Frugal Friday Wrap Up 8/19/22

   Since I have been "absent" for awhile, this post will be about some of the frugal doings over the past few weeks that I did not share.  I hope no one minds. 😉 

~Jeff defrosted our big upright freezer and we went through it.  I found so many things in there that got shoved to the back.  I pulled out rhubarb (I got none fresh out of my garden this year so to find a huge stash from last year was a blessing), pulled BBQed chicken, homemade mac and cheese, homemade applesauce, some TV dinners and a few other items to use for meals this week.

~The past few weeks I have been trying my best to make our food stretch.  I've made homemade chicken noodle soup after we ate off a rotisserie chicken for a few meals, smoke sausage jambalaya with leftover smoked sausages from a previous meal, cheeseburger casserole, and a few other yummy dishes.

~I finally had enough summer squash at one time to make my favorite squash casserole.

~The potatoes we grew were dug up and cured.  We had some for a meal and still have more for future meals.  They were small but so good!

~The Walla Walla Sweet onions were all harvested and are now curing on the back porch.  They are so good!

~Several gallons of raspberries have been harvested and frozen along with many that we eaten fresh and shared with others.

~My blueberries have been doing better this year than any previous year.

~I'm seed saving kale and pea seeds.

~Our tomato plants have been keeping us in tomatoes!

~I've hung out the laundry to dry on the line a lot.

~Jeff brought home a heavy-duty garden cart that was missing the hardware...they were going to throw it out at work and gave it to him instead.  He knew I had always wanted one.  He was able to build it using almost all with hardware he had on hand.  I am so tickled to finally have one to haul garden waste and produce around the garden.  I think it is going to be great for hauling wood pellets for our pellet stove too.

~Shannon ( hanai sister) went to the Oregon coast and brough me back some fresh saltwater taffy as a gift.  It is so yummy!

~Jeff and I have been watching movies here at home and making popcorn to have with it.  

~We "shook the pig"!  We have a huge piggy bank that is the size of a medium sized dog that sits in our living room.  We routinely put spare change in Preston and calling it feeding the pig.  Our grandson Steven loves to do this with Jeff's spare change that he leaves ut for him to find when he comes here.  Well we had over $50 in change so we rolled it all up in coin wrappers and took it into the bank and traded it for much lighter to carry paper bills.😉 We at first were going to use it to go to the movies, but decided to continue to pick up things that we needed for our home and to further stock our pantry.  I found boneless, skinless chicken breasts marked down and got the family packs for under $5 each.  I divided up each pack and froze 9 of the breasts individually and used one that evening as part of our meal.  It has been a long time since I have been able to find a good deal on chicken and would have bought more packages, but there was a limit of 2 per person.

~We went to some yard sales and I found brand new with tags outfits for our granddaughter Peyton.  Yes, I realize she has not even been born yet, but Grammie has got her "shop on" when it comes to finally getting a granddaughter.  LOL!

~I also bought clothes for Steven at Walmart and Bradley and Isaiah each picked something out at Ross (on sale of course) for themselves.  They are at that age now where they have very specific tastes in clothing.

~We are continuing to listen to what the grandboys want and have already bought some of those items for them for Christmas.  We shop way ahead of time when we can find a great deal on something.

~Steven came this week to stay with me for two days.  He helped me with some projects around the house and we spent lots of time playing and just enjoying each others company.  He was thrilled when I gave him a large gallon sized Ziplock bag of brand new pencils with cool designs to use for school.  He is starting Kindergarten at the end of this month!  

~I made some chocolate pudding since we are having another heat wave and I wanted something cool for dessert.  Jeff was really happy about that.

~The flea beetles are attacking my garden and seem to prefer the kale.  I am hoping they will just get their fill of the kale and leave the rest alone.  Flea beetles only attack our gardens when we are in a drought situation so I knew that they would show up at some point.  This has put the kibosh on planting any more leafy Fall crops until the flea beetles have left.

~I trimmed my bangs.

      This Summer has just flown by and it has been a doozy.  From Jeff's mom dying (and all the family drama that brought with it), certain crop failures in the garden, battling pests, enjoying time with my Steven 2 days a week (exhausting but absolutely wonderful), huge mix ups with transferring my prescriptions to a Walmart in another town (3 months of trying to get everything straightened out), the heat outside taking me down multiple times, etc.. I'm sad my time with having Steven here weekly is coming to a close and that I did not see my oldest two grandsons, Bradley and Isaiah, nearly enough.  I had planned on having a backyard campout with the grandkids, but trying to figure out everyone's busy schedule has made that impossible.  Hopefully I can still make it happen in the early Fall...that will be fun!  Be blessed!