I got up at 3AM with Eloise, who Chris would say, was having a party in my room at that time. She calms right down after I get up with her.
Then I had a couple of cups of homemade coffee so that I could wake up.
Since the house was nice and quiet, I thought I would take some time to do paperwork. I paid our Texas property tax bill that came in the mail last week. My son had sent me the receipt for the yearly bill for the domain for this blog. He had paid it so I transferred the money to him to pay him back. I also entered some deposits into our checkbook so that it is up to date.
Then I cleaned Eloise’s litter box and refilled her food and water.
After playing with her for about an hour, I cleaned the laundry room. Then I bagged up some bottles for Hubby to take to Fast Cash to get the deposits back when he goes to get his monthly haircut tomorrow. It is on his route.
Next I did some computer work checking e-mails and messages etc. While I was online, I ordered some new cordless house phones(3) and an answering machine manufactured by AT&T. They will arrive on Wednesday because I have the Amazon Prime free trial. We have had Panasonic’s for years. However they have started giving us major problems.
When the sun came up, I opened the shades on the sunny windows and followed the sun around the house putting them up and down as the sun hit windows or left windows. We were 70 degrees late afternoon today so the heat did not run. I only used one light in our kitchen and laundry room before the sun came up. All lights were off during the daylight.
Finally Hubby got up for the day. After he took his shower, I took mine. I took a navy shower and shampooed my hair which only uses about 3-4 minutes of hot water. My hair is short enough to let it dry on it’s own. I use bar soap( trying to use up the massive amount I have) in the shower and cheap shampoo. I actually like VO5. It is very thick and when it gets 1/2 empty, I add water. That works just fine. After brushing, flossing, and mouthwash, I got dressed and put on minimal makeup.
Before I went out to run some errands, I quickly cooked some Steak-umms and 2 eggs in the same pan for breakfast and ate them off of a paper plate. This gives me less dishes to wash. We have a ton of paper plates that I purchased, before Covid, when they were on sale and cheap. Hubby made his own corned beef hash from the leftover corned beef while I was out.
Before I left to run errands, I discussed dinner with Hubby. I had already had a busy day and we had a busy day ahead of us. So we decided I would pick up Popeye’s fried chicken for dinner. We don’t do fast food very often but I only have so much energy at my age. So it is justified to splurge when I am tired.
I left to run errands in a circle to save on gasoline. My first stop was to get our propane tank for our grill filled at Tractor Supply. I told the man who helped me that Hubby thought the tank was empty. The man weighed it and said it only took 4.7 pounds. I was surprised and said to him are you sure? He said yes. I told Hubby when I got home and he said the tank weighs so much more than when he put it in the car for me. He said our measuring device said it was empty. He said there has to be something wrong with their scale. So it looks like I got a deal! At the price of propane at $ 3.19 a pound, I am happy to save that money. We have a full 20 pound tank now to use over the fall and winter and it only cost us $ 15.60 with tax.
Next I went to Top’s to fill up our gas tank. Their price on gasoline was the best using my points that I earned. Their regular price was $3.19 a gallon. After getting $ .70 off per gallon using my points, I paid $ 2.49 a gallon and got 11.21 gallons for a savings of $ 7.85. The Cash Station was $ 3.01 a gallon. Using my gasoline benefit from Walmart+ of $.10 off per gallon, it would have cost me $ 3.16 a gallon. I always check these each and every time I need gasoline. It only takes a minute to check the savings on Gas Buddy!
Last stop was the chicken from Popeye’s.
When I got home, we watched NCIS and NCIS Origins that Hubby had saved from the night before. We love NCIS. We are not too sure of Origins because we have watched only 2 shows so far. Then I watched a You Tube channel.
At 5PM, which is our usual dinner time, we had an appointment with a company to give us an estimate to make and install a railing for our stairs that lead out of the breakfast room onto the patio in the backyard. The owner was here right on time. He measured and gave us a choice of an iron one or an aluminum one. The aluminum one will be matched to our trim color on the house and will be much sturdier than iron. We chose the aluminum even though the cost is $1600. because sturdier at our age is a safety feature. Hubby is having this done for me. He doesn’t need it right now but I do. The stairs are made of large patio pavers and there are 4 of them and they terrify me. Falling is something I do not want to do at my age. Hubby has been helping me down them each time. Matter of fact, when Chris and her Hubby was here they helped me too. I was grateful. It is the only thing that I am unsteady about. It will take about 6- 10 weeks to get them made and then they will install them. I am grateful every day that we saved our money for retirement so that we have the money to spend to buy things like this to keep us safe in our own home. When you are planning for retirement, keep in mind that you may need many things for your security as you age.
When the man left at 5:45pm, I threw the fried chicken in the air fryer to quickly heat it up. We were starved and I was grateful that I had purchased it. While it was cooking, I fed Eloise her portion of Fancy Feast that she gets every night. The rest of the day, she has kitten chow in her dish which she nibbles at when she gets hungry.
After dinner I ran a very full dishwasher on a quick wash cycle and then opened the dishwasher to dry them overnight.
Before I went to bed at 8PM( so that I can get up with Eloise at 3AM), I took my pills and supplements and again cleaned Eloise’s litter box.
I had thawed a pork tenderloin to cook for dinner last night originally. But when we got the chicken, we saved it to eat tonight. I think I will have Hubby grill it outside along with some veggie packets. The next day I will use up the leftovers to make stir fry.