Today I Am . . .

by Katy on May 25, 2015 · 28 comments

Today I am . . . 

  • Going to a friend’s staged reading, and bringing two canned goods, which is the price of admission.
  • Happy that the birthday party that my son went to was a “no gifts” event. My son will have a sleepover with friends next weekend, and he spontaneously told me that that he wants his party to be no gifts as well.
  • Thinking it’s funny that my son worked at his job yesterday, and then went to a sleepover afterwards. This boy is straddling the line between adulthood and childhood.
  • Bringing my receipt back to Fred Meyer to get a refund on some sausage that tasted spoiled. They were marked down, as the sell-by date was imminent, but I had to run to the bathroom to spit it out. This was a first for me, as I always choose the marked-down food, and it’s never been rotten before. Blegh!
  • Arranging to come by work one day this week to catch up on continuing education. I could do it at home, but I’d rather clock in and be paid for required work. Even if I have to drive 18 miles.
  • Sitting near a south-facing window instead of turning on the overhead light.
  • Not doing anything particularly different due to the holiday. My family has no traditions that are tied to Memorial day.
  • Done reading Little Heathens, and looking forward to picking up my copy of Beverly Cleary’s A Girl From Yamhill when the libraries open again tomorrow. (I’ve read it before, but it’s been at least twenty years.)
  • Clicking Swagbucks while writing this blog post. My goal is to earn a $25 PayPal gift card every month.
  • Pleased that my fridge is full of work and school lunch necessities.
  • Pretty much just taking it easy.

Now your turn. What are you doing today?

Katy Wolk-Stanley

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }

Kristen May 25, 2015 at 11:42 am

I am sanding and staining our steps and railings in prep for the wood floors that are going in next week.

(We’re replacing our cheap carpet with a long-lasting hardwood floor, but the existing oak stairs and railings don’t match the color of the floor, so they have to be sanded, stained, and polyurethaned.)

I will be excited when this is done, but the process is icky.

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Betty Winslow May 25, 2015 at 12:11 pm

Husband working outside, me inside, with a burger grilling coming up…. we don’t do much on Memorial Day, except try not to think too much about why it’s celebrated (we are Gold Star parents…) And tonight is Game #5 of the Western Conference Stanley Cup Playoffs, so that’s my evening covered!

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Anne May 25, 2015 at 6:52 pm

Betty, we salute you and your daughter.

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felicia May 25, 2015 at 12:13 pm

Today I am feeling grateful I get paid holidays at work. Stayed in bed reading a new & very thrilling library book, The Blondes by Emily Schultz. Went for a mid-day run, & later am going to collect old cell phones around the house to see about sending them in for cash. No idea where, but I’ll do some googling to find out.

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Susan May 26, 2015 at 11:21 am

My mall and Krogers has a kiosk that accepts cell phones. Got paid $7 for an old broken one. http://www.ecoatm.com/

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Dawn C. May 25, 2015 at 12:34 pm

Just spending the day with my family and relaxing. One daughter made potato salad for our dinner tonight and the other is making a patriotic fruit pizza with strawberries and blueberries. Husband is grilling burgers and hotdogs and we’re having corn on the cob for first time this season. May try to find our patriotic tablecloth my mom made us years ago and use it to set the table.

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Marilyn May 25, 2015 at 12:48 pm

I also read “Girl From Yamhill” about 20 years ago. It’s one I would like to read again too.

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K D May 25, 2015 at 12:54 pm

We went for a bike ride this morning. The park was quite busy with walkers, runners, bikers, picnickers, and people hanging out in the river. It was still a great time.

I bagged up more yard waste, as it will be picked up tomorrow.

I am knitting a toddler sweater. It is billed as a seven hour project so I am keeping track to see if that is indeed the case.

My husband has several work trips coming up this summer. By booking them ourselves we will get airline miles (for using an affiliated credit card). He will be reimbursed after the trips are completed.

Our college student found out she had even better grades than anticipated spring semester. A happy surprise for her (her perseverance paid off).

It is a quiet day at our house.

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marie May 25, 2015 at 12:56 pm

Cleaning up from our 4 day camp trip. Laundry, putting away everything until the next one. Rainy day, kinda misty.
Trying to save a poor chicken that’s got a sour crop. I’ll treat her again tonight, but won’t let her suffer past tomorrow.
Happy Memorial Day!!

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Maureen May 25, 2015 at 2:04 pm

Picked up strawberries today in the hopes of making jam. But I picked up the wrong lids. Luckily I do have 7 lids so I will return the others.

Hanging a lot of pictures and moving furniture around. We’ve been in our forever home for 2 months now and I need to hang pictures. Only wall left is the big collage wall. I’m going to set everything up on the floor and see how it goes. It’s definaltely not going to be Pintrest worthy, but I’ll sure try!

Made my own iced tea. My sister gifted me loose Earl Gray tea and its already too hot for me to drink it, so I boiled the water, let it seep, and put it in a pitcher with some fresh lemon.

And thinking of families like Betty Winslow’s who gave the ultimate sacrifice so I can be in my forever home and live the way I want. Thank you Winslow family and for all the families for your sacrifice.

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Jennifer Nash May 25, 2015 at 3:09 pm

Today I did some laundry. My husband had to work today and took our only working vehicle with him, so I packed up the boys and walked on our Greenway trail to the nearest mall, where we grabbed dinner and I found a bathing suit for my two-year-old for 1/2 off (no luck at Goodwill the past couple visits). The weather was gorgeous and we all enjoyed the walk. Soon it will be baths then bedtime, at which point I’ll probably fold some laundry while watching some Netflix, maybe even get some stitching done on my latest cross stitch project.

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Isabelle May 25, 2015 at 3:25 pm

Today I am…

* working my regular 3.5 hours (I love my part-time schedule!!)
* Preparing an easy supper with baguette, brie cheese, bruchetta and cretonnade, all from the reduced rack
* Spending quality time with my daughters, talking and cuddling
* Reading a book I really wanted and got at no cost
* Using coupons on top of a 50% off offer to get 12×100 grams of flavored greek yogurt for 2.75$ instead of 12.60$ (at witch price I would not buy)
* spending quality time with DH playing cards, before watching Drop Dead Diva on Netflix

Have a great frugal day!

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Marcia May 25, 2015 at 4:02 pm

We walked around a local Fair this morning, where there was a huge flea market. They got little of our money, however–just a cat toy for $2, and also bought a bottled water. We were not hungry, although the food smelled great, so we were back home before 2 PM, and I’ve mainly been goofing off since then. Dinner was just burgers and salad left from yesterday. Easy, but good!

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Chris May 25, 2015 at 4:20 pm

-Making a big salad for dinner using the smoked salmon my sister visiting from Seattle brought with her as well as homemade croutons made from leftover foccacia.
-Moved the bedroom furniture – my husband’s idea – and he suggested we move to one dresser. He will have to clean out a lot of clothes but he is more than willing – yea!
-We will sell the other dresser via craigslist – photographed it so we are ready to go.
-Went WAY over budget on groceries last 2 weeks so this week’s list is super small – we have a freezer and refridgerator full so will eat up things here.
-My husband dug out 2 dead shrubs in the front yard and I used a bag of cedar mulch left from last year to cover the area and placed the pots I planted last week for a great blast of color in the front yard.
-Planted the tomato and cabbage plants – gave what I didn’t need to a friend who is planting in a community garden this year. Put in the lettuce and carrots. Will do beans tomorrow. Did sprinkle some zinnia seeds that were from last year – they didn’t do well at all last year, we’ll see what comes!

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jiiill May 25, 2015 at 7:14 pm

Today I:
*Harvested some Poppy seeds for my co-worker. They grow like huge weed-bushes in my yard.
*Went to Red Robin (yummmmm) and split my free birthday burger with my daughter and then went to See’s candy and got a free candy sample. Hubby wanted a Cinnabon (a rare treat because we hardly ever go to the mall) and the clerk offered us free iced-coffee samples!
*Used a $5/5 cards coupon at Hallmark and got six cards for $1.02.
*Was in the same shopping center as the Goodwill and did not go in.
*am finishing my chores before I go back to work tomorrow.

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Mand01 May 25, 2015 at 7:26 pm

How do you harvest poppy seeds? Is there a particular variety you need to grow?

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Isabelle May 26, 2015 at 5:42 am

Cinnabon…. mmmmmmmiam! With extra icing of course,hihi

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Cathy May 28, 2015 at 1:24 am

You just wait until the pod is really dry (sometimes if you give it a gentle shake without breaking it off you can hear the seeds rattle. then just snap and scatter.

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Mand01 May 25, 2015 at 7:25 pm

I’m off work with a cold, so I am sitting by the fire, editing a friend’s PhD thesis, and then I am going to start researching an essay for uni. My husband has a day off, so he drove me to the doctor, then made up the fire and is now sitting beside me reading.
Tonight’s dinner is chicken noodle soup from the freezer and a french stick also from the freezer that I got for .66, marked down from 1.67. I’m hoping the chicken noodle soup will knock this cold on the head. It’s made from homemade stock, made from the chicken we had on Mother’s Day.
Back to work tomorrow.

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Chris May 25, 2015 at 8:05 pm

Made a card for son’s birthday! (Have been making all my cards lately, from various bits and pieces of paper, stickers, etc., fun and budget friendly)
Dinner out, portions were generous, took half home for tomorrow.
Used library’s culture pass for a free visit to a local garden attraction.
Read half of one of my library books, one of a series I am working on. Love that library!
Worked on planning a sewing project from materials on hand in my stash!

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Katy May 25, 2015 at 9:21 pm

I have to check back in and say how amazing the staged reading was that I went to! I wish that I’d shared about it on the blog ahead of time.

“Cottonwood in The Flood: A Staged Reading About The Vanport Flood.”

https://www.facebook.com/events/858379440888221/

I’ll let you all know when it’s happening again.

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Stephanie May 26, 2015 at 4:40 am

Had our annual Memorial Day party, there was food, fun, people and celebrating with the friend who came home and a toast to the friend that didn’t.

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Diane May 26, 2015 at 5:04 am

A question about swagbucks. Do you only get points for online shopping? I do zero shopping now. Is there another way to get points?

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Isabelle May 26, 2015 at 5:44 am

No, you get points also by using the research motor to do your usual stuff (researchs) on the Internet. I personally don’t like Swagbucks but some people get a lot of gift cards out of it it seems.

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Katy May 26, 2015 at 7:31 am

Clicking videos and doing surveys, which I do while watching TV. I have the sound off and the video pulled off the screen so I’m not actually watching them.

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Diane May 26, 2015 at 8:38 am

Thanks!

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Sweta May 26, 2015 at 11:21 am

You should join Bing rewards you can redeem 575 Bing rewards for 500 Swagbucks.

https://www.bing.com/explore/rewards?PUBL=REFERAFRIEND&CREA=RAW&rrid=_331490ab-0c4e-8313-ad15-29d871d5f68b

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Amanda May 27, 2015 at 4:43 am

Today I am:
-going for an OB checkup. This is my third baby on my third insurance plan. I have no idea how much the whole shebang will cost, but I know it will be a lot cheaper than not having insurance.
-eating out of the fridge for lunch
-working on my thesis with library books
-working on learning Spanish with a book a friend gave me
-having friends over to dinner. We share a meal with them a few times a year. They are frugal like us, so they are coming to our house and bringing the entire. We don’t have to pay a babysitter and neither of us have to pay restaurant prices. We’re contributing salad, dessert, and wine.
-packing for a out-of-town wedding weekend. I find it easier to pack in little chunks when the event is as complicated as having to bring wedding clothes and household items. Being organized keeps us from having to make emergency purchases in the short term. In the long term it keeps us from buying a bigger car thinking we “need” it for all the unnecessary junk we throw in at the last minute.
-finishing the evening with a podcast. I’ve been listening to a free librivox recording of the Federalist Papers.

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