Frugal Friday Wrap Up 3/4-3/10 2017

   This has been a great week for some amazing finds at the thrift stores.  Sometimes I think God is really smiling down on me and saying "I know you are having a rough week so here is a nice surprise to brighten your day".  This was surely one of those weeks where He blessed me big time!  Even better than that though was that we were able to spend lots of quality time with our family going out to dinner with a gift card given to us at Christmas and also celebrate Bradley's 5th birthday with friends and family.  Our greatest treasures will always be our family!  Onto my savings and wonderful finds!

~My goodness did I score big time at our thrift store that benefits the disabled in our area.  I found a Coach purse for $2.29.  Yes, you read that right!  Happy Dance!!!!😁 
~I recycled a gift bag to put our grandson Bradley's birthday gifts in.
~We managed to get the whole family together for dinner at Pizza Hut on Saturday.  We took advantage of their deals and used a $30 gift card to pay for most of it.  It was great to have everyone together, including my cousin who we had not seen in quite awhile. :)

~As much as I wanted to go to a huge library book sale on Saturday, I resisted the urge to do so and saved the money instead.  I have so many books here already that I still need to read.
~Sunday was Bradley's 5th birthday party!  I still can't believe he turned 5 on Wednesday!  We had a wonderful time with family and friends.  By the time we got home I was worn out though so Jeff made some boxed mac and cheese for dinner while I made us salads.
~Monday I made 2 loaves of bread, a double batch of biscuits, roasted sweet and yellow potatoes along with some red peppers, and maple syrup.

~Tuesday I worked and was in need of some "retail therapy" after a rather hectic morning. ;)  I hit up Goodwill and found some shirts, a blu ray/dvd combo of "The Lego Movie" (this will be a birthday gift for our second grandson Isaiah for his birthday in July), a insulated mug from my college, a book, candle and some pajamas..one of which was brand spanking new. One of the shirts was half price and I also used a 20% off the most expensive item coupon.
~Jeff made us pancakes from my homemade mix for dinner on Tuesday night.

~Wednesday I borrowed 3 more dvds from the library and put in requests for several others.
~Wednesday night Jeff and I went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary (a day early).  Our son Josh gave us $50 for anniversary and told us to go out to dinner on him.  We went back to the same place (it was a different restaurant than it is now, but still the same building) where we had our rehearsal dinner 32 years ago.  It is now one of our favorite Mexican restaurants.  They serve huge portions so both Jeff and I brought home part of our dinner to have for another meal.

~Thursday I dug into my stash of greeting cards and found a wonderful card for my hubby for our anniversary.  He stopped and bought me one on his way home from work along with a Snickers bar.  Yep, Snickers are my love language. 😁
~We borrowed Chris' pickup to haul home another ton of wood pellets to use in our pellet stove.

~I threw more overripe pears on top of the garden bed.  They will break down and make nice compost.
~Thursday night Jeff had his bowling league so I just made a big bowl of popcorn and had that for dinner while I watched videos on YouTube.
~Friday I was craving steak so I pulled some venison steaks from the freezer and made a marinade right in the ziplock bag the steaks were in.  I let them thaw in the refrigerator and we had them for dinner along with a wild rice mix and salad.

~Do you ever crave something that you have had at a restaurant really badly?  Well that has been me with a certain pasta salad that is different from anything I have ever had before.  I set out to try and recreate it and came close!  I think all I need to add is some cilantro to the parsley that I already added and it would be perfect.  I do think however that my hubby would enjoy my version as it is better though. ;)

~I worked on my points programs and did surveys as time allowed.
~The Asian food cravings hit this week so I dug through the freezer and found some pork pot stickers and cooked those up.

   I think I did pretty well overall both in finding amazing things and in the food department here at home.  Jeff and I will be heading out here soon to go up to a lakeside town about an hour north of us for the day to do some shopping and to have a early dinner.  Be blessed all and have a wonderful weekend!