Dashing December Savings (frugal chatter 2014)

[Natalka]

[Andit]

@coupon girl
I used this recipe last week for shortbread (I skipped the part melting the candies). I cheated and used margarine instead of butter & the cookies turned out yummy!

http://www.gaylea.com/recipes/shortb...own-shortbread



As far as chestnuts go, I grew up having chestnut puree as a special treat (sweetened chestnut put through a ricer - not sure how to make it, we always bought the tinned version).


Then there's chestnut torte, basically a mousse cake, only instead of using mousse between the layers, you make a chestnut buttercream type concoction. Yummm.





As for biscotti, I only made one attempt at it & failed miserably. I was a young teen & found a recipe for lemon poppy seed biscotti. I thought I had all the ingredients on hand, but couldn't find the poppy seeds. My Mom told me it was the first container on the second shelf. The UNlabelled container. Needless to say, caraway seeds and poppy seeds do not have the same taste. And while a few caraway seeds might be edible, a half a cup's worth is not. Bless my Dad, he forced himself to choke down 2 biscotti so as not to disappoint me before I bit into one & discovered my mistake.

[Frugalbigmama]

TGIF!!! Hope to get lots of crap off my desk today! And tonight is date night. Finally. It has seemed to get pushed aside the past 2 months (hockey, family visit from out of town etc) Looking forward to a nice meal with my honey and wine

[MrsSunshine]

can someone PLEASE hit pause on the time machine..

oh and does anyone have an set of extra strong toothpicks.
><...

OI!

[Frugalbigmama]

I hear ya!! I am feeling better about what I need to do still. Know what I have to pick up and order online (It doesn't require delivery, thinking about getting Wonderland Season passes

[Andit]

Anyone else have a thing for matryoshka? This guy (these guys?) caught my eye. I really don't need anything more in my little home, but this is just too cute to resist....

[sweet sparrow]

I had a lot of responses for everyone, (welcome back cath007!) and then I saw Mrs Sunshine's picture and can't get it out of my head.

Hope everyone is well or recovering quickly and getting ready for the holidays! Christmas is coming soon and I'm excited and very far behind. Bobbiegirl2010, I am with you on the no vacation as I spent as long as I could with LO before she had to enter daycare.

We found our new car last week. As it happens, a friend of a co-worker happened to be selling his car, which is the sedan version of our hatchback. It was a private sale and after all the costs, we paid a few thousand more for a few hundred thousand kilometers to be erased off of our car! We visited the dealership, but there would be nothing that could come close to the price.

As well, our old car is up for auction soon. If the auto wreckers can replace the door, we really want it back! It literally looks like I rammed it with a shopping cart to make such a small dent. In the photos, you can't even see the damage. If we can't get the car (if our insurance won't take it after it's been written off) my brother really wants it as it runs like a dream and we really took care of it.

Soon to be off this week to visit the in-laws. LO will be starting the new daycare in January where they will not be force feeding her six cookies a day and I'll have to make her all her own foods. It's more expensive, but I'll be happy that she's not getting sick eating fried chicken nuggets and french fries all week. There should be a law that you can't feed that to infants under 18 months....

Have a great weekend, everyone!

[Frugalbigmama]

I went through that Sweet Sparrow. So I told the daycare provider I did not want my 1 year old eating cookies for a afternoon snack and that I would prefer yogurt, fruit etc. I went to pick him up early one day and he was eating something healthy while all the other kids were eating crap! she told me she brought it out and he wanted one but she told him mommy said he couldn't and gave him his snack. My poor baby I didn't want him to feel left out. It just showed me she was clueless (her husband worked with mine so that's why I started him there) I'm sure the others didn't want crap fed to their kids. So we moved him to a friend and they loved him like their own.

[bobbiegirl2010]

I just don't get why some daycare providers just feed kids crap. Perhaps they have unhealthy eating habits themselves?? IMO healthy food is cheaper (I only buy produce on sale, pm and/or pc plus deals) and the kids all love it.

Snacks here always consist of at least 2 food groups: fresh fruits, veggies, crackers, cheese or yogurt. Cookies are a special treat.

[MrsSunshine]

its amazing what a quick 15 min. cat nap can do.
now have enough energy to tackle the rest of my list for tonite.

[jasperandchar]

thrifttygranny simple can still be delicious and elegant, your dh can have fun trying to coordinate the paper plates, napkins, etc....

I use paper plates & paper napkins, they are cute ones I pick up but since I don't get help with the dishes from MIL, I decided a few years ago and said f*ck it pardon my language AND I have not looked back, if they don't like it's too bad is my Christmas motto (lol), I mean everyone gobbles down their food in less than 15 minutes and who cares if it's china or paper as long as they are fed

[cdngal75]

I went through that Sweet Sparrow. So I told the daycare provider I did not want my 1 year old eating cookies for a afternoon snack and that I would prefer yogurt, fruit etc. I went to pick him up early one day and he was eating something healthy while all the other kids were eating crap! she told me she brought it out and he wanted one but she told him mommy said he couldn't and gave him his snack. My poor baby I didn't want him to feel left out. It just showed me she was clueless (her husband worked with mine so that's why I started him there) I'm sure the others didn't want crap fed to their kids. So we moved him to a friend and they loved him like their own.

Wow that is clueless although at least she did listen to your wishes.

[jasperandchar]

avon your poor dh, hope he starts to feel better soon and don't forget to take care of yourself as well

[jasperandchar]

well the boys are now officially off for 2 weeks, please give me patience (lol)

[jasperandchar]

All caught up

Yesterday I had 4 meet ups for items I sold which was great timing .

We also attended ds2's Christmas concert which was wonderful.

And did some last minute running around for Christmas.

Today dh & I ventured out for groceries.....sigh....everything is so dam expensive...geez....oh well anyways got what we need for Christmas dinner as we are hosting.

-------------------

I need everyone input, my parents ditched us again this year for Arizona anyways it ends up they got scammed and had no place to stay, they are flying back tonight and well I know dang well they are going to expect to come here for Christmas.

In reality if they had a place to stay they wouldn't be here and my mom said to my brother just before leaving atleast I won't have to deal with the Christmas BullSh9t.

I feel bad that get got scammed but it doesn't surprise me....long story....

Anyways my eldest brother dis-invited my folks for Christmas as you may recall before my folks decided to fly off to Arizona, I ended up feeling bad and invited them only to find out 2 days before they were leaving that they were leaving.

My dh and I both feel that my parents need to be told that their whole Christmas ditching family is getting old and that they would rather spend Christmas with strangers in Arizona than with their own family and that we don't appreciate being the fall back Christmas dinner/celebration.

My mom has done this 2 times now, yes this years circumstances are different but not it's entirety, different as they abandon their kids, grand kids, etc.

I swore up and down that I would not invite them again BUT caved because eldest brother dis-invited them and in the end they ditched us again.

What do you do??

I really don't want to turn our magical Christmas into a drama (dad gets all pissy/grouchy) my mom tries to overcompensate because they are gone most months of the year. My parents say that Christmas is just another day and I said to dh then well they should sit home and eat pork chops if it's no different.

BUT my eldest son is really pissed off and says mom please don't invite them they didn't care to spend Christmas with us and now because they can't be in Arizona they'll want to be here, we're 2nd best. MY youngest feels bad for my parents but also understands how they abandon everyone. My dh feels that something needs to be said but we should invite them. I don't want to invite them because if my other brother invites them who is 1 street away they may ditch us again.