Our little oasis

Until a few days ago, there was no other way to describe our backyard: it was white-trash. It was even worse before we had the back fence replaced - it was a rickety broken mess. A few weeks ago:



We've been working hard for a few weeks, and we're finally done. Here's our little oasis now:



View from the back fence, toward our house:



I do wish my boys had a big, huge, green yard to play in. But we're very lucky to have the space that we do, and I'm counting my blessings.

The (meal) week in review

Decided it might make more sense to talk about my weekly meal plan after the week is up, so I can include photos and comments about what I chose.

This past week, I only ended up doing two recipes - we ate each for two nights. I always double-up my recipes and freeze half if it's freezable or eat it for two (or three) nights if it won't freeze well. Friday night we just picked out of the fridge for dinner and weekends we tend to be going in opposite directions. For example, Stewart's photographing a wedding tonight, so he'll eat there. I'll just eat a Lean Cuisine Panini or a can of soup.

So...

Monday and Wednesday we had Summer Rolls. I decided to practice a bit of frugality and omit the shrimp - I doubled up on the avocado and used a bit of fake crab in half. Next time I'll skip the protein altogether - it was great with just avocado and cilantro.



Tuesday and Thursday we had Roasted Corn, Black Bean, and Mango Salad. Oh my goodness this was good. Got lucky finding really nice ripe mangoes at the store. I'm not sure how much the dish benefitted from the roasting of the corn kernels; I might try skipping that step next time to save some time. I used half frozen corn kernels and half fresh. Truly delicious. Nate at bowl after bowl after bowl. I just can't explain how good I feel when I see him stuff healthy food down his throat!



(Emily - are you out there? I think you would love this recipe!)

A great resource

Here's a list of all of the online printable coupons out right now. Very helpful!

Linky

Speaking of hippy-dippy frugality

I like to feed the kids organic when I can, especially milk and cheese. I don't go terribly out of my way, but when the cost is reasonable I opt for organic. Thank goodness for Trader Joes and their cheapie organics!

So it's baby food time for Jack, and try to keep costs reasonable means I can either buy non-organic food or make my own organic, like I did with Nate. I happen to love "putting food up" - it makes me feel all Little House on the Prairie. So I made him the food.

It's so easy it's almost ridiculous: bake the sweet potatoes and acorn squash until mushy, puree with breastmilk. Glop onto cookie sheets in glumps, freeze, put in bags. Boil apples until mushy, rinse, repeat. Bananas are the easist: puree with breastmilk, freeze in glops. I cut up a bunch of avocados, froze in slices, and put one into his meals here and there, to cut back on the sweetness of the foods I picked.



I'm especially glad I did this because the boy is a pig. He eats food three times a day, probably about 5 ounces each feed. It's a good thing I'm learning frugality now; when these boys are teenagers I think our food bills are going to be outrageous.

Hippy-dippy frugality

I read a lot of "frugality blogs" and I learn a lot, use some of it, and reject a whole heck of a lot of what they have to say. A woman today wrote about setting a timer for her showers; she's proud to have cut them down from 10 minutes to 5. She's shooting to get it down to 3 minutes. I read a lot about how and when people find time to clip coupons, how they cut their own hair at home, and how they visit four grocery stores each week to maximize the bargains.

I do have the luxury of being able to buy what I need. I try to be frugal and smart with our money, but we don't have to pinch every penny until it hurts. I know that some people are very close to the bone.

But for people somewhere in the middle, I just say this: please consider the cost of your precious time. To spend three hours making bread, which you can buy for $3, seems like a losing proposition. If you love making bread, it's worth every second. To save a couple of bucks? I won't do it.

Here's an example: my husband drinks 2 or 3 beers a night. It costs us about $15 a week. This is the ultimate in luxury purchases. That said, I'd never ask him to give it up. He works hard, spends time with his kids, and indulges very little. Let him have his beer.

It's hard, when you're trying to stay in the "frugal mindset", to remember to be sane and balanced about money. To remember that the point of it all is to create a happy, safe life for everyone; not to die with money in the bank. I tend to err a bit too much on the frugality side; my husband a little too much on the spendy side. We're lucky to have a built-in system of "checks and balances". Knowing what he's thinking makes me consider the time and money-worthiness of some of my projects; knowing that I'm going to see the credit card bill makes him do the same.

What kinds of balanced choices are you making these days? Any suggestions to share?

Walkability

I wrote recently about walking to get a bunch of errands done; I do it at least 3 times a week. Today it was CVS and the bank.

Today I found a link to a site that will tell you how "walkable" your neighborhood is. My address got an 89 (out of 100).

What's your walkability score?

Blooming

Massive growth.



So the Burpee order that I canceled? They refunded me, but shipped it anyway. It arrives today with a whole load of tomato seedlings inside. I'll inventory it when it comes in and figure out what the heck to do with all of these new babies! I'm excited, but I need more planters and soil (and space!).

Hmmmm...