Hi everyone! It sure has been a while since I did a Thrifty Thursday. I'm crossing my fingers that the cooler weather will afford me more time to write. 1. Birthday gifts: I celebrated my birthday this month by doing some research at a college historical library, then having lunch out with my family and going antiquing. I'm more often a thrifter than an antiquer, but at this point in my life I don't need more stuff; I just enjoy looking at others' treasures. That being said, I did find a set of pastry/dessert forks (pictured above) for $8.00. I had read about such forks but never seen any for sale. As it turns out, you can buy these on Amazon in stainless steel (the ones I bought were silver plated, I believe). But they are quite a bit more expensive. The second item I bought antiquing was The Ethel Cotton Course in Conversation. I paid $20.00 for it, which seems to be the going rate on Ebay. This particular edition was printed in the 1940s, but I know they have reprints from other decades. I've read the first lesson, and it is excellent. I'm not someone who enjoys most group conversations, but I think this will help me feel more confident and interested in conversation.
As I was searching the web for more information about this book, I found at least one internet commentator who wrote a whole article making fun of the course and talking about how useless and outdated it was. But here's the thing: is conversation really something that gets outdated? People do the same thing with Fascinating Womanhood, and I have to ask myself; is the way that men and women interact something that expires over decades? Does the human mind work differently today than it did 100 or 1000 years ago? No, it does not. Making fun of something solely because of its age is rather tasteless, if you ask me. Rant aside, I'm greatly looking forward to reading the rest of the lessons and putting it into practice. So those were my thrifty birthday presents (purchased with birthday money from my grandparents, I might add!). I also received treats and gifts from other family members, which were duly appreciated and enjoyed. 2. Herbs: I successfully harvested burdock root from our now-abandoned cow pasture. The trick is to pick smaller plants (not the ones that have gone to seed) and then pour water over the plant before you dig it out and pull it from the dirt. According to School of Natural Healing, burdock root has several useful medicinal properties and is a good herb overall to take. I've tried harvesting it before, but without success. I also harvested nettle, peppermint and calendula this week. 3. Garden: I harvested a small amount of potatoes, many tomatoes, green beans and gourds. I also harvested basil, hot peppers and some cilantro grown indoors. I made sun-dried tomatoes, frozen green beans, pesto and hot sauce. Later I picked peaches from our orchard and canned them. It has been a whirlwind of harvesting and processing, but our first frost date is nearing and after that, my garden and kitchen work will slow down considerably. 4. Fall decorating: I used a wreath, ceramic pumpkin containers, a Dollar Tree sign and homegrown ornamental gourds to decorate our home for fall. I also bought three new throw blankets, three small decorative pillows and four autumn-themed pillow covers; some of which are for our guest room. The pillows and blankets weren't necessarily a thrifty choice in regard to price, but I will be able to use them year after year to decorate and keep people warm during the fall/winter months. 5. Wardrobe: I switched out some of my summer wardrobe pieces for fall ones. I'm scrutinizing my clothing choices more and actually reading the labels. I've noticed that my 100% cotton shirts last for years, while the cotton/polyester blend shirts pill very easily. I recently bought a pair of jeans, and was happy with them... until I wore them at home. Then I realized that the top was too stretchy and I would have the same horrible problem I've had for years, of the jeans stretching out at the top and falling down. The jeans were Wrangler, so I just assumed they were a good jean, similar to a pair that I bought at a thrift store and was very happy with. Well, sure enough I checked the tag and the two pairs were not equal Wranglers. My stretchy pants ($24.00 new) were something like 60% cotton, 30% polyester and 10% spandex. The good jeans ($7.00 thrifted) were 95% cotton and 5% spandex. And I could really tell the difference! I'm not sure how much the good jeans would have cost new, but I will be hitting the thrift stores soon and searching for some good quality jeans; not just by brand, as I now know can be misleading. As I was searching for new pieces to bring out for fall, there were some dresses that I simply was not excited about any more; mostly because of the feel and color of the fabric. Assessing clothing quality is not something I was even aware of before our trip to Italy, but now I hope to make more informed purchases. I think that's about it for this week! Blessings, ~Prudence~
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Happy Thrifty Thursday!
I had a good week. Here were some of the highlights: 1. Steer: we took our steer to the butcher's, finally! Oh, what a happy day. We've had a handful of animals on our homestead, and the large animals are always my least favorite. They mangle fences and are near impossible to corral or get under control. Still, every couple of years I find myself getting another large animal... I seem to forget what a hassle they are. It was a small miracle that we even found a place to take it to this year. In 2020, most of the processing plants were booked out several years. And not only did we find a butcher, but we also found a freezer to put the animal in. Yay! 2. Garden: I harvested green beans, beets, tomatoes, leeks, hot peppers, long beans, cucumbers, pears, grapes, butternut squash and ornamental gourds this week, along with several medicinal herbs. I dehydrated tomatoes and froze several bags of beans. I also set the medicinal herbs out to air dry. 3. Decor: I used some of the ornamental gourds and miniature pumpkins to decorate our home for fall. I also got our our box of fall decorations and used many of those, as well. 4. Running: while I didn't increase my run time this week, I did increase my running distance to 1.66 miles. My hope is that, by increasing the average distance, I can run a single mile faster. 5. Reading: I've been working my way through Ina Gaskin's Spiritual Midwifery and Dr. Christopher's School of Natural Healing. Both are a bit "woo-woo" for me, but they also have some good points and I am learning more about health by reading them. I believe that's about all for this week. Blessings, ~Prudence~ Hey, we're back to having Thrifty Thursday again! YAY!
Med skills: Our preschooler was sick this week, so I had a chance to use some of the medical equipment I've acquired over the summer. I used a thermometer (which I've always used), and added the stethoscope and pulse oximeter. I did an assessment once a day for three days, and it was very interesting to see the vital signs move during her sickness—which I presume was only a bad cold. On the first day her temperature was 99.7 and heart rate was higher than it should have been at 135 bpm. On the two consecutive days, her temperature and heart rate went down steadily. Thankfully her O2 saturation was good during all three days, and her breath sounds were normal. She, too, enjoyed doing the assessments. I let her use the stethoscope to listen to her own heart and digestive sounds, which she got a kick out of. Right now I'm reading through a cheap ($4.89) Jarvis Physical Assessment book that I got off of Ebay. There is so, so much to learn, but I love it. Herbs: I gathered quite a bit of red clover this week, and identified a new herb growing on the side of our road; a variety of Lobelia. Every other day, when I harvest garden produce, I try to gather some red clover and/or other medicinal herbs to stockpile for winter. Garden: I harvested two ripe butternut squash this week, along with a whole pile of beans and lots of tomatoes. I've been freezing the beans, and at this point also letting the big ones grow into dry beans. I've been dehydrating the tomatoes, which are small. I learned this week that tomatoes can sometimes be small when you plant older seedlings (which I definitely did this year). Next year I will make an effort to start the tomato seeds later. The cucumbers are on their way out, but I'm still picking some. The long beans are on their way in, it seems. Next year I will plant more bean seeds; both green and long, as I didn't get as many as I could have hoped for this year. I've hardly had enough long beans to freeze any at all. The squashes are doing well, for the most part. My hubbard squashes did not make it to maturity before the vines died. I've harvested one out of three available pumpkins. Since the pumpkin seeds were free, I think three pumpkins is sufficient. The Jack-Be-Little pumpkins are numerous, and I may have enough to sell some. And lastly, my butternut squash did very well. We'll have plenty of butternut squash for winter. I plan on storing all of our pumpkins and squash in the garage. Steer: we are sending in our steer to be butchered next week. Hurrah!!! I think it will be several years before we keep another steer. This one wasn't a whole ton of work, but I didn't enjoy having him in the same way I enjoy having chickens and a garden. He mangled several (expensive) hog panels, just as the sheep and larger goats mangled the orchard fence that worked fine for our smaller goats. I've also had to fill his water container every other day, and it was a big hassle to water him in the winter, and it was also a hassle to find and stack hay for him. The upsides to keeping a steer were: 1) he kept the deer away, and 2) he pooped a lot... compost galore! The downsides were: 1) we had to put up a new paddock and electric fencing system, 2) he was a hassle to water, 3) he mangled our goat fence (hog panel), 4) I wasn't comfortable with having children in his pen, 5) when he got out, he ate my strawberry plants, 6) when he got out, I could not get him back in by myself... i.e., I couldn't man-handle him. While we may have another steer in the future, I'm definitely ready to NOT have one for a while. I may buy some small milk goats at some point in the next year. Bottles: I cleaned two essential oil bottles, a roller bottle and a salsa jar to repurpose. I spray painted the salsa jar lid black so it will match all of my other repurposed jar lids. Fitness: I know I haven't been posting regular fitness updates in a while. The other day I weighed myself on the Renpho scale, and the results were better than they've been since November of last year. Recent changes to my health routine have been: I quit intermittent fasting, but try not to eat after it gets dark. I've reintroduced eggs for breakfast; something I wasn't eating before because I was skipping breakfast. Another change recently is that I began running again. My goal is to run a 10 minute mile, which was my best time back in the day. At first it took me 20 minutes to "run" a mile, because I walked for half of it. I felt like I was going to suffocate. Then I cut it down to 15 minutes. Today's run time was 14:13. I have a long way to go, but it's more than I've done in probably five years. I feel like running one mile is something very doable for me. I can squeeze it in early enough in the morning to where my husband is still at home to babysit, plus it is only 15 minutes. I can do 15 minutes. It gets me up and going in the morning, plus I have some time to myself before the day starts, and when I get back after that 15 minutes, I feel like I've already accomplished something for the day. This is something I want to keep going until it gets too cold and snowy out. That's about all for now, folks! See you next week, ~Prudence~ |
About PrudenceI am a Christian homemaker who lives in the Midwest. I enjoy sewing, gardening, reading and thrifting. Archives
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