As I was stitching some last minute embroidery projects, I realized I was getting low on green floss.  I remembered Rob’s mom telling me that she had been given some x-stitching supplies, by someone who was moving, to share between his sisters and myself.  I asked him to stop by and see if there was any green in the mixture.  He brought home a couple of boxes of supplies and I got to choose whatever I could use.  It ended up being about a gallon of floss of all colors, including green! I chose the loose floss and a few tubes of x-stitch fabric.  I sent back the rest and I think we will let the children use it for bracelets and crafts after people take what the can use.  I am very excited to get so much floss.  I like to do embroidery and work on projects all year long.

We were invited to a friend’s house for dinner and enjoyed ourselves very much.  I was able to make a mixed-berry crisp and use up several little baggies of frozen berries that needed to be used while they were still tasty.  It turned out very good and had raspberries, blueberries and a few blackberries in it.

We attended Ja’Ana’s choir concert Friday night and a church choir presentation with singing and drama last night.  They were both beautiful and put me in a Christmas mood.  After J’s concert, we wanted to celebrate with her, so we took her to the store and let her choose any kind of ice cream she wanted.  While we were doing that, I saw a pizza sign indicating that pizza was $5 for the take and bake “special” of the day.  Lovana ran over and got one, and to my surprise, it was for a fairly good sized one.  I already had sandwich ingredients prepared at home, so we had a combination of sandwiches and pizza and ice cream for our celebration!  (The pizza was not gluten-free, so it went farther since I can’t have any).

Rob accidentally broke the glass in the wood stove when he was loading it up so he could leave to drive Ja’Ana to choir practice.  I was giving a piano lesson, and my student and I heard this big sound of breaking glass.  The house filled with smoke, the alarms went off, and it was quite exciting for a while as Rob carried flaming logs out and threw them off the porch into the soggy flower beds.  All the while, I’m trying to carry on like there is nothing unusual about him pouring water all over the hearth (and my kitchen floor),putting out the flames on one log, carrying out others, and trying to get the glass to not fall out of the frame where it was hanging in the balance.  Ja’Ana got the smoke alarms to quit wailing, all was safe, and she and Rob took off for the last choir practice.  I got back to my lesson, and  finished with that student.

Meanwhile, my phone was bringing in texts, asking if there was some confusion about Rob picking up J’s friend.  I answered, “no-he’s on his way” and I went on with lessons. The house phone kept ringing and I continued ignoring it, as I do when working.   Half-way through the 2nd lesson, Patsy was supposed to get off  the bus with another boy who was coming for a lesson.  He came.  She didn’t.  I start frantically texting Rob, asking him to call the school.  In the meanwhile, student #2 is playing away and I’m pretending to listen.  She’s one of my older ones, and was not fooled for a moment, but was gracious while I had my mini-crisis.  I finally get a quick call–everything’s fine–she missed the bus home–he would drop the girls at choir and then go get her.  Whew– because I surely can’t leave someone else’s child home alone at my house while I go get her–and there were 2 of them there by then!  On with lessons.  Never a dull moment at my house–that’s for sure.

The stove door was fixable.  It cost us $125.  We had to run the furnace for 2 days, which will be costly on our next power bill.  In the big picture, though, this stove has been a real money saver.  We use it constantly for heat, using firewood we get for “free,” with our labor and fuel costs being the price we pay.  It was a discard from someone else years ago, and we have used it all winter for heat for the last 8 years.  A new one would be over $2,000 and our power bill would be astronomical.  Afternoons like Wednesday are frustrating (but funny afterwards), but it’s the price we pay for using things that are second-hand, old, wearing out, etc. It’s worth it to us when we look at the big picture.

Rob got bread for the pigs–the back of the van full for $25.  We paid the girls a little something to unwrap it all and it is ready to feed the pigs.  We also have been giving them melons we got last week.  They were spoiling when we got them–they are awful now, but the pigs still seem to love them.  They are almost all gone now.  They are mostly raised on a natural feed from a local feed store, but the do love their treats!  They are growing nicely and so far, all 7 have survived.  (We got 2 more than the original 5 when people indicated they wanted to buy them.)

Patsy had a birth-mom visit last week.  We made these mountain bar cookies together and took some along.  They were easy, quick and fun for Patsy to decorate with the mini M and M’s I got on sale for $2/bag a while back.  We also took a few other modest presents and ate fast food together while we visited.  I thought it went well.

This week was full of a nice mixture of work and play.  I was able to save money in several ways.

At dinner, this evening, we had popcorn and cheese slices for dinner.  We had a lot to eat earlier at my sister’s house and then attended a birthday party for a dear little friend of ours, and ate some more!  We weren’t very hungry, so this was a great choice.  Some people didn’t even eat any cheese, I just have to have some protein with each meal, so I did.

I was able to get a doll dress, doll p.j.’s and the doll sleeping bag and pillow done for her gift.  She really likes playing with her dolls, so I know she’s going to enjoy them.  They were all made from materials I had on hand, so that was a very frugal, but very satisfying present.

This was the week for Christmas parties.  On Friday, we had our annual 4H Christmas party.  We played the usual games–unwrapping the package wrapped in multiple layers of wrapping when the music stopped and White Elephant gift exchange. It is amazing to me how much fun they can have with these games.  Other games may be added in, but these remain.  Each younger set of children has learned these games from their older counterparts, and never tire of playing them.  Rob and I have been leaders for over 25 years, and the kids still choose the same games year after year.  The older junior leaders choose the games, and they always choose these.  It’s awesome to see how much fun inexpensive or free games can be.

Then they worked on community service projects.

They packaged up beans and rice for a local organization to hand out.  They made candy canes with the story of the candy cane attached, also for handing out.  The third project was making Chex mix and Rice Krispie Treats and cards for servicemen and women.  We have 2 former members serving in the armed forces at this time, and a close relative of a member, so we chose those 3 to focus on.  We rotated the kids through the stations, with each child getting a chance to do every activity.  In the picture, Ja’Ana is figuring out the recipe, since the junior leaders were the “brains” of the stations, keeping people on task, even when the people switched stations! No small task!  The rice, beans, ingredients for the treats, and card-making supplies were all donated by the families in the club.  The postage will come out of the club funds, or be donated.

The kids also gathered around the tree and one mom read a story containing the true meaning of Christmas to them.  We had a potluck as well, and then it was time for them to go home.  A great day for everyone!

Patsy had a party with her Sunday School class.  It was over an hour from our house to the party.  Rob and I went on a date while she enjoyed the party.  We got to enjoy going out to dinner, as we clearly weren’t going to run home in-between.  We also picked up a few groceries from specialty stores (one thing was gluten-free Worchestershire sauce–hard to find, spendy, but I don’t use it very fast).  It was great to be able to get away alone.  That hasn’t happened much lately.

On Saturday, she had a party with the Royal Family Kids’ Camp organization that helps foster children enjoy camp each summer, and a party at Christmas.  She received some shoes, yarn for her Knifty Knitter, and some sewing supplies, as she is learning to sew in 4H.  They are so kind to take the time to find out what each child really wants, and give them such nice presents.  She made this cute food craft with an ice-cream cone, a cupcake and frosting.  She promptly had Rob eat it, since they were sure it wouldn’t make it home.

Rob was able to combine driving the children and several errands to save $ on gas.

We cooked most meals at home, except the dinner when we went out, or when we were eating at my sister’s house.  I made meatballs and pasta,  soup, leftovers a couple of times, and spent the first 1/2 of the week using up the chicken I got for 50c/lb last week in things like chicken salad sandwiches, chicken enchiladas, and plain chicken on a plate.  That 10 pound bag made a LOT of chicken!  We used home-canned and home-frozen fruit, vegetables, enchilada sauce, and blueberries.  I used up a little container of pesto I froze last summer.

 I burned a lot of trash, eliminiating the need to pay for an extra bag. I made a lot of potholders from scraps and Insul-Bright filling.  They will be Christmas gifts.  I was able to buy some more Insul-Bright today, using my 40% off coupon at JoAnn’s.

We were able to get a pickup load of honeydew melons that were no good for people to eat, for our pigs.  We were given 4 melons that were good to eat, so have been enjoying them.

We did all of the usual things:  burned firewood in our stove for heat, turned off lights when not in rooms, etc.

Rob also got new tires for the car, using savings for money (not store credit or credit card) , since ours were long-overdue.  He bought neither the cheapest, or the most expensive, instead choosing ones that were middle of the road in price.

I am still enjoying my zinnias from last summer–just in pictures now.  This peppermint-stiped one makes me think of candy canes, with it’s beautiful stripes.

I was pretty sick for the first half of the week, and am still coughing a bit.  I had to skip work for the most part, and only ended up giving one lesson the entire week.  That made it even more important to be careful with my money for the rest of the week.  Being self-employed means that if I don’t work, I don’t get paid.

I soaked white navy beans last Sunday.  On Monday, I found I had soaked way too many!  I ended up making ham and beans, and white bean chicken chili.  We ate those for several days and I froze enough for 2 meals, at least.

I was able to get several of my hoped-for grocery items. At Fred Meyers,  I got mini chocolate chips for $2/bag, milk for 99c for 1/2 gallon, oj for the same price,  and some M & M’s for $2/bag, some spices from the bulk section, and a few other things I needed.  I did pay $1.25 for a few cream cheeses, and then, of course, it came on for 99c today!

At Safeway, I had a $10/off $50 that I used.  I got 2 large laundry soaps,  4 apple juices for $1.25 each, 2 puddings and 2 jellos and a free bag of sugar with those items.  The last jello lasted us about 4 years.  We don’t use it much, so it will be nice to have it if a recipe calls for it.  The best thing was 10 lb bags of frozen thighs and drumsticks for $5.  That is 50 cents a pound–by far the best price I’ve seen here for years!  I got 3 of those and a few other things. I thawed and cooked one right away. With the coupon, it came in around $50, so I got around $60 worth of groceries at that store.

I watched a lot of Andy Griffith shows on library DVD’s.  I embroidered dish towels while I did that.  I used a LOT of  tissues someone gave us for free a while back.  I also drank a lot of fizzy seltzer water the same person gave us.  I just put a little bit of juice or lemonade in the glass with ice, and filled it with seltzer.  It is like fake pop to me, and kept me drinking all day long.

I made a roast, the bean soups, used the rest of the turkey from Thanksgiving in turkey salad for sandwiches or salads, served some hot dogs that have been around a while. I did not make pizza as our menu plan called for, as we had enough food without it.  I did made  lasagna from some ricotta I had hanging around and took it to my sister’s today.  I buy ricotta from Cash and Carry.  It is much less expensive, but you get a LOT.  There was a little left from the last container I bought  about 6 weeks ago.  It lasts a long time as long as I am careful to not get anything in it that would contaminate it.

I did quite a bit of sewing.  I got Michaela’s pajamas done.  I sewed a pillowcase for a service project.  We tied a blanket for the service project, and Patsy made one for herself. I made a doll dress and a doll sleeping bag. I cut out pajamas for Lovana.  I have a lot left, but I will be working this week, so I’ll do my best.

Rob and the girls visited a cut-your-own Christmas tree farm and got ours for only $10.

Ja’Ana was able to sell a few pies for a fundraiser she participated in to start earning money for a retreat at church she wants to attend.  I’m still waiting to see how much she gets towards her trip.

I hope you were able to find some ways to save money this week, as well.  What did you do?