From My Home to Yours: 6/13/25

 From My Home to Yours

6/13/25

~ He's done! ~ 

What am I talking about?  Hubby finished his doctor ordered 36 weeks of cardio physical therapy this week!  I can't tell you how happy that makes me!  We can return to being masters of our own time ... as much as anyone can.  He has another fitness program lined up to begin, but for this one we can choose the time we go ... which just makes my heart sing!  He is determined to not lose the progress he has made, and I am 100% behind him supporting him all the way.  Whew!  What a journey this has been ... that has ended with the best possible outcome, and we give God the glory and praise.  If you're new and or haven't read our story, you can do that HERE!  Thank you to all who have supported us through this journey ... in so many ways ... we pray God's blessings upon you.

(This is one of several marigolds I planted this year ... they are thriving!)

What did our frugal life look like this week?  Let's take a peek ...

I turned some dehydrated onions into onion powder!  It's time to harvest this year's onions and that means it's also time to finish using up the onions we have on our pantry shelves from last year.  'Out with the old and in with the new' looks like 'use the old up so you have room to replace it with the new' at our house.  With limited 'pantry space' we want to be good stewards of what we have been blessed with and use that space prudently ... which means we don't keep stuff in our pantry that we don't or want use or more of an item than we will use in a specified amount of time.

Take a peek at one of my 'drying' areas!  These little red colanders each hold something different:  

mullein yellow flower

calendula flower plantain

oregano

tarragon

sage

yarrow

Whenever possible I like to allow my herbs to air dry naturally and that's what's happening in the picture.  Since this picture was taken, I added mullein leaves and another colander of calendula flowers.

I continued with cleaning and inventorying my pantry this week, but since we were involved with VBS, I didn't have time to finish the area I started.  That's okay, I can live with the chaos another few days, planting seeds about God into the hearts and minds of children is far more important than getting my pantry cleaned and organized.

A friend from church texted me wanting to know if I wanted some cucumbers, that she had a 5-gallon bucket full for me if I wanted them.  Yes, indeed I wanted them and off we went to her house to get them.  While there she also gave me a large cabbage and a large rutabaga from her garden.  Her garden was beautiful, in fact her whole yard was beautiful.  It was a joy just to be able to walk around in it and soak in its beauty.  I came away inspired with ideas for my own yard and garden.

I harvested squash from our garden and used several of them to make up squash casseroles for the freezer.  I recently used the last one we had so it's time to restock!

Here are some things I/we cooked this week:

squash casserole

seasoned green beans

a Boston butt for making BBQ

air-fried seasoned chicken legs

air-fried seasoned squash halves

purple hull peas

fresh potatoes from the garden

roasted vegetables

cheesecake for an event

pig-pickin cake for an event

brownies for us to enjoy at home

 We're getting ready to make our 3rd payment on our new to us vehicle, remember our goal is to make two payments per month, this 3rd payment will be the first one for June.  In order to do that we have to be very mindful of our spending, and I want to share with you today a new tool that I will start utilizing this next week.  It's an old-fashioned pen and paper spending tracking journal.  Back in January/February I found these planners on clearance at the local big box store and purchased two.  I use one of them for writing 'themed' Scriptures and the other one has been sitting on my bookshelf with no clear purpose.  It now has a purpose; it will become my/our spending tracker.  Everything that we spend on any given day will go written down on that date, with the exception of our bills and personal allowances.  I'll share what the first week of tracking looks like in the next post.  By tracking our spending, it will be easier to see where our money is going and the areas that we could possibly cut.  It's a financial tool that I think will benefit us in reaching our goal ... yes, we are determined!  What financial tools do you use to help you reach your financial goals?

You can see that there is plenty of space on each day for tracking where our money is going.

And finally, ladies, the next lesson (lesson 5) in our Bible study on Hagar has been posted HERE!  I hope you'll pop over and take a look.

That's all for this week!

I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You might be interested in my other blogs ...

Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine 

From This Heart of Mine