Five More Frugal Things -- Slippers & Albuquerque
1. I mended the LL Bean slippers that I bought off eBay last year, as they'd busted out on the side. It was giving "disheveled old man chic," when my preferred aesthetic is actually "sheveled middle-aged woman chic!"
I put off this task for weeks and in the end it took maybe twenty minutes. Tops! Including getting out the supplies and putting them away.
Better, right?
2. I listened to The Sweetest Revenge, by Lizzy Dent. which was the perfect lighthearted distraction from the atrocities of the world. Of course I used the library's free Libby app, as that Schmeff Schmezos guy is nothing but garbage human. No need to use Audible and fund his morally bankrupt expenditures.
3. I did buy a couple items for myself at the Goodwill bins the other day, although I paid apart from the $100 gift card. $3.01 total for a brand new three-pack of socks, a sweater for my childhood Sasha doll and seven vintage spun-aluminum spice jars. These match my sister's kitchen canisters, so she gets first dibs!
4. I noticed that our internet bill went up, so I called Xfinity and got them to refund the extra $17 that we'd been charged. I'd hoped to bring our bill down even further while I had them on the phone, but the customer service employee wasn't budging. I did get our bill reduced a whopping $2.20/month, which I suppose is better than nothing.
It was an annoying task, but I multi-tasked while I was on hold and got the front porch swept.
5. My husband and I are planning a short trip down to Albuquerque later in the year, as we haven't been back since the two of us graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1994. (Go Lobos!) Obviously things will have changed, so we're looking for advice and suggestions on things to do and places to see. We'll for sure do a day trip up to Santa Fe via scenic I-25, but otherwise will stay down in Albuquerque.
My husband had to cancel his flight down to Las Vegas for a baseball tournament when he got hit by a car, so our flights are basically free due to that airline credit.
I'll take any and all suggestions, thanks!
Katy Wolk-Stanley
1. I used a discounted gift card to pay for my lunch yesterday.
2. I took rolls home from my large lunch and ate them for dinner.
3. I found 50+ Euros my husband had stashed in his drawer. I can use these on a future trip.
4. I gave my sister a pair of wool socks I didn't need. She works outside at the school and gets very cold feet. I'm keeping an eye out for a good deal on warmer boots for her.
5. I split the cost of an 8 pack of apple turnovers with my mom and sister. I will give half of mine to my daughter and son-in-law. This is a cheap treat and nobody ends up with more than they can eat.
Your family sharing the single package of apple turnovers is just the sweetest thing!
1. Ventured out in the cold and snow yesterday to go to the gym. I asked a trainer about why I was getting a pain in my shoulder, and he directed me to stretch more, and showed me how to use the stretching cage, which I loved. Gym is free for me, and doing a better job of working out just makes it better.
2. While out, I took the opportunity to fill up my tank. I was halfway down, it's cold, and price was low.
3. I used up some old hamburger buns (frozen) and celery and onions to make stuffing. The buns are the wrong texture, and it was too wet. Still, it was edible. More to eat today.
4. I combined leftover spaghetti with veggies and broth to make spaghetti soup.
5. My Oura ring has arrived. I had to charge it, but didn't have the right size of charger plug. I went to Walgreens, mainly because it was on the way, and our nearby Best Buy has closed. The thing I needed was way more expensive than I thought it would be, but with the help of a sales clerk I located one that was half the price, and it worked fine.
My next step with the Oura is to make a phone appointment to learn how to use it, and most importantly, to learn how to sign onto the app without paying for the subscription, since my Medicare Advantage plan is supposed to be doing that.
Yeah, hamburger buns sound a bit squishy for stuffing.
1. I have made to day 17 of my no buy January. My main thing has been not giving in to clothes and shoes. I buy mostly second hand, but there's so much of it available and tempting me! The cookies this internet collects on you, knows just what to throw at you! It's been tough but I have avoided temptation so far. I am hoping this builds a permanent habit.
2. Took a free yoga class at the library.
3. Making great progress on using food from the freezers and pantry. The free air fryer I was gifted sure makes it easy to use up the frozen fish.
4. I sold a pair of shoes on Posh. Yay, $30 for me!
5. The temps are in the single digits with wind so my plan is to mostly stay in and read (library books) and maybe take a trip to a mall or big box store to walk inside.
Single digits with wind?! Those are cozy indoor words for sure!
Good for you, Johanna, on both making it 17 days without giving into buying temptations and for selling a pair of shoes! Whoo hoo!
Excellent mending on the slippers. My husband had a pair like that that I mended several times before we had to give up on them.
I'm having a low-spend January, but yesterday finally managed -- after four and a half months are wrangling -- to get an accurate invoice for a medical bill and pay it. This saved me around $750. Also renewed my out-of-district library card for $50. It's worth many times that.
The biggest savings this month (possibly ever!) came from my husband calling around after getting an outrageous quote on some plumbing repair work and discovering the work is entirely covered through a program with the waste water department.
I am about to sew a set of slipcovers for a daybed, using discounted fabric from eBay, thread from a neighbor, and a long, heavy-duty zipper salvaged from a coat. Made a dozen chocolate chip muffins last night for about the cost of a candy bar. Made a dozen banana-walnut bran muffins for breakfasts using discounted ripe bananas from the grocery and walnuts from Aldi.
I'm very excited that you were able to get your plumbing issue fixed for free!
We were hugely relieved!
1) Returned an item I didn't need yesterday. It was a gift, so I ended up with a store credit, but I will use it, so all ends well. Just need to track it.
2) DH & I had a date night at a place that is part of my credit card cash back, so that was basically free.
3) Used part of my $500 Southwest credit card cash back to book a flight to go to Las Vegas (one night) + St George/Zion on a hiking trip with friends.
4) Used a promotional offer to score a free night in Las Vegas.
5) Rather than renting a car or flying in/out of St. George, which was significantly more expensive, I booked a $50 shuttle service that will get me back to the airport.
You are so clever with travel deals!
I love doing it, so it's kind of like a mini hobby!
Katy, what was your technique on such a great looking shoe repair? Looks perfect!
I just followed the original stitching, which hid the repair.
FFT, January Blahs Edition:
(1) I've been following your Goodwill "bin shopping for charity" posts with great interest. Not only is it good to have $$ going so ingeniously to a worthy cause, but I've been enjoying shopping vicariously through you. With our Central NY weather being what it's been ever since Black Friday, I haven't had nearly the thrifting opportunities I'd been hoping for.
(2) On the other hand, I haven't been spending much $$, either. Always a frugal thing.
(3) I continue to do the usual boring but ultimately frugal things: rack-dry laundry, clean out the fridge and freezer, etc., etc.
(4) The Element gave me an oil warning message plus another idiot light or two, so I'm taking it to my regular shop today to get these things taken care of. Driving with insufficient oil = hugely unfrugal. (And I admire all you folks who do oil changes yourselves--but I'm not one of those, and I also want to get the other issues checked out.)
(5) And I haven't all but declared war on assorted formerly friendly nations and US cities.
Glad to read that you're enjoying my thrift finds, they're so random. I love snow and Portland hasn't come close this year, but I think it's better than the bitter cold that you've been getting.
1. Husband and I enjoyed a free movie at the library and ate a free donut while there.
2. Eating all the leftovers, sometimes with the dogs' help. That still counts, since it saves on dogfood.
3. Stopped into a new thrift store. They had boxes of bread products free for shoppers. I gave a $1 donation for a loaf of French bread. We have had garlic bread twice from that loaf and put the rest in the freezer.
4. Shortened husband's new pants.
Free donuts at the library?! I'm in!
Yes. They used to provide popcorn with movies. Now it's donuts. The movie was The Awful Truth with Cary Grant. Hilarious
1) We had no plans for this long holiday weekend(which would be fine with me but the kids get stir crazy). My kids brought up wanting to visit a children’s museum. I remembered my sister had given us 3 tickets to that museum 6 or so years ago and we had only used two of them and that my daughter went there on a field trip last year and they gave every kid a pass to admit 2 people on a future visit. So the three of us can get in for free and I will pack our lunches (saves money and when my kids want to eat they usually mean right at that very moment, so easier to just have the food rather than have to wait in line to buy it)
2) While searching my wallet for the museum tickets, I found two old navy gift cards for $50 each. I try to only get my clothes and kids clothes used so I hadn’t really been to old navy in awhile. Now that I know I have them, I’ll use them for things I don’t buy used (like socks and underwear) or for things that are sometimes hard to find used (like pants for my son). I also have been hanging onto 3 Starbucks gift cards that were $5 each, in case I wanted a treat. I have not felt inclined to use them though, so I think I’ll just use them to buy a bag of coffee beans, I know I’ll use those since I make coffee at home every day.
3) Not frugal, I went to lunch with coworkers last week. I rarely go out to lunch so I was shocked that lunch cost $30! This was at a counter service place too, I got a wrap and a coffee(I do work in a big city in a HCOL area). The frugal part of it though is I now have even less desire to go out to lunch than I did before. Knowing I’m saving $30/day by bringing my own lunch is very motivating!
4) I just finished an audio book from the library, Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (highly recommend, I really enjoyed it). I started another one, The Dutch House by Anne Patchett. I read one of her other books (Tom Lake) and found it a bit boring but I heard good things about The Dutch House and so far I am enjoying it. Also, Tom Hanks reads the audio book which makes it even more pleasant to listen to.
5) I finally did an annoying errand. I needed to return a gift from Amazon, they had an option to drop the item off at a Whole Foods, and you wouldn’t need to package it or anything so I selected that option but there isn’t a Whole Foods close to where I live. There is one a half mile from my office though so I finally walked there yesterday on my lunch break and dropped it off. Now I have a $30 credit on Amazon though, I’ll save it until I can think of something I actually need from there.
Lisa, that's a great idea to combine your Starbucks gift cards to buy coffee beans. Just think how many more cups of coffee you'll get to enjoy.
Whoa, your wallet held a magical number of adventures and treats!
I love that you are donating to your local food bank. My husband and I have been sending a monthly check to our local food bank for nearly a year. It makes us feel good. This country is wealthy enough to feed the hungry, but does not.
Our country spends its money in the most infuriating manner.
This is so true! And sadly it us the poor that suffer. We probably are not even middle class, but every little bit helps to feed people in need. Thanks for all you do Katy.
It is the poorest. Not us the poorest.
I am driving North this weekend on i95 and considering things to do along the route. I wanted to stop in Savannah and see the William Mercer house from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, but they are closed for renovations for January....I can however see the gift shop behind the house. I think I will wait for when I have a full weekend to dedicate to going and seeing all things associated with the book and movie including the house tour.
A few frugals. I am able to use rewards points for hotel stays. I did however pack bedding in the car incase I need to sleep in the car, however with the temperatures I believe it wouldn't be a good idea. Road snacks and food and drinks are packed too. My goal is efficiency in travel.
If anyone has any great road side stops near i95 I would love to hear them! Thanks =)
Sounds like an interesting route either way.
Ashley B. The Juliett Gordon Low (founder of Girlscouts) house is also in Savanah and open for tours.
Charleston has lots of historic tours ad is terribly far off I-95.
Wishing you safe travels.
The Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil cemetery (sorry, not sure of the real name) is where Johnny Mercer is buried. A very interesting old Southern cemetery to walk through. It's quite isolated so don't go alone. Also, the infamous statue of the girl holding the scales is gone due to vandalism but you can see the plot where she stood.
I haven’t been to Albuquerque in a couple years but I really enjoyed walking around Old Town in Albuquerque and also the petroglyphs which are both free. They cost money but the aquarium and the Sandia Peak tramway are both great. We saw a black bear running up the mountain last time on the tramway which is pretty exciting to me.
Thanks for the reminder about the petroglyphs, I somehow never got there in the years I was in nursing school.
I remember the one time we took the tram and it was extra windy. Not a fun experience.
1. An Aldi opened up 30 miles from where I live, and their sandwich meats supposedly don’t have nitrates, or as many nitrates as the ones at DG, so I went to Aldi to stock up. I googles first to see if I could freeze sandwich meat successfully and it said I could if wrapped original unopened package in aluminum foil or in quart freezer bags. So I bought five packages at $2.89 a piece. While there I bought an Asian chopped Salad kit that was on sale for $1.29, 20 ct package of flour tortillas for $1.85, cream cheese for $1.49, 10 mini bagels for $3.59, hot dogs for .99 a package, 8 oz spinach for $1.79, 9 oz potato chips for $1.79, and an avocado for 55 cents. Avocados are expensive here.
2. I stopped at the gas station next door to Aldi and filled up for $2.49 a gallon, which is not a bargain compared to the college town where I used to live… sniff, sniff, but much better than the gas station down the street which was $2.59 a gallon.
3. I walked in my neighborhood for thirty minutes.
4. I am going to clean my house….. I hope. We can wish……..
5. I am making a chicken and rice casserole out of precooked chicken my past self froze.
Your past self did you a nice favor!
Yes and the dogs will get a share! For some reason, I seem to collect family dogs when they get too big for condos or apts family members live in….I am up to two at the moment. I am a cat person… lol
You're a safe house for family dogs!
Googled…….
Also “doesn’t” not “don’t”… sigh
1. Continuing to grow out my pixie cut so no costs there. Husband is also letting his hair (what's left of it; sore spot for him) grow longer.
2. Saved 4% credit card fee by paying cash at a restaurant.
3. Returned to a grocery store where something was rung up incorrectly and received a refund of more than $10.
4. Went to a free presentation at a local arts center. Free beverages, too.
5. Received our statement of toll fees from Kansas. Before we left on our trip, we signed up for the KTAG road toll program (sticker for our car) to save $$ and have an online account to pay our bill when traveling. Spent $11 this year compared to $21 last year, although some of that was for Oklahoma tolls which we avoided this year by taking a different route.
1. I brought home a black Sharpie that was in the street. It is in great shape. The next day I brought home a blue ink basic Bic pen.
2. The library had a puzzle exchange today. After the snow stopped falling I walked over and left a puzzle and brought home a different puzzle.
3. A friend came over for an afternoon visit.
4. I filled my gas tank at Sam's Club this morning. The gas was $.70 - $.85/gallon less than the stations I drove past. I also bought a rotisserie chicken, bananas, and a marked down pumpkin spice mix.
5. I swept the front porch and steps of slush. I don't want to have ice when the temperature drops. Hopefully the sweeping will negate the need to use salt.
1. My internet provider (Frontier) also jumped, from $32.99 to $44.99. 13 years ago, when I first got it, it was "price for life" program, so every year, I have to call and remind them of this. This time, they gave me a loyalty discount, so now it is down to $29.99. It takes about an hour every year, but since I will save $144 for the year, not a bad hourly wage (AND tax free).
2 & 3. I delayed my drive from work apartment in NY to MA (about 3 hours) at 5 pm, to avoid rush hour (and my car using up extra gas). But in doing so, I knew that I would be hungry, so I packed up the last of the deli-counter chicken (free from mystery shop) and I cut some slices of cheddar (free from mystery shop) to bring me with me & to tide me over until I got home where dinner was waiting for me.
4. I convinced friend to meet for lunch tomorrow at a dive pizza place, where lunch will be about $13, compared with the far more expensive brunch places ($18 for pancakes!!!). We live over an hour away from each other, which makes it hard to host (save money), and since it is winter in New England and will be snowing, limited outdoor options.
5. Partner wanted to go out for dinner tonight. Somehow, I convinced him to eat in, and I'm able to use up several items from the freezer and pantry that have been on my watch list.
Bonus: I did a few mystery shops this week, including one that I was able to double up (2 separate companies for the same grocery store, which doubled my payout).
BTW: I hope Lindsay from Alaska is okay - I haven't seen her name here in a while & I always looked forward to reading what she (and the dogs) were up to. But, whenever I do a mysery shop, I think of her!
I've been thinking about Lindsay too. I hope she's okay.
1. My youngest daughter came over and we finished cleaning out her old room. She got married over the summer. She took 3 bags of stuff. Her sister is taking a few things. I am keeping a few things. A friend of mine is taking 2 puzzles. My neighbor took 2 blankets for her grandkids. I had 2 people from my buy nothing group stop over already. One is supposed to come tonight. I have some blankets that I am going to donate to the shelter. I have a few things that I will list to sell and the rest will be put on the buy nothing group or donated. The room is now the way I want it for guests. It looks great and not cluttered.
2. I used the rest of the rotisserie chicken, the last few pieces of celery, a 1/2 an onion that needed to be used and homemade chicken stock. I finished off a box of ditalini too. Dinner was delicious. Hubby dropped a container to my friend that is sick with a card I had.
3.My neighbor asked me if we would eat thick sliced ham from the deli. Her husband wouldn't eat it because it was too thick. We had ham sandwiches with leftover soup for lunch. They gave me kielbasa that they didn't like last week. They bought a 3pk from Costco. Gave me 2 frozen ones. I give them lots of fruits and veggies from my garden. Good neighbors are priceless. We borrow and share every week.
4. Hubby wanted to make bread so we have 3 loaves of Italian bread. I'm making pasta with meat sauce and a salad to go with it.
5. My son was able to sign up with his new companies 401K. We helped him do it since it is his first 401k. He has been doing IRAs since his other jobs didn't offer them.
Nice job on the slippers.
1. I volunteered at my church's thrift shop this morning. Besides having fun working with friends, I was sent home with New England Patriots coffee mug and beer glass. The manager knows my DH is a die-hard Pats fan.
2. Stayed home all day yesterday so zero spend day.
3. The beavers on the cove in back of our house are providing lots of free entertainment. They flop themselves up onto the ice then lay there and eat through the hole in the ice. Weeds, I'm guessing.
4. I won $25 worth of scratch tickets in a charity raffle for the no-kill cat shelter in my town. I haven't picked them up yet. Keeping my fingers crossed for good luck.
5. I bought a box of chocolates 50% off. The price of chocolate has skyrocketed and although I am a true chocoholic (thanks Ma, for eating all those Hershey bars while pregnant with me) I am very careful to a. seldom buy it b. make sure it's not full price.
Go Pats!!!
Awww, my Dad was a Patriots fan too.
Nice repair of the slippers! I’m surprised that they fell apart so quickly.
1. I bought a Costco chicken and stuck to my Costco list when I bought it. It’s not as tiny as the last one.
2. I used some of my BottleDrop money to stock up my freezer.
3. I found enough random bread chunks in the freezer to make bread pudding, and it’s baking now. Bread pudding is a frugal ice cream substitute in our house.
4. I made a gallon of yogurt with $1.92 worth of clearance milk.
5. One of my kids got a mini fridge for Christmas one year, took it to college, didn’t use it, and brought it back unopened, but past the return date. It’s been sitting in the basement gathering dust and mocking me. I just got a recall notice for it, and it appears that I’ll get my money back 5 years after purchase. Frugal fail averted! Also, it’s nice that my son didn’t burn the dorm down.
If you're headed to Albuquerque, why not be there in time for the spring balloon festival? It's quite wonderful.
Sadly, Albuquerque is not the safest place in the universe anymore. Our kids have had booths at the balloon festival for the past 3 years -- and each year, there have been some scary robberies and shootings, including in the parking lot near the market. (They had to camp near their booth to keep it from being robbed.) Just sayin.' I know you'll be careful. (I do have a good friend in Albuquerque who would probably be able to rent you a room, if you don't want to go the hotel route.)
balloon fiesta is not in the Spring--it's in the first full week of October every year, and it's the most expensive time to be in the city because so many tourists come for it
Free things to do in ABQ include the Maxwell Museum on UNM's campus, the many city open space areas for hiking in the foothills and other beautiful spaces (like Elena Gallegos open space--maybe you'd have to pay a dollar or two for parking, but many of the ABQ Open Space areas are entirely free--google ABQ open space), drive to Sandia Peak (skip the expensive tram), walk or bike along the paved Bosque path along the Rio Grande, stroll Old Town, Petroglyphs National Monument
Less free but lovely things include the Albuquerque Museum, the botantical garden/zoo/aquarium, and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center
I very much enjoyed my visit to Albuquerque and Santa Fe two years ago. We mainly walked around Old Town and enjoyed some delicious Tex Mex in Albuqueque - I can't remember the name of the restaurant but the portions were huge so I might suggest sharing an entree wherever you go eat. My main suggestion is if you want to go to the Georgia O Keefe Museum in Santa Fe is to book reservations ahead of time. I did not and missed the one thing I really wanted to do. I guess that means I have to go back someday!
Oh and I have to second the Bosque path along the Rio Grande mentioned above. We very much enjoyed an afternoon doing this!
1. I attempted mending a rip in the thigh of my husband's jeans. If it doesn't hold we'll look for a new pair, but I'm hopeful it'll hold!
2. Our auto insurance renews in February so I took the plunge and did a cost comparison today. Our GEICO was going to go up from $575 to about $602. No thanks. Switched to Progressive, who we've had before, and will only be paying $373 for the next 6 months.
3. I took some nighttime cold medicine last night and accidentally slept until 10:30 this morning! I skipped breakfast and just had coffee.
4. My lunch was leftovers and everyone ate leftovers tonight for dinner.
5. My husband and I have been talking about soft, mall pretzels and now are both massively craving them. I have a dairy allergy so I can't remember the last time I actually ate one. We're looking up recipes to try so we can make them safe to eat.
1. I walked with a friend (indoors) and got home after our normal dinner time. I remembered I had a BOGO at Chipotle and for $14 we both had dinner. Sadly it wasn't very good and they messed up both our bowls. But it was cheap for eating out and worked for a last minute dinner.
2. We had a snow day last week and I spent a couple of hours organizing my counters. I found several gift cards that had been forgotten (student gifts)
3. Cooked up the tortillas that needed using yesterday, and made breakfast burritos for dinner tonight. Found a 1/2 bag of frozen hash browns that I threw in with the sausage and eggs. DS and his girlfriend came over so we had good company.
4. dd's girlfriend came over and had been gifted a box of wool socks that she didn't want. She gave them to my dh who was thrilled
5. Ds's car trunk fell on his head and he was bleeding a good bit. My other ds (who is a paramedic!) drove him to my house so I could play doctor! Not what I signed up for on my snowday. Fortunately it wasn't bad enough to need stitches and we cleaned it really well and got the bleeding to stop. ER visit avoided which is good as he has no money for that copay.
1. Ate all meals at home and used up leftovers.
2. Fed my former partner’s cats. He is out of town and we swap animal care. Saves us both a fair chunk of money.
3. Used my treadmill. Cheaper than a gym membership and more likely to get used. Cold and windy, so no outdoor walks for me. Lifted weights too. Taking care of my health is cheaper than medicine.
4. Constructed a new bed frame from the thrift store to replace a broken one for DS. It was half off, all the pieces were present and I think it was brand new, never assembled. Which makes sense, because it was a HUGE, time consuming pain!
5. Worked on a puzzle purchased at the thrift store. It was NIB, so all pieces present. 😉
6. Read magazines through the library. I love the Libby app.
7. Took optional work hours yesterday even though I didn’t want to. I only worked 2.5 hours and was paid for 4, so it was worthwhile.
Katy-
A budget tip if you want to go to the well known Ten thousand waves spa. You can book a community time, Sun-Th for $62/pp. That’s the best price for anything they offer. Friends were just there and said it’s pretty amazing.
Not totally frugal but an experience….
1. My thrift store buddy came and spent an afternoon in my kitchen, helping to chop up a lot of vegetables. I have a plethora of carrots, so she did a lot of peeling of at least 5 pounds worth. We roasted some batons, I grated some in one of my machines and she chopped some up for a chilli.
She also peeled and chopped (for roasting) parsnips and yams and I cut up (very carefully with my broken arm) some cauliflower – we got them all on sheets in the oven, which was already hot.
2. I made two square pans of hash brown pie, using some of our excess eggs and a little bit of onion and red pepper and cheese. Comfort food, and the reason why the oven was hot!
3. We also cut slabs off a red and a purple cabbage and got those as well as some celery sliced in my machine. This always makes a large quantity of cabbage-celery-carrot salad. That isn't a bad thing because it lasts for a long time in the fridge because I don't put dressing on it.
4. I had already cooked the beans for the chilli, so we fried up more onion, carrots, celery, coloured peppers and yams. The end of a bag of frozen corn was poured in, and then a couple of jars of tomatoes from my canning stash. I measured in a bit of chilli seasoning, added a bit more liquid and let it simmer. Yum vegetable-stuffed vegetarian chilli for the win!
5. Whew. We sat down for a hurried dinner of hash brown pie and roasted vegetables and cabbage salad then rushed off to the High school theatre for a very amateur 80s Rock 'n' roll show.
There were six of us 'oldies' getting together for the evening, and we had a fabulous time (and really related to all of those kids on stage in clothing that I haven't seen in a while.) My goodness the hair!
6. In a fit of rampant disregard for what the doctors say, I unwrapped the tensor bandage around my broken arm, and gingerly pulled my arm out of the cotton batting and half-splint under layer. Then (with a considerable amount of glee and only a bit of discomfort) I was able to shower and gently scrub both the arm (avoiding the impressive scar) and my hair. HEAVEN.
My bruises are also impressive, tbh. But I feel CLEAN again – showering with a plastic bag wrapped arm is awkward and inefficient.
I wanted to recover from this excitement by napping for the rest of the day, but chose to do some puttering and multiple dog walks as it has been unseasonably both warm and sunny.
Ecoteri, wow, what a GREAT day you had in the kitchen!
Starting to come back to land of the living, thanks to the most horrible flu. We haven't left the farm since mid December. I would've picked up the spice canisters, too.
Took advantage of the gorgeous weather and line dried bed linens, rugs and quilts. Made a loaf of crusty bread to go with freezer chicken carcass vegetable soup. Oatmeal cookies for dessert. Might feel up to family dinner next week. Two kidlets brought me a box of mixed citrus and a gallon of milk.
Steam cleaned the floors, bathrooms, mud room and kitchen.