In The Refiner's Fire

Our Thanksgiving Dinner this year. It was a quiet day and we were very grateful! So much for posting regularly this past month!  It has been a rough month and free time was almost non-existent.  Anything that was not essential, was set off on the side to be picked up at a later date.  In that vein, here are the frugal highlights for the bulk of November 2019: * We made bread, soups, muffins, stir fry, pizza and several other dishes at home. * My husband brought home the leftover turkey and stuffing from the Thanksgiving meal at church this week - the turkey and stuffing would have been put in the trash if he had not brought it home.  We reheated the stuffing for our own meal and froze the turkey for later use. * We bought a steeply discounted ham for our Thanksgiving dinner, since we had so much turkey from the meal at church. * We received a free apple pie from a local business.  I made an apple crisp from apples we already owned.  These two we...

One of the many photos I just cleaned off my phone - a summer camping meal from a couple of summers ago! We did not purchase much for meals this week - our pantry, freezers and refrigerator are quite full.  That is always a good feeling!  I did purchase some baking supplies for later this year on sale this week.  I am grateful for the money to stock up on things while the prices are good. Here is what we are eating this week: Sunday, November 9:    Breakfast: Homemade Cinnamon Rolls    Lunch: Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, Apples    Snack: Popcorn    Dinner: Taco Soup, Cornbread Monday, November 10:      Breakfast: Eggs and Toast      Lunch: Leftover Soup      Snack: Cookies      Dinner: Linguine with Vegetables Tuesday, November 11:     Breakfast: Overnight Oatmeal     Lunch: Leftover Linguine ...

One of the many quilts I saw this summer at a quilt show in Rochester MN in June.   I have been going through some photos from the Minnesota Quilters Annual Quilt Show held in June 2019 in Rochester, Minnesota.   I've been doing quite a bit of sewing lately which has been an enjoyable change.  I have many plans for making items going forward and am excited for me to see how things actually play out. We had a quite week this past week. It was very nice after several weeks of busy, busy, busy, it was a lovely change.  Here are some things that we did this past week that we count as frugal: * We made homemade soup, pizza, breakfast tacos, and pasta sauce and garlic bread this week. * My husband and I each enjoyed one meal at work this week. * Our daughter won a homemade apple pie at a raffle and we enjoyed apple pie for several days dessert and/or snack. * I hemmed the pants for our son's concert tuxedo.  The school had recommended a seam...

Gift #1: Updated Earrings Our Christmas budget is tight this year - tighter than it has been in a long time.  That means I needed to get myself in gear and make some things for Christmas.  I started making one gift per week starting in September.  I also had several larger gifts that I worked on in bits and pieces as time allowed.   Hopefully, this series will give you some ideas and spark your imagination in your own gift-giving endeavors. Gift #1 is a pair of updated earrings for our daughter.  These were placed in the box shown and then tucked into her stocking.  We open stockings on Christmas morning before attending Worship and then open larger gifts after our Christmas dinner, which happens about 3pm. This gift cost me nothing out of pocket since I had all the pieces to make it. Our daughter has been very enthralled with the fringe style earrings that are currently in stores and does not own a pair.   I decided to make ...

Tomato Sauce - starting to cook down.  Yum! October has been a wild month here - we have had so many things happening.  Most have not been good - and completely out of our control.  I am thoroughly exhausted and am planning on sleeping until I wake tomorrow (Saturday), no alarm setting for me!   I may even take a nap in the afternoon too.  Our children have adjusted nicely to school and have made some nice friends.  Both children have attended birthday parties and, last night, a Halloween party with those friends.  I am grateful for new friends who have helpful, lovely parents and the same types of interests and goals as my children.  The children who hosted the parties are all Pastor's children which is another level of connection for our children - Pastor's children, whether we like it or not, always have challenges that non-Pastor's children never face. Our big good event in October 2019 was that our children celebrated Affirmatio...