Thankful for Savings - October 2014 Frugal chatter thread

[saundyl]

Growing up we spent Christmas dinner at mom's family and boxing day dinner at dad's family. Then the next year we alternated and have Christmas at dad's family and boxing day at mom's family. Now that we are all grown up, we still do the same. It is what is expected. That way no one side has an "advantage".

My family did the same thing.

[SassyAshley]

When we were kids we did Dad's on Christmas Eve, Mom's Christmas Day and Step Mom's Sister Boxing Day.

Now that we are older Christmas is the only Holiday there are no fights about it is Christmas Eve at Dad's (his family is German and they celebrate Christmas Eve so that has always worked for us) and Mom's Christmas Day. Only thing this year is both my Bros fly out Boxing Day morning so we will be having an early Christmas Dinner but we usually eat around 3 so no big deal really.

[coupon girl]

-I don't have to wonder about my daughter as her hubby is Italian and they always do xmas on xmas eve with his family

[Crochetlady]

Holidays were never that big a deal when I was a kid. However my brother married a girl whose family always came first. When it was their turn to host she refused saying it was too close to my wedding day...Feb 8

[Natalka]

Well, I'm stuffed.... our son just left with a huge bag of containers - as he said, food for all meals for a week, and he'll make the guys at work jealous, lol.

Oh, Insane - you've been through SO much - and wowsers, what an amazing young man you have, doing what he did!

As for holidays and families - my solution was marrying a man with parents in another country! (no, I'm kidding, I would have wished they were here!). My husband's brother was our priest - so we knew him before I met my husband - and Fr. was always at our home for holidays. At the time, the two brothers were the only ones in Canada, so after we married, we all continued to go to my parents for holidays.

However, then two other brothers and their families came from E. Europe- and it wasn't long after that my parents passed away - so we would just have our own individual family celebrations, and sometimes meet up for visiting.

Hope everyone had a restful evening - I had to have a lot of help today getting things done, so yay for my two men! Mind you, they aren't exactly into making holubtsi, so certain things I did have to do on my own.

Good night, all!

[coupon girl]

-well i start babysitting this week-wed and Thursday -will be here in the evening -I will let you know how it goes
-resting up today

[Angela273]

I received a phone call at 6:45am to teach Grade 2 for the day. This is the same school that I had 2 early morning phone calls to teach last week, but 3 different people contacted me for the 3 days. I now have 11 teaching days this month, not including the full day I had to turn down due to the Halloween wedding. When I looked in my phone I realized that it is that school's Thanksgiving potluck lunch today. The only thing that I can think to bring last minute is Chapman's icecream sandwiches from my freezer, but I know that no one expects me to bring something last minute.

[Andit]

Good morning, everyone. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend of overindulging.

After 4 days of being spoiled, we're all in a lazy mood. Brats had no interest in getting up before 8am (late for spying on neighbours!), so we all slept in. The only thing I've done this morning is take the screen out in case the window washer pays us an unexpectedly early visit.

My Mom and I had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at my friend's on Sunday. Everyone brought a side dish, so all my friend had to deal with was the turkey. We brought beets (well, someone has to eat them ) and non-traditional dessert (homemade apple strudel, believe me no one missed apple pie ). My contribution was to slice the apples (I wasn't about to say no when the expert told me to go slice apples and did all the rest of the work). There was lots of turkey left but most of the many many side dishes were polished off, so guess who will be eating turkey until it goes out of style. Good thing I have roommates who are selfless enough to help me.

We got back late yesterday afternoon (had to make sure the turkey-shaped pb cookies were left for the neighbour pups), then hung out with the neighbours (they got some leftover apple strudel, well, I made sure there were a few pieces left over, so they could have a treat). I think they appreciated it more than whatever turkey concoction I could come up with.

Now, if only I can find a little ambition to get going this morning. Maybe I can blame the tryptophan in the turkey.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[jasperandchar]

Well, I'm stuffed.... our son just left with a huge bag of containers - as he said, food for all meals for a week, and he'll make the guys at work jealous, lol.

Oh, Insane - you've been through SO much - and wowsers, what an amazing young man you have, doing what he did!

As for holidays and families - my solution was marrying a man with parents in another country! (no, I'm kidding, I would have wished they were here!). My husband's brother was our priest - so we knew him before I met my husband - and Fr. was always at our home for holidays. At the time, the two brothers were the only ones in Canada, so after we married, we all continued to go to my parents for holidays.

However, then two other brothers and their families came from E. Europe- and it wasn't long after that my parents passed away - so we would just have our own individual family celebrations, and sometimes meet up for visiting.

Hope everyone had a restful evening - I had to have a lot of help today getting things done, so yay for my two men! Mind you, they aren't exactly into making holubtsi, so certain things I did have to do on my own.

Good night, all!

Jealous I bet the guys at work will be great job.

I had to google holubtsi which is cabbage rolls , I can certainly image no man would be exciting to make them but eating them that's another story

[jasperandchar]

Good morning, everyone. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend of overindulging.

After 4 days of being spoiled, we're all in a lazy mood. Brats had no interest in getting up before 8am (late for spying on neighbours!), so we all slept in. The only thing I've done this morning is take the screen out in case the window washer pays us an unexpectedly early visit.

My Mom and I had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at my friend's on Sunday. Everyone brought a side dish, so all my friend had to deal with was the turkey. We brought beets (well, someone has to eat them ) and non-traditional dessert (homemade apple strudel, believe me no one missed apple pie ). My contribution was to slice the apples (I wasn't about to say no when the expert told me to go slice apples and did all the rest of the work). There was lots of turkey left but most of the many many side dishes were polished off, so guess who will be eating turkey until it goes out of style. Good thing I have roommates who are selfless enough to help me.

We got back late yesterday afternoon (had to make sure the turkey-shaped pb cookies were left for the neighbour pups), then hung out with the neighbours (they got some leftover apple strudel, well, I made sure there were a few pieces left over, so they could have a treat). I think they appreciated it more than whatever turkey concoction I could come up with.

Now, if only I can find a little ambition to get going this morning. Maybe I can blame the tryptophan in the turkey.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

Getting spoilt is fun and it sounds like you had a wonderful time,

[jasperandchar]

coupon girl you will do wonderfully babysitting Ashlyn and enjoy all the snuggle time

[jasperandchar]

Morning All,

Well off to the races I went this am, I'm getting so many things done with dh out of my hair (you know what I mean).

Made a few much needed follow phone calls and now I wait for the calls back, I'm so impatient , the 1 that really ticked me off what a medical form that I have been chasing down since April apparently was mailed to our new GP in August and then again in September and I called asking that a note be put on my son's file that an appointment would be required when it was rec'd.....oh well...fingers crossed the GP actually has the form.

Washed the baseboards in Logan's room shortly after he left on the school bus.

Then ventured on to start vacuuming the floor joist downstairs, my goodness what a difference it makes but not to keen on standing on a ladder with a vacuum . So my plan for the day is to complete vacuuming the floor joists in the basement and go from there. I take several breaks as I am short and really need to stretch and I tighten up as I don't want to fall .

Anyways off to the races again, will check in later this afternoon.

Also things are going very well budget wise dare I say it, I guess not being able to go anywhere and the fact that dh is not out and about in civilization real helps.

Also going to figure out my meal plan today while I watch Days of Our Lives, does anyone else watch it, I missed Fridays episode where EJ was killed.

[lilo0003]

OMG Insane , that story made my heart stop.
We had a busy but fun weekend. Took the kids to Canada’s Wonderland on Sunday. We bought passes for 2015 as Logan’s b-day gift and it came with a free admission this year. So we all said a big thanks to him and had a great day. Not busy at all and made it on most of the rides. DH is not a fan of rides so he just watches us and Logan is still a bit nervous about some. Even I was scared with the 1^st ride on the Leviathan. We had DH’s parents here for lunch Monday. It was a nice visit. My MiL does not do well in crowds so having just us works for her& they came to Canada 30 years ago so Thanksgiving is not something they typically celebrate. We will share a meal with my parents in few weeks.
Holiday meals were only ever made stressful by my DB & his now ex. She always had to have the meal with her parents so even if Christmas dinner was to be at my parents they would stop for lunch with her parents and then arrive late and not hungry and we would all be so angry. So when DH and I had kids I said no more travelling on Christmas day. My parents understood as we always had to travel when I was a kid. The parents are welcome to come to us & sometimes they do. In fact our parents (DH & mine) have been known to have their holiday meal together. Last year we traveled to my parents for the 1^st time in 12 yrs only because it was my brothers 1^st year post separation. But we are only 90 minutes away and we may start to travel again on the years he has the kids.

[sweet sparrow]

We stayed home for thanksgiving. Bf made an awesome dinner. Introduced me to acorn squash. We made a cherry cheese cake.

Oh, cherry cheesecake! Mmm.... My sister used to make her own jam and drizzle it over top. It looked so artistic. She hasn't made it in decades now that she has a DS that's allergic.

Natalka, thanks for the potato/duck fat fry suggestion! There's a chip wagon at the weekly market that does just that! I'm considering a package of split peas as another duck fat flavour-enhanced meal idea...
SassyAshley-I have not thought about roasting cauliflower! I would have just washed and chopped the cauliflower to have ready in the fridge for a soup/veggie snack/stir-fry. I like California mix veggies so if I had a cauliflower and carrots and broccoli, the lot chopped up becomes the mix! That would be great to have in the freezer as California mix is either not sold often in smaller bags/is hard to find/can only be found in large bags at some stores.

I just finished looking through Save with Jamie, where he tells you what to do with the leftover bits. Only beef, pork, lamb, and fish are mentioned though. But, there is a great roasted cauliflower recipe in it though.

I'M BACK!!! Did you miss me??????

Welcome back! Seems like there were a lot of absences this past month, and there are still a few people missing. I think that's the nice thing about this forum, sort of like a club of friends and it's lovely to hear updates from familiar faces once in awhile. Glad that your son handled himself well and that you got him that cell phone! Kids seem to need them younger and younger these days.

LO has recently been using my calculator as a cellphone. She says "ohhhh" (helloooo) into it. Ha ha! Must get a video....must.

[MrsSunshine]

good afternoon all.
lots of interesting convies this morning..
we had ham, brussel spr, mashed taters, ceasar salad, ice cream for dessert yesterday.
after two big meals..wow. hard to think that halloween is the last event before we jump into xmas in 3 weeks..its like we all go to bed in pumpkins etc and wake up to xmas music.. well almost.
dh is off early to to work. its rather gloomy but warm here. may get a chance to finish some things i didn't do yesterday.
had a nice visit with family and 'old friends' too.
going to be a short week too. BONUS!


Nancy.. you be careful girl on that ladder by yourself. no dust is worth getting hurt over when your alone. PLEASE.