Emptying my Brain Day

Things I keep meaning to blog about and no longer want on my brain (there's only SO much room!): The berries I mentioned in a previous post are black mulberries (once I had that info, I went and looked them up and sure enough, they're black mulberries) and they are edible. I wish I'd asked the question two weeks ago when they were at their peak, but now I know and will be better prepared next year. I may try and get one or two jars of jam from them to try them out. Thanks everyone! If anyone else is interested, here's info and recipes! I think I'm going to try the Mulberry Cobbler and see how it goes. Need a good link for kids' activities this summer? Check out Rocks in My Dryer's list of web sites! What a goldmine! Grandkids visiting? Or want to take the family out to eat on a budget? Check out this website and find out where you can take kids out to eat for free! When you get to the site click on SEARCH at the top of the page, then put in your state, then town!

And speaking of kids and summer -- here's a recipe that used to be one of my kids' favorites. Buy a bag of Chips Ahoy cookies. Buy a pint of vanilla ice cream. Sandwich a small scoop of ice cream between the bottoms of two cookies, wrap each "sandwich" in plastic wrap and presto! Ice cream sandwiches with a twist. These used to be a big hit at Girl Scout meetings too.

If you're interested in leading a more frugal life (something the price of gas may force on all of us fairly soon), check out some of my favorite frugal websites (most, if not all, will offer weekly suggestions for buying "scenarios" at Walgreens, CVS and WalMart that will show you how to get items for free, or nearly free): Be Thrifty Like Us

BeCentsAble - "Awaken your shopping CentsAbilities!"

CentsibleShopper

Living on Little out of pocket frugal living

Want to learn more about shopping at CVS for little or no money? Check out Money Saving Mom's article called CVS 101 for a good place to start. Declutter and gather some good summer reading at the same time. It's a win-win situation. Post your books (hardcover, paperback, audio, fiction, non-fiction) on PaperBackSwap.com, receive credits when people ask for your books (you pay shipping - media mail) and use those credits to get new books for yourself for some great summer reading (They pay shipping). No library due dates, no "ohmygawd, I left that $30 hardcover in a hotel room on vacation"... perfect for the summer. I've been happy with every book I've received! And when you're done decluttering your books, how about decluttering your DVD's on PaperBackSwap.com's sister-site SwapaDVD.com. Works on the same principle as the books -- list your DVD's, get a credit, pick new DVD's to watch. It's a great way to have some movies for your kids and grandkids this summer at a fraction of the cost of buying. You pay shipping ($2.05) when someone chooses one of your DVD's, but you don't pay shipping when you order a DVD from someone else. C'mon -- you know you're not going to watch Die Hard III anymore! And by the way -- it's REALLY easy to list books and DVD's -- all you have to do is type in the ISBN number -- no description, no photos, no programs to download. MUCH easier than Ebay!

Don't forget -- Sunday is Father's Day! Jeff doesn't read my blog so I can tell you here that his is going to be a "Deadliest Catch" themed day. No, I'm not taking him fishing! He's getting a DC t-shirt, a "Shut Up and Fish" bumper sticker, and the new Deadliest Catch PC Game. Since he only has his work laptop, you'll understand what's going on if I don't blog for a few weeks.... it means he's on my computer playing his new game!

OK, last thing. I have a new favorite TV show. You won't believe it. It's a show called Mobile Home Disaster on the CMT channel (I think that's Country Music Television). Ohmygawd, it is SO funny. The host is John Caparulo and he's the sexiest thing on TV -- well, no, not really, but he's one of the funniest and I find a sense of humor to be really sexy! Combine outrageous country humor with Home Makeover with frugal living, and you've got a recipe for success. At least in my book -- which usually means the show will get cancelled soon. But hey, I like it! Worm poop lovers unite!

OK, my brain is back to it's normal empty status, so I'm good to go. I'm off to make cupcakes for Jeff's poker party tomorrow night, and while waiting for them to cook, I'll be browsing my local paper to pick out yard sales for Brayden and I tomorrow morning!

Do you know what these berries are?

We have two trees that have these luscious looking berries on them. I have NO idea what the berries are! I'd love to know if I can use them for jam or ?? any recipe. Anyone have any idea what they are? The trees are about 7 or 8 years old, maybe 12 feet high, and were planted on their own (we didn't plant them and they weren't here when we moved here 20 years ago). If you know, please tell me! These trees are VERY prolific -- just look at all these berries on the ground going to waste!

It's now 10:20 am, and I've been up since 5:00 and gotten SO much done! I love it! I just love having a good, productive day.

I woke up at 5:00 because right before bed I heard the weather report saying it was going to be 57 degrees last night. I wanted to get up early and open up windows and air out the house. I love my central air, but after a short while, the house just feels "stuffy" to me, and I look forward to times when I can open up all the windows and air the place out.

Since I was up, I put coffee on and decided to make use of the cool morning and get some gardening done. I re-set the alarm clock for Jeff, got his lunch packed and his breakfast made, and headed outside by 6:15. I went to the vegetable garden and got all three vegetable beds weeded and hoed by the time Jeff got up at 7:00. I sat down with him while he ate breakfast and had a second cup of coffee, then headed back outside as soon as he left for work at 8:00. I filled the sprayer up with insecticide (sorry to all those who are cringing), and sprayed the 20 new trees we planted and my smaller ornamental shrubs and trees. Normally, I don't spray, but the cicadas are here in larger-than-normal numbers, and they will use small trees and ornamentals for something (laying eggs? hatching babies? I forget what...) and I didn't want to lose all those trees I planted. I also got all three perennial beds weeded (again!), and Weed-B-Gone sprayed in the driveway where weeds grow up between the cement slabs. I also sprayed insecticide around the perimeter of the house, the deck, the patio and the garden shed -- simply as ant prevention.

It felt so great to get all this done by 10am! Now I'm going to spend some time doing laundry and hanging it out (it'll be back up to the mid-80's by this afternoon), a quick trip to WallyWorld for tension curtain rods so I can sew a skylight cover in Jeff's bathroom. We always put one up in the master bedroom during the summer months -- it really helps keep the bedroom cooler. I also want to pick up some potting soil and transplant some houseplants that are looking a little gloomy these days. If I can get all that done today -- I've had a great day!

The vegetable garden is looking good! I've got blossoms on several tomato plants and one green pepper plant. Eggplants are looking really healthy. Zucchini's just poked up through the soil, but green beans, black beans and cucumber seeds may have rotted from all the rain we've had. I'm going to replant them as soon as I finish blogging.

Busy week

I have a lot of things I need to get done this week, aside from my regular household cleaning, tending to the garden, babysitting for Brayden, etc. I need to make a list to keep myself organized this week, so here it is:

1. Laundry - including bedding because it drys so quickly out on the line during this hot weather. DONE
2. Meijer's store - Apparently the only place you can buy Cremora in our area these days. I don't normally shop this store, but I need to stop by and buy 10 bottles of Cremora to stock up. I went. No Cremora. That means NO store in our area sells Cremora. Bah humbug.
3. Coupon clipping -- I sent Jeff out to buy two Sunday papers -- he came back with FOUR! All this coupon-ing apparently appeals to the accountant in him :) I have a lot of coupons to clip and my CVS, Walgreens and Kroger deals to plan. DONE
4. Menu-planning - after I do the above.
5. Vet appointment - Tuesday. Oh boy. Joey loves his cage and the trip in the car -- NOT. DONE
6. Time Warner Cable repairman on Friday - Don't even get me started on Time Warner Cable these days. I'm still recovering from getting hung up on, then getting a recording at 10:10 am that their offices weren't open, then having my entire DVR box erase all our taped shows. RRRRR
7. More weeding -- this wet Spring and now hot weather is just been an incubator for weeds. The gardens I weeded just two weeks ago are over-run with weeds again, despite mulching and putting PREEN on them. I'll save this for the end of the week when slightly cooler and less humid weather is supposed to arrive. - DONE
8. Call telephone company to come trim trees hanging over our wires -- this may appease the next-door-neighbor a bit as well, since they are trees near the one he wanted to cut down. Done, but only informed by Cincinnati Bell that they no longer provide this service ahead of time -- they wait for things to break. Higher prices, less service...that's the way these days!
9. Buy a new fountain for the little pond in the front of the house - our plastic turtle has succumbed to plastic-turtle-disease and needs to be replaced.
10. Hair cut - Long overdue!

I now have Brayden on Thursdays and Fridays, so I need to re-arrange my normal weekly schedule. Here's what I've come up with:

• Mondays - Coupon clipping, sale planning, menu planning, other paperwork and filing, possible CVS or Walgreens trip, Laundry (weather permitting)
• Tuesdays - Housework - upstairs
• Wednesday - Housework - downstairs, laundry (weather permitting)
• Thursday - Brayden, gardening
• Friday - Brayden, yard sales, possible 2nd CVS/Walgreens trip if sales warrant it
• Saturday - Quick housecleaning and pickup, grocery shopping
• Sunday - Gardening, relax, fun stuff

CVS Revisted, CVS Rainchecks w/ECB's!

I made another trip to CVS today because they were out of stock earlier this week on several items I wanted. For my $38.00 in purchases, out-of-pocket money today was .07 cents! Here's what I purchased: 2 Chex Mix - $1 each (normally $1.99) 2 Cascade Dishwasher Gels $3.99 each (normally $5.49) 10 cans BumbleBee Tuna - .66 each (great sale - normally $1.99) 1 Listerine Smart Rinse - $3.49 (normally $3.99) Coupons: $3 off $15 CVS purchase $1 off Chex Mix x 2 coupons = $2.00 $1 off Cascade x 2 coupons = $2.00 $1 off Mouthwash I used $13.00 in ECBs. Total amount out-of-pocket: .07 cents I received $3.49 in new ECBs - so I made a profit of $3.42! However, I found out something new about CVS. Earlier this week I went to pick up Chex Mix, and they were out of stock. They issued me a Rain Check with no expiration date for the $5/5 price! I will hold onto this until I find more coupons and, hopefully, get these for free again. They were also out of the $6.99 Oral B toothbrushes - so I asked the store manager about them. He had the cashier issue me a Rain Check for them -- with a note to issue me the $14.98 in ECB's when I purchase them even if it's AFTER the ECB offer date!!! I have no idea if all stores do this, but it's definitely worth the effort to find out!

The Best Things in Life -- are FREE!

I've been cruising the web and frugal blogs today, and came up with some nice freebies. Many of these may have a time limit for availability, so you'll want to take advantage of them "PDQ", as my Mom used to say! FREE 1 yr subscription to Woman's Day Magazine FREE at Home Depot - Buy 1 Shrub, Get 1 free - Printable Coupon FREE (after rebate) bottle of Wish-Bone's new Bountilfuls Salad Dressing - I bought the Hearty Italian and REALLY like it! Tastes like an upscale restaurant salad dressing. If I remember correctly, the price was $1.89 (on sale at Kroger). Printable Coupon - Lowe's - Get $10 off $25 - you have to use a VISA card with this purchase.

One reason not to dust

"Dust Art" - That's right - this piece of art is done on the dust on the back window of a mini-cooper! You can see more "dust art" here.