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Taking a break when needed is good.  The October break made me anticipate your return and appreciate it much more.

I just finished reading my third WWII book on I think the title was Our Mother's War.  I found it interesting in that it had many details about all aspects of life during the war years.  One part that caught my attention was on the families living in New Mexico in the town where the atom bomb was developed.  The lady was shocked when she realized that the stove provided was a huge coal fired cookstove and that she bought an electric hot plate and cooked on that.  The same lady complained about the house being cold as the fuel oil heater was inadequate plus there was often no fuel.  If she had just learned to use that coal cookstove, she would have solved both cooking and heating issues.  I think most all of us on this forum would have had the common sense to learn to use the cookstove!

I have one row of potatoes planted and we've been having rain enough to keep me out of the garden since I planted that row.  I had difficulty finding seed potatoes and finally found them at Menards.  They are very nice but not cheap.  

I've also changed menus to keep within my grocery budget.  I've been leaning on my pantry more which is good because I have things that need to be used.  I generally cook two meals each week and eat them every other day until gone.  Leftovers are my best friend!  Six meals from a meatloaf, four from scalloped potatoes with ham, five from chicken noodle soup and then it's time to cook again.

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Thanks for keeping the blog and forum going, Grandma Donna. Enjoy a well-earned break from both!

Funnily enough, I decided back in March that I was going to take the month of May to get back to basics,  and I've been preparing the home and family accordingly. I want to declutter, organise, clean and tidy, get up to date on our finances and do a new budget.

Lately my husband has been catching the bus to and from work. It's about a two hour round trip. It saves us money and reduces the demand for fuel. I try not to go into town and if I do, I plan the trip to get most out of it.

We don't eat much meat these days, and I have started making bread at home again. I used to be in the habit but I stopped for a while. It's saving us a lot of money and is much healthier.

We have the wood fire going again, so I need to get in the habit of heating water and cooking on its stovetop.

We are adjusting to our daughter not being home much these days as she has a job about an hour away. She stays in town. This means we often have enough of our main meal to last two nights, as we still cook for three dinners plus leftovers. By bulking up a bit with rice or the like, the meals go much further. I also might add lentils or beans to leftovers if our daughter is home unexpectedly for dinner, before I reheat it.

See you in a month, Grandma Donna. Stay well, and I hope you get good rain.

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Such a great idea for you to take a month long break Donna. It will give your brain some rest in a way.

To keep peace in today's world I'm doing a lot more handcraft and different things from gardening or cooking. One project I've nearly finished is I brought 2 hard cover lined page journals and have totally written a new my recipe books into them. This time I categorized each section eg Meat, Desserts, Preserving etc and the 2nd journal was only for baking recipes. I put in all the recipes I always use and got rid of others I never have tried.  

Your bird baths are lovely. Here in NZ where we live the cold came 6 weeks earlier than usual so we've had the fire going.

Kellie O... We have a kettle on top of our fireplace for hot water for drinks and I cooked a beef and veggie stew on it 2 days ago. :-)

With blessing to you and Charles 

Edited Wed Apr 29, 26 5:49 AM by Karen S

It’s been a busy old morning for me, the weather (UK) is sunny with bright blue skies but a keen wind which has kept the temperature down to around 18C. I went through the upstairs of the cottage first thing then took myself off to the garden centre in the village as I needed more horticultural grit, while I was there I picked up three more strawberry plants as last year I gave all my runners to my stepson and then promptly lost every one of the parent plants over winter :(

No matter, the new ones are in and I’ve done another succession sewing of salad leaves plus more carrots and courgettes. Food prices seem to be going up each week so I’m determined that we will be eating just our own fruit & veg all summer. We don’t eat much meat at all and I’ve a good store of pulses etc plus the yard where I keep my horse has started selling their eggs to us livery owners, at £2 for half dozen they are a decent price, so tasty and of course I know how free range they are as I seem them scratching around all day!

Enjoy your break GDonna and see you at the beginning of June

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I’m very new to your blog and forum and really enjoy it. Will you leave the forum up so we can read older comments?

thank you. 

And enjoy your break

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Now that I am retired I can take a better break along with all of you!

Living in Florida we are getting exposed to smoke whenever the air currents are right. We are praying that the forecast of rain for us this week will be correct. It has missed us so many times. 

Years ago my husband built a bird feeder in a little concrete “moat” to keep fire ants out of the feeder. A falling tree destroyed the feeder but the moat and its supply faucet are still there and I see squirrels, rabbits, bees, butterflies and birds drinking from it. I am sure we get raccoons, armadillos and opossums there at night. I keep water on a slow drip- I’m on a well. We also have a concrete 3-tiered fountain that recirculates water in a small brick pond and the birds love to drink and bathe in the top tier there. I have floating planters in the brick pond that insects can use as well. I just have to add water now and then. To prevent mosquitoes we added tiny 25 cent “feeder” goldfish to the pond. Some of them are at least a decade old and 9-10 inches long now. My neighbor’s large natural pond is almost dry. I expect to see deer drinking in my moat or fountain any day now. I plan to keep water available for whatever needs a drink.  Even the alligators, if they leave me and my dogs alone. It’s been very hard on gators and fishing birds. 

I have been trying to keep my electric use down, although the a/c will increase my bill a good bit when I finally have to run it.  I was delighted to see my actual amount this past month was the lowest I think it’s ever been. 

I’m refreshing my starter now to make bread and will bak it at night or early morning when the house is cool. I made soup Monday in my thermal cooker and with summer almost here, will switch to using my slow cooker and toaster oven set outside, a pressure cooker and the thermal cooker. I haven’t tried solar cooking because of the cooker cost and also I wasn’t home to tend to it. Now that I’m retired, I’ll take suggestions on models and brands and thoughts on whether they are worth it. 

My garden is keeping me busy too. Enjoy your break, GDonna!

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Our menu is changing too, but gradually. If I do it "subtly," there won't be any rebellion at the dinner table. ;-)
I now have a lot more vegetables from the garden and I really use up everything that's usable. That saves money and it's delicious.
Enjoy your time off. I'm looking forward to your new post in June.

Edited Wed Apr 29, 26 8:56 AM by Sibylle M

Lee D,  Hi Lee, I cannot remember if I welcomed you to the forum, I will welcome you again, but if I did not I am happy that you are here and commenting.  Yes, the forum, as well as the blog, will be up to read but just not be able to make a new comment until I am back.  It is a good time to catch up reading. 

The way my blog works a computer screen or laptop is the best way to read because I also have a search bar on that but a cell phone or tablet is good too.  To go back to older posts click on a topic in the menu such as living like the past and scroll all the way down and there are numbers that will take you back to the beginning.  You can look at the top of a blog post page and see when that post was written.  I hope this helps to navigate my blog.  Grandma Donna

Edited Wed Apr 29, 26 9:16 AM by Grandma Donna

This is a great idea.  I love these breaks, not that I won't miss the posts, because I will greatly, but because it gets us all on board with getting things done together.  I love it. Recently was pondering pricing of getting a propane tank for a stove. We only have electric and I dislike electric. The coils are cheap and wonky, replacing them is pricey, and I cook better on propane.  I may be very cost prohibitive, but a flat top stove is not my thing. I'd ruin it.   So I may look into that during May.  I also just read an article on whole house fans that run though the AC, which I never have used. With our temperature fluctuations between night and day it may save some money cooling off the house before turning on the A/C.  I'd also like to get my office organized and prettied! ;)  This year the pollen is so high, I'm having a huge problem with allergies and feel like a slug. May will be the perfect time when it's dimished, it starts to get hot and I can get things done.   And... we're all together in this!

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I hope you enjoy a relaxing and productive break, Donna! It's funny, I spent some time yesterday converting my cellphone into a "dumb" phone again by blocking everything except the phone functions, maps, and camera. I also turned the computer-use timers back on to limit the time I spend on the internet. Perhaps we are all feeling the need for a "Spring Break!"

Our food ways have only changed a small amount. Mainly I am being more mindful of leftovers and random snacking. In the past, leftovers stayed in the fridge and either became lunches or were snacked on unless I had specific plans for them. Now, they go straight to the freezer to be served again in a week or two as a new meal (or an ingredient in a new meal). Having "frozen dinners" on hand has been a huge convenience on busy days. Yesterday, for example, we didn't get home until 7 pm. I had frozen half a batch of biscuits a few weeks ago, along with some frozen cooked sausage, so I quickly whipped up a pan of sausage gravy (using the bacon drippings I save in the fridge) and we had a dinner of biscuits and gravy with a simple spinach and onion salad (I make up jars of salad onions and keep it in the fridge at all times). It was ready in less than 10 minutes. Our grocery budget is $300 a month for two people, and I always aim to spend less

Taking a cue from the pasties Welsh and Cornish miners used to eat for lunch, we also started making ham and cheese "hot pockets" every week. I use my regular bread recipe, rolled out, for the dough instead of a pastry recipe, so they are very much like a traditional sandwich in flavor and texture.  I fill them with ham, cheese, mustard, and a veg of choice (this week it was rehydrated and sauteed summer squash, last week it was raw onion and spinach). They are good warmed up or cold, so they work well to grab on the way out the door if we must be out around lunchtime or if we want an impromptu picnic. They also prevent us from gobbling up anything in sight when the midday hunger strikes!

I'm sure you already know this, but just in case, make sure your preparations take into account smoke from wildfires. We keep particulate masks on hand here, both for wildfires and because there is always a chance of volcano activity in the Pacific Northwest. We also have an electric air cleaner that we can haul out when needed. We have lucked out and haven't needed it the past two years. If you run AC, your AC may be able to filter out particulates but be prepared to wash or replace the filter, depending on the type, frequently during the smoke event. Wildfire smoke is no joke and can cause many health problems. You may also want to cover garden beds with a shade cloth if smoke is heavy, because the particulates can damage plants and probably aren't that great to consume, either.

I hope everyone has a relaxing and pleasantly productive break!

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I probably should take another screen break also. I am starting to suffer from information fatigue and it is starting to affect me. 

I will miss the new blog entries but I do understand. It is time for me to get going on outside work so that will be a huge help.  Because of the weather I haven't been able to get my garden finished being tilled or any planting done. It's really okay I have plenty of time I just love getting to it early. 

In the meantime, I really need to deep clean windows. It is obvious there will not be a visit by the "window cleaning fairy". 

Have a refreshing break Gr. Donna

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I have been so blessed and encouraged by this blog and, of more recent years, the wonderful comments as well. I have combed through this entire website of entries numerous times, and harvested so many excellent tips and so much lovely encouragement. I even value this as entertainment and learning - for example today I looked up two birds that were mentioned, unfamiliar to me, read about them and saw stunningly beautiful pictures of them. I was a 1975 baby born and raised by parents born in 1930 and 1920, and my heart is anchored so deeply in all the kinds of vintarian, historic, nostalgic, practical and lovely entries and discussions that are found here. Thank you, all.

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Good for you!  You will be missed but I know how nice it feels to step away at times. 
Prices will continue to rise as the fed prints more money (not political, just what they are doing). It does make it more difficult to plan purchases as prices are so unsteady.  
Enjoy your garden. Hope you harvest some delicious goodies. 

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Karolina B, I am happy to read that you have been around while reading my blog posts, welcome to commenting here in the forum.   I am glad that you made a comment, you are among people with similar interests or just looking to learn new things.  :)  Grandma Donna

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Ann W When I have used organic potatoes to plant.  I have also used organic sweet potatoes and garlic.  I used organic garlic in the fall, but they didn't come up well.  I don't know if it was all the cold and ice or that it was so windy I could not keep them covered with straw.  The non organic produce is often coated with something that will keep them from sprouting.

I have not put summer crops in the ground yet, but I have been weeding and cleaning up so I will be able to plant soon.  My house could use a good cleaning too.  May will be a good time to catch up on all of the cleaning after I have gotten my plants and seeds in the ground.  I think gardens need to come first over deep cleaning the house.  We can all come back with food growing and a clean house.

See you in May!  

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I have used potatoes from the grocery store in my garden. I had some old ones that had sprouted so rather than throw them out I planted them. They did fine! My little grandson got a kick out of finding them at harvest. 

Sometimes it's a necessary thing to take a break even from things we enjoy. I hope yours is refreshing!

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Grandma Donna, I hope you have a wonderful break!

Just yesterday I declared May a health month for me, to get back on track.  I have been walking more and starting to tolerate more foods, which leaves me hopeful that I will have the energy to do even more.  I am slowly incorporating more nutritious foods in my diet as my digestion improves, like whole grains and more vegetables.

One thing we have done more of is choose frozen vegetables in lieu of fresh for green beans, spinach, and some mixed vegetable blends.  We did buy a 1# bag of fresh spinach today, and it was $3.79.  I came home and looked up the price of the frozen spinach I buy from Walmart, and it is $1.28 for 12 ounces.  At that price different we can choose to eat all of our spinach cooked!  I did buy a big bag of frozen stir fry vegetables to keep on hand as convenience food.  That comes out to $1.76 per pound and includes broccoli, green beans, sugar snap peas, carrots, yellow carrots, mushrooms, red bell peppers, and onions.  Stir fried vegetables + brown rice + two eggs makes a quick, inexpensive meal at under $1 per person, even taking into account the oil oil to cook with.

Thinking of the last post, there are some things I don’t have any control over.  My husband likes to have good apples in the house at all times, along with tomatoes and lettuce for salads.  Apples are a far more expensive snack than popcorn.  He is in good health though, and really likes his salads and his apples (and apple in his salads).  I also buy cereal for my son and just do the best I can in getting the lowest price.

I’m back to making soy milk and baking bread, both of which save us money at the grocery store.  When I am sick or in a flare those are two things we have to buy.  I really like when I can make soy milk because it stretches the time between grocery trips to not have to buy it every week (we don’t have room in the refrigerator for two weeks worth).  That is another thing the frozen vegetables help with, being able to stretch the grocery shopping out.

As part of the May health initiative, I won’t be baking sweets or desserts, which will also save money.  I might bake muffins even though they have sugar, but I will cut it back.  I make my muffins with 100% freshly ground wheat and with olive oil.  A muffin recipe made with 3/4 cup sugar instead of 1 cup comes in at 1 T. of sugar per muffin.  For banana muffins I think I can use even less.

Another part of my health initiative is to spend less time on screens, so this is the perfect time for a break — I won’t be worrying that I’m missing anything here on the blog and forums!  We aren’t growing food this summer, or planning to stock up anymore than we need to replenish what we use from the pantry.  The only prep I plan to complete is water storage, and this year that may end up being gallon bottles stored in the gym (plus using the water bob I ordered).  I am taking seriously my doctor’s recommendation to work on stress reduction, after getting hit with several major issues this spring (severe illness, house damage that needs repair, a car issue, and more).  I need to take a break from worrying about the state of the world and planet!  I have no control over what happens and there’s no way to prepare for everything, so I’m going to consider what we’ve done so far “good enough to move on”, except for needing more water.

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We had a storm with very big hail. We'll probably have to replace our roof and siding, and even the window screens had big tears in them. Parts of the garden got shredded too, and my glass hummingbird feeder got broken. I'm going to be looking at the pictures of Grandma Donna's garden very carefully to see where she is putting up hail-proofing!

I know I haven't been doing much with the 1942 study, but I plan to start gas rationing and following the Victory Speed Limit of 35 mph on May 15th. Victory over the high gas prices! :) 

A rest sounds like a wonderful idea. :)

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@ Kimberly F, I found a no sugar banana bread recipe online. I used really ripe bananas.  Also, it used more banana than typical recipes. No one could tell it had no sugar.

I also found an extremely low sugar cake recipe for my daughter birthday. She loved it and no one else realized it was low sugar. I frosted it with a mix of cream cheese & honey.

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Ann W Seed potatoes are getting very expensive! I don't have a root cellar or any place like that, so my potatoes have to stay in the kitchen pantry after harvest. Sometimes they don't make it to spring. This year I got varieties that are supposed to keep well, are later harvest potatoes, and I'm going to try a trick I heard about of leaving some potatoes in the ground as long as possible before frost, even after the plant dies back. This is so the potatoes don't have as long out of the ground until spring. 

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We've done very well with our birds since I started caring for them last spring. This year's focus is on trying to improve the number of bees, and Grandma Donna's lovely bird baths and wildlife watering stations inspired me to get some bee baths and glass leaf-shaped beads to put in them so the bees could drink the water. We had almost no bees last year. We seem to have a few more so far this spring. 

Grandma Donna  I am so glad to hear your hummies have shown up. Ours haven't yet, and it's late for them. The hummingbird flowers are blooming and I had my feeder up, but no hummies. Maybe they are just taking their time this year.

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Grandma Donna thank you for another great post.I will miss seeing new posts and reading the comments but a break is well deserved. I have several projects to keep me busy during the month of May.  Cleaning and purging all the closets and the storage room in the garage is the main project.  Our raised bed garden is slowly growing. The blueberries bushes are full of berries so I am hoping for an abundant harvest this year. We are experiencing drought conditions here in NC but some needed rain is in the forecast. We have a small creek that runs through our backyard so the wildlife that visit have a good water source. I have birdbaths and other water sources for the birds  stray cats and resident turtle  that frequently visit. I have noticed slight increases in food and gas again. We are eating less meat and more vegetables, rice and potatoes. Grandma Donna  The photo of Elizabeth is adorable.:) I hope you and everyone else has a very productive and blessed month of May.

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Stephanie G,

That hail storm sounds scary!  I hope the clean up and repairs go smoothly for you.

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Out for a few errands: gas in Ohio is now $4.99. I guess the sky is the limit  I have been topping off the tank all the time   A few weeks ago I bought gas at Costco for $3.32

I’ve been thinking about where extra hidden costs will be coming:  plastic is in virtually everything so there’s that. Plastic-a good all American petroleum product.  

Flashfood has been iffy here lately but I checked last night and found nice sized packs of fresh chicken tenderloins 60% off  Purchased many packs.  They have a sell by date of today so chicken for dinner and the rest will be stashed in the freezer.  They also have tubes of ground beef for a good price but I think I saw a documentary ages ago that make me feel icky about a tube of me for myself.  Wouldn’t a big ribeye taste good ?  I try to pick up extras of this and that for those little book libraries. Today I have pickles, baked beans, qt of shelf stable milk (best item ever to give), tuna, box of mashed pototoes that take only water and a roll of TP

My peonies are beginning to bloom. I cut a few off every day for the house.  A real blessing to have.  Peonies were the first flower I fell in love with.  
Be safe folks 

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Everyone, I am happy to see that some of you are joining me on my "month of May Pause" to get caught up on household cleaning and organizing.  Let's say we are "Fluffing" our homes. :)

I will be taking down curtains, the windows have already been cleaned so this will be nice to have the curtains washed and ironed as well.  Early this morning I went through a storage tote that was full of small clutter items that need to either find a home or leave.  By far, this is not the only tote that I need to clear out.  I have a dresser in the blue guest room with everything out of the drawers to be gone through. I am just getting started. 

Another thought I had yesterday, I am going to sort out the clothing and I want to hang/stack our most comfortable clothing that we like to wear often, with one simple nicer item, to a location easy to get to without digging for it.  If we were to have an emergency and had to leave quickly we could pack these items quickly.  

I have had times in my life, I was in a house fire when I was young and know what it feels like to not have a change of clothing.  I had only the pair of panties I had on and my pajamas. 

I always keep a pair of panties and a pair of socks in my purse because of that housefire experience and two other times, a trip to the hospital before when I had no clean panties or socks and an emergency trip out of town when our daughter had an emergency. That took me to another level of preparedness.  

We have two backpacks that we keep packed with emergency items, and the season that we are in matters what is in those bags. We update those backpacks every six months due to bottled water and a box of food bars.  We both have a pair of scrubs, top and bottoms, underwear, socks etc. that we wash once a year to keep them fresh.  This is for something like a sudden evacuation. 

An emergency can become very expensive if we are not prepared for one because that means possibly the need to buy clothes, buy food, pay for gasoline.  I suggest keeping some easy to pop open food on the shelf that could be tossed quickly in a small tote that already has some paper plates, bowls, disposable eating utensils. It is better to have a little processed food in the house than to have to pay for drive through. I am thinking of when Madge had a sudden stroke and days and nights of sitting in the hospital. Buying food was very expensive and we had to change to easy to open and easy to eat food I kept in a tote.  Also there may be a situation where we cannot get food. 

Anyway, these things need fluffing.  As we go through our life, our needs change too so adjust for that.

My May pause is also so I can get my home in better order so I can have time to sew.  I am determined to make my own underclothing!  I am protesting the change in our fabrics, have you noticed that most everything has gone to s-t-r-e-t-c-h-y, why?  I want cotton and linen so I will make it myself.  :)

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Stephanie G,  Oh Stephanie, not a hail storm!  I feel your pain on this situation and completely understand the damage of what that hail can do.  :(  You really got hit hard with the roof, siding and window screens.  The garden ugh!  That may be a start over, it is such a sick feeling to have this happen.  It also is very bad on the wildlife that is in your area.  

Yes, we have added protection here to our garden, some people may think overboard with we have done but we have had roofers here at our house three times in the past four years, actually four times because of a straight line wind that came through and tossed the top of a tree into our three month old new roof and punctured holes all the way through the decking.  When we need a roof from hail damage that means we have lost food that we grow too.

We put up metal electrical conduit poles for trellises to go over the raised beds and then put wire fencing over that.  If a possibility of hail we can quickly toss covers on top of that and clip it down to the fencing above.   If it is large hail, that can go through but the metal fencing will reflect some of it off hopefully saving some of the plants.  We bought shade cloth to go over it which will help too.  We are working on a way to staple shade cloth to dowels so we can roll it across and roll it back when it is not needed.  I keep old sheets to toss over top of the wire.  Anything to reflect the hail.  I have thought about going to the thrift store and buying a couple of old comforters and cutting them to make pads to toss up on top of the metal fence trellis.  The plants should be safe under that.  With using the metal what we are doing now will not rot and hopefully remain for many years. 

Keep me posted.  Grandma Donna

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I just finished hanging my laundry in the beautiful spring weather with the birds singing. :)

Thank you, Tea S and Grandma Donna. It was an historic storm for our area. The biggest hail we've ever had. We haven't heard from the insurance adjuster yet, but the roofer thinks there's a good chance we can get a hardened roof out of this. I wouldn't mind getting a new color of siding if I can. The silver linings. :) I was all ready to go fix the screens myself when the roofer said to leave them for the insurance adjuster. 

The bad freeze we had earlier in the year got all of our pears and all but three of our peaches. After the hailstorm, we're down to one peach. Most things look like they will recover from their tattered state, but they'll probably harvest later. We lost all of our tomato plants. I remember looking at your garden picture, Grandma Donna, and thinking that I was so glad that we don't get bad hail. :) 

I worried about the wildlife but most is back. I haven't seen our carpenter bee, though. An animal at the zoo was killed and another badly injured. The hail smashed out car windows of people who were out shopping and had cars in the parking lots. That's how bad it was. I almost feel sorry for the insurance companies because they're going to get so many claims.

It just means more planning! 

I'm going to join in with the idea of giving the house a good cleaning in May. 

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I've had to decide how to spend my limited time this spring when my husband broke his leg last month.  I have a job, and two children ages 16 and 6.  With my husband out of action for pretty much everything--he can't drive, he can barely walk or even stand--I've had to pick up many of his tasks as well;  thankfully my 16 year old has helped out uncomplaining, but it's his last year of secondary school and he has crucial exams coming up.  I can't lean on him much.

All of this to say, housework has pretty much stopped here!  I've been prioritising my allotment and garden, as growing food is very important to me.  Maybe I can do my spring clean in May and get the house reset.  

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Your blog reminds me so much of my Mom Mom.  Born in 1939, she was the ultimate saver/hoarder in our family.  That woman could make anything go further than it was supposed to; it was definitely an art.  I am so glad I found your blog!  Thank you for sharing your much needed knowledge. 

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Donna, Thanks for another great post! I'm sure we will all miss you in May, but I may go way back to your early posts and start reading there. I'm sure you will enjoy your much-deserved break from the blog. I hope you will be able to catch up on some things and maybe get a little extra rest, too.

Ann W, it is funny you mentioned the difficulty/expense of getting seed potatoes this year. Our Town and Country market has had seed potatoes every year since I moved here 26 years ago, but this year, they never put any out. At first, I thought they were just late, but when I finally realized they weren't going to put any out, I had to drive 20 miles out of my way to go to Walmart to get them.

Stephanie G, do you live in Missouri by any chance? Many areas around Springfield and places farther out really got blasted. I saw some pictures of hail the size of baseballs. Thankfully, our town and the towns nearby didn't get any hail. 

Galadriel F, I feel bad for you and hope you can hang in there until your husband recovers. I broke my ankle in 2015, and I couldn't drive for about 8 weeks as I couldn't push that foot on the clutch pedal. If I hadn't been well prepared in advance, I would have needed someone to take me to the grocery store, but as it was, I was pretty much okay.

I have definitely noticed prices going up here, especially on gas and groceries. The price of broccoli went up by $1.40 a pound in two days! It was $2.29, and when I came back a couple of days later, it was $3.69! It will likely sit there until it starts to go bad, at which point they will price it for less than the $2.29 they could have left it at in the first place. Much of it will probably go to rot since not many people want it when it is on its last leg. Another product I like to buy went from $2.99 to $3.59 in the same two days. I went to Walmart today and decided to "splurge" a little, so I bought a pound of parsnips and one mango. The parsnips were almost $4 a pound, which is why they are a treat. I also bought parsnip seeds. I didn't have any success growing parsnips before, but this time I can ask ChatGPT how to do it best. Of course, gas is up too. I think it is up about $1.40 since the war started. I have been thinking it might be best to focus my gardening on the most expensive foods in my area. If I could learn to grow parsnips, they wouldn't have to be a treat. I read a book about this. I think it was called "High-Yield Gardening." He showed how people can save the most money and make their gardens the most profitable by growing the most expensive foods that they like.

With prices rising, I realize I need to take my eBay selling much more seriously. The only thing about that, though, is that the closest bins store where I get items to sell is about an hour's drive, but at least the mileage is a business expense. I have also been buying my clothes and other household items out of the bins when I can. I went yesterday when everything was $1, and I got a new dress for just $1.00! If any of you haven't been to the bins, it is a lot of fun. All of the items, many Amazon returns, are thrown together in bins that you search through. Every day has a different price. They put out what they consider the best on a $15 or $10 day, and then they add other stuff, and the price goes down every day from there. Even on the $1 day, you can find a lot of good things. On a $15 day, you can even get furniture. Like tomorrow, someone will be able to get a new bright purple couch with just a few dents for $15.00! If a person didn't like the color, they could cover it with something. You could also get chairs or a table. If people aren't picky, they could furnish a whole house for not too much. If prices keep rising, people might have to get less picky to survive. 

Another thing I am doing to save money now is I am trying to fix something if I can. For example, my desktop computer stopped working one day, and ChatGPT told me how to fix it myself. That will save me the expense of buying a new computer. I also want to learn more about making clothes over the way I want them. For example, the $1 dress I got yesterday is ankle-length, but I want it knee-length. Since the dress was only $1, I feel like I can experiment with it. Also since I've begun dieting why should I buy new clothes as I get thinner if I could learn to make over the clothes I already have?

Have A Good Month Y'all! I'll see you back in June.

Becky Sue

Edited Thu Apr 30, 26 4:23 PM by Becky Sue K

Jennifer N, I am so glad that you found this blog too. :)  Since I will be on break for the month of May, there are many years of posts to read.  I will be leaving the blog up to read or you can join us for May cleaning and organizing our home that I am calling Fluffing fluffing my  home.  :)

We will all gather back here on June 1st after I do the first blog post after the break.  Happy reading.

Galadriel F,  Oh my do you ever have your hands full with Hubby having a broken leg, two children and working a job.  It is wonderful that your sixteen year old is helping out even with his studies, my compliments to your son.  It is so difficult to have a broken leg, there is nothing much at all one can with an injury like that, I will keep your family in my thoughts and prayers. 

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Becky Sue K Yes, that's the area where I live. 

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maragaret p, No sugar banana bread is a good idea!  I’ll have to see how it works with whole wheat flour and olive oil, as those are ingredients I won’t swap out.  I do have some date sugar, and also dates, but overall my goal is to stay away from added sweeteners of all types as much as possible.  I just know that sometimes we travel and muffins end up being the easiest breakfast, along with hard cooked eggs.

Today being the last day of April and with my son headed camping soon, I took up my cookie experiments again, and I do believe I have come up with the perfect peanut butter cookie recipe (for us).  I used freshly ground white Sonora flour, ground on the very finest setting.  I used regular white sugar and brown sugar, as last time I found the sucanat didn’t melt completely and had too much of a molasses flavor.  Nothing about these cookies gives away that they are whole wheat.  The color is the same as those made with white flour, as is the texture and flavor.  I would serve them and never say a word about them being 100% whole grain.  They do have sugar, of course, so they won’t be part of my May plan, but I am glad to have nailed this down!

I keep a go bag in my closet.  It is very full and of we had to “go” my son or husband would have to carry it if we left on foot and I would carry one of their lighter bags.  I have duplicates of all medications and supplements, a set of toiletries, clothes of all types, shoes and slippers, and a large battery I keep charged, and other things as well.

Stephanie G, I am so sorry to hear about your hailstorm and damage!  I hope the insurance works quickly and you are able to have things repaired at little cost to you.

We had an A/C leak in our attic which damaged a bathroom wall and also developed mold that wall and in the attic that has to be remediated, so we are in for a bill for all that, and the insurance is fighting the claim — our homeowner’s insurance always start by denying our claim and we have to appea.  Plus we need to replace the A/C, and the quotes on that are shocking!  There is concern that there may be mold in the ducts so we need to find out for sure, and also the ducts are very old, some of the ducting being from 1980.  Some of the ducting isn’t insulated and some has a small amount of insulation.  Of course the companies are all recommending full replacement of the ducts based on age and lack of efficiency, and if there is mold we won’t have a choice.  The A/C unit itself is 17 years old.  We could try to repair what we can and limp it along, but the prices are just going to go up each year.  We don’t won’t to risk another leak, so we want to have the rooftop package removed and put a unit on the ground, although the furnace will still be in the attic.

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Stephanie G.  Leaving potatoes in the ground will not work ... they will sprout and begin growing again.

Several years back about 20 miles south of us had that type of hailstorm and it literally stripped the siding off houses, hail stones even penetrated roofs into houses, windows were destroyed frames as well as glass.  

Grandma Donna  I understand having nothing ... after the tornado much of our stuff was left but it was full of debris ... some could be saved most could not.  My bag has a couple wash cloths because I can remember going several days unable to wash my face plus a couple changes of clothes.  

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Stephanie G, so sorry to hear about how the hail affected you. I live in Cabool, so I saw videos about it. I hope insurance will cover your losses.

Becky Sue

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Another interesting topic and food for thought.  The best we can do is concentrate on ourselves and those around us, family and friends - no point in worrying too much about the outside world at all.  Things are definitely going up but we'll manage, we just work around it.  As for all you girls' spring cleaning, we're in our last month of autumn here heading into winter which is deemed to be mild and dry so different climates all round.

We've just come back from an overnight trip up to the citrus country where we buy lots of produce from the local farm gate and treat ourselves to a night away as well - a lovely drive through the country soothes the soul as well as helping our local growers.

I hear a lot of people using ChatGPT but as it's all AI, I'm not interested to be honest, I prefer to use my own brain rather than a computerised robot.  Sorry, personal opinion only.

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Gramdma Donna, 

Guessing the petite person at the center of the family train photo is younger yo—adorable.

Thanks for all that you do to share the wisdom you were given.

I hope you enjoy your break

Edited Fri May 01, 26 9:07 PM by Jennifer C

We also have water out for the wildlife. I bought some really inexpensive little water bowls to use. We have a birdbath, and we found it here when we moved in, but it has holes drilled so it doesn’t hold water. So, the birds drink from the dishes, and so do the squirrels, and probably rabbits too. I have seen the birds and squirrels drinking. If I sit still in the yard, they all come out for food and water while I’m there. :) I put birdseed and peanuts in the birdbath that doesn’t hold water. lol  

So far, we have seen a million Bluejays, many Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Mourning Doves and a Brown Thrasher. I am getting used to their calls.

I guess I’m changing how we eat a bit… I have started getting a whole chicken and cooking it in the crockpot. Staying away from beef, and get ground turkey when it’s on sale, cook it and freeze it in 1 lb portions, for a bean soup or whatever. Also fish… I need the fish, so I do the best I can with prices on that. It’s just the two of us, and we eat one main meal a day, so the changing prices aren’t too noticeable… yet anyway. I’ve been figuring out how to be frugal my whole life anyway! As for produce, I mainly get either frozen, or whatever fresh is on sale for the week… usually from Publix, because I trust their produce a lot more than Walmart. 

My husband works from home, so we really don’t have to drive much. We use grocery delivery. We just like it that way! There are plenty of other things to use our energy on! 

I know you need breaks every once in awhile Grandma Donna, but I sure do miss you when you’re away! I think I will… yes, fluff the house, but also read more this month. 

Edited Sat May 02, 26 2:39 AM by Sandi P

Jennifer N My Mom was also born in 1939, and she was my frugality teacher for sure! My uncle used to joke that she could squeeze a penny until Lincoln screamed! lol He was not at all frugal. lol  I am so very glad she was as good at it as she was, because I sure learned a lot, and was able to use all of her tricks and tips throughout my life! The only way I could be a stay a home mom. 

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Donna: your mention of the difficulty of meal planning reminded me of a wonderful site I follow. It’s called Eat Well spend Almost Nothing, living in our Challenging Times. 
       Some of you might find it enjoyable.  

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Grandma Donna,

I will be curious as to how your project goes sewing your own underwear. I don't like how synthetic fibers are in everything now! Blue jeans should not have spandex in them...yet they do! I feel the most comfortable in naturals fibers, cotton, wool and linen. I'd love to find/make a new bra. The plastic rings on bras make my skin itch. Please let us know how it goes. I look forward to this month to reboot life a little.

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Everyone, the forum will be closed for commenting for the month of May starting May 3rd.  I will be back to blogging June 1st unless stated otherwise.  I hope that you all have a good month of May Happy fluffing your home or whatever else you decide to do. :)

Darlene I hope I can figure out these sewing projects if I find the time with all of the other projects.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments, I have read all of them, I cannot comment to all of them and I also enjoy reading your comments to each other.  

(You can still write up until the forum closes, but then you can only read the blog and the forum until June 1, 2026. 

Happy May, Grandma Donna

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Hello Grandma Donna,

Not sure if this will post since it's still May 2nd, but I just wanted to wish you a productive but restful break this month.  I hope that you get the rain you need down in your area.  It's been cool, and sometimes downright cold here in Pennsylvania, and we have had some rains.  Not real soakers, but often at night which gives the vegetation a chance to absorb it.  Also less evaporation.  I hope this summer is not another scorcher like the past two. 

Ann W  I too have been reading  Our Mother's War:  American Women at Home and at the Front During WWII.  I am really enjoying it and learning a lot.  I thought of this when I was reading information about rationing in the local paper from 1942 and 1943.  The book mentioned that rationing was based on population information (I suppose from the census) that was not current due to population shifts caused by military families moving to the area where there loved on was stationed prior to being deployed.  Shortages were common.  My grandmother took my Mom and my aunt, along with her Aunt, and drove down to Texas to stay near my grandfather while he was stationed there.  Apparently, they were many other military families there as well.

Finally, I think that is really sweet of you and Charles to make sure the wildlife in your area can stay hydrated.  You are definitely one of the "better parts" of the times we live in.  Thank you for this blog!

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Debbie (in PA), I am happy you got your post in, we did finally get some rain and filled our rainwater tanks. Thank you for your compliment, we do love taking care of the wildlife and just in the past few days we have had two new birds that we have never had bird baths and feeders.  A Female Striped Warbler and a Female Grosbeak, this is a wonderful time of bird migration and just fascinating. :)  Happy May, Grandma Donna.  

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Grandma Donna … Today I took your example and made two bird baths! I happened to have 2 good sized planter pots just sitting around, and some plastic saucer things you put under pots, that happened to be bigger than the aforementioned pots, so I put them on top and filled them with water! Now I will see if the birds use them. :) I saw a couple of Bluejays drinking out of the little water dishes I have out, and I have seen the squirrels use them too. 

Edited Sat May 02, 26 11:22 PM by Sandi P