It’s been mostly a frugal week. I didn’t do any grocery shopping but tomorrow I will stop in Trader Joe’s for some things to take with us to Napa and for home. Mostly whatever we need we’ll go buy there. The TJ’s in Napa is one of the largest we’ve been in and a flagship store. There were lots of things that we hadn’t seen in other ones.

My monthly budget is almost set. I want to factor in Christmas money and figure out gift cards. We don’t really have family to send gifts to but I give my brother cash, and my brother-in-law ( Heidi’s husband) a gift basket. Last year I did Point Reyes Cheese which is a women-owned co-op. Their cheese is amazing. Heidi always loved charcuterie boards and I figured Richard probably will too. So I’ll do that again this year. Other than that, the kids get gift cards, cash, and some small things.

For Thanksgiving, I already have a Diestal turkey I bought last year after Thanksgiving. I’m debating whether to just buy their turkey breast as it would be easier to cook. Since Thanksgiving will be on a Dex day I told everyone it’ll need to be super easy for them to cook. I’ll think about it. I’ll have simple side dishes that they can put together too. My son likes to cook so it shouldn’t be too difficult. The other option is to do Thanksgiving on Sunday and then whatever on Thanksgiving Day.

I’ve put together a new binder of rotation meals that we eat often and recipes for them. The idea came from Rhonda over at the Down to Earth blog. She talked about having 40 meals in rotation and the recipes. I liked the idea since we basically eat the same things like tofu in some form, pasta, chicken in some form, beans, rice, etc. She is now alone as Hanno died a few years back but she is an inspiration of living simply. She does have 2 adult sons who live nearby. She’s in Australia BTW.

Today is just a home day. I plan on making a no-knead sourdough boule. It needs an overnight rise so I’ll bake it tomorrow. Tonight is homemade pizza. I need to wash a few inside windows in the sunroom and just do an overall tidy-up.