Gardening

I tried a vegetable garden last year, and it did not go well. Our puppies were young, and 100% troublemakers- and ate-yes, ate- all my tomato plants, and had a game of fetch and chase w/ the rest. Our pumpkin, became a wonderful chew toy. The cantelope/watermelon vines- became ropes for them to play tug of war w/ each other. It was upsetting, until I realized 1- the puppies were having an awful lot of fun, and 2- they will be adult dogs and calm and all boring before I know it... So I let go of my anger, life is to short to be angry!

Keeping the above in mind- I decided to try again this yr, but on a much smaller scale. We planted 6 tomato plants, lettuce, spinach, cilantro, and strawberry plants. Rosemary,Oregano, Parlsey, and Thyme survived last yrs havoc and are flourishing. Our strawberry plant from last yr, is alive, and is trying to flourish! I bought long wooden stakes and plastic ties, to make tomato cages. My 12 yr old son came up with the brilliant idea of surrounding the strawberry plants w/ a fence made from the stakes and plastic ties (it will slow down the puppies while we train them to NOT eat out veg plants!).

Our 2 plum trees are flowering like mad, a beautiful sight bc man are those plums good. The kids run out and pick a few plums every am while the tree is producing plums, no need to buy fruit from the store! I also planted an apple tree, but it is sad and unhappy, in need of transplantation to a "happier" spot. Our next door neighbors have a peach tree they have given us free rein over (hard to believe, but they would rather buy peaches from the store- than GASP eat ones grown in their yard). Yuuum, peach cobbler:) Now, if I could just figure out how to prune it w/o offending them, to increase the diamater of the peaches.

Now, for an unfrugal moment. I paid $1.99, for gasoline conditioner, so I can use the gal left over from last yr. Unfrugal, bc a gal of gas is currently $1.79. However, I do prefer to waste not, and recycle papers/popcans/magazines, and I was unable to think of an environmentally friendly way to dispose of the old gasoline, even if I could stomach the waste.

I hurt my hip and knee a month ago, and my sweetie of a husband has been going grocery shopping with me each Monday. He has also been buying me 3 double sunday papers every Sunday. FINALLY- I was able to drive myself this past sunday. I had been going stir-crazy, being dependent and confined doesn't bring out my best attributes! Lol!

Sunday shopping,3/22/09

cvs- I spent $.50, and I got a 22 oz bottle of dawn, Crest Prohealth toothpaste, and 3 johnson and johnson first aid kits. I used a man blinkie (from publix) for $3/2 J&J products, and bought 3 kits at $.97 each. I also used a $.75 man coup for the toothpaste, and a $.50 coupon for the Dawn. I spent $5 ecbs, and got back $4.49. I am totally out of the cvs game, bc I have been doing minimal 3 minute cvs shopping for the past 4 weeks (patience is not my dh's strong point!).

publix- I spent $41. I got- broccoli, 2 62 oz tropicana oj, 2 one lb bags of rice (free after $.50/1 coupons), fast fixin's popcorn chicken (bogo, and 2 $.75/1 coupons), fresh express bagged salad ($1/1 publix coupon), green leaf lettuce, 12 double roll angelsoft toilet paper (sale, plus $.50/1 coup), a whole chicken ($.79/lb), seltzer (penny item), 3 double papers, 2 48oz bottles of crisco canola oil, 20ct advil pm (publix $3/1 coup), dishwasher detergent, and a 5lb bag of publix flour. I saved $30, but I was doing a combo trip of saving $, and ensuring I bought everything we needed for the week.

I am not doing any more grocery shopping until friday, when I go to Kroger. It feels really, really, really good to be "back" to my economical grocery shopping.

My 12 yr old finished his geometry and algebra mathbook, after some research, I found this-
http://www.buy.com/retail/usersearchresults.asp?store=3&querytype=book&qu=Mastering+Essential+Math+Skills&loc=106&display=col

I got the one for middle grades, 2 yrs ago I had my older boys complete the elementary school version. It has an excellent format- each page is divided into 3 portions: drills, review, and a new concept. It is easy, a nice break from a challenging book, but still extremely beneficial. The link above, is an amazing deal. Google makes frugal homeschooling possible!!

A few more random links that are very useful when you squeeze each penny out of each dollar...

totalpetsupply.com (best prices on pet supplies)
http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/ (buying power for educational resources)
http://www.fiddledeedeemom.com/ (ahh, a "publix" shopper's dream blog
http://www.thriftyfloridamama.net/ all emcompassing frugality/debt payoff

Meal plan for the week-
monday- chick pea curry
tues- cincinnatti chili
wed- cincinatti chili
thurs- roast beef w/ gravy, served on bread, with mashed potatoes.
friday- Meatballs and spaghetti
saturday- loaded baked potatoes
sun- pizza
mon- pizza