DG's frugal journal

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alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by alliesmama4 »

Dgflorida wrote: Fri Nov 15, 2019 9:33 am Friday am

Thank you for thinking about me, Janet. This has been a lost week. The demands don't stop because of the kitchen. I had my eye injection on Monday. It went well. My vision is 20/20, 20/25. I am actually beginning to see from eye spots that I couldn't before. Is as if half the center eye bubble is no longer there. Next month, they do photographs. I joined a Macular Degeneration support group on FaceBook. It has been educational. Many of the group have much worse vision than me. And many are not getting as good care as me.

This week, I decided to get busy and get a new doctor after the last one padded the bill. The new patient method is to do a call back, but of course, they called back when I was out. So rather than playing phone tag, I just stopped into their office and got everything taken care of. I have an appointment on December 6. Hopefully, no kitchen issues on that day.

I am glad to get back to normal food. Still, a kitchen on the porch is not convenient. I can't leave seasonings out there or other things since a porch is not perfectly bug free. So the meals are suffering from lack of seasoning. And water is in another room and the outdoor sink is on another porch. So things are inconvenient and time consuming. And stuff is moved around.

I am a bit disappointed that the electric usage bill is the same this year as last. Since it reflects October use and they say it was the hottest October on record, I guess it is ok. Still, I have noticed how the house temperature doesn't move much with weather changes. That is nice on old bodies. I am a bit concerned about the humidity staying so high. I prefer 70%. Over 80% is not good for clothes and such. I may need to break out the dehumidifier hubs bought. The ac, which also dehumidifies, will not come on for about 5 months. Cooler weather, mostly in the 60's will slowly drop the house temperature. I estimate down to 75F. An interesting test. I have gotten out my winter clothes. It feels funny to wear tops with sleeves and long pants.

It is a rainy day which is much needed by my plants. I will venture outside later. I have many tomato plants started. The peppers just didn't sprout at all. A puzzle. I have decided to begin plants inside during the roughest weather in January-February. Hopefully, things will be put back and the area I want to use will be available and not storage for kitchen stuff. I have also continued to work on solar power. I have selected a battery and companion solar panel. But I don't want any clutter until this kitchen thing is done.
Wonderful news about your eye improvement. I hope that the photos will show how much you have improved.

I am so technically challenged there is no way I could keep up with all that you do with the humidity etc. I do have something in the basement that tells me what the humidity is and I run a dehumidifier almost year round. Where I live we have high humidity a lot. My house is about 16 years old so was built with good insulation and has 6 inch walls and is very snug. However the windows are not the best ad have have some problems with them now. So that is on the agenda for the future.

I can see where you had a problem with cooking. Glad things are starting to pull together for you.
Janet Alliesmama
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Friday-thought for the day

My neighbor, spinal deterioration, wife of Eggman, had her major operation last week. She did not bounce back from this as she had others in her younger day. I visited her last week and then again yesterday. She is doing better.
Last edited by Dgflorida on Sun Nov 24, 2019 4:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Friday afternoon

It doesn't feel like a Friday. It is a dreary day. So dark, some lights are needed. After doing breakfast, social media, discussion time with hubs and lunch, I decided to tackle a drawer. Most of my drawers are pretty well organized, but there was this one. A lot of stuff from the dance days and I just have trouble giving those things up. I wore hose back then. And as I looked at a pair, I suddenly realized they would be perfect to create draft stoppers for the doors in cold weather. I could stuff them and put them in front of the door. No sewing required. Of course, I selected the ones with runners first. As clothes wear out, I try to turn them into useful things. I take the sleeves off of tee shirts and they are the perfect size and texture for girlie wipes. Some tee shirts are only useful as rags. Smaller pieces of clothes were a problem until now. When my socks wear out on the bottom or heels, if the elastic top is good, I cut it off and use it as a pony tail holder. The rest of the sock, well I can fill it with little pieces of cloth and now put the filled socks into the panty hose, tie it off and have a good draft stopper. I made one and it is hanging up on a hook in the laundry room. Inspired, I may do some repair sewing as well. See where the mood takes me.

We have enough turkey for dinner tonight. I may also make a cup of clear turkey broth as well. Warm up some broccoli as a green side. Maybe some peas as well. Maybe slice a tomato. I love vegetables.

The house has maintained its temperature at 77F. Outside it is in the high 60's. Winn Dixie has whole turkey for 39c with a $30 purchase this weekend. I may see if I can come up with that. Hubs uses a certain toilet bowl cleaner that is never on sale. Buy some of them would get me about half way there. Also some canned vegetables on sale. Have to think about it.
Dgflorida
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Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Saturday am

The temperature outside continues to drop, somewhere in the mid 60's with a chilly north wind. Inside, we are down to 75F. We have not finished the turkey breast, but it looks like leftovers. I have a roast defrosting in the refrigerator to cook tomorrow. I will be cooking it inside because the heat from the crockpot will be desirable. Then we are due to warm up. But still cool by normal standards.

Nothing that great on sale, so we will be eating from the freezer for the week. I have a frozen whole chicken that I may put in the crockpot inside. The roast beef will be a good choice for a couple of days, so mid week for the chicken.

I am going to continue working in my bedroom. I did not complete my decluttering of that drawer. Improved, but not done. However, I remembered that I had stored some things in a suitcase that is not used and I want to go through those things today. Decluttering takes a lot of time. As I recall, it has nice tee shirts that were too small for hubs when he was 250 lbs. Now that he is 160, he may want to add some of them to his tee shirt collection.

I also repaired a pair of light weight pants with bad elastic. I opened a little slit and ran a long shoelace through the opening and now it ties to the desired waist size.

The longterm weather predictions for the rest of the month are for cooler than normal weather. Although it may warm up some next month, it may be time to put away some summer clothes. Think on that.
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Monday am

I woke up in the middle of the night and did a bit of research on constructing trellis using pvc pipe. It was a productive time. I have some ideas now to work with. However now I am tired. It is cold outside and I am going to wait until it warms up to do any cooking outside. It is supposed to hit 70F at noon and I will prepare the whole chicken for the crockpot. Hubs has decided beef is too tough to chew, gets in his teeth, so I will have to cook more chicken and turkey and ground beef in the future.

I am still working on de-cluttering my bedroom. That will continue today and for the next few days. I want to make another draft stopper and work on a small plastic sheet for the 2nd bathroom window. It is the old single pane window and the room chills easily. It is the room I plan to turn into my plant room. Hubs has ordered the grow light.

I have been working on a couple of ideas to reduce the wind chill on the ;north side of the house. The problem is that I can't plant anything substantial because it is too close to the septic tank. I have built a low wall that will serve as a narrow bed, but I need it to be larger if I plan to plant bushes. Camellias would be good choices there. Thinking on it.
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Grow light and solar panel with battery have all arrived. Grow light is up. Cute, but very small. I moved the tomatoes to a location where they can get more sunlight during the day. They are doing pretty well. Warm enough today to wash dishes outside. So that is all done. I put a second layer on the new wall. Now to start filling the cinder/concrete blocks with leaves to create a better heat sink. That will be tomorrow. Sun is setting. Tonight, I will work on my next draft stopper.
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