In The Refiner's Fire

I've been plugging away at my 31 Projects in 31 Days! Since Rachel's husband ended up in the ER with what they think are gallstones (ouch!), I offered to add a couple to my list for her. It looks like she might actually make 31, but if not, hopefully my added 4 to make it 35 Projects , will help. Not sure if I'll actually make 35 but we'll see. It's not yet the end of the day and I have a couple of projects in the works.... Go here to read the first six, and here's the next bunch! Project #7: Installed a new mailbox to replace the one hit by the snowplow this winter! (With help from my Dad!) Project #8: Revamped our recycling and trash area in the back entryway by hanging 3 corner shelves, and a plastic bag holder (from IKEA!). (With help from my Dad!) Project #9: Hung the curio shelf in the kids' room. (With help from my Dad!) Project #10: Read The Concept of Heat and It's Workings Simply Explained by Morton Mott Smith for school project. Project #11...

I feel like summer is a run-away train at the moment! I am revamping a lot of things in my life right now, and how we prepare for our meals is one of them. We've quit buying meat, except for seafood, from our local grocery stores and started buying locally grown and processed. This jacked the price way up, so we're cutting back on meat consumptions in general. I'm also looking at how to handle teaching evening classes this fall. John is perfectly capable of cooking (in fact, he did the cooking the first 9 1/2 years of our marriage!) but his plate is even more full than mine right now and I want to make things as simple as possible. So, starting in August, we're actually going to experiment with freezer cooking. I hate just the thought of it, since I'm all about fresh now, but we'll see what we can do! Anyway, this week we're eating pretty much like we have been: Sunday, May 30: Breakfast: Cheerios with Bananas Lunch: Leftovers Dinner: Baked Eggs, Oatmeal Mu...

I think I wrote about this before, but I just can't help it - I love, love, love my garden! I'm kind of a 'ball twine and duct tape' gardener (as a friend of mine once put it), meaning I love easy to care for plants that I can kind of just let go and have them do their thing with occasional watering and weeding. So, most of my garden in perennials - things like day lilies, peonies, irises, cone flower, and columbine. I love the splash of color. I love the burst of growth in the spring. I love the fragrance. I love the joy of my children as each new bud appears! I have three peonie bushes - this lovely white one, a light pink one, and a fuchsia one. All of them have a story. The pink one and this white one were from plants that grew on my great-great-grandmother's farm near Faribault Minnesota at around 1900. The fuchsia one grew on my grandparent's farm near Fargo North Dakota starting in the early 1930's. I will I had more of the history of that one...

In the interest of having money to spend at the Farmer's Market tomorrow, my goal was to spend no more than $20 today. I spent all of $19.57! Whoo hoo! I have $15 from this pay period plus another $10 from last pay period to spend at the Farmer's Market tomorrow. I'm happy about that! I only went to one store and bought the following: Store Brand Big Marshmallows $1 Store Brand 5lb Flour $2.29 Store Brand 8ct Hot Dog Buns $0.58 (store coupon) Post Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal $2 - $1 Coupon = $1 Wacky Mac $1 - $0.50 - $0.50 (doubled coupon) = FREE Post Honey Comb Cereal $2 - $1 coupon = $1 Kemps Itibitz 4x$1 = $4 - $1 - $1 (doubled coupon) = $2 Payday Bar $0.50 (to replace the Starbucks Ice Cream I had planned to get!) Bananas 2.44lbs @ $0.48/lb = $1.17 Cucumber $0.50 Sweet Corn B6G6 = $3 for 12 ears Grape Tomatoes 1pt $1.50 Blueberries 1pt $1.99 Strawberries 2lbs/$3 = $3 Total spent (including $0.04 on the candy bar!) = $19.57 How did you do this week? Visit Money...

It has been a crazy last 20 days here! In the last 20 days we have.... ...Eaten this cake.... ...And what seemed like a million cupcakes... ...cleaned out a lot of stuff that looked like this hidden stash under the desk in the office... (I can't believe I'm actually posting this picture!) ...weeded, watered and picked things like this.... ...and we enjoyed them as well... ...visited a place that had this... ...sewed things like this... ...and several other things as well.... ...installed these shelves (and another, different one in another room)... ...installed this mail box to replace the one the snow plow hit this winter... ...played on this and watched the kids and my Mom playing on this... ...spent waaaaayyyyy too much time on this... ...both at home and at school and the local library....writing, writing and more writing... ...and attended a rehearsal and recital that involved these... ....and we've... ...hosted 7 different people (2 of them continuously)... ...

I think my idea of a relaxing summer before diving into a new 'real' job has officially gone down the tubes! Bummer. I was looking forward to a few (relatively) relaxing days and then jumping in full force starting in about August or something. My folks are still here for another couple of weeks, so we're cooking for 4 adults and 2 kids. We spent $50 and change on groceries at the stores this week plus $2 for a huge bunch of spinach at the Farmer's Market today. So, only $12 over our weekly budget - not bad for adding two extra people. Throw in that Mom tends to buy the groceries when they're here (thanks Mom!) and we're staying nicely in budget! Love that! Mom also did some baking this weekend - 2 loaves of Amish Friendship Bread (starter from a friend a week or so ago), and a huge rhubarb crisp. She also made rhubarb-strawberry jam to take home with her (they live in the south and rhubarb doesn't grow well there) and we get to eat the half-full jar!...

Rachel over at Keep it Simple is hosting 31 Projects in 31 Days! I'm game! Are you? So far, my projects look very different from Rachel's - only one crafty thing in the bunch! - but I have a lot of 'projects' on my plate, so I'm hoping to knock off 31 one of them this month! Some of them have been works in progress for a long time so crossing them off the to-do list will be very freeing! So, here's the projects from last week: Project #1: Mother's Day gifts for my MIL, 3 SILs, and 1 cousin. I made homemade potpourri and made sachets - three in netting and 2 in little mesh boxes I'd bought on clearance a couple years ago. My SILs got candles - 2 each and their gifts were put in those cute little buckets I picked up off Target's $1 section on 50% off clearance about 3 years ago. My cousin got the roll of ribbon for her card making and her sachet was was put in a gift bag with the ribbon. My MIL got three $1 sample packs of flavored coffee and they wer...

We've been super busy around here - yes, even more than we have been previously! :) My folks are here, my in-laws and my cousin were here over the weekend for Missy and Buddy's Birthday. Throw in a party with 12 pre-schoolers, 1 baby, and 22 adults and our little house was bursting at the seams! A good time was had by all. And I'm ready for a nap! This week we're pretty normal around here. My folks are sticking around for about a month (or "30 days!" as Buddy and Missy like to say), so we're cooking for 4 adults and 2 kids for a while around here. Here's what we're eating this week: Sunday, May 9th (Mother's Day): Brunch: At the St. Paul Farmer's Market Dinner: Steak and Hot Dogs on the grill, leftover potato salad and fruit salad, and lettuce salad Monday, May 10th: Breakfast: Oatmeal with cinnamon and pecans, or Cheerios with Strawberries Dinner: Pancakes and Fruit for Grandparents and Kids; Church Potluck for John and Lea: ...