2024 Frugal Friday File, May 31...

   

1.  Tonight I pulled things out of the pantry and fridge to make a homemade thin-crust pizza.  I had accidentally added two bags of shredded mozzarella to our last grocery order instead of one, so the second one needed a good use. I had a package of pepperoni that needed using.  I had 3 slices of fried bacon (leftover from breakfast-for-dinner night).  An onion.  A small can of mushrooms, as well as one of sliced ripe olives.  I found a recipe awhile back for thin crust (which Carey prefers), and boy is it easy.  I can mix the ingredients and pat it out while the oven preheats, and then pre-bake the crust for 5 minutes.  While it's in the oven I thinly sliced the onion and opened jars and cans.  Crust out and I added sauce and toppings and baked for 15 to 20 more minutes.  Thirty minutes total and it was done.  It was ready to eat much quicker than waiting for delivery or driving to pick one up, and MUCH less expensive!

2.  Son-in-law brought me three pair of shorts that had various degrees of mending needed in a rush.  One needed just a button which he had lost.  One needed the zipper restitched.  One needed a zipper repair or a new zipper; after watching and trying several YouTube videos, I deemed that pair a lost cause, so I clipped the button from the fly, and pinned a note to that pair that the repair was above my skill set (at least in a rush).  I put the clipped button onto the pair that needed one, and called that a win.  Then I restitched the zipper where its seam had come undone.  I delivered them all back to him within 24 hours.  Frugal for him, good practice for me, and he thinks I'm amazing.  :)

3.  Kasey brought us a loaf of banana bread on Monday.  I already had breakfast-for-dinner plans, so it made an excellent addition, and great snacks the next couple of days.

4.  The houseplants I bought in March are all still alive, and the ones in the living room are getting ginormous!  I missed the ones from work more than I thought I did, because I have really enjoyed watching these thrive.  Either I've gotten better at plant care, or I lucked into choosing really hardy ones.

5.  I'm working at decluttering the crap craft room.  Taking a couple of boxes to the creative re-use center for donation.  Slow and steady wins the race?

On the menu this week:

Saturday:  Supper out (and our granddaughter waited on our table).

Sunday:  Sunday family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Monday:  Breakfast for supper

Tuesday:  Spanish Rice

Wednesday:  Tex-Mex out

Thursday:  takeout sandwiches

Friday:  homemade pizza

Rudy loves recycle day, a photo essay...

Once the work of unloading our collected recyclables is done, we all get a treat.

 

2024 NON Frugal Friday File, May 24...

 

1.  Lots of hotel bills.

2.  Lots of meals out.

3.  Lots of gasoline burned on lots of highways.

4.  Multiple graduation gift checks.

5.  On the other hand, all of the above are paid in full, because of responsible spending and savings previously.

On the menu this week:

Saturday:  Grad Party meal at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  Sunday family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Monday:  takeout

Tuesday:  leftovers

Wednesday:  dinner out on way to graduation**

Thursday:  Taco Salad

Friday:  Dublin Coddle

**designates meatless meal

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 I picked up two new library books on Monday.

Clear by Carys Davies

In 1843 an under-employed Scottish minister accepts a job to evict the final inhabitant of an island by the landowner.  

Less than two hundred pages, and I finished this one last night.

The Wide Wide Sea: 

Imperial Ambition, First Contact, and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook 

by Hampton Sides

About to start this one.  I've read a previous book about a doomed sea voyage by this author--excellent literary nonfiction--so looking forward to this.

Passages...

My mother-in-law and I holding hands recently.

 My mother-in-law passed away the day before Mother's Day.  Carey was with her.  Interestingly, he was also the only one with his father when he past, also the day before a holiday.  It's hard to let an anniversary slip quietly by when you have that kind of reminder.

Carey's mother was a lovely woman.  She raised five wonderful children, of whom I won the best.  :)  She always smiled when I told her that.

Sometimes it was hard for me to be on my best behavior (as I felt I had to do) for the entire length of visits.  My best friend once told me to just pick up my purse and go shopping...that they would appreciate the alone time with Carey and the kids, while I took a break anywhere else.  That was very sound advice.  :)

We had completely different mindsets in the beginning.  The Cleavers were to Carey's family as The Honeymooners were to mine.  (They might disagree, but I don't see it.)  When I was a newlywed, my mother-in-law gifted me postage stamps once.  I knew she would like to hear from us more often, but writing a letter took me all day and into the night, and it still left room for misinterpretation; we just weren't on the same wavelength.  And I decided Carey could use the postage stamps, but I don't think he ever did.  I still sent letters and photographs, but probably not as often as would have been desired.  

However when I became a grandmother, I softened.  I appreciated her more.  I made sure that I wrote and sent photographs, and when the children were old enough to write, I made sure they sent letters.  They are very good letter writers now.  They don't do it often, but they know how to start, how to share news, and how to close with affection.

She appreciated that a great deal.  She always answered each of their letters, and receiving an answering letter made them want to write again.  It felt like my m-i-l and I were partners in teaching the children these things.  We both took great satisfaction in it.

She also appreciated the things I did like sending cards to her that I crafted with her favorite colors and flowers, birds, and butterflies.  I made her things that took her needs in mind.  I tried to gift her things that would be useful without taking up space or needing dusting.  Until almost the end she was still using the 'scarves' I made that could be spread across the front of her top during mealtime to serve as an inconspicuous bib, and the walker caddies that kept keys and water bottles (etc.) at hand when she was on the move.

Her funeral service was on Wednesday.  It was so good to gather with the whole family.  She would have loved it.  We had been planning a big party for her 90th birthday in 2020, and Covid made it impossible.  Then it became harder and harder for her to participate in large gatherings, so we all made individual trips as we could.

She was tired of living with constant pain, and ready to go home.  She was a shining example, and I'm going to miss her so much.

2024 Frugal Friday File, May 17...

 

1.  Learned to make homemade hummus.  WOW!  Way less expensive than store bought.

2.  Found five "new" $3 shirts for Carey at Goodwill.

3.  Found a dress and wedges in my closet suitable for this week's family gathering.  First time I've had to wear a dress in quite awhile, so lucky it fit and was somewhat still in style.

4.  Received an impromptu gift from Beau and Kasey, that he installed for us and taught us how to use.  May enable us to "cut the cord."

5.  Mother's Day gift from Kasey and Beau will improve our wi-fi coverage in far parts of the house, and again will be installed by them.

On the menu this week:

Saturday:  grazed the fridge

Sunday:  Mothers Day Sunday supper at Kasey & Beau's

Monday:  Tortellini Pasta Salad with Chicken/Vegetables

Tuesday:  Spanish Rice

Wednesday:   big lunch, no supper

Thursday:  Sausage and Rice, with green beans

Friday:  leftovers

**designates meatless meal

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Nightwatching by Tracy Sierra

I saw this when I was watching the Tonight Show.  Jimmy Fallon seemed really excited about it.  Am I the last person to know he has a book club?  I logged on to the library's website to see if they had it, and sure enough, they did, and it was on the shelf and ready to pick up the next day.  

Jimmy (Fallon...I just call him Jimmy) said that it was the kind of book you shouldn't read if you were home alone.  I took him at his word, so I waited till today to start it.