Happy Easter!

 He is risen!

Wishing you all the joy of this glorious day! 

The Savior Is Born!

 “O, loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.
O, wisest love! That flesh and blood
Which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh against the foe,
Should strive and should prevail!
And that a higher gift than grace should flesh and blood refine;
God’s presence and His very self and essence all-divine.”
— St. John Henry Newman 

 Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas! 

How to Wrap Unwieldly Gifts

 The fabric and ribbons were from my stash.  My gifts for Mom are usually from the silent auction at our church's fall festival, and they are inevitably weird shapes and big.  I finally wised up and made these cloth gift bags last year.  Much easier, more environmentally friendly, and less fragile than wrapping paper.  Mom gave them back after she opened them, so I can use them again this year. 😊 

Two garden items... :)

On the right is the garden catalog which has recently arrived. It's time to start planning the garden!

On the left, is my garden notebook where I keep track of what we plant and our harvest, along with what we spend and what we are going to do differently next year. Our first garden in our new home was 2011. And now the notebook is full. I wonder how many total pounds of produce that represents?

Frugal tip: If it is broken, what do you have to lose trying to fix it?

My husband fixed our VCR! I know, it's kind of amazing that we still have one. But we also have a bunch of VHS tapes, and we've never gotten around to getting DVDs of all of them.

Basically, he just opened it up, cleaned it, and it worked! Your mileage may vary. But since it was already broken, he didn't have much to lose.  Movie night tonight!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today's Harvest

 Here's a sample of what I harvested today, namely, strawberries, green onions, lettuce, and oregano.  It's not much, but it is nice to still be eating from the garden even in May.