Bumblebees & Frugal Accomplishments

Hello, friends.  Last week, I redeemed swagbucks for a $25 amazon GC, and made my daily goal several days.  With working away from home Monday through Saturday, not much was accomplished at home, though I was able to walk with the pups each morning, and on a good day, I'd manage a small chore, such as mending a slipper before leaving.  At work, between customers, I was able to wrap soap, catch up on reading, and work on clearing out my inbox.  I brought food and water with me each day.  I pulled small bits of leftovers from the freezer for some lunches.

J generously bought pizza one night, and Chinese another.  For one dinner, I made pasta with pesto, and a salad.  For another, I harvested our first chard, and made it along with mushrooms, potato salad, and a green salad.  I boiled the potatoes in the morning, so making dinner went more quickly.  I harvested the first of the lettuce for two of our salads, and herbs for the potato salad and mushrooms.  I'm not sure if I remembered to mention that J brought home 4 Buff Orpington chicks a couple of weeks ago.  They're growing and doing well. One evening, I cut a small bouquet for the house.

We are finally getting some nice rain, and it looks like we may be in for several days of it, which suits me.  Our water tanks could use it, and the plants, animals, and water aquifer surely can too.  I used $75 in amazon GC towards purchasing a camera, all redeemed with swagbucks.  It will arrive next week. Hopefully, I can figure out how to use it fairly quickly.  There have been many bumblebees and other pollinators visiting the milkweed and lambs ear blooms.  I expect they're enjoying the magnolia blooms too, but they're too high up to see. 

I harvested several blackberries.  Bean burritos were made with Brandy's Spanish Rice on Sunday.  As part of the "fixings" for the burritos, we used purslane, which neither of us could even notice when we ate them.  I'll be trying other uses for it in the coming week.  We have our first tiny tomatoes!  They're on one of the mystery plants from the compost, but they're looking like they're going to be Indigo Berry cherry tomatoes.  Wishing you a wonderful week.