Frugal Friday....the January 19th Edition

There are a few Frugal wins this past week so here goes....

*  No doctor appointments this past week...Hurrah

*  We stayed home as the roads were impassable here from Sunday evening until Thursday.  Not going out and spending money counts as frugal, right?

*  Grocery shopping this past week for 2024....

A small haul at Walmart yesterday.(Ignore the Buc-ee's Beaver Nuggets on the right. lol)

Everything pictured cost $42.70 OOP(I used a free $10 gift card too).  Got back $23.50 from Ibotta, $14.00 from Shopmium and $6.00 back from Tada, and I got $13 from Alexa on an Amazon gift card, making this an .80¢ moneymaker trip(plus $13 in Amazon in gift credit).

I didn't shop this week except for that so I won't be hitting that big Ibotta bonus.  Oh well, that's life.

*  When the roads thawed out on Thursday, we hit up World Market to see if any Xmas clearance stuff was left.  As nobody could go anywhere until that day this past week(and mot stores were not even open), the store still had lots of clearance, that was now 90% off.

I paid $36.53 for all the goodies show here.  That's $365.30 of reg. retail stuff.  8-)))

*  I had earned some kind of Gaming Points/Rewards in the 4th quarter of 2023 at Kroger by purchasing certain items(beats me what!lol).  I went on the website and used some points to get, so far, $3 off a piece of Salmon I bought and to get this item for free......

Hubs picked it out as he was going to be the one to drink it and he photo bombed the can. ;-)

*  Yesterday was free chicken salad scoop day at Chicken Salad Chick locations.  Since there was one of these less than .5 of a mile from World Market Hubs and I went in and got this......

2 Scoops of chicken salad.  Hubs ate his already and said it was very plain and "eh".  I plan to gussy mine up a bit before eating it.  If we had wanted to we could have gone to the town right over the river as there is another location there, and gotten two more freebies but neither of us really felt like doing that.

I found Money!

I found this shiny fellow at the register at DG Market last Saturday when I went to pick up some birthday cards.

Then on Sunday I found these fellows while leaving Walmart laying on the floor.

Total Found in last Week.... .03¢
Grand Total Found this Year........48¢

That's all I got.  I'm tired, sore, dirty and cold and I don't want to write anymore. 8-(

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

Sluggy   

UPDATE to the UPDATE of Yesterday(the Blizzard)

Well you just knew something else would go wrong, didn't you?

The other shoe dropped yesterday after we got electric power back when we lost water.

We are on a small town's water utility system and we lost water pressure and then by noon we lost all water, not even a drip.

It was suppose to be restored early this morning but the local updates now say sometime tomorrow with no indication of a time line.

Daughter said the local store was cleaned out of water yesterday.  I also saw everybody in Walmart when I went through at the butt crack of dawn on Sunday loading up carts full of cases of water.  I guess they knew something I didn't as a new resident here.

At least we can hide some of this mess in the dishwasher.........

So we haven't been  able to flush the toilets(TMI), wash dishes, bathe, etc. and I had to use some bottled water(thank goodness for my prepper pantry!)to brush my teeth last night.

It's a good thing I have almost no hair left too(as the little hair I have left is nasty dirty at this point)so I can just use one of my chemotherapy patient headwraps and cover it up when we go out later today.

**No, I am not a cancer patient I just look like one. ;-)

This would be a much better look for me if I could wear earrings but alas, I had cysts in my earlobes and can not. 8-(

Now the Municipal Big City Water System has been knocked off line too which tells me there will be mass hysteria soon if the water isn't back soon.  And me thinks, all the restaurants and fast food places will be doing box office business today(if they have water).

And I am thankful for a small supply of  fast food "sporks" we kept as well as TV dinners and paper plates we can throw away.

But it's not like any of this is delaying or cancelling any Mardi Gras Parades(of which there are many during MG Season-it's not just a day but a season here!

Some Roads are still closed as well as some medical facilities as well as all schools elementary through colleges.  Temps are suppose to rise into the 50's later today however so that's progress, I think?

I feel like I am living in Southern Hell sometimes.....and it's not even Summer, when actual Hell here happens.

Sluggy

The Louisiana Blizzard of 2024......Reporting In

Some funny Memes on FB about Lousiana prepping for a "blizzard"......

And a way to give a second life to your old Mardi Gras Beads.......

Who needs snow chains when you've got a plethora of beads?

My favorite......

A great way to spice up all that roadkill!

A view from my front door of the "Blizzard".

This one pretty much sums it up.  Though everything has been closed(roads, schools, businesses)since Sunday.  The little bit we got warmed up via sunshine and refroze into ice so yeah, we may be stuck at home for a bit longer.

As long as we don't lose power I'll be a happy camper. 8-)

**UPDATE**  And yes, we lost power about a half hour after I posted this. whomp whomp

The electricity was only out a couple of hours fortunately.

But that electric bill will be nasty bad with all these record low temps....

Sluggy

The Great Road Trip of 2017.....Part Twenty Three/Day Eighteen

Part One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Two of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Three of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Four of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Five of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Six of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Seven of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Eight of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Nine of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Ten of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Eleven of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Twelve of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE
Part Thirteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE  

Part Fourteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE  

Part Fifteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE 
Part Sixteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Seventeen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE 

Part Eighteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Nineteen of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE 

Part Twenty of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Twenty One of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

Part Twenty Two of the Great Western Road Trip is HERE

We waved goodbye to the bison herd and the Hot Springs in Thermopolis, Wyoming, heading east on Route 16.

We went through Worland, WY, in Washakie County, where they had a Museum and this big Mastadon replica out front.  Now that's an attention getter. lol

Then it was further east to Ten Sleep.  This town got it's name from Native Americans as it denoted the time it would take you to get from here to other significant towns......10 sleeps or 10 days.

And no, I didn't venture into "Dirty Sally's General Store" either.  They also have a Facebook page HERE.

More sights in Ten Sleep along the highway.....

Then it was further east on Route 16 toward Buffalo, WY.

You will pass through three exposed geological periods of rock formations on this stretch of Route 16.  The first third you'll pass by forests, snowcapped peaks and tundra hills.

Patches of snow on the mountains in the distance........

A familiar sight in these parts....full logging trucks.

Then once you pass by Keyhole Reservoir the scenery changes dramatically.

The last two thirds of the roadway to where it joins I-90E, the topography changes to steep canyon walls with hair pin curves and steep inclines and descents.  I'm no geologist but this piece of the road is a rock lovers wet dream. ;-)

There were road signs every now and again letting you know what layers of the earth you were passing by that were exposed.  Here's Granite Gneiss which is the Pre-Cambrian era and these exposed rock formations are 3 Thousand Years old.

 

I'd hate to be pulling a huge ass RV on this roadway!  I'm sure many an RVer's brakes have  burnt out on this stretch of road.

                  

The roadway steepness leveled off eventually and then we hit Buffalo, Wyoming.

We stopped into Bozeman Trail Steakhouse for a late lunch/early dinner steak dinner.....

Some city slicker from out East probably gets a big surprise if they order the Rocky Mountain "Oysters". hehehe

Though a fitting name(shut up Kim!), I did NOT get the "Crazy Woman Prime Rib"......if I want Cajun anything I can get the authentic "blow the top of your head off" right here. hehe

I wondered if this place ever heard of a side that was NOT Potato!  Oh wait there is applesauce. lol

Lots of taxidermy to keep you entertained on the walls.....

We never made it to the Wyoming Whiskey Distillery but we found it on a liquor store's shelves and on a sign in the bar here.

More dead animal heads and a miniature Conestoga Wagon......

My steak dinner with a sad piece of greenery on the plate.  I did have a salad beforehand and the meat was quite good.

Hubs prime rib meal.  Of course there were potatoes of some ilk on another plate since the "Texas Toast" took up the leftover room on that plate.

Being watched by a bison as I ate.....

Me and the out of focus elk on the wall...

A map of Stagecoach routes across Wyoming from back in the day....

Look!  It's Pumba's relative......or is it a distant cousin, the Wild Boar?

And our first sighting of a Wall Drug sign........

Unfortunately it's never tomorrow.......

And this area is lousy with Rodeos in the Summer it seems.  Another one we missed seeing.....

Rustic Western swing outside the restaurant, complete with wagon wheels.....

A plaque about the Big Horn Mountains.......

A huge "Weather Rock".....lol

And then it was onto I-90 heading East(I think)but definitely out of Thermopolis and Buffalo, WY.

Sluggy