When we leave Sunday for home and Colorado, we will be one day short of spending the entire month of November in Michigan. I grew up here -- I should be used to day after day of gloomy weather that follows each other with heavy tread. But I'm not. And the Brick certainly has had his share of struggles with it, too. Things felt worse when the truck broke down and Covid restrictions kept us here, rather than celebrate Thanksgiving with our kids. (Although The Mama was happy we stayed.) Trudging through the revisions for the new book hasn't been fun, either.
Whenever the blues threatened, one of the ways I counted my blessings was by adding stuff to this report. I'm not sure why, but it helped. So did a fair amount of reading in wide variety of subjects, including the Mayflower. (The Mama is not much for movies, so we didn't watch many.)
If we're allowed to, we're planning on doing something else that will help -- a few days in Puerto Vallarta next month. So far, Americans are allowed to fly in and out of Mexico, with the proviso that they'll be checked for temperature and symptoms both ways. Since neither of us has symptoms, we should be ok. But we'll get a Covid test when we get home anyways, just in case.
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| No, I did not do this. One does not dance with turkey breast. |
FRUGAL HITS
Some of these are from late October.
*My first Social Security payment was deposited. Not a lot of money...but a goodly amount. The only weird thing about this: how can I be old enough to qualify for Social Security???
*Two pairs of jeans from the thrift shop -- and a third pair from The Mama. Which is a relief, since my final pair of 'working' jeans from cruise ship times was ripping apart. Also found: a t-shirt, short-sleeved shirt and cable sweater.
*Two bushels of apples, for the kids and us. Much cheaper than paying by the pound. (We got some cider, too.)
*Took Brother, Sister and their kids' family to the airport, then picked them up on their return. Picked up a cousin at the airport, too. Glad to help out.
*Ghosts & Legends is going to be made into a children's book! More on this as it develops, but it means extra royalties -- without having to rewrite the book.
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| See it? Next to the bottom -- noticed by friend Tommy at our local Safeway. |
*Some income from doing music for gatherings. Working on one final report -- and a couple of quilt restorations I'd dearly love to finish.
*Royalties from Ghosts & Legends FINALLY deposited. A month late. Maybe they were just following my lead -- I had to ask for a few extensions to even get the revisions on The Book done.
*Finished up revisions for The Book. (Colorado Curiosities is the tentative title.) Just a few changes to photo captions and the Bibliography, and it's hopefully done.
*The Brick scanned and double-checked all the extra photos needed for the Curiosities book. Sweet man.
*Sold some books -- to an old customer who became a Redwork Friend, and a quilter at our Michigan church.
Note: if you're interested, we'll make you a deal -- any of my Crazy Quilts, Golden West or Ghosts & Legends books for $20, including FREE shipping! And for the two quilting books, we'll even throw in a folding laminated pocket guide for either embroidery or Crazy quilt stitches. For the Colorado book, we'll add an antique postcard with a Colorado or Western theme. We'll even gift-wrap, if you request it.
This special goes through Christmas Day 2020.
*Went home to eat several times, instead of going out -- helped by Governor Whitmer's pronouncement. (All Michigan restaurants are closed for dine-in.) Macaroni & cheese is almost as good as Chinese food! The Mama paid for a few takeout meals, which were great -- we paid for a Little Caesar's feast, as well.
*Enough for another free $25 Amazon giftcard -- just because I did an online pickup order for Sam's Club. All stuff we needed, anyways, including toilet paper, dogfood and dog snacks. (The peanut M&Ms were also necessary. I swear.)
Sam's was running a special: 10% off via Swagbucks, which we use anyways. It's really easy, and costs nothing to join. Click here for more.
*Got some nice deals on Amazon, including stocking presents and some stuff for the Brick. (Yes, I used the gift card I earned on Swagbucks to help pay for them.)
*Repairs for The Mama. The Brick installed an under-cabinet light and got her ancient microwave firing up again. He also did some work on the fifth-wheel.
*Found goodies for Operation Christmas Child from Dollar General, as well as items I'd stashed during the year. We really enjoy filling boxes for kids around the world. This year, the local church in Michigan filled the boxes, instead -- I just dropped the items off. (It was a little wistful, but necessary.)
*Food bargains -- mostly from Daily Deals in Grand Rapids the first part of the month: 99-cent boxes of imported cookies, a 50-cent pkg of Ball Park beef franks, 79-cent pound packages of imitation crab and Johnsonville beer bratwurst, and 11-cent mozzarella cheese sticks. (We munched them, and gave bagfuls to The Mama and our nieces and nephews, as well.) Also 50-cent cream cheese dips, salad at about 25% of the regular price...and regular credits -- $2 and $4 each time, just for shopping there. That's my kind of store! It also makes it easier to be generous...like four pounds of deli-style bologna for an older friend who loves it. At 99 cents a pound. It's even easier to treat others, when you know your money went further for a good value.
Oh yes, got a turkey breast, as well. 99 cents a pound. And yes, we had it for Thanksgiving. Delicious.
*A package of Victorian-style octopus buttons (octopi?) -- half-price. (I know -- weird. But I love these.)
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| Very much like this lapel pin from Etsy -- but 7 buttons for 2 bucks. Nice. |
*A replacement laptop for our second 'dinosaur.' (Mine was replaced last month by a lighter, smaller version -- I'm typing on it now.) The Brick was about to order it from Amazon -- and found the same model for $250 less at Best Buy!
*Babysat for nieces and nephews -- and took them Christmas shopping at the Dollar Store for their folks and each other.
*Got an income tax refund -- always welcome. Not a lot, but we can still put it to good use.
*A big box of printer paper from Staples -- $2.99/ream, delivered free!
*Alternated making meals with The Mama. Made lunch for friends, and supper for cousins. We were taken out to eat -- BEFORE Governor Whitmer's pronouncement -- and treated to takeout and pizza by Sister and cousins.
*Got two new pairs of Chaco sandals for $10 each -- thanks to a generous cousin who had them, but didn't need them herself. These fit and wear wonderfully...I know, I used to have a pair.
Why, do you ask, did I need to replace the sandals I already had? Because Something took ONE EACH of the sandal pairs we had outside the fifth-wheel, while parked in Colorado. Our friend suspects it was the local fox, grabbing items for their den. But one sandal, from each pair???
*Left Christmas presents for the Michigan relatives, so we don't have to ship them. (Wrapped a bunch for Colorado family and friends, too, thanks to the Mama's generous offer of wrapping paper.)
*Used one credit card so could take advantage of the $20+ cashback. (We'd stopped using it, not realizing that we couldn't access the cash back until it was more than $25.)
*Kept the heat turned low -- and pretty much off when we were inside the house with The Mama.
*Couldn't go to the library in Michigan -- but I did borrow a number of books from a friend, and got to read some of the books I'd already purchased via Amazon and thrift shops. I also went through book boxes in the garage, and pulled out some favorites.
*Borrowed Civil War-related books from a friend...and read them. Every time I came across a book or video I wanted to borrow, did it online at our Colorado library -- then put a 'pause' on the hold until we got back from Michigan. Worked like a charm.
*80 pounds of birdseed for The Mama's new birdfeeder. And at a good price.
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| The starlings are the bullies at The Mama's feeder. |
FRUGAL MISSES
*A stop in the shop for the truck. Which was critical, because we needed it to pull the fifth-wheel back home. Fortunately, both batteries just needed replacement. Unfortunately, that cost about $400. Ouch. The guy could easily have charged us much more, though -- and we would have paid it.
(We also got an old repair, done for a recall, re-done...but that didn't cost us anything, except time and aggravation.)
*A Colorado teaching gig in February was cancelled. Sigh. I wonder now if any of my 2021 gigs, many rescheduled from 2020 cancellations, will fly.
*Hotspot overextended. Again. We cannot seem to find a solution to this without spending an extra $100-125 monthly...which we wouldn't need anyways when we're staying home. (We share our friend's internet while parked in our Colorado spot.)
*Remember my 'fun' experience at IKEA? I got a "well, we're sort of wrong" apology letter (handwritten) from the manager, hoping we'd come back and try it again. Which was nice. I guess.
I also sent a copy of the letter to corporate in Pennsylvania -- but have yet to hear from them.
*Ordered more Christmas cards than I was planning -- to help out a friend. They're beautiful, though, and will come in handy.
*Ordered 15 pounds of black licorice...and got a stick. A big one, but nonetheless. Really. I am not making this up. Somebody in a Kentucky Amazon warehouse must really like licorice. I'm still trying to understand, though...did they think I wouldn't notice the difference? (Yes, the money was refunded.)
Bought some smaller packages of licorice at Vanderveen's, Grand Rapids' Dutch Store, instead, for a lot less money. (Personally, I would be happy to see all black licorice disappear from the face of the earth, but the Brick and a few of our friends are passionate about it.)
*Bought some quilt-related antique photos for low prices on Ebay...but honestly, I think I could have gotten one for less, had I not assumed it was photo #2 and clicked the 'accept deal' button before I confirmed it. Aargh.
*Stayed up late too often, and often for silly reasons. Not good for our health.
*Missed an online class I'd planned to take -- but fortunately my fee was refunded.
*Needed to replace the Brick's sandals, as well. (See above.) We spent a little more than $100 for two pairs, one of them Chacos, plus a heavy woolen-type shirt. (Buy one, get two free special at the footwear outlet.) We wouldn't normally spend this much, but these sandals wear like iron and are extremely comfortable. The shoes were $49 and $59 each; that sounds like a lot, until you know that Chacos normally sell for $110 a pair.
*Renewed the trailer license (late, darn it -- $10 fee extra) and finally gave up and ordered a replacement set of truck tags. Never received before -- but we had to pay $4 extra for the privilege of getting them again. AARRGghghgh.
*Cancelled a writing club membership I should have gotten rid of long ago -- $59 spent for no gain. Shame on me.
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And last year's November report.
And off we go, to December.
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