Homebody Getting Back to My Roots

Last week we drove down for a Giants game. I was completely miserable as it was a 7:00 pm game and it was windy and cold! I seriously did not know if I was going to last through the game, but DH bought me a warm Giants blanket. We met our older daughters there (who live in Reno), but my middle daughter leaves in 2 days to start a new job/life in Charleston, SC, 1.5 hours from where my youngest daughter lives with her Marine husband and my sweet granddaughter.

It was a pricey trip, we stayed at a funky hotel that was about 1.5 miles from the park and about 2 blocks from a very nice breakfast place called Rocco's. They had the best coffee!

We said goodbye to the girls and headed north, while they headed East. Dh stopped at a little quilt store in Laytonville, which is about 1.5 hours from home. I fell in love with the little store and ended up buying more fabric.

I have made several this year already and have 4 more about ready to quilt. I took a machine quilting class the day before leaving for SF and am ready to try it out on an actual quilt after using 18 inch block "sandwiches" to practice in the class.

DH made a lovely brunch for Mother's Day and one of the easiest recipes was from Relish Magazine:
http://www.relish.com/recipes/asparagus-and-parmesan-tart/

He also made Alton Brown's version of Eggs Benedict and made a very successful Hollandaise. I made Alton's scones, but threw in a handful of blueberries instead of dried cranberries. It was one of the yummiest brunches we have had. He also made 2 quiches and a SIL brought fruit.

Financially I am matching my medical EOB's to bills and getting them paid, and am sending in the registration for our new security system to the local sheriff's office. Then we have a niece and a nephew graduating from high school this year and I am getting checks written for that.

Last Saturday was a Cookies for Kids with Cancer National Bake sale day and Friday I helped bake and package a ton of cookies. They ended up making $2800.00 in our small town, which was really good.

I was going to help with the sale, but my DH has come down with some very weird flu and has been sick all week. I finally took him to the ER yesterday, where they took x-rays and did blood work, which were all normal. He got a shot of morphine and some fluids along with some prescriptioms for nausea and headaches. He is not much better, but believe it or not the doctor actually called about an hour ago. He is on again tonight's shift and said to bring him back if I felt like I needed to. I thought it was really nice of the doctor to call.

So I am doing pretty well with the food challenge my sister started. Of course DH not eating much for a week has helped! I did buy popsicles today and some already made jello, but otherwise I have been sticking to perishables only.

Here are another couple of quilts I have done or am working on:

For a new mom in my pain group.

For a great-niece who is turning 9, this will be my first machine quilted with a pattern I traced on it using a homemade light box.


This is our new patio that we have waited 10 years for.

Here is the before shot:


I worked in the yard today as it was sunny, but windy. I love being home!

I have just been overwhelmed with life. My pain got worse and worse until I finally asked my doctor to refer me to a rheumatologist in the practice. She thinks I have an autoimmune disorder, so I was put on new drugs and have more tests coming up.

On the other hand, I LOVE being home, taking care of the house and cooking. The only thing I have not liked is shopping since that always causes me a lot of pain or I should say did.

My new doctor put me on a prednisone taper that made me feel much better and it has continued along with the new drugs she put me on.

My sister challenged me to buy no food except perishables for an entire month. That month is going to be May. I have inventoried my pantry and freezer and am just about ready. I do need to do a little bit of shopping. I am almost out of brown rice and whole wheat flour.

So I am back to keep myself on track. I am embarrassed to say I have not been tracking spending and barely pay attention to money, which is ridiculous since I am probably not going back to work any time soon.

I have missed what is going on with everyone too!

I thought staying at home would be a cake walk. Haha. Since taking on the grocery shopping, cooking and management of the home along with my diagnosis, I am swamped.

Since DH works so hard, I feel this need to work just as hard on the home front, which I really cannot do and he does not expect me too either. Dumb work ethic!!

Due to dividends and my continued disability checks, we are doing fine despite my lack of attention to our finances. This must change as my disability checks will be ending.

I am telling you, shopping and cooking alone takes up a tremendous amount of time.

All homemakers, male or female, don't sell yourself short ever. It is a full-time job!!

I have upped my goal to 11 in 2011 quilting/sewing projects. I have finished #2:

I am waiting for the backing fabric (red with white polka dot minkey)for #3:

And have started #4:


Our tax appointment is next week so I have to get on that.

Happily the weather has been beautiful in Northern Coastal California as opposed to the midwest, but again today I heard on the radio that our gas prices are the highest in the continental US!

I am suffering from a stomach bug this weekend, but I have managed to work on the Busy Book for Ally. I have 3 days left to finish since we are traveling to San Francisco Wednesday for their flight to Savannah on Thursday. Actually I am not sure if I am going yet. Anyway here are some updated pictures:



This is to learn to braid.


This is to count.


Matching colors on the right, hanging clothes on the left?

Matching shapes.

My daughter did Toodee and Foofah's faces (Yo Gabba Gabba), but I forgot to take pictures of those. More velcro type stick-on face parts. Just something to keep her busy.

This was in Reno with the gingerbread house she and YD decorated.

Okay bedtime.

I love looking at blogs of women who actually accomplish things…. here is my new favorite:

http://terryatkinson.typepad.com/atkinsondesigns/how_to/

In thinking about Ally and YD on a long plane ride, I thought her Airpline Art Binder would be perfect to send with Ally to keep her occupied (which is nearly impossible these days, she is so busy, busy, busy).

I knew I had some stiff interfacing because 31+ years ago I had the same sort of idea, but an entire book, the directions I found at some Humboldt County fabric store. I had even started the little activity book, but never finished it for my firstborn.

I started digging this morning and found this:

and this

and this

All the fabric is horribly ugly so I am going to recut everything out with cute fabric from my stash, but I have one week! This is a test.....can I do it?

On the money front using coupons and careful planning, I bought a crapload of food last night from Safeway. I used to totally avoid Safeway except for some random ingredient we forgot at Winco, but with the new programs they have, and my careful coupon search, I was able to get some great buys.

My favorite was I had a rain check for Precious string cheese for $2.49 for 16. I had a $1.00 coupon from Sunday's paper, making it $1.49. Our favorite salad croutons were 10/10 at Safeway and they had a $.55 coupon for real California cheese. I picked up 3 grated bags for $1.76 a piece (my personal price until 1/11/11), making them $1.21 for 8 oz.

In Sunday's paper were coupons for Athenos Greek yogurt, which was on sale for 99 cents, I bought 2 and got $1.00 off making them 49 cents. I have never tried it, but like greek yogurt, so what the heck. Activa 4 pack was $1.88 and I had a 50 cent off coupon... anyway you get the picture. It was really fun!

Now I know some women and Jeffrey can do much better, but I am very satisfied.

So off to work on Ally's Busy Book, since they are going with the neighbors to the Discovery Museum's weekly play group in Eureka, and it will give me pretty much all day since they go out to lunch, and then it is nap time. I hope I get lots done!

Happy New Years to Everyone!!

In no particular order:
1. Read 26 books. Finished my first this morning, DH woke me up at 4:00 a.m. going to work early. Finished at 6:30 a.m.
2. Take this time off to organize my home and life like I have always wished that I could (this would be a long list on its own).
3. Squeeze every penny until it screams since who knows when and if I will ever work again.
4. Be nicer to DH and myself, one word....menopause.
5. Quit procrastinating (lifelong problem).
6. Make at least 5 quilts, one for each of my girls and myself. Bonus: Make my two sisters a quilt.
7. Exercise and diet (of course). Lose 15 pounds by July 3rd since I do not want to be the fat sister in photographs.
8. Plan more, do less (a variation of work smarter, not harder).
9. Do another activity as much as possible while watching TV (knitting, sewing, exercising, catching up on blogs/web sites, planning). What can I say, we watch at least 2 hours a night. We love TV.
10. Call my mother more often. In fact I am calling her now.

I have very vague financial goals this year since I am not working and do not know what to expect. My main goal is to live within DH's income only as this may be a permanent way of life for us. I have worked full-time for almost our entire marriage(part-time after each pregnancy for an average of 6 months), so this is a huge change for us. We do have a large e-fund so I know we will be okay a long while, but I also need to continue to save for retirement on top of that.

My daughter and granddaughter have flights home to South Carolina scheduled on January 13th, so the next 10 days are devoted to spending as much time as possible with them, so I won't really get to work on things until they are gone.

Scottrade and transferred the rest of my Roth-IRA money into it yesterday. Now I have to decide what to do with it.

Today is my birthday and we are trying to get from the northern coast of California to Reno. DH thinks it is better to drive in snow than just ice. Hopefully we will travel home this weekend. The thought of getting to see my granddaughter and daughters is making me very excited and less frightened of the storm. Part of me thinks we are just stupid and should stay home.

DH just put new tires on the truck to the tune of almost $1000.00. Aaahhh!!

Long drive so I think I will work on goals during the drive, if I can stay awake. I have a tendency to fall asleep almost immediately on long trips and then feel drowsy most of the time. I must have been one of those babies that would fall asleep in the car if I was fussy!

I forgot to sign the cashier's check that mom gave me and the bank called (US Bank) and had to send it back. Thank goodness for living in a small town. Our renters also forgot to make a deposit or something, so their check also was returned (did not receive phone call, just the check back from Chase), but renters called to let us know).

You may already know this, but they don't send the actual checks back anymore, but a "legal copy".

At 81, mom's recovery is slower than I expected (what was I thinking?). My two older sisters came to help out and did a major decluttering of mom's home.

Inspired, I went through a pile of paperwork on my desk and I found two car registrations that are due on 12/31/2010. The State of California does not like it when you are late paying, and tack on nice little late payments. Thank goodness I found these. I will pay on line today.

My new hobby is paying off with some shopping this weekend. Two new babies in the neighborhood, along with a gift for granddaughter's BFF (next door), a couple of outfits for granddaughter and new socks (I have a sock thing) and new walking shoes for me at Kohl's. DH found a $10.00 off any $20.00 purchase at his business along with the one we tore off our newspaper, gave us 2!! I also had a 30% off coupon received in the mail. For all this I paid less than $40.00. The Nike's alone were normally $59.99!

After that I went to Walgreen's to use that $5.00 in jingle bucks received at the last visit, along with $3.30 in manufacturer's coupons. I checked the ads carefully and then was ready!

After that.... CVS.I had $18.97 in Care bucks along with $2.00 in manufacturer's coupons to use there.

I obviously have got to quit buying cereal!

Unopened boxes.

Opened boxes. Yes that is writing you see on my cabinet. We measured the kids growing up and kids visiting when they were younger (actually we still do this) with the name and date. I have to save that door when we replace our cabinets.

Normally shopping at Safeway makes me cringe, but with their new program and a little planning, I was pleasantly surprised by my last visit there. Again I had $3.30 in manufacturer's coupons to use along with some on-line ones from the Safeway web site. Some highlights of that visit were 2 lb Tillamook cheddar (our favorite) for only $3.99, 1 doz eggs for $1.08 and Barilla pasta for 92 cents a pound. I also picked up some Starbucks decaf Cafe Verona that was on sale for $7.99 and I had a $1.00 off coupon and I can take the empty package in for a free cup! I may use that today while running errands.

Today is the last day to shop for Toys for Tots sponsored by the Marine Corp. I already bought some things, but am going to pick up more. Also the Wags checker and I got to talking (what can I say, I am a talker), and she said something about being "brain dead". When I asked why, she said she worked two jobs to support her 5 kids with deadbeat dads (yes dads). I asked if she had presents for all of them yet, she said no, but was working on it. I tried to slip her an extra $20.00, but she said thank you, but she could not take it. I insisted, but she again said no. I feel such a burden for that mother. I really want to go get a $100.00 gift certificate for the local mall and drop it off anonymously to the Wags store. But I don't want to get her in trouble and I don't know her name. I am thinking I might call the store and ask who was working on Saturday at the front checkout......

Lastly, we are hoping to travel to Reno where our older daughters live. Yongest daughter and granddaughter drove over last week before the big storm hit California. I get a little weepy thinking of not spending Christmas with our girls for the first time ever. We are hoping to try to go over on Christmas Eve, there appears to be a break in the weather. Instead I may be spending the time looking at pictures like this:


This was taken sometime within the last 10 days when Ally had managed to not take a nap all day, but fell asleep while watching her beloved Yo Gabba Gabba or was it Wow Wow Wubsy??

My 81-year-old mother had a ventral hernia repair on Wednesday. She should be discharged today (had some postop confusion).

So last Sunday she calls me, telling me she wants to give two of my siblings and I $13,000. I e-mailed my accountant to make sure that was okay (not sure if you could only give one $13,000 away a year, should have just checked with MonkeyMama).

So Tuesday she brings over the check. After getting her settled Wednesday morning at the hospital, I took the check in and deposited it. I have decided to fund my Roth-IRA with the money for this year and next which will take up most of it being over 50 and all.

Yesterday the bank calls and is sending the check back because I forgot to sign it and they forgot to check before completing the transaction(cashier's check). Also our property manager called and said our renter's check is going to bounce as they forgot to deposit money. Is is because it is December and we are all overwhelmed or what?

In other news, I went to Walgreen's yesterday while mom napped at the hospital. Here is what I bought:


I paid a total of $16.24 along with $5.00 back in Wags bucks. I used $12.50 in Wags bucks along with a few coupons to get the total price down.

I have over $16.00 in CVS rewards to use by 12/28/10.

In food news, I tried a new recipe for buttermilk biscuits. They turned out so yummy:

Perfect with the strawberry jam I made earlier this year. This is the recipe:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Buttermilk-Biscuits-I/Detail.aspx

This is a rose in my front yard taken Tuesday, still blooming even though it is almost time for pruning:


And lastly obligatory cute picture of granddaughter who climbed into her toy box to play:

They are going home in a month so I am spending as much time as possible with her.

My new hobby kept me hopping yesterday. After reading several couponing blogs and sort of dipping my foot in, I made an all out effort yesterday to get going on this.

I was a little more organized, but still have a ways to go.

My first stop was Bed, Bath and Beyond where I purchased "Your Baby Can Read" with a 20% off coupon for my granddaughter. It will be interesting to see if it really works. In the meantime at 2-1/2 she likes videos and books so this goes right along with her current favorite activities.

Then onto Walgreen's where a very helpful checker (who also takes advantage of Walgreen's rewards, reassured me that I was not an "irritating" customer as I warned her I would be. She also gave me the site she follows: www.krazycouponlady.com which morphs into http://discountqueens.blogspot.com/.

My personal favorites are http://www.frugallivingnw.com/ and http://nwcouponlady.blogspot.com/ probably because I live in Northern California.

Since my SIL needs shaving supplies in Afghanistan, I picked up the Nivea deal and some Gillette fusion blades (geez I am glad my husband does not shave). I had no idea how expensive razor blades are.



I did a total of 4 transactions at Walgreen's buying an assortment of stuff, piggybacking the Register Rewards each time. Total spent $44.85, savings $19.43. Plus I have another $12.25 in Wags bucks for my next visit.



Next was CVS where I had a $5.00/$25.00 to start with. I should have "mapped" it out a little better to maximize my use of Extracare bucks, but with my DH along and not adding purchases as I went along and not sure if they take off manufacturer's coupons before totalling, I did just 2 transactions. My first was for Starbucks Via. I had a $1.00 off coupon and a CVS $1.00 in Extracare bucks. Remembering you can only use 1 coupon per item and not being sure if Extracare bucks is considered a coupon, I threw a 99 cent bottle of Milk of Magnesia onto the checkout counter making my first transaction $3.05. My second transaction was for $34.67 with $17.00 in Extracare bucks back.

I got Listerine packs for free along with a tube of Colgate and bottle of Herbal Essence shampoo for free. I also found an incredible buy on one of the end clearance aisles: Secret Clinical Antiperspirant for 99 cents! This is what YD uses and I know I paid about $8.00 for it in the past. My receipt is showing I save $8.80 on each package. I also found Sure men's deodorant for 99 cents. DH consented to one. I got two other deodorants for DH for free from last week's ad. I have a couple on hand, so I think he is well fixed for about a year!



Um yeah, forgot to pull that 75 cent coupon off the Truvia. I had a $1.00 off though already.

After avoiding the checkout line at both drugstores, by the time we got to Safeway, DH was bragging to the checker about "my wife's new job". Notable purchases at Safeway were $5.00 off $15.00 worth of frozen foods (what can I say we love our ice cream) and Almond Accents which were on sale for $2/3.00. I had a Catalina for $1.50 off 3 and 3-50 cent off coupons making them 50 cents a bag. I also had a $2.00 off a meat purchase when buying Coors Light. DH found a package of stew meat marked 50% off to 2.57, making it 57 cents!

Okay it was fun, but by the time dinner was over and dishes were done, my fibromyalgia was so flared up that I had to take 1/2 pain pill and lay on a heating pad for an hour reading my latest Jodi Piccoult novel, checked out from the library, natch!

Since we only have Rite-Aid in my little town and shopping all at once is difficult physically, I need to plan my outings a little better. I do not know if DH was a help or a hinderance. I warned him to not talk to me or tell me to hurry up as this takes time. He was pretty good about it and he did carry the bags out to the car and into the house. I don't know how women drag kids along while coupon shopping. My hats off to them!

Hey guys who are selling stuff. Why not go ahead and give us a link. It might be something we are looking for and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I accidentally bought the movie Matrix in blue ray when I was at Target the other day. We don't have a blue ray player and the purchase is not eminent, so I took it back today.

I had to run to town to my new hand therapist's office to pick up my elbow and wrist braces that were approved by my comp carrier.

Since my new hobby is coupons (or I am trying it anyway), I was ready with coupons for Target. My purchases were so low, I actually thought the checker had made a mistake. She told me right away she was new, when I mentioned I had coupons, and I told her no problem, I was very patient.

So I bought 3 Hasbro games, two 8 oz pkg of shredded Kraft cheese and a chunk of cream cheese.

Coupons were $5.00 off 3 Hasbro toys, $1.00 off 2 pkg of shredded cheese, and off one of the packages of cheese, another $1.00 a cheese and cream cheese. I also had a $3.00 off coupon for general merchandise given to me by Target several months ago. My checker, at the time she was doing my transaction, was having a conversation with the people next in line behind me. Of course she totally messed up my transaction and then told me I had to go over and stand in line at the returns. I was really unhappy and expressed my irritation (nicely since it was not their fault) to the employee in the return area. She gave me three $3.00 off coupons and this was my last one.

So my total came to $12.56, which was less than the 3 games alone would have cost me. So I am thinking if I take a little time befor shopping to glance at any coupons that I may use and print them, it is worth my time (especially since I do not have a job right now).

I turned my application in at the therapist office today too.

My husband is trying a new apple pie recipe:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/the-ultimate-caramel-apple-pie-recipe/index.html

He ruined the first caramel sauce, but his second attempt was yummy, very unusual.

I am making the pumpkin using our usual recipe from Bon Appetit several years ago in a Thanksgiving issue. We usually substitute yams, but this year we have fresh pumpkin from going to the local pumpkin patch with my granddaughter's play group.

I am hoping to get the leaf in the table tonight and get the china out and ready to set the table when breakfast is over in the morning.

Oh and I finally have a price book going. I actually paid $9.00 for a really cool version. (I am not that great at Excel). I really think this will pay for itself quickly.

http://www.uncommonwaytowealth.com/excel-finance-spreadsheets/grocery-savings-spreadsheet-price-book/

It may seem counterintuitive to spend money on a price book when you are trying to save money, but I knew I would never do it without some guidance. Then I stumbled on that link and I am using it already.

I have been pushing myself a bit too hard lately and am paying for it. Need to cut back after tomorrow.

I visited a new hand therapist yesterday (as part of my ongoing comp injury/claim). Since I am a talker as is apparently the office manager, (who was filling in for sick receptionist), we got to talking and I mentioned I used to do medical billing. Are you looking for a job?? I said, "Well I do not want to work full-time". Her eyes lit up even more and she went on to tell me her part-timer was leaving to go back to school and here take this application and fill it out and bring it back to your next visit.

So I will pursue this. I really liked my hand therapist, who completely understood my workaholic ways, always wanting to be accomplishing something. After going back and forth about it I finally said, "Are you a Capricorn too". She laughed and said Yes! So she did understand me!

Therapist gave me some exercises for my cubital bunnel syndrome and trigger fingers, and has ordered up a couple of night braces for me. She thinks she can fix me up so I can go back to my workaholic ways with some modifications! So hopefully I will be able to garden next spring and will be able to get back to knitting and quilting and cleaning and organizing and all the other things I enjoy!!

On the frugal living front, I encountered a woman at Rite-Aid, who had a binder propped up in the seat area of the cart. I thought she was an employee going through and changing prices, but upon closer inspection I realized she was shopping. Being the naturally curious person I am, I asked what her binder was, getting closer to it.... she said it was her coupons. Her mother's women's group just had a speaker about using coupons and how to organize them. I have seen this method talked about on line, but never actually saw one. It was really cool, using baseball card sheet holders with tabbed categories making a very organized holder.

She told me it was very time-consuming and she was not quite sure yet if it was worth it. She did say if you could view it as a hobby, it would be easier. I can't even seem to get my desk organized, much less a coupon binder, but it is something to keep in the back of my mind when my organizing gene finally kicks in! I keep a handful of coupons in my wallet, and I do try to use them.

We still have $1300.00 left for the month for all expenses. So I think it has been a darn pretty good month so far.

Lastly, here is my dog Landon, suffering in his police uniform for Halloween. We and the poor boy are fighting fleas right now. We are vacuuming about 3 times a day, picking fleas off him 3 times a day, sprayed the floors, washed his bedding and got him groomed and dipped a few days ago. Now it is a matter of getting it under control. I will never skip Advantage again! ( I skipped it for several months actually).

I cannot believe I did not post a picture of my granddaughter in her Halloween costume. This is me with her. She pressed her little face against me spontaneously. It was so sweet. She is used to getting her picture taken since her mom is a photographer.

I have been sick for about 10 days now. This is the third day I have been out of bed for more than 1 hour. Now it appears that K&A, who are on their way home from Washington, are sick.

I had two checks that needed to be dealt with an DH and I drank the last of the OJ this morning. Tissues are getting low too.

So I made lists, checked them, printed out coupons and off I went.

Stopped at our bank. Deposited my disability check and cashed another check from a friend who owed me money for a little work.

Then onto pick up DH. He had just let an employee go off on a break, so I ran across the street to Walgreens, picking up a few items:


Then onto Costco for OJ and Honeycrisp apples (the best in my humble opinion, well worth the extra cost:


Oh and Nutella! My first time buying it. Winco was giving out samples the last time I was there and it was so yummy. I am not sure how I will use it, maybe just eat it by the spoonful?

We went ahead and picked up DH's request for Christmas, the cast iron dutch oven. Impulse purchased "cookware" for granddaughter. It was a huge mistake not teaching our daughters to cook. We will not make the same mistake with granddaughter!

Then onto Target for a bunch of good buys. My impulse purchase was the movie Matrix. DH's Christmas gift he will get to open. He loves that movie. My gift to myself was Susan Boyle's Christmas album.

My last stop was at Rite-Aid to pick up more pumpkin and some Fiber1 cereal. They were out of both. A truck is supposed to come in tonight, so I will check back tomorrow. Rite-Aid is very close to my home in my little rural Northern California town.... maybe I will call first.

Anyway since I am 99% sure that I am not going back to work, my goal is to squeeze every penny until it screams. I know I bought a lot of "prepared" food at Target, but with my fibromyalgia, I need some shortcuts. There will be days that I will be lucky to get any food on the table or leave it for DH and it will be okay once in a while.

I did come home from shopping and put a stew in the oven. We watched Chopped last night on Foodnetwork and one of the mystery ingredients was baby turnips. EEK we have turnips in our raised bed garden we planted on 09/06/10. They are probably perfect little baby turnips. We never did thin them because things got crazy and then my diagnosis..... anyway I went out and sure enough, cute little turnips:


So here is our dinner, in our new dutch oven:


My favorite stew. It has a bit of bacon, apple juice, tomato paste and some fresh herbs from our garden (with the cute little turnips), carrots, mushrooms and red potatoes. Oh and a few bouillion cubes since I have no canned beef broth.

On the fibro front, my core exercises, the mega doses of vitamins (have not been on the treadmill since I have been sick) and not picking up my granddaughter and laying around have resulted in a fairly pain-free week. My back is bothering me now though from the shopping and cooking.

I will get up and put the groceries away and clean up the kitchen. The kids will be home tonight.

I have had my ups and downs over the last week. My new osteopathic doctor (who diagnosed me) agreed to disability for 3 months. So my income will be going up since I have only been on 3 hours a day worker's comp disability. I am saving every penny of the additional income towards 2011 Roth IRA.

I signed up for Safeway's new program. I have been pretty lax about finances this last month, after meeting our savings goal for the year. I am trying to get back on track.

However, I have been teaching YD to sew and we are opening an Etsy store with all that beautiful fabric. I keep saying we cannot buy anymore fabric until we actually sell something. If we don't sell anything, I have lots of little girls I can give cute peasant dresses to. YD made a new style yesterday that granddaughter wore yesterday. We don't have a picture of it yet, but it was similar style with a tie in the back.

Here is a sample:


My pain comes and goes. I am going to start pain tracking to see if I can relate food or activities that make it better or worse.

I have also started on homeopathic treatment of rhus (which is poison ivy, weird I know).

My pain pill has kicked in, so off to stretch and walk on the treadmill (I hate to admit it, but I think exercise is helpinig!)

Oh and one more thing, I made pumpkin scones last weekend that were yummy. Here is the link if anyone wants to try them:
http://www.food.com/recipe/Starbucks-Pumpkin-Scones-214051

Happy weekend everyone!

Happy Halloween! I love the trick or treaters coming to the door.

I have had my ups and downs over the past 10 days. I started my day out by sleeping until 8:45, which is unheard of (up today at 5:00 a.m.). I went almost a full 60 minutes on the treadmill (watching Suze Orman and then Till Debt Do Us Part that were DVR'd).

Then YD, granddaughter and I went to Eureka to let GD trick or treat. We met her BFF and mom there and walked another who knows how far. I was a bit concerned about all the walking and I did get stiff later in the day, but my back was surprisingly pain-free. Either it was the exercise or all the new vitamins and supplements I am taking.

Came home to a completely clean living area with a fire in the fireplace. (DH did it after getting home from his early Saturday morning run to work).

Friday evening I took advantage of Safeway's sales and had an employee tell me all about the new Just for U program. Finally after 30 years, our grocery stores are finally in a bit of a war. Employee specifically said that with the new program, prices would be lower than Winco or Costco. Okay I will give it a whirl.

Here is what I bought:

The commercial peanut butter is for cookies, you know the kind with the chocolate kisses in the middle. It was $1.29 a jar. The apple juice was 97 cents! The brownie mixes were 88 cents. I spent just over $34.00. I know not impressive for some of you coupon queen types, but I was pretty excited.

I finally finished the baby quilt for YD's friend who is due any day:

Can you see that little arm and leg?


YD has become a bit obscessed making Yo Gabba Gabba shirts and has opened an Etsy store.


Finally here is the latest picture of my winter garden box:


It has been almost 2 months since planting. Time to start harvesting!

Diagnosed on Tuesday while seeing a doctor that my comp doctor sent me to, who was supposed to fix what the specialist out of the area thought I had. Instead she gives me this diagnosis!

I promptly went to the library and checked out every single book on the subject. Having been in the medical field for over 30 years, I know this started out as an "all in your head" type of thing that many doctors did not believe in, so I was not thrilled for this reason to be given this diagnosis.

However, research has come a long way. Apparently exercise is not going to be optional anymore for me. AND I had better start taking my vitamins along with a B-complex. AND diet, forget anymore yummy fall desserts made with apples and pumpkins... sugar is bad. Milk and gluten are iffy.

I am like the worst person in the world to be given this diagnosis as I am totally not into holistic medicine. Apparently I have to start being into it as this seems to be the only treatment, other than a few drugs.

So this should be fun! At least I live in Northern California where alternative medicine is abundant. Hey maybe I can get my 215 card!

On the frugal front, I am trying really hard because I really don't see myself going back to work now. DH and daughter are both being supportive and daughter has been helping out much more (anything other than what she was doing is much more!)

Luckily before being diagnosed I put up 12 jars of apple butter and 7 quarts of apple filling and froze some more chopped apples (for those yummy fall desserts). I also made an apple pie that morning. The pie is gone so I will not be making another one until I see if this giving up sugar thing helps. The apples were "free" and after buying a new water bath canner and the jars, I still think it was a good investment.


I plan to get better and use the canner in the coming years.

Oh and my left leg is shorter than my right, so I had to get one of those gel insert thingees to put in my left shoe.

I am trying to be positive (since that is another treatment), but having always been a very busy person, it is going to definitely be a challenge to "take care of myself" as I am always taking care of everyone else.

I bought some new fabric that I love! I am also supposed to do something every day I enjoy... quilting!


Of course this little face along with my neighbor's little girl is enough to make me happy.

Okay....time to get up. It took forever to catch up on everyone's blogs! Reading them does remind me of things I need to do and I do appreciate everyone's blogs. Yes I read every entry! That is why I blog so little. I get too caught up in everyone else!

Watching the miners be rescued. What a site! What human spirit, very inspiring....

Watching Team Umazoomi with granddaughter, little female is braiding ribbons, red, yellow, blue, red, yellow, blue...what comes next? Um.... green?? Oh no red!! I obviously am too dumb for these preschool shows!!

Yesterday was a monumentous day for us. I deposited a dividend check that put us over our savings goal for the year. That is with me not working and 2 months early to boot.

Ummmm, what we were spending my salary on? I think I can safely say (well until my COBRA runs out) that I am not returning to work.

$5.99 for Mission low carb flour tortillas?? for 10 of them?? How in the he** did I do that. That is what happens when you live in a small town, your daughter photographed the checker's daughter's wedding and you have known her for 20 years and you are talking the whole time. So I give her the money for the tortillas and quart of half and half yakking the entire time. I did not even notice until this morning when I started to write down yesterday's spending (doing this since went from cash to debit card, see last entry). Okay next time I will go to slightly out of the way Winco in Eureka instead of stopping at easy Safeway in my town.

DH is shorthanded at our business right now. I worked as cashier yesterday for 3 hours and was beat!! It makes me even more determined to keep the house and yard clean, and make delicious frugal meals, stretching every penny he earns.

My menu for the week has already changed since there is still leftover chili and I found some ham that was supposed to be eaten by 09/30, but not opened yet. So I need to find some good thing to make with deli ham. DH suggested we have baked potato with assorted toppings, which is what I will do tonight, but that will not use all the ham. We also have pancetta that needs to be eaten, but that is easy.... pasta dish.

I know, brussel sprouts with ham. That would be delish!

Okay time for lunch and in to get my flu shot.

Middle daughter arrived last night with her large dog. She is snoring beside me on the floor along with my little jack russell.

The venison arrived home all nicely packaged and frozen on Friday. DH's hunting partner paid for it and paid for DH's license. I asked him over dinner Saturday evening how much the license was. That is when he told me he did not pay for it. He asked why I wanted to know and I told him I was trying to figure out how much the venison cost us. He said, "Oh don't do that". Ha ha. This year maybe not so much. DH was in charge of the food this year, so he did spend more than in the past years.

I opened a new checking account at the credit union that refinanced our house. It pays 2.51% up to $25,000.00. I have to use our debit card 10 times a month and pay our bills online. I already set up the bill pay for next month (already paid from other bank). I just started cash only so I am going to have to get DH and I used to using the debit card again. At Costco, we will have to swipe both our membership card and the debit card. When I realized how often DH has to fill up (about every 6 days) along with my fill-up once a month or so, we should have no trouble with the debit card use.

Still for 2.51%, I think it is well worth it.

My little seedlings are doing well:



My disability check arrived today. I think I can count on it for 2 more months, when I have my next doctor's appointment. I had a consult along with nerve conductions and EMGs (NCS were awful) and I have no nerve damage, just muscular problems, myofascial syndrome. I am starting yoga on Thursday, and doctor is asking for deep tissue massage from the comp carrier. I have way more pain that I would have thought after being off work for 2 months. I think I am trying to do too much around the house making up for it (I have worked my entire marriage, while raising 3 daughters), and I feel guilty not being able to contribute financially.

DH suggested yesterday that I "take a week off". I called him this morning after again waking up and not being able to get comfortable and told him I was going to do it.

I am going to cake decorating, but am going to just observe if I feel it is too labor intensive. Last week it was really hard to make the flowers and I could not squeeze the frosting out in a continuous line. My family still thought the cake was cute.

No way are they good enough to sell, but thanks!!

YD emptied the dishwasher and grated cheese for me today. I walked on my treadmill and my granddaughter in her stroller. I only lifted my granddaughter once today when she accidentally turned on the vacuum cleaner. It freaked her out and she came running into the kitchen so I picked her up and tried not to laugh too loud. Ha Ha. She is too cute:


SIL skyped this morning from Afghanistan. Luckily granddaughter woke up and saw him before he had to hang up.

I made apple butter over the weekend from free apples. However, I did invest in a water bath canner, some jars and accessories for $42.00 or so from Bed, Bath and Beyond. I had a 20% off purchase and a $10.00 off $40.00 purchase and the clerk let me use them both for $16.00 off.

I also had $10.00 in Kohl's cash and a $10.00 off that came with our newspaper that I was also able to use together. I bought a back massager and 3 shirts for DH and one for myself for again, $42.16.

Lastly, I have my menus planned for the next 3 weeks.
Here is this week:
Monday-Tacos
Tuesday-Chicken breast stir-fry
Wednesday-Spaghetti and meatballs (ground venison).
Thursday-leftovers.
Friday-Homemade pizza.
Saturday-Lentil/sausage soup and some kind of yummy bread and yummy dessert.
Sunday-Pot roast, carrots and potatoes.

A deer buck that is. However, it is not really free food when you consider the gas, the food, the tags, etc. But at least we will get some of that back in good free meat. However, I only like it ground up for barbecued hamburgers, etc. DH loves it all. I could probably stand making some into "buck" stroganoff or stew or something, but DH just likes to flour and fry it.... yuck!

Went to mom's today (she is still visiting my siblings) and picked about 2 cups of thornless blackberries and 3 zucchini, small, medium and large. Since it had been raining lately on the North Coast, I did not go over to her house/garden for several days.

I am enjoying my new hobby of cake decorating. I am trying to get all supplies from Michael's for 50% off, so far I have. Unfortunately I ran out of Crisco and powdered sugar from Winco and had to run to Safeway. Aaach! It was expensive at Safeway. Must remember to stock up next time I am in town at Winco. I have to admit some of my flowers don't look a thing like they should, but my family thinks everything so far is cute!


I am starting Financial Peace University tomorrow at a local church. I have been using the envelope system, but totally not being disciplined about it. Since I already purchased the stuff at the site on special, apparently I don't have to pay for the local classes, according to the leader anyway.

YD was watching Till Debt Do Us Part today with me and said she was interested and would watch the others recorded on the DVR. She and DSIL tried to listen to Financial Peace CD's before SIL went to Afghanistan while driving home from San Diego. DSIL called me laughing saying he couldn't stand it, he sounded too much live a televangelist. I think I have conviced YD to try again without DH (he has arrived safely in Afghanistan, and he called right after the news about the downed Black Hawk helicopter today).

Disability check arrived yesterday. I have an appointment out of town on Friday for carpal tunnel testing. Not sure how long disability will last, I am sure the comp carrier is working towards closing my claim, which I realize is going to happen. Just every day that goes by I feel more and more that I cannot go back to transcribing. In fact, I had better stop typing now!

Ally comes running when she hears the coffee grinder and says, "making coffee?". She also loves to hear the kitchenaid whipping.

My girls are home, my SIL is in Afthanistan and it is time to really start with the menu planning/shopping.

I know some here are doing the same and I have a link for you:

http://orgjunkie.com/

Each Monday they have so many blog links with menus for the week. This one is really good as it also has a shopping list:

http://www.savingadvice.com/blogs/cp/entry_add.php

Now I just have to do it (plan the menu)!

Tonight is my second cake decorating class. Last week was really fun, but hard on the wrists. This was not the smartest class to take in the middle of being evaluated for carpal tunnel syndrome. I will wear my elastic wrist braces tonight and hope that helps.

32 years. Eeek! It hit me 2 days ago on DH's birthday that I had known him for 40 years. Boy that really makes me feel old, but then I met him at orientation day of Junior High.

After a few beautiful Indian Summer Days here in Humboldt, the rain has arrived, but hopefully not for long. DH is leaving work early and we have a free day planned. Not sure what we will be doing. Originally I wanted to drive down to Ferndale and have lunch, but now that it is raining, I dunno what to do.

After my financial tantrum in April, not only am I paying all the bills, but I have taken over pretty much all household spending, cooking, cleaning, etc due to my unexpected "retirement".

It is definitely my job to stretch every dollar. Last night we had leftover steak sandwiches (leftover from DH's birthday dinner). We bought individual rolls at Safeway (3/1.00), sliced steak thin, used grilled onion and red bell pepper from Sunday's carne asada leftovers and a slice of cheddar on the other side of the bread, stuck under the broiler until cheese melts. Yum!

I think we are eating out today, either lunch or dinner, not sure which, will depend on our mood. I paid cash for oil changes for both trucks, one yesterday and one today. I dropped Landon off at the doggy beauty parlor after the oil change. I took him for a walk and after the overnight rain, he was pretty dirty. I had to take off my fleece jacket and lay on DH's truck seat (since it was so clean)! Luckily he stayed put the entire ride to the beauty shop.

Am I being frugal? Is cash only really helping? All I know is that since I quit my job and am now a stay-at-home wife/grandma and took over the responsibility of shopping, I feel like all I do is spend money. But maybe that is because I did not do the grocery shopping before quitting my job. The only spending I did was "personal"?? DH has done the shopping/cooking for over 30 years! Now I do it .... with his input.

When you guys would talk about no spend days, I would think what the heck.... most of my days are no spend days!!

Now I understand!!

Part of the problem is getting into the routine of shopping and cooking. Like we run out of milk for my granddaughter or fruit or veges.

I think I need to plan better. No make that I need to plan better, I don't think, I know! I need to look in the frig and cupboards before I make a grocery run, shake the milk carton. I was just at the store on Wednesday and then had to go last night when I realized there would be no milk for her for breakfast, and she loves her sippy cup first thing in the morning. What is a grandma to do? Run down to Safeway and buy Lucerne brand 100% lactose free milk since I used my only Lactaid coupon. It was $3.79 a gallon. It was $3.00 at Winco (Darigold brand) and I need to make sure I buy enough to last between trips.

So that is the plan.....planning better!

Granddaughter was out of milk and she needs the Lactaid type. I actually remember I had cut a $1.00 coupon out of a magazine for Lactaid. I usually get Darigold because it is cheaper than Lactaid, but with the $1.00 coupon, Lactaid was cheaper than the non-name brand (in this case Lucerne since I went to Safeway).



So I bought that along with a $1.00 bag of spinach and $1.00 chopped up mushrooms for tonight's pork stir-fry dinner. Pork was given to us by the neighbors when they moved so San Diego.

I have about $20.00 left in cash for the week, but I only took out $100.00 instead of $200.00. I am still tweaking how much to take out since I am still using AMEX to buy gas at Costco (cheapest place to buy it).

Did I read the P&G site incorrectly. I could have sworn the San Francisco Chronicle was going to have the Proctor and Gamble Super Saver in it this weekend. So I spent $3.00 to buy a Chronicle and no P&G saver.

It seems like printing coupons is expensive the way my printer goes through ink cartridges.

Part of me thinks I should just stay away from coupon sites because I just find myself getting frustrated reading about everyone else's great deals.

I am going to try couponing, but slowly. My local paper has Smartsource only. Most grocery stores do not have coupons having around (like I have seen when back East visiting my daughter), and no one ever doubles.

But what the heck. I go into CVS on Monday to try to take advantage of their ad for P&G products, get $10.00 back when spending $25.00. Well it so happened we were on our last toilet paper AND paper towel roll. I was just sick and I love Puffs! I am all set.

So I snatch up the Charmin and Bounty, go find the Puffs 3-pack I saw pictured in the ad. Darn Diet Pepsi is already gone (4/$10).

Long line at checkout. I leave, and guess what, no $10.00 off next purchase. My receipt says $22.98 met for extra bucks. Oh well, I have to get home. I will stop and get Pepsi and fulfill the rest for the $10.00 rebate later in the week.

Yesterday, back in town for glaucoma testing. Go to same CVS. Aaahh Diet Pepsi is in. Pick up 4 of them for DH (I occasionally drink Diet Coke, Pepsi yuck!), go find the single puffs boxes, pick up 3. Go to check out, the man in front of me is buying tennis balls that ring up the wrong price. Off the check and he go to check the price. I wait patiently (now that I don't have a job, it is way easier to stand in line without getting irritated).

My turn, the puffs do not ring up 99 cents. He checks the ad. I have the big boxes, it is for smaller boxes. How many places in the store does CVS have tissues? Apparently more than I thought. I go off to aisle 25 to find the right box (not by the pharmacy where I found the ones I had).

Back in line, everything rings up. I spend my last $23.00 cash for the week for groceries because of the diet pepsi and the Fiber 1 cereal I purchased. Long line in back of me. I was not going to separate out and pay with my separate envelopes of cash!

Which makes me think I should just lump my grocery/household spending into one cash category, then I would not have that delimma.

Onto Costco to fill up the truck (daughter and SIL are using my Camry while SIL is home on predeployment leave, since their cars are both in SC, where they actually live). Regular gas is $3.119999 a gallon at Costco (cheapest place to buy gas here). Why are gas prices in Humboldt County usually highest in the nation?

If you have lots to do and are very motivated, do not drink a glass of wine with hummus and crackers at 5:00 p.m.

Suddenly all I feel like doing is drinking another glass of wine and doing nothing......

Two years ago I became a grandmother. One of the best days of my life!





I think I am being pretty restrained, here are her gifts. I finished the sweater last weekend in Tahoe.



She is spending the day in Disneyland with her daddy (who is deploying to Afghanistan soon) and my daughter, her mommy. Hopefully she is better today after being seen in the ER with an allergic reaction apparently to Japanese food. My daughter said 15 minutes after they gave her Benadryl and something else (probably a steroid), who face swelling went down considerably. She was having croupy sounding breathing too. Very scary. They missed their breakfast with Minnie and Mickey.

Also Campfrugal asked for the recipe and here it is:

PEANUT BUTTER BLOSSOMS

1 3/4 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. peanutbutter (smooth)
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. shortening
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pkg. Hershey Kisses

Mix all ingredients together except for Kisses. Drop by spoonful, shape into ball, roll in sugar.
Bake at 375 degrees 10 to 12 minutes on ungreased cookie sheet. Remove from oven. Press Kiss on cookie and let cool.

I generally double the recipe and use dark chocolate kisses. I don't roll in sugar, and I usually put back into the oven to let the kisses melt a little bit. I also use butter instead of shortening.

Happy August 18th!

First of all, I am so proud to say we did not eat out during our entire Tahoe visit. We did buy deli sandwiches in Reno while bridal dress shopping with MD. On the drive home, we stopped in Redding, CA to pick up some serving dishes we loaned for the family wedding, and I got deli meat, cheese and mayo along with some Costco rolls out of the ice chest and made sandwiches.

DH must be getting kind of used to me being a housewife, because he told me "I want 2" as he passed through the kitchen with another load of serving dishes, hauling them to the truck.

Monday was a mad work around the house day, unpacking, laundry, cleaning the house.

Today I cooked and helped DH prepare for his annual bow hunting trip. I baked peanut blossoms, made macaroni salad for the first time, garlic butter, shucked corn and prepared fresh asparagus for roasting.

Then I cleaned the kitchen up after he left. Whew this housewife stuff is tiring!

My disability check arrived on time, our rent check arrived late, but had the late fee added, so I deposited those yesterday.

Need to pay rental house payment tomorrow along with our gigantic AMEX bill. I had physical therapy this morning too. It has been a busy couple of days.