April Showers of Savings the sequel - 2015 Frugal Chatter

[bobbiegirl2010]

@Angela273 I hope your LO feels better soon

[Natalka]

Good morning, Happy Wednesday!

More baking today - I have to do things slowly, so it's a little every day.
Also have to blanch a cabbage for leaves to make holubtsi this weekend.

[Andit]

Good morning, everyone.

Have a busy couple of days ahead of me. Have an appt in a little while, then get to come home & assemble a sort of book shelf. I've been searching on & off for literally years (yes, *years*) for a small shelf that would fit into the corner of my bedroom (it had to be less than 12 inches wide, which was the issue) and I finally (!!!) found one on Monday & bought it right away. I actually got most of it put together yesterday before realizing that I used the wrong screws in the bottom shelf (they are shorter and need to be used on the top shelf or I have screws coming out the top looking really goofy). Figures it couldn't be the second from the top. Sheesh. Right now I have cute flower print boxes piled in that corner, but it's a pain to try to get at them, since it never fails that I need something from the bottom box. This will help soooo much. I'll try to post a pic when I finish assembling (hopefully no one decides to make a shelf his new bed ).

Better go check on the brats, it's too quiet in here.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[Andit]

Also have to blanch a cabbage for leaves to make holubtsi this weekend.

Nat, do you use all the cabbage? When my Mom makes cabbage rolls (very different from holubtsi - she puts the "rolls" in a large pot filled with sauerkraut and adds smoked ribs and sausage - no tomato involved thankfully), she shreds the leftover cabbage and fries it in a bit of oil (sometimes with garlic as well) and serves it on noodles or makes it into filling for strudel. Make sure you take lots of breaks - I know how tiring it is to make!

[Andit]

@Andit your poor friend, that's a lot of work to host 20 people all the prep, food, energy etc and the disappointment to only have 20. Thankfully though she was blessed to have those that did show up and shower them with goodies for the next little while. Your kiddos/brats are such characters.

Luckily, everyone who comes brings a side dish, so all D has to do is make the main meat dish (we had turkey) and do the hors d'oeuvres (a cheese tray, chips & dip, etc). My Mom made apple strudel that I took over, she also made red cabbage and roast potatoes (my friend LOVES my Mom's potatoes, so begged for that ). And I made a pineapple pie, which went over very well (who'd have ever guessed such a simple dessert would be such a hit?). Other family brought veggies and wine, so all were involved in the feast, which was nice. Did I mention the food was yummy???

[Natalka]

Duggar baby news, for the fans



Born Monday - Israel David Dillard, 9lbs 10oz, 23 inches long

[Natalka]

Nat, do you use all the cabbage? When my Mom makes cabbage rolls (very different from holubtsi - she puts the "rolls" in a large pot filled with sauerkraut and adds smoked ribs and sausage - no tomato involved thankfully), she shreds the leftover cabbage and fries it in a bit of oil (sometimes with garlic as well) and serves it on noodles or makes it into filling for strudel. Make sure you take lots of breaks - I know how tiring it is to make!

Overall, for sure. The leaves down to the ones that are maybe four inches across or so. The rest I freeze and cut up to use in casseroles, etc. - love it just fried up with onions and sausage, too (like sauerkraut for that better, though).

Babka dough #2 is just ready to be put into the cans - this dough looks WAY better than yesterday's (what happened was that my raisins were dried up and sugary so even with soaking they all broke up in the kneading) [but the bread tastes fine!] - it's regular dough with raisins throughout - got new raisins last night. (I'm not a raisin fan, but it's traditional)

[Frugalbigmama]

Happy Hump day! A busy day at work but that hopefully means it will fly by! Then home to hang with kids and get some house stuff done. Have moved a book shelf to DS's room (picked up for free!) and will move his stuff off his from his old room. Then I can use the other one since it's bigger to organize stuff for sale. Once all stuff is gone, lol will give DS the good book shelf back and take the free one down to the storage room to get organized . Going to pull from the freezer for dinner (a bit of this and that) and use up the last of the romaine lettuce to make salad for dinner. I just don't have time/energy to cook a big meal tonight (and I'm missing one kid as he has a late night for a school thing) so will make sure I really prep this weekend and get back at my meal planning etc.

[jasperandchar]

@Natalka pace yourself, @coupon girl great deal on something you use everything or nearly,

[jasperandchar]

Angela nice that you have 2 options for awaiting your new babies, it's also wonderful your mom is finding some items you can use for your new arrivals.

[Ciel]

J&C - That "Re-Use-it" store sounds fantastic! Who runs it? Is it a church or another group? Our Garage Sale is coming up at the church and we basically practically "give away" things but some money does exchange hands. You really lucked out with your visit this time! But then, you always seem to get something great!

On April 18, a local church is doing a clothing rummage sale. I'm hoping to spot a top or pants I can alter for me because I need items for spring. I will find out if the volunteers will accept some photo frames for their sale as I don't have clothing items to contribute to their fundraising effort.

[Frugalbigmama]

Went home on my lunch and cleaned up the kitchen and picked up dirty clothes and put them in the hamper where they belong. Now the dishes will be dry on the counter and I can put them away quickly Really need to clean out the fridge now from all the Easter dinner leftovers that were sent home with us. I think we are done with them now. So that will be more big dishes to wash but oh well better to get it all cleaned out now so I'm ready to go shopping on the weekend. Lots of deals I want on fresh stuff so will need the space.

[Angela273]

LO was only up once last night, because the had thrown his sippy out of bed hours before and was now thirsty. He just needed his drink and was back to sleep. He hasn't thrown up in 33hrs, so I'm hoping it is over.

I'm not nearly as tired and am debating "working" through LO's nap time, instead of joining him for more sleep. I have put away dishes, washed more dishes, 2nd load of laundry is in the washing machine, folded and put away two other loads of laundry, requested J&J coupons, called for more info about another multiples sample program.

I still want to bake apple muffins for LO. He ran out over a week ago and I know they are great to pack for this weekend's road trip for him to eat. I also need to pick up and vacuum in the living room. More laundry is also in the plans. I also need to make tonight's supper and clean up the fridge some because we will be gone for three days. I think I am making sweet and sour pork with fried rice. There's other stuff that I wanted to get done this week, but it's not all going to happen.

[jasperandchar]

@Angela273 fingers crossed your little one is over the bug

[jasperandchar]

Evening all,

I forced myself to bake some cupcakes it's the 2nd time I use this recipe and it's a keeper, super easy and delish, here's the link if anyone is interested, I highly recommend it the recipe makes 12 cupcakes, last time I doubled the recipe and ended up with 12 cupcakes and a 9x13 cake so the recipe can be doubled without any issues
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/simple-white-cake/

I also decided I was well overdue to make a new recipe from Pinterest and well 4 thumbs up so I highly recommend this as well, super quick and very tasty, I did add the cayenne as I didn't have any garlic powder or onion powder they are both hard like rocks, I can never get these to stay loose in the glass bottles, anyone have any tips on how to keep these 2 soft? here's the recipe if anyone is interested, I did up 10 drumsticks and didn't run out of breading, I lined a 9x13 glass dish with parchment paper and drizzled some olive oil over the parchment paper and over the chicken to make it crunchy and it turned out wonderful
http://hostthetoast.com/southern-baked-chicken/

I had a look at the flyers and it seems that a few things here in there so we'll see, NF has chicken breasts on for $1.99, I need to decide if it's worth the drive (40 minutes) as this location tends to not have not stock or limits quanities so time will tell.

I posted a few more things for sale today, really hoping the stuff sells as it's taking over my storage room or should I say dh is taking over my storage room, geez that is 1 thing I regret is offering him to put some of his stuff.....it's out of control, I'll tackle that battle shortly

Is anyone stocking up on anything this week in the new flyers, incase I missed a bargain .

Quite night here, we are going to watch survivor, well wishing everyone a wonderful & productive evening