Bits and Pieces: Aunt Leeza's Box

I was perhaps 12 years old when Big Mama gave me this 'jewelry' box as she called it.  I loved it right away just because it was old and Big Mama had a habit of giving me things that had belonged to others and had some special meaning to herself.   This box was Aunt Leeza's.  I am spelling her name phonetically at the moment because I'm not sure how it was actually spelled.  (her name was Eleazar, but the family always shortened it to what sounded like  Leeza) I was given several of Aunt Leeza's things because, as Big Mama put it, "She was so taken with you."

Aunt Leeza was my great-great-great aunt and I did indeed meet her once when I was perhaps 5 or 6.  I clearly remember meeting her at Big Mama's home.  I was sort of 'taken' with her too, firstly because she was without a doubt the tiniest adult I'd ever met.  Second because she was dressed in a pale blue peignoir that was without a doubt the finest and most beautiful nightgown I'd ever seen outside of a magazine.  And third, because she was so very old.  I'm not just sure why Aunt Leeza was with Big Mama.  She lived in Montezuma and I suppose she'd been ill, though I recall her as smiling and happy that day I visited.

Frugal Friday

My 'new' wall in the living room, redone with things I had on hand and the thrift store pictures (the two long ones) I bought several months ago.

 Saturday:  A quiet day at home.  I cooked food yesterday and needed only to reheat today to eat.  Microwave reheating is a lot cooler than turning on the oven.

I finally have the summer measures of food down.  Maddie likes about 1 1/4 cups.  Trudy is a 1 1/2 cup measure.  The cat prefers just under 1/4 cup.  I seldom have leftover food these days to pour back into the container.

July $25 Grocery Challenge Week III

Week III July 16-22
  
Monday:  peach pancakes/sausage*
lunch: Submarine sandwich, john's treat we were out doing errands chips, ice cream*
supper: Cheese omelet, sliced tomatoes, grits (leftovers t and g) toast, turkey bacon
all ingredients except turkey bacon on last weeks cost line-up.  Turkey bacon purchased end of  May and stored in freezer.

Iced Tea Chat

Before July gets away from me completely I thought we'd sit down for another Iced Tea Chat. I've not been baking this week as you can see.  There are however, some German chocolates in the jar on the counter and Honey Roasted Peanuts.  I'm afraid things get a bit low the day before our bi-weekly shopping trip.

John and I spent the first part of last week recovering and catching up after our weekend of guests.  We had to run an errand on Monday to the home improvement place for heavy duty ant poisons.  I really like the Terro traps but I confess I'm completely unnerved when the tiny trail of ants suddenly increases to epic super highways of ants coming in to gather that bait.  It just seems to me it's not working, though I suppose it is.  John got some stuff to spray around outdoors, more of the ant traps and then decided to add in a bottle of stuff from Hot Shot that is natural and supposed to be safe for children and pets.  That made me feel good  because I do worry when we're using heavy duty sprays.  

Basil-Peach Chicken

http://www.southernliving.com/food/holidays-occasions/summer-peach-recipes-00417000067799/page30.html

Frugal Friday

Of the gifts we bought for our grandson this one was the cutest and the least expensive.  He has a thing about trains.  John found this at Toys R Us: a bandana neckerchief, conductor's hat and a wooden whistle that sounds like a train...

 
 What a full week it was!  I am just now getting all caught up once more. I'll try to walk back through the week just past and see where we saved money.

Friday:  The last of the housework done, I headed into town with my lists.  Three of them: grocery, dollar store and local packing shed.

Dollar store: I bought two extra towels and four pillows.  Two of the pillows were down alternative pillows and I'll be honest with you, I think they are better quality than the ones I bought at Target for half again as much money.  I'll be going back next month to buy about four more pillows to replace some on our bed and we should be set for pillows for quite awhile.  I paid just $7 each for the down like pillows and just $7 for a pair of fiberfill pillows.

Week II Challenge Week/Company Meals

Week II of my $25/per person challenge was uninspired and strained my imagination a wee bit  having guests.  I don't really know how to count the overage.  I know I'm in budget with the number of people we had through the weekend but I don't really know how to figure it other than in breaking down the costs overall.  Friday afternoon I had four adult guests, 1 toddler and two infants in the house and fed six adults and 1 toddler supper.  Breakfast the next morning totaled the same number of people fed, but dinner was for ten adults, 1 toddler.  Supper that evening was leftovers from the noon meal and consisted of feeding 5 adults and 1 toddler.  Sunday morning breakfast was for 5 adults and 1 toddler.

Whee! Time is Flying By...

 I finally figured out today how to shut off the date on photos.  This one taken two weeks ago one morning around 6:15am as John left for work.  It's surprising how dark it's already getting these early mornings, even on non-cloudy days.


I feel as though I've barely had time in the past few weeks to even bother to write at all.  I've been very busy of late, as I shared.  It's been another full and busy week and another weekend filled to the brim with family.  I do believe God is giving us a season of family time to enjoy our kids before we are moved into a new field of ministry.

Thrifty Thursday

 Friday: I had big plans for this day...and my plans were shortened considerably by Mama's announcement that she was coming to stay for three or four hours!  Nothing like an unexpected visitation to make you hurry up and finish up the business of homemaking!  I had meant to cook ahead for the weekend.  I did manage to put together a casserole of Spaghetti Diable which calls for cooked chicken.  I split the called for amounts between two dishes and froze half.  I had a  meal that Mama and I could share (and enough leftovers for John to take to lunch the next day) and a casserole for later when John and I need an easy meal.

Iced Tea Chat

 Well here I am... I guess you thought I'd gone away, hadn't you?  Not at all.  For some reason my time these past two weeks has been premium.  And then this week I just felt the need to shelter myself a little, not even realizing until now that it's the anniversary week of Granny dying....It's been quite a journey since this time last year.  Quite a long journey it seems.  Maybe that too is why I felt the need to shelter a bit.

John's last week off seemed particularly long.  He started with a day of class, finishing up the CEUs required to be licensed another two years as a Paramedic.  We're glad that is done.  Then we shopped for groceries a day later than usual and the very next day, on Friday, we packed up,  left home early and went down to visit our son and daughter in law and the grands! 

Week One- Grocery Challenge

Because I wanted my challenge to begin for July, I spent normally this last pay period.  However, since I don't want to wait until July 11 (our next shopping day) to start the challenge, I decided I would jot down the cost of items used that I'd bought in the last pay period and am using for this first week of challenge.  That really has been minimal thus far.

$2 hummus (we've used about half this week)

$2.50 pita chips

$3.99 coffee (half for this week)

$.99 bread x 2

$2.89 deli roast beef

$3.29 deli turkey (used about half)

$.99 xs 2eggs

$1.99 milk

$1 beef sausages

$1.65 Half and Half (used 1/2)

$1.99 Romaine lettuce (used 1/3)

$1.99 cheddar slices

$1.99 lemons

$2.14 nuts

$1.49 bagels

$1.49 blueberries

$2.64 soda

$2.00 peaches and plums

$1.49 chips

$1.79 ice cream
$1.69mushrooms
$.49 pudding (we used half this week)
$1.99 Blue Cheese (used half)
$1.99 Cottage cheese (used half)
$2 Mozzarella (used 1/2)
$1.99 mixed fruit (jar)
$52.34

Thrifty Thursday - Cutting Back

I know it's been two weeks since I shared my thrifty doings.  I've no excuse other than being busy this past week.  We took a quick trip south of us to visit the grandbabies and between the whirlwind trip and the rush to get there from the work week, I confess I was mightily tired.  But it was grand to see those children!  Focus is on the past week and all that we did to save, even while traveling.

Friday:  Before traveling to leave home, I packed a bag with frozen water bottles, cold soda, granola bars, crackers with peanut butter and a bag of cheese sticks.  I knew we wouldn't be on the road for endless hours, but long enough to get good and hungry.  And besides it was HOT outdoors so we'd definitely need plenty of water to carry along.

I used stored water to water the plants heavily.  Glad I did.  It got extremely hot while we were gone.

Menu Monday: Holiday Week

It's hot I tell ya: 106F temperature this past weekend and we won't even discuss the 'feels like' temperatures which were scary.  There's no doubt however, that July 4th in the U.S.A. brings up thoughts of cookouts and picnics and fireworks and all those sorts of things.  I confess I've had my share of all three complete with homemade ice cream churned the old fashioned way.  I've seen July 4ths so hot that your sandals melted on pavement and on the opposite end there was a misty evening of fireworks where we all wrapped up in the quilt we'd taken to sit upon!  It got COLD that evening.  Brrr!

I never did get to make my meatloaf last week.  I cranked up the oven to make a peach cobbler yesterday but it might be a while before I do that again.  Good as that cobbler was (notice the past tense...It's gone now but boy was it delicious), I don't believe it's worthwhile to heat up the entire house, especially when the outdoor temps are so high.  I'll have to wait for cooler weather, you know, when the thermometer dips into the low 90's, lol.

A Reply to IM

 

A reader said...

I so enjoy your sharing, Terri. I am always checking your blog to see if you have new insights for us!Today, I have a question for you. If you had someone to help with your housekeeping what chores would you assign them? I have been blessed with two workers for two hours every two weeks, and to be frank? I have no idea how to direct them! (We live simply by choice, so there not a lot to declutter. All the time can be spent cleaning!) 

 I keep a fairly clean home myself and periodically go through and do some deeper cleaning and decluttering...But there are always tasks I can't tackle right away or which are simply too big for me to handle on my own.  If I had been given the blessing you have, I'd definitely be looking at those tasks on my 'wish list'.  If it were a big enough task to warrant help I'd be happy to work alongside someone who had volunteered time to help to accomplish it. Soooo  I'd consider asking for help with washing windows or cleaning kitchen cabinets or  clearing out a closet or an area I kept meaning to work in but felt overwhelmed by.