Buying clothes for my little ones

Image by gretchichi via Flickr

I bought a few items for my babies. I know I have some ways to go but I couldn’t help it. It was at a garage sale and I need every deal I can get. The lady at the garage sale had a huge pile of baby items and she was selling them 50 cent a piece and they were all name brand. So I think I came across a winner. Most of the items were new or lightly worn. They were mostly onesies.

If I could recall for about the first 6 months my daughter was just in onesies. And she had so many outfits that went unused. So this time I’m trying to be smarter, which actually isn’t much of an option since I’m having to and I don’t have much money. But with my little girl money for the most part wasn’t an object and by the end of the 6 months I had 2 or 3 garbage bags full of clothes she couldn’t fit and never wore.

The pile of clothes at the garage sale were all girls items, so I had to pick my way threw to find items that were neutral since I don’t know what the sex of the babies are yet. Although I am hoping for a boy and girl.

 

 

My gardening book arsenal

Cover via Amazon

I have a small but adequate library of gardening books. For awhile, I only had one or two gardening books to work with. I would then substitute my lack of bookage with; gardening apps, the library, free gardening books from my book reader, and internet resources.

Recently I came upon a jackpot of books at my local library. They were having a book sale. I was able to purchase  a mountain of books 3ft high for about $20. In that mound I was able to purchase some gardening books and added them to my lac luster garden book supply.Most of the book were out of date a few years. To me gardening can never really be out of date. The same techniques that were used for gardening 30 years ago can be applied to gardening now.

As we all know books can be very expensive. And in my life I have bought my share of books and I still do. But gardening books especially the real good ones can be expensive. So I have had to get creative with the ways I get my information. Of course we have the internet. And there is no lack of what you can find here.

One of my favorite places to get a garden book for free is barns and noble. They have tons of free nook books. Most of there free books are older but when it comes to gardening that is sometimes the best. Older techniques give you a better understanding of the hard work that goes into the trade, hobby or money saving venture. It also helps you to really hone your skills.

Now days we have quick solutions, diease free seeds, quick fix chemicals, bags of manure, gardening tools and machines, etc. The things we take for granted now are the things people back in the day did not have the luxury to have. Some details that old gardening books have newer books may pass up because of new inventions, products, and seed purchasing abilities. All in all old or new have gardening books is a must have.

I have two main books I use now which are; Western Garden Book of Edibles (purchased at Costco for $14.99) and Reader’s Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening (purchased at library 1978 edition). These two books are my go to books for all my vegetable and gardening needs. What one doesn’t have the other one does.

I have to say I’ve lost a couple books in rain. I just want to shout out to those books, as they helped me to grow on a larger scale. You will be missed.

My book collection now consist of:

Reader’s Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening (© 1978, library purchase)

Western Garden Book of Edibles (©t 2010, Costco purchase)

Burpee, Starting Seeds Indoors booklet (Lowe purchase)

Patrick Taylor, Gardening with Bulbs (© 1996, library purchase)

Growing Orchids at your window (© 1972, library purchase)

Color handbook of Garden Insects (© 1979, library purchase)

Breeding New Plants and Flowers (© 2002, library purchase)

Sunset, Annuals (© 1992, library purchase)

Sunset, Perennials (© 2000, library purchase)

Free Nook ebooks : (Most are very old editions, but I just download all I can and delete as I see fit)

Home vegetable gardening; a complete and practical guide to the planting and care of all vegetables, fruits and berries worth growing for home use

The American gardener; or, A treatise on the situation, soil, fencing and laying-out of gardens; on the making and managing of hot-beds and green-houses; and on the propagation and cultivation of the several sorts of vegetables, herbs, fruits and flowers

A-B-C of gardening

1,500 gardening questions answered. A horticultural Enquire within for amateur gardeners

Amateur cultivator’s guide to the flower and kitchen garden

The American farmer’s encyclopedia

Home vegetable gardening from A to Z, with special reference to Pacific coast conditions

Im in coupon land.

My latest hobby of sorts is couponing. After watching Extreme Couponing, I decided I would have a go at. It’s not that it’s new to me I’m sure everybody has used a coupon or two in their lives.

Back in 2002 when I had my little girl and shopping for food became a necessity. I thought the idea of collecting coupons was the ideal thing for a parent to do, wise spending, calculated shopping and organized meal planning. I got me a coupon organizer and well I never used it.

I used to be on top of it back in the day being a stay at home mom and all. I had a monthly meal plan, a categorized grocery list and back then I had my palm pilot so I calculated everything down to the penny. But couponing didn’t play a roll. I wished I would have continued cause I know I would have saved.

So now I’m trying my hand at it again, the only problem is there is too much information on coupons out there. Not to say I don’t think abundance is bad, but come on here. There are a million websites for coupons that are pointless, sites leading you to the same link you had click on, a thousand video’s and articles.

This is what I’ve picked up thus far about couponing and it aint so easy.

1. Print out all store coupon policies (read an understand each one)

2. Purchase a box, coupon organizer, binder and card holder inserts

3. Stack your supply of coupons (from newspapers, printable coupons, email subscriptions, mail, family and friends, store blinkies, in-store coupons, etc

4.Learn the coupon language

5. Gather a few individuals to help you sort through the madness

6.Get your local grocery store ads every week

7. Sign up for store reward cards

8. Strategize your grocery list to coupons and sales

9. Spend hours going around gathering up all your savings and deals

Now this is what I’ve gathered and this list isn’t fun, but I’ve already started and I’m going to see what can be done about simplifying the list. They say once you get the hang of it, it’s easy. So far I’ve spent hours clicking on links, subscribing to product sites, printing and cutting coupons. And I’m still not understanding how exactly I’m going to be able to catch all the savings.

A list of coupon sites I’ve visited

Saving Star
Coupon Mom
Smart Source
Coupon Network
Coupons
Grocery Coupon Cart
Printable-coupons.blogspot.com
Mommy Saves Big

The Help aint me, could have never done it, my Mouth is to unruley ) ) )

Cover of The Help

I was watching TV the other day, saw this new movie coming out called The Help. I found out it was first a book written by Kathryn Stockett depicting the 1960’s and black maids and there white employers. Just from the one trailer I saw on TV, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of the book. As I know and many readers know, the book is always better than the movie. It’s the original thought before the subtractions and exciting improves.

So, I’m reading the book and can hardly put it down long enough to write this entry on how good it is thus far. Now for me it takes a certain kind of book that can pursued me to stay in it all day and night until I am finished. The Help is that book. The characters are realistically sound. The way the author tells each persons side threw them, shows a life in the sixties that if I was there they would throw me back to the 80’s where I came from.

Disease carrying, separate bathroom shitting, floor wiping, dish washing, clothes hanging, child rearing, good cooking, silver polishing, shirt ironing, blanket folding, party catering, bus riding, hush your mouth or your fired, black ass having, under paid maid. And the list goes on. What a world! The book is filled with indifference, understanding and kitchen gossip. Love it!

I can only relate to these maids, servants, house prostitutes (in a kind way) in the face of being strong, a superwoman, a jack of all trades. I wonder how they put up with the nonsense, the indescribable insensitivity, the overly arrogant display of ignorance. The book portrays black women as the strong silent type. Keeping their mouths quiet in the face of all that is unholy, so they may eat, live, survive!

I couldn’t even fathom being in that time period. I’m a truth teller, word smith wheeler and dealer, and for someone to take that away from me, would be a crime. But the strength to continue and live in such a humiliating disposition, I understand things a bit better. I guess that’s why my grandmother moved west. I’ve never had the pleasure of such a contradiction of life, but I have run into foolish people with foolish thoughts, and it didn’t take me but a second to snap on that ignorance.

The book is a real good outlook on the turmoil of a black women in the south being a white persons “maid”. A testimony of the strength one has in an obstacle of a consensus way of thinking. I’m enjoying every book turning moment…Can you dig it!

Gardening my life…

Truthful, when it comes to gardening, I’m happy I found it. There are so many ups and downs in life, it came just at the right time. Gardening soothes my worries, if only for the time I’m in my backyard. I can pick weeds forever, it’s almost like picking the weeds out my life.

When I started gardening I wanted to plant every flower, tree and vegetable. But of course plants and seeds cost money. Supplies and soil aren’t that cheap. I had to start small and over these few years I have been able to build my abundance of vegetation.

Even though, I

wanted to plant everything, I had a natural hesitation factor. I started with transplants which were relatively easy. Not to say a plant can’t die because it is already on its way to maturity. I didn’t run into to many problems. But  when I realized that some of the plants I really wanted weren’t transplant worthy or weren’t sold at the stores, I had to look at seeding.

Now, that is where my hesitation came. I didn’t know or understand the first thing about planting seeds in the ground. My logic in it all was to dig a hole in the ground and put in the seed and watch it grow. But that is very untrue and that is where my handy, dandy plant book came in.

Who knew there was a time, depth, and watering process. I just wanted to put the seed in the ground and watch the magic happen. But if I really wanted the satisfaction of having bountiful feast of vegetable life at my table I was going to have to work for it. That to me meant read. And sure enough a few years later, I got it down. But I must say this… It never was very hard for me, it’s like I have this green thumb and I happen to move in an area with a lot of green thumbs. But I have come across many a persons who for what ever reason cant grow a cactus.