Frugal Friday Wrap Up 3/10-3/16 2018

I got this beauty for half off!

   Have you ever wondered what happened to some of your old friends from your childhood?  When I was in high school my sister Leonie and I became friends with a girl named Elaine.  Elaine was from Canada and had moved to Hawaii with her step mother and step father (her parents had both sadly passed away).  Her step parents were NOT nice people and Elaine ended up being abandoned by them.  My family took her in temporarily and she became "the third sister" as we tried to get in contact with her brother and get her back home to him in Canada.  Leonie, Elaine and I all shared a room and it was tight but we loved each other and it was a lot of fun!  Elaine stayed with us for a short time and then moved in with another family friend, who was also Elaine and my majorette advisor, who had more room.  Elaine was finally reunited with her brother in Canada after lots of paperwork and red tape and we lost contact.  Well last night I got a friend request from Elaine on Facebook!  I cannot tell you the joy I felt because I had searched for her there and could not find her.  She apparently just joined Facebook.  We spent about an hour getting caught up and are making future plans for her to come and visit and are hoping my sister Leonie could come at the same time.  It has been 40 years since we have seen each other!  I have to say that being in contact with her again filled a part of my heart that had been missing if that makes any sense.  I just wanted to share my joy and put it down here so that I would never forget the day that "the third sister" reunited with Leonie and I online. 😁 Now onto the frugalness for my week.

I scored these Land's End jackets for .25 each!

~Saturday Jeff and I headed up to Coeur d'Alene for our anniversary.  We had lunch at Texas Roadhouse and used $30 in gift cards that I earned through Swagbucks.  We left a generous tip for our amazing waitress.
~The Dollar Tree had the laundry detergent that we use for Jeff's clothing (Ajax) so we bought some of that, some cotto salami, a eyeshadow brush (I have no idea where my good one went), some 4 packs of diced fruit in it's own juice (will take those to Montana with us in May) and some soda for Jeff.
~St. Vincent D Paul thrift store has everything half price on Wednesdays and Saturdays (we did not know that they did this) and also had .25 bins of clothing.  We really scored there!  Jeff found a bowling ball that looked like it had barely been used with close to the same finger span as his, in the weight he wanted and it was one of the bowling balls that he had wanted for a long time now.  He paid $2.50 for it!  The ball retails for over $100. 😵  He also found some bicyclee tires that he wants to use to build a cart to haul yard waste behind him on his bicycle so he can ride out to the yard waste site in good weather and dump the yard waste there.  Steven is getting some clothes (that kids is outgrowing everything).  I picked up everything that looked good in his size and the next few sizes up for .25 each.  I also got 2 Lands End Jackets and a vest for .25, and 2 shirts at half price.  My great find there though was a Wedgewood cameo necklace pendant set in a sterling silver frame for $10 (half off $20).  I am in love with it!
~Two other thrift stores gave us movies, books, 2 gorgeous blue and white plates, 2 blue and white mugs, cds for Jeff, and some shirts for Jeff and I.

I got 2 of these beautiful Johnson Brothers mugs at the thrift store.

~Grocery Outlet is one of our normal stops when we are up there and I stocked up on some veggies, frozen meals, an 8 pound bag of the sweetest grapefruit I have tasted in years, and specialty cheeses along with some pastrami.
~Sunday Jeff built me some stairs out of scrap wood to get in and out of our hot tub more easily.  They are really nice.
~We finally watched the movie "Victoria and Abdul" that we borrowed from the library.
~We hot tubbed that night.
~Monday I took a nap...oh that felt nice.
~Jeff built me a handrail going up our steps to the back porch with some scrap lumber he had.

~I made us a nice dinner of meatloaf, sweet potatoes and acorn squash.
~Jeff ran the movie down to the library and picked up another book they had waiting for me.  Caesar also got his walk in this way.
~The weather was lovely so we opened up the house to air it out and the fur babies were free to go in and out off the back screened in porch.
~Tuesday our Roku decided to go nuts.  I tried everything they said to online to fix it but that did not work, so it's time to replace it.  We have had it for 2 years and it has lots of hours on it.
~Jeff and I had a late lunch at a Chinese food place (I know we have got to stop going out to eat so much) and I brought half of it home to have for lunch the next day.
~I talked to the pharmacy about getting 3 month supply on my prescriptions.
~We found a New York Cheesecake slice at the bakery at Walmart for .89.  Jeff and I split it for dessert.  Yum!
~I also found some chicken thighs on sale so we bought them and threw them in the freezer. I am stocking up on chicken thighs since I need to make Shoyu Chicken for 18 people for dinner on night at our family reunion in May.

~Wednesday Rachel called and asked if she and Steven could come over the following morning since their house is being shown.  I of course said yes!  I took one look at our floors though and knew they needed to be cleaned after the dogs and cats had got them really dirty so they were vacuumed and then some Lysol wipes were used instead of Swifter pads to clean the floors since Steven would be crawling all over them.  The Lysol wipes were some I got for free.
~I finished my leftover Chinese food for lunch.
~I found a tutorial on YouTube for making a weighted blanket and shared it on facebook.  I am hoping that my mother will make it for me. 😉
~Jeff cleaned out the laundry room and found lots of things in there that we had been "missing".  He organized it.  He did find another stash of paper plates so I put some of them in my large tote that I am taking to Montana so that we can use those and not have to do as many dishes.
~We continue to enjoy watching "The World's Most Incredible Homes" on Netflix (yes, we did get a new Roku).
~There was another refund check from the insurance company for a little over $19.  Yay!

~Jeff got another quick side job that paid him $20 for very little time worked.
~I made 2 more loaves of sandwich bread for Jeff.
~Dinner was leftovers and we split a fresh pear.
~I uploaded coupons onto my Safeway card for things that we needed.
~Thursday Rachel and Steven came out for a visit and she brought lunch for us.  That was just so sweet of her!  Jeff finished off the leftover Caesar Salad with his dinner later that night.
~I got lots of cuddle and play time with Steven...made me so happy!
~I booked our plane tickets to go to Vegas to see Josh and Lauren in October.  I was able to find us a good deal out of Spokane, WA which is much closer to us.  The best day to buy your tickets seems to be on Thursdays.  I noticed a $200 drop in the price since the last time I checked so I booked them now. :)  We are excited and so are Josh and Lauren!
~I ran Swagbucks points earning thingies in the background as I watched YouTube in the evening.
~Jeff set up the drying rack in the big bathtub so we could hang the outdoor vinyl tablecloths to dry there since it had been raining.

~Friday the sun was shining in the morning and it was glorious.  I took the used coffee grounds and sprinkled them around the blueberry bushes and put the banana peels around the rose bushes.  This really does help them to be healthier and produce more flowers (and fruit).
~I had picked up creamers when they were on sale and put them in my freezer.  I was out this morning in the refrigerator so I went out to the freezer and grabbed one.  This saves me time and money!
~I enjoyed my coffee in a new mug that I got from the thrift store this week.  I love to use blue and white mugs in the Spring.
~Jeff and I both use fabric bags filled with rice and heated in the microwave a lot to help with muscle pain.  I got tired of having to go into the bathroom to get them so I moved them to a spot on top of the microwave so they are right there and ready whenever we need them.  Speaking of that, while getting the second load of laundry started, I realized that my muscles were once again screaming at me so one of those rice bags was heated up and used on my neck.  I need to dig out my eating pad for my back as that was aching too.
~My friend brought over some hemp oil lotion that she bought to see if it would help with my Fibromyalgia pain.  
~With Spring here I wanted to switch out my handbags so I went shopping in my closet and brought out one of my light pinkish purple handbags to use.  I also got out a different wallet that was also in my stash.  I love being able to just shop my closet for accessories. 😀


   Our oldest two grandsons, Bradley and Isaiah, will be here in a bit to spend the night with us and both Jeff and are are so excited.  It has been far too long since we had a sleepover with them, mainly due to my health.  I am finally feeling well enough again to be able to really enjoy them and be able to do things with them.💗 There is nothing that fills my "love tank" more than spending time with our grandchildren and children.  We have lots of frugal and fun things planned to do with them!