I've been raking leaves like crazy for over a month now but my beautiful Red Maple is just about done throwing 'em down. I've used them for mulch and I've got containers of them in the garden shed to feed into the compost through the winter. No waste around here.
This weekend I had the guy from Seattle out fighting the blackberries. I don't know why he keeps coming back around, but anyway, we finally finished up. That whole corner behind the garden shed had become choked with the things. They even grew all over the top of the shed and were threatening to come in the house, so something had to be done.
It took us three Sundays of chopping and hard raking but we got them. We even found a bail of chicken wire and a birdfeeder stand that I had torn the garden shed up looking for. My plan is to CONTROL them as they grow back because they are good to eat. Ha, ha, I know. Good luck on that!!
I might have mentioned that I have lowered my grocery fund to $40 per week. I get as many things at Costco that I can, keeping in mind whether I can use that Costco size. Some things work, some things don't. It is a work in progress but I'm seeing significant savings, along with shopping the QFC sales.
After shopping at Costco and Trader Joe's, I had $16 left for QFC this week. This is my haul, after sales, promotions and coupons, coming in at $14.71 for a savings of 60%:
That darn cucumber was the only thing that wasn't on sale and it cost $2.37 but I needed it for the guy from Seattle's third ex-wife's special potato dish and it was worth it.
I wanted to mention that the two and a half pound brick of Bandon Cheese at Costco has gone from a price of $4.99 to $6.99 since last month. A pretty steep increase - so I went with the Tillamook (2 pounds) this month which was $4.99 after the sale and promotion at QFC.
Below is a fuzzy picture of what came my way. LL Bean sent me another $10 coupon, saying they were sorry that I had to exchange my jacket for a smaller size. I don't know why they are apologizing as they let me keep the 20% off and use the $10 gift card in the exchange, but that is okay. The bottom coupon is a $2 Catalina that shot out at checkout to be used on my next trip. By the way, that box of Special K came free via a coupon mailed to me from QFC. Thank you, very much.
On Friday evening I was at Sock Club and they were talking about homeless teens. Now my son, the plumber, spent his school career at Chimacum schools back in the 80s and early 90s, and homeless kids were just unheard of. Although I do remember noticing that one of his friends had been at the house for several weeks. I suggested that maybe he should go home and check in. He informed me that his parents were getting a divorce and that his dad had moved to Seiku and his mom to Seattle!! But that was a different deal.
Anyway, the schools are reporting that there are about 20 kids who are homeless but still attending school. This is not counting the kids who are homeless and not attending school. This is just crazy. It breaks my heart.
So, Dale and Cindy, the ladies at Port Hadlock Yarns, are putting together an effort to help these kids stay warm now that it is getting cold outside. What they are doing is offering free yarn and patterns for fingerless mitts, scarves and hats. I took a look at the yarn and it is nice stuff in colors that kids would wear. There was a lot of Debbie Bliss yarn in there, no day-glo pink. Teens are very particular in what colors they will wear. I know this from experience. I had no idea that there were so many shades of black.
If you are a knitter and are interested, stop by Port Hadlock Yarns and get a free pattern and yarn. They are kicking this off on Wednesday (11/7) but you can drop by anytime.
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