Category Archives: Life

Saving on Saturday- Garden Edition

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Matt, Zach, Kendall and I spent most of the day outside planting the garden.  This year we hope to harvest a ton more food than in the past. I have replaced all the horrible soil. I also purchased two vertical planters. My intention was to devote one to strawberries. However, I was unable to fine any strawberry plants last night. So I think we will try to plant some different items and then know next year, it will be devoted to strawberries with probably 3 years until it is full of strawberries and producing like I anticipate.

This year, I decided to try and save money by starting everything from seeds.   I am going to have a master list below.  I have decided to try a variety of items in the vertical planter just to use up some seeds. This will allow me to decide what is a good plant to grow and really since we have the seeds not a waste if it does not work out! We started tomatoes and green peppers inside the first of March. We did lose about 1/4 of out plants while we were at Disney due to a watering problem but we still have more than plenty to enjoy.   After planting all that I wanted and planted to plant in the raised beds I have 2 empty squares. So I may open the Zucchini seeds I have just to plant more.  Depending on how many of the pepper plants live, I may be adding Zucchini and squash seeds as the weeks go on. I would also like to grow some pumpkins this year but not sure about where. I do know to start around July 1st. IF the radish and/or carrot produce well then I will like plant a second time at the end of August as well.  I did purchase several flowers from Lowes but will not purchase any more seeds or plants for vegetables until next year. I need to get these seeds used up and be diligent about what we are spending!

Now in the effort to be transparent as possible. I ended up paying the kids $20 to work outside the whole time with us so $40 and I ordered pizza for dinner $30.  We decided to use paper plates but these are from our camper stash. We had frozen items for lunch.  I don’t regret or feel bad about any of these as I am sore and tired. So there is no way that I could get this much done in a day without all the help that was given!

Things  Planted
1. 35 pepper plants including the one in the tomato bed.
2. 27 tomato plants (I purchased 2 cheery tomato plants because we like to snack on these)
3. 110 bush green bean seeds
4. 5 Zucchini seeds
5. 6 yellow squash seeds
6. 20 cucumber seeds in the raised beds. I am going to try at 12 more seeds in the vertical planter to see what happens.
7. 5 watermelon seeds
8. 3 cantaloupe seeds
9.  30 sugar snap peas 25 seeds and 5 plants ( I had already planted on packet with only 5 plants growing)
10. 24 radishes
11. 50 carrots
12. Basil- packet
13. Dill- pack
14. Paisley- pack
15. Chives- Pack

Now to watch it all grow!

5 Things Friday-Matt’s Edition

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  1. Yesterday was Matt’s 50th birthday and no one can tell me we don’t celebrate in style!  Let me share just how!
  2. Dinner at Bad Daddy’s which is his favorite burger joint and a double appetizer of fried pickles!
  3. Trip to Costco… the Tahoe needed gas so we decide to live large and shop as well.  $425 later… is that large enough?  We were able to score 3 new pair of dress pants for him in addition to some special treats for breakfast and lunch!
  4. After a day at his new job followed by dinner and shopping at Costco with all 5 of us… he came home to work on the dishwasher.  It had thrown an error code AE the night before. Luckily a little bit of research and 30 minutes later, he had the dishwasher repaired!
  5. I purchased a supply of cream horns, chocolate eclairs and cupcakes from Ketchie Creek today to continue celebrating as we work in the yard!

Seriously Happy Birthday to a great father, awesome husband and my best friend thur thick and thin!

Staycation?

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I am not really sure if this is a staycation or not. The reason, this is my second week of Christmas break.  Most years I get two weeks at Christmas from the school system, so it is really not unusual.  The difference is that currently Matt is unemployed, so he is also at home during the break. So, is it a staycation?  Still not sure but anyway, here is what we are up to during our staycation or second week of Christmas break.

Put away all the Christmas decorations- We are 50% finished with this. Yesterday, Monday, we took down and put away the outside decorations.

Clean out and organize my building- This is actually part of putting away the decorations.  Matt made a trip to Goodwill two weeks ago with the first load of stuff from my building. I found 3 large totes of clothes that he has missed as well as several other items. We ended up taking another car full of items to Goodwill to donate.  Even with getting rid of a ton of stuff, we still did not have room to store several large decorations. We decided to try and find some unused space under the house… JACKPOT. We used a cinder block and huge sheets of cardboard (previously stored in my building). This made an awesome shelf for holding large outside decoration that just needed to be protected from the elements.

New rain barrel for Greenhouse. Under the house we discovered a 55 gallon plastic barrel, neither Matt nor I remembered it. It is actually the perfect size for using as a water supply for the greenhouse. We switched out the trashcan and it worked perfectly.

Install a new monitor for Matt. This is in anticipation of him beginning a new job and also some additional project work. You know that it can’t be as simple as just hanging a monitor on the wall. We had to move the cabinets above his desk by 4 inches. This meant that the notorious junk cabinets that have been a catch all for many (7ish) years needed to clean out and organized. In the process we ended up re-arranging the storage shelves in my office as well. Because we are use to doing the one touch method (if you touch it put it where it goes and not just move it to clean) both of our office areas ended up being straighten and cleaned!

Kendall and Zach are spending Monday and Tuesday in Durham. Lily will meet them for Ice Skating on Tuesday.

As you can see, we are extremely busy with some not so fun stuff!  My goal is to get all this done and organized so we can continue our camping adventure this spring and have some much-needed rest time on the weekends!

Saving On Saturday or Sunday

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This week I actually spent money in order to save money. I ended up with a day off work so Matt and I hit up a couple of spots that we usually don’t have time to go to.  First was the Dollar Tree. Currently most items are priced at $1. I have read several articles that indicate the standard price will be changed to $1.25 starting in January. I decided to save myself some money and do a stock up trip. I purchased items like sandwich and snack bags, deodorant and the boy’s body wash. I ended up spending $50 so I saved at least $12 on items that will be purchased and used.

Next, we stopped at the local Belk’s store. I was actually shopping for a couple of boys we chose off the angel tree at church. I did not find anything in the size that I needed that I would consider a deal, but I did manage to grab 3 dress shirts for Zach and 9 short sleeve t-shirts for Braxton for a grand total of $50.

We have several local ‘bargain” stores. We stopped at one for $6 packs of diapers and a couple of other items.

I have always shopped after Christmas for wrapping paper and for items to keep in our gift drawer.  This year I also found a bag of wrapping paper in the attic. I have been using the paper we found so that we will definitely not have to buy any more for next year either.  The kids were able to locate gifts for a white elephant gift exchange, in the gift drawer so that also saves on expenses.

Last but definitely not least is using the food we have and trying to not let any go to waste.  I made a definite effort to go ahead and package up lunch size containers for this week so that I can just grab and go.

5 Things Friday

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  1. I have a couple of hours at home alone tonight without it including work!  Matt and the kids headed out to the North vs Central football game.  I have had an exhausting week at both jobs plus I had to take a Humera shot in the middle of the week.  This is my small price for sanity.
  2. The first person we decided to contract with for a driveway addition has disappeared along with my $1500 deposit.  I have tried to contact him several ways including sending a certified letter this week. My goal now is to reclaim the deposit money even if it means a trip to small claims court!  We have decided to add a full second driveway to ease the parking problem we have.  That unfortunately means alot of work!   We will be spending most of tomorrow moving dirt and pavers and eventually the square foot garden beds we built in the spring.
  3. The weather has finally cooled down! But fortunately for us it has not gotten cold enough to need heat yet.  We have met my goal of at least 3 weeks without heat or air.  Now I am setting my goal for six weeks without heat or air that would actually put us around Veteran’s day.
  4. Zach plays his last scheduled baseball game on Monday night. There is a strong possibility that it will be cancelled due to COVID outbreak that cancelled a game on Tuesday of this week with the same team.  The tournament should start on Thursday of next week.
  5. Because of the weather and due to the driveway expansion, we will likely dig up our sweet potatoes in the next two weeks. On a bright garden note, we are still able to harvest one or two tomatoes each week to eat. This is the latest I can find that we have been able to pick tomatoes.

5 Things Friday

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  1. We don’t have any set plans or goal for the weekend!  This is very exciting for me as I have been really really tired the last couple of days!  We also will start AAU baseball in 2 weeks which means an end to Saturdays at home.
  2. We have decided to add electricity to the greenhouse, this will make it much easier to heat and cool as well as adding a watering system.
  3. Matt’ is beginning to receive some of his inheritance from his father. We are staying very quiet about this and plan to use to make some updates and upgrades that are needed.  We have spent many hours discussing what we want to do and will share some things in the upcoming weeks.
  4. Lily has decided not to participate in Youth Theater this fall. She did not feel that she was given a fair chance at auditions. She also did not want to devote the next 2 months to it.
  5. The weather remains really really hot. 2 days in the next week are predicted to be over 90.  At this point I am ready for fall and some cooler weather to stay around at least so we can open the windows soon.

5 Things Friday

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  1. Everyone except for Lily has a 3 day weekend. Lily is working all three days. The next scheduled holiday or break from school is Thanksgiving.
  2. Our project for the weekend is to convert the old playhouse to a green house. We will be removing the roof and replacing it with plastic. Adding shelves and a watering system. We are hoping to reuse most of the materials. The plastic has already been purchased with a gift card!  I will plan to share pictures this week.
  3. Zach has officially started baseball practice. We have agreed to let him play both rec ball and AAU team. The AAU team is only going to travel in state and hopefully less than 2 hours away.
  4. The weather has finally decided to start to cool down a bit. We have been at or above 90 degrees for most of the month of August.  Fortunately we have no more 90 degree days in the forecast but I expect it to be close to the end of September before we are able to turn off the air conditioning.
  5. This week we are having a drive way addition installed. It will also include cement around the garden boxes that we bulit in the spring. I can’t wait to have a finished product!

5 Things Friday

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  1. We were without air conditioning for a total of 8 days.  I only worked one of those days. We were blessed to borrow a portable air conditioner for 4 days to use. With this we were able to sleep at night.
  2. Our August electric bill came in as the exact same amount as our July bill. I am anticipating that it will be extremely high in September. This electricity was used in an attempt to keep us cool.
  3. I have managed to cook or produced a meal every evening since the air was fixed. Although our budget for August is so far over, this should mean a minimal to no spending month in September.
  4. The kids have all finished their first full week of school with mask being optional. I anticipate this will change next week. As quarantining rules stated that if both students are wearing a mask even with close contact the exposed student does not have to quarantine.  This makes sense to help keep the kids in school.
  5. I finally have a squash bloom. I don’t anticipate that I will actually get a squash but I am continuing to work on improving the soil for next year!

Life Happens- NO Air Conditioning.

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Today is Monday so I normally plan to post a menu plan for the week but Life Happens.

Last Monday night we began to smell something burning in the house. Lily around 10:30 heard a pop sound.  I woke up around 4 and knew immediately that the air was not working.

Just for the record highs last week have been above 90 each day.  Tuesday night and Wednesday night the kids all stayed with Amanda.  On Thursday, we were blessed with the ability to borrow a portable air conditioner which we are using in our bedroom.   On Saturday and Sunday nights we have been blessed by storms that have cooled not only the air but made sleeping in girl’s room possible.

We have not been following a menu plan- it is simply too hot to cook and add anything in the air. We are eating out most meals.  We have done minimal laundry as again it is too hot to add any more heat in the house.  We have spent time at the pool.

It has also been too hot for me to concentrate on working , I did manage 2 hours in Guam last week but have an uphill battle ahead.

Sleeping is hard when you are hot. Functioning as a normal human being is hard when you are hot.

Other small things are going wrong that just add to the stress. But it only takes a minute  to realize that we are  facing only very small problems compared to others.

Life Happens…

5 Things Friday

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  1. Today starts our last full week of summer break. Next week will be filled with last minute appointments and some extra fun if we can arrange it.  Braxton will also be with us for the entire week.  Today is a pool day so we plan to spend most of the day at the pool.
  2. I had a huge food waste fail this week- We had an entire watermelon that had not been cut go back and spilled on the floor. I have definitely become a little bit more aware of our food following the clean up.  I did manage to make half a squash casserole with the remaining squash.  I am also beginning to use dill and basil that has been previously frozen in dishes.  I had forgotten about these treasures until we attempted to organize the freezer. Since I was unable to grow either this year, I am thankful to find them.  I did cook our first official meal this summer that include several items.
  3. Tomatoes are continuing to produce.  I had hoped for much more but I do realize that this summer has not been the best for tomato growing.  We have been able to freeze enough spaghetti sauce for the year in addition to eating several times. I should be able to continue to make a batch a week which means at least 4# of tomatoes.
  4. I talked with the neighbor and will start using goat manure to improve the dirt in my square foot garden. I am hoping that with this and more worm casting next year it will support and grow a garden full.
  5. We received our school supply list. I am excited that we need only to purchase a couple of notebooks and clear water bottles. I have been trying to stock up on items as they have been on sale. I anticipate less than $50 for all supplies for all 3 kids!