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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

What I had planned to do today went out the window after waking up to our first real snowstorm of the winter. It is still snowing pretty heavily and I don’t know how long it will keep up. The weather forecast showed most of the snow going way south of us. But I guess they were wrong again. So unless it stops soon, I will be spending the day indoors. I had planned on going to Tractor Supply and Aldi’s but that will have to wait.

The only grocery shopping that I have been going out to do is to pick up meat specials, especially beef. A reader mentioned that beef goes on sale in December and I had forgotten that. In my estimation, this month may be one of the last ones to get beef at good prices, even though they have gone up in recent months. I may be wrong but remembering all of the cows that got slaughtered last spring when the meat processing plants closed for a while, I expect that beef will be in short supply and that prices will soar next year.

So instead of paying $ 6.79 a pound, I purchased these two roasts for $3.49 a pound. They are eye round roasts. They had bottom round, top round, eye round and sirloin tip roasts on sale for this price. I was a bit leery of buying them since the last time I purchased eye round roasts at Top’s, they were tough as could be. So I went and talked with the head butcher. I asked him which of these roasts should be the most tender if you roast them in the oven. I told him we like them medium. He said he would buy the eye rounds. He said to roast them at low heat and slice them thin. I hope he is right. Otherwise they will become stew meat.

For many, many years, I purchased eye round and sirloin tip roasts and they were always tender roasted. But the past few years, they have been tough. I wonder what is different. Does anyone know? Can anyone tell me what kind of roast they do in the oven that comes out tender? I would greatly appreciate your opinion before I buy any more.

Well, I guess I better go down on the treadmill before I start cleaning today. I hope you all have a great day.

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and A Little of That

 Yesterday was such a tiring day! I have to keep reminding myself that I am “not as young as I used to be”. I have a birthday coming up soon and I will be “very old”.  Time flies when you are having a great time!

My day started at 6AM yesterday. I was out the door at 9:10AM and didn’t get home until about 2:30PM. I had to drive to another town and get routine medical tests done at two different medical places. Then I had to go to another place for blood work.

By the time I got done with all of that, I still had to go to the bank for the next few months grocery money, spending money, and to cash some checks. I had plans to do some shopping while I was down there but it was too crowded, traffic was crazy, and I was beat. 

However, on the way home, I did stop at my produce store and got some much needed romaine lettuce and a couple of tomatoes. The romaine was local and had just been brought to the store. The head was huge but wet and dirty.

So as tired as I was when I got home, I washed every bit of it, put it all through the salad spinner and laid it on clean kitchen towels to dry. I had 4 huge towels worth. After a few hours, I turned the leaves all over to let the other side dry.

Now it resides in our lettuce keeper, so that I can make some delicious salads.

The very large head of romaine was only $1.49 lb. Since my son and his family have only one car at the moment, he has not been out here since he picked up West. He usually brings us tomatoes. So I was out and in need. These beautiful ones pictured at the top were only also only $ 1.49 a lb.

Then I had to read our meters and submit the readings to the power company so that they don’t send us an estimated bill which I hate. It looks like we should have a rather low bill this month. That would be nice for a change.

Then it was time to make dinner. I had thawed some turkey cutlets because this is what I made:

https://kalynskitchen.com/turkey-cutlets-with-dijon-sauce/

I made enough for two nights so that I won’t have to do anything but heat it up tonight.

It tasted so good but I was so tired. Hubby did the dishes and I went to bed and slept until 6AM this morning.

I have to learn to pace myself a little bit. But that is very hard for me. I am a multi tasker and I love to just keep doing and moving. Many people over the years have told me that I outpace most of the younger people that they know. So for me to have to slow down just annoys me to no end. It’s not going to happen!

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

You all know that I like to get my posts on this blog early. But today has been one of those days.

It started with a haircut appointment. Then it was off to our library to donate some books. You see with all of the organizing in the basement, I have cleaned out most of my frugality books among others. Many of the really good ones I am saving for my DIL to look at the next time they visit. I will let her pick any she wants. I also have many recent books that I think my son will love. Then I will donate the rest to the library. Any that are in excellent condition that they don’t have they will put on the shelves. The others will get sold at their book sale. It is the best way I know to help the library besides paying their annual tax that supports it. So a bag full of books that I decided neither my DIL nor son would read, I donated this morning. 

Then it was a stop at Aldi’s to pick up some things that Hubby decided he needed after I had already shopped yesterday. I also forgot to get ice cream for West’s birthday. Even though they are having a sleepover party for his friends and going on an outing to ice skate on his birthday, he loves to come here and get his gifts and perhaps a cake or cupcakes. This year it will be brownies frosted with chocolate frosting. Chocolate is his favorite. When we picked them up at the airport last Sunday, he was adamant that he had to come here one day for his birthday. I guess he likes his Grandma and Grandpa. I can’t believe he will be 10.

Hubby used up all of the
garlic last night and I used up the last Babybel. Hubby also decided he
wanted some Black Forest Ham to put on his salads and he said we needed
more Romaine. When I was by the freezer case to get the ice cream, they had the riced
cauliflower marked down so I got one. My total was $ 17.52.  

My last stop while I was out was for Scotties at Dollar Tree. Hubby informed me that he had opened the last box. So I stopped and got 15 boxes along with 3 small bags of Sugar Free candy for Hubby. They are a treat once in while. My total with tax was $19.44. The Scotties are the cheapest that I can get them anywhere here. Once in a while when there is a coupon and Top’s has a sale, I can get them for about $ .08 cheaper per box. But I only get one paper with the coupons. They will have that sale again this Sunday so I will get 3 because the coupon is $1./3. Does anyone get it cheaper? Would you share?

I have gotten 30 minutes in on the treadmill and the bike today as usual.


I am about to go out and read my electric and gas meter for my company. We are going to get major snow this weekend so I want to do it while I don’t have to mog through that to get to the meter. Then it is back down to the basement to continue organizing and purging. I have already gotten rid of 12 bags of things, some donated and some went into the trash.

The other thing I did this week besides the basement and my daily chores was that I cooked a 12 lb. turkey which we are about to have the third meal from. Tomorrow I will make turkey soup and whatever we don’t use or eat in the soup, will get portioned out and frozen for other meals. 


Other than West’s birthday celebration, it is a football playoff weekend. Yeah!


I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. 

Categories
Every Day

This is The Disaster That I Have Been Working On

Lest you think that my home is organized and clean all of the time, I am here to show you that it is not. 

I am like anyone else who has hot spots that are a mess. 99% of the time you can walk into the living quarters of the house and it is neat and clean.

However, the basement and garage are another story. Now you all saw the pictures of the garage after we had the epoxy floor put down. That has stayed pretty organized. The floor of course is dirty with dirt and salt from parking the SUV in it in this winter weather.

But the basement is a mess. Every time, I am on the treadmill, I see what a mess it is! UGH!

So, with the exception of going to a Doctor’s appointment this morning and doing my exercising, I am working all day in the basement until I get tired. I want this space done this week. Because once the areas I am showing you here are done, then I have to empty the pantry which is a separate part of the basement so that Hubby can put up the walls in there and put down the carpeting. 

It evidently has been easy for us to just leave things a mess when we are looking for something or throw something down there and not deal with it when we are tired. The above area isn’t too bad but some of it needs to go on the shelves after they are cleaned out. 

I want to be able to walk or run on the treadmill without having to look at this mess. 

I will be purging things that we don’t need any longer and organizing the rest.

So know that until I post tomorrow or the next day that I am working in the basement in my free time. I do have to grocery shop for a few things on Senior Discount Day at Top’s tomorrow.

Do you guys have messes like this? 

Categories
Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

I am so busy today that I need to make this very short. 

Last Saturday evening we went to a wonderful Christmas party in the neighborhood. We were fortunate to be able to meet a couple who had just moved into one of the new houses that are being built in our neighborhood along with a couple who will be closing on their home later in December.

I have to thank Hawaii Planner for the idea of making a platter with meats and cheeses to take to the party. I took a picture of what we brought but forgot to take it before I wrapped it. Since it is hard to see, I will tell you what is on it. Pepperoni, 3 different kinds of salami(regular, garlic and herb, and pepper),beef sticks, hot soppressata, beef summer sausage, and Irish Gaelic cheese, Champagne cheese, and Whiskey cheese. I also brought two containers of different kinds of crackers. Everyone loved it! I brought this because we could eat the meats and a little cheese. With the exception of a veggie platter that someone made, there was no other food that we could eat. There was a ton of food but it was all carbohydrate laden or sugar laden( the desserts). We only ate those when we weren’t dieting. 

We have been lucky to be able to eat at parties or on holidays by making what we can eat. It has worked well for us. Hubby was good. He just had a glass of dry wine. Me, I drank water.

We had a terrific evening. So thanks to Nancy and Jack!

We had a lot of leftovers from making the platter. So last night we turned those and some other items in our fridge into an antipasto plate for our dinner. We had salami, prosciutto, pepperoni, artichoke hearts, black olives, fresh mozzarella balls, and pepperoncini on lettuce with SF Italian dressing. It was so yummy! 

Do you remember my nice clean refrigerator above that I posted about in November?

Well look at it now! UGH! This much food in our fridge makes it so disorganized which drives me crazy. So guess what we will be eating out of the rest of the week? 

Some of the butter will be moved to the freezer. The eggs are not a big deal because they get eaten for breakfasts and the cooked ones for snacks. 

Not much I can do about all the condiments except use them up. The shelf above the produce has a ton of leftovers that I will be remaking into something else for dinners. Tons of produce needs to be incorporated into breakfasts and dinners. The apples will be made into applesauce. And last but not least, the deli drawer has a lot of meats and cheeses that need to get used.  

Forget about eating this up this week. It looks like we can eat from this for the next two weeks right up until Christmas. Waste not, want not!

Am I the only one who has a full messy fridge?

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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

We had a quiet weekend except for yesterday. My son and grandson came to watch the Bills game with us. My son treated us to a take out lunch from Ales and Sandviches. 

Since he picked it up at halftime, we did not have to make dinner. A little snack sufficed. A day without much cooking is wonderful. I didn’t think the Bills would win because they were not looking good in the first half. However they came back to win which made me very happy. 

The rest of the weekend, Hubby watched other football games while I worked on our family trees. I have not belonged to Ancestry. com for years. I decided on Saturday to sign up for a 14 day free trial and then subscribe for 6 months. I am happy I did because there is a wealth of information there now. I am finding pictures and lots of information that I previously did not have. It is fun. 

This morning I made my to do list for this week:

– Blog every day through Friday

– Quickly pick up and clean a room a day. This takes me no more than 15-20 minutes a day and keeps my house looking good.

– Grocery shop at Top’s and Aldi’s

– Fold the towels that I washed yesterday

– Wash a load of clothes and hang them


– Take my old winter clothes that no longer fit me to Goodwill

– Exercise at the gym and at home

– Work on the family trees

– Go to my hair salon appointment

– Pick up a prescription at the drugstore

– Work on cleaning the storage areas of the basement. Toss anything that we aren’t using. 

– Grill dinners outside as much as possible before Hubby stores the grill for the winter

– Looking forward to my weekly chat with my sister. She has been away for two weeks so we need to catch up. 

I think that is enough for this week to keep me busy.
What is on your to do list this week?  

Categories
Every Day

It’s Been A Rough Day

Sorry this is so late but I have had a rough day. Besides a medical appointment this morning, I went to Dash’s for the shop I am about to show you. 

I was doing fine until I hit another car backing out of a parking space at Dash’s supermarket. I was pretty shook up and happy that no one was hurt including me. It was just a little fender bender. I haven’t had an accident since my 20’s. So it has been about 50 years. 

I managed to get most of the info the insurance company needed. I forgot the license plate of the car I hit. I was pretty shook up but I drove the 15 miles home. I called my insurance company and advised them.

Then after Hubby teasing me and calling me “Crash”,
I went back out driving to do another errand. I needed to go or I was afraid I wouldn’t get in the car again. And I do 90% of the driving. So now I am calmer and I can tell you about my grocery shop.

This is what I got at Dash’s:

1 Wavy Lay’s – $ 4.49

2 French Onion Dip @ $1.50 each

5 lbs. of Red Potatoes – $2.99

2 tomatoes on sale for $.99 a lb. = $ 1.48

1 piece of Fresh Haddock – $4.00

2 very thick cut boneless NY Strip Steaks – $27.04

Total OOP was $ 43.00.

The chips and dip are for Hubby’s football games this week. Hubby wanted some potatoes to make potato salad. The tomatoes are needed for BLT’s tomorrow night. Tonight, I am baking salmon for me and haddock for Hubby. I will add either a salad or some frozen veggies. Hubby loved the steak I got there last week. He said it was the best we had in years. So I got two more to put in the freezer. I will wrap them separately for two more steak dinners for us.

To end my day, when I came home from running the last errand, Hubby told me that we got some great family news that we had been waiting for. That made my day after everything else. 

I hope you are all having a better day than I did this morning.

Categories
Every Day

A Little Of This and a Little of That

We had a quiet weekend with the exception of our son and grandson coming for a delicious blueberry pancake breakfast. I am using up the last bag of blueberries that I froze last August. I cooked sausage to go with it and we had V8 juice and coffee. I just cooked two eggs for me since I am pretty much carbohydrate free. 

I spent some time looking at the grocery sale ads and making a grocery list. We are having company for dinner on Sept. 3rd so I need some things for that. I am also planning on stocking up on sale chicken for the winter. I think I will get 20 – 30 lbs.

Here is my to do list this week:

Defrost the freezer(DONE)

Grocery shopping – 4 stores (DONE)


Pick Up Hubby’s prescriptions at the drugstore(DONE)


Order Norelco shaver replacement blades for Hubby’s shaver(DONE)

Fall clean the guest bathroom(DONE), hallway(DONE), laundry room(DONE), kitchen(DONE), breakfast room(DONE), and great room(DONE)

Practice making a loaf of French bread in my oven. This is needed for French Onion soup that Hubby is making for a first course for our company dinner. I want to make sure the bread will turn out the way I want before I make it the day of the dinner. Otherwise, I will get a French bread loaf at the market that day. Our bread maker doesn’t make the shape loaf that we want for the soup.(DONE)

Pay $450. in charitable donations(DONE)

Go over the budget and make sure that we are going to be able to eek out the large bills coming this week and next week without taking money from our investments(DONE)

Get one Christmas gift from my Christmas list( DONE)

As you can see, I have a very busy week. I like to get all of my Fall cleaning done before Labor Day. So I had best run and get started on my day.

What is on your to do list this week?

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Every Day

A Little of This and A Little Of That

We had the worst weather this weekend. About the time I left for the hair salon on Saturday morning, the skies opened up and the thunder and lightning was bad. Fortunately, we always keep an umbrella in the car. After I left the hairdresser, I had to run another errand but I was very happy to get home. It was hard to see to drive the rain was so heavy.

I was standing in the kitchen, when a bolt of lightning hit in the woods right behind us. It scared me so badly. More on that later.

I appreciate all of the feedback on my hair dilemma. I did go and this was the result. I even wore a shirt that was 4 sizes too big for me(for occasions like this, for cleaning the house or working in the yard)  so that I could get it off easily to change into my party clothes without messing up my hair. 

It had been 6 weeks since I had been to the salon. My hairdresser on that appointment did something different. I have blonde highlights on the sides and the front. She decided to color my roots the same shade. What a difference that has made!  After these 6 weeks, I did not have to have the roots done. She said there was no gray. She told me I could easily go another 4-6 weeks because it will blend as my hair grows. So since roots and highlights were fine, she only had to shampoo and cut it. She only charged me $30. I added a $6. tip and I was on my way. I was thrilled.

When I got home, I gave myself a manicure. No nail salon for me. 

We had an annual picnic party to go to at a good friend’s home. I went over an hour early to help her shred all of the smoked pork bellies and slice the smoked beef briskets and get them into the large chafing containers. Hubby arrived at the starting time of the party. We had such a good time with friends and neighbors. There was good conversation, good food, and drink. I behaved myself and stuck to my diet food, although I did have just one draft beer.  We look forward to this get together every year. Fortunately, the rain stopped and the sun came out about an hour before the party began.

At the party, a neighbor told us that many other neighbors had problems with things blowing out about the time of the lightning strikes. A number of neighbors lost power for a bit. One neighbor had many of their shingles blown off which is what we experienced in a wind storm last spring.

I made a mental note to check my freezer in the basement when we got home to make sure it was running.  When Hubby came to the party, he didn’t arm the house alarm because we were right across the street and could see the house. When we got home, we realized that there was a fault message on the alarm panel. It was one that we had never seen before. So we have our alarm people coming to find the problem today. This may have occurred during the storm. We again had bad storms early yesterday morning and again last night. It has gotten so hot here- upper 80’s that I expect that we will get more this week. I had to put the A/C back on a couple of days ago.


Yesterday was a quiet day at home. We stayed home all day. My family did not come to breakfast because my DIL took West to NYC on Thursday to do some sightseeing and for a Ninja competition on Saturday.


Hubby was happy to watch some preseason football. I looked over all the food ads for this week. There were really no good buys except broccoli crowns for $.88 a lb. and Amaize sweet corn that is 4 for a $1.00. I may or may not get some this week. Hubby loves the corn, so I may blanch some to put in the freezer. I did notice that beef prices are rising. Steaks were up about $ 2.00 a lb. and ground beef that is usually $1.99 a lb. is now $ 2.29 a lb. on sale. Time will tell if Aldi’s raises the price of the 100% grass fed ground beef that I always buy.

For dinner last night I roasted a turkey breast that I purchased at Top’s for $.88 a lb a few weeks ago. It was the worst turkey breast that we have ever had. It is so tough that we could barely chew it. I am going to see if it is more tender cold. If not, I am considering calling the meat department to see if I can get my money back. I don’t know if they will want the turkey back even though it is roasted or not. I will call and find out what to do.

Well, I am off to start my day. I have a lot of cleaning to do. I hope you all have a good one. 

Have any of you returned meat like this? Did they give you your money back? Did you bring the meat back cooked?    

 

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Every Day

My To Do List, Etc.

It’s been a busy 10 days and I loved every minute of it. My daughter in law arrived on Friday and my granddaughter was so glad to see her. 

Yesterday my son and grandson and their dog, Nori, came out for breakfast. All of us had a nice morning of just being with each other. It’s always a treat for me to have family together.

My granddaughter and DIL left about 11:30am to make the long trek home. They made an adventure out of it by taking back roads and staying off the highways. It took them 7 hours to get home but they enjoyed every minute of it. If you have never taken a different route to where you are going, try it sometime. It is fun to travel from one side of a state to the other and just enjoy the scenery.

My son and grandson left to go home about 2:30pm. The house seemed very quiet after the hustle and bustle of the week.

Hubby and I ate leftovers for dinner. We had leftover spaghetti sauce with meatballs so I made Hubby a pasta bake smothered in mozzarella cheese. I ate leftover broccoli and chicken. I will freeze the rest of the cooked chicken for another day. The rest of the pasta bake will be scooped up into portion size dinners and frozen.

But today I have quite a to do list to catch up on:

Get groceries at Aldi’s and Top’s – they have some good sales that I am not passing up.

Return deposit bottles to Fast Cash.

Package and take an Amazon return to UPS.

Go to the library to return books and take out a couple more.

All of the errands will be run in an efficient way to save on gasoline.

When I get home, I need to:

– strip 3 beds and wash sheets and all of the towels from 2 bathrooms

– write a Thank You note to the person who held the reunion

– work on some future blog posts

– clean a bedroom


– cut up the veggies to make two salads

-just relax and watch a movie


Do you guys have a busy Monday? Leave a comment and share with us what is on your agenda.