All Entries

Mouse in House
I  noticed my last entry here was about a mouse, and, well, I seem to be repeating the mouse tales since the weather has suddenly turned cold after a very warm autumn.  I had 2 traps set behind a little secret door to nowhere at the top of my basement stairs; I can always reliably catch mice there cus it's right next to the furnace flue, and its warmth attracts the mice.
I noticed the other day that one of the traps was missing, and I peered around a...
[ Read More ]

I think I mentioned before that I have three birthdays in November. That is not true. There are actually five birthdays in November. The big ones are: DS, GS1, GD. But there is also XH (who I have to recognize because he has been giving me generous birthday gifts the last few years -- as well as paying for some home repairs.) And there is BFF, who is coming up tomorrow, I hope. She may bow out. She doesn't like to drive to the Chicago area, and besides that, it's going to snow....
[ Read More ]

Just skip this one if you don't want to hear about my kid's upcoming surgery or what new thing I'm facing with my health.
My son has a surgery scheduled on Valentine's Day with an ENT at Virginia Mason to try to rebuild the part of his nose where the cartilage has collapsed.  I can't remember if I talked about this before or not, but depending on whether the doctor can harvest enough of his own cartilage to transplant or if he has to use artifical cartilage he should see...
[ Read More ]

I am sorry for any typos in this.  My space bar is sticking and I don't have any compressed air to clean it out.  I think I've got them all, but I'm not sure.  Our retirement accounts are starting to turn around.  Don't get me wrong.  The IRA is still -18.04% for the year, because it plunged even lower than my last report, but it's come back up by a little over a thousand dollars. That's a loss of $2707.65 in an account we don't contribute to at all right...
[ Read More ]

We ended up canceling our Oregon trip last minute.  Too much ice/snow for our comfort level.  Of course, we were already on the fence about this trip so that was a lot of it.  The pros/cons shifted quickly to...  "Meh"
In the "it never hurts to ask" vein, they fully refunded our very last minute cancelation for the first hotel night.  (I am not entirely sure if MH asked, or if they were just nice and offered.  I told him to at least ask for a credit...
[ Read More ]

I'm doing well on my grocery challenge, but other expenses are rocking my boat. I just updated my spreadsheets, and variables are at 69%, and we're not even halfway through the month. Today's spending was at PetSmart. I have had to dump all the live plants in my aquarium -- they all died but one, and it was turning black. Instead of the plants killing the algae, the algae was killing the plants. I bought some plastic plants, and I also stocked up on feeder blocks and filter pads....
[ Read More ]

I have never in my life been collections, but on November 6th Sunrise Credit reported me as in collections due to owing $112 to AT&T U-Verse DirectTV. Thursday I got the alert from Mint. I remember that I disputed a bill over a year ago and after discussions with the company they agreed to dismiss the debt and they even sent me a Visa card for $91 my trouble.
Recently collectors called & I explained that we settled the issue. They kept calling even after I explained the...
[ Read More ]

Received $75 bank interest for the month of October.
Received $180 I Bond interest for the month of October.
 
Snowflakes to Investments:
--Redeemed $4 credit card rewards (cash back) from our grocery card 
--Redeemed $98 cash back on Citi card
--Redeemed $26 on dining out/gas card (+ groceries during Q4)
 
Other Snowflakes to Investments:
+ $5 Savings from Target Red Card (grocery purchases)
 
TOTAL: $133 Snowflakes to Investments
 
Snowball...
[ Read More ]

Hi! I had a bit of trouble with my Mac and haven't checked in - in a while. But I am here now and look forward to catching up on all of YOUR posts.
For us... well, my second grand daughter was born on Sept. 28 and she is ADORABLE.
(PICTURES TO COME, SA isn't letting me load right now)
We found out on Halloween that our first grand daughter is going to be a BIG SISTER! So that's super exciting.
I've let auto-pay handle life in Sept. and Oct., but that isn't helping us stay focused....
[ Read More ]

My doctor tells me to cut as much stress out of my life as I possibly can...that doesn't happen in this house especially with a teen living here right now....my nephew just turned 17...a  year ago my mom left to live in another area becuase of the high cost of rent she couldn't afford to live here anymore, so nephew who she has raised from birth went to live with my sister...she always had extra people living in the house, would cook or anything so even thouh they were paying...
[ Read More ]

I did my second grocery trip of the month a day early. I was at the gym and decided to peek in on Food4Less to see if they had any clearance deals. I found good things, so I decided to spend my weekly allowance there. I spent $21 and I got: cereal, coffee, two cans green beans, spiced almonds, five tomatoes, and two large bottles of ketchup. Everything but the coffee was deeply discounted. The coffee (Kroger brand) was the same price I pay for coffee at Aldi. The cereal was Halloween...
[ Read More ]

November 7 was a busy day for spending.  I ordered a birthday present for my granddaughter ($60), bought candy and cough drops at Walgreens ($18), paid my annual AARP membership fee ($16), and ordered rubber shelf liner from Amazon ($17).
The candy was to put in a mug for a birthday gift, but about half of the bag is left over, so I'll have to count half as a grocery expense rather than a gift expense. That means my limit tomorrow when I grocery shop is $19.
The rubber shelf...
[ Read More ]

Saturday, November 5, 2022
I really had forgotten what being well felt like and what it meant to be exhausted from working hard instead of simply existing.  It's a better feeling, a feeling of accomplishment, of pride in what you have done, even if, in the end, every joint in your body aches the same.  Still, this girl got stuff done.
In the morning I divided the last of the chicken bones into the two Instant Pots and got the broth going, cleaned jars, and set up my...
[ Read More ]

Yesterday I bought two packages of Poise pads in a BOGO offer for $27.  I was so happy to get a fresh supply because the last time I bought them I mistakenly bought the wrong size. So glad to be right-sized again!
I went to the dentist two days ago, but there was no charge, because checkups, cleaning, and x-rays are covered on my Medicare Advantage plan. I used to pay a lot more for the dentist, even the few years when I had dental insurance. The dentist told me there...
[ Read More ]

Every September I get all our paperwork out and compare our net worth from the previous year. I don't know why I did it in September a few years ago, but now that's when I do it. We lost a lot from our retirement and investments in the past year. It is disheartening. I know experts say to hold on and that's our plan, but it still hurts. 
In other money matters, I do those apps to get cash back when I shop. I work with Fetch, Ibotta, Receipt Hog, and Checkout 51. Although...
[ Read More ]

I gained $83,955 over September's net work to finish the month at $1,129,958. $22,000 of that was cash while the rest is investments. Pardon me, if I already posted about this. I've thought of it often but can't recall if I ever did. My former co-worker FIRED! By that, I mean she & husband retired early. She was my first lead tech when I got out of school at 22. She was about 5 years older & pregnant at the time. She never spoke much about money, but I recall her mentioning...
[ Read More ]

Yesterday, that is.  I put my nose to the grindstone, but I got it done.  10 a.m. until 8:30 p.m.  So I have 13 quarts and 6 pints of canned chicken.  One of my quart jars broke in the canner.  It was one of my grandmother's jars from 1949, so it lasted a long time.  Two bad it took 2 pounds of chicken with it.  I think I'm going to go through and weed those jars out and use them for dry food storage.  There aren't many left, but I don't...
[ Read More ]

Today is a day of Joy and I have been blessed.  About a year ago my DH underwent genetic testing and was confirmed to have a specific mutation that he inherited from his mom, which lead to his retinitis pigmentosa.  This mutution is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner meaning that any child we had would have a 50% chance of inheriting it and having RP.  When we had children 13+ years ago we had no idea what the mutation was and there was no way of knowing. ...
[ Read More ]

Today I went to my Weis grocery store and redeemed 400 club card points for a free turkey. I take advantage of this promotion every year. I got a 13.47 lb. turkey regularly priced at $25.46 for free. The quality is always very good. I don't host Thanksgiving, or serve it for my Christams Eve meal so this goes into the freezer for future use!
Walmart put out a press release that they were rolling back prices on certain food items to last year's prices to help customers afford holiday...
[ Read More ]

My first grocery trip of the month was actually two -- I bought raspberries at Sam's for $6, and then I spent $19 at Aldi for 3 lbs of frozen chicken breasts, crackers, bread, a block of cheddar, and granola. There were many things on my list I couldn't get, but I'll get by. I still have plenty of leftovers in the freezer. Today I'm planning to make hot pockets using crescent rolls and leftover sausage gravy mixed with cheese.
While at Sam's, I bought gas ($31) and toilet paper...
[ Read More ]