Summer and the living is good;-)

Wisconsin summers are beautiful! And the dry weather, while bad for gardening, has kept away our usual hordes of mosquitoes. Farmer's markets every weekend are a bonus. Rode our bikes downtown to meet Greg for dinner and met a very gracious woman from Columbia who is visiting his firm. She is completely bilingual and it makes me happy I've been studying Spanish with the kids a bit each day and excited to someday be able to carry on a conversation! Wishing you all happy summers!

Boston research trip...

Just got back from a wonderful, wonderful trip to Boston to see all the historic sites from Paul Revere's home to Old North Church, to Lexington and Concord. The trip really gave me a new perspective on our history and corrected some important logistics errors in my book where I have characters doing things that were either on the wrong side of Boston or physically impossible due the time and mileage;-). These sorts of errors will now be corrected. The trip also gave me an appreciation for what a gift we've been given to live in a democracy. The birth of America was never a sure thing! Good wishes! Eileen

War of 1812

Sorry that I appear to have fallen off the planet. The kids home full time for the summer has been a lot of fun, but very active. Today we went to Prairie Du Chein for a War of 1812 battle reenactment at this very fort on the Mississippi river. It was really interesting (no lives lost) and I learned lots of little details about the lives of soldiers, their families, etc. so it was helpful for my book too. The book comes along in bits and pieces. Once the writing class was over, it's been hard to get many chunks of time, but I write when I can.

We are being pretty good on the frugal front - home more and eating at home pretty much always. Few thrift store ventures (much harder with two boys in tow;-)

The garden is wonderful this time of the year and always makes me happy, whether I'm out there or just watching from the windows.

Wishing all of you a happy July and baby steps along your own journeys. Eileen

Summer Writing Course - Terrific!

The one week summer writing course here at the University was just wonderful! I really felt the time and money were well spent. There were six writers and one instructor and we focused a lot on revisions - what was good and what needed to be polished. It was nice to meet the other writers, all of whom have the same hopes and dreams of getting published and our instructor was terrific. Lunches were done with a notebook and scads of notes from the morning session. The last day I treated myself to some annuals for the deck. The book is coming along, but sometimes the whole process seems painfully slow. Wishing you all the best on your journeys.

A good start to summer....

Summer is off to a good start. I've got my one week writing intensive next week and the instructor insists all five of us in the class need to shoot for sales as soon as it's done. I've been extra conscious of dribs and drabs going out and have a daily chart showing what we spent that day on a big pink sheet for the refrigerator. This is just a nice little extra boost to remember how things add up. My goal for summer is to live like we're in a cabin on a lake - i.e. less stuff to care for, more outdoor activities and simple meals, etc. To this end, I've continued cleaning out clutter even beyond the garage sale and it always feels good to see less stuff as I look around the house. My biggest weakness is books and educational games, but I'm trying to tell myself I don't need to hold on to them. We can use and enjoy them and then let them go (they are all purchased at garage or thrift stores). So the goal is the final revisions for the book and just enjoying my wonderful kids for a long, happy summer, living as simply and frugally as possible...;-)

A fun, frugal day...

It was a fun, frugal, productive day - those are often the best. I was reading at the Happiness Project that people are often happiest not when they "let themselves off the hook" but rather push through and complete something difficult. I think there's a lot of truth to that.

Today I attended the Women Science Fiction Writer's conference. I sat in on some feminist topics and was interested to hear the various viewpoints of women in literature, especially the need for more powerful girl lead characters in young adult and middle grade books.

After the conference, I took our Pug to the dog park so she could stretch her legs and we scoured the town compost/recycle center where someone must have just dug up these four shrubs. At home I got my trusty shovel, my soaker hose, and wheelbarrow and as I type, they are all settled into their new home in my garden - fun, fun, fun.

Hoping to carry though that happiness project edict through the evening and clean the entire downstairs still tonight..and not "let myself off the hook" but that remains to be seen;-).

Frugal ups and downs....

Continuing to make efforts to get that extra $45 either cut from expenses or added to the till daily. This effort has made me much more aware of the drips and drabs that go out. The other day I was thinking of getting something for $2, I don't even now what it was, but definitely not a necessity. Then I thought, well that will just up the ante to $47 today and took a pass. I'm much more aware of eating expenses too and have been doing more casseroles and homemade pizza. This month's food won't make our ideal budget $400 for the entire month, but hopefully next month will.

On the up side, my neighbors are delighted with my mini-plant sale at the end of the driveway and several have told me how happy they were to buy a hosta, phlox or some other plant. I started hauling up the bins I stored through the year marked garage sale for my sale this coming week, another reminder to reduce clutter! I read somewhere the only things you should store are holiday and out of season clothing, otherwise, there should be nothing to "store" it should be used or gone. I like that idea.

Another blip when I went down to get the bins, I saw a puddle of water by the water softener. Plumber showed me the bottom is almost completely rusted out - it is from 1995, so a decent life length - and will have to be replaced. On the upside, an acquaintance has a husband that does small engine repair and our mower's pull start just came off, so he said he could fix it for us. So happy to repair verses replace. The mower was a great deal at $30 off Craigslist just as winter was setting in three or so years ago.

Finally, I got two bales of hay for $5 from a local farmer to put as mulch in the big vegetable garden I put in. My mini-van now has that nice "horsey" smell I like so much;-)

Signing off. Wishing you all frugal days. Eileen

Two dollars in $1600 out....

I was all set to post about our frugal weekend - weekly grocery shopping only $100 rather than the $150 it's been creeping up to (including paper/cleaning/other supplies). Sold a few plants each day, ate lunch before the zoo trip to avoid temptation, etc. Feeling pretty on top of this whole back to frugal living!

Then yesterday, our little guy had a tantrum in the car because he wanted mommy to drive him to preschool. Greg had agreed to drive to help me out. Just as Greg was backing out of the garage, Kai somehow managed to unlock the door and open it just far enough that it caught on the garage frame. No one hurt thank heavens. But the car door was bent on the frame and wouldn't close. So Kai and I followed Greg to a body shop on one side of town ($1600 estimate - will need new frame and door), then to a car rental place on the other side of town (five maybe six day's worth).

Later that day, I found two dollars tucked into my plant sale box - sold a bleeding heart. So it was $2 in, $1600 out. On the plus side, everyone is okay and I've found in the past every time you recommit to frugality, there are going to be a few blips here and there. This one was bigger than the usual blip, but as long as we stay the course, we'll come out ahead.

Happy days to all. Eileen

I've been filling the pots on my deck for the summer. As in years past, I walk out to the garden and dig lots and lots of perennials for the bulk of the planters, then just fill in here and there with annuals. This makes it a LOT cheaper to have a lush look. I'm about 1/4 of the way done. These planters are all "free" perennials from the yard mixed with some annuals I overwintered in the kitchen. One of the best things about this method is perennials that I might miss out in the big gardens take on a whole new appearance up close and personal in pots on the deck. I learn to appreciate them a lot more and usually have a lot of butterflies on the deck by mid summer. Good wishes! Eileen

Finding an extra $45 per day....

After our Quicken bit the dust, eventually partially restored by the Best Buy geek squad, I decided to go back to the pen and paper route as a backup. The Budget Kit came highly recommended so I'm starting to fill it out. Using bankrate.com savings goal calculator, I revised our goal for four years. It's a pretty steep goal, but it's always fun to aim high. To reach it, we would need to reduce our expenses $45 per day. So four times a day, a $11.25 choice needs to be questioned or nine times a day an extra $5 needs to be saved.

It is always fun to have a specific goal to shoot for. Having this in mind, I decided rather than Tastee Freeze small cones for the kids today, which I'd planned to ease our list of errands and donations, I popped a big bowl of popcorn and gave them each a water bottle and popcorn bag (recycled bread wrapper) and they were happy. (I didn't mention the decision to forgo the ice cream - that would NOT have gone over well). So there was about $4. Then I took half an hour and gathered a bunch of donations I'd stashed in the closet to drop off and got my receipt ($20 in tax savings). When we got home, I had $4 in my plant sale honesty box.

The majority of the savings is going to come from groceries (no more tossed guacamole), household, and leisure. And of the $45, $16 each day is toward a vacation fund for a big vacation that we could always postpone if we fail to meet our goal.

Good wishes to all on your own goals!

Lazy man's compost idea not a success;-)

I try to compost as much as possible. There's something very satisfying in a granola type manner in taking all my cucumber peelings (despite the fact the cucumbers were likely trucked here from South America) and putting them right back into the earth. But I also strive for ease and had a recent brainstorm that rather than haul it all back to the soon to be vegetable garden clear on the other side of the yard, I'd just tuck these bits of future black gold right into the pots on my deck where they would decompose and feed my potted plants. Apparently last night a hungry creature (opossum? raccoon?) decided to check out the hidden buffet offerings and probably enjoyed the equivalent of an Easter Egg hunt throughout my deck. So today, the watermelon rind, peelings, and egg shells went directly out into the garden...bon appetit scavenging nocturnals...

15 Minutes - You can do anything!

The Happiness Project had a great article today called "Suffer for 15 Minutes". The gist is any project that weighs on you that you know you should/need/want to do, but just seems too big, can be broken down into 15 minute blocks. I had signed up for two on-line writing classes, but there were some technical difficulties signing in, I had forgotten an assignment and so the whole thing sat in my in box waiting "Till I get more time."

Interesting, there was yet another article on the same site that when you put something off "till you have more time" you will rarely do it. More time is an elusive proposition. So I decided I could suffer fifteen minutes, went through and found the email link to the course, figured out the next assignment, and will begin on in tomorrow (15 minutes) easing back into what had been a four hour a day writing process.

Good wishes finding that one thing you know you should/could/want to do and setting aside 15 minutes TODAY to suffer. There is a great feeling at the end of the day when you go to bed that you know you made headway on something important to you that you'd been putting off.

Lunch at Giverny...

At the suggestion of a friend, I've been working on a revised 100 item bucket list of dreams. On that list is a trip to Monet's famous gardens at Giverny. Today I happened upon this book with a diorama that is just wonderful for $2. So I decided I would lunch there via my back porch until I get to the real thing;-).

Also on my bucket list is a tour of the great gardens of Europe, and lo and behold, the same thrift store had the complete set of Audrey Hepburn's Gardens of the World series at fifty cents each. So I'm traveling on the cheap this week, but enjoying it very much. Happy Bucket List Making to All! And to all a hearty Bon Appetit!

P.S. The Diet Coke and plate of reheated spaghetti that rounded out this meal were kept out of the picture for the sake of aesthetics...;-)

Dead Best-Selling Author....

If you believe there are no coincidences, then if something catches your attention, there is a reason. Today, as I was waiting in line at the grocery store, someone behind me was talking about several best selling books he'd just gotten to read. My ears perked up as I unloaded watermelon onto the checkout counter. The speaker then said, "And here's the weird part, the guy dies after he's finished the books, then, like, four of them become best-sellers!"

Definite lesson there to be in the moment, to put process over product, and to enjoy the journey! I have a great quote over my kitchen sink to not rush, to enjoy the moment, to realize this moment is just as important, more so really, than any future moment.

While far from the Dalia Lama in this endeavor, I do find I'm a bit more able to do this as time passes. It's something I have to be conscious of and work at, but when I'm in the moment, it all feels more real and more fun.

Good wishes. Off to walk the dogs with my neighbor, hopefully present with each footfall.