A Good Week

Hello, friends.  Last week, while canning black beans, I decided to finish cracking the pecans we had left, while sitting with the canner.  Another day, I vacuum sealed the jar of pecans.  A jar of honey had crystallized.  I put it in a bowl of water, on the woodstove, and after a bit, it remelted.  We're in that in between seasonal place with meals.  I was running out of ideas, so pulled jars of home canned green beans, and carrots, and baked several potatoes.  The green bean dish used our onion and garlic, and the carrots used our parsley and garlic powder.  The deer have again begun munching on our asparagus.  I sprayed stalks with I Must Garden, which seemed to help last year.  I missed a day after a rain, and they munched some more.  Sigh.  J & I put up the trellises for the peas, and while doing that, noticed a few blooms.  Yea, we were a little late getting to that garden chore.

I meant to mention last week that my sister and BIL gave me three shepherds hooks and a pot of hostas.  They belonged to his Mom, who is now in a care facility.  With warmer nights, we let the fire in the woodstove go out for several nights.  The first cutting of nettles were harvested, and jars of glycerite started.  I cut open my toothpaste tube, getting several days more use out of it.  For a dinner, I harvested kale and pulled spaghetti squash from the freezer, and made this dish, which has become one of my favorite ways to use spaghetti squash.  I harvested asparagus, rosemary, and foraged cat brier tips for myself and the pups.  I went through Swagbucks for a purchase, for 6% cash back, and used a 10% promo code towards the total.  Books were requested from the library.

After seeing several people online talk about rising gas prices in their area, I noticed it had come down 4 cents here, to $3.15, so went ahead and filled up, though I still had over a half tank of gas.  A tank of gas generally lasts me from 2 to 4 weeks, depending on what life is like.  By Sunday, the price had risen .10, still less than the reports I'd heard elsewhere.  J lost a hearing aid twice recently.  Thankfully, he found the one he lost while on the backhoe, and I found the one that came off in his shop.  Neither looked good at first...  a patch of muddy ground, sticks and such, and a shop full of all sorts of stuff, so we were delighted to find it each time.  I needed to deliver soap to a B&B.  Before my diet became so restrictive, I used to eat at their cafe each time I made a delivery.  I recently realized there were a couple of sides I could eat, so ordered to support them, but they insisted they wanted to cover it, in appreciation.  I probably won't do that again, if I can't support them, as I try to stay fat-free in the mornings, and this wasn't.  Ah well, I did enjoy my potatoes and fruit.  I didn't see anything I wanted in their little free library, but dropped off several books while there.  

While in town to deliver soap, I checked two thrift stores.  I bought nothing at the first, but found two canisters for my shop at the second, along with a little summer linen dress from J Jill for $3.09.  Groceries were bought, but there were no good sales to report.  My two workdays fell through, as the potter ended up too sick to give her talk in another part of the state, so ended up staying home.  There's always plenty to do here, and I was able to deliver the soap before the weekend, so it's all good.  We received some nice rain.  I finished going through my photos, cards and such, and got rid of a good amount.  I went through, and picked out the most meaningful of the cards, etc., and let go of the rest.  I kept the front of several pretty cards, to possibly decorate with.  

All the seedlings in the garden and containers were fed with the weed tea I made recently.  I filled a six gallon bucket with weeds, to start another batch of weed tea.  The first of the lemon balm was harvested, and a jar of glycerite started.  There was a frugal fail last week.  After running by the bank, I stopped at Dollar General.  No one was at a register, so everyone was doing self check-out.  After I got home, I realized I'd been scammed, and bought a lb. of butter for someone.  I'd heard that people will scan something then leave, but I've done self checkout so rarely, it hadn't become a habit to check, before I leave the store.  I'll try to remember, going forward.  It's sad to see crime in our tiny town, though I expect no one is immune these days.  A friend planted all the seedlings she had room for, and very kindly offered the remainder to me.  There are many tomatoes, of all sorts of interesting varieties, sweet peppers, and a few pickling cucumbers.  I brought some bars of soap for her, as a small token of thanks.  It's been a good week.  I hope the coming week will bring good things for you too.