Friday, Lovely birthday

 I had a wonderful birthday!  Thanks for all the well wishes.  Of course I got nothing done once the kids came down at 11 in the morning.  What was I thinking, when I was going to get some sewing done?  Those two babies kept us running all day.

It was a lovely day though.  Girls came and cooked a good dinner,and I had my favorite cake.  I received a gift card for plants, and 4 new blueberry bushes. I also got a 20$ gift card for diet cokes from Mc Donalds and some beautiful grape hyacinths from my Little sister who came over and put both the babies to sleep one after the other.  After the kids left I was so tired, I fell into bed about 8 p.m. and did not get back up.

I woke up this morning and thought boy I would love to have a birthday again today, yesterday was so nice.  But it was just a regular day of running and trying to finish up sewing things and getting everyone one to pick up before we leave.

I had to get laundry done, and set up a schedule for the person taking care of the chickens and cat.  Run and get my nails done, which should have been done 3 weeks ago and as I was trying to save money my cuticles are all raw and sore. I should never let them get this bad.  I did the first of the month banking and I paid off my bill of the month, but it looks like not much extra on the house.  I am not going to be disappointed.  I have now eliminated 3 debts and I only have 2 more to go, so I am very happy about that. I still do not know what we will owe in taxes.

I am packed and ready to  go except for last minute things.  Then we are off tomorrow sometime.  Hubs called his mom and she forgot we were coming.  She is forgetting things also.  I told her I would cook dinner when I got in and made arrangement with my oldest to meet us in Boise for lunch on Saturday, with mom and the grandsons.  Then we will take mom to Talbots for a new spring dress and Hubs can stay home with his dad.  Mom was really excited about that. She is such an itty bitty thing about a size 4 and Talbots petites look so good on her.

Thrifty Thursday:

1. added all my change to my pig bank

2. saved all my 5's now up to $650.00

3. saved my $1,$5,$10,$20 dollar bill challenge

4. filled on of my 100 envelope challenge

5. found 7 cents this week.  One penny and a nickle in the Wal mart parking lot, and a penny by the Jo anns register.

6. cooked all meals from scratch and ate at daughters once and had daughter cook a meal here so saved money on groceries.

7. made sure to use up what would go bad in fridge to avoid waste while we are gone.

8. used a coupon at Jo anns for a zipper

9. bought only loss leaders at store this week, 4 street taco packages.99, 2/2packs of Philadelphia cream cheese $2.99 limit 2, two free bottles of water, 5-16 oz packages of pasta, 2 were free, and one was buy 2 at .78 get one free, so I spent $1.56 plus tax for 5 boxes of pasta.  Nothing else as we will not be home.

10. split a 1/2 a pig with the kids, it was $1.78 cut and wrapped. They gave us both hams as they figure we would be cooking any ham dinner they attended. I love to get good meat this way.  I know I can buy it cheaper sometimes, when I can find it marked down, but I can never get bacon or sausage for that little. This will last us a good while.

11.  Had lil sis color and cut my hair, saved over $120.00

12. Picked bouquets of daffodils at Lil sis's to save money on fresh flowers. Also had hubs cut my some forsythia instead of fresh flowers.

13. Hubs needed another handle and hook and eye lock for the extra door on Chichken run, and I knew where we had one in box of screws and bolts I had gleaned when we moved.  So he did not have to go and buy any.

14. I was going to buy blueberry bushes to start a blueberry run and daughter bought them for me.

15. Rec'd a $20 gift card to Mc D's

16. youngest daughter called and asked if I was making her and Easter basket this year?  I said no, make one for your little boy and then eat all of his candy.

 What did you do last week to save money? Do you budget for groceries?  Do you just shop loss leaders? Have you ever bought home grown meat in bulk, like 1/2 a cow or a pig?

Have a great and productive day staying positive while you are in the negative.

Kim