Frugal Accomplishments for the Week

We took the last home-made suet block from the freezer this week.  Now that both molds are free, I can make two more blocks.

We have been enjoying the birds at our feeder - this is a Downy Woodpecker.  There was some fruit in the back of the fridge at work that no one else wanted to take home (it is all a little shriveled).  I would make applesauce with it, but we already have a lot, so we are trying out our new-to-us thrift store bird feeder.  I am suspecting that if the birds don't make their move soon, the deer will enjoy the apple.

We are having wintery weather (which is fair...considering it is winter), so I have had more indoor time to work on various creative projects that I enjoy.  This week I made some more birthday cards to use at work, along with a few for at-home use.  I made cards for some other occasions as well, such as Mother's Day and Father's Day.  As I mentioned last week, I was recently given a great many paper crafting supplies, so these items were made from supplies I had on hand, with no new outlay of cash.  Pinterest is a great place to get ideas, then I adapt them to the supplies available.

Daughter and I also attended a free library program called "Open Art".  There are all sorts of supplies available to use, and you may create whatever you like from them.  (From the library side of things, it's a way for us to use the odds and ends left from various programs - things we dont' want to throw away, but there is not enough of the item left for another program.)  It was a fun way to spend some time together!  I used some fabric, some adhesive vinyl, and a sharpie to make this picture.  There was a girl at the program who really liked the bird, so with her mother's permission, we gave it to her.

We did some scratch cooking at home this week and tried a couple of new recipes.  Our dinner menu for the week is listed here.  I found wheat bran in a bulk bin at Sprouts for only .89 a pound, so this week I made a batch of bran muffins.  They are tasty, and keep us full for quite a while.  I also made a batch of blueberry muffins, because the bran muffins disappeared rather quickly.  A few days later, a second batch of bran muffins, with some alterations while I'm tweaking the recipe (first batch, a little too wet, this batch, a little too dry - we'll get there!)  It was muffin week, for sure!

I packed my lunch for work, with the exception of one day, when I used a coupon and some of my allowance to get a 6" sub from Subway.  I just got the sandwich, and provided my own side and drink from home.  Daughter took lunch from home all week!

I cut this 'cheese' pumpkin in half, baked it and then puree'd the flesh.  We will use it for soup, muffins, pumpkin bread and pumpkin custard (the filling from a pumpkin pie, but without a crust).  This pumpkin, along with one more just like it (but larger) were given to me after we were done using them as decoration at the library where I work.

Husband made energy bites and incorporated  some odds and ends into them - they are quite tasty!

Last week I made a list of all the things I wanted to grow in the garden.  This week, I went through our seed stash, and this year, all I need to get is some seed potatoes.  I also found some saved seeds from my four-o-clocks and nasturtiums, so I added those to my flower seeds.  Our safe date to plant outdoors is end of May, so it's a little early yet to start seedlings.  I will spend the next couple weeks gathering supplies for seedling starts.

I finished a novel I checked out from the library.  I really, really enjoyed the story.  I will probably write a review/recommendation for the book to be posted to the library district's website.  I also borrowed some books on folk art design and tips for moving closer to a zero-waste kitchen, along with a book of vegan recipes.  While I don't think I will ever be vegan, I like to incorporate different types of cooking, and I've picked up some good ideas that we will try.

We checked out some nature documentaries and beginner's yoga videos from the library as well.

I made fruit punch this week, and used the drained syrup from some home-canned plums and a can of mandarin oranges as part of the sweetener.

Daughter will be attending a birthday party soon - we made a card and re-used a gift bag and tissue that we had saved.  (I also made two cards like this for my own card stash.)

What did you do this week that was Cents-Able?  Share your Frugal Accomplishments in the comments!