Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Sunday morning I awoke to snow.  Everything was covered in a layer of fresh white and it was so incredibly quiet outside.  It continued to snow all day prompting me to stay in my pajamas and enjoy the fact that there was nothing I needed to do and no place I needed to be except right here at home.

Not too bad for my first attempt

I spent the day crocheting.  I hadn't crocheted in about a year so I pulled out my yarn stash and looked up a couple tutorials on Youtube and learned how to crochet a snowflake.  I made two of them and then got busy and started a new afghan.  I had picked up some skeins of yarn at a couple thrift stores last winter and I decided it is time I used them so I started crocheting an afghan throw to have on hand for us to snuggle up in on a cold evening.  I love to crochet in the winter, especially when the snow is falling.

My latest project

Later in the afternoon I went outside and shoveled the walkways and our driveway clearing off the vehicles so they'd be ready in the morning.  When I came back inside I made the girls a pizza and we watched a Christmas movie on Netflix.  It made for the perfect end to my weekend and start to my weekday.

Isn't this a cute little thing?

Tuesday my oldest needed to go to ShopKo and pick up a birthday gift for a friend.  I had a $10 OFF $25 Purchase coupon so she and I combined efforts and picked up two of the mini 2 quart Crockpots.  My old one died last year and I really like that size for slow cooking smaller batches and keeping hot appetizers warm.  We got two and split the cost.  Final price was $8 each!

On the way home we stopped in at JoAnns and I  picked up two skeins of yarn on sale to finish the afghan up with.  I also bought a spool of crocheting thread so I can learn to crochet lace.  The snowflakes I made on Sunday have me inspired to broaden my skills a bit this winter.

This little guys swings on my kitchen windowsill

Thursday I received my annual Christmas bonus at work!  Yay!

I love our home so much!

Friday evening we put together a fun fondue supper.  I had pulled steak, pork chops and shrimp from the freezer.  We had a great time sitting around the table visiting and cooking our meal in the fondue pot.

The big jar candle came from a yard sale and the star tea light from Dollar Tree
I made the plaid flannel cloth and finished it with decorative stitching along the edge.

Saturday we stayed home and enjoyed our festive little house until it was time to head over to the high school for a basketball game.  My oldest played in the pep band and I worked a band fundraiser table while the game was going on.

Super moist and delicious!

I used one of the 79¢ yellow cake mixes and some leftover cranberry sauce (my daughter's boyfriend made the cranberries) from Thanksgiving  to bake a cranberry cake.  I had a little taste of my daughter's piece and it was really good.  Once I'd made up the cake batter I just stirred in about a cup of the cranberries and baked it in a bundt pan.  It looked really pretty.

I didn't do any grocery shopping this week.  We ate up leftovers and prepared meals from what we already had on hand.

Loads of leftovers to enjoy!  Yum!

I worked some overtime last week.  That will be very nice to have on my next paycheck.

I spent my mornings listening to classic Christmas music on our Alexa Echo as I got ready to start my day.  We watched Christmas movies on Amazon Prime and Netflix.  I just love this time of year!

How was your thrifty week?