Yard Work x 2

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn gardeningLeave a comment

I am beat. Yesterday I mowed the yard, the thorough kind of mowing where I moved everything out of the way even all the garden pots out by the shed that had so much grass growing through them. It was hot. I was tired. So tired that I was making tea and fell asleep waiting for it to steep.

Today I started on edging the flower bed, patio and front stoop. We have these weird weeds that look like something that should be growing in a pond. I finally got them all out. Now I just need to get some gravel to fill in where it used to be.

The flower bed had grass and weeds growing up to the landscape timbers so I dug a trench to try and keep those at bay. I also weeded. I need to get more mulch and wipe down the house because of the algae. For some reason houses that face a certain way tend to get this green algae on them

There’s so much more that needs to be done in the front and back. We really need to get the power washer out. I also cleaned up around the grill and the garden and swept out and cleaned off the patio. It’s been a long two day, but the weather has cooperated. One step at a time and hopefully one day everything will be finished. Maybe.

Pack It Up

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Frugal LifeLeave a comment

Donny and I have a pretty traditional marriage. He works full time and I am a housewife. It wasn’t always like that. We both used to work very long hours at the same place. We realized the kids needed me home so in 2016 I became a stay at home mom. We make one income work by being frugal and not living beyond our means. Since I was a little girl I have always been frugal. I think I took after my dad in that aspect. I have love thrifting and antiquing since I can remember. My mom always told everyone that if it looks old and weird, give it to Stacy because she’ll love it.

One way we save a lot of money is having Donny take his breakfast and lunch to work. It saves about 75 dollars a week, plus it’s healthier. Today for example I made him a breakfast scramble with bacon, eggs, red pepper, onions and hot sauce.

For lunch he had left over spaghetti and meatballs for the night before and a spinach salad. Luckily he’s not very picky and will eat leftovers. I always try to cook extra so that he can have it for lunch.

And some random things. I thought I was going to have to throw away our side door mat. With all the rain we’ve had the patio flooded and this things was soaked. It was so wet it turned almost black. I threw it out into the yard so it would get some sun and dry out and it seemed to have worked.

Mylo is still living his best life. He sleeps in the house, wants to be held all the time and had his first kitty snack today, which he loved.

It’s hard to believe that I took over a year for him to not be afraid of us.

When Jackson and I had to run to Walmart today I couldn’t resist getting Wrigley, the neglected dog next door, some treats. That poor sweet dog gets NO attention from his owners. He hasn’t had a bath in 4 years and they never brush him. I’m going to try to brush him from over the fence tomorrow. He’s going to be so excited for his new bone.

I have one more load of laundry to fold and then I’m going to bed. Tomorrow I need to mow and do some yard work and it’s going to be HOT!

Sauced

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Easy mealsLeave a comment

I needed to use our tomatoes from our garden before they went bad. I like making pasta sauce, but couldn’t find the recipe I had used before. I found a recipe on Pinterest that uses the instapot so I thought I’d try it. There are only a few ingredients, so it’s super easy.

I doubled the recipe because I had 12 cups of tomatoes. Here’s the recipe if you want to try it. It turned out so go. I froze two bags and then put the rest in a jar that we’ll use later in the week.

Just don’t pull the immersion blender to far up because it will spray you with boiling hot sauce. Not that I did that. No, not at all. LOL

Annie + Art Walk

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn familyLeave a comment

We decided at the last minute to go to the Art Walk downtown. The last time we went I found Annie, this precious little girl who makes the best jellies. We were leaving the Fine Arts Museum and there she was selling her jellies and jams. I had gotten in touch with her mom when I ran out of my orange jelly, but life got busy so I was never able to meet her to buy more. I had also been thinking about her lemon jelly which I was told “packed a punch”. Well tonight I was able to buy both the orange and the lemon and let me tell you that lemon jelly is SO delicious. I love lemon anything so it is right up my alley.

I cannot wait to make toast in the morning.

We walked in one of the buildings and found another one of my favorite vendors. I had been to another craft show and had bought 2 of her bracelets. Tonight I picked up the cutest pair of earrings. Her prices are so good and she hand makes all of her jewelry.

We have a really good fine arts museum that I always love walking through. I really liked the exhibit they had on display tonight.

The accordion players made for good background music.

While we were walking to our car we saw this cool mural down a random alley.

It was so good to actually have a sunny day for a change.

Jackson got his driving permit today. He doesn’t want to do his actual driving part at a driving school, but wants me to be his instructor. I registered and downloaded the driving book. If you think about it, please say a little prayer for both of us because I’m not the most patient person and he really doesn’t want to drive. I know we can do this though.

P.S.

He refused to smile for his permit license so it looks like a mug shot. I swear he does actually smile and laughs in real life.

Making Faces

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn CraftingLeave a comment

Today, because I was running on about 4 hours sleep, I decided I just wanted to do something crafty. I couldn’t leave the house because I had to sign for Donny’s father’s day gift that was arriving today. He actually ordered it himself and it ended up coming after he got home. I wanted to try to make some faces with the face mold I picked up at the thrift store the other day. The only bake clay I had was some that the kiddos have had for a few years, but I just wanted to see how easy it would be so that’s what I used until I can actually go get some fresh clay.

I didn’t care if the colors were all mixed together because I wanted to paint the faces once they had baked.

Here is the first batch I made and painted.

I made a few more and even tried to make a sun. It’s kind of wonky, but I really used these as test faces.

I can’t wait to get some different clay and mess around with it again.

I don’t know if your Burger king has whopper meals on Wednesdays for $4.99, but that’s what we had for dinner because I was wiped out from lack of sleep. It’s after midnight now and I should be deep asleep but Donny and I started watching Expedition to Hell and are now hooked. It’s a crazy documentary about this 5000 mile trek across the Amazon. It’s nuts! (On Prime)

Rinse Repeat

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Day TripLeave a comment

This morning started off with another bad thunderstorm. The rain was coming down so hard I could barely see across the street. Everything was blowing around the patio and trees were bending in ways they shouldn’t be. Donny came home from work because they lost power. We’re pretty sure they are on the same power grid as our old house was because if the wind blew at all we would always lose power. Luckily we didn’t lose it here. Donny had to run to Tyler to pick up some tags because they had run out at his store, so he asked me if I wanted to take the drive with him. It’s not bad, only about 45 minutes.

Tyler had gotten hit hard by the storm Monday night and also by the one today. There was a tree that had fallen over into the highway.

When we got into Tyler there were trees down everywhere, either completely uprooted or snapped in half. We decided that Tyler should be renamed Little Dallas because the traffic was awful for it just being a Tuesday afternoon. It really makes me appreciate Longview even more.

It was a quick trip, just picking up the tags and heading back. We were going to grab lunch but, of course, it was a struggle to figure out where to eat so we just got rolling food at 7-11 and I got the best thing of the day, a frozen Dr. Pepper slurpee.

I really miss picking Donny up from work because we had the best talks, so this was a fun day. Although because I have what we call Carcolepsy (I basically fall asleep on any trip over 10 miles) I took a nice little nap for about 30 minutes when I got back to the house since I didn’t get my car nap. And it’s suppose to rain again tomorrow. I seem to write about the weather a lot, but there has been some serious storming going on around here lately.

Booked

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn VacationLeave a comment

I finally booked our Airbnb for our short vacation to Corpus Christi. It’s going to be later in the summer than I would like, but the place I really wanted to stay has been booked solid. I looked a few days ago and there were 4 days open in July. I put in the request and it was accepted.

The kids absolutely love Corpus. I grew up there and we lived there for a year when the kids were younger. We have been back a few times for my high school reunions. The house we found is only one street over from where we used to live and is a very short walk to the Bay front. We have a little cove that we would always walk down to where we would find sea glass and look for hermit crabs living in the rocks. That’s why I wanted to get this house. It’s the perfect location for all the things we are wanting to do.

The kids like to ride the ferry to North Beach. One of our favorite restaurants is Pier 99 on that beach.

I am in desperate need of some beach time. There is nothing like the smell of salt air and sand between your toes.

And guess what came to visit again tonight?

Another major thunderstorm that was so loud it made me jump several times. I like rain, but there is something about enough is enough.

Rained Out

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn familyLeave a comment

All day our plan had been to go see the minor league baseball team from White Oak play.

Even the kids were looking forward to going. The game started at 6 and right before we left I decided to check the weather.

Well, of course, it was going to rain. So we had to come up with plan B since everyone was ready to go do something. Donny suggested going out to dinner, but if you have ever been around us, it takes us at least an hour to decide where to go. Even though Donny doesn’t really like the place I chose I knew the kids liked it and it’s the only buffet I will eat at.

It was really good. I, of course, ate too much. The sushi was really tasty, but my favorite are these cookies. They are so light and flaky.

Hannah loved the little cheesecake squares with the strawberry puree on top.

Everyone was happy and full.

When you have teenagers it’s such a good thing to have a family night.

When I worked for Waitr (like doordash) I would pick up at China King Buffet and they would let me get a soft serve because they have the best. I think it’s what pushed me over the I can barely walk fullness.

So very worth it though.

It still hadn’t rained a drop, but you could smell it in the air. Right as we got home, this is what we saw.

the thunderstorm blew in so fast with lightning and thunder crashing close by and the rain blowing sideways. I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t go to the baseball game. We will get to one eventually.

Paring Down

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn JournalLeave a comment

For some reason today I was just feeling annoyed. It was raining AGAIN and I needed to get all of the laundry done. When I was putting my clothes away I just decided that there were just too many. I had already gone through my closet when I swapped winter for summer, but there were just so many things I either wasn’t comfortable in or I just didn’t really like anymore. It’s not finished yet because I now want to go through all of my things and do a big purge, but it’s a start.

I miss having my own closet or even sharing a bigger closet, but it is what it is and we try to make it work. This is what is left, which still seems like too much to me. I find myself wearing the same few things so when the weather starts getting cooler I’m sure I’ll get rid of more. Shoes and purses are next.

Donny is off tomorrow and it’s suppose to rain. My poor hens think that this tree blocks the rain. Even when we trim it all down then still flock under it.

I did make a pretty good dinner tonight though.

Ribs, brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes.

Now I need to go clean up my mess in the kitchen.

I need sunshine badly right now! This rainy weather is getting ridiculous.

Mini Day Date

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Day TripLeave a comment

Since it wasn’t raining today, Donny and I decided to have a mini Day date. After running a couple of errands of things that just needed to get done, like making Jackson’s appointment to get his driving permit, we headed to Gladewater to just walk around downtown. We enjoy walking through all the antique shops that line the main street of their downtown.

The first few that we went to were so expensive. Like crazy expensive. They still had fun stuff to look at, but dang. We finally went into one of the antique malls that had really cool stuff and was priced accordingly. Plus the man running the shop was just so funny and nice.

There was just room after room.

I wish I collected salt and pepper shakers because this place had so many good ones and very reasonably priced. I loved these little snail ones. They were only $2.50.

I’m not quiet sure what to think about this guy.

They had a Crissy doll that still had her box. I remember having one of these as a very little girl. You could pull on her hair and make it longer and then turn a knob on her back to make it short again.

It really was a beautiful day.

On the way out of downtown we saw this amazing house. I would love to have seen the inside of it.

The only thing I bought today was this book by one of my favorite authors. I can’t wait to start reading it.

And then we were tired from all the walking, so I took a little rest and watched an episode of Supernatural. I am hooked.

I think I will be wearing my hair up most of the summer. It sure is a lot cooler.