Just wanted to let you know that I am still here but just not posting at the moment. My Hubby had a heart attack last Monday. I was finally able to bring him home from the hospital this afternoon.
So I will be a focusing my attention on him the next week or two and the changes we have to make around here. Then hopefully I will be back regularly.
I don’t normally publish anything like this but I think everyone should see this https://www.foxnews.com/us/boston-university-lethal-covid-strain-lab
I looked at the news at 4am when I got up this morning and this is what shocked me. I have to ask why would they do this and on our soil? And why put the information out there so close to the midterm elections?
Perhaps now some of the conspiracy theories out there don’t look as outrageous.
Besides the turkey that I purchased for Thanksgiving, I bought a few other items that we needed.
Almost every time I go grocery shopping, I pick up a pound of butter. In past years, I have always purchased 30-35 pounds of butter to last us a year or so at a great sale price at Aldi. I am not counting on that happening this year and I am getting low on it. The butter was $ 3.79. The ones I purchased in November of 2021 I think were $ 1.97? So butter has really gone up.
I always like to have fresh mushrooms in the house because we usually have steak or hamburgers once a week. These were $ 1.29.
My last purchase was 7 blocks of different cheeses. I had run out of them. We shred the mozzarella for our homemade pizza. I have the grater attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer and it does a beautiful job. The cheddar we slice for snacks. The others we either slice or shred depending on what recipe we are using them for. They were all $ 1.99 each which is the cheapest price in my area.
So I spent $ 45.98 including the cost of the turkey at $ 26.97. These will be my only food purchases this week.
To save on gasoline, I also stopped at the drugstore for a prescription. We are staying at home most of the time and getting a lot more done here.
We started our day off today by making homemade “egg McMuffins”. Ours taste much better, have more bacon and egg and cost less than 1/2 the price at McDonalds. Plus I didn’t have to waste gas and time to go get them.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Knowing that my son and some of his friends are coming to spend Thanksgiving with us, I have been on the hunt for a larger turkey.
While I was shopping at Aldi’s today, I noticed that the freezer case where they normally have turkeys this time of year was about 1/2 full of them. Most of the turkeys were 9-12 lbs. I did not want one that small.
I searched through every turkey and there were only three 16+ lb. ones. I looked at the expiration dates because I was concerned that they might have been leftovers in their warehouse from last year. The big ones all had an expiration date of 04/2024. That told me that those were this year’s turkeys.
Last year, I paid $ 1.19 a lb for this same turkey brand. Today they were $1.59 a lb. Knowing that there is a shortage of turkeys this year, I bought one that was 16.96 lbs. while I could get it. It cost me $ 26.97.
Since chicken here is $3.49 a lb., I figured this turkey was a good deal. If they go on sale in November and they have any left, I may get another to cook up and use the meat over the winter in place of chicken. The bones, skin, and bits of turkey will give me a lot of turkey bone broth that I will can too.
So if you need a larger turkey for Thanksgiving, check your Aldi’s. I have been watching all of the stores and so far, Aldi’s is the first one to have them. Top’s had Jennie -O turkey breasts but that is it.
I did not mind paying the price for this one because it gave me peace of mind that I had my holiday turkey.
Months ago, I purchased a few cranberry sauces while the price was still reasonable. I have purchased a few lbs. of butter when I have a store coupon for them and they are on sale. I also purchased the sausage to make my stuffing. I don’t have the stuffing cubes yet but they should be coming out soon. When broccoli and corn were on sale I picked those up also. I use turkey broth in place of water in my stuffing so I have that on the shelf too. I make homemade gravy from the turkey drippings. I have plenty of potatoes and all of the ingredients to make pie crusts and pumpkin and apples for pies.
I am still on the hunt for a good price on whipped topping for the pies. I will also need ice cream and a couple of bottles of wine.
I am so thankful that I have these things and that I could afford them.
If you are doing Thanksgiving dinner this year, I think you should get the turkey earlier rather than later. I believe they will run out of turkeys well before the holiday.
Have any of you purchased your holiday goods yet?
I have been busy organizing every room nook and cranny in the house. I have thrown out about 4 bags of junk.You know the things that you hang onto just in case. Well just in case is leaving the house! I still have the guest bathroom and all of the basement to do. I hope to get the bathroom done this week and then the basement will take a few weeks. I am going to go open and look at everything in storage containers down there and if we don’t need it, it goes. Then I will organize and label everything.
We had my birthday celebration one day this week. Hubby always asks me what I want on my birthday. If I want to go out, we go out. If I want to stay home, I pick the meal. I wanted to stay home. The food is always better. So we had steak that Hubby grilled outside. We added cheese mashed potatoes and tomatoes from our garden along with some sliced cucumbers. It was yummy!
Hubby looked for a recipe for Peanut Butter Pie which is my very favorite dessert. He made one and the whole pie is pictured above and the piece I ate is here:
This was the best peanut butter pie that I have ever eaten. I have ordered this pie in many restaurants over the years but I have to say this was the best one. We will be enjoying the rest this week for many meals.
Here is the recipe: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/9174/peanut-butter-pie/
Groceries lately have been pared down to necessities at the cheapest price or on sale only items. Groceries have just gotten way too expensive and they will be going up even more very soon.There are many things that I will not buy because I deem them not worth the price. I have to pick up Hubby’s prescription one day so I might stop on the way home. Gasoline prices are too high to go running out all the time.
Our heat is still on and will probably stay on for the winter. It was 70 here today but now it is really going to turn cold. We are keeping the heat at 68-69 during the day and 64 at night.
We have two blankets on our bed instead of using the electric blanket. We have a third blanket if we need it. I am going to be ordering extra blankets for the guest room beds so any company we have will not freeze. There are heavy comforters on those beds also.
I am off to do some more organizing. I hope you all have a good day.
I thought long and hard about writing this post. Should I or should I not? But even if you don’t read it, I will feel better knowing that I have told the people who have been my readers for years what has been going on in my life.
I am sure that some of you thought I might be ending this blog. Or perhaps, you thought that because I am getting older that I just couldn’t do it anymore. Wrong on both accounts. Even though I will be “very old” this week, my brain is still functioning! I thank the Lord for that!
It all started a few weeks before the 4th of July. I had not been feeling well. After watching the neighborhood fireworks, I went to bed that night about 11PM. About 3AM, I woke up with horrible chest pain and could hardly breathe. I woke Hubby up and he called an ambulance. They took me to the local hospital ER pretty quickly. After hours of being there and waiting for tests to be done, I finally was taken for a CT scan. Getting the results took hours.
The nurse practitioner in charge of me finally came in and told me that it wasn’t heart but that she and the doctors determined that I had pulmonary fibrosis which was showing on the CT scan. That diagnosis hit me like a ton of bricks! I was well aware of that disease because my mother died from it. It was a slow agonizing death that took over 6 years. There is no cure.
Hubby and I were both in shock on the ride home after they released me. They told me that I needed to get a good pulmonary doctor and to follow up with my primary doctor.
When I got home, I tried to pull myself together so that I could call my sons and my sister and let them know. Of course I fell apart after I told them. They all knew what this disease is and that it is terminal.
I called my primary doctor the next morning and was given an appointment for the next day. Meanwhile they gathered all of the records from the hospital and the CT report. Hubby and I went and saw my doctor and he listened to everything that had happened.
He told us that he was more concerned about 3 heart blockages on my CT scan than the pulmonary fibrosis diagnosis at that moment. I said they never told me about that in the ER. He also told me that I have a nodule on my thyroid.
He said we needed to take one thing at a time starting with the heart. He said I needed to go to my cardiologist. I told him that he had retired 6 weeks before all of this. I did not have an appointment with the new doctor until November. He told me to call the cardiologist when I got home and explain about the ER visit and what the CT scan showed and that I needed to see the Dr. asap. He told me if they wouldn’t fit me in that I was to call him and he would find me a cardiologist who would see me quickly.
To make a long story shorter, I called and they couldn’t fit me in until October. This was in July. UGH! So I called my primary and he got me a new cardiologist who would see me the next business day.
Hubby took me to the new cardiologist, who I love, and he set up a stress test and ECHO test for two days later. I had those done and they told me that I should hear from the doctor by noon the next day. That if I didn’t, most likely there was no major problem. But if I wanted the results, I could call his office after 1 o’clock that day and his nurse would give me the results. The nurse told me that my heart was very strong and that the blocked arteries were non obstructive. In other words the blood finds other pathways in other arteries. I followed up with the cardiologist the next week. He told me basically the same thing but that they had determined that I have ” a sticky valve”. What that means is one of the valves is slow opening and closing. He said he didn’t want to see me for two years and at that time I would have another stress test and ECHO test. Meantime, he put me on what he said was a better cholesterol drug which made my feet and legs swell up. I evidently was allergic to it. We have gone back to the drug that I have been on for years for now. So if the doctor isn’t worried about my heart then I didn’t need to be either.
Next my primary set up an appointment with the pulmonary doctor who he said he would go to for himself or his family if he or they had my problem. I waited about 3 weeks for that appointment. All the pulmonary doctor had was the report from the hospital describing the CT scan and the pulmonary fibrosis. He told me he was going to try to get the actual CT scan from them. He also told me that he wanted to run two tests on my lungs. The office set me up for those the end of September. I had those tests done and went to see the doctor to get the results the next day. I had waited so long but this one day in between doing the tests and getting the results seemed to go so slowly. I was a nervous wreck to put it bluntly!
I went to see him and came home with very good news. He said my breathing tests were pretty good. He said my asthma which I have had for 45 years needed better treatment than I had had over the years. He put me on a new drug which he said would help. Let me tell you, that drug is a miracle. I haven’t felt this good in years. I have never been a good sleeper at night. I usually wake up in the middle of the night and get up for my day very early. Since I have been on this drug, I am now sleeping 7-9 hours a night and getting up usually around 7AM. I haven’t felt this rested in years.
Then he went on to tell me the best news! He said he got the actual CT scan and he does not believe that I have pulmonary fibrosis. He said between the CT scan, chest X ray that was done at the hospital, and the breathing tests, he is 98% sure that I do not have it. He said there is a small amount of scarring in one lung but that could be caused over the years by pneumonia or even bronchitis. They have set me up for another appointment for breathing tests in December to see what difference this new drug makes on these new tests.
I have not gone to a thyroid doctor yet but will soon. That seemed to be the least of my problems.
But anyhow, my mind and time have been elsewhere. I have been very upset during these months and tried to keep up with the blog but just wasn’t motivated to do it.
We had a lot of visits from family during the month of September and that helped by just enjoying everyone even though I was very tired and my mind was kind of on my health. Them visiting helped me tremendously.
After company left, I needed to catch up on some work in the house that had been neglected. I am still working on that a little at a time now but with my newly found sleep and energy it shouldn’t be long before that is done. And I guess I need to do my Christmas shopping. At least everyone seems to be saying do it now.
I am also planning for Thanksgiving. My son who lives across the state will be coming this year along with a friend or two. So I am praying that we will be able to find a suitable turkey at a decent price.
I didn’t want you to think that I was disinterested in the blog anymore and that is why I decided to tell you. I also want you all to realize that none of us know when our last day will be so spend as much time as you can loving your family and friends. That is what is important in life! Nothing else compares.
I also would be remiss if I didn’t call out Chris. Chris, who some of you may know from her great comments, has been a true online friend for years. I have never met her but she is a genuine, loving and caring individual. It comes across in her comments and her e-mails to me.
She was the only one who comes here who I told what I was going on these past months. She has been praying for me for months. She checked in with me almost every week. Chris, your prayers and caring was so important to me and I thank you for that! You are the best friend anyone could have.
Soon I will be back blogging like I used to. Just let me get caught up a little.
Hubby made homemade shower cleaner since our bottle was getting low. He makes it using 1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide, 1/2 cup rubbing alcohol, 1 tsp. Dawn dish soap, 1 Tbsp. vinegar, and 3 cups of water.
Hubby refilled my homemade eye glass cleaner using 3 parts rubbing alcohol and 1 part water.
Hubby’s birthday was last week. I got him his favorite carrot cake at the bakery and then asked him what dinner he wanted me to make. He wanted meatloaf. He loves it and I hate it. But I will tolerate it on his birthday. I think he likes the leftover meatloaf sandwiches even better. It was an easy dinner for me to make along with mashed potatoes and a veggie.
My 2023 planner came and is just as beautiful as the one I have been using this year. Over the years I have used many different planners but this is the only one that I have purchased 2 years in a row now. It is the best one that I have ever used. The layout is perfect for me. The best part is that I had a $10.00 off coupon using my PPP rewards to defray the cost.
Hubby ended up eating the leftover tater tots for brunch one day. I froze the leftover rice to put in a future soup.
I purchased 2 packages of celery and 2 -2 lb. bags of carrots on B1G1F sales. I also got 2 cucumbers for our salads for $1.00 each.
I purchased a large chuck roast for $ 5.99 a lb. I cut it into 2 pieces, I made beef stew in the crock pot on Thursday for dinner. I used the beef, whole potatoes, onions, fresh celery and, carrots. We had biscuits with it also. There was enough left for 2 more nights. The 2nd piece went into the freezer for the next time I make beef stew.
Our loaf of bread is almost gone, so I will be making another one today. My bread maker is getting a workout these days.
We picked the rest of our tomatoes and took the plants out of the pots. That is it for this year. We will be having diced up fresh tomatoes and cottage cheese for the next few lunches.
I washed some sheets and towels this week. Since I was going to dry them in the dryer, I made sure to set the spin cycle to high. The more water that was taken our of this wash, the less time I had to run the dryer.
Last post I told you how Hubby fixed the humidifier after the man who came out to tune up our furnace for the season told him he needed a new valve. What I neglected to tell you is that, the valve was going to cost us $175. So by Hubby doing the repair on this which ended up only being a clogged tube, we did not have to spend that money. Since we now have our heat on, the humidifier is working perfectly.
Lastly, I filled the car up with gasoline getting $ .20 off a gallon with points that I earned at Top’s.
What have you been doing to keep more money in your pocket?
We had our gas furnace tuned up and checked by our family owned company that we use. We had a coupon to pay $ 69. for it. Then I checked my utility company site and found out that we could apply for a $50. rebate. Make sure that you check your utility sites for any rebates they offer. The heating guy checked our humidifier on the furnace too and said the water wasn’t moving in it. He said he needed a certain part to fix it and that he didn’t have it on the truck. Hubby didn’t think that it needed that part so he told him he would fix that himself. Sure enough, the tube was clogged. Hubby has repaired that.
I took my granddaughter bowling. I found a $10. coupon to defray the cost.
We had pizza delivered on Monday for dinner. They were running a football deal because it was Monday night football. We took advantage of that.
We all watched the Buffalo Bills game on Monday night. It was cheap entertainment. Go Bills!
My granddaughter and I spent many hours just chatting and playing UNO. We do not have to spend a lot of money to have a good time.
Lights are off during daylight hours.
We took a trip to the Amish store where we picked up some treats, fresh jalapenos, oatmeal, rice, bacon and spices that I needed. Their prices are so much cheaper than the supermarkets.
I did a load of laundry and threw my granddaughters clothes in to make a full load. That will save her from having to wash them when she goes home. We washed in cold water and hung many things to dry.
We are caulking and foaming places that need it to make sure we don’t lose heat this winter.
I am still picking tomatoes. I have been busy with my granddaughter since last Friday, so I froze them to can when I am not so busy.
Hubby cooked a sirloin steak on the outdoor grill rather than use the broiler in the house.
We have been trying to eat up all the leftovers: donuts, banana bread, chicken strips and tater tots, broccoli and cauliflower, deli meats, salad greens, etc.
Hubby sauteed the leftover steak in butter and garlic in the electric fry pan. We ate it with scrambled eggs for breakfast.
Our A/C has been off for over a week.
The nights are getting cold here but rather than turn on the heat we have piled on the blankets. I am debating whether we will use our electric blanket this year. A few regular blankets will save us money.
My son drove Alexa to our home and he stayed a couple of days. It is a cross state trip. Rather than us drive her all the way back on Saturday, we drove 1/2 way and met her mother who took her home the rest of the way. It saved us time and gas. I already miss Alexa. We had so much fun while she was here for 8 days.
We got our September 2022 electric and natural gas bill. We used 597 kwh and 4 ccf’s of natural gas. The bill was $ 122.62. The September 2021 bill was $ 132.12 for 828 kwh and 3.1 therms. It is a good thing that we watched our usage. If we had used 828 kwh like last year, our bill would have been huge. We watched everything we did power wise and it made a big difference. We will continue to conserve as much as we can. While I was looking at the bill, I decided to see how much we spent on these utilities the past year. From Oct. 2021 through Sept. 2022, the total bill was $ 2055.58. I would love to get that figure under $2000. but with prices on the rise, I don’t think it is possible. But you know I will try my very best to keep it down.
Hubby and I used up many leftovers last night. We made Chef’s salads for dinner. We used up the rest of the lettuce, one tomato, some purple onion that was diced up a week ago, leftover black olives and deli turkey, leftover sharp cheddar cheese, and leftover cooked bacon. We even finished up a bottle of ranch dressing. It was delicious! Tonight, I am hoping to incorporate either some leftover tater tots or rice. So we will either have tater tot casserole or fried rice.
What have you been doing lately to save some money?
In our quest to waste nothing, I used up 5 bananas to make these two loaves of banana bread. I somehow lost my recipe so this is a new one we tried. It is one of the best we have ever eaten. As you can see we have already shared a piece. That loaf we will work on for breakfasts. Then when my son and granddaughter come, I will pull the other one out of the freezer for a big breakfast that I am planning. If anyone is interested in the recipe, I got it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLxz6Y6I2GA .
I woke up to this beautiful sky on Monday. The pinks and blues with the sun peaking through was magnificent. Our sunsets have been gorgeous too.
Not much other news right now. I have been getting ready for my family to come this week. We haven’t seen them in 3 months so we are really looking forward to it.
Here are the frugal things we have been doing:
What have you done recently to save some money?