Glimpses of Home

Here are a few glimpses of home here at the farmhouse from the middle of July, 2017.

A jar full of summer:

A daily harvest.

I made some homemade BBQ sauce, but it wasn't good enough that I would want to share the recipe. So all you get is a picture of the ingredients.  I will try again.

Frying okra:

I found a good deal on Amazon for Gain refill packs. I checked and there's still a $4.25 coupon which brings down the price to $10.19 for three 48 ounce refill packs.   Click HERE to see the deal.  Using Subscribe and Save is great.  I receive a Subscribe and Save order every month.  Just remember to cancel your subscription the following month if you don't want to receive it at what ever price they are then.  In this picture I was transferring the liquid to an empty Purex jug and wanted to make sure I got every drop.

A little patriotic spot.

Sunrise:

Chicago Peace Rose:

Little Boy is growing.  This one will be 3 next month!

Dreaming of fall, but these leaves are this color in the middle of summer.

This boy will be 4 next week.  And he fell and fractured his arm this week.  He will wear a cast on his little arm for only 2 weeks though.

In the little shade garden:

Working outside.  I need to sit on this little scooter because my knees hurt if I squat or kneel!

Petunias and Rosemary.

These Moss Roses (Portulaca) come back in pots from seeds every year.

Tractors at work.  This year we have sweet potatoes growing behind and beside us.

I hope you are enjoying your summer!

Freezing Food in Jars.Frugal - Kitchen Tip Monday

One way to save money in the kitchen is to make your own chicken broth or stock.  I purchased a package of split chicken breasts on sale and then simply boiled them with two things in mind.  Number one was to make chicken salad for lunches this week.  The second thing was to store the chicken broth.  At no extra cost, I now have 2 and 1/2 quarts of chicken broth!

Frozen Chicken Broth

Freezing things in glass jars is a new thing for me.  I've frozen chicken broth in freezer bags before, but that didn't work out too well.  It was kind of messy!  With the jars I can take a jar out of the freezer, set it in the fridge and use it as needed.  I really love the plastic lids that can be used on canning jars for storage.  I bought mine at Walmart, but you can also get them on Amazon HERE.

Tips for freezing chicken broth in jars:  1.  Leave some space at the top of the jar; 2.  Place the filled jars in the fridge overnight before freezing.

Homemade Chicken Salad

Having some items ready to grab in the morning for lunches is a real time and money saver!  I'm already envisioning some sliced summer tomatoes fresh from the garden with this chicken salad.

Homemade Sweet Pickles

These are some of my homemade sweet pickles.  Without these chicken salad isn't the same! My love and thanks go to my Mama for teaching me to make sweet pickles and chicken salad.  Also, I need to use the plastic lids on the pickle jars after they have been opened for storage in the fridge!

Have a great Monday and if its hot where you are, stay cool!

Frugal Friday - Swagbucks - Walmart Points

I was remembering all of the "Frugal Friday" posts I used to do way back when I first started blogging.  I really enjoyed coming up with those posts and so I thought I'd post some more.  It might even be fun to go back and repost some of those oldies, but goodies!

I've posted here before about swagbucks, and I'm still earning Amazon Gift Cards that way.  As I've said before, its not a get rich quick scheme, but if you are patient and consistent, you can earn some gift cards for Christmas or what ever you need them for.    I am saving mine for Christmas!

If you would like to sign up and try it, here is my referral link:  Debbie J's Swagbuck Referral Link

There are always different ways to earn points going on.   As an example, Walmart is running huge deals all week long on everything from clothing and jewelry to home electronics, grills, and toys, and Swagbucks is offering 6% cash back (in the form of SB Points) for every dollar you spend through Sunday. Whatever you need this summer, now's the time to buy it and get rewarded for doing it.      Just click HERE to take advantage of the Walmart Swagbucks points.

If you haven't signed up for Swagbucks yet, you can also do that at this page and start earning points towards your first free gift card. As a bonus, if you sign up through me and spend at least $25 shopping online through Swagbucks before the first of the month and you'll get a 200 SB bonus - that's $2 in addition to the points you get for each dollar you spend.

For some reason this year I'm getting excited about preparing for Christmas in July!  I have lots of gift ideas and am trying to earn all the "free" money I can.  I already have a $25.00 Amazon gift card earned  through Swagbucks and am well on the way to earning the second one. 

What are ways you are preparing for Christmas?  Most of the time I don't even want to think about it, but for some reason this year I am inspired to get ready early.

On a Mission at Dollar General

I went to Dollar General on Saturday on a mission to check some prices on things we buy regularly.  There are six Dollar Generals in my area, one of which is brand new and only a couple of miles away from home.  I don't want to run from store to store trying to save money, but if I am already going to be at a particular store, I think it would be smart to pick up items that we need that are a good price.  The only problem with that is that I can't remember what is a good price most of the time.  And not all items are a good price just because they are for sale at a Dollar store.


These Libby's brand canned green beans were on sale for 2 for $1.00, so I picked up 6 cans of those.

I like Petite Diced Tomatoes and was happy to see them in the Dollar General Brand, Clover Valley.   I made a pot of Chili Saturday afternoon and they were great!  They are 67 cents a can.

The Clover Valley brand of  parboiled rice was $3.75 for a 5 pound bag.  I thought this was an extremely good deal, because this is the same as the Uncle Ben's brand, which is always really expensive.   Confession time:  I thought this was brown rice until just now when I looked closer!  I do prefer brown rice for its health benefits and the fact that it is a slower burning carb.  But, we will use this rice.

I like to cook brown rice in chicken broth and then freeze it in individual serving size freezer bags.  I take one for my lunch at work and add either home cooked frozen chicken or a small can of chicken.  Makes a good lunch. 

At this particular store, they have an entire section that has only dollar items.  There are some great finds  there.  Of course everything there is not a good deal.  I bought these bottles of Salon Selectives Shampoo and conditioner and the Purpose Farmstead Apple foaming hand soap for a dollar each.  These are bonus size bottles and are safe for colored hair.

Every time you visit Dollar General you get a $5.00 of $25.00 coupon that can be used the following Saturday.  I try to wait to shop there until the following Saturday so I can make use of that coupon.  If you know what you need that is a good price there, this is a great way to save some money.  Its even better if you have manufacturer's coupons to stack with the $5.00 coupon.

Using K Cups is not the most frugal way to drink coffee.  In fact its pretty expensive.  However, Hubby and I love our Keurig and so I am always on the lookout both in stores and on Amazon for the best price on them.  I bought the machine for him for Christmas a couple of years ago without realizing that the K Cups are expensive.   So far the Dollar General (Clover Valley) K Cups are the best price I have found.  They are $4.75 for 12.  If I use my $5.00 coupon on a Saturday and buy 5 boxes, they end up being $3.75.  Of course I would have to buy some small filler items, like a couple of cans of tomatoes to reach the $25.00 amount.

There are wall stickers also in the dollar section.  I love this one. 

This is what you see when you come in our back door.  The stickers are removable and don't damage the wall.  So I figured for a dollar, it would be cute and if I decide to take it down, there would be no problems.

Sunday morning when I left church, I ran into the Food Lion and briefly compared a few prices from my scribbled notes and the verdict is that Dollar General's prices are a little lower.  For instance, a dozen eggs at Dollar General are $1.55.  At Food Lion they are $1.89.   That's not an earth shattering savings, but if I 'm already in the store, why not pick up the items that are cheaper?

My next mission is to do a detailed list of prices for items at Food Lion and get the lists from both stores organized so I can tell when a sale is really a sale.  It irritates me when the sale paper for Food Lion says "Hot Deal", and its NOT! 

My top three stores to shop at are Food Lion, Dollar General and CVS.  I rarely go to Walmart, but occasionally I do.  I never buy anything at CVS that isn't on sale, combined with a coupon!  I also buy a lot of things through Subscribe and Save on Amazon.

What stores do you shop at the most?

Memories Around The Kitchen Table

I've been doing a Bible Study this summer called "100 days of Pressing Pause".  This is a book written by Karen Ehman and Ruth Schwenk which is made up of "100 Quiet Moments For Moms to Meet with Jesus."  

One of the devotions this week was called "Gathering Around The Table".   The Bible Verse was:

"When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, "Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of  God"  Luke 14:15.

This got me to thinking about all the memories associated with our kitchen table. 

Here's what I see today:

There are recent crayon marks made by a special two year old.  These will be easy to clean off.

A wooden tray made for me by my step son-in-law.

Round rattan place mats from Dollar General.

Pioneer Woman plates from Walmart.

Red and White checked cushions in the chairs.

But more important is what I see in my mind's eye.   There are bits and pieces of memories, traces of love, sad things, bittersweet things, happy things, and more, associated with the table.

I remember the day the table was delivered back in 1984.

I remember my children sitting around this table eating.  They ate lots of spaghetti!

My son, Josh, who died at age 2, sat in his high chair at this table.

Lots and lots of HOMEWORK was done at this table!!!!

The broken place that was glued back together.  Wood glue works good!

My son, Jacob, broke the table and it had to be glued back together.   You can't tell it now and its as sturdy as ever.  Bet you are wondering how that happened!

I've seen my husband wipe off this table about a million times! 

My daughter, Lori, played with a Christmas ornament at the table and accidentally broke it.  I wish I had not gotten upset with her... sigh.

My husband and I played lots of cards at the table, once upon a time.

Numerous holidays, birthdays, ordinary meals, decorations.  A baby shower.  A wedding shower.  The Thanksgiving turkey that I roasted with the bag of stuff still inside it.  Vases of flowers from loved ones, or zinnias picked from the yard. Grandkids eating watermelon. Lasagna.

Plates of food wrapped with plastic wrap, left for a loved one to eat when they got home late.

Doing taxes with a calculator borrowed from work.

There is no telling how many quilts I have pin basted on that table!

Holding hands with family while saying the blessing before a meal.

The thought has crossed my mind to replace the table with a more current style, but you know what?  I don't think so.  Now that I've thought about it, our table is a sacred space.

What about you?  Does your table bring back special memories? 

In The Kitchen With Debbie

What did we ever do before Pinterest?  We used cookbooks and ideas from friends, but looking things up on Pinterest is easier and really fun.

Here are a few St. Patrick's Day Brunch ideas I tried this weekend, even though it was after St. Patrick's Day since I was at work on that day.

Lucky Charms Marshmallow Cake.  Mine was not nearly as pretty as the Pinterest one, but tasted really good!  This is a version of rice krispies treats, using Lucky Charms cereal and a bundt pan.

Green Deviled Eggs.  Turned out really good.  I used my own recipe for the yolks, but used green food coloring for the white part according to the Pinterest recipe.  I think this idea would be good for several different holidays using other colors.  The green ones would also be nice for Easter.

Rainbow fruit tray, complete with clouds (marshmallows) and a pot of gold (Rolos).

We had family over for Sunday brunch and these three foods were accompanied by a breakfast casserole.   I have a wonderful recipe for breakfast casserole that contains frozen hash brown potatoes, eggs, sausage and cheese.  Its very easy to make and its good for making the night before and then you just pop it into the oven the next morning.

Everyone loved our St. Patrick's Day theme brunch!

Glimpses of Home

Here are a few pictures from the farmhouse recently.

The cut flowers in the vase were picked out and given to me by two of my grandsons for my birthday.  They were so sweet to do that, with the help of their Mama, of course.  It made me want to always have some fresh flowers in the house and now that Spring and Summer are on the way, I hope to do this.  The long stem red rose was given to me at the restaurant where my hubby and I ate Valentine's Dinner.  All of these flowers have lasted a long time.

This plant was given to me by my hubby for Valentine's Day.  He knows I love cut flowers, but that I also really love plants that I can keep.  I love it because it is so colorful.  Its from the Bromeliad family and from what I read about it, will be easy to take care of.

In the sewing room, I have been working on a Double Irish Chain quilt.  These blocks are aqual blue, but  It will end up being made from all kinds of rainbow colors.

I really love Diet Coke, but I've got to start drinking more water.  So I am going to try to give them up.  I rarely drink plain water and some times at the end of the day I realize that all I've drank all day was coffee and Diet Cokes.  I know this is not good for me.  I used to drink lots of sweet tea and couldn't imagine ever giving it up, but I did since I knew how bad the sugar was for me.  I also gave up sweet liquid coffee creamers, which I thought I'd never be able to do.  So, I'm hoping that one day in the future, I'll look back and say that I gave up Diet Cokes, even though I thought I'd never be able to.

I hope your Monday is fantastic!

Some weekend Sewing

I spent some time in my sewing room Saturday.  This wall hanging is made from 12 six inch blocks that I made last year as part of the Splendid Sampler Quilt along.  I only made these 12, so I decided to put them to use.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Have a great Monday!

The Year 2017 is brought to you by the letter "E".

Good Morning!

 Lots of ladies choose a focus word of the year each year and I really like that idea. As I thought about what my word for the year 2017 should be, I just kept coming back to the word "early". I was feeling like I was always running late and feeling stressed out about all the things I was trying to get done. This is especially a problem on week day mornings. I get up plenty early enough, but I still seemed to leave home at the last minute and either got to work just barely on time, or a minute or 2 late.

 But the word "Early" didn't seem like a very important thing to focus on for a whole year. As I thought about this, lots of other words came to mind that begin with the letter "E". So I decided to focus each month on a different word that begins with "E".

Here are some I've come up with so far:

Early
Enjoy
Endurance
Edify
Encourage
Excitement

During the month of January I concentrated on being early. Every work day morning I worked toward being 5 to 10 minutes early and I am doing this consistently now. But, being early for work is not the only thing that I should be early for. If I am early for church, I can use that time to pray and just sit in the Lord's presence. Being ready early when I am going somewhere with my hubby is a good thing for our marriage. Being early to prepare for anything helps with my stress level. This would apply to holidays, birthdays, doing taxes, paying bills, etc. You name it, Early is a good habit!

In February my word is "Enjoy". My plan is to strive to enjoy life. A few things I am currently enjoying: Listening to Music, Reading and watching our current Netflix binge each night with hubby. If I take time to think about it, I am so blessed in big and small ways and I want to enjoy life. Each month I write the word I am concentrating on in my planner.

I rarely do a blog post without pictures, but if I am going to be early for work, I have to stop now!

PS: The current Netflix binge at our house is "Murdoch Mysteries". After you watch a couple of them, you will be hooked. At this point, I'm not sure if Murdoch and Julia will EVER get together!