I Hate Allergies!

   I have suffered from horrible year round allergies for years now.  The have caused me to have to cancel out on work and fun times with my family.  They cause me to be in pain.  I hate them!

   After I had my hysterectomy, my allergies did get a bit better.  I had forgotten how it felt to to have itchy ears, pain in my ears and in my sinuses. Oh and let's not forget the dizziness that comes from the fluid build up in my ear drums.  It was wonderful to feel "normal again.

   Spring came early here and with it my allergies kicked into high gear.  The ear pain, sinus pain, drainage and dizziness are back.  I've having to take Sudafed, Musinex and ibuprofen just to function.  My weekend was spent either on the couch or in bed.  I slept for 9 hours straight.  I have insomnia so that is very unusual for me.

   I have a busy week ahead of me.  Our oldest grandson will be turning 4 and we have his birthday party.  My husband and I have our 31st wedding anniversary and he took that day off to spend it with me.  I have a friend coming over to stay Friday night and then my weekend it packed with things both days.  I need relief and I need it quick.

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 3/5/16

   This week has not been as frugal as some others, but I still think I did ok.  With the weather getting better I will finally be able to hang things out to dry on the laundry line and save more money there.  My hubby is borrowing a friend's truck today so that he can haul home a ton of wood pellets for our pellet stove that heats our home.  We are hoping that this will be the last ton we have to buy this heating season and that it will also give us a start on the next heating season.  We have used less pellets this year than last, mainly due to the warmer temperatures and also due to me being a hot flashing fool who needs the temperature in the house much lower than I used to. ;)  And now...onto other savings this week:

   
~My hubby was in need of a haircut so I did that on Monday.
~We borrowed more books and  a movie from the library.
~Sunday is the new rotation of a new colored tag that is half off at the Goodwill.  We were able to find some clothing items there that were needed for half off.  I also found some hard cover decorating books for $1.99 each.
~Rufus got a new cat bed for $5.99 from the Goodwill.

~My hubby is a huge Luke Bryan fan and was wanting one of his CDs to listen to as he makes his long driving route each night for work.  I found one at the Salvation Army thrift store for .50 and hubby was thrilled!
~I love children's books and found some great ones, including 3 that were signed by the authors, for .50 each from the Salvation Army.
~We had our kids and grandkids here on Sunday and served 2 of the pizzas that I had gotten previously at half price from the Walmart deli and had frozen.  Some of our adult kids used our hot tub and the grandboys, their Daddy and Uncle Jaysn played football in the front yard. :)

~The mail brought more freebies:  Lego Magazine (I get this for my oldest grandson Bradley), Country Living Magazine
~I continue to work on my points programs so that I can cash them in for gift cards.
~I needed a new pair of jeans and found a pair of Not Your Daughter's Jeans brand at Goodwill for $7.99.  They are a little long so I will just hem them up...easy peasy!  This brand of jeans retails for $120 and up!

~I spent a total of $4.75 at a thrift store on Tuesday and got a cookbook called "Fancy Pantry", a beautiful leather purse (.50), 2 pairs of swim trunks for my grandson, a gorgeous kimono style sheer jacket for me, some cute flannel material and a set of 4 cheese and dip spreaders.
~I once again scored at the grocery store and Walmart with marked down and sales items. I was able to get a package of pork chops and steaks that will give us 4 meals for $7.89.  Other deals were hash brown casseroles for $1 each, ciabatta rolls, shrimp, hot dogs, band aids, yoga pants, chicken, burgers, and more.
~Finished reading a book I bought at the thrift store for .50.
~Did more baking this week...sourdough bread and a double batch of banana bread.

~I mended some clothing.
~My husband and my 31st wedding anniversary is on the 9th of this month.  We decided to replace our broken BBQ grill instead of taking a weekend trip.  I found a really nice one on sale at Sears.com and went through my swagbucks link which will get me 2 points per dollar spent.  I also was able to use my ShopYourWay points and discounts to get a total of $25 off my purchase and I also earned more ShopYourWay future discounts.
~I cashed in for a $25 Buffalo Wild Wings gift card through Swagbucks.  We will use this plus the balance we have on another gift card to pay for a Anniversary dinner out.

~Netflix provided lots of entertainment this week as we watched some movies and shows on it.  Our son Jaysn gifted us a subscription to it.
~We have been borrowing Yoga dvds from the library and trying them out to find one that we really like.
~We are eating lots of leftovers this week since I cook in large quantities.
~I found some fun dvds in the Pink Panther series with Peter Sellers for $1 each at a used book store.
~My hubby combined running errands and his bowling league night in his little car so that was less gas used.

  I'm looking forward to reading about how others have saved this their families money this week.  It really does inspire me!  Be blessed!
   

 

No Fail Biscuit Recipe

     A very sweet blogger, hi Mountain Mama, commented on my Sausage Gravy post that she wanted to learn how to make a good biscuit.  So here is my tried and true recipe that I have been using for years!  I got it out of an old The Farmer's Almanac Cook Book.  

Sift together 2 cups flour, 1 teaspoon sugar, , 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 3 teaspoons baking powder.  Add 4 tablespoons liquid shortening (oil) and 3/4 cup milk.  Mix to a soft dough.  Pat down on lightly floured board and roll to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut with a small biscuit cutter and place on ungreased baking sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes at 500F (yes that is the correct temperature).

* Do not overmix the dough or you will have tough biscuits.  I will sometimes substitute 1 cup of whole wheat flour for 1 cup of the all purpose flour.  I do not use a small biscuit cutter but rather pat the dough out into a small rectangle or square and then cut that into smaller squares, like if you were cutting up brownies.  I place them about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.  I just found this faster to do it this way when I had lots of hungry mouths at home to feed.  I also doubled the recipe because my family loves homemade biscuits. :)


   I hope this biscuit recipe works well for you.  It has never failed me and my family says they are the best biscuits they have ever tasted. :)

Sausage Gravy over Biscuits

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

   There is a very lovely and fun lady who asked me to share more recipes on my blog so this is for you Melissa.  Sausage gravy is one of our favorites served over biscuits.  It's wonderful comfort food any time of the year. but especially on cold days.  So here we go!

Brown a roll of breakfast sausage in a skillet or you can use a nonstick wok pan like I did.  I used my potato masher to make the sausage crumbles smaller.

Add a cup of flour and cook for another 3 minutes on medium heat to take the rawness off the flour.

Next you will be adding some milk to make the gravy.  I use 1% milk because that is what we drink.

Add your milk until you have a semi thick gravy and then add a little salt and some freshly ground pepper to taste.

Simmer your gravy for about 4 minutes on medium low, stirring occasionally.  Serve over biscuits.  Enjoy!

March 2016 $150 Grocery Budget Challenge Begins

   So my March 2016 grocery budget challenge begins.  I have already done a major shopping trip and stock up and used up $80 of my $150 budget.  OUCH!   That leaves me with just $70 in cash for the rest of the month.  I will be cashing in for some Walmart gift cards via Swagbucks throughout the month to supplement this though, so it is not as "grim" as it sounds. ;)

   I was really on the lookout for ways to stretch my money and one of the things that really surprised me was how much cheaper it was to by the 64 oz size of coffee creamer at Walmart (their house brand) than anything else.  It worked out to 6.4 cents per ounce for this size as compared to 13.4 cents per ounce with the other brand I usually buy.  I am hoping that this will last me for the entire month.  If not, I do have 2 more of the Peppermint creamers in the freezer, but I was looking for a change. ;)

   I also lucked out on finding a large package of pork chops and steaks,  I cooked some of them up for dinner last night and froze the rest.  I will get 4 meals out of this package that I was able to find for under $8.  That in my mind is a bargain!  I served it with a hashbrown casserole that was normally sold for $8.99 but that I got for $1...yes, 1 whole dollar!  Don't you love when you run across deals like that?  I picked up 2 of the casseroles at that price and the other one is safely tucked away in the freezer to use in a future meal.

   My freezers and pantry are still very full so that will help out tremendously and I have green onions growing in the garden so I will not have to buy any more of those unless we have a killing frost.  I am praying we do not have one of those!  We really do need to eat more of the food up that is in our freezers to make room for the upcoming garden produce season.  Anyone else challenging themselves with a lower than normal grocery budget this month?

Family, Football and Fun!

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 2/26/16

   Here we are at the end of another productive and semi-frugal ;) week.  Spring has sprung here and I am so anxious to get out and do some planting, but I know it is far too early for that and chances are we will have more snow and another killing frost.  I would hate to waste time and money on getting a garden in and then having it all die on me.  So onto the savings!

~I stocked up on more liquid hand soap at Bath and Body works while it was 5 for $18 and also got a free body wash with my coupon.  I know that I could spend less at the Dollar Tree for liquid soap but this is one of those "frugal luxuries" that I allow myself.  I gave one of the bottles of soap to my DIL Heather because my grandsons love to wash their hands with soap that smells good. ;)
~I received an email with a coupon for a free bag of cat treats from Petco.  I got the largest bag I could find that was grain free for our special needs kitty.
~My hubby and I have been wanting to get a copy of the movie "McFarland" and I found one at the Redbox kiosk for $5
~We have eaten lots of leftovers this week for dinner.
~I used up more overripe bananas to make 2 regular sized loaves and 4 mini loaves of banana bread.
~I used the butter wrappers to grease the bread pans that I made the banana bread in.

~My hubby has been enjoying hard boiled eggs lately so I boiled up another dozen for him.
~While we were at Goodwill one day they announced that all their dvds and cds were on sale at 50% off.  There were some I had been wanting there so I got 4 of them for $1.50 each and also scored a cashmere sweater for $4.99.
~I've been trying to work my points programs every day.
~Our son Chris and his family invited us over to dinner. :)
~My husband and I have been trying to get out for walks every day with our dog Caesar...free exercise!
~We continue to use SKYPE to talk with our son Josh.

~We went to a fund raiser for a young father with cancer.  We paid for our tickets and did buy our grandsons some chips, but we took our own water and some other snacks.
~We have been watching movies that we own and also ones we borrow from the library.
~My computer has again been a huge blessing since I watch several TV shows online.
~I have been planning my meals around what we have and what needs used up.
~More loaves of Sourdough bread were made this week.

~Jeff changed out a blown fuse in our garage with some we had found on sale a couple of years ago.  Thank goodness we realized that a fuse was blown or we would have lost everything in our two big freezers.
~I froze some leftovers to use for future meals.
~While shopping at Walmart the other day I found bananas for .48 a pound and the following all marked at 50% off, 2 loaves of bread from the bakery, 4 family sized deli pizzas, Italian sausage, fried chicken from the deli, and salads from the deli.
~We bought a battery charger and rechargeable batteries for our nice camera.
~I continue to save egg shells to put in my garden around the strawberry plants when the strawberries are ripening this Spring.  It keeps the slugs from getting to the berries.
~I buried the banana peels from making the banana bread around my roses.

~I needed more moisturizer with sunscreen in it and found my favorite kind, Oil of Olay, in a special value pack.  I now have 2 bottles for the price I have paid for just one in the past.  
~More treasures and needed items found at my favorite thrift store that benefits and provides training for the disabled: seasons 2, 3 and 4 of The West Wing on dvd ($4.99 each for the sets) and a few other dvds, 2 shirts for the grandboys, 2 shirts for my hubby, a brand new item that will be an Easter gift, a fun wallet for the oldest grandson, shoes for the oldest grandson (who is growing out of his shoes at an alarming rate), organizing shelving for my pantry project and some silk flowers that look very life like.
~While doing our volunteer work this week, we were given tons of groceries including 20 pounds of chicken.  We gave 10 pound to our neighbors who have 3 teenagers to feed.  Some fo the other items we received were: bottles of fruit juice, bread and hamburger buns, pasta, canned fruits and veggies, soup, crackers, cereal, coffee, apples, potatoes, cauliflower, 2 dozen eggs, chips, dried garbanzos (I will be making these into hummus),  cookies, and some other items that escape me at the moment.

~I struggle with insomnia so I took some sleep meds that I had gotten as a free sample to try.
~Since we have had unseasonably warm weather here lately, I have been able to turn the heat way down during the day and let the sunshine coming through the windows help warm up our home.
~Freebies that came in the mail this week: a magazine, calendar, and some coupons.
~I discovered that my old fashioned potato masher is a great tool for breaking up ground meat when you are browning it and also for smashing up canned tomatoes.  I don't have great hand strength so this is a huge deal for me since it does not hurt or tire my hands and wrists out.

~I belong to Pinch Me and signed up for samples that were available on Tuesday.

   Rufus may not be too impressed with my savings this week but I am not sure if that is due to the new pheromone collar that we are trying on him to see if it will help calm him down so he does not continue to destroy things or the fact that I have not given him any of his free kitty treats yet. ;)   I'm pleased though with them and I'm thinking my hubby is too.  He even wore one of the dri-fit shirts I got him at the thrift store to go to his bowling league tonight.