This Week's Accomplishments

It’s been an interesting week.  With the furloughs still in effect, we have cut our spending back to the bone.  We managed to cover all of our bills for the mid-month period, and we have a little left over to go grocery shopping.  We are holding onto that money in case if this lasts even longer, just in case if this situation does not resolve itself before the next round of bills comes due.

This has led to an interesting pastime.  We’ve eaten through everything in the refrigerator, and we’ve gone through some of the more easily prepared foods.  This has led to a new game that we call… (drum roll please)  What WAS that?

Daughter even made up a song to go along with the “Big Reveal”.  "Its furlough week, and we’re not getting paid, it’s time to play “What was that?”"

We have a very bad habit of putting leftovers into large plastic bags and then dumping them into the freezer and forgetting about them.  So, we’ve been digging out a mystery bag of something every night since we finished our $30 challenge.  I’m not sure how much the bottom line on these meals is, since we actually assembled them quite some time ago.

This has led to some very interesting meals.  We’ve unearthed a really good turkey soup I made after Thanksgiving last year.  We’ve had an okay batch of bean soup.  I ended up putting the bean soup in a deep pie pan, and covering it with cornbread.  The soup was not that good on its own, but it was transformed into something we didn’t mind eating with the cornbread.  Last night we attempted to make homemade pizza.  The dough was great, but the sauce was freezer burned.  Too bad we didn’t discover that it had crossed that line before we put it on the pizza dough.  It was edible, but it wasn’t great.  We ended up dousing it in crushed red pepper and parmesan cheese.

I’ve already dug through the freezer and found tomorrow night’s dinner.  I’m not sure what it is, but I do know it’s red.  It could be more spaghetti sauce, or chili, or a red sauced chicken and rice casserole. 

We’ve really got to start labeling and dating those bags before they go into the freezer…



These were my goals for last week:

1)      Work on the t-shirt quilt.

3 more blocks are finished.  I have 3 blocks to finish the quilt, and then I’m planning on going back and doing a little clean up with some of the interior blocks before I begin to work on the edges.

2)      Spend at least 15 minutes a day, twice this week cleaning the basement.

I ended up spending over an hour, twice in this room!  I’ve cleaned out a lot of trash, and I found a bag of paper recycling that went out on Friday.  I’m almost to the point where I have a clean pathway down one side of the room.

3)      Call the power company and have them pick up the old freezer in the basement.

We have 2 freezers in our basement.  One is a chest, and one is an upright.  The upright was left in this house when my in-laws moved out.  They bought it in 1970.  The thing eats energy like you wouldn’t believe, and food kept in there readily goes bad.  Our power company is offering a rebate for old freezers.  I’ve got to call them and have them come out and haul that old freezer away.  We are keeping our chest freezer – it’s a little over 10 years old, but it’s still energy efficient.

4)      Start working on daughter's cross stitch.

This will be her Christmas present.  I found the cross stitch this week.  I’d put it away back in August when we went to Washington.  I’m going to take the cross stitch with me when I go places.  It’s a nice, portable project that I can carry with me.

5)      Pick up yarn for my niece's graduation present.

Found it!  It’s a lovely dark maroon.  I found some wonderful wools, but since she’s going to use this in college, she needs something that she can toss in the washer and dryer.  I found a very nice acrylic yarn that I’ve used before and love.

 

6)      Get out and exercise at least 3 times this week.

I only got out once.  The heavy rains this week have gotten in the way of my getting outside and taking walks.

 

7)      Deposit loose coins at the bank.

I didn’t make it there this week.  I have a trip planned on Tuesday.  I’ll be heading to the bank, as well as to the second hand store.

 

8)      Start working on earrings to sell at the craft fair next month.

I finished well over 50 pairs of earrings.  I think that’s enough for this year!

9)      Make a batch of apple butter.

Done!  The cold, wet, rainy weather just lends itself to warming up the house with apple butter.

 

10)  Fix clothes in the repair basket.

I didn’t do this.  I hope to get to this early this week.

 

11)  Get AP Review Books to the Second Hand Store.

Tuesday is the day to do this!  The book store is a block down the street from the bank.

 
Goals for This Week:

1)      Trip to the bank and the book store on Tuesday.

I have two goals: One, to deposit coins in the loose coin deposit.  Two, to sell our AP Review books to the second hand store.

2)      Finish organizing the papers, report cards, and other paperwork for middle child that is currently spread all over the living room floor.

3)      Clean out the crafty corner in the living room.

4)      Pull out the Halloween Decorations and spread some fall cheer throughout the house.

5)      Get out and exercise three times this week.

6)      Begin caulking the windows.

7)      Work on the t-shirt quilt.

8)      Make certain that the cross stitch for daughter is in my bag that travels with me wherever I go.

9)      Continue playing “What was that”.  Throw out anything that is questionable.

10)   Call the power company to come and pick up the old freezer from the basement.