Thank You All and Some Frugal Doings Lately

 

   I wanted to thank all of you who have reached out to me and have been keeping our family in your prayers.  It really means the world to me to know that we have prayers and good thoughts coming our way.   ((((((((HUGS))))))  I did finally get to chat with my sister, which just helped relieve some of the stress there.  The news was not good health wise, but we are praying she gets through this and she is one determined lady, so if anyone can beat it, she can!  We laid Carl to rest on Saturday and his service was full of love, laughter, shared memories and yes, some tears too.  They showed a slide show of his life and I was amazed at how much Heather's brother's 2 youngest sons look like their great grampa Carl at the same ages!  Joby, the youngest of the boys was just tickled when I told him that. 😊  I have not heard from my friend recently, but I heard from a mutual friend that she has accepted the Lord as her Saviour, and I pray that is true.  The other situation has to deal with my husband's family, and it is still not something that we want to be dragged into, so we have opted to just continue to stay out of it.  There is nothing we can do anyway and we do not need or want the stress.  We have too many good things in our lives and don't want to be dragged down by the bad.  Now onto some of the frugal doings lately...

~I stopped at the thrift store and was able to get some shirts for .50 each on their discount rack.  I also picked up a brand new purse there for $5 that I had seen previously at Marshalls for $80 on sale. In addition to that, I found a lovely glass bottle with a lid that I can store my homemade vanilla in.  I did pick up a few other odds and ends there but only ended up paying $13 for everything.

~The Dollar had shirts for $1.25 each, all meat chili, pesto, and large tubes of toothpaste.  I have been stocking up on things that we need.  They also had my favorite large bottles of shampoo and conditioner in once more.

~Grocery Outlet had turkey bacon on sale for .99 a package (I got 4 and froze them), and ricotta cheese for $1.49 a container.  They also had large packages of string cheese at buy one for $4.99 and get the other one free.

~I made some banana peel fertilizer.

~Most of the laundry was hung out on the line to dry.

~The tomato plants that I grew in the greenhouse were all transferred out into the garden.

~I made a nice lasagna without mozzarella cheese to save money.  I also added finely chopped spinach from the garden to the ricotta cheese along with some seasoning.  I also omitted the egg in the ricotta cheese mixture.  It still came out amazing and all the flavors were there.

~I had some leftover hot dog buns that I buttered, added some garlic salt to and set under the broiler.  It made for nice "bread sticks" to go with out lasagna.

~For Father's Day, we bought tickets to go see the new Top Gun movie at the more "posh" theater with the reclining seats.  We were able to use the senior pricing, which is even cheaper that the matinee ticket prices.  Yes, this was a splurge, but we only go to the theater once a year or less on average.  We LOVED the movie!

~Jeff and I stopped to pick up a few grocery items at Winco before heading home after the movie.  Milk has doubled in price! 😟 We will definitely be cutting back on our milk consumption in this house.

~I baked 2 loaves of homemade bread on Monday 6/20.

~I made a veggie and Spam (don't judge LOL!  I grew up in Hawaii) lo mien dish for dinner.  I used some produce from the garden that I needed to use up in it.  Huge hit with Jeff and we had leftovers.

~My sister Leonie and I had a wonderful and long visit over the internet filled with laughter, shared memories and some serious issues also.  We may be separated by miles of land and a HUGE ocean, but we remain close at heart. It warmed my heart to see her doing so well.  She has been struggling with her health again and had me very worried.  On another note, she shared with me that they are seeing the same kinds of inflation, food shortages, and political turmoil that we are here.

~It got hot all of a sudden and we were not prepared for it.  Jeff had not been able to get to getting our swamp cooler up and running when the heat first hit.  I got out an oscillating fan and set it up in the living room next to where I sit.  It was able to keep me cool enough so that I did not get sick.  I cannot regulate my body temperature on my own so I can get overheated and really sick from it quickly.

~The laundry was hung out on the line to dry. On my way back to the house, a rather large snake slithered out in front of me.  This is why I wear shoes in the garden now!  YIKES!

~Jeff finally got the swamp cooler up and running just in time for the 90 heat.  Thank you Jesus!  

~We ended up having to trim the bottom half of the branches on our cherry tree off since it got hit with a fast spreading fungal disease.  It was taking out all the cherries, as well as the leaves.  I think we were able to save the top half of the tree, so we should still get some cherries off it.

~Salads, salads and more salads!  I am trying my best to keep up with all the lettuce that the garden is producing before it goes to bolt in the heat.  I am also making cold pasta salads, which taste amazing on hot days.  Last night we had another taco salad and today we are having a tuna pasta salad since the temperature is supposed to get to 91F today.

~I'm trying to get all my daily chores done either in the early morning or in the late evening when it is cooler.  I got bread made, croutons made and the pasta salad made, along with harvesting lettuce from the garden and getting laundry done and hung out to dry this morning.

~I got more sugar bought and stored in the free bakery buckets.

~Jeff worked on his car and got the oil all changed out.  We also bought some extra engine oil at Walmart before the prices go any higher or we can't find it anymore.  Oil was in very short supply there.

~Steven and I stopped to see the bears at WSU when we were in town doing some shopping last week.  He loved it!  He even donated some of his own money to help feed the bears.  That just touched my Grammie heart so much!

~We were able to facetime with Josh, Lauren and Tate.  Tate kept asking for G-pa by name until Jeff came in from the garden and he got to see him.  Tate is also working on trying to say Grammie, but so far all we have is "G".

~I was able to see Bradley and Isaiah and give them big hugs.  We have to plan a sleepover with them soon!

   

   Well, that is about it for now.  I need to get the croutons out of the oven before they burn and I think I will call it a day work wise until it is time to get the laundry off the line later and get the gardens watered tonight.  I may even take a nap since I got up so early this morning to beat the heat.  Be blessed all and thank you once again...you are all so kind!