Making Cents Of It All

Tomatoes are coming in like crazy. I have been using them up as fast as I can.  I dehydrated a bunch. I put them in a jar I had and added olive oil. They went into the fridge.   I cooked the rest of the tomatoes that I had at the time. I made pasta for dinner that night and I still had 3 containers for future, easy meals. They all went into the freezer.  I went to Aldi for milk and pumpkins. Pumpkins are $2.99 each this week. I got 4. They kids don't care about going pumpkin picking anymore. As long as we go apple picking I am told. We have gone apple picking twice already and are hoping to get a third time in soon. I will cook the pumpkins after Halloween.  I made cinnamon apples one morning. We were out of apple syrup so I cooked up the cores and peels to make some. It is so easy.  I got a little over a jars worth. Hubby used some on his waffles the next morning.  I cleaned out the fridge. ...

It was a very busy weekend. We only have a few more weeks until youngest daughter's graduation party at our house. We redid the front porch this weekend. We worked on it until 9 pm Sunday night to get it finished. We love how it came out.  This is a before picture. We had already ripped out the bushes in front. Hubby and my son sanded everything. In retrospect, we should have rented a larger sander. It took them hours with the 2 small sanders that we had. It did the job, it just would have been quicker and easier with a bigger one.  YD and I painted all of the posts. It took 3 coats to get it how I wanted.  Hubby rolled the floor and YD and I did all of the edges. That part went very fast.  We bought new vinyl lattice for the bottom. It was easy to work with and will be easy to clean.  I spray painted the little table that was out there black. It used to be green and needed a new coat anyway. I had the black paint and thought it ...

March is already over and April is underway. The weather has been nicer lately with some rain thrown in. We have had 50-60's temps which is wonderful this time of year. The garden work is in full swing.  So, I am officially getting old. I needed reading glasses so I ordered them a few weeks ago. They came in and I am getting used to them. With insurance they costed me $10. They would have cost me $437 without insurance. Hubby got new ones too. His were $25 and insurance saved us about $800. That is over $1200 saved. That is crazy.  The raspberry canes are all in and tied up. They look great.  Lots of my seeds that I planted have started sprouting.  I found some great clearance items this week.  Charcoal was marked down to $1.49. 2 liter bottles of soda were marked down to 24¢ so I grabbed 6.  Easter decorations were put out. Nothing new was purchased as we have plenty.  Hubby and I closed...

Youngest daughter was off from school all week for winter break. It has been some crazy weather this week. It was in the 20's and snowing one day and the next day was 50's and beautiful.The snow was gone when I woke up. No shoveling required. That is my kind of snow. Pretty to look at but no work required. Then the wind came. It has been so windy for days. Lip and Oreo do not like it.  I have been decluttering all week. I have been going through bins in the basement. I have been listing items as I come across them. I already sold a few. All items were shipped in old envelopes or boxes. While I was decluttering, I came across a box of decorative duct tape. The kids used to love them. I used them to seal the packages. I will be using them before I buy more tape.  Hubby brought 3 boxes of items to his job for the free area. We brought 4 more boxes of stuff to the church. OD has a growing pile of items she wanted. I have a pile of items that I am giving to my cousin f...

I often wonder what it would have been like to live in other time periods. As a mom of 2 teens and a twenty something, I have seen how much technology has changed since I was a kid. It isn't always for the better. But some of it makes my life so much easier. So today I want to send out a thank you to the people that invented some of my favorite gadgets. Without them, I would have a lot less time to spend with Hubby and the kids and do the things I enjoy.   My washing machine. I think it is one of the best household inventions. It saves me so much time and energy. Plus if I had to do all of our laundry by hand, my eczema would be really bad on my hands. Then I think back to my grandma. She never had a washing machine. My parents offered to buy her one, but where would she put it. She didn't need one. It is definitely a want. I am grateful for it every day.  My crock pots. I love, love, love, my crock pots. I can set dinner up in the morning in it...

Hubby and I cleaned out our eve this week. We moved into our house 19 years ago and it got filled through the years. We had no idea what was even back there. Tons of baby clothes, and lots of other useless stuff. I spent hours going through everything. Hubby took a truck load of baby/kids stuff to the church. I kept a few special items but otherwise it was time to get rid of it. Someone else can use the items more then I need them in storage. I made the small side all wrapping items. Everything is neat and sorted with the help of my YD. The luggage is also back there. We gave away a garment bag and throw away a large suitcase that the wheels were broken. Now there is a lot more room on that side.  Hubby started going through some crates in the basement. Our basement is unfinished. He keeps his work benches and drums down there. We also keep our food storage down there. We do not have an attic or garage so everything ends up in the basement for storage. We are hopin...