A Big Thank You and Catch Up

 

   I want to thank everyone who has commented, prayed and kept our family in your thoughts.  It has not been easy.  I did not realize how much it was affecting me until I hit day 4 of not showering and just staying in the same pajamas.  I knew I had to claw my way back up and out of the depression spiral.  I can "mask" things pretty well with a smile, concentrating on helping others, etc. all the while slowing being sucked down myself. Not even my sweet hubby knows how deep the hurt is until I finally open up and tell him.  I then find out that he is hurting very deeply also.  So today, I finally took a long shower and tried to scrub away the pain.  Did it work?  No, but I am clean now and am able to post here again, so I would say that I am moving in the right direction.

   Jeff and I have been working on projects around the house, trying to get things back in order after almost a year of just not having the energy physically or mentally to do "all the things".  None of the projects are huge, just time consuming.  There has been lots of cleaning, purging, reorganizing and making lists of other projects that need to be done.  I'm sure many can relate to this.

   Jeff and I did go on a real "date" last Friday.  We went to one of our favorite breweries for their Saint Paddy's Day dinner.  Well, I ordered the traditional corned beef dinner, Jeff had a burger and then finished the rest of my dinner because there was just so much food! They also had green beer in very tall pilsner glasses and it was really good.  Dessert was Green Velvet cake with vanilla bean ice cream.  YUM!  Jeff and I shared that because it was a huge piece.  We waddled out of there happy and came home to our recliners and watched Moana 2.  

   Earlier this week I got a message from our son Josh who said that our youngest grandkids wanted to talk to Grammie and Gpa.  I got the computer all loaded up and we Facetimed with them.  First thing our little Miss Peyton says is "Where's Gpa?" since he was turning on a light and was not in frame.  Yes, she is Gpa's girl!  She then modeled her Snow White princess dress for us.  Tate, who is Grammie's buddy, decided to take the phone from his father and give us a "tour" of the cool new vacuum that  his mom got.  LOL!  This is a boy who loves cleaning gadgets and was very excited about them having a new one. ')    Those grandbabies, along with our other 3 older ones, are helping motivate me to come up to the surface once again. :)

   There have frugal doings around here too.  I cut up, sugared and froze 4 pints of strawberries. I made Belgium Waffles with some mix that I found in my pantry that I had forgotten about and served that with homemade maple syrup along with some cherry syrup I made with some of my mom's homemade cherry jam.  Jeff used up the last of the syrup, so I made more to have on hand.  We got in on a really good chicken deal.  I got the chicken hindquarters for $1.57 a pound with $1.00 off the package.  Apparently, they had a lot of chicken to sell quickly, so they also had a buy one family pack, get one free deal.  I froze one of the packages and made shoyu chicken with the other.  We had shoyu chicken over rice for one meal and I then froze the rest for another meal.  I love having fully cooked meals I can pull out of the freezer and just add a side dish to it.  The leftover rice was used for 2 meals of chili and rice. Cabbage was on sale, so I bought 3 of them.  I used half of one to make coleslaw, and will use the other half in another dish.  The 2 remaining cabbages will be used for a cabbage salad, while most of it will be blanched and the dehydrated so I can add it to soups, stews, etc. at a later date. I made a nice dinner with broiled asparagus and lobster ravioli.  I also made another nice homemade alfredo pasta dish and served that with a nice crisp salad. We ordered another hose online for Jeff's cpap machine saving ourselves about $40 there.  I have been using decor that I have on hand here to change out my Winter decor and bring our some of the Spring stuff.  Jeff found some watercolor prints from Hawaii that I will be framing and putting up in our guest bathroom.  They are bright and cheery and remind me of happy times in my life growing up.  I finally found a pair of jeans that fit me and Jeff found some lounging type pants at the thrift store.  Oh, I also found more new canning lids and rings.  I love to have lots of these on hand.

   I had better go and figure out dinner for tonight.  Be blessed all and thank you once again.

   

   

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 9/8/23

 

   Yes, it has been a few weeks since my last post.  We had family here and it was delightful!   I will be doing a separate post on that once I get some more of the pictures that were taken of the fun!  After all of the excitement and the go, go, go of it all, my body crashed and I have been trying not to overdo things.  I know that many of my friends reading this will be amazed that I actually am taking it slow and not overdoing it.  Well now, but it was a different story with all the family here. ;)

   We did try to stay as frugal as possible even with having all the kids, grandkids and my cousin here, so that will be included in the frugal doings.  Here we go...

~Jeff and I, along with all the kids, tried to make most of our meals either potluck or picnic style.  

~I was able to use Lauren's military discount to get tickets to the Flying Squirrel Trampoline Park for half price.  This was something that I wanted to give the grandboys as an early Christmas gift while they were all together.  They loved it and little Miss Peyton enjoyed watching.

~We took advantage of Josh and Lauren staying at a hotel to use the swimming pool there.  We also hit the free splash pad and went swimming at one of the lakes nearby.

~I've been harvesting beans, tomatoes, squash and blackberries from the garden.  

~I've been freezing a lot of the Sungold Cherry tomatoes to use in pasta sauces in the colder season when that burst of freshness is much needed and appreciated.

~I had a squash processing day.  I shredded up about 12 cups worth of zucchini and used 2 of the cups to make 2 loaves of zucchini and dark chocolate chip bread.  The rest of that batch was placed in the dehydrator to dry out so that it can be used later.  Did you know that 1/2 cup dried, rehydrated with about a cup of hot water (use more if needed) is equal to 2 cups fresh.  Perfect for zucchini bread or added to sauces, soups or to make casseroles with.  I took advantage of having the food processor out and sliced up some yellow summer squash to make a casserole with.

~Jeff and I went to the Farmer's Market last Saturday and bought some fresh fruit there.  I only bought what I could eat within a week.  They had some nice looking apples there, but our local apple orchard opened at the end of this week, so I will be buying my apples from them.  Cheaper and it supports a locally owned farm here in town.

~Jeff and I also went to a few yard sales last weekend.  I found some chick and hen plants for $2 a pot, some cookbooks including one from Whitefish Montana where Josh and Lauren were married, and western wear shirts and 3 pairs of shorts for me at the final yard sale.  Two of the shirts are flannel and will be staying with me and the other two will be a surprise for my cousin Jeremy who has been selling them in his online store.  I wanted to help him out in some way and was thrilled to find these in like new condition.

~We are continuing to "cherry pick" the sales at the grocery stores and stock up on things when they are at reasonable prices.  Sad to have to say reasonable rather than good, but that is the economy that we find ourselves in now.

~Walmart is clearancing out a lot of their Summer clothing and I was able to but matching shorts for the 3 oldest grandboys for .50 a pair.  I also picked up a robe, a shirt, and some sleep shorts for me for $1 each.  I did pick up some shorts for Jeff for $1, but sadly they did not fit him.  I am going to try and find someone who they will fit, and if not, I will donate them.  They just cost me $1.

~I bought 2 bottles of red wine that were normally $21.99 and I got them on sale for $5.99 each at Grocery Outlet.

~My sweet Heather surprised me with a phone call telling me that she had bought me a digital kitchen scale to go with the sourdough starter that she was gifting me!  We have been discussing how to get me started making sourdough everything and I have been pinning recipes to Pinterest like a mad woman.

~I picked a large bucketful of summer apples from our tree to make even more applesauce with.

~I'm seed saving from squash, flowers and tomatoes.

~We got several rounds of drenching rain so that had cut way back on the watering in the garden.

~Fall decorating has begun in my home and I could not be happier!  Soon enough I will be bringing out the Fall candles to burn at night and I cannot wait for that and the first fire in our pellet stove.

   

Frugal Friday Wrap Up

 

   Hello all my beautiful friends!  Steven will be here tomorrow, so I decided to write this post a day early and get it up.  I know I will be too tired tomorrow evening to do so. Having him here with me is wonderful though and I so enjoy our special time together. 😊

   This week has been a very busy one and I forgot to write things down daily that I got accomplished.  Therefore, this post will be a list of the things that I can remember.  Hopefully I have included most things.  I did have a good nap earlier after pushing myself way too hard yesterday in the garden.  Was it worth it???  Yes!!!  I got so much done between seeding things in, transplanting and getting buckets full of compost to where they were needed.  I am super sore today and was encouraged by my husband to take it easy today.  I am more than happy to take his advice. 😁

   So here is my list...

~Remember all those strawberries that I had cut up?  Well they are now divided up between 3 storage containers and are in the freezer.

~Speaking of strawberries, I have been harvested some of our own from the garden.  They are absolutely delicious!

~We bought 1  1/2 cubic yards of compost in bulk from Jeff's place of work for $28.00.  Jaysn picked it up for us since he had our truck and was returning it to us anyway.  That compost has been making its way all over our yard .  

~Those 2 huge bags of spinach were taken care of by doing the following.  I gave some of the fresh spinach to Shannon and we had 2 big spinach salads.  I also blanched and froze 3 packages of it.  Two of the packages were chopped up so they could be used in a spinach artichoke dip and the other will be used when I make Kalua Pig.

~I made a simple applesauce cake.  It is so easy and one of our favorites.  It is a great way to use up canned or fresh applesauce.  This time I used canned applesauce and I will say I like it with our homemade applesauce better.  Both are really good, but there is a bit more appley flavor with my homemade stuff.  Judging by all the apples on our apple tree right now, I will hopefully be able to make a bunch of homemade applesauce again this year.  Last year was NOT a good year for our apples, so I was only able to make one batch.

~I had a family pack of chicken drumsticks.  I divided the chicken into some for making Jeff favorite baked chicken and put the rest into a crockpot with some water to cover them and some chicken bouillon.  The baked off chicken was served the first night with mashed potatoes and some sliced up crisp apples.  We still had some drumsticks left over and those made 2 more meals for Jeff.  The chicken in the crockpot was left to cook overnight.  The next morning, I took the broth and refrigerated it separately from the chicken legs.  Later that day, I took the meat off the bones and froze a portion of it and then put the rest back in with the concentrated broth, some water, carrots (left over from our camping trip), some diced onion (from our onion harvest last year that I had processed and froze) and celery,  I simmered that all together for about 30 minutes and then added in some "misfit noodles" (leftover dry pasta from packages that only had a bit left in them).  That made another 2 meals for us.

~I've been picking flowers out of my garden and making small bouquets and putting those in vases.  I love how my home is filled with the sweet scent of roses.

~Jeff put compost onto the front garden in areas where I wanted to grow even more food.  He mixed it in well with the dirt and dug it about 13 inches down. 

~I planted two types of bush beans , flowers, the rest of the squash plants that I had started in the greenhouse. more tomato starts and transplanted some basil into the garden beds as well as potted some more up in a larger pot.  I want to see where the basil does the best.

~More hair detangler spray was made with a sample sized hair conditioner and warm water all mixed together in a leftover spray bottle that used to hold leave on hair conditioning spray.  I am making my own with just the cost of the water.

~For Father's Day, we used a Safeway gift card to buy 2 frozen pizzas (I also had a digital coupon to make them cheaper), some sushi and a large iced tea.  I had the sushi on the way home (I had not had breakfast or lunch and was really hungry by 2 p.m.) and we cooked up the pizzas once we got home.  We then watched the movie "Avitar, the Way of the Water" while we ate our pizza.

~We bought a nice stepladder for $10 at a yard sale.  I have been asking Jeff for one for about 6 months now and I told him I would find one at a yard sale.  I finally did!  This will live in the pantry so I can reach things on the higher shelves.

~Dollar Tree had some of the Goli brand vitamins so I bought 2 bottles of them.  These are usually pretty spendy!  I also got 2 bottles of foot powder (Jeff goes through a lot of this in the Summer), some cotton rounds that he uses to clean his cpap mask, and some more garden seeds.

~We found a brand new with tags large hummingbird feeder at Goodwill when they brought the new bins out to restock the shelves.  I bought it and put it aside as a gift for someone who loves feeding hummingbirds.

~The laundry was hung out to dry about part of the week when my back could handle it.

~I mixed up more cinnamon sugar.  I needed this to sprinkle on top of the applesauce cake.

~Another years worth of my Tuscan Herb Salt was made with herbs from the garden.  My mother requests this as her Christmas gift every year, so I keep her supplied.

~We bought Jeff's cpap machine outright which will save us all kinds of money in the long run instead of renting it.

~Jeff used some of our stored gas in our gas cans that we keep here to fill up his car.  We wanted to make sure to rotate the gas in the gas cans, so we will be refilling them once more.

~Now that I have rediscovered the joys of napping, I am trying to get a few in a week.  They are a frugal luxury that cannot be beat! 😉

   Well that is all I can remember at the moment.  It has been a great week for me thus far and I have gotten a lot done.  I have pushed myself further physically than I would have thought I could (which led to a 3 hour nap the following day) and Jeff and I sat down and made a list of our financial goals for the year.  Seeing those goals in writing really helps motivate me to stay home more and spend less.  It also forces me to get more creative, and that is a challenge that I gladly take on.  Now I need to get off the computer for awhile and take care of my floors which are filthy between the cats shedding and us tracking stuff in from the gardens. 

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 10/12/22

 

   It has been a busy week as far as getting all the frugal things done.  I already shared about the onions from the garden and preserving all of those.  That was so much work, and I was sore for 2 days afterwards.  I had Jeff bring home frozen pizzas from Safeway one of those nights because I would not even get the energy up to make us dinner.  To be perfectly honest, I am glad that we have rain today and are expecting a rain snow mix later tonight.  That means the gardening season is over and it is time to tackle the indoor projects and cuddle in for some much-needed rest as well.  So here is a peak at what all I have been up to this week in addition to the onions...

~I made another batch of Tuscan Herb Salt from the herbs in my garden.  I had made a batch a few weeks ago but needed more since I also give it out as gifts for Christmas.  

~I harvested the rest of the larger green tomatoes, as well as the ripe ones from the garden.  The green ones will ripen up inside the house.

~The celery was also harvested.  I apparently did something wrong because the stocks were spindly and tough.  I was able to salvage the leaves though and dehydrated them.  I can use them in soups, stews, casseroles, etc. or I can make celery salt with them.  Celery salt is easy...it's a 1 to 1 ratio of crushed celery leaves to salt.  You're Welcome. 😉

~I made a nice chicken pot pie with homemade chicken pot pie filling that I froze and a frozen pie crust.  Easy peesy!

~Another night I pulled frozen tamales out of the freezer and made some Spanish rice to go with it.  I also sliced up some pears from our garden for another side dish.

~The blackberries are slowing down, but I still managed to pick another gallon and put that away.  We are expecting a freeze tonight, so I think that was the end of the blackberries for the season.

~That Krab salad from the deli with the cheese is one of my favorites.  I made some here at home and it was so good!

~Shannon (hanai sister and neighbor) came over for a visit a few times this week.  It is so nice to have time with her.

~The last of the summer squash was harvested and made into a nice squash casserole. YUM!

~I moved the basil plant and the two potted up rosemary plants into the greenhouse.  I am hoping to extend their lives this way.

~Going through my smaller toiletries', I was able to find something for Shannon to take on her trip that will take up less space in her luggage.

~I did more seed saving.  I got some of my favorite tall marigold's seed saved.

~While having another panic attack, I discovered that going into my pantry and sitting there calms me.  I think it gives me a sense of security.  After I calmed down, I got busy putting things away and getting 15 pounds of rice into a food grade bucket.

   

   With Autumn upon us, I'm more ready than ever to just get cozy and relax.  I'll admit, I am still tired and needing rest both physically and mentally.  I have been pushing myself way too hard trying to get it all done and preserve everything I can from the garden.  My "spidy senses" are telling me that we are just at the beginning of some very hard times to come our way as not only a nation, but also as the world.  I know that it is a very real possibility that my husband could lose his job if people stop building houses in our area.  I'm trying to make sure we are prepared for that and that we could make it through until unemployment benefits kicked in.  Even with the benefits, things would be tight.  I wonder how many other people around me are feeling the same way and how many remain blissfully unaware of how fragile everything is?  Anyway, I'm going to try not to dwell on that and just look forward to having a nice weekend.  We are going to be having lunch with Rachel, Jaysn, Steven and Rachel's mom Joyce on Saturday.  It's Joyce's birthday so we are having a little birthday party for her.  I'm looking forward to that very much!  Be blessed all!

This and That Around our Frugal Home

   

       We got some bad news about an extended family member whom we love dearly.  To say that I am frustrated with the medical system is an understatement at this point.  They give you bad news and then expect you to wait for up to 2 months before they can see you.  Meanwhile the disease continues to grow and spread making the person weaker and weaker and in pain with less of a chance to have a possible good outcome with treatment. My heart is just breaking for them and for their spouse and the rest of the family. 😞  I just don't understand it at all.

Update: they had a last minute cancellation and were able to get him in this morning! 

   Our grandson Isaiah had his tonsils and adenoids taken out last week and he is healing slower than they thought he would.  Poor kiddo takes after his Grammie here I am afraid.  A simple one store grocery shopping trip totally wore him out and he took a nap after getting home.  I know he will feel so much better after he heals up, but right now it is hard for him to see that.

   I just finished getting another bucket full of spinach from our garden all washed and most of it put in the dehydrator.  The ones that did not fit will be part of a nice salad to accompany our dinner.  Honestly, the gardening and preserving are keeping me really busy, even on the days when our Steven is not here.  Jeff keeps telling me that I need to slow down, but there is just too much to do and anyone who gardens knows that gardens do not wait for you to be ready, but rather need to be taken care of when the timing is right for them.  I have spinach and Boc Choi that are starting to go to bolt, so they both need to be dealt with.  I also have more spinach coming up and have tomatoes plants that need to be put in the garden.  The potatoes need to be hilled again, but I will wait for Steven to help me with that.  He was a little put off with me that I did it without him last week.  I won't be making that mistake again. 😉

   The dryer broke and Jeff is still working on getting it fixed.  Thank goodness for a gorgeous day so that I can hang out the laundry to dry!  I love my old fashioned laundry line and I can imagine the generations of families that have put it to good use!

   Last night, after Jeff got the dishwasher loaded, the garbage disposal stopped working.  It is getting power to it, but not turning.  Since the dishwasher is linked in directly with the garbage disposal, we could not get it running either.  Hopefully Jeff will be able to tear it down and fix it.  Meanwhile, I have one kitchen sink that is still working, so I can deal with it for the time being.

   This afternoon I got 3 loaves of banana bread made and saved the peels and put them in a gallon jar, along with some water, to make banana peel fertilizer.  I then made some tomato plant fertilizer using dried eggshells, Tums, and a bit of Epsom salt all powdered up.  I will add the tomato plant fertilizer on top of the roots of the tomato plants.  The banana peel fertilizer will be watered onto the roots of plants also when it is ready.  It adds potassium to plants that is much needed.  I have been taking notes and adding them to my gardening section of a large notebook that I keep on hand.  I think we all need to be looking at ways to fertilize our plants naturally since it saves us money and with all the shortages, many of us would not be able to find what we need in the stores soon.  Also, I am a huge fan of doing things as naturally as possible and limiting chemicals.

  

   My greenhouse has been such a blessing.  Most of the plants that I started from seed came up and are thriving, other than the peppers, which have not come up at all.  After I get the plants out into the garden, I will have extras, which I am sharing with my girls, Heather and Rachel.  Both of them are starting gardens at their homes and I do not want them to go out and buy plants if I have them here to share.  Heather will be starting a lot from seed, but this will give her a bit of a head start.  

   Chris went morel mushroom hunting the other day and got close to 9 pounds!  They sold 3 pounds of them already and Chris is dehydrating a pound of them for me too.  What a lovely gift!  Their whole family had gone previously and got about 10 pounds at that picking.  They sold a lot of those too and have been enjoying mushrooms every day themselves.

   So that is a glimpse of what is going on here.  We are trying to stay positive despite personal setbacks, extended family illnesses and the way the world is going downhill fast.  I want my home to be that soft landing spot for friends and family.  I still want to cook good meals and work in my garden.  I also want to preserve as much as I can from the garden.  Yes, times are hard right now and are just going to get harder, which is even more reason to do all we can to try and insulate ourselves as much as possible and stock up on what we need.  Be blessed my friends and continue to do all you can to live a frugal, yet beautiful life!

   

   

   

 

It's Getting Scary but Still Enjoying Life to the Fullest...

 

   It is getting scary out there!  Gas is now over $5 the a gallon and food prices are going through the roof and are just going to get higher.  Jeff and I are trying to do everything we can to save money, yet still enjoy life to the fullest within a strict budget.  I'm trying not to waste food and to preserve things that are coming in abundance in the garden that we cannot eat right away.  I'm looking for sales on meats to freeze.  I am spending more and more time in the garden planting and starting seeds in the greenhouse.  I think we all have to prepare for what is to come, stock up on canned goods and baking supplies as well as canning jars, and seeds before they are gone from the stores once again. Please heed the warnings and get prepared now.  Here are some of the things that Jeff and I have done this past week and weekend, as well as plans for the near future...

 ~Jeff cut my hair.  I wanted to go back to short hair once more with the hot Summer months coming up.  I get hot really easily and having shorter hair off my neck really does help keep me cooler.

~We stopped at the bread outlet down in Lewiston and got some English muffins, Hawaiian sweet bread, and some large onion hamburger buns.

~We also stopped at the Salvation Army thrift store and I found 2 movies (one was half off so it cost me .49 and the other was .99), a half off older cookbook (.49) and a pretty oil painting for $2.99.  I collect oil paintings that reflect the 4 seasons and use them to decorate my home by the seasons.  The tag on the back on the painting showed that it was bought in 1985 for $35.  I need to do more research on the artist now.

~We found a large package of sausages at the Grocery Outlet for $3.99.  I cut them up and had enough for 6 meals.  These went into the freezer.

~Treet meat, kind of like Spam, was .99 each at the Grocery Outlet, so I picked up 4 of them to add to the pantry.  Jeff loves it!

~We found 5 pound bags of potatoes at Walmart for $1.50 a bag so I picked up one.

~I did use my "personal allowance" ;) to buy two beautiful hanging baskets of flowers that were on the clearance area at Walmart for half off.  The hummingbirds come every year and enjoy the hanging baskets as much as I do.

~Jeff fixed our hot tub that had sprung a leak again.

~We stocked up on supplements from Vitacost and used a 20% off coupon and went through Swagbucks so that I can get points for my purchase.

~I've been trying to work the points programs online that I have joined.

~There is no way we could eat all the spinach that is ready in the garden so I have been dehydrating it.  I will use some as flakes to add to soups and pastas and some will be powdered to add to things to boost nutritional values.

~Some of my Bok Choi was used in a homemade Asian style soup.  The soup served me for 2 meals.  I also added some of the spinach from the garden to it also.  I like lots of greens along with green onions in my soups.

~The larger celery plants were plants in the garden.

~I had an overgrown green onion that was going to seed so I harvested it and used the green parts in several meals.

~Steven and I did some watercolor painting with paints I had gotten awhile back at the thrift store and some heavy drawing paper that I had gotten for free while "treasure hunting" after the college students left for the Summer.

~Jeff got some more raspberry starts out of our garden and potted up for Heather's mom Tammy.

~I talked to someone in the Pharmacy at Walmart to make sure that I was getting the best price on my prescriptions.  Some are cheaper going through my insurance, while others are better going through Good RX.  Always try it both ways to see how much money you can save.  In this case it saved me well over $100.

~I dug through one of the freezers and found some venison burger.  I stretched it by adding a crumbled up hot dog bun I had on hand and then seasoned it and added an egg to bind it all.  This gave me 6 burgers.  We had three of them for lunch on Sunday with all the fixings and corn on the cob while sitting out on our back porch.  Yummy!  I now have 3 burgers leftover, along with a large cob of corn.

~Jeff mowed the lawn and did some weeding.  He added the grass clipping and weeds to the compost pile.  I also added coffee grounds and banana peels to it.

~Our dryer was acting up again.  Jef immediately knew what the problem was (something broke in the squirrel cage) so he tore it apart and will be picking up a replacement part (hopefully they have it in stock) so he can fix it this week.  Meanwhile I dried all the laundry on the line between the rainstorms and even hung some over chairs on the porch to finish drying while it rained outside.

~Steven enjoyed real fruit juice popsicles that I had gotten at the Dollar Tree, along with cookies that we made here for his special treats this past week.

~We loved watching our little baby birds grow so quickly!  Saturday we came home to see that they had literally "flown the nest".  I was sad that they were gone, but so thankful for the opportunity to have watched them over the past few weeks.

   These are just a few of the things that I can remember.  I'm trying hard to squeeze every penny at this point, while still enjoying life.  I'm making it a priority to try to live in the moment and enjoy myself at the same time.  I had a hummingbird come and say hello while I was taking down the laundry off the line.  He just flew around me and then stopped right in front of me as if to say "thank you" for getting the hanging baskets of flowers for him to enjoy. 😊 While driving into town to pick up my prescriptions, I opened the sunroof of my car and cranked up the music.  It was a beautiful day and I thought to myself that I needed to enjoy this last bit of being able to drive to town by myself, rather than having Jeff to run all the errands on his way home from work, before gas prices went even higher.  I enjoyed my drive so much more and it brought back wonderful memories of my college days.  Cheesy I know, but I loved it. 😉  Steven and I have gone over to Auntie Shannon's house next door for him to play with her dogs and cats and also to see how the tadpoles in her pond are growing.  Shannon and I savored our visit while Steven wore out her dogs from them playing so hard.  Win-win for both Shannon and I.  You see, you can still live a full life while saving money.  You just have to change your mindset and live in the moment.  Life is still beautiful and full of amazing things if you just open your eyes, slow down and notice them.  

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 3/25/22

 

   

   Hello friends. 😊  We had a busy week and weekend, so this post is late again (as usual).  I have been pushing myself way too hard and it has started to catch up with me.  I can't help it, I feel this urgency to get so much done.  I had my pantry to redo and organize, found some huge gaps that needed to be filled, there was, and still is, lots of gardening work to be done, and we had Steven with us one day during the week.  Steven was a HUGE help with the pantry stuff since he could "ferry things from G-pa to Grammie. 😉 That alone helped save my back and legs!  Now onto the frugal doings!...

Saturday:

~Jeff and I stayed home and just relaxed.  We watched a few movies and got a much needed rest.

~I made pancakes for breakfast and we refrigerated the leftovers.

Sunday:

~Jeff started work on the shelving for our front bedroom turned pantry.  We needed more space in there to store not only food, but also linens and gifts.

~I made a nice pork steak and rice casserole with some pork steaks I had gotten on half price and then froze.  I served it with green beans.

~We watched another movie on YouTube.

Monday:

~I had a leftover pancake for lunch.

~While Jeff was at work, I did laundry and also worked on organizing the pantry with one of the new sets of shelves.

~Josh called to let me know that their next base will be in Utah!  I am so excited because we can drive there within about 9-10 hours.  That means even more family time for all of us!

Tuesday:

~Steven came to spend the day with us since he has a double ear infection and needed another day to rest more than he would at daycare.  He is on antibiotics and was already starting to feel much better.  He was a wonderful helper and helped us get so much done on the pantry project with helping Gpa build a second set of shelves and then helping us get them organized and filled up.  We could not have done as much as we did without his help.😀

~I made a list of things that we are low on, like Saltine crackers, and Jeff will be picking those up on Thursday.

~I made Steven macaroni and cheese for lunch and he also had grapes and popcorn as a snack.

~I made two loaves of bread, with Steven's help of course. Jeff and I had a ham sandwich for lunch,

~Dinner was leftovers since we were both exhausted.

~Chris managed to find the ammo for Jeff's gun in Montana, so he picked him up some.  If we make a trip over there this Spring of Fall, we will try to pick up more then also.

Wednesday:

~I was still really tired and sore, even after going to bed early last night.  It triggered my IBS, so I figured my best course of action was to try to do some less strenuous tasks today and also take some medicine to help.

~I did several loads of laundry and hung the sheets out to dry on the laundry line since it was in the low 60's today.

~With the weather being so nice, I got out in the garden and did some more cleaning out of the garden beds.  I also noticed that my radishes are starting to come up...Yay!!!!

~The back glass door that leads out onto the screened in porch was opened wide to air out the house.  The cats loved being able to come in and out as they pleased.

~The compost pile got more used coffee grounds.

~I have been trying to make more "pantry meals" with canned and packaged goods, as well as trying to make more room in my freezer and making sure I use up bits and bobs of things.  Tonight I used a Velveeta Broccoli and Rotini boxed meal and added about 1 cups of leftover dried noodles from a different meal, some frozen broccoli and a small can of chicken to it.  I also thinned the cheese sauce with a little of the saved pasta water.  It made for a tasty and frugal meals since I had gotten the boxed meal for .99 at the Grocery Outlet store. This is a meal that I can recreate without the packaged mix also using items I have on hand.  We had enough for 3 large servings, so Jeff took the 3rd serving for his lunch at work on Thursday.

~Sometimes you just need something sweet so I made some flourless peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.  I used a small container of peanut butter that Jeff and I were not fond of the taste of (Trader Joes brand) that had been given to us.  It did make for good cookies though.  Again, I am trying to figure out things to make with things from the pantry and without things that may be in short supply in the near future, like flour.

Thursday:

~I spent the good majority of the day working on the pantry and have most of it organized now.  I just have a few more things to get done on this huge projects.

~My spinach is starting to come up in the garden!

~Uncle Bob was up at his house today so I was able to have a nice visit with him.

~I rewarded myself with a frozen pizza that I popped in the oven to cook for dinner since I was really wiped out by the evening.

~I got 2 packages of mixed veggies going in the dehydrator.

~Have you ever got a bad feeling?  Well I did today so I locked up our garage to make sure no one could get into it without a key.

~I went down to our food giveaway near the end of it because I wanted to try to organize a diaper and formula drive for them.  I know that so many families are hurting right now and with the increasing cost of everything and the shortages on things, I thought this might be something that could really help out our community.  One of the ladies there, who is really bossy, could not shoo me out of there quick enough and would not even let me present my idea to her or to anyone else.  She questioned where I was from, even though she has seen me in town for years, and told me they had all the connections they needed and herded me to the door.  I have to tell you, that left an awful taste in my mouth and is NOT the way that anyone should be treated.  She acted all high and mighty and like I was someone who was way beneath her.  BTW, I was not there to get any food and it was still during the time period that they should have been staying open, but they were already taking things down and many people were just standing around talking that help out there.

Friday:

~I packaged up the mixed frozen veggies that I dehydrated.  Two pounds pre dehydrating took up very little room in a canning jar after they were done.  I will be doing more of these!  I want to have lots of dehydrated food on hand for the future.  After seeing how wiped out shelves, freezers and coolers were at Walmart when we were there earlier in the week, I am very worried about what is to come.

~I decided to head into town to do some topping off of things that I was either low on or missing in my pantry.  I called Jeff and asked him to meet me at Winco after he got off work because I would need his help lifting things.

~My first stop was the Dollar Tree where I stocked up on coconut milk (I thought this would be a good shelf stable substitute for creamer), a new plunger for use along with a bucket to wash clothing with if we did not have power, some more shampoo, some early learning books for Steven and I to work on this Summer, big aluminum baking pans with raise plastic lids to use as seed starting trays and some canned potatoes.

~I next went to Walmart to price out steer manure and compost.  All of the steer manure had been bought out right after they unloaded it apparently.  It's ok though, that worked out in my favor because I realized I have a free source of well rotted horse manure from Heather's parents.

~Last stop was Winco.  They were completely out of the 50 pound bags of unbleached flour.  They were also out of all the other things that come in the 50 pound bags like rice, oats, sugar, beans, etc..  I picked up more canned meats, Powerade, frozen veggies, a cooked chicken from the deli, bananas for Jeff, pickles, soda for Jeff, canned pears and canned veggies.

~As soon as we got home, I got some Yukon Gold potatoes washed, cut up and boiling.  I made them into mashed potatoes and we had that, along with some of the chicken, for dinner.

~I opened two 2 pound bags of mixed frozen veggies and got them going in the dehydrator overnight.

~We watched a few episodes of one of the old Survivor series that we had not seen before.

      Jeff and I continue to make plans for a greenhouse and are gathering up materials for it.  I found the perfect spot for it and hope that we can build it next weekend since Jeff will have 2 days in a row off then.  I really need to get seeds started that I can then transplant out into the garden once all danger of frost has passed in our area.  More than ever, I feel a need to plant as much as I can.  Anyone else feeling this way also?

 

Frugal Friday Wrap Up (the last couple of weeks or so) Edition

    

   The winds outside are starting to really pick up.  We are under a high wind warning with winds up to 60 MPH and gust up to 65 MPH.  These kinds of winds really scare me because the ground is so saturated and I am terrified of the old tree next door loosing more branches or coming down all together on my house, vehicles or on my neighbor's house and vehicles.  After doing my baking this morning, getting things picked and in the dehydrator, and doing a few other things that needed doing around the house, I got busy making a large cheese lasagna for dinner tonight.  It is baking right now because I want it done before the power possibly goes out later.  If the winds pick up any worse, I will call Jeff and see if he can possibly get off a bit early so he can get home quickly.  The road that comes to our town has large trees on either side in places and I don't want  him to get hit with one of those coming down or not be able to get through to home.  Praying that things don't get worse until after he gets here.  Onto the savings...

~My cousin moved to Oregon and blessed  us with some groceries, some gorgeous crystal bar glasses and some wine for my father and some for me too.

~I've been working on organizing the pantry and finding the "holes" in it.  I found a package of tortellini in back of it and cooked that up, added a diced up tomato that my cousin had given me and then added some pesto.  YUM!  I served it in one of my many thrifted Crate and Barrel bowls.  I love having such a variety of thrifted dishes to pick from.  It just makes meal time more special.  I'm the same way with wine glasses.

~I made a list of the items that we need and use both in the pantry and the HBA and general home category.  Jeff and I are filling in those gaps.

~I found some more great deals at the Grocery Outlet, including the wine that my father likes at 20% off.

~Meals here have been mostly from the freezer and pantry.  I made a huge list of things I could make after taking inventory or the pantry and going on memory of what is in the freezer.

~I dehydrated and powdered up tomatoes from our garden that had ripened inside the house.

~I also had saved seeds from the parsley plants, a acorn squash and some of our bush beans.

~I harvested more Swiss chard, green onions and kale from the garden and made a nice soup with some Asian soup base and pot stickers.  I love my greens!

~Jeff has been working hard on getting the outside of the house all winterized.

~With Christmas coming, I changed out the decorative plates in my kitchen to some with birds on them that have a Winter theme to them.  I love looking at them when I am in the kitchen because they remind me of my beloved Grandma who absolutely loved birds, especially cardinals.  I'm hoping one day to find some with Blue Jays on them as those remind me of my beloved GramBunny.

~All the makings for green bean casserole were gathered and put in a bag, along with the written recipe, to take with us to Montana for Thanksgiving.  My mom asked all of us to pick on dish that meant Thanksgiving to us and to make it there.  Both Josh and I picked green bean casserole.  Like mother like son. ;)

~I switched out the plates and the napkins to the Fall and Winter themed ones.  It just makes me happy to do this!

~I'm going through things and purging them, including kitchen appliances and cookware that I no longer use.  Jeff is thrilled about all of this since he doesn't like having to clean some of those things.

~The new cast iron skillets are all seasoned and ready to go.

~We have been enjoying using our hot tub again now that the weather is so much colder at night.  There is something just magical about sitting out there in hot water with the jets going while looking at the stars...pure bliss.

~I made more sandwich and cinnamon swirl bread.

~Running short on time one evening, I quickly washed up a sweet potato and popped it in the microwave to cook.  Meanwhile I browned up some fully cooked sausages in the cast iron skillet.  While those where cooking, I cut up half an onion, 3 leftover baked russet potatoes and then cut up the baked sweet potatoes.  When the sausages were done, it only took about 5 minutes to make the onion and potato hash.  We had a salad to go with this.

~My vanilla extract that I made was very "alcoholy" in flavor, so I added the rest of the vanilla beans, after I split them, to the jar. Hopefully that will flavor it more.

~Kale from our garden is in the dehydrator as I type this out.  I will powder it and add it to sauces.

~Jeff cleaned out and brought in a old dresser that we had in the shed.  I used it in the pantry to sort out and store sauces, mixes, dried herbs, spices, baking needs and both rice and noodle mixes.  It is so nice to have that all done and be able to find things easily now.

~While at Goodwill the other day, I found a 10 bottle metal wine rack.  The one I currently have only stores 4 at a time.  At any given moment, I have quite a variety of wine in the house since I use it for cooking and for drinking.  I try to keep reds, whites and a variety of specialty flavored wines on hand to share with guests. The cost of the new wine rack was just $5.99, I consider that a huge bargain!

~Jeff found some lined heavy duty jeans for the Winter.  They are insulated, so they will keep him warmer when he had to be outdoors.

~The Dollar Tree finally restocked it's food section so we were able to get almost everything I had on my list from there.  They however were still missing their dishwasher powered detergent.

~I found the perfect gifts for my mother and my brother Fritz while I was at Marshall's.  

~Grocery Outlet had their Kodiak Cakes chocolate chip muffin mixes marked down because they were close to the sell by date.  I will bake some of these up next week and take them to Montana with us. They also had some marked down salads that we had last night and will finish off tonight (I also had one for lunch).

   Be blessed and stay safe!

Tying Up Loose Ends and Getting My House In Order

    

   Some days I look out at all there is to do and I just shut down because I am overwhelmed with all there is to do and the lack of energy to get it done.  Today, despite being in a Fibro flare, I decided to just putter along and get some of the smaller tasks done (well smaller compared to reorganizing the pantry and taking inventory of what is in there).  Here are some of the tasks I was able to accomplish...

   We have a wind storm moving in so I went out into the garden between downpours and got all the bits and pieces picked up and taken care of.  I emptied out the smaller pots that had seeds in them that never quite made it and put the dirt in places where, if the seeds decided to make a go of it in the Spring, I would happily welcome them.  I also relocated a huge earthworm out of the seed starter tray into a nice area where he could happily burrow his way down under the dirt.  I found various gardening tools in the front walkway, along with some in the backyard and got those stashed away as well.  The sheet I used to cover my tomato plants was put in a bleach was, along with some cloth facemasks and is now in the dryer.  

   My tomatoes that I harvested when they were green all seem to be ripening at the same time in the house.  I got the ripe ones cut up and they are now in the dehydrator and will be made into tomato powder.  This can be added to soups and stews for extra flavor or reconstituted into tomato paste or sauce.  The tomatoes that I did not get to soon enough were scattered in the garden area where I want to try and grow more tomatoes in hope that they will self seed.  I know I should have tried to just seed save, but let's face it, I am a lazy gardener (and yet again, I hang my head in shame), but that is the reality of my life.

   My newest cast iron pans were all washed and given a good "seasoning" so they are now ready to use.  I still need to go through my kitchen cabinets and take out the pots and pans that I no longer use and get those in a box ready to donate.  I also emptied out the cereal boxes into airtight containers so we can see what we have and they stay fresher that way.  A few things were purged from the refrigerator that were um not good anymore (hanging my head in shame here).  I try to keep up on things but sometimes they do get away from me.

   I sorted through the pile of paper, magazines, etc. that were on the dining room table and tossed all the junk and got the magazines ready to go out to either family or down to the library.  I still have to clean off the rest of the table, but needed a break since my back was not happy with me trying to do so much.

   Tomorrow I up my medication dosage yet again, so I really am trying to get as much done as possible.  This medication does make me sleepy, so I am not sure how I will do with a higher dose.  It usually takes me about a week to two weeks to adjust.  I'm not sure how much I will be able to accomplish in the next few weeks, so I tried to get all the shopping done and find all the gifts and food items that I wanted to get for family before we head to Montana later this month.  The only one I have not figured out yet is something for my brother Fritz.  I think it will come down to the wire for him.  He is hard to buy for because he does not "want" anything, but I still try to get him something because Christmas is his favorite time of the year and I want to bless him.  He has finally just accepted that I am going to do something for him and I know he appreciates it. 😉

   It looks like we have another break in the rain so I need to get out to the garden and harvest the green onions before we have another big freeze.  I may pick some kale and swiss chard and make a soup for dinner tonight with pot stickers and an Asian inspired broth since Jeff will be at bowling league so it will just be me at home for dinner.  I'll be roasting some asparagus I got on clearance too.  I love roasted asparagus and it is yet another thing Jeff does not care for.  I try to treat myself on Thursday nights to foods that I love and he is not so fond of.  It helps me look forward to my Thursday nights as much as he looks forward to his.

   Be blessed all that are reading this and remember to keep yourself safe, healthy and continue stocking those pantries to hedge against inflation, shrinkflation, shortages (yes, we are seeing them here too) and to keep your families well fed, clothed, etc..  Bye for now.

   

   

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 10/8/21

 Weekend:

~We worked in that gardens and picked another 2 quarts of blackberries.  I froze them.

~Sunday found us out on the boat with Chris.  I took snacks and drinks with us.  I also took lots of pictures.  It was a wonderful day despite almost getting swamped by the wake of a cruise boat coming up the river who did not slow down.  I was left really bruised and swollen on my "seat end" from the pounding I took going over the wake waves.  Amazingly I stayed calm the entire time while Chris and Jeff got really concerned.  I knew Chris had enough experience and knew how to hit those waves head on and when to speed up to avoid getting swamps.  Chris is an amazing fisherman too and caught lots of perch to take home and threw about the same amount back in the water because they were smaller.  He ended up with 15 fish!  We will be going over for fish tacos in the near future.

~All the sheets were washed and hung up on the line to dry.  I also put the feather bed on the guest bed.  Boy did that feel good given how bruised and swollen I ended up on Sunday and of course there is nothing better than crawling into lined dried bed linens at night.

~I made a Teriyaki meatloaf and served it with rice and a side of pear slices from our garden along with some baby carrots.

~We stopped in to see my cousin Jeremy and his super sweet pittie dog Maggy.  He gave me the dehydrator he picked up for me (he ended up getting it for free).  He also said the he did not want to take his 5x8 foot enclosed trailer with him when he moves, so he is giving it to us.  What a blessing for our whole family to use.  We are also going to be trading living room furniture.  He is taking our brown loveseat and newer brown recliner (they are both lighter in weight than his are) and we are taking his tan colored reclining couch and loveseat.  I am really going to miss him but I know that he is someone who really does not like to stay put in one place too long and he has been here longer than he has been in most places.  We are still within a days drive from each other and I do look forward to going to visit him and being able to go to the Oregon coast.

Monday:

~Jeff got the front flower garden bed all trimmed back since we are expecting killing frost on Wednesday.

~I worked in the gardens harvesting basil, sage rosemary, green onions, tomatoes, squash and beans.  The herbs were all put in the dehydrator, along with some of the green onions.  They will be wonderful for seasoning meals!

~We had not had Scrapple for a long time so I made some using turkey sausage since it is much lower in fat.  I used some sage that I had previously harvested and dehydrated in it.

~I took all the green onions that I harvested from the garden and cut them up.  I ended up with 4 1/2 cups of cut up green onions.  I'm thinking I may dehydrate them once the other herbs are done in the dehydrator rather than freezing them.  It will take up less space that way.

Tuesday: (we are expecting a killing frost Wednesday)

~I picked all the tomatoes that were a good size but still green off the plants to ripen slowly inside the house.

~All the Swiss chard was harvested.  

~I picked all the cucumbers, green peppers that we good sized, cantaloupe that were close to ripeness (hopefully they will still be good) and squash.

~I also picked all the ripe blackberries.

~This is the last warm day so I spent time outside enjoying it before we drop into the 50's for daytime highs.

~Leftover Scrapple and 2 cups of coffee were my breakfast today before I started harvesting stuff.

~I pulled out most of the tomato, cucumber, and all the bean plants out.

~For dinner I made a stroganoff with caramelized onions and 4 slices of roast beef from the deli.  I served it over mashed potatoes.

Wednesday:

~I had leftovers for lunch.

~I was getting that "nudging" again to go and get the shopping done before prices go up again.  I was shocked to see some of the prices on meat had gone up, even at Grocery Outlet.  I did pick up things like cereal, more spices, a big jug of olive oil (I use olive oil as my primary cooking oil here), a few frozen items, canned tomato products, egg noodles, and both beef and chicken stock.  These items came from both Grocery Outlet and Dollar Tree combined.  I also picked up some HBA items at Dollar Tree like two 3 packs of toothbrushes, face wipes and I also found the movie "Caddie Woodlawn" there.  The author of the book the movie was based on lived in Moscow, Idaho where my husband was born. Oh I picked up some house slippers too!

~The thrift store is my go to place for magazines and books, home décor and some clothing items.  I picked up a nice J Jill sweater, a new sports bra, some Fall decorations, Country Woman magazines and 3 books.  One of the books was a cookbook put together in 1979 by the ladies on my little farming community.  It is so much fun to look through it and see so many familiar names and realize that I ate some of the food that the recipes were so generously shared in this cookbook.  Most of the people are now in heaven, but I treasure having this "tie" to them.

~I knew the frost was coming so I had Jeff move the potted herb plants to the hot tub area.  I also did one last picking of things.

~Dinner was baked sausage and cheese balls, a salad and we each had half of a small cantaloupe from the garden.

~I cooked up the Italian Sausage that I had thawed out so it would not go bad.  I will use it Friday to make Zuppa Toscana.  I'll make a big pot of it since Jaysn, Rachel and Steven are coming out Saturday to pick apples at the orchard and we can have it for lunch.  I know both Jaysn and Rachel love it and I can always make Steven and peanut butter sandwich if he would prefer that.

Thursday:

~I was right, the gardens were hit hard by frost.  Luckily the blackberries still seem ok and are still producing.  Everything else, except for the kale, is a goner.  Looks like it is time to finish cleaning out the garden so it is ready for next Spring.

~I packaged up the dehydrated herbs and got half of the green onions I sliced up earlier in the week going.

~The other half of of the green onions were frozen. 

~The last batch of blackberries I picked were made into 2 pints of blackberry jelly.

~Jeff is gone bowling on Thursday nights so I treat myself to a nice meal that he does not care for but I like.  Tonight it was lobster ravioli that I found for $4.99 at the Grocery Outlet.  I had a glass of wine, some pear slices (from our pears from our trees) and some sourdough  toast with it.  YUMMY!

Friday:

~Not a frugal day at all!  I took some medication to help with my anxiety and it knocked me out.  Jeff ended up bringing home dinner for us.

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 10/1/21

 

   I came across this picture in my files from a few years ago and thought it was the perfect header picture for our post today.  I remember making that fettuccini with what I had on hand and how good it was.  I'm thinking I may have to work that into our menu again for this coming week. 😉  I still cannot believe it is October already.  The maple tree across the street from us is putting on a magnificent show, as is our neighbor's burning bush.  I just Love Fall!

   Here is just a few of the frugal things we have done this week.  Of course I forgot to write things down as I went, so we may we all now bow our heads and pray I can remember things...LOL!

~Jeff and I harvested about a gallon more blackberries off our plants.  We bagged up the first half gallon and spread the love to our neighbors.

~Three more cantaloupes were ready to pick.  YUM!  I took one over to our neighbor/hanai sister Shannon.

~Tomatoes, beans and squash were also harvested.

~I have sliced tomatoes going in the dehydrator.  I will turn them into tomato powder.

~I started my $200 October Grocery challenge and am being careful about what I buy.

~We stopped at the Dollar Tree to get a few things and were very happily surprised that the food aisle had been restocked, as well as the HBA Aisle.  I picked up more parchment paper, fabric band aids, baby wipes, spaghetti sauce, socks, Pink Bismoth, a plastic coated shopping bag and a movie for Steven to add to his Christmas gifts.

~Washington State started it's single use plastic bag ban so we now have to bring our own bags to the stores. I did buy one at the Dollar Tree, but also had a bunch in the car for the other things we bought at Walmart and the Grocery Outlet.

~The Grocery Outlet had all their summer items at half off so I bought more swim googles and diving towns for Bradley and Isaiah to go along with their Christmas gifts.  They have a pool in their back yard and spend hours playing in it.  I wanted them to have extra goggles and toys for when friends come over.

~I found a baby toy marked down to $2.50 in the clearance Aisle at Walmart.  I picked it up for Tate and he will get it early when we see him at Thanksgiving.

~Jeff picked up my feather bed from the dry cleaners and I cannot tell you how happy I am to have it on the guest bed now.  I usually go to sleep in there because I need to stretch out to sleep and sometimes toss and turn a lot.  I don't want to keep Jeff awake in our room.

~Bread and muffins were baked.

~I cooked up a large pork loin roast, along with baked potatoes.  I served it with fresh pear slices from our trees.  YUMMY and it made for 3 complete meals.

~One night I was really tired so we had canned chicken noodle soup (I had not had that in years since I usually make my own) and crescent rolls.

~I made some Krab salad (like you find at the deli) and a tomato, feta, and cucumber salad (using produce from our garden).

~I chose to use my $35 in Walmart gift cards (Swagbucks and MyPoints) to stock up on toilet paper, tissues, kitty litter, and used the remainder of the balance towards groceries.  This will really help with my October Grocery Budget Challenge since that is money that will not have to come out of my personal grocery budget for the month.

~I did skip our town's food commodities give away again this month.  Our Covid-19 cases are really high and I did not want to be in a small building with others that might possibly have it.  I know of families that have been affected by it and some of them are still going down there, even if they should be staying home.  Not worth the risk!

~Since I am still adjusting to my medications, I am not driving myself anywhere, not even down to the library or the post office, which has cut down on the gas bill.

~It's that time of year where I switch out my purses.  I went through my large collection and found a beautiful Brighton leather woven bag that I had not worn yet, so that shall be my Fall bag, for awhile at least.  I did buy it at a thrift store about 2 years ago, but due to Covid-19, had not used it yet since I did not really go anywhere last Fall.

~Jeff's work had 2 BBQ's this week so that is 2 lunches that he did not have to take to work.

~I made a large homemade lasagna and added some red wine to the sauce...oh my goodness did that elevate the flavor!

   I'm sure there are many more things that we did, but at the moment I am drawing a blank.  I'm waiting on the sheets to dry on the line so Jeff and I can make the beds.  He is out winterizing the gardens and doing some clearing out of them.  We are going to pray that we get more cantaloupe to ripen, along with the peppers, before the frost takes them all out.  Tomorrow Chris is taking us out on his boat and up the St. Joe River.  I love being out on the river or on a lake and the Fall colors are just glorious right now so I will be taking a lot of pictures.  If I get some good ones, I want to frame them and use them as part of my Fall decorations.  Chris will be fishing and I had planned on doing that too until I saw the price for an out of state one day fishing license.  YIKES!  So instead I will just enjoy Jeff and his company and the beautiful scenery.  Be blessed!