Frugal Friday Wrap Up 12/3/21

 

Goofy G-pa and Tate

   Hello again and yes, this is a Frugal Friday Wrap Up!  I really do like doing these to not only remind myself of how I saved money and be able to look back and glean ideas again when my frugal mojo is waning, but to help others find inspiration as well.  Part of our time for this week's frugal doings was spent in Montana where we had Thanksgiving with our son Josh, our Lauren, grandbaby Tate, my brother Fritz and my parents.  It was so wonderful to be able to be together again and see my brother after 2 years, spend time with my parents and of course enjoy time with our Josh and Lauren and to be able to love on our little man Tate.  Oh my goodness, has he got personality plus!  So many precious memories were made and I will cherish them for the rest of my life.  I did forget my camera at my mother's house (she is going to mail it back to me), so there will be no pictures this week. Now onto the frugal doings...

~My mother made turkey and rice soup with the leftover turkey.  It was so good!  I have not had it in years since Jeff prefers turkey noodle soup, so that is what I usually make with any turkey carcus that I have on hand.

~Mom sent me home with some more of her homemade pot scrubbers.  I love them!  She also gave me a beautiful Winter hat that she knit in a lovely teal color...so pretty!

~My mother and I went through her fabric stash and picked out material for 3 cobbler style aprons and 4 sets of 6 napkins.  This is what I really wanted since my favorite apron is now threadbare.  I will be sending it to my mother to use as a pattern to make the new aprons.

~We found matching Montana shirts for Bradley, Isaiah and Steven on sale.  They will get those on Christmas.  We will have them all open them at the same time.  They love to dress alike so this will be fun!

~I found a shirt for Steven, a Chico's sweater and dress for me and a thirty one brand Christmas bag at the thrift store in Bigfork Montana.  I spent under $10 for all of them.

~My mother saw all my pill bottles and how I had to remember what to take in the morning and what to take at night.  She had an extra AM and PM pill case that she gave to me so I can just fill them up at the beginning of the week and not have to worry about it.

~Josh treated the whole family to brunch at our favorite restaurant in Montana the morning that we were leaving to come home.

~Josh also gifted Jeff $60 for gas money for the way home.  He knows we are on a tight budget and wanted to bless us.

~My mother made us our traditional Christmas crepe breakfast while we were there.  I have missed having that on Christmas morning so very much and it was so sweet of her to do that for us!  There were so many crepes left, along with 4 fruit fillings, that she was able to freeze them to have ready when my brother Eric, sweet SIL Christie and my nephews Cade and Eli spend Christmas with my parents and brother Fritz.

~We stopped at the Dollar Tree in CDA on our way home and got lots of 4-packs of plastic containers for me to be able to package up Christmas treats in.  They also had one of my favorite teas that I cannot find at our local Dollar Tree, so I bought several boxes.

~We also stopped at the Winco up there and I found my almond bark that I needed on sale along with some Andes chocolate mint chips that I am thinking of using to make fudge with.  We picked up some bread and milk while we were there, along with apples, bagels, and a few other items.

~Jeff made us grilled cheese on Sourdough bread on Monday night while I unpacked us after the long drive home.

~Tuesday found me at home for the day getting caught up on the mountain of laundry and having my Telemed appointment with my doctor.  I got some meatballs going in the crockpot and added some onions soup mix along with a can of cream of mushroom soup.  Later I added some Chardonay wine to it, along with some sour cream, cooked up some egg noodles and added those to the meatballs.  It made for a delicious and easy meal and yielded lots of leftovers for Jeff to take to work the next day and also for me for lunches for 2 days.

~Wednesday I ran down to the library to pick up a book that was on hold there for me.  They had free enrichment activity kits so I picked up one of those for Bradley and Isaiah since it was at their age level.

~I ran into Pullman to pick up my prescription at Walmart and do some shopping.  I found some lovely plush bath towels and hand towels in someone's favorite on sale and picked those up as a Christmas gift for them. I also found the outdoor solar light stakes for .97 each, some butane lighters, a candle and a silicone small brush on sale.  They also had refrigerated crescent roll dough for .50 a tube and cinnamon roll double packs for $2 each.  I bought some of each. Walmart also had the best price around on canned green beans and cream of mushroom soup.  I bought a flat of each (a dozen cans) because we go through a lot of these.

~Of course no trip would be complete without a trip to the Grocery Outlet.  I found ham on sale there and got a nice one for a little over $8!  Everywhere else that I had seen them they were $20 and up!  I bought one for Christmas and Jeff was thrilled!  He loves his ham on Christmas and this year he will have it. 😁While there I also picked up a big bag of oranges, some sweet potatoes, a large 3 pack of smoked sausages (I will divide these and freeze 2 of them for future meals), chips and cheese balls (huge container and bag) as treats, specialty cheeses (again treats), huge boxes of Jeff's favorite cereal, and more.  

~Jeff and I had agreed that our trip to Montana was our Christmas gift to each other, but I still wanted to get him something small to open on Christmas morning.  I bought Lindt dark chocolate bars in 80%, 85% and 90% dark chocolate for him to try to see which is his favorite.  He loves dark chocolate, so I thought this would be a huge hit with him.

~Speaking of chocolate, my amazing Uncle Gary and Aunt April once again sent us a large box of Esther Price chocolates for Christmas.

~I made Crescent Roll Calzones for dinner on Wednesday night.  They were so easy to make and Jeff loved them.  He took the last one to work for his lunch on Thursday.  I had leftover pizza sauce that I will use in another upcoming meal.

~My mother needed new almond colored switch plates and dimmer switches.  She could not find them anywhere in her area.  Jeff was able to order some for her through his connections at his job.  I know she will be thrilled to get them and this will be a "just because" gift from us to her.

~I had found mixed nuts in shells on sale so I got some and put them out along with a nut cracker and nut picks.  I remember my grandparents always had these out at Christmas time and it was so much fun to crack those nuts and eat them.

~Christmas music has been filling home via YouTube.  Christmas candles have also been lit at night to further that warm and cozy feeling.

~I changed out some of the Fall themed pictures for Winter themed ones and also added some Christmas /Winter themed throws and Christmas pillow shams that my mother made on out pillows.

~I called my mother on Friday morning to chat and tell her that Jeff had found those switched at one of their other stores.  He had mentioned that there were a few more in stock there, but that was it.  My mother wants him to buy up all they have and send them to her so she has them on hand.  They are not being made anymore from what Jeff and my mom have seen, so when they are gone, they are gone.  I sent a text to Jeff telling him to order them all!

~My mother also told me about a former student of her's who bought some old books and noticed in one of the little children's books that it had an inscription that said "To Debbie from Lynn".  My name is Debbie and my mom's name is Lynn.  She got ahold of my mom and sent it to her thinking it must have been one of the ones my mother had sold years ago before moving to Montana.  My mom thought it was odd that she would have signed it Lynn, but upon further inspection realized that it was a Christmas gift to me from my old babysitter when we lived in California before moving to Hawaii when I was 3 years old!  How cool is that?  Mom is sending it to me. 😀

~We have a deep freeze and snow coming so I harvested the Swiss chard, some green onions and some kale from the garden. I cut up and froze most of the green onions and I used the kale as part of dinner Friday night.

~With Winter and the Christmas season here, I swapped out some of my regular coffee mugs for my Winter and Christmas themed ones.  There is just something "cozy" about having Christmas and Winter themed mugs this time of year to drink my coffee, tea, hot cocoa, spiced cider and hot mulled wine out of.  It really is the little things that can make life more special.

~We are still having tomatoes that we harvested when they were green ripening.  Friday I used several on Avocado Toast for lunch.  It was so yummy!

~Jeff called and told me he was able to get an appointment to have his knee checked (he is way overdue to have his knee replacement checked) half an hour after we have our Covid boosters.  The offices where we need to be for both share the same lobby and are next to each other.  I will get my labs done before we get our shots.  I am so glad we can combine them all together on the same day and back to back since they are all in the same complex.

~Jeff got a great deal on some materials from work.  He will definitely be using them to build things for us and our kids.

~I have really enjoyed going through my Christmas books and getting new ideas for decorating, crafts and recipes.

   

   I should probably wrap this post up and actually get it up online.  The sun is starting to get lower in the sky and I will have to turn on some lights here in the house soon.  Praying that everyone who reads this has a wonderful weekend!