We had corned beef reuben sandwiches again last night. So tonight we will be having turkey BLT’s so that we can use up the turkey and tomatoes. Bacon was cooked on Saturday for breakfast yesterday and the BLT’s tonight.
This morning I was up and out at 7:15 a.m. for an eye doctor checkup. My eyes were the same as last year. No cataracts and no sign of any damage at all. I can continue to use my cheap reading glasses. They only put one dilation drop in each eye so I was able to stop at Top’s on the way home and get these two packages of chicken breasts for $ 2.49 a lb. Chicken seems to be scarce in our area so I am grabbing what I can when it is on sale.
These will be preserved with the food saver and put in the upstairs freezer. I have other chicken breasts frozen. Those will come out of the freezer and be thawed and canned because they are older.
I cashed out points for a $10.00 Amazon GC at Pinecone. I am signing up at some more sites to earn points.
I did one load of wash using cold water and hung it to dry. I also did one full load of dishes in the dishwasher using 1 tbsp. of dish soap. They are air drying now.
Hubby is outside watering all of the flowers that are in baskets and pots. I am continuing to go through all of our stuff and either toss it, donate it, or sell it.
Hubby decided late last night that he did not want potatoes, carrots, and cabbage in with the corned beef when I cooked it. He just wants reuben sandwiches. So I checked my pantry and refrigerator and I had swiss cheese slices and sauerkraut but I did not have the marble rye bread nor the ingredients to make it. So I was at the market at 7am buying this $ 5.69 loaf of bread. They had no marble rye so this was the closest I could get to it. We do have the ingredients to make Russian dressing. Hubby can’t wait to make one after the Bills preseason football game. I started the corned beef very early so it should be done by 5pm. It is cooking in beer and a little bit of water along with the spice packet that came with it.
Today will be a lazy day of watching the game and doing some reading.
During the game, I cooked up 1 pound of bacon for our family Sunday breakfast tomorrow. We haven’t seen my grandson and son in a few weeks so we are looking forward to it. When they get here in the morning, I will cook up a package of breakfast sausage, make scrambled eggs and some French toast for those who want these things. I will reheat the bacon.
For brunch today, we had roast beef sandwiches. I had pulled some roast beef slices out of the freezer the other day and they need to be used up.
We turned off the A/C last night so that we could enjoy a cool night of sleeping with the windows open. But we had to turn it back on today because the heat and muggy weather is coming back and will last all of this coming week. Just as I am posting this, the A/C has turned on for the first time today. It is 6:35pm.
We will be getting our school tax bill in a week or so. I found the 2024-2025 tax rate per thousand and have estimated the bill at $ 5981. Yikes! We will see how close I come to it.
Hubby made the reubens for our dinner when the corned beef was done and had cooled a bit. He put corned beef, sauerkraut, and swiss cheese slices on the buttered bread and then grilled them on our indoor grill. I forgot how good they are. We are looking forward to eating these as long as the corned beef lasts.
Dinner last night was made using the above items. We have leftovers from this dinner and the shrimp fra diavolo which we will use up for dinner tonight. Waste not, want not!
I was given a $ 12.99 haircut coupon by Great Clips so I had my hair cut today and used it and gave her a generous tip. The price is usually $18. I washed my hair at home so I didn’t have to pay for a shampoo.
The Running’s Labor Day sale flyer came so I went and got 10 boxes of regular canning lids for $ 2.99 and 10 boxes of wide mouth canning lids for $ 3.99. Best price I have seen in a long time. They were $9.99 at my N.P. the other day. I also got a Mrs. Wage’s pickling and canning vinegar on sale for $ 3.49. I have more than enough tomatoes, vegetables, and fruit done for the winter. So it is time to can some sale meat to get it out of the freezer. So if you have a Running’s and can, go get yours.
I forgot to buy tomatoes at Niagara Produce the other day so I stopped at Top’s to get some so that we can make some turkey BLT’s. I picked up 2 beautiful beefsteak tomatoes at Top’s for a total of $ 4.60.
We got our electric and natural gas bill today and it was outrageous. The bill was $ 154.00 for using 619 kwh of electricity and 4 ccf’s of natural gas. We used less kwh’s per day than last year same period and the same amount of ccf’s. Last year’s bill was $ 113.05 for less usage. That is a huge increase for supply and demand.
This is what I am thawing to cook in the crock pot out on the patio tomorrow. Hubby is thrilled that I am going to cook this corned beef that I got at a great price last March. I see a couple of dinners and some sandwiches for brunches.
We had Shrimp Fra Diavolo for dinner last night. These are the ingredients. They were all in my freezers and pantries. If you don’t have any white wine, you can substitute chicken broth for it. I have done that many times.
It turned out delicious as usual. This shrimp was getting close to being freezer burned so I needed to use it up. I think it was old when I bought it. Top’s marks over the expiration dates on all of their seafood. They have been doing that since the pandemic started. You have to ask why they are hiding the date. From now on, I will buy my shrimp elsewhere.
We had roast beef sandwiches with au jus gravy on buns for brunch today.
All meals were made with what we have at home.
I have another CD expiring soon so I am doing my research to see what the interest rates are at two different credit unions. I will put it with the one that has the highest interest rate.
Hubby mowed the lawn on Tuesday and today he is weeding some of the gardens. Turf Tec fertilized the lawn yesterday so we let the sprinkler come on today to water it in.
I am going through every item in this house and selling what we no longer use or donating it. The less we have the less we have to take care of.
That is it for today. I will be back tomorrow with more.
We had teriyaki noodles ($.89) and filet mignon for dinner last night. We grilled it outside at home. Filet mignon at restaurants is $35.- $ 59. Ours was cut by the butchers at Niagara Produce when I purchased a whole tenderloin almost 2 years ago. I paid $10.99 a lb. Each one is 5-6 oz. so these cost us about $ 4.13 or $ 8.26 for both for dinner tonight. It is so much cheaper to eat at home. It pays to have a food saver because food keeps a very long time in the deep freeze when you remove the air. They were delicious.
For brunch, I had a cheese omelet. Hubby had an English muffin with the homemade peach jam that I made.
Hubby is down to his last bottle of Irish Cream Skinny Syrups to put in his coffee. I looked on their site and there was no sale. So I contacted them online and they gave me a code to get 15% off my entire order. It never hurts to ask.
I have been dealing with a mess that was created by Fetch. After months of trying to get it straightened out, I finally got a person that understood and I finally have all of my points proper on my account and it is under the correct telephone number. I was actually able to scan the last two weeks of receipts and order a $10. Walmart gift certificate with some of the points that I had accumulated. Patience pays off!
Our Rakuten rebate check for $ 5.17 came in the mail yesterday. By the size of it, you can tell that I don’t shop much. But every little bit goes to savings.
I continue to get 3 magazines in the mail that I have never requested and will not purchase because they are mostly ads. But I will be glad to scan them if they keep coming.
The utility meters were read yesterday so I should be getting my electric and natural gas bill within the next few days. I am hoping that it is not as large as last month.
I needed some fresh lettuce. Niagara Produce had the 3 count of Romaine lettuce for $ 1.99. I got 1. Top’s had a Super Coupon for Daisy sour cream which I was out of. With the store coupon you paid $1.99. But I also had some $ .50 off coupons for Daisy products which Top’s doubled so I paid $ .99.
We used up most of our gasoline getting home from the Adirondacks on Monday. Since I had no gas points for Top’s, I filled up at the cash only station for $ 3.35 a gallon which is the cheapest in my area. Top’s right now is $3.55 a gallon. Both Top’s, N.P., and the gas station were on my route today.
It rained here while we were away so we have not had to water except for our hanging baskets that are under the front entry so they don’t get the benefit of the rain. Actually we have not had to water a lot so our quarterly bill should be much less than last year.
We have found a snowplow guy for the winter. He stopped by our home yesterday and we hired him. It will cost $500. for the winter which is the same amount we paid last winter. This winter is supposed to be really snowy so I believe we will get our money’s worth.
I did a load of wash yesterday to clean the clothes we used on the trip and some others that were in the laundry basket using cold water and a couple of tablespoons of detergent. Most were hung to dry.
Every year I have been buying the Passionate Penny Pincher’s yearly planner. It had been very expensive. This year I tried to check the price for 2025 and it is not ready yet. I am assuming the price is going up. I then checked She’s in Her Apron’s planner and it is $ 67.98 for the weekly and for 6 months of the daily it is $ 58.95. So I would assume you have to buy two and that would be $ 117.90. All these prices are ludicrous. I will save my money and put it into investments. I will use a notebook that I got on clearance a long time ago for $ .10. and keep a running list of everything I have to do in it. I will use my outlook calendar to track our appointments.
We went to visit my oldest son whom we had not seen since December. It is hard for him to visit us because he has a new job. That and owning a business too makes it very difficult for him.
He lives in the Adirondacks which I believe is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places in the U. S. If you are not familiar with the Adirondacks, you can learn more here: https://visitadirondacks.com/about/adirondack-park
So we drove out to see him on Friday morning. We took the Thruway to Amsterdam and then all of the back roads from there. We do this not only because it is a more scenic route but we save money on tolls by not continuing on the Thruway. We have EZ Pass so we save $ 16.04 coming and going because of that. Then by getting off in Amsterdam and back on in Amsterdam, we save $2.40.
We went straight through without stopping for food on the Thruway. We knew that our son had a nice cold cut lunch awaiting us.
I was so happy to see him. He is so happy and healthy! I was so surprised to see how much weight he has lost. He looks great! He is trimmer than he was in high school.
He had a beautiful outside hot tub put in his yard last Fall. That is what I enjoyed on Friday night. You all know the back issues that I have been dealing with. Well, my back has not hurt since I was in it and it is now Tuesday. I checked to see if our YMCA has one but they don’t. I will check some other places because I really believe this helped me. We can put one in our yard but we don’t really have the space unless we take out a tree and a garden to do it. So I am hoping there is some place we can pay and go to use one. My other son has one in his yard but he is an hour plus away. But when we visit I am sure he would let me use it. Last resort would be to have one installed.
While we were there he had the book called The Terminal List. When I asked him about it he told me has the whole series of the books signed. Then he told us the first book was on Freevee. So we binged watched it. Now I can’t wait until the second book is done and we can watch it. It is addicting. I will check our library to see if they have the books. If so I can read them while waiting for the series to be created and streamed.
The Japanese Restaurant that we ate at for dinner was https://harusaratoga.com/ . Hubby was not up to going out with us so he told us to have a nice mother and son dinner. We did and enjoyed every minute of it. We did bring Hubby home an appetizer of steamed dumplings because he needed to eat and this is what he wanted.
On Sunday, my son invited, his business partner and his girlfriend, to the cookout. My son grilled burgers, hot dogs, baked waffle fries and made a delicious pasta salad. We have really gotten to know Travis really well. He is a wonderful person and his girlfriend was lovely. We had a great time catching up.
Thank you son for all of your hospitality. We had a great time and can’t wait to see you again.
Now that we are home, it will be the usual around here. I will try to post as often as I can. We have no more company or vacations planned until next summer.
Our neighbors usually take care of watering our flowers while we are away. One of them was away and the other was having their huge party they have every year and we didn’t want to bother them. I paid a 13 year old neighborhood boy to do it and he did a great job. We will be hiring him on and off to help with some other things.
On the agenda this week is setting up an appointment with our lawyer to make some changes in our trust. Hubby has some appointments and I will most likely stay home most of the week.
On Saturday, brunch was a huge cinnamon muffin. That was it because I knew we were going out to dinner.
We went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner and started with different appetizers. One of us had steamed dumplings and the other had broccoli in garlic sauce. Then we both had a small salad and a cup of Miso soup. We each had a Hibachi entree that had filet mignon, chicken, shrimp, veggies, rice and noodles. We brought half of our entrees home and ate them for brunch on Sunday.
Saturday night we binge watched The Terminal List. It was good.
Grilling out is on the agenda for dinner tonight: burgers and hot dogs with a side of pasta salad. Then ice cream cones for dessert.
Then hopefully we can watch the second half of Episode 1 of Terminal List.
It has been a delightfully fun and peaceful weekend. I hope yours is too.
Breakfast was English muffins with some peach jam that I made this week.
Lunch was a turkey and swiss cheese sandwich with mayonaise on a sub roll.
Dinner was a chicken crockpot meal with a sauce of cream of chicken soup, beef gravy powder, a bit of water and onion soup mix. It was served on rice. So delicious!
Just before it got dark, we took a dip in the hot tub. It was such a beautiful evening for it. I am so relaxed that I believe I will sleep well tonight especially since the A/C is now turned off and we can sleep with the window open.
We are hoping that we can keep the A/C off for good now since it is getting a bit cooler out and the nights are much cooler.
Dinner last tonight were the German smoked sausages that Chris brought to me when she visited. We put horseradish mustard and onions on them. The side was going to be shells and cheese but I ended up only making the sausages because we were not very hungry. BTW, these shells and cheese are better than the brand name ones.
We had one sausage left so we will each eat a half of it with eggs for brunch today. We will be eating a peach for a snack later.
For brunch when I got home from the doctor’s, we had breakfast croissant sandwiches. They are GV and come 4 in a box. I discovered a while ago that I can’t make croissant sandwiches that are as cheap as these. It would cost me more to buy the croissants, sausage, egg, and cheese. They are delicious. It isn’t something we buy all the time but in a pinch when I have to go out first, they are easy. Hubby knows they are there so he can make one if he gets hungry.
I was going to pick up a script for Hubby but I did not feel well so I came straight home from the doctors. He went and picked it up later. There was no copay.
One load of laundry was washed in cold water with 2 tablespoons of soap and hung to dry yesterday.
Hubby did some weeding and cut the dead flowers off the roses.
Dinner tonight will be grilled steak and a tossed salad. We have Romaine that needs to be used up.
Dinner tonight was from our freezer. I had 8 pieces of chicken strips left over in a bag in the freezer. I cooked them all in the air fryer to get rid of the bag. We decided if we didn’t eat them all we would add them to brunch. However I forgot to eat brunch this morning because I was really busy making the freezer jam. Hubby only had a small amount of a salad. So we were very hungry and ate it all. Chris, this is the broccoli that was leftover in the freezer from one of our dinners while you were here. I just heated it in the microwave and then put butter on it. Waste not, want not. Hubby made a side salad to go with his. I dipped my chicken in Bangi Bangi sauce and Hubby put hot sauce on his. We each had a piece of strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert.
I have now done 8 pint jars of peach jam. I told Hubby that he has to make them last a year because we have many other jams in the house to eat too. Last year he ate 6 smaller jars in about 2 months. He loves peach jam that much.
We have about 12 peaches left. We will eat some and slice the others for pies. They will be put in the freezer.
