I will be taking it a bit easier today. I overdid it yesterday and I am hurting quite a bit more today. I took a nap and watched some You Tube this afternoon.
Hubby had some granola for breakfast before he went to a doctor’s appointment. While he was out, he stopped and picked up 2 prescriptions for us. They were on his route. I had an egg and some avocado for breakfast.
I had a Walmart delivery this morning. I am happy to tell you that they had eggs. They weren’t cheap but at least they weren’t out of stock.
I purchased 2-18 count brown eggs for $ 7.14 each. They were cheaper than the white eggs. We were needing shrimp for a recipe and it was on clearance for $ 5.72. The bacon was 24oz. and was $ 5.97. We were down to our last Half and Half so I got 3 for $ 2.78 each. The lime juice was $ .96. I got 2 chili powder, 2 garlic powder, and 2 garlic salt for $ 1.00 each. The total was $ 45.27 including the tip. These are basics in our house that we needed. Then I also filled in my gaps with the spices.
This was so delicious that we added it to our cookbook. For some reason the butter rose to the top. Perhaps we didn’t stir it in long enough. But it didn’t matter, anything with butter makes it taste better. She says in her recipe that this serves 6. But we believe it will serve us for 4 meals.
Hubby is doing what he can around here for me. He took apart the part of the Dyson vacuum that holds the dirt and cleaned it really well with soap and water a few minutes ago. He will leave it overnight to dry. He had already cleaned the roller when he put the new end cap on.This vacuum looks new and it is about 19 years old. The better we can maintain what we own, the less money we will need to spend on replacements.
That’s it for today. It’s all the energy I had to get things done. I have to learn to slow down a little but it is not easy because I have done so much every day all my life.
Breakfast this morning was an egg and an avocado before I went to a doctor appointment.
While I was out I decided to do many errands along my route so as to save as much gasoline as possible. I went to the hospital that I was recently in to pick up copies of my X-rays and CT scans to bring to my neurosurgeon next week. I stopped at the President’s office while I was at the hospital to deliver a letter about the wonderful care that I got from 2 nurses and 2 PCA’s. I also asked her to deliver the Thank You notes and $25. grocery store gift cards that I purchased for each of them to them. I had planned on giving them to the CEO but I was told his office is downtown Buffalo. I am not up to making that trip right now.
I stopped at our town hall to take the application that my doctor signed this morning for a disability parking permit. I never thought I would see the day I would need one but this back and nerve problem has changed that.
I picked up my $100. replacement gift card.
The last errand was to Top’s to grocery shop some of the loss leaders. It was Senior Discount Day so I got 6% off all of it. This is what I got at Top’s: 2 Porterhouse Steaks on B1G1 sale- $ 21.05 for both of them, 1 lb. bacon -$3.99 with Super Coupon, 5lb. of potatoes – $ 2.48 with Super Coupon, 3 large cantaloupe – 3/$10., 2 Monterey Jack Cheese – $ 5.98 for both, and 2 Shredded Swiss Cheese – $ 4.69 for both with a Super Coupon. Total after the 6% senior discount was $ 45.30.
We have been craving a steak but didn’t want to pay full price for one. This was the deal I had been hoping for. These will make a total of 4 meals for us. Whenever I can get bacon for $ 3.99, I buy it. The cheeses were the only things I was missing for a recipe I am making tomorrow night. You can’t have steak without a potato. These will be kept in a basket in my cool basement so they last the winter. These are the same cantaloupes that we were eating earlier this week. Hubby wanted some more. So I obliged.
We are having an eat what you want dinner. Hubby is fixing fish sticks and coleslaw. I am eating homemade fried chicken that was in our freezer. I will have a salad with it. The fish and chicken will get heated up in the air fryer. This meal will be easy because I overdid it today. I am very tired and going to bed after I talk to my sister on our weekly chat.
Fed Ex picked up the blanket that I am returning to Walmart(free shipping) so that I will get my refund.
Hubby ordered an end cap at 15% off for our Dyson vacuum cleaner to repair it. It came today and he fixed it.
I got my property tax bill today and it was just under $4900. It increased by $753. in a year because of the increase in assessment. Between this bill and the school tax bill of $6111. last September, we are paying $11, 011 in taxes for a year which is a huge amount. Fortunately, I can pay it this week because we budget for our taxes all year so the money is set aside. I will have to up our 2023 budget to $12,500. for these taxes or about $ 1042. a month.
I ordered 2 sets of sheets for each of our new adjustable beds. Two of the sets were on clearance marked down from $30. to $ 14.80 each. I had reward points of a $1.00 at Walmart that I put toward that purchase. I went through Rakuten to get a 3% rebate. The other 2 sets I purchased at Amazon. They are cooling sheets that Hubby wanted to try. They were $ 30. each which I paid with an Amazon gift card. I will earn Amazon reward points for this purchase. I will also earn reward points by using my credit card for the Walmart purchase. These were necessities since we have no Twin XL sheets. Next I will have to look for a good deal on blankets.
We had leftover scrambled eggs and ham. I put cheese on them and quickly heated them in the microwave. Then I put them in a low carb wrap with sour cream and salsa, just like yesterday. It was a yummy breakfast!
Dinner will be bean soup which was absolutely delicious last night. I froze the leftover soup for a couple of other meals.
Entertainment tonight will be the Buffalo Bills vs. Bengals game. Go Bills! I never used to watch football but this year I have truly taken a liking to it. I even watched most of the college bowl games with Hubby this past week. Some of them were truly exciting!
I cleaned the garbage disposal drain today. I hate it when it starts to smell. I put baking soda down it and let it sit for a while. Then I add vinegar and run it for a minute or so. I also took the drain filter and the spray arm in the bottom of the dishwasher out and cleaned all of that up with soapy water. Maintaining appliances saves you money in the long run.
Lights have been off most of the day even though it is dreary here.
We caught up on Yellowstone today on the Paramount Network which is free for us.
I purchased a $100. gift card this Christmas. When I opened the strip on it, part of the gift card code was missing. I called the company who the card was for and they told me to take it to where I bought it for a replacement. The manager of the store said it is a 3rd party vendor card and they couldn’t do anything about it. But he took the card and said he would look into it. He called me today and told me that someone had activated the card and spent all of the money on it. I don’t know how they did this when there was a bad code and no one had scratched off what they needed to activate it. This gift card came sealed in cardboard. Unless it was done by someone at the company who put the $100. on it when it was activated through the store’s register where I bought it. I believe the manager knows more about how this happened than he was telling me. But they are going to make good on it. They have a new card to give to me. Luckily, I am not out $100. I will never buy a gift card again. In this economy, there are way too many people stealing. UGH!
My son, when he visited, noticed that the guest bathroom toilet was slowly leaking. We rarely use that toilet so we did not know that. I am so glad that he pointed it out to us. Hubby got new flappers and fixed that one and has a spare for ours in case that starts leaking. A small leak could cost us dearly on our water bill. Make your own repairs when possible. A plumber would have cost us a fortune if we needed to call him. Hubby has made many household repairs. If he isn’t sure how to do something, he can usually find a video on You Tube showing him how. He also put new felt pads on the chair legs in the house. The ones that we had were starting to fall off. We have hardwood floors that we do not want to ruin. He picked all of these things up when we went to the mattress store. The Value Home Center is right next store.
I soaked dry Great Northern Beans in cold water overnight. They are much cheaper than buying canned ready to use beans. I rinsed them by spooning them into a strainer with a slotted spoon. I was not going to waste the water that they soaked in. It was too dirty to use for the soup liquid. So it will get used to flush a toilet. I never waste water.
The beans are now in the crockpot with the ham bone. Later when I pull the bone out, I will take all the meat off and throw it back in the pot. If I think the soup needs more meat, I will add more ham. Then I will add all of my spices. We will have delicious bean soup for dinner tonight and the next few nights. It’s cheap, nutritious, and filling.
Now that the rain has washed all of the snow and ice off of our property, Hubby was able to go outside and put our huge patio umbrella back up. It is anchored with a base that is filled with sand. Never in a million years did we think the windstorm and blizzard we had would knock it over, but it did. Nothing was damaged luckily. He also had to find the chairs that had blown off the patio into our yard and put them back at the table. They were not damaged either. I guess we were lucky. The neighbor behind us had his vinyl fence blow down for the third time since it was installed this year. He also had roof damage. Yikes.
I spent some time today going through a box of Christmas tree ornaments. I set aside some for both of my sons that we don’t use because we have a much smaller tree than we used to. One of my sons does not have many so I am sure he can use some of them. What they don’t want I will donate to Goodwill. We took our tree down and now that box has only the ornaments that we use on our tree. We also took the four wreathes and the four candles out of our windows and packed them into their boxes. When my son comes for Sunday breakfast the next time, he will put them in their spots in storage for me. They are too bulky for me to carry and Hubby isn’t able to do it.
I did one load of clothes in cold water using my homemade laundry detergent in my washing machine. I had emptied the container that I keep my laundry detergent in(gal. ice cream tub) and then forgot about it. So I made a double batch. I only use 2 Tbsp. per load and it gets our clothes so clean. The recipe I use is here: https://theprudenthomemaker.com/laundry-soap/
I hung some of the items on the shower rod on hangers and others on the rack to dry. The second load was full of towels. They got dried in the dryer with the wool balls to cut down on the time that was needed to dry them.
This morning, I spent some time putting all of our appointments in my new planner. I also filled out everything that I need to do in January so that I can stay very organized this year.
For breakfast, I planned on finishing the cantaloupe but Hubby ate it for a snack last night. So I made low carbohydrate wraps with scrambled eggs and diced ham and a little cheese on top. I served them with a dab of sour cream and some salsa. The price of eggs is ridiculous. I am seeing them from $ 7.14 a dozen for brown eggs to almost $ 9.00 a dozen for white large eggs. I have only 10 eggs left so I either need to get some soon or start using the ones I froze and hope that the price comes down before they are gone.
I filled out paperwork for my neurology appointment and put it in a folder to bring to him along with my records from my hospitalization. The doctors around here are very particular. I must have the paperwork filled out when I walk in the door. I have another doctor where I must be there 15 minutes early. If you are not, they cancel your appointment. I have never had to wait for my appointment. They are always on time and I think this is why. These are two really good specialists so I make sure to follow their rules.
I paid the credit card bill in full that I used for Christmas gifts, etc. We never pay interest on credit cards. They are paid in full every month. I also paid two doctor bills that came in the mail. We had no mail delivery from the Friday before Christmas until this past Friday because of the blizzard we had. So we got a lot of mail all at once on Friday. I was hoping to get my property tax bill but it hasn’t come yet. It is due in January and I am a little anxious about the amount since our assessment went up by $140,000.
I looked at the Top’s ad online and made my grocery list for this week. Aldi’s had nothing that I wanted. I also looked at the Price Rite ad. They have some really good deals so I am debating going there this week. I do have a doctor’s appointment nearby.
We now have both guest rooms closed up with the heat registers off and cloth snakes in front of the doors to keep the cold out of the rest of the house. We will see if that helps with the heat bill. I changed the filter in the furnace. It runs more efficiently with a clean filter.
Dinner is over. So Hubby and I will watch Sunday night football.
