Monday July 7 doings

Hello again everyone 

I made a to do list for this week last night 

I want to do more sewing and I got started on that mid morning.  

I watched/listened to a few CVS mega coupon shoppers.  They really buy lots and do it way more complicated than I do.  

I had a couple of appointments this afternoon so I stopped at just CVS.  

My total before digital coupons and last weeks Extra Care Bucks was about $40

I paid $10.39 and have $12 Extra Care Bucks for next week.  

I don’t wear lots of makeup and I don’t wear makeup everyday but I had used up my only eyeshadow and my mascara seemed empty 

so I am very happy to have new ones,  

I’ve had a few questions about the Kiss press on nails I wear.  

They recently improved their glue and it really holds!  

I don’t buy my nails at CVS but I looked at theirs.  

They had lots. 

The new nails seem to have this improved logo I circled below.  

And if I was buying nails,  I would look for it.  

Supper wasn’t pretty but it was easy and delicious.

I stir fried an onion, 2 bell peppers and a little cabbage.  

then I added about 1 1/2 cups leftover cooked rice,  soy sauce and 1 thinly sliced leftover steak for July 4th,  

My husband has a collection of gnomes in front of our house.  

They were looking very faded from sun and weather.  

I asked him to repaint them and he did.  

For the last year or so,  sitting in a straight back chair was out the question for him.  

So we are both thankful he can do normal activities for now.  

The gnome on the left is before he repainted it.  

Don’t they look happier now in their fresh paint?  

Hope you all have had a good Monday 

❤️ Rhonda 

July 1 doings

Hello everyone 

interested in what we did July 1? 

I started the day with a long list of errands 

My husband drove me and we did every errand except we didn’t buy a few things that I thought we might. 

I’m still wearing Kiss press on nails.  

This pattern is called Hearts Aflutter.  

Their names make no sense.

  I would have named these Gingham & Fruit.  

I’ve been doing some small coupon shopping trips.  This is what I bought July 1, plus 2 6 packs of paper towels not pictured 

I spent $7 at Walgreens and $15.33 at CVS 

If you’re interested in coupon shopping, there are many online experts.  My favorites are Savvy Coupon Shopper and LASavings.  Both are on Youtube  and Instagram, Facebook etc

Look at the deals they suggest and do a small trip.  I like to do deals that give store money back.  That money makes the next week’s purchase cost less.  

I share my extras with family members.  

Our ten year grandson is especially fond of a pump bottles of Irish Spring 5 in 1 shampoo, conditioner, body wash, face wash and I don’t remember what the 5th thing does. 

 He thinks it’s very efficient 😊

My husband and I are working on a doll house that belongs to our oldest granddaughter.  

By her request, it stays at our house.  

she started painting it a while ago but didn’t finish.  

so we are doing exterior paint, flooring, roof shingles and wallpaper while she is away this summer.  

it’s fun.  

if you didn’t know,  dollhouses and miniatures are a big deal right now.  Look on Pinterest if you have a few hours to spare.  

Hope you are all well

❤️

Rhonda 

June things

Hello everyone 

Sorry but I just haven’t had enough energy to blog and when I checked my blog earlier in the week,  many of my photos don’t show.  Have no idea why as I pay Google for photo storage.  

Can you see photos on my posts?

Anyway,  our entertainment this spring has been 2 nests full of baby robins.  We had 2 separate robin nests under our pergola roof and we have had so much fun watching them.  Both parents work so hard keeping the babies fed and protected.  And then once they are about 3 weeks old,  they all leave and live somewhere else.  

The photo is not great as I took inside our living room window. 

The babies have their mouths open most all the time.  

This is the birds in the first nest a day before they flew the coop.  

I rarely go into stores and prefer to order or do Walmart pickup for most things.  But I’ve seen a few IG posts about some Dollar Tree things.  

So I stopped there today.  

Centrum Mens vitamins - best by date is in 2024 and they are made in the US.  $1.25 is a super deal on these.  

I’ve worn this brand of press on nails and they are usually $7 or more a set.  

I was especially happy to find these for $1.25 a box.  

If this post works with photos- I’ll blog again soon.

Hope you are all fine

❤️ Rhonda 

Frugal February #1 for lots of reasons

Hello everyone 

I plan on being more frugal than I have been in recent years and blogging about some frugal things I’m doing.  

Use What You Have - when possible- is the best way to not spend money and below are a few things I did,  using what I had.  

First, have you all heard about the tier tray decorating craze?  

I knew some people did it and then I found a Facebook group that’s all about tier trays.  And people are really serious and extravagant with tier trays.  

I’ve had a tier tray for years but never really decorated it for a season. 

So, I got out my shoe box of valentine decorations, that I  use every Valentines- and decorated my tier tray.  

I think a tier tray makes a cuter display than just having these doo dads spread out on a table. 

I didn’t buy a thing new. 

 My trays are deep so I needed some risers.  I used an extra set of measuring cups turned upside down and covered them with fabric to set the little Dreamsicle cherubs on.  

Some people buy a bunch of stuff at Hobby Lobby and Dollar Tree to decorate their their trays.  But I won’t be doing that.  I think tier trays are a great way to display decorations, little sentimental things   and doo-dads I already own.  

Tier trays can be bought or they are easily homemade by stacking/glueing plates with candlesticks in between.  Look on Pinterest or Facebook if all of this is of interest to you.  

For Americans, we are in tax season.  Our finances are simple and I’ve done our taxes online pretty much since we first had access to the internet.  

The last few years I used E-file.com 

A few weeks ago they sent me a postcard with a half off code to use as a returning customer,  so I used it and saved almost $30.  

And I’m happy to say our state and federal returns have been filed and accepted.  

Having one less task to think about is a great feeling.  

I’ve been wearing press on nails for years.

Every set has 30 or so nails of various sizes and I only have 10 fingers,  so I always end up with some spare nails when I switch to a new set.  

I’ve been keeping the spares and sort them by color groups.  

So, another way I’m going to pinch a few pennies, is I plan on using up my spare nails before I buy new sets.  

I pulled out a bag of assorted dark red nails.  

That is a lot of nails!  I can’t use all of them as nails are different sizes and some are too small and some are too big.  

But I imagine there are quite a few full manicures in this bag. 

  
Last weeks manicure                                      And this weeks manicure 

Meals- I plan on using ingredients that have been hanging around in our freezer and pantry the longest and I did just that at lunch and snack time. 

Meals today 

We weren’t hungry and didn’t eat breakfast.  We just had coffee and tea.  

Lunch- I baked pork loin chops with sauerkraut and made mashed potatoes

For a snack,  I baked a spice  cake mix that was past date by 3 months.  It smelled fine so I added a teaspoon of baking powder and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon as we like lots of cinnamon.  It baked fine and tasted really good.  It will be nice to have the rest of this week.  

Supper will be the rest of the tossed salad that I made and served yesterday.  

I think almost everyone is feeling a pinch, and many are feeling lots more pain than a pinch, during this inflation cycle we are all in.  

I don’t know that anything I plan to post here is going to help anyone who is truly struggling.  

So you might want to look at the more hardcore blogs than mine.  

Husband and I both feeling much better.  Except for being a little tired,  I felt normal today.  I think he has another a day or so of healing and then he will be normal.  

Colds are not usually serious but they certainly are no fun 

❤️Rhonda 

Homemaking this past week or so

Hello everyone,  first I want to thank everyone who read and signed up for Fetch Rewards.  I almost have enough points to cash for a $50 gift certificate.  I’ve done a number of points programs since the internet started and Fetch truly is the easiest.  

I posted earlier that I put up a St. Patrick’s Day tree but I didn’t post a photo. 

I had an emailed coupon code from Olive Garden so we tried their catering.  We ordered 1/2 gallon each of 2 kinds of soup and salad for 6 and 12 breadsticks.  It was packed so nice and everything was delicious.  We enjoyed soup and salad every day for a week for about $40. 



Sewing- I used scraps and remnants to cut out some baby bibs and burp cloths.  

They are for our son’s college friend who is having her first baby soon.  

Aren’t there so many cute baby fabric prints in stores?


I made a St. Patrick’s bracelet for my mom.  Green has always been her favorite color too.  

My to do list for this week- shortly after I made it Monday morning.  

My manicure is Impress press on nails- they work best for me and I get compliments on them often,  


The heritage of our new puppy is mystery and he is growing much bigger than we or the veterinarian expected him to.  He outgrew his small food and water bowls.  Instead of buying bigger ones,  he is using some Pyrex bowls that are not part of any of my sets.  
Use what you have! 





We all like pudding and gelatin cups.  I use 5 ounce portion cups from Amazon because they are so convenient. 

But when my budget was tighter,  I made in reusable juice glasses or plastic containers.  

We like the Aldi and Royal brand gelatin and puddings justvas much as the more expensive Jello brand.  




I recently made a quadruple batch of freezer biscuits from the King Arthur site. 

They are so delicious and we like being able to bake a few at a time and have fresh biscuits at breakfast. 

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/biscuits-recipe



I had a first time user coupon and tried Sprouts home delivery.  With the coupons, this $45 total dropped to $20.  I was very happy with how nice the delivered produce was.  

I won’t do home delivery regularly but it’s nice to know it’s now available if we need it. 

In the bag is 2 pounds of English walnuts and there were also 2 pounds of butter. 

We really like the Killer Dave’s bread with lots of grains and seeds.  I just discovered Aldi has an almost identical version for 1/2 the price of Sprouts. It is especially nice toasted. 

Below is my general plan for meals this month.  

They are not in any order.  

As the days go on, I just pick which ones we feel like having and it’s nice knowing we have the ingredients on hand.  

☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️March Meal Planning ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️

✅Pepperocini beef from freezer 

fresh spinach - salad - French bread

Taco meat from freezer- crunchy shells, also have soft tortillas for round 2

Refried  beans from freezer - taco toppings 

Roma sauce from freezer with pasta

French bread  green salad 

Hamburger soup- make with fresh potatoes,  carrots, canned tomatoes 

Chicken strips from freezer with homemade mashed potatoes 

Green salad

Cube steaks with oven fries, gravy

Green beans 

Tater tot casserole with green beans 

Bacon lettuce tomato sandwiches 

Chicken shepherds pie with cooked chicken from freezer and mixed vegetables, 

Homemade mashed potatoes 

Salmon patties with wild rice

Fresh spinach 

Chicken fajitas with bell peppers from freezer, onions

Flour tortillas and toppings 

Baked or smoked whole chicken 

Mashed cauliflower 

Green salad 

✅Hamburgers 

Toppings and baked fries 

Spinach 

Red beans and rice - buy beans and green bell pepper 

Chili from the freezer on rice - cook extra 

Fried rice 

Turkey dogs - use buns or wrap dough and make pigs in blankets 

Baked beans 

Easy Baked chili rellenos with baked chicken 

Green salad 

Use frozen pizzas and chicken strips if needed at busy time 

☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️

Baking- mini choc chip muffins- use up sour cream 

Snacks/sides

Celery and carrot sticks - make homemade dip

Celery sticks w/ jalapeño or plain cream cheese

Pimento cheese 

 ✅Pudding cups

✅Jello cups 

Our 8 grands are all busy and doing great.  

Gavin has been to 2 big livestock shows this year.  

Little brother Braeden isn’t old enough to show animals but he like to help with the grooming 


Isn’t this a great school photo? Elizabeth is almost 8 and sold 800 boxes of Girl Scout cookies this winter.  


Andie just turned 6 and she is also in Girl Scouts and really likes kindergarten.  

My daughter did these costumes for JJ and his best friend to wear on Dr Suess Day at their school. 

I hope you all are fine and having a good March.  

An assortment

Good morning,  

Here is the list I started Monday.  I'm happy to say a good bit of it was accomplished yesterday. 

My Impress press on nails are a silver glitter sort of French manicure style.  

This giant crocheted afghan was made by grandmother for my uncle's king size bed.  He apparently didn't use it much as it still looks brand new.  He passed it on to us as he just downsized from a 2bedroom to a 1 bedroom apartment in his retirement home.
We (meaning our 8 grands) will use it a lot! These 4 and 8 year olds look so tiny on this huge blanket.

I made another sandwich box for the week.  I added carrot and celery sticks to eat with this one. 

I also made a big salad and I chopped up more fresh veggies to have for this weeks cooking.  

They have already proved to be very handy. 

They are stacked  in the fridge and labeled with masking tape. 

I hope to make a new spring table runner, maybe machine quilted, for the big dining table.  I did round up fabric and pressed it in preparation before cutting it out.  I think I want to look and see if I have some light green fabric to add with this.

The kimono sewing has been started but is going to need some help 

Obvioulsy, the sleeves came out way too long and the middle part is too big. 

I'll do some whacking and more sewing and see how it ends up,  right now, I'm not too optimistic I'll like the finished kimono.  

We shopped on the military base recently.  Our daughter asked us to look for church dresses for our oldest granddaughter as they usually have a very nice clothing department with low prices.  

We did buy her 2 sweet dresses.  

This dress below was not one we bought.  I did look at it and first thought it was pretty and very appropriate for an almost 7 year old- except for the belly cut away part.  Isn't it strange for such a conservative looking dress to feature a bare tummy? 

This webpage is from Belk, I found it while doing Swagbucks searches. But it is the same Bonnie Jean dress we saw at the base exchange.  

Speaking of dresses, my daughter baked this one for some friends bridal shower, 

Pr

Isn't it pretty?  And I know it tasted better than a bought cake. 

If you wonder what life is like with a baby and a toddler 😱 Well, this is our son's two babies.
Charlie is quite proud of herself for coloring up a good part of her body.
At least she didn't color baby RJ.  He seems to of slept through her escapades.  For now anyway 😂