I Want to Live in a Bubble Wrap Fort

   There is a long running joke among my close friends and family that I am a big bubble wrap freak!  I love bubble wrap!  It's protective, flexible, strong and fun all at the same time and popping those little air bubbles makes me happy. Bonus! :)

   I shared in previous post about the cruel comments made to my husband by one of his siblings.  He and I are both still trying to wrap our heads around that and come to terms with just how miserable someone would have to be to act in such a horrid manner.  I have never seen something bother my husband as much as this has and I totally understand why it does,  My heart aches for him.

   I have found myself needing to withdraw a bit from the world.  I want to build a Bubble Wrap Fort and keep the ones I love safe from any cruelty, hurt or pain.  I want to keep myself safe from that too. Yesterday I did not even want to leave my home to go down and get the mail.  Being here at home felt safe.  Jeff and I worked on learning how to set up our tent for a camping trip and worked on sorting through DVDs and CDs to sell at our yard sale.

   I made the mistake of then going onto Facebook to see the pictures of my grandsons Isaiah's birthday.  All was going well until I made a comment on a friend's post about how I could understand why the Bernie Sanders supporters were having a hard time switching their support to Hillary Clinton, given everything that had happened and been said during the campaign.  My comment was met by questioning my intelligence by my friend and some of her friends.  That hurt.  She has always been a very blunt person, but I had hoped we could have a dialog where we could be respectful and learn from one another.  I guess that was not to be and to be honest, it is making me re-evaluate why I would even remain friends with her. 

   People who hurt others bother me to my core.  There is so much evil going on on the world around us and we should be able to feel safe around our family and friends.  I try to make my home a safe and comforting place for all, myself included.  My friends, who are going through horrible crisis in their lives, comment about how they just feel enveloped in love here.  It has become their safe haven.  My family knows that they are welcome here at any time and they have keys to come and go as they please.  I try to make sure that my husband knows how much I love and appreciate him.  He is my safe place and I am his.  

   Lately I feel like the metaphorical walls of our safe haven are being breached with all the ugliness that surrounds us.  I need to separate myself from those in my life who would seek to hurt us.  I feel the need to "reinforce the walls" so to speak of our home to keep us all cocooned and feeling very loved and valued. 

   I think I will just go back to building my Bubble Wrap Fort.

 

 

Happy 3rd Birthday to our Grandson Isaiah!

  Today our youngest grandson Isaiah turned 3 years old!  He is a bundle of energy who is always on the go until he runs out of steam.  He has a quirky sense of humor and has discovered how to tease people...sometimes that is in a fun way but other times it is to bug his big brother Bradley. ;)  He still loves to cuddle and gives the best hugs!  Grammie and G-pa love him to Africa and back (he seems to think that Africa is farther away from here than the moon so he started saying this).  He, along with his big brother Bradley, have brought such great joy into our lives and we are so blessed to be able to live close enough to see them often. :)

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 7/22/16

 

   This week was a mixed bag of trying our best to save money while still having a great time.  We were doing really well until we had an unexpected family emergency which threw a monkey wrench into things, but that is life right?  Onto the frugal doings:


~We took snacks with us to the hotel over the weekend and ate those after the James Taylor concert
~We had our big meal out on Saturday at lunch time.  We went to Outback Steakhouse and ordered the Loaded Blooming Onion appetizer and shared an entree.  It was the perfect amount of food for both of us.
~The hotel that we stayed at was just a quick 5 minute walk from our hotel so we saved on paying for parking there at the concert.
~When we arrived to check in at the hotel, they were having computer issues so our wait time was a bit long.  They handed out bottles of water to whomever wanted some.  They also upgraded our room to a Deluxe King room.

~Jeff and I took advantage of being up in Spokane to run some errands and do some shopping.  Jeff was able to get a new wheel for his car since he had bent the rim on one of his when he went into the ditch years ago.  The bolt pattern on the replacement wheel he got after the accident did not match his hubcaps on the other wheels.  We finally found the right one and another hubcap that matches his old ones at a auto salvage yard.
~Of course we hit the thrift stores while we were up there too.  I was able to find 3 new bras (yes, they were brand new) and some more shirts that fit me.  Many of them were the discounted color of the day so we got them for half off.  There were also some great Tupperware containers that I was able to snap up at $1.99 each and some books (also half price) for the grandboys and I.  Oh, and one of my favorite buys of the day...a beautiful hand appliqued and quilted Hawaiian pillow.  Jeff  found a brand new kitchen faucet for his parent's house for 1/3rd of the price he would have paid retail for it.  It is the exact style that they wanted! He can now get that installed for them.  He also found some tent stakes, which we needed since we are going camping in a couple of weeks and some of our old ones had broken and he found a CD that he wanted. :)

~Sunday we drove over to Coeur D'Alene, Idaho from Spokane, WA and had lunch at the new Cracker Barrel restaurant they just opened there.  I had a $25 gift card I earned online.  The only out of pocket cost to us was the tip!
~We hit the Dollar Tree and the Grocery Outlet on our way out of CDA and found some great deals there as well.  The Grocery Outlet had 12 packs of Cranberry/Lime Propel drinks for 2 for $1...yes...50 cents per 12 pack!  I checked the expiration date and we will use them before then.  I also picked up a huge package of pastrami for $6.99 (which I will divide up and freeze), crackers, cookies, 2 boxes of 36 individual Fruit Rollups for .99 each (the grandboys are going to love these), Kim Chee, some wine and a few other things.

~Monday I had to run into Pullman to meet someone to pick up a DVD set I was buying off a local buy and sell site.  She never showed up...that ticked me off royally since I had driven into town and waited half an hour for her.  Just that trip took 1 1/2 hours out of my day without any additional stops and used all that gas.  I consoled myself by going to the thrift store right above where we were meeting.  They were having a Christmas in July sale and I stocked up on new boxes of Christmas cards that they had marked at .79 and .59 each plus they were half off that.  I found another dvd (surprise  LOL! ) and some books for the grandboys.  Oh yes, there was also a scarf for .99 and a bottle of Rihanna Nude body mist for .49 .
~Monday, Wednesday and Friday I made Jeff more bread for his lunches this week.
~I harvested peas, tomatoes, lettuce, raspberries and a few blueberries along with some apples from our garden.

~Monday's mail brought a box from Pinch Me with free samples.  This round I received more ZzzQuil, some Pond's Rejuveness Anti-Wrinkle Cream and some Vagisil Daily Intimate Wash.  These are all products that I already use and really like.  The sample sizes are perfect for me to take with us when we travel. :)  The mail also brought me another free Parent's magazine which I will pass on to Heather.
~Monday's dinner was rice (free), salmon (gift from Heather's parents), Kim Chee (for me), and ice cream bars for dessert.  I know I should have included a salad or fruit with this but I was tired and it was late.

~Tuesday I was able to get in on the free samples offered at Pinch Me.  I mainly got pet food samples but that is fine with me. :)
~My hubby and I surprised our grandsons with a trip to their favorite indoor play center.  It was an early birthday present for Isaiah who will turn 3 on Monday. :)  We got there at "Happy Hour" so we only paid $10 for both the boys to get in.  We took them out to dinner after that and tried to keep costs down as much as we could.  However, the youngest grandson is having a growth spurt so we ordered more french fries and he promptly ate most of them.  When we took the boys back home, this same kid spotted the homemade pizza his mommy made and wanted some of that too.  ;)

~Heather and Chris gave us a bag of huckleberries that they had picked.  YUM!
~I watched some shows online.
~I've been working my points programs but not as much as I would like to.
~Wednesday I stopped in at the library to return some things and found that someone had donated a huge sack full of DVDs that were going to be put in the book sale.  Sarah (our wonderful librarian) let me go through them before she even got them put out.  I bought 8 of them.  Two of them came with bonus CDs so I told her I would pay her another dollar each for those.  So for $10 I got 8 new to us DVDs and 2 CDs. :)

~Wednesday's mail brought me a coupon for a free bag of chips and 2 Pure Protein bars along with a coupon for more of them.
~Lots of leftovers were eaten for lunches so that things would not go bad.
~I used the crockpot to make dinner on a day when I had very little energy.  There were some potatoes that needed used up so that was my starting point for making smoked sausage, potatoes, onions and peppers for dinner. :)
~Wednesday afternoon we got a call about a family member having to be taken to the hospital.  My bread was not finished in the breadmaker so I quickly took it out of the pan and finished baking it in the oven while my hubby got up (he sleeps during the day since he works the graveyard shift) and got ready for us to head in.

~We were stuck in town for quite awhile so we got dinner at Panda Express since it is a half an hour drive home and hubby had not eaten all day.  We ended up bringing some of our food home because we could not finish it all there.  It became my lunch the next day.
~Thursday was a really hot day so I hung the laundry out to dry on the line.
~Friday I stayed home so no gas used in the car.
~I pulled some more homemade mixed fruit muffins out of the freezer for breakfast.

~My hubby needed a treat after a very rough few days.  I found some reduced priced chocolate chip cookie dough in the freezer and baked some up for him.
~I curled up with a big stack of magazines (most of them free subscriptions) and got caught up on my reading and found inspiration for some future projects.
~I saved a gift bag and some sparkly tissue paper and some bright blue crinkled paper filling for future gift giving.
~I made a bare bones grocery list for this coming weekend...the plan is to eat mostly out of the pantry and garden.
~No need to water on Friday since we got some rain.  Yay!

   Not a bad week all in all but I know I can do better.  I am praying that this next week I can just stay home for the most part and catch up on things around here.  I have a ton of stuff that I will need to get priced for our yard sale on Saturday and that should keep me pretty busy.  Be blessed!

If You Can't Say Anything Nice....

 

   Do you remember your parents or grandparents saying "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"?   Or how about "Words are powerful, once spoken they cannot be unspoken"?  Or  "treat others the way that you would want to be treated" ?  All of these phrases are actually lessons that we need to take to heart.  I know that I was raised by these principles and so were my husband, our kids, and now our grandkids.  Unfortunately, there are a few who, although they were raised being taught this, got an "F" on their lesson and wadded up the metaphorical paper and tossed it away, completely missing the trash can and not caring about how much garbage they leave in their wake.  It hurts when friends or even strangers say hurtful things to or about us, but even more so when it is family.

   Yesterday my husband was verbally assaulted not once but twice by one of his siblings.  The venom, delusional lies and accusations that came out of this person's mouth while they were screaming at him in a public place were designed to cut and hurt him deeply.  I have no idea how he was able to remain calm while trying to deescalate the situation but he was visibly shaken when he told me what happened.  This person has a history of being cruel, but they took it to a whole new level, one that cannot ever be come back from.

   The damage that was inflicted on my husband's gentle and kind heart is unimaginable.  This is the man who was there for this sibling over and over again when others, even within their family, were not. He forgave them multiple times for their awful behavior, even when there has been no apology  from them.  They have lied about and slandered our family and tried to break up our marriage and destroy our relationship with my husband's parents.  All of these things have taken a huge toll on us, but this...this time, it was just pure evil.  When he reached out with love, concern and kindness, he was met with such unfathomable ugliness and cruelty.

   My husband is hurting, my kids are in shock that anyone could do and say something so horrible to their own sibling, no matter how angry they may be, and I am trying to remain strong for my hubby and not let him see me cry.  Last night I was just numb and could not believe what had just happened. Today, as I process it all, I am angry, hurt and to be totally honest feel pity for this person and their dark heart.  Those hurtful and cruel words will forever be etched upon my husband's heart and in his mind.  He didn't deserve to be treated this way....no one does.  

   

 

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 7/15/16

      
  

   It's been another busy week here.  There were many projects I wanted to get to but never did and then there were projects that we did get done that took longer than expected.  I spent lots of time in the garden and it is starting to pay off.  I've got little cucumbers growing and the peas are starting to really climb the trellis. :)  Onto the savings:

~We had a big family birthday party on Saturday.  Jaysn and Rachel hosted it this time. :) Since we do everything potluck style, we had a wonderful assortment of food.  I brought a pasta salad, roasted chicken and a fruit salad, Jaysn and Rachel made Zuppa Toscana and a wonderful sweet potato dish, Heather made a huckleberry/peach pie and also a Death by Chocolate dessert and my cousin Jeremy made an amazing green salad that also had fruit, cheese and candies pecans in it.  We do eat well in this family! ;)
~I really worked my points programs this week.  I needed to get enough points for another Walmart gift card and I finally had enough to cash in for a $25 one.
~Sunday Jeff and I had planned on going to an auction but ended up staying home instead.  We spent the day watching movies and relaxing.  I figure we saved hundreds of dollars!  HA! ;)

~Monday I finished up making a batch of raspberry gin and got another batch going with more raspberries that I had just picked minutes before.
~Monday I also harvested peas, snow peas, lettuce and strawberries from our garden.
~We got a couple doses of good soaking rain this week so I only had to water twice.
~I cashed a $10 check that I got from Pinecone Research.
~The leftover water from the dog and cat's water bowls at the end of each day were used to water the potted plants and then the bowls were refilled with fresh water.
~I made some meatloaf with crushed up croutons, the leftover half of an onion and some seasonings.  I served it with yellow rice and we also had salads with it.

~I watched some shows online throughout the week.
~More loaves of bread were made this week and more croutons also.
~My hubby hauled home more free mulch from our town's composting site.  Hopefully this will help to lessen the stress on some of the plants in the side garden.
~I washed some Ziplock bags and then hung them up to dry.  My hubby uses these to take sandwiches and snacks in his lunch bag.
~Jeff ate a large bowl of fresh peas from the garden for a snack.  He shared a few of the pods with our dog Caesar who loves them.

~I did some grocery shopping early Tuesday morning.  I found another cheesecake marked way down, along with some marked down bread and some garlic cheese breadsticks at Walmart.  Winco had a marked down deli cheese tray and huge sandwich.  I took the big deli tray apart and packed all the cheese up into smaller bags.  Some of the cheesecake will be frozen for future treats.
~I stopped at Goodwill and found seasons 5 and 10 of Friends on DVD.  I now only need season 7 and we have the complete set. I also found a new Horseshoes game.  I bought that for our upcoming family camping trip.

~I did find some more clothes that actually fit me at Goodwill.  One of them was the half price color of the day.
~I used more coupons to get Ragu pasta sauce for .68 a jar and also to get a discount on more pectin.
~We had leftover deli chicken, leftover yellow rice and leftover fruit salad for dinner on Tuesday night...are you sensing a theme here? ;)
~Wednesday evening Jeff hauled home even more mulch from the town's yard waste and composting site.  Our side garden now has a nice layer of mulch on it which will help conserve water, help the plants not be stressed and also build up the soil.

~I borrowed lots of movies and books from the library.
~I printed off 2 gift cards that I earned at Swagbucks, $25 Walmart and $25 Cracker Barrel.  The plan is to use the Cracker Barrel gift card this weekend when Jeff and I go on our combined birthday weekend present to ourselves. :)
~Jeff and I used a B1G1Free Blizzard coupon that I got from Dairy Queen for my birthday.
~Since it has cooled way down here at night, I am able to just run the vent part of the swamp cooler to get things cooled down.  I don't like to leave the living room windows, which are huge, open at night when I am sleeping since we have a single level home.  It's gotten so cold at times that I have to get up and turn it off.

~We used the $25 Walmart gift card to help pay for a huge bonus sized bag of Pedigree dog food, a gallon of milk and a large package of Cotto Salami.  We ended up paying $4 out of pocket after the gift card was applied.
~We stopped at the thrift store that benefits the disabled in our communities.  We scored big time finding a brand new pair of Aerosoles sandals for Rachel and a brand new dehydrator for Heather.  I was pleasantly shocked to see the dehydrator marked at just $2.99!  I also found a few more clothing items for me and some other things.

~I was almost out of my natural hormone replacement stuff and well, those of you in menopause know how disastrous that is.  Luckily Vitacost is having a B1G1 1/2 off sale.  I ordered 4 bottles for the price of 3, got free shipping and went through the link at Swagbucks so I will get some points for my purchase.
~Friday I had to run errands and pick up Jeff's paycheck.  I stopped at a thrift store in the town that he works out of and found a brand new with tags Talbots fancy dress.  I got it for $1.50 even though it did not fit me.  I am going to resell it at a consignment store.  I also found a pair of shorts and a shirt there along with 2 books.

~I hit a church thrift store and found another shirt, a pair of shoes and some quilting books for my mom.
~Safeway had a few really good deals today.  I found chicken thighs for .89 a pound and bought 3 family packs.  They also had their 12 packs of seltzer or soda on a special deal at .99 each with a limit of 2 per family.  I then found Puffs tissues marked at half price and stocked up on those since we go through tissues like made with both of us having allergies.
~Jeff filled up my car with gas at the gas station with the cheapest prices for me.

~We are packing some snacks to take with us this weekend.  I can't see spending a lot of money on snacks from vending machines at hotels.  I know we will most likely  be hungry after the James Taylor concert since it starts at 8 p.m..  There is a refrigerator in our room so I am going to bring some crackers, fruit and cheese with us.  I'll also bring some drinks.

~Jeff transplanted some sunflower plants and some poppies for me.  They had volunteered in our gravel driveway and our neighbor, Uncle Bob, is going to be spraying the driveway to kill all the thistles for us while we are gone this weekend.  I'm allergic to the spray so he is doing it when I will not be around to breathe it.

~I stocked up on more Aloe Vera gel at the Dollar Tree.  I noticed they are starting to get all their back to school and Fall stuff out already which means they will not be getting any more of the Aloe Vera gel and sunscreens in.  I grabbed it while I could.
~I went through my basket of summer sandals and found a brand new pair that I bought on clearance a the end of the season last year.  One of my older pairs is getting worn out so I will be replacing them with the new pair.
~Friday evening I made breakfast for dinner.  We had sausages and oven pancakes with homemade syrups and fruit.

   I know that I made a lot of trips to thrift stores this week. Confession time...I have gained so much weight between menopause and my hysterectomy.  A lot of my shirts no long fit me and are hugging me close.  I am very self conscience about my weight gain and the way my body is looking right now.  I have mainly been in search of shirts that  will help camouflage my trouble spots.  I'm also still on the lookout for another pair of black boots that will not put any pressure on my foot and where arthritis has set in. I am hoping to maybe find the boots this weekend while we are on Spokane.  Be blessed everyone!

Five Minute "Fixes"

Have you ever looked at your "to do" list an been overwhelmed by it?  I tend to be paralyzed when faced with a long list and shut down mentally.  To combat that, I have started doing what I call my Five Minute Fixes.  I will work for 5 minutes on a project and have found that lots of the things on my To Do list take even less time than that. :)  This and physically checking those items off my list really help to keep me on track, get things done and not be as overwhelmed by it all.

Here are a few things that I have found I can do in 5 minutes or less:

~pick peas from the garden
~cut lettuce from the garden
~get the cut lettuce washed and put away to use later
~start a load of laundry
~fold a load of laundry
~service our hot tub
~get something out of the freezer and started thawing for dinner
~get a batch of bread going in the breadmaker
~cut and file my nails
~paint my nails
~dust a room
~do a quick cleaning on the guest bathroom
~sweep the front outside walkway
~water all the potted plants
~make a nice green or fruit salad
~get potatoes all washed and put in the oven to bake
~sweep the floors
~put away a load of laundry
~get a pot of rice washed and cooking
~scoop out the cat box
~purge the refrigerator of things that got shoved to the back and went bad
~work for 5 minutes on my points programs
~check my account activity at my bank online
~check a store ad online to see who has the best deals for things that I have on my grocery and household list
~load or unload the dishwasher
~shave my legs in the shower
~trim my bangs
~do some facial maintenance ;)
~clean off the dining room table that seems to be the dumping ground for everything
~edit some photos
~pull a few weeds
~play fetch with the dog (he is usually bored with the game within 5 minutes)
~play tag with the cat (yes, my cat and I actually play tag...he is strange)  :)
~clean cat and dog fur off the furniture
~wash a few windows
~wash the sliding glass door
~get something going in the slow cooker for dinner
~start some meat marinating
~make a run down to the post office and back (I live a few blocks away from our post office...this is a tiny little town)
~mend an article of clothing
~call and make those appointments we all dread (dentist, doctor, mammogram)
~write a quick note of encouragement
~cut some herbs and get them washed and hung up to dry
~gather up and take out all the trash

    So those are a few things that I have found take me 5 minutes of less and help me cross things off my list throughout the day.  How about you?  What are some things that take you 5 minutes or less that you can cross off your list?

Glimpses of the Garden 7/11/2016

Frugal Friday Wrap Up July 8, 2016

   

   Oh what a week!  I found some amazing deals on things that I desperately needed for my upcoming canning sessions and I am so thankful for that.  I am hoping to get a lot of that done this next week after Jeff and I dig out a bunch of canning jars that are in the garage and get those washed and ready to go.  I have so much fruit in the freezer that needs to be made into jams and jellies and maybe some syrups too.  Onto the savings for this week:


~I finally found a pair of lightweight denim capri pants for $3.99 at the thrift store.
~We did a major stock up at the grocery stores and combined sales and coupons.  I got 12 packs of soda for $2 each (I bought 5), and found some boxes of pectin on sale.  I had coupons for the pectin bringing each box down to $1.48 each.  That is a really great price for around here.  I bought 8 boxes of pectin. There were many other items that we bought that also had coupons to go with it.  My hubby and I figured we saved about $20 in coupons alone even before the sales prices.
~We added more dvds to our collection.  There were some titles that I had on my wish list and were found at Goodwill and the Salvation Army on Saturday.

~Jeff's parents invited us over for lunch on Saturday.  My MIL was craving the pecan chicken salad sandwich from Arby's so I drove her out to get those and a different deli sandwich for my hubby.  She also had potato salad and coleslaw back at the house.  We had a very nice lunch and visit with them and my hubby brought home a project to work on for them. :)  MIL also loaned me a big bag of books to read. :)
~The Farmer's Market had lovely apricots so I bought some for eating and will hopefully make a few jars of jam too.
~Corn on the cob was on sale for .25 so I bought 4 of them and a marked down steak for dinner Monday.  I marinated the steak and Jeff grilled it up.  We had the corn, steak and baked potatoes for dinner.  The cost of our meal was under $5.  Yum and Yeehaw!  :)
~Josh had given Jeff a game of golf at his favorite golf course for Father's Day.  Jeff took advantage of it Sunday.  He did rent a cart since his back has been giving him problems but that was his only out of pocket expense since Josh paid for the golfing and Jeff took 2 bottles of water to drink on the course with him. :)

~The birds have picked the cherry tree clean and have moved on so now I can hang laundry back up on the line to dry.
~Saturday I harvested more snow peas, strawberries, lettuce, a few little Sungold tomatoes and raspberries from our garden.
~My zucchini and yellow squash plants that I planted were not growing very quickly so I picked up 6 more plants of each.  I carefully chose pots that had 3 plants in each one so that I only paid $3.98 for each pot of 3.
~Our Saturday night date at home was watching a movie here and making nachos with some leftover taco meat, chips and cheese. :)
~My computer was acting up and the pointer thingy stopped working.  I was able to go in and fix that problem and a few others.  My FN keys are not working correctly now though so I am going to have my cousin Jeremy, who is an IT specialist, fix that for me since I need to get into the BIOS for that and I am terrified that I am going to screw up my whole computer.
~My MIL gave us a full can of coffee since she is no longer drinking it.

~Sunday my back was really bothering me but I still managed to harvest 2 mixing bowls worth of raspberries.  I had to do it in 2 picking sessions, but I can live with that.  I washed them and put them in a gallon sized ziplock bag.  They will be made into raspberry jelly and possibly some syrup too. :)
~My hubby stopped by the Dollar Tree to get some more Worcestershire sauce.  They have large bottles of it for $1 each.  He picked up 2 of them since we do use this quite a bit in marinades.
~We watched lots of movies here this week.  Since we have an ever growing collection, we have quite a variety to choose from. ;)
~Sunday night we watched a Matrix movie marathon (we had borrowed the movies from our son Jaysn) and I made pastrami sandwiches on hamburger buns that needed to be used up and with some reduced pastrami I had bought previously and frozen from the Walmart deli section.  It made for a fun and frugal evening for us. :)

~Monday found me in the garden with horrible allergies and my ears were driving me nuts.  Even though they hurt and it made me lightheaded every time I bent over, I still managed to plant 4 Roma tomato plants, harvest some snap peas and strawberries and then harvest a huge bundle of oregano and get that washed and hung up to dry.
~Tuesday I spent time weeding in the front garden and then planted 12 more squash plants.
~I seeded in another package of dill seeds into the side garden.
~Tuesdays harvest was sugar snap peas, a few strawberries and a bowl full of regular peas (these are for my hubby)
~Wednesday Jeff and I had errands to run in the afternoon.  We "made the loop" going to two towns where we had things to do and ran all of our errands in one trip instead of two separate trips.

~I had a coupon for a free travel sized product at Bath and Body Works.  They also had some of their full sized fragrances on sale for 75% off.  I found one that I love and got it for $3.17!
~Old Navy had a great clearance sale and I found a dress I liked for 75% off also.  It was cheaper to buy a new dress there than a previously loved one at the thrift store.
~We bought birthday cards at the Dollar Tree.
~Wednesday I also picked a huge mixing bowl full of raspberries.
~We had dinner out on Wednesday and counted it as my early birthday dinner.  Both of us brought home leftover that we had the next day for lunch.

~Wednesday also found me making more bread for my hubby.  We had to leave before the breadmaker started the baking process and we knew we would not be home before it got done so I took the bread dough out of the breadmaker and put it in a metal pan with plastic wrap and a towel over it.  I just baked it in a regular bread pan when we got home later.
~I borrowed 3 more movies from the library.
~Since it rained on Tuesday night, I did not need to water on Wednesday.
~Thursday I did not do much of anything really except work on my points programs.  I did not go anywhere so I guess that would count as saving gas money and wear and tear on my car.
~More rain on Thursday and Friday so I did not need to water the garden.
~My sweet husband, trying to make my birthday on Friday special for me brought me home a bag of Snickers and a sweet card.  Snickers are my favorite candy bar and speak LOVE to me.  He also grilled up some burgers for us for dinner.   Oh how I love that man of mine!

   So those were my savings this week.  Not my best week ever, but ever bit counts right? ;)  Be blessed all!