Big Brood

The last few days have been busy ones.  I have canned 8 pints of strawberry jam and 6 pints of strawberry rhubbarb jam .   Last night I steamed and froze 3 gallons of spinach.    Three gallons of spinach sounds like a lot until you steam it and measure it out into 4 pint sized bags!  I didn’t mind because it was all free (from my grandma’s garden).  She even washed it for me before she delivered it!   I planted a whole packet of spinach and have nothing to show for it.  I wasn’t surprised, the same thing happened last year.  It apparently doesn’t like my soil.  I have a good crop of lettuce ready to pick though.

If you’re like us and concerned with your budget as well as helping to keep our environment cleaner, you might wonder whether rechargeable batteries are a good option and whether they last long enough to offset their higher costs. Read on to find out more.

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I have been feeling rather nauseated and tired.  The first trimester yucks are here in full swing. 

 Hopefully I will get a photo of our garden up this week.  I can’t say it is weed free but I am keeping up fairly well.  My favorite weed strategy is putting newspaper topped with grass clippings between all the rows (something I picked up from my mom).  It really keeps nasty weeds at bay and cuts my weed pulling/hoeing work in half.

Brood = Brood + 1

(If you don’t understand, I advise you to ask your local computer geek. )

I enjoyed this article on CNN money covering how credit card rewards aren’t always so rewarding. It also gives some tips on how to use rewards cards to really benefit.

While this list is a nice overview, I really enjoy reading about how Free Money Finance uses his cash-back reward cards to earn money for spending money he would have spent anyway.

As the Money article mentions, be careful with these techniques. If you have the discipline, then go for it but as the article states some are tempted to charge more just to earn rewards. Be disciplined!

We haven’t tried these techniques much.  We do have a GM rewards card that will likely never get redeemed since I don’t think we’ll be buying any more brand new cards.  We’re just starting to get our finances in order and gaining the discipline to spend only what we have.  Once I feel more confident that we can do this consistently, we’ll start to move to cash-back rewards cards.  It’s hard to turn down free money!

While the current financial prospects of algae-diesel fueled cars aren’t all that great, this is an interesting story involving a Chicago school where the kids developed the algae-based biofuel as a part of their curriculum.  I get the impression from the story that school is NOT one of your private schools.

With a yield of 30 times per acre over soy, it sounds like it might be a future viable alternative fuel.