bethany Vedder

Many great finds over the years... in our Brooklyn days we furnished the apartment from stuff people left on the street, only bought a few things on Craigslist. I found a cast iron fry pan with a basting lid, and a cutco paring knife in the trash there too. Someone had used it once,  burned food onto it,  and pitched it!
In the last few years since we've moved to a mountain in East TN we've scored 2 working roll up metal doors from the dumpster at the local shed-building place (they only had bent brackets) and lots of tin roofing and siding scraps. Someone gave my son 2 MG Midgets to work on, and countless other things as he's always helping fix stuff wherever he goes and is generous with his friends.  It comes back to him for sure.
I get food deals constantly, there's a place 45 min away that gets expired/surplus stuff by the truckload and most of it is "fill a box for $10". Most of it is fantastic, some duds that go to the dogs or compost. Venison, fancy cheeses, hand tailored wool pants and shirts, Asian sauces and organic nut butters, gallons of pesto, it's a fantastic resource for many locals.
We lived 5.5 years on the road in a trailer doing odd jobs for whatever people wanted to pay, and we never quite went hungry or got stuck, though we came close many times.  Some paid, some didn't.  I give God the credit for that working out but it was a wonderful experience.

bethany Vedder wrote:We've used these Cuppow sipping lids for the last 12 years at least, and Love them!

Forgot the link, Azure Standard seems the cheapest but there are others too and they also come in regular mouth sizes.

https://www.azurestandard.com/shop/product/household-family/kitchen/canning-supplies/plastic-lids/drinking/mason-jar-drinking-lid-wide-mouth-clear/32842?package=NF2115

We've used these Cuppow sipping lids for the last 12 years at least, and Love them! They're US made from food grade recycled plastic and are BPS/BPA free.  We use old wool socks to insulate them and if you've got an old enough vehicle they fit in the cup holder too 😀.
Only trick is to screw the ring down tightly and make sure it's not a dented ring, or it will leak
I've tried several other types like this and they ALL leaked.  These are easy to clean, fit straws if you like, and virtually indestructible.

Read and loved much of what's been shared, want to add the book I just finished which is easily in my top 5 ever ... How Green Was My Valley by Richard Llewellyn. Welsh writer and this was his first novel set there in the early 1900's ... it's poignant, excellently written and poetic and reads like historical fiction of the changes brought to rural towns from mining operations. His characters are so well nuanced. Picked it up at a book sale,  read the first paragraph and was hooked. Best dollar ever spent!

Sloppy Joe's
Brown ground beef, add salt and pepper and minced onion and a bit of worcestershire sauce, then catsup/mustard/tomato sauce to your desired level of soupiness and simmer for a few min to meld flavors. Serve on toast or in buns,  best with thin-sliced cheddar on top.

Ground beef tacos are in heavy rotation here.

Pre-made meatballs are great, and freeze easily. Add egg/cheese/breadcrumbs or crushed porkrinds and enough stock or water to moisten thr meat vwell, make into balls and brown on all sides in some oil then bake with bbq sauce on top.
Also good with soy sauce and minced green onion and a dab of honey, instead of cheese, and add a bit of sesame oil to your pan when you brown them. Good with rice and hoisin or sriracha or any Asian dipping sauce.  

How about Katydid, Kalya, or Kathryn ...
Oh just saw your Katherine suggestion Thekla :). Love that name.

Looks to me like someone took a shoehorn and turned it into a trowel?  

I use a bit of everything, but the bulk of my recipes are in two fat 3-ring binders on 8.5x11 pages that are hole punched.  yes they get stained!  most are printed from the web.  They are organized by divider and type, as well as sub categories like boneless/with bones or whatnot. I also clip/save recipes often digitally into Plan to Eat, which is a FAB app that I only use a fraction of the functionality of (planning and grocery list creation, "cook from pantry", sharing with friends, etc).  I can now clip recipes from anywhere online and it grabs and formats them for me, and I print out the ones I'm most interested in to try.   I pull my recipes for the week from the binders and they go on a clipboard, which gets propped up in the corner and hopefully not as splashed as it might be on my table. handwritten notes go on the printed pages. I also have a recipe box, a small one, that has some i saved of my moms and my grandmothers recipe cards, and the favorites from there get tucked in the front of the binders.  Then there are the cookbooks themselves, with sticky tabs marking the ones i want to try or just make again.  I live in a small camper and have one foot of shelf space for binders/cookbooks/health books so I currently have Nourishing Traditions, Moosewood, a couple ferment books, and 2 by Ottolenghi because I can't help myself and they're pretty and everything is so darn tasty. I'm trying to bring my herb garden up to snuff so I can make more of his recipes .  Sorry that's a bit off topic.  I do love recipes!

May Lotito wrote:

bethany Vedder wrote:My husband made me an apron last year from his old jeans There's a buckle clasp thing in the back at the waist.

Your husband did a great job! I thought about alternatives to ties, such as velcro or magnetic snaps. Great idea to use a buckle clasp.

Thanks, I think he did too! The clasp is easily adjustable which makes it extra nice, and very easy to put it together behind your back.

My husband made me an apron last year from his old jeans (and he doesn't sew) and I love it! It won't win any beauty contests but is so practical with all the pockets and belt loops. There's a buckle clasp thing in the back at the waist. His hope was to make it look like a pair of daisy dukes, lol.