Frugal Friday Wrap Up 8/12-8/25 2017

 

   Don't you love it when God answers your prayers?  My hubby has been wanting a nice table saw for years now and I had it on my list of possible birthday gifts for him.  Guess what was waiting for us at our favorite local thrift store on Saturday?  Yes, the saw with all the attachments and guards.  We paid $57.98 for it and my hubby is such a happy camper right now.  I know he will get years and years of use out of it.  His birthday gift came a few weeks early. 😊  I'm so glad I asked him to stop there since I just had a feeling that there would be something really good there that day.  There was more also so onto more of my frugal doings for the week!

~Saturday's stop at our favorite local thrift store not only rewarded us with the table saw but also with a huge stainless steel colander (something that I had seen at one of the kitchen specialty shops about a year ago and wanted really badly but could not justify spending $80 on) for $2.99, 3 seasons of Beverly Hills 90210 (the original version) for $2.99 each with seasons 2 and 3 being brand new and never opened along with season 1 of the series Parenthood and the movie Guarding Tess, some clothes for Jeff, a dress for me, a Mulberry wallet for .98 (the closest thing I could find on their website currently is $360), a Coach checkbook cover for .79 and a Brighton purse that is perfect for this Fall for $3.99 (that one retailed for around $300 new also).  I also found some children's books, Jeff found some golf tees and there are a few other things that I can't remember at the moment.
~The company that Jeff works for had a catered BBQ picnic for all the employees and their families on Saturday.  They also rented out a waterpark with slides, a lazy river, a wave pool and some really fun kid's areas.  We all had a great time and the little boys and our son Chris loved the wave pool!  What a treat for us all!

~We stopped at a bread outlet store and got 3 loaves of bread and 1 package of bagels and some onion hamburger  for $5. We froze the bagels, buns and 1 of the loaves of sourdough bread for use later.
~Sunday I pulled some elk steaks out of the freezer and marinated them with some leftover wine and seasonings.  These were served with small buttered and parsley potatoes and a fresh green salad for dinner.

~We got finally got a bit of glorious rain which knocked the smoke out of the air and dropped the temperatures by about 30 degrees.  I took advantage of that to air out the house and it saved me from having to water the gardens that day.
~Monday I hung out the laundry on the line to dry since we had beautiful clear skies and a nice wind blowing.
~This weeks garden harvest included some blueberries, apples, a few raspberries (they are doing a second setting of fruit this year), cherry tomatoes, parsley, basil and some squash.
~I made more iced tea.

~We borrowed the movie "The Zoo Keepers Wife" from the library.
~Jeff and I took Caesar for a walk twice this week.  Great exercise for us all.
~I had a hankering for Mexican food so I went to the freezer and pulled out some leftover cooked rice and some chicken and green chili tamales.  I made some Mexican Rice out of the leftover rice.  I just added some sliced avocados for me and a salad for my hubby to round out our meal.  We had dinner out on the back porch since the weather was so nice.

~Steven spent most of the day with us on Wednesday.  He is so much fun!  He is really getting into watching our cat Doofy and loves videos with cats in them too. :)
~While Steven napped, I made Zuppa Toscana with things from the freezer and pantry along with some kale from the garden.
~I've been working my points programs quite a bit lately.
~Thursday I hung another load of laundry out to dry.
~I searched YouTube and found more exercises and stretches for people like me with Fibromyalgia.  I went ahead and did some too. 😜

~I received a coupon for a free product up to $5 from the Kellogg's company after calling them about another product that I had bought that was stale.
~We continue to watch some of our favorite currently airing tv shows online.
~Netflix put some new shows on that we are enjoying.
~Thursday I made a cookie sheet dinner with Italian Sausage links and sweet potatoes with a chipotle and sea salt seasoning.  We had this with watermelon chunks along with cherry tomatoes from the garden.

~I was craving some Fall like dessert wise.  I cored and sliced up 2 of the Summer apples from our tree and sauteed them in some butter.  I sprinkled a bit of salt on the apples and then added about 1/2 a cup of brown sugar to the pan and turned off the heat.  The residual heat cooked the brown sugar and butter into a nice light caramel sauce that coated the apples.  It was a huge hit with both my hubby and I. Next time I will add more apples.  I'm thinking I may core and slice a bunch more of the apples and freeze them so that I can make more of this later on and possibly even a apple crisp. These apples are the perfect apples for doing this with.
~It looks like we will be adding 2 new fur babies to our family.  Chris called last night and asked us if we would be willing to take 2 of their cats since they are moving and he is worried that they cats will be killed by coyotes or something else since they will have to be outside all the time.  I had offered to take 1 of the cats but he needs homes for 2 of them and thinks he already has a home for the 3rd cat.  Chris said they will help out with food for the cats and other expenses when I told him that we are trying to cut costs here and that Doofy is on a special and expensive cat food so the other cats would have to be on that too since we can't risk Doofy eating foods that he is allergic to.  I am going to have to pick up a second covered litter box since there will be 3 cats here.  Midgey and Patches will most likely be coming to join us sometime this next week and will stay with us for about 2 years until Chris and Heather build their new home and then will return to live with them full time.  Chris was so relieved.  He loves those cats and so do the grandboys.  This way they can still come and see their kitties.  I am hoping that the transition will be an easy one.  Doofy was raised with other cats but has been an "only cat child" here at our home. He does have Caesar though, who he bosses around like mad.  I have to admit, Jeff was really reluctant and did not really want any more cats, but he is doing this for our son and grandboys.

~Jeff cleaned up and photographed some things that we want to sell.  I'm cross listing them on several local buy and sell sites on facebook.
~Friday we headed into town after Jeff got up in the afternoon. We had to buy a second litter box since the 2 other cats will be joining us.  We went to Shopko to find one since Walmart is completely out of them.  We found it for $2 cheaper there than Walmart had them.  While we were there I went to see if they had any of the deep pocket sheets on clearance since we only have one set with the deep pockets.  We found a set on clearance for half price and it costs even less than the other set that I got such a great deal on ebay for.  We also picked up some of the elastic sheet "garters" to keep the bottom sheet in place.  They were also on sale.

~We used the coupon we got for a free product on a huge box of cereal for Jeff.
~Birthday cards were bought at the Dollar Tree for the upcoming family birthdays for .50 each.
~We stocked up on the 2 pound bricks of cheese for $5.99 each.  We bought 4 of them and that should last us a good long while.
~Jeff and I were both hungry while in town but waited until we got home to eat.  I really need to keep some granola bars in the car since I get light headed and cranky when my blood sugar drops.
~Caesar got up on both couches on Thursday night while I slept and got his hair all over them.  I used up an entire Scotch lint roller cleaning the couches off.  Luckily I had gotten the roller free.  I also washed the dog hair covered fleece throws with some of my homemade laundry detergent.  He knows better. 

   Not a bad week and I feel very blessed that we found things either at the thrift store or on sale at the regular retail stores that we needed.  The weather has been cooler so that has helped with my health and I am really trying to learn to pace myself better.  I need to tackle that bucket of apples that Jeff and I picked and get them processed.  I am hoping to get to that tomorrow or Sunday along with cleaning out the back guest bedroom so that the new fur babies can retreat there and feel safe.  Lots to do this weekend and then I hope to rest on Monday since I have a meeting to go to on Tuesday