News with Lots of *Asterisks*

(My family in June on the Mark Twain riverboat in Hannibal, Mo)

*I am having a blissful week with my babies before they are sent back to their grandparents. This is our second day of just hanging around the house. I like it!

*My Mom had her first day of cancer treatment. I know the outlook is bleak for someone with Stage 4 Mucinous Adenocarcinoma of the colon but we have hope. I will say it again- WE HAVE HOPE!

*We're still working on summer homeschooling although I've only managed it twice this week. My sons handwriting is so much better now. Hopefully he will be ready for all that writing he will have to do in Kindergarten (next month, yikes!)

*I am finishing up my back to school shopping for the kiddos. I pretty much just need one new outfit for my daughter for the first day and a few pairs of pants for my son. I found pull up jeans online at Sears for him that I may buy as he has problems with snaps and buttons.

*A lot of their "new" clothes came from garage sales and thrift stores that I've hit up here and there this summer. Last week I lucked into a quarter clothing sale at a thrift store on the way to my Mom's house. I bought a new outfit for myself, two shirts and a pair of Tommy Hillfiger capris for my daughter, and a pair of shorts for my son.

*I finally have a green tomato on my tomato plants. Way back last spring I bought an organic tomato and it was so good I kept a few seeds to plant. It took forever for them to flower so I just assumed they were a lost cause and forgot about them. I was happy when I noticed them flowering. I started cherry tomato seeds in a pot on my window to replace them with and now I'll have to find a new place to put my tall cherry babies. I wonder if they'd grow in our bathroom like our lantana does.

*I think I waited to long to take my tub of summer clothes to the resale shop. I think I'll try it soon anyway just in case. I guess it wouldn't hurt to clean out the hall closet and see if I can find an outgrown jacket or two.

*I just finished the book I've been reading for a few weeks, White Mountain Brides. I guess technically it's considered a christian romance novel but I mostly loved reading about the daily lives of three pioneer women living in 1689. I'm going to be posting it on paperbackswap.com to share.

*I've got to go make dinner now. I've been doing that here and there lately. Tuesday night I made a tofu stir fry. Last night I picked up a $5 Little Caesars because I had a throbbing head ache (I used a movie ticket stub and scored free bread sticks though). But, tonight I've found things in the freezer to bake plus I made a peach crisp. It's a little like life is back to normal. At least this week anyway.

The Best of My Garden 2010

My new favorite frugal flamboyant flower is the Nasturtium. I sprinkled many packages of outdated (by like 3-5 years) seeds and the Nasturtiums were the clear winner in the heartiness and longevity category. I also like how big the seeds are so they are easy to plant and the unusual roundness of the leaves make it easy to discern it from weeds. I'm sure this packet didn't cost more than a quarter.

Here are some volunteer pumpkins from last years Halloween decorations growing right on our front stoop. I don't know if we'll actually get a pumpkin or not but I think the foliage is nice.
This is my first year attempting to grow zucchini. This is in front of our house but isn't visible from the street since we have some large bushy plants for coverage.

Now it's time to clean up and put away our toys

Feeling much better this week! Yay.

The sun came out after days of rain. We needed it for our plants but I guess it does something to my psyche when the sun is hiding.

I started tackling the giant mound of plastic and litter in the toy room. I've filled two grocery sacks with trash and broken toys and I'm only a 1/4 way through the room. Someone please tell me why I found candy wrappers, rocks, seashells, and dirty socks in the toy bin. Anyone?

I'm almost caught up with laundry- and except for Big Girl's room (which is a complete pit) I have most of it put away.

I've been making dinner. Of course, it's prepackaged stuff like mac and cheese and helpers- but it's already paid for and fills a belly. I'm really not liking how salty and bland prepackaged stuff is compared to my own homemade skillet meals. I think I'll skip clipping coupons for it anymore.

The dishes have been done every night before bed. I can wake up and assemble breakfasts and lunch without a pile of dishes to maneuver around.

Today I am caving on the pantry challenge and going to Aldi to get some stuff we need. Avocados are .25 and I would love to make some guacamole. Also, Aldi's multigrain tortilla chips are sooo good. I had Big Girl make the list for me as writing practice. Here's her list:

banan
milk
bread
eggs
snaks
ovcoto


The front garden where Hubby ripped and trimmed all of the overgrown shrubs is now planted with volunteer pumpkins, squash, a rose bush, spring bulbs, flower seeds, and a few annuals I planted for color. I've kept it weeded and spend at least 15 minutes out there while the kids are playing weeding and seeding. It looks so much better than last year. I'll never have a Home and Gardens yard but I am happy. I can't wait until some of the seeds start popping up.

Gotta get going with my day.

Butter, Gardens, and Selling Kids Stuff

Land O' Lakes wants to give you a coupon for a free product if you send in a UPC for another butter product. Weird, but whatever. Go here for details.

Not much here except working in the front garden patch that Hubby cleared. I planted squash in our front garden. Last night I got busy and planted tomatoes in containers on our backyard patio.
I still have more to go. I started green pepper seeds and I have one cantaloupe baby to plant. Today I might buy a strawberry plant or two for our side garden.

I've got one tub full of kids clothes, shoes, toys, books, and art to take to the re-sell shop tomorrow. And the Veteran's Association is coming by in a week to pick up our donation so whatever doesn't sell is going out anyway. I have a few stained and holey things that I don't feel good about donating. It makes me glad to see the second hand clothes that I used on two kids be too worn out to donate. I think they'll make nice rags or doll clothes for Big Girl.

Gotta go. Hubby's got a coupon for Chinese food burning a hole in his pocket.

In the Spring a Young Man's fancy turns to Yard work.

Hubby has been outside for the past two days whacking down every sun sucking, gigantic bush in our yard. We have a lot of foliage to attend to.

I am joyful! I have so much to plant outside where the bushes have been thinned. A flower garden once again is in my grasp. A vegetable garden that isn't blocked out by giant looming bushes is a possibility.

Here's what I have available to plant:

Hydrangea from my Father's funeral
Some type of evergreen bush from my Father's funeral.
Daffodils from the neighbors who gave us a pretty Easter gift
Basil that I started in an empty soup can on our window sill
Bachelor buttons the kids and I started in a pot on our window sill
A rose bush I bought at Dollar General for $4
Marigold seeds that I harvested from our flowers last year. Nothing brings that easy punch of color to our house like bright orange bushes.
Wild flower seeds that I plan on scattering under the front window where giant bushes were taking over.
Zinnia, Alyssum, Sweet William, Morning Glories and Cosmo seeds bought on clearance last year.

I have already planted impatiens, pansies, lobelia, and snapdragons in our front flower beds.

I have starts of tomatoes and squash in my windowsill as well that are ready for transplanting to pots and the vegetable garden. My vegetable garden last year was pitiful. It doesn't get enough sun and the path is hard to negotiate to weed and water. My tomatoes will be containerised and the experimental veg like squash and zucchini will have to battle it out in my garden.

Frugal Deeds of the Day

*Returned what library items I could find before they accrued any more fines. (ok, not frugal but I'm working on it)

*Ate at home.















*Hung my laundry outside on my cheap dollar store line.


*Weeded and finished planting the last of the tomatoes from my bathroom "nursery".


These are my cherry tomatoes that I grew from seed. I plan on seeing which one is the heartiest and plucking the others before I cage it.

This is the left side of my poor little veggie patch. The back right square has one melon barely hanging on and one volunteer pumpkin. The small rectangle in the middle has my cilantro and basil garden. Front and center we have my zuchini, eggplant, and pumpkin patch. Something really loves my eggplant and my leaves are slowly disappearing.

This is the right side of my veggie patch. The bottom is my pumpkin patch all from last years jack o' lantern volunteer. The back part is my tomato patch with early girl, lemon boy, mr. stripey, and four beefsteaks that I started in my bathroom. Something is eating them too.
This is what I have left of my container garden. I planted lettuce (all gone- squirrels), morning glories, and an Asian climbing bean. The Asian climbing beans are hanging on but I'm not sure the squirrels won't get to them soon. They seem to like morning glories a lot.

Other than composting leaves and kitchen scraps on our garden I have not fertilized at all. I bought some 7dust for the eggplant but I am loathe to use it as I'd love to have an organic garden. But, I'd also like some veggies to harvest too.

Couponing with a plan

I am weeks behind in clipping and sorting my coupons. I also have several high dollar and free coupons for things we need. This is also a week where one of my local groceries stores is doing "Coupon Thursday" where they deduct ten dollars off any purchase over fifty.

A lot of my free time has been spent outside in my yard planting veggies and flowers and weeding a love vine here and there. Big Girl found a little black toad and we had hours of entertainment with him. She named him Harold the Wild and bravely set him free again after her Daddy got a chance to meet him. I even mowed (poorly according to Hubby) the front lawn last week. My house is showing signs of neglect as my veggie patch is starting to blossom.
Today it's rainy outside and I've got nowhere to be so Little Guy and I are happy to be at home doing simple chores like putting away the mountain of clean laundry and planning a trip to the grocery store tomorrow.

I no longer have the great drive to find every bargain but if I plan accordingly today then I can get in and out of a store with things we're running low on for less money. That pleases me more than bargain hunting for the sake of bargain hunting.

**Squirrels in my lettuce container! I doubt I'll have enough for one small salad. GRRRR**

Happy Earth Day!

Today I'm:

Weeding and turning over the hard soil in my vegetable garden which has accumulated layers of composted leaves, yard clippings and garden scraps.

Planting my tomato, melon and pepper starts in the newly turned soil.

Planting a few flower bulbs in my neglected flower patch.

Hanging a load of laundry to dry for the first time in months.

What are you doing today?

Free Reynolds Wrap in honor of Earth Day. Go here to print out a rebate.

Gratuitous Shots of my Kids and What's for dinner

Here we have my young ones at the St. Louis zoo and the St. Pats parade we attended.


We just got back from a weekend trip to the in-laws hobby farm. The kids rode Grandma's pony and fed her chickens. We had two Easter egg hunts and a small Easter retreat at their church. I also spent time with my Father in law walking his big garden and small orchard and discussing his plantings. He helped me re-pot my tomato babies. I now have (after I shared some of my seedlings with him) four healthy Beefsteak tomato plants, one canary melon plant and hopefully one tiny pepper seedling. That isn't all I'm planning for my garden but it's a start. I plan on adding some lettuce, maybe a zucchini, and some basil and cilantro to my small garden patch.









This is my small garden last spring.




I'm planning some major re-arranging and management of the food pantry and frozen items so a big menu plan is up in the air.
Big Girl suggested mashed potatoes (a favorite of hers) for dinner and so we're having that with veggie "meatloaf" with a bag of Morningstar crumbles, veg. broth re hydrated tvp, ketchup and egg for binder. I also need to make some type of muffin or sweet bread with leftover homemade applesauce that needs to be consumed. Applesauce Muffins would be good in lunch bags this week and I have everything I need for them in my kitchen.

update: The applesauce muffins are tasty and easy to make. I skipped the topping and just sprinkled on some cinnamon sugar mix.

Tomato Babies

About two weeks ago I was reading one of my favorite blogs- 20 Year Challenge- who had started sprouting seeds in her bedroom. I was inspired and got out my own bag of cheap potting soil, two old pots and scrounged for the seeds that I bought on clearance last year. I have two Beefsteak tomato starts staring at me this morning. I'm looking forward to seeing if my cantaloupe seeds will sprout.
Even though I only put them in a bathroom window. Even though I sometimes forget to open the shades to sun them. Two tomato plants is a great start for me!

Frugality Now!

Remember the Serenity Now Seinfeld episode? That still cracks me up.

Frugality is as much about what we aren't doing as much as what we are doing. Sometimes instead of shouting, "I should blog this" it's a mere whisper of "Hey, this is still part of being frugal."

Yesterday we went to my hometown for a family reunion picnic and then to my Grandma's house to help spruce it up for sale. Our only shopping was a trip to the grocery store for generic soda to fill the cooler for the reunion. We did eat Taco Bell for dinner before we drove home. I think for all of that it was less than $15.00.

Today we are spending the day at home cleaning. The toy mess is beyond my capabilities. Although we have already gotten rid of quite a bit we're down to the favorites and most played with toys for both kids... and all their various components. Half of it is going into storage because I just can't take it anymore. The two benefits of this are: 1. When it's time to switch out toys it will be like getting new ones. 2. The kids and I will have an easier time of cleaning them up at the end of the day. We'll also be eating our leftovers as we get hungry.
If I get the energy and time I will weed my sad tomato bed and fertilize. I will have my first ripe tomato in a few days which is great. My tomatoes just aren't getting that big though. I really need to fertilize.

This is my tomato bed two months ago.

We're also going to sit down and work on bills and write a bonus check to our mortgage company. Our mortgage is like an albatross around our necks. I think almost daily about moving to a cheaper house. But, I don't think I really want to move as we are making friends in our neighborhood and we've done a lot of work on the house that wouldn't get reimbursed by selling. So, my favorite choice is just scrimping and sending extra checks to pay our mortgage off quicker.

BTW, if you live here a Schnucks grocery here's a coupon code for ten free digital prints- 8JULY7

Endings and Beginnings

The past month has been a whirlwind and a lot of stress. Well, now we're on the other side and things are looking up.

I spent yesterday catching up on laundry, dishes, and bought and planted a handful of vegetables for our small veggie patch. I admit it fully that I hate getting my hands dirty or doing anything 'yard worky'. However, I occasionally put that aside for the sake of a few pretty summer flowers and for the sake of having fresh tomatoes.
We now have three early girl tomato plants, a lemon boy and jet star tomato plant, three green pepper plants, a handful of volunteer pumpkins from last years jack o lantern, an onion that sprouted in my kitchen and became a garden project for Big Girl, and one small pot of mint. It's not a lot but for someone like me who doesn't like dirt it's as much as I can handle. My next and last plan for our yard is to sprinkle some marigold seeds for large bursts of color in our front and back yard. I'll put some in our garden area too because rabbits don't like it and we have a whole warren under our back deck.

Pre-school is rounding up for the year and I'm looking forward to lazy days in the backyard and a few Saturdays of helping my Mom clean out my Grandma's house. I loved my Grandma but clutter is no legacy to leave behind. After I clean out her house I've got to work on my own.

One good thing is that I received my Sister Swap box from Rebecca. It was chock full of goodies that I am so happy to have. It brought a smile on an otherwise yucky day.
That's about all I can say. Our internet connection is still not working at home. I've been kind of in a daze for the last week. I even 'washed' a whole load of whites
with bleach, detergent, and fabric softener and then forgot to put the dirty laundry in. Yeah, out of it!

But, my coupons are clipped and sorted and soon I hope I'll have internet access handy and I can regale you with tales of my shopping glories. Or maybe not. I'm kinda sick of shopping anyway.
That's all for now. I've got to finish up lunch at BK with my best girl.