a very expensive month for us with DH's tooth problems. Two regular dental appointments to figure out which tooth was the problem and what to do, a root canal, a temporary crown, and soon to be permanent crown. I have already told DH he may be crowned, but I am not practicing my curtsey nor am I referring to him as "his royal highness. " OK, a bit of levity there, sorry! I also had my regular check up as did DH so our young dentist should be getting some extra help with her school loans from us!

I worry as I see our Covid cases starting to rise again in Illinois. We wear masks everywhere. My hands are so dry from washing them so much and using hand sanitizer when we are out. I hope the cases will plateau, but then, they are testing more people, so I'm sure there will be more cases as more are tested. Some friends who were sick in January and February with respiratory things now wonder if they had been some of the first to have had the virus. We can pray that things will soon get better.



Homemade, home grown, home canned are not free

July 27th, 2020 at 10:26 pm

I apologize in advance for this rant. I'm tired and hot and frustrated.

I enjoy either crocheting, loom knitting, or doing embroidery. Many of the items I make take time and materials. Materials that are not cheap. I try to make individual gifts for people that I think might like them. I also work on hats and scarves and dish cloths for my church's knitting group that we donate to area nonprofits.

My husband took up vegetable gardening late in life. He has always loved gardening, but never thought he could grow vegetables. I suggested he start with a couple of tomato plants, then he would get onions, then bell peppers, and herbs. We don't grow our own from seeds, so most of the stuff we have to buy as plants or in the case of onion sets. The only thing we do get from year to year is garlic; a friend gave us some starts a few years ago and when we pick it, I save enough back to plant more. As many of you know, a garden is not free food. You buy the seeds or plants, you spend a lot of time working the soil, you fertilize and water and weed. You worry about too much sun, too little sun, too much rain, too little rain, too much wind, hail, and varmints eating your stuff. It's a lot of industry, but for some, it is worth it.

I started canning tomatoes a few years ago because DH got a good crop. I had to buy jars, rings, lids, as well as the canning supplies. As DH has started planting more plants, I had to buy more supplies. Granted, I haven't bought many new jars as far as quarts and pints because I have really stocked up on them, but I do have quite a bit of money invested because I can a lot of things besides tomatoes.

I am absolutely shocked when someone claims that the tomatoes I canned were free. I asked what do you mean, free? He said that they came from your garden. Yeah, the garden DH spent lots of time working on not to mention the water, fertilizer as well as tomato cages and the cost of the plants themselves. I said canning them wasn't free either, and it was hot, messy work. It means bleaching my sink before I start, bleaching it after, and washing and sterilizing jars that I have washed before, but you can't be too careful. Then this person whom I had stupidly given some jelly I made said well, you didn't spend much on the jelly. I said, have you priced what goes into jelly. He had no idea. And I had to beg this person to return my jars because he didn't think they cost that much and felt he could just pitch them!

DH planted lavender and I made some jelly. Not a ton, but I wanted to try the recipe. One gal who has culinary training and is always throwing in my face she's a chef said she'd take a jar off my hands. I wasn't offering her any. I was making conversation that I had tried a new recipe.

Last year I canned so much, I ran out of room for storing, so I emptied shelves and stacked up dishes and stuff to put the stuff away. I can't say we would have had the best and most varied diet, but when the grocery stores had empty shelves, we had plenty of applesauce, green beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, and jellies.

So, I wonder why people think homemade, home grown, or home canned are free?

Happy Friday!

July 10th, 2020 at 10:30 pm

The week is starting to wind down. DH is out in the yard. He's mowing since it is a tad bit cooler and less humid. We had horrible heat and humidity last weekend and most of this week. He spent some time watering his garden before the mowing and we had a few tomatoes to pick! Most were cherry, but homegrown is homegrown, right?

There's something gratifying about going to the garden and getting a few things to use. I pulled up some onions that I'm going to use for a meal. I will be getting some herbs to add the spaghetti sauce tonight. It's my canned sauce, but I think fresh Basil tends to add to it although when I made it, I had cooked it with Basil.

Yesterday the looming group church met for the first time in months. There was a small group, we sat at a table each so it was like more like ten feet apart, we wore masks, used hand sanitizer before we sat down and used it again on the way out. The church hired a lady to come in and sanitizer the tables and chairs for every group that uses the room. But, it was so fun to catch up and visit with people. Many have been working on hats and scarves and they brought them. Our totals are as follows:

Hats: 585
Scarves: 223
Baby hats: 54

I don't think we will make as many hats this year as we did last year, but we aren't in a contest nor are we trying to break records. Another church had brought us a huge amount of dish cloth cotton so two of us have been making dish cloths. We are going to donate the lot to a local food pantry to put in their Christmas baskets. This year I think we will have enough for every basket to get one. I know it's not a big thing, but I would think if I were on the receiving end, it would be nice to get a little surprise like that.

DH has had some tooth problems, so we are trying to have foods that don't aggravate his tooth. Lots of soft stuff. Glad I canned applesauce and tomato sauce last year. I know any money we are saving on food now will be more than taken and then some as he has a root canal and a crown, but that's why we save on other things.

I went to the Chobani site and did the "contact us" and asked for coupons. They are very generous with coupons and encourage me to write in each month. Talk about wanting to keep customer loyalty.

It's been great that our library has opened up. Not entirely, but I can still go and pick out books. I missed reading when the library was closed. I hate to buy books for my personal reading. I tend to read a lot and don't want to buy books that I will only read once. I finished book #58 last night.

We went to some thrift stores. I found a box of nice greeting cards for next to nothing. They were older, but that is fine. Made in the U.S.A. Yay!

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. DH is almost done with the yard and I have the biggest share of the house cleaned. A good way to start the weekend off!

Going From Broke

July 7th, 2020 at 04:15 pm

It's hot and I don't handle heat well. DH went to the mall to walk so I actually had control of the TV remote. I was messing around and saw a show about paying off debt on Crackle. Crackle is a free streaming service so I figured I would check it out.

It was pretty interesting. Kind of reminded me a little of Gail Vaz Oxlade's "Till Debt Do Us Part." I wanted to check out the host who is CEO of Chegg which I had never heard of before. Apparently Chegg is some sort of educational resource for folks so it makes sense the person wants to help 20 some year olds with their debt, especially those with student loans.

Here is the website for the show and it looks like there are different sites to help people with information: https://www.goingfrombroke.info/?fbclid=IwAR1DHCSs9TemEo58GMFlpMX2FoRlIfplR6yOKhlXhohc1vVHrd6jHDTQgZA

Other than that, not much new or exciting. DH has been seeing the dentist and there is a root canal and a crown in his very expensive future. I'm reading book #58 so far this year besides doing the crocheting and looming for church and keeping up with housework around here. We've had a few cherry tomatoes from DH's garden and some onions.

Pantry Procrastination

June 27th, 2020 at 09:03 pm

There are things that I tend to procrastinate about. One is the kitchen pantry. I keep telling myself that I will straighten it up, and then I don't.

Well, today was the day and I did. I had straightened it up when we were first locked down, but I'm sad to admit that a lot of times I tend to put things where it is easiest instead of putting things away like I should. I always mean well, but...

Anyway, I had been saving a few things here and there. One thing was those mesh bags that fruit comes in. I had enough to make a scrubby out of them. Hubby was laughing at me as I was putting it together wondering what I was doing with them and I said getting ready to make a scrubby. It took me about 20 minutes to cut and trim the labels off the bags, but got it put together and with a little thread, sewed it into a nice fluffy one. Basically something out of nothing.

I am a jar collector. I like buying things in glass jars because I like the option of using them later. I used some of them as well as some canning jars to put things like oatmeal and popcorn in. It does help the pantry look a lot better.

We haven't been able to use our reusable grocery bags and we have a ton of plastic bags. I asked this week at both Aldi and Kroger and they said we can bring our own bags in. Kroger said we have to bag our own groceries if we do, but that's fine. It's always a gamble when you have them bag them because sometimes you get a kid who doesn't understand that cold stuff should be all put together. I have a lined bag for that and prefer to use it. So, hopefully I can recycle the plastic bags somewhere.

So, hopefully I will do a little better, at least for awhile, in keeping things straightened up in the pantry. I'm just glad I have a small one. At our other house we didn't have a pantry or much storage. I always drool over the food network shows where the cooks have a walk in pantry, but maybe it's a good thing I don't have one...more pantry to clean!



Thought I'd say howdy!

June 10th, 2020 at 09:53 pm

I haven't blogged for awhile because I simply don't have too much to report. Just doing stuff around here and sheltering in place. I finished everything on my initial to do list so I'm starting another. Many of the things on my original list were things I had to do outside. I don't like working outside due to allergies and I get sunburned very easily, even with sunblock. So, when I finished everything I needed to do outside, I was ready to celebrate. It included painting the shed door, painting the sunroom door, and of course cleaning my car which I wrote about earlier.

I have my year's worth of green beans canned. I do it every April and May. Usually I can get fresh green beans on sale, but not so this year. Only one week did the grocers have them on sale and that was when things were still wild, so I didn't want to buy too many and look like a hoarder.

I have continued to crochet and loom scarves and hats for our knitting group even though we haven't been able to meet. Hopefully things will calm down before long and we will be able to meet.

I've come to the point where I make a bunch of lists. Maybe it's because I need to feel like I've accomplished something.

Our library finally decided to offer curbside pick up, only books they have, no interlibrary loan. I checked out 6 books last Friday and have read 4 of them already. I missed being able to read because I had basically read through what I had at home.

I wish I could report we are saving money big time, but it seems like groceries have gone up. Plus, when we do get something curbside, DH wants to give a bigger tip because he knows the restaurants and servers are struggling. We aren't going broke by any means and we figure they need the extra money.

I have only ordered once online for something and it was frustrating because it was to be shipped in 2-3 days (I paid for shipping) and it took over 2 weeks. Fortunately it wasn't anything that would spoil, but it was discouraging.

Our thrift stores opened up about a week ago with limits to how many could come in and we have to wear masks. We went through the 4 that were open. I did score a brand new case of wide mouth canning jars for $6 (name brand) and thought that was worth it. DH found a like new shirt he wanted. So, that made it fun at least that we found something.

Well, just thought I'd pop in and say howdy! Hope you are all doing well.

Just a little catch up

May 24th, 2020 at 06:57 pm

It's been a busy week as I tick things off my to do list.

One thing I've been waiting to do until it was a decent day with no rain is clean up the car. We had road tar on the bottom half of it, probably from the pot hole filler they put in. We have so many pot holes, they are filling them and even when you try to avoid them, you still wind up running over some of it. So, yesterday afternoon was spent working on the car. About 4 hours later, it looks a lot better inside and out since we vacuumed and put some of that Armor All stuff on the plastic inside and out and washed and waxed the exterior. It's 7 years old and other than a few paint chips here and there, it isn't faring too badly.

DH worked some in the garden too. We had so many gloomy, rainy days, he was very worried about his vegetable garden. We've had some sun the past couple of days and I think the plants are excited.

We were hoping our peonies were going to open so we could put them on graves for Memorial Day. Sadly, only a couple have.

I asked DH to plant radishes earlier this spring and he did so, reluctantly. Well, we've had a few ready to eat and I pointed out how healthy they are for us, now DH can hardly wait to get more planted since we've eaten all that are ready. Funny how when you have to stay home and not go out, your taste buds appreciate different things.

Since we do not have room to grow green beans, I buy fresh ones from the store and can them. I'm about done canning beans for the upcoming year. I also decided to try my hand at making dill pickles. I've never made them before. DH doesn't like them, but I do, so I bought a couple of cucumbers to work with. I was pleased with the outcome. Here is the original recipe:

Dill Pickles

8 pounds of small pickling cucumbers
4 cups distilled vinegar
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c Kosher salt
4 c water
3 T pickling spice
7 heads fresh dill
7 cloves garlic

Place cucumbers in large pot and cover with ice. Let sit for 2 hours. Drain and pat dry. Place all other ingredients in sauce pan and let simmer for 15 minutes. Add to large pot with cucumbers and cover. Put cucumbers in sterilized jars. You can hot water can them if you wish.

I of course did not make this much because I wanted to try making them and I didn't have fresh dill; I used dry so I used less, but they are pretty good and will satisfy my dill pickle craving I have every so often. I guess I continue to be astounded how expensive pickle products are. So, I made 2 1/2 pints of dill pickles for myself for a little more than $2 since I had the vinegar, sugar, dill, and garlic. Figure that is a good way to save money.


Planning for Christmas Presents

May 17th, 2020 at 09:42 pm

As Ceejay wrote, everyone's life has been touched by the pandemic and everyone's is a little different. Yes, indeed.

DH has put in a little bigger garden as far as tomatoes this year. He had 18 last year. He has 20 this year. We've been enjoying green onions and radishes so far and a little bit of lettuce. Our cool, damp, gloomy weather has not helped. I sure hope we get some sun this week.

I took stock of my canning pantry. I noticed I was about out of sweet relish. We don't use tons of it, but I like to have some on hand for things like egg salad, tuna salad, tuna cakes, etc. So, while at Aldi I bought some cucumbers and some bell peppers. I used the green onions I had on hand. I made 2 pints and 4 half pints. The two 2 pints will be enough for us (I still have a little left from last year) and I plan on giving the half pints as part of Christmas presents. There's a meme on Facebook of people wrapping up rolls of toilet paper for Christmas presents. Funny, but a little of sad truth. I thought, perhaps I could make some food baskets for Christmas gifts this year. In the past I have shared some of our canned goods at Christmas with a couple of people, but thought maybe I could do a little more this year.

I bought some grapes and after using some for chicken salad and fruit salad, I thought I could make some grape juice and make some grape jelly. I have the grape juice made. I plan to make the jelly later this week. Again, a jar for me and the rest for Christmas gifts.

I have already crocheted a few Christmas presents. I am working on a table runner for a friend that I am embroidering. Fortunately I had everything I needed. I guess I could order stuff, but at this point, I don't need anything.

So, anyone planning for Christmas yet?

Cool and damp

May 12th, 2020 at 05:09 pm

Cool and damp is our weather. To be honest, with that and the gloom, it is very discouraging. The garden isn't doing well, and twice we have had to cover plants because of a chance of frost. Yes, we knew taking a chance planting stuff so early, but DH needed the garden to help him keep busy. He walks about every day in addition to the gardening.

We did get some of our first radishes on Friday. What a delight. My leaf lettuce still isn't big enough to pick.

One of our local grocery stores has had fresh green beans on sale so I bought some and started canning. It's funny, no one seems to be making a run for these so I don't feel like I'm hoarding or anything. Glad to start building up my pantry. But one thing I realized is that canning supplies are starting to dwindle. I don't need jars or rings, but do need some lids. I bought some the other day at the grocery and then at a farm supply store. The grocery has really raised the price on them. A friend said he went to get a freezer and that every appliance store in town has them back ordered so I guess people are gearing up and trying to have stuff on hand.

I was listening to a news report yesterday while I worked in the kitchen. One person interviewed said her family has fixed so many things and cooked at home like never before and said when things open up, she isn't sure they will go back to eating out as much as they have. I chuckled over that. I wonder how much they cooked before. I think most of us on SA cooked a lot before and treated eating out as a treat.

I certainly those of us with gardens have a great gardening year.

Weather and groceries

May 3rd, 2020 at 09:30 pm

Our weather pattern has been weird. We get one or two decent sunny days and then 4 or 5 rainy, dreary, cool days. Not good for the garden, that's for sure.

DH has decided to try and plant a few more tomato plants and when he was digging in the yard found a wire. He quit immediately and will call about having Julie come out and make sure it isn't anything bad. We can't see where the wire goes. Doesn't seem to be coming from our house or the neighbors nor does it seem to be a part of the electrical boxes. Better to be safe than sorry.

I have been trying to get a few projects done around here, like everyone else. I decided I can officially start on making some Christmas presents. I already had the items, just need to work on them. It gives me hope anyway.

I have run out of library books and basically am rereading some books we have here. A friend left a sack of books on my doorstep, but I have read them already and it was too soon to try and read them again. Some of them were the ones I lent her.

Is it just me, or are you seeing an increase in your grocery spending? I am finding some things are going up. We aren't eating anymore than we did. Don't want to get on that snacking bandwagon. I think part of it is the stores aren't running big sales either. Guess they are just trying to keep up with demand. So, we aren't spending as much doing other things, but are spending a bit more for the groceries. Guess it will even out.

Are you making a list?

April 25th, 2020 at 07:41 pm

After watching the news, both local and national, and reading stuff online, I often wonder how the food supply is going to hold up. There were stories where dairy farms were dumping milk and Florida farmers were plowing under crops because they could not get their products to market. More recently many of the meat processing plants have had to close due to Covid 19 cases and I read an article in the Chicago Tribune last night where some of the places that do the actual butchering are also closing. I'm not saying let's go hoard food, but do you think it is likely we will have a shortage in the next few months?

I always try to keep a full pantry and freezer, but decided the other day to be a little more organized and made a list of things I feel I need to have on hand. Most of the stuff I already have, but I figure it was a good incentive for me to check to make sure.

Pantry Staples

Dry Goods:
Rice
Risotto
Spaghetti
Macaroni
Noodles
Cous Cous
Grits
Flour
Sugar
Brown Sugar
Corn Meal
Popcorn
Dry Milk
Saltines
Oyster Crackers
Other crackers
Chex Mix
Snack foods like potato chips
Dried beans
Oatmeal

Condiments/Extras:
Pepper
Salt
Turmeric
Ginger
Cumin Paprika
Ketchup
Mustard
Olive oil
Canola oil
Worcestershire Sauce
Condensed milk
Soy Sauce
Vinegar
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Cocoa Powder
Yeast
Lentils
Mayonnaise
Molasses
Honey
Pickles
Relish
Peanut Butter
Pudding
Vanilla
Herbs: Oregano, Basil, Sage, Rosemary, Thyme, Celery Seed, Garlic
Corn Starch
Coffee
Tea
Lemon Juice


Canned Goods:
Soups
Green beans
Tomato Sauce
Tomato Paste
Spaghetti Sauce
Corn
Sweet Potatoes
Canned fruits
Mushrooms
Applesauce
Jellies/Jams
Beans
Chicken broth
Chocolate Chips
Tuna
Chicken

Dried Fruits/Nuts:
Prunes
Apricots
Cashews
Peanuts

Frozen:
Hash Browns
Tator Tots
Ice Cream
Fruit/Vegetables
Meats

Anyway, here's my list. Is your similar?

Sunny Sunday Sort of

April 19th, 2020 at 07:30 pm

After a cool, dreary week, it has been nice to see the sun yesterday and today. Well, so far today. It's supposed to get cloudy as a cold front moves in with a chance of showers, but right now it is bright and looks springy.

DH is impatiently waiting until the chance of frost passes so he can start to plant part of his garden. We picked up some bell pepper and herbs as well as a few tomato plants before the governor has said lawn and garden places can only sell online or do curbside service. So, we move the plants inside on cold nights and then take them back outside when it is nice. We are getting our exercise anyway by doing this.

I'm impatient about the lettuce I planted way over a month ago. It's been so cold and gloomy that it has come up, but not much else. I have been covering it at night when it gets cold trying to keep it from getting frostbitten. It will probably surprise me and get big all of a sudden and I'm looking forward to when that happens.

We received our stimulus money and we let it sit in our checking account a couple of days and then moved it into savings. Right now we are doing OK money wise. I did order some whipped honey online this week and did a small Kohls order for underwear, but other than groceries and paying the regular bills, haven't been spending a lot. Other than these items, we haven't need anything. Just waiting and staying home, hoping this will soon pass.

We've seen things get a little better at the grocery stores the past couple of weeks. We shop at Aldi and Kroger. It's funny though, Kroger was totally out of flour and sugar last week. We didn't need any, just happened to go down that aisle to get something else and noticed the bare shelves. But Aldi had both. Kroger honestly had regular size packages of name brand tp too and Aldi had no tp. So, I guess it depends on the store and clientele as to what is available and what isn't. I was happy to be able to buy the loaves of bread we like. We haven't been able to for about 4 weeks.

Hope everyone is doing OK in the SA community. Hope you are all hanging in there!

Happy Easter and Are You Planning a Garden?

April 12th, 2020 at 10:35 pm

Happy Easter!

We watched our church's Facebook streaming service. I will say our Pastor and his helpers have done a good job trying to keep things normal and uplifting.

I haven't really had much to write about. Just the day to day stuff. We've been staying around the house like everyone else. Grumbling about the neighbors who don't follow the shelter in place orders who are running and visiting and doing whatever they darn well please.

Like many, DH has been working a lot in the yard. We bought this house about 22 years ago this month. So, sometime after that he planted what were labeled "dwarf" burning bushes. I tease him it's a good thing he didn't buy full size ones since they are over 7 foot tall. Well, one of his projects has been to trim them down. What a chore. I helped him as much as I could. Due to allergies and the fact I sunburn so easily even with sun screen, I don't usually do much outside. But we got both trimmed and the branches cut up and put in lawn bags. Then we had a wind storm with big branches and DH had to deal with those. I'm sure the lawn waste guy wasn't happy to come by our house. But we are not allowed to burn, so this is the way we have to get rid of these items.

I planted some lettuce in two different pots, two different plantings. Both have come up and if we had decent weather this week, I bet one would be ready to use. But we are supposed to get really cold weather this week with a chance of snow. I covered the pots up this afternoon because there is a chance of storms and then possible freeze.

DH planted onions, radishes, and lettuce almost two weeks ago. His radishes and onions are starting to peep through. Hopefully we won't have extreme temperatures. He's worrying about getting tomato and bell pepper plants the first of May. Hopefully the place where he does will have them and be open.

I read that many folks who haven't planted gardens are thinking about it due to food shortages. I see Miracle Gro has an ad about gardening and suggests planting a "Victory Garden" like people had during World War II. Are you planning to plant a garden this year?

Just an update

March 26th, 2020 at 06:41 pm

The weather here in Central Illinois has been nothing short of gloomy until yesterday. We actually had an afternoon of sun after a morning of pea soup fog. DH got a chance to go out and work in the yard which delights him. He found two baby bunnies in the front yard. They've since moved which is good. He will be planning his garden and hopefully when it warms up, planting a garden and he doesn't like bunnies to use it as their personal buffet.

Illinois has been ordered to shelter in place since Saturday night. Two days ago I suggested to the Facebook group that our subdivision has that maybe we could do a zoo with stuffed animals for kids to see in windows since yesterday was supposed to be nice. One lady took the suggestion and ran with it so to speak...she made a list with street names and which animals, and it was nice seeing families going out with the checklist looking for the "zoo animals." This was not my original idea; I saw it online somewhere else. The best thing was people who normally never say anything would shout a hello if you were in the yard.

I guess one bad thing is I can see some neighbors who are not following the shelter in place order. People can still go to work if their place of employment is considered essential and that's not what I'm talking about. It's seeing people going to other people's homes and having people over or going shopping for non essential stuff. It angers me because it means they are doing this and however many other folks are doing it which is going to extend the outbreak as well as the sheltering in home.

I've kept busy doing cleaning and some crafting. I don't have the ability to make masks. So, I've worked on other items for donations later when this passes.

I think our grocery spending has increased some as some items have sort of increased. Last week there was so little bread at the store we wound up paying $4.50 for a loaf of organic. Granted, it was tasty, but, that over $2.50 more than what we would pay for a loaf. Last week the grocery stores were slammed and there were empty shelves in so many areas. When we went this week, there were many items there that were not there last week, including toilet paper. We didn't need any so we passed. Figured let those who were without get it. It was weird seeing the yogurt aisle riddled though. We eat yogurt for breakfast and although we found some for our breakfasts, not the kind we normally get, but oh, well. Guess it means we are having to be more flexible. As we walked by, we saw the ice cream case was pretty empty. I wonder if many of us will have put on weight once this is over. LOL

Hope you are all staying safe.

Cheap Eats

January 22nd, 2020 at 09:11 pm

Do you ever sit and figure out how much your meal cost you? I don't do it by person since it is just the two of us, but I often estimate how much we spent on what we consumed as we sit down to eat.

Last night, for example, was fairly reasonable. It was the leftover pork loin roast, leftover green beans, and I had two sweet potatoes I baked, and then cottage cheese, sliced cherry tomatoes, and fruit salad. I always try to divide stuff by the meals, not taking the whole initial cost of the pork loin roast for the first meal. I think it cost us around $7, and that is counting the fact I brewed ice tea too. That is for the two of us. Not $7 each.

Of course some meals are more expensive. I fixed wings the other night and I think the package of wings was a little under $7 and that was before I made a coating for them or added other things to go with. But still, eating at home is far cheaper than eating out, at least I think it is.

I have a friend who brags about finding cheap meals and when he talks about them, he's going to fast food. I guess if you eat off the dollar menu or whatever they have, it might be cheaper, but I can't imagine it being cheaper since most of the stuff is pretty small. Not to mention, there's a reason these items are cheaper, many are made with flavorings and preservatives. He's always talking about all his health issues and as much as I would like to say perhaps a better diet would help, I don't. I guess I'm a chicken.

He made some comments about all my canning. Granted, I could probably find canned green beans cheaper than buying fresh green beans and canning them myself, but I hope to keep canning them to get away from the salt and preservatives. DH had a good tomato crop this year and I made a lot of spaghetti sauce as well as canning some of the tomatoes. I have used quite a bit of the stuff I've canned already. This friend said he couldn't believe we would use even half of it before the next summer. There's something pretty exciting to opening the cabinet and see the jars lined up, ready to be used.

Tonight we are having pork chops. Our Kroger has a little deli counter like where you can choose the meat you want. I buy one thick boneless pork chop and then slice it in half and that makes enough of a meal for both of us. I find it more reasonable than buying the package of pork chops. Plus, it is probably healthier for us to eat less meat. I think our meal tonight will run around $7 again. I don't think that is too bad. Lunch was around $10 today. I buy a special tea to make that although it has a good, sweet flavor, it doesn't have any sugar or sweetener in it. Still far cheaper than eating out and we had plenty to eat -- soup, sandwich, applesauce, and tea.

So, what do you think -- do you do the cheap eats at home or find cheap eats elsewhere?

Busy Week

January 12th, 2020 at 08:36 pm

It's been a busy week, but not horrific. We celebrated my birthday last Sunday and had a wonderful dinner in a town about an hour away. It's always a challenge because we often get horrible weather around my birthday, but things were mild. It was nice and the food was delicious.

We had a good server. We think she was a college student. She was efficient, but not overly friendly. Since we are basically older folks, I wonder if most servers see us as those folks who eat early and want a bargain and are bad tippers. DH always leaves a generous tip, especially if we get good service. We know they are struggling and need good tips since most restaurants do not pay minimum wage or more. We chuckled on our way out as she was shocked when she saw the money (DH pays cash) and that he said keep the change and it was far more than she expected. We know one couple that no matter what the bill, they leave around two or three dollars. Most of the time, that isn't even 15% and they are the kind that want special treatment and often try to wheedle a free cup of coffee or dessert.

We had our knitting group meet this week. We are up to 272 hats already. We had a lady from another church come and give us a bunch of yarn that her church can't use. Her church makes lap afghans and they use just regular yarn, not the sports yarn, or thick yarn, or any of the fancy yarns. She also brought a bunch of dish cloth cotton yarn. I used a lot of that to make dish cloths to donate to one of the food pantries to put in their Christmas baskets last year. Another lady saw the dish cloth yarn and said she would help me make dish cloths too so that's a good thing.

Last night we met with two other couples for supper. We have been taking turns hosting. The hosts provide the main dish and one or two other things and then we all bring a couple of dishes. We feasted on roast beef, potatoes, carrots, green beans, homemade French bread, cherry pie, and apple cake. We had a delightful time until it was time to leave. It has iced and then snowed an inch over it. Driving home was not a pleasure, but we did get home and were grateful for our safety.

A couple of weeks ago I fixed a beef roast (one of the buy one get one free offers Kroger had awhile back) and had roast and broth left over. I made a large pot of vegetable soup. DH asked me if I was planning on feeding an Army. I said no, but I wanted to use up the roast and broth and the carrots, plus then I had other vegetables in the fridge that needed to be used up and so it took off from there. We had two meals from the soup and I froze the rest. Meal #3 is tonight -- I have it heating up in a Crockpot. There's still a package in the freezer for meal #4.

Recently I was doing some of my amateur genealogy and ran across a person's email on the findagrave site for a person who may or may not be a distant relative. We have since been corresponding back and forth and sharing what we have learned. She lives in Nebraska and is about my age. It's pretty cool overall and we are distantly related. That was like getting a present for me. I love doing research and when I find something like that, it just thrills me.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Odds and ends and Snickerdoodle Bread

December 17th, 2019 at 08:09 pm

I'm happy to report that DH caught a kid who was shoveling the driveway for his girlfriend's parents and asked him if he would shovel ours. He said yes and wanted to refuse payment. DH said no, you work, you get paid. What a relief.

Just finished cleaning house. I know I'm probably anal, but I have a schedule of sorts to clean and it helps me keep on top of stuff. I have an allergy to dust so that means I need to keep things pretty clean. I'm not thrilled with the process of cleaning, but sure like it when I'm done. We received a little more snow last night, but I could clean it off today. I also dug out around the mailbox since it seemed like it was pretty deep. Our mailbox is near the road.

I was going through papers and found one of those memorial book marks for a great uncle that had his obituary. Since I've been doing some genealogy, I was thrilled with finding it. I was doing some research yesterday afterwards and may have located a very distant relative in Colorado. We promised to email after Christmas and see what we can come up with. That's pretty exciting for me!

I just pulled 5 mini loaves of Snickerdoodle bread out of the oven. I think this is the last of the baking for gifts. I was gob smacked last week at Aldi -- they were totally out of white sugar. I was not out, but I try to keep a bag in reserve. Guess lots of people were baking for the holidays. Anyway, I'm going to post the recipe for Snickerdoodle bread. It calls for cinnamon chips and none of our stores locally have them so I have to buy them at an Amish bulk food store in a small town about 30 minutes away.

Snickerdoodle bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2 1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
3/4 cup sour cream
1 package of cinnamon chips

topping: 3 Tablespoons of sugar
3 Tablespoons of cinnamon

Cream butter, sugar, salt, and cinnamon until fluffy. Add vanilla and sour cream and and mix well. Mix flour and baking powder in. Add cinnamon chips and stir in batter. Spoon batter into buttered loaf pans until 2/3 full. Mix the topping mix and sprinkle over the batter. Bake until toothpick comes our clean. For a mini loaf pan, between 35-40 minutes. For a larger loaf man, closer to 50-60 minutes.

Crafting, Hats, and So On

November 17th, 2019 at 07:58 pm

Looking back on the past few days, it seems like it has been a whirlwind of lots of little things.

We made some more hat deliveries. One is to a school that apparently is often forgotten, but has some high poverty kids. The secretaries and principal couldn't thank us enough. We also gave some hats and scarves to a ladies' homeless shelter and the people working there were thrilled. We have one more school to deliver to and that will be the 2018 hat season finished. We met Thursday and have started counting and we already have 91 hats completed and over 11 scarves. We have a local group that sends Christmas gifts to soldiers, many local, and we are going to make hats in the colors they suggested for them. I find if we add different groups, it keeps things interesting.

DH had his second cataract surgery on Tuesday. We never dreamed we would get such bad winter weather this early in November, but we did...very cold, snow that hit warm ground that then froze. Driving him to the surgery was not fun...I was the proverbial old lady driver poking along. I didn't have a death grip on the steering wheel, but I was not going to be hurried or rushed. We got there, he had his surgery, and we arrived home, safe and sound after lots of praying and white knuckles. Usually the surgery center is like a revolving door, but I guess they had lots cancel Tuesday morning. DH was the last one of the three that still had an appointment. But, it is over other than doing the eye drops and so far things seem to be going well.

While DH was resting when we got home, I tried to find some quiet activities. My mom used to take two dish cloths and sew them to make what looks like a jacket. It isn't really and you use three stitches to hold them together and include a poem about don't get excited, don't get misled, these are not for you, but your dishes instead. I made ten of them and am donating them for our Christmas bazaar. I also started crocheting these little red bags with white trim that I'll put some Hershey kisses in for Santa's treat bag. They might sell too for the bazaar. We normally have quite a few crafters as vendors, but I guess this year with all the shows and bazaars, we didn't have as many. We have a cookie walk that is the big draw since we sell cookies by the pound and people tend to load up for the holidays. I see lots of baking in my future.

Other than groceries, we haven't spent much. I've been buying stuff when it goes on sale either for the pantry or freezer or for the upcoming baking. Most of my Christmas is done as far as shopping and making. I have one more item to finish, but have to wait for a bright day since it is counted cross stitch. I've noticed as I get older, my eyes need the natural light for cross stitch.

GWTW Dinner and other tidbits

November 10th, 2019 at 09:18 pm

Last night we had our "Gone with the Wind" dinner. We had planned for it to be earlier, but life gets in the way. We had a delightful time and the food was great. Our final menu was:

fried chicken
mashed potatoes with pan gravy
green beans
fried cabbage
cornbread
blackberry cobbler
sweet potato pie

I looked up some trivia and we had a lot of laughs over some of these isolated facts such as there were 1400 actresses who auditioned for the role of Scarlett O'Hara.

One of the things that was brought up was how fun it was to host these dinners and how having everyone bring something meant the host didn't have to spend all day cooking a full meal, but just the main entree. It certainly is more reasonable than going out to eat, that's for sure.


We did our first hat drop off to one of our schools. I invited the local weather man from the TV station and he came with us and talked to some of the kids about the importance of wearing hats and gloves in bad weather. I took some photos of him with the classes and he showed them on his weather segment that night. I was pretty elated after we left and one of the teachers sent me a photo of the kids with the hats. We have two more schools to take hats to. One is tomorrow and the other is in a week. We also want to give hats and scarves to a woman's shelter as well as veterans.

With the colder weather, we tend to have more soup. We usually eat out on Friday nights as our date night. Guess we didn't date the past two -- I pulled soup out of the freezer two weeks ago and made soup this week. There's enough soup from Friday's batch to have at least one more meal. With DH's eye surgery and the fact it gets darker so quickly, he was happy to stay home. I don't mind either. There are only a few places we will even frequent because some of the restaurants in our town have had bad reviews from the local health department. And it isn't just once...some make the same mistakes over and over and they are major. I had food poisoning from a restaurant a number of years ago and I never want to repeat that experience.






Potpourri

October 26th, 2019 at 10:07 pm

It's a windy, rainy day here in Central Illinois. A perfect tea drinking day in fact. I like these kind of days as long as there is no storms and no flooding. I think they make me appreciate the really nice days. I have a beef roast in the Crockpot with potatoes and carrots and it is an especially good day for such a meal.

Life has been busy. DH had cataract surgery on Tuesday on his right eye. It's been an adventure since he has worn glasses for over 67 years and seeing distance has been so bad, that he could barely read the alarm clock next to his head. He could read it the next day standing 4 foot away. He cannot read close up and the eye doctor doesn't want him to wear his glasses so his left eye is still weak and he struggles with that. He has surgery scheduled in less than three weeks for it and I imagine he will wind up getting reading glasses, but wow, what a miracle this surgery is.

A couple of weeks ago I made some apple sauce and some apple peel jelly. Usually when I try a new recipe, I always follow the recipe exactly. I just thought it would be fun to try something that you make from something you would not use anyway. Anyway, I gave a jar of it to a friend as well as a jar of apple juice. He criticized the jelly because it wasn't rock solid. Well, it isn't. If I make it again, I will include more pectin. But, it is still usable and I have been eating some one my toast. It really hurt my feelings that he had to find fault. DH said not to give him anything else.

We had our last meeting of the knitting group at church before we start giving away hats. Our totals are as follows for 2019:

Hats: 1731

Scarves 157

Baby hats: 137

Not a bad total for a small group! We have three schools we are "adopting" and will give the schools enough hats for all the students plus some extras, and a few of the scarves. One of our church members purchases gloves that we include so each child will get a set of gloves. We have also given some hats to the Cancer Care Center. We plan to give two teachers who go to our church enough hats for their classrooms as well as hats, gloves, and scarves for our church's preschool. Another Lutheran Church is making Christmas baskets with food, and we will be sharing hats with them to include. We have a homeless shelter for women and their children in our town and we will be giving them a bunch of hats and scarves, and then the remainder will be going to a case manager at Lutheran Child and Family Services for Christmas. What a wonderful project that started 3 years ago with about 4 people. We have around 11-12 who come to our bimonthly meetings and it has been such a blessing that we have had people donate money or yarn to help us out.

So there is a mixture of what's going on in my life. Between eye drops for my husband and getting some things done around here, I've stayed occupied.

Pinterest is Dangerous!

October 21st, 2019 at 08:59 pm

This morning I was just nosing around Pinterest. I am having to take a break from knitting and crocheting. I was crocheting last night and my fingers started to hurt and then later my shoulder was sore which is my body's way of telling me I've overdone it. Usually if I take it easy for a day or so and don't knit or crochet, I'm OK.

Anyway, I was looking at Pinterest because I had already read all the current blogs and saw a small recipe for Lavender Jelly. We just happen to have some lavender plants that DH hasn't gotten rid of yet (they are in pots) and I asked him if he minded if I cut off the blooms to make some jelly. He said no, he was going to get rid of the plants anyway. I had used some earlier to make all purpose cleaner with vinegar and Dawn so he's used to me using stuff.

Anyway, I have four small jars of jelly. Hope it turns out. It didn't seem like an overwhelming activity and I had the jars, sugar, pectin, and lemon juice.

Spendy day and canning again

October 15th, 2019 at 09:23 pm

Today was an expensive day. We replaced the tires on my car. Ouch. But, they needed it. The car is paid for and a couple of months ago we had some big bills, and now the tires, but far better than a pricey car payment every month. I had hoped to wait a couple more months, but the forecasters are thinking we might have a bad winter so I decided to spend the money anyway just to be safe. Plus, DH is going to have cataract surgery in the next few weeks and in between the surgery and post op appointments, I may find it hard to get in and get new tires.

Also had to pick up a prescription. It is asthma medicine and this is one of the worst times of the year for me. Sadly, when I called in for the refill, they didn't have it and had to order it and I guess because it was near the weekend, it took longer to get. Good thing I don't wait until I'm out to refill.

Other than that, I spent the morning canning. I think I'm done for this year except I may make some jam later on closer to Christmas. I refuse to buy any more jars so I'm using what I have. I tried something different this time -- I was making and canning applesauce and I saw on Pinterest a recipe for apple scrap jelly. What it is is basically taking the apple peels and cooking them with water, then running the juice through cheese cloth, and adding pectin and sugar. It has a pinkish tint to it. I followed the recipe, but I don't think it called for enough pectin because it seems fairly runny, but oh, well. It tastes good. Just a good way to use up something and I like trying new stuff.

I talked with our financial advisor about something and told him about my canning. He's such a nice man and has been a friend as well as advisor. When I finished canning and came back from getting new tires, I dropped off a pint of spaghetti sauce, a half pint of the apple scrap jelly, and a quart of apple juice. You would have thought I had given him gold or something. He kept thanking me and said he knew the jars really contained love. It is nice to be appreciated.

Frost, Shopping, and the Weatherman

October 13th, 2019 at 07:21 pm

We have a new weatherman for our local station and I think he believes he is entertaining. I do not need to be entertained when watching the weather...I want the forecast basically, but he likes to think he's clever. Well, Mr. Clever kept saying we were not going to have a frost Friday night. DH happened to go outside Friday evening and came in and said he believed it would frost. So, here we are out with a flash light so he can pick bell peppers and Rosemary in case it did frost. I picked a few tomatoes that were starting to ripen just in case. Fortunately we had picked a majority of the herbs earlier that we wanted to dry.

Well, it did frost. It wasn't a killing freeze, but some of the herbs got it as well as some of the other plants and flowers. DH normally pulls up stuff when they predict a frost because he doesn't like dealing with the plants that get kind of soft and slimy after. That stupid weatherman was wrong and he assured us in the viewing area we would not have a frost. Glad DH was smart enough to go check.

We did go to an outdoor market yesterday that is about an hour and half away from us. It is in Morris, Illinois, along the Illinois-Michigan Canal. We also like to visit the downtown of Morris and go through the shops. It wasn't a huge spend day. We bought an acorn squash from the Morris FFA for $1 and some cinnamon rolls for our breakfast this morning as well as a cupcake from the local bakery to enjoy there. I had taken a Thermos of hot tea with us since it was a bit chilly and that was a nice treat. It was basically just a trip to get us out and about. I liked looking at the booths. I noticed that some had some knitting and crocheted items and I like looking at them.

When we came home I took some vegetable soup that I had in the freezer and heated that up for our supper and made herb cheesy biscuits. Not a super big spend day and we had a nice time.

I noticed that someone had posted that Christmas is 74 days away as of yesterday. I'm already thinking about all the cookies I need to bake for our church bazaar the first Saturday in December. Yikes! Most of my Christmas shopping is finished. DH picked out some clothes from Lands End that he wanted and they sent an email with a huge percentage off just that day so I took advantage of it.

DH will probably be pulling up the rest of the plants this afternoon. It supposed to warm up later this week, but you never know when the frost will be, especially with this weather man!

Thrift store, Canning, and Hats, Hats, Hats

October 11th, 2019 at 09:06 pm

We took some things to one of the thrift stores to donate. DH had some lighthouse lamps that have been sitting on a closet shelf and never seemed to remember to get them out, but he did yesterday. He collects lighthouse stuff, but he never really liked the lamps -- they were gifts -- and he felt like that was a good thing to give away because they still worked. Maybe someone else can enjoy them.

We also had some other things to donate and it is easier to give a few things at a time...sadly the place we take them you have to climb up steps to take donations so it is a pain. Most of the volunteers are older than I am, so I don't feel like I should ask them to help either. So, doing it more often with less stuff each time seems to be the answer.

We went to our usual round of thrift stores on this cool, windy, rainy day. Did not find a thing we needed or wanted, but had a nice time looking. Of course when we donate, it makes me think how little we really need.

Yesterday I canned some applesauce and apple juice. Over the past couple of years I had given a friend some jelly and jam and had repeatedly asked that he return my jars and rings. I don't think that's much to ask -- just return them when he was done. Well, he didn't. Then he hinted he wanted more jelly. I made a comment that canning isn't free and besides paying for the stuff like fruit, sugar, petting, jars, lids, and rings cost money too. So, he made a big deal by going and buying some new jars. He bought a package of 6 and gave me three. I know this will sound like a snob, but they are not name brand. I've tried using generic jars and have not had good luck with them. I'm almost afraid to use them. I canned a jar of apple juice to see how it would work. They do not feel as heavy as my Ball or Kerr jars so I don't think I would want to use them more than once.

In other news, my knitting group at church met yesterday. We have over 1600 hats made. We are going to meet again in two weeks and that will determine our total for 2019. We will start in November knitting for 2020. We have chosen three schools, a preschool, the cancer care center, two classrooms of folks who attend our church, and a homeless shelter to receive our hats and scarves and we have a donor who buys gloves to go with the hats and scarves. I've contacted the three schools and have arranged dates to drop off the hats and show the kids the looms we use to knit. I know that is the teacher in me -- I think it never hurts to who kids how things are made.



Potpourri

March 18th, 2019 at 02:58 pm

First, I want to thank everyone who responded about my last entry. I appreciate the support. I guess I'm sensitive, but it really bothers me when someone posts hurtful comments. One thing I wonder is, does this person or persons realize that those of us who wrote the blog can see their email? And if so, do they know you can research who they are by the email? Anyway, I appreciate the support of those of you who kindly responded.

It was an expensive week last week. My headlight went out and knowing how car places work, we made an appointment to get it replaced. I guess with modern cars, you almost have to take the darn thing apart to get to the headlight. It was high density and the cost was $455 for the very expensive bulb and the hour and a half it took to replace it. Yikes! We had the money in savings so that wasn't the case, but it sure is hard to part with it. A friend teased me I could have just opened the car window and used a flashlight. Now, that would have been a sight, and I'm sure the police would not have found that a bit amusing.

Also in the expenses was the home care insurance policy for DH. Fortunately we have not had to use it, but It seems the spring is fraught with lots of insurance since we have homeowner's, home care, flood, and then both car insurances coming due. Again, we have the money, but it is tough seeing it go out at such a fast pace.

We did get our taxes done. We didn't have to pay either the feds or the state, but not sure about next year. I say this every year, but I honestly feel like if you live below your means and you save and are honest, the tax laws really zing you.

One thing that wasn't as expensive was groceries. We bought some fresh fruit and vegetables and some milk, but we ate from the freezer and pantry which helped a lot. We tend to have a couple of weeks of large grocery bills and then a couple of weeks of cheaper ones. I like it when Kroger has a buy one get one free when it comes to meat because I take advantage of it and then freeze one for later consumption. Guess it evens out. Tonight I'm going to use some chicken and I'm going to trim it and use it and some chicken I have in the freezer that I did the same with and make some chicken broth. I like keeping it on hand to make chicken and noodles as well as soups.

DH and I continue to make good use of the library. I have read 24 books so far in 2019. According to the library receipt, I have "saved" $855.27 by using the library. It looks good at least. I know we get our tax money's worth out of the library anyway.

It looks like spring is finally coming here in Central Illinois. It has been a harsh winter. DH spent part of the weekend working in the yard cutting back stuff that he didn't get to in the fall. He said all the garlic he planted is starting to come up and some of the herbs that come back each year are showing they want to come back. Yay! I'm ready for homegrown stuff. I know we have enjoyed using the stuff I canned this winter.

Hope you have a delightful week and can find some economical ways in your days!


Another Snowy Sunday

February 10th, 2019 at 08:53 pm

It snowed this morning. Again. OK, I know it is winter, but I'm tired of it. We had been told by the weather forecasters rain with a chance of dusting snow. Well an inch later of snow, and it was slick because the city crews have not been out.

Oh, well. We came out of church and our vehicles were covered. I brushed snow off of our car and then did a couple others for some of the older members. Two ushers said they would get the cars for anyone who didn't want to walk across the parking lot. I think when these things happen, the goodness of people shine through.

Seems like on the money front a lot is going out. We have decided to invest in flood insurance. We don't live in a high flood risk, but with the chance of a possible flood (experts call it a 500 year flood) and homeowners not paying for flood damage, we feel it is better to save the money. We also have a couple other things coming up such as DH's long term care insurance.

I did decide to spend some money on household stuff. I wanted a new cutting board and some new towels and rugs for the bedroom. Kohls had a coupon for so much off, then $10 off if you spent over $50, and everything was on sale. I had a $20 Ibotta refund, and then I also had some money on a gift card from a return I made after Christmas. I looked at the bill...before sale prices and coupons, the total would have been $165.93. After coupons, sale prices, Ibotta credit, and gift card, we paid $31.01 for one cutting board, 2 rugs, and 2 bath towels, one hand towel, and one wash cloth. I know I spent money, but I sure liked saving some as I did it. Hopefully that will be it for spending for awhile.

I pulled some chili out of the freezer for supper. Cold, snowy days make me appreciate chili so much more!

Weather, Crafting, and Organization

February 2nd, 2019 at 08:50 pm

What an interesting week!

Monday I went to Kroger to pick up my prescription. It is the one medicine my insurance doesn't cover and they have the cheapest price. I have a coupon from the manufacturer for money off, but still have to pay over $250 for it. I had to wait a bit so I decided to pick up a couple of things while I waited and holy cow, did things get crazy. I bought my items and took them to the car and came back and in that short bit of time, the parking lot went from calm to crazy. People were circling looking for places. I went back in to get my prescription and while I waited, there were people who would get a card and almost run, throwing things in the cart. Really? Nothing was happening yet weather wise. The Polar Vortex wasn't even on our doorstep yet! Egad!

DH and I did a few errands on Tuesday and came home and stayed there until Thursday. Tuesday night the weather got colder and Wednesday wa the extreme below zero wind chills. Fortunately we did not lose power or have pipes freeze. We were happy to be home and safe and felt sorry for those who had to get out in it.

I've been looming and crocheting trying to use up yarn that I have purchased for the hats and scarves I'm making. DH and I cleaned house on Wednesday so that kept us busy and gave us some exercise too. DH normally goes to the mall to walk, but he didn't want to get out with it being so cold. So, not the same exercise, but better than sitting around.

We have been enjoying our Netflix subscription. I turned to DH last night and said who would have thought 20 years ago we would "stream" movies in our house. I remember thinking the VCR and tapes was pretty darn cool years ago and now you just sit home and the movies come to you.

We did spend some money today. We took our cars to the place where you wash them yourself. We did both cars to get the salt and grime off until the next go round. We also went to a flea market and I found some things to use as Christmas gifts and they were either 50% or 75% off. Last year I collected lots of little items and wrapped them up individually and gave them to a friend so she had 25 gifts to unwrap from December 1st to the 25th. She really liked it so I wanted to do it again this year. I don't want to give her junk just to give her a gift, but things she might use. She likes Curirier and Ives stuff and I found two trivets that were still in the containers. That will be two gifts and she can use them on her table for hot stuff. I found a box of Christmas mugs like new and it was 75% off.

I'm still doing the Ibotta thing and it is slow going, but hey, it is free money. I guess doing most of our grocery shopping at Aldi keeps me from cashing in a lot, but we also don't buy a lot of the things they give you cash for.

We had our weekly date night last night. We had gone to the bank and DH doesn't carry money in his wallet, but all those plastic cards like his license and loyalty cards. I saw he had a Cracker Barrel gift card and I suggested he use that when we ate out. He said he didn't think there was much money on it and I said well, whatever it is, it isn't helping him by staying in his wallet and even if it is 50 cents, that 50 cents. We went there and ate and when he ran it through, there was $4.70 on it. For a $22 meal, that was $4.70 he didn't have to spend out of his pocket.

The other day we were watching one of those daily programs where they have snippets of different things to improve your life and this one gal was talking about organizing your pantry. I always perk up when those things come on because my pantry is overcrowded and I clean it out and try to organize it, but it never looks wonderful. Anyway, this gal was talking about getting these containers and doing this and that and when she showed the pantry, there were like 4 or 5 things on a shelf. Really? Yeah, it looked tidy, but not a whole lot of cooking going on there. That's how she wanted it to look. I'm going to say it out loud, my pantry will not be looking like that.

I saw an article claiming January was the best the DOW had since 1987. I'm not really sure of that, but guess we will see when we get our financial statement.


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