Diary of a Homemaker's Week: Keep Trying

 

Saturday:  Briefly, we had a family party, which you know all about.  

Just as briefly, I must keep these particular posts a good bit briefer.  Last week's post, though edited down, was far too long and I thank those of you who had time to read.  

If I can make it more a point-by-point diary, then I can possibly make time to squeeze in another post or two during the weeks when I don't have Caleb five days in a row.  

I have all sorts of post ideas swimming around in my head.  I feel strongly that while the bulk of my audience is older and wiser and well trained in frugal ways there are those who might also come by ready to read HOW to save more or who are learning to save for the first time, who are looking for solutions to rising costs and shortages.  I may be repetitive at times, telling things that you long time readers have already put into practice or know.  I'll also be sharing some things I've learned from younger homemakers who are feeding their young families on a budget.  Proof positive that old dogs can learn new tricks...I'm definitely learning.  I'm trying to incorporate the things I'm learning.  

Meals: Bagels, Birthday Cake, Mandarins, Coffee, Juice

Chicken and Dumplings (using meat and broth from cooking last week's roast chicken frame)

Cheeseburgers, Baked Beans, Chips

Sunday:  John wanted to go by the grocery and have me choose something I wanted for dinner today.  Everything I wanted was out of stock or overpriced and I immediately said a silent "No" and went on to look for something else.  I ended up choosing frozen Buffalo Chicken tenders and immediately thought of a salad topped with those.  That made a very good and filling lunch.

I've allowed myself to take it pretty easy today.  We went into the grocery and frankly, though I stuck to that invisible list in my head, between the few items John added in and I added in we spent a tidy sum.  I'll have to go carefully when I do shop at Aldi this week, or we'll be over our budget.  I don't plan to overspend!  I'll plan exactly what I need to get later this week and make do with what we have.  We won't go hungry, that's a fact!

I made the bed, I've done dishes (unloaded and put away and loaded again) and made three meals, albeit easy meals.  

Oh, and helped rescue the cat...This I must tell you about because it was quite a day for us. 

John went out to feed the cat and she didn't show up.  I swore to him I'd heard her yowling just moments before.  He went back out and still no cat.  He checked again later, but no cat.  The food was untouched.  John was convinced she had gone off to die.  

About two hours later he went out on the front porch and came back inside.  "I've found her!  She's under the porch."  I thought he meant she was under the front porch and the only way under there is via the doors set into the skirting for repairmen to access pipes.  No.  

She was under the back porch and how on earth she got there is a wonder to us.  We walked all around the back porch and there was no way she could have gotten through the hardware cloth that surrounds the bottom of that.  We had to dig a space for her to come out under the foundation board that the hardware cloth is attached to.  We lured her out with her favorite wet food.  

And then we had to fill the hole up and put stones in that area to keep her from going back!  No clue why she was there nor how she got there nor why she wanted to go back, but she's safe.  

That was our drama for today.   And hopefully all our drama for this week!

Meals:  Cheese Toast

Buffalo Chicken Salad, Fries

Italian Sausage and Artichoke Heart Pizza

Monday:  I allowed myself a little extra sleep this morning and then a relaxed and easy breakfast.  It's my last day off this week and the only morning I shall not have to rise early for the next week or so.  It felt good to rise only when I was fully rested.  

After breakfast, I tackled the mantel and bookcases in the living room and got all of them done.  Not the tops of the bookcases, but I did neaten those.  I only worked with the books today. There are far more books stacked horizontally rather than vertically as they used to be but there are fewer books in front of the other books.  Note the key word in that last sentence is 'fewer'.  And I did find three books to remove from the shelves.  Two were paper back copies of hard backs I have and the third I am puzzled why I even have it, since I don't typically like that particular author's books.  

Lunch out with John later in the afternoon.  We took the longer drive over to the restaurant and remarked over the new houses we saw here and there, or old places that were gone, as well as the flocks of wild turkeys in the fields.  The day was overcast and drizzling and perhaps it mightn't have been as pleasant a drive as last week when we had our ride, but it was still nice to get out and see things.  At our favorite restaurant where we splurged and got an appetizer and steaks.  

When we left the restaurant, we went by Kroger.  I went in to get milk and potatoes.  I got both but didn't get bulk potatoes as I'd thought of doing.  I picked up just one bag and it's just as well.  I was about halfway home when I checked my register tape, and my coupon didn't apply to the item at all.  I was sure something was amiss, but I had also picked up other sales items that were good purchases this week.   Even so, I was sure the total was off, and I was quite right.  That's on me for not wanting to get myself back out in the rain so I didn't check the receipt. 

Katie came out with Caleb so that she could get study time in before this week's class begins at work.  She finishes up class this week and then takes her licensing test next week.

Meals:  Cereal, Banana, Toast

dinner out

Leftover Pizza, fruits

Tuesday:  We woke shortly before 7am this morning.  I was able to start and finish breakfast and have my first cup of coffee while it was still hot.  It was a good start to the day. I sat in my favorite spot, doing Bible study and watching the birds at the feeder and the squirrel who had decided he could pass as a bird at the Faith tree even with cat and dogs right there watching!  Brazen!

Caleb looked as though he felt much better than he did yesterday. Katie said he'd slept much better last night, and it showed.  

He was in good spirits this morning and played happily with the things he most enjoys.  He even took a short nap...as did John.  

I went out to sit on the back porch with my chair facing into the sun.  I closed my eyes and sat there and listened to the birds tweeting and chirping.  Eventually, some of the birds began to fly back and forth in front of my chair, near enough I could hear their wings fluttering.  That time out on the porch was very peaceful and probably as restorative as the naps the two males took.

I finished reading The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart.  I haven't read this book series since I was in my early 20's.  I was fully engrossed with the book and truly enjoyed the history as well as the story that was shared in that book.  I look forward to reading the sequels.

Meals: Bacon, Egg and Cheese Biscuits

Cowboy Stew  (Leftover baked beans and chopped hamburgers from Saturday with some of the BBQ braising liquid from the ribs last week.   This was very good and even Caleb ate every single bite).

Baked Chicken and Rice, Green Beans, Sliced Tomatoes   

Wednesday:  Can we just talk about today?  John suggested we might go grocery shopping today and it was only then that I realized that bill paying day was upon us and I had done nothing towards that task at all.  

As I sat there working with bills, I noted that we paid a late fee on the telephone bill (came on a Saturday, mailed it on Monday before mail pickup time but due to the holidays, it was late...), and there was a late fee on a bill that posted the very day it was due.  Why a late fee?  Because I didn't pay the bill in full for the first time in years.  A third bill also had a late fee, again due to the holidays.  This is the first time I've had to deal with this and I'm not sure what to do about it.  I can't pay bills until I have them even if the money is in the account.  I loathe making payments online because so many of those companies hold that information. As I continued to write checks, I looked up in shock and said "John!  We completely forgot to buy our car tags!"  Argh!  I rushed through getting bills written out, we changed, loaded up Caleb and we headed over to the county seat to buy tags.

We arrived to find that they were closed.  There was no posted lunch hour on the door, so it must have been a personal emergency that closed the office.  It said they would be closed for an hour, and we were there at the start of the closing time.  So we went to the bank, went to a restaurant which was shut for the day for lunch (seriously?! CLOSED for lunch?), went back to our little town and bought a hot dog to appease the hangry boy we knew would emerge if he didn't eat, and then back to the county seat where we got tags and paid...with more late fees.

I don't think I've paid a single late fee in probably 6 years or more, but this pay period was just rife with them! I don't like it, not a bit. But the day wasn't over yet...

My blood pressure medication runs out this weekend.  I called the doctor and requested a refill.  That was Monday.  Today I get a text from the pharmacy saying my prescription is ready and the amount due is $518.96.  Wh-what?!   I called and sure enough they said that was what I'd owe, but when I asked if that was after insurance, I was informed that I had no insurance, and there was no record that I'd ever had insurance!

I renewed my policy well before the deadline in late November or very early December.  I even had a confirmation and another letter saying I might print out my cards at any time. We were having problems with the printer at the time, so I decided to wait until later.  But of course, today I couldn't find the confirmation letter nor the letter saying I could print out the card.   I went to the website for my insurance.  It plainly said "Cancelled".

I tried to use the live chat format, but they refused to talk with me because I'd been cancelled.   I got my insurance card and called the help line number.   This is a state website, and it was through the state website that I applied and was confirmed but they had NO record of my having insurance.  The girl helping me called the government healthcare lines and we had a three-way conversation in which the government assured the state that I did indeed have insurance effective January 1, 2022.  They even told her what date I'd applied and been confirmed, but the state said, "No... No, she doesn't have insurance!"  And then she went so far as to tell the US government clerk that THEY were at fault, even though I had plainly told the first helper that I had applied right through the state website!  A fourth phone call was patched to another person, called an Escalator (sounds scary, doesn't it? lol), who assured me that they would send the information to the state right away and I'd have confirmed insurance in no less than two weeks.

I called the pharmacy back and explained the problem to the clerk. I am always impressed by Publix Pharmacy.  They never let me down.  

The clerk I spoke with listened, asked me to hold, came back online and said "Here's what we'll do.  We're going to give you a thirty-day supply, just in case there are further hold-ups..." (and this made me wonder if this was more common than I'd imagined) "...and we're using GoodRx to get you a much lower rate for payment."  She named a cost that was far better than I'd hoped it might be, having moved from 3 figures down to 2. "And as soon as you have the proof of insurance, we'll refund you the money you spend for this and fill the prescription as ordered minus the 30 days."   

Thankful I didn't have to cook today.  It took until nearly 5:45 to get all that done, and we needed to feed Caleb before he headed home at 6pm.

Meals:  Peanut Butter Toast with Banana

Hot Dogs and Water (Juice for Caleb) courtesy the local diner

Leftover Steak and Brussels Sprouts from our dinner out on Monday, Baked Potato and warmed leftover biscuits

And to top the day off, we had a rousing argument to finish it up...How's that for a rough day?  Ugh! 

Thursday:  Sigh.

Woke tired despite sleeping well last night.  I was not mentally nor physically prepared for a two-year-old who came in with the intention of being two and nothing but stubbornly two, all day long.  I recall having such days when I was in my 20's with my first two.  I have no recall of such days with Katie because I worked outside the home and someone else dealt with her being two.  Like Caleb, she was ready for bed each night around 6 or 7 and seldom made it through the supper hour without her head landing in her plate of food. 

The child was not horrible, just two.  And the more frustrated I got, the more I had to focus negatively on him, the more I raised my voice.  The more I raised my voice the more aware I was that I was behaving badly and that only served to make me unhappy and to behave still more badly.  I suspect it's pretty much the same cycle Caleb found himself in.  He didn't want to be bad, but surely, I didn't really mean it when I told him to stay away from this area or to keep his hands off that item...And if I was so upset about it then it proved to increase his curiosity.  He needed to KNOW why it was off limits.

And of course, though he was well and truly tired and showed every sign of being so, he absolutely refused to nap at all.  

When Katie came in to pick him up tonight, I was in tears, hot and stressed.  She urged me to watch my show and relax.  I told her the long list of household tasks I had to attend to.  I did most of them after she left, sat on the edge of the bed and cried a bit more out of sheer frustration and then I washed my face, turned off the TV and sat here in the quiet doing nothing.  It was the best thing I might have done for myself.

Never mind.  It was a long day and I'm grateful that I have a few days 'off' from full on babysitting.  I will see him on Saturday and Sunday, but I will not be keeping him either of those days nor anyone else either.  

Tomorrow will be a full day. An appointment away from home, errands, grocery shopping, present wrapping, Shabat to prepare for.  I don't expect to have time to finish this week's post then, so I'll end it tonight and set it up to publish tomorrow.  

Meals:  Cheese and Sausage Grits, Toast

A mix of leftovers: Chicken soup with dumplings and a container of Chicken Broccoli Rice all mixed together.  It was pretty good!

More leftovers: BBQ beef ribs, potato salad, Watermelon

We're heading into a birthday weekend again, this time Amie and Isaac both have birthdays.  The rescheduled birthday party will be held this Saturday.  Everyone, at this writing, is well.  So full speed ahead...

How was your week?