Frugal Friday Wrap Up 2/3/23

 

   It has been a busy week at our home.  Lots of cleaning, purging, and spending precious time with the oldest 3 grandboys, Bradley, Isaiah and Steven.  We got caught up with Josh, Lauren and the kids via Facetime and Tate has now entered the crazy two year old antics stage of life.  He really does make me laugh!  Peyton is growing like crazy and even smiled at me. 😍 Now onto the frugal doings...

Saturday:

~Jeff and I spent quite a bit of time cleaning out some things in our guest bedroom and started a big donate pile. To be honest, Jeff did most of it and I just supervised and carried things to the donate pile. I was in so much pain all over my body that even moving hurt.

~We combined errands later in the day and dropped off the things we had in the donate pile to Goodwill.  I did NOT go into the actual store part itself because I know that the temptation would be far too great for me to find something I liked and I do no need anything at the moment.

~I wish I had brought my cane, but I forgot it at home, so I just powered through and prayed that my hips, legs and back would hold out while we got everything else done.  Note to self, put the cane back into the car on Monday!

~We stopped at the Dollar Tree to pick up some specific items.  I got hair spray, body powder for Jeff (they had the Arm and Hammer brand), pineapple, 5 packs of garden pots, 4 packages of seeds, and stayed under my self imposed budget of $20 including tax.

~Walmart was another stop where we picked up a few grocery items.  We also compared prices on cat scratching pads and cat food. We opted not to get any scratching pads there and I am glad we didn't.

~Winco was the winner for prices on scratching pads!  I am so glad we waited.  We picked up a few grocery items there also and we shocked at how quickly some of the prices on things are continuing to go up.  We also ran into one of our hanai daughters and shared hugs.  I love when that happens!

~Our last stop for the afternoon/evening was by far my favorite.  Our grandsons, along with some of our "bonus grandkids" (cousins and close friends of our oldest grandsons) had a dance recital.  Rachel and Steven joined us there and we got some snuggle time with Steven, which was much needed.  Bradley, Isaiah, the bonus grands and all the kids did so well and it was a fun and wonderful evening!  We got to see people that we had not seen in ages, so that made it even more special.

~After the recital, we exchanged things we had for Chris and family with a box of old books that they brought home from my mother for me.  I gave Isaiah a package of sunflower seeds since he loves to grow them and he told me all about his plans to make a sunflower "house" this coming summer.  That kid just makes me smile with his love of gardening!  We also gave Chris some ammo that we had to either give to someone that in the family that could use it or, if no one needed it to sell it.  We told him to keep whatever money he got out of it (since no one needed it in the extended family) and use it towards the cost of chicken feed.  He was very appreciative.

~Once we got home, we had some hot cocoa to warm us up (Christmas gift from Heather) and I started going through the books.  Some were over 100 years olds including works by Dickens.  One of the other books was given to my grandmother in 1928 for Christmas by her school when she was in 8th grade.  I am so glad there was that inscription in it!  Some of the other books were ones that I read as a child when staying at my grandmother's house and they brought back wonderful wonderful memories for me! Yet another was a book of Hawaiian music from long ago.  I know that some of the songs were ones that I remember and others are ones that I had never heard before.  That is a special treasure also!

Sunday:

~This day found me totally exhausted and all "peopled" out.  Too much stimulation, including totally awesome things like recitals, tends to zap my energy levels, so I spent a good part of the day in bed.

~I cut Jeff's hair in the afternoon.  Mine will have to wait since I needed to rest again after that.  Life with Fibromyalgia is not a fun one.

~Dinner was leftovers since that is all I could manage.

Monday:

~After a fitful night full of nightmares that mentally drained me, I got up, fed our outdoor kitty Ginny, and had some coffee before getting started on my day.  It was a two cup kind of day and I finished off the pot.

~I washed the sheets and towels in hot water.  I combine the two loads for washing so I only use the hot water wash cycle once during the week and them separate the load into two when I put them through the dryer during this time of the year.  I would hang them out, but it is far too cold (12F) to do that.

~I threw 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts into the small crockpot and then topped it with a jar of peach salsa that I had in the pantry and needed to be used up.

~Leftover chicken salad was what I had for brunch.

~Having a multitude of purses comes in handy since I love to switch them out.  It just makes me happy!  Today was a switch out day.

~While putting away the books that my mother sent over, I came across my grandmother's childhood bible given to her at Christmas of 1921!  Oh my goodness, what a treasure!  It has pictures that were taken at the different places mentioned in the bible in the early 1900's.  It was amazing to see what those places looked like then and compare them to what it looks like now.

Tuesday:

~Jeff was off from work so he got busy and fixed our leaking dishwasher.  Hubby for the win!

~I put some ingredients to make sourdough bread in the bread maker, which then decided not to work.  I quickly got the ingredients out of the bread maker pan and into the mixing bowl.  I got the dough all mixed and kneaded, let it rise for about 1 1/2 hours, and then baked it at 400F for 35 minutes.  It was really good.

~I made a double batch of our favorite cheese tortellini and pesto sauce.  I started the sauce off by sautéing some cherry tomatoes from our garden that I had frozen with a little freshly cracked black pepper and a dash of salt.  I then added some diced frozen red and yellow peppers that I got on sale in the Summer, cut up and froze and bagged up into 1 cup servings.  When that was nicely cooked up, I added a small jar of basil pesto sauce, warmed that all up and then added the cooked cheese tortellini.  Jeff and I had half of it for a late lunch and the other half will make two meals for me later in the week for a lunch and a dinner when he is at his bowling league.

~We sorted through more stuff and got things bagged up and ready to donate.

~I found some books in my "Grammie's library" that I thought Bradley might enjoy and set those out for him.

~I got the sheets off the guest bed and got them all washed up.  Jeff put two featherbeds on the guest bed to see if that would make it more comfortable since it is a rather firm bed and I seem to be the only one in the family that will use it for that reason. We shall see if that works.  If not, we will have to invest in a good pillow top mattress cover.  Note: It worked wonderfully!

~While going through the books in my "library" here at home, I found some Country Woman magazines that I had bought at the thrift store to read over the Winter months.  I got those all put on my side table here in the living room for me to enjoy.

~Jeff made us grilled cheese sandwiches on some of the sourdough bread that I had baked earlier in the day.  It was really good and nice "comfort food" on a snowy evening.

~I emptied out a milk crate that I had been using in the pantry and gave it to Jeff to use in our chest freezer.  That is a project for a future weekend.

~Jeff put a sign that he bought me years ago that says "I love you to the moon and back" up on the wall in the living room.  It makes me smile whenever I look at it.

Wednesday:

~I went over the grocery store ads for the week and uploaded some digital coupons onto my Safeway card.  To be honest, other than one local grocery store having a sale on chicken, there are not many good deals to be had.

~After over doing it yesterday, I gave myself permission to take things slow and easy today.  I am not feeling guilty for doing this anymore and that is a good thing.

~I've been planning out my garden and trying to find some tips on YouTube to make things easier and more productive. The Elliot Homestead has some great tips and I love that YouTube channel anyway.  She is a joy to watch.

~Jeff called to let me know that he would be a bit late coming home.  I decided that we would just have leftover peach salsa chicken for dinner since he did not take any of that for lunch today.  I have some pears that need to be used ASAP, so we will have that as a side dish.  I think I will also add some fresh spinach to each of the burritos for extra nutrients.

~I called my mom and had a nice visit with her and my brother Fritz.  It was nice to catch up and get some good news on my uncle who is battling cancer along with my aunt.  My mother is going to check on my other aunt and uncle who are also battling cancer and get back to me on that with more news on them.  All of them are in their 80's now (as are my parents) and sadly things are happening that are beyond our control health wise.  Please keep them in your prayers if you are so inclined.  Thank you.

Thursday:

~I got a call from Rachel telling me that Steven's school was evacuated due to smoke and there not being heat in the building.  She asked if he could come here for the rest of the day.  Of course I said yes! It turned out that a fan engine overheated sending smoke into the school.  They got it fixed so school is back on for tomorrow.

~I made two more loaves of bread.

~Steven and I made cookies.  He chose the sprinkles to put on them and I had him take them home with him.

~He and I played games and he drew out the recipe for making the cookies in pictures.  He is one smart little boy.

~Poor Steven is still dealing with the after effects of having RSV.  He kept coughing and ended up with that deep seal cough, which in turn led to him throwing up multiple times.  Poor bubby was trying to take care of himself because he told me he did not want to get me sick.  I let him know that my job is to take care of him, not him take care of me and he ended up cuddling with me for the rest of the time.  He even asked me later "what if I throw up on your shirt?"  I told him then I would wash it, no big deal.  He started running a low grade fever so Rachel is going to try and get him back into the doctor.

~We watched lots of Bluey and Micky Mouse Club House.

~I trimmed my bangs.  I need a full haircut but the bangs were bugging me really badly, so they got a trim for the time being.

~We had a new bathtub play kit with all kinds of fun instruments for little ones.  I had bought a bunch of these kits on clearance years ago as gifts.  Jeff took the last one to our friend Dee (whom he works with) for her grandbabies.  She was so touched and thrilled because she had all the grandbabies over at her house that night.  I consider Dee "family" and have known her for years.

Friday:

~Exhausted Grammie here so I slept in.  It felt good to be able to give myself the permission to do so with no guilt whatsoever. 

~I finish off the sourdough bread for a late breakfast.  It made for 3 slices of toast.  YUMMY!

~Since it was a gloomy day outside, I put on some uplifting music to help bring a smile to my face and a lightness to my heart.  Music makes a huge difference for me.  Anything by Tim Janis on YouTube does the trick and the videos that go along with his music are simply stunning.

~I made a run down to the post office and to the library.  Sarah, our librarian, had 2 movies waiting for me. :)

~While looking through the grocery ads, I saw a Lemon Capellini Salad that caught my eye.  I looked up the recipe for it and definitely will be trying to make it when my garden is producing the tomatoes and basil needed for it.  Cold Lemon Capellini Salad Recipe (mashed.com)

~I realized that I was getting a bit light headed while driving right here in our little town.  I came straight home (about a 5 block drive) and had some yogurt.  That helped my blood sugar levels get back to normal.

~Jeff picked up some boneless, skinless chicken breast that were on sale, limit of 2 family packs.  I used one of the chicken breasts, cut in half, for a simple dinner and butter basted chicken breasts, corn bread stuffing, pear slices.  I repackaged the rest of the chicken breasts individually in Ziplock bags and then put those bags in another larger bag and froze them to use in future meals.

   I do hope that everyone is stocking up on sale items and other essentials when you can find them.  I've noticed a huge increase in the cost of things.  My creamer has gone up another full dollar since the last time I bought it.  Don't even get me started on the price of coffee.  I am so glad we stocked up when we found a terrific sale!  Anyone else noticing the prices increasing at an alarming rate?