Frugal Friday Wrap Up 8/14/2020

   Oh what I week we have had.  It has been a heartbreaking one with us losing Caesar and a dear friend losing her beloved father within a few days of each other.  Another friend is struggling and we are doing everything we can to help her.  I have not been able to keep up on the garden as I would like to as I grieve and my Fibromyalgia is flaring big time.  I am still calling for Caesar, forgetting that he is no longer with us. 😥 Our entire nighttime routine has changed without our boy.  Throughout it all, I have tried to just plug along and establish a new "normal" routine.  Last night I finally gave in to the pain and had a raspberry gin and tonic (pictured above) to help numb the physical pain I am in.  I think after the week I had that it was well deserved.


Saturday:
~I signed up for the free Peacock TV service online.  There are many shows there that I enjoy so it will be fun to explore it.
~I made 2 loaves of bread and used the last half of a previously made loaf to make croutons with.
~More raspberries were picked and frozen along with some that will be given to family.
~We had chicken, stuffing, beans, tomatoes and peas from the garden.  I took the leftover chicken and chunked it up for another meal and then took the rest of the chicken and threw it in the crockpot, along with another chicken bones that I had in the freezer.  I seasoned it and threw some parsley from the garden in for good measure and let it simmer away until right before bed.  I took the meat off the bones and put it in the refrigerator.  Oh my is that stuff good.  I will either make soup or chicken and dumplings with it.
~My friend Billy was hosting the 38th Annual Slack Key Guitar Festival and they live streamed it on YouTube.  It was fun to see my old childhood friend that I still keep in touch with and listen to the amazing artists.
~We Skyped with Josh and Lauren.

Sunday:
~Chris and Heather had us come out and enjoy lunch with them at their house.  I took some watermelon with us to add to the meal.
~My cousin Jeremy is closing his store so he had the whole family come and get what they wanted.  It was a resale store so he had all kinds of stuff.  We ended up with 2 shelving units, a chainsaw, receiver,cards, pictures, first aid supplies, movies, glassware, serving trays, bulk foods including honey, rice, canned hams, soy sauce, etc., sewing supplies, clothing, laundry detergent making supplies, and other personal care items along with so many other things I cannot think of at the moment.
~Jeremy had us come over for dinner afterwards and he gave me a huge package of vanilla beans along with a large bottle of good quality vodka.  He is also giving me a chair that has been in our family since 50 year before Lincoln became president.  The history of that chair is all documented.  When he moves, he will be giving us his living room furniture which is really nice since he does not want to take it all with him.  It is just what we have been wanting for ages now but we had never told him that.
~Chris told Jeff today that he is blessing him with his old truck.  It needs a brake job but we will take care of that.  Chris is paying some of the other expenses to get it all registered in his father's name.  That is his Father's Day, Birthday and Christmas gift to his dad. :)
~The best part of the day though was just getting to spend most of it with our family here and enjoy each other's company!

Monday:
~I used some leftover chicken to make a nice chicken salad for our lunch today.
~Jeff is modifying some double sided shelving making it deeper so that I can store blankets and quilts on it.
~Our sheets and towels were washed and then hung out on the line to dry.
~I turned one of our rolling drawered carts into a first aid station.  My cousin gave us lots of first aid supplies so now they are all in one place.  We are set and so are our neighbors. 😉
~I made a nice casserole and some garlic bread for dinner.
~I was able to bless my hanai sister with a nice leather coat...she was so happy!

Tuesday:
~Tense day around here...had to take Caesar to the vet after a very rough night of him struggling.  We lost him later that day.
~Leftovers for lunch because I wanted to be by the phone as we waited to hear from the vet since they kept him there to run tests.
~I got a movie from the library in the mail.
~I also got a free sample of lip gloss and a free magazine in the mail.
~Jeff got our free shelving reworked and made it into single sided deeper shelves instead of double sided shelves.  He then got our extra blankets and quilts put on some of them and the others were used for food storage.  This is all in the front bedroom that we turned into a pantry/craft/storage room.

Wednesday:
~leftovers for lunch.
~Made some homemade won ton soup.   I needed comfort food badly.
~We are giving all of Caesar's dog food to Heather and Chris for their dog.  We have almost 2 whole bags worth that I had bought not knowing that we would loosing him. :(
~I picked more raspberries and poha from the garden.
~Jeff and I watched one of the movies that we were blessed with from my cousin Jeremy.
~It was a cooler and overcast day here so we did not need to run the swamp cooler.

Thursday:
~Leftovers for lunch.
~Jeff set up a hutch that we got for free in our breezeway for me to use as a potting bench.
~Purged some more stuff.
~Worked my points programs.
~Found a new music station on my Roku.  Listening to one from Hawaii now.
~Made 2 more loaves of bread.
~I found a package of thinly sliced round steak for $2.86.  I am freezing it for now and then will thaw and make it into teriyaki...yum.
~We found some hydrogen peroxide and alcohol at Walgreens.  I have aloe vera gel here so I can now make some hand sanitizer and have the hydrogen peroxide on hand for other things, including in the garden.
~Jeff got the new receiver put in and it works great!
~Dinner was a garlic and freshly cracked pepper seasoned pork loin, cheesy broccoli rice and fresh peas from the garden.

Friday:
~Chris, Heather, Bradley and Isaiah came over to have lunch with us and drop off some things.  Heather blessed me with a quart bag full of delicious huckleberries!
~I made a huge pan of homemade mac and cheese using some of the turkey bone broth in the sauce for extra flavor and nutrition.  Not only did it make the huge pan full, but it made 2 smaller pans full that I froze for later meals.  The whole family loved it.
~I sent the leftover mac and cheese home with Isaiah...he is a mac and cheese fiend.
~We also sent Chris and Heather home with 1 and 3/4 full bags of dog food along with 3 cans of dog food for their dog Tank.  It came right in time for them since they finished off the bag they had that morning.  This should keep them going for about 3 months since he does not eat as much as Caesar did.  I'm so glad they could use it.
~Jeff and I ran into town in the late afternoon to pick up a new handle for the Flex since it had broken earlier in the week.  We were going to do it Saturday, but we are expecting high heat so we did it while it was cooler.
~I have really gotten into coloring in the grown up coloring books lately.  It calms me.  I needed a small manual pencil sharpener since I am using colored pencil.  We stopped at Good
will since I thought that I might find one there along with more colored pencils.  I did not find the sharpener, but I found a bag full of assorted color pencils and gel pens.  I got it!  I price matched them at Walmart and I got at least a $50 value with the current sale prices.  Without the sales, it would have been closer to $100.  I paid $3.99.
~I also found a brand new pajama gown (I have the exact some one but it is getting worn out) and a quilting pattern book for my mom.  I also used a 20% off coupon that I had for donating some things.
~I did find a pencil sharpener at Walmart for .47 and I got my cholesterol blocking OTC meds for half the price as anywhere else.  I picked up another pack of dry erase markers while they were on sale for $1 also.

   So there you have it, our week in a nutshell.  Blessings, heartbreak, tears, pain and the beginnings of healing all wrapped up within a one week time frame.  I will admit, I am emotionally spent at this point.  We have a heat wave in progress right now so I will be spending this weekend and most of the coming week at home and trying to catch up on sleep, some reading and watching some good movies.  It is much needed.