Frugal Friday Wrap UP 8/27/21

 

  

   There is a definite nip in the air at night now and my hydrangea bush, which struggled for years to grow and produce flowers, finally is thriving in the spot above.  This is the first year it has produced flowers, which are starting to turn pink with the colder nights.  The burning bush plant in my neighbor's yard is also turning and I noticed the maple trees in Moscow, Idaho are doing the same thing.  I would be lying if I said I am sad to see Summer starting to fade.  Yes, it was a rough Summer filled with record high temperatures and so many wildfires that inundated our area with choking smoke and kept our son Chris busy fighting some of those fires.  My gardens are still producing well and my prayer is that the cantaloupes and cucumbers all ripen before a killing frost comes. I'm starting to feel like I should be "nesting" as the temperatures fall and I am trying to get at least a few projects done in the house each week towards that "homey" Fall settled in ambiance that I love so much.  This week that goal was not met, but hopefully I can make up for it this coming week...Onto the frugal doings!

Saturday:

~Jeff and I headed down to the valley to Clarkston, WA (sorry Kim, it was a last minute decision or I would have tried to figure out if we could finally meet up in person) to buy some tires for his car.  It was $300 less to get them at Walmart than anywhere up here.

~We then headed next door to the Chef's Warehouse or whatever it is called.  I found a huge package of linguica sausage on sale.  There were 12 of the large sausages in the package so it came out to about $1 per sausage. That is a screaming deal!  I will freeze them individually for using later.

~Goodwill in Lewiston was the next stop.  We found a perfect sign for our oldest grandson.  It had to do with sarcasm, something he excels at!  LOL!

~Winco was the next stop where we picked up a few things we needed, along with a large sandwich from the deli.  The sandwiches are footlongs and $3.99 each.  Jeff and I split the sandwich on the way home.  I had not eaten all day at that point and it was already 7 p.m..

~I Facetimed with Josh, Lauren and Tate.  Tate is determined to walk (he just started crawling) and was busy pushing his "truck (which is also a walker) around the living room.  He is starting to really interact with me over the phone and computer now. :)

Sunday(busy day at home):

~Jeff worked on doing some of the much needed weeding in the yard and he helped me pick about a liter of blackberries.

~I washed and froze the berries.

~I also harvested cucumbers, tomatoes, squash and herbs from the garden.

~Some of the tomatoes, along with a cucumber, found their way into a delicious tortellini salad for later in the week.

~I froze 2 half quart bags of homemade applesauce.

~Two loaves of bread were baked, followed by a dozen chocolate chip muffins and then I threw in a large pork roast surrounded by potatoes and carrots.  We had the pork roast with the veggies, along with some applesauce and cantaloupe, for dinner.

Monday ( I did too much the previous day so not much got done today):

~I did not have much energy and has massive brain fog so I had the tortellini salad for all my meals.  Jeff took lunch with him and then made grilled cheese sandwiches for his dinner.

~I managed to get the watering of the gardens done.

~We are expecting some overnight lows in the low 40's so Jeff covered up the tomato plants in the front with a sheet.  I am praying it does not take out any of the other plants.

Tuesday:

~Heather, Bradley and Isaiah came and picked me up and took me to my eye doctor appointment.  My eyes are healthy and the eye doctor thinks that my eye problems are related to my eyes getting too dry so I now have eye drops to help with that.  I did buy Heather, Bradley and Isaiah each a donut as a thank you for taking me there.

~Bradley and Isaiah picked blackberries from our garden to take home and make some blackberry topping for over pancakes.

~My gardens survived the cold overnight temperatures thank goodness!  It was 37F when I headed to bed in the early morning hours on Wednesday.

~Dinner was leftovers supplemented with some mashed potatoes.

Wednesday:

~One of our sweet neighbors gave us a big bag of freshly picked green beans.  It was a huge blessing because our beans have not done well at all this year.

~I managed to pick blackberries, squash, tomatoes, a few yellow beans and a cucumber from the garden.  My back did not appreciate me doing this, but it had to be done.

~I uploaded digital coupons onto my Safeway card.

~Although I did manage to get some laundry washed and dried, I had to wait for Jeff to get home to help me fold the 3 loads.

~For lunch I thinly sliced a very ripe tomato from the garden and put that on top of a slice of sourdough bread, then melted 2 thin slices of swiss cheese over the top.  YUMMY!

~Dinner was a favorite around here...Lemon Chicken Pasta.  I added squash, green onions and herbs from the garden, some mushrooms and orange pepper from the refrigerator and some lemon thyme compound butter from the freezer (that I made last Fall).  It was so good and easy and there is enough left for another meal for both Jeff and I.

~I refilled my large glass canister with flour from the bigger storage buckets.  This makes baking so much easier for me and keeps the rest of the flour fresh and airtight.

~Jeff mixed up and baked some brownies as a treat. :)

Thursday:

~I cleaned out the refrigerator and the pantry.  It helped me see what we needed and what we did definitely did not.

~My shopping list was not large at all.  I did however notice that some of the things that I was looking for, like dried tortellini, was nowhere to be found in 3 different stores I looked at.

~We bought more pesto (a staple in this house), along with Q-tips, at the Dollar Tree.

~I picked up sweet peppers for a fraction of the price that they were at Walmart.  We also picked up Zinc supplements there.  They are hard to find at other stores right now.

~Leftovers were for dinner...and yes, we love leftovers!

Friday:

~We had been having trouble finding dry tortellini in most of the stores but Jeff surprised me by coming home with a 3 pound bag of them from the bulk section at Winco!  We are set for quite awhile now!  He also picked up bagels, which were also on my shopping list. I love that man of mine!

~I harvested tomatoes and a squash from the garden.

~We watched the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie on Disney Plus.

~We filled up the gas tank in my car at the cheapest station in town and noticed that there is still a shortage of gas and at least half of the pumps were closed down.

   As the world goes crazy around us and my heart aches for all those trapped in, killed or injured in Afghanistan and people I care about continue to get this horrible virus, I am left feeling like all I can do is pray and be there to support those who are hurting.  My anxiety levels and yes, my anger towards certain cowardly and uncaring politicians, have been extremely high this week and it has affected my physical and mental health.  I am trying to find ways to turn that over to God and just pray, but it remains a struggle.  Sometimes being an empath really does suck.