We have been a busy, chaotic, crazy bunch these last few weeks. Judging by my bank account, the frugal activities have been slim too, but we have had some! Here is a round-up of what was done through last Sunday.

The first week I canned:
  – 10 quarts and 2 pints of chicken stock
  – 5 pints of pasta sauce
  – 7 quarts of dill pickles
  – 11 pints of sliced peaches

For those curious about how I got this done, I spent three consecutive nights after work canning. My body let me know I was out of shape after the third night so I took a little break from canning! I also decided I needed more exercise too!

I make a gallon of sweet tea almost every week. I drink this instead of coffee and pop at work and sometimes home. Making sweet tea is so simple and you can adjust the sweetness to your liking. I will share this recipe soon!

I did plant snap peas for a fall crop in my garden. This is the first time I have ever tried to plant a fall crop so this should be interesting. I had some leftover seed from last year in the fridge that I used. If this experiment doesn’t work, I will not be out anything but time! I might be disappointed too, but I will decide on that later.

I also weeded a lot in the garden when I wasn’t canning. This is great free exercise!

I also have tomatoes coming on! Woo hoo! I have never been this successful with tomatoes so to the see the green, growing ones has made me ecstatic! I know they are late and I contribute that to a lack of moisture.

We took a weekend trip and Lily the dog to Rob’s house. We don’t do this too often because all four kids at his house becomes very, very cozy. Paige and Dane slept outside in the tent so that helped the room to sleep situation. I think all of us had a good time and it was a great way to celebrate summer being over/school starting. We only ate out once for pizza. We had s’mores by the fire with the neighbors and got to see fireworks. We went to Niagara Caves by Harmony and Carley State Park for some hiking. We wanted to do some geocaching at the state park, but could not find the coordinates to start!

School started on the 21st! Yeah! My oldest is a senior this year and that makes a little sad, but I am excited to see what direction her life will go. The rest of my kids are in 10th, 6th, and 2nd grades.

Last Friday, I took the day off from work to fix my leaky faucet. I thought this project would take longer than it did! Replacing the faucet myself was pretty easy and only took 45 minutes. It was the next project that took longer. I have a saying for my house that one project always necessitates another. When I turned the water back on to the house after getting the faucet hooked up, the cold water shut-off valve under the sink started leaking at a good rate. This I was not able to fix, but the kids’ grandfather could! He replaced the valve and we were in business again! Thank goodness!

This last week I have been on a spending fast. I have only been trying to buy the necessities, if anything at all. I have continued that on to this week. It is hard, but necessary to tighten our belts.

I have been busy canning and preserving this week too, but I will fill you on that in next Sunday/Monday!

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

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