Month: September 2023

Kitchen Monday

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Baking, Easy mealsLeave a comment

Some days I feel like I spend most of my time in the kitchen, but I really don’t mind because I really like to cook. Every single morning, on the days Donny works, I make his breakfast and lunch that he takes to work. This morning it was pork tenderloin and eggs.

For lunch I thawed some homemade pasta sauce, that I made with tomatoes from our garden, that i had in the freezer and sausage tortellini.

It’s amazing how much money we save with him taking his lunch everyday.

After running a few errands I decided to bake some cookies. I like to cook, but I love to bake. These were just basic chocolate chip, but I find baking so relaxing. I also like knowing exactly what is in the food my family eats.

We make our own ground beef and last night I ground up 12 pounds of brisket. I always keep a portion of it to make a Mississippi roast. While I was at the store I found a packet that had everything I needed. I normally buy the ranch mix, Italian and au jus separate. I thought I’d give it a try.

Here it is all in the pot.

It turned out so good. We had it with mashed potatoes and corn. A good stick to your ribs meal.

Also, I was almost out of two of my favorite products.

Have you tried this toothpaste? We love it. The only drawback is that it’s black and can be a bit messy. They also make one with fluoride if you prefer that.

Look at that poor little sliver. It’s orange patchouli. That, patchouli and Dragon’s Blood are my favorite scents. They make your whole bathroom smell heavenly. I love Zum products.

And here’s our stray chicken herding cat that gets cooked chicken because he does such a good job. He lives across the street at my neighbors, but earns his keep by making sure our chickens don’t go out into the street.

Yard Day

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home life, WeekendLeave a comment

This is how my day ended and I very rarely drink. It was actually a very good day where the temperature was not in the 100’s. I got a lot done, which means I am TIRED.

My yard was bad. It needed mowing, all of the dead plants needed to be pulled up, we needed mulch. You name it, it needed it. Up until a few weeks ago Donny was working an hour and a half away. He’d leave at 6 and not get back until 10. He was also working 6-7 days a week. It was rough. He was exhausted and I was juggling everything else. With the awful heat and his being away, our yard suffered. So today, we woke up, and got busy.

We have white vinyl siding on our house and it will grow green algae after a rain. I got that wiped off and the windows washed. The beds needed a bit of weeding so I got that done while Donny mowed the backyard. While he mowed the front I got the shed cleaned out and pulled out all the Halloween stuff.

I moved 27 pots that Donny will be able to use in his greenhouse that I got him for his birthday. Hopefully we will get that put up soon. We ran to Lowe’s and picked up 4 bags of mulch and 3 small mum plants because after I pulled out all the dead cucumber vines I had a big ole empty spot.

I was shocked at the price of plants. A solo cup size Rosemary was $19.98! A Black Eyed Susan, same size, was also that price. Are they insane??? Anyway ours were 3 for 10, not too bad.

The new mums all potted. I’m going to repaint the stepping stones. They’ve seen better days.

No more algae.

Freshly laid mulch!

How cute is the Boo Yah sign? I love Halloween!

I still have a lot to do tomorrow, but I’m feeling so much better with all we accomplished today.

Saturday

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

I miss Louisiana. To be more precise, I miss southern Louisiana. I would go back, you wouldn’t have to ask me twice. I loved it; the parades, the swaps with hauntingly beautiful cypress trees dripping spanish moss. We loved all the parades that no matter what holiday was being celebrated all felt like Mardi Gras. It was mystical, magical. This is why I made a small homage on a small wall in our hallway.

The fleur de lis holds souvenirs from parades and trips to New Orleans. I found this awesome book that had drawings of NOLA that I turned into pictures.

Couldn’t forget the king cake baby.

I found this cool picture at a thrift store when I was putting this wall together.

Today was also clean the house day. I have a “uniform” that I always seem to wear when it’s cleaning day.

It’s my Saturday look.

Nothing beats a clean house, especially a clean kitchen. I feel like I spend most of my time there.

We live in a small home that comes complete with a small kitchen. We make it work. Also, I think our stove qualifies as vintage, but it keeps perfect temperature.

It wasn’t all work and no play. If you haven’t watched Harlan Coben’s Shelter on Prime, you should. The last episode comes out this Friday, so then I’ll have to find something else to watch.

Estate sale + new babies

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Estate Sales, Home Stuff, thriftingLeave a comment

I love that Donny is off on Thursdays because our day dates generally consist of finding estate sales. If you like to also go to estate sales, I highly recommend checking out estatesales.net to find some in your area. Anyway, I saw that there was a multi family estate sale starting at 10 am on Thursday and to make it even sweeter, I saw that they had my VERY favorite game from when I was a very little girl. My parents hated me playing it because there were so many pieces and it was played in the dark, So most of the time it sat in the top of the hall closet. I knew I wouldn’t be able to afford it because I had checked online so many times to try to find one and they were hella expensive. I really just wanted to SEE it. We got there at 9:45 and they had already been letting people in. The first thing I saw when we walked in was this older gentleman at the checkout with the game. Of course I asked him if i could just see and explained how nostalgic it was for me. He is a vintage game collector and actually invited us over to his house to play it. I was honestly just happy that he loved it too (he had been outbid on it on two occasions online) and wasn’t a reseller. I really should have gotten his address but it seemed a little weird even for me.

Only the best game ever! Well, from my 5 year old memory anyway.

There were some really cool things. A wool rug that was threadbare in one spot that I really liked. It was only $5, but Donny asked the practical question of “where are you going to put that old thing?”. He was right. I am slightly a rug hoarder and honestly didn’t have a place for it.

Donny had a great idea so we bought something in this picture.

Next we headed to one of our favorite places.

Where we put to use the baby corral we bought

We’ve now added 4 baby chicks to our flock. Well the grown hens and homicidal rooster don’t know about them yet because they will be in our living room for 9 weeks until they are old enough to join them.

Today I ran by my favorite thrift store and found some cute halloween bits.

The soaps are brand new. The cat is sugared vanilla and the ghost is pumpkin eggnog. They were $2 each. The pumpkin tea light holders were $1 each and although the cross isn’t Halloween, it has a heavy silver edge and it was also a dollar so i couldn’t pass it up.

I also got my haircut because Desiree had an opening and she’s the only one that touches mine and Hannah’s hair. Nothing major just the ends trimmed and they layers shaped up but it still feels good when you get a fresh cut.

A Thrifty Rainy Day

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Estate Sales, familyLeave a comment

I woke up to a wonderful rainy day. It was so cool outside that I actually wore jeans which I haven’t been able to do in months, complete with my sloggers.

I had to run to Sally Beauty Supply and was sure they opened at 9. I got there at 9:30 only to find they actually open at 10. Luckily there were a couple of estate sales that happened to be right around the corner. At the first one, which was crowded especially for a rainy day, I found the cutest Halloween cat. It was a gift that whoever owned it never opened. I snagged that for $5.00 but didn’t really find anything else.

I couldn’t figure out what the weird package at the bottom was.

Turns out it is a candle holder, but unfortunately the candles didn’t make it.

At the next estate sale i only found one thing. A porcelain little box that i can put my thyroid pill in on my nightstand. I have to set my alarm for 5:30 to take my pill because I have to wait 30 minutes before I can have coffee after I take it and I am still asleep fumbling around on my nightstand always hoping one of the cats haven’t knocked it off.

I still had a little bit of time so I went to Hope’s Closet, the thrift store across the street from Sally’s and found a cute terracotta moon and a gorgeous cotton duvet cover. I swear that thing was brand new. I threw it in the washer when I got home and now it’s on our bed. I wish it wasn’t white, but I still like it anyway. Both of those totaled a little over $12 so it was a good thrifting day.

It’s cat approved.

Also the kids had open house tonight. Hannah had to work and Donny didn’t get off until 7 so it was just Jackson and myself. The kids go to a very small high school. There’s only about 130 kids. The class sizes are very small and the teachers and staff really get to know the kids. Tonight we got their class schedules so we could go to each class and see what they do. The teachers all had to sign off and then you had seven places to take selfies. After you get the classes and selfies signed off on your kids are entered into a drawing to win prizes. I hope they won, but they won’t find out until tomorrow. Anyway, It was a lot of fun.But now, let me show you one of the selfies because they all look the same. My son WILL NOT SMILE IN PICTURES. He thinks it’s funny to make it look like a mug shot. I don’t think it’s funny.

I promise he’s a happy sweet kid lol

Fall(ish)

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

Today it was 71 degrees when I took the kids to school and it never got above 100. So, yes, in my mind it is Fall. The morning glories were in full bloom which are right outside our kitchen window.

I’ve noticed people have started putting out Halloween decorations. Ours are kept in the shed in the backyard. Because of our homicidal rooster, that sent me to the ER a few months ago, I’m going to have to wait until Donny’s next day off. Jackson and I did find this cute little guy at an estate sale. He was 10 cents so we couldn’t pass him up.

Now it’s time to relax and watch a movie. I don’t know about you, but we never ever turn on the big light.

Birthday + chairs

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

Thursday was Donny’s birthday. We normally don’t do cake. Instead we do a cheesecake or pie. In this case we did both. I also made some ribs, beans, potatoes and cole slaw. It was a good night.

if you have an instant pot you need to make these ribs. My daughter works at Texas Roadhouse and said these are better.

i used baby back ribs. Make a rub with 1 tsp each of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder and brown sugar. Rub this all over the ribs. Add 1 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar to the IP. Put in the trivet and place the ribs in the pot in a circle meat side out. Manual cook for 30 mins with a natural release of 15. Slather on your favorite BBQ sauce and put in a 400 degree oven until the sauce is caramelized (about 10 mins). That’s it. The meat is so tender and falls off the bone.

it’s been so hot here and, for some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to refinish two dining chairs outside in the heat. Well, I finished one and vowed to wait until it cools down a bit to do the other one.

they are very well made sturdy chairs and at 5 bucks each I couldn’t pass them up. I wanted to recover them, but the kids liked the green. It took forever to get all of the white paint stripped off.

i also refinished the top of our antique table. It looks so much better.

i still have a chest of drawers to paint, the remaining chair and 2 bookshelves. Now that the weather is, hopefully, cooling off a little I’ll be able to get it done.