Groceries Galore

Another big successful shopping day yesterday. The first picture is our sell box. That is a 22-gallon tote that was full and we had an additional box to sell. As Susanna unpacks our stuff, she separates it right away into sell and keep. We also had a full cooler of refrigerator/freezer items.

We used a new plan, and it worked swimmingly. For one thing, we left an hour earlier than usual. Several reasons, but it allowed us to finish up way earlier than usual. We printed 2 copies of each store's shopping list. Right before we went into the store, we divided up what Susanna and I would be looking for, then we met to divide and conquer (I mean check out!). Two of our stores were giving out catalinas (coupons good on your next trip) for free milk, and we scored 4 of those.

We love stocking up on items we use a lot (as opposed to buying things to resell). We got All laundry detergent, 2000 Flushes tablets, Softsoap Ensemble refills, men's shaving gel, Pringles (38 cents a can!), pasta galore, Skintimate shaving gel, Mentos gum, Emerald Isle trail mix, Hall's cough drops, and much more. Susanna unloaded all the bags onto our freezer, so I took a quick picture.

Speaking of pictures, I wish I could download pics from my phone. My DH and I drove up into the mountains of NC/TN to pick up my oldest daughter last night (yippee). I drove up, and DH drove back. We nearly didn't take coats!! We were tooling along in our car when this white stuff started swirling towards the windshield. I said, "Is that POLLEN?" Then it dawned on me that it was SNOW!! It was incredible. We had several times where the road was completely covered, and we had to slow down to 25 MPH. My hallucination of the snow became a reality when we saw a huge truck with a SNOW PLOW on the front. Wow!! We made it up there and back safely, arriving home very late, but glad to have Elisabeth home.

~Joan

Lettuce Give Thanks

It was so beautiful outside that I decided to go check on our square foot garden boxes. The lettuce plants are up! It was so bright outside that it was difficult to take a good picture. Do you see them in the picture below? Emily divided the squares with the white slats of wood. Imagine the square shown divided into 4 smaller squares. There is a baby (and I mean infant) lettuce plant in all but the top left. Need help?...



Here I am pointing to the bottom right plant. Just think--yesterday the square was bare!! How exciting is that?


This next picture is for those in areas where spring has not yet sprung. Here are some of my tulips that have been in blossom for over a week. I made a shadow (now there's something I am good at!) to get a picture that wasn't whited out by the sun. Our front yard is mostly natural areas and very little grass. I planted 6 or 7 tulip bulbs in 5 (or maybe 6) areas out there. The look so pretty, and the colors are mixed up. My personal favorites are where the bright yellow and reds are mixed together, but I like them all. Isn't God good to give us such beauty?




Have a great evening!

~Joan

Perm Post #3

For those with inquiring minds, I did call the company that manufactured the perm I used for Rachel's hair. The customer service rep said the reason it didn't work is that Rachel hadn't reached puberty yet. Evidently there are some hormones necessary for the chemical reaction of the perm. Go figure. Guess we'll wait a couple years.

Garden Ahoy!

Here are 3 of my daughters and our friend, Lydia. Tuesday night they decided to test-drive some hula hoops they purchased and borrowed for a youth group game. The hoops look so funny to me in that the way the camera caught them (in the dark, no less)--they make me think of psychedelic fireflies!



Here is the beginnings of our humble garden. Box 1 and box 2 as we affectionately call them.

They are square foot gardens. We are starting with 2, but I might add another one or two next year. We'll see how these produce first. The difference in the look is that box 2 has larger pieces of vermiculite.

Box 1, currently sporting 4 broccoli plants and some lettuce seeds (head and leaf).

Box 2, with a tomato bottom right and 4 strawberry plants in the center, potatoes in the bottom row (the "pit"), carrots, cucumbers, zucchini, and green beans coming...



I thought it would be fun to post pics of the garden as it grows. It will be neat to look back on the blog posts and see the progress.


~Joan, in rainy Shelby

Bread Baking Fun

Our family had a friend stay for a week (last week) during his spring break from a local college. He was surprised to find out we make our own butter, bread, laundry detergent, and a plethora of other items.

One day he arrived back from an errand just as Emily had finished mixing up bread dough. Being the curious ever-seeking-learning-experiences college student that he is, he wanted to help finish making the bread. He was amazed that we mill our own wheat into flour, so we had to let him sample some wheat berries (the kernels before they are ground). Eating is believing.

Here he is after punching down the dough. Get ready to divide the large lump into thirds... "I do whaaaaaa?" Notice the three loaf pans below his right elbow.



Then the dough is pressed down into a rectangle, rolled up, sealed, and placed seam-side down into a bread pan. "Hey--I think I got the hang of this!" (Third loaf pictured).




Into the oven to rise (the second time), shaped into 3 lovely full-sized loaves. We let it rise in a slightly warmed oven...it speeds up the second rising. We just put the loaves in and turn the oven on to preheat. We turn the oven off after just one minute.


"Wow--making bread is a lot more fun than I thought it would be! Can't wait to make my very own PBJ using the bread 'we' made"...and that is the empirical 'we'...

~Joan

Perm Flop

Some have emailed asking about the success of "the perm". It was a near flop. Not a total flop--but really close. I guess I should have left the curling lotion on longer, but since this was the first time, I was afraid it would chemically burn her hair. The perm instructions said to unroll a curler to see if the hair was curly enough. Our test curl was perfect. I'm not sure why it wasn't a flag-wavin' success.

My question for you all is this...how soon can I try it again? I am willing to do all the re-rolling, applying, rinsing, etc. if it would = success. Any perm experience is appreciated.

~Joan

Triples Today!

Here is my trip this afternoon to Harris Teeter. I paid $7.98 for all of this. A few things were more than I wanted to pay, but they are things we use that I can't get for less somewhere else.

Here is the breakdown...

I just realized one item did not make it into the picture (oats)...

Quaker quick oats 18 oz. $2.39 - $1.80 = $0.59
Dole pineapple x 6 $0.99 each = $5.94 - $0.55/2 x 3 = $0.17 each
Pillsbury reduced sugar cake mix 3 x 2.05 = $6.15 -$3.60 = $0.85 each
Tide travel pack $1.00 -$1.00 = FREE
Rhodes frozen rolls 3 x $1.79 = $5.37 - $5.37 = FREE
Totino pizza rolls $3.28 - $3.28 = FREE *
Hungry Jack biscuits $0.99 x 3 = $2.97 - $1.20 = $0.59 each *
Pillsbury crescent rolls $2.00 x 3 = $6.00 - $2.25 = $1.25 each *
Pillsbury pie crust $2.69 *

* these items, when purchased in a group of 10, netted a $4 additional savings.

Two of my girls shopped with me, so we got multiples of many things.

I'm thinking of rehauling my whole coupon filing system. Stay tuned...

~Joan