Frugal Frederick

Frugal Frederick

I have always been frugal out of necessity and for the love of the environment.  I don't like tossing something that is perfectly usable (hence the reason we waiting so long to buy a fridge to replace the 17-year-old almond colored appliance in our home).  Here are a some ways to save while living in Frederick County, Maryland.

·      Recycling Plant-Ryan went to the dump to toss broken and over used baby items and the told him that most could be discarded (for free) at the Recylcying plant next-door.  He had plastics, metal and car batteries and did not have to pay the dumping fee.  With all the plastic items that are made for kids this is a good way to dispose of these things.  

·      Make your own compost.  You can pick up a compost cylinder for $20.00 from the Solid Waste Facility.  I put everything from weeds and yard leaves, kitchen scraps such as eggshells, veggies leftovers and coffee grounds.  It fills up fast if you have a big yard. 

They also have compost/leaf mulch for a reasonable price if you don't have your own.

·      Plant your own garden.  Then you can use the homemade compost. 

·      Use newspaper not landscape fabric to keep out weeds.  Place a layer of about 5 sheets and then mulch.  It is better for the environment and your garden.

·      Shopping in downtown Frederick lends itself to some fun thrift stores on Patrick Street such as Chic to Chic Consignment Boutique and Venus on the Half Shell and Select Second Hospital Thrift is worth a look too.  Check out Lucy’s Quality Children’s Consignment and Sweet Pea Consignment for children’s items.  I love to shop at Plato’s Closet.  It really is geared towards teens, but it’s worth a look.  In addition to the numerous antique stores in Frederick a new consignment store in Buckeystown just opened called,  Addison's Attic.

·      Free stuff include summer children’s programs in Baker Park, Library Story-times, visit each Frederick County Public Library for a tour of the county and a new perspective of sharing reading materials.  My sons and I love to visit the Earth Science and Space Lab (ESSL) in downtown Frederick for evening and summer programs.  It's a great way to beat the heat while educating yourself as well.  Tickets for the planetarium shows are reasonable and worth it!

·      Take out a map and locate all the children’s playgrounds owned by Frederick County.

·      Water Fun: We don't have a pool in which we belong to so we have to be inventive.  The Potomac River which flows next to the C&O Canal, Monocacy River (very shallow at Buckeystown Park) and Cunningham Falls ($3.00 per car) are all great places to cool off in the summer.  At Cunningham Falls we visit the aviary and then play in the shallow stair-step waterfall, and tire park (1st entrance from the South).  There is also a beach area, which I have not tried in the summer, but looks great-just get there early!  We also love a nice dip a Loyes Covered Bridge.  It has a playground but skip that for the water!  I'll have another post on the fun to be had there.

·      MARC train is a cheap, stress-free ride into Downtown DC if you can visit Monday through Friday.  Early morning departures puts you there in time for a quick breakfast and museum opening hours.  Kids under five are free.  Depart from Point of Rocks, Brunswick and Frederick.

Feel free to send a comment with more ideas.

"The Golden Orb" re-told by Liam Williams

Afterword: By Andrea Williams
We just returned from a family trip to New York City.  On our first night in the city we invited our friend William back to our hotel room and in order to get the kids to go to sleep we turned down the lights and began to tell a progressive story.  The story traced the way of Liam and Luke, two brothers who found a secret passage/portal into the underground of NYC via a small closet in the hotel corridor.  From there the boys went on an adventure, first finding a shining golden orb and then with the task of placing it in the Statue of Liberty's unlit torch as they passed through caves and over water.  It was a fun night and obviously the story made an impression on Liam, enough for him to re-write his own version.

Children's Room Contest for The Washington Post, photos by Andrea Bagdy Williams

Many items are handed down from the boy's great grandparents.  The coonskin hat once belonged to a great-Uncle, the desk was made by a great-grandfather and momentos were brought back from trips out north and west.

The lamp was made by the boy's great-grandfather using his father's cane.   The photo behind the lamp is of great-great-grandparents.

Quilts from family in Kentucky, the dream catcher and wolf mask from Alaska and Canada and family pictures decorate the room.

A room perfect for two boys.  Their parents painted the walls to reflect the outdoors. A friend, KB VanHorn,who runs Kokoleo Designs created the curtains from family quilt pieces.

Influence

I keep spinning the same artist on the CD player, until I have nearly worn her two CDs out. Luckily a third arrived in the mail today, so there will be some relief on listening to the same songs over and over. I get to see her in concert in a few days at a small venue where I’m sure I’ll be able to meet her and chat with her. She also happens to be good friends with a dear friend of mine, so of course there is some commonality there.


In listening to her, she writes about a lot of the same things, primarily broken hearts, yet somehow she is able to create a new version of the same story each time. Of course I am sure that the story is different to her and involves different lovers, but I feel for her and am completely on her side of each of the break-ups. I relate to her lyrics and feel a lot of the same thoughts, or went through something similar ages ago.


So that leads me to this: How many different ways can I express my frustration in my current life? I know deep down, my life is not bad, and I should be savoring these times, yet I feel so trapped in my current responsibilities as a mother. And of course there is the guilt too. I feel like I should be giving my all to my children, but I am exhausted and beat down by the prospect. Then there comes the “what now” after I get these kids enrolled in school. I was speaking to another mom of two at the park today, whom I had just met. I asked if she had a career to go back to after she ends the stay-at-home mom routine or would she embark on something entirely new. She, like me, will try something new, mainly due to being a mother and needing to be close to home or in her case at home. I was hoping she would tell me what she was going to do, and then it would click and I would say, yeah, I want to do that too. I have no idea what to do in my future career. I would love to work in the arts, but the field is so small and pays a pittance. Then there is the photography field, but to be honest it scares me, doing it on my own as a career.


I had a few hours to myself this weekend and spent it at the bookstore. I purchased an old CD of artist that was new to me, and a pack of blank gift cards that looked like I would have designed and photographed them. I spent the majority of my time there roaming from section to section with the middle aged salesclerk asking if she could help me find anything. I felt like screaming, “Yeah how about a book that describes all that I am going through RIGHT NOW.” But instead I politely said, “I’m just looking”. So I started at the Women’s Health section, but I am neither battling cancer nor going through menopause. Then onto the Self-Help section, which whenever I approach I do so with the stance of “I’m looking for a book for a friend, not for me.” I was getting closer, but again there was nothing there that I wanted to read, even though maybe I need to read it. Honestly it is sort of a boring section with all of its eleven and twelve and probably even thirteen-step programs. So then I walked over to the Pregnancy/Motherhood section expecting to find a book written just for me. Nope. I remember when I used to peruse the books in that section, with so much hopefulness for my future baby. Of course there were plenty of books on raising boys, which I could and should use, but again, that doesn’t even really touch what I was looking for. I walked out of Borders thinking maybe I just need to write the book myself.