Our Old Fashioned Thanksgiving

I thought I would share a few pictures of our little family get together we had on Thanksgiving day. After experiencing a rough year, we decided to keep the day quiet and intimate, free of the pressure that having a gaggle of guests can bring. Although I cut back on a lot of what I normally do by insisting EVERYTHING be made from scratch, I still spent the majority of the day in the kitchen. Mike made the turkey as he always does, and I made the sides. The result was delicious, as always.



the guest of honor!

always two of our very favorite "guests"~my son and grandson

kiss the cook!





 

We hope YOU enjoyed your Thanksgiving day!

~TJ





It's a Beautiful Day!

With the Thanksgiving holiday behind us and the Christmas season upon us, I just want to check in and say I hope everyone has been, and will be, enjoying the best this season has to offer!

I have not been keeping up with my frugal five nor my weekly to do's but, rest assured, I am still frugal and "to doing". In fact, I thought I'd share one of my happiest frugal things as of late. The flowers above were purchased as a mark down gift flower at the grocery store for $2.99. When I bought it, it was still in bloom so I set it by the front door to give a cheery "hello" to visitors and passers-by. When the blooms faded, I snipped off all the spent blooms, put the plant in a sunny but protected spot to see what would happen, if anything. I have watered it almost daily (we are still seeing temps in the 80's on some days even in November!) and am happily surprised that it is putting on a happy, colorful show!

Back soon. In between life happening!

Enjoy your day!
~TJ

Volunteering in the Garden

A container of oregano seeds was planted...

but the container had a surprise gift for me...

a volunteer named Basil!

Five Frugal Things

If anyone is peeking in here, I hope you are having a wonderful beginning to your week. We are experiencing some deliciously cool, sunny and NON humid weather! Love it!

On the other hand, I can so feel for those who have been devastated by hurricane Sandy because, living here on the Gulf Coast, we have our share of hits & near misses with those weather "tasmanian devils". God sees you all. Look to Him for comfort as many of us are lifting you up to Him in their prayers.

Remaining frugal minded this past week...

In the Garden~ I picked up a few more seed packets in the mark down bin at Walgreens. (We won't go into the marked down halloween candy that we bought. And ate.)

At the Grocery Store~  I've been stocking up the pantry with canned goods and other goodies to build up our stockpile that I've let run low in past weeks. It feels good having that type of "insurance" if need be. I think the recent hurricane put it back front and center in my realm of focus. And as much as I like having plenty on hand in case of emergency or unexpected company, I find that I tend to tap into a lot of that stuff to prepare comfort foods. And anyone that knows me knows I'm a bit fluffy so I have to watch that!
So...I also am making a point to stock up on some non-fattening stuff too:

 

In the Beauty Department~ I got out and used some leave in hair conditioner that I got with samples and I AM LOVING it! It made my hair so soft & less poofy! I may just invest in the full size of that stuff (especially since the samples came with a $! off coupon!)

 

 

In the Kitchen~ well...all the frugal meals & sales will take some time to make up for our new refrigerator & (finally!) dishwasher!!! I'm so excited!!! In the long run...I'm sure...they will pay for themselves. Right? I feel like I should say that ;)

 

In the Health Department~ I have been back on that treadmill! I had a daily goal of 30 minutes of exercise a day. Which I haven't quite hit this past week but I HAVE managed three days. 0-3. For me that's somethin'. And...I've been contemplating the big 5-0 coming up and asking myself how I want to usher that in??? So for three days straight, I have been eating well (no mo' halloween candy!) and when I have been tempted by my big bad sweet teeth (yes, I have more than one), I've indulged in fruit. Yay me!

 

Thanks for sharing my frugal five with me! 

 

 



What I Put in my Sam's Shopping Cart This Week

bread flour, organic baby spring mix, garlic heads, diced tomatoes

 

*I break the flour down into gallon sized ziploc bags and then seal them in a Food Saver bag with my Food Saver & pop them into the upright freezer.

 

*The garlic sits in a bowl handy for cooking. We use a lot of garlic!

 

*The salad mix is used to add with any other greens we might have for salads. Lately, I've been enjoying adding kale from my container garden to our salads! Hubby prefers  iceberg and since lettuce is one of the veggies that I understand to have high amounts of pesticides, I try to buy organic lettuce.

 

*The tomatoes get portioned out into Rubbermaid containers in one and two cup amounts and are frozen. Then, once frozen, I pop them out of the Rubbermaid containers and into FoodSaver bags to seal out air and put them back in the freezer for future use.

 

The total= $19.79

 

{flours bagged up in FoodSaver bags, awaiting their ride out to the upright freezer in the garage}

 

 

 

 



To Do's & Ta Da's for the Week of November 4, 2012

This past week I got a little off track. Since hubby is home all the time now, I haven't found a good "flow". The routines I had going before he went in the hospital have been wiped off the map and the best I can come up with now is just to take each moment as it comes.

The things I hope to accomplish this upcoming week are many of the things that were on my list last week (and the week before) but since none of them are life or death, I hold on to my plans loosely. They will get done. Eventually.

To Do List (for the upcoming week) 

1)  In the Craft Room~ tackle some paper craft projects with the upcoming Christmas holidays in mind. Again, I did not get to this but I'm not scratching it off my list.

2)  In My Etsy Shop~ List an average of one item at least every other day. Same for this one /:
 
3)  In the Kitchen~ straighten out the pantry (how does it get SO out of control?!) I tackled two shelves but since I did stocking up this week at the grocery store, it is even more out of control than it was when I put this on my to do list.

4)  In the Sewing Room~ work on some sewing projects that need to be finished. Do I really even need to say it? The mere fact it has been carried over says it all.

5)  In the "Gym"~  get back on my exercise program by doing something for thirty minutes daily.

Ta Da List (things accomplished from last week)

 

 





1)  In the Garden~ *Pot up my three new succulents (one of which I got for half price since part of it had died off. I find that many times if a product has a bit of damage or is less than perfect, the store will give me a discount. Usually at least 10% but sometimes much more. All you have to do is ask!

{This is the sad little plant that I got for half price. You can see the shriveled up dead part. I'm happy to report it's doing well in it's new home!} 

 I also have three African violets that have been in desperate need of repotting for months!
*Plant more seeds. Flowers & veggies.

2)  In the Craft Room~ tackle some paper craft projects with the upcoming Christmas holidays in mind

3)  In My Etsy Shop~ List an average of one item at least every other day
 
4)  In the Kitchen~ straighten out the pantry (how does it get SO out of control?!) *

5)  In the Sewing Room~ work on some sewing projects that need to be finished.

6)  The Stockpile~ focus on more bulk purchases for our food stockpile rather than buying smaller quantities of items that can easily be stored. (Sam's, here I come!) This is ongoing.   

Five Frugal Things

Here's five more frugal things I've done this past week...

1)  In the Garden~ Planted more seeds: White Lisbon Bunching Onions; Grand Rapids Leaf lettuce; Salad Bowl leaf lettuce; Parris Island Cos (romaine type) lettuce; cress; Purple Top White Globe turnips,Red Cored Chantenay carrots; Oriental Red Poppies; Shasta Daisy "Alaska" seeds and a few Sunflower seeds

A lot of the seeds I buy are from Walgreens or Walmart. I am going to check out some online sites for "freebies" to see what's available. Just out of curiosity.

2)  In the Kitchen~ made "clean out the fridge (and freezer and pantry ;D )" soup. It made enough for 3 meals.

3)  Cosmetics~ used up a hair conditioner, a hair mask and the rest of a travel/sample sized BBcream (love that stuff & really want to get a full sized container! But first, I have three more little ones to use up. I bought them on Amazon using a gift card  I earned from Swagbucks!~{Interested in Swagbucks? Just click on the "earn free prizes Swagbucks button off to the right here!}) I cut the tube open & got several more days wear out of it after I couldn't squeeze anymore from the tube (I do that whith all things tube-y). I put the tube in a zip top baggie to keep it from drying out.

4)  At the Store~  although not a necessity, we like sweets, so I stopped by Walgreens the day after Halloween and bought (only) a couple of bags of their half priced candy. Yum. I will probably find myself in there (if my timing is right) after the candy has been marked down 75-90%. Usually by then though it's slim pickins.

5)  Refuse Rescue~ I washed many a plastic zip top baggie this past week. From Gallon to sandwich size. Yes. I did.

Thanks for stopping by!