Frugal Accomplishments & Blessings - Two Weeks' Worth

Pikes Peak (upper left) with lots of snow....mid-May.

Well, hello!  Things got busy - last week, I didn't get a post completed!  This week, you get two weeks in one!

LAST WEEK:

Most of the garden is planted, and we will mulch as the plants sprout, to conserve water.  We have planted quite a few herbs and a few flowers around the perimeter of the garden.  We have three areas that are protected from the deer.  One is planted with all the different vines - pumpkins, acorn squash, butternut squash and gourds.  Half the chicken run is netted to keep the hens at bay, and we planted scarlet beans, edamame, baby limas, green beans, patty pan squash, zucchini, kale, carrots, beets, spinach and a zinnia.  There are also sugar snap peas in there that we planted previously.  In the new garden, we've planted baby bok choi, carrots, cucumbers, green beans, wax beans, sunflowers, arugula, sweet peas, assorted lettuces and beets, along with the tomatoes, chard, spinach, kale, lettuces and radishes that we planted previously.  Things are tucked in most everywhere, but I still have about 10 sq. feet I can plant.

Husband planted the rest of the tree branches that we had cut and rooted, so we have some poplar saplings that will fill in some empty spaces.  Some are a fast-growing poplar, others are a silver or white variety.

I moved some perennial flower plants, mostly blanket flower and plains coreopsis that had seeded outside the flower beds.  I discovered a planter that had sprouted numerous chamomile plants, so I moved it near some other planters I had recently set plants into.  I have also noticed that there are a few Jerusalem Artichokes growing under my clothes line, so I need to find a place to relocate them.  Happily, some mint that I transplanted near our house has taken well - I will move more this year.

On a sad note, we had some late, cold weather, and it got down into the mid-20's a couple of nights.  We lost a lot of the fruit on our fruit trees because of this, but it appears that some fruit is going to set on the south side of some of the trees....maybe.  We are hopeful.

Daughter spotted a Western Tanager in our yard.  We took a few photos....this is a good one.

I brought lilac blossoms inside to enjoy.

We ate more meatless meals, using things like beans or lentils, eggs and cheese for our protein sources.  I made waffles in the new waffle iron and froze some for 'toaster' waffles.  I got a 'waffle cookbook' from the library that has recipes to cook all sorts of things in a waffle iron.  I made some 'waffle fries' one night for supper.  They were pretty good!  You start with fairly dry mashed potatoes, and end up with crispy-outside-fluffy-inside 'fries'.  There is also a recipe in there where pizza crust is cooked in the waffle iron, then topped and broiled in the oven...that might be interesting too!

I participated in two Pinecone Research surveys.  I did very little scoring for Pearson this week (hello, burnout), but I subbed some at the library.

My friend and I met for lunch.  We went out to eat, but not at a restaurant.  We met at a nearby park that has picnic tables.  We each brought our own sandwich and drink, she brought a lovely bean salad and I brought a fruit salad and sliced pickles.  It was really nice to visit, catch up a bit, and just enjoy one another's company.

There was a good sale on strawberries this past week.  They were very good, so we ended up buying about 7 pounds of them.  I thought I'd be freezing a lot of them, but we ate a lot of them.  I froze about three pounds to use in smoothies.

Over the weekend, we went fishing.  The fish weren't biting, but it was a relaxing day, enjoying the great outdoors.  It was kind of cold, especially when the sun was behind clouds, but we had a nice time.

THIS WEEK

I had some little pump dispensers for hand soap that were not being used.  I put shampoo into one and conditioner into the other.  This is a lot easier for me to use in the shower - it dispenses more quickly than upending a bottle and waiting for the shampoo or conditioner to pour out, plus I am using less because each pump delivers a small amount.  (When I pour from the big bottle, I often get more than I need.)  It's a little thing, but over time, it's a little less shower time each day, a little less product each time, and I feel like every little bit helps.

Pineapples were $1 each this week, so we got 2.  We will eat some and freeze some for smoothies.  Pork and beans were .50/can and lettuce was .99 a head.  We also bought some chicken/apple sausage for grilling, on sale for 2.99/lb.  I picked some asparagus from the garden and used some green onion tops from the garden for a couple of meals.  I bought a rotisserie chicken from Costco on a very busy day.  We have had several meals from it so far and will have another tomorrow.

I was able to help a friend by having her daughter come play while she did some errands.  She brought me a watermelon as a thank you!

roses at the zoo

I took Daughter to her class field trip at the Denver Zoo.  Admission was deeply discounted for our group.  We were early and got great (free!) parking.  We took lunch from home and had a really nice day.

My birthday was earlier this month, and we are still picking up my free items here and there.  I've been sharing them with my family on errand days.

I did more subbing at the library and contracted for some programs for summertime.  We borrowed books and media from the library as well.

Kohl's sent me at $10 post card.  I got some cute kitchen towels and some honeysuckle wax melts, along with a bit of candy that didn't last long enough to be in the photo.

I hope that everything is going well for you and yours.  What have you been doing to spend less, save more and make do?  Leave a comment so we can learn from you, won't you please?