In case you’re new here, you should know that miscellany posts happen when I have a whole pile of small things to talk about…lots of little bits that aren’t long enough for a whole post.

I have had a happy realization of late.

Topping pancakes with whipped cream and fruit may actually be a MORE virtuous choice than topping them with butter and syrup.

Anytime “whipped cream” and “virtuous” go together, I’m so there.

I love me some cream, I do.

Nom, nom, nom.

Fruit and whipped cream are just such an excellent combination.

Hey, Maple Syrup! I’m so sorry, but it may be a while before we meet again.

I only have to use 2 tablespoons of sugar to make enough whipped cream for the whole family meal, and I am positive that we use more than 2 tablespoons of syrup (which is basically liquid sugar) for a pancake meal. So, the cream is a win on the sugar front.

And as far as fat goes, whipped cream is certainly no more dairy-fat-laden than butter, since butter is cream minus the non-fat liquid.

I partially thaw frozen fruit to go with our pancakes since berries and peaches are quite out of season, and I just use plain, unsweetened fruit.  These are peaches from a local farm and they are so sweet all on their own…I’m super glad I froze several bags of them this summer!

(In case you were wondering, those are Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes and they’re super easy to make.)

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It seems to be my phase of life for repairs.  After I posted about fixing my blender (and fixing my shoes recently!), I took my watch in for a new battery (which was free because I’d purchased a lifetime battery plan).

It’s a good thing it was free, because my watch is so still not working.

Nuts.

It’s a nice Citizen Quartz watch, so I think I’m going to look into getting it repaired.  I’ve had it since 2002, though, so if it’s impossible to repair, I won’t be too disappointed.

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Sunny days make me so happy.

In the winter, we seem to have more than our fair share of overcast, gloomy days, so when the sun shines brightly all day, I really, really appreciate it.

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I’m giving a little talk at a local meeting for moms tomorrow (about frugality, of course).

I hate speaking in public.

I’ve spent the week being quite sure that this will be the death of me.

Would you like to know how much I hate speaking in public?  Last winter, I was scheduled to speak on a homeschool panel, and I got a dreadful flu and fever and lost my voice, which meant I couldn’t speak after all.  And I considered that to be quite the silver lining to my flu cloud.

It sort of reminds me of how, when I was working at Nordstrom and I totalled my car on the way in to work, my first thought was, “Oh! At least I don’t have to work my shift now!”

That could be filed under, “Ways To Tell You Hate Your Job”.

Anyways, if there’s no post up on Saturday, it’s because I died of I-Hate-Speaking-In-Public-Itis.

It’s been lovely knowing you all.

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If I don’t expire on Friday, next week I have some fun things to share with you…I’m going to roll out a new monthly feature here and also finally share a project I’m working on with Lisey.

Ok.  I think that’s all the randomness I have to share with you today.

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Today’s 365 post: Little Photographer

Joshua’s 365 post: More Monster-Cello!

This is what my lap usually looks like on the way to a family gathering.

Those are Honey-Glazed Pan Rolls, by the way.  That’s simply the best yeast roll recipe I have! The only problem is, the glaze gets sticky overnight, so the rolls have to be made the day of.  Which means they’re usually hot from the oven when we’re heading out the door.

Thus, the pan in the lap.

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I love the way Zoe lines things up.  Pistachio shells, markers, erasers, stuffed animals….anything she owns in multiples ends up in a row at some point.

Did you notice her dog Chloe has a friend now? Zoe found the other dog (a genuine Build-A-Bear dog) at Goodwill for $4, dress and ear-bows included.  She had some Christmas money, so I let her buy it.
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Do you want to clean out your kitchen cabinets with me?  I had this on my last goal list, but it seems like a good thing to do in January, not in December.

Regular pantry/cabinet cleaning helps prevent food waste because it keeps you in the know about what you’ve got on hand.  So, join me!  It’ll save you from Things-Falling-Out-Of-Your-Cabinet-Every-Time-You-Open-It syndrome, and it could save you money too.

I’ll post my before and afters next Wednesday (that’s a week from now!), and I’ll put up a linky at the end of my post so you can share if you blog about your cabinet cleaning.

Get busy organizing!

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Speaking of organizing, I need to do a thorough fridge clean-up.  It got a little out of control in there over the holidays, and I want to get it ship-shape because a cluttered, disorganized fridge is a breeding ground for food waste.

If you resolved to work on your food waste this year, I highly recommend cleaning out your fridge.  It’s like declaring food waste bankruptcy, and you can have a fresh, clean start.

Also, if you’re a food waste newbie, check out my 10 Ways To Stop Wasting Food post.  And don’t stop at the post…there are some helpful ideas in the comments too.

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Today’s 365 post:Two-fer

Joshua’s 365 post:  Hmm.  I see Joshua has no post ready to go.

-looking forward to having a little break from school next week (we’ll probably just do math, our U.S. Presidents study, and plenty of library trips and reading)

-surprised Thanksgiving is in just a week.  How did that happen??

-hoping Sonia and Zoe will be more cheerful today.  I’ve experiment with letting them stay up a bit later, and it’s become clear that Zoe, at least, is not ready for that.  When she starts saying things like, “Books are boring!  I hate books!” I know she’s just really, really tired.

-looking forward to writing another post about homeschooling, this time answering a reader who asked why we homeschool.  Most of the time when I write about homeschooling, I’m responding to emails that question how well homeschooling works, so it’ll be fun to write about it from a more positive angle.

-wondering what percentage of people who worry about homeschooling know any homeschoolers in real life.  Most times, when people meet us, they feel less nervous about homeschooling.

-thinking about how funny it is that Mr. FG, who went to public school, isn’t nearly as outgoing as I am.  I could pretty much talk make small talk with a brick wall. 

-grateful that he and I both came into this relationship wanting to homeschool our then-future kids.  It’s lovely to be on the same page.

-thankful that when we have relational bumps, we always manage to work them out, and even more thankful that these bumps are usually productive and change-producing.

-happy about how well My Job Chart is still working to keep Joshua on top of his chores.

-chuckling at some of these outtakes.

That kid over there on the left has some serious personality. 

-wishing I was able to cross more things off of this week’s to-do list.

-feeling blah about cooking, but happy that I’m better now at fitting in cooking in the morning.

-still shooting in full manual mode some, and turning out some really awful pictures in the process.

It’s all part of the learning process, though, and I’m so grateful for the reusable digital memory I have.  I’d ring up a terrible film-developing bill if I was learning back in the day.  Either that, or I’d learn to be more careful!

-remembering my unusual but delicious dinner sandwich (fresh whole wheat bread, grilled peppers, spinach, mayo, and dijon mustard).  The kids were duly grossed out, but politely said they were glad I enjoyed it.

-hoping that this day of homeschooling will be easier than yesterday.  We got done kind of late yesterday and by the end, I was seriously starting to feel like losing my patience.  But, by the grace of God, I made it through without raising my voice at anyone.  Phew.  If the mom loses it along with the kids, things unravel quickly!

Right Now posts (inspired by SouleMama) are really fun to write…if you write one today on your blog, feel free to leave the link in the comments.  Or you can do a short 5-item Right Now list directly in the comments. 

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Today’s 365 post:I never get tired of seeing this.

Joshua’s 365 post: Something I really enjoy!

Before we get to that, I wanted to tell you that last night, I realized that in yesterday’s Q&A post, I should have asked you guys to chime in with your advice about dealing with negative comments. I know a number of you have blogs of your own, and I’m sure you have some good thoughts to share. So, if you didn’t already, add your voice to the comments!

(I was going to say something right here like, “on to the topic at hand!” but really, since this is a random post, that paragraph above should feel right at home.)

I recently received 3 free bags of Oberto jerky to sample…one bag of beef, one bag of BBQ pork, and one bag of teriyaki turkey jerky.

I go back and forth with how I feel about beef jerky.  Sometimes I love it, and sometimes I think it’s right on par with shoe leather.  But, my kids love jerky, and since it’s not sugary or refined, I don’t mind if they eat it.

The Oberto jerky ingredients are pleasingly simple and real, which makes for a happy me.  And it’s tasty…my kids and I managed to eat all 3 bags in short order.  Our favorite variety was definitely the turkey jerky.  It seemed a bit more tender, and the mildly sweet teriyaki flavor was so good.

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I recently helped my friend Elizabeth, of Ready, Set, Simplify., switch her blog from WordPress.com to a self-hosted blog.  That all went smoothly, but her subscription service before was through WordPress.com and we were unable to export the list of email subscribers to her new subscription service.

So, if you were one of her subscribers, hop on over to her blog and get re-signed up! (the sign-up box is on the right-hand side…just scroll down a bit.)

And if you weren’t one of her subscribers, you could always become one…Elizabeth posts about her journey to simplify and declutter her life (and sometimes, I show up on her blog!)

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MoneySavingMom often posts a list of 10 goals for the week, and I thought I’d give that a try myself.

1. Paint new sample color on my living room wall

I already stopped at the store and picked up another sampler..I just need to roll it onto the wall!)

2. Finish editing photos from my shoot with the W family.

I want to get them done and delivered.

3. Finish money report for November.

I’m a little late getting it done because I was waiting to see what Mr. FG’s new paycheck amount was after taxes.

4. Figure out a new budget with Mr. FG.

As I mentioned before, he got a raise with his promotion, and we need to sit down and talk about exactly where the extra money will go.

5. Update Quicken.

Yes.  I am still not terribly fabulous at this.

6. Post review/giveaway for Cook’s Illustrated’s new cookbook.

I know you guys are anxious for me to get that done!

7. Get Sonia started with piano lessons.

The poor girl has been anxiously waiting for me to do this since September, and I have not made the time for it.  So, I’m publicly committing to getting this done. Hold me to it!

8. Try having computer-less mornings.

I’ve been trying to get all my blog posts done and scheduled at night, so there’s not really a reason for me to hop on in the morning.  Plus, there are all sorts of reasons for me NOT to hop on (like, I have to cook dinner, exercise, shower, do family worship with Mr. FG and the kids among a zillion other things).

And there’s always the fact that hopping on to check email can speedily turn into 15-20 minutes.

9. Make a blog plan for November.

I never stick to these entirely, but having a month’s worth of ideas planned out does help to make blogging easier.

10. Figure out a new time for Bible reading.

I used to do this early in the morning, but since our schedule has changed, that’s not working so well.  I’m still getting prayer time in (I do that while I go for a walk in the mornings) but I want to work Bible reading back in too.  I think maybe I’ll do that at night before Mr. FG comes home or something.

Next week, I’ll let you know how things went with my goals.

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Today’s 365 post: Stick Men

Joshua’s 365 post: An Orchestra Trio

Last night my mom shared this article from The Atlantic about the lack of free, unstructured playtime in children’s lives. I found it fascinating to read about the increase in time that children are spending at school, doing school work, and shopping with parents and even more fascinating to read about all the benefits of something as simple as free playtime.

I think it’s kind of funny how often I read about studies that point out the benefits of time-worn, common-sense practices like eating meals together, hugging a spouse, reading to children, and sending them outside to play.  It almost seems silly that we need studies to tell us these things, but I suppose we do if these habits are slipping out of our everyday lives.

As a child, I thought that one of the most fabulous things about homeschooling was the amount of playtime it afforded me* (what kid wouldn’t get behind that??), and after reading the article, I’m wondering if the hours I spent in the woods, at the park, or at home playing with my dolls are part of the reason I’m a happy adult.

(*if you worry that homeschoolers sacrifice education for play time, my post about homeschooling and efficiency may allay your fears)

I’m so thankful that I’m in a position to be able to offer that relaxed, plenty-of-time-for-play lifestyle to my own children.

Interestingly enough, I think my attitude about free play is what made me instinctively resist the sort of  plan advocated in 168 Hours, where the author pretty much holds up a “mom and dad work all day while out-sourcing childcare and other household tasks” life as the ideal.  I would so much rather live frugally and do my own household chores so that I can provide my children with the schedule space for exploring the world in an unstructured environment.

(because this subject is such a hot topic, let me offer two disclaimers: One, I realize that not everyone is in a situation where a parent can stay home…I am privileged to be able to do so. Two, I’m not against structure in the home or structured activities within reason…what does make me sad is the almost total loss of free time that so many children experience. When I hear about children who leave their homes at 6:30 am, return at 7:30 pm, and then have to eat dinner and do homework before bed, I almost want to cry for them.)

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On a related note, here’s a list Sonia recently made, titled “List of fun things to do”

In order from top to bottom, complete with second-grader spelling and backwards numbers:

1. Bubls (blowing bubbles)
2. Origami
3. Play-Doh
4. Play balls (playing with the glitter balls they bought at Goodwill)
5. Roller-blad (roller blading)
6. Shine rocks (sometimes the girls wash rocks and add glitter and glaze to them)
7. Smash rocks (this made me laugh! My kids like to smash rocks with a hammer to see what they look like inside.)
8. Cut magazin (they cut pictures out of old magazines)

Numbers 9 and 10 are blank, but clearly, drawing cakes should be on there somewhere. 

I love this list so much…there’s not an activity on there that I’d object to (they’re pretty much all non-consumery, non-electronic activities), and it was written entirely without my input.

I think the author of that article above would be happy to see Sonia’s list. 

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Our new schedule is working out nicely so far.  We’re getting enough sleep, loving life without a 4:40 am alarm clock, and enjoying having Mr. FG home in the mornings (we used the morning time on Monday to go get pumpkins together).

We’ve had a few hiccups here and there as we’ve adjusted to our lives being turned almost upside-down, but the advantages of this new routine vastly outweigh the disadvantages so far.

Plus, Mr. FG is SO much happier doing the different work that this promotion brought, and I could practically cry joyful tears over that.  Yay!

Also, he got word last week that this promotion did indeed come with a raise (that was a little unclear at first), so that’s another happy thing.  We’ve been talking about what exactly we’d like to do with this money, and when we get his first new-salary paycheck, we’ll sit down together and decide where it will go.

On the discussion list: things like paying down the mortgage, giving more money away, adding a bit to the grocery budget, and furthering Mr. FG’s education.

Not on the discussion list: things like more shopping, more eating out, a cable TV package, and fancy cell phones.

In other words, as usual, we’re going to try our best to use this money wisely, and we’re not going to inflate our lifestyles (although we’re not opposed to some sort-of lifestyle inflation).

Oh, and since so many of you have asked, I promise I’ll do a post on how we’re managing this new, odd schedule once we’ve had a little more time to get used to it.

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Soon, I’m doing a giveaway from Cook’s Illustrated.

Sometimes, I kind of have to pinch myself because it’s hard to believe that I get to work with a company I adore so ardently.  Oh, blogging.  How I love you and the opportunities you bring my way.  Mwah!

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Today’s 365 post: Do you recognize this dress?

Joshua’s 365 post: A Sad Day

Irene came through the Mid-Atlantic area on Saturday night with lots of wind and quite a bit of rain.  The worst of it happened during the night, while we were in bed, so we didn’t really get to see much of it.

Amazingly enough, our power stayed on all night, and then on Sunday morning morning, as Irene left, the power conked out. Nuts. I almost thought we were going to make it!

We didn’t have church on Sunday because our building had no power.  Sunday never feels like Sunday when we don’t have church, and I’ve had a hard time keeping track of what day it is since then.

What do you eat for dinner when the power is out?

Grilled pizza, of course.

By the way, I discovered how to make proper pepperoni pizza on the grill.  Grills obviously provide no heat blast from the top, so pepperoni never gets browned or cooked on grilled pizza.  So, we usually stick with other toppings.  This time, though, I didn’t have much in the way of other toppings so I put some pepperoni slices directly on the grill until they were sizzling and then put them on top of the pizza.

Totally recommend it.

We also grilled hamburgers, and we ate cold breakfast and lunch meals (cereal, granola, yogurt, sandwiches).  We ate pretty well without power, I’d say.

What else did we do while we had no power?  We walked around the neighborhood to survey the damage (lots and lots and lots of small leafy branches but not a lot in the way of trees or large branches).

We roasted marshmallows over our fire pit, Lisey and I worked on organizing all of our craft supplies, we talked to neighbors, we watched some cartoons on the laptop, I did some schoolbook organizing, and I also organized the closet under the steps (I now have a big pile of stuff to sell/give away/freecycle).

We also did some yard cleanup, although we’ve got a lot more to do.

All in all, I feel like we made out pretty well.

We’re safe.
Our house is safe.
Our cars are safe.
The weather after Irene was neither hot nor cold (so we didn’t miss having A/C or heat).
The days are still fairly long, so we didn’t have to deal with candles/flashlights much.
Our water still runs when we have no power. Huge blessing!
Our hot water heater provided us with two days of not-exactly-cold showers even without power.
Our neighbor’s generator kept my freezer cold.
Irene happened on a weekend, so Mr. FG didn’t have to go to work when the weather was bad.

And we have power back on already, which I feel is pretty darn fabulous.

(Some people in my area were angry at the power company yesterday morning because they didn’t have everything fixed 24 hours after Irene vacated the area.  Real reasonable, huh?  Especially considering that many people on the East Coast would love to only be dealing with the loss of power.)

We’ll be back to regular programming around here tomorrow. 

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Today’s 365 post: Crafty Organizing

Joshua’s 365 post: Tiger Lily

(If you’re new here, you should know that I’m scaling back a bit on the blogging until next week so that I can accomplish some things on my to-do list.  I’m not usually this random or off-topic, and things will be back to normal soon. )

It’s Tuesday.  Mr. FG and I are not big fans of Tuesday.

Tuesday is the day when we are rudely thrown back into the get-up-very-early routine, and even after two years of doing this, it’s still sort of a shock to our systems.

Boo.

Yesterday I didn’t work on my ebook at all, but I did work on decluttering the office.

Not that it needed it or anything.

I shredded paper, listed books for sale, freecycled books, and Mr. FG and I worked on listing some of our extra electronic stuff on ebay (clutter out, money in?  Yes, please.).

Isn’t this a cool-looking computer part?  I think I took a picture of it upside down, but that was the only way it would stand up.

I’m not done with the decluttering, but my desk, Mr. FG’s desk, and the bookshelf are organized and free of clutter.  So, that leaves my craft desk and the closet.

Would you like to see the closet?

Brace yourself.

In my defense, most of the closet clutter belongs to my girls, who love to do crafts but who do not love to put craft supplies away.

We’re going to work on that.

I was in a nice decluttering groove and didn’t at all want to stop and make dinner.  But I did anyway.  We had a BLT green salad, the bread you’ll see in today’s 365 post, and watermelon.

-After church on Sunday, we had a get-together at my parents with all of my siblings and some relatives from my dad’s side that we hadn’t seen in forever.

This is my dad, my uncle, and my brother, and this picture makes me smile because this side of the family tends to have lots of body hair and they’re prone to taking their shirts off. It WAS very hot and humid that day, and I might have been tempted to take my shirt off too had I not been in the pool. 

I don’t get to see my relatives on my dad’s side of the family very often, but they’re a fun bunch and I always enjoy hanging out with them.

Can you believe how big Adriana (my younger brother’s baby) is getting?

And miss Annalise is looking as cute as ever.

(‘scuse the bad lighting…it started to rain, so we had to go hang out in my parents’ garage until the storm passed, and of course the lights in there are flourscent.)

-I’m pondering ethics and frugality after reading the comments on one of Katy’s posts, and I think I’ll write my own post on the subject later this week (it’s one of those posts that I’ve been thinking about writing for months and months, but just have never actually typed out).

-I updated my photo on my About page, so if you haven’t seen my new short haircut, go take a peek.  A little while ago, I also added photos and a few sentences about each member of the FG family, so that may be new to you as well (though if you’ve been reading here for a while, you probably know all about my family!).

-My friend recently bought a DSLR and a 50mm 1.8 lens. She wanted to compare it to my 50mm 1.4 lens, so we talked Zoe into being our subject for some test shots.

Interestingly enough, the two lenses produce very similar-looking results unless you zoom in really close.

Can you tell which one was taken with a $100 lens and which one was taken with the $400 lens?

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Don’t forget to enter in my $100 bodycology giveaway!

Today’s 365 post: nom, nom, nom

Joshua’s 365 post: Rushing Lights

I was going to take a day off today, but I thought I’d just type some random stuff here instead.

If you hate random stuff, feel free to take a day off of reading my blog.

I’ll understand.

I’ve been a little behind with my blogging this week because Mr. FG has been home sick. I love having him home, but I wish he was home for a happier reason.

I’m enjoying not having to get up super early or go to bed super early. But of course, not being up early means that my usual blogging time is gone.

Mr. FG showed me how to make form emails in Outlook so now I can quickly respond to some blog related emails.  I have one for advertising requests and guest post requests, and I even have a politely worded response to send to people who are pea-brained enough to think that I would like to advertise for stuff like payday loans.

I’m excited because this will save me from retyping and retyping the same old stuff.  Yay!

On a related note, I never cease to be amazed at how people will click on the Contact page on my blog (which clearly says that I don’t accept guest posts from people representing companies) and then email me asking if I do.

I am also amazed at how many typos and grammar errors are usually in those emails, especially when they’re from someone who apparently makes their living by writing.

Oh dear.

Then again, I wrote yesterday that I bought expensive sheets when I really meant to say that I bought INexpensive sheets.

Then again, I’ve never claimed to be a professional. Or detail-oriented.

We’ve been eating a LOT of blueberries.

I also froze a bunch and made a batch of blueberry jam.  Interestingly enough, I read in the packet that crushed fruit produces better, thicker jam than fruit processed in the food processor.  I crushed my blueberries by hand, and the jam does seem to be thicker this time.

Blueberries are sort of hard to crush, but I think strawberries and raspberries and peaches would be easier.

Every single person in our family has gotten this yucky cold so far (the kids are mostly recuperated now), but I haven’t caught it.

Yet.

I’m feeling a little doomed, though, considering that I sleep with one of the sickies.

Go, immune system, go!

I went to the gym yesterday after not having gone for almost a month (bad me!). I did the weight circuit, and then when I came home and was all sweaty and disgusting, I decided to just go outside and work on spreading some of our wood chip pile into beds in the yard.

Might as well get really dirty when you’re sort of dirty, I say.

I loaded up the wheelbarrow multiple times, but it’s shocking how small of a dent I made in the wood chip pile.

What is not shocking is that I’m pretty sore today.  I expect to feel even worse tomorrow…good old second day soreness.

Mr. FG found out that someone keeps bees only a few miles from our house and sells the honey.  I’m going to stop by and buy some from him this morning.  I’m pretty sure that’ll count as local food.

I think that’s all I have to say today.

Tomorrow, I should have something more coherent in this space, provided that I’m not too sore to get out of bed.

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Today’s 365 post: Dish Dryer

Joshua’s 365 post: Could Someone Help Me?

SouleMama does “right now” posts on a fairly regular basis, and that kind of post just felt right to me today.

-looking forward to eating these for breakfast.

-delighted that Mr. FG and I have discovered we can sleep a wee bit later.  Two days ago, we accidentally overslept by 25 minutes and still managed to get him out the door in time.  That was a little TOO rushed, so we thought we’d try setting the alarm for 10 minutes later so we could hurry a bit less.  I’m pleased to say it worked out perfectly, and I think we’re going to feel like an extra ten minutes of sleep is worth having to be a little more efficient.

-thinking that I need to come up with a summer time budget so that I don’t waste my summer

(What’s a time budget? I made one for my school-year life, and I got the idea from Amy Lynn Andrews’  Tell your Time ebook.*)

*affiliate link

-wanting to make these pretzels.

-happy that I don’t have to go anywhere today.

-feeling like this week is a little too busy for my taste.

-remembering again that a pared-down schedule helps me to be more peaceful.

-feeling surprised that June is almost gone (see the time-budget item…gotta make sure I don’t waste this time!)

-listening again to Betsy Ricucci’s series on emotions, and feeling convicted about how my thoughts so easily drift inward when things are hard, and how looking inward leads to self-pity (most recently about Mr. FG’s schedule).

-being reminded that there’s grace to help me fight against that.

-thrilled that my friend Kristen, who I’ve know online for 9 years but have never met in person, is going to be in my area this summer. Yay!!  She’s been on the short list of internet friends I want to meet for so long, but since she lives on the west coast and I live on the east cost, a meetup has not happened until now.

-working on cleaning out my email inbox.  I’ve been doing really well at this for the last couple of weeks, but the inbox did get a little bit piled up yesterday.  I’ve been implementing the “touch it once” rule, and it’s helped a lot!

-grateful for the bags of hand-me-downs my cousin gave to Lisey. Sonia and Zoe can always wear Lisey’s hand-me-downs, but of course, Lisey has no big sisters to hand clothes to her.  So, I’m always thrilled when I get things in Lisey’s size.

-going to go eat breakfast with the kids and make a plan for how I’m going to get all my tasks done over these next couple of busy days.

Have a lovely Thursday!

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Today’s 365 post: So, the air is a leetle bit moist…

Joshua’s 365 post: I’m back!

I have a more wordy post that’s almost all ready to go, but it really needs an illustrative picture or two.  Since I’m lacking that specific picture, we’ll have a picture-filled miscellany post instead.

Oh, the joys of shopping at Goodwill

Goodwill shopping is probably not the most efficient frugal thing I do.

I could theoretically spend that time doing some other frugal activity, like playing the drugstore game, clipping coupons, or hitting multiple grocery stores to buy loss leaders.

But the thing about Goodwill shopping is that we all have so much fun doing it.

I like the thrill of the bargain hunt, and my children always find things to entertain themselves with.

So, I think the hour or so we spend at Goodwill every other week is totally worth it.

Frugality is such an individual thing, and I think you need to make it work for you. If you love playing the drugstore game but hate baking bread, then roll with it. If yard-saleing is super fun, but hanging your laundry out makes you want to cry, throw your clothes into the dryer and head out to the sales.

Of course, some frugal things are necessary even if they’re not fun, but if you can make frugality enjoyable at least some of the time, you’re going to be much more likely to stick with it.

We’re keeping one oak log

There’s such a disparity in height between the tallest zip line rider and the shortest, we had to err on the tall side when we installed it.  This meant that Sonia and Zoe needed help getting off of the line.

Until now, that is.

Even though Joshua and Lisey didn’t exactly need a landing spot, the log makes their dismounts a whole lot smoother.

I suppose this is an awfully expensive way to obtain a landing platform, but since the tree had to come down anyway, we’re glad we could think of a way to make one of the logs useful.

In case you think my children are perfect

On Sunday morning before we went to church, I wanted to take a picture of Sonia in her hat, and Zoe wanted to be in a picture too.

Sonia was less than pleased with this idea.

It probably shouldn’t, but this picture makes me laugh.

As is usually the case, though, the sisterly squabble blew over quickly.

Visiting Grandma

After church on Sunday, we went to visit Mr. FG’s grandma, something we’ve been doing on a more regular basis this past year.

She lives in a pretty gorgeous waterfront condo.  I plan to retire here. 

We don’t make the drive for the waterfront views, though. No, we do it for the company.

And we do it because a simple visit from us seems to bring her so much joy. We bring a meal to share with her and a bag of games (she always seems to beat us at Chinese Checkers, although I am proud to report that I tied with her this time!).

The kids always enjoy looking at her collections (especially the elephant collections), and I think she enjoys retelling the stories of how she found each one.

These visits are always a good reminder that things don’t have to be fancy or complicated or expensive to be meaningful…when it comes down to it, spending quality time with people is what really brings blessing and happiness to them.

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I’m regrettably late in informing you all (though I did inform the winner promptly!), but Molly McC. is the winner of the $100 SpaFinder gift card from my Oil of Olay review. Congrats Molly!

Don’t forget that my Libman Freedom Mop review and giveaway is still going on, though, so go enter if you haven’t. A $100 Visa gift card is the prize!

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Today’s 365 post: A forecast full of 80s

Joshua’s 365 post: The pieces we kept from our oak tree (the kids kept some pieces other than the zip line landing stump)