Frugal Friday Wrap up 9/17-9/23 2016

   

   

Hello all, I have not been keeping a running list this week due to a wedding, vacation and having my son Josh home on leave from the Air Force.  I will try to remember my personal frugal doings for the week but you will see that we were very spoiled by my parents while we took a short vacation there with them at their beautiful lakeside home.  They are so generous with all of us and we are truly blessed by them.


~I packed snacks and drinks to take with us on our trip over to see my parents and brother.
~We filled up our car with gas at the best priced gas stations that we could find.  It is .20 cheaper or more per gallon at the gas stations we stopped at than it is around here.  That proved to be a huge savings for us.
~There is a little thrift store in the town that my parents live near.  We found a dvd set of an old TV series starring Betty White in her much younger years.  It is called "Life with Elizabeth. We paid $1 for it.

~My parents treated all of us to the Glacier Symphony with a guest artists who was doing a tribute to John Denver's music.  It was amazing and so much fun!
~My parents treated us to dinner at this funky BBQ joint that we have come to love.  So much wonderful food and we brought home half of it for more meals.
~One night my father BBQed lamb chops...one of my favorites!  Mom sent home the leftover chops with me and I had those for dinner later in the week.

~My generous mother sent me home with lots of goodies including homemade lilikoi (passion fruit) butter, homemade raspberry syrup, homemade cherry syrup, honey and Esther Price chocolates that they picked up on their trip back to Ohio.
~Mom also gave me a hand woven rug, a beautiful Christmas lap quilt, my grandmother's mother of pearl inlaid button box (which we suspect was her mother's), and some mugs that my grandparents had made upon the birth of each grandchild. I already had mine but my mom sent home the ones for my cousins Andy and Jeremy since Jeremy now lives near us.
~We spent a lovely day out on the lake on my parents party boat.

~I found my favorite wine from the vineyard in Montana at one of the grocery stores there.  I stocked up!
~Jeff and I enjoyed watching HGTV at my parents home.
~As per usual, I watched some shows online once we were home.
~My cousin Jeremy blessed us with a huge spaghetti squash that was given to him by one of his co-workers.
~I picked tomatoes, squash, beans, the last of the cucumbers and lots of blackberries from our garden.

~I made a really nice salad one night with mixed greens, feta cheese and blackberries.  It was a wonderful combination!
~We stopped at the Grocery Outlet and they had their huge 2 pound packages of pastrami and turkey breast deli meats for $6.99 each.  I bought 2 pastrami and 1 turkey.  I also bought some swiss cheese and some provolone.
~Three overripe bananas were made into banana bread. Jeff and Josh took one loaf with them when Josh went to work with his dad and Josh will take the other loaf with him on the plane Sunday when he flies back to the Washington DC area where he now lives.
~Friday's dinner was a Crockpot creation of smoked turkey sausage, potatoes, onions, carrots and celery cooked in chicken broth.

~I did work my points programs once I got home.
~Our garden produce is being used in salads, sandwiches and satays. Some of the blackberries are being frozen for future jam making.
~It got chilly further along in the week so we did start using the pellet stove when needed but tried to dress warmly inside to keep that down to a minimum.  My house slippers are on my feet almost constantly during the day. ;)

~Walmart sent me my Fall Beauty Box and it had some nice bath related things for the most part.  It was worth the $5 this month. :)
~The mail also brought several free magazines.
~My homemade nectarine vodka turned out really well.  Mixed with orange juice, it makes a terrific cocktail.   Just sayin! ;)
~We have an abundance of apples so I made an apple crisp to go with dinner on Friday night.I had everything I needed on hand. Oh it was so good and I had forgotten how simple they are to make.

~With the cooler weather, I have been working my way through the many boxes of tea that I have here.  It's a nice pick me up during the day and a great way to unwind at night.
~I uploaded some coupons to my Safeway card and will take advantage of the savings when I stop by there tomorrow while I am in town.
~Our son Josh, who is home for a short visit on leave,  was delighted to be able to use our hot tub earlier this week. :)
~My MIL returned a book to me that she had borrowed.  Some of the pages fell out of it when she was reading it.  Luckily I helped put myself through college by working at the university library and a book mender.  It should be a fairly easy fix and one that I can do myself.

   So there you have it.  A huge thank you to my parents who spoiled us rotten while we were there for a few short day.  And another huge thank you to my brother Fritz who I always have the best conversations with. :)  We are enjoying spending time with our Josh while he is here and Jaysn and Rachel even came out Wednesday night for a bit. :)  Be blessed all!