In The Refiner's Fire

More of my beautiful flowers. It's hard to believe that another week has already gone by - time is just flying right now!   We're not into the rest of summer without another paycheck until September.  We did a big stock up run with about half of the grocery/toiletry money until September.  I got offered a new and better contract that won't put us in the same situation again.  It does mean less money per paycheck but we won't have gaps between paychecks like we have been. Whoot! Anyway, here's what we've been up to this last week, at least as far as frugal things go: * Two friends loaned me books to read this week.  I had loaned one friend several books last year and the other currently has three of my books to read.  I love being able to share books with friends! * My daughter found a dress at the store made of material that looked very much like material I had bought for her last year.  We took a photo of it and we will make her...

Our homemade ice cream - this makes the canister look really big but it's only just 2 quart and this made about a quart of ice cream. YUM!    It's hard for me to believe that it's really after Independence Day already.  I am so *not* ready for that right now.   It feels like summer is just swinging by here and we haven't really done our usual things yet.  I know that that's all coming but it feels like it's so late this year.  I'm pretty sure that's because I taught summer session for the first time and I'm used to being done with classes and all the semester busyness in May.  I know we'll have our "normal" summer but we just haven't gotten there yet! Enough of that.   Let's talk meals this week:   Sunday, July 5, 2015:    * Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast, Apples    * Lunch: Bacon, Cinnamon Biscuit Twists, Strawberries    * Snack: Ice Cream    * Dinne...

So I don't have a single photo for you this week - either the CSA or the grocery runs.   It was a rather busy week and photos just weren't my priority!  Plus, when John does the grocery shopping, I doubt he's thinking about taking photos afterward! Either way, we sent $39.80 on groceries this week and here's what we got: In our CSA: * A HUGE head of cabbage (big enough to take up one entire crisper drawer in the refrigerator!) * Tart cherries (1lb) * Spinach * Swiss Chard * Kale * Beets * Asparagus * Cilantro * Sugar snap peas * 2 Zucchini * Sage Store Trip #1: * 1lb Strawberries 3@ $1.88 = $5.64 * 4.89lbs Braeburn Apples @$0.99/lb = $4.98 * 6 ears of corn (buy 3 get 3) $3.00 * 1lb Sweet Peppers bag $2.50 * 1.79 Bartlett Pears @ $1.79/lb = $3.96 * Snack Chips $1 Total Trip #1: $19.53 (Saved $1.50 or 7% according to the store receipt) Store Trip #2: * Hot Dog Buns 3 packages @ 1 ea = $3 * 1 pint Heavy Cream $3.49 * 1 gallon skim milk ...

I am loving my flowers this year - they're so pretty! It's been a BUSY but good week.  My body is finally recovering from everything that was going on (we're still not quite sure what was happening) and my car is fixed and it's so nice to have it back!   Here are some things we've done this week in the "Frugal" arena: * Froze more strawberries for later use in baking and smoothies. * Baked muffins and waffles from scratch this week. * Ate some things from the freezer - mostly soup and chili - that needed to be eaten. * Harvested and dried basil and parsley from our garden.  * I also harvested lettuce.  We don't have anything else that's quite ready yet.  We did get veggies from our CSA though - spinach, kale, swiss chard, zucchini (ours should be ready in a week or so), cherries, cilantro, broccoli, and a HUGE head of cabbage! * Helped set up the Uniform Swap at the children's school.   I took my children's out-grown clothes...