Daughters #1 and #2, Son #1 and Daughter #1's partner and son came by for an outdoor supper, to celebrate Father's Day. We also had visitors from Michigan -- we talked for HOURS. It was hard to see them head for home. But we won't head for Michigan ourselves until mid-August.
Most of the time, it's blazing hot -- often so hot that you can't stand for more than a few seconds barefoot, even in the dirt. The dogs park in the coolest spot possible; meanwhile, we swelter with the air conditioning going full blast. Colorado's evenings have been a welcome break; we often stay up late to take advantage of the cooler breezes. We've also had some humdinger thunderstorms that feature a sprinkling of hail...but not nearly as bad, so far, as some other summers. Of course, this year we don't have too many plants to get mashed, if we did have hail. Figures.
Both of us have itchy feet for traveling...and plan to do something about that very soon.
I'll post this a bit early. I need the time later in the month to work on appraisals.
FRUGAL HITS
*Diesel fuel has been surprisingly cheap this summer -- making it easier to get around.
*$5 meal deals - even when I had to work for them. Safeway doesn't always stock enough for their customers, so you have to ask in order to substitute. But I did -- and they did.
*First visit to Friday/Saturday store since before the cruise! 50-cent packages of chicken sausage and Oscar Mayer hotdogs, plus non-grain tortilla chips, juice and other goodies. The star of the show: cassava chips, which we got hooked on in Indonesia. Great taste - and keto-friendly.
*LOTS of $2 videos from the now-open library used booksale room, including some interesting documentaries. The Brick found some $1 mass market books, and I snagged some great $3 hardcovers, as well as a kid's book for our niece.
*LOTS of appraising. It's usually dead-quiet in July. What's going on with this??
*Instead of buying more paper, stationery, etc. I found some -- in our storage area. That will clear out when we take a final load on our way to Michigan next month.
*Traded an appraisal report for some rent. Helped us, and helped our landlord.
*Free eggs, cream and celery from friends going on vacation. (We took them to the airport.) Carrots, eggs and hamburger meat from other visitors, who decided to head straight home, due to illness.
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| I miss our chickens' eggs. |
*The Brick took some outstanding photographs at Denver International Airport, when we couldn't get any to use online without paying $$ to rent them. It entailed running over to 'Blucifer,' DIA's weird blue mustang sculpture, while I kept circling the airport...but it was worth it. (Blucifer has a portapotty nearby right now, which only adds to the strangeness.)
What an amazing guy.
*Used up giftcards before some restaurants went bust. (They're looking a bit iffy, but are still open, in spite of near-empty dining rooms.) We didn't make it with the Fresh Fish Co. in Denver - Groupon refunded nearly all the money.
Hint: You should definitely check through your giftcards, and hesitate to buy more until the economic situation stabilizes. Some of these businesses aren't going to make it to the new year.
*Half-priced kids toys...for birthday presents. A few are put away for Christmas presents, as well. Found a wonderful pair of striped rubber boots at the thriftshop for our niece, and some clearance-priced bags of gumballs for all four of the nieces and nephews. (And our other loved little guy.)
*Paid six months' worth of insurance all at once -- saved monthly fees. Yes, it hurt to put out that much in one payment. I thought of it as earning interest we wouldn't have gotten, otherwise -- savings account interest rates are TERRIBLE right now.
*Cherries, one of our favorites: 97 cents a pound?? Wow. Got a free bag of tortilla chips, a box of Indian tea and a bunch of discounts, as well. (Thanks, Safeway.)
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| Peaches are not looking promising. Nearly all of Palisade's crop was wiped out by frost. Like many other 'annual' events this year, the Peach Festival was cancelled. |
*Renewed Brickworks' LLC license: it's $10, if you do it in a timely manner. (I paid a $50 penalty fee last time.)
*Piano lessons, with swaps in payment. Works for me.
*The Brick had to throw away a pair of shorts. Why is this in the 'Hits' column? Because he's worn those shorts since before we went to Brazil in 2008...and they were secondhand, then.
I offered to fix them, but they won't look the same. They certainly have earned their keep!
*Asked a friend to tea, using a Groupon. It was a lovely, peaceful time...and we were each given a sample bag of tea to bring home.
*Booked a trip to Puerto Vallarta in December! The Brick got me a package for my birthday, and we found extra nights and discount plane tickets to go with it.
*Made some important financial decisions, after a month of debating what to do next. It felt great to finally decide something. We did the best we could, based on research and advice; it will be interesting to see what happens.
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| Hopefully we won't be squealing... |
FRUGAL MISSES
*Renewed the truck license. Ouch. Still expensive.
*Threw away spoiled veggies. The refrigerator tends to drain some water into the vegetable crisper, which makes veggies go bad faster. I need to remember they're down there, and USE them before this happens. (I did rescue some while getting rid of the bad ones.)
Some meat that was starting to 'go' went into the grateful dogs' mouths, instead. I guess that's a win.
*Had full-price magazine subscriptions show up on as charges on the credit card. I got some years' worth of subscriptions by using airline travel points...but the fine print (which I missed) said they could automatically renew these). And boy, did they -- at least double the going rate. A phone call cancelled them.
*Ordered a margarita -- and a root beer float. Mad restaurant extravagances, at least to this Hollander...and they were wonderful.
And the hardest miss of all --
*CMV is out of business. The company we used for our world cruise went bust -- leaving us still owed for a cruise cancelled a month short of completion. We'd also booked another cruise for next year, and had put a deposit down on that one. We think we can get that money back, at least, by protesting the charge with the credit card company. (Life must be hell for them right now, with all the cancellations.)
Will we get the refund money promised from the world cruise? Doubtful -- but we'll try that, as well.
Last month's report is here. In 2019, we were still in the throes of selling the house; that report is here. So glad that's in the past!
Here's hoping your summer is going swimmingly.
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