From Rags to Riches?

That old saying could possibly have an alternate meaning for us frugal folks. Perhaps by using too-far-gone clothing as cleaning rags, instead of purchasing cleaning cloths or using paper products for cleaning, our bank accounts may increase by a few dollars per month.

This may seem an odd post, but I think some of you can relate. Today's pre-lunch quick task was to sort out the rag shelf. Our cleaning rags occupy a narrow shelf in our laundry/cleaning supply cabinet. As you may have guessed, the majority of our rags are well-used clothing and household items that are way past their prime. As family members retire their old clothing items to the rag shelf, the shelf becomes more stuffed and jumbled. A good sorting is needed from time to time. 

What I found today.

Some of our rags were once t-shirts.

Some rags were once cotton leggings or pajama pants.

Some were cotton socks.

And some were dish or hand towels/cloths.

Part of today's job was to turn the clothing items into more user-friendly rags.

I cut the t-shirts in half.

I cut the waistband off the leggings and pj pants (to use in a future project), then cut the remainder into two pieces.

And I slit the bottom of socks to make a larger, single layer rag.

Perhaps this seems like busy work. For our family, I find we're all more likely to grab a rag for cleaning if the rag is less wieldy or awkward to use. It also makes much more sense to use half a t-shirt as a rag or half a pair of leggings, if that is all the cleaning surface required for the job. I wind up doing less rag-laundry in the long run this way.

We have another category of rags in our house -- single-use ones. These are old clothing items made of synthetic material that don't absorb liquid very well. They are perfect for really greasy or oily cleanup, like the time I spilled about a cup of cooking oil on the kitchen floor, or when I was cleaning up the paintbrushes after using wood stain on our bistro table. Sometimes getting the grease or oil out of a a used rag is more work than the rag is worth. Mostly these rags are on the small side, like a single, hole-riddled sock (or other unmentionable). I found enough of these single-use rags to fill a small bucket today. Once used, we'll feel comfortable throwing them away. 

My rag shelf is now orderly and ready for the next big cleaning day, which is later this week. Oh goody :-(

Can I stay within our grocery budget while dealing with a digestive disorder?

I haven't posted our grocery spending for June or July because I simply gave up keeping track of what I was spending and buying. I was making several trips to the grocery store every week for a while, just trying to find suitable foods for myself. And I knew I was spending a lot. I did save all of my receipts (I always do). I just haven't added it all up. And I'm not sure I want to. 

Do I think I've spent more than normal for me? Absolutely. Here's how I look at it. Food is part of my "medicine" for now. If I had a serious illness that required expensive treatment, I wouldn't forgo the treatment due to cost. I would find money in our budget elsewhere to pay for the treatment. What I eat directly impacts my healing right now. And that can be more expensive.

In addition to transferring money from one budget category to another, I am using what I can from our abundant garden and orchard, and I can and do eat lots of rice, which we buy in bulk. The additional cost for me right now is in buying extra meat, nuts (almonds and peanuts), and some more expensive grains (more expensive than plain rice). I have to go easy on less expensive forms of protein, such as dried beans. In addition, I find I need to buy more expensive versions of common foods so as to avoid specific ingredients (such as mayonnaise instead of "salad" dressing" -- latter contains modified food starch).

Otherwise, I am cooking from scratch almost all of the time, and that as we all know can be a big money-saver. And I continue to shop around for best prices on specific items (such as buying from the bulk bins at WinCo for millet and quinoa instead of from the packaged grain section), again a bargain way to get nearly identical ingredients for about half the cost. And finally, we are trying very hard to not waste food, freezing extras when we can and not serving any of us more than we're hungry for.

I will gladly forgo a vacation this summer if it means I can feel healthy again. Some things in life are optional, like vacations, new cars, designer clothing. But others, such as good health, are not. Like Alice said in the comments last week, (to paraphrase) good health is what makes the rest of life go smoothly.

2 Years Later and My Begonia Plant is Going Strong

How was your weekend? I hope you enjoyed some time off. We've had beautiful weather, so I made sure to have lunch outside each day. Anyway, I wanted to update you on my budget begonia basket from 2021.

I bought this tuberous begonia bulb for $3.50 in spring of 2021 to plant in a free-pile hanging basket. When fall rolled around that year, I discontinued watering, allowed the foliage to die back, and moved the bulb, pot and all, into our garage for the rest of fall, all of winter, and early spring. In mid-spring, I brought the pot back out to the deck and began to water it. After a few weeks, some new growth emerged from the soil. We enjoyed the large white begonia blooms all summer. When fall of 2022 rolled around, I repeated the process to ready the plant for winter storage again. This past spring, I brought the pot out and began the watering routine. So far I have 6 blossoms in some state of blooming. I also have about 8 stems with leaves on the plant.

Here's a photo from the original plant in 2021. It was a nice, but small plant for this basket that summer, only providing about 4 blooms total. Last year the plant was larger with more blooms and leaves. And this year, the plant is filling the basket even more.

To overwinter begonias, the plant needs to be prepared by decreasing watering at the end of season/beginning of fall until the point the leaves have withered. Before the low outdoor temperature drops below 50 degrees F, the dry plant needs to be moved to a cool, not cold, and dry location, like a garage or cool room of a basement. Some folks dig the bulbs out of the soil and store them in a dry medium like vermiculite. I've found simply allowing the plant to die back and the soil to dry thoroughly is enough for my situation to overwinter in our cool, but not freezing garage.

When spring 2024 rolls around, I'll bring the potted begonia back out to the deck and start the watering routine up again. I hope by next year I have even more blooms on this plant. 

My original cost was $3.50. With 3 years of enjoyment so far, my cost per year averages out to a little over $1. That's a bargain for so much beauty and so little work.

Caring for a Hydroponic Grocery Store Basil Plant Once Home

one-month old produce department basil plant 

My daughter grew impatient waiting for my home-grown from seed basil this summer, and in late June she bought one of those basil plants sold in the produce department of the grocery store. She paid about $3.00 for a pot of about a dozen basil stems grown hydroponically in a tiny container. The container looked to be about 4 ounces in capacity. All of these plants were without soil and kept in a flat of water at the store and over-wrapped in florist cellophane to hold in moisture and prevent damage to the leaves.

Once home, the label said to remove the protective cellophane and place the little pot in a deep saucer with about an inch of water, then place the whole plant in indirect light indoors. I suspected basil plants cared for in this way were designed to last a couple of weeks, max, with no soil to provide nutrients and even out the moisture.

a soil level view of the dozen or so plants all together in a single pot

Since my daughter really wanted her basil to last all summer, I gave her some instructions for lengthening the lifespan of her plants. The roots had grown very long and were tangled, coming through the holes in the tiny cup. I knew the roots couldn't be pulled back through the holes to remove the plants from the cup. So I told her to use the clippers to snip down the sides of the cup in several places, breaking off the cup sides as she could without injuring the plants. Then I gave her a 1-gallon pot to fill with fresh potting soil. After filling, she carefully sank the basil plants still in the now broken-open cup into the larger pot of soil. Our thinking was the roots would continue to grow and would escape the tiny cup and find growing space in the larger pot. 

For the first few days the plants looked a bit wilty. My daughter gave it water daily and placed it outdoors in a filtered-sun spot during the days only. The plant had spent its entire life inside a temperature-controlled greenhouse. So I assumed that it would not be hardy enough to live outdoors all of the time, nor could it handle a lot of direct sun.

It's been a month now and her plant looks beautiful. It's bushy and thriving under her care. I've shown her how to pinch back the tops of stems, instead of plucking off individual leaves, when she wants basil with her lunches or wants to make a small amount of pesto. By pinching back stems to harvest, the flowering stage of a basil plant's life is delayed by many weeks. I do think she'll be able to keep her basil going for the rest of summer as she'd hoped.

My daughter has given her basil plant the British man's name Basil (pronounced with a short -a- in the first syllable). Basil the basil. A little humor goes a long way in making days bright.

Turning My Week Around

It's been a week of setbacks, setbacks to our property, our car, my health, and the garden. When things just keep going wrong, I have to do two things: 1) identify those things that are going right in life, and 2) make a forward step somewhere in my life.

As for number one, as I was watering the garden today I counted 16 growing pumpkins and winter squash in my little pumpkin patch. This makes me very happy. I caught myself smiling and humming a tune as I watered and counted. Now that was a great way to change my perspective on my past week. The rest will turn around soon, too.

For the second item, I was at Value Village on senior discount day and found something on my list, a plastic gift wrap storage box in pristine condition.

The manufacturer identifies this as an underbed storage box. But it's the exact length of commercial rolls of gift wrap paper. Fred Meyer sells this for $17.99.

At Value Village, it was marked $6.99. With my senior discount, I paid $4.89. Not too bad -- a $13 discount for an item I needed.

Tuesday evening, as I was putting together my schedule for Wednesday's chores, I decided I would prioritize tidying up the gift wrapping supplies. Our assorted wraps, gift bags, tissue paper, cellophane, basket/bag fill, bows/ribbons, gift tags and cards, packing peanuts and bubble wrap had taken over an entire closet. I gathered up the packing peanuts and bubble wrap and set it all aside for our free pile this next weekend (will list on Craigslist if we can't get rid of it in the neighborhood). Then I brought all of the rest of the supplies to the dining room table. I sorted absolutely everything. 

When I finished, I had some torn wrap and tissue to add to the compost, stuff to give away, and only took up one shelf in the closet for our various packaging needs. 

One of the things that pleased me the most is I only had a handful of stuff for the trash can, less than what would fill a sandwich bag. When I set out to my task, I brought a grocery bag for the garbage. It turned out that I didn't need that bag at all.

And we now know exactly what we have and that we don't need to buy gift wrap, ribbon or greeting cards for a long, long time.

You know, the satisfaction in cleaning out that closet really helped to boost my mood. Between counting the pumpkins and sorting our gift wrap supplies, I now feel like life is going a lot better than I had previously believed. 

I hope your week has been a good one. 

The Finished Garden Bistro Set

Jog your memory a bit -- this is what I started with in May of this year, a $5 garage sale table and two $5 thrift store chairs.

I spent many hours sanding, staining, spray painting, and sealing the pieces. I took a bit of a break from this project earlier in the month and came back to the pieces this week.

Below photo: Here they are, sitting opposite the grill station on the small patio in back, as viewed from behind the fig tree.

I'm not that pleased with the seats. They were a mess. Remember, these were upholstered chair seats. So the plywood under the foam and fabric was thin and water damaged. It probably wasn't all that great to begin with, given that the manufacturers planned for the wood to be covered with foam/fabric. The layers of one of the wood seats' edge had split. I filled the edge gaps with wood glue and clamped it closed until the glue dried. The top of the water damaged seat was wavy and rippled. I didn't want to sand too much off, so I figured I'd live with the result. 

For the time being, I have enough lime green shower curtain fabric left over from making patio cushions plus the foam from the chairs to make removable chair pads for each seat. I'll get to this next week. Chair pads will conceal the finish of the wood seats. In the long run, I'll probably buy a new piece of plywood and cut new seats, then finish and seal.

Below is the view facing the bistro set from the small patio. 

Cost-wise -- I spent about $40 for the pieces and finishing supplies. I used 2 1/2 cans of spray paint and about 1/2 can of sealer, plus a small amount of stain. I also bought a dowel to make plugs for some holes in the wood seats. I have a little paint leftover and lots of sealer/stain, plus most of the dowel to use in other projects. 

Was it worth it? I like projects, so I don't consider my time spent as a negative. The cost was a whole lot less than any bistro set I could buy ready made. My family really likes the set-up and are all looking forward to having breakfast, lunch, or a glass of iced tea at the little table on the little patio. So yeah, it was worth it.

The candle and candle holder on the table were free. Both were found on free piles. The candle holder had some autumn foliage wired onto the stem. It wasn't the look I was going for, so I removed the faux fall stuff.

The pillar candle was found in a basket of free candles a few years ago. It was just the right size.

One of the things I like about making over secondhand finds is in the process of working on the pieces, I put a fair amount of myself into them. They no longer feel like secondhand stuff or someone else's castoffs. But instead, they feel wholly mine.

Answering questions about my health

I've received a handful of emails asking about my current health situation. I'm usually not one to divulge a lot of details about my health, but I thought I'd take a couple of minutes to  answer questions. Also, these friends were genuinely concerned for me, and/or have similar situations and wanted to compare notes, not just overly curious.

What's my diagnosis?

A little over 30 years ago I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance, barley intolerance, oat intolerance and IBS-D. I also have life long allergies to tree nuts (except almonds and macadamias) and bivalve shellfish. I've been able to manage my IBS-D over the years through diet control and have been able to quell flares within a month or two of increased dietary strictness.

Since that original diagnosis, I've discovered that I can't tolerate guar gum, xanthan gum, gellan gum, locust bean gum, cellulose gum, carrageenan and enzymes added to flour. The thickeners and emulsifiers are known to trigger flares in many folks with IBS or one of the IBDs.

What's making me sick right now?

I've been in a persistent IBS flare for 8 months, since November. I have been eliminating practically every possible thing I could think of to get this one under control. I went completely gluten and dairy-free and avoided all of the other foods I know I have problems with for 2 months and still wasn't well or on the way to being well. For the 4th of July I thought I'd come up with a menu I could eat, no bread, just sausages, corn, potatoes, vegetables, salad, fruit, dairy-free dark chocolate, a rice cake, marshmallows, and some candy that I thought would be safe to have as a treat -- jellied fruit slices and gummi candy. I read every label and didn't see anything I knew I couldn't have. And then I got really sick a day later. I looked up every ingredient in every product I ate and found an ingredient in several of the foods and treats I ate that is on the list not to eat for sensitive individuals -- modified food starch or modified corn, wheat or potato starch. 

My goodness, modified starches are in so many food products. The gummi candies, the jelly candies, the sausages, marshmallows, and the mayo-like salad dressing that I ate on the 4th and 5th (the leftovers) all had modified starches. I was sick for a couple of days and didn't piece this all together until the 7th of July. 

I suspect I've been eating modified starches for a long while, not knowing they weren't for me. It was sometime last fall that I began buying a few extra treat items and packaged foods to have around the house instead of always baking and cooking from scratch. In addition, sometime in late summer/early fall I bought a large 50-lb sack of bread flour that contained enzymes. I'd been slowly doing my own self in all these months.

How am I doing now?

I have now stayed completely away from all of the foods that I now know are harmful for my system. While I'm tired and run down, I'm feeling better and my IBS symptoms are abating. I'm on a diet high in anti-inflammatory foods. The theory is that eating these foods will help in the healing process and reverse any damage done by a prolonged flare-up. I've also been able to add back in cheese aged 3 years+ (which is only one brand of Parmesan cheese in my local stores) and an organic, all-purpose white flour made with just wheat, no barley or enzymes. This flour is expensive, so I make my family bread with the other flour we have and I bake my own bread using the organic, barley-free and enzyme-free stuff.

I'm really kind of annoyed at the big food manufacturers. Modified starches and gums are in food products that are sold as healthy alternatives, not just the boxed meals or other convenience foods. I can't eat commercially-baked products, as the flours bakeries use contain the same barley/barley malt and enzymes that mainstream flour has. It's a lot of label reading to find unadulterated products. I noticed at Christmas time that even the heavy cream for whipping now contains carrageenan. (Carrageenan, by the way, is linked to UC, intestinal lesions, and colon cancer in animal testing.) These additives are, for the most part, cheap ways to improve the texture of food products. 

To those of you who reached out to me about my health, thank you. I hope that now I am on the path to being well again. And for those who indicated you are also going through similar issues, I hope you find the key to unlocking good health for your own self. Thanks again, friends.

My week, so far

It's been a very busy week, but busy in a good way. Everything is growing so well. This year's petunia pots are my best, fullest, showiest ever. 

I didn't space my petunia plants as seed specs suggested, but instead crammed in about 10-12 plants per pot. These were seeds I collected from my purchased 2020 petunia plants which were red, white, and blue (purple, really). I saved seeds from those petunias and have been starting my own plants each year since. I have yet to have a red petunia again, though. But I do think that pink, white and purple petunias are pretty, too.

I am in the midst of the raspberry harvest season. I've made two batches of raspberry jam for a total of 8 jars. Raspberry jam is my favorite of all that I can make with what grows on my property. I hope to make another 4 jars later this week.

We're also eating a lot of fresh raspberries with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This is Monday's dinner, French toast smothered in fresh raspberries and blueberries, topped with blackberry syrup from last years' blackberries. A delicious way to get my antioxidants.

The rose hips are getting huge! Rose hip syrup is an old-time way to get vitamin C. Rose hips also make a nice tea. And some folks make jam with the hips. I'll likely make a small batch of syrup.

Despite all of the busyness, I have taken a few moments to sit in the leafy shade of a few favorite trees.

What's been going on in your week?

The carrot greens in the pots are almost 20 inches tall!

I wanted to show you the progress on my carrots grown from seeds in pots on the walkway in our garden.

This is my farthest along pot of carrots out of six. One pot was badly damaged by slugs. It's now only partially full of carrot plants, so not a total loss. The other pots are somewhere in between that one and this one in the photo. This pot is also the first that I seeded, then thinned. So that explains part of why it's a little further along than the rest. My garden is only partly sunny, getting about 4 to 5 hours of full sun per day and about 2 to 3 hours of filtered sun.

I planted Danvers Half Long carrot seeds beginning in mid-April. In June I thinned the carrots, using the greens in cooking. In early July I thinned this pot again. I now have about 40 carrots of varying sizes growing in this one pot.

The largest carrot that I can right now is about 3/4-inch across the root top. I don't dig around the soil much. I just happened to notice this one large top showing a little.

I read a tip this season on growing carrots. The writer said he attributed his super large carrots to watering the plants twice a day. I've been trying that when I can. Perhaps that will help my carrots grow big, too.

The tallest leaves in this pot are about 20 inches from the soil surface. My pot is about 16 inches deep and 16 inches across at the opening. 

My plan is to begin pulling carrots from this pot in mid-September for fresh eating. I expect I will finish harvesting all of the carrots in late October or early November, and I will store them in the fridge wrapped in paper towels plus large plastic bags. We were eating our garden carrots in winter last season. And they stayed fresh and crisp for us stored that way.

It's clearly possible to grow some veggies in small spaces, such as balconies, tiny patios, or front porches and steps. So often we think we need to have a lot of land to grow some of our own food. That's just not true. I've known folks who grow enough veggies in a small front yard that they give away armloads to food banks each week in July and August. 

Something to chew on. . .

Video Recommendations: A History of British High Street Shops

I just wanted to share two video links with you that I really enjoyed and thought others might two. The videos follow how shopkeeping and businesses  on Great Britain's "high streets" changed over a century, from the Victorian era through the 1970s. 

The rise and decline of High Street shops parallel what has happened to Main Streets all across the US and Canada, small businesses gave way to large supermarkets, followed by big box stores. 

Of interest to the modern day consumer is some history about shady business practices, such as incorporating cheaper (and unhealthy/potentially harmful) ingredients in order to boost profits during the Victorian era. We're all aware of the garbage fill ingredients in many packaged foods today. Profits are a manufacturer's bottom line.

Another topic that caught my attention was the transition from small, personal shops to large impersonal supermarkets. Automation made food very affordable. But it also changed the shopping experience. Today, I see a sector of the population trying top regain that small shop, personal experience, by shopping farmer's markets, or patronizing locally-owned businesses. I love visiting our farmer's markets in summer. The stall vendors are often eager to engage with me, telling me about their products and asking questions about how my family does meals. I imagine shopping 100 years ago involved similar exchanges.

And of course, there's a bit of drama between the people enlisted to experience the various periods. But that's par for the course.

Anyway, I thought the videos were very entertaining and somewhat informative. If you find yourself indoors and wanting something new to watch online, here they are:

What Was It Like To Be A Victorian, Edwardian, and Inter-War Shopkeeper? | Turn Back Time | Absolute History

World War Two, the 1960s, and the 1970s | Turn Back Time | Absolute History

"New" Casual Summer outfit (plus pants' alteration question)

This is my "new" summer outfit for around the house. I was really just looking for the pants, but came home with both the pants and top. I bought both at Value Village, pants about $5 and top about $4. I absolutely love the pants. They're roomy in the hips and legs, which allows me to do all sorts of physical work in them, without any binding or constricting.

The problem is this, they're at least a full size too large. I couldn't try them on at VV, as VV took out their fitting rooms in 2021. But I knew they would be too big anyway. I just didn't have a realistic plan for what to do about it.

My original plan was to make two darts in the back. 

However, the back pockets have extra fabric that extends up to the waistband, making the pants fabric plus pocket fabric too thick to do an inconspicuous dart.

After checking online, the neatest way to take these in would be to remove the waistband, take in the back seam, redo the top stitching, add a seam to the waistband just above the back seam (to make the waistband the right size for the resized pants), then resew the waistband back on. That sounds like a lot of work to me. have any of you taken a waistband off of a pair of pants in order to take the pants in? What would you do to size-down a pair of pants styled like this pair?

For the time being, I'm borrowing my daughter's belt to hold the pants up. They're really great pants. They just are too big in the waist and slip down without a belt.

p.s. I love the top more than I thought I would. This length of sleeve comes to the elbow and conceals upper arm flab.

A Successful Food Save and Three Other Frugal Things From My Week

Between the raccoons, squirrels, and blackbirds, it didn't look like we were going to get any cherries from our 2 trees this year. One tree was already bare. 

After many mornings, afternoons, and evenings of chasing critters out of the tree, I had had enough. Last weekend, the four of us picked almost every pink or partially pink cherry on the tree. We wound up with a small bucket full of cherries. 

I pitted the cherries, then made a sauce with all of them along with some chopped rhubarb. I bumped up the cherry flavor with almond extract (sorry Live and Learn at the mention of the extract) and some sugar and a pinch of baking soda. I made about 1 1/2 quarts of rhubarb-cherry sauce, which was devoured by my family.

In past years, we've had to pick unripe cherries, too. My go-to use for these cherries is pie filling. Pie just isn't in the cards for me right now, so I made the sauce. A delicious way to use fruit that we would not have had. now if I can just keep the critters out of the apple and plum trees.

My daughters made us a red, white, and blue gelatin dessert for the 4th of July, using blue and red Kool-aid powder, sugar, plain gelatin, and marshmallows. Jello brand blue jello was over $1.50 for a box last I checked. Homemade colored gelatin made with Kool-aid powder costs about 40 cents.

We wrapped our 4th of July cutlery in plain white napkins, then sealed with patriotic stickers that we received in the mail. A little thing, but everyone enjoyed choosing their napkin.

The wood seats to the chairs I'm refinishing. If you remember, both wood seats had ventilation holes that were 5/8-inch in diameter. I bought a 5/8-inch wood dowel, sawed of 1/4-inch lengths and used wood glue to secure the disks in the holes. They were a tight fit, which is a good thing. I sanded all parts that were protruding, then used wood putty to fill any cracks/gaps. 

That about wraps it up. Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

A Girls' Day Out: A Meal on a Budget and With Dietary Restrictions

Last Friday my daughters took me out for a day to our nearby vintage district and farm community. As I mentioned before, the little town we visited hugs the Snohomish River. Most of the tourists spend their day in the shops and restaurants up the short hill from the river. Few even know this park down along the walking path by the river exists. There are only two ways to get down to this spot, either the sloping walking path from one end of town, or a set of wooden stairs that are practically hidden from view about midway through the town.

The city has set up two picnic tables under a large tree just off of the walking path. Most of the time, we are the only ones interested in using one of these tables. In March, when we convinced my husband to join us as my daughters celebrated their own birthday in Snohomish, the four of us had both picnic tables to ourselves at noon. We had great weather that day, with highs in the low 70s. In addition, the large tree had not leafed out yet, so the sun chased away any chill we may have felt when we first sat down.

On Friday's outing, we arrived with our picnic gear and found one table occupied by a man with his guitar, but the other table was available. In all of our years visiting this town and picnicking by the river, we have never had anyone use one table while we used the other. That's how unknown this area with tables is.

My daughters packed a fantastic lunch for us all to enjoy. They made chicken salad, using leftover roasted chicken from earlier in the week, and brought both slices of bread and rice cakes for the chicken. They also made a marinated green bean salad by making a vinaigrette for canned green beans, allowing to chill overnight. They cut carrot sticks, brought whole apples, potato chips, roasted peanuts, and iced tea. And for dessert, they packed jellied fruit slices and caramel rice cakes. Doesn't that all sound fabulous? Everything was delicious and they made sure I could eat almost all of it (except the bread slices). The food was plentiful and we had leftovers to enjoy the next day, too.

Our musician companion at the other table provided background music for ambiance. And we were treated to a view not only of the river, but of others enjoying the beautiful day. We watched 2 people on jet skis enjoying the river and several hang gliders coming down into a large grassy field on the other side of the river.

Our lovely lunch in the park was refreshing. I can't imagine feeling so refreshed after a lunch in a restaurant with the clatter of kitchen work, dishes, and other diners' conversations. We had peace, beauty, and tasty food. What a way to enjoy lunch with my daughters!

Our picnic made me think of all of the other opportunities summer presents for picnics. My family has done picnics at local beaches, in tree-filled parks, on benches in the small "town square" of a neighboring development, and in our own backyard. There's something special about a meal outdoors, away from phones, internet, the doorbell, and household  chores. We now plan to make picnicky a regular feature of this summer. How about you? Do you enjoy picnics? Are there any picnics in your upcoming plans for this summer? What are some of your favorite picnic foods?

A Girls' Day Out, part one

Visiting the city of Snohomish

Up early. While my daughters packed a picnic lunch for us, I leisurely enjoyed my cup of coffee, made my breakfast, and showered for the day. My legs were aching this morning and I feared our day out would be postponed.  But I pushed forward and pulled myself together. We were about 25 minutes late getting out the door. but we still arrived at our destination in plenty of time to find free and convenient street parking in front of the shops.

https://www.snohomishthenandnow.org

The small historic downtown district of Snohomish is just up the hill from the Snohomish River. The original businesses served the agricultural community as well as a logging industry. On the front step of several of the old buildings, the original business names are still there, set in tile at the entry -- Snohomish Drugstore, First Bank, etc.

Today the old buildings house a mix of old and new merchandise in antique shops and mini-malls, and one-of-a-kind clothing and interior decor shops, along with a handful of restaurants and bakeries. The original wood plank flooring inside the buildings remain, creaking with every step and is in no way level. Hallways eclectically zig this way and that, taking you to new discoveries just around the corner.

The antique mini-malls work like this: the owner of the building or large storefront has divided the interior into many cubicles. Each cubicle is rented to a vendor. The vendor stocks and manages their cubicle, coming in once a week for a few hours to restock, tidy shelves, and get payments for merchandise sold. The owner of the building either operates as cashier or hires cashiers that serve all of the vendors from a single desk in the building. Price tags on merchandise are coded with numbers that link the merchandise to the particular vendor, so income can be directed to the vendor whose merchandise was sold.

While there is some overlap in what is sold from one cubicle to another, or one building to another, the individual cubicles are interesting to look through and get a sense of what interests the particular vendors. One cubicle was stocked with good-condition furniture from the 1960s and the 1970s. I recognized the look as one found in many of my friends' homes (as well as my own) growing up. Some vendors specialize in one or two types of items. There's a vendor whose cubicle is filled with nothing but old lunch boxes.  Another vendor sells old tools and once useful farm equipment parts. I saw a few cubicles filled with vintage clothing and accessories. Many vendors sell dishes or vintage cooking equipment. 

Some vendors may be selling off their personal collections, but my guess is some of these vendors scour thrift shops, garage sales, and tag and rummage sales to purchase items to add to their cubicles. As a shopper, that means I need to know prices on items that I'm hoping to find. I know I won't find thrift store prices in Snohomish. But I hope I'll find better prices on previously-owned items than what I might find on sites like Ebay. What I do find is a ton of selection to choose from, selection that would be slim if I were doing the leg-work of thrift store/garage sale hunting myself.

Vendors sometimes put the contents of their entire cubicles on sale. They're like any other business. They need to make sales so they can pay their bills. So when business has been slow, they mark everything down 25% or 30%. I have a couple of different dish collections that our family uses during the year. When I break a piece, I wait for our annual or semi-annual trek to Snohomish to find a replacement. I may check 50 vendors (individual cubicles) to find a replacement dish that I think is a good value. Sometimes, one of my patterns just may not have much availability and all prices on those pieces may be higher than I want to spend. So I'll wait until another visit to look again. Other times, my patterns may be there in abundance. I may see pieces in that same pattern in 15 or 20 cubicles. In those instances, I'm likely to find at least one sale.

Okay, so what did I buy? This past visit, I had some birthday money to spend. One of the items I was looking for was a gravy boat to use with our fall and winter dishes (the time of year we're most likely to serve gravy). I was flexible with the actual pattern. I would consider gravy boats with a similar look to our dish pattern, if the price was right. I did find a gravy boat that I liked, priced at $14. I made note of where I saw it, but decided to look further. One of our last mini-malls was at the far end of the downtown strip. The prices here are often better than in the central buildings. This 5-level mall has space for 200 vendors, and is packed floor to ceiling with items. As I knew what I was looking for, I made a quick pass by every cubicle. On the main floor in a corner, I found a vendor who carried a couple of my patterns and was having a 25% off sale. The regular pricing for pieces was acceptable to me, so the sale price was a bonus. They had a gravy boat in the exact pattern we use for fall and winter, on sale for $9, a price much. much lower than I could find on eBay, Etsy or any other second-hand website.

Some shops carry a mix of new and old merchandise, often repurposing vintage items used in new ways.  I picked up a one-of-a-kind, repurposed-item, artisan gift for a friend in one of those shops. I also bought a new "stars and stripes" dish towel for our family, using the rest of my birthday gift money. 

I kind of had themes or ideas of what I was looking for on this day out. I've been looking for new summer dish towels. I have also been looking for more decor for the 4th of July and other patriotic American holidays. And I was wanting a brown, transferware gravy boat to use in the colder months. If I were to shop in these stores with no idea of what I wanted, I think I would be visually overwhelmed. The amount of merchandise is staggering. I hit the mark on what I had hoped to buy with my gift money, and I found a birthday gift for a friend. The shopping was productive and fun.

More on our girls' day out coming up. In the meantime, have a lovely 4th of July. I'll be back on Wednesday with another post.

The Rest of My Week . . .

Here we are post-midweek for the end of June, almost the 4th of July. I've been working hard in the garden and refurbishing various outdoor furniture and decor items. Later this week, I get a day out. My two daughters promised to take me somewhere for my birthday. They took my husband/their dad out for a day back in late April. This week it's finally my turn. Yippee! I haven't had a full day off in ages. 

Our destination is the nearby farm community and small vintage town. We'll bring a picnic lunch to eat by the riverside. We've already begun to put some things together for our picnic. I roasted a whole chicken on Monday and carved then froze some of the breast meat to use in sandwiches. Since I can't have bread, I've bought a package of rice cakes that I can have. I also baked a batch of almond flour chocolate chip cookies and a batch of regular chocolate chip cookies to bring for dessert. If we have enough raspberries that are ripe, we'll bring those. And I've asked that we have some cold, cooked and marinated veggies. So, we'll cook and marinate those tomorrow. My daughters want to surprise me with a few other treats. In addition to the picnic lunch, we'll go into the antique and vintage shops, then visit a farm or two. 

Once we come home, I have a dinner in the freezer that will only need reheating. So it truly will be a day off for me.

Beyond this day out, I'm also preparing for our 4th of July celebration. My son and daughter-in-law join us every year for the 4th. We'll play some croquet, cookout over a fire, then set-off some fireworks. Our menu will be a simple one, the hot dogs, corn on the cob, watermelon, roasted baby potatoes and garlic scapes, sautéed garden greens and garlic, then s'mores for dessert.

What are your plans for the 4th of July? Have you come up with a menu yet? Will you be hosting or guesting? What's in your plans for the rest of this week?

I'll be taking the rest of this week off from blogging, but will post details about our day out Monday afternoon.

Wishing you all a wonderful rest of your week!