Frugal February -last post

We have company coming and will need extra snacks.  I am trying to use up pantry ingredients.
So,  I made a small batch of homemade buttercream frosting and spread in on a 1/2 of graham crackers for homemade cookie sandwiches- they are delicious and one of my dad's favorites.

Made a new recipe with melted white chocolate chips, pretzels, craisins and pecans.
Sweet N Salty snack Mix

there was 1 1/2 very ripe banana in the banana bowl,  my banana recipe calls for more but I used what I had and baked the banana bread recipe into 15 muffins,  they are fine even with less banana

we had this meatless entree last night, it is really good but next time, I am going to double the veggies to 8 cups.

Easy Noodle Stir Fry

Grocery Budget for February- had $101 left over

Gas Budget- we use a prepaid Walmart card and I don't know how it happened but we had $160 left out of the $200 we budget every month.  It has been so cold and we have stayed home a lot,  but I am wondering if we bought gas a time or two and it didn't get subtracted..... who knows.  I have been keeping records of some things but not that

Not frugal things

Husbands eye surgeries- thankfully his work insurance will cover most of it but it is a new calendar year and we had to pay the deductible.  But he is doing great and can see so much better even with just one eye done so far.  We are thinking his future eye glass prescriptions may be less expensive than his previous very strong and complicated prescription.  

My splurge

I have tried all kinds of things to get my fingernails to be strong and grow but nothing has worked.

So on Saturday,  I got my first ever fake nails and and polish at a salon.  I got short ones as I still want to sew and type and still need to do housework.  

I am very happy with them,  not a break or chip even after a week!  

fake nails are not thrifty and I know about the health questions,  but on this issue,  I plan to just go

with pretty nails, which I have never had before, and enjoy them. 

Joining up with 

Finances on Friday

She has done great in February, only buying dairy and using her pantry and freezer to keep her family of  6 fed. 

February Cricut project and advice to prevent colds

Wow, you all gave me some great advice about cold prevention.

I will buy some odorless garlic and VitD3 today and am also going to look into getting a humidifier. Our air has been extremely dry, so dry that I have not worn my 2 favorite tops that have some polyester content as they just cling and crackle from the static electricity, 

I forgot to mention I have been taking Cold-eeze tabs and this last cold has been very short, just a few days compared to 10-14 days of the others. We have also been taking probiotics for 2 weeks before this last cold hit us. 

Thank you all so much !

One of my 2014 resolutions was to make at least one Cricut project every month. This one is just barely making it in Feb. 

I have a stash of these sturdy Folgers cans. 

I took one of the big ones and added a few Cricut letters, some scrapbook paper and ModPodge and made it into a HotWheels storage container.

It is really simple but it looks nice in the toy room.

I also decorated the other 2 big ones to use to hold the compost scraps before they go to the tumbler. But they are even simple than the car one. They look better than an old coffee cab but not good enough for a photo. 

when the sleeping grandbaby wakes up, we are going to do a couple errands,  then I hope to finish my frugal February posts later today and join up with with FOF at Renaissance

Update on the egg shell plants

These were planted about two weeks ago. One side is all cherry tomatos and I mostly only planted one seed in each cup - I don't like thinning out baby plants. 10 of them have sprouts.

The other side is assorted flowers and they sprouted about the same. 

I have an assortment of saved seeds, I am going to replant the unsprouted cups and hope for more plants. 

The reason for no blog posts this week - I have another cold! I've lost count, this is either #6 or #7 of this school year. I am eating right, drinking Emergen-C every day, washing my hands- etc. I don't know what else to do ( not seeing my germ spreading grandchildren is not an option I would choose at this point) 

This current cold is milder and seems to be shorter than any of the others so I am thankful for that. 

I am listening if anyone has advice