I'll be honest; I haven't been keeping track of accomplishments as well as I'd like to. I've been looking into trying a bullet journal for random record keeping (daily egg count, frugal accomplishments, garden records, etc.). If any of you have experience with a bullet journal, I'd love to hear your opinion on how it works or any tips you may have.
1. Groceries: I didn't do any regular grocery shopping. We did buy some ice cream and ice cream comes for $6.00 at a local grocery store, and my husband bought some cookout supplies for a backyard barbecue. Total spent on groceries was $16.00.
2. Cooking: l made cheese this week with close-to-expiring milk. I also cooked a frozen turkey (bought on sale after Easter!) and froze the meat. The carcass is still sitting in the fridge, waiting to be made into broth. I made meals throughout the week (sorry, I didn't keep track of what they were). Lastly, I made a cosmetically challenged but very delicious fruit crisp from frozen fruit!
3. Gardening: I planted peas, lettuce and radishes in my raised beds this week. I also weeded a tiny part of the strawberry patch. Baby Girl and I put rotted chicken manure on the other beds, raked it out and covered them with landscape fabric. Usually I use newspaper or grass clippings for mulch, and I will do that for the peas. Now that we have a baby though, I have less time to collect grass clippings. So this year I decided to try the landscape fabric on some of our squares. Hopefully the fabric will save time (like my Jiffy "professional" greenhouse garden did) and allow me to still produce the same amount of vegetables as usual, while taking care of Baby and the big strawberry patch.
I also planted an onion and some garlic bulbs that sprouted in the fridge. I made a video that will hopefully be on Youtube at some point. And last of all.... the moment I have been waiting for, for YEARS....
ONE OF MY ORCHIDS FINALLY BLOOMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You may notice that the poor thing only has three blooms. Two of the blossoms did fall off due to bud blast. But at least one of them has made it to maturity, which makes me so, so happy.
4. Clothing: Back before Baby was born, I made several nursing tank tops like this. I ended up not using them because when paired with a button-down shirt, the neckline hung too low for my liking. This week I discovered that I can wear them under normal T-shirts and use the combination like a nursing top. The T-shirt gets bunched up depending on what side Baby is on, but if you use a similar-colored tank underneath, it doesn't look too weird. No buttons to mess around with, and no cover needed, really. In early pregnancy the tanks can act as belly bands. I wish I knew about this trick months ago! The only downside is that the two layers get warm on a hot day. But I was happy to find a use for my tanks AND find a way to wear my regular T-shirts. I had planned on purchasing another nursing shirt ($20.00) but now I won't. I like the nursing shirts, but they sag, stretch and hang funny after being used for so long.
5. Garage sales: I got to go to some garage sales this week!! I bought some personal care items and clothing. You can see my haul below:
6. Beeswax: I took a big chunk of beeswax that I bought at Hobby Lobby years ago, and melted it down into pellets for easier use. Previously I used a designated beeswax knife to make shavings every time I needed some. That took a TON of time!! The new pellets will be so much easier to use and less messier. In case you're wondering, I used the same silicone potholder to make the pellets as I did to make sugar-free chocolate chips. In addition, I found several chunks of burr (unnecessary) comb in my hive that had to be removed. I'm going to save the chunks until there is enough to melt down for some more pellets.
-Bethany