Another Loss

   Thank you all for your kindness and comments on my last blog post about Remmie.  You helped give me peace in that situation.  It was not an easy thing to have to do, but I know that it had to be done.

   Shortly after I posted by previous blog post, my husband got a call from his estranged sister.  I knew the minute that she called what it was about.  Their father had passed away and she was letting him know.

   My husband took it in his own stoic way.  We let our boys know and spent yesterday with our son Jaysn who asked us to join him for some bowling.  I think it was good for Jeff, Jaysn and I to be together.  Chris had to work, and Josh is in Utah and was working there as well.  Chris and Jeff talked, and Josh and I have been in contact with each other today.  It has been hard on all of us. 

   We had been cut off from Jeff's parents (their choice) for years.  It was not because of something we had done, but because of the actions of others.  Even though we had gone through the mourning process when that happened, the finality of his father's actual passing away hurts.  I'm not going into any more details than that other than to say we are going to take care to guard our own peace.  

   I am so very thankful for the closeness that we shared with our kids (that includes our "daughters" that married our sons) and our grandkids.  I am also grateful to my parents and siblings who love my hubby as their own and who have been there for all of us throughout the years.   I am very aware of how much a blessing that is.

New Year Ramble 2025

 

   A New Year is upon us and I want to thank all of you who have been with me for the encouragement, prayers, kind thoughts, suggestions and for your friendship.  I know I have not been good about responding to comments or posting on a regular basis.  This past year has been a rough one and the new year has gotten off to a rough start also.  Praying that things turn around here soon.

   As you know, we took in Jeff's Aunt Helen's cat Remmie.  Remmie and I came to be quite the team and spent most of our waking moments with her in my lap or lounging on the headrest of my recliner.  About 3 weeks ago, Remmie got mad at Jeff, or so we thought, and peed all over his recliner.  We did everything we could to clean that thing, even getting the stuff from the pet store that is supposed to take out the smell.  Nothing worked.  I resigned myself that we would have to start looking for a new recliner for Jeff.  Then, out of the blue, Remmie started peeing on my recliner also.  Again, we tried to get the smell out...nothing worked.  Every time we brought the chairs back into the house, she would pee on them again.  Knowing that there was a very good chance she would target more furniture, we made the very heartbreaking decision to have her put down.  She had destroyed Helen's house peeing everywhere and we had done the best we could to give her tons of love, but given her age (18 years old) and her continuing behavior, we did what had to be done, as difficult as it was.  That was on the 2nd of January.  Jeff and I will now start the search for new recliners for both of us.  Jeff is so tall and has long legs, so finding one that fits him comfortably is not an easy task.

   The weather here has been pretty dreary, except for a beautiful day when it snowed.  I realized that this is how my emotions have also been.  Christmas made me acutely aware of the heaviness I was feeling due to not having Jeremy and Helen with us anymore.  Having to let Remmie go just added to that feeling.  It's like depression is right under the surface and if it was not for my medications to help stabilize my moods, I would spiral downward.  I can recognize it for what it is and know that I have to find a way out of it.  My home has suffered as I have had way too many days of just being in my recliner (before Remmie peed all over it) or in bed, and not getting things done.  I am determined to get things turned around again.  My moments of joy have all come from spending time with my family and I feel like I need to do more of that.  We used to try to get together at least once a month and do something fun.  It was something we all looked forward to.  I need to take the lead in bringing that back.  I have the tools to dig my way out of this, I just need to use them.

   Onto happier things, Monday Heather will be trying to secure us cabins for this Summer at a reservoir that we all like to camp at.  We do have a backup plan if the cabins get booked before we can get them. Reservations for that campground open up Monday at 9 a.m.  The cabins are air conditioned, which is something I need given it will be during the heat of Summer and I do not do well with the heat.  Maggie will be going with us and I will have someone come in to check on the cats and water the gardens and hanging plants.

   Jeff is off with Chris doing a police ride along this afternoon.  It is something that both he and Chris have been looking forward to.  I hope they are having a good time together and that nothing big goes down.  Honestly, I don't know how Chris can keep his cool when dealing with some of the people that he comes into contact with, but he is ever the consummate professional and always does. I hear about these situations because he will call me to decompress and not take all the frustrations home with him at the end of his shift.  I count myself blessed that he has chosen Jeff and I, along with his twin brother Josh, to do this with.  It just shows me how tight our family bonds are. 😊

   So totally random thought, but is anyone looking forward to getting those seed catalogs in the mail?  My thoughts are already to Spring and getting things started early in the greenhouse.  Of course I can't do any of that right now, but I do like to see what is out there, plan my garden and order my seeds so that I have them in my hands when it IS time to get going.  This year I really want to tuck more flowers into little niches in my food producing garden beds to add color and to attract more pollinators.  Jeff and I are also going to add a second composting bin next to the one we have now so that we can fill that one up and use the compost in the bottom of the first bin.  I hope that made sense. Last year's garden was a bust for the most part other than the tomatoes.  I had a glut of those!

   Jeff and I bought a Jackery solar generator to have as a back up for his CPAP machine if the power goes out here at home and/ or to take camping.  Jeff found a wonderful deal that included one set of solar panels for half of the regular price.  I researched the particular model and found that it had great reviews and would fit out needs beautifully.  It would also be able to power our pellet stove, so that would be a great back up for that also since it is only permanent heat source.  We do have a Buddy Heater with extra propane canisters on hand for emergencies as well.  Even though we bought it on sale, it was still a big chunk of money for us.  We still need to buy more wood pellets for our stove, had to pay a large amount on my life insurance that we had taken a loan out on years ago and now need to replace our recliners as well.  At the moment, we are sharing the love seat with the dog given that we got rid of our couch to fit the recliners in that space.  We have a very small living room so we cannot fit lots of furniture into it without it becoming super crowded.  Time to really get down to trimming the budget!

   I have been trying to eat mostly out of the pantry, fridge and freezer.  I do buy a few things like milk, eggs, bagels, fresh produce and the occasional fully cooked and marked down whole chicken from the deli section (which I can stretch into at least 4 meals), but the bulk of what we are eating is stuff that we already have on hand.  I am trying really hard to limit our eating out.  I will admit that both Jeff and I are really bad about this.  I have told him I have some big goals for saving money this year and I really need him to get on board with me since it will build up our savings up again and hopefully we can take some of that money and use it for a nice little vacation for just the two of us, possibly going back up to Canada where we spent our honeymoon and took our boys one Thanksgiving.  It is special to us and I really want to go and explore the Lake Louise area since we have not done that yet.  This year is our 40th wedding anniversary and we both wanted to be able to do something special to celebrate.

   I guess I should end this post here on this positive note.  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!  Be blessed my sweet friends!

    

   

   

   

Frugal Friday 12/13/24

Saturday:

~Jeff worked for part of the day so I stayed home.  We had a snacky dinner and watched Christmas movies.

Sunday:

~We headed down to the valley to get 2 new tires for my car.

~There is a Chefs Store next to Walmart where we found a huge package of udon noodles. I divided up the noodles into 1 portion sizes and froze them for future fast lunches for me.  We also bought a gigantic bag of tortilla chips since Jeff lives on nachos.

~We stopped at Goodwill where I found some more brand new Christmas gifts and some fun Christmas shirts.  Oh, I also found a new mug and 2 crystal red wine glasses for .99 each.

~A stop at Grocery Outlet in Pullman was fruitful as I found some white wine there that I have come to really enjoy.

Monday:

~Jeff and I got the Christmas tree set up and decorated.

~I made teriyaki and pineapple meatballs with a homemade teriyaki sauce and served that over rice for dinner.

~We got the new living room rug put down for the colder weather.  It really helps warm up the room and the fur babies love it!

Tuesday:

~Jeff and I both did not sleep well at all Monday night.  I finally came to bed at 4 a.m. and that is when Jeff, just having dozed off and on all night long, decided to just get up.  I did get up at 9:30 a.m. and then was back in bed again at 11:30ish for a nap.

~Leftovers were for dinner.

~I put the green pine wreath, along with a battery powered candle, on the front door.  My father gave this to us years ago and told us that he grew up having a plain green wreath and candle in the window growing up.  I am trying to keep the tradition alive since it means so much to him.

Wednesday:

~I uploaded the Safeway digital coupons onto my card.  Jeff used one of them to get 4 bottles of creamer for our coffee.

~Jeff picked up my prescriptions from Walmart for me since he was already in town for work.  He used the Good RX program to bring those costs down.

~I washed the sheets so they are fresh for our bed.

~Changing out my purse for the Christmas season is something that I love to do.  I got out my Brighton Christmas greetings purse and have that ready to go now.  People always tell me how much they like it ad it brings a smile to their faces and to mine.

And it is here that I stopped making a daily record of what my frugal doings were so the rest of this post is just a list of things I can remember for the remainder of the two-week period.  Yes, I know, I know, I should have kept up on writing things down, but life got in the way and there was just too much to get done around here.

~We went to Goodwill on Senior discount day and I found a few more gift-worthy items.  Jeff also found some pants and I found a soft and cozy sweater.

~Marshalls is my "go to" place for getting fun treats.  I was lucky and found some great things to finish off my gift stockings for our grown-up kids that live near us.

~I used my coupon for a free body care product at Bath and Body Works to get some great smelling lotion for someone near and dear to us.

~Grocery prices continue to go up and up but I was still able to buy a fully cooked chicken from Walmart for under $4. We were able to get 3 full meals off the chicken before I threw the carcus in the crockpot and cooked it for 24 hours on low to make a lovely and rich chicken broth.  I then turned that into some delicious chicken noodle soup using the bits and pieces of meat that were also left on the bones.

~I made 2 more loaves of homemade bread.

~Remmie peed in Jeff's recliner when he chased her out of her kitty box while he was trying to clean it.  We went and bought some specialty odor remover from the pet store and that seems to have done the trick thank God!

~A package of 6 Italian sausages were cooked up in the oven along with some red potato wedges.  Jeff had 2 and I had 1. I used the remaining 2 sausages, cut thinly, to use in a pasta dish later in the week.  This made 5 servings and was so good.

~Jeff got his bike trainer thingy set up in the garage so now he can use it to exercise out there and away from the bad weather.

~Jeff also got the raised garden beds, along with the blueberry and rhubarb patches, covered with well-rotted chicken manure so it can help get the beds ready for planting next year.

~I had Jeff pick up some eggs for me since the ones I had in the refrigerator are old and I needed some for baking treats.

 

 

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 11/30/24 and some Ponderings

 

   Well here it is, the end of November already.  The past few weeks seem to have flown by all too quickly.  I had such great plans to get things done Christmas decor wise but found myself completely exhausted and wondering why I was losing so much hair.  Then it hit me, my body has reacted this way in the past when I was under a huge amount of stress.  I now realize why I have felt almost paralyzed, trapped and not able to do much.  It's that "fight or flight" response.  My "flight response" is mentally shutting down and closing up within myself, something I did in my childhood just to mentally survive at times. I know it sounds extreme, but that is just the way I cope (or maybe don't cope) with stress.  Hopefully, now that we have Helen's ashes here with us and will be scattering them where she wanted, Jeff and I can both breathe a sigh of relief knowing that we have done all that she wished.  I also made it through my first holiday without my dear cousin Jeremy here.  It felt very sad not to be able to call him and wish him a Happy Thanksgiving.  I am pretty sure that Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday.  Jeff and I both miss him so very much.  He became like a brother to me and one of Jeff's closest friends.  We have had too much loss within a short amount of time and it has taken a toll on both of us.

   Speaking of Thanksgiving, Tammy, our Heather's mom, invited us over for Thanksgiving again this year, which was so very sweet of her.  Everyone contributed something to the meal and, as usual, it was delicious!  I had a great talk with one of their friends Kaila, who I met last year at Thanksgiving.  Kaila and her husband are missionaries who do a lot of outreach to families in need.  I also got to visit with Heather's grandma Sandra, whom I absolutely adore.  I glanced over during the meal and saw her sitting at the "kids table" with all her great grandchildren.  I know that she and they love each other so very much and are so blessed to be in one another's lives.  It brought me great joy to see them enjoying their meal together.  I am so very glad she lives right up the road from Heather's parents and that the greatgrandchildren enjoy spending time with her and that she is teaching them all kinds of wonderful things.  We did miss Jaysn, Rachel and Steven this year but were so happy that they were able to go down to visit Josh, Lauren, Tate and Peyton for the holiday.  It really warms my heart to know that our kids continue to be close and want to be in each other's lives.  I also love that our grandkids can and do build those strong family bonds.

    So now we get to the frugal doings for the past 2 or so weeks.  Again, please know that this addled brain of mine has trouble remembering all the stuff, but I will do my best.

~I went to Goodwill and found brand new reusable Christmas and Winter themed bags (originally from Marshals) for .39 each.  I got both the huge size and smaller sized bags.  I am thinking they are good for both shopping since we have to bring our own bags in Washington state when we shop anywhere and also would make great gift giving bags filled with presents for loved ones.

~More bread was made.

~I made a huge pot of macaroni and cheese for Thanksgiving and made extra cheese sauce on purpose.  I then took that cheese sauce and made it into broccoli, potato and cheese soup.  YUM!

~I did my "Black Friday" shopping online and got some great deals.  I bought practical things like a nice forehead digital thermometer, electric toothbrushes, electric scrubbing brush with long handles to help clean the shower without us having to lean over (it also works for cleaning furniture and cars), some glass bottles with stoppers for decanting my homemade fruit infused vodka and gin, along with homemade vanilla, more rolls of bags for my food saver, and a Christmas gift that is a surprise.

~Jeff and I have been watching Christmas movies on TV.  It is wonderful to just be able to pop some popcorn and settle back into our recliners, with our feet up, and watch some of our favorites.

~We bought Maggie a winter jacket.  I never thought I would be someone to buy clothes for their dog, but here I am.  She gets cold easily, so we found her a nice jacket for under $20 at Ross.  It fits around her barrel chest and even has a cute hood (which she is not too keen on).

~I have been filling my house with the sounds of Christmas, even breaking out the classical stuff when Jeff is outside. 😉 He is not a fan of orchestra music, but I am.  He does seem to not be bothered by my Christmas jazz music but prefers the old-time radio kind of Christmas music that he and I grew up with.

~Since my sleep patterns are so screwed up again, I have been using the late hours of the night and early morning hours to watch documentaries.  I am amazed at how much I do not know about our world. 

~I gave Jeff a haircut.

~I shop all year long for Christmas gifts and am already buying some things for next year for our kids.  I like giving them "gift baskets or bags, and since I already have most of the things for them for this Christmas, as I find other things I think they would like, I just set them aside for next year.

   I do hope that everyone reading this had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are looking forward to spending time with loved ones this holiday season.  Make sure to put some effort and thought into doing something special for yourself please.  So many times, we put others ahead of ourselves and often forget that we deserve some special time and gifts too. Be blessed my sweet friends. 

Mid-Month Frugal and Other Updates

 

      Jeff and I are missing our youngest grandbabies so much.  They recently got snow at their home in Utah and the kids were so excited!  They went out and made snowmen and played in the snow.  Josh said they were very happy little campers. :)  Chris and Heather invited us over for dinner last week and we had a wonderful time with them and the oldest grandboys.  We did try to get together with Jaysn, Rachel and Steven, but they were out of town at her cousin Doug's birthday.  Hopefully we will get to see them soon. 😊

     Jeff went up and closed out Helen's bank account and then headed up to Sandpoint to pay for her cremation.  His cousin very generously sent us a check to help with the expenses but we still spent over $1,000 out of our own pocket to cover her final expenses.  We will scatter her ashes up on the mountain where she wanted them.

   Jeff and I both got the crud making the rounds and are still recovering from it.  We both already had doctor's appointments scheduled for other reasons and luckily our lungs were clear.  Jeff had to get an x-ray on his knee and they found lots of arthritis there.  He now has another upcoming appointment with the orthopedist to see if he is going to need surgery since his knee has really been bothering him.  

   Now onto the frugal doings.  I am going to try to remember everything, but we all know how well my memory is.  LOL!

~I found more of the poinsettia garland at the thrift store and bought all that they had.  I also found some more Christmas decor including some old glass ornaments like I had on my childhood Christmas tree and 2 more bags of balls for Maggie.  Spoiled puppy!

~I am always on the lookout for more Christmas china.  I was so excited to find some of the Pottery Barn retired reindeer pattern dinner and salad plates.  I got the 4 salad plates for $1.99 each and the 4 dinner plates for $2.99.  

~Jeff found a pair of jeans on clearance at Walmart.  He needed a new pair for work.

~I made a huge pot of spaghetti sauce with the last of the tomatoes that had been ripening in our house.  I'm freezing it for future meals.

~Jeff and I went out to eat and we both brought home half of our lunch since the portions were so huge.  That made for 2 meals for each of us.

~Shannon was so sweet and brought us home a street taco kit from Costco on one of the days that Jeff was still feeling ill.  that made for 2 meals with leftover tortillas, salsa and cilantro lime dressing.

~I found some beautiful decorator Santa plates at. you guessed it, the thrift store for $1.99 each.  They are now hanging up in our kitchen by the sink and bring a smile to my face each time I see them.

~More bread was finally made.  It had been a long time since I made bread.  I sent one of the loaves home with Shannon as a thank you for all she does for us.  I also sent home some of the last of the tomatoes with her.

~Jeff finished off the wood trim for Shannon's new kitchen door.  Luckily, we had some extra wood here at home that he could use since they ran a bit short.

~We popped up some popcorn and watched the movie "Twister" on TV.  It was really good!

~Jeff and I both found some nice clothing at Goodwill.  I found jammie pants and some shirts.  Jeff found some slacks and a nice WSU jacket.

~Chris and Heather surprised us big time by giving us their pop up tent trailer.  We had offered to buy it in the past, but they said it needed some repairs and they did not want us to have to do them.  We had told them that we could make the repairs since most of it was replacing some flooring and dry rot.  Jeff can easily do that.  Still, they had not wanted us to have to do any of that.  Thus how surprised we were when they surprised us with such a kind and generous gift.  We are storing the trailer in their shop since it will keep it undercover.  In the Spring, we will bring it home here so Jeff can replace the flooring and we can paint the interior to give it a fresh look.  We are looking forward to many years of family camping trips and fun!

~I've been switching out the artwork on the walls with more winter and Christmas stuff.

~I went through Helen's Christmas decorations tote and found some beautiful and meaningful things in there.  One of the items was a fabric Christmas tree that Jeff's mother had made for Helen years ago.  I recognized it immediately since Jeff's mom had the same one in her home and had told me that she had made it.  I know this might sound strange, but I am finally able to appreciate things from Jeff's mother again.  There were years when I could not due to all the heartache she put Jeff, our kids and me through.  I'm still healing but am moving in the right direction.

   So that is all that I can remember right now.  My plans for this week are to get the house decorated for Christmas.  I really am needing the joy that the season brings.  It has been a rough year for us and this Christmas will be bittersweet.  There are daily reminders of our loss of my cousin Jeremy and Jeff's Aunt Helen since we have Maggie and Remmie with us.  I will say that Maggie and Remmie bring us comfort and comic relief.  I am so glad that they are now ours. I am going to try and focus on the good memories and building new ones.  Be blessed my sweet friends.

Frugal Friday Wrap Up (including the past month) 11/1/24

 

      Thank you all again for your patience with me.  Lots and lots still going on dealing with Aunt Helen's death and the aftermath of all the legal stuff that we are still dealing with.  Now I know what you may be thinking...what does the picture above have to do with frugal living...well I will tell you.  Our son Chris is receiving an award for going above and beyond in helping evacuate people and coordinating saving lives in a recent fast-moving fire.  Since he is also a firefighter, he knew exactly what to do and how to coordinate agencies.  We are so very proud of him!  Now here is where the frugal living comes in.  Chris was homeschooled as many of you know.  We lived on a small single income for many years to make this possible.  It allowed all of our boys to get the best education possible and for them to pursue their individual interests.  Chris happened to love firefighting and being an EMT.  Fast forward to today, Chris and Heather are living on a single income (his), homeschooling their boys, both are volunteer EMTs for their community and Chris is also a volunteer firefighter.  Heather helps to bring in some "fun money" by selling delicious homemade treats.  It allows them the freedom to go fishing, hunting, hiking, camping and to travel to see family when time allows.  They grew a very productive garden this year and Heather blanched a froze lots and lots of beans.  They also had tomatoes, squash, pumpkins, and all kinds of other things.  Using well-rotted chicken poop, tilled into their garden, made things grown quickly.  The chicken poop was from their chickens.    Now that is what I call frugal and I could not be more proud of them.  Oh yes, Isaiah (our grandson #2) shot a deer the other night when he and Chris went out hunting.  More meat for all of the family!

   Now here are some of the things that I have been doing over the past month in no particular order:

~Steven and I went to an estate sale here in town and I found a beautiful brand-new tote bag with a watercolor picture of a hummingbird on it.  My mother loves hummingbirds and this will be part of her Christmas gift.

~Other finds from the state sale were two cookbooks, one a local community cookbook from 1983 that has recipes in it from so many of the people that welcomes us with open arms and hearts when we first moved here, and the other a sourdough cookbook.  My other fun find was a handmade broach with a beautiful slice of agate.

~I have been going to the thrift stores and finding Christmas and Fall decor for pennies on the dollar.  Some of my finds include 2 ceramic partridges, some high-end poinsettia garland, a cute straw deer that Steven absolutely loves, and some crystal vases along with a few Christmas mugs. I also picked up a bag of tennis balls for Maggie since she loves them and destroys them pretty quickly.

~I found a brand new with tags jacket for $5.99 and used a 20% off coupon to bring the price down even further.  I found out that it retails for $100.  Score!

~Jeff and I love lamb chops, but they are so expensive.  I found 3 packages marked at half price at Safeway.  I got all they had and repacked them with my Food Saver.  These will be delicious that coming holidays!  What a treat!  I also found ground beef on sale there for $2.97 a pound so I bought 3 pounds of it and repacked it for the freezer.

~The ice built up in our upright freezer and forced the door open.  Luckily we caught it and only lost a few things from the shelves on the door.  Jeff unpacked the whole freezer and defrosted it, the repacked it all.

~We have been enjoying pears and tomatoes that we grew as they ripen up in the house.  I am freezing lots of tomatoes too!

~Jeff and I have slowly been going through Helen's belongings and found lots of unopened health related products like mouthwash, dental flossing picks, toothbrushes, etc., that we are adding to our HBA cabinet.  It is hard to be going through her things as we still are mourning her.

~I'm still cherry picking the sales at the stores to stock up our pantry.

~We have been watching lots of movies lately thanks to Paramount, Disney, Peacock and YouTube. Have you seen the prices of movie tickets at the theater lately?  Even with our senior discount, we would still be paying a lot.  I'd rather be in my recliner at home watching them.

~Jeff and I both did a major purge of our clothing that we no longer use and donated it to Goodwill.  We shop there a lot so it is easy to just drop it off there and run into the store.  On one of those trips, I found an item that has been on my wish list for over 30 years.  I found a Fenton flow blue plate.  Luckily, they had just brought out a cart of new items and I snagged that and a tiny Victorian style ring box.  Right place at the right time I would say!

~Rachel's mom moved up closer to us all.  It was so nice to see her on Friday when I stopped by with Steven.  Steven had made her a turkey decoration earlier in the day at our house.  I am looking forward to spending more time with her.

~Jeff and I met with a court advocate who helped us fill out forms that we need to be able to access Helen's account so we can use that money towards her cremation. She also called some other advocates to help us figure out if we could get some financial assistance with Helen's cremation costs. Apparently, the county she died in will give you a loan, not a grant as we had been led to believe.  Jeff and I now have to foot the bill for the rest of the cost beyond what is in her account.  We are talking close to $2000.  UGH!  We will have to put it on our credit card and then pay that off in 3 payments with Jeff's checks from work.  If he was not still working part time, this would sink us financially.

~I trimmed my bangs as they were getting too long.

~Jeff and I have been trying to mostly eat out of our pantry and freezers.  There are times however that we still grab something to eat that is ready made from the grocery store.  It is still cheaper than going out to eat.

~Maggie has been a nervous wreck since she got home from the kennel.  I ordered her some CBD oil to see it that helps calm her down.  I feel so bad for her.  I think she may have thought that we were abandoning her.

   I think I will end this post here.  With all the stress of setting Helen's affairs, trying to get ready for the cold weather months, purging the house of so many things and the weather changes, my fibromyalgia and arthritis are acting up big time.  My sleep habits have been thrown into a tizzy also.  Not a good combination.  However, life must be lived to the fullest.  I have grandkids to love on, along with our kids, friends and other family members.  I'm looking forward to getting back into some kind of routine again and having more sleepovers here with the oldest three grandboys.  Steven spent Thursday night with us and it was so much fun!  There are also upcoming fishing trips with Chris who is buying a bigger boat from a friend.  I love to go fishing, so this will be a lot of fun for all of us!  

   Be blessed my friends and I pray that there will not be any more unrest or acting out in our country with the upcoming election this Tuesday.  We experienced first-hand some shady stuff in our county with the post office in Spokane processing our ballots, and sending them out, yet only a few made it to our town, ours's were not among those few.  Our county auditor has launched a full-on investigation with the postal service over this and we were able to get replacement ballots.  Much love to you all, be safe!

So much to share...

 

   I sadly share that our dear Aunt Helen passed away a few days before we left for our planned trip down to Utah to see our son Josh, our Lauren and our grandkids Tate and Peyton.  These last few months have been a real whirlwind of emotions for us all with Helen's rapidly declining health, her passing and all the legal hoops we are now having to jump through to gain access to her checking account so we can pay some of her final expenses.  Her social security checks got messed up for the last few months also, so we are hoping that gets straightened out so the wonderful care center that she was at gets paid and hopefully there will be some money left over to help cover the other part of her final expenses.  Even if it does, we will still have to come up with some money of our own to help and be able to claim her ashes. We still have not had time to grieve our beloved aunt and have learned just what a mess death is when there is no will and final expenses have not been prepaid.  Jeff and I have not made a will yet, and are definitely getting it done soon.  We do not want our kids to have to deal with all of this when we pass.

   Our trip to see our kids and grandkids was a L>>>O>>>>N>>>>>G drive, over 10 hours and we did it both down and back in one day each.  Jeff and I both did surprisingly well. We got there in the evening and took the next day to rest and do some shopping before the kids and grandkids got home from work and daycare.  The next 2 days we had the grandkids with us all day while their parents worked and that time bonded us so deeply with them.  Josh took Jeff, Lauren and Tate golfing on Saturday while Peyton and I had some "girl time".  She fell asleep on my chest at her nap time and I soaked it all in, knowing that this was a moment in time that was so special and I would most likely not have again with her since she is growing up so quickly.  She definitely is a Gpa's girl though. ;)  Tate on the other hand is a total Grammie's boy.  He was right there with me most of the time and we had so much fun together!  That is not to say that all of us did not deeply bond because we did and on the way home I wanted to turn back around and go back to my youngest grandkids. ;)  Josh and Lauren spoiled us rotten while we were there taking us to see some wonderful things like the aerospace museum, a really cool sporting goods store that has a Ferris wheel, aquarium, restaurant, candy store, cool animal mounts and lots of guns in it.  They also took us on a beautiful drive to see the fall colors and to see Bridalveil Falls. Josh also smoked a pork butt and made pulled pork for us that was beyond delicious! Jeff and Josh got building project done and I made homemade mac and cheese and got a stuffed whale that my mom made for the kids mended since they had "loved" it a lot. :)  We squeezed a lot into a week and it went way too quickly for all of us.  Jeff and I both cherish every moment we spent with all of them and they made us feel so loved the whole time we were there.

   We have been trying to be "frugal", but our trip did cost us a  pretty penny and it was so worth it!  It is because we are so frugal that we were able to do this.  Between gas, boarding the dog, paying for someone to come in to take care of our home for part of the time (Shannon stepped in to cover the other part that our house sitter was unable to do), some fun money for the trip, and doing some frugal shopping while there, the costs definitely added up.  We hit some thrift stores, a Mormon food store and a Big Deals Outlet where we found some amazing deals!  I came home with a brand-new down pillow, clothing for both Jeff and I, some holiday decor, Sambucol for the cold and flu season, and many food items to add to our pantry.  I menu planned based on what we have in our pantry and freezers on the way home, and we will be sticking to that for the most part for awhile so that we can bank some money to add back to our savings.  

   Thank you all for being so kind and patient with me...it really is a huge blessing that does not go unnoticed.  Be blessed!