Monthly Archives: April 2025

5 Things Friday

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1. Today is “Good Friday.”  Some would consider this a “holy” day but to me, it was the start of my salvation. Jesus’s death on the cross is not holy, it was needed. It was the way to claim me as his own. I am not celebrating that; I am celebrating his resurrection!
2. I have a full week off of work next week!  I have a list of things I want to accomplish but I am doubtful they will all happen!
3. I need to stock our fridge and pantries for the last 7 weeks of school. This means a trip to Costco, as well as hopefully Bragin’s by the Bin.  I would love to head to the outlets in Mebane for an entire day but this is definitely a want.
4. I need to do a final push to get our freezers clean out and organized so that I can stock them up this summer. Currently, I would like to get a batch of pear sauce made from all the frozen pears. I have found that we prefer canned pears, so this is the preservation method of the future.  I would also like to use most of the frozen tomatoes to make a batch of salsa since we have 3 jars to last until at least the end of July.
5. I have a passport appointment on Monday, and I also have scheduled the house to be cleaned that day.
All good plans stick around to see what happens!

 

Monday Menu Planning

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One week till Spring Break and then we start a Disney countdown followed by Summer Break countdown. I need the motivation to make it through.  This week we have four scheduled nights of baseball games so that will keep us on our toes!  You will notice that we have lots of left-overs on the menu this week as the refrigerator is full and I dislike food waste. 

Breakfast- Saturday-Bacon and eggs.  Sunday-biscuits   Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (breakfast burritos,bagel thins (previously purchased on sale) oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, , sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs.

Lunch- Saturday- bagels Sunday-Olive Garden   Monday- crackers  Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday- left-overs.  Friday- eat out.

Dinner- Saturday- Left-overs Sunday- Left-overs Monday-  Pepper steak and rice (Pepper steak is left-overs) Tuesday-Game food or eat on the way home.   Wednesday-  Chicken sandwhich and French Fries, using homemade buns. Thursday- Spaghetti   Friday-  Left-overs to round out the week.

Sunday Garden Update

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Today is one of the most important days of the garden season….. We moved the squash and cucumbers to the outside garden beds! Cucumbers are small but…

Yellow Squash is next

Zucchini is behind the garlic

Finally, these Loofa’s just were attaching themselves to the old sprinkler system.

Sugar snap peas are out front

The cosmos are growing and in the very back we have SUNFLOWERS!

The tomatoes and green peppers are still in the greenhouse for another week at the least.

Another 36 marigold plants are ready to plant as well. Along with another 6 loofas. I gave 6 to the neighbor today as well.

I transplanted some volunteers to the Greenstock on Friday night which is a good thing because a frost killed the others in the beds on Sunday morning.

And last but not least we added soil to all three of the potato containers

I am hopefully that we can finish planting out the garden next weekend or at least the following week. Then it will be time to take a break while we watch things grow before harvesting and preserving!  I am hopeful that our hard work will pay off with lots of fresh produce and veggies!

5 Things Friday

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  1. Sometimes your body needs a day to rest and recharge.  Take that day! I ended up at home all day today. I did get alot accomplished but I also needed the downtime. My goal is to have any more down time on Sunday, since I am a whole day ahead.
  2. I am back into making sour dough full-time. I did a little research, ok I read alot of post on Facebook and have been able to get some of the best bread, buns and biscuits EVER!  I am going to attempt bagels next with what I have learn.  I am very hopeful it works out!
  3. We have planned a Disney trip! Yeap, the 3 parks in 3 days for $267 caught my attention and after some strategic planning. We are going to make a long weekend over Memorial Day and enjoy!
  4. The newest chickens have been the easiest so far!  We introduced them to the coop and after just a couple of days, they are getting into the roast at night!!  We are hopeful that both are hens.  I would like to add another 2 to the flock this year but I really don’t want to deal with the baby chick stage.  I am hoping to purchase some around 4 weeks old in June but we shall see.
  5. The weather is seriously bipolar. We had 85 plus degree temperatures last weekend and today’s high was 52* with rain.

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As I put up our weekly calendar, I realized that this may be the slowest and easiest week this Spring. I don’t have any meetings after work, and we only have 3 games to attend this week!  I have two weeks until Spring Break!

Breakfast- Saturday-Bacon and eggs.   Sunday-fresh sourdough bread!   Monday Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (breakfast burritos, bagel thins (previously purchased on sale) oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk,, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs.  I would like to make a fruit bread this week or baked oatmeal, but we shall see if that happens.

Lunch- Saturday-Beef enchiladas made with Taco rice. (not a hit) Sunday-Longhorn   Monday-, Wednesday, Thursday- left-overs.  Friday- eat out.

Dinner- Saturday- Zach and Lily fixed steak and fettuccine alfredo, it was awesome! Sunday- Sandwiches including egg salad and chicken salad I made. Monday- Creamy basil chicken pasta (new recipe)  Tuesday- Cheeseburger pizza, Wednesday- Sloppy Joes on homemade buns Thursday- Hamburger helper in instapot   Friday- Eat after the game.

Pantry Challenge
1. Use at least one “meal/meat portion of the meal” from the stand-up freezer each week. (This is where most of the meals are)   chicken thighs for Monday.

2. Use at least 3 jars a week from the canning pantry. 1.Spaghetti sauce for Monday, 1-2 jars of sloppy joe mix, 1 jar of ground beef for Hamburger helper.
3. Use one item a week from the connivence freezer in my room.  Not this week…
4. Each Monday after menu planning provide a list of how I followed the guidelines for the week.  Done!

Sunday Garden Update

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Spring has sprung!  The temperature were above 80 for several days and we still have at least one spring frost left. But things are growing!

Tomatoes and peppers- maybe 2 weeks left before we plant but maybe one and half.

Marigolds are the smaller plants and more peppers!

These are cucumbers and squash that were planted last week!  I hope to get these plant at the end of next week. I am worried they may not last that long…..

I have an abundance of loofa plants…. not sure where they will end up but I have plenty!

Excited to see the potato plants are grow!

first planting of sugar snap peas

garlic

Asparagus bed

Radishes with a few carrots mixed it. My attempt to thin was not successful so I stopped!

See all the volunteers… I am thinking they are basil (actually crossing my fingers)

Volunteer cucumbers?

These are cosmos and Borge  all volunteer!

These actually came with the house 33 years ago.  Now I know I need to work on this bed! .

 

March in Review

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March has been a very busy and productive month. We have focused alot of time and some money on outdoor projects. Specifically, completing the deck and making the gardens a little more self-sufficient. I also have attempted to start all plants from seed. My goal for the year is to only plant flower starts.  We will see how it goes. Financially, we are still working on reducing debit by reducing our budget.  I think we may have hit the tipping point this month were we are spending less than bringing in. So I am hopeful that this will continue and gain traction in April. Spring break is late this year, so April begins the countdown to SUMMER!

Emergency Fund- Goal is $1000- We currently have $250 in this fund which is $50 less than February and $250 less than December. I have planned for our tax payment on April 15th, so I am hopefully this starts moving in the right direction.

Groceries- Goal $820 per month.   We actually managed to decrease the grocery budget in March spending $450.  One thing that helped was cash back from Costco.  We are also continuing to focus on using items in the pantry and freezers. My overall goal is to continue with this focus until June when school is out. I would love to keep the budget under $500 until then but we shall see.

Gas- Goal is $500. March total is $329.70 Unfortunately gas price took a huge jump on April 1st so this may be difficult to maintain in the future.

Blogging- For 2025- the goal will be 10 posts per month.  Woo HOO This is post number 13 for the month!   As busy as this month was I am really impressed with myself. I am hoping to stay above goal each month.

Debit- Goal is 200000 total debit for the end of the year! I am hoping to start moving the needle in the right direction.  Lily is also paying off her debit which should help.

Health/Exercise- Progress this month is that I had a doctor’s appointment and will be changing meds which will hopefully bring this to easier place.  Goal is 175 and exercise regularly. Blah, Blah

Reading through the Bible this year- Our church and myself are following “The Bible Recap” program and I have currently managed to stay on track for 90 days!