This Week in My Home: In Which I Meant to Hustle

Monday:   John and I seem to have fallen out of the habit of a routine where grocery shopping is concerned.  I didn't need but a few items at the grocery yesterday, but without John along I'm afraid I took his place and there was no one restraining my impulse spending though my impulses are different than his.  I tend to stock up on things I know we'll need and since I don't know exactly when I might have a chance to shop again, it's just as well isn't it?  Well not really as it must all count towards a pay period and I don't especially want to lump it in with last pay period nor wait to use certain items until next pay period.  I've settled it in my mind that I shall just count it as next pay period's grocery and keep in mind that this last pay period was heavy enough without adding extra.



I discovered something today.  Maybe it's something I should have noticed before, but the days when John comes in from work, things get off to an awfully late start even if I am up early.  John often comes in later than I plan for because its the nature of his job and he does like to stay and talk to people he usually only sees in passing, so I've found it pays to hold off with starting breakfast until he does get in.  Cooking, eating, clearing up and it's 9:30 or 10-ish before that task is done.  Often enough I find that somehow or other I haven't quite finished my Bible study or housekeeping when he comes in either, so there's that to be finished up and it's moving on towards lunch.  I'll rush around and try to do something.  Today that something was to get just anything at all  done on the back porch that might improve it's appearance.

Well I made a difference.  There's still furniture stacked on the porch, but it's stacked far more neatly against the wall rather than next to the railing. Visually it opened up the porch once more.   I moved off items that didn't belong and neatened up the appearance overall.  Now I can finish cleaning the railings and the rafters and get started with that painting job.   I went around the house and picked up all the empty pots from the flower beds and when I was ready to take  them to the shed, I stepped indoors and grabbed up the things I had set aside to go out there and let one trip do it all.

I worked hard and I worked fast.  I told you I meant to hustle this week.  I was sweating like a horse when I was done.  And then it was time to start dinner.  Whew boy.

Dinner today was sponsored by the 'I will too use it all up and let nothing go to waste' mode of thinking.  Zucchini, fortunately smaller ones, three to be exact and they were just beginning to acquire that look of not being prime.  I chopped the zucchini, three quarters of a sizeable onion, and two tomatoes and placed them on a roasting pan.  Katie stepped in at that point and seasoned the vegetables with oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.  I lay three chicken breasts on top and she seasoned those with the same seasonings as well as a bit of lemon pepper and Parmesan cheese.  This was all baked until the vegetables were tender and the chicken done.  It was delicious!  My regret was genuine at not having more zucchini as roasting does cause it to shrink down so much but it surely was good and it was a nice meal with a salad and garlic bread.

Little things got done after dinner.  I washed dishes, made granola, chatted with Bess for a bit, straightened this, cleaned that, unloaded the dishwasher, etc.  I got tired, really tired and here I admitted to another fail.  I had no supper plan.  I was too tired to care that I had no supper plan nor anything easily made.  So we ate granola.  John had his over cereal and I have mine over yogurt.  Then we sliced up a chilled Navel Orange and that was supper.

Tuesday:

 John went to get his eyes checked and ordered his new glasses today.  It feels as though we've done nothing of late but spend and spend and then spend some more.  I am not complaining.  He has been as long as I without an exam or new glasses and it's time.

While in the vision store, I asked about prescription sunglasses.  Wowza.  Talk about spending money!  $199 for the lenses, $80 for polarized lenses and then the cost of frames.  I looked at the frames and saw nothing under $119.  They did offer me 20% off should I want to order but even so, I figure I'd be out about $300 to get prescription sunglasses.  John and I both agreed that even if I had planned to pay for my own, that's expensive for something I'll wear far less than glasses.

I did think to ask if our insurance might pay for them after the first of the year.  The lady had my insurance information right in front of her and said, nope, it reads one pair of glasses every 12 months.  Even had it been possible I'd have paid about the same I paid for my current pair of glasses.  So no real savings to me at all.

Having done all this thinking while I waited on him to get his exam and make his choice in frames, I decided to ask for a copy of my prescription and see if I could find a cheaper source online.  Not really, not for the progressive bifocals and certainly not for polarized lenses.

Fine.  I can take a hint, lol.  STOP spending.

In between the pondering over glasses, I've been thinking long and hard about our budget, about the drying up of every rivulet of income stream I have used in the past.  My Coke Rewards became relatively useless with the change they made about a year ago.  Swagbucks takes forever and two years more to earn anything for myself.  Even with unlimited data I cannot afford to use my home devices to stream videos.  It eats my data right up and then we're in a sloooowww run zone.  I could continue to use it for rewards when shopping online and that I will do.  Jamberry is done.  Pinecone dropped me sometime ago as I do not qualify for any of their surveys.  I've been  wondering just what and how I shall manage to earn a bit elsewhere  So far my mind remains blank.  So I work hard in my home and yard and wait for the next opportunity to occur while I look hard at my recent spendings and my budget and determine just where to nip and tuck to increase the flow.  This is not a permanent state of affairs  Over the years I've had opportunity to use many rewards programs for a time and they were all helpful.  I don't doubt something else will come along in good time.

Wednesday:

Frustrated with my printer.  My computer is compatible only if hooked to the device these days and even so the scanner will not work with my computer.  I needed the scanner to work today, most especially today, because I needed to send an affidavit back to the county superior court.  I ended sending an email with a photo from my phone linked in.  I mailed a hard copy of requested papers this afternoon.

I was called for jury duty right in the midst of our planned vacation.  Despite my civic pride, I didn't want to have to cancel my vacation again!  I offered to go in the next month it's held which made the clerk laugh when I called the office.  She told me all I had to do was fill out the paperwork and send it back.  And right there on the form it plainly says, "I've planned to go on vacation."  Apparently it's a customary statement.  You do have to send a copy of the reservation confirmation to them to prove you actually are going on vacation.

So rather than leave home super early, I was struggling with the printer trying to get it to cooperate.  I finally left home around 9:30, about the time I typically get out of the house.  It did make me wonder why I even bother to try and leave early if that's the time I'm going to leave anyway.

Off to get oil changed.  That money was already set aside.  In fact we've enough to get oil changed in the other car and shall have funds leftover.  Here's the advantage to having been at home so very much over the past 8 months.

I waited around an hour and a half and was glad I brought along my current book, The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt.  I am now up to the point where Franklin D. has been placed as Secretary of the Navy and they are living in Washington, D.C.  She is very reticent about Franklin overall.  She says 'We got engaged,' in the last of her girlhood chapters and that's it!  Nothing about writing or visiting and most certainly nothing about courtship.   She is, thus far, equally reticent about married life and personal relationship.  Not that I wanted the lowdown and dirty details but I really don't have a sense of getting to know her from the point of her engagement through her early married years.   Nor of her being particularly passionate about any subject at all!   Not quite the Eleanor Roosevelt I'd thought I'd meet in her autobiography.  We shall see how the book goes on from here.

From the oil change I went to Walmart because yesterday evening I found this website's handy guide for how to measure your prescription frames for clip on sunglasses.  I could order them from the website but I really wanted relief from the sun's glare NOW.  So I went into Walmart vision center and the clerk helped me find the pair meant for my size glasses and most especially for plastic frames to insure they would fit.  I paid $16 with tax for polarized lenses and told John in a text "and I'll just keep that extra $284 in my account, lol."  I am so pleased with them that I may indulge in a second set as a back up pair, and I'll be using my newfound knowledge to measure John's new frames when they come in and buy him a couple of pair.

I contemplated doing other things while in Walmart but ultimately decided to steer away from the store and simply go on home.  Only I didn't go on home.  I stopped and bought myself real Mexican food because Mama nor John is ever interested in eating Mexican and I was longing for some.  I knew exactly what I had left of my allowance so I stayed on a tight budget and managed meal and tip from my pocket money.   And there is no more cash until next payday which thankfully arrives next week.

Came home and though I was weary and tired from my early arising when I sent John off to work early this morning, I tackled routine housework and contemplated the need to get that living room deep cleaned.   By 3pm I'd hit the wall of tiredness

I typically hit on a work day and so no work on the living room yet this week.

Katie came out a bit after 5pm and taking one look at me asked "And you haven't had any supper?"  Well, no, I haven't.  So she made supper for the two of us.  Much nicer than the cheese and crackers I'd thought I might have, lol.

Thursday:


Up early enough, prepping breakfast before I began my Bible study.  John called around 8 to say he was on his way home.  I hurried along to make the bed, dress and finished my reading before he came in.  We sat down to eat about 8:45 and what with chatting it was closer to 9:30 before I could clear away the dishes.

I thought about these late breakfasts of ours and I don't suppose there's a thing to do about it.  I could prep ahead at night but I'm saving myself no time really come mornings.  I'll still be waiting upon John and clean up can't commence until breakfast has been cooked and I won't cook until he's home, so  I guess I'll just accept that this is our day after work pattern and let it be.  I never know just what his intent is when he comes in the back door.  Is he ready to eat?  Must he jump right in the shower or will he wait?  It all depends on how the work day/night went.

This morning, following clearing up and feeding the pets, I decided I would absolutely get the main living area cleaned today if I did have to hustle like mad to do it.  Well, I had to hustle like mad all right but I got it done just in time to start a later lunch.  Although John is a 'by the clock' person when it comes to snacks and meals I feel we can wait an extra hour for our lunch on these after work days when we eat a later breakfast.  That shall be my compromise for later mornings.

Another symptom of these 24 hour shifts, is that one or both of us is often confused about what day it is.  Today as John tried to work out a time to do a job at Katie's place, he kept saying he was going to take me out to eat on Friday.  After he'd said it two or three times I reminded him that tomorrow is Friday.   Just as I thought, he had no clue.  When he asked if I was sure today was Thursday, I had to go look at the calendar!  I'm no better than he is in keeping up. For me it's always the day after work or the day before work.  I rarely have a clue what the actual day is though I can generally give you the date.

I finished the dining room side save washing the windows.  John, bless him, having realized that he'd lost a day today, backed out of the date lunch tomorrow and said he really did want to cut grass...as if I hadn't known that already.  I told him I'd pass on the date and catch him next time around, to go on and mow his grass.  I have windows to clean and weekend meals to prep anyway, so it's perfectly fine with me.  I'll have time to bake a sweet as well.  I'm thinking it's time for oatmeal cookies. This shall likely be the last mowing of the year though it continues to be very warm and all color of autumn has long since blown away.  We are left with green everywhere you look and golden rod is the only indicator we currently have of the present season.

Friday:

Even though John assured me we'd not be going on a date today, he was very up in the air about his plans overall.  He suggested "we" would just run over to Katie's this morning and tend to the yardwork there and he'd come home and mow, as our lawns would be dry by the time we were done.  I did not know that "we" had volunteered but this is typical of John.  Anytime he says yes to something it generally means that it is he and I for whom he has planned.  It is not that he expects me to work as much as he expects me to just be there.

We were up late again last night, staying up until 11pm because I wanted to see both of the new episodes of Mountain Men.  I just love watching how these homesteaders work and live and make do and I am especially fond of Tom Orr and his wife Nancy who are the oldest of those shown on the program as well as the two who appear to be just as deeply in love as they were at the beginning.
When we went to bed, John and I talked and talked and I didn't turn off the light until 12midnight.  Some of our talk was sweetly romantic, spurred no doubt by Tom and Nancy Orr's sweet affection for one another in the last program.

We slept in until after 8am this morning, too, so no blaming John for any late breakfast we might have had.  It was almost 9:30 before we ate this morning because I was still under the impression we were going to Katie's to see to the work there and John delayed leaving.  He finally went out to the shed and came back with both batteries in his hand, both requiring a charge before that work might be done.  He did manage to weed eat around the flower beds and patio as I'd requested he do.  After breakfast he sat and watched TV and I gathered that plans were all delayed and I might as well hustle through my own work.

I got the dining room windows cleaned and then I managed to take the glass out of the storm door and clean it up both in and out.  A bug had gotten on the screen at some point and been smooshed and made quite a mess.  It wasn't even until today, as I looked long and hard at the glass that I realized it was removable....Yes, indeed and the door has only been on the house for 22 full years and I just noticing this fact!

I put a chicken in to roast when John went out to mow and proceeded to mix up Oatmeal cookies and bake them.  October is always Oatmeal cookie month in my home, and not a drop of spice, not even cinnamon goes into mine.  Just vanilla and dates and raisins.  I set aside a panful for Katie, a bit more for Sam's household and filled our biggest cookie jar over half full for us.

While cookies were baking, I blew off the porches and patio, and routine housework was done, all except sweeping floors which waited until after baking and lunch was done.  We eat lightly on these hot days while John is mowing, so it was an apple and sandwich lunch for us today.

While I was blowing off the patio John came up on the mower and I came indoors to get a couple of cookies and a glass of cool water.   I couldn't stay out long, as I had a pan of cookies in the oven at the time.  He came in later and asked me to come move the cars so he could rinse all the dust off that the mower blew over them.  We sat on the porch and chatted a bit and Maddie relaxed and allowed me to clip the matted hair from her fur.  I wish Rufus would be so patient.  He too is a longer haird doggie and I promise myself each time I pet those two that my next dog shall be a short haired one who hasn't the problems these too have with matted fur.  But then I never chose either of these two.

I'd been trying to write this last bit of post off and on today, thinking over the  work to be done next week, meal plans for the weekend and week ahead, and now and then thinking of our finances.  When John came up to the  patio earlier, he was just back from mowing around the mailboxes and brought in the mail.  I'd placed it on my desk and not until after lunch was cleared away and the floors swept, did I sit down to sort it out.  What I thought was a bill from my insurance company was instead a sort of warning notice.  My insurance premiums next year will double, as will the portion the government pays.  I sat there stunned for a moment, trying to catch my breath.

The way the government healthcare program works is that you choose a plan from the one company that is insuring government healthcare recipients each year.  And yes, I do mean the ONE company.  Based upon your income, you pay '$xxx' out of pocket for a policy and if your income is lower then the federal government pays "$XXX" to supplement your costs.  This is not a charitable program!  Each year when you send in your tax return, this amount of money is counted as income and you pay an increased tax upon it.  Last year, we owed the federal government money though our annual income has not altered in nearly ten years time and we have always received some return.  I did not have to repay all the government subsidized but it isn't by any means 'free' insurance as so many politicians would have you believe!

The new amount I shall have to pay is twice what I am currently paying and the federal government's subsidized portion is also twice as much.  And as usual, the plan I have is being 'discontinued' and I am more or less being forced into the new plan, although I mean to go look and see what is available that might better suit our income.   I am, at present, trying to hold back a very real concern that I shall once again be insured but I assure you all I cannot afford the new plan's increase.  I am fearful of what we shall end owing the federal government even if I find the extra income to cover the initial costs to me.

Initially, when we started looking at our retirement we'd lose about 1 week's pay each month, enough to be of concern without the supplemental insurance for which John must pay which amps up our loss each month to something closer to 1/3 of our income.  With the increase in my insurance we're nearer losing half our income in about a year's time.  Gracious!  What a worrisome note to end the week upon and yet I determined not to carry this concern into the weekend, no nor even into the rest of this month.  I cannot even begin to compare plans until November 1 and so that shall be my date to begin the worry.

I have a feeling we'll not be doing more yardwork today, that John shall be well and truly done when he comes in since he'll have officially been mowing for about 6 hours.  Sam stopped to visit and Bess called while he was here and said John seems determined to add another acre to the yard, lol, he's mowing part of the field that Sam has been trying to clear.  I expect John to stop and get a cool drink and a chat with Sam and the boys before he comes back home.

My house is all clean about me.  I have a sort of meal plan for the weekend ahead.  John says we shall go out to lunch tomorrow but I'll just check the football game schedule before I count upon that, lol.  I have more or less determined next week's project and work zone.  I'm determined to have a coffee chat with you all this next week, though it may well end being an Iced tea chat instead because autumn temperatures are simply not showing up at all at present.   Have a lovely weekend dears.