Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: July 31 ~ August 6, 2016

[ReneeT]

Good Morning, All!

I'm amazed that it still is morning - it's been a busy one so far! The kids didn't sleep well last night; one had to pee but couldn't wake up enough to get out of bed so I had to get him up, another one was sick in the middle of the night so I had to clean that up, and the last one had night terrors which woke up the other two again. And then the youngest woke me up at 0615 wanting breakfast...

Things are mostly settled down now - an entire loaf of cinnamon raisin bread made into French toast and 3 kids fed (some left for Papaw), 2nd load of laundry is in the washer, first load is on the clothesline, dishes are done, one kid showering, another one eating a homemade banana popsicle in the bathtub, after which he'll likely play in the water for a while, and the third one has had his bath and is eating his strawberry popsicle over his tray in the living room while watching cartoons I've hard boiled 9 eggs - enough for use in potato salad, chicken salad, and egg salad; got chopped onions ready to go in those salads, made a layered salad in a jar - cukes, onions, red and yellow cherry tomatoes, little bit of home grown basil, repeat, and I've got homemade Italian dressing sitting to let the flavors blend that I'll pour over it before serving.

I need to wash and refill two or three hummingbird feeders, then I plan to head out and do some more weeding - let my fool self get dehydrated/overheated while I was out there yesterday, big black spots in front of my eyes, etc... so ended up in the house, guzzling water/Gatorade/lemonade while soaking in a cool tub. At least I got most of the one area done, and part of another; now to see how far I get this morning... Co-worker Buddy is supposed to come out to bring me my Sunday papers and drop the boys on the ground a time or two (family joke ) so I know I'll have a cool down break before lunch.

Hubby has to leave for work at 2:30 today; I'm hoping that he will fix lunch so that I can keep working outside; and I might ask him to wash down the porch unless granddaughter does that for me before he gets up. Lunch plans are leftover fish (I ordered extra) from our trip to the festival last night, meatloaf burgers, fried green tomatoes, fried zucchini, watermelon and canteloupe.

After lunch, I plan to grab a quick shower, then load the grandkids in the van and we will head up to the local orchard to pick up a bushel and a half of peaches - and a dozen of their fabulous apple cider donuts The orchard has a great playground for kids so I will let them run off some energy while I sit on a bench and read for a bit. Once home, we'll unload the peaches, then the kids can do whatever until daughter gets here to get them, while I get my stuff ready for work - I'm picking up Monday for a co-worker who needs to attend a funeral; he'll pick up my Tuesday shift for me - and possibly trade me my Wednesday day shift for his Thursday night shift as I'm pretty sure I'll need a sanity break after Friday at work, Saturday/Sunday with the kids, and Monday back at work...

Hubby has Monday off so he is going to try to get the van in for an oil change, which means I get to drive my truck again - woo hoo!! I'm hoping that he also has a chance to mow the yard (unless he puts the tail gate on my trailer instead, in which case he gets a pass lol! If he doesn't mow the yard, I will have to do that on Tuesday - and I really want to get my peaches canned and get some work done around the house that day instead of doing yardwork...

I did hit CVS last night more cartons of Boost and body wash for Hubby:
4 - Boost @ 9.99 each = $40
2 - Boost @ $8.49 each = $17
2 - Irish Spring body wash @ 2/$7
2 - Old Spice body wash @ $4.99 each = $10
1 - Colgate mouthwash = $4
Total: $78

Used:
Buy one get one half off sale on Boost = $10 + $4.25 = $14.25
Buy one get one half off sale on Old Spice = $2.50
1 - $3/$15 Nutrition CVS scanner coupon = $3
1 - $2/$8 body wash/soap CVS scanner coupon = $2
6 - $3 Boost coupons = $18
2 - $1 Old Spice coupons = $2
2 - $1 Irish Spring coupons = $2
1 - $2 Colgate mouthwash coupon = $2
Total: $45.75

Paid: $32.25 plus tax; got back a $20 Extra Care Buck on the Boost, and a $2 Extra Care Buck on the mouthwash.

I haven't seen this week's CVS ad yet, but did look online at weusecoupons dot com and found a few things I can roll last weeks Extra Care Bucks into - Scott or Charmin tp, Tide detergent, zipper bags (need to check for better deal at Dollar General - have $5/$25 coupon good for next Saturday for there), more body wash for Hubby, Special K bars to stock up on for school lunches - Granddaughter's classes start August 16th!! - and oldest grandson will be eating lunch at school this year as well, so I need to get stocked up.

Well, it's taken me well over an hour to type this - in between running a bath, fixing snacks, answering phone calls and text messages, cleaning up spills, and searching for lost toys, so I think I'm going to just give up and post it before something else happens

Take care all; have a super week!

 

[prudentwatcher]

Nothing to get excited about with sales or coupons. I might hit Walmart for some more school supplies--time to stock up on crayons as my little ones will be wanting to color before too long. I stopped at Petsmart this morning before church and got another month of cat food, both wet and dry--had $17 in coupons, so only paid $29 out of pocket. Have enough coupons for another month of wet and might get that later in the week. I've been waiting for a sale on kitty litter and there hasn't been a good one. Might take advantage of the sale at Target this week to get 3 of the big pails and get a $10 gc back. Makes it pretty cheap and we are getting low (under 200 lbs is low for me! I start to get worried at that level

Gas has dropped to below $2 a gallon here, so I'm happy with that. Every little bit helps. More overtime this week at work as well.

 

[moldy]

We hit the ranch supply store this morning, and spent a bunch. Meds are expensive! Backpoured the calves and cows (to keep the flies off and prevent worms), and gave the calves 7 way (immunizations). Loaded up all the cows except one -- when our help looked at her, she had no teeth- and her calf, the old bull, and the steers and took them up to the north pasture. Having help cut 5-6 hours from our work.

DH found that some of the corn is ripe, and the coons have found some of it, but we're planning on doing our big harvest/processing day next Monday. Signed up for an extra shift Saturday night (will pay for the help we had today - which was SOOO worth it!)

 

[Old Gray Mare]

I was blessed with the gift of a few sacks of fresh beef bones. Made a bunch of bone broth.

Today was a truly wonderful day. Forgot work. Forgot prepping. We played hooky. The sun was shining most of the day. We splurged and picked up treats we rarely ever have and went swimming. A truly glorious day!

 

[ReneeT]

Dreary, rainy day here - perfect for tidying up and canning peaches, both of which I've been doing up until now. 7th batch of peaches is in the canner, and my back said 'No more for a while!!', so I'm taking a break and letting it settle down for a bit. Quite a few of the peaches are not quite ripe enough to can but I might make a batch of peach jam tonight or tomorrow morning, and wait until Thursday morning to finish up the canning. I need to save out some time tonight to clean house before the cleaning lady comes tomorrow

So far, this week's stocking up has been cereal and toiletries:

Wal-Mart:
4 - Family sized boxes Kellogg's cereal @ $4.88 each, ad matched to $3 each; then 2 - $1/2 coupons used; total out of pocket $10+tax; savings $9.52
12 - regular size boxes Kellogg's cereal - prices ranged from $2.98 ~ $3.47, ad matched to $1.99 each, then 2 - $3/5 & 2 - 50 cent/1 coupons used; paid out of pocket $16.88+tax, savings $20+
3 - 4pks Snack pack pudding @ $1 each; ad matched to 79 cents each; then 45 cent/3 coupon used; total out of pocket $1.92+tax; savings 66 cents

CVS:
1 - Charmin bonus 20 roll tp @ 9.99
3 - Tide detergent @ $5.34 = $16.02
3 - Hershey Symphony extra large bars @ $2.19 = $6.57
4 - .75 oz Fixodent @ $2.87 = $11.48
2 - Irish Spring Body Wash @ 2/$7
2 - Old Spice Body Wash @ $4.99 each = $9.98
2 - Colgate toothpaste @ 2/$5.98
Total: $67.02

Used:
Buy one get one half off Old Spice sale = $2.50
Buy 2, get one Free Hershey's sale = $2.19
1 - $1/1 Charmin
3 - $2/1 Tide = $6
2 - $1/1 Irish Spring = $2
2 - $1/1 Old Spice = $2
2 - $1/1 Colgate = $2
1 - $4/$14 body wash CVS scanner coupon
1 - $2/2 Colgate CVS scanner coupon
1 - $2/$14 purchase household item CVS scanner coupon
1 - $20 ECB from Boost last week
1 - $2 ECB
1 - $1 ECB
Total: $48.69

Paid $18.33 plus tax out of pocket; got back:
$12 ECB for the Fixodent (more than I paid for it!)
$10 ECB for the Tide/Charmin/Hershey's deal
$4 ECB for the Irish Spring soap
$3 ECB for the Colgate

I can do the P&G/Hershey deal and the Colgate deal again, but will have to scare up another Charmin coupon or just buy Tide + chocolate; and I have more coupons that I could use with Buddy's card; will have to see how it shakes out later this week.

Hubby has another wacky work week - off yesterday and today, 2nds Weds/Thu, and 3rds Fri/Sat - I think I might as well just change the sheets on granddaughter's bed and sleep downstairs tonight ~> Sunday so that I don't risk waking him up as he's going to have a hard enough time getting used to the schedule. He's planning to try to stay up Saturday after he gets off work to go to an IDPA match, but will see how he feels when he gets off work as the match is a 40 minute drive from work...

Back is still giving me fits - gonna go see if lying flat on my back on the floor helps; if not, I may be giving daughter a call...

Take care all; have a great day!

 

[moldy]

Good, but very busy day today. Helped DH get the rest of the trim on the roof of the guesthouse this morning, then washed a couple pairs of boots. Headed into the orchard to pick up drops for the pigs/cows, and ran a few errands. Found some veggie brushes at Dollar Tree that will work great when we do up corn. Back home late this afternoon, and fixed dinner of sausages cooked with onions and beer, creamed corn with bacon, and banana split cake. After supper, headed up the road to the neighbors and picked a couple ice cream buckets of chokecherries.

 

[ReneeT]

Today was mostly a quiet day at home; I worked on canning peaches - have about 35 left that weren't ripe enough to work up today; may use them to make peach jam on Friday. Hubby worked on getting the room darkening blinds and light blocking curtains up in our bedroom before heading in to work this afternoon. And, of course, there was the usual laundry that needed done, floors that needed swept, and general cleaning to do. I did a bit more sorting of the grandsons' closet and mine, and finished filling another box for Hubby to drop off at the Senior Citizens thrift store on his way to work.

The elderberries are getting ripe - I'd be out picking a few if it wasn't brewing up a thunderstorm; I'm seeing cloud to ground lightning not too awful far away, so think I'll just stay inside for a while! My Marchal Foch wine grapes are ripening as well - pretty early for them, I think. I need to walk out and check on the Concord and Niagra grapes pretty soon... I cut my lavender back a couple weeks ago, it has rewarded me with new flower stems, so I need to dig out another package of Epsom salts to layer the flower stems in to make bath salts. I also pulled some mullein stalks and hung them up under the shed porch to dry, should have plenty of leaves to harvest.

A co-worker had asked me to let her know if I saw a good sale on canning jars; I told her that there was a real good one going on in my machined shed!! So she stopped by this afternoon to pick up several dozen; when she asked what I wanted for them, I told her "A jar of pickles!" I need to wash up a bunch more jars and box them nicely; some friends of the co-worker, who also happen to be my Uncle's (by marriage) brother and his wife lost all their belongings in a house fire, so I am going to send an assortment of jars to their housewarming for their new house - I think I may have a new-ish water bath canner around here that I can send as well; if I can remember where I put it

Lunch was fried zucchini 'planks' - slice the zucchini lengthwise instead of in rounds to fry - yummy when fried in bacon grease and served on toasted bread with a slice of tomato. I livened up a store bought bag o' lettuce with some purslane and lambsquarter picked from the garden - my lambsquarter gives me a fresh harvest every time I till - along with some yellow cherry tomatoes, red onion, and purple bell peppers. Dessert was sliced peaches over vanilla bean ice cream. Supper for me is likely to be a BLT and the last of the potato salad Hubby made yesterday (I told him he needed to make a bigger batch!) I think I've got enough bacon cooked that there will be enough left to make a small batch of bacon 'n egg salad - basically just your standard egg salad recipe with some chopped bacon stirred in; I'll probably add in some purslane and maybe a bit of red bell pepper. I'll cut some rounds from the loaf of French bread I bought when I took the kids home Monday evening, then toast them and top them with the bacon and egg salad when I get to take my lunch break Thursday evening/Friday morning.

There's what looks to be a really nice rummage sale just outside of daughter's town tomorrow morning that includes boys clothes size 5-14, so I will run over there and see if I can pick up an assortment of school worthy jeans/shorts/shirts for the boys; I'm hoping for some jackets/coats in good condition as well. Since I'll be that close, I'll probably stop in at CVS and roll my Extra Care Bucks from Buddy's card into another deal,

I want to catch a nap before I go in for the Thursday night shift that I traded Buddy for (he's called me moaning and groaning about having to work my day shifts lol!) I'm going to try to leave home early enough to hit the evening aqua aerobics class at the Y before I go in - might try to stop in for the morning one when I get off work Friday morning as well - that ought to make sure I sleep well when I get home! I'll need to be back up by mid-afternoon in order to go pick up the pie I ordered from the foo-foo bakery for SIL's birthday - we're celebrating a day early since I have to work the weekend. I need to shop for his present sometime in there as well - I'm thinking maybe a nice circular saw...

I need to stick a note on the dash of my van reminding me to stop at Dollar General after I get off work Saturday evening - they have Hefty storage/freezer bags on sale for $2 each, I have 8 assorted - $1/2 coupons plus a $5/$25 purchase coupons so I will buy 16 boxes of Hefty bags X $2 = $32 - $8 in coupons = $24; then add in a $1 large bottled water to bring it up to $25; use my $5/$25 coupon and come home with $32 worth of bags for $20. If they are low on the Hefty bags, I will substitute Glad brand bags, which are on sale for $1.50 each, which would be the same price as the Hefty bags after the $1/2 coupons. I still have a few boxes of bags from a identical sale I hit last year, so this will stock me back up.

Well, I think I'm going to go feed the critters, then feed myself some supper before taking a nice relaxing soak in the tub. I've got a book a friend loaned me that I really need to read so I can return it, so might see if it can keep my attention this evening - if not, I'm sure I can find some more housework to do

Take care all; wishing you all a good night's rest!

 

[ReneeT]

Hit a garage sale today and picked up the following items for a total of $28
4' long ear corn dryer
6 pair boys jeans
8 pair boys running pants
12 pair boys shorts
4 pair swim trunks
9 boys shirts
1 boys hoodie

Ended up with a grandson today; he'd forgotten the stuffed animals that he sleeps with at our house this past weekend and was missing them; daughter had texted to ask me to bring them to town but I was already half way there, so just snagged the boy and brought him back with me. If Papaw doesn't drop him off on his way to work (4 blocks away), I will check with SIL to see if I can meet him at the gas station in town as he is on his way home from work and I'm on my way in for my night shift; otherwise I will just take him home at 5, then head to the Y and then on to work. He is a very quiet child when he has a tablet to entertain him, and won't leave the house without telling me, so it will be safe for me to catch a nap if I decide I need one.

And speaking of a nap, I think I'm going to go grab a quick bath, then take one

 

[moldy]

Spent today at a memorial service for a family friend. 46 years old and was diagnosed with melanoma 4 months ago. I haven't gotten much prepping done today, other than some heavy thinking.

 

[L.A.B.]

Picked up a blue-steel crepe pan. I like buckwheat crepe's. Also a tiny Lodge skillet for eggs. Did the annual food oil shopping, olive, grape seed, and pumpkin oil.

Need to look into some ghee tomorrow.