Printable View
Haha, I see that several of us were still posting on August frugals even though it's already September!
We had a MAJOR score! DH's winter jacket was fraying at the buttonholes. He had a Filson wool jacket that was a gift about 10 years ago. He'd already sent it in for repair. They replaced it! This is like a $350 jacket. Excellent - now he can get at least another 10 years out of it. If it hadn't been for the buttonholes he could have kept using the other one.
Woohoo!
Sept 1
Major score for sure Kelli..
--big pot of spagetti sauce for supper and plenty for leftovers
--found the meal replacement DS has been drinking on sale and I had $2.00 off coupons so bought 4 boxes.
--got gas today and it filled up for $50.00 and we had not had gas since mid July...saying home a lot really pays off and of course the new car is really good on gas.
Was making some vegetable soup with chicken bits last night over the Coleman stove and got distracted by a phone call, finished the call and forgot about the soup till a few minutes later when I heard something popping, then I remembered I had left the soup on the stove, long story short it had boiled all the liquid out and the popping was the potato bits jumping in the pan....looked bad as I chiseled it from the bottom of the pan, then I got this bright idea to ad just a bit of water and presto it became the consistency of mashed potato's, I tried it, added a bit of butter and was it GOOD, gonna have to see if I can duplicate it, it was really good, Jamie Oliver look out!
DH went to costco and got us several big cans of tomatoes so I can make a huge batch of meat sauce for the freezer and also to pressure can. Will add to it our garden or local veggies frilled and chopped and local pork & beef. I made enough pks last year so we could have pizza or pasta each week and it was so much better than store bought.
went to the Farmers market and got a bunch of produce to combine with my garden produce to make into meals and freeze. I have made a huge pot of Chili, huge pot of Spaghetti sauce, huge pot of applesauce and several casseroles for the freezer. They will be so good once the weather turns and it helps us from eating out, which we rarely do but sometimes we cave in. Way cheaper than buying already made and much more healthy.
Continuing to sew on quilts made from my stash of fabric. I don't know what I was thinking to buy so much yardage but the good thing is I have made many presents this year and have several stowed for Christmas presents.
flowers, I think all sewers have the same problem! :) I believe you are not alone in this :)
I have a little one, I finally figured out how to redeem the iTunes gift card I was given in June. I could have used it many times over already, but oh well, at least I will have it to use now! :)
I have a hard time not getting mad at myself for being so careless with money. But being in a quilt guild I know that many are plagued with unfinished projects in various states of completion, books and patterns bought with good intentions, and stacks of fabric purchased at $10 a yard. Yet I am so frugal in other places. I guess it is the old Gazingus pin rearing it's ugly head.Quote:
Originally Posted by fidgiegirl
Finally took the plunge and got a Costco card. So, $50 down, but was very careful and spent only $100 (incl. $7 in coupons), about 2/3 of which was a giant package of wild salmon, 3-pack of organic ground beef, and two yummy-looking bottles of wine. Another $8 was a big jug of laundry detergent on sale, which should last quite a while. The rest was fruit, lettuce and Greek yogurt. Had to restrain myself in the bakery and cheese sections! :0! The only disappointment was that I did not find any recycled paper TP or paper towels.
Stopped at another grocery & spent another $100 getting stocked up on dried beans, natural chicken, fruit, vegetables and stuff for DD1's lunches (Indian vegetarian stuff). So far for the school year, I am sticking to $150/wk., but with all these proteins, I can hopefully get that down further for the next couple of weeks when I'll only need fruit and veg, soy milk, bread and maybe some eggs.
I went to Costco too. I didn't get much that wasn't on my list. Zach got me flowers and I got some celery at the kids' request for snacks, but that was pretty much it and the celery hardly seems like a splurge.
James is really ready for potty training. This morning he took off his diaper, went to the door of the bathroom and said, "Potty, Mommy! Help me!" He doesn't like the little potty chair but he is a little scared of the big potty seat too, so I am going to get him one of those seats you put on the big seat. Ultimately it's a pretty frugal purchase if it allows us to go down to one kid in diapers, and the potty seat is meant to work as a stool with the lid down so we can still use it for that. Also, with Travis still a baby we've got both options for him, whichever he prefers, when the time comes. Zach is going to take him for a special Daddy/James outing sometime today to get the potty chair and a package of underwear.
Stella, that's great that James is ready to relinquish his diapers! We had one of those seats for our big seat, and it worked pretty well. Nothing exciting here. Staying home today - yay! too hot to do anything much. I finished a cover for my very bright yellow footstool. It's now covered in a rather sedate tan and blue small stripe ticking. I have a large roll of the ticking, purchased for $5 at a yard sale. Two loads of laundry on the line. Ran our average food expenditures for the year so far. Groceries and meals out together still average less than $400 per month for 3 adults, which is less than the food stamp allotment here (based on what DH's friend got as a single adult).
Today was a pretty spendy day for me, but I had expected that it would be. I went to a crafts fair with sister and a friend. I spent some significant change there, but I didn't buy anything stupid that I would wonder what I was thinking once I got home! :)
Then we went out to lunch and to TJ Maxx and an art supply store (these are two shopping machines that I was hanging with. They are nurses in a bone marrow transplant unit of a large hospital, so they deal with horrible disease and death for a living. When they're not at work, they're all about "can't take it with you!") So I had a good day with no real regrets. The shopping was all done with my saved allowance, so no guilt, and I enjoyed the fine company of these two delightful women, so while it might be a stretch to call it a frugal day, it was money pretty well spent. After all, I'm not saving up for a solid gold sarcophaghus when I die or anything!
Sept 03
--lunch was out at our favourite and only fast food place we ever eat at--Harvry's--had a two can dine for $9.99 and we both enjoyed it.
--super was salad and french toast made with a half loaf of bread that needed to be used up
My cash refund check from my Amazon Visa came in the mail today, and will be saved for the holidays. Found enough stuff in the fridge for burritos for dinner - with the aid of the microwave. I'm not turning the stove on if I can help it!
normally dh goes out for a big mexican burrito on the weekend but because i made flour tortillas; he stayed home and created his own mexican meal and i used up veggies
tried to go to a open poetry reading; free but must have been an error in the paper; it was hot so we took a ride through our communities to see what everyone was up to and then back home for a movie rented from the library
realized and mentioned to dh how often we used to go to the video stores and now we haven't gonein such a long time
today willl be a hike at the local park; since the weather has cooled!
we are also putting together food, items for our next travel adventure; which will be a road trip to my home area and now ond of dh's favorite places for a color tour
also try to do the opposite of everyone; since its the holiday and many people are using it as a last time to go camping etc.; we are staying at home and being tourists in our own town!
Yesterday Zach and the girls and I spent the day working on the laundry room/dressing room, putting up shelving and a few racks for drawers we had gotten last week, sorting things and decluttering. It was hard work, but I think in the end we have a plan that is going to make the space much more useable. I list this as a frugal because the better I am at keeping up with laundry, the more efficient I am with clothes buying. I am also going to see if this can help me "tame the laundry monster" (as referenced in another thread) without buying a higher capacity washer and dryer. As much as I want them, they really are expensive.
Zach has been taking each kid out for a Daddy Date this weekend, which I think is a good use of money, but I have been trying to do the same thing without spending money. Friday Cheyenne woke up really early and instead of sending her back to bed I made us scrambled eggs and toast and sat and had a conversation with her. Yesterday, while Zach was out with Bella, James woke up and I made us scrambled eggs and toast and actually kind of had a conversation with him too. He's two, so it was a simple conversation, but he's really starting to talk more. This morning Bella woke up with Cheyenne when she got up to go out for breakfast with Zach. I was planning to make us french toast for breakfast, but she wanted to play a game and eat graham crackers. We played Crazy Eights and Memory.
This morning with Bella made me think that we need to bring back game night. Last year during the school year Monday night was Karate, Wednesday night was Faith Formation, Thursday night was Game Night and Friday night was Movie Night. I think that was a good schedule. We all seemed to like it. This year I think we will occasionally invite other friends for movie and game night. I think my menu plan is going to be one-dish meals on Thursdays and soup and bread on Friday, which will make it easier to just relax and enjoy those nights.
I've been doing a lot of preserving this past week. I made two kinds of pasta sauce, one garden vegetable, the other roasted tomato and garlic. I also made roasted tomato, onion and thyme relish, which I like on bread and seven quarts of pickles.
Due to renovations, I am having to use a different branch library than my usual. For whatever reason, this other branch has a much better stocked sale table for their fundraising used book sale. I found the first eight books in the Stephanie Plum series in great condition for 50 cents each. I love reading series in order and for some reason have never done Stephanie Plum although my mom loves them. Perfect for a hot sticky Labor Day weekend...
Sept 4
--sorted out all my kitchen drawers,washed out and lined with nice drawer liner I had bought a year ago on sale. I usually use cheap rolls of wall paper but, this was such a good buy I thought I would love it all padded and washable, but had not got around to using it. Frugal is using what I have and sorting because I thought I needed storage containers because of missing lids. They had gone behind drawer to back of cupboard so I now know I have plenty.
--leftover french toast from last night supper for breakfast.
--beautiful supper of BBQ ribs I had previously frozen, new potatoes, and local fresh corn on the cob (not as sweet as early in the summer but still good)
--plenty of leftovers for tomorrow's lunch
First month of paying increased rent (in exchange for reduced responsibilities for the apt. building), so I will be watching this thread closely. Need to cut about $300 out of our monthly budget. If I can keep going on my grocery plan, I think $200/mo. will come from groceries. The other $100 can come from eating out - over to the cook-at-home thread! :D
Made up a giant pot of corn chowder yesterday to freeze in meal sized portions for the winter. Going to make up more pizza sauce to freeze either today or tomorrow. We've been doing a fairly good job of eating at home for the past week with the exception of one lunch out while in NYC over the weekend. Our bees have rewarded us with lots of honey this year, so I've been eating a lot of peanut butter and honey on toast for breakfast. It makes for an inexpensive and delicious breakfast that I, hopefully, won't get bored with easily!
Used up a gift card to Home Depot to buy some plants to finish a gardening project. Only thing Home Depot didn't have was a few ferns, so went to a locally owned nursery yesterday and bought those. While there picked up some garlic to plant this fall. It will be our first attempt at garlic, but I've read that it is very easy, and we use a lot of garlic at our house, so should be a worthwhile project! Also found a wrought iron plant holder on the sale table for $6. It will be a fun edition to the container plants on our deck next season!
I'll have to be in search of some larger frugals this month as the car needs to be repaired and we have vet appointments for 1 dog and 1 cat this month. We have the money to cover all of these expenses, but I like to challenge myself to keep the bank balance the same or growing from month-to-month!
Thank you to everyone for the good thoughts & prayers. I really appreciate it.
Danna - I pray Sept. is a better month for you as well.
Kelli - Thanks for all your ideas. Ian is looking for a job on campus this year. Hopefully he'll find something soon. I don't want Tyler to have a job during the school year. He has enough going on already. He has a hard time with some subjects and he needs to finish drivers ed and retake the ACT. He doesn't need any more stress in his senior year lol
I am can't think of any kind of a home business I can do. I don't think I want to work recesses, I'm not real good with disciplining other peoples kids. And I remember the ladies from when my kids were in elementary school and they always looked so grouchy. lol Also not crazy about being a cashier. I'm not sure how much of my problem is fear, or lack of confidence and how much is laziness. :confused:
We took Ian back to school on Friday and on the way home we got a call that MIL was not doing well so we stopped to see her on the way home. She was doing terrible. We didn't think she was going to make it through the night. She did and was put on a new medicine that really helped her and she was looking much better on Saturday. But we aren't sure how much time she has left. So I went back and picked Ian up in Ann Arbor so he could visit with his grandma. Took him back on Sunday in time for a mandatory dorm meeting. MIL in still hanging in there.
So there hasn't been much frugalness going on around here. We're going through a lot of gas.
At the dollar tree I got some The Works tub cleaner. Not the kind in the spray bottle but the thicker stuff in the squirt bottle. I put the cleaner in a spray bottle about half & half with water and used it. It worked great that way.
I've been decluttering. Took a big box of clothes to Goodwill. Setting aside some things for a yard sale.
We're out of dish soap. I was going to go buy some today but I do have some Dr. Bronners I can use.
Friday is payday. We are out of fresh veggies except carrots & onions. Only about 1/3 loaf of bread. And we're out of cash. I am going to try my best to stay out of the store and make do with what we have. I made a loaf of bread last night. It is supposed to be sandwich bread. We'll see if DH & Tyler will use it. I don't think they've ever used homemade bread for anything but eating for it's own sake. We'll see how it goes.
I am jealous of your Stephanie Plum score, Amelia Jane. Those books crack me up. They are so totally improbable but so amusing.
Well, didn't stick to the no buying plans today. The homemade bread is great for toasting but kind of dry for sandwiches. And I didn't like the way the Dr. Bronners worked on the dishes. Maybe I used too much? But I got my favorite bread B1/G1 so it wasn't too bad.
I had defrosted a chicken so I roasted it and then used part of it for chicken pot pie. yum! I knew if I just served the roast chicken DH & DS would wolf the whole thing down. Now I have the other half for something else. And the carcass for stock. I also used up the last of the bag of frozen peas & carrots.
After I rest my feet for a bit I'm going to use up some bananas in muffins w/chocolate chips.
Yesterday was half-price day at my favorite thrift. I spent $6.50 total, and got 2 vintage wooden tennis rackets and 4 vintage badminton rackets (these will sell), a nice copy of Reader's Digest Practical Problem Solver (14 cents! I have one and will give this one to one of the kids), an unused journal (from the Smithsonian Museum store, with old floral prints), 6 mugs to use as gifts, 2 partial boxes of lovely Christmas cards, 3 silk scarves (I use these for lots of things), and 2 pillow shams for the sofa, or for DH's myriad of pillows. Of course then I had to run on down the road to our favorite non-local grocers, Jungle Jim's, (http://www.junglejims.com/) which is always an adventure. I managed to spend an unplanned $30 there, but bought some hard to find items, a couple bottles of interesting beer, etc. Actually I spent a lot more than that overall, but I was/will be reimbursed for all of it, and got points on my Visa card to boot. Today it was back to work with my packed lunch, coffee, water, and snack, and tomorrow will be the same. Watched a borrowed video tonight, and pulled together a fast dinner from leftovers. It's nice and cool here at the moment, so the air conditioners are off, yay!
Hi everyone, I'm back in the game again. I just needed a break I guess. Now that school has started and we've gotten through our busy season at work, I feel like I can start focusing on being more frugal again.
Its cold in the house this morning but I refuse to turn the heat on. I have the door closed to the room I'm in to keep it as warm as possible.
I drank free coffee this morning while doing my video values for Rite Aid this month.
After spending $3500 in hospital costs last month and finding out that my mother has to have more surgery next week I have finally, after many years of trying, managed to go vegan. Some part of me just said, enough is enough, and I'm easily suceeding at doing this for the third week. I know that doesn't seem like much but it really feels like its gonna stick this time. I consider this a huge frugal because of the on-going health benefits of changing my habits. Plus, I'm spending less on food by not eating expensive meat and dairy products.
We are going out to dinner for free tonight-my parents treat. I'll probably be stuck with salad and not much else but that is ok-its my choice. My guys on the other hand, will have a nice prime rib dinner with all the fixings for free. A very nice indulgence for them.
I'm going to the library today to pick up more vegan cook books to look through. I like doing this and its much cheaper than buying them.
I'm doing swag codes and sweepstakes today for any freebies I might win. This is something else I haven't done much of lately. Its fun frugal entertainment.
Not much else to add for now. Hope everyone has a great day!
Nice to see you back, bke!
Not much to report here. A coworker gave me some crackers she didn't want to take home after generously providing food for a meeting. No one else wanted them, so I will have some with my leftover dinner tonight.
Not much else to report! Oh well!! :)
Hey BKE, Glad to see you again. I was wondering if all was well. Is Swagbucks worthwhile? I recently signed up at Donna Freeman's behest, but at the rate I'm going, it's going to take me a year to earn a $5.00 Amazon gift card.
I'm still getting tomatoes from the garden, so I'm still making spaghetti sauce, salsa, etc. I try to get enough in the freezer to last us a year. Nature doesn't always cooperate, though.
I am getting on a more frugal kick. I've been continuing to process tomatoes. This time I made a big batch of plain roasted tomatoes that I can add to soups, make a sauce with or add to chili.
Yesterday we went to Half Price Books to get a copy of Little House in the Big Woods. I have most of the Little House books, but over the years a few have been lost. I got it for $2.99. I wanted to own it rather than getting it from the library because if my kids are like me, those books are ones they will reread time and time again. So far they are loving it!
I also got an Usborne Encyclopedia of Oceans for $3.50. We're doing an ocean study prior to our California trip. This book also has links for each page on the publishers website. For example, on the shark page we can watch videos of different kinds of sharks or take a quiz about sharks.
The girls begged for a stamp kit on heirogyphics. It was $7 and I relented because it goes well with out Ancient Egypt study, but if they get bored of it we can give it to my nephew who is absolutely nuts about Egyptology. Yesterday they were writing each other secret messages in heiroglyphics and decoding them. It was hours of fun.
We also went to Harriet Alexander Nature Center yesterday. The kids loved it. They especially liked looking at all of the animal skeletons and pelts. We went walking on their marsh boardwalk and saw lots of butterflies. It was a nice, quiet afternoon.
Today I am going to take the kids to a playground in the morning so I can hopefully wear out the boys with fresh air and have time in the afternoon to work on laundry and read with the girls.
Tomorrow we are going raspberry picking with a friend of mine and having a picnic. We'll have raspberry dutch pancakes for our dinner.
We've been planning out our trips for the year to help keep costs down. We'll be hitting 18 states by March and we've gotten through planning for three of them. We are giving preference to free activities and inexpensive food places and double checking all of our memberships for reciprocity with museums in the places we are traveling to. We're staying with family members in several cities so that will cut down on the cost a bit.
We've decided that we won't buy any drinks on the trip (except for the odd coffee for tired grown up) but we will all have our water bottles with us. We'll try to eat out only once a day and when we are with my mom or grandma we will keep the eating out to a minimum and eat at home. We're going to keep healthy snacks like whole grain crackers, string cheese, fruit, trail mix, granola, veggies, raisins and peanut butter in the cooler so we can make meals from them. When we are in the Southern part of the U.S. (where it's not -10 in the winter) we will use Zach's mini propane grill or the camp stove for some meals. We can make hot dogs or hamburgers or, on the stove, breakfast. I could hardboil eggs for later. I'm aiming to keep the eating out for the month we are gone under $600.
Rosa- I like swagbucks. I have it set up on my tool bar so its easy to access. I simply make a point of doing enough searches (often random stuff) to earn points on any given day. I also answer the daily poll and click on the survey page for a point even though I don't complete the surveys. I average about 10-12 points a day. At the moment I have 3265 in points and $10 in amazon.com gift certificates. In the past I have redeemed probably $20-25 in amazon gift certificates. I like books and know I can use the points towards free books if I so choose but will probably use my points towards Christmas presents.
I have been cooking up a storm this morning. I haven't been well prepared food wise the last two days and its making me hungry and cranky (just ask my dh-lol!) I made spaghetti marinara with vegan meatballs thinking it would be enough for two meals and then turned around and ate the whole thing in one sitting. I also made a batch of maple dijon potatoes and green beans that should last 3-4 meals. I have the last of a batch of vegan chocolate chip cookies in the oven as I type this. I should make it through the weekend pretty well now unless the guys decide that something looks tasty and helps me eat it.
We were given peppers and tomatoes by various people in the past few days. Dh made sauce and canned 8 jars this morning.
We recieved new last night that our school district was given a grant by the state that makes both breakfast and now lunch free for all enrolled students k-12. Meh, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Savings is $250- 300 a year I estimate.
While probably not actually a frugal, I bought some vegan cupcakes at a bakery about 45 minutes from home last night. They are so stale that I threw them away. Seriously poor quality! I emailed the ladies that own the bakery and politely told them how dissapointed I am because I would want someone to repect me enough to tell me.
Today is a no spend day.
I think I mentioned that on our long road-trip this summer, we brought our espresso maker and popcorn popper in a plastic tub along w/ other kitchen stuff, and we used them a lot. We also filled an iced tea dispenser every day (sometimes mixed with lemonade) and used our water bottles. Be aware that some places (Florida!!) have awful water from the tap, so we ended up buying water here and there, despite our best efforts.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stella
Definitely try the hotel-room grilled cheese - bread and cheese wrapped in foil, grilled with the hotel-room clothes iron. Awesome! :cool: We also relied on hotel breakfasts a lot, but they were pretty dire. I would get some extra fruit and stuff to round those out if you book motels w/ "continental breakfast."
If you are stuck and need to do fast food sometime, I recommend Wendy's - we were working with a group that contained a celiac and a vegetarian & everyone could eat there. Even my hamburger-loving DD2 decided to have a baked potato one time instead of a burger. The salads are also pretty good as far as fast food goes.
Also, we planned a couple of special lunches/dinners out to try regional foods - we had BBQ in Alabama and seafood in Florida. Those splurges were worth it.
And two words - hotel. pool. Awesome fun at the end of a long day of driving!
PS One hotel/picnic meal everyone enjoyed was tostadas - tostada shells, refried beans, lettuce (kids also just ate lettuce leaves plain), cheese, salsa. Heat the beans and cheese in the hotel microwave or if picnicking, just eat room temp. Really good!
Made Italian soup using the roasted tomatoes I froze the other day. It was awesome!! Also cooked/cut and bagged 2 doz ears of corn for the freezer. Made a natural cold remedy recommended by a friend. Next on the list is to try making homemade horseradish. Found a recipe that will allow me to can it.
Haven't bought anything at all in a couple of weeks - we're eating up everything from the fridge and shelves, and supplementing with garden stuff.
It's been fun - but will have to make a grocery run soon.
I have tried to be frugal this week. I put on a crock pot of pinto beans yesterday for supper, but dh wouldnt touch them. He said they were not any good:0!
So he got leftovers from the night before, so I guess it was sorta frugal. I went to goodwill Tuesday to find luggage but no go. I will just have to keep looking.
I splurged today and bought the Deadwood complete seasons dvd for 60 bucks. But I am hoping that this will help push us over the edge to doing away with cable. We have been spending alot of time watching The Shield on dvd and it has been nice.
Welcome, nickiefriend!
Great ideas Bastelmutti! I need to make a list of travel food ideas so I can remember them.
Welcome nickiefriend!
Today we are going raspberry picking with a friend of mine. I think we will bring a picnic. It should be some good FFF.
Other upcoming FFF events in the next week are a visit to a historical farm, free with membership, and a visit to a nature center with a new nature play area that Rosemary told me about. We have been to the nature center, but I looked up the nature play area on their website and on facebook and it looks like so much fun! That is free.
It isn't exactly frugal as the annual membership costs quite a bit, especially when you add it up for four people, but we have been making very good use of our gym memberships since we got back from our trip. I have made it to the gym for my own workouts about 5 times a week, plus taking the kids swimming nearly every day. DS and I have developed a routine where we alternate swimming laps while one of us keeps an eye on his little sister, who is not a strong swimmer yet (but getting stronger every day). I was really struggling when we first started, but now can easily do 10 laps in groups of 2-4, as can DS. I am really noticing the effect on my muscles and body shape after just two weeks of this -- everything is firming up quite a bit. So, getting a good overall body workout that is helping me meet my health and fitness goals without spending anything I hadn't already spent -- score! And the kids are loving the swimming and getting great daily exercise, too, which is nice. They also are so tired in the evenings that they go to bed without a fuss -- priceless!
Inflation has really kicked in here and it is harder and harder to be frugal with our meals. Part of it is related to change of diet (more organic, more high quality protein, less starch and filler), but most of it is inflation. I usually stock up on meat once a week, and what used to cost me about $7-8 is now $10-12 for the same amount of chicken, beef and pork. Meat costs are as much or higher than in the US. I don't know how people on Chinese salaries manage. We have good managerial level expat jobs/salaries, and I am feeling the pinch. But at least we have wiggle room in our budget. We're going out to eat much less than we used to, so overall our spending on food is not going up as much as it could.
BTW, Stella, just want you to know that if we ever decide to leave Beijing I am SERIOUSLY contemplating moving to your neighborhood so we and our kids can hang out! I love your descriptions of your daily life and all the cool stuff you do with your kids for very little cost. Inspirational!
lhamo
Went to Kohl's today with a coupon for 20% off and an idea to buy a blazer. Didn't find anything good enough and then went to Goodwill and bought 2 blazers for $13.50 which were better quality than brand new! Will pay something to adjust sleeve lengths as I am petite but well worth it as I work in a job that a suit jacket adds a layer of warmth and looks professional. Yay!
Lhamo I would love that! I do live in a great place. Minneapolis/St. Paul in general is a really good place for kids and my particular neighborhood is just full of awesome people and fun stuff to do.
We got four pints of raspberries today. Not as much as I was hoping, but with four little kids in tow it was good enough. The kids had such a great time. Even James was excited. I'd hand him a berry and he would get all excited "I help you!" and put it in the bucket. It makes for slow picking, but it was worth it. I made a big batch of raspberry sauce for pancakes. We'll have raspberry pancakes tomorrow for breakfast with some sausages we got at the farm.
After school got out for the public school kids the girls took off to play "Christmas Kitty Cafe" with their friend. They have been playing this often. They drew a menu, a welcome sign and tables and chairs on the sidewalk with chalk and invite the kids that pass by to eat at their cafe. It is apparently decorated with pretend Christmas ornaments, which is why it is called Christmas Kitty Cafe. Today, because it is Cheyenne's half birthday (which she has written on the calendar and reminded me of a dozen times today) I let her take some brownie bites Dad brought home from a meeting out to eat at their cafe. After that they went swimming with their friend and her dad. They came home and the kids had a pillow fight and popcorn for dinner. She has declared it "The Best Half-Birthday Ever." Good Deal.
Tonight will not be frugal. Tonight I am taking my friend, who has been in a negative rut at work and at home for far too long now, out for a night on the town. My treat, as she is very stretched for money right now. I seriously think that girl is about to explode. It's mostly just a bunch of little things that seemed to come to a head last week when she had to fight the State Fair traffic at work everyday and go in by 6AM, 3 hours early. You know, just one thing after another until you think you're losing your mind. She loves karaoke so I think we are going to find somewhere for her to do her thing. She'd do the same for me if the roles were reversed and that is priceless.
Nothing important to add, other than a little clothesline drying today! On the second load as I speak. Additionally, two bag-loads of cans and bottles ready and waiting for drop-off at the recycling/bottle depot for Monday. So nice to return those empties and wave bye-bye!