We got hit with snow and freezing rain this week–again.  We’ve had more of this wintry weather this year than I’ve seen for a long time.  So, I would say being snowed in saved me a lot of money, BUT, I sent Rob and a couple of the girls out to get supplies for the storm and …..let’s just say we are well supplied for this 2-day storm:)  All kidding aside, I was grateful that they could get some milk and things and Rob also found spiral sliced ham for only 98 cents per pound, so he got one.

I have been sick since Thursday, so I guess I saved money by not going anywhere, and not eating:)  Our extended family is very generous and has graciously shared the flu bug–back and forth between us all.  I think each one gets a little different strain….anyway, hopefully we will all soon be on the mend.  I’ve really only been sleeping, watching tv (really sleeping with the tv on), and have crocheted a little bit.  Did I mention sleeping?

Patsy amused herself by making a couple of “snow cones” from snow and grape juice.

Last Sunday, we had the traditional Rob, Alissa and Jake birthday party.  Rob and Alissa have celebrated each year for the last 17 years, without missing even one.  Jake joined in 9 years ago.  In fact the first time we ever saw him was sitting in a carrier on a table at Chuckie Cheese, where Alissa had dragged Rob for the party (his nightmare venue, but she’s always had him twisted around her finger).  Her birth mom had given birth to a little boy, but, unfortunately,  it wasn’t going to work out for him with her, so he came to live with his big sisters.  It’s hard to believe that so much time has passed.  Ever since Jake came along, Rob gets to share a really cook cake!  Notice the Hot Wheel car.  I will say, Jake decided to keep the car–big surprise.  The best year’s cake was the year where it was a Beauty and the Beast cake–with one end decorated like Beauty (with Alissa’s name) and the other end…….Yep–Rob!

On Christmas, Rob wrapped Alissa’s gift in zip ties–like 50 or more of them.  It was a gift card, so wrapped that way easily.  He loves to play tricks on the kids sometimes like that.  (He super glued Steven’s in a few tins nested together).  She repaid the favor for his birthday, wrapping his gift in a LOT of boxes and duct tape.  Fun!

It was great our son-in-law, Keith,  and oldest daughter, Abbie, could join us for the birthday party.  He works long, strange hours, so we did not get to see him on Christmas.  It was a great day!  You can see my niece, Rachel, dimly in the upper left corner–the lighting was really bad for pictures that day.  She is getting ready to go off to Ireland soon–we will miss her, but she will be back in 6 months or so.

In years past, the parties have been more elaborate, and sometimes in places other than our homes.  We find that we almost always end up at someone’s house these days.  It just gives us more time to visit, the special needs kids are not overwhelmed and so we all have more fun, and we can eat what we want–so many special diets nowadays.  The lowered price tag is an added bonus.

Rob hauled another load of firewood down here from my sister and brother-in-law’s farm where we stayed this summer.  He just fills the back of the van up with wood when he goes up there to give them the boxes he has unpacked. He emptied a lot over the break.   (They will use the empty boxes in their u-pick peach business next summer)  We still have a pretty good pile of wood up there, thank goodness.  This winter is cold, and we are heating with the wood stove insert, exclusively.  The camper is being heated by a small electric heater during the cold spell to keep pipes and things from freezing up, but the stove keeps the house plenty warm.  We do have Ja’Ana bring in a pile of wood each night, and Rob gets up and stokes the fire during the night during these super cold nights.  Otherwise, we just rebuild it in the morning.

It was a good week! (Except for the flu)

My husband, Rob, came home from my sister’s farm the other day with a small bucket 1/2 full of kiwis.  They were from her kiwi bushes, which had a bumper crop this year.  She’s been keeping them in her garage!   It took a little while for them to ripen up all the way, but today at lunch, we enjoyed a whole bowl of tasty slices.

I cooked enchiladas using turkey frozen at Thanksgiving.  I made Mandarin chicken one night.  I’m using lots of canned and frozen items right now.

I had a really good time experimenting with my new InstantPot that I received for Christmas.  I made whole grain rice in it, using up several bits and pieces in the bottom of bags–so it was all colors.  I also made refried beans and had them in the freezer within 1-1/2 hours from when I started.  That was nice.  I think the rice still took about the same amount of time, but it was nice to push a button and be able to walk away, shower, do my hair, etc. while it cooked.  I’m sure I’m behind the times, but I had not seen one of these before, and I’m really excited about learning to use it.

We made smoothies several times with frozen berries from our freezer.  Since I did not preserve by canning or freezing last summer, everything must go!  Everything in the cupboard or freezer is over a year old now,  but still fine.  The smoothies were great!

I used frozen raspberries to make the mini cheesecakes again, this time for our family birthday party we are having tomorrow.  I will buy 1 small carton of berries to garnish with, but I’ll get them in the morning so they are super fresh.  When I tasted the sauce (juice from berries thickened with cornstarch and sugared) it tasted a lot like the raspberry syrup we have canned in the past.  Next time, I may just open a jar of that.  I have several I need to use.

I didn’t need many groceries this week, so I waited until Friday and then just bought the very few things I needed.  I am trying to empty out the fridge a bit from all the holiday food before filling it up again.  I had more time to cook this week, as both Rob and I were on vacation.  Tonight, for New Year’s Eve, Lovana decided we should have a family party at home, so she and Rob ran in and got some ice cream and chips and a Redbox movie.

While I was at the outlet mall with the girls on Tuesday, I bought a couple of things to perk up my wardrobe for really good prices.  I am being really careful to not buy too many things since I don’t have anywhere to put them.  But, since I am using fewer clothing items over and over again, they are showing signs of wear and tear more quickly than when I used to have more clothing items in my much larger closet.  I was given gift cards and $ for Christmas, so I’m looking forward to shopping later for a few more things.

I’ve been spending some of my extra time this week crocheting.  I’ve been experimenting with a new-to-me kind of yarn.  It’s Lion brand and is called Scrubby Sparkle.  The large green “lime” on the left turned out to be a big surprise.  I picked up a direction sheet from JoAnn’s when I bought the yarn.  I thought I was making a small scrubby for washing dishes.  Instead, after following directions, it turned out to be as big as a dishcloth.  So, I looked up a pattern on the internet and made a few scrubbies as well.  The multi-colored ones are done with 1 strand of white Scrubby Sparkle and one strand of leftover Lily Sugar ‘n Cream yarn from the dishcloth.  I love that I found something to do with the little bits of yarn that are always leftover.

Michael’s was running a really good sale on the Sugar ‘n Cream yarn, $1.50 a 2 or 2-1/2 ounce skein, so I went and got a big bag full today.  That’s the best price I’ve seen for a long time around here. I plan to make quite a few dishcloths in the upcoming months.  Yesterday, I also bought a 3-pack of blank dishcloths using my 50% off one item at JoAnn’s.  Because I live in town now, it’s easier to just stop in and get 1-2 things.  I love to do embroidery and people enjoy getting towels for gifts because they can always use another towel:)  I love getting the towels themselves on great sales.  So, whenever I’m in the store and have no other use for my coupon, I get a pack of towels.

We were able to go for dinner at some friends’ house on Wednesday.  It was so good to spend time with good friends.  It’s harder to see people because we have moved out of our previous area.  So, we were delighted to make it work this week.

Merry Christmas!  I hope each and every one of you had as nice of a Christmas as our family did.  It was very special.

Although “saving money” and “Merry Christmas” do not seem to go together, we were able to keep the spending under control during this holiday season, while still having a great holiday.

On Christmas Eve, we took Rob’s mom out to lunch.  We took the gifts for his sisters for her to give to them on Christmas Day.  So, no need to mail anything.  We spent a while visiting with her, both at her house and at the restaurant.  Now that we live a distance from her, it’s harder to get time with her.  I’m glad it worked out for Saturday.

Then, we returned home (over an hour away now), and got ready for our small family Christmas Eve.  We chose to go to church, then eat, do presents, then played Apples to Apples. (We always do our presents on Christmas Eve as a immediate family) Because we spend so much time with extended family (which is wonderful), it was important to me that the evening was made special for just our girls this time.  I made individual raspberry cheesecakes that were a huge hit.  I modified them to be gluten-free. Although I splurged for one carton of raspberries, I was able to use frozen ones from our old place for the rest of the sauce, making it very affordable as a Christmas treat.  I did not choose to purchase mint, but it would have looked even better with mint on top.  I will be growing a bush here, as I did at my old place, once I get organized in the spring.  Ja’Ana whipped up some pickle/cream cheese/lunchmeat rolls and Lovana stirred up some spiced cider in the crock pot.

We cut down on gifts for the big girls, at their suggestion.  We eliminated all little, easy-to-lose stuff and most candy from the stockings and instead gave them gift cards or cash, plus 1 or 2 small things they wanted.  We put a tiny bit of candy and an orange in there, and they were fine. In the end, we spent less, and they can shop for bargains.  J wanted money for our upcoming field trip to San Francisco, so that’s what she got.  L wanted a Macy’s gift card to buy some clothes, so we did that.  Because Patsy is younger and wasn’t quite on the same page, we gave her a few gifts we knew would please her.  Rob and I gave each other some things we needed, such as a new lunch container for Rob’s days at school, an umbrella, etc. for him and he gave me some nice things I needed, too.  We both feel really good about what everyone got, and that we stayed in budget.

We reduced the amount of gifts we gave.  Some people that got one in the past did not get one this year.  I was able to put together nice gifts for Rob’s co-workers with home-made caramel corn, soap and a dishcloth or dishtowel I crocheted or embroidered, for not much money out of pocket.  One lady liked the caramel corn so much, she offered to pay Rob to make some for her to give away.  He gave her the recipe:)

I did not buy Christmas and Thanksgiving outfits for the girls this year, for the first time in years.  I sewed Patsy a festive skirt from some fabric that was in the shop, plus a $2 pattern.   I did need to buy some thread as well.  The biggest challenge with that was finding my sewing stuff–I’m still a bit mixed up here, but I found enough. Rob got Ja’Ana a sweater at Ross Dress for Less for $6 and she wore it on Christmas Eve with jeans she already had.  My sister got them clothes for Christmas and they love them.  They got money to go shopping with, as well.  We are going to take them to an outlet mall this week so they can spend their money.  I’m pretty sure it will be on clothes, but we’ll see….

For extended family, we were able to find some nice things, but did not go overboard there, either.  On Christmas day, we went to church and then spent the day at my sister’s house, doing fondue and spending time together.  5 of our kids were there, plus cousins, aunties, uncles and grandmas.  We missed the ones who couldn’t make it, but are already planning another get-together for next Sunday, where others will join who couldn’t yesterday. Everyone brought food, and we deep-fried, cheese-dipped, and chocolate-fountained to our hearts’ content.  The weather was lovely, and mild, and the view of the river from my sister’s house was serene and peaceful.  Everyone was happy, and there was peace on earth, in our house, at least for a day.  There’s not much more I can ask for:)

We enjoyed our brief snow day!  The kids had hours and hours of fun, it was free, and they were very tired for  2 days.  Win-Win-Win!!

When I got home, it was pretty much melted there.  I do want you to notice the little garden, though.  Believe it or not, the lettuce made it through!  I think this week will finish it for sure since it’s supposed to get really cold later in the week, but I think it’s Energizer bunny lettuce–just keeps going and going.

Several weeks ago, the glass plate broke in our microwave.  One day, it just cracked in half. This is the microwave that came with the house, so I believe it’s pretty old.  We looked on-line and the replacement was $55-$60.  I’m just stubborn enough that I would not pay that for one.  There were several options that were considered, and my niece, Alissa, got extremely creative in finding ways to cook her food without burning it.  In fact, she may do a guest post soon on “What to Do When the Glass Tray Breaks in Your Microwave.”  Since some of her ideas were pretty entertaining to watch, I may have her share them.

The obvious choice ended up being the one that worked–Rob finally found one at Goodwill for $5.  It had ended up being pretty hard to find the time to shop enough to find the glass, but he did at last.

We had a family candy making party.  We did a batch of caramels and one batch that turned into toffee–I think that one got boiled a little too long somehow.

We went to a ceramics studio and had a few of the girls make a couple of gifts for Christmas.  It was nice to give them a chance to make something useful, while doing some art.  Everything is provided at the store.   For an activity that we do not plan on doing often, it is a great deal to find a place that provides all of the supplies–from paint, glaze, brushes, and firing, included in the price.  To buy one of each would be cost-prohibitive for me.

We’ve been building lots of fires.  It’s been cold.  It’s great we have all of that wood.

Lots of meals have been cooked at home, but I’ve also been gifted with quite a few meals from my sister.  We often share food back and forth when we make big batches of things.  This week, she also gave me some leftover Mexican food from the party she had catered for her business party.  It was so good, I ate it for both breakfast and lunch today.  Yum!

Rob made a lot of caramel corn to give for Christmas presents.  I had some crocheted dish cloths I had made over the last few months (keeps me busy) and we were able to get a great deal on hand soap on Saturday.  So, it’s a small bag of caramel corn, and a hand soap with a hand-made dish cloth wrapped around it.  It’s perfect for his new co-workers.  Although each gift was less than $5 for supplies, they are very nice. In fact, when out shopping, I saw caramel corn for sale for almost $5 for the same amount–pre-packaged.   We will make some more fresh caramel corn closer to Christmas for some others we know will like it.  WE can hardly leave it alone—really tasty.  If you want to make it–it’s a Taste of Home recipe–Courtside Caramel Corn.

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.