Live Well, Spend Less recap

I just finished my second installment of Live Well, Spend Less! with some lovely folks at Waubonsee Community College.  The Live Well, Spend Less! class is a three-week course where we discuss ways to live large on a small budget, including ways to save on clothes, furniture, vacations, holidays, weddings, children's items and activities, and more.  

Overwhelmingly, like the spring semester class, the summer class participants really enjoyed learning about all the online group coupon sites and the benefits to each one.  Groupon, Living Social, Family Finds and more are all discussed. With so many similar group coupon sites out there, and all featuring great deals on a daily basis, it's easy to be overwhelmed with all the offers flowing into your inbox.  Participants Suzie and Sandy (Hi, Suzie and Sandy!) suggested signing up for a generic email address just to use for these sites. That way, deals are kept separate from your regular email.

Jane (Hi, Jane!) was thrilled to learn about great places for cheap furniture, including ReStore and area flea markets.  Ann (Hi, Ann!) brought St. Peter's Barn Sale to our attention, and I'm so glad she did.  How did I not know about this?!  I will be there on September 17/18 to check it out. 

One thing I like to share with my Live Well, Spend Less! class participants is the TMI rule for Christmas gifts concerning the Little Guy and Little Miss:

Something you want, something you need, something to wear and something to read.

And that's it!  My kids only get four gifts for Christmas, plus their stocking and a special gift from Santa.  Their Santa gift may or may not overlap with the "Rule of Four" depending on what they're getting that year. This saves us a ton of money, and my hope is that when they get older, my children will be grateful instead of greedy.  Participant Matt (Hi, Matt!) said that this little rule about Christmas gift-giving was the best idea he got from the class.

Thanks to everyone who took the class! I had a great time, and I hope you all did, too.

In the fall, the Live Well, Spend Less! course will be divided into three one-night seminars for a fun "Happy Holidays" series:

Creative Gift Solutions at the downtown Aurora campus
Monday, October 24, 7:15-8:45pm
Cost: $19.00 (The cost of $59.00 as listed in the WCC course catalog is incorrect.)
We'll focus on fabulous and frugal gifts for everyone on your list, as well as great gifts for families, online deals and homemade goodies that friends and family will be delighted to receive.  I'll have great ideas to help you shop for even the hardest-to-please person on your list.

Perfect Party Solutions at the Sugar Grove campus
Monday, November 7, 7:15-8:45pm
Cost: $19.00
Does the thought of hosting a holiday gathering have you stressed?  I'll have tips and tricks for organizing and hosting everything from office cocktail parties to family feasts that will make you the host with the most!  Be careful, following my suggestions could have your family begging you to host the holidays every year!

Holiday Activities for the Whole Family at the Plano campus
Monday, November 21, 7:15-8:45pm
Cost: $19.00
I firmly believe that the holidays should be a time for fun, family and friends...if your holiday preparations have you threatening to cancel the whole season, then something must change!  Let me help you find ways to reconnect with your family during this busy season, whether it be by creating new traditions, improving upon old ones, or finding ways to tackle holiday chores in ways that will leave the entire family feeling merry.

As always, you can find all of my Waubonsee Community College courses listed to the right. I hope to see you in one soon!

Martha Monday--Road trip snacks

Summer is winding down (although the mercury says otherwise), but there is time to get a road trip or two in before it's over. For fun snacking on your trip, whether it's down the street to the park or across the country, I found a fun gallery of sweet, salty and crunchy snacks on Martha Stewart.com you'll want to try.  I'd like to whip up a few batches of these treats before we head out to our next concert in the park.

If you haven't noticed by now, I have a serious sweet tooth. This caramel corn is calling my name!

And to wash down that caramel corn, I'll need some chocolate-covered pretzels.  Now, chocolate will melt in a hot car, so be sure to eat these BEFORE you get to the first rest stop.  Or before you leave your neighborhood. Either way is cool.

During a road trip, or any travelling, don't over-pack the sweets at the expense of crunchy/salty snacks.  You'll want to leave room for those in your carry-on as well, especially this spicy-sweet pretzel mix. Yum!

Finally, here's my essential treat for any road trip I take:

Nibs. They're a must.

What snacks do you take on your road trips?  And yes, trips during a staycation totally count!  Happy snacking!

Girls Night Out

Last Thursday, at the height of the recent Midwest heat wave, I went to a Girls' Night Out event at Spring Bluff Nursery.  The temperature was 96F, but with the humidity, it felt like 230F.  They were featuring gourmet hors d'oeuvres, wine, fun vendors and sales on many annual and perennial plants. 

I was sweating.  Profusely.

The nursery folks had a fun game for all the participants. They hid 50 Easter eggs amongst the ball and burlap trees, each containing some kind of coupon.  My coupon is good for 50% off a tree, so we'll be getting another tree for the backyard very soon.  Skyline honeylocust, anyone?

One of the vendors I was really impressed with was Holly of The Backyard Farm Girls.  Holly and Jennifer help people set up and maintain small chicken flocks in suburban backyards.  What a great idea!  Martha has chickens, and I've always loved the idea of having my own backyard flock. But if the Big Guy won't go for a beehive in the backyard, then you know chickens are out of the question.  Of course, that doesn't stop me from asking him about it 682 times a week.  Bonus! They offer introductory classes...hopefully I can attend one soon.

I wanted to buy a gazillion plants, but with limited time, space and funds I only bought two clearanced Purple Passion asparagus plants, two gallardia and two sedum.  My hope is that with more flowers in the backyard amongst the vegetables, I should be able to attract more bees and butterflies to help with pollination issues.

Spring Bluff Nursery had a darling fairy house on display. Isn't this too cute?

One thing I liked about the event was that I got to visit their "sample garden" where they feature all the varieties of vegetable seedlings they sell. I was happy to find out that zucchini plants are in fact bushes, and not vines.  I had always thought zucchini was more like a cucumber, and I expected it to vine everywhere.  Good to know that it's supposed to be a bush!

Now that plants are fruiting (vegging?) the sample garden turns into a U-Pick garden.  The kids and I will head out there soon to see what they have available.

It was a nice, if sweltering, evening.  Thanks to Spring Bluff Nursery for a fun event!

Firsts

I like gardening. I really, really like gardening. And even though I am fairly new at this (I've only tried to garden twice before in my life), it's going well.  As I've repeatedly mentioned, gardening is the one trait about Martha Stewart that I covet the most, and also the area of Martha-ness in which I am (was?) most lacking.

With that in mind, you can imagine how proud and happy I was when we began to harvest cucumbers two weeks ago. The Little Guy was just as excited as I was.

The first cucumbers came off of our Fanfare variety, and they were quite tasty. 

So far, we've harvested at least 8 cucumbers (I've lost track of the exact count).  Cucumber slices are great for snacking and as a side dish in our house.   Of our two varieties, I like Sweet Slice the best.  I'll be planting two of those next year.

I've also harvested ONE cherry tomato from the Golden Nugget plant.  Because there was only one, I quartered it so we could all have a tiny taste.  It was delicious!   I would definitely plant two of those next year as well.  



If all goes well (good weather and no more hornworms), we should have several more of these for this weekend.  And a lot more smiles like the one above!  Happy harvesting!

Not in my garden

I was admiring my tomato plants this weekend (indeed, I make time to fawn over my veggie plants at least twice a day), I noticed something on the leaves of my Early Girl.

Is that poop? On my tomato plant?  Gross! 

Then I noticed SEVERAL tomatoes had been munched on and then left for dead.  Or at least left for consumption at a later time.  Now I was really getting upset.

Finally, I found the culprit:

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT???

At this point, I should let you all know that the presence of the Little Guy, who joins me for nearly every stroll I take around the garden, was the only thing that stopped a long string of four-letter words from coming out of my mouth.

I ran inside and called Uncle Rich, who happens to be a garden expert.  "There's this HUGE caterpillar thing...on my tomatoes...AND IT'S EATING THEM ALL!!!!"  I'm not sure I was making a lot of sense, but Uncle Rich knew exactly what I was talking about. 

"Kill it. Kill it now, before it annihilates all of your tomatoes," he said.  
"How? This thing is huge!" I replied.
"Smash it," Uncle Rich recommended.
And so I did.

For those who are not familiar with ginormous tomato-eating caterpillars, as I was not until Saturday, that THING is a hornworm.  BFF Laura confirmed what Uncle Rich had said and helpfully added, "I like to cut them in half." 

My favorite theology teacher (Hi, Terri!) informed me that hornworms are like cockroaches...there's never just one.  Since that bit of info, I've been going over my tomato plants daily with a fine-tooth comb.  So far, I haven't seen another but I am on the lookout.

Memo to any hornworms thinking of entering my garden:  I will DESTROY you. 

Which leads me to wonder, what method does Martha use to kill hornworms?  On second thought, she probably doesn't have any in her garden...they just wouldn't dare.