A Few Veggies From the Garden Today

Our little garden has not done well this year with the very hot weather, and my soaker hose sprung a leak. The plants are twisted around it, so there is no removing it this season. Something new this year - green peppers, and they have done well. I'll be planting this again next year.

Some years are more prolific than others, but the garden always offers up something.

Expired Coupons for Overseas Military Families

Addicted to Savings is collecting expired coupons for military families to use at overseas commissaries. See here for details and address.

Paper Roll Art

Búhos y un gato(Owls and a Cat)

Vintage Children's Poetry for August

Printable and in public domain. Found here. To Copy and print at link, right click on the image of the pages.

Printable Vintage Paper Doll Set - Mary Had a Little Lamb

Click to The Paper Collector for entire set.

Easy Couponing Without Chasing the Sales

My stockpile is running low, so I've stepped up my couponing recently. I've been purchasing multiple(same item) coupons on ebay for items that we already use. Yesterday I was able to get pasta at Wallyworld for .36 cents a box with 20 ebay coupons. We already shop the discount stores(Dollar General, Save-A-Lot, etc.)for low prices, so these coupons go a long way to saving us money. I keep a grocery price book for comparison, much of which is committed to memory. I'll buy name brand items when they are less expensive than store brands. With the price book I can tell if a coupon will bring me in under the store brand price.

This couponing method saves us money, but is much less time consuming than collecting multiple coupons and matching it with sales at various stores(Extreme Couponing). Rather than an "all or nothing" approach, we have hit a middle ground. I've got a list of name brand items that we purchase, and with this I search out coupon auctions. I'll also search by type of product, like "pasta", to catch other coupons on brands I don't usually purchase, but know are value priced.

For the most part, coupon auction purchases cost less than the value of two or three coupons. Taking the total coupon savings minus the cost of the coupon purchase can result in big savings. I save about five to seven dollars on each purchase. Generally, I purchase 15-20 same item coupons at a time. If the expiration date allows me time, I will try to wait for a sale, and do a bit of price matching. However, I don't feel like I must price match and chase the best deal because the coupons I purchase are for items we already use, and I know they are already value priced at my discount stores. This halfway Extreme Couponing approach takes a lot of pressure off couponing.

Vintage Old Time Radio Hallmark Hall Of Fame Dramatized Audio-History MP3

THE HALLMARK HALL OF FAME

9 shows - total playtime 4 hours 27 minutes for $5.00

Hallmark Hall Of Fame 530322 07 Nathaniel Pitt Langford
Hallmark Hall Of Fame 530329 08 Cyrus Field
Hallmark Hall Of Fame 530405 09 Katherine Booth & Salvation Army
Hallmark Hall Of Fame 531101 25 Mary Ann Bickerdyke
Hallmark Hall Of Fame 531108 26 Sheldon Jackson
Hallmark Hall Of Fame 531115 27 William Newton Byers
Hallmark Hall Of Fame 531122 28 Squanto Cockney Indian
Hallmark Hall Of Fame 531129 29 Benjamin Franklin
Hallmark Hall Of Fame 531206 30 Major Charles Yeager

"In 1953, The Hallmark Hall of Fame debuted with Lionel Barrymore as the host and a new story format. "

Click here to view more. There is a sample MP3 to listen to sound quality before you purchase.

Contact with Soil Can be Beneficial

HT to Tea at Trianon.

"...A strain of bacterium in soil, Mycobacterium vaccae, has been found to trigger the release of seratonin, which in turn elevates mood and decreases anxiety. And on top of that, this little bacterium has been found to improve cognitive function and possibly even treat cancer and other diseases. Which means that contact with soil, through gardening or other means, is beneficial. How did this discovery come about? "

Read more here.

No wonder gardening makes me happy!

Easy Butterless Pie Crust

I made apple pie last night and used this recipe for the crust. It was so good with my filling made from our early season garden apples. I like a sweeter crust, so I changed the recipe by adding a handful of sugar and a bit more oil for workability. The subtle taste of salt in the crust is a delicious contrast with the sweet filling, and the extra sugar added to the crust recipe. I'd keep the salt despite reviews which suggest otherwise.

Open Wallet, Flying Dollars

When one thing wears out and breaks, more is sure to follow. My computer has meet the end of the road. I still have a big clunky HP PC, purchased about seven years ago. My old printer is shot as well. So I've ordered an Asus Mini-PC(Acer AspireRevo AR3700-U3002 Slim and Compact Desktop) and a HP Deskjet 3000 Printer. I can't wait to get them set up.

On a whim, I looked into prepaid wifi service. Last time I checked it was just at the cusp of being developed, and I have discovered that now it's readily available; the selection of service providers and coverage continues to grow. I went with T-mobile(good coverage in our area) prepaid high speed wireless service . I chose 30 days for $30.00(no contract). We already use T-mobile for our prepaid cell phones. By canceling our land line, we'll actually be spending less than we are now with dial-up which is $12.00 a month and phone service which runs about $30.00 a month. Our dial-up service has been relatively good, and it's been very reliable; however, it has limited us to web surfing and very slow downloads. If the prepaid wifi works out for us, we'll be saving about $120.00 per year.

I'm hopeful that all of these changes will be a good fit for us. And I think we got some good deals, but I always wish that things would last longer - technology marches on. Computer replacements tend to be a surprise expense, especially if you tend to use them up and squeeze out every last nanobyte.

One Step Tile, Stone, and Grout Cleaner & Resealer

A salesperson at Ace Hardware recommended TileLab's One Step Cleaner & Resealer for my tile floors in the bathrooms. Our tile work is relatively new, and I wanted to keep the grout looking new. In the past, I've used bleach or bleach based products and a stiff brush on grout, but this product is much easier. I looked up the toxicity, and it's made with non-hazardous materials(low VOCs). All I had to do was spray it on and wipe up. It was easy on my hands as well. This was a great find and really delivers.

Amazon carries it, but unfortunately, there is no free shipping. Amazon customer reviews are five out of five stars for performance. This product may be available at the big box stores. I know the Ace and True Value hardware stores carry it.

Children's Summer Ebook Reading: Classic Tales and Old-Fashioned Stories

Young Folks Treasury, 1909.

Free and in public domain, short and long children's old fashioned stories and classics with color illustrations. I like these free public domain Project Gutenberg books because you have the option of copying and pasting only the stories that you want to print. There are a good number of download options as well: Kindle, EPUB, HTML, etc.

Kindle and Nook Hacks for Downloading Books

Quick PDF conversions for Kindle without software, and accessing entire Project Gutenberg book library with the Magic Catalog download. See here.

Making Coffee in a Cast Iron Pot

A month ago my glass coffee pot broke from my electric coffee maker. I thought about purchasing a new one, but I am trying to do more with less. I like to maximize my space on the counters. The next morning in desperation for coffee, I tried making coffee in my cast iron tea kettle, and it was very good! With a little experimentation, I discovered that the grounds sink to the bottom when the water is left to come to a rolling boil, taken off the heat immediately, and then left to sit for a minute or two. I don't even need to strain the grounds. The tea pot is well seasoned, so clean up is very easy, just a rinse and quick scrub.

I cook two cups of coffee with half a pot of water and two heaping spoons of grounds. So easy! And I've got more counter space now, not to mention no glass coffee pot and coffee maker to clean.

Saturday Homemade Pizza Night

Homemade yeast-less crust, spaghetti sauce, bag of mixed shredded cheese, less than half of a 45 slice pack of peperoni(dollar store), and some frozen collard greens( all I had left in the freezer).

Free Kindle Ready Homeschool/Educational Books

A compilation of Kindle ready Ambleside Online and House of Education free downloadable books, categorized by year.

See here.

Playing Tourist with Day Trips

We're staying closer to home this summer, but we are still getting out to have fun getaway days. I began using the TripAdvisor to find things to do and places to visit under "Attractions". They have interesting visitor reviews categorized by ratings within specific cities. I've found a few new places and sites to visit within an hours drive. Best of all, many of the attractions are free or very inexpensive. Just to name a few, I found two working farms open to visitors and a smaller Civil War battlefield with a highly rated tour within 50 miles of us.

Keeping Freedom Alive, We are 235 Years Young

My country, my home, I can't help but love this country. Happy Independence Day! May we keep a young spirit full of hope and determination.

HT to Esther for the image.

Some Flowers from the Garden

Many of our flowers were begun from dollar store seeds that were simply scattered on some fresh soil.





The small orange lily flower plant was an ebay purchase several years ago. They have sword-like leaves and long stocks with tiny orange speckled flowers at the end. They multiple and spread nicely.



Wild flowers from dollar store seed packets. These have been mixed among our vegetables. They keep the weeds down and add nice color.

Harvesting Early Season Apples

We harvested our lone apple tree yesterday. The apples filled that big green planter pot in front of the ladder.

The apples are rather small, so I boil them whole. Most of them pop open and the outer layer just peels off. With a fork I scrap out the innards. There is a good amount even in a small apple. I was able to make an oatmeal apple crisp last month with just ten of these tart green apples.

With this large amount of apples, I'll be freezing the chunky apple sauce for future use.