We had a lovely Thanksgiving.  Then, we had a lot of family fun for the rest of the weekend.

We are still cruising on leftovers from the holiday.  We still have several things left that we will use for lunches tomorrow and dinner tomorrow night.  I also have more than enough groceries left from all the shopping I did before the holiday that I don’t need to buy any for a few days–even milk and eggs.  One of the great things I was able to buy was a big carton of 5 dozen eggs for $4.05.  I made deviled eggs for Thanksgiving

I froze quite a bit of turkey in smaller baggies for use in casseroles, soups, and sandwiches.  I boiled the bones of the turkey and got over 12 pints.  I froze those for later.  I also used some of the home-made broth in stuffing, and made a soup already.  I used the crock pot so we would have a meal last night when we returned from our family outing.

Although we went to several family events over the week, we chose to eat out only once.  Otherwise, we packed food with us or ate before and after the events.

My sister treated us all to a train ride.  We had a great week with a visit to a museum, Thanksgiving, the train ride, skating, dinner, and the Singing Christmas Tree.  We are happy, but a bit tired, and I am looking forward to a nice week of my regular schedule.  I do need to put my mind and get working on  Christmas.  We were able to make a good, simple plan and now know what we want to get for people.  It should not be difficult.  Now, if we could find as easy of a solution for the problem of where we should put the Christmas tree!

I enjoyed watching my very confused iris, and keep it will go ahead and bloom before it freezes!  Cheap entertainment, for sure:)

I think Legos are one of the best investments on this earth–the kids play with them for hours on end.  Today, when Jake came over, he brought some of his with him and played for a LONG time with them.

It’s so nice to have the camper parked at our house now.  Rob moved it down here last week.  I was able to take advantage of some bulk items at Costco because I have another refrigerator to put the excess in.  My extra fridge broke in the move, and I have not replaced it yet, so I’ve been lacking for space for extra food.  The camper fridge works very well, so it’s a great help.  We figure we saved over $4,000 in rent by living in this camper this past summer while we were between houses.

Sometimes it’s easy to overlook the many, many things that I (and others) do on a weekly basis to keep our home running smoothly and economically.  Here are just a few.

Dishes are one of my favorite things–they can be washed and re-used so many times.  Everyone pitches in to wash them, as we do not have a dishwasher in this house.  I did buy paper plates for Thanksgiving as over 20 people will be coming.

We heat with wood and use our cardboard and paper scraps to help light the stove up.  We pack food a lot of the time when we are going to be away from home at mealtime.  When we do stop in for something, we are very careful to order wisely.  We try to combine errands to save gas.  We mowed the lawn ourselves on Saturday, and do not have a yard service.

We have been shopping the sales this past week, and also did some stocking up at Costco.  I store the food for a time when things are not priced so low.

I garden, then freeze, can and otherwise store the excess.  I’m excited because I received my first seed catalog in the mail this past week.  Last year, I did not order seeds.  I bought what I absolutely needed from the store and used up lots of odds and ends.  This year, I’m in a new place, with a new garden area.  It’s a great challenge to look forward to.

What ordinary things did you do this week to keep your household moving along smoothly?

I am amazed that I am still getting lettuce from my little garden in my yard!   I was able to make salad a couple of times this week, and there’s still more out there.  It’s been unseasonably warm here, but we are now past our usual frost date, so this won’t go on forever.  I’m hoping to go pick some more today.

This past week, I was able to concentrate on getting some things done around my home.  Friday was a holiday for both the kids and Rob, so I did not need to do school with the girls.  Instead, I cleaned a lot, weeded in the yard a bit and unpacked a few more bins.  I also pruned the blueberry bushes and Lovana cleaned up the rhubarb plants.  I have not pruned blueberries very often, so I just trimmed off any dead wood and cut them back slightly, being careful to open them up a little in the middle and cut off any straggly branches, but I left as many of the new little buds as I could to hopefully make blueberries next summer.

I got some great deals at Fred Meyers over the weekend–apple juice for 99c/container (I bought 10), Life Cereal for $1.49/box, 2 chickens for 88c/lb, and potatoes for 88c for 10lbs (I got 5).  I still have some potatoes left from the garden this summer, but this is a potato-loving family and we are burning through them.  Lovana especially loves them and eats them almost every day.  I put them in the shop so they will stay cool and last longer.  I have been working on using up food-storage items that I’ve had for a while, but also have been working on building things back up when I find a great deal.  I keep pretty good track of things and like to rotate them often.  I was especially glad to get the apple juice as it is a favorite of the kids, both mine and my nieces and nephew, so we will drink that quickly.  I could have used 20, but am glad for the 10 I chose to buy.  The cart was certainly heavy enough with all those potatoes, 10 juices and other things I bought–so I called it good!  I love being well-stocked.  I couldn’t have made it through the last year as nicely without such a well-stocked pantry, freezers and garden.  There were many, many weeks where we spent only $50 on groceries, and ate very well.  It’s great to have the chance to fill it back up.

I was also able to get a few items for Christmas gifts from the 70% off the lowest marked price clearance section.  I have some plans for the girls that are well on their way now.

We got the camper moved down here and parked.  It is so nice to have it here.  I hope to get in there and do some cleaning before too long–it could use a thorough going-over after living in it for 3 months, and the dust that accumulated in it since then is significant.  I’m also excited since there are items in there that I’ve been missing, and a bunch of food that it would be good to just use up.   We plan to make some reservations and go camping in the next few months–living in it did not dampen our enthusiasm in the slightest.  We can’t wait to go!

This past week went very well.  We were able to do a lot of fun things.  One of them was having my mom, aunt and one sister over for lunch.  Ja’Ana made this lovely veggie plate.  J and Alissa made potato-cheddar soup, as well.  It was very economical and came out extremely tasty.  We had a great time together.

Our decorations were very simple, but looked pretty.  We made the table larger for the occasion, and used the silk flower arrangement I put together last week for a centerpiece.  Our dining room is not very big, but it’s doing the job!

The girls are making aprons.  They worked on them after lunch.  Everyone offered advice, and helped them with any rough parts.  They are not quite finished, but are making great progress.  This was a great way for them to get to practice their cooking, table setting and decorating, and then their sewing while enjoying the company of their aunties and grandma.   They are cousins who are fortunate enough to share both the aunties and grandma who came this day.

Later in the week, we took a trip up the Columbia River Gorge.  We were able to take a lunch with us.  Of course, we packed lunches all week for both Rob and Patsy to take to school with them.  We visited sights that did not cost admission, so our only expenses were gas and a few snacks like ice cream, etc.

I was able to do a tiny bit of sewing, but didn’t get very far.  I’m trying to make a skirt for Patsy.  I’ve run into a bit of trouble.  Good thing I already own a seam ripper.  I’m getting it out today to fix the issues.  I was able to use some fabric I already owned, and a very inexpensive pattern from JoAnn’s.  I’m still figuring out how and where to sew in this house.  I’m struggling with having enough lighting in the evenings, which is the time when I have time to do anything I want to get done (not helping a kid with anything).

On the day my sister was here, we cleaned out the shed behind the shop.  We made a better place to stack wood and re-arranged the items that had been stuffed in there when we moved.  We worked on stacking wood, and the girls finished that job yesterday.  It saves us quite a bit to heat with wood, and this load was chopped at our old house, saved all summer by a friend, and then delivered to us.  What a blessing.  He needs his trailer back this week, so we were under a time crunch to get it unloaded.

We are loving the new wood stove and hearth we had installed.  The fire is so cozy and warm.  In fact, we are getting heated out of the house it works so well and are having to open windows sometimes to cool the place down.  The weather has been quite mild, so I’m sure this stove will have no trouble keeping us warm when it gets cold.  Our next project is rounding up some kindling.

We have been working our our shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  We found several items on super good sales or around the house, plus some from the Dollar Store to add in.  We are not quite done, but will finish this week.

Fall is here.  I got much enjoyment this week looking at the gorgeous fall colors that are appearing all over.

2 days after taking the other picture, Alissa’s dog pulled her down the slope beside the same tree!  I guess you could call it a free slide?  A free fair ride?  Either way, she was unhurt, laughing, and I hauled her up the hill, safe and sound.

My aunt gave me this vase.  It complements the different wood tones in our house, but is not made to fill with water.  An insert would need to be used if water was put in it.    I put some fall-themed silk leaves and flowers in it.  I got them from the $ store so it made an inexpensive fall decoration.  Later, I can put some other flowers or decorations in it for different seasons

I made lasagna, spaghetti, teriyaki chicken, salads with lettuce from our garden and purchased lettuce, used 2 green onions from our garden, rice, and more.  I’ve started using up a LOT of home-canned and home-frozen foods, with the idea of finishing up what I have during this winter so I can can fresh next summer.

I used a gift card I had at Bob’s Red Mill and got one-to-one flour, tapioca flour, potato starch and other items I use in my gluten-free baking.

I used the rest of my October grocery budget on a trip to Costco.  I bought a few cases of food to keep my stockpile up, including pineapple and manderin oranges.  I got butter for a little over $2 per pound (bought a 4-pack), a huge bag of corn chips, large bag of broccoli, mushrooms,  brown and white sugar, and some treats like jalepeno-artichoke dip and chocolate chips.  I feel great about what I got for my money and am stocked up for the week, as well as some stockpile items.

We’ve been building fires most days to heat the house up.  Today, a friend delivered a trailer of wood he cut and saved from our old house!  How thoughtful and kind.  We will unload and stack it this week and return his trailer next week.

I will pack lunches for Patsy and Rob as usual this week and have some menu plans involving  a ham that was in the freezer.  I’m going to attempt to make Brazilian Cheese Bites.  They were out of my budget at Costco–$12.99 for 64 pieces.  I found a recipe and hope that they turn out.  I’ll let you know!

I found the cutest “bug” recipe on Taste of Home.com–it’s called “Mounds of Bugs” and made a great project for Jake.

I really wanted to do this project with him, but did not want to break the bank.  I bought 1 bag of Mounds mini candy bars, and did not use them all.  I bought a few Six-let candies and M and M candies from the bulk section at Win-Co, instead of bags of each.  Instead of the curved pretzels called for in the recipe, I used some stick pretzels I had already instead of buying the curved ones called for in the recipe.

Ja’Ana and Alissa spent Thursday afternoon making caramel corn for the 4H bake sale.  Patsy, J and A all went to the event on Saturday, and helped sell the baked goods from many clubbers around the county.  While they were there, they made Chex Muddy Buddies to help the wonderful smells to fill the hall, then sold the Muddy Buddies.  The money helps buy ribbons and other supplies during the fair, and some other great uses.  I felt great about our contribution.  Everything the girls took sold, and they were able to raise almost $60 just on what they brought.  I don’t know how much was made, but I was told it can top $1,000 and sometimes reach $2,000.  I was amazed.  It was a great start to our 4H year.  They worked hard in the wind and the rain, and I treated them to the $5 lunch at Dairy Queen afterwards.  I don’t know why, but our family usually gravitates to DQ for casual special occasions.  I think it must be the ice cream–we love it!

I finally went shopping.  I spent a bunch, but stayed in budget.  I’m really stocked up on lunch supplies, veggies, etc.  Now that Rob is working, we run out of lunch meat sooner than before.  That’s a great reason to have to buy more!  Even though school lunches aren’t very expensive, we save money each time he packs one instead of buying one.

I took the cousins and my kids to the YMCA to swim on Friday, as no one had school.  The director of membership had graciously let us put the cousins on our account when we signed up because Rob told him they were with us so much, so all the kids got in with the membership.  Alissa brought a friend, and I was fully prepared to pay for her, but they said she could be our guest that day.  Wow!  They had fun!  I did too.  It was fun to use my old van to its full potential.

When Jake was trying to negotiate his way to McD’s, I ran into Safeway and bought granola bars and Capri Suns for the kids to eat and not “starve to death” before we went to my house,  saving a bundle.  I figured that with 8 people, it would be between $45 and $60 to eat lunch that way.  I am happy to report that they all survived until they got to my house and ate!

We have been sleeping on a pair of old sheets since the move.  The same pair.  And it ripped in 2 places because it is so old.  BUT, we knew we had more in the shop.  AND, we knew we had seen them.   We could not find them and became stubborn and would not go buy more.  Just because.  So, we were sleeping in torn sheets.  Pretty sad.  Rob spent a couple of hours going through bins this afternoon and….drum roll, please….he found them!  So, it’s sleeping in the lap of luxury tonight.

Our electric bill is much, much lower than it was at our old house, probably due to the reduction in size.

Our camper has been repaired, under warranty, and we now have a new air conditioner. Despite a huge rain/wind storm, Rob was able to move it back to my sister’s farm before it got too windy.

We’ve built a fire a few times, now.  I’m looking at another rainy, cozy week here this week.  Bring on the homeschool. It’s time to teach those girls how to make soup and they are going to cut out their aprons.  It will be a great week.

There are things in the garden that I plan to pick this week.  I’m especially excited about the boc choi.   I enjoy it in stir-fry and chicken soup.  I think I’ll make both, as my sister brought some from the farm garden as well.  It has been pouring rain, but I think we have a couple of dry days now, so hopefully, I can carve out enough daylight hours to get out to the garden for a bit.

My sister also brought potatoes, onions, squash, and other produce from the garden.  It’s coming to an end with all the rain, but we sure have harvested a lot this summer.

We have been crazy busy around here.  On Saturday, Rob rounded up a couple of friends and we got the freezers moved.  I cannot tell you how nice it is to have my food all in one place!  We spent most of the day moving them, and organizing the food.  Now I know what I have to work with.

He immediately thawed and barbecued a turkey.  We found we still had 4 of the ones he raised last year.  We were only remembering 2, so it was a nice surprise.  Now I’ve got turkey bits for casseroles and sandwiches, and broth.  Some I will use right away, and some will be frozen.  I also will take turkey on Sunday for family Sunday dinner.

We also found a lot of steak, so enjoyed a nice dinner with friends on Sunday night and feasted on steak. It was so good to see them and since Rob barbecued, it was an easy mess-free dinner.  We cooked green beans and baked potatoes and my friend brought dessert.   It took me a little bit to figure out how exactly I was going to navigate the new house with company, as it was the first time, but we figured it out, everyone had a seat to sit on, and we had a blast catching up with our friends.  And…..there’s still more steak.  Every fall, we buy beef from a farmer and we did not use as much this summer as usual because we had difficulty accessing it.  Clearly, when we did, we grabbed hamburger:)  The new beef will be coming, and so we need to use the old up.  I don’t feel sorry for us!

I’ve been packing lunches for both Patsy and Rob.  I took one with J and I when we went to my dr. appointment on Friday as well.  Not only is this frugal, but I seem to get so sick when I eat fast food anymore, that it’s just better all around for me. (You never know if a little wheat got in there, and I react so much to it) I was able to combine errands that day, since it was all the way up in Portland.

We continue to go to the YMCA and exercise.  The girls are getting into their dance classes.  I still have a little more dance wear to buy for Patsy, but will probably order it on-line.  The items I bought at Walmart on clearance for only $2-7 are working  fine and have not fallen apart yet.  (I wondered for $2-3 shirts and shorts)  Patsy has basically grown out of her swim suit, but I am having her wear those nylon shorts over it right now and will continue to scour the internet for a good price for a new one.

I am keeping busy with homeschool.  My niece, Alissa, is joining Ja’Ana in homeschool and that is going well.  Her parents will be taking on some subjects and I will do others.

Rob really likes the people he is working with at his new job.  The kids are pretty hard to handle, so he’s on a big learning curve.  Yesterday, for instance, he got punched multiple times, stomped on, and punched in the face, hard.  The little guy he was specifically hired for really struggles, and Rob is finding out that he may be moved to another school where they can help him better.  Rob would need to move, too.  He isn’t super excited as he just got started at this school, but that is how it works here.  We will see what happens.  Today is the first day where he will go to the kid’s house and ride the bus to school with him.  We are super glad he has the job, and hopefully, it will smooth out as everyone gets into routines.

I was able to use my crock pots several times this week.  This was the start of a beef stew.  I used the leftover roast beef from last week, along with the rest of the baby carrots in a bag.  I added onion, celery, potatoes, beef broth, thyme, salt and pepper. I put in a little garlic salt, also.   I can’t find my home-canned tomatoes yet, but thankfully, I was able to find a purchased can on the shelf.  So, I put that in, along with the leftover cooked potatoes and carrots from when I cooked the roast. It came out amazing. I was pleased because it was so tasty, and used up a lot of things out of the fridge.

I made a lot of pinto beans into meals where they will be used (or already got eaten).

We got at least 1/2 of the home-canned jars onto shelves.  We’ve already been into the pears, fruit cocktail, broth and raspberries.

There was a huge thunderstorm, including tons of rain and hail.  The drains filled on the streets on the way home from church and it was wild with the lightening, thunder and standing water.  I wasn’t surprised to see that the small lettuce, boc choi, etc. in the garden were pulverized.  I’m hoping the nice weather we are now having will give the plants  a chance of perk up a bit and that I might still get something.

I emptied an almost empty bottle of ketchup into another one to get every drop.

I filled the compost bucket several times and poured it onto a compost pile we are starting.

Jake and I got a lot of mileage out of a boxed cake and some old candles.  I must point out that it is NO one’s birthday.  He was just in the mood.

I am enjoying my new job very much, because I get to spend so much time with the kids.  On Friday, I took Alissa, Ja’Ana and Michaela  for some French fries Friday after school to
celebrate their hard work in school.  Ja’Ana and I went to an appointment on Thursday, after toiling diligently for weeks, and now she has the grades, credits, etc. properly recorded for last year’s homeschool work.  Alissa and I have worked for hours on her homework after school in the last 2 weeks and she is trying so hard.  I know Michaela is doing what her teachers are asking her to do at school.  So, it was fun to celebrate with all 3 of them in the short time before Jake came home.  Sometimes I know these kids do not always get the credit for how hard they work for everything.  Although school is easier for some than others, it is very hard for all of them.  I want to keep encouraging.