This and that

So we survived another day of high temperatures here in Oregon. Todays high was 98 degrees. This is what we get you know. We get tons of rain and complain about not having any good weather. And now that we have it, were complaining again. Gotta love Oregon.

Instead of sitting in the house driving ourselves insane, I decided to run a few errands. So I closed up all our drapes, turned off the thermostat ( yes I did!) and headed out to run my errands. Why keep my house cool when no one is home? What a waste of energy! I would much rather shop in a store and have a/c on their dime!

First stop was Trader Joe's for their recycled toilet paper. $3.99 for 12 rolls is super cheap. Since we only use it for #2 now, we don't go through as much. This pack will last us about 3 weeks or longer.

Then off to the dollar store. Needed more wooden clips and can't beat a buck. A pair of plastic sunglasses for my oldest even though she knows I dislike plastic. But she is 12 and wants to be oh so cool. Also picked up 2 packs of hair ties. I swear there are little monsters eating all ours up. I think they are 5 yrs old...just sayin. All in all 4 bucks is super cheap for all that.

Next was Costco. If you can believe this, I made it out of their only spending $24! I buy my Wholesome Sweeteners organic sugar 10lb bag for only $7.99. Best price around. Samples suckered us in and I ended up buying 4lbs of cheese filled tortellini's for $8.49 (the sign said $6.49 but didn't notice till I was in my Eurovan and I was not going back into that zoo). A bag of Organic tortilla chips and a 2lb block of cheese. I am amazed how people shop there like its the dollar store. How people pay hundreds of dollars on food I don't know. 50% of the food sold there is prepacked, premade, preservative filled, and unhealthy food. I do have to say they are getting better about having organic food now. Something is better than nothing I guess.

Last stop was Winco which I put off to last because I really do not like shopping there.  Its worst than Costco if you ask me. Although they do have new kid carts and I can put both my girls in there instead of one in front and one hanging off the end. Winco sent out a flyer in the mail with some free coupons in it. Normally I would not buy these items but hey they were free. So I picked up 1lb of strawberries, 1 quart of ice cream, 1 bag of tortilla chips, 1 pack of hot dogs and a pack of hot dog buns. ALL FREE! I had a few things I needed as well. White rice for those soccer nights when I don't have time to sit in the kitchen for an hour cooking.  Some chili powder, cumin,  and banana's then we were off to the registers. I spent only $8 for 2 bags of groceries. Sweet!

When we finally got home we all had a super yummy treat. Some of our free ice cream with triple berry jam that I made last night.  Girls enjoyed sliced strawberries on top. Oh it was good. So so good.  Oh yeah and I didn't turned our central air back on . The house wasn't too bad.  My husband cannot handle heat like us girls do so he turned it on when he got home. You can't handle the heat! (imagine me saying that in a drill sergeant voice). Well it sounded funny in my head at least.

All those blueberries we picked yesterday have been in my dehydrator. They are about half way done now and will be super yummy to snack on or even better in blueberry muffins later when they are no longer in season. I picked up my dehydrator at a garage sale a couple of years ago for only $3. I love it and one day I will replace with a fancy one. Until then, this one keeps truckin!

Well i'm off to water my garden. This heat will not kill off what the slugs have not already tried to eat! Bought some cheap beer to make some slug traps (will see if it works or not) and also will be making some all natural bug spray to prevent those darn bugs from eating my beans! DARN BUGS!!! (fist waiving in the sky)