• THRIVE Garden Fresh Salsa

    THRIVE Garden Fresh Salsa

    Rather than buying a jar of salsa as we often do, we decided to try out the Thrive Garden Fresh Salsa that’s a part of the Thrive Life consultant starter pack…   I was excited to try it as I like a tasty salsa. 🙂 Opening the jar revealed a bit of a shock as…

  • The Easiest Way to Attack a Jogger…

    The Easiest Way to Attack a Jogger…

    Got your attention? Good! Please understand that this post in NOT about how to actually attack a jogger but, rather, about how to stay safe while out jogging. With that in mind, I figured it would be an interesting change of pace to try and look at the scenario of being attacked as a jogger from the…

  • How I Saved a Thousand Dollars or More Buying a Car

    How I Saved a Thousand Dollars or More Buying a Car

    I don’t know if you’ll think this is a frugal idea or not but I do. IMO, being frugal isn’t just about making DIY products or being uber-cheap, it’s also about getting the best deal on things you need. In this case, we needed a second car and I *think* I found a great way…

  • Luci Inflatable Solar Lantern for Camping, Hiking, Preparedness

    Luci Inflatable Solar Lantern for Camping, Hiking, Preparedness

    Perhaps by now you’ve seen the Luci Inflatable Solar Lantern by Mpowered. I was sent one for review and so I’ll offer my opinion on it for emergency preparedness here… The solar lantern comes in a small package and, in fact, collapses down to a very small size which makes it nice for tossing into…

  • 6 Ingredient DIY Whole Wheat Bread

    6 Ingredient DIY Whole Wheat Bread

    I usually enjoy making homemade bread, at least, when things work out properly. When they don’t–mostly because the bread didn’t rise as expected–I tend to despise the process just a little. Yes, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with making bread. In my opinion, homemade bread making is part science and part art……

  • THRIVE Fudge Brownies: Much Better Than a Box!

    THRIVE Fudge Brownies: Much Better Than a Box!

    I’ll try and NOT exaggerate here but these are the BEST “out of a package” brownies that I think I’ve ever had! Granted, I do like anything with chocolate–fudge brownies certainly qualify–and I can truly say that about the only thing better would be 100% homemade from scratch. Seeing as though I’m not about to…

  • The Problem with FEMA’s “Duck, Cover, and Hold” Advice for Earthquakes

    Not long ago my wife started asking me about earthquakes, what we should do, how to survive one, and so on, I assume because we’re now living in “earthquake country” in the Pacific Northwest. I was a bit surprised because normally she’s not that interested in prepping but always goes along with my “crazy” plans.…

  • The Easiest DIY Toilet Bowl Cleaner

    The Easiest DIY Toilet Bowl Cleaner

    We finally ran out of the Method Toilet Bowl Cleaner that my wife likes and, for the most part, I’ve got no complaints…. especially since I avoid cleaning toilets whenever possible. 😉 FYI, here’s what hiding in your commercially-made cleaners which should make most people want to make their own cleaners from now on. Regardless, since I’d…

  • One Reason NOT to Rely on a SHTF Vegetable Garden

    One Reason NOT to Rely on a SHTF Vegetable Garden

    Seeing as though the traditional gardening season is coming to an end for most of us, it got me to thinking about the many months until the next gardening season starts, usually in March or April. Yes, yes, I know you can grow root crops and there are such things as cold frames and greenhouses…