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Today was a busy day.  I went to the gym, then went to DSW to use my $5 birthday coupon.  I couldn't find anything for myself, but with an extra $2 I bought a pair of Smartwool socks for my son, which I'll probably give him for Christmas.  Then I had lunch at Panera - $11.  From there, I went to Kohl's and used another $5 birthday coupon to buy myself a watch.  The watch was rather inexpensive, but I like it.  With the coupon it was only $15. ...
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As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I finished my first semester.  My official grades finally posted last week, and I received an A in one class, and an A+ in the other.  Good by me   I went ahead and submitted the grades and payment receipt for tuition reimbursement, and got confirmation this morning from HR that they will be reviewing all of this period's requests on Wednesday and will let me know if they need anything further from me.  If all is good, then reimbursement...
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I know I'm usually out of step with whatever is the current trend. I'm OK with that.
Let me briefly explain. For a time in my life, I wanted silence. Being a music lover, that was strange, but I didn't want music or talk or television or anything while I did things around the house or while I was in the car. 
Recently everything has become more pronounced in my life. Music seems sweeter. My enjoyment is immense.
DH has quite a collection of CDs, and one of them was the...
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I went to CVS this morning and got a pretty good deal on these items: 


2 Lady Speed Stick deodorants 


2 Colgate Max Fresh Toothpastes 


 


After using coupons and CVS Extra Bucks that I earned on a previous purchase I paid: 


$3.46 out of pocket (includes tax of .77 cents)  
 


My receipt says that I saved $13.87 for an 83% savings rate. Plus, I earned $5 in CVS extra bucks to use toward a future...
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Is anyone else having the issue of logging in, writing your blog entry, and it logging you out when you try to post it, thus evaporating your entry?  
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I finally got confirmation on the final piece of financial aid.  
I never expected any need-based financial aid whatsoever.  But our State has a middle class grant (if you attend a public college).  It just takes forever to process.  & the whole thing seemed very vague, but the dollar amount showed up in MM's 'financial aid' stuff this week.
This confirms free tuition for Year 1.  Woohoo!
I had actually just left it very "whatever" because I...
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I did a bit of shopping yesterday and today -- bought blueberries and probiotics at Sam's ($16), lunch at McDonald's ($4), and groceries at Aldi ($39).
I called TIAA yesterday and set up my RMD.  Because I have two funds, from two different employments, I'll get two monthly payments.  It's a little more than I expected.  I'll have to be careful with my new wealth, haha.
My street has finally been finished.  Today I am parked right out front and it feels so...
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Yesterday was my birthday  Before I broke my arm I had planned to take Thursday and Friday off.  Since I can only work 4 hours a day and feel like I am getting further behind I decided to work Friday. 
 I am doing my home PT exercised at least 3 times a day.  That is one of the reasons it will be hard for me to work a full day.  I need to have at least 2 hours preferably 3 between sets.  It I work a full day it will be hard to space out the workouts. ...
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We finally got the federal refund but it's less than what we filed for. I'm assuming that in a few days/weeks we'll get an explanation of the difference and then talk with our tax preparer about the difference. I don't know why it's different. I've used the same tax guy for over a decade. 
I'll be using it to pay towards our annual insurance bill. 
 
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I have now hit four weeks unemployed, and on the 15th am due to withdraw the second month of my payout from the last job.  The amount I will be withdrawing is $3000.  Last month on the 31st we had $620 leftover from our pays, so I could possibly withdraw a bit less but I am thinking I will wait until we have a bit more leftover at the end of this month (ie if we have $1000 left over I might withdraw $2500 instead of $3000).
I have been applying for jobs, so far I have...
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So saw my doc today...I see her every month usually..she has set me up for some scans, to see another shrink again (at my request due to anxiety issues that I think I need assistance with), although I can't get in to see her till feb 2022, she gave me some meds so I can be well enough for my endoscopy later in the month...and she is happy about progress with othr issues that have been going on...and when we went to get scripts we found out we are now on free scripts for the rest...
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Last night storms rolled through, and they were rougher than I thought they would be.  I lost power at about 11 pm and it didn't resume until 11 am this morning.  Yep, 12 hours without power.  At least I can be assured that the freezer food is okay.  As far as the fridge food goes, I will have to throw away chicken, eggs, soft cheese, almond milk, and leftover Welsh Rabbit.
I ate breakfast and lunch out because I did not want to open the fridge -- I spent $5...
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Well we had to buy a lawn mower yesterday...the grass is growing so fast and ours broke and I didn't want to keep borrowing one so we decided to buy one...so more money out of our house account...hubby also needs to update his hearing aids, he has a lot of damage done to them from his radiation treatment they think...so not sure what that will cost us...so probably won't hit my target goal of $5000 this month but that is ok..somethings are more important. 
Our daughter has...
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I got back from my weekend with my brother last night, exhausted because the traffic was so bad.  Google Maps sent me on a number of detours to avoid stoppages -- I don't know if it really paid off, but it was interesting!
I spent $29 on gas and $41 on eating out.  I did get to see my old teacher/friend and we had a nice lunch together, despite his having forgotten his hearing aids, so sometimes it seemed we were on separate conversations.  It didn't help that we...
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The last couple of weeks have kept me busy dealing with stuff from our garden. I'm not complaining by any means. I'm glad we have the fresh food and have either prepared it or figured out a way to preserve it. DH just pulled up all our garlic and I spent most of yesterday afternoon working with about 2/3 of it. I plan, once I finish this, to go finish up. I peel it, wash it, mince it, and then pack into jars with olive oil, and then store it in the fridge. Yesterday I had about...
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Well my daughter had her 2nd vaccine so she is fully vaccinated against covid (as well as you can be) and is now starting her fertility adventure...she is so excited...she put it off so she could get vaccinated...just in case...but she is good to go now!!
I should be fully vaccinated on the 21st I get my last shot...hopefully I do better with this one than the last one after 12 hrs ended up in hospital with uncontrollable shaking and complete body pain...I could barely move but...
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I heard from my middle sister last night and BIL should finally be coming home next week.  He'll continue to need in home rehabilitation for his lungs and physical therapy to recover from the positions he was kept in and they are sending someone in to do that.  The doctors say there is no reason that he should have survived.  He had a really bad case of Covid and so many risk factors.  My sister and I both think it is the power of prayer.  There were hundreds...
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It's been over a month since my last entry. Time for an update.
I did return to Florida where I spent about 2 more weeks finishing up. Donated a bunch more stuff. Got the house ready to sell. Met with the realtor. A guy who lives in the neighborhood and knew my cousin had a sister in NY interested in the house. I had her and a couple of others excluded from the realtor contract. She flew down to see the house while we were there (my wife joined me partway through) and made a cash...
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Well, Dido beat me to the punch with her account of our recent get-together at a small country town in the Poconos of Pennyslvania.  Although it was just a day trip, I REALLY enjoyed getting out of town for a while; it was my first extended trip since the pandemic started, and even just driving west on the wide open highway in unfamiliar territory felt so good.
I think she covered all the highlights: bike ride, yummy lunch and browsing an antique mart, all of which allowed...
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