It's finally cooled down some.
We still get warm days, but it's nothing like the toaster-oven temperatures earlier in the month. Cooking, especially baking, was kept to a bare minimum -- any prolonged effort really heats up the fifth-wheel. That's nice three seasons out of the year, but not when you're watching the sweat trickle down.
The Covid the Brick picked up in July -- and 'generously' shared with me -- kept us busy into August. It wasn't any worse than a bad flu, but we have had a heck of a time picking back up, energy-wise. This makes bout #2. In case you're wondering, we never were vaccinated. In case you're also wondering, family and friends who were vaccinated have been sick just as much as we were -- and in some cases, moreso. And no, we didn't get it any worse than our vaccinated contacts. (So much for that theory, at least in our case.)
Speaking of frugal misses, we have greeted President Biden's forgiveness of student debt with less than joy. When the Brick graduated, we owed a little more than $10,000. So did we put it off, and try to ignore it? Nope, we paid it a little at a time, month after month, year after year. It took quite a while, and we had to give up some things (like extended vacations, new furniture, newer cars, ATVs, etc.) to do it.
It wasn't easy.
So how do you think I feel about others getting up to $20,000 automatically forgiven -- or payments suspended (yet again) until January? Do I believe that people who owe more will cheerfully pony up in the new year, and start paying again? Do I think this is fair? Do I believe people will now gratefully worship at the President's (and his party's) feet... and vote for them in November?
They don't know Americans very well, do they...
FRUGAL HITS
(Yes, these are a few days early)
*Kept track every month of expenses/income. I started doing this the past 10 months. Not only does it tell us exactly where our money is going -- it reminds me to plan ahead for needed repairs and yearly commitments (like car insurance).
*A surprising amount of rain, and a bit of hail -- sometimes a scary amount, all at once. (But we're fine. No flooding.) One tiny zucchini harvested from the perennial garden! I replanted more greens, hoping that the grasshoppers will spare this crop. (Hope springs eternal.) We did get some zucchini later, some greens, and our friend gave us zucchini 'clubs' that fried up nicely. These zucchini fries will get a tryout, too.
*Went out to a late lunch -- but the kitchen served us dinner-sized portions, and charged us for lunch prices. Two substantial 'doggie boxes' left -- enough for two more meals!
*Somehow managed NOT to use allergy medicine. It makes me groggy, but I usually must take it. This month, I powered through. Sneezed a LOT.
*Used my allowance to order some goodies from Goodwill Books -- including Star Trek, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Hogan's Heroes, Babette's Feast, a Gamera collection (what can I say) -- and Rusty Wilson's Bigfoot stories. Plus a bunch of Christmas presents. Free shipping - plus a 15% discount in celebrating Book Lover's Day. The prices were reasonable, to begin with, so that was just gravy.
A few $2 videos from the library's used book room added to the savings.
*Went to spend money a few times, on memberships and fancy stuff. Looked at them -- debated -- then closed the website.
*The TABOR check arrived! Colorado has a TABOR amendment that forces the legislature to only spend so much -- then return the extra to state taxpayers. They hate it, and keep trying to get rid of it. We love it. What's extra funny -- every time we get one, we also get a letter trumpeting how kind/wonderful/generous the legislature is, to be giving it to us. This year, it was Governor Polis taking credit. Yeah, whatever.
*Free Rockies game tickets -- balanced out by the $18 we had to pay for parking. OUCH. We brought lemonade, Coke and snacks to the game, so didn't pay their exalted prices for food. (The Rocks beat the Cardinals 16-5. Amazing.)
*Managed to preserve our card rewards -- cancelled one card, but somehow they decided it was our other (main) card I was talking about, instead. Fortunately, I had applied rewards from it before moving through the process. (The card was finally restored. Two weeks later.)
I don't often mention this, but we often average $20 or more monthly in cashback because we put everything possible on the card, and pay it off in full each month. And we don't pay an annual fee. That adds up to at least $240 yearly -- and often more.
*Got a new Sam's Club membership...basically free! Paid $45 -- but that money will be credited during our first shopping trip there, provided we go in the next few weeks. You can get this deal, too -- it's good through Sept. 12, 2022.
*Saved on gas - didn't go much of anywhere, due to Covid, except to help Daughter #1 and her partner at their new house. Helped them over several weekends with painting, repairs and packing.
*Found money! Two very clean quarters in the washer. A dime, quarter and penny in Daughter #1's office. (Gave those back.)
*The Brick emptied all the condiment packets from the silverware drawer and organized them into bags -- I didn't realize there were so many. For my part, I emptied the hot sauce and filled a third of a bottle. The ketchup topped off our Heinz bottle. Much tidier.
*Greens, beans and tomatoes from Daughter #1's garden. Plus two meals gratis. (Thanks, Dears!) We shared our zucchini "clubs"with a friend, Daughter #2 and Son #1. And I practically wallowed in fried zucchini, plus cubed some for the freezer. Thank you, Sharon, for the zukes!
*One more time on the Red Robin $10 special, the day it expired -- and used up a $5 coupon we had, as well. This earned us a free burger on my rewards card, which we used for a second trip.
*Sold some Red Robin shares -- took some profit. (But I'm losing on other shares, although I'm alllllmost at break-even point. Ah well.) Hey, go out to eat at Red Robin -- it will help the stock price go up!
*Grocery specials: Veggie and fruit bliss! We ate a lot more this month, thanks to careful shopping -- and lower prices. (Still higher than last year, but that's life.) Half-gallon milk 99 cents, gallon milk $1.99. (Safeway). Half-gallon milk 99 cents, clementines $3.89 for 3 pounds (not too bad for being this early -- three spoiled, and I got a replacement pkg free), a dozen or so roses for $6 each, clearance egg noodles for 59 and 99 cents, huge jars of cheez curls 'Chester's paws' $2.99, 99-cent/lb pork shoulder, blueberries $1.77 for a pound and a dozen doughnuts for a buck! (King Soopers) I'd not been to King Soopers for months, due to their higher prices, and was surprised at the number of emptied shelves. Continuing on: Australian corned beef, about $4.33 each, mandarin oranges for $1.49 for a 15 oz. can -- and an astounding $4.25 each for cans of lump white crabmeat, now nearly $13 at Wally. (Amazon Warehouse) Muskmelon 50 cents each and 4 ears of corn for a buck. (Wal-Mart) One of Sam's Club's best bargains: $4.99 rotisserie chicken. Free bread from the thrift shop was an extra bonus.
Just got the best bargain of the season from Amazon Warehouse: 13.76 oz boxes (instead of cans) of diced tomatoes from Italy -- at 33 cents each! Shipping was free; I bought some for the kids, too. Ooh, chili, tomato soup, spaghetti, pizza...that's less than I've paid in YEARS.
*Four antique vaseline glass cups from the thrift shop -- $1.70 each. These are also called 'uranium' glass; they fluoresce under blacklight!
*Kept air conditioning off as much as possible -- fans helped, as did a little more rain than we normally have this time of year.
*Donated a bag of books. Others went as birthday presents. (The Brick tradition: if you're giving them, you must read them first!) We gave other birthday presents I'd been collecting -- so no cost except for birthday suppers, cheesecake and birthday cakes.
*Designated Survivor: $20.99 and free shipping for this wonderful series. (Yes, I used my allowance.) I only wish it hadn't been cancelled before a few issues were resolved.
*Held the fort while our friends were in Phoenix. Took supper to our friend...who also ended up with Covid. (We're thinking/hoping we didn't give it to him.)
*Supper brought in while we were sick -- thank you, Laura and Margaret! Another friend picked up holds at the library for me.
*Went to Panera for coffee with friends -- saved a little to do that, instead of paying for lunch. (I didn't even get a sweet roll...and split the coffee with the Brick. Now that's being a true Hollander. He, being more Irish, got a breakfast sandwich. Boooo...)
*Did some appraisals. Finished up a whole lot more.
*Salvaged the contents of an abandoned fridge and freezer....in a trailer our friends loaned to someone. Some of the food had to be thrown away, but some was still good. (This is a bit ironic, considering we had to throw away a freezer, with contents solidly frozen in place, when we moved. Ah well.)
*Spread mulch in the front flower bed. Also scrubbed out the trailer, a task which I've been dreading and putting off -- but it was surprisingly easy. Daughter said to look for treasure, and I found some: three adult diapers and a large cookie sheet. Weird.
*Donated an old tv to an 'electronics roundup.' The Brick was big on this. After all, the tv was at least 11 years old! (And since it belonged to the fifth-wheel's previous owners... maybe somebody died on it.) Me, not so much...the Hollander blood was kicking in. We got rid of it, anyways.
*George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, plus some other bendy figures, given to Mexican kids, plus a Christian school class (Got Bigfoot figures for the holidays, as well. Really.)
* Still using up stored stuff -- including baking items. Our storage bins are gradually emptying as squirreled-away items from the now-defunct Friday/Saturday Store are used up. (I'm trying not to think about how much it's going to cost to replace them.)
*Eating down the freezer. We brought four packages of elk for grilling to friends' house for a potluck, and have been steadily going through the elk meat left..
*Two checks from class action suits came through -- one for Safeway ($17.40), one for Amazon ($150.40). I am still not sure why we were included -- something to do with how they billed on credit cards. Anyways, we were eligible.
*Brushed Ruby -- a lot. That dog can kick out more fur than you ever thought possible. Swept more than usual to keep the fur 'drifts' to a minimum inside the trailer.
*Sorted through quilts - many went into storage, to lighten the trailer up. I'll pull some back out for a lecture at September's Higher Ground Fair in Laramie, WY. I've got some judging to do there, too. (More on this soon.)
*Didn't go out much for much of late July and early August -- Covid will do that to you. We did go to a movie ($5 discount day), just for a break, sang on Worship Team a few weeks at church, and hung out with friends.
*Finally earning interest money on our investment accounts. This took a while.
*Another batch of Colorado Curiosities ordered -- the books are selling well, we got a good discount and shipping was free. Plus I got another wire display spinner. The hard part, of course -- we have to pay for all this up-front.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
We're going to pass the discount on to you... order a copy of Colorado Curiosities ($20 plus $4 shipping) -- and we'll throw in the kids' version of my Ghosts & Legends book, a $12.95 value, for free! These make great Christmas presents, too.
Just write us directly at cindyjbrick@gmail.com, and we'll take care of it for you. Credit cards, Venmo, checks and cash accepted.
*An old emergency room bill resurfaced -- I didn't realize we hadn't paid this off. (It is now.)
*WAY too much for shipping on two quilts I bought: at my friend Kathy Kansier's auction in TN. Then when the box delivered, the person dumped it on the ground -- during a rainstorm. We were away at the time. I won't be doing that again anytime soon...
*Lost our beloved Karma. Yes, we got extra dog food, dishes, etc. But I would have given a million of them away if we could have our granddog back. She was a Very Good Dog. (But we gained a new granddog: Freya. More about her in coming weeks.)
*After sending in our taxes, and re-submitting them, just in case, the State of Colorado suddenly decided we owed extra money. So instead of a refund, we got to pay... oh boy. (We actually didn't owe what they said, but didn't dare NOT pay. So we'll protest it, and hopefully get it back -- minus the $5 fee they levied, of course.)
*And has our federal tax refund arrived? Nope. Yes, we filed on time.
*So I ordered a tube of foie gras for the holidays. I blame it on Babette's Feast, and an urge to make sarcophages (quails in little 'coffins,' out of puff pastry.) I may use Cornish hens, instead -- we don't have quail hanging around much. What's next -- a savarin? (Probably.)*Paid a dollar of library fines. Renewed the trailer license. Ouch - but just a small wince, compared to:
*More items for trailer repair -- seals and such. But they're needed.
*More than $1200 for truck repairs. Sigh...
*Let some produce go too long -- and got a runny muskmelon and bland sweet corn out of it. (We ate the sweet corn.) A package of rolls and some prepared rice developed a colorful pattern of mold, too. Who knows -- when I threw them out, I may have lost the cure for cancer.
*Went to all the trouble of adding Too Good to Go -- because I'd heard all sorts of good things about this "goodie bag leftovers" program for restaurants and bakeries. And the only way to find out more was to add the app. So I did.
And it doesn't work in this part of Colorado. Ergh.
July's report, from last month, is here. Last year's August report is here. And 2020's version, just for fun. So to speak. Now comes one of my favorite times of year: fall. The weather cools, the leaves change and life evens out a bit. Come on, September -- we're waiting!
1 comment:
What an eventful month!
Glad you are not vaxxed. Everybody I know except for me, my hubby, and my sons are vaxxed. Our refusal to get it has caused problems for us, almost a job loss (until a lawsuit was threatened), a new job refusal, unable to fly, uncomfortable conversations, and being told by a doctor that Bill would die (as he was dying at the emergency room) that he would not live without it. He said he chose death over getting the vax. He lived without it.
You have made my day.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
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