OK, so I never grew parsnips before, and while the little packet of seeds said to thin them out once they were a few inches high, I did not. (It's near impossible for me to pull healthy vegetable plants...i will have to simply sow more thinly next time...)

So my parsnips were mostly small, and the roots were growing and entwined in and around each other. Still, I dug over 2 pounds of parsnip roots today, which are about to go into a yellow split pea soup.

There are a few more parsnips still in the ground, though they will likely be small as well.

Well, it's been 3 years since I worked full-time and I am quickly becoming reacquainted with the mad dash on the weekends to try to do everything I need to do.

Today, I finished up yesterday's laundry, did the grocery shopping at Shop Rite, picked up some cat food at both Walmart and another pet food store where they sell rabbit (at $3 a can, it's just an occasional treat that they really like), filled up the gas tank at BJs (it's come down a lot...$3.53/gallon, lovin' it) and mowed the back yard.

Now I've got the split pea soup on the stove, which will be my weekday lunches. I'm a little pooped.

Yesterday I mowed the front lawn and did a luxury home write-up for a $4 million home in Greenwich...it took about 2 hours, will charge $137 for it, although the listing agent never called me back so it's not quite done.

Otherwise, things are ok. Job is okay, although it's hardly challenging. I've made a few friends there, and have a walking buddy for my lunchtime walks, which I really like, since she's also a contractor and is a good source of information on a lot of things.

Come Nov. 1 I will be making my first large deposit into my emergency fund to replenish it as much as possible in coming months. I don't feel "rich" yet, but I've been able to pay off all of my bigger bills of recent weeks, which included lots of doctor's visit not covered by my lousy insurance, the hot water heater, the furnace humidifier and all that. I will feel much better when I can add to the emergency fund.

Otherwise, I've spent nothing out of my usual frugal routine and hope to keep it that way as much as possible.

After spending about an hour online looking for a lotion dispenser, I wound up going to my local Dollar store and getting a perfectly nice ceramic one that matches my bathroom wallpaper for $1. The ones online were in the $20 range, so I'm happy I didn't buy anything online.