Friday, September 23, 2016

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!


19 comments:

  1. Glad you had a wonderful time Debbie! What a beautiful corner of the world and it sounds like you have amazing parents. That's a beautiful quilt.

    Hugs
    Jane

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    1. Thank you Jane! They really do live in a beautiful area. Between the beauty of the area and the way we are enveloped in love by my parents and my brother when we are there, it has become the "healing place" for our entire family. :) The quilt is one that she made in a "Mystery Quilt" class that she took. :)

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  2. Hi Debbie,

    I am so glad that you have such a wonderful time with your family. You did fantastic on the money saving too especially on the Grocery Outlet deli meats. I have never seen such cheap prices. Do you have any of your vodka recipes on here? I have a bottle of vodka that was purchased for a party 4 years ago and I have no idea what to do with it besides making vanilla using vanilla beans.

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    1. Thank you! I could not believe how cheap the deli meat prices were either. I'm making that place a regular stop whenever I am in the area now. :)

      Here is the link for the recipe I used for the nectarine vodka. It turned out great! http://www.guntheranderson.com/liqueurs/nectarin.htm

      Be blessed and have a great weekend!

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  3. I am so happy to read about your wonderful visit with family. It sounds like just the thing you needed.
    Had to smile, as we share another thing in common. I worked three years at my University's main library as well. Never learned how to mend books, but I certainly learned how to sort them and shelve them. HA!
    Be well. SJ in Vancouver BC Canada

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    1. HI SJ, I sure hope that one day you and I get to meet face to face. I think we would have such fun! :)

      I hope you have a lovely weekend!

      Be blessed!
      Debbie

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  4. Glad you had a great time with your parents and family, sounds like a good week! xx

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  5. Book Mender. How interesting. I don't know anyone who really knows how to do that. I wonder if that would make a good at home side job? I love books so what a gift to the world to have them restored.

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    1. Hi Barbara. I wish I had the equipment to do it here. This is an easy fix, just tipping and re-gluing pages. For the more complicated ones you needs presses and other equipment. :)

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  6. Sounds like you had a nice week o0f fun and productivity! Can you tell me what you mean by working your points? Oh I just love John Denver- can you guess my age? haha

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    1. Hi Angela, I'm guessing that you are I are in the same age range. ;) I belong to Mypoints and Swagbucks along with Pinecone Research. I get points for doing surveys, watching videos, shopping through them, and other things. I then cash in those points for cash or for gift cards. It really helps with our budget and I will either use the gift cards for us or for gifts for our friends and family. Here are my referral links if you would like to check them out...
      http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Debbieg
      https://www.mypoints.com/emp/u/refSignup.do?refCode=PPuO91cVvBpoF---h&arr=s5&afsrc=1&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=RAF

      If you do decide to sign up for them, using these links will give me some points also. :)

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    2. Oh and 56- haha. I was also interested in your son being in the Air Force. My "baby" will be beginning in the Navy in January. After boot camp, he will be in school for 2 1/2 years and then serve on submarines for 6 years. Hard to let 'em go!

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    3. I'm 53 and my hubby is 57, so yes, we are in that same stage of life. :) Please tell your son thank you for his willingness to serve for me. My son is Air Force and has had the most wonderful opportunities to see the world! It is hard to let them go but honestly, it was one of the best things for our Josh and it has also allowed him to get a college degree. He is working on getting another degree now and we could not be prouder of him. :) Your son's world is just opening up!

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  7. Hi Debbie,
    Sounds like you had a fabulous week with family. My dad lives in western Montana and I'm guessing not too far from your folks ... well, that's "eastern Montana prairie not too far". We think driving 65 miles (one-way) to Walmart or 135 miles (again, one-way) to go out for a fancy supper is the usual and normal ... needless to say, my "not too far", may not be same as everyone else's.

    So glad to hear you've had such a good week.

    Blessings,
    Mrs.B

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    1. LOL Mrs. B. It is all a matter of perspective isn't it. Maybe one day we will be able to coordinate our times over to the area where your father and my parents are so we can at least get together for coffee. :)

      Be blessed!

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  8. I'm glad you had such a lovely visit with your parents and brother, Debbie. The quilt your mother made is lovely! Lots of frugal activities, too.

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    1. Thank you Bless. :) My mother is very talented when it comes to making quilts and quilted wall hangings. Everyone is our family has been the lucky recipient of at least one of her beautiful creations. I will admit that I am very spoiled and have many of them. ;)

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