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Back Porch Refresh
This week, I want to share an outdoor project that has been in the works for a while. Last fall, when our interior renovations and flood recovery were complete and we were able to return home, we replaced our wooden back deck with a more durable decking material. We also doubled the deck’s square footage.…
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Meal Prep: Time to Party
This week, I did engage in my usual meal prep for the workweek, but I also made a few special items for a party/get-together with some old colleagues. For the regular week, I kept things simple: I also made French toast using raisin bread and some blended baked oatmeals with a bunch of overly ripe…
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Meal Prep: When There’s a Holiday
This week, I was kind of thrown off my game by the holiday weekend. We had some great family time over Memorial Day weekend and accomplished a lot of work around the house and yard. The weather was fantastic here for the first time in untold years; it has rained the last several Memorial Days,…
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Grocery Savings and Routines
This week, I wanted to talk about adapting to change. I’ve always been a couponer, a lover of great deals. I was raised by a mom who grocery shopped once a month, making lists for different stores. We would leave the house with a cooler and ice packs and a coupon box in hand. We…
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20K May
This week, I wanted to share a challenge that I decided to undertake midway through the month! Halfway through May, I started thinking about making another attempt at achieving 20,000 steps per day. I previously attempted “Walktober” back in October 2022, but I just couldn’t hit the daily goal. Well, as I was contemplating this endeavor,…
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Groceries on a Budget
This week, I wanted to share how I have been striving to reduce my grocery expenses this month. We all have those times when it seems like all the major expenses happen at once. Car repairs. Doctors’ bills. Household expenses. Major semiannual bills due. Renewal fees or other work-related expenses. Whatever the cause, I am…
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Meal Prep: If You Can Call It That
This week, I’m not sure if you can even call my meal prep a meal prep. Isn’t “meal prepping,” by definition, the act of preparing all or most of your ingredients or meals at one time? That didn’t really happen this week. But I did capitalize on small chunks of time to help my family eat (pretty)…
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Garden Updates: End of May
This week, we made several big advances on our gardening efforts! 1. The first basil harvest I was able to make 4 containers of pesto for the freezer and share the jar of basil cuttings pictured with Joy and Robyn. Plus, I added a few leaves to my homemade zuppa toscana the evening that I…
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Meal Prep: Maximizing Leftovers
This week, the first half of my meal prep was made much simpler because of leftovers from the weekend. We had a small birthday party Saturday morning for my youngest son and his friends, and then we gathered with A.’s parents Saturday evening for a family birthday dinner. The morning spread was a ton of…
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Meal Prep: Double the Meals, Double the Fun
This week, I expanded my meal prep. My partner, A., is on a healthier eating journey, and to help accommodate his goal, I wanted to have more ready-to-heat meals available in the fridge for him. Given our house renovation and garden projects, A. is usually very busy in the mornings and early afternoons before he heads off to…