Thursday, July 3, 2008
Fall Festival 7-3-08
Hope you have a blessed Independence Day tomorrow. Be careful...make memories!
~Joan
Aquatic Family Fun
Torpedos away! Isaac having fun. I am proud of the little nipper. He was very afraid of the water when we first arrived. I don't know how he did before as this was my first time in the water with him (not counting early bath days--it seemed I got as wet as him some times). By the time we left, he was going all the way under water and trying to "swim" from one side of the pool to the other. Much braver!
Off for another jam-packed day of duty and adventure.
~Joan
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Fall Festival Quilt
The quilt finishes at 61" x 73". I might make it a tad larger, but that is a nice size for laps. Stay tuned!
~Joan
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
How Does My Garden Grow?
Well, first of all, Bette is alive and well (hey--you didn't mention donating all your coupons to me in your email, Bette). When I mentioned the chair-kicking in an earlier post, it is because Bette sits right behind me in choir. We hold down the alto section. Or at least we like to think we do. We have a patriotic service on Friday this week.
I've had some curious folks email and ask how much of our food we grow ourselves. Zilch. None. Nada. I only wish.
I am hoping to have some small garden plots next year. One of my daughters will graduate from high school in 2009. I am giving her the project of planning and caring for our garden since she will have some extra time and would be fabulous at it. I have a book on order that should be here any day (Square Foot Gardening). We used this method at our first house and it was highly successful.
Here in the land o'cotton the ground is red clay. I mean red, and I mean clay. I don't know how they grew that cotton in the good ole day. I grew up in Pennsylvania, where the ground is rich and actually nourishes the crops. What a concept!
Some asked if we eat oatmeal for 2 meals a day. Nope! Breakfast is usually something hot (eggs, grits & biscuits, pancakes, baked oatmeal, etc.). So much cereal has been nearly free in the past couple of months that we have started eating it for a couple breakfasts a week with muffins, bagels, or homemade wheat bread toasted. Lunch today was homemade mac & cheese, chili sauce with hamburger in it, and hot dogs (on sale yesterday). Supper was baked scalloped potatoes and ham (scrumptious), sweet corn, and freshly baked homemade wheat bread with jams and honey for topping. Wanta join us? We eat very well and have meat with most meals. I thank God for keeping us so healthy for so little cost. To Him be the glory.
FWIW, we also have company frequently. My WH walks/runs/does upsie-downsies with another man and HIS son nearly every AM. The father nearly always stays for coffee and sometimes they both eat breakfast with us. We have company for lunch or supper often--like every week.
~Joan
Attention--New Quilt Project Underway
~Joan
More on Grocery Savings
It was a pleasure to walk in such nice weather this AM. I think it was around 70 degrees at 6 AM. I had been having lots of pain and discomfort because my feet would swell in the afternoon/evenings. That has only happened one of the days I've walked. I'm sure the muscle workout has something to do with it.
So many have asked if I'm still doing the coupon-clipping grocery-saving thing. Absolutely. You have to keep in mind that there are 10 of us in my house. My DH is rarely gone for meals (maybe 4 meals a month). My 4 oldest children are gone for lunch a few times a week. I did some comparing of our costs for the past few months. Thank you, Bette.
I considered April a learning month because there was a lot to learn. Plus I had no coupons with which to save (at the time). I separate food from other personal expenses when keeping records. Thank you, Bette.
Including food, toiletries (shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, etc.), and consumables for the whole house (TP, laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, etc.)...
In May, we spent an average of $54/day for the above items. Roughly $5.40 per person for food, toiletries, and consumables. That's pretty remarkable considering that my 5 oldest children all eat more than either my husband or I.
In June, we were able to get by on $32/day!! That's 41% lower!! Whoo-hoo! And you should see our stockpiles. Just yesterday I asked Susanna (who is my most active partner in this) how much of different items (toothpaste, body wash, etc.) we have used in 3 months. Hardly any! So our out-of-pocket spending should decrease every month since we have been in the stockpiling stages for these 3 months.
Thank you, Bette. Thank you, Bette. Thank you, Bette. Bette is the one who got me started doing this. I'll know when she reads this. She might be so happy to see her name on the blog that she donates half her coupons to me. Probably not. But maybe so! I know she is going to be ROFLOL when she reads that. I expect a good kick in the back of my chair at the July 4th service Friday if she's there.
~Joan