Friday, November 24, 2017

A Few Frugal Things, A Few Christmas things (none of which include Black Friday)

Yesterday's Thanksgiving was delightful for a variety of reasons. Not the least of which is that we were invitees who only had to provide two bakery pies. My brother lives to cook. He works at home which means he can get up and check on those long cooking things for a few and then go back to whatever he was doing. They're also the ones who still have the very large dining table. And I never complain (though do offer to bring more than pies). We had discussed making Thanksgiving "lighter" than normal. Then everyone kind of looked at each other and said "It's a single day, after all". 


A few "before the attack" pictures I took of my sister-in-law's table

And so dinner included Turkey, two stuffings (one sausage and one plain in the bird), mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, green beans with bacon and creamed corn, beet salad (a new dish) cranberry relish and cranberry jelly, and gravy. Lots of gravy. And relish trays and olives. And pies (pumpkin and pecan). Much later in the day, pies. After having a small slice of pecan pie with my scrambled eggs this morning, I'm back to normal eating. But boy was yesterday worth it. 



Today, I am slowly removing the fall and adding the Christmas-as you can tell in this photo-ceramic pumpkins remain in the background, with Christmas quilts laid out in the foreground and other decorations ready to put up.

Meanwhile a few frugal, fun (and perhaps even unfrugal) happenings of the week:

1. I got my five dollar Barkbox (the one I got a $30.00 rebate for). Forgive the terrible photo, by the time I realized my error the box and been disassembled. Said box included three bags of treats-one pumpkin mallows, one mac and cheese flavored and one of "lamb ears" that I assume taste like lamb. It also included a bag with two squeaky apple toys and another large soft squeaky toy. My initial impressions? As someone who severely limits her dog's treats, I would probably be happier with less food and more toys. And while five dollars was a super-dee-duper price (even without the rewards), I'm not sure about the $25 value, or that my dog needs this much "stuff" monthly.  



2. I did get those thirty dollars in SB rewards and immediately put them on my Amazon gift card account. I added another ten dollar gift card from another website (Insta GC). I also added a ten dollar gift card from SB to my Walmart pay account (Walmarts in Texas have gas stations) and a five dollar gift card from Fetch rewards.

3. I did not shop Black Friday, even online. Because I will continue to check prices, but as this article shows, BF often does not have the best or the lowest prices. And because I refuse to go out on BF. My son, however, did find the one request for his gift drawn person at almost twenty five percent off, so he did grab that.

4.  Pre-Thanksgiving, we were eating different things with each person fending for themselves. From weekend and earlier cooking, we had a turkey thighs, Sticky chicken thighs (cooked in the oven with a cream soup base with garlic and wine and good stuff added), pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, a couple baked potatoes, kale, and who knows what else. We are now, however, back to needing to cook, I suppose.

5. Cookie baking season has arrived, in due course (regular readers have some idea of exactly how many dozens of Christmas cookies I make for friends and family)! Starting tomorrow, I will be making one type a day or so-starting with Mexican wedding cookies. Thankfully, our local grocery store has many a baking item on sale-including butter at 1.75 a pound or so if you buy at least five. And let me tell you, I will need at least five.

Today, mainly Thanksgiving relaxation (I figure with my crippled legs, four times up and down the basement stairs, which I do like twice a year counts for my workout!). Tomorrow, more serious Christmas decor efforts and cooking and such. Sunday, brunch and church. And hopefully, a nice long walk each day-because my close to seventy degree weather ends on Monday-at least for awhile.

Anything interesting going on with you and yours?


4 comments:

  1. Lovely Thanksgiving table and menu. I agree that one day a year is okay to have a full feast though it usually works out to about 4 days a year (Christmas and New Year, Easter & Thanksgiving). I love them all, lol.

    I agree that Black Friday (or week as it happens here now) is not the time to shop. I wait until after Christmas for the deals I want and I get great deals all year through.

    Enjoy your rest and your decorating. I have to dig out my decorations soon though I don't put up my tree anymore. I think next year I will look for a skinny, not so tall and prelit tree. I don't have much room for it to be the usual width which is why I didn't put it out last year and I won't this year either. I have a small table top tree instead.

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  2. Ooh, tell me more about the beet salad! I love beets. It's the only vegetable my husband doesn't like, sadly, so I only order it when we're out.

    And, Mexican wedding cookies (or, Russian tea cakes, as my mom called them) are my all time favorite cookie. Yum!

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  3. As I understand it, she roasted both red and golden beets and chilled them and served them with little balls of goat cheese. She put mascerated lemon on the top, but I think next time she'll just maybe use lemon zest rather than pieces of lemon. I think that's what she did-I have to double check with her. I adore beets.

    It was mexican wedding cakes or brown sugar shortbread for this weekend so Im going with the former-both freeze fantastically well.

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  4. I have a very few Christmas gifts to finish up (5 or 6 infinity scarves and some rice bags) and then it is on to decorating, baking, and getting my cards out. I think I might actually be a bit ahead this year if I can stop thinking of gifts to add to the men's packages.

    God bless.

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