a BUSY week

It's only Monday, I keep repeating that to myself,it's only Monday.

I did laundry today using the clothes line Hubby put up out in the yard and like he feared the deadman in concrete came up and started letting the support  post lean in causing the lines to sag in the middle. I stepped on the concrete and it sank back in some. Hubby was going to go look for something to weigh it down and I told him to get the Ford...the car that is suppose to have went to the junk yard weeks ago... Well, today it was parked with the front tire on the concrete holding the clothes line up so my bedding didn't drag on the ground.

Regretfully even after drying everything on the line I had to run the last 3 loads through  the dryer to kill the gnats that decided my bedding looked comfy. At least it wasn't a long time , just a hot dryer.

We don't have a power washer for the parts that are vinyl siding on the house so I hand washed the part that is on the front porch with blue Dawn and rinsed with vinegar. Looks better than what it did. Hubby didn't realize how dirty it was until I was about half way through.Took me a couple hours but well worth the time.

I froze enough green tomatoes for  6 meals of fried green tomatoes, I might get more before the rest of them turn red.

I cooked about 10 lbs of red tomatoes to make juice with tomorrow ( I have juice ready to can tomorrow in the frig)as I needed to make bread after dinner since Hubby ate the last of the bread this morning and wants an egg sandwich with his oatmeal in the morning. I made 2 loaves of oatmeal bread (Owlhaven.net) and made extra oatmeal for breakfast.

I weeded the flower garden,definitely will have to move the hosta next spring as they have outgrown the area and you can't even see the sidewalk.

I fixed leftovers for lunch and then we had a cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato on the side. We had potato chips as our even snack.

Hubby mowed all the property but decided to not trim as we know we will be mowing at least one more time and want to do the trimming then.

He also went to a local place we were told carried weed barrier that we are looking for,they were out but offered to order it for us and then told Hubby where they order from. The place is 15 min from a place we have been wanting to go (Lehman's in Eastern OH that provides items for Amish and like).So we decided we would go there this Thursday as part of Hubby's birthday as he turns 60 tomorrow.

I did 2 orders to Joann fabrics using coupons both times. We decided to make curtains for the French doors for night time or during the hotter months.  I need to stop at thrift shops to see if I can find something to back the flannel for the curtains in the front room as Hubby said the front room got pretty chilly when the temperature dropped last week.

Tuesday,
It's Hubby's 60th birthday and we have in recent year's went to Lock 16 in Lima OH for him to have steak. I always make sure to tell them it's his birthday and they bring him a cake.The server remembered us from last year as we paid for an elderly couple that was having their anniversary and we left the server a big tip as she went out of her way to make sure the couple had a wonderful meal which was apparent they were sharing a meal and picked the lowest costing meal. We did some errands first and got some needed items on sale.Then did a pit stop at the produce farm to pick up the winter squash for the pantry. I worked more tomatoes when we got home,should have enough juice to have a full canner in the morning.

Wednesday
Slept with the windows open as it didn't drop below 68 last night. Won't be do that again for a long while as the high for the next 9 days isn't even that high.

Hubby finished painting the house and I canned 12 qrts of tomato juice and cooked 2 more pans of tomatoes. It's drizzling now but the wind is high so I won't be going out to the barn to can tonight.

Storms are suppose to be running through in a few hours, they said that this afternoon and it came in 3 hrs early.

I went through 15 boxes and put them away.I find some old curtains of Son2 that he gave to me to keep for anyone that needed them. I had lined them with blankets several years back and decided to take the backing off and use it to line the curtains I am making for the front room. I remember I didn't spend over $3 for the blankets at the thrift shop so this is just the icing on the cake to reuse it.

I washed laundry and hung our clothes on the kitchen clothesline and the winter bedding and curtains on the yard clothesline.

We had leftovers from Lock 16 for lunch and dinner.

Thursday,
We went to Holmes county for the day. We needed weed barrier for the gardens and the local green house told us where they order it from and offered to order it but since we have been wanting to go to Lehman's in Holmes co. and the place was only 7 miles away it made sense to just pick it up ourselves. We drove the car instead of the truck and hoped it would be a negative of bringing everything home.

 Turned out to be a good choice as the gentleman gave us a price comparison of getting 4 of the 300 ft lengths instead of 5 of the 100 ft length actually saved us the price of the 4 th roll. PLUS we got more weed barrier.He also got us a deal on barrier staples that got us twice as much for the same price and the popcorn plate that fits my seed planter was half the price we found it at Johnny's seeds.

We then went to Lehman's and got wicks, lamp oil and 6 lamp chimneys so when I do the fall cleaning I can put out the oil lamps also. Those items were on sale. I picked up some hand soaps for the mudroom and kitchen sinks. I forgot I now have 4 sinks. I will just refill the bottles with the hand soap I have in the pantry.We got a cast iron waffle iron you put directly on your stove. It was marked down to $17 from the $45. Waffles will be on the menu.

We went to a grocery store that had an restaurant attached to it and had a late lunch. We chose to just have sandwiches instead of the special because it was cheaper and after seeing the specials served we could have bought 1 and split it and still had leftovers. Even with what we bought it was less and healthier than the local Mc D's .

We talked about where to cut the budget on the ride over and back. Batted thoughts of how to bring in money or save money. I will be back to growing my own plants or getting them at the produce auction of course. Hubby is going to get a hold of his brother in law about buying some stuff from him for welding.

 Friday
Last night Amish neighbor asked if we would stop by his house this morning and get his kerosene container and pick some up for him as they were almost out and it's what they use for their lamps. We were running errands today so it wasn't out of the way.

We paid some bills, Hubby got tags for the trailer and motorcycle that are in his name. Hubby filled the truck up using the Kroger points.He got a flu shot,
made a deposit at the bank, dropped off a tax paper that will give us 2.5% deduction on our taxes next year.I went in to the  newspaper and found that they had gave my delivery person the wrong address so that is straightened out. Stopped at the library and then we went to the store.

Kroger's.... wasn't busy for a Friday morning and it was stocked well. I am still adjusting to the how much smaller it is and the layout seems to be random , might be so you walk through the entire store to pick up a can of veggies and a can of fruit.

 Couple things I had coupons for they don't carry so if I am closer to a different Kroger's before they expire I will check else where. I saved over $200 and the manager had to over ride the system to get me checked out. Hubby did ask why I got more pasta with what we have.... it was on sale and the coupon I had made it 40 cents for a pound of pasta... So we will get 6 meals for $1.20....SMILE
Total meals added to pantry is 74. I was going to drop a ham and a turkey off the buy list but Hubby wants me to keep it on. We have the room in the freezers and he is just feeling it would be better if we didn't change plans at this point.

He took the kerosene to the neighbor and I sent a list with him that I keep extra flour, oil, yeast etc so if they ran out or low to come borrow instead of trying to get to the store especially as early as it's getting dark and being in a buggy. Hubby said she was excited as they haven't had time to go to town (it's an hour buggy ride one way) and she was out of oil and had been for awhile. So Hubby took her a gallon of oil and made her day. She asked what we wanted for it and he told her he would have to think about it... DUH... I said when he told me...BAKED GOODS.. He laughed because it hadn't crossed his mind even though he just bought a pie at the local store made by her cousin LOL.

I still need to find some containers to put stuff in that is now in the basement since we don't have a butler's pantry. I'm waiting as I definitely don't have everything put away let alone a place to put everything.

Saturday 
I did all the dishes up including some that had been packed, canned tomato juice, washed the outside of the front room windows and the storm windows before Hubby put them on. Did 2 loads of laundry using the yard clothes line.Hubby put together 2 more shelving units for the pantry in the basement.I searched the barn for milk crates to wash on Monday for the root veggies for the basement. I closed the ceiling vent that allows warm air to rise from the front room to the guest room. I fixed pizza from the pantry.

Sunday
I slept 12 hrs straight, definitely don't feel good so hope it's a passing thing as several of friends and family have commented that they have the stomach bug. I already got my flu shot so maybe I won't get what ever is going around. Hubby also just got his flu shot.

Hubby put up the "closet rod" I asked for in the staircase at the front room and I put a heavy curtain on it to help stop so much of the warm air going up the staircase.  I really need to finish the fall cleaning up there and get the sewing room put together so I can sew the winter curtains.

I went down to change things around in the pantry since Hubby added a couple more units. He put 2 of the shelf braces on upside down and the shelves collapsed when I had them LOADED... lost 3 pints of pickled beets and have a messed up thumb and pulled bicep as I tried to stop the shelves. Got that mess cleaned up and Hubby kept telling me he was sorry... decided to just call it a day ...both of us and start again tomorrow. Good thing as I am having troubles hold things in my hand due to the swelling and bruise of the thumb and definitely don't want to lift anything heavy with the arm.

I pulled ground beef to make tacos for dinner. We had odds and ends from the frig for lunch.

I put the budget on an excel sheet and paid the bills that are not automatic. We have decided we want to put down at least 20 % on the new truck for Hubby.I transferred what we set that amount to be to Ally bank. We don't touch the savings there unless it's an emergency plus it makes more in interest than our local bank.