Frugal Friday 10/29-11/3 2017

Snow on Friday night

    As I sit here tonight getting this post ready, I took a quick peek outside to see if it was still snowing...it seems to have stopped for the moment.  What is out there now should stick around since it is getting really cold tonight and we are expecting more snow tomorrow also.  I worry more about icy roads since Jeff has to work overnight.  He left a bit early this evening  (Friday) since he knew he was going to have a slower drive tonight.  I have to share a huge "self control" victory...I did not buy the discounted candy after Halloween this year.  I had to be honest with myself that having it in the house, it would get eaten way before Christmas, so it just could not even make an appearance in my cart or in my home.  I already have lots of candy here on hand that is sorely tempting me.  😉  While going through my photos to include in this post, I realized that most of the photos are of the food we ate this week.  I did an earlier post on our picnic with the grandboys last weekend already and used many of the pictures I took in that one.  Onto the savings...

Poha

~Saturday we had Bradley and Isaiah with us.  We went to the Farmer's Market and bought some fresh mini doughnuts, Poha and grapes.
~We met Jaysn, Rachel and baby Steven at the park for a picnic.  Jaysn and Jeff played soccer with the little boys, Rachel played hide and go seek with them and both Jaysn and Rachel played on the climbing toys with them.  The little boys and I also gathered up some beautiful leaves that I am pressing and then sending to a friend of mine in Hawaii to share with her second grade students.
~I got lots of cuddle time with Steven who also thought that the Fall leaves looked good enough to eat and tried to do so many times. 😁

~We took Bradley and Isaiah to two pets stores.  At the second one, one of the nice guys that works there got Gladys (a rather large Asian turtle) and a smaller turtle out for them to play with.  The guy was so patient and even let Bradley and Isaiah hold Gladys to see how heavy she was.  She was allowed to wander around the store and then was fed a goldfish as a treat for being so patient with not only our two boys, but with another family as well.  The kids were all thrilled!
~Heather and Chris had us over that evening to join them for dinner when we brought the boys home.  We had some of the Steelhead trout that Isaiah caught.  It was so good!
~A sweet friend had a birthday on Sunday so I went to my greeting card box and found her a beautiful card and then went to my gift closet and found her a vanilla/coconut scented candle.  She loves to burn candles and was delighted with the one I picked out for her.
~I harvested more green onions from the garden.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup and Garlic Butter Bites

~I had thawed some steaks out for dinner on Sunday night, but they did not smell right so I tossed them out and got some chicken out of the freezer, quickly thawed that and then fried it up for dinner.
~Sunday we stayed home and worked in the yard.  That night we watched the movie "Miss Congeniality 2" on Netflix.
~Monday we sold a garage door opener kit that did not fit our garage door. It is for an RV sized garage door.  We were given it so it did not cost us anything.  The money from that will be going to pay for a radiator flush for my car. God provides.
~Lunch Monday was homemade chicken noodle soup that I had made last month and frozen.  I also made garlic butter bread bites to go with it.

Salad, Cheddar Bratwurst and Twice Baked Potatoes

~I borrowed a book from the library on Fibromyalgia.  Upon reading it, I realized that I had already tried what they said to do to heal from it and it did not work for me.  I figured if it did not work for the 2 years I was doing it, then it just was not something that worked with my particular body chemistry.
~I took advantage of the temperatures being in the low 50's and blue skies to wash all the curtains from our bedroom in the bathtub and then hang them out to dry.  I also dusted our bedroom, the kitchen, laundry room, dining room and living room.
~I'm working on getting all of our winter gear washed and ready for the cold weather.
~Dinner Monday night was Cheddar Bratwurst and twice baked potatoes along with a salad.
~The mail brought all kinds of magazines this week.
~I found some coupon inserts in the recycling bins.
~Tuesday was a day at home for me.  I thought I was going to have baby Steven here the next day so I tried hard to not push myself.  I did manage to get a walk in with Caesar though and made some Salisbury Steak out of venison with a homemade sauce and served that over rice for dinner.  It was so good!

Salisbury Steak and Rice

~I finished watching the series "Land Girls" on Netflix and was sad to come to the end of it.
~Wednesday I ended up not having Steven here (Rachel's employer cancelled on her) so I worked on laundry, making 2 loaves of sandwich bread and making croutons with the leftover bread from the last time I baked.
~Thursday was a cold day where we were having a weather transition day so I made some cheese tortellini with a garlic oil and fresh tomato sauce.  Have you noticed that my life seems to revolve around food and family?  😋
~I did more research on Fibromyalgia and CFS.  I don't think I learned anything new.  Dang it!
~One of the things that I am trying to do for my health is get into a more regular sleep pattern and I have so far been a colossal failure at it so I have decided to just give myself grace and not put pressure on myself.  Luckily, with the nights getting longer, the sun is not coming up as early so the fur babies are letting me sleep later into the mornings and that seems to be helping.

Cheese Tortellini with a homemade Olive Oil, Garlic and Fresh Tomato Sauce

~Friday I cooked up a big pot of Zuppa Toscana soup using kale from our garden, some free potatoes, sale priced (and previously frozen) pork sausage, free onions and some milk.  It was perfect for a cold and rainy day.  I had enough to fill two large containers.  Hubby and I both are really enjoying it.  I do want to freeze some of it for later also.
~Josh, Jeff and I were able to spend some time on SKYPE getting caught up with each other.  I miss him!

Homemade Zuppa Toscana on a snowy night

~I was in need of some "comfort" on Friday night after reading a few very hateful political posts on facebook so I logged off there and pulled up a Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar playlist on YouTube to listen too.  I grew up listening to this beautiful music and it takes me back to a place mentally of being at the beach at night with the tradewinds blowing and the tiki torches burning.  It's like a little vacation for me in my mind.
~Jeff was able to pick up 2 side jobs for $20 each.
~I made sure to load up my coupons for Safeway on my customer card so I could get discounts.  I also found a mistake on my receipt from there and got a refund.  I stocked up on crackers, seltzer water, eggs, tangerines, and Captain Crunch Cereal (they .99 each).  I noticed that there were coupons inside the boxes for $1 off 2 so I had Jeff cut them out and pick up 4 more boxes the next night at .99 each also while they still had some.
~Jeff and I did eat out on Wednesday night when we were running errands.  We went to Pizza Hut where we ordered their box meal that included bread sticks, pizza and cinna sticks all for $10.  There was way too much food for us so we brought the leftovers home and had them for lunch on Thursday.




  With more snow coming and cold temperatures, we have decided to have the little boys come back to the house with us tomorrow after we pick them up at the craft fair.  The plan is to do hot tubbing, have pizza, watch a movie and play games.  Chris or Heather will come and pick them up from us later.  I'm really looking forward to having them here tomorrow and also getting to see Rachel and Baby Steven too since Rachel will be helping Heather at the craft fair in the morning.  Be blessed and have a wonderful weekend!