This is me!

I am a house wife. A stay-at-home mom. A home maker. I stay at home because we (Zach and I) made that decision a long time ago. It was not a decision we made lightly. We thought long and hard about it. There were many nights spent talking about it into the wee hours of the morning. There still are. We knew that by making this choice we would never own a brand new car or house. We knew we wouldn't be able to buy things just because we wanted them. But we don't want that either. We have to think about making our purchases. We have to save up. We have to pinch pennies. But we find those things fun, challenging, exciting even.

I do not feel I need to justify my not having a job. I do things here and there to bring in a little extra money on occasion but not because I feel I should but because I want to. Not because I have to but because I choose to. My husband is able to support us. Would a second income be helpful, sure! But it is not necessary. We don't need it, nor do we want it. We would much rather I be here. Taking care of our home, our children, and ourselves. And I do work. I work hard. I do not sit on the couch watching soap operas all day eating bon bons while filing my nails. I cook, plan meals, grocery shop, clean, do dishes, do laundry, play with my girl, garden (veggies), and make as much as I can from scratch (pie dough, pizza, bread, yogurt, casseroles, granola, baking mix, cream of chicken soup, gravy, chicken broth, pasta, desserts, pie filling, laundry soap). Could I buy most of those things from a store, sure! But I save us a lot of money by making them from scratch and they are much healthier. Could I do those things and still have a job, sure but maybe not as well or with as much attention to detail.

Have we chosen the hard life? In some peoples eyes, sure. But not in ours. We live a simple existence. We don't go out to eat for our birthdays and anniversary. Instead I make a favortie meal and dessert. We don't go out to the movies. Instead we head the the library and borrow a movie for free. We don't buy new clothes. Instead we shop at Goodwill, consignment shops, thrift stores, and yard sales. We don't go to high dollar salons. Instead I cut my husbands hair and I get mine cut at a beauty college for about $5. We don't buy pricey diapers. Instead we cloth diaper and use store brand disposables. We don't go on big vacations. Instead we go camping or to local parks and historical sites and maybe once every 5 years or so take a bigger trip. Still costing us no more than $500 or so.We live a reusable life instead of a disposable one. We use rags instead of Swifer dusters, sponges, paper towels. We use cloth napkins, cloth diapers, and towels. I am looking into using handkerchiefs this winter instead of tissues. Heck, I even use cloth "female products." Sorry guys!

Are we happy? For the most part, yes. Do we want more? Sure! Who doesn't? We want a home of our own. Land. A place to raise our children. In the country. A place for goats, chickens, maybe even a couple sheep. A place to grow, run, learn, live, breath! But we are willing to wait for that to happen. To slowly build up our savings. Are we planning to buy a quarter of a million dollar home? NO! Not by any means. An old farm house with a couple out buildings and a couple few acres would be fine with us.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not knocking those that do work! Both those that choose to and have to. I am not saying that it makes you a lesser wife, mother, father, husband, person! Not by any means. I am just stating our decision and why and how we make this decision possible. I can not count the number of times I have been looked down on because I choose to stay home. How many people have told my husband that I should get off my lazy good for nothing butt and get a job. And it hurts me. That people cannot accept the decision we have made.

We both sacrifice to make this choice possible for us. Zach works hard! He works a hard, physical job and comes home tired every morning. He works third shift so he can earn an extra dollar an hour. And this means that he is on a different sleep schedule as "L" and I. He gets home from work at 7am and goes to bed. We get up at 8am. He then gets up at 1 or 1:30 pm (after only 6 or so hours of sleep) to spend time with us. He then leaves for work at 5pm. We don't even eat a meal together the days that he works.

And how do I sacrifice? I miss my husband! I see him a matter of 3-4 hours a day on the days he works. And those hours he is tired and half out of it. I don't always get to buy the things that I want or "need". I am tired. Mentally, physically and often times emotionally.

But we are happy. So why can't people just be happy for us? Because we don't want the same things you do? Because we don't want the same things you want? I am sorry if our life style offends you. But maybe yours offends me. But it is not my place to tell you how to live it.

CSA: Community Supported Agriculture

We got our first box of fruits and vegetables from our CSA membership on Saturday and I thought I'd give you a peek. Lovely is it not? Everything looks so fresh and green smells wonderful!

So, what is a CSA?

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture (also called a CO-OP). At the beginning of the summer (the first of May was the cut off for ours) you sign up and buy a "share" (or in our case half a share) of what a local farm produces. We paid a set amount (ours is about $13 a week) and we will receive 8-12 pounds of fresh, organic, local produce each week for approximately 20 weeks. And by fresh, I mean FRESH! As in most of the items in our box were picked the morning of delivery. They can range in size from a few members to a few hundred. Ours has 54 members/families this year.

This is what our first box included:

• about a half a quart of fresh strawberries


• a bundle of radishes


• a bundle of green onions


• a nice sized bag of salad mix (this is a weekly item)


• 3 containers (like you would buy herbs in at the grocery store) of fresh Arugula, oregano and cilantro

The first few weeks boxes won't contain much but as the season progresses, the will get more and more fruitful!

In some ways I am a little nervous about the contents of these boxes as we will be introduced to some vegetables we have never tried before and I will have to get creative in the kitchen, trying new recipes and new ways of cooking these new foods. But at the time time, I am excited at this prospect as well. We have the opportunity to expand our culinary palate and push our "boundaries" a little when it comes to what we "think" we like and don't like. It also means I will have to get creative with the meal plans I make each week. From now on, I will get the CSA box on Saturday, search out recipes for the new and interesting items on Saturday, plan the next weeks menu on Saturday and Sunday and then grocery shop on Sunday or Monday. Phew! I am soo looking forward to this!

So, what some more information on CSA's?

Here is a link to a more detailed description of what a CSA is. Make sure too use the "Find CSA Farms" search to the right to see if there is a CSA near you to possibly look into.

Most CSA's are now closed to new members for the year, but maybe seeing mine this year will get you in the frame of mind to look into one for your family next year. They are a great way to help support your local farmers and a wonderful source of fresh, healthy, and sometimes organic foods!

Frugal Tip Friday: Dish rinse water re-use

I have given up on the dishwasher! I have banned it's use in my house. It is more eco-friendly and frugal to use the dishwasher because it uses less water than hand washing, but the darn thing just doesn't work! I have tried everything I can think of and nothing is working, so, I give up! I will just hand wash from now on. And that is fine with me. But what to do with all that "wasted" water?

Well, my solution is to save my rinse water and reuse it. I wash my dishes in the sink but then use a dish pan to rinse them in. I then reuse that rinse water to water my outdoor plants. After I have done the dishes, I allow the water to cool to room temperature. Then that evening, I water my garden with it. It doesn't get all the plants but it gets about half of ours. The little bits of food in the water act at compost/fertilizer and the small amount of dish soap acts as a pest detergent. So not only is it frugal and eco-friendly but reusing something that you would otherwise have just run down the drain, but it is also beneficial to your plants!

Frugal Tip Friday: New use for old coffee grounds

Next time you brew up a pot of Joe, don't just toss the used grounds. Instead, put them to work again. Sprinkle a layer on top of the soil of your house plants! They act as a natural fertilizer and insect repellent. You can also use them on your out door plants. Check with your local coffee shop (and isn't there one on every corner now?) Ask if they have can give you their used grounds. Most will willing pass them on to you for free and you can pick them up by the bag full!

So how is this frugal? By reusing something for another purpose, it usually is frugal, not to mention Eco-friendly. It also saves you from buying fertilizer and insecticide. Once again, also Eco-friendly as it saves those nasty chemicals from leaching into the ground. Unless of course you buy organic options. Then your good either way! :o)

Garden Update

I thought I'd update you on how our garden was going so far. Below are a couple pictures of our starts as of yesterday. They are all looking good! Including the new squash seedlings that have popped up in the last few days and seem to double in size every day. Fast little guys!

These are the squash. Top left are the yellow squash, middle are the zucchini and the upper left are the cucumbers.

And here is a view of all of them. Bell peppers, cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, and three types of tomatoes (beef steak, Roma, and cherry.) All of these will be planted in plastic totes as we are renting and aren't allowed to plow up the back yard like the last place let us. :o) But I did a lot of research into container gardening when we lived in the city as we were planning to container garden on the balcony but then we found a new rental place with a yard before we had the chance to try it out. I am anxious to see how this goes! We are also planning to plant some large sun flowers along the back wall of the house to hopefully get seeds from. I've never done sunflowers before so we shall see.

Why are dandelions a bad thing?

Why do so many people have a problem with finding dandelions in their yards? What is so bad about them? They are pretty, easy to take care of, come back year after year, and cost nothing to care for.

Mind you, I understand why we don't like them in our flower beds and vegetable gardens. They choke out our "wanted" plants and take over the whole place in no time at all. They are hard to completely get rid of without coating all our plants in harsh, harmful, deadly chemicals and are a pain to try to pull up.

But why such a fuss over them in the yard? They are beautiful! Why fight them? Why fuss and holler and complain when year after year, they are just going to come back? Why not accept them and take them for what they are. A gift of beauty from our loving Father. Meant to be pleasing to the eye. They can also be pleasing to the mouth. Yes, you can eat them! Here is a great article (from one of my favorite bloggers) on the many uses of each part of the dandelion.

So weed them out, kill them off, spray them with weed killer, pluck them from every corner of your garden, yard and side walk. But as for my yard, they stay! :o)

Update on our garden

The cherry tomatoes poking through the soil.

Our seedling "pots" on the kitchen table.

We have seedlings!!!! :o) Yeah!

Just over a week ago, I got our tomatoes (all three kinds) and our peppers planted. As you can see, I have used re purposed containers (Ie: cottage cheese, yogurt and shortening containers) for planting in. Poke some holes in the bottoms, add in a inch or two or gravel, fill with potting soil and plant according to the package.

We now have 6 cherry tomato sprouts, 6 beef steak tomato sprouts and 2 Roma tomato sprouts (with the promise of more.) We won't be planting all of those. We just don't have the space, unfortunately. We will thin out the smaller sprouts here in a few weeks and only use the biggest, strongest looking ones.

It will be a couple more weeks before we can plant the cucumbers, squash and zucchini and at least a few more days till we see the bell pepper seedlings poking though.

Spring planting is always so exciting! :o)

The start of my garden

Summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers, beef steak tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and two kinds of flowers.

I am so looking forward to starting our garden this year! I have never been more ready for spring! I know a big part of it has to do with our having a little one to share it all with this year. I am so looking forward to watching her discover all that the plants and garden have to offer. Including the fact that many of her first foods will be coming from our own plants.

I started with a list of what I wanted to grow this year. The list consists of: bell peppers, potatoes, tomatoes (large, plum and cherry), summer squash, zucchini, and cucumbers. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

I decided how many of each I want to plant. I made a list of then they need to be put to seed indoors (everything but the potatoes have to be started as seed). Then I figured out when I need to transplant them. Here are some great sites to help you figure this out...

Frost and Freeze Data for the USA

Victory Seeds Planting Guide

Growing Guide: for Vegetables

Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar

Here is a look at my planting guide for this year.

Bell peppers- planning on 5-6 plants- start seeds indoors early to mid March- transplant out doors mid May to mid June

Potatoes- not sure how many we are going to plant yet- plant directly out doors late March to early May

Tomatoes (all varieties)- 2 large, 1 plum, 1 cherry- start seeds indoors mid to late March- transplant outdoors mid May to mid June ( no sooner than Mother's day)

Summer squash, cucumbers, and zucchini- 2 squash, 1 cucumber, 1 zucchini- start indoors early to mid April- transplant outdoors early to late May

These dates are for central Indiana. If you live in a different climate, these won't work for you.

I will be sure to update you on how the garden is coming. And please feel free to update me on yours. What are you planting this year? Are you new to gardening or are you a seasoned pro? Any tips on container gardening?