Turkey Day Approacheth

Ok so I gave Hubs 3 things I need him to do before company comes for Thanksgiving--
*1*  Fix the 2 spots on the ceiling in the Dining Room
*2*  Hang the thermal curtains in the Living Room
*3*  Clean the DR and LR floors

He's known this since like November 10th.
So guess who waits until this week to do them?
Yep.
Hubs.

So currently there is a ladder, spackle, paint, patching mesh, tools and sandpaper in my dining room.  And item 2 and 3 haven't been addressed yet either.
sigh

With my HS and various other ailments(plus being old now)I have to pace myself when it comes to the Holidays.  All the cooking prep can be mind boggling and wear me out in quick order so I need to spread it out over multiple days.

I guess lots of other bloggers are off seeing to Turkey Day details as well(or traveling early as storms are due for most of the country later this week)since not many are posting much this week.

Here's my Turkey Day menu--

* a pickle, cheese, cracker and crudité plate(appetizer)
* turkey
* cornbread and sausage stuffing
* mashed potatoes
* roasted carrots
* green beans
* yeast rolls
* cranberry "glop"
* gravy and au jus(those who don't want gravy)
* pumpkin pie(whipped cream optional)
* cherry cheesecake pie
* coffee and tea

Here's my schedule to get all this on the table on Thursday--

Sunday
Begin thawing turkey
Take out frozen green beans and sausage rolls

Monday
Gather pantry goods(canned pumpkin, evaporated milk, stuffing mix, "glop", graham cracker pie crusts for cheesecake pie, turkey stock, etc.)

Tuesday
Make cornbread for stuffing
Cook sausage, onions, celery for stuffing

Wednesday
Assemble stuffing
Bake pumpkin pies
Assemble cheesecake pies and chill them
Put "glop" in fridge to chill
Make roll dough
Set table and get crock pots/serving bowls/utensils out

Thursday
Cut out rolls and proof 6 am
Get turkey stuffed and in the oven by 8 am
Get rest of stuffing in crock pot and start heating it
While turkey cooks--
Assemble crudité plate
Cook potatoes and mash them(put in crock pot to keep warm)
Assemble green bean dish put in oven 20 min. before turkey comes out
Prepare carrots put in oven 20 min. before turkey comes out
Turkey out of oven to rest, rolls go in oven
Carve turkey and ring the dinner bell to "come and get it!"

Hopefully I get it all cooked and serveable at the same time.

And squeeze in a trip to Rite-Aid at 8 am on Thursday too.   For that I am all ready to go with my written transactions and coupons.  8)))

What are you up to today?

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Why Did I Even Suggest It?" Edition................

Last Thursday was my appointment down in Hershey at the HS clinic.  I suggested to Hubs that we stop at Tröegs Brewery so he could get a beer/fill his growler and then stop somewhere else for lunch before heading home.  I had perused the food menu beforehand and wasn't thrilled with the food choices/prices(very hipster foods and so, so pricey! because these craft breweries cater to Millennials and well......).

Once we got there Hubs' decided he didn't want to stop somewhere else for food(and he was driving)so I was stuck. I ended up with a brisket sandwich with a spicy ass mustard sauce slaw served with a side of spicier ass beans.

And the beer I ordered?  I didn't think to look at the price and I should know better because 1 beer cost almost as much as that "meh" sandwich!
I should have had a beer and a pretzel(to soak up the alcohol)and called it lunch. lolz

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Leftover Beef Pie
2. Monday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salad

3. Tuesday--Hot Dog on Roll w/Chili, Beans, Squash and Onions

4. Wednesday--Something Chicken, Veggie TBD

5. Thursday--Assorted Leftovers

6. Friday--Beef Stew
7. Saturday--Chinese Take-Out

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Leftover Beef Pie
2. Monday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salad

3. Tuesday--Hot Dog on Roll w/Chili, Beans, Squash and Onions

4. Wednesday--Leftovers

5. Thursday--Chinese Take-Out

6. Friday--Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches, leftover Squash and Onions
7. Saturday--Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners, 1  nights of leftovers/ffy, and 1 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out(got home too late to cook Thursday and frankly I felt like crap too).

What got put into the freezer last week.....

*  1 ginormous Stouffer's lasagna

What got taken out of the freezer and used.....
*  1 bag of meatballs
*  8 hot dogs
* 1 bag homemade hot dog chili
* 1 package chicken thighs

Two small trips to Weis, and teabags from Ollie's brought the current weekly spending to $10.78 and my November spending on food to $312.84 for this month.

My savings percentage last week was 90.09%(without Rite-Aid trips)and November's monthly savings total comes in at 51.20%(w/out R-A).

I have 5 more food shopping/spending days in November.

Leftovers going into this week......Beef Pie, Beef stir-fry, Rice.

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--Lasagna, Roasted Cauliflower
2. Monday--Halushki

3. Tuesday--Flounder, Veggie TBD, Sweet Potato Fries

4. Wednesday--Leftover Smörgåsbord 

5. Thursday--Turkey Day Dinner

6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--?

As always this menu is subject to change or rearranging depending on what leftovers get eaten or not and what I am feeling like cooking(or not). lolz

What needs buying for this menu? Nothing that I can think of.  We will probably need milk again.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week? 

Sluggy  

And the Giveaway Winner Is.......

There were 115 valid entries this go 'round(y'all must like make-up and chocolate, right? lolz).
I numbered the entries and used Random dotorg to help me select a random winner.
And the Winner is.........

Hidden Haven Homestead!

Hidden Haven HomesteadNovember 20, 2019 at 3:12 PM

Years ago I was living in Flordia so the girls and their families came down for Thanksgiving. It was so warm we had Thanksgiving dinner on the patio. The girls complained about it not feeling like Thanksgiving. We never celebrated a winter holiday in FL after that.

Congratulations HHH!!  You can 48 hours from the time stamp when this post goes live to email me privately your full name and mailing address so I can get this box of goodies out to you asap.

Stay tuned in December for more giveaway fun!

Sluggy

Last Chance for the Giveaway!

Today is the last day to enter the November Giveaway.

 Cosmetics, a few personal care items and chocolate(candy)for days...........

Go HERE to put your entry for today in.
And if you left an entry without a name/contact info already PLEASE reply to that comment with your info. or email me privately with your info. so it's valid.

There have been lots of good answers on this Giveaway and it's been fun to read them as I approve them. 8-)

The Giveaway ends at 11:59 ET tonight.
I'll pull a winner on Sunday, the 24th, and post it later that day.

Good Luck!

I've got changing out the curtains in the living room to heavy/Winter curtains on those windows, a bit of cleaning in there, going through some of the Xmas gift stash and a run to Target and the Restaurant Supply store for a few food items today as well as dropping a load off at Salvation Army.

What's on your agenda?


Sluggy

Frugal Friday.....the November 22nd Edition

Here's some of the frugal things that happened here this past week............

*  I got the Friday Freebie at Weis last week.....

A pack of paper plates can always be used around here.

*  I paid our 6 mos. car insurance.  Instead of mailing it and using a stamp I just stopped at the agent's office.

I also picked up free calendars for 2020 while I was there.

*  I found money!

A dime near the Customer Service desk at Weis last Friday.

And then a penny under the stack of shopping baskets near the register at Rite-Aid when I went to return something.

Another penny on Monday at Rite-Aid sticking out from under a shelf.

On Tuesday I found this old penny in the newspaper box return chute outside of Bob Evans.

And a trip for an Rx refill netted me another .27¢ from various places on the floor there.
This week's Grand Total for Found Change was .40¢.

* Speaking of Tuesday Hubs and I took a drive to another town to check out their Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)store.  I still had a 15% anything in the store flyer to use too.
Here's the only food thing I bought.......

A box of English tea bags that were on clearance for 50% off so I spent $1.99 OOP on food there. ;-)
A bunch of books did also come home with me at Ollie's discount price PLUS 15% off that too.

*  I was a little low on gas last week so I took a partially used gift card for a gas station here and used it.  It had been sitting forgotten in my glove box for almost a year.
$5.55 of gas was almost 2 gallons and that much goes pretty far in my little Sonic.  ;-)

*  Hubs and I went to Bob Evans for lunch one day this week.  We used a coupon.  I didn't find any money there but I brought home these margarine spreads we didn't use........

*  I went to Weis(PMITA)Markets again this week and bought this.........

3 x Finish dishwashing tabs
2 x Lysol toilet cleaner double packs(1 pack didn't make it to the photo shoot)
1 x gallon of Milk(also missing from the photo)
2 x packs of breaded pork cutlets(had $2 off meat stickers on them so almost 50% off)
1 x massive Stouffer's lasagna(on sale $12.99 but I had a $12 off DigitalQ)
Total after sale prices and Qs used came to $16.76.

I used my last P&G prepaid $15 gift card..........

And then I paid $1.76 OOP for this lot of groceries.
I still have a $25 gift card for the local Shursave store, free or discounted Target gift cards and $80+ in free gift cards for OSJL, along with all that refund/post q/found change CASH to deploy next month.

* Speaking of groceries and Weis I also did another feedback survey this week and now have 622 points to spend even though I've only actually "spent" $179.24 at Weis this month.
400 of those points will get me a free turkey for the chest freezer and I can use another 100 pts. for a reduced price meat/vegan-meat options and the leftover 100 points will be used for discounted gas for the Sonic.
Working the system the best I can.  ;-)

*  I earned .30¢ on Ibotta this week. 
Go me. lolz
Some weeks are like that but it's still .30¢ more in my pocket for something I was going to buy anyway, right?

That's about it from here for the week.

Let us know what frugal wins happened in your world this past week!


Sluggy