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Market day and sky high prices

This morning I had to go grocery shopping and once again, the prices of food bummed me out. It’s getting harder and harder to feed my family and I know I’m going to have to once again tighten up the purse strings and go back to basics.

I can cook creatively, but now I’m going to dig out old recipes that my mom had used while raising us. She was a pro at cooking something great with the minimal of resources. I admire and respect her for this and a lot of other reasons.

Online there is a site that I go to, which tells what items, food and otherwise, is  found cheap during the month of June. It’s looking like meat prices are not in the cards, but berries and produce are. LOL.. there I go, I’ll fix my kids berry squash casseroles and see how that goes over. NOT!

 

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Keeping the cats out of the gardens

I have a problem keeping the cats out of my gardens and it’s starting to get super irritating, not to mention ticking me off to no end. When the kittens we have (that were drop offs) are a little bit bigger, I don’t like to do this, but I’m taking them to the humane society. I have to. Everyone drops off unwanted cats and kittens at my house and there is not a thing I can do about it since they are dropped off in the night.

I am thinking about using chicken wire and laying it over the spaces and beds that I have seeded, and then anchor it down, until I can fix the cat problem. They are using my gardens for a giant litter box, and since I don’t have cats in the house that have to have a litter box, I sure as heck am not going to have them outside ruining my gardens.

People who abandon animals, should be fined or in my opinion be arrested, but without catching them in the act there is nothing to be done. It’s so sad.

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Power needs from Generators AtoZ

While preparing for my daughter’s graduation party, I realized that we might need another generator for when the band sets up in our back lot, and so since I had heard about Generators AtoZ, I decided to check them out and find out what kind of prices they were there. I have to say that I was quite impressed by the range of generators they have and the prices. I think there is a generator for any kind of need a person my have.

We have a small generator that is sufficient to run enough power to some of the lights, the television and also refrigerator and a small chest freezer, in case we loose power, and that seems to have always been enough for us. In truth though, I have always wanted a back up generator in case something happened to our small one.

Living all these years where the winters can be long and sometimes very icy, means we loose power at least three times in the winter for durations of anywhere from a few minutes to days. A few hours is long enough for me not to have power. Looking at all the generators on this site I was told about, is making me know for sure that I want another power source other than what we have.

 

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A new kitchen faucet

Usually when I get home from some place, I notice if something new has been added to my house, or if something is in disarray, missing, or just “not right.” Except today, and then into the evening. Now I feel like jerk in a way.

I hadn’t really been in the kitchen since I had gotten home from running errands today, so when I went in tonight to get a glass of water, I turned on the light and nearly was blinded by a new kitchen faucet and fixtures that had been installed by my husband. I felt terrible that I hadn’t noticed it before, and wondered why he looked at me funny, after I had come out of the kitchen a few times earlier.

Yes, I fawned all over them and made a big deal of them, partly for my husband’s ego and partly because the set up is really one of the best brands made, and also look awesome in my kitchen. Besides, I was tired of getting wet by the hand sprayer ever time I turned on my faucet.

 

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Needing LA movers

Recently I got a long letter from my cousin Mere, who is moving back to Los Angeles and was looking for a reputable Los Angeles moving company, she told me in the letter. While reading what she had written, I received a blow by blow description of the “horrors” she had experienced, when she had used her first moving company while moving there the first time. She wrote practically a book about what happens to her belongings. After the fourth page, I was ready to go and move her myself.

My cousin did however find a LA movers finally that she seems happy with and who she seems to trust, yet she still is unsure of if she will use them. The way I figure it, if the company can give a estimate or even a quote on the price of moving belongings, and are reputable, I’d go with them. There aren’t too many out there, or at least in my area that I would trust.

It makes a difference when moving to have movers that know what they are doing and give a person peace of mind, because there is enough to worry about without worrying that something is going to happen with one’s things. When I asked Mere if she was going to use the one Los Angeles movers she had written about, she said she was now seriously thinking about it. I hope so, so I don’t get another horror story letter, once she is settled into her new place!

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Kids counting the days

My two youngest who are in high school are counting the days until school is finally out for the summer. I’m not. Officially they have four more days, but two are only half days, so to me, they will be out of school too soon. Summer Holidays…Oh Joy.

I don’t mean to sound like a mother that doesn’t want her kids around. That isn’t it. It is the boredom they will claim after they are home for a week. Heck, on weekends they tell me they are bored. What are they going to do for three months?

I would mention jobs, but I don’t see that happening. Of course, I’m not going to be a bank for them either, so it will either be work for it, or go without, as far as I’m concerned. That would cure boredom and also put some money in their pocket. 🙂

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A full Saturday

Finally I have time to sit down and relax. It feels good to put my feet up. A day filled with grocery shopping and then running errands is not something I was looking forward to today. I got some great photo frames that I needed and also a new clock for the kitchen that were on sale, so that was a plus.

When I got home, I had a visit this evening from a dear friend, Brenda. She and I are gardening buddies and we are always swapping plants and surprising one another with little garden gifts. It was a welcome visit. We sat talking about more home improvement we wanted to start on our houses, and had the same idea about various tile in the kitchen.

All in all it was a productive but long day. Tomorrow I’m going to dig up some more iris’s to give to my friend, and she is bringing me some of her tile samples that she got so I can look them over.

 

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Chaining rain with rain chains

Never having heard of rain chains except for in something I had read while leafing through a garden magazine a while ago, I decided I’d research them and find out what they were and what they were used for. This was a few years ago, and now I love the ones I have and I indeed want to get more of them, and also more accessories that go with them.

A rain chain is a unique way of catching rain water and sort of recycling it. That is the best way I can describe them. There are really pretty designs and add a great deal of flair and also an old world sort of decoration in the gardens and on porches, decks and sitting areas. Anywhere actually, one would like to catch rain water.

These items chain rain and then the water goes down into a basin or even into a plant to save the water or to water a plant that needs it. I have quite a few now, and so many people have commented on them, that every now and then I will buy a nice rain chain and basin to give as a gift to someone who has come over and was genuinely interested in them. They do make great and also handy gifts. I love to shop for them.

 

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A spoon full of protein

Earlier my son came in and told me he was hungry for something, yet didn’t know what he was hungry for. I threw out a couple ideas for him, none of which he was interested in. He kept wandering around the kitchen, looking in cupboards and in both of the refrigerators and freezers.

There is plenty of healthy snacks, fruit and fixings to make sandwiches out of. At one point, I thought he just was on the lazy side today and wanted me to fix him something. Finally, I did what my mom used to do when as a kid and didn’t know what I wanted to eat. I got out the peanut butter and a large spoon, scooped out a spoonful of the peanut butter and handed it to him. I was tired of him hanging on the refrigerator door with it open, if truth be known.

He asked the silly question of course, “What is that?” (I knew that he would) And I just told him it was a new easy snack called peanut butter on a spoon. He shrugged and ate it. He even washed his spoon after he was finished. And it made him stop hanging out in the kitchen and hanging on my fridge doors, plus he got a bit of protein in his lanky body!

 

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Plans changed with saleing

It’s nearly midnight and I’m thinking that today’s plans were not what had been planned in the first place. I love it when there are NO plans. The kids and I did hit some garage sales, but then we passed a place to eat. Once that was finished, we decided to go real shopping, as they call it.

We found some great bargains on summer things. I actually thought that prices would be low after the holidays, but I was pleasantly surprised at the great sales we hit.

Now everyone is in their bedroom waiting until tomorrow to figure out plans and what they all want to do without me tagging around. Fine by me. I need to play in the gardens and call some blogging buddy about her bale gardening. It would be good to meet up with her again and we could do a quick see what we can see and find trip. Maybe some flea markets or antique shops.