Saving Money–June 10, 2017

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Patsy’s Sunday School class/mid-high youth group had a luau.  They got to dress up for the fun party.  We wanted her to get to dress up without spending a fortune for a 1-night event. She had started sewing this skirt a while back and so I finished it up today.  While not quite Hawaiian, exactly, there were large flowers, right?  So, we started with that.  When paired with a top that she got for Christmas a while ago and last summer’s flip flops, she was well on her way.  She used a large flower in her hair from a couple of summer’s ago, and we made a trip to the Dollar Tree for the lei and the fancy tropical cup.  Total out-of-pocket for costume=$2.

She had a really good time, and was also thinking of her cousin, Rachel.  They both have the same top, and wearing it made her think of Rachel tonight.  Since Rachel is in Ireland right now, and has been for almost 6 months, Patsy was glad to think of her today!  She misses her, as we all do, but we are all glad she is getting this experience.

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Lots of frugal fun!

Jake:   “Help, help, doctor, I’ve got these things sticking out of my head!  I need car surgery.”

Auntie:  “Do you mean surgery on cars, or with cars?”

Jake:  “Both.”

Dr. Patsy:  “I’ll rescue you!”

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Looks pretty sick, huh?

She proceeded to drive cars up and down his leg, and he was cured!  Amazing!

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The patient was in high spirits and recovering rapidly when we left on Friday:)  And the bill?  Definitely frugal!  Dr. Patsy didn’t charge a dime for her “car surgery.”

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I happily destroyed my lettuce row today!  I cut 4-5 large Tupperware bowl-fulls of lettuce from this row.  Although it looks pretty bad, there is still a lot of lettuce left, especially on the far end.  Tomorrow, I am making a lettuce platter for a barbecue the youth group is having, and then torn lettuce for a parents’ meeting/taco feed. So, I have 2 gallon Ziplocks of lettuce leaves for burgers and 4 gallon bags of torn pieces in the fridge for tomorrow.  Any leftover meant-for-burger leaves will be torn and added to the taco lettuce, if needed.   I also sent a huge bag to my sister, and have lots for myself in the fridge.  I have 2 more plantings of lettuce in various stages growing nicely in other parts of the garden, and I made sure to plant another row to the right of this one today, so the goodness will just keep coming all summer long.  The other thing that often happens is that this lettuce will sprout new leaves where I gave it a haircut.  So, I was delighted to find a good use for so much of it, since it is growing so rapidly!

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I made a lot of refried beans.  Some of them are for the taco feed tomorrow.  The rest are for later in the week.  I plan to make a nacho for J’s party.  I also cooked white rice, spaghetti, double chocolate loaf cake, zucchini bread, salads, baked chicken and more.  We often eat the same thing for dinner more than one time in a week–I always make big batches of everything with that in mind.  We also ate chicken-rice soup, and sausage and beans that I cooked last weekend.

We are having 2 parties during this coming week.  On Wednesday, Patsy has invited a few girls in after school to celebrate her birthday, which was last Wednesday.  That one will be a tea party.  I have already begun preparing things so I won’t have too much work to do on that day.  I’ve even dug out some of my nice dishes to make sure they could be found on the big day.

The second one will be next Saturday.  Ja’Ana’s birthday is next Thursday, and she has invited some friends over to celebrate with her.  That one will be a barbecue, with home-made donuts, courtesy of a couple of her aunties.  There, again, I’ve begun preparations.

If that wasn’t enough birthday fun, we do have a third daughter that had a birthday last Thursday.  I was glad to see her at the dance recital and was able to give her a card and gift then.  Yes, that’s 3 birthdays in 8 days.  Really.  We don’t do birthday parties every year with friends.  In fact, Patsy hasn’t had a “friend” party yet with us.  This is a good year for it, so we are going for it.  I will post how we did it all frugally, kept our sanity (I hope) and made it all work after the parties are over.

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The children found a dead dragonfly on the deck.  They enjoyed looking at it for quite a while.  I find that looking at birds, wild flowers/weeds, the river, etc. is a marvelous source of free entertainment that never grows old.

How did your week go?

 

 

 

 

 

9 thoughts on “Saving Money–June 10, 2017”

  1. I love the dress Patsy is wearing, she definitely looked ready for Hawaii! Our oldest son is getting married in a few months so I am really looking forward to your upcoming post on hosting a party frugally. It will probably be a simple BBQ for the reception.
    You always have such wonderful family stories to tell, I enjoy coming back to your blog throughout the week to see what’s new.

  2. Beautiful luau outfit! Nice work piecing it together. It’s been a busy season for you, but for all the best reasons!

  3. I love it when kids play so well with just their imaginations. Somehow I think that is being lost to most kids having to be entertained. Patsy is becoming such a lovely young lady!

    We had a getaway to the mountains for our anniversary. We received a gift certificate for Christmas to our favorite inn which really lowered the cost. I packed our lunch for the trip up and scrounged up some lunch when we arrived home today. I also brought home leftover food from meals out by tucking them away in the cooler to bring home.

  4. Patsy looks so cute and definitely has that whole tropical vibe going. 🙂 Oh that Jake…he is so cute and I love how Patsy plays right along with him. What a precious pair they are.

    I’m one of those people that do not do well with too many activities. We have a whole string of family birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, etc. and I tend to try and combine them into a few celebrations to save my sanity and energy…thank goodness my family agrees.

    Be blessed my friend!

    1. I also need down time. When I get too busy, I end up staying up way too late, and not sleeping much. I need alone, quiet time. It’s just very hard to get it with this crew. I know this week is awfully busy, and I will like it when it’s over and I can just bask in the memories. For years, we’ve done a “big” birthday party for all the kids. It’s just not working real well this year. We can’t keep them all at home or in one place at this time. We are going to have to readjust our expectations. It’s so handy, though. You just bring every kid a present. No remembering during the year, and just one big, fun party,

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