My 2021 Challenge

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

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Now that the wedding is behind me, and with no more plans for traveling this summer, it is time to work on the old homestead. I have been doing a walk about my property to see how things are doing. My peach trees (3) were not damaged by the cold weather and have an excessive amount of peaches that I am going to have to hand cull or else the branches will not be able to support the fruit. About a week ago we had horrendous storms with winds up to around 60 to 75 mph. Yesterday noticed the ground under the peach trees was covered with tiny peaches however I will still need to cull more before the peaches get too big. Also noticed rogue wild grapevines are starting to grow in to the peach trees and the wild grapevines are choking my Japanese Maple tree in the front of my house. I am hoping to harvest some of the grape leaves to make dolma. My pear tree has always been good with setting fruit however noticed the main trunk does not have leaves and the side branches have some black leaves. Looked up the problem and found out the tree has a disease due to the cold wet spring. We have had two years with spring being cold and wet. The disease does not harm the fruit and it is edible but I need to see if I can prevent the tree from dying. Although my apple tree was in full blossom and we had snow and freezing weather it still produced a nice amount of apples. I need to buy some stove pipes to put around the tree trunk to prevent my resident squirrel, Dennis the Menace" from stripping the tree like he did last year. More to come later after I do another couple of rounds.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Slowly getting back in to my daily routine.

I have been blessed with some extra groceries. Today my aide brought me some food from another client. Her client went to a food give away and she received too much for her own use so she gave some of it to my aide to share with others. She brought a large container of Vanilla yogurt. A huge bag of apples and 2 pounds of baby carrots. Also 5lbs of russet potatoes and 3 lbs of yellow onions. Today I did a Walmart curbside pick up primarily to buy 2 pork roasts for Teddi but did have to buy some fill in items to get the free curbside pickup. With what I already have in the house and with the free food received today I think I will be able to get through the month of June without having to buy anything except for some produce towards the end of the month. A few weeks ago I received a refund check from Medicare for $13.31. They said CVS had overcharged me for a co-payment. I tried to tell CVS that at the time but decided to let it go since I was changing from Walgreens to CVS and thought maybe that was how things were suppose to be with their contract with Medicare. Anyway it was a nice surprise and I will be using it to pay for any produce I might need towards the end of the month.

I brought home the coffee pods from the hotel. There were 4. I have used two so far however they are weak in taste most likely due to my coffee pot not being the right kind even though it is able to make 1 or 2 cups at a time. However free is good so will use up the other two and be happy. Also brought home the free shampoo and conditioner, makeup removal pads, and individually wrapped hand sanitizers. We had a free breakfast with our room and I brought home two bananas that I did not eat. They are in the freezer and will be made in to banana bread or muffins in the near future.

I had to go to Big Lots the other day and my niece went in to look around. She found a discount aisle I did not even know existed. She found a bundle of Revlon lipsticks on sale with 9 tubes of lipstick for $9.00. She did not like all of the colors but at that price she bought it for the colors she did like. I liked 3 of them so she gave them to me and she gave one to my aide and she kept the rest for herself and will give some to her niece.

I lucked out my car, it has had the (check engine soon light) on during the trip to TN and back. The other day I was out driving and it went away so I called the Dealership and canceled my appointment. I did not want to take it in without the indicator light on and them charge me $145.00 for a diagnostic test that would most likely not show anything. I had a similar problem with a previous car and had it to the auto shop many times and they could not determine the problem but decided it was most likely an anti-pollution device and not harmful to drive. They said if it comes on again drive in without an appointment.

My aide brought 3 tops to my niece but she did not want them so I inherited them. I have a lot of new to me clothes from my aide as well as one of her clients sent some to me. So no need to buy anything but maybe a couple of pairs of slacks later on this year.

Before my niece came my neighbor came over to install a new flapper on my second bathroom toilet. However I continued to have problems that he determined was the handle. He bought one and brought it over and refused to take money for the new handle or for the time involved. He was here off and on for a couple of days. He and his wife are very kind and thoughtful so the other day I asked her if they would consider being my emergency contact for my medical alert. She said, " of course not a problem." My brother now lives about 30 min away and with him spending more time in Mexico it is useless to continue to have him as someone to call if I need someone to check on me. They are kind enough to allow me to use their trash pickup for my own use and refuse to accept any kind of co-payment. Today I took my trash over and the husband came out to pick the trash up from the trunk of my car. I told him I could do it but he insisted on doing it. I am so blessed with kind and giving people in my life.
Janet Alliesmama
SandiSAHM
Posts: 2263
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:46 am
Location: Oklahoma

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by SandiSAHM »

alliesmama4 wrote: Wed Jun 02, 2021 11:28 pm I lucked out my car, it has had the (check engine soon light) on during the trip to TN and back. The other day I was out driving and it went away so I called the Dealership and canceled my appointment. I did not want to take it in without the indicator light on and them charge me $145.00 for a diagnostic test that would most likely not show anything. I had a similar problem with a previous car and had it to the auto shop many times and they could not determine the problem but decided it was most likely an anti-pollution device and not harmful to drive. They said if it comes on again drive in without an appointment.
The check engine light going out would weird me out more than it coming on, LOL.

Autozone will "read" check engine lights for free, they hook up to the car's computer and find out what it thinks is wrong. They can help with options for repairs (though if it were under warranty I'd take it back to the dealership for the actual repair). Never been to an Autozone yet where the folks are anything less than super nice (had some 'readings' done there years back but so far no fixes).

https://www.autozone.com/lp/fix-finder
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

SandiSAHM wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 2:35 pm The check engine light going out would weird me out more than it coming on, LOL.

Autozone will "read" check engine lights for free, they hook up to the car's computer and find out what it thinks is wrong. They can help with options for repairs (though if it were under warranty I'd take it back to the dealership for the actual repair). Never been to an Autozone yet where the folks are anything less than super nice (had some 'readings' done there years back but so far no fixes).

https://www.autozone.com/lp/fix-finder
Thanks for your concern and information. My aide told me the same thing today. She had something go wrong with her car just the other day and she took it to Auto Zone. If I had not had a complete check up of my car and had it completely serviced just before the trip I might be more concerned. However we were in some really horrendous bumper to bumper traffic on the trip with a lot of construction dust blowing around us maybe it triggered the anti-pollution device. When the light went off I was on a 4 lane highway going 65 mph in the country and maybe whatever little particle was creating the problem finally flew out of the sensor. The car is a 2010 Mercury Milan so no warranty but it still has low mileage for its age. If the light does come back on I will be taking it to Auto Zone.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I am working my way through the most perishable things in the fridge. I had cottage cheese for breakfast with lots of pepper and instant coffee but not wild about instant coffee. My niece liked to make iced coffee early in the morning before eating breakfast and she used instant coffee. I think I am going to put it in a smaller jar and tuck it away for a time when I might run out of ground coffee. For lunch I warmed up 1.5 meatballs that I cooked the other day. There was still enough sauce and cheese on them so just nuked them and had a cup of sugar free Jello for dessert. Dinner was a big salad with cucumber, radishes, diced fresh tomatoes, the last of the deli sliced turkey and a sprinkle of mozzarella a cheese. I also threw in a couple of sliced green olives and raw sunflower seeds. I ate it with honey mustard salad dressing. I do not like it in a salad but it was my niece's preferred salad dressing. I do have ranch which is my favorite. I like the taste of honey mustard so I think I will use it as a sandwich spread or make a sauce with it for baked chicken.

I made tuna fish salad today for lunch tomorrow. My niece had cooked hardboiled eggs and there were 5 left. So I used two in the tuna fish salad. Also there was some raw onion in the fridge, leftover from our fish dinners the other day, so chopped it up and added most of it to the tuna fish salad. I saved some to use tomorrow when I cook something for breakfast. I made deviled eggs with the other 3 for snacking. I also use another cup of sugar free Jello following dinner. I had bought them to take on our trip. Mid afternoon snack was half of one of the giant apples that was free from the grocery give away. I ate the apple with a few walnuts for a snack.

I have been busy getting caught up on household things and doing a ton of laundry. I changed my sheets just before leaving since my friend, who was going to take care of Teddi, would be sleeping in my bed. Then changed them when I came home. Today was a routine change for my bed and add in the sheets from the room where my niece slept. Not looking forward to my water bill this coming month. I used the dryer since we have had a lot of off and on rain and cold weather. I am hoping to go back to line drying next week. The weather is still chilly but a tad bit warmer each day so hopefully I will be able to get by with opening windows and doors and using ceiling and floor fans. I really need to cut back on my electric bill as well as the water bill.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

My basic income is Soc Security. I was forced in to early retirement at 53 due to a lot of different medical problems. I am ok with it now that I have paid off several credit cards. It took me about 20 years to pay them off due to loosing my medical insurance when I was around 54. I did not qualify for Soc Sec disability at that time. Also did not qualify for Medicaid despite my income was under $10,000 a year. At the time I lost my insurance my medicine bill each month was more than my income plus I had to pay Drs out of pocket. What little bit of savings I had went quickly so I started to put medical things on my credit cards. By the time I qualified for SSI I had a huge mountain of debt to pay off and like I said it took me about 20 years.

I paid bills yesterday and was surprised at how much over budget I was for the month. I had planned money for my trip to TN but my car needed more work done on it than I had anticipated. Then with the unexpected computer crash more money spent that was not planned on. My niece was here for 2 weeks and I did buy extra food as well as special things to share with her. Also we did a few curbside pickups for dinner or lunches. She did pitch in and help to pay for some things. However what a reality check it was yesterday paying my bills. I crunched the numbers last night to project things for June and July. I will be ok but it will be really, really tight. July is insurance renewal for my house and car. I have a separate policy for earthquakes as well. The first installment for my property taxes is due in July. Next week Teddi needs testing for heartworms and the preventive heartworm medication, In July he will need his tag and rabies shots.

I think food wise I will be ok through the month of June but July is going to be interesting..lol. I might have to fall back on some of my emergency stores to get through July. I do not like doing that because we never know what is going to happen down the road. Before the pandemic I usually maintained an emergency pantry but as time went on things happened and I used it up and did not replenish things. Then when the pandemic hit like a lot of people I was short of a lot of things. I do not want to get in that situation again. Then again if I did not have my emergency food stored now it would make my current situation more interesting. Do not get me wrong I will be eating ok and I will not go hungry but I might not be able to afford the fresh produce we all seem to need now a days. When I was growing up, post WWII, we did not have all of the fresh produce and dairy, like yogurt, that we have now. Due to his allergies Teddi needs pork roast and salmon so my plan is to up my concentration on getting cash through some of my survey sites to spend for his dietary needs. I do have credit cards but I do not want to use them if I can find the money in my budget or earn extra cash through survey sites. I never want to go back in to credit card debt again.

Today for brunch I made hash browns with a free potato and free onion. Fried a pound of sausage. I cut a few slices made in to patties. I had one today and saved one for tomorrow. Also fried two eggs one for today and one for tomorrow. I fried up the rest of the bulk sausage and will make keto sausage gravy with it tomorrow. That should get me through quite a few meals in the coming week. I had half of a huge apple with peanut butter for a mid afternoon snack. For dinner I nuked two meatballs with marinara sauce and sprinkled them with mozzarella and parmesan cheese. I had a small dish of vanilla yogurt (free)after dinner. Teddi is eating baby carrots as a snack and we shared the last slice of swiss cheese. He gets small bites of about 1/4 of the slice and I ate the rest.
Janet Alliesmama
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