Searl House Happenings..........

I finally got all of my fall planting done that I had been putting off for the last few weeks.  I also transplanted some things to a couple different locations.  We are planning to get a new storage shed hopefully by the end of the month.  Some of the flowers and things I transplanted were in the way of the spot we would like to put the shed.

Yesterday on the way home from taking Kid #3 to the Orthodontist we stopped at GFS Marketplace and purchased a few items.  I picked up a two -2lb blocks of cheese that we will shredded as needed for different meals. I also got a 1 lb bottle of chili powder and a 2lb 6oz container of dry roasted peanuts.  Total spent $24.50

Today I did my big grocery shop at Aldi.  I am to tired this evening to list everything I bought there but my total was $84.17.  $9.99 of that was on a utility/shopping cart, you know, like the ones you see old ladies walking and pulling around.  I have wanted one of those for a long time and they had them marked down from about $15.  I live close enough that I could walk to purchase some of my groceries but I would need a cart or wagon or something to be able to get them home.  Now I have one :)  I will add the 9.99 back to my grocery cash.  So I have about $59.70 left in my two week budget.  I have to make one more trip to get sugar which I forgot and the kids are out of salsa.  I need to look over my two week menu and see if we actually have to have the salsa for any of the meals or if they will need to just deal without it until the next pay period.

Last week was Homecoming here for Kid # 3 and 4.  I have posted before that we had a surprisingly cheap and frugal homecoming.  Kid # 3 found her dress and shoes at Goodwill for a total of $20.98.  She wore long black gloves from Kid # 5's dress up box.  She already had earrings and she borrowed some bracelets from Kid # 2.  I made her corsage and her boyfriends boutonniere.  I did pay a friend $20 to do her hair.  That may or may not have been pricey but since the friend is 9 months pregnant and did a practice session on Kid # 3's hair before homecoming I think it was OK.   Here are a couple of pics of the corsage and boutonniere :)

For Kid # 4 I found his homecoming clothes at a yard sale.  I paid a total of $1 for his dress shirt and dress pants.  Woohoo for me!!  He needed a royal blue tie to wear with his shirt and it turns out that Kid # 3 and her boyfriend wore that color last year so he borrowed the boyfriends tie.  Kid # 4 and his date opted not to do flowers since neither of them are old enough to have jobs.  I was OK with that if they were.  I did give Kid # 4 $15 to buy the tickets required to be able to attend homecoming.  So total spent for two kids to go to the dance was less then $60.  I do not think that was bad at all and the best thing is they both had a wonderful time.  Both Kid # 3 and Kid # 4 attended the dance together with both their dates which I also think is wonderful!

So that is what has been happening around here.  I will post my Christmas plan update soon!