Started early

That's what I get for saying something to Hubby about starting to eat from the pantry Oct 1st instead of Jan 1st.

His response was "can you start tonight?"

I pulled some leftover turkey pieces from the deep freezer, diced that up and added to it diced onions,diced celery, diced carrots and diced garlic. Sauteed that for a little bit to soften the veggies. Added broth and milk. Let it get hot again then added frozen peas and the dumpling dough I made from the Bisquick( which I realized I was low on). Served applesauce on the side and called it done. I drew a star on the date on the calendar and thought one down.

Tonight is cubed steak. But since there is only 3 small ones and I know that's not enough for our dinner and Hubby's lunch I am slicing it in strips and cooking sliced onions and mushrooms to add to it. I will serve it on what ever bread I have. I will serve with it a tossed salad loaded with veggies and french fries that are in the freezer,cottage cheese that Hubby will eat with apple butter on and I will drink a V8 fusion. I will make a Waldorf salad but use crunchy peanut butter instead of mayo as that it Hubby's preference. Another star on the calendar.

I have 4 more trays in the new dehydrator of ripe tomatoes and  4 trays of bell peppers in the old dehydrator. I don't think there is going to be any more bell peppers out of the garden.

The square foot gardens are pretty much done and ready to be prepped for winter. That leaves the 2 tomato patches, if I can call a garden that has 120 tomato plants in it a patch, yet to wrap up. Tomatoes are still okay there so I might have to cover them if we get a frost any time soon. That only leaves the horseradish left to dig up after the first frost.

Have a Blessed Day. Talk to you tomorrow

Oct 1st. Eating from the Pantry

I am still putting up (old timers term) the harvest but instead of waiting until Jan to start eating out of the pantry for the most part. I decided to start Oct 1st.

My goals are as following:

to make more room for what is still coming in, including turkeys and hams

to use food up so it doesn't go to waste ...after clearing my mother's pantry and having to throw the majority of it out it broke my heart because I know if she had been in a different state of mind she would have been feeding others with it.

to cut the budget as low as possible to finish paying off some of the bills. We have several medical bills right now due to my sickness and shoulder/arm injury along with back taxes and 2 loans. The last loan due to be paid off Jan 2017 and I am aiming to pay it off in 2015.


SO I also decided to hold my self accountable so I will post on here what we are eating and when we buy something what it will be.

Thankfully the weather is cooler now because this requires me to bake the bread for toast and meals.

Blessed be

Sept and still canning

My son calls me almost daily on his drive to work to make sure I am doing okay. Then he calls me at lunch time and see how I feel and what I have been doing that day and what else will I be doing and then on his way home he calls to see how it went and what I fixed his dad and me for dinner..for the last couple months the answer has been .I am in the tomatoes and I am canning tomatoes in some form.Tomatoes has been on the table in some way pretty every night.

At the beginning of the season I had one of these every day or no later than a day and half. then it was every other day, then every third day. It's been 5 days since the last load. The weather has turned unusually cool for us and this time of year. The tomatoes aren't turning red as fast but I am still pretty well loaded with green tomatoes. Guess fried green tomatoes are going to start being on the table a lot also.

On Monday during my son's lunch call he was silent for a few minutes when I told him we had went to the produce auction and then stopped at a farmer's market on the way home. I could tell he hated to ask what we picked up but just couldn't help himself.Probably so he knows what to tell his sisters so they know what food they can ask for later.

I got mushrooms (dried and canned them), pluots (dried and canned them),bananas (dried and canned them ),butternut squash (still to do),cabbage ( made jarred kraut for the first time),acorn squash,(still to do)pumpkins (roasted, pureed and then dried), delicata squash (fresh eating), spag squash( fresh eating),winter onions ( hanging in nylons),4 bushels of different types of apples( still to do ) and 50 lbs of potatoes( still to do). Yes I still have tomatoes coming in. I even asked a friend if he had chili peppers that I could have to make more salsa.

The freezers are full. The pantry is almost out of shelf space. Will be long before I finish for this season. I have started dehydrating things I normally can such as pumpkin just to have room for other things.I got the chili soup made and canned but not the veggie beef soup.I haven't made my dried noodles either.That's also on the to do list.

I have tried to keep the grocery budget at less than $300 but the canning supplies is coming out of the grocery budget like it was a over flowing river breaking through the damn. Hubby has even taken to buying supplies for me out of the overtime he has gotten off and on.

We know if things turn bad like they did a couple years back , that the food I put up (ha ha old term ) is money in the bank for us and our adult kids . I am becoming my grandpa more and more each year.If he didn't grow it,hunt it, fish it,barter it or raise it , he didn't eat it. We don't hunt or fish (hubby drowns plastic worms) and I will buy meat and some other things but most in the pantry is home grown.

I need to go check the canner and the dehydrator.

Blessed be

Grocery budget and the harvest

There are some things that didn't do well this year so we bought them at the produce auction that is ran by some Amish in our area.. What is coming in from the garden right now is tomatoes...I worry I won't get enough and will have to buy sauces and such again this year and green beans. These seems to be doing good plus I just put in some more for fall.The only thing besides tomatoes that it looks like I am not going to have enough of is cabbage and winter squash. I didn't get much zucchini, what can I say besides I never do and I must be the only person in the world that can't grow zucchini. I am blessed with a friend that does very well with 2 plants so he shared his zucchini and what beets he didn't want to deal with.

Still with the garden coming in I have blew the grocery budget through the summer. I was checking the blogs I read and saw where Mary over at www.owlhaven.net is having a grocery challenge of getting back on track and saving some money herself so I joined in. Everything is easier if I am held accountable and have "friends" doing the same thing.

My goal for food and non-food is $200 for the money. It's usually $350 but the last few months it's crept up to $600 with eating out also. We have a cookout this month with our family that we provide the meat and some of the sides so that is included in that $200.

We have 6 debts to finish paying off. Goal is set to be debt free (we rent because we live where hubby works not where our families are so we didn't want to buy since he is close to retirement) by Jan 2017, I would like to cut 2 yrs off that which means I have to stay on budget and I have to roll what I pay on the other debts on to the next debt as they get paid off. Kind of like snowballing.We will have 2 paid off  by the end of this year and 3 paid off by fall of next year.

It's going to be interesting to see if I can bring the grocery bill down and put that money towards getting that debt paid off faster.

Have a good week.

Blessed be

chicken with no head

this is just a small amount of the plants I have put in since spring. In fact I have put in over 250 tomato plants, 150 bell pepper plants, and 240 onions along with several other is just the tip of the ice burg...then I went to a produce auction and got more...then a friend was over ran with beets and I got those....sigh...best description of me right now is a chicken running around without their head.

For right now, 2 deep freezers and both freezers to refrigerators are full to the brim. I am out of shelf room in the pantry with this last round of canning tomatoes.I will have to start storing canning under the bed, in closets etc. I don't stop putting up just because I am being over ran. I figure there are good years and then there are bad years with the garden(like last year and tomatoes) so it just gets shoved some where.I still need more tomatoes (fingers crossed that I will get them from my own garden), green beans (which are growing but not producing) and cabbage. I will probably buy the cabbage at the produce auction. I plan to make kraut this year as we eat it regularly.

I have changed our "diet"to be closer to the Mediterranean diet to try to get my cholesterol in control as I can't take statins and  my insurance doesn't cover Zetia.

I am so far behind I thought I was first seems to have become my motto.

Meantime, two of the kids moved and needed our help as we have the trailer, one went to AT for military and I stayed at their place and babysat my four legged grandchildren.Then we got notice we might have to move and then after a frantic couple of weeks was told that wasn't going to happen.SIGH.

I hurt my shoulder to the point I have had physical therapy and now have an appointment with the specialist.

So today I am sitting down and setting goals of what I need to get done and what I want to get done before the snow flies or worse surgery on the shoulder.

We are tightening the budget to save more as we realized just how much it would cost for us to move into something that would suit us with our lifestyle.

I best get at it...have a Blessed Day

Over ran by life

or just kicked in the rear end...take your pick.

I picked these old boots up at an produce auction while getting my 250 tomato plants,144 cabbage, 144 cauliflower, 96 broccoli, 96 bell peppers and lots more. I have more than 1000 plants in my gardens not counting the seeds I planted...please do not even try to think of what I thinking of because I have claimed insanity already.

The best thing I can say...it took me 2 months to get it all in ground...and this week I have been harvesting tomatoes and several root veggies. The pantry is cleaned and ready for the new harvest when it starts burying me.Hubby and the kids have decided that if  I am missing that I must be buried alive in the garden and to look for the pup as he is usually with me wanting me to toss the ball for him.Guess they think a large dog jumping up and down would be easier to find than an old woman collapsed in exhaustion.

I will add that my Dad told me they planted 200 tomato plants a year and always ran out before the next harvest.That made me feel better about myself. That was part of what was in my mind. I ran out of tomatoes last December and had to buy canned tomatoes. BUT reality is that I got wrapped out in the bidding and it didn't register that a flat wasn't necessarily 12 or 15 but sometimes 48.

Now I have to take care of all these wonderful plants that will feed us and most likely our kids and their families.

I have started watching Alaska the Last Frontier, it helps with motivation...HA HA.

Enjoy and Blessed Be

3 more days and I will be home

From the sounds of the weather at home it would have drove me crazy , warm, cold, snow, rain etc...Hubby even said "you won't be able to get in the garden because it will be too muddy when you get home" which I came back with "that's why we have square foot gardens also." At least this year I won't be making him add more square foot gardens.

I have enjoyed work, enjoyed seeing old friends, enjoyed the warmer weather even though it's cooler than normal in this area, enjoyed paying off a couple bills...but I am so ready to get back home and get to work there.

I did use my down time here for catching up on some reading and starting the inventory for my pantry and reworking our budget. I was able to visualize in my head the shelves in the pantry (now I think just how huge our pantry is) and write out what items was there, should be easier to count them when I get home. I know I missed some things... condiments and spices/herbs...I have over 100 spices and herbs.

Got to get started on the spring cleaning, (warm weather for using clothes line YES!!!) and repairing and redoing the outside furniture.

Planting flowers,herbs and hundreds of veggies. Yes hundreds because I will have over 100 of various tomato plants besides the other plants. I can my own red sauce,bolognese sauce,red sauce with veggies,and pizza sauce. I might do salsa this year also since we do eat enough of it.Not touching diced tomatoes, diced tomatoes with seasonings, stewed tomatoes. I don't make tomato juice until I have enough of the other tomatoes needed done.

I need to really "clean" the pantry while inventorying it so I can see how much room and empty jars I have for this year's produce. I most likely will need more jars, I usually do.

I am going back to baking, I had stopped after Christmas except for cookies for Operation Thank You but since we decided to rework the budget to get a couple more large debts paid off in the next year. The grocery budget(food, non food, personal items, pets, and office supplies) took the hit.

Going to try drying greens this year. Haven't really heard of doing it before last winter, something new. But then I have had a  lot of people that have never heard of leather britches (greasy cut short green bean dried on a string. Will do a post later on it.)including my parents that were upset that they were tossing food they could have been eating,they made shelly beans (like dried beans) out of them and tossed the rest in the compost pile.I reminded them at least they composted it but it's hard to think of that when you know there was times you went hungry. Mother was sad that she had never learned to make broth from meat let alone from vegetable peels like I do.

Dad taught me the basics of cooking, the rest I picked up from others as I became an adult. Still learning each day something new in the culinary world which is probably why I enjoy my career as a Personal Chef even after all these years of working in the food industry.

Going to go "play" with my garden designs...even though I know I will change them when I plant them.

Blessed Be

Prayers for Boston and all those affected

We are praying for those in Boston and all those that are affected. We have a friend that has a friend that was there and their family hasn't been able to reach him so far.

Blessed be

changes

never come easy. Especially when you have done the same thing year and year , decade after decade.

We are changing how we run the budget. Keep getting caught with odds and ends that pop up. So we decided to try America's Cheapest Family's (Steve and Annette Economides) budget. Haven't even set it completely up and have found holes in our old budget.

I am also doing a price book for our groceries and non -food items. That is a huge project. I have an extensive pantry so it's going to take some time. I did start snapping pictures of the cost/item tags at the stores so I can put that information in later.

I have finally been able to get back to work after a year with my old boss. Missed them even though we talked,emailed, and texted several times a week. They moved a couple times and are now back in the area so it's great to be back to work with old friends.

Have a good week.

Blessed be

When Hubby rules

Hubby is pretty laid back and doesn't usually say much about how I run the house.Part of that is he is just laid back, the other part is he knows me well enough that if he messes with my system too much I will just hand over the complete job of running the house to him and he has seen the job when he was a single parent and doesn't want it.

Wednesday he decided that since best sales at the grocery store are at the end of the month in this area, that we needed to go at the end of the month instead of waiting until April 11th like I had planned. So with a look at the finances, the pantry and freezer (which I am still working on inventorying I add to our menu to take us to the end of April. Wrote out the grocery list, gathered coupons, checked the store ads and on Thursday we went to town after he got home from work.

Bottom line...I spent $38.48 on the dogs...$100 is in the budget for them as we average out their cost for the year. They will need dog food before I go back to the store but we will tie that in with other errands so it's not a special trip or Hubby will stop at local grocery on his way home from work. Cost of gas to town equals the increase in price at the local store.

I spent $63.21 on non-food and medical supplies and over the counter meds. I saved $31. 52 in coupons, discounts and mark downs on this . Basically around 30% savings.

I spent $120.28 on groceries and saved $76.68 in coupons, store card,and mark downs. That's around 39%. That included a ham and a turkey that was marked down.

I already had the ham for Easter so the first ham was cut up for sandwiches and cubed for casseroles, scraps are for flavoring and the bone is for soup. I took some of it to my son on Saturday since he wasn't going anywhere for Easter because he decided to do his spring cleaning,wished he would come do mine.

I baked the ham I already had for Easter. It will be dealt with today the same way as the first one minus the fact son isn't getting more ham.

The turkey is thawed so it will be for dinner tonight with me slicing the breast for lunch meat, cubing the rest for turkey salad and casseroles and making broth out of the remains.

Hopefully the weather will remain decent and I will be able to get my cool weather crops in the square foot gardens so I won't have to buy as much fresh produce.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Blessed Be Juls

Groceries

Ate canned Chinese , eggrolls and potstickers and a packaged rice mix last night for dinner. I don't usually eat that much of packed food but we are still trying to use up what was Mother's pantry.

Tonight I have some leftover shredded chicken so I am going to make chicken enchiladas using the leftover homemade cream of mushroom soup as the sauce. Corn in the freezer, green chilis in the pantry and cheese out of the cheese drawer and tortilla wraps out of the frig. A tossed salad with avocado to go with it . All from the pantry.

I caught myself writing out a grocery list and checking coupons...backed myself up as I won't be going to the store until April 11th. When Hubby brought the local grocery store ads in from the mail, I tossed them directly in to the burn can.

I have put the list on the computer so when it is time to go to the store I have the list and decide if I really need that.I have found myself substituting just to use something up.

Hopefully the ground is going to warm up and I will be able to get some seeds planted so with in a month I will have salad food coming in so I can take that off the list.

Everyone have a good day.

Blessed Be

Changing routines and being productive while down with Crohn's

I have learned to find ways to be productive so I don't get as depressed because nothing is getting done.

I sorted through the jewelry from my mother's estate and dealt with that so it's off the to do list.

I sorted through a couple boxes every day (Hubby was okay with bringing 2 from upstairs).

I read "Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half" by Steve and Annette Economides ( aka America's Cheapest Family) Which lead me to starting to inventory the pantry,freezers and frigs....still working on that .

I decided to post what I do each week on the back of the front door (it's right beside my desk so I see the back of it most the time) of what I did to be frugal. This week's frugal choices was to go through the check book and see where there were "leaks". I stopped some automatic pays that we no longer use saving $30.00 a month. We found spray paint on sale (patio furniture need painted) and with a rebate.

We ate every night except Friday from the pantry. Friday we went over to the Inn Between Tavern and got the all you can eat fish special.

I made laundry fabric softener and laundry stain remover.

I joined the Money Saving Family (AKA America's Cheapest family). Yes that was spending some money but by using one of their grocery tips I can have that money back in one month.

I read "Brother,Can You spare a Dime" by Tony Sakkis. It's about feeding yourself on $5 a week. Ramen noodles yes, but a lot of variety that makes it no different than serving spaghetti once a week or substituting pasta instead of the Ramen noodles. I eat Ramen noodles without the seasoning package and broth with butter and powdered garlic when I am sick...of course I also eat a sausage patty with horseradish cream sauce and Swiss cheese on a thin bagel when I am sick. My doc thinks I must be really sick especially when I mention craving Chinese food and Taco Bell.

I read "Once a Month Cooking" by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg. I used to do this when Hubby and I first got together and combined our family. It was a mind and time saver when 5 of the kids was in sports and Hubby was also playing ball, coaching and umpiring.

I read Michelle Obama's book "American Grown" Made lots of notes and plans for the house and the gardens for when I got well and back on my feet.

Now I just have to pace myself so I don't trigger anything which comes to today's job of reworking my routines. On my bulletin board (actually a lime green foam board cut in half and doubled) I have posted the old work schedule for housewives. Monday wash day, etc.

I have also used Flylady's schedule. Neither are working for me at this time. I made some notes on what I saw wasn't getting down and what I needed more or less time for the past month. So today I am going to sit down and rework my routine and try it for a month. Since that's also adding in the gardens ( over 1,000 sq ft when you put in the gardens around the house foundations) and yard work.

I hope everyone has a good day.

Blessed Be Juls

Another snow

Yep, here we go again... looks just like the other weekend but not as much drifting.So tired of the drastic changes.

Still eating from the pantry.Caught myself looking at going to the grocery store after deciding we would only go once a month. I just put that list beside the computer and decided I could add to it, most likely  I will start the garden by then and won't need as much or what I listed to begin with.Besides saving money, eating from the pantry lowers it so I have room to put the garden up when the harvest comes in.

I did get one of the square foot gardens covered with plastic to start warming the soil. It can be 32 outside but if there is sun the plastic can heat the soil to 60 or more. I can plant cool weather crops in that temp and put a hoop house over that square.

I made a plan of what to plant in that first square foot garden. Plan on Anna snow peas, Philadelphia white box radishes,scallions, red summer crisp Cherokee lettuce, Baby leaf lettuce mix,Cimmaron Romaine, Rouge d'Hiver Romaine, Cabbage,cauliflower,broccoli,beets, peppermint Swiss Chard, salad fresh spinach, Yaya carrots and Quickstar kohlrabi.A 4 by 4 ft square will grow all of that for the spring season.

I've been reading "American Grown" by Michelle Obama. Good book to read even if you are not into gardening, I love the layout of the White House kitchen garden and the fact they try to grow food all 4 seasons.

I already told Hubby he is going to have to figure out how to keep the hot house standing through the winter so I can have my salads because it's up to over $15 a month at Aldi's.

Going back to play in the seeds and decide what I can start growing inside.

Have a great day

Blessed be

nasty weather nasty health but got groceries

 Snow, sleet , freezing rain with a few days of warm and sunny teases in between. Yep, Ohio in the Spring.

Top it with an acute flair up on my Crohn's which now I am on meds for. Low dosage and 2 out of the 3 are just as needed.

Since I was stuck in side and down with Crohn's I decided to figure out if we could cut the grocery bill. It had did a crawl up to twice the amount budgeted. I first thought, high prices of everything, too much impulse buys and I need to eat healthier.(Sorry doc not going Vegan, I am a cheese hound). Did some research on the internet, pulled some things I did when I was a widow raising 3 and feed half the county with their friends and raided the library on a "I can barely stand but I need out of this house"cabin fever day.

Then I went to the store and got enough groceries for the month (and collapsed the next day but it was done).When the kids were little I did that, when Hubby and I got married I did that, I even did that for a few years after the kids all left home because my youngest did and I went to the store with her.

The picture are $327 of groceries (which leaves $23 for milk/bread etc for the rest of the month). That actually puts us almost half of the original budget amount.The only thing not showing is the 12 rolls of toilet paper. The packaged food to the left of the chair is 22 shelf stable microwave meals for Operation Thank You to send to deployed troops that had their chow halls shut down. I spent $27 and saved $32 on them and yes, they came out of the food budget.

The stick of deli pepperoni will last about 3 months. The ham is for Easter so it will help through next month.I have a meat slicer so I do my own slicing. I plan to get a meat grinder for my Kitchen Aid mixer and start grinding my own beef.

Everything was put prepped and put away with in an hour.Which surprised Hubby but I have a system and I keep my foods in the same place (or do until he moves them) in the frig.

The next day after dreams of not running to the store every week and having a good solid base for many meals...I woke up to my Crohn's. So for the past 10 days I've been telling Hubby what there is for him to eat that he doesn't really have to cook, just reheat or I reheated it for him if possible. He didn't have to buy anything out or go to the store and that made him happy.By the beginning of last weekend I was no longer able to eat, by Sunday I was no longer able to hold fluids down. Monday morning Doc with much regret gave me my first meds for Crohn's. Now I am home trying to replace fluids and get my energy back.I am not in full remission but things are down to a low roar, which is not what I can say for the wind I have been listening to for the last 3 days.

I have a mountain of things on my to do list but they will have to sit and wait until I have fully recovered. Already learned the lesson of not resting when I should.

Blessed Be Juls

Snow day on the farm. The first picture is where the pup bulldozed through so our older dog could go through to potty. So sweet for him to do that for her, surprising but sweet.

The second one is the drive way. You might not be able to see the drift very clearly but it closed the driveway completely. To the point that Hubby had to park in the yard  when he came in from work this morning and walk to the house.Not far just but then he had to make a couple phone calls to arrange for the driveway and the garage to be plowed out. We got 9 1/2 inches of snow and I think about 3 inches of it has already melted. It's suppose to be gone by Friday.

I updated my to do list today and it has doubled since we are getting ready to get in to gardening. I have plastic that I can make hoop hot houses over the square foot gardens and do some early spring planting in a couple weeks after covering the gardens this weekend.

We ate from the pantry tonight. Pork chops,baked potatoes, canned corn (Mother's pantry, and we will be glad when that's gone because we don't like canned corn) and French green beans (Mother's pantry) mixed with canned sliced mushrooms and cream cheese melted in it.

I had Mother on the mind a lot today because I finished going through her jewelry to get it appraised so we can sell it to help pay of her negative estate. Everyone thought her jewelry was "worthless costume" a good half of it was either real or vintage costume jewelry. You just have to take the time and look for maker's marks. Thankfully the local jewelry not only told me what to work for but lent me a jewelry's eye glass to help me see it better.Probably best for her too since she won't have to toss out what is going into the yard sale this spring since I already did that.Now it will be appraised and then I can sell it.

I haven't decluttered much the last couple days unless you count tossing junk jewelry and clearing out some folders on the computer. I plan to get back into that tomorrow.

Guess I will go get a hot drink and go surf pinterest. 

Stay safe and stay warm ( or cool if you are some where hot).

Blessed Be

In a week

Sorry it has been awhile since I've been on. I feel like I've been running full force and getting nothing done.

But I actually have gotten several things done and off the to do list which is why I have collapsed after dinner and went straight to sleep pretty much every night.

We have been eating from the pantry except for Friday when Hubby went and got fish dinners at The Inn Between Tavern. Haven't stayed on the menu but still ate from the pantry...that is what counts. I cleaned out the refrigerators last night before Hubby took the trash to the road for pick up this morning...the only thing that got pitched was 1/2 cup of diced tomatoes and some citrus fruit that the pup (who is now 1 yr old) thought was balls and then did a good job of chewing them up thankfully on the kitchen floor and not the carpet. Seems he likes lemons the best. Who would figure?

I sorted through more of my Mother's jewelry and am looking at having that done this week.

I have been clutter clearing using Stephanie Roberts Book of Clearing Clutter based on Feng Shui.I can do the 27 fling toss from Flylady but when it came to certain things I held on and on and on...you understand. Stephanie really helped me deal with the emotional side of the decluttering and understanding that the feeling poorly is connected and I had to face that first. In doing so I have been able to put things in a box that Hubby stashes for the yard sale that I will be having in the spring. Since he is taking it out he know exactly where it is going. Though he has made several comments about the amount of burn trash and other trash going out the door with it.But after dealing with my parents hoarding he definitely is on the side of dealing with it now. We also agreed that after the yard sale EVERYTHING that didn't sell will go straight to the thrift shop.No putting it back and doing another.

I ordered the last of the seeds for the garden. Since we have been eating from the pantry I have been able to save enough to do that along with pay off a couple bills. I have 3 more bills to pay off and hope to be able to get that done in the next 2 months by eating from the pantry.

I started baking cookies for Operation Thank You to send to our deployed troops in our area. We were going to make the delivery tomorrow but they are being held in the freezer now since we have 6-8 inches of snow and sleet coming in tonight. So I can bake more cookies to send.I bake from scratch so it's not costing us a small fortune as if could be if I bought premade dough.

Have a good day
Blessed Be Juls

Still eating from the pantry

Which is starting to sink in with Hubby. I took the grocery money 2 weeks ago and bought perishables and non-food items. Last week he asked if we needed anything...bread and eggs was it.

Today he handed me the grocery ads that came in the mail and asked about going to the store tomorrow.

I took the ads straight to the trash can we put burnables and didn't even look at them. Told him I didn't need to see the sales and think I needed to get them. We would need dog food and dog dental styx for us and the rest of it would be for ingredients for cookies and microwave meals for deployed soldiers that we will be delivering to Operation Thank You first week of March.

I think it finally hit I meant it when I said we were going to eat the pantry down. We bought a Little Caesar's pizza a couple weeks ago and got Wendy's the other night. Both times it was because we weren't home and if I had cooked it would be late. My Crohn's has issues with me eating that close to bed time. We will probably go over to the Inn Between Tavern for fish on Friday. We don't go every week though we would love to, I love their fish and their fried chicken.

By eating from the pantry I have been able to pay off a couple bills. I still have 3 more to go plus what ever we owe on taxes this year. Second year in a row to owe, we usually have that set pretty close to break even and not owe but not get a refund either. I am not into loaning the gov't my money.

We are going to have to replace the microwave (right after Hubby gets a new travel mug so we can make sure it fits in the microwave) and both of us has lost weight and need clothes (most will come from the thrift shops).

Hope you have a good day...

Blessed be

Clutter clearing by Stephanie Roberts

I have been reading this ebook By Stephanie Roberts. Normally I am not thrilled with reading books on the computer but this is a definite extremely glad I did and will repeatedly do so again.

I do Flylady...if you are not familar with her then take a side trip over to www.flylady.net and check her out...and I will include the only other reading resource that Stephanie offers in her book is Flylady.

So, here I am , two years in the same place, wasn't sure we would stay in this rental because even though it's close to work, it's over an hour to any of the kids and farther than that to the parents. I would have to say I hope the landlord doesn't ever want us to move or at least not until Hubby retires. We have both owned more than 2 homes, and thought we might want to own instead of rent.We decided against owning until he retires.

With Mother dying last November I have been going through some things my brother has cleared from Mother's and Dad's home. Brother stays with Dad in the home but the hoarding was too much for him to handle so it's been a slow process as Dad who has Alzheimer's doesn't want to let anything go.  It made me take a real good look around my house to see what our kids would have to deal with if we died today.

They are not going to be very happy after they pull the food from the pantry they want and split up the kitchen ware. Okay they might wait until they go through the linen and bedding. One daughter will be happy to have my clothes as we wear the same size and same classical style. But other than that...it will not be good.

Clutter Clearing by Stephanie Roberts came to me at the right moment. I didn't know what I all had or where to start. I was over whelmed even with doing Flylady. It just seemed to grow more and more. I would think we got rid of something only to find it some where else. That was figured out when Hubby finally admitted he thought we should keep it and put it where he knew I wasn't going in to often.No we still haven't used it after 2 yrs, so it goes and he agrees to tell me up front he doesn't want to get rid of something not hide it).

I would say after he brought home another truck load from my parents and it sat here in the middle of the dining room until I could get through it (still am working on it but it's off to the side now). He realized what I was trying to do...save our kids from this stress and frustration.

I asked him to decide a place to put yard sale items ( I need the cash more than I need the deduction since my normal job out of state is on hold due to daughter needing my car to get to work after being out of work for two years and of course her car died the second week, still trying to find something she can pay cash for).

Yard sales are a lot of work, I've supported myself and kids when I was a widow doing just that thing so at least I know what I am into and how to bring in the most money.

But where to start???? Stephanie helps you figure that out and if you follow what she writes you won't get over whelmed because you will understand the emotional ties.

So I need to get back to doing my homework assignment as my Hubby calls it.

Blessed be
Juls

Lost in the land of Pinterest

I wandered to Pinterest on the 15th...I just wandered back out today.

I am not much of one to stay on Facebook or play the games on Facebook but Pinterest....oh yeah.

DIY, smiles,furniture, houses,pretties, clothes...I mean who can't love going clothing shopping without spending a dime?

But the FOOD....sigh....you know if someone started a diet and attached pictures that made the food look great  on Pinterest, it would go like crazy.

So mean time between bathroom and food breaks I did get some decluttering done in my kitchen.All the top cabinets have been cleaned,decluttered and new shelf liner put in. Ran out of shelf liner so I will finish that part of the project next week but I did finish cleaning and decluttering the bottom cabinets. Probably good since my body let me know I am not in prime condition for spring cleaning.

Got the bathroom cabinets done also, no shelf liner going in there.

I've been going through 1 box or 1 bag each day for Flylady.

I Feng Shui my desk which is actually a kitchen counter top that my hubby put legs on it for me. It'e eggplant purple and we got it in 1998 for $5 along with another counter top that is pale pinkish lavender that was $7. Best money we were spent.

We have been continuing to eat from the pantry mostly. We ate out the first Friday after Ash Wednesday at the local tavern that is well known for it's fried chicken and fried fish. I went to the store twice. Did a non-food run which was worse financially than the food run was that I did yesterday. Still came home with no buttermilk or raspberry syrup or yellow ink for the printer. Not going to rush back and get it though I might order the yellow ink on line if I find a better sale than the local price.

I haven't did anything with my gardening unless you count the pins I did on Pinterest.

I am fixing apple tuna sandwiches (Taste of Home)on oatmeal bread(Mary over at Owlhaven) and slicing bananas and Mandarin oranges and kiwi to look like palm trees in the sand (Pinterest pin) for dinner tonight. Hubby can take chili soup that is in the pantry that I canned for dinner tonight.

I am debating between 3 different types of sweets to make. Might end up with all 3.

Enjoy your day, stay safe and warm.

Blessed Be Juls

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day. I hope all of you have had a great day, one of love shown to you by everyone around you.

I don't focus on a sweetheart on Valentine's day (hubby appreciates that since he is about as romantic as a rock), I focus on making sure those I love know I love them, total strangers are told "Bless You".

I try to remember to send my loved ones flowers or pics of flowers on a regular bases. Like my deceased Mother would say, "if you don't give them to me when I am alive don't bother when I am dead."

My kids get a kick of me texting them pictures of things that will make them smile.

So as I wrap up my day of everyday chores and housework I just wanted to make sure each and everyone of you are loved and blessed...

Blessed be Juls