Frugal Foodie

It's been a busy couple of weeks. School started for teachers August 13 and students returned August 17. We had some very hot days (most of our schools are not air conditioned.) But, like most educators, we are optimistic about a good year. We have a new principal at our building this year and if the last 7 days are any indication, he's going to be a winner! A strong leader makes a workplace so much better.

DH planted a small garden and we have been enjoying tomatoes, peppers, onions, and herbs. We had hoped to get more tomatoes this year so I could can quite a few, but our tomatoes have really dropped off. A friend and her brother have kept us supplied in green beans. Another friend gave us some sweet corn. And I have acquired cucumbers to make pickles from a variety of places. I have canned what I could and have quite a few things for our pantry. There is something about looking at what we have that makes me feel good. Weird, eh?

Before school began, I had meetings in the district. It was funny how old habits pop up. We were given ample time to go out to eat. I took my lunch and ate there and worked and I took my coffee instead of stopping and getting some for the morning. It was interesting because some of the folks were already complaining how money was tight. Imagine that!

I plan on retiring at the end of this school year. I didn't get a special deal or retirement bonus or anything. Someone asked me how I could plan to retire so soon (I'll be 55.) I said we saved and paid off things. Our home is paid for. Both vehicles are paid off. Other than our every day spending and bills, we don't have any outstanding bills. Basically, we have lived below our means. We met with our financial advisor last summer and when he saw our budget, he was astounded. He said that so many folks "finance" everything and are never prepared at this stage in their lives. So, unless we have some major thing come up, we should be doing OK.

I was telling a young person the other day I was planning on retiring and we were talking about Roths and 403bs. He said he and his wife don't have money to save. I told him he needed to find money to save, even a little bit, because it is over the years that it increases. I could tell he really didn't want to think about how to save money; it is far easier to complain you don't have it instead of trying to figure out ways to save it.

Our meals for this week:
brunch: scrambled eggs, sausage, grits, toast, fruit
BLTs
Baby back ribs, mashed potatoes, greens beans, fruit
Pork tenderloin roast with carrots and onions, roasted potatoes
Leftover roast with sweet potatoes and green beans
Quiche with leftover sausage, sliced tomatoes
Chicken with barbecue sauce, roasted potatoes with peppers and onions, roasted vegetables, fruit

Geeze, it is hot out there. They predicted 90 and my car thermometer said it was 91 over an hour ago. So glad we have a/c. I remember growing up we didn't and sleeping wasn't easy being hot and sticky. I know we are very blessed now, even if we do complain about the bills.

Started back to school last Thursday. Our building is not air conditioned and it was warm. I dread tomorrow after it being closed up all weekend and so hot. The good thing is this is my last year; my intention is to retire at the end of this school year. Some of my friends are already doing a countdown of school days.

My church is doing a capital campaign and last Sunday I posted on Facebook a query -- if I baked something would people be willing to donate for whatever it was? I had a decent response. Last Monday I dropped off a loaf of zucchini bread and today I baked 5 loaves of banana bread. Two have been delivered and three go tomorrow. Tomorrow evening I am fixing a meal for a neighbor for a donation as well. People have been generous so that has been nice.

One of my older friends no longer emails, so I have been writing her a letter every weekend and mailing it. She says it is like getting to visit with me each week, so that's kind of nice. Do you still write letters?

It's getting near supper time. We are going to have some leftover pork roast from the other night with some leftover vegetables, but I think I will have to come up with some starch. I like the option of cooking once and having a meal or two off of whatever was fixed, even if I have to add to it. Saves money and time.

Today is the last day of my summer vacation as school begins for staff tomorrow and the students return on Monday.

What a summer this has been. I can't say I've saved a ton, but what we spent was anticipated. We planned on taking two small trips and everything was paid for.

I did wind up buying more canning jars than I anticipated, but that is a mixed blessing, no? It will be nice having the food this winter and not buying as many groceries.

As an educator, it is always exciting to begin a new year, but it is also sad to think my vacation time is over. Yes, I know, that's the beauty of vacation...enjoying the time off, but returning to work.

One thing I'm not looking forward to is packing lunches again. I don't mind fixing lunches at home, I just dread packing lunches to take to work. I don't know why, it isn't difficult. I guess it is just knowing I have a limited amount of time to eat and I don't want to have to little or too much, and there are some days the pickings are slim...that's when I resort to crackers and peanut butter from the pantry. Oh, well. My eating from stuff at home saves us money so we can do all those fun things during the summer.

DH and I went to the Amana Colonies on Monday. It is about 4 hours away from our home here in Illinois. We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast and enjoyed two meals in Amana. Breakfast the following morning included two different types of quiche, toast made from homemade bread, oatmeal, muffins, and fruit. They had two different juices available: mango and orange. DH cannot drink orange juice because of his acid reflux so he tried the mango and really liked it. We were back home Tuesday in time to have supper. It was a nice getaway and we had saved the money to go and fortunately gas prices weren't too expensive. Here is a photo of our room:


Since being back, I told a friend that I wish I could make some mango juice. The next day she messaged me that Kroger had mangoes on sale for 99 cents. I bought some and made two quarts...DH said it was just like what he had and was delighted.

DH harvest our garlic and I cleaned and minced it last night and packed it with some olive oil. A friend gave us some a few years ago to plant and we've been doing it ever since. I keep the minced stuff in the fridge.

I decided to try and make some more pickles and followed the recipe for bread and butter ones. It said to wait for a few weeks before eating them so they can get the full flavor. I canned 5 pints and one half pint.

I also canned two more quarts of tomato juice this week. Unfortunately with the lack of rain and the heat, our tomatoes are starting to slow down. Hope we get some more before this fall because I'd like to have a few more to can and have on hand.

Yesterday I pulled up the remainder of the radishes. DH had tried a second planting and we got a few, but the excessive heat kept them from growing like they should. We have had a bunny eating the lettuce so there isn't too much left. I did pick some yesterday and wash and put it in the fridge before he got the rest.

One of our local stores (it is a chain around here) sends out a coupon book at the first of every month. Usually it is for things we don't buy, but this month they had potatoes as part of the coupon. I used quite a few coupons this time for things we normally use...the prices are really cheap. I bought two boxes of tissue for 69 cents each. I need it for school because I leave it out on my desk so at that reasonable price, it isn't too expensive. Our grocery bills continue to be lower since we are using so much produce either DH has grown or has been given to us.

The friend I wrote about early did a nice surprise...she took some of the bell peppers we have been sharing with her and stuffed them and gave them back so we could have them for supper. There was enough for a couple of meals.

Another hot weekend scheduled. I don't think we will be going too far. I'm happy to be home and read a library book.

No, I haven't found a new hybrid of tomatoes...it comes from that mixed blessing auto-correct.

My friend has a garden and DH has a garden. Her tomatoes aren't doing very well due to her gardening flooding in June, but she has been sharing green beans with us. So, we've been sharing tomatoes and bell peppers with her. I emailed her the other day to ask if she needed some more tomatoes, but auto-correct changed it to meow tomatoes so that has been the joke around here lately.

Speaking of produce, I've canned 2 quarts and 1 pint of tomato juice and 2 quarts of tomatoes. A friend gave us some sweet corn and I canned it and have 2 quarts. My before mentioned friend gave us some green beans and I canned 3 pints of them in addition to having some for the table.

There's a small town near us called Arthur that is well known for having many Amish residents. There is a bulk food store called Beachy's. We go there and purchase sausage patties, spices, and when needed different types of flour. They had a container of small cucumbers that looked ideal for pickles. Mind you, I've never made pickles, but the cost of the cucumbers was 75 cents and I had salt, vinegar and sugar at home as well as mustard and celery seed. I found a recipe in all recipes for sweet pickles, followed it and wound up with almost a quart in the fridge and 3 pints canned of sweet pickles. I'm a little bit proud of myself for this because I've never made them before. My mom, when I asked her to let me help or show me how to can, told me I was too stupid to do it. I taught myself to can last summer with tomatoes, applesauce, and green beans. So, I'm venturing out.

Another friend gifted us with a large yellow squash and zucchini. I sliced and roasted the squash with some onions and extra virgin olive oil. I made zucchini patties out of the large zucchini. The recipe is simple -- grate the zucchini, grate a small onion and piece of bell pepper with it. Add an egg and bread crumbs to make patties and saute in hot oil, browning both sides. I added a little cumin and tumeric to the patties while I was mixing it, but I'm sure you can add whatever you want. DH loves them and I hadn't made them in quite awhile and he asked for them again tonight. Good thing that was a large zucchini!

With all the garden stuff, our grocery bill was pretty reasonable -- less than $50 which is pretty low since we eat a lot of meals at home.

I've been looking over my treasures...our garden and our canning jars. I'm anticipating the thrill of putting stuff up. Our weather lately has been so wet that our garden has been suffering. We had two very hot sunshiny days so I hope that helps. I like having canned tomatoes to use throughout the year.

This summer has been a busy one...we closed our booth at the antique mall. We never anticipated making a profit, but had hoped to make booth rent and a little to pay for the stuff, but most months that was not a reality. I inventoried what we had and boxed it up and sent it to a thrift store for a tax deduction. They were happy to get the stuff. One woman told me she was delighted to find clean, usable merchandise and then said how they hate plastic garbage bags of clothes because they have found people throw stuff they have worn in and not laundered it (think dirty unmentionables!). Yuck. Anyway, the booth was fun, but a lot of work and not a lot to show for it. One of the volunteers whom we know showed us a weed whacker someone donated...it was filthy dirty and in pieces...very disappointing to the shop, but I'm sure this person took a big tax write off for it. So, this one less "treasure" to worry with.

Our menu this week includes some treasures:

Brunch - scrambled eggs, sausage, grits, toast, fruit

Baby back ribs (in Crockpot) with barbecue sauce, potato patties made from leftover mashed potatoes, green beans, sliced tomatoes

Pork chops, sweet potatoes, salad, sliced tomatoes

Baked chicken, roasted potatoes, green beans, sliced tomatoes

Pork chops (left over), mac and cheese, corn on the cob

Lunches will include left over pork roast from Saturday night, and probably a frittata with leftover sausage, as well as leftover chicken


I really like the curtains I purchased cheaply for the sun room. They are up and the sun room is clean. We spent some time this afternoon reading and enjoying nature until it got steamy when the sun came out. Our sun room is a treasure because it means I can sit and read and not get bitten by mosquitoes.

Another treasure: I did something today I haven't done for awhile -- I crocheted. I found my hooks and some thread and thought I'd try to crochet. The last time I did, my hands went numb (I had surgery on both of them a number of years ago for carpal tunnel) and I was sad I couldn't crochet. But I made a small Christmas ornament and my hands did OK. Maybe if I start slow and a little at a time I can do this again. I miss it because it was a way to relax. I use to crochet, embroider, and do counted cross stitch.

My final treasure to share is about my husband. I have written about the bunnies and his garden. Well, he has been nothing if not entertaining...even the neighbors agree. He chases the bunnies out of the yard. He doesn't want to hurt them, just keep them out of the garden. All the neighbors smile seeing him clapping his hands and running after them. He is a treasure in an of himself, but he does entertain me too!

I haven't blogged lately because I haven't had too much to say. Life is going well and I'm staying busy. There have been a few snags here and there, but just little bumps, not major pot holes.

A few posts back I think I mentioned a friend who spent $1500 on custom made curtains for the kitchen...two windows and they were cottage sets. I'm still pondering that expense for them, but glad it isn't my expense. We replaced the valances in our sun room and found some reasonable ones at K-Mart. They were originally $6.99 each, but with the $10 off and points from Shop Your Way, they were far less. I needed 10 of them, could only order 9 because that's all the warehouse had, but got free shipping. We found the tenth at our local K-Mart -- it was the sole one they had and it was marked down. I spent less than $70, tax included, on 7 windows (some are double wide, that's why I needed 3 more than 7), so I didn't think that was bad. I didn't want to spend big bucks because these will get faded soon from the sun, but liked having something new and bright.

DH is still battling the bunny. Big Bunny Big Ears was out munching on his lettuce and even when I shouted at him, he sat there chomping as big as you please. DH went out and chased him with a stick and sprayed some stuff that smells like rotten eggs around the garden. He had sprayed it many times before, but we had so much rain, it kept washing away. Hopefully this will keep BBBE out for awhile. We are enjoying the tomatoes, radishes, onions, lettuce, and herbs from the garden. A friend gave us some green beans she picked; we've been sharing some of our garden with her, so we've been eating pretty healthy.

I've finished book 45 so far this year. I usually read mysteries and so many of my books are fiction, but I do have some that are nonfiction. All but two of these books are checked out from our library. One is mine that I inherited years ago from my aunt and the other one I bought at a thrift shop for 59 cents. I'm planning on donating it back.

The little blip on the screen is I'm still fussing with the city. I have a half brother who owned some property. He died over a year ago. We did not associate with each other. His grass wasn't mowed so the city mowed it and sent a bill to me. I've been calling and talking to people and was told the property is associated with me. It isn't -- the city worker who claimed that found my dad's will with my name on it, not my half brother's. I thought I had this cleared up, but I received a letter today stating I not only owe for the mowing, but now an additional fee since I haven't paid it. I have called the city's legal department and the lawyer who said he dismissed it, said it should have been fixed and he would take care of it. I hope he does. This is getting to be a nuisance. I don't own the property, never stepped foot on it, and had nothing to do with it. The original city employee wouldn't own up to the fact she was in error so it has been a pain to get this figured out because when I call to talk to people at the city, they act like I'm a deadbeat. DH says if I get another letter I should just contact my lawyer. I'm thinking of contacting the city council members first...maybe that would get a fire lit under some of these people.

Here in Central Illinois it is cool and dreary. Overnight we received 1.6 inches of rain. Instead of receiving April showers, we've been getting them pretty heavily in June and now. It was warm and muggy yesterday but it is in the low 60s today. Just the perfect weather for a cup of hot tea which I am enjoying as I type. Friends often gift me with tea and that is a delight!

It was a busy morning at our home -- we were donating some things to a thrift store and they brought a truck which was helpful since we couldn't get a table in our vehicles. Then we had the air conditioner checked for the season. I learned a number of years ago it was far cheaper to do this than to wait and then have the silly thing break down on a very hot night or weekend.

We seem to watch quite a bit of home improvement shows and there seems to be a lot of people out there who always say they are looking for a new home for entertainment space or their yard needs to be fixed up so they can entertain. I'm curious. Are we the only ones out there who are not constantly entertaining people? When we bought our home 17 years ago, we weren't looking for some place to entertain. We wanted a nice living space for ourselves within our budget. We don't do lavish dinner parties or big cook outs. Maybe we are the few in the U.S. who don't entertain a lot. Thoughts?

Here in Central Illinois, we were wondering if we had suddenly hit Monsoon season, but fortunately not. We also have had hazy days due to the smoke from Canada, but yesterday and today seem nice and bright.

Lots of odd jobs have been taking up a lot of my free time. It seems a lot of things need a coat of paint. I used up a small can of paint the other day and wanted to buy another small can as well as a small can of blue paint. Sheesh, what an ordeal. Went to one place and they didn't have anything in small cans except paint for metal...this was wood, so I didn't need it. And blue apparently isn't a big color to ask for because I had to resort in getting a sample bottle mixed. But, that part of painting is completed and so that is good.

We mulched around our sun room and it looks far better.

The garden has been producing. DH has a small garden because we don't have a large area. He has what I call a one hit wonder for a bell pepper plant -- the bell pepper growing on it is almost as tall as the small plant. No other blooms, so it is the little plant that could.

Hope to get out and pick some lettuce and radishes...nothing like a crisp salad with fresh veggies and a lovely day to enjoy it in.

Since the start of 2015, I have tried to keep track of what I'm reading bookwise. I finished #40 this afternoon called, "Nice Girls Don't Get Rich." It was nonfiction and it is spot on about how many times women don't pursue jobs because they want to be in helping careers, and unfortunately these careers are lower paying. It also talked about how women don't want to feel they are entitled to money. I am not sure, but I think this author is probably a baby boomer because a lot of what she wrote certainly hit home for me. She cited 75 mistakes women make when it comes to money...saving instead of investing...not saving...counting on prince charming to help them live happily every after. It had some sound and practical advice as well.

One of the comments she made was when girls are growing up, there used to be a mindset that girls are not good in math. I wanted to shout, "How True!" because that is how I grew up. I was told I was dumb in math. I think if someone had fostered a more positive view, I might have had more confidence.

Lois Frankel is the author and it is a quick and easy read on a general topic.

The last couple of weeks have been very busy. We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a vow renewal and then took a trip to Door County as part of our anniversary celebration and our vacation.

Before we left, I received an official notice from the city claiming I had a weed violation on a house I do not own. It belonged to a late half brother...someone I did not associate with.I called the day I received the notice and was told she would check into it. I called back two days later, and she said she would check into it. It has taken many phone calls and gnashing of teeth to try and get this figured out. The first person who was in charge of the "research" claimed the property was my problem because my name was on the water bill. That scared me because I should not have been on the water bill. I called the city about that, and that wasn't true. Then I was told my name was on the deed. I called the supervisor of assessments, and no, that wasn't the case either. So I called the original person back and was told that the house was deeded to me due to a will. I asked how to check on that, and there was a will, but it was my father's, not the half brother's. They had similar names, but my father died before this house was purchased. This person said she would check into it. This was a mix up because of the similarity of the names. Well, over a week later, she apparently was too busy and figured I was trying to get out of paying, because I receive a registered letter from the city claiming I owe them money and will have to go to court. I have a friend who works for the city in a different department so I asked him to whom I should speak. He gave me the name of the city attorney. I spoke with him this morning and he understands the mix up and said he would dismiss it. Talk about stress! I hope this is the end of it. I understand the city wants the property taken care of, but this is an issue of the late half-brother's family. He has full siblings and three children.

Anyway, I pulled up one of my credit reports wondering if my name had been used for different accounts, and then wondered if I should be looking into Lifelock. Anyone have anything to say yay or nay?

A number of years ago I found a blue colander at a garage sale...enameled, nice size...very handy. Somewhere along the way a screw came loose on a handle and it was lost. I decided that when we were out and about, I would take it to a local Ace Hardware store because it is a small store and the gentlemen have always been very helpful.

We waited for help as he helped someone else, and I showed him the colander and explained I needed something that would fix it...he searched and found something he thought would work and it was... 8 cents. We also bought an end cap for the wagon wheel for the little wagon DH uses to haul stuff around the yard. Even with that, it was $2, far cheaper than buying new.

In other news, we have been saving change for the past year. DH more than I because I rarely buy things with cash -- he pays for stuff when we go out with cash, and I use the credit card for groceries and clothes and pay it off every month. But, when I do have extra change I throw it in. We had three pickle jars -- one was small and the other a little larger...$179 and some odd cents. We deposited it in the bank yesterday as part of our vacation fund.

I'm happy the handle is back on. DH will be happy to have the wheel working again. Plus we are looking forward to a nice vacation.

May and June seem to be spendy times around here. Part of it is because we have homeowner's insurance and car insurance coming due and then the property taxes come due around the first of June. Sunday afternoons are usually spent paying bills and reconciling the checkbook.

This week was especially expensive. On Wednesday we met friends for supper out for her birthday. On Thursday we spent the night in a hotel since they were blowing insulation foam into our crawl space and we couldn't stay in our house which meant supper out again. Breakfast was included with the room so that was good, but it also meant driving an extra 20 minutes to get to work on Friday. I planned that I wouldn't be able to take my Thermos with coffee so I had taken coffee in a fruit jar and put it in the fridge at school. Added creamer and had "iced" coffee instead of hot. It was fine and at least saved money there. Since we couldn't yet get back to the house, we wound up eating lunch out -- well, DH ate it out, he stopped and bought a sandwich for me to eat at school. We ate out again Friday night -- wow three days in a row. We have friends who eat out every night and I personally do not know how they do it. I was happy to eat at home last night as was DH.

It seems like the end of the school year is always kind of expensive anyway. Our administrator is retiring as is another staff member, and two people are leaving so of course there was the collection for their gifts. Then, another person is having a baby so there was money for a shower gift. Our staff decided to do secret pal stuff this year and I don't know who decided we needed to do an end of the year gift of $25, but I thought that was a little outrageous.

Granted, I'm griping. I have the money for all of this. All those meals we ate in and all those leftovers that were repurposed and consumed allowed for that. Those coupons that were clipped and sales that were used allowed us to have the money for all that. Perhaps I'm just become so tight I hate spending money.

I know we will spend money in June too. It is our 25th wedding anniversary and we are renewing our vows. Small ceremony under the huge oak tree we were married under. Our pastor being the kind soul that he is said all he wanted in terms of a fee was 3 chocolate chip cookies from each of us. I've already given him a dozen...that man has a sweet tooth and I know it! We are going to have professional photos taken since we didn't have them for our wedding. We have invited 3 close friends to the ceremony and we are treating them and our pastor to lunch. Not a huge expense overall, but we think it will be nice.

Speaking of weddings, Mary Hunt of Everyday Cheapskate said she interviewed someone that said the typical wedding costs over $31,000. Yowza! That is a heap of money! That makes my spendy days look like chicken feed!

Happy Memorial Day! I'm sure most of us have been touched by someone in the Armed Forces whether it is a parent, sibling, aunt, uncle, child.

Today the news stations broadcast the president putting a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington. It was a beautiful ceremony and made me remember a number of years ago when DH and I were on a trip and we saw the changing of the guard there. The ceremony was moving and everyone in the crowd was quiet and respectful. I think that helped make it special.

As we remember our soldiers, both those we know and those we don't, think good thoughts of how blessed we are to have people who have fought for us. I'm including a couple of photos from my vacation in 2009 and the changing of the guard.

We've been spending money at the local garden center. DH has a decent vegetable garden for the small space available and yesterday he bought some flowers. He enjoys gardening so it is relaxing for him and the vegetables are pretty darn tasty.

Yesterday's plants were a bit pricey and he probably could have gotten fewer and less expensive ones. I pointed out that we save money on other things so we can spend it on things we really want.

A couple we know love to spend. Last fall he was telling us how they had custom made curtains for their kitchen windows. Two windows. Not picture windows or extra tall windows. Just basic kitchen windows. And the tally: $1500. We've viewed these pieces of cloth at the window -- they are nice curtains, but I can't see where they are worth $1500. But that is how they roll -- all the curtains and drapes are custom made and cost thousands of dollars. Yet, they moan and gripe about being short of money. They hit the home equity quite a bit and have taken out personal loans to finance vacations and other odds and ends.

I like nice things too, but last year I hit a garage sale and found two brand new in the package sheers that matched the curtains I found on sale. All in all, I spent about $32 for curtains and sheers and was pleased. This friend told my husband I must not care about him since I spent so little on the window coverings. DH looked at me and said he didn't think that was so; he thought they looked OK. What a strange mindset.

So this weekend, other than buying the flowers, we are working around here. I'm getting ready to pick some radishes that are a little larger than we prefer for raw eating. I saw a recipe on roasting them and it looked pretty good. Here is the url:

http://www.thekitchn.com/roasted-radishes-are-the-vegetable-thats-missing-from-your-life-215614

Supper is pork loin, mashed potatoes, carrots, radishes, and cottage cheese. The pork loin and carrots will make up another meal later this week. Yet another way to save money so we have it for other things...and those other things WILL NOT be $1500 custom curtains!

Last week we ate out with another couple to celebrate birthdays. It was a reasonably priced meal and planned in our budget.

The conversation was about what this couple was planning on doing. They've always been spenders, not savers. But they laid out their plans...a fancy vacation and taking the whole family. This is in addition to going south for the winter, and all the other things they are constantly doing, not to mention all the things they are buying.

After we parted, I asked DH if we were too careful. This summer we are planning a short vacation in addition to celebrating our 25th anniversary. After hearing all the things this other couple were doing, it made me feel like a stick in the mud.

Yesterday we went to the library and checked out some magazines and books. We went to the grocery store and bought things on our list for our planned menus. DH bought bell pepper plants to put in his garden. We came home and he worked in his small garden. I picked radishes, green onions, and lettuce and made a small salad as I prepared things for two meals: roast pork loin for supper and Italian wedding soup for Sunday's supper. Hubby mowed and I did laundry. Last night after cleaning up and showering, we watched some television and read some magazines, and went to bed satisfied we had a nice day.

Thinking back on Friday's conversation and my original thoughts, no, we aren't boring. I think we are more satisfied. Upon reflection, these people are always telling us all the cool things they are doing and how their family is superior and their other friends are better and so on and so forth. DH and I are happy with each other. Unlike this couple, we feel financially secure. We know that this couple will have to finance this vacation.

Knowing that things don't bring happiness, sort of helps me put things in perspective. I don't have to one up these folks on things to be happy. I don't have to finance my vacation because we save and plan for ours. And, finding enjoyment in the simple things I think is important because then we don't have to continue searching for bigger and better things to make life more exciting.

Thanks for letting me sort this out.

The past two weekends we have been to two estate sales. Both were pretagged. The same person ran them. Prices are 100% on Saturday, then 25% 9-12 on Sunday and 50% off 1-5 p.m. The first one, we didn't go on Saturday and hit it up Sunday afternoon. We bought a bunch of things. We decided to change the stuff over the couch in the family room and DH fell in love with some of the cross stitched samplers this woman had worked on. Her handiwork is beautiful and they are lovely and all were professionally framed. I also bought a small hand stitched, hand pieced quilt. I will use it as a throw. Due to my allergies, I cannot use any of the throws that are being sold because I'm allergic to anything with acrylic in it.

Last week we went on Saturday. It was a smaller sale. I bought a new name brand purse, two pairs of brand name shoes that had never been worn, and a vintage pot with lid that had been manufactured a few miles up the road. We are happy with our finds and I have no problem having some of these items that were preowned. We donated the print and shelf we had over the couch to our church's rummage sale. Both sales had lovely items and for the things we bought, reasonable prices. I'm buying things I'll use.

This weekend I'm happy to be home. Work has been exhausting so I am trying to catch up on my housework and laundry. I did finish a book (number 30 for 2015 so far). We did hit the grocery store earlier. DH is out puttering in the yard. We have church tomorrow.

So, my chores include laundry, ironing, cooking, and cleaning. I'm looking forward to a relaxing evening. Overall, it will be a low spend weekend. I'm also going through some of our things so I can donate them as well to the church rummage sale.

Hope you are having a relaxing weekend.

I'm sort of feeling sorry for myself. Then I'm beating myself up over feeling sorry for myself.

Our school district started state testing last week. I am in charge of it for my school so I get to work early and get the computer lab ready and I help each classroom teacher as the class tests. I shred scratch paper, and fill out paperwork. Then, before and after testing, I do part of my regular job.

On Friday I was exhausted. After supper we went to the grocery store (DH had already made the Aldi run earlier in the day) and came home, put things away, and tried to relax. I wanted to watch Dateline, but found myself dozing off.

Went to bed and slept hard for awhile, then woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep thinking of all the things I needed to do at both home and work. Saturday was running errands and cleaning. Sunday was church, cooking, and paying bills and reconciling the checkbook. I then checked emails and Facebook and saw all these photos of folks having all this fun.

Hence, the pity party. I have to go to bed early because I need lots of rest or I become ill. I keep to a cleaning schedule because of my allergies and because I like a clean house. I keep to a bill paying schedule to keep tabs on my finances. I attend church because it is important to my faith.

Yet, I see some of these same people who complain about their homes and upkeep, claim to be more involved at church than I am, and gripe about money. I don't know if I'm truly jealous because I can't go out of town on a weekend during the school year or do a bunch of fun things because it would exhaust me or if I'm just so tired that things are getting on my nerves.

Deep down I know I am truly blessed. So, I start telling myself I'm not very grateful for all the things I have in my life. I have a wonderful husband. I have a lovely home. I'm lucky to have a nice home that I can clean. With my health history, I'm fortunate that I haven't had too many illnesses lately. I have to work on the keeping healthy party -- eating right, exercising, and getting enough rest.

So, now I grapple with this...am I feeling sorry for myself or am I just irritable because I'm tired?

Almost every Sunday I fix the same thing for supper: sloppy chicks which are like sloppy joes made with ground chicken. Not exciting, but DH likes them and it means we have a hot meal and he has a couple of lunches besides.

Being frugal, I have noticed that there are times when DH doesn't use all of the sloppy chick mixture. There usually isn't enough for him to have a good sized sandwich. So, I usually put it in a small container and put it in the freezer. Yesterday, I decided to see how many of these containers I had and if there was enough for a meal. So, after taking all the dibs and dabs out, I had enough for a meal and leftovers too.

Before church I put some beans to cook in the Crockpot. I soaked them overnight. I thought they would be a nice addition to sloppy chicks. Actually what gave me the idea was I saw some baked beans on sale in the grocery flyer and thought I should use up some of the dried beans I had in the pantry.

It is beautiful here in Central Illinois. Actually fairly warm...feels like early summer instead of spring. DH worked very hard to put in 9 tomato plants, 2 rosemary plants, and 2 sage plants yesterday. Normally he plants on Mother's Day weekend, but since the forecast is calling for temps in the 80s this week, he thought it was safe to plant this weekend and give them a head start. His radishes, onions, and lettuce are all up and his carrots are just beginning to pop through. Hopefully it will be a productive gardening year!

I was thinking about how much we save by repurposing some of our leftovers. We spent around $142 this week at Aldi and County Market. A couple of things weren't food items, but cleaning items that were on sale and I had coupons. Considering that money goes for 7 breakfasts, 6 lunches and 6 suppers, plus snacks, I don't think that is too bad. We eat a balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. We have cut down on our meat consumption...I may buy a small pork tenderloin roast and it will make up 2-3 meals. And the freezer and Crockpot are my good friends as they store and cook for me.

At lunch Friday we were talking about meals. Food is a big topic at lunch, imagine that!

One lady was talking about making a casserole...she has to eat gluten free so it is tricky to find things. She said she added a dash of this and that and when she finished, it was so good her husband told her she could make that any time she wanted. She laughed and said she just started pulling things out of the pantry and fridge.

I made vegetable soup last week and DH said it was best he's had in a while, and that wasn't a reflection on bad soup on my part. He said it just seemed to have lots more flavor.

I admitted the chances of making it again the same were pretty slim. The overall idea would be the same, and I used tomatoes I canned which made it different. That is a given. I had been using stuff in the pantry as far as tomato things that needed to be used before they got too close to the use by date. But that isn't the reason.

You see, my secret was for the past couple of months I've been saving those bits and pieces of vegetables we didn't eat. How many times did we have green beans where we had so few left over that it wouldn't be enough for a serving, but...

Same thing with some the roasts...I kept the onions, carrots, celery, mushrooms that were let over. The same with zucchini and squash that I had roasted. I had a decent sized bag of leftover vegetables that had been cooked and we didn't eat all of, but not enough for another meal.So, I bought some beef on sale and browned it. I dumped all vegetables in the soup, added some fresh onions and some other vegetables and cooked it with chicken broth I also had in the freezer. Added the tomatoes and barley and yowza...what a soup.

We had two and half meals out of that soup and considering most of it was leftover vegetables, I felt like we saved money, not to mention eating healthy.

It's just rainy Saturday.

DH and I did a couple of errands and were pleased to get home and dry off.

I'm enjoying myself with a cup of tea and reading SA blogs before I begin house cleaning. That silly maid didn't show up again and neither did the laundress. So, it falls on me. But, seriously, I am blessed to have a nice home and clothes and sheets to wash.

Work has been all encompassing and I have come home exhausted both mentally and physically. We begin state testing again next week so meal planning is very important.

Last time we had state testing (about a month ago) there were some nights it was very tempting to go out. DH offered and I refused. Afterwards I point out that we wouldn't have eaten any sooner (I really don't like fast food), and it would have cost more and certainly wouldn't have been healthier.

My principal was kidding me the other day about my big Thermos of coffee. He said he sees me with it every day. He's correct. I do have it. I "fix" the coffee pot every evening so all I have to do it turn it on when I get up. No, I don't set the timer because I unplug it after I get my coffee and plug it in when I'm ready for it to brew. Anyway, he was sort of making fun of me in a meeting about it and I said, well, it's far cheaper than buying coffee at the gas station every morning...you see, he buys his every morning. I know he looks at me like I'm a crazy woman for my Thermos, but it not only saves me money, but I get to fix coffee the way I like it.

Yesterday's lunch was basically a clean out the fridge type lunch...some leftovers and an apple. I take a lot of leftovers though and my lunch buddies have gotten to the point where they ask me for recipes because they like what I'm eating. Every time I eat something repurposed, I feel like I've saved some money.

Not much on the horizon as far as my life...trying to get through to the end of the year and stay healthy. Although people were complaining about the rain today, we are below our average for this time of the year. DH has started his garden and was kind of hoping a nice rain would help his plants. He's looking forward to a little warmer weather and has been planning on what he's going to grow...we have a very small area...and what he wants to eat. Truly, the way to his heart is through his stomach.

Heard lots of conversations at work about all the places people were going this weekend. Lots of shopping was involved. Other than groceries, there isn't much we need or want at this point.

I'm wondering if I'm getting old when I don't have to been entertained every minute and I don't have to worry about going out, but am happy with being home with my love and enjoying a cup of tea. Or perhaps I've just become a little more wise.

It's a beautiful day here...sunny, not too cold. DH is out starting the garden. He feels he got a late start...the ground was too wet two weeks ago and then last weekend he was down in the back. At least he's starting and he's happiest playing in the dirt.

I haven't posted much lately simply because I haven't had much to say. I didn't want to post simply to post. I've been reading the blogs, and every so often commenting.

We are starting to get some financial statements...some look good, some showed a little loss. Just a sign of the times, I guess.

One of the people I know who was gung ho about watching spending has fallen off the savings band wagon. The query is do you say something and risk getting this person upset or just hope they realize the error of this? I know, rhetorical question. I'm choosing not to say anything because I don't think it would be well received. I also know this person might respond that we spend money. I won't deny it. Most of our big expenditures are planned. We will be celebrating out 25th wedding anniversary in June and we hope to take a trip as part of it. We have vacation money saved up so it simply will be using part of the fund for that. We had to have a branch cut that was too far off the ground for a mere mortal to get, and we had the money set aside. We go out to eat with friends, but it is money budgeted. Plus, I'm older than this person, and I have fewer bills because I've been paying stuff off and saving.

After all the storms we've had the past few days, the lovely, calmer weather is a true treat. Hope you are enjoying beautiful weather as well. I'm off to continue cleaning since the maid didn't show yet again...she never shows! LOL

As I was fixing supper tonight -- our typical Sunday night staple of "Sloppy chicks" -- I went to get a jar of frozen tomato sauce I had made last summer. My mind was on other things and I grabbed the wrong jar. Defrosted that puppy, never even looked at it when I added it to the onions, bell pepper, and mushrooms and ground chicken...it was leftover chili! So we had sloppy chick chili mac. It was kind of soupy and I had made mashed potatoes last night and we had leftovers. I added them to thicken it. But you know, it wasn't bad! DH said he enjoyed it and that is all what matters!

I know it sounds contradictory, but sometimes I have to spend some money to save some money.

Last weekend we made three trips to Farm and Fleet. Fortunately it is very close to our house. But we saw a garbage can on sale and needed to replace ours since it has split. (DH has also wanted a mini tiller so he looked and bought...he said as he gets older it is getting harder to kneel and try to spade the soil by hand. I don't think we will actually save money on the tiller because he doesn't have a big plot, but he's happy. I figure I'm lucky he loves working in the yard instead of out boozing and getting into trouble.)

The third trip was to take the lawnmower there to get a tune up. It hasn't been tuned up or the blade sharpened in a number of years. We dropped it off and they worked on it and we picked it up today. It came to $62 for the tune up. Far cheaper than purchasing a new mower and since the mower still worked before taking it in, I think it was money well spent. So, I think in the long run we will save money by spending some.

Today I put a turkey breast in the slow cooker. The slow cooker is one I bought at a flea market for $10 a few years ago. It works great, looks nice, and although I have other slow cookers, it is a just the right size for this meal. That turkey breast will make up at least two meals so having spent money on that slow cooker a number of years ago, I think I'm saving money by cooking at home.

Speaking of slow cookers, I have 4 of them, counting the one previously mentioned. They are all different sizes. The $10 one is actually programmable which makes it even nicer, but I think I've saved a ton of money by using these wonderful appliances. So, by spending money, I've probably saved a bunch.

I opened up a jar of green beans I canned last summer. I'm not sure I saved very much money by canning since I had to buy some of the stuff outright to get started, but I do think they tasted better than the stuff from the store and I will have the jars and rings for the next time I can. Maybe I'll save money.

I've been watching thrift shops for canning jars and have purchased quite a few of the smaller pint ones. I read you can freeze things in these if they are straight up and down if you don't fill it to the very top so there is room for expansion. I did freeze some tomato sauce last summer with some of the small jars and I think it helps me save money as I use this stuff. I have also been using the tomatoes I canned last summer. Tonight, I finished up with the equivalent of about 5 quarts of broth. I had made chicken broth earlier this week and put it in the fridge to chill and today I had a bunch of turkey broth and it is also going to be frozen. I like keeping broth in the freezer so I have it when I want to make soups and stews. I spent money buying chicken and turkey for meals and used the leftover broth to freeze so I have it for other things.

I've been stocking up on things like soap and shampoo since there have been coupons for the stuff we use as well as sales. There was a sale on buy one, get one free and then there was a coupon for 50 cents off in the paper, so I felt like I had a good deal. It is stuff we normally use so I felt like although I didn't need two bottles right now, by buying them and having them, I'll save money so I don't have to get them at full price when I'm actually totally out.

I bought some orange oil when it was on sale awhile back and used it to wash and moisturize our kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities and bathroom trim and doors. That stuff isn't exactly cheap, but I think it sure helps preserve and clean the wood and hopefully help me save these pieces.

I spent $3 to wash my vehicle the other day at the car wash. It's not perfectly clean, but we've had so much salt on the roads and streets from this winter and although our snow is gone (hopefully won't return for a long time), when it rains, the puddles still have salt. I felt the $3 to wash the vehicle will help me save my vehicle from the damage salt could do to it.

So, I've been spending. We will be spending some big bucks in a bit...we are going to have insulation installed in our crawl space. We had an energy audit and he was shocked there wasn't any insulation down there. We are also going to add to the insulation in the attic. We are talking spending big bucks, but hopefully in the coming years, it will make our power bills a bit more reasonable and hopefully the floors a whole lot warmer.

Do you agree? Do you have sometimes have to spend money to save money?

Life seems to be flying by lately. We are doing PARCC testing and my days at work seem to be getting longer and longer as I go in even earlier to get the computer lab ready before we begin testing. Testing means walking and monitoring and trying to keep both students and teachers calm. It almost seems like my life is a little out of control since I am so busy with the testing and can't get too much else done. I'm coming home totally beat and my back and legs are tired and sore. I've been wearing sneakers and have two different pair I alternate.

This weekend I was trying to play "catch up" with stuff at home. I haven't felt like doing a lot of cleaning or laundry during the week so it means I'm trying to do all of this on the weekend. I've done fairly well on keeping dinner on the table most nights. It means a lot of planning which I don't mind.

Yesterday I was so tired and achy that after church and brunch I relaxed on the couch for an hour and took some Ibuprofen. Right now strep throat and the flu seem to be taking our school by storm and I don't want to get ill for a number of reasons, one being my missing testing would be a big problem since there doesn't seem to be anyone who would step up to manage it. Fortunately the rest and the meds seemed to help. I was still tired, but less achy and I did get my housework and laundry completed. I also put together the dough for some homemade bread. And I put short ribs in the Crockpot for tonight's supper and I can say they were delicious.

I was thinking last night about a neighbor of mine. When I was three, my folks moved from a country setting to the city and bought an old store building. My dad worked for Coke, but he also wanted to run a furniture store. So we moved and I stood in the back yard (not really a yard because it was all gravel) calling "Simon! Simon! Simon!"

The Chipmunks were popular when I was younger. A neighbor thought at first I had a brother, but when none showed, she finally said, "Yes!" and she became Simon to me for the rest of her life.

She was quite the blessing to me -- taught me many things including how to cook.

Every week she would bake bread. She had a certain recipe that she baked for her husband because he was diabetic. I remember smelling the wonderful aroma and if I were lucky that day, she would cut off part of the end, or heel, and butter it, and that would be our treat. It was wonderful and she was wonderful.

Yesterday as I put together the ingredients for some bread, I thought how fortunate I was to have had her in my life and the fact that I watched her and learned how to bake bread. A friend of ours had a bread machine and she said she couldn't get a decent loaf out of it. DH says he is amazed how easy I make it look. I've even demonstrated bread making for some of our classes at school because we think it is important for our children to realize bread doesn't just come from the store.

My friend, Simon, also taught me about making use of things and not wasting and stocking up when things are on sale.

More importantly, she loved me and made me feel like I had worth. I just hope that I do the same for someone else.

Yesterday was a nice day here in Central Illinois. We decided to go to Springfield and do a little shopping. So, I'm going to admit, we spent some money.

There is a Kohls there which is larger than ours and they had something I wanted to purchase for a friend's birthday. Our Kohls didn't have it. So, I bought it and will give it to her in a couple of weeks. It was on sale and we had a $5 off coupon from the loyalty thingy the company has.

We went to an antique mall. I'm going to tell you upfront what we bought was a want, not a need. There was a beautiful hand pieced, hand quilted quilt. I looked at it, and walked away and then went back. It was the size to fit a queen size bed. It was marked $195 which is pretty cheap for hand made quilts here in Central Illinois. I started to walk away again, and I saw the sign said half off of everything in the booth. DH walked over, saw me looking at the quilt and said he really liked it. So, we opened it up to see if it had any tears or stains. It didn't. So, we decided to buy it.

Now, I could rationalize this and say we haven't bought a new quilt or bedspread for over 12 years. My mom used to quilt and I would order one from her and she would make it and I would pay her for it. I have some quilts and I paid more for these quilts than what I paid yesterday. Most of my quilts are over 20 years old. Most are in good shape. I did not need this new to me quilt.

But, I wanted it. It is a different pattern than any I own. We brought it home, washed and dried it, and slept under it last night.

I posted a photo of it on Facebook last night and someone even offered to buy it from me! I had to chuckle over that!

So, I'll admit I spent money. I like what I bought. I am not going to rationalize buying it. But, I don't want to get in the habit of doing this either.

We had freezing rain and ice this morning. Area schools were closed. DH nicely turned on the television so we could check about my school district.

Nope...nothing there. So, I rush to get ready and leave. I slide down our driveway. Our street is like a skating rink.

The main road was better, but the parking lot at school was treacherous. I got in and was greeted by the custodian asking why I was there.

Seems school was closed a few minutes after I left home. So, I checked with the principal, and another teacher came in too. We discussed a couple of things and I decided to go home. He offered to walk me to my car and I thanked him because I was afraid I would pull him down if I fell. He did stay at the door and make sure I got to my vehicle without mishap which I thought was very nice. I came home and had to park in the street because our driveway was still very slick.

Right now Facebook is lit up with folks complaining about the late notice.

I am glad the people in charge decided to close school. I know it inconvenienced people for the late notice, but the forecasters had originally said it would be slick, but the temps would rise and by mid morning it would be melting. Well, by 7, it didn't look like it would be melting anytime soon. I worried about the kids having to be out in it and the people driving. We have many staff who live many miles from our district.

Last week a teacher in our district was killed on her way to work -- her car had stalled and someone fell asleep at the wheel and hit her car. It certainly gave me a different perspective...how much better to call school, even late, and to keep people safe?

Although I dread having to make up this day at the end of the school year, I spent the day working around the house. I used orange oil on our kitchen cabinets (they are wood) which cleans and moisturizes them. I have mopped the kitchen floor, cleaned a bathroom, and worked on laundry. For lunch I used leftover mashed potatoes to make potato patties and fried eggs and served with bacon and toast -- hubby was very pleased. Supper tonight will be chicken stir fry.

Fortunately it has gotten a little warmer and things are melting. After a big snow this weekend and ice, I'm ready for winter to subside. Of course, I'm sure New England would have more to complain about.

After yesterday's snow storm, today it is clear and sunny, but cold. Hey's it's winter in the midwest and I'm blessed to have a snug little home with central heating! Yesterday was certainly a no spend day because we didn't leave the place.

Tomorrow DH goes to make the last car payment on his vehicle. We did get a loan for three years, paid it off in two, simply because we figured we better have some kind of loan to keep our credit scores going. After this month, the car "payment" goes into savings so we have money for a good down payment on the next vehicle down the road.We haven't had a mortgage for a number of years so we thought we ought to "borrow" a bit of money for a little bit of time.

I was glad to see the stock market closed up on Friday due to Greece working out some financial deal. It sure would be nice to get some money on investments since interest rates for savings and CDs are so darn low.

After church we had brunch and then we did some house cleaning. I try to clean by a certain schedule and touch up in between.

After cleaning it is bill paying then I reward myself with some email, Facebook, and SA time.

I check my spam folder every so often to make sure something hasn't gotten in there that shouldn't before I clean it out. I have to chuckle at some of the things in that folder...I guess the spammers must think I'm a guy because there are lots of emails for enlargement of a piece of anatomy I don't currently possess, "ladies" wanting to meet and marry me, women wanting to date me and sleep with me, as well as the usual garbage of credit, insurance, Dr. Oz treatments, and printer ink. I often wonder how these folks get my email since I'm not visiting singles' sites, insurance sites, or ink sites. It would be amusing if it really wasn't so sad...I haven't gotten any from the contests lately...for awhile I was getting bombarded with I was a winner. I don't enter many contests so I don't think I'll fall for any of that.

Supper will be sloppy chicks. I have two after school/evening meetings this week, so I had to think what I could fix that DH could heat up for himself and I could take and heat up at work for my menu. The pork roast and the soup will make up two meals for us so the menu looks sparse:

Scrambled eggs, sausage, grits, toast, fruit salad
Sloppy chicks
Pork tenderloin roast with carrots, onions, celery, and mushrooms and baked sweet potatoes and roasted potatoes
Chicken and rice soup

Here in Central Illinois we received quite a bit of snow overnight. Well, Boston and New England might disagree, but we received between 7-10 inches. Our cul-d-sac is pretty deep. A neighbor so kindly used his snow blower to do our driveway and bless his kind soul!

Yesterday I put a whole chicken in the Crockpot. I bought the chicken Thursday since school was called due to cold temps, and I did the grocery shopping a day early since I had seen the forecast and thought we might have bad weather Friday night into Saturday. I don't do the grocery store scare shopping -- we shop every week so this was just our normal shopping experience. I heard last night that our grocery stores were crazy busy as the snow started. Glad I missed that mess. I bet lots of people were buying things out of fear instead of necessity.

Anyway, back to the chicken. I put it in the Crockpot with some vegetables so I would have a rich broth. Last night I pulled the meat off the bones and then strained the broth and put it in the fridge. I could then skim off the fat after it was chilled.

So today, I used some of the chicken to make chicken salad for sandwiches for lunch. I have a pot of chicken and rice soup going and I have enough chicken leftover for chicken and noodles. I used some of the broth also for ham and beans. I'm trying to use things I have in my freezer so they don't get freezer burn or too old. So, that chicken will be providing the basis for three meals and helped with a fourth. Not too bad. The house smells pretty good with the ham and beans cooking.

DH is a bit under the weather so I hope after his rest he feels better. I'm trying to stay quiet as to not disturb him.

We had new grocery open up and I feel like we are reaping the benefits. It is a second store for one group and the coupons have really started coming out. They had a coupon of a box of Creamette spaghetti for 59 cents with the coupon, limit of 2. I didn't need spaghetti, but we bought them and they are stored in the freezer for when we do.

Since this company has had a lot of sales and such, the other large grocery company has stepped up with sales and coupons. I am no longer loyal to one store. I have decided I am loyal to us and saving us money. This store sent me coupons for some free items based on what I've bought in the past as well as cents off coupons for things. Between their savings and Aldi, we have spent less than $60 on groceries for this week. I really like this penny pinching!