Sunday was a
terrific and thrifty day spent in Newport Oregon. Our breakfast was included with our hotel
stay and they had plenty to offer. After
we ate we fixed ourselves some coffee and cocoas to go and took off for a walk
to see what we could see. Since we were
only a mile from South Beach State Park we decided that would be our
destination. We enjoyed the walk and the
pretty flowers along the roadside, especially the beautiful rhododendrons.
The park was quite
lovely as well and the beach was magnificent.
We spent several hours there playing in the water and collecting pretty stones
and shells as they washed up with the surf.
I felt like a little kid out there playing with my girls. It was so much fun.
We walked back and went
through a really nice antique shop located behind our hotel. I bought the girls a couple of little bottles
with cork stoppers for 50¢ each for them to put some beach sand in. Then we walked next door to the cute little
cafe for a late lunch of fish and chips.
Boy were they good.
Monday we spent a
good portion of our day at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
Because of the cost of admission and a few souveniors we opted to not eat out that day. We ate our hotel breakfast and then enjoyed a
late lunch of pasta with alfredo sauce prepared in our hotel room from things we brought from home.
What a poser! |
Tuesday we spent the
day at the Yaquina Bay harbor. We
enjoyed a visit to Ripley's Believe It or Not, the Undersea Gardens and Waxworks. In between those places we
walked the harbor, visited a few shops and checked out the sea lions. They were pretty funny.
We went into town
and had lunch at another cute cafe called the Pig N Pancake. Then we went to Nye beach and walked along
the water. We also walked along the
Vietnam Memorial they had there.
Wednesday we had to
head home so after our final hotel breakfast we loaded the car and headed
out. We stopped a few times along the
way to stretch our legs. Our late lunch
was to pick up a $5 pizza at Little Caesars and have a picnic in the parking
lot under a big shady tree in Bend, Oregon. A few hours
later we stopped for another break and dessert from the value menu at
McDonalds and to fuel up the car in Burns, Oregon.
Thursday it was back
to work and back to our regular daily life.
And laundry. Of course. We still had food we had packed for our trip
and that provided us with lunch and supper.
After all the cleaning out of the fridge done the week before it was
pretty slim pickings around here, but we still managed to throw together a couple of meals
anyway.
Albertson's had great prices on dairy - plus coupons!! |
Friday evening my youngest
needed a ride home from the library which worked out perfectly. I hit up the grocery stores on the way to the
libraray and that freed up a huge chunk of my Saturday morning quite
nicely. And filled up the fridge to boot!
Trader Joe's for produce |
I had some of our
vacation leftovers for my lunch that day and made omelets for supper with sliced
mushrooms, bell pepper, onion and the last of a package of grated cheddar cheese. We also had grapes and bananas.
Saturday morning I
woke up to rain we weren't expecting. I
appreciated the rain to water the lawn, but it put a damper on my original
plans so I changed modes and enjoyed a quiet leisurely morning with a fresh pot
of hot coffee and wrote a nice long letter to my aunt.
I was really careful
last week not to let food go to waste and use up our leftovers. It was nice too in that a lot of leftover
items were used to make completely new meals.
Saturday I baked two loaves of honey oat bread, two loaves of whole wheat bread and a dozen of the tastiest whole wheat chocolate chip banana muffins I've ever made. Recipe coming!
I was really mindful
of my spending Friday when it came to grocery shopping. I used coupons, store coupons and digital
coupons downloaded onto my store rewards cards to lower my expenses at the
grocery stores. I also did a store
survey to earn 50 bonus fuel points on my Fred Meyer rewards card.
Colorful sea urchins and star fish |
I used scrap paper
to print out coupons and lists from my computer.
I brought back the
unused coffee K-cups from the hotel as well as two bars of soap and the little
bottles of shampoo, conditioner and lotion they give you. I used those to replace what I used in my
"Go Bag" and took the coffee to work to use in the Keurig we have
there.
I composted coffee
grounds, egg shells and banana peels and I fed our kitchen scraps to the hens.
How was your thrifty
week?
Didn't you take your camper?
ReplyDeleteI had already booked this trip long before buying the motorhome and our hotel deal through AARP was nonrefundable.
DeleteYou are always thinking!! I was trying to come up with a frugal picnic idea and never thought of the $5 pizza!! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSure! You know, it isn't too bad for a $5 pizza either.
DeleteNew reader! I sent you a private email but my thrifty find lately has been related to those stubby tubes of lipstick/chapstick. I realized that if I used the brush out of my empty lip gloss I could reach the lipstick way down in the lipstick tube. I could then reseal the lipgloss brush back in its tube keeping it clean and ready to use again. Why didn't I think of this before? Candace
ReplyDeleteI use a toothpick! LOL. Your brush idea sounds way better.
Delete