Frugal Friday Wrap Up 8/15/25

 

   It has been a strange week weatherwise.  We went from hot to very cool and will be heading back up the thermometer to "I'm gonna die" temps this coming week.  Upper 90's and Fibromyalgia do not mix well for me.  Maggie however is not happy with cooler temperatures and either wants me to cover her up with her blanket, or I will find her on the couch.  I swear she would be happy living in a dry sauna.  Friday found us running lots of errands and both Jeff and I were exhausted by the time we got home.  The only thing that made me able to keep on going that long was the cooler temperatures.  So we ended the week on a good note!

~I put the chicken carcus into the crock pot, added some vinegar to draw out the calcium from the bones and cooked it overnight.  It made 2 bags of rich chicken bone broth, along with lots of chicken meat.  I froze these for future meals.

~Jeff picked 3 plums for me from the wild plum trees that grow along the gravel road just up over the hill from our house.

~We went down to our  little Sunday Farmer's Market here in town and got the following free:  3 yellow squash, a bag of potatoes and a  bag of pears.

~I made a big pot full of homemade elk burger casserole using ground elk from the freezer, a small bag of macaroni noodles, spices from the spice cabinet, and 3 cans of V8 vegetable juice.  I cooked it up just like you would hamburger helper.  It made for 2 meals for my husband and I which was perfect since the temperature outside the following days were brutal.

~I picked lots of tomatoes off our plants.  Unfortunately, the big slicer tomatoes have now developed blossom end rot and are no longer usable, but the other tomatoes are still doing well, especially the cherry tomatoes. I also picked our first cucumber from our plants.

~Snacky type lunches and dinners have been a big thing for me this week.  I usually have a cheese spread, crackers, cherry tomatoes, green olives, and some kind of fruit.  I do small portions of each but going heavier on the tomatoes since we have so many of them.  Perfectly simple and perfectly delicious.

~Jeff and I stopped at Home Depot so he could look for something he needed.  They did not have it in stock in the store, so we will order it via their website.  I, on the other hand, found pony packs of petunias for $1 each and bought 3 of them to replant into my now empty half whiskey barrel where I had potatoes growing before.

~I found a sale on corn on the cob for .25 each.  I bought 4 because that is a reasonable amount the Jeff and I can eat before it goes bad.  I know I could have blanched and frozen some for later use, but to be honest, I just did not have the energy to do all that.

~Jeff fixed the middle bamboo blind on the back porch so we now have even more shade out there in the afternoon.  It also offers us more privacy, which I enjoy.  We can still see threw it to our garden and can keep an eye on Maggie and Ginny.

~We watched the movie "The Day After", which my cousin Jeremy had given to me years ago.  Talk about sobering.

~We did the grocery shopping on Monday.  My goodness, the prices have gone up since about 2 weeks ago.  Thank goodness we shop the sales and found marked down items.  We did splurge on a watermelon at .48 a pound at Winco, but it was a huge treat for us and we will get lots of fruit to eat from it.  It still came out to under $7, so I will call that a win.

~Jeff fixed the hanger on one of my large pictures.  I changed out the pictures in the guest bathroom with that one and a Bev Doolittle print that we were gifted from Jeff's aunt before she died.

~I cooked up a pot full of rice and will used it in meals for the rest of the week..  If we can't finish it in time, I will freeze some for later.

~I have been enjoying the squash we were given in several different forms.  Jeff  does not like  squash so I get to enjoy more of it for me. 

~I mixed up some Ranch dip with plain Greek yogurt, mayo and Ranch seasoning mix.  This was used as a dip and also as a topping for some of those potatoes that we got at the Farmer's Market.

~Jeff and I had a lunch date at the bowling alley and then he bowled for the first time is his knee surgery.  He did pretty well and I am so pleased for him.

~So... we went to Goodwill to look for a few things and found a self-inflating blow up mattress for the other bed in the trailer..  We now have all the bedding and mattresses we need.  We also found a few books for the grandkids, some beautiful Fall floral pics for $1.99 that retailed for $7.98 and $14.98 respectively, a brand new pink fuzzy robe for me, some black jeans that fit me well and have been on my wish list for a few years now and a cookbook for me.

~Jeff and I had a lovely phone call visit with my parents.  We are pushing our lake cruise to next year.  Things have been crazy for them and for us.

   I know our life sounds horribly boring but honestly, we are homebodies for the most part.  We do greatly enjoy visiting with our family and friends.  Traveling is limited for us due to health and finances, but that is ok.  We do what we can, when we can. 😉  As  long as we have our family, that is all that really matters.

   

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 8/9/25

 

Blogger is being weird so please forgive the formatting on this post.  So, it has been another week of rollercoaster weather.  We had hot, cooler with some rain (praise God, it was desperately needed) and are not climbing back into the "it feels like we are living in an oven" temperatures.  Not my favorite by a long shot and I am craving Fall with the cooler temperatures and the gorgeous turning of the leaves into vibrant reds, yellows, oranges and speckled green.  The burning bush plant next door is already tipped with some red due to cooler night temperatures this past week and I am here for it!

Now, onto the frugal doings:

~More tomatoes were picked from the garden.  I am enjoying them on sandwiches and just snacking on the smaller cherry tomatoes.

~We were given 2 huge zucchinis by our grandson Isaiah and 2 smaller ones by one of our neighbors down the street.  She and I had a rather nice visit too. :)

~We visited with Heather, Chris, Isaiah and Bradley on Thursday.  I helped them pick beans and snap peas in their garden.  Bradley and Jeff played chess and the rest of us played wild rummy.  I am slowly learning all the quirks to that game and loving it.  I also won!  They sent us home with a moose roast,  some steaks, and lots of ground venison.

~I have only been shopping the sales for things we need.

~Jeff found a pair of high top tennis shoes on clearance at Walmart for $5.  He had been looking for some for over a month now and there they were just waiting for him.

~Jaysn and Rachel invited us over for dinner on Friday.  We were bringing Steven back from spending the day with us.  They had burgers, hot dogs, salads and cookies waiting for us when we arrived.  It was all yummy and the company was great!

~I found 2 books, along with a cute apron from Hawaii at Goodwill.  One of the books is a cookbook that looked really interesting and the other one was an in depth look about the people that came over on the Mayflower.  It covers exactly what was happening in England at the time that made them leave, their voyage and what they faced once they landed and tried to establish a colony here.  Given that my family on my mother's side is descended from someone who came over on the Mayflower, and a grandson who wants to get into family genealogy, I thought this would be a good book to learn more of our personal family history.  I spent under $6 for the books and the apron.

~We bought two cooked chickens from the deli at Walmart that were marked down.  I put one in the freezer and we ate off the other one.  The carcus will be used for soup.  I am throwing it back in the freezer.

~Jeff changed the brake pads on his car.  That saved us about $350 in labor cost.

~Jeff mowed our neighbor's lawn so that they would come home from their trip to a nice lawn and not an overgrown one.

~I made bread and bagels this week.  I was trying out the Greek yogurt bagel recipe that I have been hearing about all over the internet.  It was good!

Well, that is about it for this week.  Jeff and I are going to enjoy our lunch out here on the back porch for at least a week since the high temps hit us big time tomorrow.  Be blessed.

 

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 8/1/25

   

   Jeff was finally ready to return to work 2 days a week.  He is working Monday and Wednesday and going to physical therapy on Tuesday and Thursday.  Wednesday they were especially happy to have him there since the other 2 people in his department were both out.  He ended up working a half an hour longer than normal so he could help close up the store at the end of the day.  He is coming home really tired, but I know that he is also happy seeing so many people he knows once again.  He does still plan on fully retiring this Fall though.

~We had our town wide yard sales on Saturday and Jeff and I decided to go to them.  We scored some good stuff.  We found a large tote on wheels for $10.  We had been looking for one to put in the back of our truck for when we go camping.  We also found the following all the following for $12: sterling silver earrings, another cute pair of earrings, a large 31 brand insulated bag (I had been wanting one since our last one broke), 2 Ruck for the Fallen shirts, 1 Ruck for the Fallen hoodie, a like new quilted flannel jacket for my hubby, a nice reversible leather belt for hubby, and one other item that I cannot remember at the moment.  

~We had some nice visits with our neighbors that day.  One of them is going to be retiring soon and had lots of questions and concerns about how to transition from working full time to being fully retired and how I managed it.

~Lots of raspberries were picked along with more tomatoes, blueberries and the barrel of potatoes was harvested with dismal results.  We think it was due to the heat and us being in a drought since everything was drying out so quickly.

~We ate lots of salads this week with lettuce and tomatoes from our garden.

~Jeff changed the alternator in our truck.  The battery is now holding a charge!

~Jeff cleaned out the chest freezer.  Wen found all kinds of stuff buried in there.  I need to keep a better eye on things.

~We had leftover pancakes for 2 more meals.

~I cooked up a pork loin for dinner one night and it gave us 2 dinners and 1 lunch

~Jeff picked up bananas at the grocery store while he was in town.

~More hummingbird food was made, and the feeder was refilled every 2 days.

~Jeff got one of our bigger bills payments changed to come out after his social security check comes in each month.

~We had several nice telephone calls with my parents.

~I found chicken thighs for $1.29 a pound and bought a family pack of them.  That gave us 8 thighs.  I had one and Jeff had the rest over several more meals.  He loves oven baked chicken!

~I have been trying to us up some of the mashed potato, rice and pasta mixes from the pantry as side dishes.  I do not want any of those things to go bad.

~I did break down and have Jeff bring home Panda for dinner on Wednesday.  It got up to 101 F on our back porch and I really do not do heat well.  The last thing I wanted to do was heat up the kitchen.  We had leftovers that I morphed into another meal adding a few veggies to it.

~I went through my buttons stash and found buttons to sew onto and fix 2 pairs of Jeff's shorts.  He is happy to have the shorts fixed again.

~I made a grilled cheese on sourdough with sliced tomatoes (from our garden) and Colby Jack cheese for lunch one of the days that Jeff was at work.  It was so good and the perfect comfort food.

~I have been enjoying listening to Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar on YouTube.  It reminds me of my childhood growing up in Hawaii and hearing it played at night at the resort my father managed. It is one of the things that I can always count on to calm my soul.

~I gave Jeff a haircut.

~We picked the summer apples off our tree.  So many were lost early due to the heat.

~We harvested the two remaining raised beds of potatoes and got about half of what we did the previous year.  Still, I am grateful for what we were able to harvest.

~I made a large venison meatloaf, and it gave us 3 meals with sides added.

~I uploaded Safeway's digital coupons to my card.

   We had to cancel having our Steven out on Friday to be with us for the day.  There is something going around at Jeff's work, which we did not want to expose him to.  That is the last thing Jaysn and Rachel need to worry about with her still recovering for her ACL surgery.  It turned out to be for the best anyways since the weather was a bit stormy and a very lovely cool temperature.  It was not however conducive to swimming at the pool.  Jeff and I spent the morning in the garden and rested in the afternoon.  I have discovered that this slower pace of life is starting to fit me better and better.  I am not feeling the pressure to get everything done at once and pacing myself helps with the pain levels.  I can always tell when I overdo it...my body just screams at me.  Stupid Fibromyalgia anyway.  

   So there we go.  That was our frugal week.  This next week will also be a frugal one.  I will not be going to the next town over town wide yard sales.  I will be baking bread, working on making applesauce with those apples and am hoping to be able to get one more picking of them if the wind does not shake them all down.  Jeff will be working on car repairs and he and I will work on some inside projects that desperately need to be done.  Be blessed!

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 7/25/25

 

~Jeff made a second compost bin with some of the pallets that we have here.  He also dug out the top layer of the other bin, put that on the bottom of the new bin, and now we can reach and use all the rich compost that is at the bottom of the old bin.  Oh how I love that man of mine and how handy he is!

~We harvested 6 gallon sized bags full of lettuce from the garden before it went bitter and to bolt.  I gave some of it away.

~Our tomato plants are blessings us each day with ripe and juicy little bursts of sunshine.  There is nothing like a warm from the sun tomato fresh out of the garden to eat.

~The raspberries continue to produce for us.  I have frozen a lot, given some away, snacked on them fresh like crazy, made 4 quarts of raspberry vodka and have more to go out and pick tonight.

~The blueberries have produced more this year than ever before.  I am enjoying them too.  Dinner Wednesday night was smoked breakfast sausages and pancakes, plan for Jeff and blueberry for me, with homemade syrup.

~We picked up fruit and a bottle of wine from the Farmer's Market on Saturday.  We also went to a few yard sales where I bought Bath and Body Works body sprays, a really cool puzzle/model (will be a gift), and 3 seasons of Last Man Standing on DVD.  Steven was given a toy glider that has its own motor.  He was thrilled! 

~Jeff and I hit a sale at Bath and Body works.  It was their semiannual sale.  I also had a coupon for a free product since it is my birthday month.  I walked out with a body spray and 2 yummy smelling liquid soaps for the kitchen and bathroom.  We bought these days before the yard sales where I found the other body sprays.  I am now set for years!

~I made homemade Fettuccini Alfredo since I had everything I needed on hand, and it is a favorite with Jeff and I.  It made 2 meals for each of us.  

~Green salads have been on the menu also.  Jeff and I each enjoy making them the way we want.  

~Jeff grilled up some sausages on the outdoor grill and I made homemade Sweet Potato Fries in the Air Fryer.  They were so good.  Jeff cooked up extra sausages and they have been a blessing with my fibro flares.

~Jeff worked on the pop up tent trailer.  Some of the hydraulic lifts were not working right so he built braces for the roof.

~One especially hot night, when I really did not want to cook, I quickly threw together cheese quesadillas and served them with salsa.  They were really good and so easy and quick to make.

~Steven helped me measure all the drawers and cabinets in the trailer so that I could find containers that were mouse proof that would fit in each of them.  I want to be able to store things in the trailer so that we are ready to go at a moment's notice. 

~We spent Friday afternoon at our town's swimming pool.  It is only $2 for a day pass per person.  The water felt amazing and I got to visit with some of my old students who now have families of their own.

Checking in once again...

   Hello once again.  I know that I have been horrible about keeping up with posting here.  It seems to be a trend with me and I wish it was not so.  I have been MIA for multiple reasons.  I wish I could say that it is because we have just been extremely busy (which we have been).  I wish I could say it is because Fibromylagia has been kicking my behind (yep, it has).  But the truth is that our family suffered another loss with the death of my Uncle Ed, and it hit me hard, harder than I thought it would. 

   My Uncle Ed was so much fun, and I enjoyed many moments of intense laughter, the kind that makes your stomach hurt, with this dear man. He was an outdoorsman and took his family camping for a good portion of each Summer while his sons were growing up.  He helped them learn about the flora of the 48 lower states as they visited each and every one.  They also visited Canada from what I remember.  He was one of my dad's close friends in college and it was through my dad they he met my Aunt Lucy, my mom's sister.  Love bloomed and they got married and had 2 sons, my cousins Mark and Tim.  As Jeff and I grew our own family years later, they would stop and see us at our home, or we would meet them at my parent's place in Montana.  My boys got to know them and Josh especially became close with them and with my cousin Tim.  It was wonderful watching my own kids and my grandkids getting to know my aunt and uncle.  He was such a special person to me and to them.

   This week I had every intention of getting a bunch of things done and then I got a message that another friend died.  Randy was a sweat soul who I have such fond memories of.  He was one of my little brothers through the fraternity where I was a Little Sister.  I was also close with his older brothers Chris and Kevin.  The last time I saw Randy was at one of my best friend's husband's funeral last year.  It threw me for another loop and bam...huge fibro flare.  I know I am at that age where friends and family are passing away, but man, this has been a hard year and a half for our family.  

   Jeff is in physical therapy and going twice a week.  He is doing really well and making great progress.  His range of motion is coming back quicker than we thought it would.  He has a doctor's appointment tomorrow, along with his physical therapy and he is hoping he can get the go ahead to be able to return to work starting in August.  He has already spoken to his boss who has agreed to let him work 2 days a week instead of 2 one week and 3 the next.  This will allow him to continue physical therapy if needed.  I am hoping he will be done by then because his health insurance is not covering any of it and it is expensive!  Oh, our Rachel also had her knee surgery and is now home recovering.  There have been some rough moments for her with this recovery, and I would really appreciate your prayer for both her and Jeff.  Thank you!

   Anyway, we will keep plugging along and then getting the medical bills, along with some other things needed before Fall paid off.  We have one more rough month financially before my Social Security kicks in now that I am 62.  We are working on projects around the house and harvesting things from the garden.  I am trying to be mindful of what we have in our gardens, freezer, fridge and pantry and not waste anything while being creative with meals.  Some days I am better at it than others. ;)

   

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 6/26/25

~I made a strawberry/rhubarb compote with fruit from our garden.

~I froze some chopped up rhubarb to use later.

~More Sourdough discard crackers were made.  This time I mixed in some Monterey jack cheese.   It was a huge hit with both Jeff and I.

~While looking at the reorder date of a supplement that we have for our dog Maggie, I noticed that I had some credits that I could apply to my order making it completely free!   What a blessing that is when we are only living on Jeff's Social Security at the moment.

~We went to Grocery Outlet for their produce sale.  We got a bag of avocadoes for $2.50, 3 cantaloupes for $2 each and a 5 pound bag of apples for $4.99.  I am trying to up our fruit and veggie intake.

~I made cheese tortellini for dinner.  I love a good pesto sauce, but Jeff is not so keen on it.  I decided to make a pesto alfredo sauce, which toned down the basil flavor to the point where my husband actually said it was good.  WIN!

~More strawberries were picked.

~I made some comfrey oil to use on sore joints and muscles.

~One of the things I treasure and go back to read time after time is a binder I put together with Laine's Letters.  I am so inspired after reading those letters from all years ago.

~Jeff started physical therapy twice a week.  He also had a doctor's appointment.  All of these were 48-mile round trips.  The cost of the additional runs into town have taken another bite out of our budget.  I am trying to make sure we combine errands if at all possible and am working with the physical therapy office to try and get the doctor's appointment and the second physical therapy session on the same morning.

~Social Security added some money to my upcoming checks since I could get more based on what Jeff has made on his.

~The raspberries are starting to ripen, so I have been enjoying eating them.

~This week I seeded in some New Zealand Spinach to my front raised bed garden.

~Jeff grilled up some smoked Polish sausages for us.

~Jeff and I decided to go and donate some things to Goodwill.  We stopped at Hope thrift store first and found a large wood wine rack that holds 30 bottles of wine for $4.99.  This will allow me to keep all my wine in one wine rack instead of 2 wine racks plus a box.  Jeff also found a nice pop-up shade structure for $30.00.  We had been looking for one to ad to our camping stuff so we can have a shade right outside of our pop-up tent trailer. I found a book on plant propagation for $2.99.  This is something that I wanted to learn more about.  At Goodwill I found a nice Tupperware container, some gorgeous plates and more books.

~I divided up a pound and a half of hamburger meat and used 2/3 of it for a Teriyaki meatloaf that I served with rice and corn.  The other 1/3 was made into taco meat that I used in a big taco one night for dinner. The salad included lettuce and radishes from our garden in it.

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 06/20/25

   It has turned out to be another busy week.  I had tried to keep things calm and limited trips out of town, but that was not to be.  We did stay home over the weekend and that was a much-needed break from all that had happened the previous week.   Jeff just wanted a quiet day at home for Father's Day, so that is what we did.  I do believe there were naps involved both over the weekend and during the week for both of us. Four different doctors' appointments of four different days for Jeff, having Steven here Friday, going to get our concealed carry permits, still attempting to get Jeff's enhanced driver's license, and doing some grocery shopping again wore me out.  Did I mention that all but three of these things required us to drive to other towns?  Then there is also the gardening to make sure we take care of.  At least Jeff is able to help with some of that once again, which is lovely!

   Onto the Frugal Doings:

~I did a sheet-pan dinner with 5 Italian Sausages along with a cut up onion and a large cut up orange pepper seasoned with salt pepper and Italian seasonings.  I served these on hot dog buns.  YUM!  

~I took the 1 leftover sausage, along with the leftover onions and peppers and turned them into dinner for Sunday.  I cut up everything and then added it to frozen cheese ravioli and pasta sauce, which I baked in the oven covered at 425F for an hour.  I then added some Pecorino cheese, along with Monterey Jack Cheese (because I was too lazy to go and get the froze block of Mozzarella cheese out of the freezer and deal with all that) right before serving, stirred some of it in and also topped it with some and set it under broil.  These made lots of leftovers.  I also served a spinach salad (with spinach from our garden) with it.

~I made a HUGE salad with some Romaine from the store, along with spinach, other types of lettuce, and radishes from our garden.  Jeff and I each customized our salads with various dressings, croutons, and other add ins.  There were leftovers which made for a nice side salad later in the week.

~I pulled all the radishes and got those washed and put in the refrigerator for snacking and salad making.  I also pulled all the spinach out since it was just starting to bolt.  I made a delicious spinach and strawberry salad for me with some of it, along with strawberries from the garden.  I also picked more strawberries throughout the week for snacking on.

~I got the tomato plants all staked up.  I also found a few volunteer ones that I will add to other areas in the garden.

~The cucumbers and summer squash plants, that I started in the greenhouse from seed, were all put into the garden.

~I made more Hummingbird food for our tiny, feathered friends.  They bring me so much joy! :)

~We had a lovely chat with my parents over the weekend via Facebook.  They were both looking really good and it was an easy and much needed one.  My parents are such a great and loving support for all of us.

~Jeff got more shade cloth put up over the roof of our greenhouse so the plants inside did not get sunburned and roasted.  Luckily, we still had some on hand, so we did not have to go out and buy more.

~Homemade lemon thyme and chive butters were made with herbs from the garden and frozen for future use.

~I scraped out the bowls I made the homemade herb butters in and spread that on tangy slices of sourdough bread.  

~I got my sourdough starter fed again and used the discard to make some long fermentation cheese crackers.

~Jeff helped me get the homemade blackberry vodka and raspberry gin into proper bottles instead of canning jars.  This freed up room in my refrigerator also.

~I made some homemade scrapple.  It is one of our favorites and is a very frugal.  We can make 3 meals out of it.

   Steven spent Friday with us once again.  Jaysn blessed us with donuts when he dropped Steven off in the morning. Steven helped us tremendously with the garden.  He planted cucumbers with me and I planted the squash.  We had some leftover cucumber plants which Steven took next door to his beloved Auntie Shannon.  He helped harvest more strawberries and rhubarb.  Later in the evening, Chris stopped by on his way to work the Sprint Boat races the following day.  We sent him off with some cucumber plants (that I had promised him), a nice hoodie that I found at Goodwill that I thought he would like (he did!), and something to drink on the drive over to where he would be working the next day.  

   As you can see, it has been a busy week for us.  Be blessed all!