6/10 Expressions

Frugal deeds for the day:  I won some more Greek yogurt coupons.  We love them but they still seem a bit overpriced.  I realized I do enjoy cooking - when I have the time.  I made Asian dumpling for lunch - and they were delicious.  I chopped - with my new sharp knives - onion, spinach, and baby carrots and sauted them - then added to them to a bit of ground meat I had left in the freezer.  I had wonton wraps from Kroger - from the "natural" section, still showing the manager's special sticker of .99.  Those, with a bit of brown rice and we were set for lunch.  Of course, my daughter had leftover veggies in peanut sauce since she is vegetarian.  For breakfast, we all had baked oatmeal.  Used up the last of the eggs, some oatmeal, raisins, and cinnamon/sugar.  Added a bit of soy milk - and we were all satisfied.  For anyone affected by the oil spill, the on-line claims form is up at deepwaterhorizonsettlement.com - I believe.  There was a 1 page ad in the paper.  I've filled it out - and it was pretty easy.  On the financial front, I have not checked our stocks and mutual funds for weeks.  The market has been too volatile - and I know I will let it affect me.  What I don't know - won't hurt - in this case.  Read some tidbits in the paper, says it is a good time to travel to India and Europe cuz the dollar has gained some strength - which would offset an in increase in airfares - apparently.  Good thing we purchased our air tickets to France last year - using our British Airways miles.  So, going when the currency exchange will be a bit more favorable will surely be a nice thing.  We got some rain and the flowers and plants are doing so well - and of course, the rain keeps the water bill down.  I think the economy has impacted many - walking in our neighbor yesterday, I noticed one of the "neighbors" has an extensive box garden in their yard - and they had 2 rainbarrels under their gutter spouts.  Looks to me like they built a greenhouse too.  The first thing most people notice is the increase in food prices.  There's only so much one can do to save at the grocery store - the next step is to grow it yourself.  Just harvesting a few herbs has been rewarding and watching my fruit trees grow is comforting too.  This year, I should have more than a handful of pears and peaches.  Looks like the muscadine grape plants will be producing some fruit as 1 blueberry bush.  Maybe not enough to make jam - but surely enough for a little snack.