Holiday Baking and Frugal Accomplishments

I'm happy to be joining in with Frugal Accomplishments today.  I've been enjoying some holiday traditions, baking cookies, writing cards and wrapping presents. Our ladies homestead group had a cookie swap and potluck this week.  I brought gluten-free peanut butter cookies, sesame cookies, crispy oat cookies with orange zest, and apple beet salad.  From the homestead were beets and the eggs for the sesame cookies.  We also had a gift exchange, and I brought a bar of Kitchen Thyme soap and a wool duster.  It was lots of fun to see what the ladies made for the exchange.  I was gifted a mason jar of cookie mix with recipe.  I spent a morning with my sister in law, helping my niece's third grade class make Christmas crafts, which was great fun.

When I went by the discount grocery store, they were in the middle of a major overhaul, so there was very little on the shelves.  The owner had passed away a few weeks ago, and they now had permission to set the store up as they felt was the best use of the space.  It was certainly cleaner than I'd ever seen it, and I'm looking forward to seeing it when fully set up.  I ordered Real Simple magazine, free through using my points on Recyclebank.  I wonder if anyone has experience with AARP Rewards for Good?  I haven't spent a lot of time on there, but it seems as though the rewards are for things like jewelry, restaurant cards, electronics and such, things I don't really need.  I know many are not of the age to be using AARP, but if any of you knows of simpler rewards on offer, I'd love to hear about them.

I made yogurt and kefir, lentil soup with our carrots, and collards and rice with home canned broth.  Gave the pups chopped greens, grated carrots,  cut the brown spots from an apple and grated the remainder for them.  When I cut my round bars of shaving soaps, there are always smaller end pieces left over.  I had sold all of the bars in stock, so I cleaned up two end pieces and packaged them together, so I could sell one last shaving set for the holidays.  Borrowed several books from the library.  Prepared roasted brussels sprouts with our garlic.  Used a Lowes gift card I got from Swagbucks points for a gift.  Using wood for heat, there invariably are sticks that get brought into the house.  The pups have a good time making just a bit more mess for "Mom".

J found a great deal on some especially dense wood, perfect for our new porch floor.  The catch was we had to drive to Asheville to get it.  While there, we also found all the door and window casing we need, for significantly less than I had seen online (a bit over $3 for a 7' length vs around $12).  This  place had all sorts of interesting things, and I found tins of olive oil at 3L for $8, so I got all 5 on the shelf for soap making.  We stopped for lunch on the way home, and had an especially nice meal for a reasonable price.  I trimmed my hair several inches.  Our tree is finally up, the lights bringing cheer and ornaments bringing sweet memories.  Wishing you and yours a very merry holiday!