Today I added up all of our out of pocket medical expenses for the year so far and we've hit $7,371.89. I know we have at least $2500 more in out of pocket medical expenses to go this year, $1500 on treatment for DS alone, and another $1125 that will go to another doctor.

We all need to have our eyes checked and get new lenses before the year is up and DD wants to try contacts this year. We still owe $300 on DH's dental work which we will finish paying off in September.

I still need to get oral surgery to fix my two oldest molars, but am waiting until after DH's dental work is paid off. I would like to do it right before Christmas break so that I wouldn't have to worry about homeschooling DS while zoned on painkillers. But I may not be able to wait that long if they start to hurt too much more.

Either way our HSA is maxed out and we'll be able to deduct the full amount allowed on our income taxes this year. I just need to have DH run the money through.

We got caught out in a surprise thunderstorm today. It brought with it about an inch of rain according to the rain gauge. It was nice not to have to water today and the rain barrels will have collected plenty from this hour of heavy rain.

The weather is supposed to go back to being sunny tomorrow but with more tolerable temps in the low and mid 70's.

I saw color on one of the paste tomatoes today, it's turning yellow. I was going to pick the brandywine tomato today, but didn't want to go out with everything still so wet.

I haven't gotten the second half of my garden photos taken yet. I was going to do that this afternoon, but even after it stopped raining the sky was dark so no good light for picture taking. But I thought I'd share some of the flower photos that I took the other day. These ones usually always have a lot of bees on them, and are great for drawing pollinators into the food garden.

So my two $5 gift cards for Amazon.com from Swagbucks that I cashed out on the 31st showed up today in my email a few minutes ago. I promptly transferred the codes into my account at Amazon and it is nice to see that little balance of $10 there. Then I turned around and cashed in more points for 2 more $5 gift cards. That will leave me with a balance of 101 points in my Swagbucks account, so just another 349 to go for another gift card.

I don't put a lot of effort into swagging. I do the daily poll and the 2 point vids and have the search bar and every website I go to I enter into the search bar instead of going directly to the website. And I use the search bar for actual searching, too, usually to look up recipes or for local food sources and local homesteading blogs.

I spend less than 5 minutes a day actively doing anything and I end up with around 30 points a day. On occassion I'll have the SBTV bar going on the side if I think about it. It's not a huge amount, but it does add up.

I'm saving my gift cards towards a Mac Book for my daughter. She wants a good computer before she goes to college. We'll probably buy it between her junior and senior years of high school, so I have a little over a year to save up for it as well as earn gift cards towards it. Maybe I'll end up with $100 in gift cards by the time I'm ready to buy. That would be a nice little discount.

I had a tough time today, but I am very determined to make it though the full two weeks without eating out. I really came close because I felt sick today. There was a huge weather swing down to 66 degrees after several days in the 80's and that always makes a difference in how I feel. I woke up with pressure in my ear and a scratchy throat and a headache. I just did not want to cook a third meal tonight. Fortunately I have a teenage daughter who was very helpful and dinner came together without a trip to a restaurant.

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We went to the food co-op and picked up a few vegetables and they had organic apricots still and since it is supposed to be cool tomorrow I thought I'd go ahead and make jam. If I am going to be doing it anyway, I might as well make another batch of apricot jam, too. Even if I still don't feel well tomorrow, I can't pass up a cooler day. I am going to go to bed early tonight and hopefully the extra sleep will help.

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I finished off the last of the boughten eggs two days ago, and we are now on to eating just what our chickens provide. I wish the ducks would start laying. There are two males and two females. They are trying to *ahem* procreate quite a bit, so I would hope some eggs would show up soon as they are clearly at maturity now. Maybe it takes them longer than chickens to start laying.

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I picked up my son's immunization records from the medical records department of the group my son's pediatrician is in. The virtual school needs them for some unknown reason. I had called about them on Friday morning, but it took them until this morning to have them ready. I liked it better when the records were in the same building as the doctor's office. Things take longer the bigger the group gets.

We have a meeting with the head of admin for the school system in a couple of weeks about what happened to my son the last week of school with the bully who gave him a concussion. I still think we'll be homeschooling, though, even if there is a positive outcome unless DS has an abrupt about face on what he wants to do.

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We also went to the library. DS had 13 holds come in. The entire series of something, but they are fast reads. I turned in the 3 books I was done with as I am trying to not keep a stack of read ones sitting around just waiting to pay fines. The library is only free so long as things don't get overdue.

Not much else going on. I should do a financial post tomorrow. Oh, I added $2.14 to the coin jar. Don't think I remembered to say that the other day.

I have some things that I need to use up during the early part of the week so am planning my meals for that accordingly. I accidentally made two loaves of bread instead of one yesterday (was on autopilot and forgot to switch recipes). I've planned to use up meat that is in the freezer and not purchase any new meat this week. I am also going to roast a whole chicken tomorrow for lunches this week.

Monday--
Spaghetti with homemade sauce (need to use up an onion)
Meatballs (the pork and hamburger ones as I need to use up some parsley and I've got some fresh basil and oregano from the garden that is ready)
Garlic toast
Cantaloupe (needs to be eaten ASAP)

Tuesday--
Meatball sandwiches using leftover meatballs and leftover sauce
Cole slaw
Last of the cherries, plus fresh blueberries

Wednesday--
Homemade pizza with pepperoni, crumbled leftover meatballs if there are any left, the last of the yellow bell pepper, and onion
Cole slaw

Thursday--
Club sandwiches (with my brandywine tomato!) or toasted ham and cheese according to preference
Homemade french fries
The first kohlrabi from the garden
Berries

Friday--
Bacon cheeseburgers
Corn on the cob
Nectarines
Salad

Saturday--
Chicken and broccoli stir-fry
Leftover fruit
Homemade peanut butter cookies

Sunday--
Pot roast
Potatoes and gravy
Green beans
Drop biscuits with homemade jam

One of the workmen broached the subject today that he would like to rent the old house for $1000 a month. I know he's got steady and gainful employment and he's one of these people that can basically do anything when it comes to home repair.

But it's landlording and all I ever hear about that are horror stories. I've been researching and so far what I've found is that you need to:

1. Get all the basic info from the prosepective tennant to run checks.
--most recent address
--social security number
--date of birth
--list of previous landlords and phone numbers
--references
2. Check the local clerk of courts criminal and civil database
3. Check the state department of corrections database
4. Run a credit check
5. Veryify income (check stubs or bank statement)

It would cost us approximately $162 a month to continue paying HoA dues out there and to keep the security system monitoring device on and to get landlord's insurance.

The renter would take over paying the power, water/sewer, electricity, propane and phone bills and pay for any other utilities they needed or wanted like garbage pickup, internet, or cable. Taking over those utilities would save us $278 a month.

By having renters in there, if all went well, we would have $1116 a month coming in as opposed to letting it just sit there. But that's assuming all goes well. Also they might want to least to buy.

I still would need to look into the tax implications as well.

Plus, I just don't know. I don't want to have to deal with things if stuff goes wrong. DH is gone too much and I don't want to be running out there in the middle of the night if a pipe bursts or whatever.

Does anyone have any good experiences with renting a house? Or is it always just a bad idea? There would be no pets, no children, and no smoking in the home.

I am just really worried that it's not going to sell in this market. But at the same time, we won't know until we try to sell it.

So the workmen have been out at the house all weekend. How they can work in this weather I do not know. Yesterday they took down the rotting, wooden carport. The roof was totally caving in. They took down the fence, too, which was mostly down anyway, but they got it all stacked and ready to be hauled away. Today a man is coming to haul it away. He uses it for winter heating. Since it was neither weather treated or painted wood, it is safe to do so. He is also taking away all of the many boxes of kindling that didn't go when we gave away the bulk of the stacked wood. He will also be taking all the beams from when we tore down the green house a few years ago.

They are cutting all of the tree branches that overhang the house, getting rid of the old chest freezer that weighs 20,000 pounds (or something ridiculous), hauling away a bunch of old concrete, and ripping out some rhodies that were planted too close to the house.

Then next weekend (I think) they will be pressure washing the house and repairing a small area of the siding, putting up new gutters, taking the window in to have the inside pane of glass repaired, landscaping and whatnot.

I'm not sure when they will start painting. The inside can be done at any time. The outside will have to dry for several days after they pressure wash it. August is our dryest month so it should get done by the end of the month. I hope.

After they are done painting we will have someone in to decide whether the living room and play room rugs are salvagable. All of the bedroom rugs are, but there is some arts and crafts paint and other things that kids inevitably stain carpets with on the two main areas. We are thinking we may just replace the play room floor, which is really a dining room, with lineoleum that looks like tile, and then just do the living room rug. The other possibility is to put in a wooden flooring. Costco sells a fairly inexpensive one in two different shades (a light or a dark) and since it is going in a house we are selling, it doesn't have to be the color I would want, it can be just a fairly nice color. I would want a honey blond if I had to live with it, but other light colors would be good in that house, too.

Mom says she will pay for it all and we can pay her back when we sell it. I told her she's speculating that we will actually get enough from fixing it up to pay her back. We still have to cover the just under $17K mortgage payoff and the realtor fee. With the market the way it is out there anything can happen. One house that was 1200 square feet, 3 bed, 1 bath sold for $83,000, and a 1400 2 bed, 2 bath for $98,000, and one that was 1600, 4 bed, 2 bath sold for $35,000. Although that one was a foreclosure and I have a feeling it was trashed.

There's a house for sale down the block for $179,000 and I think those people are just dreaming. There is another one for sale for $28,000. I just do not know what our house will bring. It's assessed at $97,000 (used to be $110,000). We paid $65,000 for it and I would be more than happy to just get that. That would pay off the mortgage, the realtor, Mom, and give us some money left for a downpayment. The lot is worth $35,000. If we even got that it would pay off the mortgage, Mom, and the realtor, leave us with abour $10K and stop us leaking all the money that a second house requires you to spend even if there was nothing left for a downpayment.

I don't know. I hate the uncertainty of the future sometimes. Speaking of uncertainty...well, not really, as DH has been assurred by everyone that his job is safe, they fired a bunch of people where DH works and will not be replacing them this year, that means instead of the 2 jobs he is currently working (because they never rehired people after the last round of firing), he and his alternate get to take on the responsibility of 3 positions (one above his paygrade and one below it). No raise to go with the increased responsibility, and he's day rate so no overtime either) though he may be required to work extra weeks. The money would be nice, but having his home time cut down to a week instead of two will be hard, particularly while homeschooling my son.

He did say there were other companies up there hiring for what he does so if things get bad he does have options, but right now he loves his company and his work and he's totally not the type to jump ship unless he's being threatened with unemployment. He was with the last company just shy of 15 years and would still be with them if they hadn't lost the big contracts. They should be rehiring those positions next year when things ramp up again.

You know how I thought I didn't have any more raspberries to pick? I decided to double check the overgrown canes just to be sure and underneath everything I found more berries. A gallon more. I guess it's a good thing I looked. Then I picked a little less than 2.5 gallons of blueberries.



My first brandywine tomoato is almost ripe. I think maybe by Monday it'll be ready for picking.



I've never grown brandywine before and everything I've ever read says they'll never get ripe here. But this one did and there are a few more darkening and there are lots of green ones, so maybe this is just the year for it. It's been hot almost every day of July and so far all of August, so it could just be this is a tomato year. I certainly hope so.

My paste tomatoes are coming along nicely, sizing up, if not showing any color but green yet.



I am very hopeful that I will be able to get at least two canner loads of tomato sauce from my own garden. I will have to buy some from one of the organic farms here to get my year supply, but at least some of them will be from my own hard work.

I have two sowings of broccoli. The one I planted first is smaller than the one I planted second. They are on opposite sides of the house. The bigger ones get the morning sun and the smaller ones get the sun from about 1 p.m. until sundown. They are different types of broccoli so that may make a difference, too.

Older plants:



Younger plants:



The cauliflower, which I still have to tie a few of them off to blanch, is doing well:



The biggest of the kohlrabi that I hope to start eating in a few more days:



The patty pan summer squash is starting to get fruit:



The hubbard squash is taking over its area. This is one plant.



The hubbard squash grows really well here. Most of the winter squashes do not like it here even though they are supposed to. The chickens will eat most of the hubbard squash. We will take a chunk of each one as we open it, but it is really hard to get through all of one before it starts to go bad and I do not want to can it. They love having the winter treat of hubbard squash and particularly like the seeds.

One of my yellow zucchini plants needs to be moved. It is not liking it's location at all. I think I can still save it if I put it in a better spot. It's been a tough one from the start, a rescue plant, but even with all the care I've given it, it may not make it. And it is hard to kill zucchini.

And finally the chard:



It is beautiful. This was planted for the chickens, but we are going to try cooking some for ourselves. I've never eaten it before. Growing up, pretty much the only vegetables Mom made were green beans, potatoes, pickles and corn. If we were having guests we would also have a plate of carrots, celery, radishes, and olives. Oh, and I would take peanut butter and celery in lunch to school. I have branched way out as an adult, eating all kinds of vegetables, but some things I have balked at. Chard and kale are two of those things. This year I have sworn I would try them. Kale I liked. Chard I will try soon. Since they are both so easy to grow here, pretty much fool proof, it would be great if I liked them both.

No photos of the corn, apples, Italian prunes, blackberries (which need to be picked tomorrow), green beans or bunching onions. My camera battery was starting to die. I will probably post those tomorrow, along with some of the flowers so you will know that it isn't just about veggies, but also the beauty that attracts pollinators, too.

Even though I tend to keep an eagle eye on the fridge and know what's in there pretty much to the teaspoon, sometimes food does get wasted. Usually, but not always, this is the fault of my youngest child who likes to put his leftovers in the fridge and then shove them to the back, even though I have a policy on where leftovers go, which is up front and visible at all times.

With all of the fruit I have been harvesting this week I have not kept as sharp an eye on things and when I cleaned the fridge last night I had to throw out, courtesy of my son:

1/2 bowl of homemade organic chicken noodle soup
1 cup of leftover spaghetti
About a one inch by 4 inch strip of pork chop from the organic, sustainable farm (I would have eaten this had I known!)
2 tbsp of leftover hamburger (from the same farm) that went with the cup of spaghetti
8 ounces of organic milk

Courtesy of my daughter:
1 quart size baggy with broccoli and cauliflower that she said she was going to eat

Courtesy of myself (you didn't think I was completely innocent in this, did you?):
1/2 can of the really good, meat only chili

And of course, DH is in Alaska and even if he was home, he eats leftovers left and right. There's almost never anything that is his fault, unless you count that he didn't get to other people's leftovers fast enough, and I don't! LOL Actually, I think the last thing we threw out that was his fault was because he left it out of the fridge, not because he left it in there for too long.

So all in all, not the best week for not wasting food, we lost about $8 worth. Everything went into the compost bin or to the chickens. The meat smelled off, not spoiled so I let the chickens eat it. I'll keep a better eye on it all this week, blueberries or no blueberries. (Ha, of course there will be blueberries...all...week...long).

Well, I better go check on the chickens. Someone either just laid an egg or had a heart attack. My guess is one of the newbies laid her first egg and wants the whole world to know.

It hit 81 degrees today. There is a nice breeze though, so the only place it really felt like 81 degrees was inside my car and that was with the sun shade up. Fortunately the car's AC cools it off in about 2 minutes. Having open windows and fans going is enough to cool the house right now. I am glad. We don't tend to have AC in this part of the country except in our cars. But I would totally want to use it on a day like today.

We went swimming today (and my super thick, long hair, which usually takes four hours to dry is almost dry an hour later). Although it was a little crowded, the lap lane was empty, so I got my 26 laps in. The pool had one of those really screechy toddlers in it. You know the type that have discovered they can scream and it echoes like crazy in places like indoor pools or churches or McDonald's playland? And the parents have given up trying to even shut them up when they do it? Yeah, love that. Glad I was underwater for most of it. The lifeguard did finally tell the dad that if he couldn't make the kid stop they'd have to get out of the pool. That seemed to shut the kid right up. Wish she'd said something sooner!

I'm picking more berries tonight as soon as it cools off a bit more and the bushes are in shade. I cut my first broccoli today. It was the one that was accidentally in with the cauliflower and way ahead of any of the other broccoli. And I finally finished transplanting the rest of the everbearing strawberries. They now live in pots on the deck where the chickens cannot eat them and the rabbits will not come. I still need to get the last of the cabbage starts in the dirt. These are supposed to be good for overwintering. We'll see.

Day 8 of the No Eating Out Challenge went just fine. No temptation today at all despite going swimming. How is everyone else doing on the No Eating Out Challenge? Anyone else still going with me for the second week? Anyone else want to join in for the second week?

I spent $90 today at my appointment and then $14.43 at the grocery store. I also gave the kids their weekly allowances ($7 and $12 respectively). DS also got paid for mowing my mother's lawn. He got in two mows last month instead of 4 because he was still recovering from the concussion early on, but she pays him $5 per mow so he got $10 and was happy. He's saving up for some kind of fancy new game machine. He also, the little stinker, won a free Kindle in a drawing at the chiropractor. Of course I don't want to buy him anything to go on it so he'll have to use his own money for that, too.

He asked me if he could have the gutters when they took them off the house and put on new ones. I laughed because I knew what he was thinking. Aluminum! He already has his aluminum can business, but he figures the gutters can get him a tidy sum when he takes in the cans next time. I said he could have them.

DS will be helping me with the transplanting. He's such a help in the garden, hoeing and watering and digging. And carrying heavy stuff. He is getting so strong now. You should see the muscles on this kid. He's starting to get six pack abs at 12! And his biceps are pretty impressive when he makes a muscle. Where did my baby boy go?

Well, not really, but it feels like it. I picked a lot of berries today and I still have one and a half trees left. I know berries grow on bushes, but you haven't seen the size of these ones. Most definitely trees! I packed up several quarts for the freezer and then a quart bag full to take to my friend tomorrow and she will also get an 8 ounce container of blueberry jam.

This is what I am seeing right now when I close my eyes:



I still think I would have a lot more berries in the freezer right now if it weren't for the demands of this bunch:



The tub there is what we used for a brooder when they were babies. The plan is to dig a hole and sink it as a pond for the ducks. Right now they use an old, plastic turtle sandbox for their mini-ponds. Both the lid and the bottom are filled with water. Recycling.

This is Ecru and PipSqueak. Pipsqueak (along with Half-pint) was the runt, but you can see she is now bigger than the Leghorn. She's a black australorpe.



We are not sure, but we think Ecru (whose twin is named Eggshell) might be a rooster. We are hoping not since we can't have roosters in town. Personally, I think Pipsqueak might be a rooster, but they don't have combs yet and though they are loud they aren't exactly crowing yet.

Over here, Half-pint (black australorpe) and Henrietta (auracana) are napping in the sun after eating their fill of berries and finishing their dirt baths.



We are getting little eggs in brownish pink and white which means that one of the Leghorns (Eggshell or Ecru) is laying (the white ones) and one of the golden sex linked (the pinkish one) is laying. Not sure if it's Curious or Georgie.

Today we had four eggs (2 littles and 2 bigs). Queen is hiding her nest again, but I'm sure she's laying somewhere. She's not broody, she just doesn't like to give them up. In another week or two everyone should be laying. Then it won't be just chickens and blueberries coming out my ears, but eggs, too. As it is, we are no longer having to purchase eggs for this household, so yay. One more thing we can supply for ourselves and take out of the grocery budget.

Oh, I almost forgot! Silver will pose for blueberries now. She's our silver lace wing wyandotte and she's always been shyest. Not if there are blueberries at stake, though.

Since I got my interest at ING, I added it to the Freezer Fund. It was a whopping 90 cents, bringing the Freezer Fund to $410.58. I'm almost to the halfway point. Still a firm believer in every little bit helping, but I sure wish that little bit was interest earned at a higher rate. I miss 4%. Heck, I miss the 7% of my childhood. I don't know if we'll ever get those rates back, but I doubt it. It sure would have been nice to earn $4 for that amount like I would have just a few years ago. Oh, well. It is what it is, and it's 90 cents more than I had last month.

I found some money while cleaning today. 26 cents. Into the coin jar it went. I also found 40 cents in the car and 2 pennies at the grocery store yesterday. If I find 22 more cents this month, which is possible, it will match what I earned last month in interest. Hmm, Baselle, I really see why you're always looking for coins on the sidewalk.

So here's what's coming out of last Friday's paycheck. Today is the no paycheck Friday so last week's paycheck, which is the little one with only 2 days on it, plus whatever I saved from the week before has to stretch over 2 weeks.

$500.00 to AMEX
_376.84 to mortgage
_155.00 to storage (working on getting this down)
__37.61 Life Insurance DH
__32.70 Life Insurance Me
__41.25 House Insurance
__84.42 Car Insurance
__41.16 Security System
__31.00 Power
_100.00 half year HoA dues
_100.00 property tax savings
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$1499.98

I also have $75 in cash for groceries for the next week. We shouldn't need to buy more than milk and a few canning lids this week. Though I am very tempted to get another 3 pounds of apricots to put up.

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Yesterday I paid a 50 cent fine at the library. It was for a book I couldn't check out again as it had a hold on it and I wanted to finish it. It was also a new book so they only give you 2 weeks instead of 3 weeks. Since it was the last one in the stack I got to, that's how it turned out.

I came home with a new stack of libarary books yesterday and promptly put them in the order of books to get through first so that wouldn't happen again. I'm starting with Still Life with Chickens and Second Helpings. I can't read just one book at a time, usually.

I love the library. So many books to read for free, at least unless you get a fine for overdue. And that's entirely on the borrower and can be totally avoided.

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The weather has broken, it's a nice 60 degrees today, so I am going to process jam this afternoon if I am not too tired right after I go out and pick some more blueberries.

I talked to DH tonight for a good while and while he's been assured that his job is safe, there are going to be some other people losing theirs up at work. It means that he may be taking on more responsibility as those jobs don't get refilled. It also means that he may have to work extra days or extra weeks. Extra days or weeks mean extra income, but at the same time, it means more time away from the family. I doubt there will be any raise with this responsibility. He's already practically doing two jobs, so a third one added in...well, I hope it's not too much stress for him.

Having made the decision to homeschool our son this next school year, having DH around less to help out when he's home, or keep me sane, means it'll be that much harder. Of course, I'll only be homeschooling one of my kids this time and he's a way better reader now than he was the last time we homeschooled, so maybe it'll go okay. I know since he's had treatment for his forward head posture, he tends to be a stinker only one day out of seven instead of the other way around. That may make all the difference in the world this time around.

DS has decided he wants to go with WAVA again after all, so everything will be free after all. I would have chosen a few more exciting things, but he says he really, really wants to do WAVA. He liked it before a lot. And it does keep him in the state school system. Though I really, really want to know why they think they need immunization records for a virtual school? He will not be around other children on a daily basis.

We are trying to get a hold of a lady on Craig's List who gives music lessons for $15/30 minutes. DS has decided he does not want to even do just orchestra through the school system, since the principal sometimes comes in and sits and watches the class. This man has fallen so far in my son's estimation that he doesn't want to take a class he loves because of the risk that that man will stop by once a month to view it as he did during sixth grade. I really wish there was a way that I could impress on that principal all the damage he is responsible for doing to my child.

Since the principal has been unwilling to communicate at all since all of the medical evidence (including x-rays) came in supporting our child being pretty severely injured at school, we can't even talk to him about it, or try to help restore any kind of trust there. He's just...well, they say bullying starts at the top. I know he bullied us when we went in. I think maybe he's so used to having his own way he has forgotten how to bend. Too bad that in the process of becoming so unyielding, he's broken a student's faith that he would be safe at school.

...because I picked so many blueberries today that they turned that way. And honestly, but for the 3 gallons of blueberries in the freezer, you would not be able to tell by looking at the bushes. It's like there is a berry multiplying monster out there somewhere. The gardener's soap is getting most of it off, but it won't be fully gone until I wash my hair tomorrow. Of course it will then come back when I pick more tomorrow.

I made chicken broth overnight in the crockpot last night with my stock scraps, a few fresh veggies, and some wings. I now have this in the freezer:



I would have done them all in pint jars but I ran out of wide mouth lids. I need to buy some more lids tomorrow. I have a coupon for $1 off two boxes of any size canning lids. See, I do use coupons, just generally not for food. I want to pick up the twist on BPA-free plastic lids that work on canning jars, too. Because those will work fine in the freezer and won't take unused lids out of service. The only place I can find them, though, is Amazon, so I will have to wait until I can make an order there. I wish I could find them in real life.

The quart jars of stock I will use for actual soup making, but the pint ones I will use for cooking rice in, or for recipes that call for broth. I would have pressure canned them, but it is too hot to heat the house up. But the freezer works, too.

This fall I intend to make several batches of broth and pressure can them. I plan to make some that have only low-carb ingredients in them, garlic, green onions, celery and parsley, as well as some regular ones. Then I can make some low-carb chicken soups, too.

DS and I planted more kohlrabi and lettuce. Tomorrow we will plant cabbage and transplant some more everbearing strawberries.

I really need to sit down and do a budget post. I used to be so good at those and I don't think I've done them in a couple of months now. I mean, yeah, it's great talking about how much I save on planting, eating, and putting up my own food, but this blog has been widely unbalanced lately on the other financial aspects of my life, mostly because they are on autopilot. I need to try and fix that.

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We went swimming today (I did 26 laps) and I really did not want to make dinner tonight. I am always so hungry right after swimming. Well, I didn't make dinner, but I didn't eat out either. We all warmed up leftovers and ate fruit and I opened a can of green beans. I didn't stick to my meal plan, but this was still a pretty good option. And the pork chops can wait until tomorrow, the pizza can be bumped to Saturday, and I'll skip the sandwiches originally planned.