Monthly Archives: January 2017

How is the Uber Frugal Month going?

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Really, it’s going quite well. I’m am totally enjoying eating our way thru the freezer and pantry. I’ve been to the market a few times but mostly for fresh veggies and milk and 1/2. I’m also enjoying the no spend part of this as we haven’t spent money on anything except necessities. It’s really quite freeing. I am keeping a list of things I’m thinking about so I can evaluate at a later date. For instance, I’d like to get a sewing machine again. I’ve checked Craigslist and they all look like some 1970’s version. I also joined a local buy, sell, trade, free group and posted I was looking for a sewing machine but didn’t get any responses.  So, I’ll keep thinking about that for down the road. We’ve done great on our budget so that’s good too.

The jambalaya was quite good. I didn’t take any pictures but it was Emeril Lagasse’s recipe jambalaya although I didn’t add the chicken broth or chicken it was really good. Next time I’d like to try andouille sausage to taste the difference. I did use up the last of the Costco shrimp for this dish which was part of my goal. Tonight I have a pork tenderloin in the crockpot, but not sure how it’ll come out so my backup plan is twice baked potatoes I’ve frozen and grilled tofu and a salad. Pork is a funny dish for us. We all like pulled pork with BBQ sauce. So, I guess I’ll just see how it is after 6 or so hours in the crock pot.

Still cloudy and cooler. There was some rain showers this morning but not heavy. I decided not to go to town but wait and bundle my errands tomorrow as I have an appointment for my new Invisalign trays. Then to the gym and maybe the thrift store to look for used blankets for the dogs.

I finished a fun mystery book,’Deadly Desires at Honeychurch hall’.  A fun murder mystery taking place in rural England. I enjoyed it and will look for more by the author.

I don’t have any labs till the end of the month so I have a little more time before I start obsessing over them(ha, Ha,).

 

 

 

Is it over yet??

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We have been under storm watch for days and days. I 80 is still closed and has been for over 24 hours. It takes a lot to close this main pass in the Sierras. The rain was nonstop yesterday and came down in torrents at times. There also was the wind but I think we escaped the worst of it. It’s still raining off and on. I’m really sick of this and hope it passes soon and we get to dry out. There’s flooding all over the place in the foothills and Sacramento Valley.

Not doing too much different. Reading and tidying some. I’ve added a new page at the top of my blog for books in 2017 if you’re looking for something to read.

It’s still very depressing that in 9 days Trump will be president. His tweeting is ridiculous behavior for a president. I mean, what is he  like 14?? Plus he’s always saying something negative or untrue in his tweets. he says he never mocked the disabled reporter, but there it is recorded for all to see. Yet, he still is in denial. Whoa, that is pretty scary stuff.

Well, I hope something gets better politically. Just think of all the people especially like us with cancer( preexisting condition) and what that means for health insurance. That is very scary. Plus the GOP has no replacement. I don’t care what anyone says the ACA has helped millions of people get affordable health care. With the subsidies and credits, it is helping the people who need it the most.  If someone’s premiums have gone up, maybe it has to do with income bracket. I don’t really know. I’d be curious to know what are the income parameters.

Anyway, it’s all kinda depressing so I’m going to go read a book.

I’m trying a new recipe of Jambalaya. I’ve never made it so I have some shrimp to use and cooked rice. I don’t have the andouille sausage, but do have some Adele’s chicken sausage so… I’m going to give it a try. I’ll make the rice with peppers etc first so the veggie can have that and then add the shrimp and sausage later. I’ll let you know…..

Simple Sunday

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WE are in for another big storm with lots of rain and WIND!! Rain I can handle. lots of wind not so much. But since we’ve gotten a lot of trees down there’s less stress. But we still have many big ponderosa pines around. Plus the ground is saturated, not a good combination. Oh well, we’ll see.

We are planning to drive to the gym together and maybe a coffee using a gift card. No spending there except a GC.

Update…. we started to head into town but could barely see out the windsheild so we turned around. I don’t want to make going to the gym a have to do. I’m quite disciplined so it’s not like I won’t go it’s more I can be OC about it and so this was good to just say it can wait till tomorrow.

So, here’s a few pictures of the front room after painting. I dont think it looks different in the pictures but in real life it’s amazing bright and clean looking. I’ve changed a few pictures around and some I may not add.

 

One of things I learned from the blog Louderminds  is that as an introvert, I need less visual stimuli or things around me. This young woman’s blog is quite interesting and I really learned some things about myself. She hasnt written in a while so I hope all is well with her.

So, a rainy Sunday. My sinuses are bothering me, I’ll take some of my Chinese herbs.

 

Dinner is sliders( burgers) and fries. or if I’m not feeling great some kinda of soup.

Five Frugal things Friday

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Let’s see, we are into day 6 of our no spend month. So far doing pretty good. I will need to go to Costco this weekend for TP, cheese, and salad stuff, plus I am going to break the Pact and get my husband and son the Sonic care on sale. It’s $30 off so I don’t want to wait till next month. My son is again back at the dentist with cavities so I think it’s an essential thing, not just a want. So, on to the 5 things

  •  Didn’t buy any extra groceries at all
  • stayed home and didn’t drive any extra
  • made all meals at home and am looking in the freezer for next weeks menu
  • kept the fire going as it’s really cold out and kept space heaters at 60 degrees
  • bundled chores when I went to the gym

there’s probably more but mostly I didn’t do any extra shopping or buy the next season of sherlock like I really really really wanted to.

Tonight is pizza night. I may go into town to go to the bank and look for a dog blanket at te thrift store, but it’s so cold out I may just stay here and be warm.

We are in for another big storm this weekend. My daughter couldn’t get to work last Tuesday and Wednesday as I 80 was a blizzard mess and they even had it closed.  She has rarely missed work due to weather but this storm was just too much. It looks like a repeat next week so we’ll have to see what to do. In the past, she has gotten a hotel and spent one night if the snow is too much to drive home in.

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Rain….Snow…Rain….

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Okay, not very exciting. Raining, Raining, Snowing, Raining. I guess it’ll stop someday. Or is this another flood meant to sweep us away so we can start fresh without Trump as President. ( oh sorry) … Well, it is a thought.

So even my daughter who drives in the snow a lot can’t get to work as I-80 is a snowmageddon. It looks like she won’t make it tomorrow as it’s worse. I think this is only the 2nd time she hasn’t been able to drive up to Truckee.

I’m going out to the gym as we only walked a mile in the pouring freezing rain till I said,”ok, that’s it”.  So I’m going to add some mileage on at the gym.  WE’ve had 2 no spend days, easy when you’re just home. Today is a few groceries. Tomorrow, no spend. So hopefully it’ll make us more aware of our spending habits.

Dinner Tamales and Mexican rice and some leftover Chicken tortilla soup. Not exactly tacos but Mexican at least.

It’s a new year!

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Well, here it is Sunday morning January 1st. A new year and a new beginning.

A fresh start. Sort of….. Really it’s just another day and it’s only the calendar that says January 1st. For me, it’s just keep on keeping on. I don’t really set new years goals anymore. I just have things I’d like to keep doing and some new things I’d like to try.

We will keep walking every day.

We will keep going to the gym. I’m going 3 days a week and I’d like to add a 4th but it’s not necessarily a goal.

I’m going to do the Uber frugal month with Mrs. Frugalwoods mostly to get a new perspective on how we spend money which generally we don’t spend a lot. But there are things that come up and generally, we’re not really financially ready for. So that’s where we hit the snags and that’s what I want to change.

I hope to have a year of continued good health and that my complete response from the  Velcade continues.( It is what it is and I have no delusions about this). It’ll change at some point but I still hope to have a good year. I also hope my husband and 2 children continue to have excellent health.

I am going to try a new recipe a week and follow it to the letter to learn new things.

I read so much that reading books isn’t a goal, maybe not reading so much??? Nah, never. I’m not sure how many books I read in 2016 but I average 2-3 books a week sometimes, so that’s 12 a month so 144 a year. Sounds about right. I’ve enjoyed the blogging for books, it’s fun and I get free books I then give to the library.

We are finishing painting the front room (living room) today. Some trim and window trim. It’s my favorite white, simply white by Benjamin Moore. It is such a great white. This is the last room to paint this year. So it looks nice and fresh and it really needed it. We have a wood stove so that affects the room with smoke when you open the stove or ash that comes out. It turned out that even though moving stuff away from the walls is a lot of work, it was pretty easy to put back together. Less is soooooo much better. I even gave my brother a set of fiesta ware in the light purple that wasn’t my favorite.

last night we had sub sandwiches and watched old movies. We forgot to open the champagne but had a nice BV red.

Well, it’s off to the gym and dinner is a pizza as I had made the dough for Friday, but then we decided to make the Latkes for Hanukkah.