Tag Archives: freezer challenge

Friday Things

Posted in budgets, California, camping, cooking, Death, swimming, travel by

I have most of my budget ready for April. Some DMV items (Santa Fe)need to be paid for, and I need to do a smog on the Santa Fe. Also, the next installment for Allstate will come due in April. I ordered a replacement battery for my Dyson 8 from Amazon. I haven’t ordered too much over the last few months, so I’m pleased with that. Amazon is almost a necessity for things like that. I also need to order the porta-potty for camping when we go up to Tahoe because we’ll be in my son’s tent for that trip. There are very nice bathrooms at Nevada Beach, but that doesn’t help me at night 🙁

I plan on doing a freezer challenge to lower food costs. Last month(end of Feb and March through the 25th), came in right under $400. That includes a Costco shop, which usually (always) includes some stock-up items. So overall, I’m pleased.

The send Dad off in New Brighton ended up being a little spendy, but not bad considering the room didn’t have a microwave to heat food up. I used Starbucks GC when I could, and that saved some money. My daughter also paid for a few things. The biggest expense is a hotel room, of course. That’s one reason I loved Rubi because over the course of the time we traveled, staying in Rubi covered the cost of the RV vs hotels. Well, sadly, that is not my life now. Of course, I still need to sell Rubi and just haven’t bothered yet, especially since my son stays out there when he is here.

I’m already checking on hotels in Napa for a one-nighter. I wish I could stay at the Fairgrounds campground that B and I loved so much, but it’s not possible. I found a very nice room for around $200, and it does have a mini kitchen and a seating area, which is the one thing I would have liked in the other room. My daughter works T-F, so it has to be a Sunday night. I’ll have to see whether I can swing it even with it going on a card with the other things I have this month.

We have a change in the weather coming next week, cooler and rain. This has been such an early spring.

I plan on going to the pool this morning if I can get going. Since lap swimming ends at 9:15, I need to be there earlier. I’ll see how I feel by 7:30. Yesterday, I washed sheets and pulled out my summer curtains to iron. I also made up some chicken enchiladas with green chile sauce. That used up some frozen chicken. Then I pulled some black beans that had been frozen in the Souper cubes and heated them up. Very tasty.

My daughter has been weed-eating as everything is growing so fast. Last year, with Barclay in hospice, the weeds took over, and I had to hire someone to come and do it because they were out of control. This year, she’s keeping up on it. She also planted the 2 lavender plants I got at Costco. I don’t do much in the yard these days, but I love sitting out every day looking around at how beautiful the yard is and how fortunate we are to live here.

There’s Chester checking things out and the wisteria.

Five on Friday

Posted in Blood test, books, California, camping, Pantry by
  1. I went to the gym yesterday and that was good. I plan on swimming tomorrow but we have another winter storm coming in. There was a bazillion truck on the freeway this morning. There were also 3 CHP’s out there too.

2. I plan on going to Winco after the pool too. The only groceries this week were from the Holiday market and it was to fill in stuff before a more extensive shop. I saw in the Costco ad that coffee is on sale so we will plan a Costco trip next week.

3. I have the freezer almost empty which is sort of amazing. I’ll start restocking the freezer with this next Winco and Costco shop. I know for sure we need more frozen veggies, hash browns, fries, and stuff like that. Plus I need to make some ready-to-eat meals like mushroom crepes as they do freeze well. Plus tortillas which freeze well and English muffins.

4. This week from the pantry I used my canned salsa, white bean ragout, veggie soup, and a jar of black beans. These were all pressure-canned and shelf stable. This year my goal is to make 6 new pressure canned recipes.

5. My labs won’t come in till next week so I’ll just have to see what they bring. The week of March 15 we have reservations at New Brighton but it’s a BIG??? depending on the weather. We really don’t want to trailer in rain if we can help it.

This is 6 but I thought I mention a new to me author, Phillip Margolin. I like his Robin Lockwood series. Quite enjoyable.