Monday, April 5, 2021

Saving Money

 Hubby picked up the cucumber I forgot to get at the store the other day on his way home from a hauling job and he had to get fuel anyways in town. He found fresh flowers that were decent on clearance so brought them home for me. 

I decided to start cutting the bread with the "meat" slicer as Hubby just whacks it and some are thick and some too thin. I will measure the bread that M sends over and figure out how many slices I can get 3/8s or 1/2 inch thick. I might do both from same loaf as we like a thicker slice for garlic toast and French toast. 

We turned the furnace down to 62 several times during the week. It was warm enough and that let us get to April without having a propane delivery. I ordered propane to be delivered this week... that should give us enough to go until fall. I told Hubby I wanted to use the canning stove since it's hooked up and working now for canning this year as that is a grill propane tank. 

We talked to my life ins rep about paying off my life ins loan. She is crunching numbers as she knows the company that Hubby retired from is shut down now due to computer chip shortage and she doesn't want us short cashed if we have to start buying our own health ins. There has been 3 other companies in our area that their retired people are now looking for health ins. as they are not going to reopen in this area. She wanted us to see all our options. 

We have been using up leftovers. Freezing extra for when we work in the gardens and are too tired to eat let alone cook. Old age sucks sometimes. 

I finished clearing weeds out of the 2 ft by 16 ft herb bed. I have room for some annual herbs in that bed now. I cleared the pots of mints of weeds in them. Repotted into bigger pots the last of the fruit trees we got last year along with a maple tree I had started 3 yrs ago from the rental we lived in and the lilac a person was going to toss because it wasn't growing (root bound).  Cleared weeds from 6  4 ft  by 4 ft strawberry beds. Cleared weeds from the 12 ft long beds of the red raspberries, yellow raspberries and blackberries. Cleared the 3 pots of the blueberry bushes ( we have alkaline soil). 

I still have the chives and garlic chives patch to weed and the north flower garden.  I will start potting stuff closer to May.

My garlic and Egyptian onions are doing well. Asparagus is starting to show in a few places also. 

I plan to be planting my cool weather crops today and tomorrow so by middle of May we will have fresh veggies without going to the store


5 comments:

  1. We found a slicing guide that takes the whole loaf at a thrift store for 50 cents but it is too thin for toast. I does make nice slices for sandwiches though so we cut by hand for toast. I haven't tried the slicer for bread but since it is stored in the garage and would have to be hauled inside each time I don't even want to start.

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    1. I have an small appliance cabinet in the corner since I felt corner cabinets are worthless. My cabinet guy designed this and it really works nice. I do have it sitting on the bfast bar now as Hubby and I feel slicing the whole loaf at one time would cause the bread to dry out faster.

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    2. You're right about slicing the whole loaf. It dries out fast. When the kids were still home I loaded the bread machine first thing every morning for lunch and then ran it again in the afternoon for breakfast the next day. No stale bread back then. Now we really have to watch it or we have moldy bread.

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  2. I have never heard of yellow raspberries. Do they taste like red raspberries? You have done so much and have so many ambitious plans. It makes me tired.

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    1. They don't taste like red raspberries. We only got a few last year (first year planting so was shocked). Very mild, Hubby said to him it was more like a mild honey.

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