Frugal Friday Wrap Up...Kind of...week ending 1/26/200

  

    So this is kind of a Frugal Friday Wrap Up.  I say kind of because I did not keep a running tally of all that we did this past week.  All I can do at this point is go from my rather foggy memory.

~We met with our banker and made some changes that will save us thousands in interest and  fees.
~I called and got a credit onto our account for our internet service which has been spotty over the last few months.
~I made bread and a double batch of biscuits.
~I made a double batch of sausage gravy.
~A huge pot of potato/corn and chicken chowder was made from the carcus of a deli chicken after we had the legs and one of the breasts for dinner a different night.
~We borrowed more movies and books from the library.
~I found a big bag of oranges for $2 at Walmart.
~Honeycrisp apples were $.79 a pound at one of our local stores so I bought 8 huge apples.
~Jeff found a container of marked down powdered caramel creamer for $1.  He is a very happy camper!
~Caesar's medication dropped in price saving us about $5.
~I mixed up more spice mixes to have on hand.
~After running errands and doing some shopping, we came home and threw a frozen pizza (which we had gotten on sale previously) into the oven to bake while we unloaded and put away groceries.  I made a salad to go with it along with some apples slices.  I also made some salad dressing to go over mine while Jeff chose to use some Ranch dressing that we had in the refrigerator.
~I've been using homeopathic treatments to deal with some infections and ailments.  They work better than perscription meds for me.
~We got more free magazines and a sample of some perfume in the mail.
~We found some marked down hogie rolls so I divided them up and froze them for future meals.
~Jeff called and reduced the amount we are giving in charitable contributions/tithes since we have had a substantial cut in income.


    That is all I can remember at the moment.  It's been a rough week pain and brain fog wise with very little sleep happening.  I've been doing my best to just cook in large batches to keep us fed and trying to keep up on laundry for the most part.  Thank God for my amazing hubby Jeff who picks up the slack for me.  I would be lost without him.

A Talk with our Banker

 

   Jeff and I stopped in at the Credit Union today to have a talk with our banker about making some changes to one of our accounts.  While there we found out the interest rate on our credit card had gone up.  That was an eye opener for us.  

   Our super helpful and nice banker went over all our options to do something else at a lower rate, which would also pay off the higher interest rate card.  The option we went with was a line of credit that we could access if and when needed for things like Jeff's possible upcoming surgery.  We would be saving a little over 3% in interest rates going this route.  The monthly minimum payment is also lower, so if we get in a bind, we can still make it easily.  Our plan though, as always, is to pay higher amounts on it so that it is paid off earlier.  We also were able to save over $75 a month in a insurance fee that we had been paying on the credit card.  

   Our application was put in and we should be hearing back tomorrow on it.  Our banker seems to think that we should not have a problem at all being approved for it given our great credit and history of no late payments.  This is really going to help us in the long run and we are so thankful we decided to stop in today to talk to them.  Tomorrow we also are making further changes to reduce our costs in other areas.  Stay tuned!

Budget Cuts and Fibro Flares Oh My!

   Some days are harder than others.  Some days, or weekends, I spend most of my time in bed recovering from having done too much or from other things, like the weather, triggering another Fibromyalgia flare.  Having both Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a double whammy and makes life that much more challenging for me.  There are times when I look at where I have been in the past with this compared to where I am now, and I mourn for the loss of my independence, energy, clarity of mind and the days of low pain where I felt almost normal.  I see the changes in myself and rereading this blog, I reexperience so many moments in my life, both good and bad.

   This past weekend was a rough one.  I did not sleep at all on Thursday night into Friday morning.  Jeff was keyed up after getting home Friday morning and could not sleep so I got up and showered.  Jeff and I ran some errands after reworking the budget since his paycheck was less than expected due to some changes going on in the way that they are doing things where he works.  I crossed some things off my grocery list that were not "must haves" and we had to rewrite out a check for a lower amount to put as a payment on our Les Swab account.  We have been trying to make higher payments to pay it off sooner, so this is a big setback for us and not a welcomed one by any means.

   The lack of sleep, combined with the stress of this caused me to go into a flare and put me into bed for most of Saturday and Sunday.  I wish I could say I slept most of that time, but that would not be the truth.  It was rather a matter of napping for one or two hours, then waking and laying there.  At night, when Jeff was sleeping, I would get up and roam around the house or sit in my recliner so that I would not wake him.  My pain levels were extremely elevated all over my body and nothing, and I mean nothing, seemed to help alleviate it.  Sunday night I was able to concentrate enough so that we could watch a movie, so I consider that progress.  We also talked about our options and how we were going to handle the changes coming our way both work, health and financial wise.

   Monday found me in the kitchen making two loaves of homemade bread, baking some acorn squash and also making a double batch of biscuits while Jeff slept in the afternoon (I had slept until 11:30 a.m. since I did not fall asleep until around 6 that morning.)  Jeff had called our orthopedic surgeon's office earlier that morning to find that they were able to get him in a month sooner than planned to take a look at his torn meniscus and make a plan for surgery, so now he has an appointment for the beginning of  February.  I love our doctor there, he is opening up the office that day to see Jeff.  It pays to have three generations of our family have formed tight bonds with him over the years.  That was good news and it helped calm my nerves a bit. I rested for the afternoon and early evening before getting up and making a double batch of homemade sausage gravy to put over some of those delicious biscuits.  Try as I might though, I was still unable to sleep once again at night so I was still up when Jeff came home at 5:50 a.m. Tuesday morning.  

   I've been trying to use the time I cannot sleep to be productive though.  I took inventory of our pantry and our supply of flour, sugar, rice, beans, lentils and split peas, along with pasta, that we keep in big food safe buckets and bins.  I also looked at our spices, salt, oils, vinegar, condiments and popcorn supplies.  This got me to planning menus based on what we had on hand and what we needed to use up first.  An example of one of those meals came together for our Tuesday night dinner.  Jeff had pulled a fully cooked rotisserie chicken that we found on clearance at Walmart out of the freezer the previous day.  I cut that up and served it with some wild rice mix that I had in the pantry.  I had some of the cooked squash with mine. This was a quick, easy and semi healthy meal and was a Godsend since I was still pretty tired from very little sleep and still trying to get laundry done along with clipping Caesar's claws.

   Another way I am trying to be productive, especially when I am not feeling well, is to work my points programs.  I got out of that habit and am now returning to it since I can do it while relaxing in my recliner while watching shows on YouTube to learn new skills. I can also do research on ways to lower our bills even further, and find the latest information coming out on both Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, hoping and praying that they will find a cure or at least something that will help improve the lives of all of us who deal with this.  I might as well double dip so to speak and earn points towards much needed gift cards now that our budget has been cut.  In the past I was able to earn enough to get Walmart gift cards and cover the cost of the dog food for Caesar and am hoping to be able to do that once again.  We do still have one $25 gift card to Texas Roadhouse, so we will use that for a special treat in the future.

   Looking down the line, there will be more budget cuts to come as life changes and medical bills come in that will need to be paid. Trips to the thrift store will be few and far between because we really don't need anything at the moment and we need to save the money anyway.  Eating out will not be an option as every penny will be needed. I'm not going to get down though as I am looking forward to Spring when I can plant a garden, hang clothing and other laundry out to dry on the line and work on a few projects that have been put on hold due to the weather.  I know that we are blessed with a wonderful family, good friends, fur babies that brighten our days, a paid off home and a full pantry and freezers.  Yes, this is a setback, but we have gotten through worse in the past and we will get through this too.  As long as Jeff and I have each other and our family, we can get through anything. 
   

   

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 1/11- 1/17 2020

 

   Well here I am posting late as usual.  I give up!  I try to get things done on Saturday to post this thread but I spent the majority of the weekend in bed.  One of those days I could not even be around anyone for the most part.  My sensory overload was working overtime and it was bad.  It was so bad in fact that I had showered on Friday morning and did not a shower again until today.  I just could not physically or mentally handle a shower...isn't that just sad (and gross)?  Last night I tried to sleep but was unable to get o sleep until 4:30 this morning.  My sleep habits have adjusted to Jeff's normal work week schedule at this point for the most part which means I am up all night and sleep during the mornings.  Hopefully that will change soon.  Onto the Frugal Doings...

Weekend:
~We got hit hard by another snowstorm so we stayed home except for the early morning work trip Jeff did between our Friday night and Saturday afternoon storm.
~One of our wonderful friends plowed our driveway for us.
~I made a pot of mac and cheese in the InstaPot.  It was delicious.
~We had leftovers for our other main meals.
~I used a service online to help redo a resume and cover letter.  As soon as they were done, printed off and downloaded, I cancelled our introductory trial so we would not be billed the regular rate with automatic renewal.

Monday:
~Jeff got outside and took some really heavy snow off the hot tub enclosure.  The plexiglass roof was starting to bow.  He also unburied my car (it is the one he is driving now in this weather) and cleared the walkways before the next storm hit later in the evening.
~I mixed up some smoked ham with  fixings for a great ham salad.  YUM!
~Jeff pulled more of those sale priced rolls out of the freezer so that we could use them for sandwiches for him at work this week and also in case we lost power.
~With the snow, I did not want to venture out, so I renewed all my library materials online.
In the evening, I was craving something hot and sweet so I heated up some apple cider.  I have so many packets of the apple cider mix and they need to be used up.  It is nice to have them, hot cocoa mix and lots of teas on hand for this time of year.
~Going through my cookbooks again to get more inspiration for different soups, salads and sandwiches.
~I cooked up some prawn chips that I had in the pantry and I saved the oil to cook wontons in later in the week.

Tuesday:
~More snow so I am staying put once again.  Thank goodness for leftover split pea soup since I am not moving well at all.
~I got in on a free sample at Pinch Me and also a free magazine subscription (which I will pass on to my DILs) through Mercury Magazines.

Wednesday:
~Made 2 more loaves of homemade bread.
~While the oven was still hot, I baked up some spicy sweet potato rounds.
~Leftovers for dinner to help clean out the fridge before going grocery shopping.
~Looked through the pantry to see what I needed and what I already had.
~I watched some tsunami videos on YouTube.  Tsunamis have always fascinated me.  Maybe that has something to do with having grown up on an island in the middle of the Pacific  ocean.

Thursday:
~I went through my pantry and refilled my big food safe buckets with some of the multiple bags of rice that had been taking up way too much room on the shelves.
~I found ingredients that I had forgotten I had...bonus.
~Dinner was a pasta salad made with a Suddenly Salad mix that I added fresh veggies, cheese and pepperoni to.  Yum!
~For a snack I had some spicy sweet potato rounds that I had baked the day before.
~Jeff dug out a path to the garage on our back breezeway and also dug out a path all around my car and the driveway.  The snow was pretty deep and since we had high winds last night, it blew it all over the place.  It is now snowing again out there...this is going to be a ling winter.
~Jeff's paycheck was about $93 less than it normally is so we had to rework the budget again.  There were things we crossed off our list for picking up at the grocery store because Caesar needs a refill on his steroid medication for his Lupus and it is not cheap at all.   Thank goodness for a full pantry and freezers.
~My foaming hand wash in the kitchen was getting low so I mixed up some more and added it to the foaming pump container.  I have lots of regular liquid hand soap, but this makes it go further and Jeff and I really like it better.
~Jeff finished off the last of the split pea soup for his lunch.
~Knowing that tomorrow is going to be a busy day, I got the fajita meat and veggie mix cooked and ready to go.  I used some of the venison steaks for the meat.  This way I we will have something good to look forward to having for dinner and will not be tempted to eat out either before or after grocery shopping.

Friday (the no sleep edition):
~I did not sleep at all Thursday night into Friday morning and Jeff was keyed up when he came home from work.  We decided to get dressed and head into town to run errands and do some much needed grocery shopping.  The dog was almost out of his food and the cats were also getting low.  There were some things that we needed too.  We spent a little over $100 for pet foods (the huge bags), paper products (toilet paper, napkins and tissues) along with people food.
~We had the fajita meat and veggie mixture along with some saffron flavored rice for dinner... YUM!
~Jeff was able to do a phone interview while we were in town shopping.  The reception is better there than out here in the boonies.
~I watched some more frugal living type videos on YouTube.
~We received several free magazines and a coupon for a free product in the mail.

   This is a new week.  Last week we had snow galore and set new records.  It is now all melting off and we are in danger of flooding in the low laying areas.  On a more positive note, we are praying that we get some great news this week!  It is much needed. ;)

Homemaking Goals for 2020

   Jeff and I have been talking about our goals for this coming new year as it pertains to our home.  There are things that need to be done to make sure our home is safe and easier to function in as we get older.  We also have some gardening goals to get done to help us as we reach retirement years for Jeff and will need to grow more of our own food to help offset the drastic reduction in income that we will be dealing with.  Jeff is also worried about his possible knee replacement and having to take time off for that within the coming months.  He is really starting to stress about things and I really need him to calm down a bit so we came up with a plan.

Outside:
~Jeff will continue to take advantage of free lumber that is offered to him and bring it home for either our use or for our kids to use for projects that they may need to do.
~Jeff needed to replace the decking on our back porch and will also be adding a ramp to replace the stairs down into the back yard.  The ramp will make it possible for him to just use his hand truck to haul the wood pellets for our pellet stove up onto the deck from the area by the garage where we store them.  In the future, it will also make our home wheelchair accessible if that ever becomes a need.
~He is also going to replace the front stairs coming into our home.
~He will enlist the help of our kids to do the two major projects above.
~We will be moving 2 plum trees from the back yard into the front yard.
~We are making 2 compost pile bins with free pallets and scrap wood so that we can make our own free compost that we know will be free of chemicals.
~If time and money allows, we will also be building a small greenhouse to start seeds in and to extend the gardening season.
~Jeff is going to continue to pick up free wood pallets.

Inside:
~We are converting the front bedroom into a combo pantry and craft room for me.  We already have the pantry in there, but will be taking the bed out and giving that to Jaysn and Rachel for Steven.  We'll add shelves and cabinets for storage and keep my big crafting table in there.
~I will continue to add to my pantry with shelf stable items.
~I'll be making homemade vanilla for Christmas gifts next year.
~If I can find one at a great price, we will be replacing one of the couches in our living room with a hide a bed couch.  We will then sell the larger of the two couches we have now.  This gives us another larger bed so that we can have 5 guests stay with us at the same time.  It also makes it possible for me to be able to use it when I am not feeling well and still want to be able to watch TV while Jeff is in our bedroom sleeping.
~I'm going to recover the seat cushions on the dining room chairs.
~My hope is to do more canning and dehydrating of garden produce this coming year.
~Jeff wants to get my kitchen cabinets rebuilt for me with slide out shelving.  He did this to one set of cabinets already and it has made a huge difference since our cabinets are really deep and it is hard to reach things in the back.

How we are going to finance things:
~Jeff will be building benches out of pallet wood that he will be selling.  The ones he has made for our family have been a huge success and people love them.
~He may be building more cornhole games to sell since that is another thing that people seem to really love.
~I will be listing more things on consignment at one of the consignment stores that I do business with.
~I'll be selling more raspberry plant starts in the spring and possibly some iris and columbine plants too.
~Jeff is going to go through the garage and try to sell some of the things out there that are just taking up space and that we do not use anymore.

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 1/4-1/10 2020

   We are having back to back snow storms and it is making driving difficult and unsafe out there.  Jeff was even called off work on Friday night until the storm passed.  He decided to go in at 2:30 a.m. when there was a break between the storms and I am so glad he did.  Chris had a 15 hour long shift due to all the accidents and slide offs that night.  UGH!  The worst part is that there in even more on the way starting later this afternoon.  Here is my late Frugal Friday post...enjoy:

Saturday (A day of running errands):

~Jeff and I had to go to Walmart to pick up a prescription.  While there we found ham in the deli marked way down and the lady doing the mark downs in the bakery was kind enough to do the second mark down of the day on a package of rolls for us.  We got another huge bag of rolls for $1.26!  We also picked up some bananas for the upcoming week. I almost forgot,, I found wax melts for .50 a package so I picked out 3 that I liked.
~Another stop was the Dollar Tree where we picked up a jar of Jeff's favorite strawberry jam and 2 more boxes of freezer slider type quart sized bags.
~The last stop was a local IGA store where I found 1 pound packages of ham and turkey lunch meat marked down to $1.25 a package.  I bought 2 of those.  I also found pie crusts in the refrigerated section and bought 2 of those for $1 each.  One of my best finds though was garden seeds at 4/$1.  I stocked up on the ones that I would need for Spring.  While there we also picked up some Chinese food from the deli.  I had enough for 2 meals.
~We watched the movie "Toy Story 4" that we had borrowed from the library.

Sunday:
~Jeff divided all the rolls into freezer bags and froze most of them for future use.
~He also froze 2 of the lunch meat packages along with the pie crusts.
~Jeff worked on pruning  the apple tree before the snow finally came and he had to stop.
~I put some Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar music on YouTube, got in the kitchen and made some ham, potato and corn chowder.  I topped my bowl with some homemade croutons.  Yum! We had that for dinner and we still have leftovers for more meals.
~We wanted a treat, so I cut up some apples and we had those with hot caramel to dip the slices in.
~I have been wanting a nice looking cane and found one on Amazon.  I also bought a supplement for Jeff.  We got free shipping and it should be here on Wednesday since I also got a free trial of amazon prime.  I will be cancelling amazon prime after my things arrive. ;)
~With me getting a new cane, this frees up my old one for Jeff to use.  He is having some trouble with his knee and it is not looking all that great.

Monday:
~I did not get up until after 3 p.m.(I did not sleep at all during the night) so I had a cup of green tea instead of my usual coffee.  I saved the tea bag to use again.  Jeff had the coffee that was left in the carafe when he got up later in the evening before he went to work.
~Leftover soup was what I had for a late lunch.
~I pulled some ground venison out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator to thaw.

Tuesday:
~We went to Winco to stock up before the snowstorm hits and I used a $1 off coupon on a 2 pound block of cheese.  I picked up more celery, carrots, coleslaw mix, milk, yogurt, potatoes, onions, creamer and some pasta along with a marked down foot long sandwich from the deli.  Most of the items I got can be used in multiple recipes or enjoyed on their own.
~Jeff had half of the sandwich for dinner and took the other half with him for his "lunch" tonight at work.
~I was feeling pretty down after our shopping trip due to some really rude people there so I pulled an apple pie out of the freezer and baked that for Jeff and I to enjoy.
~I watched some videos on YouTube while I worked my points programs.

Wednesday:
~We borrowed the movie "Abominable" from the library.
~I was on a cooking roll and made 2 loaves of bread, baked an acorn squash along with the bread, made a double batch homemade sloppy joes and cut up a bunch of carrots into carrot sticks. I want to be prepared in case we loose power since we have a big winter coming in Friday.
~Caesar got all the carrot peelings and ends.  It is one of his favorite treats.
~Jeff finished topping off and trimming our cherry tree back.  We are hoping this will save it.
~I watched some TV shows online,
~While cutting up onions and peppers for the sloppy joes, I cut up extras for fajitas for another meal. I also found a recipe for chicken fajitas made in the InstantPot that I want to try.
~It started to snow in the evening and I could not sleep so I quickly whipped up some huckleberry syrup (from huckleberries I had in the freezer) and had some on waffles.

Thursday:
~Josh called and we had a nice visit on the phone.
~Chris called and told us that he had been elected as the new fire chief of the fire department where he is a volunteer firefighter and EMT...we are so proud of him.
~Jeff and I hot tubbed in the early evening.  Both of us were really sore and it really did help.
~I cancelled my free Amazon Prime trial but I still have it until early February to enjoy apparently.
~I spent a good part of my day in bed (fibro flare) so Jeff made me a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner.
~We have been craving junk food so I mixed up some dry ranch dressing mix into some Greek yogurt for us to have as a dip with carrot and celery sticks.
~Hawaiian music is one of my favorites so it was back to YouTube to listen to more Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar music.

Friday:
~Split pea soup, made with a pork roast bone from the freezer, cooked away in the crockpot for a good portion of the day.  It was delicious and I made quite a bit of it so we have lots of leftovers.
~I worked on my points programs.

*I tried to upload more pictures but Blogger was acting up...sorry about that.

   This is where I have been spending a lot of my time recently.  Yes, in bed with or without my Midgy and Patchy.  I have been exhausted, sore and have stimulation overload all at the same time which then leads to insomnia followed by long periods of needing to just collapse and sleep.

   Today is the first day in a long time where I feel like I am able to pull back the thick "fibro fog" curtain and feel semi functional.  I have been able to do some laundry and actually compose some coherent thoughts, which is a huge blessing and accomplishment unto itself.  The headache that I have had for 2 days is finally starting to settle down too.

   We are heading into at least a week long snow event starting within the next day or so where I will be homebound.  I do not like to travel on snow covered roads as it makes me extremely nervous.  I am hoping that Jeff and I can head into town later to do some last minute stocking up on a few things we need before then.  We just need a few basic items like milk, fresh veggies and plain yogurt.  Other than that, I am well stocked between my freezers and pantry.

   One of the hardest things to deal with when living with Fibromyalgia and/or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is the unpredictability of it.  You can feel semi normal one minute and the next you can be laid out flat.  Anything, and I mean anything, can trigger a flare.  Weather, other illnesses, lights, noises, smells, stress, or even taking one step too many are all factors.  I find that when my hubby's work schedule changes, like over the holidays, that can also trigger a bad flare.  We have had 2 weeks of changes with the holidays and that threw me way off.  We are finally back to his normal work schedule, but then we have this storm moving in so I am preparing for another bumpy ride. 😔

    I've been trying to make triple batches of many of our meals and freeze the extra portions to use when I just don't have the energy to cook.  For me, cooking is therapeutic and something that I really enjoy doing.  It is the last of the things that I can still do to make me feel "normal".  I show my love to people through feeding them, so this is very important to me.  Having those meals ready to go helps to alleviate some of the guilt I feel for being so ill.  And yes, even though I know this illness is not my fault, I still do feel guilt.  I have been working on that. 😉

   Anyway, I am off to shower (and praying that does not wear me out) so that I will be ready IF my hubby wants to make a trip into town today.  Be blessed!


   

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 12/28/2019-1/3/20

   

   Hello all.  I know that I am late again in posting this blog.  Saturday was a busy day and Sunday I spent a good part of the day in bed.  Everything caught up with me and I am just needing to pull back and rest as much as possible.   Here we go...


Saturday:
~Leftovers for lunch.
~We met the kids and one of our hanai sons, Ben, at the bowling alley.  Jeff and I did not bowl but helped take care of Steven who wanted to be in the arcade.
~We went out to Pizza Hut for dinner after the bowling and used gifts cards we were given from Uncle Bob and Aunt Norma for Christmas.  We ordered the specials and paid with $50 in gifts cards which covered our meal and still left a great tip for our server.
~Jeff and I stopped by Walmart and lucked out on a great deal on boneless skinless chicken breasts, a fully cooked chicken from the deli and some bagged spinach.  All were clearance priced.  The chicken breasts were huge and we divided them up into 12 bags (1 breast each) and then put all those bags in another large freezer bag and popped them into the freezer.  This will make at least 12 meals for us (most likely more).  The fully cooked deli chicken will be made into chicken salad, chicken legs for Jeff to eat and will use the rest of it to make a large pot of chicken noodle soup.  Most of that soup will be frozen for future meals for us and to share with others.

Sunday:
~I cut a box of dryer sheets in half.
~The chicken noodle soup was made with items we had on hand and was delicious.  Yes, some got frozen since I made a huge pot of it.
~We stayed home and got some much needed cleaning of the house done.
~Luckily I had some Gatorade on hand because I had become severely dehydrated. I felt so much better after drinking a 32 oz bottle of it.
~Jeff and I are looking at a very tight budget in January so we made a list of items that we need for the month and are going to do our best to stick to that along with picking up some needed groceries along the way.

Monday:
~It was a bad day for me pain and energy wise again and I was more than happy to just stay at home.
~Jeff ran down to our library and picked up 5 videos titles that we had on hold there.  One of them is Season 4 of Downton Abbey (I am trying to get caught up) which should keep me very entertained.  Jeff is really into the Jack Hunter series so I had requested another one in that series for him.
We received a $5 reward card from ACE hardware.  I'm sure my hubby will put it to good use.
~We also got a free magazine in the mail.
~Peace of mind is priceless so I deleted all of my old emails from 2019.  I wanted a fresh start and to not be overwhelmed by them all.  SJ, if you have sent anything recently, I'm afraid I deleted it before I thought to do a search for it.  Sorry.  Bad fibro fog today.
~I changed out the candle melt fragrance in the wax warmer in our hallway bathroom to candied apple.  I had the pine one in there for months and wanted something new.  I have a huge stash of wax melts that I have accumulated over the years.  Use what you have right?
~Jeff pulled some more of those rolls out of the freezer so that I did not have to make bread today.  I used one to make a avocado and asiago cheese sandwich for lunch.  YUM!
~I watched several disaster movies on YouTube.  It keeps my mind occupied.

Tuesday:
~Jeff and I found marked down fully cooked chickens at the Walmart deli and I picked them up to put in the freezer.
~We found a pork shoulder roast that was marked way down.  I threw it in the crockpot when we got home and made kalua pig with it.  We will have it New Year's day.
~Jeff went through our freezers in the garage to inventory them.  We found lots of things that we had no idea we had.
~I made a menu based on what we have in the fridge, freezers and pantry.
~New Year's Eve dinner was sweet potato fries, beer battered fish and apple slices.
~We watched the first movie in the Jack Hunter series.  We borrowed it from the library.
~Jeff and I found the perfect Christmas gift for Josh and Lauren for next Christmas.  We even got it at half price and used a gift card to purchase it.
~I saved the bone with some meat on it from the pork should roast to use in making split pea soup later on.  It is now in the freezer.

Wednesday Happy New Year!:
~I baked 2 loaves of sandwich bread.
~Jeff's TracFone was due for a refill so I found a code to add an additional 60 minutes to it along with the other 60 minutes that tripled.
~I cooked up a pot of rice.
~Working my points programs.
~I transferred all the birthday info onto the new calendar I got at Goodwill for .99.
~Jeff and I took a walk around town once the winds calmed down.  Caesar and I needed it badly.
~We made some nachos and watched a movie via YouTube.

Thursday:
~Jeff and I took down and put away all the inside Christmas decor.  However, I was missing the pretty little lights so I got a string of colored lights back out and put them up in the entryway.  I love the warm glow it is giving and it is helping chase away the winter blues.
~I put some more pictures back on the walls.
~I cleaned the filter screen on my blow dryer.  I try to do this once a year to make sure the air flows freely and it does not overheat and break down.
~I made a pot of decaf coffee with some free coffee that we got.
~Dinner was leftovers.
~One of my friends is a nurse with the doctors group that we go to.  Since my doctor left and I needed to find a new one, I asked her advice on who she thought would be a good fit for me and knew about Fibromyalgia.  It turns out the doctor that I "interviewed" is the best fit and he had already said he would take me on as a patient.  That gives me peace of mind so I am not in limbo anymore.  I will be making an appointment for next month to get bloodwork done and to talk to him about anything else that we might try.
~I worked on my points programs while watching YouTube videos.

Friday:
~I froze 2 quart sized bags of homemade chicken noodle soup.
~I also froze 1 kalua pig and rice meal and 1 quart sized bag of kalua pig.
~Jeff and I had the remainder of the kalua pig and rice for dinner.
~I uploaded coupons onto my Safeway loyalty card.
~Points programs were once again worked on.
~Jeff took some WD40 to my recliner so now it is not squeaking all the time and is way easier to use.
~I watched some motivational videos on YouTube on helping deal with my fibromyalgia and also dealing with living a healthier and more frugal life.
~My hair desperately needed to be deep conditioned and I was aching.  I looked through all my samples and found a hair oil, applied that and then climbed into a bath with Epsom salts.  I felt so much better after my bath and my hair did not feel brittle after the treatment.




   Praying that you all have a great week!