Gardening by Remote

Gardening is an economical way of stretching one's grocery bill.  Also, it is a way of adding color to the yard at little cost if you start non-edible plants from seed.  Additionally, it stretches your exercise dollar (excuse the pun) because one doesn't have to go to the gym after lugging dirt and plants.

The Boy and I have already planted marigold and cherry tomato seeds.  (I think often of homeschooling...We would call this a science lesson.)  We will be planting lettuce later today after we return from our nature lesson.

So, last year, I asked my husband to build large gardening boxes.  We have a plethora of fauna who have helped themselves to the meager fruits of our efforts in the past.  This year, I wanted to make sure that we would actually have a decent harvest of the fruits of our labor.

Did I mention that The Boy and I will be away for a total of six weeks this summer, almost a month at one time?

This is where gardening by remote comes into play.  :-)   I've jokingly told Greg and our housemate, Mike, that they will have to send pictures of the garden so I can direct their efforts. 

Ah, willing minions. 

Kids Bowl Free All Summer Long!

I'm always on the lookout for inexpensive experiences. I stumbled across this a few days ago. Unfortunately, I can't give credit to the blogger who originally posted because my husband had to reboot the computer to install drivers for the free printer we picked up on Craigslist.

kidsbowlfree.com: Kids Bowl Free All Summer Long!

There are a few glitches for me with this program. One, it looks as though you can only sign up for one location. Since my son and I are going to be visiting with my sister, her husband, and their three kids for almost a month, I thought that this would be a good daily morning activity. However, if I sign up for it in that state, then we won't be able to bowl in our state before and after our trip. Hmm...

Also, the games are free for the kids, but not the adults. Guess I'll get more reading in this summer while they bowl.

Again, the games are free, but the shoe rentals are not. It may be more cost effective to look for a good deal on bowling shoes...
And how come blue flames are considered mens' colors, while women get the boring pink and grey?  I want these shoes...

Dry Economizing...

I abhore my dryer.  That isn't to say that I don't use it, but I do so very rarely, even in the middle of winter.  Of course, this is economical for a myriad of reasons, all of which we've seen before...

Less wear on your clothing.  All of that lint had to come from somewhere.

Less dryer sheets used.  Although, I cut mine into quarters and they work just fine.

And the big one...Electricity saved. 

I've seen various figures that tell one how to calculate savings by not running the dryer.  Honestly, I don't really care how much I save.  Not running the dryer also ties in nicely with my tendencies to be environmentally friendly.  Furthermore, if in the winter I hang the clothes on the rod on the second floor, or on a drying rack, it acts as a natural humidifier as they dry.

No, it's not pretty.  It works for me...and maybe eventually we'll replace the dryer or the broken heating element that no longer turns off the dryer...but since we don't use it often, I just set a timer when I do use the dryer.  This also means I run it less often than if I depended on the dryer to turn itself off.

Of course, I also use the clothesline outside when the weather is nice, like today.  We also travel with a drying rack if we are going to be away for more than a week.  (Most of my family members are used to my idiosyncrasies by now...or hang their clothes also.)

Now if I could only figure out to where the matches of two dozen socks disappeared...

Frugally Fun Road Trip Today!

So, DH is going to do our taxes today, and I've decided to take the boy on a frugally fun roadtrip!

Forgive the brevity, I've yanked the description which follows way below from my FB page:


We plan on going to:



Home Depot to make rain gauges


Michaels to make yarn dolls for the dollhouse



Howell Living History Farm for their Maple Sugar Program


The Garden State Discovery Museum as part of Bank of America's Museums On Us program.



Facebook: "Home Depot has the rain gauges as a free kids workshop 9-noon today for kids 5-12 (and they get a nifty apron too, and a pin). Michaels has the yarn dolls, also a free workshop, from 10am - 1pm. The maple candy is part of a maple sugaring program at Howell Living History Farm near Lambertville, $2 fee. The Garden State Discovery Museum is a free... See More admission for Bank of America members as part of their Museums on Us program (free admission to certain museums on the first weekend of the month). Get out there and do something!"



Final cost: gas, food (except for snacks and drinks, I'm not packing this time), and $2 fee...


Memories with the boy: Priceless