In The Refiner's Fire

  ...2018 is done!   Wishing you all a wonderful and safe New Year's and a blessed 2019!   Angel Food Cake - we made one for our New Year's Feast tonight.  Yummy!     I'll be back later this week with the first Frugal Friday post of 2019.     Peace and Blessings, Lea

A no-photo edition! We had a very, very busy week and not much down time at all.  I am so grateful that the bulk of our weekend could be spent at home, except for a birthday party for a friend's 3-year-old and a Worship at church.  We are in the final stretch for the semester for both me and the children and we are expecting company starting this week.  I am hopeful that we can have a restful and enjoyable holiday!  Here are some things that we did this week that might count as frugal: * We made two types of soup, stuffed acorn squash and pizza at home this week. * A friend sent home a large jar of soup for our family with my husband.  We used it for dinner the night we received it, rather than using what we had on the menu.  It was delicious!  I will move the planned menu item to this week instead or use it at a later date. * I was able to take a meal to a friend that had a new baby this week using items I already had in my pantry....

Cinnamon Biscuit Twists! I keep thinking of all the things I would like to make and then remember, oh, my oven is not working correctly right now!  I still have plenty of things I can make without the oven, so that is what we are doing.  It should be repaired by the end of the week!  I am looking forward to getting on with my Christmas baking! John and I drove to the grocery store in the middle of a crazy snow-ice-wind storm on Saturday afternoon.  Definitely not what I wanted to do, but that was the time we were available to go, so we went!  We saw two crazy car accidents on the way to the store - the kind where you ask yourself how on earth that configuration of cars could happen!  No one was hurt, apparently and we made it to the store and home again without incident.  I was very grateful to arrive back home safely.  I have been slowly stocking up on Christmas items and a couple of extra items for the food shelf.  This week,...

Amazing Christmas Lights from December 2017. All of my Christmas light (or twinkle lights or fairy lights...) are sitting in a giant storage box in my living room right now waiting to be put up on the outside of the house.  The weather has not been cooperating, so I'm tempted to buy two short strings of battery and timer-operated lights to put on our evergreen wreath and evergreen pot and call it good!  I'm still hoping.  Our display is nothing as exciting as what is shown in the photo above, but I still enjoy putting them out and I think they add a pop of color and cheer to the winter nights.  I do have two outdoor strings that would work in place of buying battery operated ones so I may do that instead. I may even have a timer hiding somewhere in the storage room! I need to dig a bit more and see.  This past week was a good week and a  very  busy week and it felt SO long.  We had several extra events and did quite a few things.  The ...

Last week of November - and no photo today.  I have to download more photos from my phone and just have not gotten to it yet.  Maybe I can post two next week! Here's what we're eating this week: Sunday, November 25, 2018, My Mother's 82nd Birthday      Breakfast: Toast, Blackberry Smoothies      Lunch: Waffles, Bacon      Snack: Popcorn      Dinner: Taco Soup, Tortilla Chips, Sliced Apples      Dessert: Cupcakes for My Mother's Birthday Monday, November 26, 2018:      Breakfast: Eggs, Toast      Lunch: Leftover Soup      Snack: No-Bake Energy Bites      Dinner: Noodles with Tomato Sauce, Garlic Bread Tuesday, November 27, 2018:      Breakfast: Oatmeal with Pecans and Craisins      Lunch: Leftover Noodles and Sauce      Sn...

Our Thanksgiving table this year - it was just the four of us this year.  Ham, corn, yams, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, and sparkling cider.  We had apple pie for dessert. I guess the year is officially winding down now - the U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving is over, Advent starts next weekend, and Christmas is just around the corner.  I am grateful that we have had a quiet weekend - John has had a terrible head cold and all of us were just ready for a bit of a real and true break.  We spent all of "Black Friday" watching movies in our pajamas (except for a Jazzercise class for me!).  Then we slept in on Saturday morning too.  Ahhh… bliss!   I think we are officially ready for the last bit of 2018. Here are some of the frugal things we did this past week: * Baked apple pie, jam thumbprint cookies, chili, chicken noodle soup, as well as Thanksgiving dinner at home this week. * Took advantage of a non-Black Friday sale to purchase some...

Some of our summer 2018 produce - much of this is still in the freezer and will be enjoyed this winter.  I am so grateful!   On this U.S. holiday of Thanksgiving,  I am thankful for each of you, my readers, and the opportunity to share a little bit of my life with you here in cyberspace.    I hope that no matter where you live, you have a wonderful weekend and take a minute to reflect on the many blessings you have.   Our year of 2018 has not been an easy one - it many ways it has been one of the most difficult we have ever had.  We still have so much to be thankful for - our family, our home, our careers, transportation, plenty to eat and wear, and a whole host of other things!  I hope you, too, have many things to be thankful for.   Blessings, Lea   Now Thank We All Our God by Martin Rinkhart, translated by Catherine Winkworth Music by Johann Cruger   Now thank we all our God with hearts and hands ...

 A super dark photo of our daughter's candy from Halloween - her brother received just as much! WOW! I am still trying to figure out how we have gotten to November already! Never mind that it is about half over already.  We have recently had temperatures that feel more like January than November and snow right along with it.  Typically we don't have snow until the end of November.  Oh well, it makes the Christmas lights look pretty and I am enjoying the clean, white look of everything. We have tried to stay cozy the last few weeks, as it has been so cold.  Pulling out the hats, mitten and boots and enjoying the Halloween holiday.  We have Thanksgiving coming up here in the US next week and I am looking forward to one last blast of all things Autumn (my favorite season!) before Advent is upon us.   I did have to put the Jack-o-Lantern's in the compost bin today; they had frozen earlier and were definitely on their last legs. This year has be...

More beautiful bread dough!  I've been baking a lot of bread this fall. We are already heading into winter here in the Upper Midwest - it has been about 20F (approx. -7C) for the last few days and we have a bit of snow. Not much snow; just enough to make things white and slippery on the roads.  I was not ready for winter yet, but it is here and I will deal. We have had a difficult few weeks - so many icky things and more money going out than we really would like.  I am weary and ready for a mental break from everything.  I am hoping that the holidays will provide that this year! We have very full freezer and cupboards after all the summer and fall produce. I have two large baskets of winter squash sitting in the pantry and I still have green tomatoes ripening, though only a few now. We are eating well!  I am very grateful.  The children have plans for Christmas treats - candy, cookies and snack mixes, as well as dry hot cocoa mix using ...

We are on an Angel Food Cake kick here - served with whipped cream and berries, it's perfect! We had SNOW here on Sunday afternoon - about 3/4 of an inch of snow.  I was definitely not ready for that.  Most years we get what we call a "dusting" (just enough to see the flakes come down and maybe catch on shaded spaces long enough to take a photo) this time of year but more typically, we do not get anything resembling snow until well into November.  Thankfully, it melted.  That means it is time for soups, stews, chili and other fall dishes - roasted squash, shredded pork sandwiches, and lots of apple pie! YUM!  Fall is my favorite time of year and we have beautiful color here with so many different types of trees.  I really want it to linger a bit this year.  We spent $62 on groceries this week, after spending only $25-$35 for the last two weeks (our budget for the grocery store is back to $40/week).  Baking supplies were on sale, so I used...

Lunch one Sunday after church - grilled cheese on homemade bread, carrot sticks, and sliced apple. Better late than never, right?  I had some big meetings to prepare for and blogging slipped to the back burner.  We are still primary eating from the pantry, freezer and the gardens.  We started the week with quite a few leftovers from the previous week - both from home and two meals that we were treated to by my Parents.  And, yes, we are having pizza twice this week - Monday it was the only thing we could all agree on (even though there were other things originally on the menu!).  Here's what we're eating this week: Sunday, October 7:     Breakfast: Toast with Peanut Butter, Yogurt     Lunch: Out for Lunch (my Parent's treat)     Snack: Homemade Angel Cake     Dinner: Leftovers Monday, October 8:      Breakfast: Eggs and Toast      Lunch: ...

My first fall "tablescape" this year - all things we had on hand, gourds from our CSA, flowers from the garden, a small pumpkin, and candles from the cupboard.  It's actually in the middle of the table because we have company and are eating all the way around it right now (don't worry we pull it out from the wall first!).   I have been remiss at posting about our frugal things since school started.  Now that we seem to have settled into a rhythm of sorts, I am finding a bit of time for things less urgent (like blog posting!).  I'll pick up with what we did this week that may count as frugal rather than trying to recap since my last Frugal Friday post. We have had so many large bills this year - several emergency visits, many, many doctor appointments, several scans, and medications.  We had a large plumbing repair (the only original pipes left in the house - after almost 50 years, I guess it was time), and both cars needed new tires and one needed ne...

My *BEAUTIFULLY* risen bread dough last week - Missy made me take a photo because she thought it looked so pretty.  I tend to agree! I think I blinked and September was gone!  How does that happen?  Anyway, it did.  Autumn is my favorite season so I'm rather glad in some ways.  I don't feel like we really got a summer, so that part is a bit sad for me.  A few of the trees are starting to turn and that is my absolute favorite thing so I am greatly enjoying it! We received one last "box" of produce from the CSA.  We received Brussels' sprouts, parsnips, carrots, peppers, winter squash, decorative gourds and pears.  Several friends have given us apples - approximately 75lbs total with the offer of many more if we would like them. I have diced and froze several 2c portions for baking later this year and have dried approximately 20lbs for snacks later. We are also harvesting the last few items from the garden - tomatoes,...

Storm clouds rolling in last week - very beautiful but more than slightly worrying!  These were south of us, so the rain we received was just that - rain, along with some wind.  There were other areas that received far more rain than they needed and even had flooding.  I am very grateful that we did not.  We had had several strong storms this year and I am grateful to have some rain instead. The weather is supposed to be cooling off a little this week with perfect fall temperatures and off and on rain. I think I'm ready for fall and a routine again.  School starts this week and I think we are all ready to get into a routine. We bought a small number of groceries this week and collected our CSA, which included zucchini, cucumbers, beets and a few other things.  We have plenty of food and I am enjoying all the fresh vegetables. We are still harvesting tomatoes, lettuce, and winter squash from the garden.  We had ...

Our second "summer" event at the end of the summer here was to spend all day one day this last week at a friend's cabin.  The above photo is the children on a float behind a personal water craft.  They had a BLAST!  Both want to return as soon as possible and do it again.  That won't happen this fall but maybe next summer.  John went on the water craft with our friend and they hit a wake and rolled - he was soaked but fine and we all laughed because it was like watching slow-motion!  (No worries about the water craft - it shuts off if the driver falls off.) It was a great time and free other than gasoline to get there.  We were there with two other sets of friends - lawn games, a bonfire, fishing and really good food. It was a wonderful end to the summer. School starts after Labor Day (September 3rd) so we are heading into school next week.  The children had Back to School Night this week where they bring all their school suppl...

We had a week that seemed very scattered this week - here and there and everywhere, it seemed!  We did make two plans for "summer" before summer finishes and one is our now-annual trip to Minnesota's Largest Candy Store in Jordan MN.  It is a hike from where we live but once a year it's SO worth it - we love to go and look more than anything else but the children love to buy a few things too.  It is not necessarily frugal but it's something we all look forward to and we can spend as little or as much as we want to. I have to say my favorite part of the whole trip was a little girl - she looked preschool age - looking at a women I'm assuming is her mother in disbelief when she was told she could have both a package of gummy bears and a candy necklace!  It was SO cute!  Her eyes were so big and she looked so excited! I also enjoyed watching our children explore all the different candies and other items that were available.  They have a lot of other it...

We have been having lots of this lately - along with BLTs (bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches) with fresh tomatoes and lettuce from the garden.  We have had a lot of roasted garden-fresh zucchini, carrots, potatoes, broccoli and kohlrabi on the sheet pans with either chicken or sausage.  I always feel so spoiled eating all the fresh garden produce!  It is so delicious! We have a whole watermelon in our fridge picked straight from our garden and waiting to be cut this week as well as a pineapple, so you will see those on the menu left over from last week.  I am also planning on baking oatmeal cookies, no-bake chocolate cookies, and no-bake energy bites for snacks this week as well as bread for sandwiches and toast. We have several events this week that are providing meals or snacks: one at church, one at a get-together with friends, a party with another group of friends, and two days where we will take a picnic lunch with us for the day, just to make things ...

The above photo shows our garden harvest, the CSA box contents and our very messy table earlier this week.  We did a large grocery shop after our vacation, including many things to make freezer meals for the fall.  We will assemble those next week (and I'm hoping I can do a post too!).  The box of mango just visible in the back left is part of that - we sliced and froze them for smoothies later this fall.  They were just 88-cents each; a HUGE deal for around here! The acorn squash and the small basket are the produce from our garden.  The basket contains a handful of green beans, cherry tomatoes and a purple pepper.  The CSA box is the rest of the produce - cucumbers, baking potatoes, yellow zucchini, a variety of peppers, two onions, a bulb of garlic, green beans (in the plastic produce bag, back center), thyme, tarragon, one each purple and green kohlrabi, broccoli, carrots, and a produce bag of tomatoes (just visible on the right). The produce f...

Flowers in our garden this year, end of May 2018. It's Mid-August and more than halfway through the year.  This summer has felt like a sprint to me - Summer Session (Term) teaching, a two week vacation with my parents (a wonderful time!), and now getting ready for Fall Semester (Term).  We are planning a couple of lazy days in the next few weeks to make up for that.  I fell off a ladder right after Summer Session was over (early July) and broke my left foot, so I have been in an immobilizing boot and using crutches since then.  That has really put a damper on the plans for summer - we had hoped to do a major cosmetic remodeling on the main level of our home.  We did get a few things done in spite of the broken foot and will hopefully get the rest finished before class starts.  I get the boot off today and should be able to do more, though I will need to be careful for a few more weeks.  It has healed well and I am grateful! Here are the frugal ...

The basil on my patio one month ago.  The plant is about three times this size now! We had a lovely, low-key Independence Day last week and then spent the rest of the week enjoying a family wedding.  It was one of those weddings that was just lovely and so enjoyable.  I am so happy we were able to attend! John officiated and it was a sheer joy for him to marry this lovely couple.   We also enjoyed delicious food and wonderful family time around the wedding itself. This week, we're back to whatever passes for normal around here.  I have decided that "busy" is just the season we are in right now - with teen-age children, we have many activities, we both work outside the home and we have several church activities.  I am truly okay with that.  I just have to wrap my head around my time right now! John and I made a trip to the grocery store on Monday afternoon and picked up a few things, including ground (mince) beef on sale for a very go...

Roses, iris and peonies.  I'm loving my flowers! Happy mid-to-end of June!  I'm so excited that we're heading into full blown summer here - the garden is growing and the flowers are blooming and the weather is starting to heat up.  We were super hot for here (over 90F) a few weeks ago and then cooled off to more normal temperatures (right around 75-80F) and now we're starting to creep up - which is exactly what we should be doing!  The sun is peeking out today after a week's long absence and I'm planning on enjoying some time working in the garden.  We have had a lot of rain lately and the garden is growing like mad. Tomatoes are starting to set and so are the bell peppers and the bean and peas are starting too.  I am thinking that by the end of next week we'll have radishes - those are late since I planted the seeds late.  We are still harvesting lettuce and rhubarb.  I feel like we didn't do much in the way of frugality this week, though...

  Our CSA Box for this last week - two kinds of lettuce, chard, garlic scapes, asparagus, herbs, and strawberries. We're eating on a tight budget this week - lots of bills out and not much to spend on groceries.   That's okay - we have a lot of items in the pantry and freezers so we will still be eating just fine.  We bought milk, Smart Balance, spinach, grapes, apricots, and ground beef this week; staying well within our budget.   We are also harvesting rhubarb and lettuce from our garden and I'm hoping the first radishes will be ready this week.  We have a very, very busy Sunday this week so we decided on a picnic lunch at a nearby park or in the fellowship hall at church if it rains. John asked specifically for the pretzels you see on the menu (I purchased them with our gift money) and I made peanut butter cookies, which are his favorite.  I'm looking forward to a relatively low-key celebration, which is exactly what we need these...

Iris in my garden. My goodness, my flowers have been making me super happy this summer!  I think I say this every single year, but it definitely is something that I enjoy so much.  I've had peonies and iris on my kitchen table for the last three weeks. The scent of the peonies makes me smile every time I walk into the kitchen! The last few weeks haven't been particularly frugal - we have received several medical bills totaling $1600 and a plumbing issue required bringing in a plumber, which was another expense; though thankfully, a budgeted one.  We already had several large bills due before the 25th of June, so I feel like all I've done lately is make payments!  I spent quite a bit on groceries this last week so I need to keep it tight this week and I think we're going to manage that.  I'm grateful that we have options!  I am well aware that many do not. Here are some of the things that were frugal at our house this last week: * Made biscuit...