We did not go out anywhere yesterday. It is too cold and too snowy. Roads are not in the greatest condition either. The news is saying they are very icy. Since they are predicting another major storm today and tomorrow, we will stay safe and warm in our home. Staying home saves on gasoline and also saves on natural gas because are not opening doors to go outside which lets warm air escape.
For a few days now, I have been using darker and richer coffee in our reusable cups in the Keurig. This allows me to use less coffee by only filling the cup 1/2 way instead of full. I also am using 1 squirt of Skinny Syrup instead of 2. I can’t really tell much difference between the 2 and the 1. I use the half and half sparingly too. Just enough to make my coffee taste good. Not only is the half and half expensive but it is in short supply here right now. I try to stay stocked up with 3 half gallons but that is not easy with the shortages.
Yesterday for brunch, Hubby finished the rest of the ham and noodle casserole. I ate some other leftovers… a bit of this and a bit of that. The remainder of the ham I have frozen in portions for future use. Today, we had egg, sausage, and cheese McMuffins. We are being mindful of using up what is in our pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. But we also are eating all of our leftovers. Waste not want not. I am buying as little as possible this month so I can use up some of what we have here which saves me money on gasoline also.
I have not been grocery shopping at all this week and I don’t think I will get out. Knowing the forecast, last Sunday I went on the Walmart site to place a grocery order. The first day I could get a delivery was tomorrow. I think most everyone was scheduling orders because of our forecast. Well, we got another 5 inches of snow yesterday which brought our totals since Saturday up to 20 inches. Then it started snowing again today and we got 6 more inches. So we are at 2 ft. 2 inches so far. Walmart cancelled my order for tomorrow because of the snow. We have more snow coming tomorrow and a lot more on Friday. God Bless my snowplow guy, Nick. He has been here plowing my driveway three days straight. And I don’t think he is done with more coming. We don’t have it as bad as the south towns. Orchard Park which is where the Buffalo Bills Stadium has been getting nailed since the game on Monday was played. They have had a total of 18 inches since the storms started on last Saturday. Less than us but they have to shovel the stadium out again for a game on Sunday. And they are predicted to get another 14-18 inches more before things calm down on Saturday so they will be hustling to get the stadium cleared again.
Dinner last night was peachy pork chops and olive oil and garlic rice. I cooked up 4 small pork chops so that I would have 2 pork chops for dinner tonight. I will dice them to make stir fried rice for dinner. I will add the pork, sauteed onions, diced carrots, and an egg to the rice along with some soy sauce. Hubby cooks up the rice for me in our small rice cooker. It turns out perfectly and gives us just enough for 2 meals.
It was very dark when I got up this morning at 4:30 am. So I had to use lights in the kitchen. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to start writing this post for you. It is now 7:17am and it is still dark. The sun should come up at 7:43 am. We will see if we get sun or the storm rolling in. They predicted the storm starting during the night but it hasn’t started yet. 99% of the schools in the area are closed today and tomorrow.
Our utility company sent me an e-mail to read our electric and gas meters. It is our turn to read it this month but they only gave me today and tomorrow to read it. It was like a blizzard out there today so I am hoping it won’t be as bad tomorrow and I can read it in the morning and submit it. I managed to make to to the mailbox today. We had no mail delivery since last Saturday. All I got was a rebate check for $22.99.
We are doing everything that we can to try to keep these utility bills down but it is a never ending battle. Since most of the country has been in a deep freeze for a week or more, the demand is up so the cost will be up. But we are still only using a light when it is dreary in the room we are in. I am mindful of how I cook to save energy. I still save warm up water when the shower is getting hot to reuse to clean the house or flush toilets, I am still taking navy showers. I close the bathroom door for a while before we take showers so that the room gets really warm. In the winter we only take showers every other day. Our skin gets so dry if we take them every day. The heat is programmed on our thermostat. When I got up this morning, it was 64 in here which is what it is from 10:00 pm at night to 7:00 am in the morning when it goes up to 68. At 9am, it will go up to 70. I just layer when I get up in the morning until the heat comes up. Hubby is always cold and he layers when it is 70 in here. I have to keep him comfortable. We have plenty of blankets on the beds so that we are very comfortable at night.
We watched NCIS Sydney again this afternoon that Hubby had taped. I am liking it a lot. I did some reading, cooked dinner, and ran a very full dishwasher afterward. I don’t run the dishwasher ever until I can’t fit another dish in it.
I watched a couple of You Tube videos too. I am going to share one. The you tuber is in Brittany, France. She and her husband are retirees from Great Britain. They have about 2721 euros net to live on monthly after taxes etc. are taken out of their money. That equates to about $2916. a month U.S. or about $ 34,992. net per year. It would be considered low income here. But any income earner can learn from this video. She shows her budget every month and has many other videos that you might find interesting. I like watching her once in a while to see how other people in other countries budget and live. Here you go:
