Hello all you Frugality fans! I thought I should write a little about myself to explain why I think I have a good life. I guess a lot of people wouldn't agree with me that I do. We aren't rich. As a matter of fact my husband has been laid off from the construction industry long enough that the unemployment benefits have run out, including all the state and federal extensions. But we still laugh every day, and after 23 years of being married, still enjoy each others company. I have a home based business, but it doesn't generate enough income to pay all the bills. Only about half. Of our 3 grown children, 2 have come back home to live. They have 1 young child each, and one has a spouse. Luckily we DO have enough space, as we put an addition on our house 6 years ago that gave us 2800 square feet, so there is plenty of room to get away from each other if we feel the need. Because we waited until we paid off our home to do this and did all the construction ourselves, our mortgage is under $500 a month, so THATS all right! We all agreed on a fair division of expenses so I am confident we will make it through these tough times without having to go bankrupt or sell our home and live in our cars! I have practiced what I call "The fine art of Tightwaddery" since I first set out on my own so I think I'm pretty good at it. I yard sale for clothes and household needs, garden and preserve the produce to feed us through the winter months, and try to improvise and create anything I can before I will run out to the store to give my money to some guy who IS rich. Hopefully I can teach them a few things (by example, not preaching) before they fly the nest for the second time. They both are spendthrifts in my opinion, but as long as they pay their share I have to keep my mouth shut about it.( as much as I'm able to, anyway! LOL) I find that to be the hardest part about being the parents of grown kids, shuttin' up! We live each day with a little laughter, a lot of love and prayers to the good Lord to help us keep good attitudes and work hard to make it. I don't need money or material things to keep me happy. If we have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, clothes on our backs, and each others love, then this is a good life and I'm happy to be living it!                                                                                         gg

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 Oh my goodness! I plant dill every year to use when making pickles. If you garden you know that some always goes to seed. Well this year my garden is Full of Dill. My husband and I were out weeding this morning and it was killing me to think of all that baby dill going into the compost !! I mean, they get 2 bucks for a little bundle in the grocery! So my honey kept pulling weeds (bless his little heart) while I went around the garden and picked all the baby dill around the plants we were getting ready to weed. It took me an HOUR!!!! I ended up with my laundry sink about half full of baby dill! At this point I realize I have to figure out what to do with it all. Part of our joy in gardening is sharing the surplus, so... I minced up enough dill to fill 2 ice cube trays(2 Tbsp. per square), topped each off with a little water and put them in the freezer. Tomorrow I will pop them into a zip-loc and store for the future. Then when I make like, boiled potato's with butter and dill, I can throw a cube in with the butter and let it melt! This is a new thing for me to try. I usually dry the dill and store it in a saved spice bottle. So, after freezing this dill I still had better than half of it left! I hope my church friends like fresh dill because I got 15 good sized bundles to hand out in the morning! Tomorrow I should make red potato salad, mmmm.  Any good ideas for using dill out there?

                                                                                Red Potato Salad

6-8 red potatoes, washed and cut into chunks

1 small red onion, diced

4 hard boiled eggs, diced

1 cup Mayo

2 teaspoons ground mustard

2-4 tablespoons minced fresh dill

salt and pepper to taste

boil or oven roast the red potatoes. Cool and mix with the rest of the stuff.

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