This Week In My Home: Savings Changes

My yellow knock out rose a couple years or so ago...A piece of the root has grown from under the new back door steps and simply refuses to NOT grow...So I've a new rosebush by the side of the porch railing...just loaded with blooms.

Saturday:  Home again...I happily accepted the offer of a rep sample glucometer, extra test strips from the hospital's Diabetes Health Ways  program, as well as coupons for medications that were pricey.

When we arrived home we realized that while the glucometer from the drugstore was free, they included the wrong lancets for the finger stick device.  I will return those and swamp them for the right ones.

Living Well:  It wasn't the sight of home on the hill that undid me today...it was Maddie's sweet and eager greeting which ended with her 'kissing' me on my nose, something that girl is seldom moved to do...and then coming indoors and seeing my house, my things once more, brought on a welter of tears.  God is so good!  I'm sure heaven is a lovely place and I'll enjoy it immensely, but in the meantime, this is the only home I know and I like it very well indeed.



Sunday:  Planned meals right away this morning.  I took a meat loaf from the freezer to thaw for my dinner (just one slice but the whole thing had to be thawed.)  I'll save the rest of the meatloaf for one more meal and sandwiches.

Sorted through unfiled paperwork and got it all put away properly so that I can easily find what is needed.

Deadheaded plants.  Used stored water to water them, and refilled jugs with fresh water.

Mama gifted me with 15 bags of butter beans packed in three serving sized packets, a half dozen ears of corn, half a cantaloupe and 6 cups of black berries.

Measuring milk to use, portioning foods has been eye opening.  What I think a serving looks like and what it actually is once measured is definitely something I need to learn!  Just think of the savings in not over eating!

Worked up bill box in preparation for paying bills tomorrow on our Harvest Day.

Set the timer and walked back and forth for five minutes in the house, from one end to the other.  It mightn't sound much, but it's a start.

Double checked where money was located for various bills.

Balanced check book.

Living Well:  I watched a most spectacular sunset this evening.  Lovely!

Monday:  We went to pick up John's check.  I made sure to have bills made out and ready to mail when we left home.  We also took off trash.

Though they looked bad, I went ahead and potted the petunias.  It's been my experience that petunias tend to be hardy and revive with minimal care.   The coleus looked lovely despite neglect.  I broke a leaf or two while repotting and I planted those, too.  They should root without a problem.  Coleus is one of the easiest plants to propagate.

I used stored water to water the plants in and then refilled bottles with fresh waters.  I do this all through the year really but it gets recycled more often in summer.

John offered to pick up something for dinner, and though his suggestion was one I could have on my eating plan, I asked to come home and prepare a meal here.  I'd planned ahead and knew what we were having, so it was no trouble.

John has been on the search for sugar free drinks for me, not sodas, but flavored waters, etc.  I do enjoy a fizzy fruit flavored water but not so much I would waste loads of money on stocking up on them.  I'd rather have that for an occasional treat when out of the house.  I noted on the last two bottles they hold 2 servings, so I'll watch my consumption of them.  One nice thing about the waters is that they are priced well below soda prices.

Priced test strips at the drugstore this afternoon and nearly fainted.  Apparently the cashier is used to this reaction.  She scanned them as a price check instead of a purchase!  I will be looking elsewhere for supplies, probably online and pricing the strips for various meters.  One of things I was told at hospital but the Diabetes Health Ways staff was to check around.

John washed a load of clothes and hung all but my jeans outdoors to dry.  LOL  my jeans are so big on me now that he was trying to shrink them a bit...It did help somewhat.

When I figured up our bills this morning, I noted that my portion of the credit card bill was almost to the penny what my allowance is...I haven't spent any money in the past month and have an ample supply of allowance on hand so I skipped getting it this pay period.

It was the pay period where we typically get a smaller check...Fortunately we had Memorial Day pay on that check (a token amount since John didn't actually work the day) which was a help.

I got grocery money for the pay period but slipped the portion of grocery funds I still had on hand into a 'secret' compartment in my wallet.  I'll keep that on hand for a future stock up or short week or unplanned company week.

Living Well:   There's something very therapeutic about getting your hands in dirt and playing  with flowers...even when you don't like dirt!

Tuesday:  Used the last of the loaf bread last night for supper.  I made whole wheat blueberry muffins this morning.  I used a container of sweetened applesauce (1/2 cup size) in the muffins so skipped the sugar and used just 1 tbsp of oil.  They were quite good and very tender.

Measured out 1/2 cup of bran flakes and was totally unimpressed with the amount, but shrugged my shoulders and ate them without adding more.  So glad I didn't!  That was a very filling amount of bran...I'd forgotten how it swells when milk is added.

I didn't have quite enough broccoli for dinner, or so I thought, until I realized I had a nice portion of stem that could cook along with the crown pieces.  I cooked the broccoli a little longer than normal to soften the stems enough to eat.  I had more than enough for John and I.

Made chicken for dinner.  I put two breasts in the pan.  Even the smaller of the two breasts were large, so I cut one in half and 1/3 off the smaller one.  I'll use that meat for soup or salad for supper.

I had oral orders from the doctor to increase one of my medications by half again.   John took time to split several pills at once for me so I have ready doses.  I won't have enough medicine to last out the full thirty days but I'll see a doctor before that time is up and can get a new prescription at that time.

Washed a full load of dishes in the dishwasher.  I had a little room to spare on the top rack so included the coffee pot and a few other items to fill the space.  I washed on a short wash cycle.

No bread left in the house...I dug about in the fridge and we used some flat breads we'd bought earlier last month that were still well within use by date.  I'd kept them in the fridge.  I used leftovers from our chicken dinner to make wraps.

Living Well:  What a luxury to have a man all too willing to clear up dishes or vacuum or do laundry.  I'm very grateful for all that John willingly has taken on, without one word of complaint.

Wednesday:  Big day out today.  I started the morning feeling well enough to make breakfast, bed and get ready to leave house.

I fed pets this morning and put away the uneaten food.

We batched errands today.  Lab work, haircut for John, and groceries.

We stopped for lunch at about 12:30 since I need to eat on a regular schedule.  I gave John money from the grocery funds to cover our meal.

We shopped only at Aldi this week.  We read lots of labels today to determine what we might reasonably eat and what needed to changed.  It took a good bit of extra time but that's okay.  I was worn slap out by the time we finished shopping and left John to pack up groceries and load into car.

A long lie down was in order when I got home.

We had leftovers and fresh tomatoes for supper.  I confess here and now after eating meat loaf three times this week I was not at all interested in keeping that last slice for anything.  I suggested John feed it to Maddie instead.  Not something I'd typically do but my brain is not up to figuring out leftover makeovers just yet.

Handy thing:  a phone charger for the car.  John bought it while we were in Florida and it's been used many times with the hospital stay (for his phone) and for mine when it suddenly died today.

Prepared John's work lunch.

Living Well:  The luxury of lying down and restoring my strength.

Thursday:  Up with John to see him off to work.  Packed his lunch up and made breakfast for him.

I pulled one of the ready prepared entrees from the freezer and turned into a pot of soup.  So good!  I am indulging my love of soup these days, as I find it very comforting, economical and delicious.

Mama came out to visit for a little bit.  She brought two lovely tomatoes and a small bag of cherries. A serving of cherries is 12.  I sliced them. I had sliced cherries with Greek yogurt for my afternoon snack.  Yummy!

My son and his family planned to stop here over night on the first leg of their journey of moving to Florida.  I put a whole chicken in the oven with mixed root vegetables since I was pretty sure they wouldn't have had time to eat a proper hot meal.  It was much appreciated by them both.

Living Well:  It's been quite some time since I washed a baby in a kitchen sink...and did I ever enjoy giving my grandson a bath this evening.  I used lavender soap to help promote sleepiness in the overtired little guy.  Sigh...some things you just miss more than others.  Freshly washed babies is just one of those things.

Friday:  The family got up and left early this morning in the wee hours.  The baby's food stuffs got packed up and no one seemed to know where in the vehicles it might be.  Bess was able to piece together reasonable foods for him to eat, and a few snacks for themselves, from our pantry/kitchen cupboards.  What a luxury to have just what is needed without worrying we'd come up short.

I can't drink sugar sweetened sodas any longer so I gave a 12 pack of lemonade to my son to take with him.

My son's birthday is next week.  I was pretty sure I'd not see him then, and equally sure he could use a little extra just now, so I gifted him a gas card we'd bought a couple months ago at the grocery when they were running a special.  That will do double duty as serving a need at present  and as a birthday gift.  He likes practical things for gifts (he once requested a vacuum!), so I felt sure he'd be happy with his present

John and I intended to stay home today but he changed his mind after dinner and suggested we see about getting the car serviced.  I quickly got together a batch of mail I wanted to go out, he bagged trash and we stopped at the flea market so I could settle up on rent.  Then we went to the business where we get the car serviced.  They were jam packed and set up an appointment for us to come back next week.  John went by the grocery and got me some sugar free ginger ale, to help fight the nausea I've been having this week.  We really made that trip out count this afternoon.

John washed and hung to dry two loads of clothes, including a larger load of sheets and towels.

Leftovers for supper for us.  I had soup, John ate a couple of sandwiches he had left in his work lunch.  His boss treated he and his partner to a meal out yesterday.

Living Well:  My son and his wife closed on their house this afternoon and are celebrating the baby guy's first birthday as they move in this evening.  My oldest son is back on the west coast.  I had a sweet letter from my second oldest granddaughter in today's mail.  And a dear sister in Christ blessed me richly this morning.  It's been a lovely day!