The Sum Of My Harvest - Not Much This Year

 

It is getting cold and I needed to get all the apples and pears off the tree as they keep dropping in the wind. The birds ate most of my fruit this year.

I didn't have much compared to other years, but the birds got most of what I did get. I love fall and getting to harvest the fruits and veggies. There wasn't much in the garden this year however. 

I planted about 15 different plants in my garden, but only half of them grew. I had a grape tomato, a cherry tomato, and a beef steak tomato that took, but I got three insect ridden tomatoes out of the beef steak plant today and there are three green tomatoes still on the plant. 

For the entire summer, that was the sum of that plant, yet it took over the garden area. So weird that it would take so much space and produce nothing. The cherry and grape tomato plants have been producing only the last month.

I did get hot peppers off one plant and the red pepper plant didn't do well. The red peppers rotted on the plant. None of the cucumbers grew. The squashes and melons didn't grow except one butternut squash plant and I got three squash off that plant. 

The apple trees, the two in the back I got one bag between them, and the five apple tree in the front, I got just under two bags but they were very bug ridden and half eaten. The only tree that got any fruit was the pear. I filled a bag to dehydrate and I had lots of little pears on it which I shared with the neighbors as they wouldn't be worth drying. 

I have been getting lots of cherry tomatoes and a few grape tomatoes every few days. I have enjoyed picking and snacking on them every few days. 

I had some potato plants volunteer under the trampoline tarp top I put over the area to keep the weeds down. I am guessing I have a few potatoes that will need to be dug up before the freeze. 

I am grateful for the harvest I have been blessed with and hope I get more next year so I can share more with the neighbors. Many said they were disappointed they didn't get plums this year. 

I need to get to pruning now that I have harvested all the fruit. It is a busy time of year for the yard. 

Have a Blessed Day! 

A Paint Blessing - More Than Coincidence

I went to the hardware store today to purchase some wall texture as I want to work on the garage. Last year, I textured one of the walls in the garage. I did the wall between the house and the garage but ran out of texture just before finishing the wall. It was cold so I didn't get to finish the wall. 

After the yard sale last weekend, I wanted to finish a few more walls in the garage and make it a bit more organized so I can park my car in there this winter. I have had someone siphoning gas out of my tank for years now. I have so much stuff stored for everyone and food storage that my garage is like a storage unit rather than a garage. 

My house doesn't have much storage space and the garage is the only place for boxes or totes other than a large closet that I can't put much storage into. I talked to the man I bought the house from when he came to my yard sale and he told me that was why they moved from this house was that there was no storage. 

I love and appreciate my home and am grateful for it but I do need more storage so I hope that I can figure out a way to organize things for better space. My main problem is that food storage can't be stored on an outside wall so it is in the middle of the garage. I have one wall in the garage that can be used to store food so I want to finish that wall and then move the food storage to that wall. 

When I went to the hardware store, I felt like I should check the mismatched paint section. The paint I used on the wall I finished in the garage was a five gallon bucket that I purchased in 2006 as a mismatched paint! 

They had a bucket that had a similar color to the one I used in the garage and I had used some of that first bucket on some rooms in the house so I don't think I will have enough to finish the garage and was planning on having to purchase more to finish the garage. Also, the drywall primer bucket I used cracked and leaked so I don't have as much as I would like so I was thrilled to see that they had primer as well as the similar color paint. 

I ran home and got a sliver of the paint I used in the garage and when I compared the paint I have in the garage to the paint that was for sale for $40 for 5 gallons, it was an exact match! With the thousands of tints that can be made with custom paints now, the chances of having an exact match for the paint I purchased in 2006!

I also had a part I wanted to return from Ace and didn't have a receipt but they allowed me to return the item for almost $20. I also had a $5 coupon off $30 which they allowed me to use. I was able to get the primer and the paint for under $75. 

I feel like God led me to that paint today. I haven't looked at buying paint for a very long time. It was wonderful to know that I will have enough paint to finish the garage. It would be wonderful to get the garage finished but I have to be realistic and know that probably won't happen any time soon, but at least I can get a few walls finished and maybe I can get enough finished so that I will be able to park in it this winter. 

I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who takes care of all my needs! Have a blessed day!

My Title was - More 111 Filled My Morning - Now its - I HATE BLOGGER

What started out as a gratitude blog post has turned into me falling asleep over and over as I can't get the photos to go inline with the text which I have been fighting for weeks now. 

I got up earlier than normal and started working online as I needed to order Princess Five some contacts. 

I have been working on this post for hours. I just keep fighting it over and over. I can't get the pictures to go inline and I used to just revert to the old blogger, but now I can't and I am sick of fighting the photos. I just need to leave as Google won't put advertisements on blogger because the images show up small on hand held devices, yet, blogger is OWNED by Google and the new interface is horrible. 

Just know, I had a great day with lots of 111 moments just after I posted about it yesterday! I need to just get off Blogger and do my own thing, but as you know it has been, and is, a busy time for me. 

Hopefully, you can enjoy the not so organized photos of me finding 111 after 111 for hours this morning! 

It has taken about three months to finalize her prescription as she has never had luck with contacts as they are big for her eye and then they twist and spin and she has to squint and focus before she can see. 

There was a "Happy Accident"  where they were sent the wrong contact for her eye, and it was from a different company. When she tried it on, it fit better than any other contact she had ever known. She LOVED the new contact. She enjoyed it so much that we had them order her a trial for both eyes and finally after months of trying different strengths, we found the right prescription.

Today, I was ordering them and just one box for her right eye cost $111. I didn't like how expensive it was, but I know God helped us have that little accident with them ordering the wrong brand / prescription so she could find a contact that actually fits! 

I found all four of these 111 numbers within an hour or two of waking up. I just wanted to share that I know God is still looking out for me! 

Have a blessed day, and I hope Blogger can get its act together so I don't have to spend hours and not be able to get my photos inline! In the end, I had to delete all the photos and insert them one at a time, but it still kept messing up the text pulling it from place to place if I tried to move the photo at all. The indents are all different as the text is tied to the photo, but after hours of work, I was able to get the photos inline somewhat, but I can't do this every day! There are bloggers complaining all over the boards, so this is a system issue. Hopefully, they fix it soon! 

It Was a 111 Kinda Day - Trying To Recuperate

I had people texting me all morning about the "free" stuff I posted on the local face book pages. When we were finishing up the yard sale, I realized that perhaps if I posted "free" stuff, I could get people to take stuff that I would have to haul off which would save me effort.

I didn't think that process through well because all day today, I had people asking for free stuff that I had already hauled off for donation. I had someone come to my door early this morning. I didn't answer as I knew that it was someone wanting "free" stuff. 

I have dragged all day. I went looking for a odd plumbing part which took me to 4 stores in town and the last one had the part but the guy who could exchange the part on warranty was gone for the day so I have to go back tomorrow. Hopefully, they will just exchange out the faulty part.

At the different stores I was going to all day, I kept seeing 111. It started last night when I was boxing up the yard sale items. I saw a 111 on one of the banana box lids. I underlined it with Sharpie and took a photo as it had been some time since I posted about it. 

I guess focusing on it brought it into light because I have seen it over and over today! I saw it about three times at Walmart. I stopped at another local grocery store that had berries on sale and the discount on the berries was $1.11. I thought that was fun so I took a photo. I ran over to the sushi guy to say "hi" as we missed him the two times we bought sushi over the weekend as our "go to" fast food during the yard sale. 

The sushi guy gave me three rolls and put on extra sauce. I felt so blessed and grateful for that as it was dinner time. Princess Four was doing her online class. I had no food at home cooked and ready and am not feeling all that great. It was wonderful that he shared and I could have dinner that was ready to go. 
 
As I was checking out, the receipt had a 1111 on the bottom! Of course, I am feeling grateful and blessed today having all those reminders that God is aware of me! It was a blessed day! 

Now, I am headed to bed as I am really tired. I think those long days were a bit more than I should have done to my body. I am so grateful to have a bed and warm home! 

Have a blessed day!

It's OVER! Done With the Yard Sale

I can't tell you, how tired I am. We finished hauling everything and putting the stuff that was left into boxes so we could donate it. 

We dropped it off at the food bank as they give it away free.  I have fallen asleep ten times doing the last few sentences. It was 4 a.m. by the time we got back from dropping it off. 

I will post more tomorrow. Have a blessed day!

We Were Postponed Due To Rain

 

It was a crazy day. I got up and checked the weather outside and it looked nice so I got my daughter up and by the time she was ready and we headed outside, the sky was black and rumbling. 

We knew it was going to be bad so I took in a few things we thought thunder and lightning may ruin with the rain and taped all the tarps down.

It cleared up after a heavy storm and I went out and dumped all the pooling water on the tarps and found that we had some items get ruined due to leaks in the tarps. I dried a few things out and then it started raining again so we couldn't have the sale. I thought it was interesting that a woman knocked on my door and her mother was pulling the tarps off the tables to look at things. 

I told them that the weather was supposed to clear the next day and we would have our sale then. I was so shocked that they would think to knock and look under tarps as I would never do something like that. I am so tired and losing my voice as I have been talking to so many people each day. 

I was so tired I thought I would take a nap but I no sooner fell asleep than someone was at the door picking up something they saw on the local yard sale pages and wanted it so I got all of five minutes sleep. 

I am excited though that someone may buy a larger item off the post as well. I am praying the few hours I get to sleep tonight will sustain me through the long day tomorrow. 

Have a blessed day!

It's All In The Wording, A Picture Just Isn't The Same

I have learned so much about how to do the best yard sale over the years. I sometimes forget what I have learned since I only do them once every year and a half or more.

I learned that if I want people on social media sites to pay attention to a photo of something I am selling, they get overwhelmed by sheer volume of photos and things, but if I write something on part of the photo, it draws them to the information and focus's them on what is being sold. 

We made just over $200 today so it wasn't our best day, but we ran into a woman today whose grand-daughter was very influential in Princess Fours high school years. I will have to share about it later. 

Here are some of the photos I posted with their tags on them. I took a picture of the front of the

sale. Our stuff is getting less and less and we keep consolidating the tables. It will be nice to have the garage more organized. I hope I can actually park the car in the garage this winter. ha ha

I am grateful beyond words that Princess Four has been here to help me with all this. I has been stressful and exhausting. 

 

God is good and I can pay some bills. I just need to make it through tomorrow and clean up! Say a little prayer for me! 

 

Stay safe and have a blessed day!

So Busy I Forgot I didn't Blog on Friday

 

This week has been crazy. I have had so many things going on from dehydrating the fruit coming off my trees, to helping out a few neighbors, installing a new toilet, fixing a leak on the new toilet, to staying up all night listing things on eBay, 

It has been an exhausting week and the weekend has been really busy doing a yard sale. I would love to post more but I just want to say that Princess Four and I were up on Thursday all night and worked right through people coming on Friday morning and all day with a steady pace of people. We had people looking at jewelry after dark with their phone flashlights! 

I probably shouldn't do the sale until dark but there were a non-stop flow of people for which I am grateful! I did well both Friday and Saturday and am doing two more days as we have a type of convention in town and we put up signs around the convention saying we were doing the sale on Monday and Tuesday. as even if I only make a few hundred dollars, I am sorting and going through things and we are researching things on e-bay etc. 


It is so much work to get all my old e-bay stuff out that I figure leaving it up for a few more days can't hurt anything as long as the weather permits. 

Another good thing is that we are learning that I have lots of emergency prep items I am selling as I don't have people home so I don't need as much. In looking them up, I have some really expensive things to sell, the problem is posting them and shipping them. It seems like the kerosene heaters and stone wheat grinders are selling for tons but they are SO heavy! 

So it was dark and we were putting everything in the house on Friday night when I realized I hadn't posted a blog post for Friday! I don't think that has ever happened in the over ten years I have been blogging! I was that tired and so I ask that you forgive me and understand that life is a bit crazy currently! 

I hope I can make it through the next few days and make enough to pay some bills and continue cleaning out the house. Just tonight I pulled out all my original hand painted art collection and am selling at least 1/3 of it. I also pulled out some computer stuff and some large new frames and mirrors that the girls were storing and I am tired of storing and they have been here so long they can't remember who was storing them! ha ha

I still have tools to sort, camping / beach  stuff, and about 10 boxes of e-bay smaller expensive stuff that I haven't dared to stick out!  The wind gusts can do some damage. I broke one of these bamboo large lanterns when the wind broke the hanger it was hanging on, and one of my large tapa cloth framed pictures blew over and the glass cracked. 

There were a few items like Leather Boxing gloves that are going for a high price, old roller skates, and a miners hat that all are going for really high prices. It will be interesting to see how many people we get from the convention / trade show. I haven't done a yard sale on a week day that I can remember, but I am excited to get more cleaned out of the house and garage as well as making more money, so even if I sell one thing, I am working while I am dedicated to being in the garage / yard area. I may actually start posting online if it isn't busy, so I can make some fast cash on the higher end items! 

Wish us luck! Have a blessed day!

Paying it Forward Without Realizing It - The Bike Giveaway

I shared a few days ago that I was working on fixing up a bike to give to someone who doesn't have a car and could use a method of transportation. 

I also shared how I got a neighbor boy to come help me fix up the bike and get new tire tubes put on it. I wanted to get it to him sooner than later so I asked Princess Four to ride it to the store where the man works, and I would pick her up. 

I was getting the bike ready to go and washing up the helmet we were giving him when I realized that Princess Three wanted to do a bike "Rally" type race and when she was working in one of our temples,  (we volunteer to work at the temple to help others who are attending for worship) she was visiting with one of the other workers, and they were talking about cycling. 

The other worker told my daughter that she just purchased a new bike and would like to give my daughter her old bike! Princess Three was So excited that she called and told me the good news because she was thinking of taking one of my bikes. Neither of the bikes I had were great but it was what we had. 

The woman followed through and Princess Three has been riding her new bike for a few months! 

Here I am following a feeling like I should help this immagrant by giving him my bike I don't ride anymore. 

God is so amazing in how he blesses us sometimes before we even can provide the item

for ourselves! Isn't she just cute with her bike! 

I spent some time with the man I gave the bike to showing him how the lock works, pu

tting on flashing LED lights so he can ride it safely at night. I put a bike bag on the front and put a sports d

rink in it for him. I then left as he was working. I get to my car and realized I forgot to tell him how the gear s

hift works! 

I ran back in and tried to explain how he would need to ride in a parking lot to figure out how to shift the gears and get himself used to how they shift as it has LOTS of gears and it will click if you don't get it right on the gear. I suggested he watch some youtube channels on it. 

He was very grateful to have something to do beside living in the motel he is currently staying in and it will give him some freedom to go to other stores than those near his motel.

I am so grateful that Princess Four was willing to ride the bike to him and for the boy that helped me put in the new tubes. It was a team effort! 

Have a blessed day!

Up All Night Working and Super Late Post

I was up all night working on getting ready for a yard sale. I got so many things done in the yard and house, but not one was for the yard sale. 

 

I am exhausted and will hopefully be able to sleep a few hours. I am still fighting that sore tooth and infection in the roof of my mouth. It started to get better and I ran out of the stuff I was taking, so I am fully back into pain if I don't keep up on the medication. 

I may be iffy the rest of the week depending on how things go. Stay SAFE and have a Blessed Day!

Getting a Mountain Bike Working To Give Away

Over the past four years or so, our small town has had fresh sushi at the supermarket in the Deli section.

I made friends with the first couple that sold sushi in our town and found out they were from Burma. They didn't speak Burmese however, as they are a mountain people called "Chin." They had limited English. I shared a little about them and shared some pictures in a post when they came to my house and dropped off a huge sushi platter for Mothers Day. It was just before they were moving out of town and I was very sad to see them go! Here is a link to th

at post! 

 The next man was living here without his wife and was a adorable guy. He played drums at a Christian church every Sunday making a six  hour drive just to attend church! They don't have a "Chin" speaking church except in big cities. He did speak English and Spanish fairly well. 

The next guy had the same name as the first man, so I guess "Van" is a common Chin name. He wasn't here all that long and then we got a new guy.

I met him several times and then didn't go get much sushi due to Covid. It thought about him with people not shopping and how he was surviving. He doesn't have a car, has limited English, and is living in a cheap motel. 

There is a smart guy who recruits these "Chin" people who all had to seek religious asylum in the U.S. and there is a huge population of them in Texas of all places. This man teaches them how to make sushi, and then drops them off in a small town and talks the supermarket deli t

o allow them to sell sushi and give them a small work area. In return, the store takes a percentage of the profits. 

The guy that recruits them and fronts them the travel to the spot and deals with setting up the supermarkets deals takes his cut, and the workers get a small amount after they pay for supplies. They don't usually get real housing as they can't afford it but that also means they don't have many belongings and don't really know anyone. 

They can't speak the language very well so they are a bit insecure talking to people and often don't understand things. I can't imagine moving to a new city, living in a motel, not having a car, and not knowing anyone! The business guy comes around to check how things are going but it is a lonely world for these immigrants. 

I have talked to him several times in the past few months and he lights up when he see's me. Last

time, he gave me an extra sushi for my birthday. I took him some baked muffins with a note as that was so sweet. 

 I am getting ready to have a yard sale and have a mountain bike that I used to ride but my legs are so long that the seat was extended as high as it could go and still my legs weren't straight. I decided to get a different bike so asked the girls if one of them wanted it. One said she would look at it so it sat outside for a few years unused. 

The tires went flat and I was planning on selling it, but the thought came into my mind that I should offer Him the bike. 

We bought sushi this weekend and I asked him if he was interested in the bike, and he was SO excited. I told him I was really busy so it may not be for a few weeks, but I talked to someone at church on Sunday about maybe helping me put new inner tubes in the bike as it has been years since I have done that. I interestingly enough had two new puncture resistant inner tubes in the boxes. I sold all the bikes except mine at my last yard sale a few years back, so if when I give him the bike, I

wouldn't have one that fit the tube anyway, so today, a sweet boy from my congregation came to my home and helped me change out the inner tubes, I pumped them up and we both centered the tires and checked the brakes. 

I washed it after he fixed the tires and then polished it up which you can see in this photo. It had oxidized so much sitting in the back yard under the eves. I'm excited so I can put a bow on it and take it to him tomorrow. I'll share about that tomorrow! 

Have a blessed day!

My Nectarine Tree is a Peach - Wrong Label But Sweet Fruit

 

This spring I planted a new nectarine tree in my yard after the neighbors cats killed my peach tree by clawing the bark off.

I spent quite a bit of money on the tree and was super excited to get a new nectarine tree this year. I had a large nectarine tree that lasted about 20 years and was SO sad when it died. 

Here is a link where you can see the large nectarine tree we had for those 20 years. 

 

Here is a link to one where I show pruning it and it had all died but one branch due to boring insects. 

 

I took pictures when I planted it and thought I had posted about it, but I can't find a post about it so

once again, I think I took pictures and got busy and so I didn't post about it. 

I didn't think we would get any fruit this year since first year tree plantings don't usually produce fruit. This week we picked about ten pieces of fruit. I was sad that the fruit was fuzzy like peaches. However, the tree clearly states that it is a nectarine tree.

 We were thrilled that the fruit was VERY sweet and the bees had attacked them and most of them were dripping syrup / nectar. However, the fuzziness of the skin makes me believe that the tree is actually a peach tree. 

It will be interesting to see what grows next year. I know that nectarines tree

s can't grow from seeds or pits as they are a mix breed. I am wondering if the peach is more prevalent in this tree as the fruit was really sweet but was firm like a nectarine, or perhaps it was just the peaches weren't quite ripe. 

I hope it is a nectarine as I don't like the fuzz on peaches and I can't dehydrate the peaches with the skin on as my family doesn't like the fuzz on the dried fruit either. I had a wonderful peach tree and planted the new one from a seed that volunteered in my garden. When the cats killed it after I transplanted it, I was sad as it was a good peach tree, but was looking forward to a new nectarine tree! 

If it turns out that this tree is a peach tree, perhaps I will take out the front flowering plums and put in a late blooming apricot tree and a nectarine tree in their place so I can have those fruit trees in the future. My apricot froze after budding each year so 1 in ten years we would get a crop of apricots, so I hear the late blooming variety do well!

I have quite the orchard going now. This year, the pear has a bumper crop and nothing else had more than a handful to eat, but we did enjoy those handfuls of green plum, cherry, plum, and apple. 

Have a blessed and safe day~

My House Threw Up Tupperware - 10 boxes or More

Princess Four and I are getting ready for a yard sale. We are packing up everything into banana boxes and going through as many things as we can in the next week. 

I talked to some neighbors and they have a desire to have a yard sale as well so I am going to advertise it as a neighborhood yard sale and hope that it will draw people out to come. I could use the money and I am REALLY excited to get stuff out of the house! 

Today's project was to collect all the Tupperware I have and
get rid of most of it. With just me at home now for the most part, I don't much dried fruit and vegetables anymore. 


I have been collecting every Tupperware container I could for years to keep my dried items in as it is the only thing that keeps the fruit months out! 

I have shared many times on my blog posts about using Tupperware for storing the dried fruit. I have never seen all the Tupperware in the same room for the past 10 years. I couldn't believe how much I have! 

Here is a link to my first post about it over ten years ago.

Here is another one where I share about the moths getting into containers.

Here is another where I show how many containers I filled in one season. 

Princess Four started pulling it out of the storage room and putting it in the kitchen and box after box came out. She then pulled out everything I had in the kitchen and I sorted out what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to get rid of at the yard sale. 

She looked up the nesting containers online and the sets go for $30 each and I probably have 10 sets or more of the nesting containers in different colors.

I took pictures of the empty containers in the house and the three boxes so far I am selling, and then I took a picture of the three overflowing containers that are FULL of veggies and fruit that I am going to transfer into Ziplock bags and put into 5 gallon buckets and give away since I can't eat most of it anymore. Princess One may want some of it for her family. 


I also have full containers in my kitchen with the dried fruit we snack on when the girls come home. Most of the largest nesting containers are full in my kitchen cupboards! I could use the funds and the space that all those containers have be taking up. 

It feels so good to be finally getting to that as I have been focusing on other things but have had that on my "list" for about 2 years now. 

Have a Blessed Day!