Awesome "high finance" day!

Yesterday was so cool! I believe I saved or made more than I spent, and considering that it was my fall clothes shopping day, that's pretty great! First off, a breakfast of free cereal! Albertson's had it on sale for $1.50 per box. I had coupons for .50 off each box. There was a rebate of $10 for 10 Nabisco/Post products. So I bought ten boxes, and we are slowly eating them. When you're in a hurry, there's nothing quicker.

Then I put up grape jelly and grape pancake syrup, eight jars each. I figure that's worth a dollar a jar, or $16.00. My husband had the juice left over from his wine making, so it only took an hour. Good wages, huh?

For lunch we had leftover crustless broccoli quiche and chopped tomatoes. Even though the frost has ended the garden except for a few things, the tomatoes keep ripening in our back room.

I had to go to town, 15 miles away. I offered to tutor a member of our church. She's a nurse from the Philippines, and has to pass a really grueling test  next Friday. I'm an English major, but her test was a challenge for me!

On the way, I stopped at Rite-Aid to return some makeup. The first two times I used it I loved it, but the third time I started itching like nobody's business. Since the ones I returned were unopened, the manager agreed to give me $30 credit. I spent it on things I had been wanting and couldn't afford. Two canned hams, pineapple, two needlework magazines (one was $10 -- what's the world coming to?) and a newspaper that had one of my articles in it....

I trade my writing skills to the community concert series for two season tickets. We love them!

After I tutored Cecelia for two hours, I went to the local thrift store. I found three really nice dressy blouses and a straight black skirt for less than $10.00. I also bought two wonderful books, a Madeleine L'Engle and a Jan Karon, and an iron nutcracker for $2.00 altogether. We grow hazelnuts, and that little device cracks them without mashing the nutmeat! Better than the two-legged nutcracker we've been using!

At Walmart I found a new pair of every day shoes, a blouse, and a six-pack of undies. I think I'm set for the winter now. Total at Walmart, $48.00.

When I came home, it was time to make supper. I was late. I had planned to make homemade noodles with ham from the little can of ham in the pantry. But it was too late, and I didn't want to stop and buy a can of mushroom soup. Instead, I used one of the new hams, some radiatore pasta, and broccoli from the garden. Then I made a cream sauce and added a couple of ounces of good cheddar. The cream sauce is really easy. Just melt three tablespoons of butter in a little sauce pan. Stir in three tablespoons of flour and 1/4 teaspoon of dry mustard. No salt in this one, because the canned ham is plenty salty. Then stir the diced ham and cheese into the sauce. Let it sit while the pasta finishes cooking. Add some chopped broccoli to the boiling pasta for the last five minutes. Then drain off the cooking water and stir in the cream sauce and ham. Since I used equal portions of ham, broccoli, pasta and sauce, it was a really nutritious meal for four. Yup, we get it for supper tonight. And the cost was very low. I only actually paid money for the pasta and the cheese, (both on hand already) and the cheese was in the markdown section so it was just over $1 a pound. I consider the ham a windfall since I returned unneeded makeup to get it.

By the way, the crocheting magazine is wonderful! I may make myself a really gorgeous sweater!

But right now I'm knitting a bath mitt out of ecru Sugar and Cream cotton yarn. The pattern was free from the Lily website. It looks very chic. I'm thinking that if I can manage to do it right, (I don't know much about knitting but this is small, and how else do you learn?) it would look terrific in a little thrift store basket with a tan towel and a few bars of lavender soap (homemade). Our eldest daughter loves that soap. In fact, she gave me the recipe a few years ago, and we try to keep each other supplied. Think Christmas! Or birthday!

Today we tried out some of our new grape pancake syrup. A great new flavor for us! Later we'll go cut up firewood and bring it home. A friend has hundred-year-old trees that are dropping branches. No one has cleaned it up since her husband died, ten years ago. It saves her $10 an hour to pay someone, and we keep our toesies warm all winter! Then I'll put some tomatoes in the oven to dry, and chop some parsley from my flower bed to dry. I'm planning to drink parsley tea all winter, since we have such a lot of it this year. After that, I hope to sit and relax and knit on my bath mitt peacefully until bedtime.

Life is good.

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