Tag Archives: Alissa

Homeschooling, Saving Money

Thriving In My thrifty Week–June 9, 2019

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Here is our newly graduated Alissa, with her proud parents!

…..and the aunties!

…..and then there’s the “twins, separated at birth,” as they used to call themselves. It was quite an evening.

All I can say about this week is, “WOW!” All week, we seemed we were scrambling from one activity to another. But, in the end, we got everything done, and stayed somewhat frugal:).

Of course, Alissa’s graduation was a huge part of the week, but we did some other things as well.

Rob, Patsy and I went to the dentist. Because our dentist’s son is starting to slowly take over the practice, we had a new dentist. Let’s just say our teeth were thoroughly cleaned. He’s very good, but still somewhat new at it all. We ended up using a gift card I’ve had for over 2 years for lunch because it took much longer than we expected. I’m glad we have dental insurance, and have a place to use it at, and can still go to our same old dentist office, even though it’s a distance away.

I weeded and hoed quite a bit. I tucked in more green bean seeds where they got eaten by birds or slugs, and planted a short, new row of lettuce. I like to plant little bits often so we always have some.

I mowed the lawn and planted a couple of flowers here and there. Some of the seeds I’ve planted are starting to look like they will survive and I will have flowers eventually from them.

I found a ham for 69c/lb. It was the last one. It was close to expiration, but we’ve already been eating it and it won’t be a problem to use it up. I got Bugles for $1/bag (7.5 oz). I shared some today with the family, but most are for summer fun activities.

Patsy’s birthday was Friday. We took her to Red Robin, using a gift card from Christmas and let her have milkshakes and French fries for dinner. Yup. No healthy food for her. Just that!

Saturday was Abbie’s birthday. My oldest and my youngest. What a pair:). The 3 of us went to the zoo to celebrate. We used my zoo pass. It was my gift to Abbie–we just wanted to spend some time, and this was a super fun way to do that. Patsy borrowed my phone and took a lot of pictures.

We had a really nice time being together.

Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–April 22, 2019

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Easter was a blessed holiday for us. We were able to go to church at 6:30 a.m., and were even able to keep our eyes open during the service, which was inspiring:) Rob cooked a ham, a turkey, and some grilled cauliflower steaks on the bbq and we had salads, desserts and sides to go with them, with everyone bringing something to share.

The card on these flowers SAID they were from Anthony and Allison, but I have a suspicion that Anthony didn’t know as much as Allison did about them:)….. They are sure pretty and are brightening things up around here today.

I set the tables with tablecloths I already had. I picked bluebells from the yard, where they are taking over the flowerbeds and used canning jars for vases. Rob got some ribbon from the dollar store which I used, and he also spread some chocolate eggs along the table right before we ate, so they would last more than 10 minutes:). I picked some parsley and cilantro for more bouquets and let people take some home if they wanted to.

Rob dug up some parsley plants from the massive collection in my flowerbed and let people take home starts for their gardens. This is also how we decorated the outside table on our deck.

Alissa headed up the Easter egg hunt in the yard. We call our aunt, “The Easter Bunny Janet” because she has filled the eggs with candy for many years. She brought the candy-filled eggs, Alissa hid them, and the younger ones found them. Then all candy was put in bowls, divided amongst everyone who wanted any, and sent home in baggies. I overheard Patsy telling Alissa that she might need to help hide eggs next year—I guess she’s feeling like she’s getting a little older….So, that would leave Jake to find all the eggs???? I’m sure someone will help him, or we will need to find another kid or two to invite:)

I did a lot of cooking and cleaning this week. I had to go grocery shopping since I skipped last week, so I looked for bargains, and used Ibotta for rebates. It went well, and I stayed in the budget I wanted to.

I got quite a bit of gardening done in bits and pieces whenever I had time and it wasn’t raining. I planted a new blueberry by the 2 old plants. I’m hoping the berries will be larger and sweeter than the ones on the old bushes. I’ve been digging up plants, clipping bushes, and digging grass out to make the edging cleaner in many flowerbeds. I have a lot more to do!

I made Patsy a skirt. We did some shopping and got a black lace top to wear over a black tank top to go with it. She also got a few other things, and I got a few as well. We found great bargains, and the skirt was from fabric I’ve had for years, so it didn’t break our bank. We both had gift cards from Christmas and/or birthdays, so that helped, too. We should be set for a bit.

I spent hours preparing for a homeschool meeting regarding Alissa. We go though a diploma program and I needed to have a meeting with them to show the work we’ve completed so far, grades, hours spent, etc. I wanted this meeting as a final check-up to make sure we’ve done it all, since she’s supposed to graduate on June 6. I called it my “anxiety meeting.” We now have a list of the final few things that need to be finished, another appointment in 1 month, and we will be done! Since I put in so much work on the record-keeping as well as having her do extra schoolwork to finish up this and that, it won’t be so hard when I do the final compilation in a month. Whew!

Rob has been taking her senior pictures. They got a lot of good shots on Saturday, but they aren’t done yet. They have plans for a couple more sessions. Already there are too many good ones to choose from….What a great “problem” to have!