Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: August 21 ~ 27, 2016

[ReneeT]

Good Morning, All! Another new week snuck up on me; seems like weeks are like thunderstorms, they just pop up out of nowhere!

Today is another work day; I'm hoping that it will be a decent one as I'm running low on sleep - as usual I have to check my schedule at work; I thought I worked Sun/Wed/Thu this week, but it might be Sun/Thu/Fri - guess I'd better clarify before Wednesday lol! No overtime scheduled yet, and with the grandkids supposed to be here all weeked, I'm glad - they are the equivalent of a full time job when they are here

Hubby spent $25 on new rollers for our clothes dryer and got them installed yesterday; bearing went out in one but he went ahead and replaced both. I'd rather a $25 repair that needing to buy a new or used replacement dryer; glad he's so handy with things like that. www.repairclinic.com is a great resource for parts and how-to videos if anyone has a repair they need to do.

We have to drop off the van tomorrow to get the back passenger door fixed; not sure if we'll be getting a rental, or if it will be something simple. I plan to hit Aldi for some stock up pantry shopping - cases of olive oil, dry beans, instant mashed potatoes, etc...; then pick up a few items with coupons at WM - mostly dry potato products like hash browns and scalloped/augratin mixes.

Well, looks like it's time to drag on a set of scrubs and get out the door to work - I have to stop to pick up my papers and the donuts for the crew this morning, so I'd better stop lollygagging

Take care all; wishing you a great week!

 

[moldy]

Really worn out and down today. I seem to do the things I know I shouldn't waste time on, and not get the things done that I should. Headed to church to try to get an attitude adjustment, or at least some help with one.

 

[prudentwatcher]

Again, no sales or coupons to get excited about. I did stop at Petsmart this morning on the way to church and picked up 20 of the Sheba twin packs that I had coupons for (buy5/get5 free) and added 4 regular cans of Sheba to get over $10 so I could use a $2 off $10 purchase coupon. Twenty four cans of cat food for under $10.

Each week I continue to get about 8 hours of overtime, which is helping me slowly build up my savings.

Will have to go through the canned potatoes and check dates. Better half opened a can for dinner and they were all black-5 years past date. Think I will dump those and get new while we are able to do so. Don't mind eating past dated food, but not rotten food.

When I picked up my meds at Walmart last week, I added another pack of razors (free with coupon), 2 more bottles of hair styling products, a bottle of alcohol, and a bottle of aspirin.

 

[ReneeT]

I think the moon must be in a weird phase, or there is something in the air, Moldy - neither of us had much energy yesterday, and hardly anything productive got done; I am hoping that you are doing better today.

 

[moldy]

Spent today putting up things in the garden - made 3 loaves of zucchini bread, put shredded zucchini in the dehydrator, fed zucchini to pigs, froze some watermelon.

About 6 pm, I looked up to see DH standing in the doorway. He lost his job today. I just keep praying for God's will to be done, or for at least it to be obvious what we're supposed to do. DH is thinking about going back to the oilfield - it would be OK, and I think it would greatly lessen his stress level. Of course, it will also lessen his paycheck for a while...

 

[ReneeT]

Picked up 25# of split chicken breast today at 99 cents/lb; have 9 pints of chicken in one canner, 9 pints of chicken and vegetable soup in another, a third canner is cooling on the counter - it's where I tossed what remained after I cut off chicken to can, along with a gallon or so of water to cook down into broth - I expect a minimum of 5 quarts of broth to can once it's strained. I have enough chicken left to can 6 more pints and fix chicken strips that I'll serve to grandson and myself tomorrow for lunch, chicken biscuit stew for supper for Hubby, and hopefully enough leftover chicken strips that I can cut up a couple to toss on a salad for my work lunch on Friday. Not sure if I'll pick up more of the chicken tomorrow or not; I work Friday and have the grandkids coming Saturday to spend the night so may want to rest, do laundry, and clean house in preps for that instead. The sale ends Tuesday; I would like to end up with three cases of chicken canned by then so will have to figure out when I will get it done.

I also snagged 32# of sugar - enough to fill a 4 gallon bucket - at 37.25 cents/lb; I will probably pick up another 32# of it tomorrow when I take the grandson home. I also took advantage of a sale on frozen veggies in the brand I like at $1/bag x 9 bags minus 3 - 75 cent/2 coupons; have enough coupons to pick up 9 more bags but may have to dehydrate them as I'm running out of room in the freezer - the onion/red pepper/green pepper mix dehydrates and rehydrates well, so I could run a dehydrator load of those. I may also pick up 20 - 2# bags of brown sugar to vac seal and store back.

Had to laugh when I checked my receipt when I got home; I had a coupon for 5% off my total order, but the clerk gave me an additional 5% off for a Senior Discount. I didn't even think about it being Wednesday, and I didn't ask for one 'cause I'm not sure what age their's starts at - might have been the grey hair or it might have been a pity discount for having the grandkid 'helping' put everything on the belt while singing his ABC's loudly lol!

Same kid wanted to stop for Chinese for lunch after we were done shopping - I'm thinking I might want to pull out the next size up tub of clothes because that boy was packing away the grub like he hadn't eaten for 2 days - how he got down two full plates plus two servings of ice cream, I do not know - especially since he talked my ear off the whole time!! I did get complimented by 3 folks who were also there - of all things, it was for answering all of his questions and carrying on a conversation with him instead of telling him to shut up or being on my phone.

Shortly after we got home, I got a call that my van was ready to be picked up, so we hopped in the loaner and headed to my work town. Since we were in town, we went by the Sallies to look for lace curtains for daughter's wedding; no luck with those, but grandson did find a stuffed horse with a green tag - 75% off! Kids do learn from watching you - when the lady handed him the change from his dollar, he was jumping up trying to reach the red bucket on the counter to put his change in - good boy! At Catholic Charities, we did find lace curtains - and he discovered that the big old fashioned fans made your voice sound funny lol! He sang his ABCs again, with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star as his encore

 

[prudentwatcher]

Picked up 2 jars of peanut butter--BOGO and with coupons, so they were $1.50 total. Also spent some of my overtime money and bought some junk silver. Not much, but I got it at spot on Ebay, so I was pleased. More overtime next week, so I'm staying busy.

 

[ReneeT]

The busy week continues... A friend had a crock for sale that I wanted, so we met for pie at the foo-foo bakery Thursday and ended up chatting for an hour; she mentioned that she has two riding horses that belonged to her now deceased father that she is trying to re-home; sure wish we had the room and the time to care for them

Afterwards, I dropped the grandson off at the sitters and popped in to the store in that town to pick up another 32# of sugar to store back. Dropped it off at home, then headed to my work town to pick up a (new!) small hog trough and a pair of small galvanized tubs - the trough will be filled with ice and will hold bottled water/soda during daughter's wedding reception; one tub will have ice and hold the white wines; the other will be used for the red wine. I guess we'll have to get some hogs after the wedding is over lol! Then it was off to Aldi to pick up 28 bottles of wine for the wedding; daughter said that they have some good wines and gave me a list. I picked up a half dozen cases of bottled water plus a few other items while I was there, then hit the sale at the grocery store for 32 more pounds of the on-sale sugar before heading home to unload the stuff that was to stay at my house before going to daughter's to unload the troughs, wine, and water. It was soccer practice night for older grandson - 87*F with a heat index of 95 and NO SHADE on or around the field, so I threw a case of the water in the cooler that lives in my car during the summer months and headed for the ice machine - managed to hand out all but one bottle of water during/after the practice. I'm thinking I need to buy one of those pop up canopy things and hang out my shingle at today's game

Friday was a chaotic and stressful work day but there was one bright spot - last year a co-worker asked what sizes my boys were in, and told me her sister in law had some of her kids clothes that she was going to put in a rummage sale if I wanted first chance at them - I got two huge bags of barely worn clothes/shoes/sports gear, etc... for $50. I'd told the co-worker to keep me in mind if she wanted to do the same deal again, so she called me yesterday at work - this year the deal was 3 huge bags for $70 - worked out to 67 cents each item, and there were so many nice things!!

So far today, the pets have been fed and the hummingbird feeders filled; and I'm slurping coffee and lollygagging on the computer for a bit until the caffeine kicks in and I have energy enough to get some things done - here's today's list:
*Strip beds, wash sheets; remake beds
*More laundry
*Sweep floors
*Wash buckets, let dry, then transfer sugar to the buckets for storage, label and store
*Quick pop into CVS to scan my card in case there are any good sales next week; check out the 50% off summer sale for a reasonably priced lawn chair
*Grab the grandkids, zip by the ice machine and throw some ice on the new case of bottled water in my cooler
*Soccer game at noon - weather permitting as it sure looks like it wants to rain
Then we have 3 options:

1 - If it's not too miserably hot and/or raining after the game, pop into the grocery store for more on sale chicken and sugar, then drop off same at home, hitch up the trailer and head to work town for more sugar, more chicken at the store; more bottled water, school lunch grub at Aldi, load mulch in trailer, head home

2 - If it is too miserably hot and not raining, take the kids to the pool, then hit the store for more sugar, more chicken; then head home

3 - If it is too miserably hot AND raining, say to heck with it, stop by the store for more sugar and chicken, then head home after telling daughter she can drop the kids off at 3pm

I have planned for meatloaf tonight for supper; not sure what sides as of now; whatever appeals - or more likely, whatever I have energy enough to fix

For some reason, I really want to go back to bed for a nap right now....

Take care all; have a safe and happy weekend!!

 

[moldy]

DH and I drove over the mountain to visit his mom Thursday and Friday. I left with a car stuffed with meat and veggies, and came home with a car stuffed with fruit! It was a very nice visit, and a little time away I think we really needed.

Sister calls me today (who calls me maybe 2-3 times a year) with concerns about mom and dad. They may be valid, they may not be valid - I don't know, but I think some big changes are in the wind. I would greatly appreciate prayers/good thoughts for wisdom in making decisions over the next few months. I have a feeling they may impact my life (and others' lives) for a long time to come.

 

[kua]

I'll commit your parents to prayer, and you, too. Sounds like you have some big concerns on your plate moldy.

 

[ReneeT]

Will be keeping you, your parents, and your family in my thoughts and prayers, Moldy; hoping that everything works out as best it can for all of you.