I escaped to the yard today........and all 3 boys came with me! Wouldn't you know? I put them to work for a bit, then got out the riding mower and climbed on. When I'm mowing, they know to leave me alone. It's MY time. I've got at least an acre to mow here; and it relaxes me, gets me out in the fresh air and I've got plenty of time to mentally make out the Garden TO DO List!

If any of you are doing much the same thing; getting out in your gardens or even planting a pot of herbs on your porch.........there is a new site here just for gardeners. Actually, it's for gardeners aiming to garden without spending buckets of money.

Finally able to hang laundry outdoors. The weather is cooperating today.....breezy and going to be 61. The posts have been up, but just yesterday the wires got strung......so it is now usable. I don't think I'll ever have this much laundry at once! 5 lines.........3 poles......plenty of room for our whole household at once. I feel so much more frugal with a clothesline! Now, to just re train the rest of the people here, laundry only on days it's nice outside! Plan ahead....what a concept??

Still eating out of the pantry/freezer. Coming up with some great meals and doing a fair job of not letting things go to waste. Thanks Jeffrey for todays reminder re; food waste. Doing my part here! I have to use all sorts of tricks to keep ahead of the fridge (otherwise known as the closet where we put things to spoil). If I plan to wash a shelf every time I'm doing some real cooking, that makes me have to empty it. In the process, I can use, freeze or compost it. Aiming for the first 2, but at least with a compost pile, and a garden, it isn't a total waste. (just expensive garden additives)

Housecleaner here today.....my favorite day! Paid him at the beginning of the month, so no cash outlay for the day.

Free plants from mom to get into the garden.......have some done already, then realized I've got to get the wash done first now that we have the clothesline. If the things aren't out most of the day, they will still be damp.
So, plants this afternoon.......

My funny (but fairly pathetic) happening yesterday........ The other F adult here, that I've told needs to pay into the household to cover at least her half of the expenses...brought me a job application yesterday. Her best idea is for ME to get another job!! Gads. I've supported her for decades here, it is her turn, as I have told her. Need to do the conversation again this evening. No way am I going to get just any old job, the one she thinks is perfect for me is hardly enough $ to justify leaving home each day. She doesn't understand taxes & take home pay. Going to continue to push her to pay up!!

Met with my mom & the real estate developer this AM........and we were both disappointed. Learned a couple things, but we were both surprised to find out this gentleman had only brought one scenario to the table (his). I could see my mom moving back away from the table during the meeting......she was in no way going to sell her property outright to this guy to let him develop it.

As it stands now..........we did make some progress. Mom will ask her renter to move, we'll fix up the house & the apt & see if we can rent them to a commercial sort of tenant. At least the house. Get them both rented so she has more of an income from both. She tends to rent really low, aiming to have renters in there for decades (which she has consistantly done)

Then, we're searching for our own builder to put up a big house on the back half of her primary residence property, then listing that FSBO.

In the meantime, I do think she will be keeping her ears open for a builder that would want to work with her, developing the downtown property. We did find out she could put parking and 1 retail unit on the bottom floor, then going up 2 more floors; holding a total of 4 condo units. She wants to do this so bad, it was totally disappointing to hear the gentleman this morning telling her she would find it to be too much work. He had no idea who he was talking to. I'll bet on Mom!!!

I did bring home a van full of plants from moms.........FREE plants. My absolute favorite. I've got them in the shade here & plan to get them all in their new homes tomorrow. Planted some flower seeds, started some more veggie seeds indoors.... Going to quit for the night & put my feet up! Thinking about money all day was exhausting!!!

My seeds from the holiday acorn squash are starting to peek through the surface this morning. I've got them started indoors, as they would float away outside. (way too wet here still, and cold, and this gardener is NOT going out in this weather)

I've never planted enough acorn squash for our household, no matter how many plants I put in. Maybe I'll be closer to that point this year? I don't know how many plants I'll have, but if I get more than 6, I'll be ahead of the game. Our local nurseries don't have much selection, or I'm too early, or too late....whatever the reason, I can't seem to get more than one pack of starts for any veggie and often times I have done without certain veggies. No greenhouse here.....but this year, I've got a great big window I'm taking advantage of, and have a little nursery of my own going.

This is definately a no cost experiment, if it works I might have enough squash to put in the shed for winter. Nice! Free food. My favorite kind!

DAILY TRACKING: Will be using gas for an errand day. No cash out of pocket however. Picking up a box of rose food from a freecycler in the area (inherited a rose garden with this new property, horribly ignored, but perking up) and then sitting at the high school pool to watch my kiddo swim.
I'm using my new business cards to leave a thank you message every time I pick up a freecycle item.....and I'll have a project with me at the pool; hoping to generate at least some conversation. Word of mouth is my best advertising; knitting in public is a great draw!

I admit it. I'm helpless when it comes to my PC & blogging. Both reading and posting. I've just started a 2nd blog this week........mostly just for me; so I have a place to track the headway (If there is any headway) as I attempt to turn this piece of ground into a "yard".

After becoming involved here with the frugal gardening site, I thought it would be a good idea to rub elbows with other gardeners. I can't join a real time garden club until summer, so online I went. Found a great little site, not many others there yet, but it will give me a chance to see what others are interested in. (http://www.gardenstew.com/blog/index403.html)

Between spending time on my finances and getting out in the yard, checking on the 2 blogs and now trying to find another source of income........it is sounding more like my old life all the time. (I'm not used to having much down time)

Just because I had a minute or two of sparetime today, I joined another Yahoo group; ExtraMoneyMakers. Read about this on another blog site, all about gift card offers, etc. Just at the reading stage so far......too early to know much. Busy list however.

Great mail day: 2 $5 coupons for our local hardware store, walmart sample of some more face cream something or other, an offer for a bank card with a $10 bonus and a free good housekeeping magazine.

Hoping to share a sure sign of spring in my entry area here.......... (just think, I could have taken a picture of the....... still there.....dead cow next door!)



As it is, I'm not sure what (if any) picture might appear. Too funny.... The things I've learned here-perhaps I'll learn this too??

Spent a few $$ in gas today, went to the antique booth to update, only to find it closed. Stupid. Went to the bank & then mailed a package to my son. Forgot all about taking the coupons, will try again tomorrow. Brain is past dead after 5 days with autistic kiddo home. Shouldn't have planned to go out in public already today.........needed some recuperation time I guess.

Emailed the figures into the tax lady, hoping I have all she needs. Still can't find a couple items, may have to forego listing them........I'm not sure if that comes out to be a plus or minus for me........I hate taxes, don't understand them and NO, I don't even want to. I've always had a non taxable income, so usually don't need to file......but this past year is different....and I hate it.

No matter what I did yesterday, I was going backwards. Didn't make progress, didn't get things off my TO DO list........

First off, the neighbors dead cow is still in their field, albiet....covered with a blue tarp now. They had someone come that I thought was going to remove the carcass but, no........they left. My autistic kiddo is on hyper alert, checking out the window, Oh, about every 5 minutes, asking "why dead?". I am getting more frustrated by the hour, I have no answers and not sure there are any.

So, with dead cow/autistic kiddo......needless to say, the jelly project never left the TO DO list stage. Fortunately we were having one of our "encore" meals, so there was no cooking needed.

I did manage to get a huge batch of bacon cooked ahead, love whoever I got this tip from. Layer a jelly roll pan with bacon and bake, (12 min in my oven) at 350. I drain, wrap in paper towel and then pop in a zip lock for the fridge. Makes for quick help at breakfast time, makes a BLT possible around here at lunch.........a good tip for me, even if I'm heating up the oven.

It's raining here, but a light spring rain, not one of our sky opens up sort of rain. My free strawberry plants are beginning to look a little more like plants and less like planted compost material! (see http://www.frugalgardening.com if you would like to get a free strawberry patch for yourself) I should take a picture now, so I can track the progress, I'm confidant I'll have a lush patch this summer! Small, but lush. Looking at the poor plants now, one has to have the imagination & vision of a true gardener, or they would bunch the project immeadiately!

I was the recipient of the coupon train yesterday. Spent the evening adding my stash and going through to pick out things that would be helpful to our household. I remember using coupons years ago, but just got out of the habit here, since I'm not the household grocery shopper. We have an "arrangement" here that I have worked out with my tenant person. She is on disability & gets food stamps. She doesn't cook however.....and shops poorly, even with a list. So, a few years ago, we came to an agreement....I'll do the cooking, she will shop for what I put on the list and we've been making this work ever since. I'm feeding the household (which is 3 adults during the week and either 4 or 5 on the week ends) for what she gets in food stamps. Usually, we don't use all the money, it gets added to the next month. She even has a "budgeted" amount of the $$ to use for her expensive snack type items. According to her, she can still use coupons with the food stamps........we ought to be doing well re; food expenses, she now has a handful of coupons, and is planning to organize them according to her favorite store. Hmmm, sounds like progress to me.

Long winded entry for not much happening. I'm off to make a few phone calls about how long one can leave dead livestock in your yard around here??