The Price of Everything and Free things this Week!

I finished the pillowcase for my Mother in Law and sent it off on Wednesday for Mother's day. The cost of mailing everything of course as risen ($34.00 for the large box).  She is worth it though and we are so blessed to have her.

Price of gas rose very close to $5.00 a gallon on Wednesday night here in Michigan...

Anyway, we  had decided to go on Tuesday morning and filled up two cars with $1.00 off a gallon at Meijer.  We saved $30 that day ...it would have been more if we had waited.  We find that the money off gas is the best deal on MPerks.  There are other deals to buy with the mperks but the gas to us is the best deal.

We also bought a lot of the $7 for 7 deals last week.  The apples and corn was our favorite deal...4 corn on the cobs for $1.00 and 2 lbs of apples for $1.00.  By the way, the same deal is running this week.

Free things this week (kind of)

I made a big spring salad with lettuce, green onions, and radishes from my greenhouse.

I also picked some asparagus and chives in the garden.  Not sure what to do with just 5 stems but I was excited!  

We stopped at some M15 sales that were out early on Thursday.  I picked up these egg cartons for free plus a few other things. Egg cartons are running around .74 each so I love it!

We are going out again this morning to see what we can find.   M15 garage sales in Michigan are 67 miles long this first week of May.  Although we have to figure in the price of gas...hopefully we can find something that will make it seem like a deal that we went. 😃

 

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Gardening with Prayer!

When the floor/wall man called and said he was ready to do our kitchen,  I looked at all my plants and knew the only solution was to move them to the unheated greenhouse.   There was just no other way.  I worried and prayed  the whole time he was here but I seemed to have been blessed with good weather and no frost.  They might have grown faster inside our house but they have survived.

As you go into the greenhouse I have two Greenstalks....one each side of the door.  One is growing lettuce that is just about ready!

On the other side I have one growing herbs, radishes, and green onions.

When we finally get the kitchen back together I will take a picture.  It's so nice.  The floor is level, the walls are paneled, and the house is a mess but it will get back together soon.

Have a wonderful weekend!

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).  

Be sure to follow me on Facebook,and Bloglovin where I share my frugal list, gardening, recipes, and more!  You can also sign up for my email list on the top right hand side of the blog.

Seed Rolls worked! Other Gardening News, House cleaning and Cooking!

Today it's all about gardening and cleaning up the house for Easter dinner..

So, after seeing seed rolls in quite a few reels and vlogs I decided to give it a try.  I planted flower seeds and put them in my small greenhouse and tried my best to remember watering them from time to time.

Then one day I went to water again and the flowers had sprouted!  Yippee!  

So far everything I planted has come up...the daisies, bachelor buttons, and baby's breath. Can you see the little green?

What happens next?  I'm going to let them grow and maybe wait a week or two after Easter to up pot them up.  

Today I hope to do some Marigold seed rolls.

 Other gardening news:  

I moved the compost bins up by the garage to make them easier to use. They were in the flood zone LOL.

Grandson cleaned out the coop and we put the manure in one of the empty garden beds.

We pruned the cherry tree that was growing too tall.  Ok husband did but I guided him and moved the branches to the same empty raised bed.

I started tomato plants in the house.  

The cabbage is coming up and a few onions from seed.

House cleaning and cooking:

Yesterday, we carried out all the boxes that were by the fireplace for the recycling man to get.  I also cleaned out all the ashes and spread them in the garden.

Well that stirred up the dust so I polished most of the furniture.

I put the frozen turkey and ham to thaw in the refrigerator. 

Today I hope to finish polishing the furniture and we plan on getting rid of the huge potting bench in the greenhouse so we can replace it with a smaller one.  We do have a problem...it was so big we decided to build the green house around it...yep we probably have to saw it in half to get it out.  Should be a interesting day for sure!  

How's your week been?

Happy a Safe and Joyous Easter!  

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).  

Be sure to follow me on Facebook,and Bloglovin where I share my frugal list, gardening, recipes, and more!  You can also sign up for my email list on the top right hand side of the blog.

Gardening, Taxes, and Deals!

 

I planted these seed rolls with flowers yesterday and cleaned out the small greenhouse to put them in.  It's an experiment this year ...I'll let you know how they go.

We had our taxes done at the local senior citizens place with AARP.  We have done this for a few years and love it.   It's free and they are very knowledgeable.  I'm glad that's all filed away and over with.  

I bought 7 packages of Dearborn beef franks 16oz hot dogs for $4.34 each and froze them for summer grilling from Flashfood.  When we have the grandkids over hot dogs go fast!    I also bought 5 -1 lb packages of ground beef for $4.50 each.  

While we were at Meijer's I picked up a large scarf for someone for Christmas on clearance for $2.00.  Husband also picked up a winter vest for $3.00.   No telling how much this stuff will cost come this next winter.  

The wind was quite strong this past week and blew down a big tree  down the block, on to the corner of a house.   Doesn't look too bad but of course that's never good.  

I was so glad for the quiet again when the wind stopped.  I believe it also blew in allergens because all three of us have been battling sinus issues since it came. 

Taking a lead from Annabel from The Bluebirds are Nesting on the Farm  I decided to let the parents give the candy for Easter and I bought them things they needed.  The pretty girl needed wanted new pjs, crocs, and she also wanted socks like me (they are very soft).  The tall boy will get shoes and maybe some money for his games.  I will still give them some candy but not too much.  

Pretty girl stayed overnight with us (she wakes up pretty) ...She wanted pancakes with fruit.  I happened to be out early and bought the pancakes at McDonald's.  She never knew, she just thought I could make perfect pancakes.  

One day I'll show you tall boy...oh my he has grown.  He is coming over to clean the coop for me this weekend.  I'll also have him help me move the compost bins out of the flood plain and up by the garage.  It will help a lot when we clean the coop and put other compost in there.  Right now it's very hard to walk back there.  Not sure why I never did this before.

How's your week been?

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).  

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It's Mud Season, Seed Starting, and Make-Ahead Breakfasts,

Our backyard looks like a small lake, it's definitely mud season.  Walking through this is like sinking in quicksand. You try to step as quickly as you can but if you stop....  One morning I got my boot stuck.... I pulled so hard my foot came out then landed in the mud.  What a mess.  I can laugh now.

I wish the lattice walkway we put down to get me to the chicken run extended further.  I know we have more but we can't get to it...

More rain today!  I think about the people who have had tornadoes and this is small stuff. 

I've planted more onion seeds, strawberry seeds, and cabbage to get started in the house.   I bought this repotting mat on Amazon...saves a lot of mess on the table.

Out in the greenhouse I've planted the greenstalks with lettuce, radishes, and green onions.  I noticed the lettuce is coming up already.

While I was out there I started these seed snails.  I have been seeing these on youtube and thought I would try.  I think I will plant flowers in them.

I'm not motivated in the mornings to make breakfast.  I found that if I make some ahead like waffles, boiled eggs, and overnight oats it helps.  Husband is more happy with a fried bologna or a ham sandwich.  

I bought this dash waffle maker at a sale. This last year, I've also found a dash pancake maker, cupcake maker, bundt pan maker, sandwich maker, and donut one, all at sales.  I tend to use the waffle one the most.

How's your week been?

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).  

Be sure to follow me on Facebook,and Bloglovin where I share my frugal list, gardening, recipes, and more!  You can also sign up for my email list on the top right hand side of the blog.

How I'm Going to Make My Life Easier (It will take work)!

 

                        

I'm going to do it different this year ...yep 2026  will be different.  I'm going to be more ahead of the game so I can smile more, love God more, and just be more joyful than ever before.  None of this is means I'm going to sit around and do nothing.  It actually takes work to be restful but for years to come I know I'm going to thank myself.

Things I'm going to do to make that happen:

Sewing:

January is for sewing and I making cloth reusable Christmas bags. The material is all cut up and I'm ready to get sewing.

You know, I'm getting too old to wrap up all these presents.  Don't worry I have lots of wrapping paper I bought at estate sales for those big presents, but for all the smaller ones, in a reusable cloth bag it goes. Easy peasy, no wrapping paper needed.

                                                    a elephant baby bib I made this last week

I want to also make more baby shower gifts ahead of time in the off months of gardening.  I've done this some in years past but I need to step up my game and have those presents ready.  A gift closet for babies.

At the same time I want to make hats and gloves for giving to the needy.  All this making will make winter go by fast and I'll feel accomplished...I hope.

The Garage:

Organize the garage more...it's too cold to start now but I have ideas.  This will be more for me so I can find my chicken stuff, my picnic stuff, and my canning jars.  No basement here but that side of the garage is mine.  

I got a taste of just how great garage organizing can be after this past Thanksgiving.  You see last summer I put my Christmas stuff by the door so it would be within easy reach in the cold and believe me it was cold this past November.  It was so easy to just grab and go.  I was happy, he was happy.... everybody was happy.

Garden:

Come Spring, we need to fill the raised beds with soil to get them ready for the planting season.  The lower half of the garden is in raised beds now and we are excited to cut down on bending down to weed and as a added benefit we will not worry as much about the flooding back there.    Over the years I know we will thank ourselves for the extra work we are going to put in this Spring to make this happen.

I would also like to plant concord grapes behind the chicken coop run. This of course will happen in the Spring too but I will need to get ahead start and research how to trellis them this winter (youtube).  When I told husband what I wanted to do he rolled his eyes and said there was no room until I mentioned that very spot in the yard.  He became quiet and he knew there was nothing he could say.  The lawnmower doesn't even fit there.  Ha ha.

You know, I felt something years ago when I started requesting fruit trees for every Mother's Day .. something told me to start planting what we now call our little orchard.   The grocery store is so handy but I realize now we must learn to depend on ourselves as much as we can. 

What are your goals this year?

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).  

Be sure to follow me on Facebook,and Bloglovin where I share my frugal list, gardening, recipes, and more!  You can also sign up for my email list on the top right hand side of the blog.

Ice Age 2 -Protecting the Tree, and Christmas Decorating

I'm up and the degree this morning  close to 2 a.m. is 4  feels like -4 brr...

I told my daughter that I feel like it's the Ice Age.  She said Mom that has already happened ...I promptly said this was Ice Age 2.

Before the cold came the snow just after Thanksgiving (hope you had a great one) and the minute I heard about it coming I did something I should have already done.  I rushed out to get a tomato cage and a tree trunk wrapper to protect Japanese Maple in the side yard and it's a good thing I did.  He came pretty close with his snow plow!   I try to always protect the trees from snow plows and lawnmowers (and rabbits).  Oh I miss lawnmowers...

It seemed like it was just two weeks ago when it became a little colder that I changed the cotton sheets to flannel.  Yesterday I changed them to fleece.  So nice warm and instant sleep.  Love them.  We also turned the mattess around.  Well, we did that before we changed the sheets...

While I was at it I got out the humdifiers..with the heat going more it's very dry in here.  I have two, maybe I'd better do both of them.

I retrieved the Christmas decorations from the garage.  Now that was a cold job.  This year though it was easier because I made sure to put them right by the door.  No more climbing over everything in the freezing cold to reach them.   

I made sure to tell husband there is a space there now where the decorations used to be ...make sure in January there is still a space there to put them back.  LOL.  

Now to decorate...the snow made it brighter outside but the Christmas lights help make it brighter on the inside. This is my fun job for the weekend.

So far I decorated my mantle with the garland I got at Costco for $10 yesterday.  The lights change colors and twinkle if you want.  Apparently it was the last one so they marked it down.  I also put my little tree by the fireplace.   I'm slow but I'll get it.

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).  

Be sure to follow me on Facebook,and Bloglovin where I share my frugal list, gardening, recipes, and more!  You can also sign up for my email list on the top right hand side of the blog.

Good Deals, Our Menu, and Happy Halloween!

 

We went to the Menonite store and among other things we bought oatmeal for around $7.00 (.99 a pound) and some apples that were $10 a half bushel.  Those two things alone were worth the trip.  Plus it was fun.

I came home and made the grandkids some no bake cookies to take home with them.

Our Menu:

What we have had on the table so far this past week and what I have planned for the next few days.

Monday............Salisbury Steak, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

Tuesday...........Leftover salisbury steak made into a hamburger like stew

Wednesday......Fried chicken dinner from the Menonite store ($18.99-chicken was good..sides could be better)

Thursday.........Baked chicken, fried cabbage, and fried apples

Friday.............Homemade pizza  (grandkid will be here- I hope to get her in the kitchen)

Saturday.........Chicken noodle soup (leftover chicken)

Sunday..........Grilled rosemary pork chops (if the weather cooperates)..sides are yet to be determined.

Do you ever look at a recipe on the internet and think oh I'll make that only to realize you would have to make a trip to the grocery store.   Man, I hate that.

Garden chores:

It's getting colder here in Michigan but everyday I go out in the garden and do a little something.  Fall clean up is in full swing.

Monday.........Pulled up every tomato cage

Tuesday........ Saved Zinnia seeds and pulled up all the Olla's.  I stored the Olla's in the greenhouse and put the zinnia heads in the garage hanging up in a basket (in case of bugs).

Wednesday.....Planted garlic..this was worrying me..I think I'm ok but it felt late to be doing this.

Thursday........Mom and Dad's grave needs dirt by the headstone so I borrowed some from my pots.  I plan on planting tulips on Saturday.

Things I hope to do:

Friday ..............I hope to take down all the bean teepee's and save the bean seeds that are there. 

Just a thought...  I need to do this today before the trick or treaters come at 5. 

Saturday.....................Plant tulips at the gravesight.

 Happy Halloween!  

**Thanks so much for helping to support Vickie's Kitchen and Garden! As a Amazon affiliate I earn a small percentage when you purchase items from one of my links (the item doesn't have to be what I have linked here).  

Be sure to follow me on Facebook,and Bloglovin where I share my frugal list, gardening, recipes, and more!  You can also sign up for my email list on the top right hand side of the blog.