Life on the Central Coast

Day 14 - Urban Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:22:00 +0000

It's Day 14 of the 23 day challenge over at Frugally Sustainable. Today's topic is Urban Gardening. Have you given any thought as to how much money you could save growing your own produce? You could tuck some herbs in to your landscape, have a couple of raised beds, tubs of fruit such as blueberries and citrus trees, even do some sprouts right in your own kitchen. Saves a bundle of money!

If you need some help on figuring out where to start, check out the Urban Organic Gardener. Mike has A LOT of ideas no matter how big or small your gardening space is. I really like his sections on composting and natural pest control. We are organic gardeners and sometimes I think the bugs must spot the "open for business" sign. Mike has some pretty good, and funny ideas on how to control those little BUGgers.... get it? Bug.... Well, onto the Daily Goal......

Daily Goal: Share with us your gardening goals for 2012.

Gardening Goals? Wow! I have a bunch! We started gardening on a much larger scale about 2 years ago. I kept hearing in my head, "Garden like your life depended on it." So I did!

LAST YEAR
2 raised garden beds
2 big pots for potatoes
2 8' section Gutter Gardens
1 - 4 x 4 strawberry bed
2 - Rain Barrels to save water for drip
About 15 different kinds of herbs
We grew sprouts throughout the summer to add to salads
(mung bean, alfalfa, pea, sunflower, wheat berries)
Added a greenhouse

THIS YEAR
Add 4 more raised beds
4 Potato Pots (russets, white, reds, golds)
4 more outdoor raingutter gardens
3 more Strawberry beds
More rain barrels working in tandem for drip irrigation
More herbs & medicinal varieties as well
Espalier a pear, cherry and apricot along a fence
With extra gardening beds, try to preserve more of what we grow
Get an earlier start in the spring utilizing the greenhouse
Ok, not necessarily GARDENING, but I am pushing for 2 to 3 hens for fresh eggs

Last year we grew peas, beans, celery, onions, leaf lettuce, baby carrots, potatoes, spinach, chard, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, zuchinni, and much more! Basically, we looked at what we eat in the way of fresh produce and tried to grow it. We even have fruit (lemon, lime, mandarin orange, fig, apple) and avocado trees.... dwarf varieties so we didn't take up all our backyard in trees and blueberries, grapes and ollallieberries too.

HERE'S a little video of what we are doing.....

Day 11 - Going Car - Lite

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:11:00 +0000

I could just tell from this title that THIS was going to be a challenge.

Sometimes I tell my husband that I feel like we own a car lot. Just too many vehicles, even though we drive each of them and they are all just about paid for. We plan to get rid of the excesses this year so hopefully, this will be an area that we can work on reducing.

But you want me to go "Car-Lite" for the assignment?

Daily Goal: Plan a time in the near future to do a tiny experiment: Keep your car parked in the garage and try going to your local grocery store through an alternative method (i.e. on foot, by bike, or by bus). Foot, bike or bus not an option? Plan a trip into town and coordinate a carpool with a friend or neighbor. Side note: If you take your bike, it has a rack, a carrier, or a basket so you can bring your purchases home.

Oh, OK, I think this challenge is doable for us. Even though my hip prevents me from walking the 8 block round trip to the grocery store, I can and have riden my bike. Oh, yes, I forgot to mention, we have a couple of E-moto electric assist bikes we found last year at Costco. We outfitted them with bike bags and can do a pretty good size trip between the two of us.

Here is the catch though.... these bikes cost us quite a bit. They were definitely an investment. We are both in our 50's and wanted to be able to continue riding our bikes and the electric assist helps us go up hills and pedal easier when the going gets difficult. But the cost of having to replace a stolen bike makes it very difficult for me to park my bike, even with a HUGE lock on it, in front of a grocery store and shop for 30 min.

We have discussed getting a BOB to tow along behind one of us. That would make it easier to haul BIG groceries and the bike / trailer combo may appear too much to steal in a short time as well. We've been looking at our local Craigslist and garage sales for one since last summer. Hopefully we will find one soon.

Could you do it? Have you thought about other ways you may be able to commute around without driving? How would YOU complete the Daily Goal?

Day 10 - How To Stop Spending Money To Impress Other People

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Do you find yourself trying to "Keep Up With The Joneses?" They get a car, you try and get a bigger, better car. Their kids go to a private school, you try to send yours to the same school or one a step up. They are taking a 2 week vacation all over the USA with their kids over the summer. You KNOW you don't have the money for that or the time but you decide you are going to do it anyway. "Let's apply early for a couple more credit cards to finance our vacation with...." Trying to keep impress others is sort of like throwing money down the drain.

Have you ever asked yourself why keeping up or trying to impress your friends is so important? What if you made a choice NOT to do it? Would your friends NOT be your friends anymore? I've got news for you.... if that's all it takes to wreck a friendship, it wasn't a friendship to begin with!

All good questions! Maybe a little soul searching is in order. We were all created to be "different" people and it is those differences that makes life interesting. Why not focus on being who you REALLY are, YOUR hobbies, YOUR lifestyle. Get off the "keeping up with the Joneses" train and begin to make your way.

I used to work at a bank. Every day people would come in to explain their money problems to me. How their checkbook wouldn't balance, wondering how they bounced 6 checks, not understanding finance charges or how interest is calculated, up to their eyeballs in debt and wondering why they didn't qualify for a credit card or loan. It's so crazy to me why schools teach you all kinds of History and Science you may NEVER need, but they don't equip you for LIFE 101. Maybe if we were taught more about how money works, we would be better at living within our means and NOT trying to live like someone else. Unfortunately, most of us spend up to our last penny of money, and even over sometimes, just to live, look, and do what others are doing.

So today's post at Frugally Sustainable asks us to write down ways in which we can stop spending money trying to impress others. We've been at this for a while so I'll share some of the things we are doing.

1) We don't impress others with what we choose to wear. I developed my own kind of "uniform" that I wear daily. Most days it's jeans and a t-shirt or long sleeve shirt and tennis shoes. All pretty economical. I have some dresses if I absolutely HAVE to dress up and shorts and tops for summer but mostly it's just jeans and t-shirts.
2) We don't impress others by going out to eat at fancy restaurants. We eat at home more than we eat out, buy food in bulk and have a food storage pantry. That gives me "options" come dinner time. AND I make the commitment to get in that kitchen everyday and make something. I usually write down menu ideas for the week based on what I have in my freezer and pantry and that's what we eat. I have spent money on kitchen tools that make "making dinner" easier such as a crock pot, pressure cooker, rice cooker, kitchen grill, etc.
3) We don't impress others by buying so much stuff that we are in debt up to our eyeballs! We save money every month. It's the first thing I do after we get paid. We take the money out of the bank so we are dealing with physical CASH and put it away. Out of sight, out of mind. Then we forget about it. If we absolutely need to have a bit more to make ends meet (we are only paid once a month!) then we will take out only the bit we need and no more.
4) We don't impress others by continually buying new stuff to decorate our house with. Instead, we use our God given skills to decorate, paint, sew up cute pillows and things that make our house homey and inviting.
5) We don't impress others by taking expensive vacations, buying the latest electronic gadgets and seeing movies a couple of times a week. We take vacations we can pay for with cash, keep our electronics years or until they break, which IS usually years and buy discount tickets for movies at Costco, wait for them to come out on TV or rent them for $1 at our local Redbox if we really can't wait.

For a really cute little "read", visit Beth Berry of Revolution of the Home and find out why she says Keeping Up With The Jones is LAME!

Day 9 - The 30 Day List

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 22:53:00 +0000

If you live in the USA, you probably LOVE instant gratification. You're hungry? Plenty of stores and restaurants open at all hours to help you. Love to shop? Even if your local stores are closed, there are plenty on the internet that are open. Want an IPad, coat, purse, golf clubs, gym membership? If you have credit or money in the bank, you can have it today. Instant.... Gratification.

But what would happen if you decided to wait just a bit? Would you still want it in, let's say 30 days? Thats the question posed today at Frugally Sustainable.

Daily Goal: Begin today using the 30-day list for non-essential purchases.

Sometimes I wonder just how much I "need" something. Is it a true NEED or is it just a WANT? So Andrea is having us print out a list, put the item we THINK we want on it, the date we wanted it and the price leave it on the list for 30 days. Put that list in an area where you see it daily. That gives you a chance to really do some thinking, to take the impulse out of the purchase. She suggests mulling it over for 30 days, checking prices, asking those important questions about it, really getting in touch with the "desire" for the item. Then at the end of 30 days, if you still want the item, you can get it... provided you pay CASH for the item.

How do I think this is going to work? BEAUTIFULLY! I shared yesterday that sometimes all I have to do is fill my cart and then leave it. There is something psychological about the entire shopping process. There has to be. How many people do you know that have gone completely bankrupt because they purchased what they had to have today, no matter what the price was, and opened up credit cards or used hard earned cash to satisfy the "need of the day"? And that item you HAD TO HAVE TODAY, is replaced by the NEW something else tomorrow. I think waiting to buy is going to save us a bunch of money!!

Day 8 - Learn To Control Impulse Spending

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 01:21:00 +0000

This is the Daily Goal from FrugallySustainable.com:

Determine your strategy for controlling impulse spending

Hi, I'm Karen and I'm an impulse shopper..... Its getting better but definitely NOT perfect! My downfall is Internet shopping. Lately I've used a little trick and it seems to be working. I'll shop here and there and put items in my "cart" but never check out. At the end of my computer session, I close all the shopping windows. Somehow it's working for me.

When store shopping, right before I check out, I "edit" my cart. Comes down to need or want. Wants are out or narrowed down to just one item. Some days the cart is ALL wants and I end up leaving the entire cart somewhere in the store. It seems to feed the need to shop without actually purchasing anything.

My husband and I decided to have a larger goal/ vacation plan to save for. Instead of getting the "feel good" feeling from a bunch of small impulse purchases that clutter up our living space, we are saving daily for something better that's worth waiting for. Seems to make it easier to NOT shop.

How about you? What are your weaknesses and how do you stop impulse shopping?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Day 5 - Save on Groceries

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:07:00 +0000

See list of 50 ways to save on groceries HERE:

Daily Goal: Pick a few things from the list that you think will have the greatest impact on your monthly grocery budget.

I think the money saving ideas I plan to adopt are....

9. Grow your own herbs. I'm a gardener and LOVE to put things in the ground. This past Fall, hubby bought a really nice greenhouse for outback and I can put some seeds in pots and grow indoors year round. Those herbs at the store that do so much for home cooking will be MUCH more economical this way.

14. Shop at Farmer's Markets. I am lucky enough to live in an area that has numerous Farmer's Markets per week. One of the largest is in San Luis Obispo on Thursday nights. We went last week and found some super deals on local seasonal fruit and veggies... yum yum. It was lots of fun too!

23. Keep your receipts and enter into a spreadsheet. I've done this for our monthly home and utility payments so I already have an idea of what I want to do. I think doing a spreadsheet would help with knowing when things go on sale locally and what a "good" price really is.

50. Make and use cloth grocery bags. LOVE the idea of making and taking my own bags. So much so that I've made some veggie bags already. I watched the video over at Frugally Sustainable (can you believe 5 bags from one single T-shirt!!) and plan to make some of those too. Over at the Zero Waste home, they use glass to carry home meat in... hmmm, don't know if I'd be brave enough to try that! Go check out the Johnson family HERE.

So those are some of my plans.... what do you do to save money when it comes to groceries?

Day 4 - Reducing Household Bills

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:20:00 +0000

"Pick ONE thing from this list that you can implement to start saving some extra cash and let us know in the comments and/or in the forum what you’re going to tackle."

15 Easy Ways to Save Money On Your Household Bills

1. Buy in Bulk - We do this regularly. Nearly everything we purchase is at either Costco or Smart and Final. We have a pantry area and freezer and are able to store food and most food has a freshness date of at least a year from purchase date. For those items of more of a fresh nature, we will as our kids what they could use and either give them the food or go in on the price and separate out the food. It has saved us a substantial amount of money!

2. Use Coupons - I've tried using coupons and if there is something SPECIFIC I need, I will attempt to use them. We do not, however, use every coupon, every week like some shoppers do. So many of the items are cleaners, hygiene or convenience foods and we make our cleaners, and food from scratch.

3. Use Space Heaters - Rather than using space heaters, we use throws to stay warm or layer some clothing items. We do occasionally start up our electric fireplace and let it warm up the room then shut it off. Along these lines, we have used a balanced payment plan for our utilities for YEARS! And average annual amount is divided into 12 equal payments and that is what we pay per month. At the end of every 3 months, differences are figured so you don't end up having those HUGE wintertime bills. Both our gas and electric company offer this service.

4. Open Windows in the Summer - Since we don't have air conditioning, we are forced to open the windows on nice days. On those occasional days when the temps creep up to 100, we will keep the curtains closed, and we use curtains that are "thermal", they help keep the warm in in the winter and the warm out in the summer. During the hottest days, we will use electric fans to keep the air circulating. A few years ago we put electric ceiling fans in nearly every room in our house and that has helped too.

5. Line Dry - I've done this on a small basis for the past year. I have just a small wooden clothing dryer but this year, we've already been trying to figure out a better way to dry everything on nice days. It's so bad sometimes that people think they can control what you have in your yard and no one wants to see your laundry (??) so we have kept it small for now. I LOVE the smell of the clothes and on most days it only takes 1/2 a day to dry.

**6. Telephones (home phones, cell phones, extras) - This is a hard one. I've had a smart phone for years. But my current phone is almost 3 years old. I've gotten very used to having a cell phone but it's pretty expensive with all the extras. I've thought about dropping back to a more basic phone and trying to go back to just using it for emergencies. As far as the home line goes, I'd love to drop it entirely but my husband's work requires a land line so we are stuck. I've told him that if they require it, they can pay for it, but we aren't that lucky...

**7. Bye-Bye Cable Television - This is another hard area for me. We don't go out to see movies all the time since we have the movie channels at home. BUT, have you noticed that those movies are very seldom new??!! So we actually went to Netfilx to get the streaming movies thinking we would get rid of the extras on cable. But I haven't done that yet. Plus, now that we are on the streaming only portion of Netflix, they don't have a ton of choices either. I guess we just need to bite the big one and go cold turkey. That's actually been on my list of to do New Years goals for the past 3 years!! Still watching....

8. Lights Out! - This isn't that hard for me. I'm always switching off the lights we aren't using. We also went through the inside of our house and replaced the expensive to use incandescent bulbs with fluorescent. Then outdoors we use solar rather than electric path lights. That has really saved us!

9. Cook from Scratch - This is another pretty easy thing for me to do. I've been cooking ever since I was a little kid and love it. I utilize the crockpot on busy days, put together freezer casseroles and think "dinner" right after breakfast so I have a plan for dinner and all the items necessary to complete it. We do go out one night a week on a date but you'd be surprised... once you start cooking at home, you really don't WANT to go out! Nothing is as good as what you make.

10. Use CASH - I know there are a lot of people that deal only in cash, meaning seeing that cash leave your hand. We don't go that far, I really HATE carrying cash, but we do leave the credit cards at home. If we can't afford it, we don't buy it.

11. DIY (Do It Yourself) - Thankfully, I have a VERY handy hubby. We've had electrical, mechanical and plumbing issues that he has been able to fix. He can take apart little appliances and make them work again like magic. This really helps when you buy those 2nd hand items at garage sales and thrift shops for pennies on the dollar but they don't work! And I've done my share of painting, cleaning and decorating for pennies.

12. Buy Used - Wow! My house can speak to the ways we've saved money here! One of my very best purchases last year was a fireplace for my living room that came with a HUGE mirror for $300 on Craigslist. Sound expensive? Not when you hear that it was really a $2000 fireplace!

We've also bought furnishings for our guest rooms, outdoor items and use and donate to our local Freecycle.

13. Cut Your Own Hair - Well, I don't know how to cut hair but I did pay for one of my daughters to go to cosmetology school and she cuts our hair for now. I also wear a very simple hairstyle.

**14. Pack Your Lunch - Hubby is working on this one. He doesn't mind taking his lunch and is probably only eating at work 2 times a week out. We usually make enough dinner that I will have leftovers for lunch the next day.

15. Make Homemade Cleaners - This is one thing I'd LOVE to learn more about. I think too many of the store bought cleaners are toxic to the environment, but most of the replacement cleaners don't quite measure up to the cleaning capability or the fresh smell. I'm still looking for recipes that I like and will probably check out the ones on Frugally Sustainable.

(Taken from the Frugally Sustainable Website)

Frugal Challenge - Day 3 Downsizing Your Home

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:44:00 +0000

Less house space = less stuff!

This little place is 107 sq. feet! People actually are living in these around the country.

http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/houses/stamper/

Read more about the frugal challenge HERE.

Today's Daily Goal:
Given your own unique situation and based off of what you have read today…determine your own goal. How would downsizing your home assist you in living frugally?

We bought our home in 1995 during a price dip in the market. We were able to secure Cal Vet financing since my husband had military service background. It was a low enough interest rate that we could afford the payments. Mind you, this was a LARGE home, 4 bedrooms and a full bath downstairs and a master bedroom suite upstairs. It was actually known as "Brighton Place" back then. An elderly care home in a residential neighborhood. Our 4 children were between the ages of 10 and 20 and all wanted a room of their own. We had rented in this area for 13 years and watched the housing market carefully. This home is only 12 blocks from the beach. I KNOW, I was pinching myself daily because I just could not believe we could really be living here! (Can't believe I don't have a good picture of it to show you. Guess I'll be taking some of those REALLY soon!)

As my husbands income went up and our kids were getting to "moving out" age, we changed our mortgage from a 30 year loan to a 15 year load which just doubled the monthly payment. Our intention is to have the house paid off by the time my husband retires. There would be no WAY he could retire and make a house payment.

Today's goal makes me think about home downsizing. Yes, we thought about that. But here, the homes jumped in prices so even if we bought a much smaller home, it would cost more than this one! We have downsized the items we keep IN the house, making the rooms into guest rooms minimally furnished. AND now that I've had 3 of my 4 kids come home and live for a while, I'm actually glad we DIDN'T downsize. (One family moved in because they lost their home to foreclosure) And my husband and I have thought that if we really needed to some day, we could probably even either rent rooms or close off the upper story and rent it out. We're also hoping that home prices will rise and as we pay down, the home's value will go up and if need be, we could THEN sell the house and make enough to live on through our final years. We also use the backyard for fruit and vegetable gardening which saves us quite a bit on our grocery bill.

Little Girl's Guest Room

My PLANS for our last Guest Room.

Our Beach Guest Room

Do we have other "home" ideas. Of course! We have a motorhome that is a very simple one bedroom, about 270 sq. ft. place. It is in great condition and fits hubby and I perfectly, at least for a couple of weeks at a time! I can't imagine living permanently in it, but we could if we had to. Forced frugality FOR SURE!

For now, I think we will just keep doing what we are doing. Our rooms downstairs are filled with necessities only and by the end of this year, I'm hoping we can say that about the rest of the house as well.

Frugal Challenge - Day 2 Scaling Down To "The Minimum Level"

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:42:00 +0000

Here is today's Goal from the Frugally Sustainable Challenge:

Examine your own unique situation and challenge yourself to the minimum level. How will seeking the minimum level effect the way you live now? What will you reduce today? What can you work on reducing in the future?

Bet you are asking yourself right about now what "minimum level" is. Well, let me give you an example. Let's say you wash your hair every morning by taking a 10 minute shower followed by blow drying and styling. What if you reduce your shower time to 8 minutes, or maybe even 5. Can you get it done in that amount of time? What if you only took a shower every OTHER day for 5 min. You can see that you would save water this way and the gas or electricity of heating that water. If you let your hair dry naturally, that would also cut back on electricity. When you find that point where you HAVE to take a shower at least every other day for 5 minutes and can only let it dry naturally 2 days of the week, that will be your minimum level. You've gone as low as you are willing or able to go.

Hubby and I have incorporated all kinds of minimums. We keep our thermostat low on the heater (thank GOD we live in a place that doesn't get really cold!) and add layers of clothes. We don't shower EVERY day, enough to keep smelling and looking good though. We've replaced all the bulbs in our house with low watt bulbs, lowered the thermostat on the hot water heater, bike and walk for errands and try do to clothes washing only a couple of times a week followed by hanging the wash outside on sunny days. We've made laundry soap, used less soap and shampoo and even less toothpaste. Did you know it only takes just a little 1/4 in. section to clean your entire mouth? We buy in bulk and repackage for freezer and make our meals at home. We've even added some solar panels on the roof to help charge things like our electric bikes. We even put in 2 rain barrels this year to catch any rain we may get to water our garden with over the season. So this challenge really is making me think!

I need to cut back on TV time every day. That would save some electricity and free me to do some other things. And I could probably use less water when I'm getting the dishwasher packed by putting a plug in the sink and reusing the water. We don't use the dishwasher unless it's totally FULL but lately, with my grandkids living with us, we've been washing dishes at least twice a day. Maybe I could do a hand wash load for one of those loads. And my garden... it WAS getting watered nearly every day unless it was raining but I'm in the process right now of getting it used to water every other day. It feeds us so I'm not really sure just how much I can reduce. We've added mulch around the plants so that should help keep the moisture in.

This topic will be tossed around in my head for most of the day as I assess my excesses (try saying THAT 3 times quickly!) and I'm hopeful that I will come up with a few more ways to save.

Frugal & Green

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Over at the Frugally Sustainable Blog, Andrea is conducting the "23 Day Frugal Living Challenge". If you are anything like me, saving money sounds really, REALLY good. (As in, this year I may ACTUALLY get to take that vacation that always seems to cost too much!!) Anyways, you can sign up for her daily newsletter, go to the forum and find out what other like minded people are doing to save money.... or you can just lurk I suppose! But you will definitely GAIN more by participating daily to see what you can do to come up with ways to save money.

Last week I was shopping our local Walmart for after Christmas stuff (hope didn't buy a THING!) when I went down their clearance isle and bumped into a single sheer curtain marked down to $2. Now I read ALOT of blogs everyday and I remember seeing SOMETHING about that so I picked it up. Sure enough, Wendy over at Wisdom Of The Moon had done a great little "how-to" about it. Yay! Now I live in California and you can bet we will be seeing an end to the plastic shopping bag VERY soon and then what's next... the produce bags!! Remembering that I had picked up some produce bags a LONG time ago at my local health food store, I pulled one out for measurements and to see how it was constructed. Cute, huh?

These are made by the Earthwise Bag Company. You can find more of their products offered on Amazon HERE. If you do a search on Amazon for "produce bags" you can see a few different varieties.

This morning, I laid out my curtain, and using the Earthwise bag as a pattern, I cut out a couple of bags. On my curtains, there was a hem that I utilized for the drawstring area. For the rest of the curtain though, I will be having to make my own hem, which may prove to be a good thing. I'm having some issues with fraying even though I put some fray check on. My measurements came to 28" wide (drawstring area finished at the top) and 30" long. You could adjust these for whatever size you may want though.

Here is my first attempt. It is about the same size as the Earthwise one I had.

Seams are are on the inside and I used a tiny piece of jute twine to cinch it up with at the top.

And this is my second attempt. Because I noticed the material wanted to fray quite a bit, I decided to try using some double sided seam tape. I stitched around the three sides first, then put the tape on and stitched around again. I actually went around a third time just to make absolutely certain it would be strong. This bag was just a few inches bigger.

This drawstring was constructed using about a yard of seam tape that I had stitched closed. Much stronger, but as you can see... was not able to stop the fraying right where the drawstring comes through. I'm going to make a few more to see if I can perfect the process.

Now at this point, being Frugal, you might be asking yourself... well, it's not sheer plastic. I mean, those produce bags weigh NOTHING!! Good point! So I decided to weigh each of these to find out just how much more I would be paying for at the grocery store. The first was the Earthwise bag.

Just 2 tenths of an ounce! Not bad!

My first bag with the jute drawstring..... 7 tenths of an ounce. I could feel a difference although very slight between the first and second.

And my last bag with the seam tape was 9 1/2 tenths of an ounce, nearly an entire ounce. Even though these may weigh more than the bought variety, I could still use them when the produce is priced "5 items for $1" without the weight being an issue.

So that's my green thought of the day. Think "Green" and recycle or repurpose something old. These curtains could just as easily been found at my local Goodwill store or a garage sale. Turn it into something new and useful. I should be able to make about 6 to 8 produce bags out of my $2 find!

What will you do today to save some money? Share it over at the Frugally Sustainable Challenge so we can learn from you too! Look me up... my user name is "GrowGreen".

When is enough, ENOUGH?

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:35:00 +0000

Day one of the 23 Day Challenge at Frugally Sustainable. There is still time to get on board yourself and glean some money SAVING tips. Why don't you head over and sign up?

Here is the goal for today......

"Reflect upon your thoughts surrounding frugality. What are some misconceptions that you will need to overcome? How has materialism and useless spending held you in bondage?"

I'm probably older than most of you participating. I've had my family and come out the other side. When I was first married, being frugal to me was like being poor. Frugal people shopped at thrift stores, turned off lights, kept heaters low and wore extra layers of clothing. They ate at home and made clothes on their sewing machines. They had very few possessions, maybe rode bikes to work or school. The kids had made toys or toys that didn't require batteries. Being frugal equaled living a very difficult life.

Then I had my children and wanted to stay home with them rather than work. In order to be able to do that, I had to DO some of those frugal things.

If I had let's say, $20 to spend on my kids clothes, was I going to spend it on 1 or 2 pieces of clothing at a store or find multiple items of clothing for them, in great condition, at garage sales or second hand stores? I bought a sewing machine and learned how to create simple clothing and remake clothes into something else. I learned to quilt to make beautiful, as well as functionally WARM, blankets for our beds. We ate at home rather than going out, baked from scratch, gardened and really cut back on what we spent every month. And maybe, just maybe, we would have some money left at the end of the month instead of spending every last penny, and save a bit of cash each month.

BUT, sometimes enough money STILL wasn't enough. We fell under the spell of consumerism, buy now, pay later. Get a new car, new TV, vacations, new home furnishings and use credit so you could SLOWLY pay back. Wow! That REALLY got us into trouble. The bottom line is you NEVER seem to be able to pay off the cards..... EVER!

We were literally In Bondage to our credit cards.

We worked really hard at paying things off, AGAIN, and this time vowed we would never find ourselves in that kind of financial mess again.

After nearly 34 years of marriage, we finally figured it out. Being frugal wasn't about being poor. It was about being rich and contented with where we were. We didn't feel like we had to "Keep up with the Joneses" anymore. We'd rather have a simply furnished house that was clean and inviting rather than a house filled with clutter. We'd rather take simple vacations, even "Staycations" (saved up for), that allows us to unwind and relax rather than visit exotic places with no rest and financed by credit cards. Having money in the bank feels better!

Last year my husband and I decided to go back to more of the frugal ways.

And you know what?

WE LIKED IT!

We've turned off the TV and played games. We've thrift store shopped and found real GEMS like THIS bread maker. We've taken up gardening again and were able to supplement our diets with fresh fruit and vegetables. I've made a few quilts and blankets for my grandkids, started baking bread about once a week and canned, dehydrated and frozen locally grown produce for a later time. Instead of always driving we'll walk or ride our bikes. You're right, that takes more time, but it's a good time to walk and talk with each other. It's become almost a game to see how little we can spend on items.

Does that mean we're in a perfect place? No....

Over the years, we've accumulated too much stuff. We spend too much time organizing our stuff, cleaning our stuff, paying extra to store our stuff. You know the kind of stuff I'm talking about. The stuff that has emotional baggage attached to it. "I can't give that away, it belonged to my great Aunt Lulu!" It's old, can't be used for what it was designed for, is basically worth nothing, but you can't seem to throw it away or give it away. It becomes like a noose around your neck!

And what have we learned from that?

That we have "holes" in our emotional lives that we THINK we can fill with "THINGS" that would make us feel better. We may feel better for that day, or week, or maybe even year, but eventually that "thing" doesn't make us happy anymore.

Then, I think we end up hanging on to the stuff because our emotional bodies remember the good feeling we used to have. We think that if we get rid of the stuff, we will also get rid of the feeling, especially if we are unable to replace that item. But as Oprah says, "When you know better, you do better!" Now we know better.

So for us, it's a New Year and getting rid of THE STUFF is our goal for this year. It's going to be fun cleaning out the old and simplifying. We are ready! I think we will even find a little more of this in our monthly budget.

An "almost" year in review....

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:05:00 +0000

December 2011

We're getting ready to bid the old year Goodbye...

It's been a choice not to make very many posts this year. Every time I would sit down to write I'd say, "Who wants to read about that!!??" My mom used to tell me.....

If you're my age, I'll bet you've heard that line before too. And what can I say? For us, 2011 was a pretty challenging year.

It seemed like every time we had a "crisis" of one kind or another that resolved, another even larger "crisis" would rise up to take it's place. It was the first year for me that I've had to live with chronic pain from what I found out in November, was a labral tear in my hip area. Seems as I age, arthritis is setting in and the Doc recommended a hip replacement. I'm trying to fend that off for a while in hopes that maybe there will be a way to have relief without such drastic measures, but it means living daily with quite a bit of pain and the inability to do things I love to do like take long walks and play with my grandkids.

But for the most part, I'd have to say it was due to the economy. We are working class people and we raised our kids to be the same. They went to school, graduated, entered the job market, and have been steadily working while having children of their own. We are talking 2 income families here. Despite that, 2 of our children have lost their homes this year. One of our daughters was fortunate enough to find another home closer to us that her father and mother-in-law are helping them get. Our other daughter's little family is living with us. Every day I'm thankful that we still have a job and are able to put a roof over our heads and those of our kids, but in the back of my mind, I wonder just how long we will be able to. In California right now, work is hard to come by. My one son-in-law has TONS of applications out there to try and find work and so far, no real bites. I've featured his carpentry work on my blog and he is an EXCELLENT worker but new construction in our area is BUST!

Adversity has helped us be more frugal though. We are eating more fruit and veggies from our ever growing backyard garden.

We no longer go out to eat so much, maybe only a time or two a week. We make short around the town trips on our bikes or scooters to save gas, and have gotten into "couponing" to save money at the grocery store. I've even been baking bread, canning food and sewing little projects like reusable grocery bags. We've hooked up some solar power on our roof and are prepared to "catch" water in rain barrels this year to help water our garden in the even of drought.

I've learned a lot about making do and handling the rough patches in life. But at the end of the year... coping is taking its toll and I think we are ALL really ready to move on into what I'm hoping will be the turn around year.

That said, I'm setting up some goals for next year, trying to come up with a "Word of the Year".

I hope each of you have had a much better year and are making plans of your own for an even better 2012.

Peace and blessings of the year....

Karen

Bounty

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:39:00 +0000

A quick little garden update....

Our gardening year began with a harvest of sweet shelling peas, strawberries and Ollalieberries. We were getting so much berry fruit this year I finally decided I would have to freeze some along with eating it and giving a bunch away. We planted zucchini, yellow squash and pattypan squash in April and have been harvesting that for the last month and are about to pull whats left and plant a heavy crop of Roma tomatoes and basil. I'm hoping to be able to make and can spaghetti sauce for the upcoming year. And right now, we are having to pick apples daily to keep up with the fruit our little tree is giving us. So far, we are mostly drying it but I found a recipe online for apple pie filling that looks delish!! And the apples would make really good applesauce too, so I have some options.

Hubby and I have already discussed moving some of our planting boxes to the yard and increasing how many we have. We have done a pretty good job supplementing what we have to buy and because our year is so mild, we are able to garden year round.

A New Color

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 23:28:00 +0000

The finish on my "Craigslist Bed" is beautiful but kind of "cold" don't you think? It's a white finish with an almost silver blue marbling. I LOVE the "bones" of this bed frame, but I'm not entirely in love with the color. So I've been hunting for a new color to paint it and today...

I think I found it!

Oh yeah! This is more like it.... warm, inviting, rich...

This is THE PERFECT color to paint the iron bed in my guest room!

Antique Brush Gold.

That warm hue on the cold iron....

DELICIOUS!

I've been a BUSY girl!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 16:51:00 +0000

So busy in fact that I've been really, REALLY bad about posting here. Some things I've been doing...

Sewing... I've finished nearly 4 crib size quilts since January and I'm working on the 5th now. (I'll share some pictures when I get them uploaded)

Crafting with Paper...

A little (long overdue!) banner for my grand-daughter Hannah's room. Ribbon will be strung through the back, each "flag" will be joined together with a bow and it will be hung on the wall of her little nursery. Hopefully I'll be able to share a picture of that when I'm done.

Baking...

Mostly experimenting with bread lately. I love the smell and aroma of fresh baked bread, don't you?

Cracked Wheat

Sourdough

Yummy Pretzels!

OK, I need to stop right her or my computer will need to be fixed from all the drooling I'm doing!!

Gardening....

A full bed of zuchinni, yellow and pattypan squash

and Shelling peas. We also had a bumper year of Ollallieberries, Strawberries, avocados, and citrus fruit and itty, bitty baby grapes all over my vines!

Not to mention a beautiful bed of roses, lavender, chocolate mint and several other herbs.

I'm also in the early stages of another room makeover. Here are some of the ideas I hope to use.

I was looking for a bed for the room like the one in photo 5 above. I wanted it to wrap around at the headboard and footboard but be made of iron rather than wood. Within 2 days of finding that picture, I HAD FOUND THE BED!! A REALLY sweet lady on Craigslist was moving and selling hers for $50... yup, that's it in photo 1. above. Still deciding if I want to leave it white, as is, or paint it a little darker bronze type color like photo 2. Already looking on Craigslist DAILY for a dresser like photo 3 and hubby is brushing up on his skills to create "Board and Batten" on the walls. We have wainscoting in some of our home and this would look similar but different. For one thing, we MAY go a little higher on the wall, more like photo 4.
Found a really GREAT faux fireplace on Craigslist too.
This is it!! A $2100 fireplace and a beautiful, HUGE gilded mirror for $300! You can't tell it from this picture but this isn't one of those little heater kinds of fireplaces... it is very realistic, uses a remote control for all the settings and produces lots of yummy warm heat!

My plan? To create something like this living room wall only in my guest room... a fireplace with shelves to either side for books and knick-knacks and then either the mirror or a fabulous TV above.... LUXURY!! Toss in a few more pictures and goodies on the wall like photo 8 and maybe some whimsical items like in photo 7 and the room should be good to go!! My plan is to have this room completed by Labor Day.... give or take a few months.

So peeps, that's what I've been working on; growing, doing, creating, future planning and dreaming, dreaming, DREAMING! I hope you are busy enjoying your summer and coming up with things to do and see.

I LOVE Paris in the Fall.....

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 15:13:00 +0000

Wow, I just found THIS blog that is giving away round trip airfare from the continental USA to Paris and a week in the city of lights!!! Jordan, over at Oh Happy Day is offering the vacation of a lifetime! So you KNOW I'm going to be crossing my fingers and singing, "I love Paris in the Springtime. I Love Paris in the Fall.........What a treat it would be to win this contest!! Head on over today, follow her directions for entering and "Bon Chance"...(just practicing up on my French 'cause I'm planning on being the BIG winner!)

365 Days of Slow Cooking: Do you want my cookbook?

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 21:09:00 +0000

Helped a fellow blogger over the last few weeks with a contest she was conducting for her crockpot cookbook. It was so much FUN!! She set it up like a tournament and we did cookoffs and ratings on how well we liked the results. I made Zuppa Toscana, Chicken Lasagne, Coconut Thai Shrimp and Rice and my all time favorite, Chicken Cordon Bleu. My favorite ended up second and it was GOOD!!

If you're looking for some super good recipes... head on over to Karen's website HERE and while you are there, sign up to win her cookbook.... I did!!

365 Days of Slow Cooking: Do you want my cookbook?

February.....

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:49:00 +0000

What I've been working on this past month....

Remember the little rag quilt project I was working on? Finished!

With all the rain we've been having my garden beds are THRIVING! We are talking about adding more beds into our yard and planting even more garden veggies. My husband is a whiz with a saw and having home grown fresh produce will save us money at the store!

My husband and I have been working on "being prepared". We've taken some steps around the house to organize camping equipment, work on our food storage, build up a emergency water supply and learn a few new skills. We each made 72 hour food packages for our cars and larger bags filled with first aid items, warm clothes and camping type equipment. Better to think ahead and be prepared than to have something happen and be fumbling around not knowing what to do.

Wes and I are taking steps to get HAM licenses, hopefully our respective father's old numbers. Its a fun way to communicate with others and in emergency situations.

Started another Blog! This one is about making bread from scratch. All I have to say is, I'm going to making and eating a lot of bread this year! It's my goal to make bread making a weekly experience in my house and to take some loaves of bread to my local fair and try for the Blue Ribbon. You can find a link to this blog in the right hand column.

We are once again empty nesters. Our daughter and her little family moved to a really cute little rental that is PERFECT for them. They were able to be close-by, have their pets back and be within walking distance to Arroyo Grande. This is a BIG step for them and I know they are going to be happy and make this "Home" for a while.

Camping again! We took our motorhome out in January and had so much fun and peace that we are going to try and camp at least a weekend of every month. This month we hope to go up to Santa Margarita Lake, about 45 minutes from here, and stay for the weekend.

Saving money!! As I said in my last post, hubby wants to retire soon, so we are taking some steps to make that happen. Starting in January, we doubled the amount of money we were saving and made a payoff plan for our debt, which isn't really that big but we don't want to carry any debt into our retirement. To save money, we stopped eating out so much, used coupons at the grocery store, walked or took the scooters places instead of driving and watched movies we owned and on Netflix instead of paying for high priced movies out. We are also going to be setting up a Trust to protect what we do have in the event of our death.

I have been working on my Ali Edwards "One Little Word" project, but it seems to be taking a different path as it so often does. I chose ROOTS as my word this year thinking it would be filled with genealogy. In late January, our fruit trees needed pruning and as I'm trimming away, I thought of all the farmers in my past who did it. I've been baking bread from scratch, storing food, quilting and sewing. "Roots" hasn't been just about finding out who I am but how I am connected to those that came before me!

HERE is a little project from Martha Stewart I'm going to be working on for a wall in my dining room. Both my husband and I have loads of old family pictures we are going to label and feature on our "Ancestor" wall.

It has been a really fun, BUSY month and I can't wait to see what March is going to bring.

January....

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 22:01:00 +0000

The year has gotten off to a rather crazy start. But crazy makes the time go by faster right?

My husband and I are putting the finishing touches on our little upstairs "apartment". We donated quite a few items, sold some of the larger things and threw out a lot of useless junk! Now we are debating whether to keep our ugly old TV / entertainment center or just get one of the smaller flatscreen ones that we could even hang on the wall for space purposes.

I LIKE this!

Looks clean and clutter free! It doesn't even NEED the candle holders or pictures on the wall. Looks like I'll need to downsize even MORE stuff!

Our area of California has been unseasonably warm.... in the 70's! We took our scooters out to Lopez Lake and made some reservations to camp this upcoming weekend. Here is a map of the "Blue Jay" section.... we will be in Space 31. We are VERY excited to go on our first campout of the year and are already planning something in April as well.

I've been spending quite a bit of time sewing in my new little area. Last week I found some really cute baby flannel and cut out a bunch of 8 in. squares to make a little "Rag Quilt". My husband helped me hang some flannel on one of my sewing walls and I've been working out the pattern. If you've never tried using a "design wall", I highly recommend it. You just take your piece and pat it onto the flannel and it stays in place like MAGIC!! This is probably going to be the front and I'm working on what to do for the back now. If you'd like to try one yourself, you can find some really good directions and a video HERE.

Lucky me, one of my Facebook friends gifted me with some GORGEOUS antique pillow slipcovers all done in linen. Here is a sampling of them....

These were hand embroidered!

Look at the cutwork!

And lead buttons! Thank you so much again Bette!! Your Shabby Chic items are finding a good home here!

And since January is typically a month to think about finances and taxes... Wes and I are have been spending time making plans for retirement. Yes, it is still a few years off, but good planning is one of the BEST ways to ensure we will be able to live comfortably as we age. By living more frugally and saving more of what we make each month, we should reach our goal when Wes is about 62. I'm actually very excited and motivated because I LOVE having my husband home every day. We are going to make our little "Nest Egg" a priority!

Yes, yes.... I have been having so much fun with all my little grandchildren. When they all come over, you can barely hear yourself think! But I wouldn't have it any other way! We hosted a little "potato bar" dinner here in early January.... good food, good family, lots of grandkids.... IT WAS THE BEST!! I'm trying to get them to each couple to set up a "date night" every other week or so and drop the kids here. They love to play together and the time flies by.

And last but not least.... my little backyard garden beds are growing so well! When the weather started warming up, I planted cauliflower, broccoli and snow peas in box 1 and English peas, onion, celery and asparagus in box 2. Wow, look at them them now!

Box 1

Box 2

"Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity."

Hello 2011!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 06:12:00 +0000

Goodbye 2010 and HELLO 2011!!

Almost 10 days into the New Year and what have I been working on?

A little Digital Scrapbooking using THIS program.....

Skyping with the Grandkids I don't always see daily.....

This is Grandson, Anthony with his baby sister, Audrey......

Taking Ali Edwards class....

One Little Word over HERE......... (There's still room in the class if you're interested too!)

My One Little Word for the year is ROOTS. The genealogy has come out of the box and work has already started filling in the blanks. Plans to use Ancestry.com eventually to further the research.

I've taken a really messy area in my house and transformed it into a really cute little sewing area and I've been sewing again. IT'S BEEN YEARS since I sat down to make anything and it feels really, REALLY good! There's just something about the smell of fresh laundered material being ironed!

I found some pink fabric, just a small amount that matched and here is what I decided to make. Doing some foundation or paper piecing and THIS pattern, I think I will make a small wall hanging for my sewing area.

And this is a 1 yd. tote bag/ purse I found HERE. Vanessa's tutorial and pattern are SO easy to follow. Check her out at The Crafty Gemini. Entire bag only ended up costing $6 and it is SO cute and sturdy. Think I will be putting a few more together for grocery trips.

I'm loving this year so far....

Here are a few other things I want to do this year......

Camping, journaling, going away for a "ME" weekend, cooking... LOTS, taking pictures with my Christmas present camera, enjoying my family, being outdoors, Gardening, READING, genealogy.... LOTS, finding my roots, the deep down answer to the question, "Who Am I anyway?" and blogging, much more blogging and sharing......

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 00:14:00 +0000

Feed The Need

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 02:00:00 +0000

Last week I saw a video someone had posted on Facebook. It brought tears to my eyes, hurt to my heart and after watching it, a determination to find something I could do in my community to help. Please take a moment and watch this video from beginning to end....

I started looking around for something I could do in my area. It didn't take very long.

California has been hit with storms over the last week of a magnitude we haven't seen in YEARS. We were taking an exit to Christmas shop and there, squatting under an umbrella in pouring down rain, was a homeless man. No warm coat, just wet. I'm searching my car for something I could give him and I had nothing with me. NOTHING! No money, no food, nothing. As he came near my car I was almost in tears because there was nothing I could do. But then he passed my car.... it seems the car behind me had called him over and he was responding. I look in my rear view mirror and out comes a hand with a brown lunch bag tied with ribbon, maybe Christmas cookies leftover from a school party? But the bells went off in my head!

I CAN DO THAT!!

How hard could it be to go shopping for some food, put it in a lunch bag and pass it out to the homeless in my community?? Right after we pulled into our parking space at Costco, I used my phone to see if anyone was already doing this and what they were putting into the bags. THIS is what I found. We were on the way to Costco so I started putting things in my basket I thought would be nutritional and filling. We stopped at Smart and Final and even our local Dollar Store that day and brought home all kinds of things. I'm a crafter so I already had 100 lunch bags and I've helped throw several baby showers over the past couple of years so I had plenty of plastic forks and spoons. The excitement was mounting and taking over!

My daughter and I filled 8 lunch bags on the first day. She took 4 for her car and I took 4 for mine. When the need arose, we would be prepared! And it wasn't long after we put them in that we were able to start giving them out.

I have plans.... BIG PLANS!! I talked to each of my kids asking them if they wanted to help out. If they could commit to even $20 a month in money so we could pool our funds, that would be $100 of supplies a month! Each of us could help make and take the bags to our communities since we don't all live in the same town. And if we had enough money for food, we would start supplying socks, hats, warm clothing as we could. And we would make a commitment to do this for the entire upcoming year.

So you will notice a new little item over there ------> on my blog. A donation button! If you want to help me help others in my community, I sure hope you will think about donating a few dollars. And if you can't donate here, I hope you will think about taking this idea to your own community. Find something you can do and do it for the entire year. And when you do, I sure hope you will make a comment here, a link, a way to follow your endeavor too.

Spread the love, Feed The Need, One Person At A Time

We Are Family!

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:42:00 +0000

Pictures. If you are like me you have a bunch of them. This one was take just a couple of weeks ago as we were enjoying a visit to Avila Barn. My niece shared it on Facebook a couple of days ago and it's really special to me. From the moment I laid eyes on it I saw the magic that is Family.

(Back row left to right - Me, My sister Lynn, my niece Carla - Carla's sons Cade in the middle and Jake, bottom middle)

My sister Lynn says, "you can see we are related, we look alike." And that we kind of do. But I saw something more. The interconnectedness of a family. Without planning it at all, look at how we are each touching someone. My niece has her arm around my sister. My arm is around my sister and Cade. Lynn has her hand on Jake... we are connected, family. It reminded me of the roots of a tree.... grounded, strong, a bit tangled into each others lives perhaps but that wanting to be included... tangled....touched.

Our families, our "trees" of connectedness, those that have come before and those that will come after us, our wonderful, beautiful, sustaining and strong roots.

I'm so excited to be embarking on my journey next year. The journey my One Little Word will take me on. My journey to document my Roots.....

Seek out your roots and you will find your life.

My One Little Word For 2011 is......

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 17:34:00 +0000

I've played along with the Ali Edwards, One Little Word Challenge for the past 2 years.In 2008, my word was Greatfulness. There was SO much to be Grateful for that year. In one year we added 3 grandsons to our family. Last year I chose REcreate. What I was hoping for was a year of having fun, camping, doing all sorts of recreational activities. But I think the "Universe" heard RE create and instead of laying around on some beautiful beach, we did home repairs and fix-ups for the entire year! My home is gorgeous now and I'm really happy I picked that word, BUT, like the end of 2009, I'm ready for a break.

I've tossed around words like peace, tranquility, rest, serenity, meditation but nothing has really seemed right. Then I was doing some reading yesterday and it said to just let the word choose you. I'm open, I'm waiting..... I think I'm hearing my One Little Word coming in....

My One Little Word for 2011 is.... ROOTS!

I'm the keeper of my family's genealogy. For as long as I can remember, I was interested in family photos, stories, people, places. When my mom passed away in 2001, I inherited her family tree information and it has been in a box ever since. It's not been easy looking through it, but now that 10 years have passed, I think I'm finally ready to really do some thorough recording and then make it available to my family.

"Our family is like the branches of a tree. We may grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one. Each of us will always be a part of the other"

Thankful - Day 18

noreply@blogger.com (Karen) — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:48:00 +0000

"If The Only Prayer You Say In Your Entire Life Is - 'Thank You' - That Is Enough"

Thanksgiving is only a week away. People all around the United States will be celebrating with a bountiful table filled with roast turkey or a vegetarian substitute with all the trimmings. We in America are really blessed when it comes to food.

Most of us have never experienced starvation or empty cupboards. When I was little, I did hear stories of that from my Mom though who lived through the Depression as a young girl. There is a really sweet woman over on YouTube, Clara, who features Depression Cooking along with stories of what it was like to live during that time. Check her out!

But for my entire life, my cupboards, refrigerator, pantry shelves and freezer have been full. Sometimes too full.

We not only have food, a substance to fill our hungry stomachs, but we can have what we want to eat, when we want to eat it, pretty much fresh the entire year round! Fancy restaurants take good food and go one step further creating a feast for the eyes as well!

Do you say Grace over your meals? Take just a moment before eating to be Thankful? I try to even if it is just silently thinking the words, "Thank You." I'm reminded of when I was little and we'd all sit down to our family dinners. Our little Grace went like this.....

"God Is Great, God Is Good, Let Us Thank Him For This Food"

We also used this one.....

Thank you for the World So Sweet,

Thank You for the food we eat.

Thank you for the birds that sing,

Thank you God for everything.

Today I'm Thankful for having enough to eat and drink, having enough food that I can share with those less fortunate and to farmers and ranchers everywhere who make having the bounty possible.