Frugal Friday Wrap Up and Snow! 10/11/19

   Yes, that is snow you see in the picture above.  It is our second snow this year.  I don't remember us ever getting snow this early.  I took that picture right after it started.  We still have some snow in the shaded spaces in our back yard as of today.  We had to start using our heat early because we have gotten down into the lower 20's with highs only reaching the low 40's on some days.  Chris and Heather were really sweet and picked up a ton of wood pellets from the building supply store today (they were able to just put it on our account there since we have them listed on our account to use it also) and brought it out to us and unloaded it with Jeff.  I am so grateful and so is Jeff for all their help.  It was wonderful to see our oldest grandsons too and hear about their trip to the coast with their mommy and grandma. :)  Oh, the pellets were also on sale this month....Bonus!!!

   My days this past week have alternated between trying to get as much done as possible and then going into huge Fibro crashes.  This whole finding balance thing is not happening in big part to the weather changes that throw me into huge flares also.  I'm also trying to readjust my sleep schedule to normal people hours before we head over for Josh and Lauren's wedding in 2 weeks and it is NOT working.  As it is, I get the best sleep if I stick with Jeff's sleep times which means I sleep from about 5 a.m. until 11 a.m. or noon.  I am making the best of those hours though and doing house cleaning and baking in those early morning hours.

   So here are the frugal doings that I can remember from this past week:

~Jeff needed some new black slacks for Josh and Lauren's wedding.  We could not find any in our area so we headed up to Spokane and found some at JC Penney's for $24.
~I found 2 pairs of jeans at Sears.  They were going out of business.  The jeans I bought were identical sizes, brand and style.  I tried on one pair and figured the other would fit also....wrong.  I am going to see if they fit Rachel and if not, I will just take them in where needed.  She and I are close to the same size but are shaped very differently.  I really hope they fit her though.
~I made a huge pot of elk stew in the InstaPot and served it with rice.  It was delicious and made lots of meals for us.

~We needed breakfast and snack foods for when we go over to my parents' home for a few days before Josh and Lauren's wedding since most of our crew, along with Lauren's mom and stepfather will be there.  I wanted to help my mom out with all of that since she is feeding the masses as it seems. ;)  In addition to the two gallon sized bags of zucchini muffins that I made about 2 weeks ago and froze, I also made 2 more gallon size bags full of raspberry/blackberry muffins and froze those.  All the berries and squash came from our garden.  I'm glad I froze so many bags of berries now.
~I made 2 loaves of bread and a squash casserole (again, squash from our garden that I saved before the big freeze took everything out.
~I sorted through the box of tomatoes that I had picked when they were green (again, trying to save them from the frost) and pulled out the ones that have ripened.  I sent some of those with Heather today since she needed some for a salad she was making.
~I consigned a bunch of jackets at a new consignment store near us.  They took almost everything I had in that department.  I love having another outlet where I can make some money and clean out my closet at the same time.
~There is a toy drive going on in our town right now for Christmas presents for kids who are in one of the hospitals in Spokane over Christmas.  Our house sitter organized it to give back to them after she was the recipient of gifts on Christmas morning there about 2 years ago when she had to have emergency surgery.  It meant the world to her to have presents Christmas morning when she was stuck there after that surgery.  I had some brand new children's games and toys set aside in my gift closet and donated a Candy Land game to the drive.  I figured that would be a great gift for a child who was stuck in bed.  They could play with their parents or siblings while at the hospital and then later at home also.  It was my favorite game as a young child too! Fun fact...she and I were talking and I realized I had taught her father years ago when I first started subbing at the high school.  Small world (and town).
~I borrowed the movie "Ugly Dolls" from the library.
~More free magazines came in the mail.
~Our town had a Fall Clean Up day and we took full advantage of it.  They hauled away all kinds of stuff for free for all of us here in town.


   I leave you with the following picture of Caesar and Midgey cuddled up together.  Only the coldest of weather could bring her to cuddle up with him.  I thought it was so precious!