Self imposed Austerity.

 Now, before anyone that I know reads this and thinks we're in financial difficulty, please know we're fine.  What and why we're doing this is voluntary and I'll share why without too many details.  Just know.  We're fine.  

A little back story.  We got out of debt about 10 years ago, and aside from our mortgage, have been debt free ever since.  We've managed to cash flow any major repairs over the years.  The only exception being the small inheritance we received last year that helped us pay for some much needed repairs and my greenhouse.  This year we had managed to squirrel away enough money to have our back deck converted into a screened in porch.  Unfortunately we've had another expensive issue come up and so our screened in porch will have to wait until next year.  We had the repairs done last week, and everything seemed fine; until they weren't.  Unfortunately there was an underlying issue that wasn't caught before.  So to fix this will add a considerable amount to our bill.  The reason I'm being vague is because what happened doesn't happen often these days.  The company contracted to do the initial repair has not only offered to remedy the situation asap, but to do so at their own cost.  This is a cost that is considerable.  It's also something they can't do often so I remain vague.  

So with that back story in mind, my husband and I are doing everything we can to cover half of what the overage will be.  We're not doing this because the company asked or required it of us, but because we want to honor their work ethic, faith, and generosity.  In this day and age, it's rare to find a business that isn't out for the quick dollar.  Many lay their integrity at the feet of their greed.  This company doesn't.  The owner told me that he knew God would see this cost returned to  him.  We plan to do our part.

So, hence our self imposed austerity.  We're going to do everything we can to gather the funds to help them out.  My part of that is to get back into the kitchen to get meals, and extras covered rather than just dropping an order at the grocery store.  I have gone through my pantry to take an inventory of everything: bought, canned, fresh.  My focus will be utilizing those things first and foremost.  Amazingly I was thinking I needed salsa, and chicken broth, but doing an inventory showed me I had them and had just missed them.  I make our chicken broth, and had put off making more because it was hot.  Then I found it.  Smh.  My recipe is here.  You'll need to scroll down a bit to see it.  It's after Yogurt, Bread, and Mint extract.  My salsa is here.  You'll also have to scroll through a few recipes, but their worth the read.  There are times when I start to take it easy, but then something jars(pardon the pun) me into action.  This is really fun for me.  I like the challenge.  Stretching my frugal muscles.  (Sigh) wish I enjoyed real exercise as much!  

As I sign off here, my list includes Chocolate syrup, Salsa(I only have one jar), Bread, Granola, Cereal Bars, Frozen Biscuits, and grinding corn, and wheat berries for flour and corn meal.  Whew.  Better get started!