Monday Message

"A cardinal principle of the gospel is to prepare for the day of scarcity. Work, industry, frugality are part of the royal order of life." (Bishop Keith B. McMullin)

I always think of the thin cows Joseph interpreted would eat the fat cows in the Bible, that meant a drought that would be a huge drought. Then think about the locusts and plagues and whirlwinds, earthquakes, and volcanoes...now put them all together and it feels like now.

The Fourth of July fireworks were set off nonstop and continual so much that I was shaking so bad from it. I now know what pets think. I was surprised we never had that many people do them before. I get it that they were celebrating nearing the end of the pandemic but it isn't over yet.

We are still in a drought. The grass is so dry it crunches, I was really amazed nothing caught fire.

It is very easy to be complacent but we must try hard to continue to follow safety guidelines.

I showed you a pic of the knitting graph I was following last week but thought you would like a closer look at my magnetic strips. They are that magnetic strip you can purchase that is rolled up.  I put it on metal in my case, it was the map drawer I have my stamps in. I glued on the ribbon and set books on it to encourage it to be flat when dry. It is flat and it holds my pattern as well as moves up to keep my place on the chart.

I use them at different spots - at the knitting machine and at the loom. They make that strip in a couple different sizes as you can see the pink one on the loom chart. I just used pretty ribbon I had on hand, it works great but pretty as well which makes me smile. I had all the things on hand, so a frugal idea.

Along that same frugal thread are these two pill containers we got from our insurance company shown here with stitch markers and progress markers for when I am knitting. A tip - if you have to put lets just say 200 stitches on your needles, I put a stitch marker every ten stitches. This saves counting over and over to get an accurate stitch count and so in this 200 stitches you would use twenty stitch markers.

Here is a scarf holder that has the loops on front and back. I have each loop labeled with the size in American and European size because some patterns call for one or the other. If a pattern says American I am okay but for the other I need this cheat sheet sort of thing to find the right size.  There are six loops on front and six on back, the last loop on the other side has all the big needle sizes together. The sheep I am holding up has the size hole just in case I need to double check but I keep them in the right loops so the sheep is there just in case.

Just so you know I never used this for scarves. It was given to me and I knew at once this is what I wanted to use it for. So think to yourself before you run out to the store, what do I already have on hand to help me with this? I find just thinking about it throughout the day will give me the frugal solution.

I wanted to give an update on the pineapple recipe I gave to you before I added jello to it and we love it!

Pineapple Freezie

I opened the larger pineapple can. It  can be crushed or chunks whatever doesn't matter. Then I pour it into a freezer bag and toss it into the freezer. The next day I pop this into the microwave for one minute and add it to one cup of milk in the blender. I can cut the blob of frozen pineapple in the blender, you probably don't have to do the cutting thing but I just do. If you had freezer space you could put it into ice cube trays but i just do it this way. After I cut it, I added a package of sugar free gelatin - I used strawberry (you could use regular jello if you wanted). Blend until it looks like a malt consistency. Oh is this ever fantastic on a hot day and we have no shortage of hot weather.

Missy says the time to prepare is now before something happens and don't let a hairball get you down.

Gus says that we need to be learning skills, skills that can help us save money and to be safe out there. It isn't over with yet.