Happy Friday, all. Everything I’ve been writing lately has been extremely angry and depressing, and while I absolutely feel those things, I’m going to attempt to be a bit more positive today. We’ll see how long that lasts, but I do want to remind myself – and all of you – that not all is lost.

Yes, the world is pretty darn bleak right now. But most people are good people, and perhaps we can still pull some good things out of this world. As long as I’m here, I’ll keep showing up, keep doing that best I can to make a better world.

Friday’s Frugal Five

1. On a hopeful note – I ate my very first garden tomato of the year this week! This was all thanks to the mini greenhouse my husband built over one of my 4’x8′ beds since the weather has been unseasonably cold and wet up until this last week. Thanks to that greenhouse topper, we also ate three peppers in a dinner I made this week.

The question now is whether we spend the money to build another one this year. I absolutely want another one, but the materials aren’t cheap. Since our garden is in the front yard due to shading in the backyard, any builds that we do need to look nice. We like our neighbors and our neighborhood, and we want to keep them happy by having a nice looking yard, even if it isn’t the traditional lawn.

2. I rode my e-bike to work again on Monday. At some point I might get less giddy about this mode of transportation, but so far the excitement sure hasn’t worn off. That said, the excitement of having our own chicken eggs hasn’t worn off either, even though it’s been a year.

Since buying my e-bike, my roommate was inspired to buy himself one as well. He doesn’t own a car, and buses to work, but he has to take a Lyft or Uber back home since he gets off too late. Because of that cost, it won’t be too many months before he breaks even on the purchase. Now to get my husband to get an e-bike……

3. Purple is in town, and I got to spend Saturday with her and Felicity in downtown Seattle. Traffic was absolutely terrible but it was so worth it to see them both. I brought two big bags of garden produce and eggs, and we snacked on berries and peas along with our lunches in the Olympic Sculpture Park.

There are few things I like more than feeding people out of our garden / mini homestead, and the pride of bringing so much is the best. Would I like a larger property do do more with, yes? But I’m pretty darn proud of what I can do with a quarter acre.

4. The husband and I got engaged thirteen years ago this week. He rolled his eyes at me when I marked the occasion, but as a numbers gal, it felt special to at least note the day. We were such babies when we got engaged and then married, but I’m so glad we were sure enough to make the leap.

Having a partner in all things has been my best financial decision, and as time goes on, I’m more grateful than ever to have a true partner by my side, one who works less to spend more time with our son, builds me garden stuff, steps up to help friends and neighbors when they need a hand, and shares a love of camping and the outdoors with me.

5. On the WPF front, our Facebook group ticked over 58,000 members this week! Considering we deny more people than we accept into the group and we archive for the week at the end of every month, this feels like a really big number. And it’s a really special place.

We had our July Insiders chat this week with Juno, a recruiter, and we had an awesome Q&A chat with her about career navigation and job hunting. Regina and I talked afterward about perhaps asking her back to a larger group discussion, because she is an awesome resource, and a lot of fun.

PS – if you miss my Women’s Personal Finance Wednesday Roundups, a reminder that they now live on the WPF site. You can read this week’s picks here.

OH! And Sunday marked FIVE years of blogging here at TLRE. Thanks for hanging with me all this time, friends.