Frugal but Flourishing!

"What is this? A garage sale on groceries?" I remarked as we pulled up to the supermarket. There were beautiful displays of tomatoes, okra, squash, corn and other vegetables piled in neat, cardboard trays in front of the store. We had stopped because I was out of potatoes, but we took some of the other nice veggies too. The sign said they were community grown, and the polite young man supervising the products said they were organic, and were there in an effort to get people to buy homegrown and healthier produce.

Well, the tomatoes certainly were delicious, and I'm sure the corn we bought is, too. We also bought a huge cantaloupe inside the store, and I can't wait to taste it. We had been sidetracked on an errand by garage sale signs, and we couldn't resist stopping at two. We restrained ourselves and Howard and I spent 75 cents and 25 cents respectively. It was worth it for the chance to visit other neighborhoods, one of which was filled with elegant, dignified stone homes in settings of spacious landscapes with huge, old trees bordering the lake.

I don't know if it's because it's the weekend, or the end of summer (school starts in two weeks), that is prompting sidewalk sales and the like. Yesterday in Stillwater our attention was grabbed by colorful goods in craft tents set up along the sidewalk. It was almost like a garage sale, with decorative odds and ends from the decor of an up-scale store offered for sale, as were items from a bath and body shop. I got pump dispensers of foaming hand soap in luscious scents at a savings of 75%, a new checkered lunch cloth for 25 cents, plus a damask-covered cushion in the same pattern of our big chair.

At the next store, assorted books were 90% off, yielding two kids' activity books and one hardback for 20 cents each! Our bargain lunch plan was thwarted, though, when we couldn't locate a coupon for a complimentary meal for two at Olive Garden that I could have sworn was in my purse. I had carried it for months, so it is probably in another purse I will have to search. Meanwhile, we enjoyed chicken sandwiches at Chick-fil-A.

It was so gratifying to see how busy the restaurant was! I am glad to see a wholesome, Christian business prosper. Our son has practically raised his kids on their chicken nuggets. Now 5 and 7, they have been going there since the 7-year-old was the only infant member of the men's Bible study meeting that her father attended there. She went along in her carrier until she graduated when she got old enough to run around and be disruptive.

Maddie, the 5-year-old, particularly likes to ask the blessing on food at the table, whether at a restaurant or at home. She was heard praying recently, "Thank you, God, for everything you have did and everything you have done, and everything you have did and done, and for sending Jesus to die on the cross, and for taking our sins, our hunger, our hungriness, our thirst, our thirstiness, our sickness and our pain." Priceless!