A Birthday and Frugal Accomplishments

Merry Monday, friends!  I'm happy to be joining in with Frugal Accomplishments today.  Last week, I took 6 gallon bags of frozen vegetable scraps, simmered and cooked them down, and canned another 8 pints of broth for the pantry.  I'm working on eating down the sweet potatoes, and baked some larger ones for us, boiled the smallest ones for the pups, and dehydrated 2 batches of medium sized ones for pup treats.  We didn't use wood heat several days.  The morning of cooking broth and sweet potatoes brought the thermostat up from 71 to 75.   I opened windows when the temperature allowed, to bring in fresh air.  Boiled eggs for us and the pups.  Harvested asparagus.   Asparagus and sweet potato ends went into a broth bag.  Our broody hen moved from the nest she'd been sitting on for a week to an empty nest. :o(  Another broody hen sat on that nest for a bit, but when I went back in the evening, no one was on it, so I moved the original broody hen back on it.  The eggs may not be viable, but as they're not edible after a week of sitting, I figured it was worth a shot.  We've found her in other nests boxes a few times now, and just put her back on the original nest.  The eggs have been warm when I've moved her, so I'm still a little hopeful.  I hope you understand I am not bothering her when she is off the nest a bit eating and drinking, but once she gets back on the nest, and chooses to sit on an empty nest, I figure she can use a little guidance on the matter, being a first time Mom :o).

I mended a dress, 2 sweaters, a laundry bag, a pillow & a tote bag.  Made a frittata with the potatoes we cut eyes from (to plant) and our eggs.  I pulled a wild onion in the asparagus bed, and added it to the frittata.  Added a few more things from my closet to put in the donate box.  Polished my white Birkenstocks, which I've had since my nursing days and now use for massage work.  Tore toilet paper tubes and added them to the compost crock.  I planted seeds for 6 varieties of tomatoes, 3 peppers, 2 eggplant and a purple tomatillo, and many are up.  Worked on stripping the porch posts.  Cooked the last rutabaga in the crisper, and warmed leftover potatoes to go with it.  When Guinness came back in the house terribly stinky, I decided baths were in order for both dogs, using homemade dog soap and a bit of nail trimming too.  I washed their bed covers & collars along with their bath towels with homemade laundry soap, and hung them on the line. Making a batch of dog soap is next on my list.

I purchased all cabinet knobs for the new room 50% off at Hobby Lobby, as well as ribbon 50% off to wrap my online shaving set sales.  I had been using a large roll of ribbon bought at a thrift store a couple of years ago, which I'm sad to see end.  I keep my eye out for masculine looking ribbon at thrift stores, but it's not easy to come by.  Went through ebates to make a purchase on Amazon, and through swagbucks to make a purchase at Lowes.  I bought organic strawberries on sale, and used a trick I learned to keep them fresh. Make a 10% vinegar to water solution and soak the strawberries several minutes.  Remove and dry them fully, keeping them separated, then put in a container in the fridge.  They were perfect a week later, definitely the best method I've tried so far.  It's supposed to kill any mold spores on the berries.  Saved the skin from grapefruits and clementines, and started a new batch of cleaning vinegar.

I gathered dandelions to make either a salve or this lotion bar.  If I gather enough dandelions, I hope to make both.  Made a smoothie using homemade yogurt, homegrown raspberries and nettles, and store bought frozen banana and mango.  I purchased a desk lamp for the new room through ebates and with a $5 Staples reward.  Requested several books from the library.  There have recently been 2 books I could not finish reading, which is pretty rare for me. I just couldn't make myself with these.

Raffaldini Vineyards & Winery

I made German chocolate brownies from scratch for J's birthday.  I also took him out of town for an overnight trip, where we met friends and celebrated at some NC wineries.  Not very frugal, but I did bring some food from home to have a picnic lunch.  I didn't realize it until after the fact, but my last post was the 600th!  Though I really enjoy joining in with the Frugal Accomplishments community, and how it keeps me feeling accountable to frugal endeavors, I've been pondering what this space is about otherwise.  I really don't have any answers yet, but am giving it some consideration.  J & I went to a conference, and I brought water and food for us for the day.