This Week...Beyond Money 4/25 - 5/1

For me, a life beyond money is making choices so that you can live the best possible life, regardless of your income level. Obviously, you have to make a living, but there are many ways to improve your quality of life without increasing your income levels and correspondingly your expenses. This regular post will be some of the ways that we improve our quality of life beyond just trying to make more money.

Gardening:
* My boss gave me some of the tiny leftover onion starts we had leftover since they were going to be composted otherwise. I planted them next to the garlic.
* At the Arbor Day Festival, I was given 3 ramps. I planted them in the fence line. Here's hoping they overtake that portion of the backyard!

Cooking/Groceries:
* Trucker has been cooking a lot lately, which is wonderful. He made pork chops with green beans, dinner rolls and chips.
* I steamed a huge bag of manager's special mustard greens. I used some with my lunch and the rest I'll freeze to use in winter.
* I made pumpkin pie pudding. I also found some fun recipes for homemade pudding mix that I want to try soon: chocolate and vanilla.
* I made stir-fry with leftover pork, mustard greens, radishes, turnips, Swiss chard stems, celery and garlic.
* I roasted a lot of seconds produce from the farm: asparagus (It's finally here!), radishes, turnips and Swiss chard stems. I love roasting vegetables. So simple, but so delicious.

Fun:
* Our friend gave us a coupon for a free scoop of ice cream at a fancy ice cream shop. He is vegan, so he couldn't use it and thought we would like it (he was right!). We used that as a little date one evening. We bought one scoop, so for $5 we each got one.
* We took our friends out for dinner. Daisy Duke's hubby's birthday was this week. We bought a Groupon for a nice Asian fushion restaurant. The coupon was for a $50 value for $30. I used a promo code to get $10 off (and used my rewards card to pay for it and earn points back). We spent an hour and a half talking and laughing together. They are amazing friends and I am so glad to know them.

Nature:
* We went to a local arboretum for their Arbor Day Festival. It was so lovely to see all the pretty trees. I got to make my own Lorax mustache, meet the Lorax and Parky the Pig (from the National Park Service). I was in geek heaven. We oogled lots of pretty trees and flowers, enjoyed trying to identify new plants and exploring the Japanese garden.

Waste Reduction:
* I have been saving water from rinsing produce to water the container garden and seedlings.
* I composted weird things.
* As I have cooked this week, I've been filling containers in the freezer with bones and veggie scraps for making stock. I have 2 1/2 containers full and waiting until I have time.

Work:
* I am still enjoying my new job. It has been so nice to be able to work outside and help with this incredible program.
* I packed a lunch each day.
* I got to take home loads of seconds.
* Trucker ate for free one day at his job.
* Trucker's boss gave us a free step ladder that someone paid for but never picked up for several months.

Health:
* I am struggling to drink enough water. I really have to be better at this.
* One of my coworkers said that she's noticed I've slimmed down since starting this job. I haven't weighed myself for a bit, but I do feel good. Really, that's the important thing.
* Getting seconds at this job makes it so easy to get lots of produce in our diet. I usually bring home two bags of seconds and we eat lots in every meal.

Community:
* I gave Daisy Duke some seeds. I bought a pack of acorn squash seeds, but there were way too many for my little garden. She is putting in a container garden, so I thought she could use some of them. It is a fun black-skinned variety.
* My boss said I could take some of the seconds produce to give to Daisy.

How was your week?