I Took Some Time Off

 

   Yes, I took some time off.  It has been another busy season in our lives.  In addition to dealing with all the garden produce, we were enjoying some much-needed time with family.

   Josh, Lauren, Tate and Peyton came for a visit and it was the highlight of our Summer.  Josh timed their visit to be able to spend his and Chris's birthday together.  This is a big deal for the two of them, being twins and all.  That bond is so very strong.  It was wonderful to see the grandkids all playing together and for the 2 youngest to have a sleepover with their oldest cousins while their parents got to go to a WSU football game. Another day we all spent part of the day on the river and some of us went fishing or just for boat rides in Chris's boat.  Tate caught a fish with Isaiah, Chris, Josh and I cheering him on in the boat!  Peyton got to drive the boat and was thrilled to bits.  Steven played keep away in the river with his uncles and older cousins.  That boy has turned into a fish!  Bradley amazed his cousins, along with his aunts and uncles, with his agility and acrobatic skills and strength.  One afternoon I took my 3 beautiful girls out to happy hour at Applebee's while Jeff took the guys and the grandkids bowling.  This was our gift to all of them.  We want to build memories with all of them.  There was lots of good food, laughter, love and family bonding as we celebrated Chris and Josh's birthday along with Jeff's birthday, which is a few days after theirs'.  

   Lauren and the kids are now back in Utah and Josh has deployed to Japan for about 6 months.  Before he left, he got great news!  They had put in a request for their next duty station to be Germany and they got it!  They wanted so badly to be stationed somewhere in Europe so that Lauren and the kids could experience living there and so that they could travel around Europe seeing so many wonderful places and soak in the history of it all.  It is going to be a great adventure for them all as Josh has been stationed at this same base in the past and had the time of his life exploring Europe.  Jaysn had even made a trip over there to see his brother at the time and experience Europe for himself.  Josh was a great host and thoroughly enjoyed showing his big brother around, along with being able to spend time with him.

   With the start of the school year, it has been harder to spend time with our kids and grandkids here.  We have been squeezing it in when we can coordinate it.  Yesterday we popped in to see Heather and the boys (Chris was at a training) since we were in the area having a lunch date and hitting up a thrift store and antique store before that.  It was so good to see them and Isaiah sent us home with zucchini, a pumpkin and spaghetti squash from the garden and Heather gave us some eggs from their chickens. I felt like we hit the produce jackpot!  Tonight, we are going over to Jaysn and Rachel's to spend some time with them and Steven.  Rachel messaged me this morning and invited us over.  Of course, we said yes!  Jeff and I were just talking about how we wanted to make plans to spend some time with them and then this morning, we got their invitation for dinner. :)  

   Later this month, we will be heading over to Montana to see my parents and brother Fritz.  Mom and I are already planning on making some special treats together.  We have also invited our hanai son #5  Ben to come up for lunch while we are there since he lives at the lower part of the lake.  My parents love him, and he has been to their home a few times now.  They watched him grow up with our boys, so it has been a long relationship with them also.  We are so excited to see him before he heads to California for the cold weather months to play music gigs down there. This is our son who was on "The Voice" and was on Team Blake.  Ben really is a very talented musician and songwriter.  Yes, proud hanai momma here. ;)

   I suppose I should get myself together and get a few things done before we head out later for dinner with Jaysn, Rachel and my bubby Steven.  Jeff has been busy winterizing the swamp cooler and changing the oil in the car.  Me, I have been a slug up until now today.  Yep, typical for me after the busy but fun day we had yesterday.  It takes me at least day to recover from too much fun or from doing too much.  You should have seen me the week after Josh and family were here.  I spent the next week recovering since it was go, go, go the entire time they were here.  Do I regret it....not one single bit!  Be blessed!

   

Frugal Friday Wrap Up (including the past month) 11/1/24

 

      Thank you all again for your patience with me.  Lots and lots still going on dealing with Aunt Helen's death and the aftermath of all the legal stuff that we are still dealing with.  Now I know what you may be thinking...what does the picture above have to do with frugal living...well I will tell you.  Our son Chris is receiving an award for going above and beyond in helping evacuate people and coordinating saving lives in a recent fast-moving fire.  Since he is also a firefighter, he knew exactly what to do and how to coordinate agencies.  We are so very proud of him!  Now here is where the frugal living comes in.  Chris was homeschooled as many of you know.  We lived on a small single income for many years to make this possible.  It allowed all of our boys to get the best education possible and for them to pursue their individual interests.  Chris happened to love firefighting and being an EMT.  Fast forward to today, Chris and Heather are living on a single income (his), homeschooling their boys, both are volunteer EMTs for their community and Chris is also a volunteer firefighter.  Heather helps to bring in some "fun money" by selling delicious homemade treats.  It allows them the freedom to go fishing, hunting, hiking, camping and to travel to see family when time allows.  They grew a very productive garden this year and Heather blanched a froze lots and lots of beans.  They also had tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, and all kinds of other things.  Using well-rotted chicken poop, tilled into their garden, made things grown quickly.  The chicken poop was from their chickens.    Now that is what I call frugal and I could not be more proud of them.  Oh yes, Isaiah (our grandson #2) shot a deer the other night when he and Chris went out hunting.  More meat for all of the family!

   Now here are some of the things that I have been doing over the past month in no particular order:

~Steven and I went to an estate sale here in town and I found a beautiful brand-new tote bag with a watercolor picture of a hummingbird on it.  My mother loves hummingbirds and this will be part of her Christmas gift.

~Other finds from the state sale were two cookbooks, one a local community cookbook from 1983 that has recipes in it from so many of the people that welcomes us with open arms and hearts when we first moved here, and the other a sourdough cookbook.  My other fun find was a handmade broach with a beautiful slice of agate.

~I have been going to the thrift stores and finding Christmas and Fall decor for pennies on the dollar.  Some of my finds include 2 ceramic partridges, some high-end poinsettia garland, a cute straw deer that Steven absolutely loves, and some crystal vases along with a few Christmas mugs. I also picked up a bag of tennis balls for Maggie since she loves them and destroys them pretty quickly.

~I found a brand new with tags jacket for $5.99 and used a 20% off coupon to bring the price down even further.  I found out that it retails for $100.  Score!

~Jeff and I love lamb chops, but they are so expensive.  I found 3 packages marked at half price at Safeway.  I got all they had and repacked them with my Food Saver.  These will be delicious that coming holidays!  What a treat!  I also found ground beef on sale there for $2.97 a pound so I bought 3 pounds of it and repacked it for the freezer.

~The ice built up in our upright freezer and forced the door open.  Luckily we caught it and only lost a few things from the shelves on the door.  Jeff unpacked the whole freezer and defrosted it, the repacked it all.

~We have been enjoying pears and tomatoes that we grew as they ripen up in the house.  I am freezing lots of tomatoes too!

~Jeff and I have slowly been going through Helen's belongings and found lots of unopened health related products like mouthwash, dental flossing picks, toothbrushes, etc., that we are adding to our HBA cabinet.  It is hard to be going through her things as we still are mourning her.

~I'm still cherry picking the sales at the stores to stock up our pantry.

~We have been watching lots of movies lately thanks to Paramount, Disney, Peacock and YouTube. Have you seen the prices of movie tickets at the theater lately?  Even with our senior discount, we would still be paying a lot.  I'd rather be in my recliner at home watching them.

~Jeff and I both did a major purge of our clothing that we no longer use and donated it to Goodwill.  We shop there a lot so it is easy to just drop it off there and run into the store.  On one of those trips, I found an item that has been on my wish list for over 30 years.  I found a Fenton flow blue plate.  Luckily, they had just brought out a cart of new items and I snagged that and a tiny Victorian style ring box.  Right place at the right time I would say!

~Rachel's mom moved up closer to us all.  It was so nice to see her on Friday when I stopped by with Steven.  Steven had made her a turkey decoration earlier in the day at our house.  I am looking forward to spending more time with her.

~Jeff and I met with a court advocate who helped us fill out forms that we need to be able to access Helen's account so we can use that money towards her cremation. She also called some other advocates to help us figure out if we could get some financial assistance with Helen's cremation costs. Apparently, the county she died in will give you a loan, not a grant as we had been led to believe.  Jeff and I now have to foot the bill for the rest of the cost beyond what is in her account.  We are talking close to $2000.  UGH!  We will have to put it on our credit card and then pay that off in 3 payments with Jeff's checks from work.  If he was not still working part time, this would sink us financially.

~I trimmed my bangs as they were getting too long.

~Jeff and I have been trying to mostly eat out of our pantry and freezers.  There are times however that we still grab something to eat that is ready made from the grocery store.  It is still cheaper than going out to eat.

~Maggie has been a nervous wreck since she got home from the kennel.  I ordered her some CBD oil to see it that helps calm her down.  I feel so bad for her.  I think she may have thought that we were abandoning her.

   I think I will end this post here.  With all the stress of setting Helen's affairs, trying to get ready for the cold weather months, purging the house of so many things and the weather changes, my fibromyalgia and arthritis are acting up big time.  My sleep habits have been thrown into a tizzy also.  Not a good combination.  However, life must be lived to the fullest.  I have grandkids to love on, along with our kids, friends and other family members.  I'm looking forward to getting back into some kind of routine again and having more sleepovers here with the oldest three grandboys.  Steven spent Thursday night with us and it was so much fun!  There are also upcoming fishing trips with Chris who is buying a bigger boat from a friend.  I love to go fishing, so this will be a lot of fun for all of us!  

   Be blessed my friends and I pray that there will not be any more unrest or acting out in our country with the upcoming election this Tuesday.  We experienced first-hand some shady stuff in our county with the post office in Spokane processing our ballots, and sending them out, yet only a few made it to our town, ours's were not among those few.  Our county auditor has launched a full-on investigation with the postal service over this and we were able to get replacement ballots.  Much love to you all, be safe!

Yes, I am still here...

 

  We finally have Jeff's Aunt Helen all moved up and settled into her new home.  Her new care center sent down a lovely man named Jeff to transport her up in their van.  Jeff and I arrived about an hour before the big move to get her all packed up and reassure her that we were coming up to get her situated and to meet with the staff there.  Everyone who worked there greeted her by name from the time we arrived.  They all knew she was coming and were doing their very best to make her feel welcomed.  We got her unpacked and then met with her new social worker and signed a bunch of paperwork.  We also deposited some money into her account there and got her signed up for getting pampered with a new haircut.  I went over some things with her nurses too about her likes and dislikes.  We got set up to do Google Meet every Monday at 4 p.m. and that has been a blessing.  

   Two weeks later, we went up again to see her and surprised her with some new clothes for the cooler months.  I had great fun making sure that I coordinated her 2 new shirts and 2 new soft sweatshirts with a new cardigan so they could all mix and match.  I also took up the soft sweatpants and a nice pair of dressier pants for her.  Jeff painted her small shelf that she had in her home and we took it up and put it next to her bed.  I also surprised her with a new soft mauve colored coverlet for her bed  and a really fun purple throw blanket to cuddle up with.  She said she felt like a princess. 😊 I later told Jeff that I am now on the lookout for a tiara for her to complete the "princess" theme.  I think she will get a huge kick out of it.  We will be going back up within the next 2-3 weeks to see her again once she gets over her cold.  I feel much more reassured that she will be getting the care she needs there.

   After the past few months that we have had, I took a good look around our home and realized just how out of control the clutter has become and how much of a deep clean it needs.  I am trying to do a few small projects every week now and I can see that I am making some progress, although it is slow going.  I don't want to push myself or Jeff too much though because we are both trying to recover from the physical and mental toll everything has taken on us.  We both have been pushed beyond our energy and emotional limits and it has affected us.  Self-care is much needed as we try to heal and to finally get a chance to grieve the loss of my cousin and the deal with the losses that we are seeing as our dear Helen battles with dementia.  I hate seeing another loved one slip away slowly day by day as this horrible disease takes her away from us.   I know all too well what is coming having gone through this with our beloved Aunt Norma and Uncle Bob.

   Well Jeff just got home and I need to get our dinner ready and take care of our Maggie Mae who is dealing with an infection that needs twice daily cleaning and medications.  Be blessed my sweet friends.

 

   

   

Crawling Out of my Cave to Say "HI"

 

Homemade broccoli, potato and cheese soup, along with a nice glass of wine, sure hits the spot on a cold and wet evening.  The potatoes are some that we grew in our garden, the broccoli was marked way down, and the cheese was on sale.  The boxes you see in the background are holding some of the treasure we found at an estate sale last weekend.

   Yes, I am still here.  I have had to take a break and just take care of my mental health for a bit.  I have still been doing money saving things around the house while dealing with backed up kitchen sinks, being worried about friends and family members serious health issues, and living in a constant state of stress while my baby boy Josh is in the Middle East sandwiched between 2 countries that hate the United States and have been actively attacking our military bases in the area.  

   I've made bread, sourdough crackers, and made a serious effort to eat from our pantry, fridge and freezer for the most part.  Loads upon loads of laundry have been done and I have gone through my clothing so see if there is anything that I need since so many things do not fit me or that I really do not like anymore.  This has led to a search for flannel shirts that I can wear as is or over other shirts. I have also been seeking out fun and oversized sweatshirts that make me giggle because of what they say on them.  I've taken bags of clothing, shoes, and appliances I don't use anymore to the thrift stores and have gotten 20% off one item coupons for doing so.

   Jeff and I went to an estate sale and he found a rolling rack thingy to extend his table saw when he is using larger pieces of wood for building projects.  I found big pillar Christmas candles, Christmas ornaments including some from Hawaii, 2 seasons of McHale's Army, some other DVDs, some full slips for me (I have had a horrible time finding any), and some owl mugs and stuffed animals.  Jeff and I have really gotten into the whole Harry Potter series, which we can stream here, and I want to do some of kind of old worldy library theme for this Winter after Christmas.  I think it will be fun and cozy.

   We've slowly been purging things that we no longer use, including those items that hide in the shadows under the sink.  I love seeing the progress and the opening up of space under there.  I'm starting to use a better system to make sure I rotate our food in the pantry and so far it is working out well.  

   One of my childhood friends had open heart surgery this morning and they almost lost her a couple of times according to her mother who is there with her.  She had suffered a stroke a few years back and she has some severe heart issues.  I am so thankful that she has pulled through and I pray for healing for her.  I know she has a long journey ahead of her.  She and I have reconnected and have rebuilt our friendship over the years and I would hate to lose her just as she is starting to heal emotionally from things that she is just now coming to terms with and learning to stand up for herself and set healthy boundaries.  I am so proud of her for doing those things!

   I chatted quickly with my sister this morning and she gave me some wonderful news...they found a bone marrow donor for her!  She had a doctor's appointment this morning and they are doing more testing to make sure they have everything in place and ready.  She has been told to rest as much as she can and save her energy.  My sister's heart is not the strongest anymore and I am praying that everything works out with this donor because I don't think my sister's heart can take much more chemotherapy or radiation treatments.  Jeff and I are waiting on some money to come in so that he and I can get our passports and I can be ready to fly down to be with her.

   As for our Josh, I try to keep in close contact with him on a regular basis.  Sometimes it is just a quick few lines on Facebook messenger and other times we do a video chat.   He vents to me when he needs to and other times we laugh at silly things and tease each other.  We have always had a tight bond and can both be very sarcastic....we just get each other. :)  Jeff and I are also keeping in close contact with Lauren and the grandkids and recently had a video chat with them as our now 1 year old Peyton opened up her birthday gift from us.  She loved the washable soft stuffed bunny we got for her and immediately started hugging it.  We also got Tate a indoor putting green set up since he loves golf and his daddy bought him a set of gold clubs.  When Lauren gets that all ready to set up, we are going to video chat then too.  He has no idea yet that we got it for him.  He is going to be very surprised and happy!

   Now, as a Public Service announcement, I give you this:

 Ruptured Natural Gas Pipeline Near Pullman Repaired

November 10, 2023 Evan Ellis News

The natural gas pipeline that was ruptured North of Pullman on Wednesday afternoon causing the regionwide outage has been repaired.

Williams Pipeline was able to fix the line on Thursday. The repair means that Avista Utilities can begin the relighting process which could take between three and five days. Avista is hoping to begin the relighting process today.

AVISTA RELEASES TIMELINE AND MAPS FOR NATURAL GAS SERVICE RESTORATION: Avista says almost all customers have already been shut-off in preparation for restoration of natural gas services, and Avista’s distribution system has been repressurized. Avista has released these maps for each region, along with zones which indicate the order of restoration and a window of time crews are expected to be in each zone. Relight sequencing times are based on geographic location of the infrastructure. However, critical customers, such as hospitals and medical facilities, are being prioritized.

The rupturing of the gas line affected many communities, was spread over a large area and left thousands of people without heat. They are hoping to get everything restored by this Wednesday. We have friends that have been affected by this and many businesses, including restaurants, had to shut down. Schools were also closed, including the one my grandson Steven goes to. Hopefully he will be able to go on Monday. Stores sold out of all their heaters and were scrambling to get more ordered and shipped to them. One of the hotels still has heat, but their water heaters, the swimming pool and kitchen all depend on natural gas. They slashed their prices and brought in a whole truckload of portable hot showers for their guests to use. Since there are so many without heat in our area, they were trying to do this to help the community. Here is the reality of the situation, so many people absolutely panicked. They did not have electric heater as a back up source of heat and were stumped at how they would cook for themselves. Luckily there were kind people on hand who gave them ideas like using their microwave, crockpots, air fryers and instant pots, along with gas grills (outside) to make meals. Many of the restaurants around them shut down, and they had no clue as how to cook food for themselves. Yes, this happened in the two college towns that I live near. The lesson that we should all take from this is to make sure we have an alternate source of heat or a way to power our pellet stove in my case (we have a generator and lots of gas), a way to cook if we lose power to our homes, flashlights and lanterns, extra blankets, candles, matches, canned and ready to eat foods, water, and pots that you can use on your grill or even over an open fire in your firepit or rocket stove, or have a camp stove with plenty of fuel to use.

On a more "smelly" subject, please also have an alternative way to use the bathroom because the water pressure may go way down too. We have several heavy buckets on hand and thick bags to line them with. I still need to get a foam pool noodles and cut it to fit around the edges of the bucket to make it a bit more comfortable for using in an emergency.

On that note, I will close this post out since Jeff will be home soon from work. I hope you all have a blessed weekend and stay warm and dry. My love to you all!

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Frugal Friday Wrap Up 10/13/2023

 

~Jeff got a $2 an hour cost of living raise at work.  Yay!

~Jeff's bosses brought in a cooler full of various cuts of pork for the employees to take home.  Jeff got pork spare ribs and more bacon.  His bosses buy several hogs at the fair, and then share the meat with the employees at the 3 different store.  It is a very nice little bonus, for which we are very grateful!

~Josh is now in Kuwait.  I have been able to chat with him there and knowing that I can do that with him is helping to save my sanity.  I still a nervous about him being in that part of the world, especially now, but I have to trust God to protect him and all the others serving in that volatile area.

~Jeff got the front porch painted and it looks really good!

~Jeff also got most of the screws and silicone washers replaced on our metal roof.  Hopefully he can finish it this coming weekend.

~I made a really nice dinner of Elk roast (from Chris and Heather), potatoes from our garden, celery and seasonings.  I served it with a side salad and a cut up apple.  We ended up with some delicious leftovers too.

~Two loaves of bread were made and I gave one to Shannon.  I also gave her a zucchini from the garden.

~The pears from our trees are starting to ripen, so I have been picking them as they do.

~Sourdough crackers are quickly becoming a favorite around here, so I made another 2 batches and used my homemade Tuscan Herb seasoning salt to top them.  YUM!

~A nice cheesy lasagna was also on the menu this week.  It is definitely Fall weather now and I had everything on hand that I needed to make one of our favorite meals.  I even used some chopped spinach that I had previously grown in the garden, then blanched and froze, mixed into the cheese layers.  Hubby was very happy to come home to such comfort food.

~I'm still harvesting tomatoes, beans, squash and blackberries from the garden.

~Combining coupons and sales, we were able to get a 16 pack of toilet paper for $6.99.  I would say that is a good deal.

~I was finally able to facetime with my son Josh who is on deployment in the Middle East.  He is in one of the safest jobs and in a country with strong ties to the USA thank God!  They are still a target by the terrorists, but are in a better position than many others serving in the Middle East.  I asked him to give me a list of what he wanted and could not find there on base so I could send it to him.  His list consisted of Black Rifle brand coffee and Chick Fillet sauce.  :)

~Chris and Heather are going to butchering their chickens that have stopped laying eggs.  These are not "meat chickens", but will still be good for making soups and pot pies.  They are going to give us several of them.  I love making homemade chicken noodle soup and then freezing it so I have it on hand at all times.

~Friday I made 2 loaves of sandwich bread and another batch of the sourdough crackers.

~Heather and Chris dropped off 2 gift certificates for her homemade cinnamon rolls for the Ruck for the Fallen auction and our Christmas gift from my parents.  The gift my parents sent us was a gorgeous hand painted large round vase from Japan.  It was a gift to them from my father's former bosses from Japan.  Our Christmas gifts from my parents are now coming off the lists we all made for items we wanted from their home when they passed away.  They decided to give us the items as Christmas gifts so we can enjoy them now.

~Friday was our home "date night".  Jeff was in charge so he made us grilled cheese sandwiches and we watched the first of the Harry Potter movies.  It was a wonderful and relaxing way to spend our Friday night!

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 10/6/23

    

   In the spirit of full transparency, this post is a conglomeration of what I can remember for the past 2 weeks.  As per usual for me lately, I have not been good about noting things down each day, so this is what my spotty memory is "downloading" to this post currently.  Off we go!!!

~Jeff and I went up to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho just to get away and to see the beautiful Fall foliage.  Well, the trees just starting to turn colors, and were not very exciting (should have waited another week).  We still made the best of it and hit some thrift stores.  We found a golf club bag for Jeff for $15.  His old one is ripping out. At that same store I found a beautiful Fall themed picture for $15, some fall plates for $2 each (spendy but I loved them).  At the next store, I found a Fall ceramic pie dish for $2 also.  At the Goodwill, I found a very nice pair of Lane Bryant jeans that looked like they had been worn only a couple of times, if even that.  Jeff also found a pair of jeans.

~The Dollar Tree in CDA had bagels, rolls and English muffins.  We bought some.  Apparently, they buy them from the Franz Bakery Outlet up there.

~I have continued to harvest beans, blackberries, squash and tomatoes from the garden.  I froze more of the tomatoes.

~Jeff and I headed up to the apple orchard right over the hill from our house here in town.  We picked 22 pounds of apple and only paid $11 for all of them.  We got a mix of sweet apples and some with a little tartness to them too.  We are sending some over with Chris and Heather to give to my parents when they go to visit them this weekend.  My mom loves fresh apples from that orchard, so this will be a nice surprise for her.  We also gave a bag to Chris and Heather, and to Jaysn and Rachel.

~I made some Udon soup and added half of a small bag of frozen chopped blanched spinach from our garden to it.  This made 2 meals for me.  I took the other half of the bag of spinach and added it to a frozen chicken and onion pizza from Safeway.  I also added some halved yellow tomatoes from our garden to it also.  Yum!

~One night I was in a hurry to make dinner, so we had hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes.  We had leftovers of the hamburger gravy, so I turned it into a noodle and Stroganov casserole that fed us for another 2 meals.  The last meal was also served with green and yellow beans from our garden.

~Jeff found a pair of jeans on clearance at Walmart.  He rarely finds jeans that will fit him on clearance.  We also got a doormat for the front door that really goes well with the color of our home.

~I have been carefully shopping the grocery sales.  This week I only see one item that I will be picking up.  Since I will be in town this Thursday to meet Rachel so she can take Steven to his dentist appointment, I will pick the item up at that point.  Steven is off this Thursday and Friday, so he will be spending Thursday with me.  I love spending time with him.

~Our sweet Heather is generously donating a dozen of her homemade cinnamon rolls in the flavor of the winner's choice to the Ruck for the Fallen silent auction and sale that I am a part of this next weekend.  She did not even hesitate when I asked her.  I told her I would pay for any of the needed ingredients. This is an organization that is close to all of our hearts in our family.

~I found some new watercolor pens at the Goodwill in the town where I do a lot of my shopping.  I am going to try and learn to use them with some tutorials I hope to find on YouTube.  I think it will be a wonderful hobby this Winter for me.  I also found some wonderful slipper socks and a 5 pack of really cozy and pretty socks.  

~Jeff and I both switched out our warmer weather clothing for our cooler weather clothing.  Thank goodness we did so that I did not overbuy things that I already had.

~I donated a bunch of clothing that I had not been using and really was not very fond of to begin with.

~My sunflowers are being raided by the squirrels!  Isaiah almost tripped over one as it was running away with one of the seed heads.  It's okay, I really enjoy watching the squirrels and don't mind providing some food for them.

~We got a huge surprise in the mail this Thursday.  Our health insurance overbilled us and sent us a refund check.  I took $120 of it and bought a new food processor (mine is limping along), some Christmas gifts, crafting items, clothing and a few other items.  I also took our grandson Steven to McDonald's for lunch since he was spending the day with me and had been so well behaved as we ran errands.  The rest of the money from the refund is being saved.  Oh, Steven also got a rocket ship toy at the thrift store that he was totally into.

~Speaking of thrift stores, yes, I went again to 3 of them this time.  I was looking for another black multi-photo picture frame.  I found one for $2.99 (as opposed to the $20 price tag at Walmart). Yay!  I also bought some books, magazines, mugs, cute little dishes, a brand new boxed set of Kilner canning items, more canning lids, some inserts for the canning lids to turn them into cute country vases where the flowers are each supported, a brand new in box cherry pitter, and some more new warm fuzzy slipper socks with the grippy bottoms.

~Since I was on my own for dinner Thursday and had a long day of running errands, shopping and spending the day with my Steven, I stopped by Winco to pick up a quick dinner.  I found some of their chilled chili lime shrimp and clearance for half the normal price.  For $3 I had that, some homemade sourdough bread, and cherry tomatoes from my garden.  Yummy!

~My tomato plants all got a good pruning and "haircut".  I took off most of the branched that did not have tomatoes already on them.  This opened the plants way up and will help force the tomatoes to ripen quicker.  It is supposed to be hot this weekend, but then get cold and wet next week.

   As I end this post, I ask for prayers for the people of Israel, the hostages that have been taken, and for the innocent Palestinian people who are being used as human shields in this horrible war that is unfolding right before our eyes.  The images are absolutely horrific.  I am watching live webcams right now as I type this and seeing the retaliatory response from Israel on Gaza City with the heavy bombing in the night and the replays of what had gone on during the day.  War is an ugly thing and my fear is that we will be drawn into it also.  For those of us with loves ones in the military, especially if those loved ones are in the Middle East, along with those in the European theater (with all that is going on with the Russian/Ukranian War), we are on edge and in prayer.  Please keep our own military in your prayers also.  I am asking this as the mother of one of these military members.  Thank you so very much and so much love coming to you all.

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 9/22/2023

    This is a week late, but I thought I would post it anyway.  This past week has been a busy one for me and I have not been good about documenting things. So here is what I did the previous week to save money.  Be blessed my friends and I hope you all have a great weekend.

~Jeff's workplace had a BBQ on Friday.  His bosses bagged up the leftovers and told people to take some home.  Jeff brought home Brats, 4 huge cookies and some chips Friday night.  Saturday he brought home more brats, some macaroni salad and some hamburgers.  That has really helped out with the budget.

~While looking for one of my extra water bath canners to give to Heather, I found a box of brand-new quart sized wide mouth canning jars.  I needed 2 of them for the sourdough starter that Heather gave me.

~Heather not only gave me some sourdough starter, but she also bought me a kitchen scale to weight out the ingredient to keep the sourdough starter fed.

~I found some double ended color dry erase markers at Goodwill.  It has made my whiteboard "lists" so much more fun to write.

~Saturday was the big family birthday party for Jeff and Heather.  Rachel made 2 desserts and 2 crockpots full of lasagna.  Heather brought some of her delicious homemade garlic bread and I brought a Caesar's salad.  I gave the oldest 3 grandboys their matching shorts and they all quickly changed into them.  Jaysn and Rachel recently got 2 kittens, so I was able to cuddle with those precious kitties.  It was all absolutely wonderful!

~We all went to the fair and looked at the exhibits. I now really want one of those giant rabbits!  LOL!

~Sunday and Monday were major fibromyalgia flare days for me, so naps were much needed and taken.  After a big weekend and finally letting go of some emotional baggage, it honestly was not a surprise at all.  I tend to do this...as soon as I am able to let down, I have a flare.  I have always been this way.

~Monday I made a big pot of hearty chicken noodle soup with lemon, garlic and herbs from the garden.  It was incredibly delicious!

~Jeff picked up my prescription for me from Walmart so that I did not need to make a separate trip in.

~Jeff also picked up some cheese that was on sale at Safeway.

~I made sourdough discard buttery crackers and 2 loaves of sourdough sandwich bread.

~Scrapple was on the menu once more.  I used less sausage meat than was called for since I am trying to cut back on meat portions in an effort to save money.  This made for two meals for Jeff and I.

~Tomatoes, squash, beans and blackberries were all harvested multiple times during the week.

~Safeway coupons were uploaded to my Safeway card.

~Using a Walmart gift card, I was able to order new silicone spatulas (I was getting low on them again), some silicone baking mats, and some medical things that we needed.  I ended up paying $13.88 out of pocket.

~I cut back my sage bush and have the branches full of leaves bundled and hung up drying.

~Thursday, I spent the afternoon snapping beans, blanching and then freezing them.  Judging by what I am seeing outside in the bean patch, I will be repeating this again very soon.

~Jeff took our truck to work on Friday and brought home a ton of wood pellets for our pellet stove.  He was able to get them from work at a good price.  Chris and the boys will be coming over Saturday to help unload them.

Frugal Friday Wrap Up and Thrift Store Finds 9/15/23

 

   Here it is the end of another week!  The garden keeps on giving us tomatoes, squash, beans and blackberries.  Sometimes it is more than I can handle.  The Summer apples are winding down and the pears are busy ripening.  It has really helped us with the grocery budget.  Prices in the stores continue to rise, so we are so grateful for our garden helping us out.  Here are some of the other ways we saved money this week...

~I have been cherry picking deals and found a great deal on hamburger at Safeway.  I froze 1 1/2 pounds of it and used the other pound to make a large meatloaf using stuffing mix, one egg and some other seasonings.  Served with assorted side dishes and beans throughout the week, this made for 4 complete meals for us.  All the sides came from our pantry and the beans from the garden.

~I sent a list with Jeff and he stocked us up on cold and flu meds from the Dollar Tree and Walmart.  With the media spreading the story of medications being pulled because "they do not work", when we have been taking them for years and they have been working, we felt it prudent to stock up now!

~I found the above Brighton Christmas retired tote bag at one of our local thrift stores.  There was no price tag on it so I took it up to the counter and asked about the price, and I let them know the bags around it were marked at $5.99.  She looked at the bag and saw that someone had spilled coffee on it so she gave it to me for $4.99.  I knew that I could clean the coffee stuff off it since it was a coated bag.  Sure enough, I was able to get the coffee marks, along with other marks off it.  I am in love with this bag and will be using it this holiday season!  I really get into changing out my purses to match the season and holidays.

~I made some very smooth cinnamon applesauce.  Some was frozen and some was eaten fresh.  YUM!

~During the colder seasons, I love to wrap up in soft cotton jackets and sweaters.  I always try to get a size bigger that I wear because it like it to be very loose.  I found the soft sweater above for $5.99 minus 20% with a coupon.

~Jeff and I curled up with home popped popcorn and watched some shows on YouTube over the last weekend.

~I found some Christmas magazines, a large Pyrex bowl with cover and two books at our local thrift store that helps employ people in need or with disabilities.  The children's book is for my grandson Tate as a gift to help him know that he can always ask for a cuddle when he is sad.  With his daddy deploying in about 2 weeks for 6 months, we thought this would be a wonderful book for his daddy, our son Josh, to read with him before he goes.

~Jeff found a large pull behind luggage bag at the same thrift store and made it into a bag to haul his bowling balls and shoes in.

~Goodwill blessed me with some new house slippers, a beautiful handmade box from India, and some cat toys.  I was in need of the house slippers and they will be perfect for the winter months.  The cat toys will hopefully help get some of the kitties' energy out as they will be spending more time in the house with the days getting shorter.  The box is just beautiful and I can see it being a wonderful gift for someone.

~At a yard sale I found some like new Sketcher's shoes in my size.  I knew the person selling them and she told me she had only worn them a few times.  I got them for $2.00.

~I've found several TV series that I have not watched before on both Paramount Plus and Peacock networks.  It has been fun watching them, along with current TV shows.

~Jeff washed our big living room rug and hung it out on the big, tall chain link fence to dry.  The cats are loving having it back on the floor now since I had taken it out before Josh and Lauren got here for their visit.

   Please my friends, stock up on medications that you may need now.  Please also stock up your pantries.  Prices continue to rise, some astronomically.  If you can afford to put some extras away, I definitely would.  I see it as insurance and a hedge on future price jumps.  Be blessed all!