My corn is crooked, how about yours?

I realized too late that our painstakingly planned garden is about 5 feet too far to the right. Which caused part of it to be in partial shade. Which caused part of it to lean.

Most prominently the corn. Oops. Well, that will have to wait until next fall to fix.


So as of tomorrow I will officially have 3 jobs.

Yep. I am tired all ready.

Granted, only one will be full time. But still, sheesh....

Hopefully though this will enable us to live like no one else later.

On to nicer things.

My plum tree is ripe for the picking, here comes plum jam!!! Yay!

I also will give a good amount to our friend who leads a similar simple lifestyle, and who is always generous with us .

I also picked the first produce from my garden.... And the winner is green beans! They are the first plant to produce!

Get it? Produce? Hardy har... See, I can still have fun, ;-)

I will talk to you again soon. Wish me luck for work tomorrow :-)

What I'm making

Garden fresh southern dinner of pinto beans, squash and zucchini, fresh picked tomatoes and cucumbers, mushrooms and onions. If we were not on a diet a batch of biscuits would be cooking too.... Oh well.....

I am also making healthy home made nutra grain bars. All the recipes I found had a cup of butter, and sugar! Ugh, so I modified

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup of pear sauce from my pear trees ( you could use apple)
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup oats
1 tsp vanilla

Jam of your choice, I used strawberry jam my mother in law made.

Mix everything but the jam, the dough will be pretty sticky. Add more pear sauce if needed.

Spread half the mix into the bottom of a greased pan, I used a finger spoon combo to get it spread.
Top with jam, then top with the rest of the mix. If this doesn't spread perfect, that's ok.

It will still taste good :-)

Bake at 350 for 20 ish mins! Allow to cool before cutting.

**update**
Darn it! I just thought that I should have added my flax seed meal, that would have been an excellent nutrition addition....

Outside

I wish sometimes that I could bottle the feeling I get being outside. It's impossible of course, but I still wish I could.

With the breeze turning the 80 degree weather into a pleasant feel. The wind chime casually clanging around, the overcast sky turning everything a vibrant and deeper rich green.

It's even staring to sprinkle now, and it's just making the air smell fresh and clear.

It's wonderful spending time out side.

And the cool thing is I now know how to blog from my phone so I can do it from outside :-)

Last week the HH informed me that he has about 10 weeks of solid work, them after that it is uncertain.

Uncertain.

Ugh I do not care for that word at all. I work however, the nature of my work leaves paychecks up in the air, and not coming down reliably.

I don't tell you this to cause you worry, though a trouble shared is a trouble halved, but to explain my absence after the declaration that I would blog at least 5 days a week. And then my almost immediate absence.

Oops.

I felt like I was detracting from my small family by spending time blogging instead of the many other activities I could have been performing.

And I was kind of pouting. Shameful, I know, but it's true.

But that's silly. I am working as much as I can, so is he. Other then that living our simple frugal lifestyle is the only other way to get through difficult times.

Writing here is free, fun, educational .

I see no reason to stop. Especially now that I am done pouting.

Attack of the blobs!!!

I was trying to puzzle out what was eating all my plants. They look like the rabbitts have been munching on them, however they also have small holes in the middle of the leaves.

Then I saw the perpetrator..... SLUGS

I have never had a slug problem before in my garden. But I think that was because I had never had an organic garden before.

SO I promptly started searching out the slugs and pinching them off. At first I was just throwing them away from the garden, then I realized, they will just slide on back.  So I started squishing them. Yes, yuck, but by then I was so angry at all the damage they had done, that I did not mind.

It grossed out HH when I told him what I was up to squatting by the garden so intensely.

Turning over the leaves on each plant revealed more damage then I had ever suspected! There were munching marks on all of them. I'll be surprised if half of my plants recover from this. (Ugg!!! SO much work for not)

Sure these are just the cotyledons (fancy word for the first leaves :), but there is lots of damage on all the other leaves too. Stupid slugs....

In John Seymour's book The Simple Life and How To Live It he mentions that slugs like beer, so you are supposed to bury a saucer of beer right at ground level, and the slugs come to it then drown themselves. 

I am off to get the slugs drunk right now. Wish me luck!

I like the smell of old wood and clean clothes

You know that smell an old house has? Its not a bad smell, it just lets you know that the wood supporting the walls around has been around for more then 50 years.

My house has that smell.

It is not present all the time.Usually I have chased it off with the smells of cooking or baking, and cleaning.

 Just every now and then I will get a whiff of it. Like this morning mixed with the smell of my clean laundry.  That had to be one of the homiest smells ever.

I like being at home. I know that if I let myself I would become a reclusive hermit. Its in my blood. I have an uncle that moved into the desert for that reason.

I do not plan on letting that happen, but still. I could do it. I do enjoy being around my family and close friends. But I am the happiest at home, with my husband.  If I could just work it out that everyone came over to my house (While still leaving at the perfect time) and I never had to go to the grocery store again, that would be perfect :)

Scary what you find under 40 year old vinyl siding. 

Haha.... I know that's not happening. And really I am sure I do not want it too. Even though it sounds great right now.

I have to make conscious choices to get myself out there. To go see people, and talk to them.  My willingness and ability to do this changes day to day.

HH tore off a piece of rotten wood. Birds took advantage of it to make a nest in my house. 

I always wished to be a charmer who can put all around at ease with a few smart words, and entertain people easily. Some days I am closer then others. And still some days I feel I can not pry my mouth open with a crowbar.

Good thing I married a charmer. I can stand back and let him go at a crowd and he has the whole place laughing in minutes.

Bet you don't see old vents like this very often.

Miles to go

Homemade croutons from home made bread. Yummmm....

Today I spent a large part of the day with a friend. We both had some off time and thought we would watch some movies from our childhood. We did not grow up together, but we are the same age and some of those are universal for girls our age.

She hosted at her house for the first time.

I could tell she put a lot of effort into it. She had laid out a cute spread of food for us, made dip and had veggies out. Then she told me later she had lasagna cooking and salad and bread.

It was really good! Even though she had a hard time reconciling that she had made vegetarian lasagna so I could eat it. I believe that was the first time for her, and she does not like to step out of her comfort zone.

Then after the movies we walk into the kitchen so I can help her clean up and I see her throw away over a whole loaf of garlic bread. That was fresh. And tasty....

I was a bit shocked. I guess I have become so used to the way my husband and I are trying to live that to see such blatant and needless waste in a home was stunning.

I have no interest in forcing my ideas of a great life on anyone else (to each his own, just don't mess with mine if you want to keep that hand ;)

but that still shocked me!

Bread I made, next to jar I saved. If I see anyone throw this away before it is moldy, there will be trouble!

My friends are not wealthy, but neither are they hurting for money. Both work, they are young, childless and in school.

But still... I mean, that was almost a whole loaf of perfectly good bread!

I had to stop myself from saying something. I left before I saw what she did with a pan of lasagna with only two pieces out.

Have I become so out of touch with what people around me are doing?  Is that really how people live?

Containers I have saved, and find no end of uses for. The white ones even have scoops that are perfect for home made laundry detergent!   

It makes me want to double up my efforts to live simply.

However, it makes me want to do it while looking stylish.

Not that I am suddenly going to run out and spend money on clothes that I do not need, but more that I can show people the value and enjoyment in living simply. That even though one of my goals is to live below our means and save money, that you can live this way and really enjoy life too.

I am still learning to live simply, I know I have miles to go. It is a trek worth the time and effort.

Look away, too much cuteness!

Baby Booties!!!!

Its too late now, you are sucked in too, huh?

I finally found another knitting project that I could handle. And they are freakin' adorable.

I never used to go soft over baby clothing. Until I decided I wanted one. Now I am such a wimp for this stuff.

I had made these with the intention of sending them to my cousin who is expecting a baby boy in August. Then I was going to make a pair for my niece who is due in October. But I kinda want to keep them.

Is that bad? No, I am not pregnant (Not yet anyway). And they really only took a couple hours to make, and that time will shorten as I gain confidence.

But still.....

I. Love. Them.

I do want to make a hat to match. Maybe I'll do that and then decide....

hehe...

I also am pretty sure I will adapt the pattern to fit adult feet. Might as well match:)

Today I

Today HH had to work his long day south of town. This is regular, about every other week or so during the grass cutting season. He gets up early and comes home late. Oh well...

I had my nieces and bro-in-laws birthdays to celebrate this evening.( Happy Birthday Lily and Josh!!!)

So this morning I made a sign. Using junk I had around the house.

Then I turned it into a key holder. I prefer things that actually serve a purpose.

I used a straw and a paper plate to mix the acrylic paints. And some rags as paint brushes. Making do with what I have and It works pretty well :)

I thought it looked pretty all mixed up

The bird is a bit girly-er then I normally am, but hey, its spring and I am feeling a bit girly :) 

I can be girly sometimes.

Speaking of girly, I also made earrings. These are the only cool shells we found that were not currently occupied by the creature that created them our whole vacation.

It was a matching set and I could not resist. Let me tell you, it was a PAIN getting a hole in them. They are small and delicate. I finally got a hole in both shells, and broke one putting the chain in it. Luckily I have modge podge glue, and was able to put it back together :)

Aside from the 2$ I spent on a pack of 40 earring posts, these were free!

The stripes are pretty cool, right?

Happy weekends to you.

Shopping, fresh and cheap

I hate loath despise grocery shopping.

Unless I get a really good deal. Then I can suddenly put up with older men cutting in line, rude people blocking entire isles, and snotty cashiers who drop my apples, hard.  Suddenly that all goes away.

I did not coupon much today, but I found some items at ALDI that were a fantastic deal.

.49 for iceberg lettuce
3.99 for spray sunscreen (upwards of 5.99 is the best price I have found elsewhere on it)
1.24 low-fat turkey hot dogs
.69 for dozen eggs!!!
.49 avocados
.79 for strawberries

Heck ya, I racked up!

I did go in hungry and bought a few things I had not planned on (never shop hungry Jennifer! You know better)

I bought 4 cartons of eggs, hard boiled two for salads.

I bought 3 avocados one to eat, the other two to mash and freeze (once they ripen a bit more)

I bought some hot dogs, some to freeze for later, as much lettuce as I think we can consume before it spoils, and 2 cartons of strawberries. Though, if those are as delicious as they look, I will go buy some more and freeze them :)

On our vacation, between the two of use, we could use a bottle to a bottle and a half of spray sunscreen in a  day. I cringed when HH had to run to the store, unprepared with coupons or sales and buy more for 7 or 8 each (ouch!). So finding them at 3.99 today I bought 8 :)

I'll probably try them, and if I like them go buy more.

Now that that is all put up, I am off to clean the kitchen and make some home made cleaners :)

I have been wanting to make these for a while. The recipes will make natural cleaners that cost cents on the dollar. And from the reviews, they work fantastic. I'll share how it goes with you soon.

Happy Friday!

Camera testing

Better, right?

Still not great. I am working on that.