The Mindful Chickens are Wordy Today

Other people call them “frugal things I did lately”. I call them Mindful Chickens because they are about:

• Being Cheap (cheap, cheep).
• Being thoughtful about how choices affect our community and our earth.
• Paying attention to the constant tumble of dollars and choices.

…

This is my collection of wise choices and dastardly schemes from the last two months.

ONE: Our electric toothbrush/water pick would no longer hold a charge but a new one costs more than $100. Len took it to the battery store where they replaced it for $15.

TWO: For the past year, my glasses have slipped down or off my face when I wear a mask. Had them tightened twice but it didn’t fix the problem. #1 Put small rubber bands over bows where they rest behind my ears and this worked much better.

Then #2 – I found my penultimate spectacles (the ones before last pair). “Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracle” they don’t fall off at all and I like them better. The only person who noticed I was wearing different glasses is my 4-year-old grandkid. Little kids notice a lot.

THREE: I had dregs of honey that wouldn’t come out of its jar and dregs of crystallized homemade pancake syrup that wouldn’t completely drip out of the Log Cabin bottle it was in. Poured a little boiling water in each container. Used the honey water to make limeade. Used the syrup water to boil sweet potatoes. Full disclosure: used the left-after-boiling sweet potato water (with milk but not much more sugar) and a cup of mushy sweet potatoes to make a pint of sweet potato ice cream.

FOUR: After our Up North trip, our car was encrusted with dirt and road salt. We took the time to vacuum and wash it inside and out. This is not a frugal tip that will amaze anyone, but we have a hose, and outside water spigot, and the room and time to do this chore. Sometimes it really is about elbow grease. It was a sunny day, which helped. So did the IPA.

FIVE: Len helped his sister with her taxes and to thank him she gave him two pounds of smoked pork. Boy, she knows her brother. We’ve had pork barbecue sandwiches several times week plus there’s enough left to make above-average black beans. Another grateful friend for whom Len did taxes brought us Panera soups.

If Len did Tax Prep for income, he could earn actual money. But, he says, like another avocation we could mention  - he started doing this for those he loves (family). Then he started doing it for friends. He doesn't want to do it for money because he's not that kind of a tax preparer. 

SIX: I bought bowls at Goodwill in which to bring dinners to a friend. Cheaper than disposable containers.

SEVEN: I’m (optimistically) taking the winterizing-plastic off windows. I’m cutting the plastic out (leaving the taped rim) then folding the big sheets. Then peeling off the tape and tossing it. My hope is to use the plastic to somehow discourage squirrels from eating the tomatoes. They bit into more than HALF of our crop last year. Anyone have any ideas? Those Darn Squirrels.

Anyways, if you just pull the winterizing plastic off, the sticky edges make the plastic unusable. Cutting it out provides plastic sheeting one might be able to use for other purposes.

EIGHT: I borrowed 14 picture books from the library yesterday, in order to get books that feature black and brown kids. (I facetime read to 3rd graders in the neighborhood school each week.)  I am stunned and highly recommend the picture books of Jacqueline Woodson.  

The subjects of the books I borrowed are 1. A child misses her mother who moved far away to get a good job to support her child, 2. foster care, and 3. kindness. These books are not for toddlers. They are for kids who know from hardship and adults who care about them.

NINE: “Added” 9 square feet to our house by recycling saved articles from the past 40 years. If you don’t communicate your love to each other by printing out or cutting out articles and essays – you might not have a couple hundred yellowed-with-age articles explaining political issues of the 70’s-90’s or weird this and that about, My God, just about everything. I kept some and put the rest in a file for Len to go through. After all that, there was enough gained room in our file cabinet for three manuscripts piled on a shelf. I thought I had written two books but, Wowsers, there are three! What kind of woman forgets that extra romance novel she wrote in the early 90’s?

Now I have time to read those two never-published romance novels to see if I will leave them for my grandkids to be astonished by or if I will ditch them while I still can.

NINE ½: My YA novel, Becoming Esther, is online and although the details are dated (there were few cellphones when I wrote it) I am still proud of it. The story is about a 14-year-old girl who is aware her big brother is falling into drug addiction, although their parents don’t see it. I’m forever interested in how families deal with crises, especially younger siblings who seldom receive the support they need.

You can read it online at Amazon, and it's free (if you subscribe to "Kindle Unlimited"). It’s a good book. https://www.amazon.com.au/Becoming-Esther-MB-Danielson-ebook/dp/B007B4S86Q 

Technically, it's free with a 30-day trial subscription, so that's still pretty frugal, isn't it?