Mrs. Peasant's Diary for Ash Wednesday 2026: Worldliness, Overthinking, And What Happened To Conversation Hearts?

Child reading. Jessie Willcox Smith 1905

And seek not you what you shall eat, or 

what you shall drink: and be not lifted up on high.

For all these things do the nations of the world seek. 

But your Father knoweth that you have need of these things.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his justice, 

and all these things shall be added unto you.

                   LUKE 12:29

All the information, all the choices, all the opinions, all the ideas and tips leave me feeling sad. Can there be a point where tons of information becomes a terrible thing? I think I am information-ed out. My father sold encyclopedias, and he loved to answer my questions with "Well, look it up." I find even answering a simple question today on the internet to be difficult. Having to sort through hundreds of answers is tiring. Most of the time, after I research a topic I am even more confused. Try looking up how to grow a tomato. You will find a Masters Degree worth of reading material on how to grow a tomato. I just give up. I sort through hundreds of reviews to buy something on Amazon. I scroll through endless options. I see the whole world's issues. There is just too much of everything.  All of the news and information and ideas becomes super distracting along with all of the hours of time I waste on worldly things. I'll spend more time finding a pair of socks online than reading my Bible. I used to grab some at Walmart, and they'd last 8 years. It is getting harder and harder to not get sucked into the world and the things that are fading away. I am getting older. Why should I care about this or that? 

Carlo Maratta (1625-1713) (follower of) - The Madonna Reading

I am glad it is Lent. We can cling close to the Lord and focus on him. It is a chance to be less attached to this world and permission to ignore all of the noise. The world has always been a wreck, but we can actually hear all about it today. We hear every story and every update for every tragedy in every state, in every country, and the whole world. When I hear about a tragedy, I pray. When you love someone and you really want the best for them, all that matters are the eternal things. I can barely care about people I know as they deserve. How can we care about billions of people? My heart is just too small. 

Sweet Hearts Candy, Scott Ehardt 2005

I am still wondering what the hell happened to the little boxes of Conversation Hearts? I couldn't find them this year. I tried googling the answer, and it went nowhere. Now, we need AI to decipher the answers from the sea of information slop. I have a hard time decluttering books because they quickly answer my questions even after all these years. 

May the Lord be in my mind, on my lips, and in my heart. Thank you for stopping by. God bless you this Lent. 

Christ in the Wilderness - Ivan Kramskoy 1872

Mrs. Peasant's Diary for Monday, September 2, 2019

THE TEA HARVEST

Unfortunately, I waited too long to gather my Jiaogulan. I tend to be so timid about pruning and cutting that I forget to harvest! That in itself is a lesson. I spent all this time planning, sprouting seeds, watering, tending and then miss actually ENJOYING the fruit. So, I decided to Edward Scissor Hands the rest of my garden to make up for it. I harvested the ginger and lemongrass that were started from pieces I bought at the grocery store back in December. Not too bad for the two dollar investment! I also picked a bunch of Spearmint, Sage, and Raspberry leaves.

GINGER, LEMON GRASS, AND JIAOGULAN

SAGE, SPEARMINT, AND RASPBERRY LEAVES

They say you have to bloom where you're planted. So, I figured container gardening would help make us more self sufficient. But who are we kidding? The apartment balcony isn't going to feed you much. I've tried growing vegetables frugally for seven years. I can honestly say our apartment garden has only two glowing areas- tea plants and onions. Come over when SHTF, and I can make you a cup of tea as we cry over the end. I've got 20 pounds of noodles, too. Seriously, come by. We can live on tea, noodles with onions, and love.

GARDEN UPDATE: NOT ONE ZUCCHINI.

AVOCADO TREE

Take a look at my lovely 2 foot avocado tree I started from a pit. It reminds me of a fiddle leaf fig tree. It's more like a blend of fiddle leaf fig and a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. And since it may take 3-4 years to fruit, why not admire it as a frugal decorative tree?

FREE FALL CRAFT- ONION SKIN DYEING

As I was eating through my freezer, I found a forgotten ziplock bag full of onion skins. Before Mr. Peasant's accident, I was saving onion skins to use for dyeing. I was VERY tempted to just throw them away as it all seemed unimportant now. But I'm glad I pushed through the blahs and did it. I took two dumpy old cotton kitchen towels (one Ikea/ one Walmart flour sack), two handfuls of yellow onion skins, and this post for directions. Both towels are 100% percent cotton and you can see the huge color variations. I believe that it will turn any towel a yellow, orange, or tan color which is accidentally the perfect color palate for fall. If you'd like to make an old crappy stained towel warm and autumn-y, go for it. But keep an open mind in terms of color. I did keep them in the dye for 4 hours each. I washed the dyed towels in hot water and detergent in the sink twice. The color seemed to stay! I photographed the towels in different lighting, so you can assess the color.

Color of dye bath from 2 handfuls of Yellow Onions

Towels against a white background.

 Ikea towel next to dyed Ikea towel.

Walmart flour sack towel next to a dyed towel.

Dyed towels in the sunlight. 

Dyed towels next to originals in normal kitchen lighting.

PRAYERS AS GIFTS

Mr. Peasant and I have created a new routine of nightly prayers and scripture readings. We have been helped immensely by this in our battle with despair and exhaustion. Our life since Mr. Peasant's accident is unrecognizable to how it was before. I forgot to update the 2019 calendar with birthdays, and I've failed horribly at remembering really important people's birthdays this year. I'm limited in money, energy, and creativity; so I have been offering my nightly rosary up for each person whose birthday was in August-- Lady A, Mrs. Seaux, Lady S, Little M and the Knight. I spent time praising God for putting each one of them into my life. I prayed for peace, protection, joy and asked for blessings that were specific to each one of their needs. God can do ALL things. I trust Mary will pray for them, and the Lord will answer my prayers for them.

WORTH A LISTEN

Alabama Shakes is an incredible soul meets southern rock band. This song has just enough grit to help you keep pushing through. It's the perfect song to listen to while eating an elephant one bite at a time.

Hold On

Lord please keep everyone safe in Florida where my family and friends are. We are praying for everyone in the Bahamas, Georgia and South Carolina. This hurricane track is all over the place! Praying for everyone's safety, and that the Lord cover us with his peace.  Lastly, please pray for healing and strength for Mr. Peasant as he continues to fight for recovery. Thank you for reading and your prayers. God be with you all.

Mrs. Peasant's Diary for Monday, August 12. 2019

THE GOLDMINE

While the costs of housing, medical care, food, utilities, and insurances (NEEDS) continue to rise crippling regular folks, there is a goldmine of free entertainment and information. I sound like an old woman talking about walking to school in the snow, but it's true. We are so rich.

MUSIC- FREE

When I was kid, I'd wait until they played my favorite songs on the radio. I would have a cassette tape in my boombox and my finger ready to push the record button. As a teenager, we would drive 30 minutes to the independent record store to buy alternative music. Back then, I must have spent $120 a year on music. Today, I can't tell you the last time I bought a music album. You can hear any song online for free anytime you want. Instantly! No digging through used music stores with fingers crossed. No begging for a friend to burn you a copy of their album. No dropping $14 on an album when you only really liked 3 songs. No feeling devastated when your boombox ate your beloved mix tape or your CD started skipping. What a goldmine!

ARTICLES/NEWSPAPERS- FREE

Where do I even begin? Ranger Rick magazines? I'm kidding. My father was always clipping articles from the newspaper. We would read the funny pages together and play hocus focus. On Sunday, we'd check the sales ads, news stories, weather forecast, and the job section for employment opportunities. For the cost of a dollar, all that information was definitely worth it. I mean EVERYONE read the newspaper! No one reads the paper now. By the time the newspaper gets published, the news is already old.  Today, you can get instant news, weather reports, job listings, craigslist, what's happening in your town and world for FREE. You can also find the sales flyers for any store online and even check to see if an item is in stock!

TELEVISION/MOVIES- FREE

It hurts to think about all the late fees I've given to a Blockbuster. Do you remember walking around the store to find a movie and waiting in line to pay for it? Or, all the times they ran out of the popular movie? Now you can watch a movie anytime you want. You don't have to rush to some independent theater or film festival to catch an obscure movie. The last movie we paid to see was Wise Blood on Amazon for $3.00. We didn't even leave the couch and within minutes we were watching this offbeat 1979 film. We quit paying for cable 2 years ago and don't miss it. We save a thousand dollars a year, read more books and still watch what we want online.

ADVICE- FREE

Do you remember when you could only get advice from people you actually knew in real life? And how bad that advice was? Now you can get free advice from EXPERTS on anything from getting a wine stain out of your carpet to what's that sound coming from your car. Just thinking about all the money and heartache I've saved by googling advice from people that actually know what they are talking about. What a treasure!

LONG DISTANCE- FREE

RECIPES- FREE

MAPS- FREE

For years these freebies have been paid for by advertising. I have never clicked on a side bar ad EVER to buy something. NOT one time. Have you? I just can't imagine this gravy train going on too much longer. So print out some free recipes today!

WHAT'S IN YOUR FREEZER?

I don't know about you guys, but I don't want to go to Walmart anymore. It's clear we are shopping with lunatics, and we need to act accordingly. Living in our small town, it's almost impossible to give it up completely, but I'm shooting for once a month.  How can I stock up for a once a month superstore run? Well, I'm still working out the details. One thing I know for certain, I REALLY need to clean out my freezer! I will no longer use my freezer as a very expensive junk drawer of randomness. I'm eating through my freezer and then I'm strategically filling it back up. Every inch of that bad boy needs to be filled efficiently and packed with stuff that we get at Walmart (God willing.)

Think about it. What is really in your freezer? Why are we paying electricity costs to run a storage unit for freezer burned and rejected foods? Is your freezer an icy crap holder?  Or, is it a tool? Go explore, eat through what you can, and fill it up with stuff you actually like.

WORTH A LISTEN

Darling Dear by Jackson 5. My summertime soul kick continues. I think the world needs more la-la-las so here's one more:

The La La Song by Roddie Joy. It's a velvety love song with la las and HAND CLAPS. What more could you want?

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading. Keep praying for all those who have died this week and their families. Don't be discouraged by the people who say thoughts and prayers aren't enough. That's hogwash! Praying is the most POWERFUL thing we can do in the fight against evil. Be safe and God be with you!

Mrs. Peasant's Diary Monday, July 29, 2019

THE TEA DRAWER CHALLENGE

I'm not a make up or shoe collecting type of girl. But I do have an INSANE amount of herbal tea. I've seen people do pantry challenges which is a way to use up what they have. I am going on a tea buying freeze, and I am finally using up the amazing teas I have in this drawer. There is even more tea in the closet. Yep, I told you it's bad. What am I saving these teas for? Lunch with the queen?  In an attempt to use what I have, I've been icing teas that I wouldn't have thought could be iced. I'm putting Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Roobios, Chai and Chrysanthemum on ice. Crazy right? But you wanna know something? They are delicious! Go ahead and live on the wild side.

Think about something you have way too much of and try to mindfully use it up. It can be small. Maybe you have a collection of half used body lotions, multipurpose cleaners, or nail polish. Maybe try a challenge where you to use it up before buying anything new. What are we waiting for? Use it.

PLAIN SAVES MONEY

I was shocked when I saw the figures for how much people spent on categories that barely even exist for us. The poll states the following averages and I've added in parenthesis what we typically spend.

Average annual expenses per household:

Category                                   

Car loan/Lease...........$5,096 (0)  

Leisure Travel............$2,211 (0)

Dining/Takeout..........$2,186 ($30)

Clothing, shoes 

and accessories...........$1,892 ($100)

Cellphone services/

Upgrades....................$1,629 ($600 After 7 yrs, we did upgrade our flip phones this year to 4Gs.)

Out-of-home 

entertainment..............$1,538 (0)

Fitness........................$1,385 (0)

Subscription services..$1,198 (0)

Personal care/beauty...$1,146 ($500-Includes toothpaste, mouthwash, xylitol, deodorant, shampoo)

Totals:                         $18,281  vs.   $1,230       

$17,051 dollar difference. Wow, that's almost a years salary worth of expenses. I had no idea living plain, staying home, and reading books for fun saved us so much money.  

PLAIN SAVES TIME

I was watching this video about quickly wiping down your bathroom everyday from a sweet Danish lady. I couldn't help but admire her lovely simple bathroom. I immediately realized that the way we do bathrooms in America is VERY inefficient to clean. All the tile, grout, sink fixtures, base board trims and cabinet trims creates more work. In our apartment, we have an old school toilet with the tubular shapes on the sides, and it's a pain to clean. We waste so much time scrubbing clean each grime catching detail and decorative element. She's converted me to using the timer to motivate bursts of cleaning and the skirted style toilet. For more bathroom ideas to make cleaning a breeze (like wall mounted faucets, but of course!) click here.




GARDEN UPDATE: STILL NO ZUCCHINI.

But my Jiaogulan is finally taking off.

Coleus flower, sage, zinnia bouquet.

WORTH A LISTEN

Durand Jones & The Indications

This soul group has two incredible singers. You can skip the first song. It's about heroin. Start at minute 8:30 and get ready to melt. The last song begins at minute 16:08. Enjoy the sweetness.

Thank you so much for reading. God bless you!

Mrs. Peasant's Diary- Thursday, July 18th 2019

Here's a sweet story of the very last time I was inside a mall. It was the day Mr. Peasant, and I bought our wedding rings. I remember looking at four different shops, and the Kay Jewelers sales girl went through her typical greeting of "So how long have you been together?"  I told her we had been together for 3 months, and she was visibly shocked. She even called out to another sales girl "Hey you're never gonna believe this! They've only known each other three months!" I thought if the wedding ring sales lady was that shocked that really meant we were rare! She had met hundreds of couples, and she hadn't heard of that before. True love, folks.

We finally picked our two yellow gold plain bands at JCPenny. I think the total for both rings was $400.00. We put them on right then in the middle of the mall tossing our boxes in the 80's concrete trash can. I was a little overwhelmed with how shiny my new yellow band was and just felt it was too flashy. So, when we got home, Mr. Peasant took his knife sharpener stone and ran the band over it a few times to dull it with scratches. It worked perfectly.

That was seven years ago. I haven't been inside a mall in since then. I just don't think the mall near us is safe and obviously nobody else does either. It is a dying mall. Think about that for a minute. The mall isn't safe.

I remember as a child the mall would be packed. Your parents had an emergency meet up location just in case you got lost in the packed mall. The mall was so filled with people it had a traffic flow you had to keep up with. My first Job was at a mall in the food court. The old ladies would walk the mall because it was so safe. What the hell happened?

SAFETY IN NUMBERS. LESS PEOPLE = LESS SAFETY.

I realize some malls are doing great and are very safe. My thoughts are about why some malls are dying. When malls were packed with shoppers, I think we benefited from a form of protection from the crowd. You could even go shopping alone because it was guaranteed you would be surrounded by fish. These were stranger fish but fish none the less. This automatic shoal helped with shopping independence since you didn't have to arrange meeting up with friends to shop. The mall had a built in safety feature from being packed. In today's retail apocalypse, a huge empty retail space feels creepy. Maybe the lack of people shopping creates a less safe environment? Are we too cool for school? These fish know what schooling is all about.

By Uxbona - Own work, CC BY 3.0,pic info

Wikipedia excerpt on Shoaling here:

In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are shoaling and if the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are schooling. In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely. About one quarter of fish species shoal all their lives, and about one half shoal for part of their lives. Fish use many traits to choose shoalmates. Generally they prefer larger shoals, shoalmates of their own species, shoalmates similar in size and appearance to themselves, healthy fish, and kin (when recognized).

Fish derive many benefits from shoaling behaviour including defence against predators (through better predator detection and by diluting the chance of individual capture), enhanced foraging success, and higher success in finding a mate. 

BEFORE:

By Gordon Firestein - Seacology USA, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22766988

AFTER:

Excerpts from Wikipedia on the Shopping Mall:

One controversial aspect of malls has been their effective displacement of traditional main streets or high streets. Some consumers prefer malls, with their parking garages, controlled environments, and private security guards, over central business districts or downtowns, which frequently have limited parking, poor maintenance, outdoor weather, and limited police coverage.

SHOPPING ONLY BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO

The concept of shopping as a leisure activity rather than a chore is dying. I hate shopping, and it's for good reason. Companies and the general public have made shopping awful. I don't think today's lower incomes help either.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Hanging out with the public can be exhausting. Just to get the basics in our small town, we have to go to Walmart. Walmart is one place that is always packed with people. We refuse to go to our Walmart at night due to crime, and we skip shopping there during the first of the month because it is Christmastime packed. You have dangerous drivers in the parking lot. There are emotional support dogs crapping in the bushes. Then, you try to navigate the grocery aisle traffic jams of carts and scooters. Finally, you must choose to be your own cashier checking yourself out, or you can wait in line for 45 minutes to be checked out by a poor overworked lady at the register. It always takes longer to check out than to do our entire shopping. And may Heaven help you if you have to use the public restroom!

With the rise of crime, some towns now want 24 hour Walmarts to close over night to relieve their local police from having to be security guards for the largest retailer in the world. This amounts to a subsidy paid for by the taxpayers. Walmart wants you to be a free cashier and your county police force to be a free security team. I just read about a woman in a Texas Walmart that was caught licking an ice cream container and putting it back into the freezer case! And now, another older gentleman copy cat licked an ice cream container. In the old general stores, the products would be behind the counters. This makes sense after reading those disgusting stories of licking containers. It may be time for a reassessment of our public trust. I haven't updated my public trust since the 90s.

❤WORTH A LISTEN❤

Thinking about our ring story gets me a little sentimental. Here's a beautiful love jam. This guy is old school and amazing. Enjoy.

Lee Fields It Rains Love

So tell me have you changed the way you shop? Have you experienced being in a empty store or felt uncomfortable while shopping? When was the last time you went to a mall? Thank you for reading, grab a shopping buddy and God be with you!

Though one may be overpowered,

    two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

ECCLESIASTES 4:12