Frugal Friday: Making the Best of It ALL

Saturday:  I had a miserable night Thursday evening and was so disappointed when, after sleeping but a half hour, I awakened and laid there for the better part of an hour praying sleep would return.  Well, sometimes, a change of scenery is the best thing.  I've turned in bed and lay with my feet at the head and my head at the foot of the bed and sometimes that works nicely and sometimes it doesn't.  I decided last night to take myself off to the guest room. 

While our room had felt warm-ish, the guest room was cool, so much so that I not only pulled up the quilt on the bed, I piled another one atop that one.  I slept very nicely until I heard John shift in his chair this morning.  At some point during the night he also couldn't sleep and so he sat in his recliner and covered himself up to sleep.  Again, it's cooler in the living room than our bedroom.  I've no idea why this is so because during the majority of most days our bedroom is quite cool.

We had bagels for breakfast.  I have two left, after making up a third to go into John's work lunch for tomorrow.  We'll eat those in the morning and I'll have nothing but the packets of yeast left to toss away.  I'm taking the saltines to Mama on Monday.  She does not ever use yeast so no need of taking her that.  For the one who asked, we do not have a food pantry nearby.  The few I do know of, only accept cash or gift cards and no real foods.   The yeast is only about 49c at Aldi, so no big loss.



Dinner has plenty of leftovers.  I intend to put them all to good use.  I thought I'd make a quiche.  John doesn't care for it, but I love it and since I'll be home alone for 36 hours Sun-Mon and again on Thursday, I think it will be just the thing for myself.  I'll use leftover asparagus in that dish.

I'll have leftovers for one of the many meals I'll be having this week.

We'll also use leftover meat in our salads tonight and in sandwiches the rest of this week.

We had the last portion of cake for dessert today.   We really stretched that out.  Remember I also put half in the freezer.

I prepared several items ahead to go into John's work lunch for tomorrow.

Clipped rosemary and fresh oregano to season the roast.  Yum!

Used up the last of the mushrooms and the last of an onion I'd cut earlier in the week to season rice.

Boiled four eggs, two for salads tonight and two for my breakfast in the morning.  I'll reheat the unshelled eggs in the same water in the morning so they'll be hot, but not overcooked.

I put two containers of sliced roast beef (cut thin with the meat slicer) for sandwiches.

Sunday:  Up early to see John off to work.  I fed him a bagel and peanut butter, fixed him a to go cup of coffee in his Yeti.

I used up the last of the bread as toast for my breakfast this morning.  That leaves me with one envelope onion soup mix and the box of saltines which I'll take to Mama tomorrow and the three strip of packets of yeast which went into the trash can. 

I very nearly got overwhelmed this morning but I calmed myself and focused.  I knew I needed to deep clean the kitchen. Again.  I also realized that all of the house needed to be vacuumed, mine and John's seating needed to be cleaned and the table needed to be wiped off well.  I'd planned to start out of the kitchen this morning, but it was soon plain to me that I needed to clean the kitchen first and then work my way outward or I'd track crumbs into the clean parts of the house each time I had to leave the room.  It took me a little while but the work I'd done previously helped a LOT, so it was really just a matter of going over several areas one more time.  In the end, I was all through the house work and all through clearing my home of yeast, at least as much as I can do.  There's always some hidden somewhere, a good reminder of how very carefully we must examine ourselves and then ask God to search our hearts and show us our hidden sins.  It is, as I've said for several years now, a very humbling ritual to take part in.

Washed two full loads of clothes.  I washed my white robe with the sheets and that load went out onto the line.  About three hours later, I washed the towels and all the dishtowels we'd used over the weekend and hung those on the line.  The first load of sheets and robe were fully dried and pristine white.

Paid bills.  I was able to use half the amount I'd normally set aside for electricity and add it to the other small amounts I've freed in pre-funding the sub accounts.  I was able this pay period, to complete the full amount needed for routine AC maintenance fee, set aside another quarter payment for the small life insurance policy and put aside 1/3 of the funds needed to cover the next six months of car insurance.  I now have 2/3 of what is needed to pay that in full in July.  I will also set aside some money towards our St. Augustine vacation but not until I know how much John has actually made for the pay period (tomorrow is pay day).  I will set aside an additional amount towards that fund as I promised him I'd do so with the overtime he's worked.

Worked up our 2nd quarter budget sheet.  I usually base this 2nd quarter on figures averaged over the first quarter.  I have at this point some clear idea of what we're paying out as well as what we've earned.  It's always my hope that we'll do as well with our income the 2nd quarter as we did the first.  If I find we suddenly drop off, I'll adjust the budget.

Ate leftovers for my dinner.  It's a little cool indoors yet though it will warm up as the afternoon goes on but I wanted something hot (my leftovers was cold pasta salad), so I heated a can of soup...and promptly cooked it over onto the clean stove top and lost half of it.  No need to worry about leftovers there!

I was reading in a homemaker's guide last night (from the 1900 era) that we should throw back the covers on our bed and allow to air for at least 1 hour, preferably with windows open in the room.  I'd been allowing my bedding to air for at least 20 minutes.  This morning, I did open the window a bit next to the bed.  It sent the heater into another cycle, but I let it air before the open window for at least 10 minutes.  As it warms up, I'll try to do this for an hour each day.  The bed was not made up for a little more than an hour, so I did get plenty of airing time for it.

Started working on my new home routines lists when I needed to sit and cool off during my vacuuming session.

Balanced the checkbook.

Fun exchange with Katie this afternoon.  She texted saying she had extra daylily which she'd potted up for me.  I offered to share glads with her. I have some old bulbs I need to move and a bag of new ones so she'll get some of each.

Gathered all the trash, two bags of books and my ice chest and grocery bags to take outdoors to the car, along with the crackers and soup mix for Mama.

Monday:  Up early due to early texts from Katie.  All was well.  Just a lovely morning and quiet time to herself for a change, so she shared all about her current gardening which is lovely work on the big flower bed at her front door. 

Bible study and coffee and a fruit smoothie.  I followed a little video on Facebook a couple of weeks ago where the young woman took a pint jar and tossed in fruit slices until it was about half full, then put on a lid and froze it.  Then she took it from the freezer, added a bit of yogurt and milk and blended it all, right in the same jar, because as Chef Juls pointed out here on the blog, the blender assembly fits a standard jar.  I had a couple of bananas extra last week and some strawberries and blueberries that I put in two jars and froze.  So this morning, easy and quick yogurt smoothie.  I added a couple of tablespoons of almonds for the fiber and protein. 

Off to Mama's.   We were going to pick up meats in Macon at The Fresh Market.  I thought to carry along that bag of ice John bought a bit over a week ago.  And since I will be sharing it with Mama today, I expect that will be the end of that ice.  BUT I'll follow Rhonda's suggestion and use what my ice maker makes.  I'll fill and freeze bottles when I have a little more room in my freezer.  I've some half gallon milk jugs I'd meant to use for frozen foods but found I didn't need.

Took Mama to The Fresh Market.  I bought 3 family packs of breasts and 8 packages of hamburger meat.  I did not divide the hamburger but will do so before cooking.  We typically only use 1/2 pound of ground beef for the two of us.

Divided the chicken and got 9 packets from 15 breasts.  Most breasts I split in half. I packaged in packets of two.   Some breasts were slightly smaller so I put the smaller end pieces into a separate bag to use as stir fry pieces.  I also put one whole breast in one packet for steaming or poaching for salad/sandwiches.

It's easy, when you're in a store like The Fresh Market to sort of 'let loose'.  I go there just once a month at most, sometimes once every two or three months depending upon our budget at the time for meat purchases.  There are all sorts of niceties there that I can't buy just anywhere.  I'm careful.  I do splurge.  I spend about $20 on 'added items'.  I buy John double dipped chocolate peanuts.  I usually indulge in one or two pieces of whatever featured fruit is on that week if the variety is unusual and not something I'd normally find.  This week's produce item was a Golden Nugget Mandarin.  I buy a small piece of smoked Gouda.  John absolutely loves the texture and the taste.  We'd found it at Aldi, but only once. And finally, I indulge in Chicken Potstickers at the Deli.  I am very fond of potstickers but finding them with  chicken filling is difficult.  Those are my splurges.  I don't allow myself to be swayed by fancy baked goods.  Those I can make myself and I may wander through to get ideas but I don't spend.  I don't buy over priced produce that I know I can buy less expensively at Aldi no matter how my mind and mouth both water over the beauty of it all. 

I bought a piece of gingerroot today.  I had it on my non-Aldi list to purchase.  I slice and put in the freezer and use a piece or three as needed.  I was especially happy to buy the gingerroot there at The Fresh Market today because it had budded.  I NEVER see budded gingerroot in other stores because they usually refrigerate it.  This was sitting at room temperature and had three fat buds.  I broke off the pieces that aren't near the buds and will plant the budded piece to grow my own gingerroot. 

Tuesday:  I was shocked to discover two errors on my receipt from The Fresh Market last evening and put a call in to the manager.  No return call last night so I called back this morning.  I held the line for 25 minutes without any answer at all.  A third call netted me a shocked manager who patched me through to the lead manager, who lost my call three times...Well all the call backs were well worth the effort.  First I was refunded the money from the over charges.  That was enough, truly, but then I was offered a gift card.  I've told John I expect I will make use of that $10/off $50 purchase coupon given yesterday after all.  If I get a $5 gift card from the store, that's $50 worth of grocery for $35 and that's none to shabby.

I made biscuits and sausage for the breakfast this morning.  I started the biscuit dough last night.  I mixed all my dry ingredients and then cut in shortening.  I covered that and left overnight on the counter and this morning just added in buttermilk and in 5 minutes or less I had a pan full of biscuits.

I started the full load of clothes in the washer.

John insisted today was a day out and that was fine by me.  I'll count it as the fun I'd planned into my leisure time.

We returned to the antiques mall and each picked up where we left off two weeks ago.  I found a lovely little coffee server that is metal and I think perfect for brewing my tea.  I bought a little wooden wagon with sorting blocks that I think will amuse the younger children.  I found a book by a much loved author and happily brought it home.  This amused John no end since I had three (!) bags of books in the car to donate to the women's club book sale and three more boxes at home waiting to be delivered to them.  Obviously I have not mentioned to him that I've been filching books from the boxes as I filled the bags to take to the library...

We went out to eat.  We decided that it was worth treating ourselves at the antiques mall and at the restaurant.  Treating ourselves is a lose term.  We don't go for big splurges, but little ones. My few items this morning were under $20 and when we ordered our meals we ordered something that was moderately priced.  Our 'big splurge' wasn't very much at all, in the end and it made John feel he'd been working for something when he was able to treat me to these things.

I might add here that I made sure he knew he'd been working for something anyway, when I shared that I'd put more money towards our vacation expense (more than half way paid) and set aside money for the short pay period coming up in a month's time (just about vacation time).  I didn't share that I'd put 2/3 of the money needed for the next six months auto insurance aside from the money he's worked hard to earn extra.

We went to Aldi after we had our fun.  I told John we didn't need much and we didn't buy much, just a few necessities from the usual areas: dairy, produce, and a few canned beans that were in stock this week (cannellini).  I noted eggs were 59c at our store and butter $1.99 so I bought two more packages of the butter than I'd planned to purchase.

We stopped for coffee and an ice cream sandwich on the way home.  John said it was dessert, lol.  He used his store loyalty card and so the ice cream sandwich was $1. 

It was a lovely day all around and lovely to come home to housework all done.

Wednesday:  John was up and being productive very early this morning.  I lolled about in bed, mostly I was praying but he thought I was sleeping.  I was actually awake when he went off to purchase gas this morning.

John went to town to purchase gasoline for the mower.  He also got gas for his car while he was out.  He came home and began to mow and weed eat and trim.  He came indoors long enough to have a late breakfast with me.

I reheated biscuits I'd made yesterday morning and cooked an omelet. 

John went outdoors to mow/weed eat/trim once again. He worked for about 4 hours this time around.  A long day of work on the yard but it all looks quite nice.

I packed up two more bags of books to take to the library for the women's club book sale next weekend.  I have about one more box of books to deliver and then, at last, those are out of the way.  I did add several books back to my bookshelves.  It would have been much more efficient to have had this picked up but that wasn't offered as an option this year.  I suspect I'll be placing some of these book back in a box for donation during the next culling.

One set of books I was happy to find happened to be something I kept looking for yesterday: homemaking books.  I found three in the boxes and pulled them out to use to work on setting up my daily and weekly and monthly cleaning routines.  I am especially glad I happened to look at the one book because I had apparently confused it with an old book on nutrition.  It's a homemaker's guide by Good Housekeeping from 1924. 

I put all my homemaking books together near my chair so I can study them.

I got busy right away.  I went through my morning home routine but I was itching to get outdoors and work.  I kept saying to myself, "But I haven't got..."  Well you know what?  I'll work with what I have...Right back to that old motto of mine "Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can."  Right.  I got to work.

 Cleaned the porch railings using a bucket of warm water and some dishwasher detergent.  This and a green scrubber sponge took up the algae growth on the railings and porch right away.  It wasn't a big job either, because I tackled it early.

Amazing how much better a good hard cleaning makes anything look.  I removed the nasty looking cover that hung over Maddie's dog house door.  I'm thinking when I do the other cushions I'll use that leftover piece of fabric to put there instead.  Maddie likes to 'hide' when it's thundering and prefers we not see her at her worst.

Put the new cushions on the porch chairs.  So pretty!

Moved to back porch.  I repotted baby aloes that had sprung up about the base of the old dead aloe plant.  I trimmed the mother in law's tongue.

I filled pots with soil even though I have no plants to put in them just yet.  It helped me to place pots where I wanted them and to know what I needed to further fill spaces.

Put the new cushions on the café chairs and placed the new mat on the porch.   John has suggested three or four times that he'd like to see the table and chairs red.  I've been reluctant since the back door is a shade of red but I think he's right.  I couldn't start painting today because he was mowing the yard and throwing dust and grass all over but I'll be doing this tomorrow or Friday I think.  I'll use the paint I bought to paint the guest room bed.  Use what you have...

I think once I get a fern for the iron wash pot and a couple of pots of flowers of some sort on the back porch, remove that cabinet and sort out my potting mess that the back porch will look quite nice.

Made out a shopping list for tomorrow.  It's a long list but many items can be purchased inexpensively.

Came indoors and did semi-prep of John's work lunch for tomorrow, started lunch and cut vegetables for snacking.  It all sounds so easy written out in a short sentence like that but took about 40 minutes

Set aside leftovers for John's work lunch.  Not on my menu plan but it was quick and easy: Cheeseburger mac, salad and Snow peas. 

When John was done mowing he washed a full load of clothes and hung most to dry.

We had a quiet afternoon.  I studied my Good Housekeeping Institute book on Housekeeping.  I'm finding it very interesting and some of it is still quite relevant despite the almost 100 year difference in publication and today. 

We had a very easy supper of chicken wraps using whole wheat tortillas.  I prepped oatmeal for morning and set up the coffee pot for 5am.  I also finished prepping his work lunch while I was doing supper work.

After we ate, I cleared the kitchen and John and I sat on the front porch for a bit. 

He calls it 'the verandah' when he has coffee, too.  So that's where we were.  I lit the citronella candle and decided it was best to keep a box of matches there with it.  I put the box in a plastic container that will fit inside the candle and under the cover.  This should keep the matches from moisture, though I naturally will let the candle harden up again before I put the matches under the lid.  I think I want to do the same for the back porch.  Mosquitoes and gnats are awfully pesky things and prone to start showing up soon.

Speaking of which I noted in one of my readings of the GH Housekeeping book that they recommended capping glass bottles or puncturing tin cans that were going into trash so that water wouldn't stand in them and allow breeding of mosquitoes.  I thought about that a good long while last night and I guess it's still good advice when you get right down to it, though we now have plastics as well as glass and tin to hold water and breed.   I plan to get some of those mosquito pellets that you drop in ponds to put in the buckets where we catch rain water and water the cat and dog.  The pellets kill off the larvae but it's safe for pets to drink the water.  I've looked them up and put them on my shopping list.

Thursday:  I did my morning routine and my daily routine this morning.  No laundry to start this morning but there were definitely dishes.  Those were loaded into the dishwasher and running before I put breakfast on the table at 5:20am.  Believe you me, while that sounds mighty productive even to my ears, it wasn't a hard task to do.  I'd put soap in the dispenser last night and all I needed do was load up a glass and a cup and run hot water for a few minutes to start the machine.  Easy enough to do half asleep, which I assure you I was!

I got a survey yesterday and today on Swagbucks.  That put me over first goal both days.  I managed to complete my to do list this morning, too.  If I tackle it before 7a.m. I can afford to watch a few videos at that hour.  At 8a.m. our data 'costs' us again.

I had an overage charge on The Fresh Market e-receipt the other day.  They credited it to me but it didn't show up in my account.  I didn't call back. I decided to wait a couple of days and check again.  It showed up on the bank register this morning.

Bagged trash to go out the door with me but the big bag wasn't as full in fact as it looked in the trash can.  I decided to wait and take trash off with us if we leave over the weekend.  That will give us time to make maximum use of the bag.

Took two more bags of books to drop off at the library this afternoon.  I think I have two more to go and then two to donate to Goodwill.  I also think I managed to put half a box worth back on my bookshelves.  Never fear I will go through my bookcases again.  There's a whole shelf of never read books that I can see from my chair and I've promised myself if they are still unread in October of this year they are OUT once and for all.  Likely a few more will go as well.   I can't forget I have two more boxes of books to mail off to Amie.  I am giving her all my Rosamunde Pilcher novels as I know she has loved that author as much as I and she'll get a lot of pleasure from them.

My first stop this morning was the local bank where I withdraw money from my savings to pay off my portion of the credit card charges last month.  I was a little bit short but I made up the difference with my allowance.  Ouch, that hurt, but I sure did enjoy sprucing up my home with those funds and I'm not going to whine now about having to cough up a little extra.  My reason for being short?  I wanted to keep a minimal balance so that I'm not charged for the account.  So it was worthwhile to pay out my allowance for that reason.

Went to the bank where we keep our household accounts and deposited money.  Best do it right away.

Realized I was terribly hungry.  12 noon and I'd not had a thing to eat since 5:20am.  I decided it was best to go ahead and get something to eat.  I took my take away lunch to the graveyard to eat.  I wanted to go sit in the usual spot but the graveyard was a busy place today with lots of visitors.  I had fun watching a pair of Killdeer with their tiny little offspring.  The two little babies pretty much ignored the mother bird and the papa bird got squawked at a couple of times for not helping out, lol.  When I was ready to leave I watched the Mama go into defense mode which was interesting to watch, too.  The baby birds ran off to join Daddy well away from Mama.

Went to Walmart in Perry because I am familiar with the store, know were everything is and can find it and get out.  There is a Dollar Tree next door and a shoe store, too and I was interested in going to both, so I started at the shoe store.

I found a pair of sandals that I really liked that were very affordable and leather.  I was well pleased.

I picked up a few items from my list at Dollar Tree.  I was sure they would have at least some of the wanted items and they did, for much less than Walmart would charge.

Went into Walmart and my plans fell apart.  They are doing a complete rearrange of the store.  Only the garden center, pharmacy and grocery sections were untouched.  Everything else is moved.  I never did see the women's clothing.  I'd hoped to look at t-shirts to add to my wardrobe.  I ended up pretty much walking the whole of the store to find the items on my list.  I also did some 'window shopping' as I went.  I saw the rugs I wished I'd gotten for the bathroom instead of the ones I have.  Never mind.  I shall keep those I just bought, like them best or not.

I saw a lovely little lamp in robin's egg blue which gave me the idea of purchasing paint to paint my own lamp for the laundry area in the same color.  Got the bottle of paint for just over $1.  The lamp was shaped much the same as mine which is wood, and was ceramic but it was $15.  I think $1 is a much better price.  I think I only paid about that much for the lamp at a thrift store anyway.

I finally gave up shopping the main body of the store and went to cosmetics and personal care section which was thankfully the same.  Got the items on my list there.  Went into the garden center and immediately honed in on the clearance rack of plants.  I bought 7 pots/6packs and a fern for the back porch for $16.  I won't share my store total with you but I will share that it came out to about what it usually does when I go in to make my purchases.  That's why I wait a good long while between visits.  I think this was my first time in the store since January.  I doubt I'll return for at least 3 or 4 more months.

Hot.  Thirsty.  Tired.  I'd meant to treat myself to ice cream but decided no, I wouldn't.  I'd had a glass of unsweetened iced tea at lunch.  I figured it was best to drink my water which was still cool thankfully (and why didn't I think to take it in that Yeti tumbler?!) and go home.  Where I have enough to tempt myself with and not costing me any more money.

I didn't get all I wanted by any means but I got enough to satisfy me for today.  Monday I'll stop at the grocery in the next town to purchase more plants even less expensively.  I've already been by the store to look over what they have.  I've purchased there for years now and those plants always perform well for me.

Stopped at library to drop off books.  They will be open on Monday and I'll deliver my last ones to them that day.  The Women's Club book sale is next weekend...Shall I go? Hmm  I shall have to think about that. On the one hand I hate to miss any good books and on the other, I've just donated the bulk of five boxes from my own shelves.  At least I'm assured I won't buy any of my own books back, because I pretty much know which ones I've donated this year since I've had to handle them so much!

Picked up mail on the way in.  I had a gift card from The Fresh Market in the mail.  How nice!  I can't say enough good about this store and their customer service at any time but they certainly went over and above on this small overage and made me feel my little bit of business is highly valued. 

Plunked the pots of plants right down on the soil of the pot where I mean to plant them and found they didn't quite fill out that particular planter.  I might do something different there though.  I'm thinking a big mounding pot of sweet potato vines could be awfully pretty.  I'll fill the smaller pots with the flowers purchased today.

Made myself a cup of coffee.  While it brewed I packed up the next two bags of books.  I found two cookbooks I'd been missing.  Yep.  They went back on my bookshelf, sigh.

Mixed up pastry for a quiche.  John doesn't like quiche.  I love it.  I thought since I do I could at least make it for myself.  This will use up the last of the asparagus I set aside.  And I'll have leftovers to put away for my solitary meals next week.   This will freeze well enough, I think.  Maybe.  I shall let you know.

Gave myself a pedicure.

I had a tube of lotion from 2015 when I was in the hospital that I pulled out to use about two weeks ago as an after shower moisturizer.  I really liked the stuff a lot.  I looked it up online this morning and found I could order it through Walgreens.com for $4.99 a tube.  I went right ahead and ordered four tubes.  I'll share the product here in a few days, as I'm working up a post on things I'm currently enamored with that I feel are good value.

Friday:  Showered and dressed right away after turning back the bed this morning.  Went right ahead and hung out my towel as well.  While I was outdoors I fed the animals, then went to get coffee and my journal.  I wrote a little while I was outdoors with them.

Came in and mixed up pancake batter, started sausages on low heat, warmed the oven.

While I was doing Bible study, John called.  His windshield wipers shredded into pieces this morning and he went by the auto parts store for new ones.  They didn't have what was needed.  He asked me to call the Honda dealership to get a price on them.  We both remembered the last pair purchased were doggone pricey.  Well they haven't gone down any!  $62 for the pair.  Ridiculous, isn't it?  We had the money in our auto maintenance fund but it galls us to pay that much for something just because it has Honda's name on it.  John called me back to check the price and we agreed if necessary we'd go on over and pick them up today.  He decided he'd just check at the auto place in town.  Lo and behold they had an 'after market' (doesn't have the Honda name on them) pair for $21.  Yes, we took that $41 savings and thanked the good Lord for it, too.

I was getting peevish, so I went ahead and ate while John stood around and chatted up at the hardware/auto store.

John came in and washed a load of clothes including his backpack.  There's a pesky pest problem at his work place and we'd suspicioned it was at work yet again there.  They'll be having pest control come in and fumigate the building once more, no doubt.  Ugh.  It's bad enough there's the potential to bring any number of germs home without bringing home plagues of bad insects as well.

Once I was assured we'd be home for the day I took meat from the freezer to thaw for our dinner.

I finally worked out my new routine last night.  I am quite pleased with it and will share it next week, simple shake up though it is.  I went right out to work in the yard this morning which was my main focus for the day.  I planted all of the plants I purchased yesterday.  I reused coco liners in a couple of baskets and crumpled plastic six pack plant containers in the bottoms of some containers to act as drainage.  I even used an old brick that crumbled to act as drainage in a pot that I can't put holes in for proper drainage.  That particular pot went on the front porch where it's least likely to end up with too much rain water standing in it.

I sorted out the old broken down trash can I'd used as storage for my soil last year.  It's now ready to be hauled off to the trash dump.

I watered the fern I bought heavily.  I was able to find a deep pan I'd put in the shed when I decluttered the kitchen and placed it under the fern to catch any run-off water.  This will keep my old wash pot from rusting through the bottom and allows the fern a little added humidity.

I'm quite pleased overall with the work outdoors this morning.  I got more accomplished than I'd thought I might.  Not finished by any means!  I really needed the shovel and my heavy duty rake to clear up some Maddie made messes and to do some planting but I was just too tired to accomplish anything more than clearing up the mess I'd made.

John hung the blind I bought yesterday.  I've been holding out to purchase a new blind for the kitchen sink window for nearly three or four years.  The price of the smaller shade needed was ridiculous! It cost more than one for any of the bigger and longer windows.  I finally decided that I'd just go right back to a 1 inch mini blind but splurge on the room darkening sort.  Compare $35 for the 2 inch wide PVC slat blind to $7.50 for a room darkening 1 inch mini blind.  From outdoors it all looks about the same. 

Created a new wreath from my old one.  I was able to find silk Gerbera daisy flowers yesterday at the Dollar Tree.  They are clip on flowers and were 2/$1.  Well I'd meant to go look at Hobby Lobby for flowers to pull off the stem.  This is perfect and far less expensive than what I might have found at Hobby Lobby. 

I ran out of the pretty green linen look ribbon I'd bought.  I had a feeling I'd need more than one spool, but no idea two wouldn't be quite enough.  Oh well.  I had a similar green gingham check fabric that I cut into strips and filled in the remaining space with.  I put the daisies on that spot anyway so it's not terribly visible.  I used another strip of the same gingham check fabric to make a bow for the wreath.

Made banana muffins from two over ripe bananas.  I added streusel to the tops to make them a little more fancy.

I have a chicken thawing for Sunday's dinner.  I have a plan for supper tonight.  And I think that's pretty much the end of my week.

What did you do this week to save?