frugal

  • family,  food,  frugal,  My World and Welcome to It,  summer,  sustainable living

    woman errant

    This is what I look like when I’m foraging, ferreting and erranding. Yeah. That was me heading out the door on Tuesday, when I drove all over town, made 11 stops, and ended up saving a bajillion dollars. Where did I go? What did I do? You really wanna know? OK, kiddo. Strap on your helmet and let’s go! Equipment Sunglasses, car keys, cell phone, hot coffee (in Mom mug). Purse and sweater (in case it gets chilly, which it did not). Envelope full of current coupons. Green bag is my “briefcase” du jour – a slender reusable bag that held all my sale papers/inserts, and my lunch. Because I’m gonna be…

  • chickens,  food,  frugal,  garden,  green,  My little city farm,  sustainable living

    omelette du jour

    Busy days on my little city farm. The hens, bless their pointy little beaks, are laying, to the tune of about one egg a day on average. And the eggs are getting a little bigger each day. At least two hens are laying; you can see by their feet (thanks, Linda, for the tip), which go kind of grayish-silvery green in tone. I’ve caught two of the hens in the act, or crowing about it (heh) afterward, so cheers to Violet and Rosie. I’m sure Bluebell isn’t far behind. Poppy, however, is on my $&^#*! list. Maybe she’s jealous. Maybe she’s horny. Maybe she has a Napoleonic complex. She hasn’t laid…

  • birds,  chickens,  food,  frugal,  garden,  green,  summer,  sustainable living

    bells and whistles and a vuvuzela chorus

    You know about the vuvuzela, don’tcha? Well, get out yer vuvuzela, because we had an egg! A little one, and they pecked it to death before I could get out of bed and feed them breakfast — but our chickens (one of them) gave us a practice run. It’s nice to know that someone’s equipment works. Alas, don’t know which hen to cosset and persuade. I’m waiting for more…stay tuned. The garden continues apace. Here’s what I had for breakfast: a handful of berries on my cereal (note the one lonesome blackberry at top of the photo, above). Sometimes there are a couple of raspberries, mostly a handful of strawberries, occasionally a couple…

  • food,  Food Stamps,  frugal,  garden,  green,  sustainable living,  tea

    A Day of Grace (Part II)

    I’ll be as nice as I can here, but the fact is I’m in such a foul mood. Really super-cranky. Not eating, or eating very little, all day will do that. I’ve also had a day of ups and downs emotionally. I find that by now, 6 p.m., almost dinner time, I am at the end of my rope, with no tolerance for nonsense; I am not concentrating well (I can’t think of the right word here, for example, so I’m just rewriting the sentence, and that keeps happening, and is frustrating as hell). Reader’s Digest version: hunger not good. Everything that Tony the Tiger told you about eating a…

  • food,  Food Stamps,  frugal,  garden,  Mr Husband

    Today’s Plan (Part I)

    So it’s the last day for those of us doing the JFSC, and Mr. Husband and I will fast instead of eat, to think about those who run out of food stamps before the end of the month. I won’t put any restrictions on the kids — they can eat whatever (they’ve been good sports all along). At first I thought about the Catholic Church’s guidelines for fasting, which is half breakfast, half lunch, regular dinner. But that seems excessive/abundant, maybe, for the real FS participant. What we’re gonna go with is this: We can have yesterday’s leftover coffee (I saved it especially) or one teabag for the whole day. As much…