Frugal Friday Wrap Up 8/2-8/8 2019

Friday:
~We had Steven here with us so Jeff got up early so he could spend time with him too.
~We took Steven to get milkshakes at Ferdinand's, which is the creamery at WSU where they make fresh ice cream and cheese.  After that, we stopped at the bear research center, also at WSU, to see the bears.  He loved going to both places. 😊
~From there we headed to Goodwill and found him a stuffed animal that converts back and forth from a dolphin to a walrus.  We also got 2 shirts for Jeff (some of the ones he has now have got to be tossed out because they are so stained) and a glass kitchen container.  Jaysn met us there after he got off work and took Steven home with him.
~Jeff asked if we wanted to just go out for dinner and I said no.  We stopped at Winco to pick up some groceries and got a footlong sandwich and some salads from the deli instead...much cheaper.  We also picked up 3 kinds of lettuces for me to make huge salads with since this coming week is going to be a scorcher and I don't plan of cooking much.  We found huge pork roasts marked down so I also bought a double pack of those and froze them for future meals.  BLueberries were super cheap so I got a package of those and will be freezing at least half of them.
~I picked more raspberries in the evening from our bushes.  They are finally slowing down.
~I froze more overripe bananas for breads and muffins and threw the peels on the roses.
~Steven helped me harvest more squash and tomatoes while he was here.  He is a good little helper and loves to be in the garden.
~Jeff broke his glasses the other day so we took them into our eye glass place and they found some discontinued style frames that fit his lenses.  They gave him a wonderful deal and only charged him $50 for the frames and putting his lenses into them.  That saved us about $400 since he has bifocals with special coatings on them.

Saturday:
~Jeff and I both slept in because we were exhausted!  We have been going, going, going way too much and had another busy day ahead of us. I did get up earlier in the morning to have Caesar go pee though and let the cats out on the back porch and then headed myself back to bed.
~We met the family at the bowling alley and Jeff was able to bowl for free.  It was Steven's first time bowling with the help of a ramp and his cousins Bradley and Isaiah cheered him on and were huge helps in keeping him semin corraled.  Jeremy also bought me a cider from the bar.
~We all went to Pizza Hut for dinner and Jaysn found a deal where the large pizzas were just $12.99 each so each family bought one and we all shared.
~I was given a bottle of wine by my cousin Jeremy and some Lularoe leggings and a tops by Feather, Chris, Bradley and Isaiah for my birthday gift.  I then recycled the gift bag and tissue paper and added it to my stash.


Sunday:
~Jeff went over to help Chris caulk the seams on the siding of their house so that they could get it painted.  I was supposed to go over also and go to church with Heather and the boys, but I was totally out of it and slept right through Jeff leaving.  Luckily Heather knew that I may not make it ahead of time.
~I got up and harvested tomatoes and squash.
~The sheets were washed and hung out on the laundry line to dry.
~I marinated some thinly sliced top round steaks in homemade teriyaki sauce.
~I made a cold iced vanilla latte instead of having hot coffee when I got up.
~The neighbor's dog was barking like crazy and driving me nuts.  I needed something to help calm my jangled nerves so I pulled up my friend Gary Haleamau's playlist on YouTube and streamed it on my TV. Gary Haleamau Music   Gary and I grew up together and he is considered one of Hawaii's Living Legends in music.  He now lives in Las Vegas and we were able to get together with him and some of his beautiful family when we were down visiting Josh and Lauren last Fall.
~Jeff gave Bradley and Isaiah the Cornhole game that he made for Isaiah's birthday and they were thrilled.  Some of their friends were there and now they have asked Jeff to make one for their family also.  They are going to pay him for it.  I think Jeff has just found himself a side job!
~Heather sent a huge bag of tortilla chips from Costco and a bag of huckleberries that she picked home with Jeff for us.
~I did some bulk cooking and made a huge batch of pancakes and portuguese sausage.  We had some for dinner and the rest will be used for meals later this week. 3/4 of the pancakes were plain and 1/4 were blueberry.  Jeff is not a fan of blueberry pancakes.
~I also cooked a big batch of rice and saved some for eating with the teriyaki later in the week and made a big batch of sushi rice with the rest.
~Jeff brought in a tall comfy stool from the garage for me to sit on while I cooked up all the pancakes and sausage since my back was going out on me.

Monday:
~Jeff closed the house up in the morning to keep the cooler air in and try to drown out the noise of the barking dog and screeching dog owner.  UGH!
~I worked on my points programs.
~I had some green onions that were huge in the garden so I harvested them, cut them up and put them in a container in the fridge to use this week.
~More tomatoes were harvested from the garden.
~Jeff and I had our main meal of the day for lunch.  I fried up the teriyaki thinly sliced steaks and we had 4 of them (they were little) and saved two (along with some of the sauce) to make a stir fry later in the week.  I served those with some of the rice I made yesterday and a pad thai veggie stir fry with peanut sauce.
~Cold coffee drinks are some of my favorite summer treats so I brewed an extra strong pot and put that coffee in the fridge so it is ready to use.
~We have lots of fires surrounding us once again which means we could get some heavy smoke moving in tomorrow and Wednesday.  We are also under a high heat warning.  We are being told to keep our pets inside and severely limit our activities. Since we use a swamp cooler to chill our home down during the hotter months, this may mean we cannot use it since it will draw in the smoke.  With that in mind, I got all my cooking for the next few days done late into the night.
~I made a bacon ranch with ham and cheese noodle salad and my squash casserole that I love so much.
~I also refilled the Berkey water filter because it was getting low.
~I gave all the gardens and trees a deep watering and moved some of the more heat sensitive plants under a flowering plum and a willow bush so they would stay cooler.
~I also picked some more raspberries.
~More shows were watched online.
~Caesar and I took a walk when it cooled down in the evening and saw that some of the wild plums are about ready to pick.

Tuesday:
~I slept in until noon...apparently my body needed it.
~Jeff and I had the salad I made last night for lunch when he got up.
~Jeff headed into town to pick up Caesar's prescription and another gallon of milk.  He took his little car, that does not have AC even though it is 100F outside.
~I harvested some tomatoes and squash from the garden. I was out there for about a minute and thought I would melt from the heat.
~I kept the fur babies inside for the most part during the day since it was so hot.
~When it finally cooled down to 90F, Jeff and I took a walk down the hill to forage for some of the wild plums.  We got quite a few and left a lot to further ripen and/or for other people.  The heat just about killed me and I found it hard to breathe,  Such is life with Fibromyalgia.
~Jeff and I worked on watering the gardens once the sun started to go down.
~Dinner was whatever we had in the fridge or sandwiches.  There was no way I was going to cook in this heat.

Wednesday:
~Another scorcher of a day so I slept the morning away since I could not fall asleep until after 4 a.m. yet again.
~I'm attempting to grow some more basil starts in water from the trimmings I took off my basil plants outside.  I am hoping to overwinter the new plants inside so I have fresh basil year round.
~Jeff and I did sit down and make a new budget and plan for paying off debt while still getting more money into our savings account.
~Leftovers for lunch.
~I called our vet about Caesar's stomach ulcers caused by the steroids.  We are trying something new to get the bleeding to stop.  Poor baby.  I feel so bad for him.
~Jeff and I used our hot tub (unheated) to cool off. It felt so good!
~Jeff had leftover teriyaki and rice and I had a crab sushi all made here at home.
~I watered the gardens at night since it has been so hot and I wanted to make sure that nothing got burned from the sun.
~Jeff had his DOT physical today for his job so her took the paperwork and the receipt in to work so he will get reimbursed for the cost of it since he had to pay up front.
~Beautiful piano music calms me so I had that playing for part of the day via YouTube.

Thursday:
~I got some tamales out of the freezer for dinner and served those with a big salad.
~Harvested raspberries, blueberries, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes from the garden.
~I worked my points programs.
~The Hawaii girl came out in me so since I could not sleep, I watched surfing competitions on YouTube.  I loved watching surfing in person growing up and found it really relaxing.  I'm a water girl at heart.