Simple Saturday

[CathyS]

Mother Nature decided that Mike wouldn't get any further than a mile or so south of where we live. The roads are a mess and driving is not great. He turned around and came home when he had only gotten that far in 30 minutes. He was gone almost an hour.

Sigh.

[Cowinkie]

Morning Y'all..

I'm coloring my hair at the moment and need to keep my eye on the clock.

Sadie, I am certainly cheering you on...you're amazing,
Cathys...my son has never been able to tolerate the sound of a vacuum cleaner,, though he loves listening to music. He has very sensitive hearing and certain frequences hurt his ears. He has a difficult time going into certain stores because he can "hear" their silent alarms. Must be hereditary because his father is the same way. My son wears ear plugs when he vacuums or when I'm doing the same thing.
Harmony... I'm getting ready to join you in your cooking projects. I want to make and put up some food so Sweetie will have something besides frozen dinners to eat while I'm gone. Course he lived alone for 15 years before I showed up so I'm pretty sure he is capable of taking care of himself.
Hope you're feeling better Nancy...

I'm watching the weather for NJ. Looks like there will be freezing rain or snow late Tue. night. I'm in for snow, but the next day is my mom's b'day and I would like to take her out for a special meal. She's been pretty housebound with all this cold weather and know she's looking forward to my visit.

I try to do my house/blessing stuff on Mondays if I'm not working, but sometimes when I start to do something little like vacuum the living area it blows up into a full house blessing. I'm not complaining cause if I have the time I really LOVE when energy takes over and several hours later I am sitting drinking a cold drink in a clean house.

Mondays for sure I change the bed sheets and rotate my cushions on my couches. That comes from old routines that I have been doing for over 40 some years. For the past month I have been through every room, including the garage, closet and drawer in my house. Have pitched and decluttered everything in sight. Sometimes I just get on a roll. Don't know where the inspiration comes from, I just do it.

Lucylee, if your husband enjoys listening to his games on the radio, why not get him a good set of "cover the ears" head phone along with a long extension cord. Sweetie uses his all the time. He likes to listen to music on You Tube at his
computer. We both use ear plugs to listen to our radio at night when we go to sleep. I listen to something that helps me fall asleep and he uses his to listen to talk radio and old timey radio shows.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_sc ... headphones

These Boze are top of the line, but there are others that are less expensive. It cancels out the noise around you so you can listen in quiet. Just by them, or something that fits your budget, and tell him to try it so you can vacuum or such. There is always a solution to a problem if you think outside the box The ones Sweetie are using are more than 40 years old...remember when there was reel-to-reel...and they still work amazingly well.

Waving to y'all... gotta go cy'all later........

[lucylee]

Thanks for the input! If you look at my "ideal" Weekly Basic Plan in that thread, I think my "plan" works okay. The problem is in ME -- working the plan. I just have to get a grip on myself. I know I feel better when I can look around and feel I've accomplished something, even if dh thinks it is unnecessary. I'm trying to start with baby steps and I have a card on my bathroom vanity that says:

15 minutes exercise
15 minutes dailies
15 minutes zone
15 minutes is MAGIC
You KNOW you feel better when it's done, so just DO IT!!!

But even with the card, it's hard for me to make myself DO IT some days.

I don't think dh would EVER wear headphones, Cowinkie. But vacuuming IS the only "annoying" task -- so why I can't carve out a day every week or so and let him visit his dmom alone, I don't know. That IS do-able. I can get a lot done while he is showering, actually -- so if I get my s2s out of the way early, then I have almost an hour while he is doing his s2s. This is not an insurmountable problem, I keep telling myself... just need some heavy self-discipline and motivation around here.

5x5 is a great idea, too.
Today, my 5x5 should be
[ ] s2s
[ ] color hair
[ ] Wmart -- cake for dh's aunt's 94th birthday tomorrow
[ ] laundry
[ ] zone
[ ] whb
* Oops -- that's 6. S2S & coloring hair is actually one thing though -- I'll have to color hair before I'm dressed to shoes!

Oh -- obviously -- we are still at home. DH is a bit sad b/c of it, but said he just couldn't make that trip after being up so late last night. DS came in around 2:00. DGS was certainly glad to see him. "Da-da, da-da, da-da!"

Sorry you missed out on your "alone" time, Cathy.

I haven't done much lately because Mike just seems to be everywhere I am, no matter which room.

Yeah.
Well not really. My problem is that My Mike, LOL, seems to be parked on the couch, enjoying himself, and the couch keeps calling to me with this siren song, "Lucy... Lucy... come wrap yourself in this lovely afghan..."

I've got to look up Creeping Charlie/Singapore Daisy. Our yard is mostly weeds, too. I think it's fescue, though, in our case. It pops up very high stems, almost over-night. Yard man only mows about every 10-14 days so it gets to looking pretty rough sometimes. DH says we can't afford him every week.

Thinking about Sadie & Dee's ds with PT. Dmom was telling me about a dfriend who fell somehow at home and now has to have knee replacement. Her dh has extreme back problems also, and she can't leave him alone for any length of time at all, so he is going to stay at their daughter's while she has the surgery. Then she's planning on having home health PT, so her dh can come back home. She would probably do much better to go into 21-day rehab at local nursing home, but... it is what it is. This is just the sweetest couple. Dmom and I just love them both so much.
Their whole family is wonderful. They have three children and three adult grandchildren right here close by, so she has a good support system.
I always feel so sorry for myself b/c I am the only child close to dmom, and my support system (daunts/duncle) has been stretched too thin by dcousin's cancer and (same cousin's) 2nd granddaughter due to be born next week. Of course, I am thankful I am not the one suffering from cancer, AND I'm thankful ds & ddil are NOT *NOT NOT NOT * presenting me with a second gchild this week, LOL. I just constantly feel pulled b/c I question dh's supportiveness at times like this -- dmom's upcoming surgery, etc. He usually comes through, but he is complains a lot. And if the question ever arose that dmom might have to move in with us, OH NO... he has made it clear that both her parents were in nursing home, so he cannot understand why she would expect any different from us. But see... there I'm just borrowing trouble. We are no where near that point yet... probably at least 10 years or more away from that point... and may NEVER be at that point. So. I need to go s2s/color my hair, right?

-- editing b/c I left out the word NOT earlier... * gasp * still needing smelling salts *

I need a paper shredder.

Happy Birthday Party to Mr. Helia! * whispering *

Harmony -- WTG on all that advance-prep cooking! I am impressed!!! Sounds like Mr. Harmony is feeling pretty good!

Harriet -- I saw your post last night. Still LOL @ you with the washboard!!!

Waving to Nancy... Lilac... Lynlee... OKay... Twins... and everyone else in our lovely village!

[blessedw2]

??? how much is your budget for food each week including eating out? just curious what most people do. right now I am a family of 5 plus 1 elder and another couple elders

any tricks to stay in your budget? my reality is way too much right now.

[lucylee]

Hmmm... blessed, I'd be afraid to say. We spend about $100 each week at Wmart -- that's groceries & misc. Then probably... another $150 eating out? That might be too low. But a lot of nights we eat at McDonalds or something, so it might be high, too. Last night we ate at a local chicken restaurant, the two of us, for about $12, I think. I'm just calculating for the two of us, but sometimes we take ds/ddil out so that makes it more, too, of course. We generally eat breakfast at home, mostly cereal & fruit, and dh never eats lunch. If I eat lunch, it is usually just cheese & crackers, granola bar, etc. And then yes... we eat out most nights.

[helia]

Progress is being made - but it is slow. Dh has finally left. His 2 pm meeting was cancelled. I am concentrating on the kitchen right now. My experience with get-togethers is that people tend to congregate in the kitchen.

I have:
x done a.m. routine, minus making my bed
x some tidying in MBR; more to do
x folded a load of towels
x taken out all garbage on main floor
x checked recipes and made a list
x emails and 1 phone call re: the party
x groc. store (cake is still in the car)
x mw cleaned in and out
x wiped down kitchen window sills
x cleaned inside of kitchen windows
x cleaned main door - puppy paw prints and children finger prints on it
x polish all the stainless steel appl. (fridge, oven, dw)
x spot cleaned inside the fridge
x wiped off the top of the fridge and the side
x spot cleaned cupboard doors

Next:
- unload dw and final tidy of kitchen
- dust living areas
- find coffee table
- take broom and get rid of some of the cobwebs on the outside of our house
- s/s 2 upstairs bathrooms

We got about 4 or 5 inches snow, then it started raining. Drizzling now, not freezing drizzle. Everything is a mess out there.

Sorry can't be more social.

Our food budget is large. We are feeding 5 people (3 are teens) daily, plus other people as well usually 2-3x/week (4 on Thursdays, small group every other week - a main or a side, S and R eat with us every Sunday night, sometimes R goes out to eat with us on Fridays, sometimes S and R go out to eat with us on Sunday for lunch). We go out at least 2x/week.

[Nancy]

Lucyl. I break bwp up and do some each day on it.
We are back from errands it is so lovely to see the sunshine today. I will be using the heat lamp for the hens we are going to be having a cold snap. I am feeling better thanks for asking. Food is put away.
Blessed: I got subway meatballs only for one meal today $5 with a bagged salad meal tip today. When we had an exchange student to save on food we had a lot of crock pot soup.

[Harmony]

I've noticed food prices are way up. Blessed, I'm not sure of our budget, but it's been a long while since we've had anything like steak at our house. I cook most things from scratch and pack lunches. I use boiled ham lunchmeat because baked or roast beef or even turkey is twice as much. Every couple weeks we do rice & beans. We don't eat out unless we have a gift card. Still, for the 2 of us I think we're 100 dollars / wk. We watch everything for sales and most often don't buy name brands. Fresh produce is high. A bad diet with $1 menu fast food and lots of prepackaged stuff is cheaper but not very healthy. I'd love some tips if anyone has any..

Got all the soup done and some in the freezer. We had some for lunch. This is more like bean soup because I got field peas as they were out of split peas. I made a batch with turkey broth and finished the celery in the refrigerator. I told DH this would bring down his cholesterol!

Big pot of potatoes boiling for mashed. I did some heavy cleaning in the kitchen. Folded laundry. I'm getting tired.

[OKay]

AND I'm thankful ds & ddil are presenting me with a second gchild this week,

CONGRATULATIONS LucyLee!!

How did I miss that?!?!

Blessedw2 - I don't track our food budget as closely as I used to. We spend about $100 a week in groceries. I cook most meals from scratch - 3 meals a day. We **try** to eat out only once a week (after church on Sunday) Typically it cost $20 for DH, myself & LO to eat out. Eating out depends on how many eat with us - when we take multiple family members with us it can be over $100 a meal. I just returned from trip to grocery store. I stocked up on some meat (32 lbs) so my bill ($123) was higher than normal. I tend to buy in bulk and when items are on special to stock the pantry.

[blessedw2]

thanks everyone... my food budget is large - I cook from scratch too. I am sure once d boy moves out it will drop tremendously - i have never seen anyone eat like that except my nephews lol. (still sad he is ready to take off and gain his wings but so happy for him too). I can't even imagine $100 a week. I think thats wonderful!!! our eating out is expensive here. the other day I couldn't cook for other family members bc we made things that they wouldn't like and I purchased from a local place as it is deemed half way healthy for elderly family members.

I still think I can make cuts and keep it simpler than I have. I love to cook and try new things. we eat fish but it is really fresh but expensive... when you go into this place it smells like the ocean. So I know that will be about $80 to 100 for a week if we have fish that week.

thanks for your input! I was curious on how people stay in a lower budget and how I can lower my meal budget down. Sometimes I have impulses to cook expensive items (I am trying to curtail whims). I also get embarrassed if I order something because I think its one price and ends up different. One time I bought a large piece of beef tenderloin and I put $100 on my charge because the butcher tied it beautifully and I didn't know how to say no. I lost the other half - where - I have no idea. One time I bought a Australian lobster tail because I thought she said the price was different ($15) than what I thought I heard. The lady wrapped it up... I gave her my charge card (which I don't have to sign) and got in the car and it was $56 for one tail... I never made that mistake again. I couldn't return it. Wish me luck on curtailing my budget!