Frugal Friday: Money Saving Weekly Recap (Times a Lot), Plus a Garden Update

Yikes!  It's been almost a month since I blogged.  I have good reasons though, so strap on your seat belts.  It's been a crazy, busy and wild ride around here.

First, a big thing that happened is that my husband got a promotion at work.  It went through FAST, but it's been kind of an adjustment to say the least as we had to go through the entire promotion process and then get used to the shift change on top of it.  Yup, for the first time in, what, three years, my husband is not on the night shift anymore.  He just started his new shift this week and we're still getting used to him being home at night.  I'm really loving it, honestly and I'm happy to have him home at night :).  The new promotion doesn't really give us a "raise" in the grand scheme of things.  When you work the night shift at my husband's workplace you get 2.00 more per hour because most people don't like to work the shift, so we lost that when my husband went to the day shift.  Basically once the "raise" kicked in and the shift differential kicked off we'll be at about a wash when it comes to pay.  But, bright side is that when my husband has to take time off or take sick days he won't have to worry about losing the grave differential on the paycheck, so there is that.  And he gets his own parking space at work, so hey...there are perks ;).

Another big change, and not a good one in this case, was that the pool where my kids have taken swimming lessons (and learned so, so much) these last few years closed its doors permanently.  The pandemic and the subsequent restrictions and social distancing guidelines just killed the business (I mean not being able to touch a person that you are trying to teach to swim?  Yeah, that wouldn't work).  It was depressing to say the least and I know Tina, the owner, isn't alone in the world with losing so much to this mess.

I'm not sure what is going on with Alvah and therapy at this point either.  The owner of the business has been completely silent these last months and I know she owns businesses in a bunch of states now as she was expanding her therapy business.  How she could afford to stay open through this entire thing...I have my doubts if we are going to have therapy when this is over, let's put it that way.  So, yeah, I've been e-mailing people like the Center for AAC and Autism and other people trying to find courses I can take in LAMP Words for Life (Alvah's talking program) and things so that I can take over that job on top of homeschool and things since I have no idea when, or if,  we'll be able to get therapy again.

Right, off of the more depressing downsides to the last few weeks, let's get to some other things that happened.

1.  I'm trying really hard to stock, and really if I can, overstock, my pantry in preparation for the coming months.  So, part of that plan is to preserve nature's bounty as much as possible.  So, I decided to try and make dandelion capers to use in cooking later on.  My daughter went and harvested the dandelion buds and out of an entire pint of dandelion buds with the greeny part still attached to the bottom of them, once cleaned and plucked, made one half pint of dandelion capers.  I looked at the one jar and REALLY didn't want to pull out my big 23 quart canner to can one jar of capers, so I quickly went out to see what else could be harvested to can as well.  I found that the chives in the front garden bed have really LOVED the last couple of years of complete neglect that I've given the bed and really expanded, so I decided to pickle the blossoms off the chives.  The blossoms themselves should taste like cocktail onions from what I got reading online and the vinegar is good for making salad dressings and things out of, so double benefit there :).  I pulled out just a regular stockpot to can in and placed a cotton pot holder in the bottom of it so that the jars took the canning process okay without breaking from thermal shock,  It worked great and I didn't have to boil a bunch of water in my big canner to do it.

A shot of the finished product is seen up top.

2.  I harvested some rhubarb today and will definitely be harvesting more this season.  My rhubarb is really loving the cooler weather we are having this summer, which is nice.  I put up a big bag of rhubarb in the freezer today and am planning on using it a bit later in the week, so it'll be nice to put up a bunch of it this season.

3.  I finished the kitchen and hung everything up.  I was really pleased as I was able to find room by cleaning out the bottom of my china cabinet (which required me to clean out closet space in bedrooms and things to put the sheets that were in the china cabinet elsewhere) and putting all of my dishes and things in the china cabinet (which was a double relief for me to do as now they are better protected in case of an earthquake and things now) and finding room in the pantry and things to place most of the items that were on top of the cabinets in other places.

It really makes the kitchen look SO much less cluttered by doing it that way.  I was even able to put all of my flour containers and things on one of the kitchen carts so that I have more counter space to work with.

I moved the freezer over so that I could use the top as a counter extension when needed again and have actually been using it to hold paint brushes and things to keep them out of the way and in one place.

I wish I could show how well the yellow paint in the kitchen matches the yellow in my frog print, but it really does and I'm doubly thrilled because of it *laugh*.

I put the flatware boxes on top of the kitchen cart in the corner of the kitchen to keep them within easy access of the table.  So far it is working well.

The microwave, for the curious went on top of the sideboard.

You'll notice that the wall going from the kitchen to the living room ended up remaining yellow.  I had an entire gallon of yellow paint left over after the kitchen and instead of having it go to waste I used it to make an accent wall into the living room instead.  It actually came out looking really nice and it matches the yellow throw pillows that I made for the loveseat (you can't really tell in the pictures as the sun is shining on the cushions, but they actually do match well :).

The second kitchen cart I used to put the syrups for the soda stream and things on  and to store a few kitchen items.  The top I decided to use for a tablet charging station, which has worked rather well so far.

I ended up losing one of the bookcases in the living room when I dared to move it.  It had just suffered too much earthquake damage and just plain fell apart as soon as the other two bookcases weren't holding it up anymore.  So, I ended up putting a bunch of old VHS tapes and things into storage and just doing without the third bookcase.  I moved the loveseat onto the wall to help reclaim floor space in the living room.  It has worked well and I really like the new layout.  I'll have to take a full photo of the living room later (I took a photo but it came out too blurry), but I painted the ceilings white (which was a LOT of ceiling between the living room and the kitchen) and got a good portion of the upstairs hallway done (also white) the last bit.  I then moved into the son's room and got to work.

This room took a lot of repairs.  The sheet rock was damaged in a bunch of places due to the earthquake and just general "son abuse" from long term wear and tear.  We have new flooring yet to install, but at least the walls and ceiling are done./  The room ended up being a darker blue than it was previously, so I installed a lamp in the room to give off some additional light (and give a diffused light option).  The son hated, hated, HATED me working on the living room and his room, but now that both are done he is super thrilled with them.

The corner where his crash pad is right now (the dark blue square in the corner of the room) is going to be where we hang up his swing next as we want to give his one roof support we've been using the last eight years for his swing a break.  But I'm hoping that we can wait until we get his new flooring in before we put the swing in (so we aren't working around it).

And, after a long wait, I was finally able to pull out the vintage Formula One prints I got cheap on Amazon a few years back and put them into frames to hang up on the walls.

The son loves the old Speed Racer cartoon, so I was really thrilled to find this print of the guys doing the running start for the race.

4.  My husband got his truck fixed and running well.  He's been fighting with the distributor on the truck for a long while, so it was good to get that done and working well.  I even ended up helping as he lost a bolt down the back of the engine and I got to shove my small arms and hands into tight spaces until I finally found the bolt.  I've complained about having the same hand size as a five year old in the past (it's been proven to my nieces and nephews when they were five and they were amazed that they had the same hand size as me *laugh*), but it does come in handy from time to time.

5.  My husband installed the new light fixture in the master bathroom and I got the paint finished up, finally, yesterday.  I cut in where the light was and around where the new cabinets and things were installed.  It looks really nice and finished now and I am really glad to have it officially done and looking good.

6.  I was able to get a five pound bag of bread flour!  I have been trying for the last month to at least try and find some somewhere to replenish my stores as I use them and have had no luck finding any.  I, once again, put it in my online order again this week and they actually had a five pound bag in stock!  I felt like I'd won the lottery, honestly :).

And now (since I lumped a ton of what I've been doing together) I do, in fact have a garden update!

Trying to get the garden planted this year has been rough.  Mainly due to the weather.  It has actually been rather cold at night and just a few weeks ago the temp at night was right around freezing, so I was happy when it got warmer and dried out a bit the last week or so.  I spent a good three days just taking the garden weasel and other garden tools to the garden to get it back to bare earth.  The two years of neglect were hard on the garden to make it into an actual garden again.  I had crab grass, waist high dandelions, fiddle head ferns just all incorporated into a huge mass of roots EVERYWHERE and it took a lot of back breaking labor to get the garden back to where I could plant in it again.

I planted green onions (I got bunches of green onions for .50 each at the store one day, used some up, but put some of them in some water in the fridge for a few weeks to grow a nice root system and plunked them into the ground.  We'll see if they survive and grow) and potatoes.  I then planted seeds for peas (a cold hardy variety that only grows to about two feet high) after moving the trellis we made when I last had a garden, Asian broccoli (it is supposed to grow well in cold climates), lettuce and Swiss chard.  We'll see what grows and what doesn't.  The CSA I signed up for should start this week or next, so we'll see what comes in that as well, but at least I am glad that I have things in the ground for better or worse.

I was hoping to plant some more in planter type things up on my deck, but I didn't get to that yet with how busy I've been with everything else, so we'll see if I can find somewhere to get some dirt around here and plant at least some more lettuce.  We'll see how it goes as my "to do" list keeps getting longer and longer.

And there you go folks.  What I've been up to the last bit.  I'm exhausted.  Honestly my exhaustion is suffering from exhaustion at this point as I'm doing things like painting pretty much 100% on my own while juggling everything else around the house, but I feel good that at least things are getting done.

How about you all?  Been up to anything constructive with all the craziness going on on the world?  I hope you all are well and doing okay during this whole crazy time.

Frugal Friday: Money Saving Weekly Recap (Times 3)

First, I want to apologize up and down to the caring souls who have e-mailed me and messaged me the last week asking if we were still alive around here.  Yes, we are all okay here.  Things have just been hectic/time consuming and I haven't had time to blog.

First up we all ended up catching a cold and rotating it through the house.  I'm still up in the air over whether it was an actual cold or just seasonal allergies, but either way...people were stuffy and miserable for a bit.  I ended up with a migraine for like three days straight after we were all over that mess...migraines run in my family and I don't get them often, but when I do...well it's not fun. 

Once all of the health stuff was past, I was so far behind on getting things done that I wanted to get done that I just kind of went nuts trying to get things accomplished around the house as not getting things done was REALLY starting to get to me.  I got the new kitchen cart put together and then went to town emptying the kitchen so I could paint it.  Turns out painting the kitchen has been a slow process, not to mention a bit of a pain in the keester.  Turns out that Kilz is no longer an oil based primer, so my plan of putting Kilz on the walls to cover up all of the old grease and things ended up being a three coat affair instead of the one coat I was planning on (seen above after all the Kilz was on the walls and I think the ceiling was completely done at that point).  Alvah's allergies flared, so his sleep schedule went to crap and he became super needy during the day as a result.  I suddenly had a ton of end of the year things to do for school, including doing IEP updates, work samples and getting final grades together.  It's been nuts.

Bright side, I got all of the school stuff done and in on time.  And, despite fighting to get the painting done while the kitchen was completely torn apart (thank goodness for the electric pressure cooker this week as it really helped us from having to eat out way too much), I finally got the final coat of paint and the counters re-caulked today.  The above pic was after I put the second coat of paint done, but before the painter's tape was removed.

And here it is after I got the majority of the painter's tape removed, the counters re-caulked and the caulk painted to match the paint.  I still got a bunch more to do to get the kitchen where I want it, but yay for the paint being done!

When it comes to money SAVING things that have happened the last three weeks...honestly there isn't much to report.  I ended up buying pork and chicken through our local butcher shop to add to the freezers as trying to find those things at the store was impossible.  I bought things from Amazon as things broke around here (like my coffee grinder that I'm using to grind wheat until my back ordered wheat grinder gets fulfilled and shipped out) or things were outgrown (like socks for the kids).  I am not going to complain about any of that as I KNOW how lucky we are right now.  My husband has been able to keep his job during everything that has been going on and has a regular paycheck coming in on top of that.   I'm counting my blessings and feeling grateful for what I have right now.

Anyway, there is some things in the money saving department I did the last three weeks, so I will list those to maybe inspire others to help them save a few pennies.

1.  I decided to take advantage of the online ordering and pick up for groceries the last couple of weeks.  I have found I really kind of like it as it allows me to sit there and think of what we need, compare the ad and figure everything out before I finalize my order online.  Also, by staying out of the stores I've found that my grocery budget has been cut significantly because I'm not picking up deals while I'm in the store, but instead focusing on things I'll use or on things we really need around the house.  It has made, "shopping from a list" take on whole new meaning for me.  It has been interesting as I never know what I'll get when I go to pick up my order.  Things have been completely out of stock or substituted, sometimes to a nice advantage.  For instance, I ordered some large limes as they were on sale and the grocery picker had to substitute small limes and only charged me for two limes instead of five to make up for the smaller size.  The small limes were plenty juicy enough and I was able to use able to make the recipe I had in mind without having to substitute any bottled lime juice to make up for any type of shortfall, so it worked out well. 

2.  My husband's and my bed just out and out died last week.  Suddenly we were both sleeping in holes, essentially.  I was lamenting the fact that the mattress and box spring was only two years old and decided we'd just have to go and get a new bed, but my husband looked at it and determined that it was the box spring that really died, so he asked me to just get a new box spring first and try that.  We went and got a new box spring (well, I went into the store in my mask while the husband and kids waited outside, anyway).  So far the new box spring is working well and was a LOT cheaper than buying a new mattress and box spring, so that saved some money for sure even if it ends up being only for a little bit (if the mattress should go the way of the box spring).

3.  I had to break into some cans of long term food storage the last few weeks.  The lids to the #10 cans were broken, so I poured the contents into some empty Tupperware containers I had around the house and then I took the empty cans and put them aside to use as planters for things like lettuce in the next few weeks (it is still awful cold around here, so I haven't planted anything yet).  I'll put the cans on the deck under the eaves of the roof to hopefully help the plants to survive any frosts we'll have.  The planters won't last more than a season, I'm sure, but the cans are free,  so here's hopign they work well for this season.

4.  I submitted my children's work samples, progress reports and IEP updates online through the homeschool website, thus saving me time and postage doing it the old fashioned way.

5.  We took advantage of some free for a limited time shows on Amazon Prime and the kids got to watch some programs they had been wanting to see but I hadn't wanted to purchase.  They'll be able to watch the programs for free until the end of the month as part of an Amazon "for a limited time" deal they have going on to get people hooked on the programs.  The kids have already watched the shows they wanted to watch and have kind of moved past the programs and onto other things, so I'm glad that I didn't give in and buy the programs earlier :).

6.  Speaking of Amazon, I found a really fun little film called "Little Forest".  It is subtitled and takes place in Asia (just to give those who can't see the subtitles on their TV very well a head's up), but I really enjoyed it as the story revolves around a woman who associates memories, happiness and everything in life around food.  Since I'm much the same way, I absolutely loved the movie :).  Another fun, oddball, kind of movie I found was "This Beautiful Fantastic" which revolves around a woman who has to get her terribly overgrown mess of a garden up to snuff or be evicted.  In the process she ends up going from an orphan who had grown into an OCD kind of an oddity into her own woman and ends up finding a family in her adventures with her garden.  It was a fun movie and I love how it revolved around gardening and the beauty that hard work makes. 

7.  Our insurance company gave us a discount for our entire policy term to help with the expenses from the Corona virus.  We took the money from the discount and went and bought a new Soda Stream machine, some flavored syrups and some Coke syrup from the main Coke distributor in the area.  We have, so far, gotten the son to drink the new "fountain soda" with the Coke syrup, which is great because I've been able to make his soda weaker than he was drinking it out of the cans this way AND it gives me a good way to start trying him on different flavors of "soda" this summer.  I bought some all natural syrups in flavors like grape, strawberry and so forth to try him out on.  I am really hoping this will be a good way to transition him into drinking real juice.  Even if I have to add sparkling water to said juice...heck I'd be happy with that!

8.  I used up a bunch of stuff in the pantry, fridge and freezer that needed to be used up.  We ate pork enchiladas one night to use up some canned pork that was way past its "best by" date.  It worked well and we all enjoyed it.  I used up some sweetened condensed milk that was sitting in the fridge for quite a while and used it to make limeade/Brazillian lemonade with the limes I got at the store.  It was a nice treat and went well with the cuban pork roast I made that was made from a pork roast that was getting kind of freezer burned from the depths of the freezer (and where one of the limes I bought went *laugh*).  I will use the leftover pork roast to make Cuban sandwiches (minus the ham as I haven't been able to find any at the stores...sorry Cuban sandwich purists *laugh*).

And yeah, I'm going to call it good there as the son is demanding attention and is going grumpy on me.  I hope you all have had a good month and are getting things done if you have a list you want to get done :).

Monthly Goals: May, 2020

Wow.  This is something I haven't done in quite a while if the auto fill for the photos on this post was any indication.  Whoops.  Luckily, one of my goals for this summer is to get more organized, so hopefully I'll be able to get back into the "writing down goals" frame of mind!

When it comes to goals this month, I have a ton to do, so writing it down will hopefully make it more manageable in my mind to get things done :).

So, without further ado, here is my goals list for the month!

Household Goals:

• Paint kitchen and maybe a child's bedroom (I'm hoping the kitchen will go pretty quick since the space is so small).  I'm looking forward to this goal so I can feel like I'm getting some things accomplished around here.
• Get freezers organized super well and fill with meat where needed (or if possible).
• Drop huge amount of cardboard and paper bags that have accumulated over...a long while...to the recycling center.  
• Continue to go through pantry and freezers and use up things that are old and need to be used up.
• Continue to organize pantry so everything is easy to find and well organized.
• Clean out den and stack up boxes that are currently in the garage in the corner to get them out of the way of everything the husband is trying to do :).
• Try to find a good spot to set up new kitchen cart in kitchen as I could sure use the room if I can figure out where to put it.
• Clean the camper and shampoo the interior (I need a good, warm and dry spell of a couple of days at least to get that done so it can dry completely).  We are hoping to at least camp out in said camper this summer.  It might only be in our driveway, but we have to start somewhere to see how the son would take sleeping in a bed that isn't his own at his age.
• Sit down and plan menu for the next month, tentatively (I want to make sure I have some wiggle room for sudden changes in the plan).
• Clean out fridge and clean shelves (it needs it).
• Deep clean microwave (that needs it to).

Sewing Goals:

• Sew more masks for the family and hopefully make extras for my husband to bring into work for the essential employees there that might need them.
• Sew reusable coffee filters (not only are coffee filters hard to come by at the moment since people are using them to make masks, but I figure not having to spend money on them if I can help it would not be a bad thing).
• Make some new skirts for the daughter (she outgrew a few of hers).
• Make new throw pillows for love seat (the ones that are on there right now are pretty much flat and starting to suffer).

Garden Goals:

• Continue to harvest lettuce from the Aerogarden
• Till the garden area by the house so that I can plant things (it's been a few years and the grass has been REALLY happy with the situation).
• Find containers around the homestead to plant seeds in and start to plan out the container garden for the deck.
• Research online to find a good soil to get for the container garden (I want to get some hopefully lighter soil to plant in the containers so that the deck doesn't end up bearing too much of a load...I baby things since the earthquake).
• Hopefully get the garden started in various areas.

Homeschool Goals (yup, I have some)

• Finish up school year for this year (nearly done!)
• Start planning individual learning plans for next year (already started)
• Dig out books that we have around the house that I can use for Alvah's learning plan (working on that, but have a good start)
• Figure out list of books and materials that we will need before school starts in the fall and be prepared to purchase for reimbursement in July (already started on that as I want to get started with all my ducks in a row as soon as school starts next year)
• Buy what materials I can through the virtual Curriculum Fair the homeschool is putting on this year (already accomplished.  I managed to get the daughter's boxed curriculum for "Moving Beyond the Page" through the fair and will be able to get it with free shipping.  For Alaska? That's HUGE!  Awesome deal :).
• Start going through the books I found for Alvah's lesson plan and start making worksheets, quizzes, tests, etc to go with them (I have a set plan of what I want to do to help him get across how much he knows to me, so getting ready for the next school year is pretty much going to take me all summer, I think...I have a lot of work to do).

And there you go folks.  Some of the goals I have for the coming month.  I have a lot of work to do, so here's hoping I can get some of it accomplished :).

How about you?  What's on your list for this month?

Frugal Friday: Money Saving Weekly Recap (Times 2)

First, thank you to all of the concerned e-mails the past few days asking if we are okay and such because I hadn't posted the last few weeks.  I had planned on blogging a bunch this month, but it has been so insanely busy around here that I just plain couldn't seem to find the time to get it done.  Luckily, home school is almost done for the year (I still plan on teaching the son a couple of days a week all summer long just to make sure he doesn't lose skills, but it is going to be a lot less hectic), so I'm looking forward to having a bit more time to do things I WANT to do versus things I have to do soon.

Right, so what have we been up to the last couple of weeks?  Lots is the best answer.  Let's get to it!

1.  When meat packing plants started going down due to the virus, I knew that our already sporadic supply lines were going to suffer even worse and was getting worried about food security (panicky would actually be more accurate).  I also looked in our freezer and realized that the weeks and weeks of not shopping much had really eaten down our freezers to a point where I really did need to start figuring out ways to restock them.  Our stimulus payments came in and first I paid off what I could for bills and then I started to look into getting meat.  I looked to local sources, figuring that those would still be available, and I was right.  Now it was a matter of figuring out what to get and where to store it.

I really wanted to just invest in a half of a cow (which the remainder of the stimulus payment would nearly cover), but also knew that I wouldn't have the freezer room to do it unless I had an additional freezer.  I looked at our old small block freezer out on the deck and wondered if we could fix it somehow, but also decided to look into potentially getting just a new freezer if we could get it (contingency plan and all)...and I found out some depressing news.  Turns out that a major component in microwaves and freezers comes out of China and the stores were completely out of freezers and were wondering if and when they would get freezers back into stock.  So, that was a dead end.  I went out and cleaned up the small block freezer on the deck after talking to my husband about trouble shooting what might be wrong with it.  My husband looked at the freezer and wondered if the cord was to blame for our problems and the freezer's failure as he couldn't find anything glaringly wrong with it, so I pulled the freezer into the kitchen (our outside plug in/receptacle doesn't work, it turns out when I plugged it in out there) and plugged it in after bending the prongs a bit so it would plug in decently tight.  Sure enough it worked. 

So, my husband changed out the plug on the freezer with a replacement he had on hand (which is a LOT better and way more stable), stuck an amp monitor on it and we waited to see what would happen with it.  When it worked great for three days straight, I called up our local butcher shop and ordered a half of a cow beef pack.  It took a week (lots of meat and them being slammed with orders combined to create a bit of a wait), but we picked up the meat on Thursday and filled up the small block freezer with beef.  I had a plan when I ordered the meat so it would all sit pretty much flat and would stack well in the freezer  (ordered lots of steaks and only ordered roasts that I knew would cut pretty flat) and how I would stack up the huge amount of hamburger we would end up with from the cow and it all worked perfectly (I love it when a plan comes together).  Once the beef was completely frozen through and we were sure the freezer wasn't going to fail, I ordered some chicken and some pork and it is currently on order with the butcher shop.  I'm looking forward to getting the call to go and pick that up sometime soon.  Once we pick that up we should be pretty set on meat for a while, which will be a huge load off of my mind with how things are going lately.

2.  I also took some of the stimulus payment and purchased a CSA through one of our local farms.  For 12 weeks starting at the end of June I'll be getting a box of fresh produce every week.  So, even if the garden doesn't do well this year, I'll have a contingency plan (and really extra produce is not something I am going to complain about right now) and we'll have some fresh vegetables around here.

3.  I started actively searching through the freezer and pantry to use up ANYTHING that is a bit out of date and needing to be used up as we are not wasting anything if we can absolutely help it.  I used up some home canned cherry pie filling and made a cherry pie one night for dessert (I have frozen pie crusts to use up as well), made beans and rice with some moose hot dogs that a friend of ours had given us years ago and were sitting vacuum sealed in the freezer (the daughter liked it), used up some older vegetables that I had and threw them in with a pork roast when I pressure cooked it and other things.

I also made fondue with little bits of dried out cheese we had shoved in the back recesses of the fridge.  The fondue, due to the lack of moisture in the cheese, came out a bit grainy, but it still tasted good and we enjoyed it with free bagels (frozen from the Safeway Monopoly game) and vegetables dipped in it.

4.  Speaking of using things up, I ran across an older package of bacon buried in the freezer when I emptied off one of the shelves (like I said...we definitely have eaten down our freezers the last bit) and when I ran across a package of split peas in the pantry I knew what I would do with them.

I made one of my husband's favorite "survival" types of foods.  Erbswurst.  Overseas people can buy Knorr Erbswurst already prepared so you can take it hiking or whatever, but over here it is impossible to get unless you are willing to pay a pretty good amount of money to buy it and ship it to Alaska through a German online market or something. 

I made Erbswurst...geez...years ago for the husband to try and he loved making pea soup with it, especially when he was sick, but eventually the parchment paper coating on it went moldy and we ended up throwing a bit of it away.  This time I made it the right way.  For fat I used lard that I had in the freezer and I followed the recipe exactly.  For the casing I used some fibrous casings I had bought at our local sportsman's store a long time ago.  I had originally bought it to make summer sausage with, but had run out of frozen ground turkey that I needed to use up, so I ended up only using like one casing before putting the rest into storage for later use.  So, I used up some of the casings and made some Erbswurst and now my husband has ready made pea soup for when he needs a protein boost (that's the very green sausage seen in the photo above).

5.  I baked a lot the last few weeks to help stretch meals (and supplies really).  I made honey bran muffins (from a mix I had in the pantry), biscuits (to avoid making rice as I'm trying to make that stretch as far as I can), bread (for toast and sandwiches), cookies (for snacks) and lemon bars.  The biscuits lasted several meals as the daughter and I found we liked to eat them at breakfast with some jam or butter on them (I actually enjoyed mine with some ginger curd I had in the pantry :).

6.    I had a pile of Monopoly coupons that I hadn't put in the online codes for.  I pretty much gave up on the game when the virus hit as the idea of searching through the store to find this or that free item was not going to happen as I have been trying to avoid shopping and in the event I DO go shopping I am trying to get in and out as quickly as I can to avoid exposure to people and things people have touched.  But, I had the coupons, so I went online and entered my codes.  I then redeemed them all for gas rewards to use them up, which worked out great as with the cheaper price on gas as well as the fuel rewards I was able to fill up my truck for just over 20.00 (and I was running on empty).  I have to say that the oil industry tanking is rough because I know it is killing my state, but on a micro level I really am enjoying the lower fuel prices to fill up my vehicles.

7.  I sewed masks the last few weeks.  I made a couple for my husband for work (so far...I still need to make about three more) and I made a few for the kids and I.  I am hoping to sew more in the next couple of days. 

For anyone looking for a simple tutorial for masks I definitely suggest this tutorial by "Billette's  and Baubles" on YouTube.  I searched through many tutorials before I found hers and I hers was definitely the best, and easiest, one I found.  I ended up making my husband's masks with some bias tape ties instead of elastic (he has a big head the elastic wasn't going to work for him) but for the kids and I the masks work just fine.  I used materials I had on hand to make the masks, which definitely made them cost effective.

8.  The second round of Aerogarden lettuce is doing well and I harvested it a couple of times this last week.  I am happy that we have fresh lettuce to harvest already even though the threat of frost isn't past yet, so I can't really plant a garden quite yet :).  And, so far, the new spot on top of the microwave has kept the lettuce safe from the son, so yay for that!

9.  I had fun re-watching parts of both the "Wartime Farm" and "Edwardian Farm" series.  I'm actually finding that both have lessons that can be learned and applied to our current world situation.

10.  I found a few English muffins in the freezer that needed to be used up as well as a small baggie of tomato sauce.  Combined both of those with some frozen mozzarella cheese and voila!  I got to introduce my family to English muffin pizzas (a staple of my childhood).  The daughter really fell in love with them, which was nice as those are at least something she can make on her own to start on her cooking adventures.

11.  I made a menu plan for a few weeks when I had a free moment and managed to stick to it pretty religiously the last few weeks.

12.  My daughter's current (and probably last for the year) science unit called for us to find a microscope to study cells with.  Normally our home school would have those available to borrow, but with the schools closed that wasn't going to be an option.  Luckily, my husband and I have picked up educational tools over the years and my husband dug up a microscope we had.  The daughter LOVED using it and the unit as a whole and had a lot of fun.  One of the great benefits I've found from home schooling is being able to enjoy when the kids really actively love to learn something :).

13.  I gave the husband another haircut this week.  I ordered this (no associate link or anything, just sharing) with my husband's credit card rewards to help me gauge the length of hair as I cut (I'm terrified of ending up giving my husband a bowl cut looking haircut or something) and I went and studied some tutorials online on how to give haircuts on top of it.  We are going to cut the hair a bit shorter in a couple of weeks to slowly get the haircut to where my husband likes it, but so far he's happy with it, so I am thrilled that I didn't mess up his hair too badly *laugh*. 

My husband is really hoping I can get good at cutting his hair so that he can get haircuts more often.  With his work schedule and things it has always been kind of hard for him to find time to go and get his hair cut, so if I can keep his hair trimmed it'll save him a lot of grief, save us money in the long run and make us more self sufficient.  All good things.

14.  Spring/Break up hit, finally, and then the last few days it has actually been rather warm (nearly 60 F, which for us is summer like weather :). I've been able to open the windows and doors (and really upstairs it is necessary as it gets rather warm with the sun upstairs by the late afternoon) to let in fresh air and more importantly we've been able to turn off the electric heat during the day, which has definitely been a relief as turning those heaters off lets me see an immediate reduction in our electric bill.

15.  The husband was able to clean off a bunch of the broken things from our deck the last few weeks.  Not only were we able to fix the freezer (I say "we" but I mean "he"), but he was also able to haul off the old broken oven and such.  As a result the deck has so much more room now and I will have room to put a container garden out there now, which is good as the moose and rabbits can't get to plants out there :).

16.  Since summer break, for us, is imminent, I sat down and figured out a painting schedule for the other rooms in the house.  I am looking forward to doing the home improvements as the paint is already bought and all it will take is time and effort to get it done.

17.  My husband was also able to clean the garage more, which he was happy with as he's been trying to get that done for months and it seemed like he could never get time to do it.   He was able to get a new receptacle put in (one of the benefits of being married to an electrician) to work on a dryer he was trouble shooting and he'll be able to use later (he wants to get into appliance repair work, so he was happy to have the test receptacle for electric dryers and things installed :).

18.  I added water to a shampoo bottle that was "empty" and was able to extend the life of the shampoo by quite a bit.

And there you go folks.  Some of what we have been up to the last couple of weeks.  How about you?  I hope everyone is hanging in there!

Frugal Friday: Money Saving Weekly Recap (Times 2)

It has been a rough few weeks around here.  I've been TRYING not to be obsessive about reading the local news as I know it isn't going to be good news.  Unfortunately, our legislature didn't disappoint and local folks up here are getting the federal relief and that is IT (and only the stimulus payments right now...a lot of bulk "relief" money the state is just plain pocketing and not passing on to those who need it the most).  Which with our cost of living...the federal stimulus payment doesn't go very far.  For some folks it won't even pay their rent so they are going to try and negotiate something out with their landlords so that they don't lose the roof over their heads.  It is BAD.  We are looking at a horrible depression up here when the smoke clears just from the virus, let alone the fact that our state government has cared nothing about expanding business interests up here beyond oil and now the oil industry is crashing on top of it.  The future is bleak, let's just put it that way.

Bright point for us is that my husband is an essential service, so he at least still has a job.  I worry about him going to work and such, especially since the virus is going crazy in Anchorage, but at least we still have a paycheck coming in and he is being as super careful as he can (as are the other people he works with).  I am also truly grateful that my half sister back East was able to fight off the virus *knock on wood* after one relapse and seems to be doing okay now. 

We lost a part of our barn roof during some high winds we were having and I've found we are losing more and more tar paper covering with every breeze we get, but at least my husband found the piece of roof that had blown off and it didn't hit anything other than the ground, so that was a relief.

I am reading all kinds of blogs where people are growing food already and I have to say I'm a bit envious.  I have tried to start seeds...my cats killed them with extreme prejudice.  Even though the starter pods were TEENY TINY the cats see dirt and that's that.  I need to see if maybe my husband can help me figure out a spot to start seeds that cats and kids can't get to, but in the meantime I am living vicariously through others.  I can't start seeds outside anytime soon.  Normally we are at least looking break up in the face this time of year, but the air still has a bite of snow to it and we have gotten snow a couple of times the last couple of weeks.  I actually let the kids stay out for a long time sledding the last week as the snow finally compacted down where sleds would go over it really well.  The daughter had a blast.  The snow that is left on the ground is melting very very slowly, so if this trend continues I'm thinking June is probably my best bet for getting seeds in the ground.

So, with everything going on with local politics and everything, I kind of panicked and I knew it was time to go full on self sufficient as much as I can.  Survival, even if it is survival until the economy recovers elsewhere and we move, is on my mind big time right now (and with the huge resurgence of people showing interest in Victory Gardens and things, I'm pretty sure I'm not alone here).  So the last few weeks I...


1.  Ordered seeds. 

Right, so a LOT of seed companies are completely out of seeds right now or are not taking orders, which threw me when I went to just order seeds for a big garden (and hopefully some type of greenhouse) this year, but for those in Alaska we have another option and that is Denali Seed Company.  Denali Seed Company sell seeds tailored to our short growing season and they offer a range of seeds to grow in the ground, in greenhouses, in container gardens, etc.  So, I put in a big order with them and got my seeds in within a week.

2.  I ordered a wheat grinder. 

I have an emergency cast iron wheat grinder that I bought years and years ago, but it basically just has built in uneven metal on it, no burrs or anything that you can replace and my coffee grinder works to make a super coarse grain flour, but I can't get it beyond that.  So I went online to look for a wheat grinder.  Turns out everyone is sold out of those too, including the Mormon Church (they are out of food storage that you could order online too...my brain kind of melted when I saw that).  I found a commercial outfit that was still taking orders online, so I ordered a grinder.  I hope.  The website works funky and while I got a confirmation order via e-mail, I haven't heard anything since.  Since they are a commercial outfit, this doesn't really surprise me much, but we'll see if and when I get said wheat grinder.  I hope it all works okay as I have a ton of wheat that I can grind and with the way flour is completely sold out everywhere and such...well...fresh ground flour is healthy and with tons of wheat around, it is free, so I'm figuring that it definitely a good thing.

3.  Still debating on....

• Getting meat rabbits going
• Getting a few backyard chickens again (at least I feel more confident in my ability to take care of chickens now that my husband has worked at his job for a while and gotten into a more stable payment schedule).
• Saving up to get another freezer and buying like a half of a cow.
• Buying a CSA (to support local agriculture to help it survive and also to make sure I still have fresh food in case of things like moose wiping out my garden again).
• Getting a wood stove so we have an additional source of heat and another way to cook food (I have NO idea what our utilities are going to look like when this is all said and done, but I can say it probably isn't going to be pretty...going off the grid as much as possible seems like more and more of a viable idea).

This is what I am using our government stimulus money for.  I've actually gotten chewed out by a few people I know that were like, "but you are supposed to go and buy stuff at box stores to boost up the economy" and I am trying to get across to them that the bigger picture is something I am focusing on hard right now and that picture is one where being self sufficient is not only a good idea, but might very well be a downright necessary one and keeping money local is really important too.  Especially up here.  And I am lucky in that the stimulus money, for us, can be used to help these efforts, where a lot of people are trying to figure out how to stay in their apartment even after that check comes in.

So, yeah, anyway, other than putting myself into debt to put myself into a better position to be as efficient of a homemaker as I can for my family, what else happened the last few weeks? 

Well, for one thing I got a bill from our doctor's office that charged for doctor's visits for my husband back to July of last year (they have had terrible problems with their billing outfit back East for a few years and finally just started doing in house billing this last year), so I had to put nearly 600.00 onto my Care Credit to get that bill paid off.   I'll pay it off either with the stimulus money when (if) it comes in or pay it off over the next six months.  We'll see how it goes.  At least this bill had the visit with the EKG and things on it, so I don't have to worry about that bill coming up later and biting me in the rear.

Right, let's move on to brighter things.  Onto money SAVING things that happened this last week.

1.  Our home school will pay for things like Raddish, Kiwi Crate and things if you want to supplement your lessons with them through your allotment money, although this year is done for purchasing and things since school ends next month for the summer.  I have been really intrigued with a few of the box subscription services for Alvah  the last bit (thinking interactive kits that are just HIS when they come in might really make him feel special and help to engage him more), but didn't want to just commit next school year for an entire year or something and waste the money out of the home school allotment if it wasn't at all great or Alvah didn't show an interest in it.  So, I went online and checked out a few outfits to see what I could find.  I found that Raddish will sell old kits that are discontinued on a one time basis, so I went through and found one I figured would be fun to try.  I used a 5.00/1 code for your first order and got the box for 19.00 shipped.  I also went to eat2explore and checked out their boxes as well.  I really liked that their boxes came with some ingredients, like sauces and seasonings, but am a bit concerned as they said that their stuff could be processed with peanuts in their packaging facility.  So, I used a one time 20% off code and got a one time box to see what it entails and what kinds of allergens we are dealing with (you can order a country as a one time purchase whenever you want through them, which was nice, but they also charge shipping on the boxes so it is a give and take there).  I figure if it isn't safe for Alvah to do the eat2explore box I'll work on it with the daughter, which will still be fun.

If nothing else it'll give us a new activity to do while we are staying at home.

2.  I started watching a channel called "Party Kitchen" on YouTube.  Some of the episodes are subtitled in English and some aren't, but I love watching the Japanese cooking videos and things that are subtitled.  The videos are so calming and she makes truly yummy looking food :).

3.  I started watching "The 1940's House" on YouTube again.  It is something that I find relatable to our current set of circumstances with the shortages and not knowing what is going to happen next.

I find that I really enjoy watching YouTube or Prime Video at night when I am waiting for kids to go to sleep and I have to keep the house pretty quiet. 

I have also not missed one video that Townsends has put out during this entire course of events.  He's making some really great content and is really trying to help people keep things in perspective, keep their spirits up and helping people learn history at the same time.  I love that channel :).

4.  I took advantage of some quarantine freebies for the kids.  Our Sea Life center down in Seward has been doing virtual animal tours and things during the week and while we are usually in the middle of home schooling when the things air they are available to watch later, so we have had fun looking at the animals.  We have also taken some virtual museum tours, which the daughter has gotten a big kick out of.

5.  I paid my bills online and switched a few things that I had missed over to paperless statements and things.  It helps to keep more paper out of my mailbox, saves some trees, and saves me having to throw more things away later on. 

6.  I went shopping last night to pick up some prescriptions for the son and to get what I could for groceries that we have eaten down the last month.  I was surprised how much the store had changed with the six foot markers and such and was also rewarded to find that they had milk.  Also found that I wasn't the only one who had avoided shopping as milk was marked down to 1.66 per gallon, so I got two gallons when I was only planning on getting one.  I also found some meat on reduced as well, so I was able to get a pack of chicken drumsticks, a package of thin cut steaks, a huge things on hamburger (2.49 lb!)  and some boneless chicken thighs decently cheap.  I was grateful to find those things in stock as the meat has been pretty much empty the few times I've been to the store since quarantine had started.

The store had a bottle of cleaner/sterilizer at the front of the store with paper towels for you to wipe down your cart, which I did and then I got a few clean towels and saturated them with cleaner and as I went about my business I sterilized items as I put them into my cart as well as wiping handles on coolers and things as I grabbed items.  I got a few thanks yous from older people that I was doing that and I noticed a bunch more people doing it by the time I left the store.  Hopefully if more people pick up that habit we can help flatten the curve just a little bit more.

7.  The son has been on a destructive tangent of late (which has not helped my stress levels), which helped to add to the "rough" that I was speaking of earlier.  I was so happy with how my Aerogarden lettuce was coming along and had even harvested from it a few times this last week.  I walked into the kitchen one night to find that the son had found the lettuce, thought it was a toy and had out and out killed it...uprooted it, the whole nine yards.  I was so upset for a little bit, but then took a deep breath and calmed down, harvested what lettuce I could that was left, moved the Aerogarden to the top of the microwave (outside of Alvah's normal play zone on the counter top) and started over with my last three Romaine pods.  They are just sprouting up this morning, so hopefully they'll grow as fast as the last batch did and I'll have fresh lettuce in a week or so.  Thank goodness I had taken pictures of the nice, huge healthy lettuce earlier that day to send in for work samples to the home school later as I had incorporated hydroponics versus traditional seeding methods into his learning plan (since we are studying the plant life cycle and farming methods).

But, yeah, the new Aerogarden spot is seen up top.  May it live this time.

8.  I made sure to use up EVERYTHING that I could and went through my rationing books and things to try and find more ways to not waste food.  I'm working on making sure things like potato peels and things don't go to waste.

9.  I baked bread and tried to make sure I ONLY made enough food to last for dinner and maybe a few days worth of left overs (making sure on leftovers days that the husband and/or the daughter would eat the left over food for lunches later on) .  I made some thin cut chicken breasts one night that came out kind of dry (I baked them on the fly as time got away from me, which probably helped that to happen), so I used the left over chicken in salad along with some wobbly celery.  We ate the salad for dinner one night and then I ate it for lunch for a few days as well.  It worked out and nothing was wasted :).

10.  I mended, yet another, tear in a comforter.

11.  I shopped from the pantry as much as possible, which I have to say when you aren't going to physical stores much at all, it is a really good feeling to have a well stocked pantry.

12.  Took advantage of Rifftrax offering a free rental of a new movie that has come out from the director of "Time Chasers".  No Rifftrax involved in it, but if it is anything like the guy's previous movies it sets the stage to be a hilarious entertaining film in its own right.

13.  I went online and printed off some free coloring pages and fact sheets about Vermont to supplement the son's new geography unit.

14.  I redeemed credit card rewards that were available on my credit card.  I used said card  to pay off some of my medical bills back in January and then paid the card off so I could get the rewards.  Since it was used to pay for medical bills I got extra bonus points for using the card to pay them off.  I redeemed the rewards for a 10.00 Amazon gift card and a 25.00 Red Robin gift card.   Right now with how crazy everything is and how normal schedules are all screwy, the son can find it hard to cope, so going to get take out from Red Robin is one of those things that makes him so happy that I was thrilled to get the gift card to help make a trip there for food affordable.

15.  My rice cooker completely died, finally.  The built in silicone sealing ring started to disintegrate from age and use and steam started leaking EVERYWHERE resulting in crunchy, unevenly cooked rice.  The son eats a LOT of rice, so I could not be without a rice cooker.  Luckily, though, I had my spare Zojirushi rice cooker that I had picked up at the used store a while back for cheap. 

I was worried about ratios of rice to water as it seems that every rice cooker can be a little bit different.  I had done a trial run with the rice cooker a while back and it worked okay, so I wanted to make sure that I added the right amount of rice to water and things to make sure the rice cooker would hopefully live a good long time (and give me good rice as trying to find rice right now is like trying to dig up gold in your back yard.  You MIGHT find it, but probability is against you).   So, I went online and downloaded the manual for the rice cooker and found, much to my delight, that my old rice measuring cup from my other rice cooker would work just fine, so that'll make my life easier.

And there you are folks.  Some of the things that have been happening around here.  Hope you all are well and hanging in there!  Keep the faith!

Making Do Tip #2: Ways to Get Around No Yeast

So, number two on the e-mail problems I've gotten is people e-mailing me asking what to do if they can't find yeast at the store.  A lot of the people who have e-mailed me were saying that yeast is kind of gold plated right now and they can't find it anywhere and they would like to be able to bake bread for dinner.  Bright side, there are definitely options available to you if you don't have yeast.

Right, first up, if you have old yeast and you are not sure if it is good or not, before you waste it by baking a round flat disk of hard instead of bread go through this test to check if your yeast is still working or if it is indeed dead.

So, let's say your yeast is dead or that you don't have any in the house at all.  If you are in that situation, might I suggest these alternatives for you?

1.  Make Irish Soda Bread  (this doesn't even require baking powder, only baking soda, so you can conserve that precious commodity :)

2.  Make Branch Bread or some other flat bread/cracker.  There are a bunch of recipes online.  You can even make Ship's Biscuit.  Just be careful you don't break teeth on those :).

3.  Make biscuits/scones (you can find numerous recipes online for more if that recipe doesn't suit your needs)

4.  Here are some roll recipes I ran into online that I've been wanting to try to get you started as well for quick dinner roll ideas...

• Yeast Free Pull Apart Rolls
• Mama's Easy No Yeast Dinner Rolls
• Yeast Free Bread Rolls

5,  If you have a bunch of flour you can use up to keep it going make a sourdough starter and you'll have as much leavening as you need so long as you keep the starter fed and alive.

So there you go folks.  If you don't have yeast, just get creative :).  You'd be surprised how many recipes out there don't call for yeast if you are willing to look for them.

Frugal Friday: Money Saving Weekly Recap

It has been a kind of stressful week with worry about loved ones on opposite coasts from me and things, so I am kind of glad to be able to sit down and write about something familiar.  Namely, what we did to save money the last bit!

1.  My son is studying the plant life cycle as part of home school right now, so I decided that when we planted a mini terrarium that I would plant the Aerogarden at the same time so we could compare how quickly the plants grew in both environments.  

The Aerogarden, after working GREAT for like two years straight, after an earthquake and things, is working a lot more finicky than it used to.  I have to carefully lift the lid with the plant pods in it and scrub the aerator holes every time it come out of hibernation (to open them up wide) or it doesn't get enough air flowing through it.  It is a real pain in the neck.  If I had the money I'd upgrade to the newer spiffy Aerogardens with way more growing holes and the spiffy LED lights on them, but stuff like that is definitely out of my budget for the foreseeable future, so scrubbing the old aerator is the best bet at this point.  Bright side, hopefully within the month, we'll have romaine lettuce straight from the "garden" to eat.  Since we are currently experiencing hurricane force winds (some people are reporting gusts up to 90 mph in my area right now) and have tons of snow still on the ground, having something growing...it makes the house a bit brighter and makes me feel like I'm doing something to help secure some food security around here.  

2.  We all got a haircut this week.  My husband cut my hair, I cut the daughter's hair, the husband and I both cut the son's hair (he isn't thrilled with getting his hair cut) and I even tried my hand at giving my husband a trim (while sweating bullets as I didn't want him to look awful since he still has to go to work every night being an essential service).  He assured me that I did an okay job and we'll just work on me trimming a little bit more every week until he has something resembling an actual haircut going on.  We aren't even sure if barber shops are open right now and honestly neither the husband or I were thrilled with him going somewhere to get his hair cut even if they were open with how things are.  

While awaiting the next trim, I'm studying YouTube videos on how to cut hair and am hoping to have an idea of how to do it before I have to trim him up next.

3.  While out getting the son some French fries (the lack of a regular therapy schedule gets to him from time to time right now) I let the family stay in the truck and eat while I ran into the store to see if there was anything that I could get in the way of food.  I managed to hit the store right when a truck came in (yay!!!) and I was also thrilled to see that they were putting limits on bread, milk and other necessities, so hopefully I won't have to panic about where we could find fresh milk for the son to drink.  I was able to get some cheese, bananas, another big bag of potatoes (which my WWII rationing books might as well be titled "1001 Ways to Make Potatoes Into Everything"), some lettuce (which was awesome as we were completely out of everything but potatoes around here) and some other things we needed.  It was a relief to find food in the stores, I have to say, even if the choices were limited and things like paper products and some meat was still non-existent.

4.  I called around to my local medical offices, including our pediatrician and our doctor's office to see how THEY were doing and if they needed anything.  They were shocked and rather touched I thought of them.  If you have extra toilet paper or other supplies that you might be able to spare, please be sure to check in with your doctors to see if they need anything.   The stress we are under is multiplied by about 10,000 for those working in the medical field right now.  I am hoping to sew some masks so that my husband's work will have some should they need them and to make sure our doctor's offices have some if they need them, but that is IF I can get the kids to bed at a decent time (since we are back to schoolwork this week I have a much better shot) and find time to pull out the sewing machine and get some work done.

5.  Just a side note, but as I run across funny things, nice music, free things companies are doing and things during this time I'll be sharing them on Facebook.  I'm hoping to compile a list as I run across things (as it seems like this whole situation might last a while), but in the meantime it's just a lot easier to hit "share" or just paste a URL into the Facebook field instead of having to create a new link page and everything.  

6.  I mended a few shirts that had holes in them.

7.  I spent many free hours the last few weeks taking a detailed inventory of my food storage.  I am working on compiling it all into a spreadsheet so that I'll be able to keep everything super organized.  Other than my time this has been free for me to do and will hopefully make it so I continue to rotate my food storage in a good, timely fashion and also makes it so that nothing (and I mean NOTHING) goes to waste around here.

8.  With therapy being closed with everything else, I have definitely saved money by not going anywhere for the most part and have saved the money in the way of gas usage.

9.  The sun has come back to a good point where I am able to (on non-hurricane-force-winds days) turn off the supplemental electric heat in the house during the day.  Hopefully this will see a reduction in our power bill as it got scary during the cold winter.

10.  I tightened up some furniture and other small maintenance needs to avoid doing delayed maintenance, including replacing batteries in smoke detectors.  

11.  I began Spring cleaning a little bit.  My goal is to start doing a few tasks a day and then hopefully I'll be done with Spring deep cleaning in no time :).

12.  I cancelled my daughter's orthodontist appointment to see about bottom braces and told them I would reschedule when the world wasn't crazy anymore.  They understood and were really good about it.

And there you go folks.  My rather short list of things going on around here.  I'm trying to make more a point to write things down as they happen, but I've been so busy and preoccupied that I just plain haven't thought to do it much the last little bit.