Tag: miscellaneous

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A Quick Question

I know I already did my normal Tuesday post today but I have a quick question. I want to know what you think.

Remember Zaycon and how so many of us got burnt by them? Well all of a sudden a group called Farm Fresh LLC has popped up everywhere. I see it on facebook, in ads, etc. Now they are e-mailing me at an address that I don’t give out for most things. They actually called me by name. All I can think is they are Zaycon under a different name and have moved to a different state and that is why they have my info. I can find no website for them nor anything about who they are.

They sell fresh fruit, fresh meat and fresh seafood. You pay in advance and they tell you when they will deliver but no info for a week.


After Zaycon, I am very leery to ever order any food but locally again.


My concern is that these are some of the people who worked for Zaycon just doing it again. What do you think? Does anyone know who these people are? Have any of you gotten e-mails to buy from them and if you have did you order through Zaycon?

Here is the address they show they are at:

Fresh Farms
2601 S. Minnesota Ave, Suite 105-184
Sioux Falls, SD 57105

Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment.

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Every Day

Missing In Action

I was just released from the hospital after being admitted earlier in the week. It’s been a rough year. So that is why my posts have been missing. I will catch up on comments next week.

I will be absent from here until after Easter. I hope all of you and your families have a Happy and Blessed Easter.

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Every Day

Planning For Easter

I love Easter, not only because of the Resurrection but because I love having family and watching the grandchildren enjoy their Easter baskets. It also makes me believe that Spring may finally stick around. Unfortunately, my family in Eastern NY will not be able to come this year. So I have already sent my granddaughter’s gift.

However my son, DIL, and West will be joining us. I was going to cook a turkey dinner but Hubby wants leg of lamb. He loves Australian lamb and you can only find it on sale at this time of the year. Instead of paying $ 9.99 a lb, I found it on sale this week for $ 6.49 a lb. I bought 2 boneless legs of lamb. The semi- boneless are on sale for $1.00 less per lb. However, I felt that it was worth paying that $1.00 per lb to get boneless. 

I purchased a 6.98 lb. one for Easter dinner. The other one which I will save in the freezer for a few months was 5.73 lbs. The larger one will feed 5 of us and give me leftovers for the week.

I have a special recipe that I will share with you on how I cook it. I have made this almost every Easter since we got married.

1 boneless leg of lamb( or you can use one with a bone)

Olive Oil

2 Tsps. Salt

3 Tsps. of Oregano

1 Tsp. Pepper

2 Minced Garlic Clove


2 cans of Beef Consomme

16. oz of Tomato Sauce

Brush the lamb with olive oil and put in a roasting pan. Sprinkle with salt, oregano and pepper. Add the garlic, consomme and tomato sauce to the pan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Roast in the oven for about 2 and 1/2 hours at 325. I use a meat thermometer to tell me when it is done. We like it medium rare between 130 & 140. if you like it rare then roast it for less time or more for well done. Then thicken the stock for gravy. 

This is so incredibly delicious that Hubby wants me to cook it today. But he is just going to have to wait until Easter.

I will serve this with rice with the gravy on top. We will also have broccoli and a tossed salad. I am hoping to make a bunny cake for West. I used to make one when my kids were little. So if I can find the recipe, West will get one. 

I had a list when I grocery shopped this morning but I ended up buying more than what was on the list. I actually spent $143.97. When I see a good deal on meat that I didn’t have on my list, then I stock. Especially with beef prices going to rise quickly because of the floods. 


So I purchased 2 Porterhouse Steaks at $ 5.99 a lb.
They will get grilled soon. I also saw Eye Round Roasts on sale at $4.69 a lb. so I got 2 (This price has already risen.) Top’s also had boneless chicken breasts at $ 1.69 a lb. But my inventory tells me that I have over 75 lbs. of chicken in the freezer. So I skipped it.


The rest of my order was some more Lay’s chips for Hubby to have with dip while watching the game tonight. I also got some very expensive Delicious Apples because Hubby wanted them to add them into his coleslaw mix. We were down to 2 SF Jello and I eat this for a dessert or snack sometimes so I got a bunch. I got mushrooms to go with the steak and a cucumber for salads.

I had $ 479.54 left in my grocery budget before today’s shop. I now have $ 335.57. I will not be doing shopping for quite a while unless I see a great meat deal. 

I have never been one to know how much money I have in the grocery budget and go spend it all each month. I try to have money leftover to roll so that when I see meat deals like I did today, I can buy a few to put in my freezer and use at a later time. The one thing I hate is having to buy something at full price. So I try to avoid that although it has happened when I really need something for a recipe.

Today has been busy. Hubby spent some time with a pest control company representative deciding whether to hire them or not. They will set traps for the voles that are digging up our lawn, get rid of bee’s nests, and ants and any other pest that we get like spiders. I hate wolf spiders. The rep just came back and while he was gone we did some research. So we hired them for the season.

Because it snowed one more time since our last car wash, I used those coupons to get a free car wash again today. Now all of the salt should be off it until next winter. I also tanked the car up again getting $.60 off a gallon using supermarket points. 

Have you planned for Easter yet? Feel free to leave a comment and share your plans with all of us.
    

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Every Day

A Day In The Life

After getting up really early and getting that one cup of coffee and an egg for breakfast, I got ready to go to the dentist for an 8AM appointment. I just loved dealing with rush hour traffic especially when it had been snowing since Saturday night. Another expensive trip($330.) for cleaning and X rays but the good news is that I had no cavities.

Next it was a trip to the bank to get cash out for April’s groceries and eating out. After tracking spending on healthy food last month, I decided to get $500. for the month. My trial run in March was $800. which got us some items that will last more than a month or two plus let Hubby buy some goodies for himself. I had $ 77.90 left from March to roll into April. So after doing my withdrawal, I had a running balance of $577.90. I will be taking any monies that are left each month and just rolling it into the next month. That way I can build up a balance so that if I find a great meat sale, I can stock.

It will also allow me to build up some monies for a nice dinner out. We are cooking all of our meals right now but I am sure after a month or so, we will want to go out. I have looked at most of the menus for the restaurants we frequent and I believe it will be pretty easy for me to stay on South Beach while eating out. 

Easter has been on my mind since family is coming for dinner. I have a spiral sliced ham and a large turkey in my freezer that I purchased at rock bottom during the holidays in 2018. However, Hubby wants a leg of lamb. Lamb usually goes on sale closer to Easter. I will be keeping my eyes open for that perfect sale price. If it is really good, then I will buy one for Easter and a spare for the Fall.

But I did start getting things for an Easter basket for West. I had a $3.00 ECB and a $2.00 ECB that CVS just gave to me. So on the way home from the dentist I stopped and got some candy to start it. Free was terrific! I am doing something different for my granddaughter. 

Next I went to Niagara Produce to pick up some produce. We are going through a lot of produce these days. I also picked up some cold cuts and free au jus for Hubby. And I shopped at Walmart. Jelly beans are more for West’s basket and some for Hubby too. Hubby wanted wraps to go with his cold cuts. 


I started with $ 577.90 in my budget and after deducting the Walmart and Niagara Produce shop I have a balance of $531.00. I will most likely do a Top’s shop tomorrow since it is Senior Citizen Discount Day(6% off).


I am beat after all of the shopping and the dentist. So I will most likely settle down with a book and my lemon water for a while. Hubby needs to go outside and rake up the glass from our table on the patio. It broke during the wind storm a few weeks ago and he hasn’t gotten to it yet. He started one day but he said it was too cold. So we will be replacing it with a new patio dining set soon. 


The other surprise we got today was a notice from our town that our assessment on the house went up $33,000. for 2019. They nailed everyone in here most likely because the houses were selling the end of last year for 28-40% more than they had been. I expect we will get hit again next year because they are extending our neighborhood behind us. So lots of new homes will be for sale. They started selling them about two weeks ago and have sold 6 so far. I will be happy to have a large home behind us to break up the wind. 


Now that I am losing so much weight, I was afraid I would lose my wedding ring. I almost lost it last weekend. So I stopped and got a ring guard. That will work until I am down to the weight I want to be and can get it made smaller. 

Tonight I will be making a South Beach recipe for gingered chicken and steaming some asparagus. I will make some rice in the rice cooker if Hubby wants some.   


I hope you are having a great day! Have you gotten any great deals lately? Please feel free to tell us all about them in comments.

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Every Day

I Am So Grateful

I want to thank everyone here who prayed for me and wished me well during my surgery and recovery. Thanks for sticking with me while I am recovering.

Since 2007, I have blogged under various blog titles and I have enjoyed every moment of it. My only hope when I started was that I would be able to share with you frugal things that would help you along your life’s journey.  However, something unexpected happened. So many of you who have frequented my blogs for so many years have taught me many valuable things in your comments. Some recipes and things that I still use today. For all of those things I am very, very grateful! 

I am also very grateful for the many friends that I have made. Some of you I know but others I have never met. But I feel like I know you all after so many years.

So as I start the next chapter of my life, I will be here for you and I hope you for me. 

I have been so rejuvenated after having this surgery. I am grateful for the wonderful surgeon and his team who repaired me. For 4 years, I was in chronic pain. I did the best I could to manage it without pain killers. Yes, I went to a specialist who only seemed interested in sending me for every test known to man. But the one that would have told them the real problem they never ordered. My surgeon ordered two that told the whole story. I am so thankful to him. He sent the test results to my gastro doctor who was shocked when she saw them. She actually called me to wish me luck with the surgery. However up to that point she tried to talk me out of the hiatal hernia surgery. So I did an “end run” around her and found my surgeon. Needless to say I am done with her.

My brain is telling me that I can do anything but I can’t. I still tire out late afternoon every day. But I am getting better at being less tired every day. I am driving now and running some errands. I still have restrictions on lifting anything for another month. I am enjoying the South Beach diet. I have less than a week to go and will be on Phase 2.

However, tomorrow I can go back to the gym whenever I want as long as I stay away from any weight machines. I am so looking forward to the Aqua Fit exercises. I also love the treadmill. My treadmill at home needs repair. That is one of the things on my to do list this week. I have to call someone to come and repair it because I like how handy it is to just jump on it when I am in the mood.

I am feeling like I did when I was in my forties. I actually made a bucket list yesterday. There are so many things that I want to do and places that I want to see. I want to live every day in the moment and just enjoy it all. Hubby and I have already made some plans for the summer. So many places to explore right in our own backyard.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my wonderful Hubby! But I do every day. He has been such a blessing to me our entire marriage and whenever I have had surgery he is always there for me. He waited on me hand and foot and still is helping when I need it. And I enjoy his help even just doing the dishes together! I also have to thank my youngest son who has helped us when I was in the hospital and around here since. And my oldest son who has checked in with us every few days since my surgery. I so enjoy talking with him. 

The other thing that has happened to me is that I no longer have any stress. Being in that much pain gave me constant stress and now it is gone. I just do what I am doing and don’t thing about anything else. I don’t stress about what needs to be done. I just take it moment by moment and that has been good for me.

So it is time to end this post. However, I will be back tomorrow with a frugal post! I hope you all have a wonderful Monday! 

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Every Day

Many Things Have Been Happening Around Here

Even though I have been resting and recovering from my surgery, life doesn’t stop.

I believe I told you that a few days before my surgery, we had damage to our roof from a bad wind storm. The roofer couldn’t match the shingles because they were made in Canada and they no longer make the architectural ones that were on there. The American ones and the Canadian ones were a different size too. So they had to remove all of the shingles on 2 sections of the roof in order to blend them in properly. They also removed the roofing paper under them. The cost was about $ 4,100.+. We have a $1,000. deductible so the insurance company is reimbursing us the difference. We already had it done because we had another wind storm and we were lucky that it didn’t cause any more damage. 

I finally started eating soft foods yesterday. I never knew that scrambled eggs could taste so good. Up to this point I had been on a liquid diet, baby food, and watered down mashed potatoes. I will be on the soft food diet for about a week and then I start the South Beach Diet. Since my surgery about 2 and 1/2 weeks ago, I have lost 13 lbs. It gives me a good start to the SB diet where I hope to get down to my normal weight. Hubby is going to eat pretty much what I eat so we don’t have to cook two meals. I have made a menu plan for the first two weeks and we hope to get that shopping done this week. Meanwhile, little by little, I have been going through my freezers and pantries weeding out food that we should not eat. I will be donating most of it to the food pantry after I check with family to see if they want any of it.

I am anxious to get back to my aquafit classes, the treadmill, track, and some other machines at the Y. The surgeon told me yesterday I can start in another two weeks.  

Hubby has been my driver all of this time. He has been game to take me any place I wanted to go. So errands like getting gasoline and banking $45. in rebate checks have been done. 

You all also know that we use the Skinny SF Syrups from Jordan’s in our coffee. We especially love the Irish Cream and the Vanilla Almond. I almost placed an order a week ago. But I decided to wait until we were down to 2 bottles left. I am so glad I waited. Jordan’s is celebrating their anniversary and I got an e-mail from them last Friday saying their top 10 sellers were on sale. Sure enough both flavors that we like were in the top 10 sale. Normally I pay $5.99 for the big bottles. But they were on sale for $ 3.99.

So knowing a great deal when I see it, I placed an order for 24 Irish Cream and 6 Vanilla Almond totaling $ 119.70. By doing so I saved $60.00. These will last us quite a while.  

I have been watching a lot of TV and You Tube, reading, and doing paperwork. I try to stay busy so that boredom doesn’t set in.

This past Saturday, my son and grandson came for lunch and a visit. Not being up to cooking it for them, I sent my son to Ales and Sandwiches to get lunch for everyone. I was even able to get a small portion of mashed potatoes with gravy so that I could mix the gravy in and make them soupy. We enjoyed their company and they brought Nori, their dog, too. I enjoyed seeing her. She hasn’t been out for a visit in  many months. 

I apologize for the rambling but I wanted to let you know that I am still around and hope to be back blogging on a permanent basis soon. Till then, stay frugal!

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Every Day

Living On Just Social Security

While I am recouperating, here is another video that I thought might be of interest to some of you who are or will be living on Social Security only in retirement.

This is Tawra’s mother, Jill, who is showing you how she lives on $750. a month of Social Security only.

Again stick with them. It takes them a couple of minutes to get into the conversation.

But the tips may help some on Social Security and others with small fixed incomes too.   

Living on $750. a Month 

Enjoy.

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Every Day

First Of The Year

I did my first shopping trip of the year yesterday. It was just for a few items that we needed. I wasn’t quite up to it but it was 6% Senior Discount Day at Top’s. 

Since I needed to get a whole pork loin for $ 1.59 a lb., I went. We were down to just 2 pork chops in the freezer and this is the best price I have found on pork in a long time. Plus I got an additional 6% off on the loin and the few other items. So 7.92 lbs. of pork loin cost me $ 12.59 before the 6% discount.

I didn’t have enough energy to go to Walmart to get the milk or the saline nasal sprays. So I decided to get everything at Top’s. Bonus that I didn’t have to drive further and use more gasoline. I picked up a reusable shopping bag for $ .69 with coupon. Our Governor is making noise about banning plastic bags in New York like California did. Most of my reusable bags have been given to others so I need to stock on them again.

The milk was a little more expensive than Walmart at $ 1.79. However, I hit the jackpot on the saline nasal sprays. They were much cheaper at Top’s than either Amazon or Walmart. I guess it is worth checking prices again. I paid only $2.77 each for them. It is so dry here in the Buffalo area this winter that these are really needed. 

My total for this shop was $ 21.86. That leaves $ 278.14 for the rest of the month.

For some reason both Hubby and I became ill 3 days ago. We must have picked up a bug somewhere. I had the worst of it. So we did not celebrate New Year’s Eve. We have barely eaten in 3 days. That bottle of champagne that has been in my fridge did not get opened again this year. Hubby is feeling much better today so he asked if I was up to eating any dinner. Since I have managed to keep an apple and some toast down, I told him, “Yes I am so hungry.” So he is grilling filet mignons tonight which we will have with salad. Hopefully, it won’t be a mistake. It was not the way we wanted to end 2018 or ring in 2019 but stuff happens. We are hoping for a speedy recovery and a great 2019!

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Every Day

What I Have Been Doing The Past Few Days

Well for one thing, I have been missing in action. I cannot believe that it is Thursday and I haven’t posted most of the week.

First, I haven’t felt well all week and made a Doctor’s appointment that I couldn’t get until the first week in October. UGH!


Second, I spent a good part of the day at the dentist  who fit me in between patients yesterday. My permanent denture which I got last Thursday is just awful. It doesn’t fit well. Every time I try to eat something, I bite my cheek. The entire gum on the left side is sore and blistered from rubbing. I resorted to drinking smoothies for all meals over the weekend. The dentist has sent it back to the lab which in this area means dropping it off to them. He told me his office would call me when it was ready for me. I got a call this morning saying the dentist needs to see me next week for an hour. The receptionist said she had no idea why because the dentist didn’t say. Either it will be ready or he is taking new molds and we are starting from scratch. We’ll see.

Tuesday, I spent running errands to the market( purchased strawberries and cantaloupes), to Fast Cash with the bottle deposits, to UPS to ship a package, and to the drugstore to pick up a prescription. I also caught up laundry which had been piling up around here.

We also spent some time getting rid of a nest that bumble bees had built in the ground near our front door. Those things are awful.

The landscape crew was here yesterday so that entailed telling them what we wanted done and keeping en eye on them. 

One day I spent a lot of time on the phone between QVC and my bank trying to straighten out an error with an easy pay charge. It is all straightened out now but I am very aggravated with the bank who screwed up with a key error. I get so tired of fixing other people’s mistakes. You just can’t rely on good service anymore. If I get good service from someone, I let the company know because it is non-existent today. 

Other than those things I have spent every other minute laying in bed either sleeping or reading the above book by Andrew Mellen. It’s very interesting. Most of his ideas are very similar to how I organize but I am picking up some new tips.

Poor Hubby is on his own for meals. So we have resorted to buying a rotisserie chicken that he has been making sandwiches from. I am hoping tonight to feed him a hot meal such as spaghetti since it is quick and easy to make. We will see how I feel before dinner. I have been eating cottage cheese and tomatoes. It is the only thing that tastes good to me. 


Do these sound like excuses? Yes, but I just can’t function when my brain is telling me how bad I feel and won’t let me write a great article that will benefit you.

So hopefully in the next few days, I will be back with one. I am off to lay down.

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Every Day

A Few Questions

I have run out of my favorite K cups. We have a bag of decaf coffee that was leftover from my Disney World Trip. Yesterday, I perfected making a cup of coffee with my reusable K cup. 

Since we haven’t bought regular coffee in years, I have no idea what a good price is. When we bought the coffee on our trip, I really didn’t pay much attention to the price.

Since the K cups are so expensive, I will be using the disposable cup from now on for my coffee. Hubby still has about 100 decaf K cups. But I regularly drink caffeinated. So I will be on the hunt soon for mine.

So could you smart people who know what a good price for coffee is these days, please leave a comment and give me an idea what price I should be looking for? Thanks in advance.

My project this week is to find a place to sell most of my frugality books that I have collected well over 100 books over the years. Frugality is so ingrained in me now that they are just collecting dust in a bookshelf in our basement. Slowly but surely I would like to sell them.

Any of you have a favorite place to sell them? Do you use Ebay or Amazon? I am not even sure they will sell right now. But if we have a downturn in the economy(which I am not hoping for), they will sell quickly. I loved selling my books to different used book stores when we lived in Arizona. But alas, we don’t have any good ones here.

So wanting to clear these books out and use all of that space for stockpile, do you have any suggestions? Let me know in the comments. 

My son and grandson are on their way here for breakfast. They are again bringing Tim Horton’s donuts. I can’t eat the breakfast I would make them and I am sick of eggs. So we figure, if I cut the donuts into small pieces for me, I should be able to enjoy them.

He sent me a picture of some boxes in his van. They are a surprise he has for me. I can’t wait to see the contents. If the contents hold something good I will share it tomorrow.