Wednesday, Use those points!

 I have 17.00 to spend at Albertsons before the end of the month or I lose the points.  So even though things are high I will get a few things this week. Sliced cheese is .77 limit 2, fresh corn .39 limit 8, ballpark franks 2.99 limit 2, and a large loaf of French bread 1.49. I will have to find something else to bring it up to the 17 dollars I have available.

I was also looking at a dozen bakery store bake oatmeal cookies and they were $6.97 for 12 cookies.  I just made 9 dozen large cookies.  I am trying to figure the cost.  Let's see...

flour  ww mixed with white.  WW was free. .50

1.5 cups brown sugar Paid .99 for 2 lbs so? .15

1.5 cups white sugar ? I usually buy my sugar in 25 bags and out into tubs.  I try and not pay over $12.00  .35

2 sticks of butter 1.00

2 sticks of margarine .50

vanilla free from Mexico gift

4 eggs well we have our own chickens ? if you had to buy at today's price .60

soda ?

oatmeal free from food bank throw away .25

choco chips $1.99 bought at Christmas

2 cups chopped walnuts free from food bank 3.00

raisins 2 cups free from food bank maybe $1.25

Even if I had bought everything, I don't think it would have been $1.00 a dozen. I will take homemade, plus who just needs a dozen cookies? I would need a dozen for me. Three to eat in the store and three more for on the way home and then... I could have really reduced the cost by1/3 if I hadn't added the nuts, but I have so many that were given to me in the freezer, and they need to be used. 

Cheryl at Cheryl's frugal corner one of my favorite blogs, (she is loaded with info and should write a book) posted about what we pay for convenience.  I know it took less than 5 minutes to put together this cookie dough.  Probably 1 hour to bake them, even with the help (not so much) from a 7 year old. I know there is a lot of sugar in these cookies, but also WW flour, nuts, raisins, eggs, good fats. Now I have to hide them from hubs as he has about as much self control around cookies as I do around donuts.

I am feeding my neighbors cats this week as she is gone.  She has three in cages in her garage, and two in the house.  I don't think I could ever raise a cat in a cage, but I guess she adopted them this way. I always give them lots of love and pets and make sure I get a good purr out of them before I leave.  Two of them share a cage and they both fight over who gets to me first.  If anything happens to her I will be taking those cats and they will not be in cages.  Such sweet things.  My neighbors health is not good and we watch her closely.

While I was in St. Louis we had a really bad wind storm and part of her fencing came down.  Hubs went out to fix it for her but he needed her on the other side to hold things erect.  The fence is very tall and he could not see her.  Pretty soon he could not hear her either.  He hollered and hollered.  Then went over and she had passed out in the yard next to the fence.  Scared hubs to death.  She suffers from real unstable blood sugar.  He was able to get her stabilized, but this is not the first time this has happened.  I have to visually see her everyday.  My shop window overlooks her living dining area so I can see into her house during the day. If I don't see activity I go over and harass her. That is what I tell her when she answers the door.  Wouldn't you just love to be harassed by me?

I had a wedding dress picked up yesterday and I have another to finish today as it was tried on this morning.  It will be at least 2 if not more hours of tedious hand work to finish.  I divide things up in my mind when I have major hand work to do on a dress.  Shorten the one strap, put in the hand darts, attached breast pads, finish the inside seams, replace the lace removed from sides, make sure it lays flat, and then re bead, now re attach lace by hand to bottom of dress,( halfway done hand sewing lace back on bottom)add 6 bustling loops, add three buttons, rehem front two base layers by machine.  So much work. I will be lucky to finish this this afternoon before I have to leave. I think I have another fitting coming in a little later for a final before I finish.

I did not get any bridesmaids done yesterday and I only just started on one earlier today. I have to take Kelsa up to her other grandma, who is coming down to the kids house this afternoon.  I also have to pick up the dogs from the sitter and take them up and then rush back down to teach daughter's dance classes for 2.5 hours.  I will be tired tonight, so I doubt I will get any sewing done this evening.

I will really have to get busy on Thursday. Boy these weeks go by fast.

So, area you a scratch cookie baker? Do you ever compare costs of premade to homemade? 

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

Kim