No. 9: Notes from Home | An April Morning

A beautiful, slightly warm morning greeted me today. I slipped outside to eat a bowl of cereal on the porch as birds sang around me. Friends, the songbirds are out full force right now. We’ve added a bird feeder to one of our windows with suction cups, and we have loved watching the female cardinal who likes to visit it often.

It has been a nice morning. I watered my tomato and pepper seedlings, contemplating when I should plant them outside. We are technically past our last frost date, but we have had a cold night through early May before. I’ve scrambled to find enough covers for tiny seedlings that I’ve already planted in the ground much too often, so I think I will wait until May to plant. At the same time, our ten day forecast looks good. So we shall see.

While outside, I admired the new gravel in my raised bed area. Just a tiny bit is done at the moment, but I am so happy to have less of a weed problem in this area soon. Last night my husband and older sons worked on fixing it up while my younger children drew with chalk on the driveway. It was a super nice evening, made complete with an impromptu bath for Moses! Our youngest child knows how to get dirty, ha!

This morning I watched a YouTube video about thrift store shopping while riding our exercise bike. I haven’t been thrift shopping in a long time, and honestly, I kind of miss it. We just don’t need much for our home right now, and our local thrift stores aren’t extremely cheap when it comes to clothing. In the video I watched, most items were $0.25 or $0.50. Wow!

Before long, I will be placing our grocery order for the week. I have been really mindful over the past couple of weeks when it comes to our grocery budget. No extras at the moment.

Our $2,000 home insurance bill is due in May, and while we have the funds to pay it on hand, I want to replenish our account quickly. So I’m trying to find ways reduce spending in other areas.