Weekend of Savings

I read a blog every now and then and one of the topics the writer blogs about is savings. Every few days she posts of the money she saved by just changing her attitude or routines a bit. Nothing big, just normally a few dollars here or there. Sam and I tried this weekend to think of ways that we saved money and here is our weekend.

Saturday....Our pickup truck has been making a weird noise in the front tire area. Instead of taking it to the dealership for big bucks, we called a neighbor who has mechanic experience and also works at Flowers Auto parts store. We found out that instead of the $368 piece the Ford Dealership tried to talk us into buying, our friend was able to get us the piece for $59 and repair if himself for a $25!!
Savings....$284

Sunday...We awoke Sunday morning to find our mailbox lying in the ditch on the side of the road. Someone had plowed over it, knocking it down and warping it all to pieces. During "triage", Sam decided that we were going to have to buy a new one but upon further inspection, he was able to use his welder to fix a few broken pieces and was able to use a mallet to knock it back into shape. Our mailbox is now standing by the side of the road again, not quiet as pretty as it once was, but no money was spent on a new metal mailbox.
Savings....$65.37

Monday...Caylon had to had OP surgery about 6 weeks ago. Everything was covered by our insurance except for the anesthesiologist. For some strange reason, even though the hospital and the surgeon were both listed as participating providers, the anesthesiologist wasn't. Upon receiving a bill for $550, I called my insurance company and they were able to "wrap" those charges in with the hospital charges and they were paid at 100%!!! All it took was a phone call on my part and 10 mins. of my time.
Savings....$550.

Sooo, for the last 3 days, my savings total is $899.37

Not too shabby!!!

My camera is broken so no pics today. We're trying to decide if it's worth it to fix it or catch one of the great deals being offered during the holiday season and snag us a smaller, more compact, camera.

Have a great one.

Beth

Just a quick post today. Sorry I've been away but things have just been WILD around here.

On today's list is Thanksgiving preps. I have 6 pies to bake and the rolls to get mixed up and their first rising completed. I also have to start processing a deer that Aaron got this morning!!!! Whoo-hoo. Meat for the winter that was harvested in our own back pasture.

I went "shopping" in the basement for stuff for Thanksgiving. I brought up green beans, corn, pumpkin and eggs, all harvested from our land or family land. Ain't it wonderful??

Ahhh, feels good.

Beth

Collard Greens galore

I got my first picking of collards Tuesday morning. Collards are better once they have been "bitten" by frost. It ups their sugars and makes them sweeter, not quiet as strong tasting. Anyway....

All of these greens cooked down into 7 quarts of vitamin loaded goodness to be put into the freezer. We'll enjoy them all winter long. I left plenty of smaller leaves to develop so I'll have more picking to do later on.

Today is a grey, dreary day. Sam is home for the weekend and both kids have short days at school so they should be home by lunchtime. I don't have much planned for this weekend and it's probably a good thing since it is suppose to be rainy and cool. We do need to get the weather stripping done on the bottom of the wooden front door and maybe put some insulating film on the big picture window in the livingroom but other than that, it will be a quiet weekend.

Beth

The Party's over...

Saturday was a blur of party preps. Our house and yard haven't been this clean and cleared of clutter in I dont' know how long. I told Sam that we need to have at least one party a year in order to clean. I don't know how happy he is with that suggestion!! I cleaned the garden, Sam hauled a load to the landfill and Caylon and I cleaned the house top to bottom. In addition to the cleaning, I slow roasted 3 Boston Butts, made 3 pans of baked beans and a HUGE bowl of slaw. Sam smoked the butts and I pulled the pork and we were ready to rock and roll. It was a very productive day and at 4:30, the guests started rolling in.

We had a smashing success at Miss Priss' 1st birthday party. We had 31 in attendance. It was a beautiful fall evening and by dusk, just chilly enough for the chiminea to be lit. We had BBQ sandwiches, hotdogs, baked beans, chips and then cake and ice cream for dessert. Delish!!!

Great Paw-Paw, Aunt Betsy and Uncle Chris

Lainey's cousin Abby with her mom, Chasity, Lainey and Caylon and Lainey's BFF Breanna with mom Jessica.

Caylon, Lainey and Zac

The birthday girl.

Present time!!!!

And of course no party would be complete without a spin on Aaron's motorcycle.

Sunday was spent cleaning up and resting from the shin-dig. We had some friends over for left-overs last night and I still have some BBQ left to go into the freezer for another meal.

The Party

Tomorrow evening is Little Miss Priss's birthday party. We have about 35 people coming, mainly adults. On the menu is: BBQ sandwiches, potato chips, baked beans, birthday cake and ice cream. There are 101 things that need to be done before 5:00 tomorrow evening and I desperately need a list so here goes.....

Slow roast Boston Butt's all night. Smoke them tomorrow afternoon.
Make baked beans
Make slaw
Buy buns/ice
Clean out washtubs for canned drinks chiller/cooler
Clean house
Hang streamers and balloons.
Get tables from mom/dad's house
Mow/weedeat/blow off driveway and sidewalks
I think that's enough to get me started. Ugh.
Oktoberfest is happening in downtown Hickory and Sam and I want to go. The bands start at 6:30 and then Charity Case a band with Ace as frontman plays at 9:00. http://www.kiss951.com/Ace---TJ/1812294 All proceeds from the band go to a charity call Grin Kids that sponsers trips to Disney World for disabled kids and their families. One of Caylon's friends, Monica, and her family just got back last week from a trip for her sister who is disabled/noncommunitive/wheelchair bound. They had a blast. Sooo, short story long, we want to go.
Here is Miss Priss "helping" carve her jack-o-lantern.

Have a good one, everybody...

The View

While on the ladder taking pics of the top of the new lean-to, I glanced over my shoulder and noticed the chicken coop and pasture. After the lightheadedness passed, I snapped a few pics on my way down the ladder.









Chicken coop, rabbit hutch and pasture.

Beth

What we've been up to.....

Once upon a time, we had a dilapidated shed stuck onto the end of the garage. The previous owners had it built and it was atrocious so down it came.

Now, a year later, my wonderful husband, son and dad have built a new lean-to onto the back of the garage. It is wonderful. I plan on putting all of my gardening 'stuff', feed buckets, tillers, plows, extra pots for plants and garbage cans under there. I also hope that we can build a small roost for my banty hen and rooster to stay at night. They are free spirits and roam the yard and pasture but I would love it if they would settle down under the shed at night, out of the weather. We'll see.

Beth

Hello all.

Sorry it's been awhile since I've posted. My computer bit the dust and I'm now having to use my daughter's laptop. All my pics are gone so I've been having to try to gather my pics from other sources, ie: my mother, daughter, Kodakeasyshare, etc.

We have had a very busy summer and are looking foward to the slide into cooler weather. Our garden was a smashing success this year with many quarts of tomatoes and beans canned for us this winter. I've also put up squash, zucchini and corn in the freezer and have dried tomatoes and apples for soups, stews and pies. Our larders are filling up fast and bow season is now in full swing in our area. Aaron will be going hunting this evening for the first time this season. I would LOVE to be able to have a deer for the freezer and some for canning. That would be wonderful. I have collard greens and cabbages planted in my fall garden and we've had about 3 days of drizzly rain on them and they're growing by leaps and bounds.

Lainey chasing the chickens.

Lainey is growing as well. She is now 11 months old and can pull up and stand and has started walking around the couch while holding on. She is completely off of baby food and is able to feed herself any type of table food. She has 9 teeth and is working on cutting her first molars. She is a copycat and will mimic anything that we do. She can click her tongue, blow kisses, wave bye-bye and tries to snap her fingers. She is getting to be a pro at the ahhh-yaaa karate chops and can say "Shoo" when something stinks. She is such a hoot.

Thurston has found the bird feeder and uses it as his stage to greet the morning.

Beth

Blame it on the coffee

One of my big projects this week was to straighten out my pantry. I didn't have that job on my To-Do list this week so I was very surprised to do it!! It started out on Wednesday. I went into the pantry to get a bag of coffee and couldn't find it. I knew that I had bought a bag the last time I was at Sams Club so where was it? After hunting for it for about 10 mins., I decided to straighten up the cereal boxes that was in there. Well, that led to straightening up the extra condiments which led to taking everything completely off the shelves, moving the food items to the back of the pantry where they will be at eye level and can be seen easier and moving all the kitchen appliances to the left side of the pantry. After 3 hours in there, I finally had everything the way I wanted it. Oh yeah, I found the coffee!!!

Welcome to my pantry.......

Ahhh, so much nicer..........

See the coffee? Second shelf, all the way to the right in the gray bag in front of the Club crackers.

Well, I guess I can cross that job off of my "one of these days" jobs. Surprisingly, that day was Wednesday.

Beth

FOR TODAY August 4, 2008

Outside my window...

I see my poodle, Dom, waiting patiently for me to let him back in the house.

I am thinking...

That I need to be in the kitchen, starting on my apple jelly

I am thankful for...

a husband that leaves home each week, for days at a time, to provide for us

From the kitchen...

pickles, pickles and more pickles with some dehydrated tomatoes and apple jelly in the works

I am wearing...

Blue shorts, gray tank-top and my apple apron

I am creating...

all types of goodies in the kitchen to be eaten and enjoyed this winter

I am going...

to Wal-Mart to get some dogfood

I am reading...

Ball's Blue Book of Canning

I am hoping...

to have all of these cucumbers taken care of TODAY

I am hearing...

Caylon and her friend, Kelly, talking in the livingroom

Around the house...

My kitchen is need of a deep cleaning and the grass needs mowing BADLY but other than that, we're doing o.k.

One of my favorite things...

is putting food up for the coming winter.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week:

~finish canning pickles, apple jelly and dehydrating the tomatoes

~pick and can tomatoes

~finish tilling and raking the area for the collard and turnip greens

~freeze bell peppers

~dehydrate more cayenne peppers

~mow grass and clean up yard

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

2 loaves of homemade bread, apple juice for jelly and apple pie filling that was all made in my kitchen on Saturday.

To read other ladies' entries into the Daybook, visit Peggy at .http://thesimplewoman.blogspot.com/

Gifted

I went to my great aunt Lena's today to get more cucumbers and as we were behind the barn, looking at her greens patch, I spied something. She had an old double washtub just sitting there. I told her that I would love to have that if she ever decided to get rid of it and was told that my cousin had already asked for it, he just hadn't come to pick it up yet. Oh, my heart was broken. BUT, (the story gets better!!) She asked me what I was going to do with washtubs and I told her I didn't have any idea, I just wanted them. She took me to the root cellar and looky what she had..........

These were my great-grandmother's washtubs that she used in the 1930's before they had electricity!!!! There was still a hose hooked up one of the tubs but it fell off as we were loading it into the truck. I'll order more hoses from Lehmans and these babies will be ready to rock and roll!!!!!

Oh what a wonderful day.

Beth

Beans and Maters

I don't know what to do with myself today!! There is no canning to do I canned my last batch of green beans on Saturday and then pulled up the plants. They had no bloom or small beans on them even after a good soaking so I assumed they were finished and pulled them up. I got 60 quarts from them so I'm happy as 52 quarts was my goal.

We picked 32 pounds of tomatoes from the garden yesterday and I canned 5 quarts of tomatoes and 6 pts. of sauce so my tomatoes are done for a few days. Now what to do with myself??? I could till up the area where there green beans were to make way for collards and beets but nah, that sounds too much like work. I do have 2 loads of laundry to hang out and I need to re-claim my kitchen from the canning mess/supper fixing/10 month old pot banging symphany we were all treated to last night. On top of all the tomato mess that was in the kitchen, Sam invited over a family of 4 to eat supper with us. I had no idea what to make and I WAS NOT going back to the grocery store so we ended up having shrimp alfrado and a salad. It was really good and very easy to make on the spur of the moment.

Week in review

What a weekend!! We got quiet a lot accomplished around here as far as the garden goes. It was very productive in spite of rain and a flare of my Crohns. I was pretty much out of commision yesterday because of my stomach but we still managed to creep along.

The fence around the garden was finally completed.

Tomatoes, peppers and marigolds were planted.

Fresh radishes were eaten

Laundry was hung to dry

Geraniums were planted in the whiskey barrel

Dogwoods bloomed

And so did love......Caylon and Zac leaving for the prom.

Well, that was our weekend in review. It was very good.

Beth

Getting the garden ready

This past week has been filled with garden preps. We have decided that our garden needs to be bigger so Aaron volunteered to enlarge it for us. He loves to play on the tractor and getting to rip up grass in the process was just icing on the cake. He went to my Dad's, got the tractor and drove it over to our house. This is the before view

Aaron ripping up the grass

And finally the end product, after hours spent raking up the grass and moving it to a low spot between the "top" garden and the "lower" garden.

Sunday afternoon was spent setting the corner posts for our fence that Sam and Aaron are going to put around the garden. With renegade chickens on the loose, we definately need a fence.

The next step will be to put fence around the posts and then start planting. With our crazy weather the last few weeks, I have not got anything planted. I am dying to get my hands dirty in the garden. I have tomato plants dying to get in the ground. With low temps forecasted to be in the 50's for the next 10 days, hopefully I can get something done.

See you next week.....

Beth

Ducks

Meet the ducks. I haven't named them yet because I don't know if they're male or female. They are Pekin ducks and were given to me from a lady that my mom works with. They were "prop" ducks for a local photographer and once Easter pictures were taken, he didn't have any use for the ducks so they needed a home. We have them in solitary confinement for awhile until they get used to us. They are in a pen Sam made in the corner of the pasture. It works out very well. They have enough room to walk and run, enough for a large water dish and they have a tree for shade so they're doing well. I will let them out in the general population before too long.


I've been on a cleaning and purging kick for the last couple of weeks. I have cleaned out almost all of my kitchen cabinets and my pantry and have moved on to my bedroom. Ahhh, it feels nice to get rid of a bunch of clutter. I hope to never have to deal with too much "stuff" again. My outlook on "stuff" has changed so much in the past year or so. Before, I was caught up in the materialism frenzy of our society but now, less is sooo much better.

Have a great week.

Beth

I'm Back

I know it's been awhile but I'm back. The blahs of winter took hold and I just couldn't think of anything worth saying but now that I can see green outside, I'm feeling hopeful, optimistic, happy, silly and grateful to have made it thru the dark days.
First things first.....Lainey!!! She has grown so much over the past couple of months. She is almost 6 months old and is doing great. She can roll over and "talk", she smiles at almost anything. She is the most social baby I have ever been around. She brightens my day always.



In the line-up for today is feeding/watering the animals, mowing the grass which is going to amount to knocking down some wild onions and planting some beets. I am going to have to corral Pretty Girl with her 6 chicks and the banties and put them in the rabbit hutch so they will stay out of the garden. That is going to be fun. I should have done it last night while they were roosting and they wouldn't have put up a fight but since I didn't, I get that pleasure today. We have new baby chicks and a new nanny goat with kids. I'll post more on that at a later time.
Gotta run...
Beth