Frugal Friday Wrap Up 6/26/25

~I made a strawberry/rhubarb compote with fruit from our garden.

~I froze some chopped up rhubarb to use later.

~More Sourdough discard crackers were made.  This time I mixed in some Monterey jack cheese.   It was a huge hit with both Jeff and I.

~While looking at the reorder date of a supplement that we have for our dog Maggie, I noticed that I had some credits that I could apply to my order making it completely free!   What a blessing that is when we are only living on Jeff's Social Security at the moment.

~We went to Grocery Outlet for their produce sale.  We got a bag of avocadoes for $2.50, 3 cantaloupes for $2 each and a 5 pound bag of apples for $4.99.  I am trying to up our fruit and veggie intake.

~I made cheese tortellini for dinner.  I love a good pesto sauce, but Jeff is not so keen on it.  I decided to make a pesto alfredo sauce, which toned down the basil flavor to the point where my husband actually said it was good.  WIN!

~More strawberries were picked.

~I made some comfrey oil to use on sore joints and muscles.

~One of the things I treasure and go back to read time after time is a binder I put together with Laine's Letters.  I am so inspired after reading those letters from all years ago.

~Jeff started physical therapy twice a week.  He also had a doctor's appointment.  All of these were 48-mile round trips.  The cost of the additional runs into town have taken another bite out of our budget.  I am trying to make sure we combine errands if at all possible and am working with the physical therapy office to try and get the doctor's appointment and the second physical therapy session on the same morning.

~Social Security added some money to my upcoming checks since I could get more based on what Jeff has made on his.

~The raspberries are starting to ripen, so I have been enjoying eating them.

~This week I seeded in some New Zealand Spinach to my front raised bed garden.

~Jeff grilled up some smoked Polish sausages for us.

~Jeff and I decided to go and donate some things to Goodwill.  We stopped at Hope thrift store first and found a large wood wine rack that holds 30 bottles of wine for $4.99.  This will allow me to keep all my wine in one wine rack instead of 2 wine racks plus a box.  Jeff also found a nice pop-up shade structure for $30.00.  We had been looking for one to ad to our camping stuff so we can have a shade right outside of our pop-up tent trailer. I found a book on plant propagation for $2.99.  This is something that I wanted to learn more about.  At Goodwill I found a nice Tupperware container, some gorgeous plates and more books.

~I divided up a pound and a half of hamburger meat and used 2/3 of it for a Teriyaki meatloaf that I served with rice and corn.  The other 1/3 was made into taco meat that I used in a big taco one night for dinner. The salad included lettuce and radishes from our garden in it.

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 06/20/25

   It has turned out to be another busy week.  I had tried to keep things calm and limited trips out of town, but that was not to be.  We did stay home over the weekend and that was a much-needed break from all that had happened the previous week.   Jeff just wanted a quiet day at home for Father's Day, so that is what we did.  I do believe there were naps involved both over the weekend and during the week for both of us. Four different doctors' appointments of four different days for Jeff, having Steven here Friday, going to get our concealed carry permits, still attempting to get Jeff's enhanced driver's license, and doing some grocery shopping again wore me out.  Did I mention that all but three of these things required us to drive to other towns?  Then there is also the gardening to make sure we take care of.  At least Jeff is able to help with some of that once again, which is lovely!

   Onto the Frugal Doings:

~I did a sheet-pan dinner with 5 Italian Sausages along with a cut up onion and a large cut up orange pepper seasoned with salt pepper and Italian seasonings.  I served these on hot dog buns.  YUM!  

~I took the 1 leftover sausage, along with the leftover onions and peppers and turned them into dinner for Sunday.  I cut up everything and then added it to frozen cheese ravioli and pasta sauce, which I baked in the oven covered at 425F for an hour.  I then added some Pecorino cheese, along with Monterey Jack Cheese (because I was too lazy to go and get the froze block of Mozzarella cheese out of the freezer and deal with all that) right before serving, stirred some of it in and also topped it with some and set it under broil.  These made lots of leftovers.  I also served a spinach salad (with spinach from our garden) with it.

~I made a HUGE salad with some Romaine from the store, along with spinach, other types of lettuce, and radishes from our garden.  Jeff and I each customized our salads with various dressings, croutons, and other add ins.  There were leftovers which made for a nice side salad later in the week.

~I pulled all the radishes and got those washed and put in the refrigerator for snacking and salad making.  I also pulled all the spinach out since it was just starting to bolt.  I made a delicious spinach and strawberry salad for me with some of it, along with strawberries from the garden.  I also picked more strawberries throughout the week for snacking on.

~I got the tomato plants all staked up.  I also found a few volunteer ones that I will add to other areas in the garden.

~The cucumbers and summer squash plants, that I started in the greenhouse from seed, were all put into the garden.

~I made more Hummingbird food for our tiny, feathered friends.  They bring me so much joy! :)

~We had a lovely chat with my parents over the weekend via Facebook.  They were both looking really good and it was an easy and much needed one.  My parents are such a great and loving support for all of us.

~Jeff got more shade cloth put up over the roof of our greenhouse so the plants inside did not get sunburned and roasted.  Luckily, we still had some on hand, so we did not have to go out and buy more.

~Homemade lemon thyme and chive butters were made with herbs from the garden and frozen for future use.

~I scraped out the bowls I made the homemade herb butters in and spread that on tangy slices of sourdough bread.  

~I got my sourdough starter fed again and used the discard to make some long fermentation cheese crackers.

~Jeff helped me get the homemade blackberry vodka and raspberry gin into proper bottles instead of canning jars.  This freed up room in my refrigerator also.

~I made some homemade scrapple.  It is one of our favorites and is a very frugal.  We can make 3 meals out of it.

   Steven spent Friday with us once again.  Jaysn blessed us with donuts when he dropped Steven off in the morning. Steven helped us tremendously with the garden.  He planted cucumbers with me and I planted the squash.  We had some leftover cucumber plants which Steven took next door to his beloved Auntie Shannon.  He helped harvest more strawberries and rhubarb.  Later in the evening, Chris stopped by on his way to work the Sprint Boat races the following day.  We sent him off with some cucumber plants (that I had promised him), a nice hoodie that I found at Goodwill that I thought he would like (he did!), and something to drink on the drive over to where he would be working the next day.  

   As you can see, it has been a busy week for us.  Be blessed all!

The Final Goodbye and Family Coming Together

 

   This past weekend, family started to come into town for the final goodbye service for my husband's parents and also to scatter the ashes of his Aunt Helen, whom we were so blessed to have in our lives for the last chapter of her life.  Jeff's cousin Mike, his wife Felica and their son Jacob, along with their foster baby girl got her first.  Jeff and I had dinner and then went back to their hotel to visit on Saturday night.  We had a wonderful time with them and I got lots of baby snuggle time. :)  Sunday late afternoon, Josh arrived at our son Chris' home where he spent the night.  We did not see him until the following day because we were really encouraging him to spend time with his brothers.  We had seen him down in Utah a couple of months ago, but it had been awhile since he saw his brothers.  He spent that Monday night with Jaysn and Rachel.  All of the grandboys loved being able to play with their "funcle" (fun uncle) again. ;)  Then early Tuesday, he was off again on a 10-hour motorcycle ride back down to Utah.  Jeff's Aunt Jane and cousin Steve arrived Monday morning for the services.  It was lovely to see them again and we were able to catch up. We had breakfast with them Tuesday before they left to return to the coast and it was very nice.

   Monday's service for Jeff's parents, a later his aunt, was a hot one.  The temperatures were in the low to mid 90's and a lot of us ended up getting sunburned.  Jeff's sister planned the service and luckily her hubby Matt put up a nice shade tent for us.  There were so many of us there though that not everyone fit under it.  Our boys made sure that Jeff and I, along with Bradley and Isaiah and the baby were under the tent.  Bradley and Isaiah took turns holding the baby at the service and I think it helped distract them a bit.  Our niece Ella was there, and we had a really nice visit with her and with Matt.  Jeff's Aunt Jane was having a rough time since she was the last survivor out of her siblings.  Monday she was saying the final goodbye to both her sisters and to her brother-in-law. Jeff's older brother did not come down for either service.  He had his own reasons, and we will just leave it at that. Jeff's parents' ashes were buried in the Gilbertson family plot.  The service itself was short and all of us, with the exception of Jeff's sister, BIL and our niece Ella, headed up the mountain to spread Aunt Helen's ashes, as she has wanted done.

   Jeff's maternal grandparents had their ashes spread years ago up on Moscow Mountain overlooking the beautiful rolling hills of the Palouse.  Aunt Helen had told us that is where she wanted her ashes to be also.  Chris picked out a place that had a gorgeous vista of the Palouse, including being able to see our little town off in the distance.  Chris scattered the ashes as Felica documented the exact spot where Helen's ashes were. Aunt Jane wanted her ashes scattered in the same spot, so she could be with her baby sister and her parents, up on the mountain. Jeff was not able to scatter the ashes because he had knee surgery 2 1/2 weeks prior and is still in a brace holding his knee in place.  After we were done, we headed back down the mountain and to Jaysn and Rachel's home.  Jeff and I bought pizza for everyone and Jaysn and Rachel provided sodas and seltzers.  We all had some much needed family time and Aunt Jane loved seeing our boys and being able to visit with them.  Us girls had a great time visiting and so did the guys.  Bradley, Isaiah, Steven and Jacob played video games and it was so nice to see the younger cousins all together and becoming friends.  As everyone started leaving, we hugged each other tight, said I love You's and even made some future plans together.  The hardest goodbye was hugging Josh and knowing that it could be the last shared hug if he has to deploy early.  With the way that things are going in the Middle East, that could come soon, and my momma's heart is not handling it well.  He has been there before, but not in the direct danger zone.  This time he very well might be.

   Jeff and I still remain exhausted from it all.  Emotionally, it was hard in some ways, but then wonderful in others.  Spending time with Jeff's Aunt Jane, cousins Mike and Felica, and Steve, along with Jacob and the baby, and off course all our kids and the three oldest grandkids, was very sweet.  I think Jeff really needs his cousins, whom he has a good relationship with, as do I.  He and his siblings are not in each other's lives and that seems to be a mutual agreement at this point.  Jeff is very much loved by his aunt, cousins, our kids, grandkids and my side of the family.  My brothers love their "big brother", and my parents consider him their own son.  My aunts, uncles and cousins all love him too.  What can I say, my husband is a very kind, compassionate, caring and loving man who would do anything for those he loves.  I think I will keep him. ;)