Frugal Foodie

First, I want to thank everyone who responded about my last entry. I appreciate the support. I guess I'm sensitive, but it really bothers me when someone posts hurtful comments. One thing I wonder is, does this person or persons realize that those of us who wrote the blog can see their email? And if so, do they know you can research who they are by the email? Anyway, I appreciate the support of those of you who kindly responded.

It was an expensive week last week. My headlight went out and knowing how car places work, we made an appointment to get it replaced. I guess with modern cars, you almost have to take the darn thing apart to get to the headlight. It was high density and the cost was $455 for the very expensive bulb and the hour and a half it took to replace it. Yikes! We had the money in savings so that wasn't the case, but it sure is hard to part with it. A friend teased me I could have just opened the car window and used a flashlight. Now, that would have been a sight, and I'm sure the police would not have found that a bit amusing.

Also in the expenses was the home care insurance policy for DH. Fortunately we have not had to use it, but It seems the spring is fraught with lots of insurance since we have homeowner's, home care, flood, and then both car insurances coming due. Again, we have the money, but it is tough seeing it go out at such a fast pace.

We did get our taxes done. We didn't have to pay either the feds or the state, but not sure about next year. I say this every year, but I honestly feel like if you live below your means and you save and are honest, the tax laws really zing you.

One thing that wasn't as expensive was groceries. We bought some fresh fruit and vegetables and some milk, but we ate from the freezer and pantry which helped a lot. We tend to have a couple of weeks of large grocery bills and then a couple of weeks of cheaper ones. I like it when Kroger has a buy one get one free when it comes to meat because I take advantage of it and then freeze one for later consumption. Guess it evens out. Tonight I'm going to use some chicken and I'm going to trim it and use it and some chicken I have in the freezer that I did the same with and make some chicken broth. I like keeping it on hand to make chicken and noodles as well as soups.

DH and I continue to make good use of the library. I have read 24 books so far in 2019. According to the library receipt, I have "saved" $855.27 by using the library. It looks good at least. I know we get our tax money's worth out of the library anyway.

It looks like spring is finally coming here in Central Illinois. It has been a harsh winter. DH spent part of the weekend working in the yard cutting back stuff that he didn't get to in the fall. He said all the garlic he planted is starting to come up and some of the herbs that come back each year are showing they want to come back. Yay! I'm ready for homegrown stuff. I know we have enjoyed using the stuff I canned this winter.

Hope you have a delightful week and can find some economical ways in your days!

I feel like I've gotten a lot done already this morning. Emptied the dishwasher, exercised, cleaned up, read a magazine so I can return it and my other large pile of things to the library, and wrote a letter. I like days like this when I get quite a bit done early.

I noticed that there is someone who sometimes comments on my blogs and they are not very nice comments. Either that person is really cranky or someone who wants to comment and then start something. I deleted the last comment. I notice when I get an email, I get an email address for them. I sort of wonder if this is their way of capturing our email addresses to send spam. It seems in the past when I've done that, I get a bunch of spam from a different website. What do you think?

Usually on Fridays we hit the thrift stores. We found some great finds yesterday. One had everything 75% off. I found 3 craft things I wanted. I had seen them a couple of weeks before, but refused to pay the price on them. One is an apron that you embroider. I thought that would be a nice gift for a friend. It was still in the package and had the embroidery floss. We paid 63 cents and tax for it. I started it last night. This year I started something and that was to give a friend a gift for each day December 1-25. Most are just simple things that I either picked up very cheaply or made. I look for things all year. She enjoyed opening something up every day. On Christmas the gift was a little more substantial, but I don't think I spent any more than I normally would have. I've already made a couple of things so far and I think this apron will be appreciated.

DH found a like new polo and then he found me a new pair of Keds for the summer. I'm glad because the shoes I wear during the summer have started looking pretty ratty.

I'm trying to get used to taking my own bags with me. Glad I made a few. I was telling the lady who was checking us out at the thrift store that we would soon be paying for bags and she hadn't heard that the governor is hoping to pass that tax on plastic bags.

We went to a home show in a small town near us. We like it better than the one we have in our city because of two reasons. One is there is no admission. Second is they have Amish made stuff and we like looking at it. Other than getting a couple of free pens, we didn't purchase anything and had a delightful time looking. We had some other errands to run in the small town -- funny how they have things we don't have where we live -- and then came on home. We hit a thrift store and I found a package of Easter sticks unopened. I am making an Easter basket for a friend's granddaughter and she likes stickers. S I was happy to get out of the wind and rain and brew some tea.

My folks were great bargain hunters and could often find things used at a very reasonable price. Hopefully I've picked up some of their talent. DH has no qualms about buying secondhand -- he says he likes the thrill of the hunt.

Sadly, I'm about fed up.

I volunteer in a classroom and to be honest, I'm tired of feeling like I'm being taken advantage of. The teacher doesn't want to prepare anything for when I come and wants to me to come up with stuff.

I get that the teacher is busy. But, is asking that there be two copies of a book to read too much? He wanted me to listen to kids read and I was expected to read from the same copy. That strains my eyes too much. I said why not have two copies of whatever.

Then, I was doing art for the big part of the year. All stuff I bought, I planned. After I finished the last project before Christmas, I suggested we go to something else. So, his answer was to read some in a textbook and I had to come up with the questions there on the spot. I finally said something about this and that perhaps he should come up with materials and questions and actually have them assigned for a grade. Because otherwise the kids don't feel like what we do has any value.

Now, it seems the teacher isn't good about letting me know when I can come in...just takes it for granted I will show up. I didn't hear from him until Sunday about this week and he didn't tell me that the school was closed on Monday for Casmir Pulaski Day and I had to learn that on my own. He then wanted me to reschedule a time. I said I had other plans. I'm tired of being taken for granted. I'm feeling like a rebel. I know I never treated a volunteer like this. Sadly, there are not a lot of volunteers in the district where I worked and where I volunteer. I just don't get how people don't appreciate someone willing to come in and help. The operative word being help. I know I can plan stuff, but I retired. I don't want to plan everything.

DH reads in three different schools. One teacher of the three is good about letting him know about upcoming things. The other two teachers aren't. We received a phone call this morning at 7:15 asking if he could come later today. I'm sorry, getting a phone call that early scares us -- we think it is bad news.

The other teacher never lets him know about changes either. I don't know if this is just the way society now functions or what, but I find it rude. I have to check school calendars for updates, but not everything is on the school calendars.

As a volunteer, I just think the people who are benefiting should be a little nicer.

Today is senior day at our Walgreens. If we need stuff, this is the day I try to go and get it. Ours is 20% off stuff not on sale. Too bad it doesn't cover prescriptions. It is a good time to buy those necessary items like deodorant and stuff like that.

We try to utilize any senior discounts we can. The last time we stayed at a hotel, we asked for the discount.

I do with our grocery stores would offer senior discounts, but they don't.

We don't do a lot of fast food, so we don't get the senior discounts for any of them.

We have an AARP card and we use it whenever we can. It saves us money on our cell phone bill with Consumer Cellular.

DH often times his Kohls shopping to Wednesdays when there is a senior discount. He found a great buy last week.

So, do you take advantage of discounts, senior or otherwise?

As a retiree, fortunately I can now express my opinion with little retaliation.

Last Tuesday was a school board meeting for the district from where I retired. The district is at 66% poverty rate with some individual schools having some even higher levels. At this meeting, the issue of reapplying for the grant to give every student free breakfast and free lunch came up. One of the board members said she didn't think they should because it doesn't give the district a positive image.

OK, I'm not going to talk politics here as far as entitlement programs and stuff. But having worked in high poverty schools for over 30 years, children cannot control what their parents do. There should not be an issue with feeding kids just because being poor might have a negative connotation.

I commented on the article on the newspaper's Facebook page and I had some current teachers inbox me to thank me because they were shocked at the comment, but didn't want to comment for fear of retaliation. So, I decided to write a letter to the editor pointing out the data for the district and if this board member is unaware of it, perhaps she should either study the data or resign. Egad.

I guess part of this is fueled by a local case where a 2 year old was starved and froze to death in a home while her mother and boyfriend let her. Kids should not go hungry because their parents are jerks.

And school board members should know their population.

Sorry for the rant.

For some who live in towns and even states that already do this, it won't be a shock, but I guess Illinois is going to have a new tax of 5 cents for plastic shopping bags.

I get why. As a state we need money. And hopefully it will help with the fact there are all these stupid plastic bags littering so many places. Although I imagine people will still litter.

I already have a stash of cloths bags we use when we grocery shop in my car. DH said he needed some for his car so we can get in the habit of using for more than groceries. I looked at the stash of material I have and decided to make some bags.

People who sew often buy material and I hate to admit, I've done this, but mine is basically from thrift stores and estate sales. I bought some to make curtains for our bathroom and kitchen windows and I have some left. I bought some to recover some hot pads. Plus I bought some to recover some seat cushions. I'm not a great seamstress, but then again, I'm not selling my stuff nor am I putting in for a home decorating show, so I'm just using things and reusing things. So, it only makes sense to use the material I have. I had to get creative on a couple of bags, but they are for use, not show.

Anyway, I was busy for a couple of days making bags and I decided to give one to a friend since she has been collecting bags for her grocery shopping. It was kind of nifty material and she put it on her arm and said, "Thanks. They will see me coming at Aldi with this bag!"

That really tickled me!

Been busy around here trying to get things done. One thing was to work on decluttering. I still have a ways to go, but at least I made a little progress.

On Sunday I begged my husband to help me. I cannot get rid of towels. So, I pulled all the bath and hand towels out of the linen closet and let him go through them. There's a bag of them on the way out. The decent ones will go to the homeless shelter that allows daily showers. The decrepit ones went in the garbage.

I then got rid of some raggedy throw rugs.

Then the kitchen towels. I struggled, but I think I got rid of 5 of them. One of them I was still using. A couple went in the garage to clean up messes and the rest are history.

Yesterday I messaged a friend who had admired one of our chairs that we replaced a few months ago. I asked him if he wanted it. He did and he was over in less than 2 hours. I helped him load it and it is now in his house and he struggles with figuring out how he's going to get rid of his old chair. Better him than me, right?

The last couple of days have been spent house cleaning and laundry. The hardwood floors and laminate were vacuumed, then dust mopped, and then wet mopped. They sure look nice. I'm ready to meet DH at the door telling him he can't wear shoes inside. LOL

A couple of times a year I use orange oil on my kitchen cabinets to clean and preserve them. I think that will be a project in March. I had a brand I really liked, but can't find it, so I guess I'll have to use another type. Our cabinets are 16 years old and I don't think they look half bad. I do think taking care of them has helped.

Well, the dryer went off, so unless the laundress suddenly appeared, I guess I better go get the laundry out.

Last week my church knitting group was featured on the local news as part of their weekly segment "Spirit of Central Illinois" which features people doing nice things. Here is the URL:

https://www.wandtv.com/news/knitted-hats-bring-love-comfort-to-kids-in-need/article_b5f32a56-317d-11e9-9633-4f4c24614ad3.html

I was featured as was my Pastor as spokespersons for the group. No one else wanted to talk and to be honest, I was scared to death, but the reporter did a good job of not making me look stupid.

So far we have made 458 hats for 2019. A guy at church asked me today where we get the yarn for our hats and scarves and I said most of us buy our own and he was shocked. I said we do get some donations of yarn here and there. He was really surprised.

Usually when we get some sort of publicity we have new people wanting to join and that's cool. Hope that is the case this time too.

It snowed this morning. Again. OK, I know it is winter, but I'm tired of it. We had been told by the weather forecasters rain with a chance of dusting snow. Well an inch later of snow, and it was slick because the city crews have not been out.

Oh, well. We came out of church and our vehicles were covered. I brushed snow off of our car and then did a couple others for some of the older members. Two ushers said they would get the cars for anyone who didn't want to walk across the parking lot. I think when these things happen, the goodness of people shine through.

Seems like on the money front a lot is going out. We have decided to invest in flood insurance. We don't live in a high flood risk, but with the chance of a possible flood (experts call it a 500 year flood) and homeowners not paying for flood damage, we feel it is better to save the money. We also have a couple other things coming up such as DH's long term care insurance.

I did decide to spend some money on household stuff. I wanted a new cutting board and some new towels and rugs for the bedroom. Kohls had a coupon for so much off, then $10 off if you spent over $50, and everything was on sale. I had a $20 Ibotta refund, and then I also had some money on a gift card from a return I made after Christmas. I looked at the bill...before sale prices and coupons, the total would have been $165.93. After coupons, sale prices, Ibotta credit, and gift card, we paid $31.01 for one cutting board, 2 rugs, and 2 bath towels, one hand towel, and one wash cloth. I know I spent money, but I sure liked saving some as I did it. Hopefully that will be it for spending for awhile.

I pulled some chili out of the freezer for supper. Cold, snowy days make me appreciate chili so much more!

A couple of days ago I went to give blood at a local church. I knew one of the ladies and she was knitting a dish cloth for their "bread ministry" which is if they have a visitor come to church, someone visits with a loaf of bread and a homemade dish cloth to thank them for coming. She said they only had two people making the dish cloths so I volunteered to make some for her. I told her I would give them to a mutual friend to give her. So, I proceeded to make ten dish cloths.

I dropped them off at our mutual friend's house yesterday. He's a nice man, but I've decided my husband has him pegged correctly. He says "He gives cheap a bad name."

My friend had a good paying job. He gets both Social Security and a good pension. He owns his house outright and the same with his car. But he hates spending money. Any money. Any time.

I get wanting to save, but it has almost become a sickness with him. Almost every piece of his furniture is hand me downs. I know, because one couch was ours and that was over 20 years ago when we gave it to him. He was showing me his new bookcase. He said he found it in someone's garbage and pulled it out. I'm all for recycling, but this bookcase is plastic and cardboard and it was dirty. It won't hold up, but it was free.

One of our thrift shops is run to benefit our Lutheran school association. They are very picky about what they put out and will throw out stuff. Apparently our friend is dumpster diving to get things at the thrift shop. I can see saving money, but never buying anything nice and bringing home other stuff. A lot of the stuff he's bringing home isn't nice. As cheap as my friend is, apparently he isn't too worried about dirt and smoke smell.

I think it has become an obsession with him. And it scares me. I know his mom is frugal as is his brother who is a CPA. But they purchase things -- they just don't go crazy. So, when does it become more than saving money and a sickness?

What an interesting week!

Monday I went to Kroger to pick up my prescription. It is the one medicine my insurance doesn't cover and they have the cheapest price. I have a coupon from the manufacturer for money off, but still have to pay over $250 for it. I had to wait a bit so I decided to pick up a couple of things while I waited and holy cow, did things get crazy. I bought my items and took them to the car and came back and in that short bit of time, the parking lot went from calm to crazy. People were circling looking for places. I went back in to get my prescription and while I waited, there were people who would get a card and almost run, throwing things in the cart. Really? Nothing was happening yet weather wise. The Polar Vortex wasn't even on our doorstep yet! Egad!

DH and I did a few errands on Tuesday and came home and stayed there until Thursday. Tuesday night the weather got colder and Wednesday wa the extreme below zero wind chills. Fortunately we did not lose power or have pipes freeze. We were happy to be home and safe and felt sorry for those who had to get out in it.

I've been looming and crocheting trying to use up yarn that I have purchased for the hats and scarves I'm making. DH and I cleaned house on Wednesday so that kept us busy and gave us some exercise too. DH normally goes to the mall to walk, but he didn't want to get out with it being so cold. So, not the same exercise, but better than sitting around.

We have been enjoying our Netflix subscription. I turned to DH last night and said who would have thought 20 years ago we would "stream" movies in our house. I remember thinking the VCR and tapes was pretty darn cool years ago and now you just sit home and the movies come to you.

We did spend some money today. We took our cars to the place where you wash them yourself. We did both cars to get the salt and grime off until the next go round. We also went to a flea market and I found some things to use as Christmas gifts and they were either 50% or 75% off. Last year I collected lots of little items and wrapped them up individually and gave them to a friend so she had 25 gifts to unwrap from December 1st to the 25th. She really liked it so I wanted to do it again this year. I don't want to give her junk just to give her a gift, but things she might use. She likes Curirier and Ives stuff and I found two trivets that were still in the containers. That will be two gifts and she can use them on her table for hot stuff. I found a box of Christmas mugs like new and it was 75% off.

I'm still doing the Ibotta thing and it is slow going, but hey, it is free money. I guess doing most of our grocery shopping at Aldi keeps me from cashing in a lot, but we also don't buy a lot of the things they give you cash for.

We had our weekly date night last night. We had gone to the bank and DH doesn't carry money in his wallet, but all those plastic cards like his license and loyalty cards. I saw he had a Cracker Barrel gift card and I suggested he use that when we ate out. He said he didn't think there was much money on it and I said well, whatever it is, it isn't helping him by staying in his wallet and even if it is 50 cents, that 50 cents. We went there and ate and when he ran it through, there was $4.70 on it. For a $22 meal, that was $4.70 he didn't have to spend out of his pocket.

The other day we were watching one of those daily programs where they have snippets of different things to improve your life and this one gal was talking about organizing your pantry. I always perk up when those things come on because my pantry is overcrowded and I clean it out and try to organize it, but it never looks wonderful. Anyway, this gal was talking about getting these containers and doing this and that and when she showed the pantry, there were like 4 or 5 things on a shelf. Really? Yeah, it looked tidy, but not a whole lot of cooking going on there. That's how she wanted it to look. I'm going to say it out loud, my pantry will not be looking like that.

I saw an article claiming January was the best the DOW had since 1987. I'm not really sure of that, but guess we will see when we get our financial statement.

One would think it was January or something here in the Midwest. Cold is a four letter word as is snow and I'm not saying either with deep affection. We received some of both this weekend and I guess colder will be the keyword by the middle of the week with wind chills in the negative double digits. I'm dreading the power bill after this month.

We went thrift shopping yesterday. We normally go on Fridays, but since it was so cold, we waited a day for it to warm up to 30 degrees. I'm happy to report I spent nothing. There wasn't a thing that tempted me and certainly nothing I needed. It was good to get out and look around and walk some besides hanging around the house. Maybe a little mental therapy for us.

I have read two books in the past two days. One is "The Year I Put My Financial Life in Order" by John Schwartz and the other is "The Next Millionaire Next Door" by Thomas J. Stanley and Sarah Stanley Fallaw. The first one by Schwartz was about a writer who fortunately had started a 401K when he first started working in his 20s, and although he made admitted mistakes, he and his wife tried to live frugally, and as a result, doesn't think his retirement will be horrible. It is more autobiographical instead of instructional, but it was interesting and he admitted to some mistakes and how they will have to make changes when they do retire. The second book is basically a revisit of "The Millionaire Next Door" by the author's daughter and how things really haven't changed -- those who have money don't flaunt it and live frugally.

Which leads me to an interesting story about a guy my husband worked with. He never married, and lived in an apartment that was very small and the apartment next to him shared the bath. I didn't even realize we had apartments like that in our city. He never dressed well and to hear him tell it, he was broke. He did say he used up all his savings and went on a world traveling trip, but said afterwards he would have to live on very little because it cost so much. When he died, he left $250,000 to a charity that works with babies and their mothers, and did 3 other charities the same way. He was truly a millionaire, but no one knew it to look at him. No auspicious living for him!

I'll never be a millionaire, but I can see being frugal.

Speaking of frugal, I'm using up all the tea I have in the house before I allow myself to buy anymore. Some of it was gifts and I can tell you some of it is just isn't very tasty. But, I tell myself, I'm saving money!

Awoke this morning to a water main break in our subdivision. As cold as it is, I guess it shouldn't be a shock. We did make it to church, but decided to spend money and eat out since we weren't sure if/when we would get water. We tried a place for breakfast we had never eaten before and it wasn't bad. Not planning on making a habit of it, but it was something different.

We were supposed to get 4-7 inches of snow yesterday and we got a light coat of freezing rain. After last weekend's snow, it was a nice break, but sorry for those who had to be out in the mess south and north of us. We stayed in because we weren't sure how the roads were and we didn't need to get out. Instead of we cleaned house and I pulled some stuff out of the freezer for lunch.

I am trying to use up small amounts of yarn before I start new skeins. There's not enough to a hat or scarf, but I've made a lot of dish cloths as well as small facial tissue holders for one's purse and then two Barbie dresses. My two little friends are going to have quite a wardrobe for their dolls. Maybe I should start playing with my Barbie too. I bought one at a thrift store for 75 cents to use as a model.

Yesterday I blogged that I hoped to go shopping and get a new coffee maker. I had chased in $20 from Ibotta for a Kohls' gift card. I had looked up on line and the one I wanted was on sale for $34.99, originally, $44.99. We get there and cannot find the box with the coffee maker. We finally ask someone and he uses his computer and says they don't have any except the one that was on display. He said I could buy it, but there would be no directions and no box. I asked if it didn't work, could I return it and he said yes. I also asked if they would mark some off since the decorative plate had a little bend in it. He said yes and walked it up to the cashier, explained I was to get 15% off, DH had a 15% off coupon, we used the $20 Ibotta gift card and my new coffee maker cost me a little over $7 cash. I had just returned a blouse and had a gift card so it basically cost me nothing out of pocket.

I brought it home, washed everything, and ran some water and it worked great! Just hope it continues!

If you know me, that is a rarity. Other than nosing around thrift stores and the weekly grocery store run, I don't usually go shopping very much.

But today is the day!

My coffee maker died before Christmas. I'm using an old one my mom had and gave me because she didn't like it. And believe me, I know why she didn't like it. It makes decent coffee and works, but my mom has been gone over 12 years and she gave it to me a few years before she died, so I figure it won't last that long. It's a good one to have in reserve though.

I've had my eye on one at Kohls for the past few weeks. Well, the new ad came out so I checked online and it is marked down $10. I had one like this and used it frequently so I think it is pretty dependable. I just want a simple coffee maker that shuts itself off because sometimes I forget.

I have been doing the Ibotta app and can get $20 credit. Then there is 15% off. Plus, someone gave me $20 for my birthday so I'm going to use that to pay the difference. It's not like I'm going to spend a ton of money. The coffee maker was originally $44.99. It has been marked down $10.

I could just buy the darn thing outright, but it has become a game with me. How can I save money without spending a lot and still get what I want?

A friend also gave me a tablecloth from Kohls. She must think I have a huge table because it is 60 x 120. Even if we had the leaves in, I don't think it would fit. So, I hope to exchange it for one that fits. So, that's another Kohls stop.

I'm sure I may need a nap after all this shopping.

I'm not as good as many of you about just eating from the pantry and freezer, but I have been using things from both. I usually keep some soups and chili in the freezer and we used both in the past couple of weeks. I have stuff canned and I've been using some of it as well.

We did have to go to the store, well, maybe "had to" are not the operative words, but we did go to the store and bought some hamburger, beans, and ground turkey. I wanted to make more Italian wedding soup and some chili to restock the freezer. If the last few days have been any indication, I think we are going to have a long, cold winter. We had 9.5 inches of snow over the weekend and then we had freezing drizzle last night and this morning. There's a chance for more snow tomorrow night as well as the weekend. Yesterday we went to the store to get the meat and beans because I thought that would be a good afternoon project today since I had my eyes dilated this morning and watching television or reading bothers my eyes for many hours afterwards. So, I have one huge pot of Italian wedding soup simmering and I'm getting ready to add some pasta. I found the pasta in the clearance section of the store a couple of months ago...29 cents a box. I guess I'm not a pasta snob. Dry pasta is dry pasta and for 29 cents a box, I couldn't turn it down. I bought two boxes and I think we have had at least 5 or 6 meals from those two boxes.

During the summer I canned tomatoes and canned spaghetti sauce and when I ran out of jars, froze some tomato sauce. I also dried herbs that DH grew. Whenever I buy a whole chicken, I always make broth with the carcass so I had chicken broth in the freezer for the soup. I also wanted to use up the onions, celery, mushrooms, and zucchini I had in the fridge and what better way than to use it in soup? I had chopped bell peppers and froze them so I used some of them for the soup too. Probably not the real Italian wedding soup recipe, but DH loves it, so I'm not going to complain.

Tomorrow night will be use up leftovers in the fridge night. I fixed a small pork loin roast last night with carrots and potatoes. Tomorrow night will be the rest of the pork roast and the carrots. I also have some leftover peas that I will heat up and about a serving of green beans. I'm saving the leftover potatoes to cut up with some onions and herbs to serve with scrambled eggs. DH loves eggs so we usually have them on Thursday with cut up vegetables.

Is it just me, or are there some really weird and often mean posts being added to our blogs? I got one today from June and the person said I was a petty gossip. Not sure if this person knows me or not!

Yesterday we received over 9 inches of snow. A neighbor graciously used his new snow blower to clear our driveway. I'm so glad because I was really wondering how that was going to play out. We did get some snow last night and DH and I did manage to clean it off today. I don't want him shoveling much and I am asthmatic so it becomes a worry, but I think we did OK.

Many of the churches cancelled services, but ours didn't. We could get out and go and it was nice after being home yesterday. Not that we had any place to go, but I think sometimes when you can't go somewhere, you just want to go somewhere.

I pulled chili from the freezer for yesterday's lunch and made Italian wedding soup and homemade bread for last night's supper. I will be freezing the rest of the soup for another meal.

Alliecat79 blogged about trying to realize how much stuff was bought. I really understand that because I struggle with this issue, especially when it comes to Mason Jars. I guess I'm an addict. I really like them and in all sizes. I can so I use a lot of them. But I also use them for storage for other things. Friday we went to the thrift stores and there was a brand new case of them, unopened and I am ashamed to admit that temptation was strong. Brand new. Still in the plastic. Jelly Jars with lids and rings. It was only $4.50 which is cheaper than new. But, I'm proud to report other than picking them up to look at them (they were amber and I wasn't sure what color they were), I left them on the shelf. I don't need any more jars and it was silly to even consider buying them.

Besides cooking yesterday, I worked on looming and crocheting. I have bits and pieces of yarn here and there so I made some baby hats to donate to a local agency for preemies, crocheted some dish cloths, and then crocheted a Barbie dress. I also made a regular size hat for my group for church. We have made 252 hats so far for 2019. I have also been making scarves to go along with some of the hats. I won't ever have as many scarves as hats, but it also gives me a break from making hats. I have plenty of yarn, I just hate to waste any of it. So, I don't need to buy any, that's for sure.

I'm supposed to volunteer first thing in the morning at a school, so I'm going to get a pork roast with potatoes and carrots and put it in the Crockpot to put on before I leave. I have an afternoon appointment too so that will make supper easier when I get home. I know many of you are singing the praises of Instant Pots, but I think I'll stick with my Crockpots since I'm retired and really don't have to rush to get supper done.

Tonight another couple is joining us for a casual dinner. I'm making goulash which is basically ground beef, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, and tomato sauce mixed with elbow macaroni. We have garlic bread sticks and a vegetable and they are bringing dessert. It is far cheaper than going out and we enjoy being with each other so it should be a pleasure. She is already planning on what she is going to fix when we go over their house. I like this because we can have a nice time visiting and not spend a lot of money.

Speaking of spending, this weekend was sort of spendy one. It was my birthday. For Christmas we had received a gift certificate for a restaurant so we used that for my birthday dinner. DH gave me some money to buy some clothes so I did do that. I have lost a little weight and have gone down a size or two and some of my clothes are really looking big. I'm still wearing some, but I did buy a couple of things in my new size for when we go to church or I volunteer at school. I was fortunate that we had nice weather -- it was nearly 60 degrees and sunny. In past years we have had cold, cold weather and even a blizzard on my birthday so the weather was certainly a much appreciated gift.

Some of the larger items we donated to a thrift shop. Hopefully I will continue to lose weight and can declutter my closet more.

A couple we know has a trailer in a warm climate and they go there for 3 months. I'm glad for them if that is what they want to do, but his messages are what I call a brag fest -- "it was 77 today and sunny and I wore shorts and a t shirt and this is why we do this." I'm not jealous. I have no desire to have another residence nor do I want to spend extended times away from our home. Financially, they really can't afford it -- they live on loans and credit cards and his favorite hobby is shopping. In the past he has tried to make things a competition and I guess he feels this is also a competition, look what I've got and you don't. At this point, we could probably buy a small trailer outright and go there too, but I don't want to. I like my home, my friends, my church, and my community. I like going to the library and checking out books and visiting with some of the people who work there and catching up. And I most certainly would not do this to brag about what I have.

We are dreading getting our statement on our investments this month. The stock market rock and roll ride last month was crazy. Just hope we didn't lose too much.

I went and bought extra stamps since they are raising the price at the end of January to 55 cents a stamp. I know I'll eventually pay that, but I'm putting it off as long as I can. I did score some greeting cards at thrift stores last week. One place had a package of ten for a dollar. I bought 3 packages. A couple I couldn't use -- you couldn't mix or match. One is a birthday card for a son and I don't have a son. We have a box at church where we can put unused cards and they go to the women's prison here in town for the ladies so I bet someone can use that card and a couple others. I think we spent around $6 on cards, but I have birthday, anniversary, get well, sympathy, and a couple of anniversary cards for the year.

A couple other things I did to keep busy was to cut all the coupons out of the coupon flyers in Sunday's paper. I could use a couple, but most I could not. We collect the coupons and a couple sends them to some place for the military to use, even if they are expired. DH bought a Chicago Tribune last Sunday and they had lots too so I spent quite a bit of time cutting out coupons. Hopefully it can help some military families save some money.

I also cut out used postage stamps. Our ladies group collects them for some mission. I dropped the stamps, cards, and coupons off at church today when we went to fill the oil in the altar candles.

DH wasn't happy yesterday when he picked up some prescriptions. The news had been saying some prescriptions were going to go up and unfortunately some of his did. Not a huge amount for his copay, but it all adds up.

So there it is. A mish mash of activities so far in 2019.

Overall, I cannot complain too loudly on my losses, although I'm not sure I have too much to credit myself.

Wins:

Saved money by canning/freezing. We eat many meals at home.

Christmas was paid for with cash -- no outstanding debt. I made quite a few gifts.

We had a couple of home improvement projects which we had saved for and paid for in cash.

We still live below our means.

House and second vehicle are paid for.

Fortunately we did not have to touch any retirement savings or emergency funds.




Losses:

The only thing we owe for is DH's vehicle. We chose to get a low interest loan because our FICO scores were starting to drop. We have about a year left of the 3 year loan to pay.

I did not put away as much in savings because I changed cholesterol medicines and insurance will not pay for it. I am paying for it out of pocket because the previous medicine raised my blood sugar to almost diabetes range. My insurance wants me to try three other kinds before they will consider helping pay part. However, after 9 months of this medicine, my blood sugar has dropped some and we feel that it is better to pay the extra instead of going into diabetes.

My goal of reading 100 books was not met. I am in the middle 80s. Most of the books were borrowed from the library, but when the library had some issues and we couldn't park close, I bought books at thrift shops. I donated them back. When this was going on, I was having some major foot problems and couldn't walk very far.

It's hard to believe Christmas is here. So much went into planning and getting things done. I most certainly hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas and the craziness didn't dampen your holiday.

It's been a melancholy month in between planning for Christmas and doing many other things. We lost four friends. Two shouldn't have a surprise, one was 95 and the other 88, but loss is loss. Then two friends' husbands were taken and our hearts go out to them. It makes me stop and realize how very blessed I am to have DH.

I worked with my class at school and we sewed buttons on felt ornaments as well as made reindeer out of candy canes. They have so little craft experience that I had to find things that were easy for them to do. I think they enjoyed all the art. They aren't going to be as thrilled when I go in and work with them on writing. But it is far better for me to work with them in small groups on writing than it is to try and have the teacher work with a group.

DH and I attended our church's candlelight service last night and it was lovely as always. We came home and unwrapped our gifts to each other. Very few surprises for DH since he chose what he wanted, but he seems happy. We had a lovely dinner of ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, biscuits, applesauce, and sliced cherry tomatoes.

DH is napping and I just finished writing birthdays and appointments on our kitchen calendar. DH gives me one each year for Christmas and I like ones with big boxes so I can write stuff down.

Hope you and yours have a lovely Christmas!

I blogged earlier about crocheting some clothes for a friend's granddaughter's Barbie. Well, they were a big hit, and it seems the dress that has some glitter to it was a favorite. Seems the Elf on the Shelf even wore it one morning to greet the little girl.

Friday I found two skeins of yarn that had a silver cord running through each of them. One was Christmas red and the other was white. I found them at one of the thrift stores we frequent and the cashier asked me what I was going to use it for and I told her for a Barbie, she took off a dollar so I got both for $3. I made 6 dresses for Barbie and apparently that Elf is going to go "shopping" and surprise our little friend. What a hoot. I guess the lavender dress was not the right color for the elf according to our little friend so hopefully the Christmas colors fill fit the bill. Of course I have taken some verbal abuse from the grandmother asking me if I wanted to keep these clothes and play Barbie. All in good fun.

A few weeks ago I found some baby bibs that can be embroidered so I have been working on them. One of the young ladies at church is expecting her second child and I thought I would finish these and give them to her. My only complaint is who in their right mind would decide to have 5 different shades of pink on a pattern? Egad.

Tomorrow night a friend is coming over for his birthday dinner. He was given the choice of our meeting him some place of his choosing or eating here and he said he really wanted a home cooked meal. So, I need to bake a cake for his birthday and he requested meatloaf. It should be a fun time.

We did spent quite a bit at the thrift stores this week. Well for us we did. I think we spent close to $15. Some of that was for yarn for the hats. Plus the yarn for Barbie clothes. DH found a couple of kids' books he wanted for his personal library. He reads to 5 classes and he likes to keep an assortment besides the ones he get from the library. I'm sure if we had purchased these items at retail, it would have been far more.

I did order a music CD for DH for Christmas. We tried to order it from a local CD place here in town, but he said he couldn't get it. I prefer shopping from brick and mortar, especially if they are small business, to support them. I kept checking Amazon and they finally got the CD in. I had some cash back money on my Discover card so I wound up paying $3.50 for part of the postage. My shopping is completed. Yay!

Like CreditCardFree, I finally got to $20 on Ibotta. It seems to take forever since I don't buy a lot of the stuff they give rebates on.

I found 14 cents in a parking lot yesterday. It goes in the wooden box DH has for change. We usually take the majority of the change in in the summer and apply part of it to Christmas and part of it the home improvement fund.

It's funny how the little things tend to mean a lot.

Yesterday, my coffee maker died. I make coffee every morning. I wasn't happy. DH said he would buy me a new one for Christmas and my immediate thought was what I would do between now and then? I guess I'm addicted to my cup of coffee in the morning.

I then remembered that there was a box in the garage with an old coffee maker. My mom who has been gone 12 years, bought this one and used it a few times and then decided she didn't like it. So, she gave it to me and I have had it in the box in the garage ever since thinking I would use it if mine died. So, I got it out, cleaned it up, and made some coffee. Fortunately it works. I'm not one of those with the fancy coffee makers.

It's funny how something as simple as a cup of coffee means so much to me.

Yesterday I took some cranberry walnut bread over to a shut in. She had mentioned last summer it was her favorite bread. I had made some loves for our Christmas bazaar and had mentioned to one of her sons our bazaar had it, but he couldn't be bothered. She had wanted to support our bazaar and I thought he could then give her the bread, but guess not. So, night before last I made her two small loaves and took that over with some fudge. We had a nice visit.

Such little things, but they do mean something.

Haven't posted for awhile. I guess it is because I didn't think I had much to write about. It isn't that I haven't kept busy; I have. Maybe this post isn't exciting either.

Our neighbor is a dichotomy. A couple of weeks ago she posted on Facebook she wanted a part time job...anything...cleaning, secretarial, etc. Then she leaves for a cruise. Just she and her friends. Her family stays home. When she got home, she posted about all the things she was doing out and about which was basically partying. She and the daughter went out the night before Thanksgiving to have a drink. The daughter is 16 yet she took her to a bar and said the daughter's drink was a virgin. Now she and the daughter are out of town partying with some friends while hubby and son are home. And the neighbor and her friend just got matching tattoos. Guess she didn't need that part time job after all...

Don't get me wrong, I'm not jealous of her life. I am not a party person. I don't drink alcohol simply because my mom was an alcoholic and I have read that it can be hereditary. I don't have a problem with someone having a drink or two, but the getting drunk part, not so much.

Have I kept busy? I think so. I crocheted two pairs of slipper socks for Christmas gifts for a local charity, have my Christmas cards addressed, just finished crocheting 100 dish cloths for the local food pantry to put in their Christmas baskets, and am now crocheting Barbie clothes for a friend's granddaughter. DH was laughing at me last night when I said I sure knew how to spend a Saturday night...Barbie and I playing dress up.

I'm in a bad mood. Let me explain.

I know I shouldn't get so frustrated, but sometimes there are people at church who don't get it.

Every year our church does certain things like we put together Thanksgiving baskets for a local food pantry. And then for Christmas we do Christmas gifts for the food pantry to hand out. All good things. And we have generous members who help out.

Recently we have started helping out a local school. This fall with the approval of the board and the pastor we collected facial tissue and hand sanitizer and pencils to give them to start the year.

Then one of the members whose wife works at this school said they were starting a food pantry and asked if we could donate food for their pantry. And we did for a few months. Then the wife came and told the pastor another church was going to donate too and they agreed since we do a Christmas Bazaar with a major cookie walk, the Thanksgiving Baskets, and the Christmas gifts, we would not feel obligated to give lots of food to the pantry and let the other churches who agreed to cover these two months.

Today we were blindsided because the guy made an announcement without the approval of the pastor or the council wanting us to donate food since the other churches didn't step up.

I get that it is for a good cause. And I don't doubt that the families need it. But when does it stop? I don't like the way he said it to us, trying to guilt us into giving donations. I honestly think if he doesn't stop doing this, we are going to have donor fatigue.

Thanks for letting me grouse and complain. I know it won't solve the problem, but this is a safe outlet for me.

I haven't blogged for awhile because life has been busy.

My doctor's office called and said that my insurance had told them they would no longer pay for a cholesterol medicine I have been on. The medicine is over $300 and they were paying about $100 and I was picking up the rest. So, I spent a lot of time going to pharmacies asking what the cash price. I have found around here trying to call pharmacies is crazy because they put you on hold and then may or may not get back to you after 20 minutes or more. Anyway, I found the pharmacy at Kroger had the cheapest price in our city. I then was researching to find coupons or whatever to lower my cash price. Good RX had a decent coupon, but the drug company offered an even bigger coupon of $75 off. It brought it just under $300 for a month's supply. The generic stuff the insurance company wants me to take had a bad side effect -- it raises my blood sugar to the point where I am pre diabetic. Although the doctor's office explained why I was put on this other medicine, the insurance company wants me to try three other ones that have similar side effects before they will even consider paying what they were paying. At this point, we think my health is worth more than gambling with this.

I know this isn't the end of the year according to most calendars here in the states, but we are ending our hat making year at church because we want to deliver hats to the kids before the weather gets super cold. So, I spent time going over poverty rates for the local public schools, then presenting this to the ladies in the knitting group and decided on the schools we would "adopt." In the mean time I was also fending emails from a church member who graciously lined up funding to buy gloves to go with the hats. Once we decided on the schools, I contacted principals. Two were easy and responded. One I had to contact over and over. I know they are busy, but it shouldn't take more than a minute to say yes or no and if yes, how many students? Then to line up dates when we can drop off the hats, scarves, and gloves.

I also purchased facial tissue and hand sanitizer for each classroom. Then came the actual counting and sorting of the hats. Last week we delivered hats to three schools and then to two individual classrooms to people who are affiliated with our church and who teach in the public schools. The remainder of the hats will go to a neighborhood organization that helps in a high poverty neighborhood. So, we are cleaned out of hats for this year and what a glorious ministry it has become. We made 1202 full size hats for the schools. We also made a good number of scarves. Plus, every kid who got a hat got a pair of gloves. Good thing, because things are getting cold this week. Here is a photo of some of the hats, gloves, and scarves:



The local paper came out and did a story on one of our schools that we dropped off to:

https://herald-review.com/news/local/education/mount-calvary-lutheran-s-stitches-of-love-delivers-more-than/article_7af09cb1-c288-5be1-94d2-d9c47e2a1926.html?fbclid=IwAR1wECcBbYYSr_ikcjK6ICLazbYOgpr7Wo9eIRmZ-XsmIeRasLjkIInfmP4#1


The neighbor is helping her mother-in-law declutter her craft room so she brought over some cotton to make dish cloths. I have made 36 dish cloths to donate to one of the local food pantries. I can honestly say I'm seeing dish cloths in my dreams. Here are some of the dish cloths:



Our church is having a Christmas tea for the ladies guild and they are collecting baby items for a local non profit that helps moms. We have been asked to donate baby items so we are now making small hats for this. I don't think my life is going to get any calmer in the next few days, but that is OK. I'm blessed to be able to do all this.

Looking out in the yard it seems bare. DH has spent the last two afternoons pulling up all the garden plants. It is getting more and more chilly here and there is supposed to be a freeze on Tuesday. We spent Thursday picking anything worth picking since there was a chance of frost then. We lucked out, but it's coming.

My counter was full of bell peppers and tomatoes, either ripe, almost ripe, or green. Last couple of years we have put them all together on the counter and they eventually all ripen. We tried the newspapers in the box, but it didn't work real well or else we didn't check it enough.

We shared some peppers and tomatoes with friends. So, hopefully nothing goes to waste.

It's kind of sad to see everything gone. It was a good gardening year overall and we ate very well. Guess we'll have to look forward to next year.

Here in Central Illinois it has been way above average as far as temperatures. Hot and muggy in fact.

But that is supposed to change starting tomorrow with highs in the 50s and some lows in the upper 30s. DH has been starting to pull up garden plants. Yesterday I asked him to pick all the remaining red bell peppers and I washed and chopped them and put them in a freezer bag to use throughout the winter in soups and casseroles.

I have been working on drying herbs. All that was left was Thyme and we did that yesterday. I used to dry them in the microwave, but now I just have them sit in the sun room. It takes longer, but I think the flavor is better.

It's funny listening to people. We truly are never happy, are we? When spring was coming we could hardly wait until the heat came. Now we are wanting fall temperatures. One of my friends keeps wanting snow and a lot of it. I hope she gets a little for her own sake, but I am not enamored with it. It is funny how in movies and TV how when it starts snowing people get all misty eyed and wondrous. They never show the shoveling and slick streets, but I digress.

Fall may be coming. At least i have my canning and preserving completed.

It certainly hasn't been a thrifty week.

However, the spending was planned. Tuesday was Senior's Day at Walgreens. I was waiting to buy different things that we use like allergy medicine to get the 20% off. I also used coupons. So between the regular priced stuff that was 20% off, and the stuff on sale that I don't get 20% off, and the digital and paper coupons, I saved over $80 and spent over $200. I hate to see that big number, but the stuff is what we use each month so I would have bought it anyway.

DH's car insurance was due and once he turned 70, the premiums really went up. But, at least we had the money to pay for it.

A couple of months back I bought some material at an estate sale. The downsizing sale was at the home of a quilter and she bought premium material. I pulled some of it out yesterday and made some napkins and two potholders. I can't even describe the beauty of working with good material. I also cannot understand why people don't hit up thrift stores and estate sales for material...far cheaper than buying retail. I've found so many craft items that way. Granted, I could afford to buy them retail, but DH says I like the thrill of the hunt, and I think he's right.

For Christmas last year I asked him to get me the cheapie Singer that was on sale for $69. I'm not an excellent seamstress, but I can sew a little. I have used it so much and have enjoyed using it. My friend is an excellent seamstress and her machine cost way more than $1000. She can afford it and I'm sure it gives her great pleasure.

Today is Thursday and is grocery shopping day. Last night was clean out the fridge supper. Last week I think I spent less than $30 on groceries total. We didn't need much and I was just buying stuff we use each week like bread, milk, fruit, and chicken. I made a couple of meals from the chicken and lots of broth besides. I used up stuff we had in the freezer and we had a couple of meatless meals too. Today's shopping isn't going to be horrible, except we are buying some extra stuff for the church's food pantry.

It has been pretty warm and humid here in Central Illinois. Yesterday it was around 90. Today it is supposed to be in the 70s before it goes back up. It should give the a/c a break for a day, anyway.