Last Week's Thrifty Moves

 

Hello!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and that you enjoyed a nice long weekend like I did.  I was able to take Friday off of work and enjoyed myself immensely just being at home.

 

20 years old!  How did that happen?

Last Sunday my oldest came home to celebrate her birthday with us.  Her actual birthday was that Friday but she had finals and also had to work the weekend so we patiently waited for he to come home.  I set a pretty party table which she very much appreciated and made her some of her favorites for dinner which included grilled salmon and shrimp with pesto and parmesan cheese.  She chose a chocolate cream pie as her "birthday cake" so I made her one from scratch.  It was really delicious.

 

17 years old!  Doesn't seem possible (sigh)

The very next day on Monday we celebrated my youngest's birthday.  We prepared tempura chicken and Mongolian style noodles from copycat recipes we found online and tweaked a bit.  She chose a Jell-O Poke cake once again this year as her birthday cake and we enjoyed that very much as well.  They both seemed to have a wonderful time, enjoyed the food and their gifts so I call that a win!

 

Birthday party place setting

Wednesday both girls worked at their respective grocery stores so my oldest headed back home that afternoon.  I ended up having the entire evening to myself so I celebrated the eve of Thanksgiving by pouring myself a glass of wine and cleaning out the inside of our refrigerator.  Do I know how to party or what?  That was so much fun I did a big load of laundry after that.  Oh yeah!  This house was rocking!!

 

I set the table for Thanksgiving with my grandmother's china
and the tablecloth her mother, my great grandmother, made

I slept in until 7:00 on Thanksgiving morning and spent a good portion of that time backing up my files on my computer.  Yep, still in party mode!  Hot coffee and my trusty assistant Stella curled up beside me made this job much less of a chore.  I'd been putting it off and really needed to quit procrastinating and just get it done.  A quiet holiday morning seemed like the perfect opportunity to knock it out.  Now I don't have that concern niggling at me anymore. It is a done deal and I can check that off my "To Do" list.

 

Shrimp scampi anyone?

Stuffed shells in Alfredo sauce

I spent an entire hour in the kitchen preparing our feast and what a feast it was!  The girls were thrilled and told me they were voting for nontraditional again next year.  We'll see how they feel about that next time, but suffice it to say our little Italian menu was a hit.  I will say that I really did enjoy having the majority of the day to myself rather than spending it in the kitchen this time.  I was finally able to get back in my craft room and make some birthday cards.

 

Our non traditional Thanksgiving feast. Delicious!

Friday the girls and I did some low key Black Friday shopping.  I started online by placing an order with Home Depot for a set of cordless drills to replace the one I sold on Facebook Marketplace (my charger died and I couldn't find a replacement) as well as our very worn out corded drill.  I was able to acquire a replace drill as well as add an impact drill with charger and two batteries for the bargain price of $149.  I had been looking and pricing for some time and this was truly a great buy so I decided to go ahead and use some of my COVID bonus money to make that purchase.

 

We went to the antique mall and spent a couple hours browsing.  I didn't buy anything there, but as always I had a wonderful time.  Like crazy people we went to the mall primarily to use my stack of coupons at Bath & Body Works which pretty much took care of all the Christmas gifts I had left on my list with plenty of extra items to put in my gift box for future gifts too.  Lastly, we went to the Asian market and picked up a few fun items before heading home so the girls could make sushi.

 

Dessert was easy!  Leftover birthday cake

My oldest got my youngest a sushi kit for her birthday last week and they had a lot of fun making sushi Friday afternoon.  I am not a huge fan myself, but I have to say they did a remarkable job for their first attempt at it.  I have a feeling these two will be making it a lot in the future and for what they have invested so far in supplies and ingredients they'll be making it for pennies compared to what they have spent on it already prepared.

 

I think they did a beautiful job

Saturday found me back in craft mode and I spent the entire day at it.  Both girls headed back to their jobs and I had the day to myself with the kitties.  It was the perfect way to end a busy but extremely nice week.

 

My big Black Friday purchase

The hens got quite the Thanksgiving Day feast after I collected all of the items from the fridge I knew we weren't going to be able to eat before they spoiled.  I think they were quite pleased with it.  I also washed out several Ziploc bags to reuse as well as a cottage cheese and a cool whip container for my oldest to use to take home leftovers.

 

The girls feasting

I replaced the battery and charger on my old laptop so I can use it as my HP laptop is giving me fits.  Computer issues are never a fun time.  I was able to find the parts I needed on eBay and used money I already had in my PayPal account to cover the cost.  I also picked up replacement ink cartridges on eBay for our printer.  I am not ready to replace my laptop or our printer quite yet so I'm hopeful I can continue to limp along with my old Toshiba for a while longer.  It is a really nice laptop, just old.

 

Some of the 15 Minute Chores I accomplished to keep my home in order: 

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - vacuumed mopped floors.  Daily swish & swipe. 

Dining Room - vacuumed & spot mopped floor, cleaned light fixture. 

Kitchen -  vacuumed & spot mopped floor, cleaned sink, microwave & stovetop, cleaned the inside of the refrigerator. 

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted, scrubbed the tub & tiles.  Daily swish & swipe.

 

Other - two large loads of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry.  Swept the front porch & garage.

 

Are we ready for the next holiday?

How was your thrifty week?