August’s Flavor of the Month…Zucchini

August started off with a bang for us. Last week DH was stung by a bee while he was mowing the lawn, and we had 1 Benadryl left in the cupboard (we did have some other antihistamines). It reminded me that when I do my Flylady zones for cleaning, I should be checking on first aid supplies as well. If you have kids, you can just about guarantee that the bandage box will be empty when you need one!

The school where I work decided to have classes in person this fall, which was not what I was hoping for. It won’t make a lot of sense for my husband and daughter to be “safer at home” for work and school and me to be working part-time in a place where Coronavirus will be circulating. I’m both holding out hope that school may change their plan, while also envisioning myself home full-time and trying to define what goals I would have for myself.

August, the month of zucchini bread

Cooking – zucchini bread #2, and many meals with sautéed zucchini. Looking ahead to next week, I’m interested in trying some Native American recipes that use beans, squash and corn. I was inspired by Padma Lakshmi’s new show on Hulu Taste the Nation.

Enthusiastic blooms

Gardening – this week my freebie pot of marigolds is in full bloom. The garden center was uncomfortably crowded in May, so I made use of free marigold seeds from my mother in law for some DIY patio decor.

Flylady – this week we are heading into Zone 2, the kitchen. I need to give special attention to a countertop that’s overrun with masks, Clorox wipes and other things that need a home. I will also check our supply of baking ingredients and go through some recipes in binders. If you’re new to the Flylady system of taking care of your home, you might enjoy my favorite YouTuber, Diane in Denmark.

Sharing – shared zucchini and tomatoes with my neighbor, and they gave us 1/4 of a watermelon and some rhubarb cake! We frequently share back and forth, especially produce in large sizes that we might not finish otherwise.

Budgeting – DH still updates our budget weekly, though it is a lot less complicated since we don’t go out and about much. This week we were under budget by $70.00 and put that money towards future gift expenses.

What’s growing abundantly where you are? Are you hitting back to school sales or making do with pencils and markers you have at home for virtual learning?

Coming Out of Hiding?

Something pretty seen on a walk

I’m in a state with a very low number of cases of Coronavirus (at the moment, anyway). We are beginning to venture out in baby steps while the numbers seem to be in our favor. I’m even contemplating a trip to Trader Joe’s. I haven’t been in a grocery store since before March 13th!

Hair cuts – I have cut my husband’s hair twice and DD’s long hair once. This is a new endeavor for me, and thanks to YouTube, I think I’m pretty good at it! I had a professional haircut from an acquaintance who works alone with a lot of safety precautions because her daughter has special needs.

Medical – I was able to have my annual asthma checkup via FaceTime. DD and I are scheduled for dental cleanings this week. It’s a little bit nerve wracking, but at the same time, it seems unwise to wait until fall when our numbers could be higher.

Groceries- I have been ordering online through Kroger for pick up or through Amazon Fresh. It’s been so convenient for everyone in the family to add things as they think of them. I’m grateful that at the moment it is easy to get delivery spots.

Summer Fun – This is an area we haven’t mastered yet. My daughter and I are both off for the summer, but all of the usual summer pastimes are off limits. It is hard to know where to draw the line with seeing friends, but we are looking for ways for her to get together with her besties and be reasonably safe.

We will have a new adventure tomorrow visiting an Amish bakery in a town about 20 minutes away. That’s the whole plan….then come home. Again, baby steps.

Fathers Day – do you have any plans for Father’s Day this weekend? I plan to make DH some Toll House cookie bar, and we will probably get some curbside pickup from a place of his choosing. We would like to take him to a huge outdoor nursery that is about 45 min away, if we can figure out a way to have access to a bathroom along the way. Not all of our restaurants are open… even places like McDonalds do not have their dining room open yet though they are permitted to.

Homemaking – I’ve been getting back on the Flylady/Diane in Denmark method of keeping up with the house. This seems like the ideal time to restart some good habits since I am at home. Last week we were in Zone 2 (Kitchen) so I took care of cleaning the dishwasher filter, cleaning out under the kitchen sink, and wiping down the fridge. I added any kitchen supplies to my grocery list and was thrilled to see Windex is available again. I have no idea why people were buying up Windex during Coronavirus stockpiling. Maybe it’s a My Big Fat Greek Wedding thing??

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Welcome back Windex!

Adapting to Change

Signs of Spring in the Garden

How is everyone doing?  I’m finding it difficult to focus a blog post on any one subject, so I’ll give you a bit of an update on how we are adapting and any tips we have worked out for dealing with Stay at Home orders.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

Let’s talk TP.  We have been committed to ordering our groceries online, but our main store, owned by Kroger, won’t let us add toilet paper into a pick-up order.  I found that Kroger does SHIP many items in the mail.  We were able to have TP shipped for 4.95 shipping fee, or free shipping if you spend over a certain amount.  If your grocery is owned by a larger corporation, you might check this out.

What comes next?  I’ve been seeing a trend in my midwestern state that manufacturing anything is really difficult with Coronavirus lurking.  I asked my daughter to think about what clothes she might need for the summer and we ordered them right away.  I wonder if clothing manufacturers are going to have a hard time keeping their merchandise in stock with international factories closing, opening, and potentially closing again.  As for me, I just need to make sure I can still fit in the clothes I already have!

Speaking of supply issues . . . Apple seems to be having exactly the issues I described above.  I have been contemplating an Apple Watch for the last few months, and it’s about a 5 week wait to get one shipped.  DH found Best Buy had certain colors on sale for 100.00 off so guess who is wearing their Mother’s Day present already!  My Dad was always shopping for a new watch when I was a kid, so I feel this purchased is “Dad approved.”

Simple Things – We are enjoying our days together with work and school from home peppered with plenty of walks, planting cold-hearty seeds like kale, watching Project Runway and Top Chef All Stars, and occasionally getting meals delivered.  Restaurants we never even bothered with in our spoiled pre-Coronavirus past, like Jimmy Johns (sandwich place), now are bordering on magical when we get them delivered.

What simple things have you discovered? Any tips for procuring short-supply items?

 

How Teacher Training Prepared me for Coronavirus

The past 8 weeks have altered many of our routines around our home and finances.  I don’t have a crystal ball, but I want to share how training at the school I work at prepared me for the Coronavirus crisis.

Every school in the US has some sort of training for active shooter incidents.  After many years of these training classes I have learned that the normalcy bias can be the difference between surviving a crisis and not making it.  The normalcy bias is the brain’s tendency to want to normalize events that might point a problem.  We don’t want to seem foolish by over-reacting, so we do nothing and assume things are OK until somebody else tells us there is a problem.  If school employees hear altercations, popping noises, or screaming, we are trained to begin taking action.

I used this training to ease our household into preparing for the spread of Coronavirus.

• At the end of January I asked my husband if we should make a reservation for a regional vacation instead of flying somewhere.  I asked around to friends to see if they had any recommendations (now even this seems unlikely).  We opted to stop talking about international vacations for this year.
• As the virus spread to Italy, I began thinking of our food and household needs.  We have a small home and don’t typically stockpile much of anything.  I try to be dairy free so I sourced some shelf-stable soy milk and made sure we were ahead of the curve with toilet paper.  I bought a little extra each week at the grocery store.
• When the virus hit Kirkland, Washington, I was in full-on prep mode.  We celebrated my daughter’s birthday with her friend at Shake Shack, thinking it might be our last opportunity to dine out (correct on that one).  We bought flour, sugar, toilet paper, electrolyte drinks, fever reducer, and confirmed that the thermometer still worked. Should have bought some yeast!  I bought disinfecting wipes and latex gloves and wondered if I had gone too far.
• When the virus began to show up in New York and on cruise ships, we started to reduce our outings outside of school and work.  Sniff Sniff, that included Starbucks. We got haircuts and a brow wax and I squeezed in a cavity filling at the dentist.  By that point I was a little creeped out being at the dentist.  We also stopped selling Girl Scout cookies at booths even though our council still allowed it, and I am glad we did.

I definitely encountered other people’s normalcy bias as the virus unfolded across the country.  Our school was planning an all school event that involved playing games.  I inquired as to whether that would be safe having everyone touch the same objects for the games.  The response was, “The health department hasn’t advised us not to.” Normalcy bias.  (By the time the event would have happened we were closed, I rest my case.) My extended family also implied I was excessively concerned about these problems occurring elsewhere.

There’s definitely a delicate balance between over-prepared and under-prepared.  My husband and I seem to be on the same wavelength and we have appreciated the preparations we have each contributed (I ordered a hair clippers early on, he has made sure we have hand soap and vitamins).  I continue to think about how Coronavirus might affect us moving forward, especially as to how it might affect my job in the school setting come fall.

How have you adapted to the pandemic?  Are you an early preparer, or did the closures take you by surprise?

 

 

 

 

 

Saving and Homemaking 4/21

We had a very relaxed Easter with a walk to church (good exercise plus it avoids the jam packed parking lot!), simple meals, and plenty of time outside raking leaves and debris out of the garden.

Saving

The Easter Bunny had some unexpected success at CVS this week. I bought some nice items for my daughter’s baskets with a 32% off coupon, a 40% off L’Oréal Cosmetics, and a $3.00 off 10.00 on Cosmetics. I haven’t paid much attention to CVS but when I know I will buy a number of things I go check out the CVS digital coupons.

I tried to watch the impulse purchases this week because my last check was only 40.00 from not working over spring break!

Planning

We started costing out a trip to Toronto this summer and weighing costs for driving vs. flying. We try to always stay with the same hotel company when we travel to get rewards points, which we have managed to accrue and redeem. IHG has been good for us.

Reading

This week I really enjoyed reading this memoir from Elizabeth of the frugalwoods blog. It’s not really a step by step instruction book, more a glimpse of the decisions one couple made to realize their dream of living in rural Vermont. I could relate to the intensity they brought to the financial planning process. If you have visited their blog, you may also enjoy this book. Check it out from the library!

Earning

This week I earned 40.00 through my health insurance company for participation in their online coaching for asthma. I checked in every few days and logged information about exercise, diet, and medication compliance. I also got a pneumonia shot through the program. Many health insurance companies have online programs for wellness, weight loss, smoking cessation, diabetes management etc. These funds can be used towards medical copays and other medical expenses. Every year I maximize whatever they offer me. The only one I haven’t completed is stress reduction !!!

How was your week?

A Little Homemaking and A Little Saving 6/4

With some planning and a little grace, I got through a very busy week last week.  DD had ballet rehearsals and a recital.  We narrowly escaped a deluge of rain on the way in to rehearsals (tulle costume/make-up + rain=bad!), and while she practiced i was rewarded with a double rainbow.  Moms who aren’t looking at their phone all the time are rewarded!

Homemaking

I spent 5 minutes with a microfiber cloth moistened with my favorite Dr Bronner’s soap and wiped down some of our baseboards, which have just enough 1940s detail to catch the dust that doesn’t want to be vacuumed up.  I was surprised how fresh it looked afterward.

Today we are recovering from recital Saturday.  I made a loaf of Irish soda bread and we are relaxing in our sunroom with some Celtic music and views of the garden.

Irish Soda Bread

I bought myself a new weeding tool so I can work in the flower beds in the morning before it gets too hot.  I used reward points at the garden center which covered most of the cost.

I have been washing sweaters and other delicates on the hand-wash cycle in my washer and putting the items outside to dry.  It is so nice to have this done — dripping sweaters in the basement is not my favorite thing!

Saving

Spent zero time this week at CVS/Walgreen’s.  We kept a basic menu with meals like crock pot Sweet and Sour Meatballs, veggie burgers, and a take and bake pizza.  We closed out our weekly budget with leftover money as a result.

I did remember to grab my free Friday download, which is for Gummy Bears, of all things!

Reading

This week I read the graphic novel “Real Friends” by middle-grade author Shannon Hale.

The memoir chronicles Shannon’s journey negotiating friendships during her childhood in the 70s.  If you played “Charlie’s Angels” as a kid, you will relate to her story!

If you have a tween/teen in your life, this is a must-read.  This story also touches on anxiety and living with a family member with undiagnosed differences.

Enjoying

My women’s Bible group finished our study of Beth Moore’s 2 Timothy and we had a dinner party at a member’s spacious home.  Had I known 5 years ago that I would be in a women’s Bible group I would never have believed it, but it is powerful to talk about God with other women.  I am the youngest in the group (most have grown children) and I am learning a lot from that as well.

DD and I have been taking bike rides around our pretty village.  We saw three wild turkeys on someone’s lawn and I have admired all the varieties of iris currently blooming.  Biking is also a great way to teach your young person the rules of the road.  Those who have been long-time readers of my blog will be glad to know we are getting good use out of the bike I wrote about in “From Prudent to Extravagant”!

 

 

 

Saving and Homemaking 5/29

It’s Memorial Day weekend here in the US — a time to remember those who gave everything for our country.  Memorial Day is also the “unofficial” start of summer, when it just seems right to be planting some annuals, cooking out, and maybe taking advantage of the low prices on hot dogs and ketchup!  We did a little of all of those things this weekend.

Saving

Memorial Day weekend has some of the best prices all year on charcoal, hot dogs, condiments, chips, and some types of alcohol.  This week I found:

• Oscar Meyer turkey select hot dogs for .99 and used a .55 off coupon
• Dunkin Donuts coffee (my preferred) 5.99 at CVS plus a loadable coupon for 2.00 off a coffee or tea purchase
• Canned pineapple 1.00 at CVS, plus a loadable coupon for 1.25 off canned fruit plus a .75/2 Dole coupon = 2 for free
• Received eggs, cheese, Prosecco and summer Shandy from a friend headed out of town.
• Gratefully took advantage of free babysitting when our daughter was at a friends’s house and went to a fancy dinner with a $25.00 coupon my husband received for his birthday.

Cooking

The week ahead is jam packed with recital rehearsal, a party (my women’s Bible study finished our Beth Moore “Entrusted” study of 2 Timothy!), and a few appointments.  I have really been trying to figure out a meal plan that would work.  I came up with Crock pot sweet and sour meatballs from Six Sisters Stuff, which is a tried and true recipe.  I’m concocting a pasta bake using up some pesto, some spaghetti sauce in the freezer, the free cheese, and a lone chicken patty that is taking up too much room in my freezer.  Another choice is eggs or a quiche (eggs, free cheese, and some bacon in freezer).

Cleaning

• cleaned the refrigerator
• cleaned the basement bathroom – I love to clean the granite sink with a microfiber damp with a touch of Dr Bronner’s castile soap
• enlisted daughter to go through some of last years school stuff.  Found colored pencils that can be used next year.  I’ll have her sharpen them and bag them up…good to go.

My little garden frog.

Relaxing

One of the best things in summer is laying in our sunroom on the love seat, gentle breezes coming through the windows, napping or just watching the leaves blowing in the massive oak tree.

My other indulgence for relaxation is the “fireplace channel” on Amazon (free with Prime).  DH turns my digital fireplace on every night before bed.

How was your Memorial Day or bank holiday (UK) weekend?

 

Too Busy to Bother?

I am reading a new young adult fiction book called “American Street” about a girl named Fabiola from Haiti who comes to visit relatives in urban Detroit. Her plans do not include returning to Haiti.

One aspect of the book (no spoilers I promise) that greatly affected me is the contrast between the sense of home and gracious hospitality in Haiti and the utter lack thereof at her relatives’ house in Detroit.

There is no celebration for my arrival; no meal is cooked, no neighbors are invited to welcome me . . .  I open the fridge to find bottles of soda and ketchup and hot sauce and mayonnaise. . . . In the freezer are boxes of pizza and waffles and frozen meat wrapped in plastic. . . .  I grab a slice of orange cheese wrapped in plastic. . .  . I can’t believe this is the first thing I eat in America.  It tastes like a mix of glue, chalk, and salt.

This may be a work of fiction, but the scenario doesn’t feel all that fictitious to me.  I recognize the cultural trend in America that says, I’m too busy to host– I don’t want to deal with the stress– or – We’ll just grab a pizza.  Trust me, the reason this the theme spoke to me is because I have thought, and said, all of those things myself!

When I think about my own childhood, though, so many of the happy memories of family celebrations are centered around the special meals people took time to make.  My Grandma’s ever present Nesco roaster .  . . My mom’s fantastic Thanksgiving meals, including homemade cranberry sherbet . . . my Aunt’s rosettes (a fiddly Scandinavian cookie).

Sometimes I think Martha Stewart just wrecked us all.  The standards are so high that if you aren’t weaving your own tablecloth you might as well just buy your Christmas dinner at Boston Market and call it a day.

For me, the vision portrayed in “American Street” solidifies the importance of hospitality for friends and family.  These gestures say “You’re special” and have long reaching effects that most of us won’t ever realize.  I don’t have to weave my own tablecloth for a fancy dinner; a simple recipe prepared at home or flowers from the garden are ways to share love and create memories.

What are your thoughts on the state of hospitality in western life?  What are some ways you like to show you care even though it seems like “a bother”?