I play the grocery game with myself. I set a dollar limit that I am trying to stay under and feel a small thrill when I can come super close and not go over. I do think grocery prices have gone up and from what I've seen they will continue to go up. Corn prices are up because of using corn for ethanol. Therefore corn feed prices are up which runs up dairy, beef and pork. I heard Ohio has had so little rain that the corn is barely six inches high and we all know it's supposed to be knee high by the fourth of July so that doesn't bode well for future prices.

I wish I had your talent to refinish things. I have tried and my stuff always looks like a housewife did it not a pro. I always have places that I mess up. I don't know if anyone else can see them but I sure can. Then there was my famous sponge painted dresser. It seemed like a good idea at the time but it ended up being really, really scary. I need to paint my kitchen table. Oma told me that shabby chic is in but it's more like crappy chic. It's bad. Too bad you don't live closer, I would ask you to help me and give me hints of what I'm doing wrong (um - I think pretty much everything). It always looks so easy on HGTV.

Oh and I saw a great thing on HGTV where they used stencils and stain to make their driveway look like flagstone. It came out great. You really would never have known that it started out just a plain concrete driveway. I just draw pictures on my driveway with sidewalk chalk to add excitement. We pick a theme and it stays until it rains. We've had alot of rain lately. Next up is zoo animals.

I really need to remulch my front flower bed and I would love to plant in my backyard but I never seem to get past the good intentions stage. I have great plans for a frog pond and a compost pile in my head. Hey ladybugs eat aphids too. You can buy them online and be all organic and granola crunchy and not have yucky pesticides but I guess you're good for a year.

I think I am the only military wife who lacks all these amazing talents. My poor husband. I can't fix or refinish things. I'm not buff and I can't trapeze.

You, Tova, however, are da bomb!!

I thought the aphid factoid was cool, too.

And since you understand how this works, I am saying outloud that your husband *won't* be home in 2 weeks. Which of course guarantees he will. Hehe.

I think it's great you can take something old and make it look the way you want! Don't worry, everyone in my neighbourhood does the dumpter diving too! Not that they are in a dumpster, but if someone doesn't want a piece of furniture, outside on the sidewalk in a designated area it goes, and whammo, it's gone in a nillisecond!lol!

I think I saw the show on HGTV Loca mentioned, it did look cool the driveway! I was gonna mention that! Go to your local Home Depot, they might have some ideas for you. Or better, Google yourself some ideas!

Hey ladybugs eat aphids too. You can buy them on line and be all organic and granola crunchy and not have yucky pesticides but I guess you're good for a year.

Yeah, I actually was going to do this but guess what?  Ants will kill lady bugs to protect the herd.  There were just way too many ants and aphids for a group of ladies.

Then there was my famous sponge painted dresser

Hahahaha.  I do trial and error.  Once I painted lamp shades.  I read an article about painting lampshades light pink to give the room an "ethereal" glow.  So I went out bought the paint and did it.  I thought, hmmm, those look stupid.  So I went back to the article and re-read it.  Yup, it said pink all right, but on the INSIDE of the shade....hahahaha.

I tried to save them, I really did.  I painted them a darker color, stenciled a few things, then glued jute around the top and bottom.  I couldn't even give them away at a yard sale!  hahahaha.

If you aren't good at staining, and really I am not the greatest, you can go for a "worn" look.  I refinished my kitchen table..and the top just wouldn't take the stain smoothly, no matter how much sanding I did.  So I just went with it, even accented the "messed" up places.  So now it looks distressed and like its well used, but still nice.

I heard Ohio has had so little rain that the corn is barely six inches high and we all know it's supposed to be knee high by the fourth of July so that doesn't bode well for future prices.

Yes it is really dry here.  The corn is very short.  Guess I better up my grocery fund.  Grrr...that means less for fun stuff!

 

And since you understand how this works, I am saying outloud that your husband *won't* be home in 2 weeks.

Ah thank you.  I know its hard to hear about other husbands returning Tex.  Every time I start to write something about it I think...Oh Tex, I'm so sorry its my turn and not yours, YET.  Your family is in my prayers.

You, Tova, however, are da bomb!!

Heh.  Thanks.

I think I am the only military wife who lacks all these amazing talents.

You are an amazing mother Tex.  You are also a great writer.  And lets be frank.  You're hot.

Your husband is a lucky man (but I am sure he knows that).  You actually spend TIME with your kids doing things they enjoy more than any other parent I know....ya know what my kids do when I am working on a piece of furniture?  (Besides tell me they are hungry and thirsty every ten minutes?)  They hang out in the yard while I work in the garage.  They jump on the trampoline, swing, ride their bikes, play with neighbors...all that is fine...but I'm not doing it with them.

 

 

think I saw the show on HGTV Loca mentioned, it did look cool the driveway!

That is probably where I got the idea FS.  I remembered seeing it somewhere.  I will check out their website.  I am hesitating because a brand new house went up in my sub division and they did a faux finish on the drive.  That was last summer.  Now it looks terrible..all peeling and bare in spots.  (They need a power washer.  Heh.)

Ohio may not be conducive to drive way paint.

I've felt the pinch at the grocery store lately as well, spending close to $100 per week for the amount I used to pay about $75

Yeah that seems about the rise of mine as well.....I generally shop at the commissary, but it can be a pain and not all their stuff is cheaper.  Most of it, but not all.  I was spending about $600-700 a month on grocery shopping (this includes all household cleaning items, laundry supplies, light bulbs, batteries, etc).  But it looks like I will have to add another $100-$150 to the budget.

When I first moved here I was really dismayed to find that so much of what I'd purchased was well beyond it's expiration date, some items were so old as to be alarming,

That is gross.  I don't know how you do it.  Heck, the dollar stores here don't even carry expired items. 

If your Wal-Mart is open 24 hours, maybe you could try going late at night and riding one of those electric carts.  That may be worth it.  I always want to try one of those carts..heh.

 

 

And half of that is her lips.



Oh man, I hate arborvitaes. I'd have ripped them out a long time ago. Good for you for keeping them.

Hate the damn things.



That stuff is awesome. Yeah, it's expensive, but the eventual benefits are so high that it's just awesome stuff. I keep hoping some other (and cheaper) generic company will come up with a formula that can do the same, but in the meantime, I'll keep choking out a hundred bucks for a gallon of the stuff to save my oaks . . .

Sounds like fun times are to be had in the Tova residence.

Sounds like fun times are to be had in the Tova residence

I know it must sound terribly boring to college kids...er, did I just say kids?  I mean college ADULTS...but I really love working in my yard.  I can't wait to become an old wrinkled lady, wear too big overalls and big straw hats. 

That stuff is awesome.

I agree.  My neighbor asked me what I was Woo-Hooing about today.  I opened my hand and showed her a bunch of dead Japanese beetles.  They lay dead right on the leaves....ah, the spoils of war.

I wonder if there are any taxidermists that do beetles?  hahahahaha

Oh man, I hate arborvitaes. I'd have ripped them out a long time ago. Good for you for

They aren't my favorite either...but they do work great as a screen between one side of our house and the road.

And half of that is her lips.

 

I'll have to remember the expired food if I ever go to Virginia. Ew.

Tova, college-age people are kids. No-one has become an adult since 1999.

Tova, college-age people are kids. No-one has become an adult since 1999.

Any reason it is 1999 in particular?  (Besides the fact the Party was over with the artist formerly known as Prince in two thousand zero zero....hehe.)

No reason. Just a good year. And the party wasn't over, we're just partying like it's the past! Isn't he Prince again?

I dunno. Last time I saw him he was banging out some tunes at the super bowl in the (not purple but very wet) rain.

Someone needs to talk to him about his hair tho. It's just freaky.

That was when I last saw him. He was pretty good, I didn't know he could play guitar like that.

Prince is a cool cat. "Purple Rain" is one of the best albums of the eighties.