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Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Are you staying frugal?

Eats lately:
I have forgotten to take pics of what I'm eating. Though these two photos may reveal why I have gained five pounds over the past several months. Well, part of the reason. (The other part would be potato chips and Top-the-Tator dip.) I can't seem to curb my fruit cravings. (Or chips and dip.) Also, portion control has become an issue. Anyway, first pic is of Spam,spinach & eggs topped with white cheddar and a clementine. Second pic is pre-seasoned chicken breast from off the grill, salad and cottage cheese with pear slices.

Frugal doings:
>Bought two graduation cards at the dollar store at 2 for $1.
>Refashioning a keychain out of a couple gifted items and a clearance purchased item.
>Repaired the crotch of J's favorite pair of pull on pants. He has a habit of wearing pants over his pajama flannels a lot and it increases the wear on his pants, grr. His second pair are waiting to have the button replaced that had popped off a few days ago. Again, worn over flannel pajamas. Men.
>J took on a portion of another contractor's route. He's doing a month long trial run before committing completely.
>Since we do not have health insurance, I have been taking advantage of a slow period at work and have been resting my legs a lot. I've had lots of knee pain (both knees) for the past several weeks. It seems that the concrete floors and long standing periods at work may be contributing factors.
>Bought a solar lantern for $15. I like the idea of having it for power outages, as well as reducing electricity use by using it to read by in the evenings. Now if I could just remember to get it out in the sun to charge it...
>Went back on the sub list as a school lunch lady. It's only a few hours at a time and may only happen twice in a school year. But I like the little ones (only subbing for the elementary school) and one of my friends is a former coworker and I enjoy working with her, too. Also, in the summer when there is no school it is our busy time at my "real" job as the tourists come to town.
>Considering selling my Leslie Sansone dvd's and just doing some regular walking once my knees are good to go again. The kicking in those videos were when I first realized the knee pain some years ago and I think it's time to let them go.
> Bought two bookmarks at Barnes & Noble from their 50% off tables, as well as a tote bag, that will be a couple of stocking stuffers and a birthday gift.
> Noticed in my new members coupon booklet from Sam's Club that they offered a free dozen croissants in addition to their other already advertised freebies (rotisserie chicken, dinner rolls and an apple pie). It's far more bread than this house can consume while it's fresh, so I froze a few of the dinner rolls and croissants and J will bring some to his mom, along with part of the pie.
> Used rhubarb from garden to make some tartlets that I brought along for coffee at a friend's house. We also played Mahjong again.
> Took chicken salad to work for lunches instead of buying something there. Although we have cheap food items, it comes at the expense of my health.
> Received a check from US Treasury that they say is due us because we've overpaid. I think they've made a mistake. I put it into our tax account at the bank until they catch up to it or I call and get it straightened away. Until then it may as well grow interest.
> Downloaded a few books onto my kindle from the library. I haven't done this for a while as I prefer to hold an actual book. But I haven't found any good ones lately. This feels less wasteful of my and the librarian's time and I can delete them right away if they don't catch my interest fast enough.
> Came across some forgotten, frozen blueberries in the freezer from several years ago. I heated them with some store brand pancake syrup, a bit of vanilla and a gob of brown sugar to make a blueberry syrup for J and D for their waffles.
> Have greatly reduced meat purchases as I still try to reach the bottom of our freezers by using what we have. It's gotten frustrating as we don't tend to rotate that stuff to the top. Grr.
> Have spent time with two friends where we played cribbage and had coffee together as well as played Mahjong and ate a lunch of one friend's Memorial Day leftovers.
> Along the line of game playing, we have discovered that a group of people get together in our little hometown on Thursday evenings to play Mahjong. We will be going for the first time tomorrow night!

Sights lately:




Oriole, couple turkey vultures (neighbors guinea hen had just been hit = roadkill supper), hummingbird, evening grosbeak and a little bird with a strange growth on its leg.


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