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Archive for June, 2018

Bag lady :)

June 29th, 2018 at 04:46 pm

Guess it is official, I'm a bag lady!

We usually hit the thrift stores on Fridays. There are 4 we go to each week and then there are a couple others we hit every once in awhile. Anyway, I found some lovely canvas bags that were brand new. I thought that they might make good gift bags -- a two for one sort of thing. I can put a gift in them and the recipient gets both the gift and a reusable bag.

Anyway, I decided to decorate them. I found some iron on transfers. And then I crocheted a couple of things and had some things I could sew on.

I have about $1.50 or less invested in each bag. Here are the results on the photos below.





Hats, hats, and more hats

June 18th, 2018 at 07:05 pm

Last week our knitting group got together for our bimonthly meeting time. Our goal is to make 1000 hats for 2018. We will choose high poverty schools in which to gift them. We have a couple of ladies making scarves. I can crochet, but one of the other ladies wanted to know how to knit a scarf on a loom, so I looked up the YouTube instructions and taught myself and then taught the ladies.

Anyway our hat total as of last Thursday was 533 hats! Not bad for a group that averages about 8-9 people.




I did score some yarn the other day at a thrift store. It was new and packaged, but they wanted as much as I could have purchased it at a fabric store on discount. I said something to one of the ladies and she said, well, if that is the case, let's just cut the price in half! No complaints from me!

Anniversary, friends, and finances

June 15th, 2018 at 09:14 pm

Today is our 28th wedding anniversary. We are going out for supper and that should be nice. We get each other a card and have a great meal and we are satisfied with that. At this point in our lives, we basically buy what we need and want so a gift is not needed.

Last night we went out with friends. Egad, two meals out in two nights...well, we were supposed to have gone out over two weeks ago, but we had an out of town funeral and then they had an out of town wedding so it kept getting postponed. We were celebrating a birthday of the other lady. Two of us are retired educators. Our retirement system in Illinois sent out an email that there was an article about certain people in Illinois getting over $100K in pensions and how so few actually get that much. So, we were discussing that and the article said the the average pension is $54K. I know he makes more than that in pension and he was carrying on about how he couldn't believe anyone would get that little as a pension. I quietly said, I get less then $50K a year for pension. He didn't know what to say. I agreed to it so I could retire early. It was totally worth it to me. DH retired from the public library and his pension is less than mine. He does also get Social Security which helps, but neither of us make huge amounts.

But are we poor? Not really. My friend has made lots more money, in fact he probably made more than what DH and I made for many years. But he is so poor in handling money that is almost ridiculous. He lives for now and then grouses when he can't do things because he owes so much money. I think it is a balancing act each month when he and the wife pay bills. They have, in the past 4 years, taken two huge vacations, both of which they borrowed money for. They have a home here and a small residence in a Southernstate. They eat out every day. He has all sorts of expensive collections and is continually adding to them. His home isn't paid for because he continually borrows from the equity. He has personal loans. I rather doubt if his place in the south is paid for. He keeps throwing up to us that he has this second place and how it is they vacation during the winter months.

It all came to a head the other day. We take bus trips, most of them day ones, and an upcoming one is to see Carol Burnett. It is in St. Louis and we are going to have a meal at a restaurant on The Hill, and then see the program. It costs $249 each. I asked DH if he wanted to go, he said he did, and I immediately wrote out a check to pay for it and secured our spots. I told our friends and his response was they can't even think about it right now. In other words, they are so overextended it isn't possible.

It really doesn't matter how much one makes if one doesn't know how to handle it. He may draw far more than I do, but spending every penny isn't helping him because the wants keep him broke. I know when he found out that I don't make what he makes pension wise, he was shocked. I could see him thinking how in the world do they do what they do?

We do it by cutting back on other stuff. We do eat out, but not every day. Often times we eat out at lunch -- cheaper, less crowded (we go early), and we don't do a huge meal, usually soup or a sandwich or if early enough, breakfast. I cook. A lot. Most of it from scratch. We buy an incredible amount of our groceries at Aldi. I can tell you he wouldn't be caught doing that. He prefers Wal-Mart and Sam's. He especially loves Sam's to buy in bulk. I make things we have and we buy things at rummage sales and thrift shops. I found two curtain sheers, new in a package, that I just knew would look great with DH's curtains in the den. I had white sheers, but these were tan and his curtains were brown. The sheers were $1 each. I ironed them and hung them and they matched great. When I mentioned doing this, he looked at my husband and said that I must not care for your because I spent so little on the sheers. He then went on to brag how they spent $1500 for two valances and 4 tiers for their kitchen windows...they were custom made! I recently made two sets of cottage sets for my bathroom and kitchen windows. The material was $9 and I made other things with the leftover material and I still have material left. I'm sure my friend would turn his nose up at this. I liked the material.

So, I might make less, but I think we get more bang for our buck.

Had a nice surprise and a disappointment today. DH had what looked like 6 cherry tomatoes almost ripe. He said to go ahead and pick them so I bent down and did...2 of the 6 had already been bitten by a chipmunk. Oh, well, at least not all of them have. They should be full ripe by tomorrow and we will enjoy them with our supper.

We have ar

Food and Fabric

June 12th, 2018 at 10:31 pm

I'm already dreading making the grocery lists for this week. I've been using up lots of stuff, both fresh and pantry wise so I think this week's grocery bills are going to be a lot higher than what we have had lately.

Unfortunately DH's garden did not give us carrots, radishes, or lettuce. Apparently the seed was bad because nothing came up. Well, I take that a back, 3 small lettuce leaves showed up after his third planting. Not even enough for including on a sandwich. His green onions are going gang busters as are his herbs. I brought some onions in for our dinner -- crabmeat casserole and roasted zucchini with chopped onion and added some Oregano and sage to the casserole.

A few months ago I purchased 10 yards of some fabric for $9 at a thrift store. I really liked the material and my plan was to make two cottage sets, one for the bathroom and one for the kitchen window. I've made them, two table runners, and today I made a pillowcase for a casual pillow. I then used the scraps to recover my two favorite potholders that are really starting to look worn. I crocheted covers a few years ago, but they look pretty bad now too. So, I cut those off and made little covers and although they don't look perfect, it does make them look better. I still have some material left. Not sure what I will do with the rest of it, but I most certainly have gotten my money's worth out of it.

Over the weekend we went to an open air market and I was a big spender. Bought a squash and a cucumber for 50 cents each. We've eaten the squash already and the cucumber is going to make an appearance in my salad tomorrow. I really like reasonably priced fresh vegetables.

Catch Up

June 8th, 2018 at 04:26 pm

It's been awhile since I've written anything. Nothing really very exciting going on, but that's fine. I am not complaining.

Have had a couple of expensive things, but not unexpected things come up. Our property taxes are due and we save all year for them so we have the money for them. Plus I made an appointment for DH to have his eyes examined and told him it was time for new glasses. His glasses are years old and I had him get out a pair of some of his older ones and he realized if he broke his current ones, his older ones wouldn't be much help. His eyes are weak and there is only so much one can do with the prescription, but the eye doctor did say they could add to the prescription this time so that might help with his vision. Plus, with the new technology and different frames, the gal helping him pick them out said that the glasses will be lighter weight so he's pleased about that.

I went through some items the other day to donate. I struggle with giving up things. We have more things in this house than we will ever use. I think it is the Depression Era mentality that was drilled into me by my parents. They lived through the Depression and had little. We need to drop those items off and get them out of the house.

We hooked up the rain barrel, but haven't had any rain in a long time. Hope we receive some rain soon because things are getting very dry and the corn leaves are starting to curl in many of the fields near us.

Last week one of the thrift stores had books on sale and hardbacks were 49 cents. I normally don't purchase many books and instead check them out of the library, but I did see a John Grisham that I had not read. It is "The Innocent Man" and there was no book jacket. I read the first couple of pages and realized I had not read it. I started (and finished) it this week and realized it was nonfiction about Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz and how they were convicted of a murder they did not commit and how DNA 12 years later freed them. I think I got my 49 cents worth and now DH wants to read it. We will donate it when he finishes.

I used a YouTube video to learn how to knit a scarf on a rectangular loom. The loom came in the package I bought over two years ago and it was a new challenge. It turned out well. I used some yarn I bought at a thrift store that was still in the package so I have less than $3 invested in my new scarf. I do need to take my coat to get it dry-cleaned. I haven't had it cleaned for a few years. I brush it every so often, but it does need to be cleaned.

Hope everyone has a delightful weekend.