April daily frugal's

[Stella]

Praying for your mom bke!

Kat, 82 degrees! And I thought we were having springy weather!

Madgey the studio solution sounds perfect! And best of luck on the job. That sounds like a good solution. You'd be good at that, you are so outgoing and fun.

flowerseverywhere, I feel the same way about food. I'm really starting to make a concrete mental connection between what I eat and how I feel.

Lhamo, that wok sounds great! That's one tool I don't have that I keep going back and forth about getting. I love stir fry, but I have kind of a small kitchen. Maybe after my major decluttering I'll find space somewhere.

babr, your outing sounds like fun! I like just getting out of the house and seeing people and places too.

early morning, I'm glad you were able to get the nicer material. I felt the same way about parting with money during our basement remodel. It had to be done, but it made me a little nervous. Well worth it in the end, though.

[Stella]

So, today's frugals. Dad is on an app kick for the iPad. He's been looking up all kinds of educational apps and downloading them. This morning we virtually disected a frog. That was pretty cool. Cheyenne was a little freaked out at first, but eventually got into it. She absolutely loves anatomy but hates dead things. Bella and James were just fascinated. They guided you step by step through the disection and once the frog was opened you could touch an organ and it would pop up a screen telling you what it did. You could even rotate the organ in 3D so you could see it from all angles.

Then we looked at an app that had a 3D model of a cell, cross sectioned and rotatable. When you clicked on the different parts of the cell it showed a photograph of the part of the cell and explained what it did. That app was free. The kids thought that was pretty interesting too.

He also downloaded a free app about different great artists. It had a biography of each one and a gallery of their work. A few of the paintings are at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, so we'll see those when we take a trip there in the next few weeks. We talked about still lifes, portraits and landscapes and they quizzed themselves by paging through the galleries and picking out which type of painting each one was. This week they'll paint one of each. For our Homeschool Art Month we're trying to touch on modern, classic and ancient art as well as sculpture, photography, painting and drawing. We're also going to do a section just on sacred art which will include a trip to the Cathedral. I've decided that the kids seem do better when we focus intensively on one subject (outside of reading, writing and math, which we do daily) than when it's all split up.

He also got an app that pinpoints your location using GPS and shows you what the night sky looks like, where the constellations are, where the planets are, where SkyLab is and stuff like that, so you can recognize the stars and constellations when you stargaze at the actual sky. Very cool. We'll use that next month during Science Month.

I think I'm going to have some kitchen prep time today. I'll shred some cheese and some cabbage and make granola.

[redfox]

My third batch of yogurt is perfect! Sweet and tart balanced, and so good... I used organic whole milk, dark maple syrup, and more starter plain yogurt than usual, which gave it more kick. I love coming downstairs in the morning to warm, fresh yogurt. What a frugal luxury.

[Kat]

@ Ihamo--Score on all the great stuff!
@ bke--praying for your mom--and you!
@ stella--I love the virtual frog dissection thing! I, too, was always fascinated by anatomy and physiology but hated the thought of killing something.

This morning I did some wash in cold water with half a dryer sheet. I keep meaning to try the dry-towel-in-the-dryer-to cut-down-the-time trick, but I forgot again today. I have to run to the bank this morning, so I will send some mail while I am out (there is a mailbox right next to the bank). I am going to talk to my employer about direct deposit, though, so I can stop using gas for all these bank runs.

I think tonight I may make some tuna salad sandwiches. I still can't cook but want to make something a little different. I have everything I need, so it won't cost anything.

I thought about running to the store to stock up on store specials, but I decided to wait until the kicthen is done. It is hard to prep stuff for the freezer without a kitchen. There will be good deals later, too.

[Merski]

Yesterday we spent the day with good friends who most definitely have more access to spending money than we do. We had a lovely lunch...they made a terrific salad with shrimp & sausage and we brought a loaf of DH's artisan bread and a lemon sponge cake that I made (looked like something out of Martha Stewart!). These people travel whenever and wherever they want and eat out a lot and even buy delicious deli & gourmet prepared foods. They mentioned that a room at a place they go to is $150 a night and they think that's a great value and we said our good price is about $50. We came home and talked. We felt very validated and happy with our lives and lifestyle and not envious about theirs...they actually told us several times how impressed they were with our lifestyle! Someday we will travel with them and we have an honest friendship that I believe will help us to travel well together and keep within our spending limits. Guess I just really wanted to share how we've seen how the wealthier half lives but we're happy with our own life and can still be friends and enjoy each other's company.

[bke]

Stella, that dissection app sounds great! I wish they would have had one of those for my college anatomy class-I hated working with cadavers!

Redfox-you're yogurt sounds so wonderful!

Kat, you reminded me of an on going frugal-I too have been doing all our laundry in cold water since the move. We have better water here and things come clean much easier.

I have to run to the bank but have no plans for any spending today. Then its dinner at home and wait for my mom to call.

I was making myself crazy surfing the web early looking at diseases and symptoms so I took a two hour nap just to chill out. Guess I needed it because I really slept quite soundly.

Ooh-the library just called with a book that is ready to pick up-free entertainment!

[Azure]

Stella, I am sorry to hear that Travis is back in the hospital. I remember how hard that is. Deja had pneumonia at birth & jaundice so she was in the hospital for 10 days. And I didn't have any other kids to worry about. One good thing about it was the fact that she was able to switch back and forth from breast to bottle easily. Made it easier for me to get out now & then.

DH's dress pants for work have been falling apart lately. Saturday I was able to find him 2 pairs at Goodwill. I also found a nice new leather belt for him for $6.99. It is a little bit too small but if he looses the weight he put back on over the winter it should work.

[bke]

I spoke to my mom and she is ok for now. The tests don't show any unusual masses or fluid at this time. They haven't determined an exact cause for the bleeding but think that it is due to old scar tissue from the earlier hysterectomy. When she gets home she needs to follow up with a gynecologist for further tests.

Sorry I freaked-this is the fourth time in the past several years that I have gone through a life threatening situation with my parents. You'd think I would learn to relax but instead it seems worse each time.

[Rosemary]

bke, that's great news. You must be extremely relieved!

My frugal for today is starting some herb seeds with DD that we will later transplant into herb gardens for her teachers, as end-of-school-year gifts. I think I can even find pots around the house and garage to clean and reuse, so these will be entirely free gifts, since I already had the seeds.

[flowerseverywhere]

My frugal for today is starting some herb seeds with DD that we will later transplant into herb gardens for her teachers, as end-of-school-year gifts. I think I can even find pots around the house and garage to clean and reuse, so these will be entirely free gifts, since I already had the seeds.

what a great idea. I am going to mention this to my neighbor. I have some herb seeds and I can help her kids plant them for the same reason. She has four kids so all these little things I help her with she appreciates.

Got a great book out of the library that would be excellent for you homeschoolers or those who want to promote art with your kids

"Drawing with Children" by Mona Brooks. I work with special needs kids and many of them like to draw. I got them journals and we all draw and share with each other. Several very quiet kids have opened up through drawing. And I don't have any education background, just some common sense and kind interest in the kids.