You may notice there is no dead tree in this picture.   It’s gone, and along with it, Rob’s worries  about it falling on our house, cars, and especially, Lovana’s bedroom!  It was a significant savings, too.  The loggers would not touch it, they said it was a  “widow-maker” and we should get a tree service to bring it down right away.  The first company wanted to charge us $1,200 to bring it down, and really weren’t very interested in the job–looked too dangerous.  On Wednesday, Rob drove by a tree service working in a neighbor’s yard.  He stopped and talked to them, and they drove right over and looked and quoted us $600.  They told him to call on Thanksgiving to finalize plans, so he did and they came Friday and took care of it!  What a blessing.  The pieces are laying on the ground, but that is no problem for us!  It was cheaper that way.

I planned menus for the week.

I did not shop for Thanksgiving.  Everything was from the freezer, pantry, etc. or other people brought it. I did spend about $50 on Saturday at Grocery Outlet to get a few things I needed, including gluten-free pretzels for an upcoming 4H community service project.  I will buy milk and butter if it comes on a good sale, otherwise, I’m done.

I made gluten-free stuffing with apples and water chestnuts.  I figure I saved about $15 by making my own stuffing croutons instead of buying 4 boxes for gluten-free stuffing mix for about $5 per box. I got some flour sack dish towels to embroider at Walmart–10 towels for about $8.  I seldom go to Walmart as it is out of my way.  I was delighted that they were still very reasonable to buy there.  I love to embroider on them, compared to other towels,  since they wipe dishes so well.  They are pretty and very useful as gifts.

I got some good bargains at JoAnn’s, but did not over-do it.  I got a couple of craft kits/items to use as gifts for 50% off.  I was able to use several pieces of my fabric stash I already had at home for gifts, children’s projects, etc.  I still have quite a few gifts to work on.   I have a bad cold today, so stayed home from work.  I hope to sew a little in-between drinking tea and resting.  It’s just a cold, but it’s hard to teach piano when you are having trouble talking, since that’s all I do all day when I teach:)

I cooked another squash.  We were blessed with so many.