Plumber, This and That

                 

 The water delivery part is much higher than it appears in this photo.                                                                                                                                                      

Twice today, I have spilled food on my new necklace! Once was milk that ran out of my mouth, down my face, dripped off my chin, and then onto the necklace. Actually, it did not run out of my mouth. I just tipped the glass up too far. The other time was something gooey to wipe off. At least I can give my new necklace/chain a bath and not worry about food making it turn permanently. My last good necklace was full of mends so it looked knotty. Gone.

Today was only 50F with a breeze, sometimes mild and sometimes stiff. Tommy came to the car complaining that he did not know it would be so cold. He had on a short-sleeve shirt. I told him to go get a coat. He did, but I am sure it was because he was so cold. The wind blew right through my clothing. 

The plumber was scheduled for 10 am. He called about 10:45 and said the job he started yesterday was taking longer than he thought. Finally, I went to sleep in my chair. Tommy told me he called and was five minutes from here. I had no idea where I was or what Tommy was talking about. I had only slept two hours last night and had Tommy wake me for when the plumber was supposed to come. So, I was discombobulated. ugh! 

I told the guy how it went down with the mess of water. No, I did not spill water. I checked for that when it happened. No, I could not see where it was running from. So, the four of us stood there and watched the hot water run full force for about five minutes, just like it happened when it flooded the counter. I had bought a faucet yesterday, so told them to put it in. We had the kind of long handle that controls hot to cold and turns from right to left. There is a joint there that sort of has a ball configuration. Usually, that is where this kind of faucet leaks. The plumber and helper kept wiping their fingers back there. They could only get a smear of water on their black gloves. We could not replicate the leak!

I meant to get a shiny chrome stainless steel faucet like the sink. The faucet is nice. I hate the pull-down sprayers. But, I ended up with the right faucet, just in a brushed steel. I was not going to sit around and wait for them to buy another faucet at Lowe's. I should have because this will be here a long time. Besides, it was installed before I figured it out. 

I asked plumber to show me where the filter in the dishwasher is located. He had no idea, even after looking. I thought he showed it to me when he installed the dishwasher. So, I can look on the internet since I have no idea where I put the manual. I miss my file cabinet. 

The caulk or whatever it is called was put around the commode, too. He thought it should not be there. He said if the seal failed, I would never know it and it would leak under the house. I know it would rot the support for the commode. ask me how I know. But, I know that roaches and fleas were coming in there. Plus, someone told me snakes could come in the house there. Tommy is deathly afraid of snakes, so he said nothing about that. They had to go to Lowe's for a tube of caulking. 

He put this commode in. One of the bolts holding the seat on is loose and the seat swivels. So, he tightened that. Neither of us can bend to reach it. We really know how!

Tommy got out a card to pay. The plumber only takes cash and check. We all looked at each other for a second after Tommy said he did not have enough cash and no checks. Then, I pulled out my checkbook. It is a good thing I did not make a payment today that I was going to make. 

Tommy ordered checks before they ran out. When he ran out of checks, he called again. Somehow, he will get the money back to my checking account. This has never happened before. He rarely writes a check. Nor do I. However, last week, forgot where, the vendor would not take a card. I wonder why. 

So, $389.00 later, we have a new faucet. The Moen faucet was on sale, probably clearance, for $89. That is $478.00 today. 

Then, we headed off to Belk's for something I wanted on sale. Somehow, I cannot order online at Belk's even though I have no problems ordering other places online. The woman helped Tommy order online by doing it for him. My card would not work! I panicked. It was only expired, so the lady did an override to update the card. Neither of my Belk cards worked. So, I had to take care of that when I came home.

We figured up how many boxes of freezer and storage bags in quart and gallon sizes--22 boxes. However, only one box has quart storage. hmmm...how did I do that?

I opened the coin bank jar where I put change all year. This is the rare coin I find and change that I get in transactions. I had a grand total of $6.98. Tommy has a penny jar and another for other coins. He has put this away for several years. He said he never has a chance to spend it. 

Dinner: last tiny bit of green bean casserole, baked zucchini, turkey. Tommy had the same and sweet potato. That is the very end of Thanksgiving.  We had four meals, and there is more turkey breast in refrigerator and some in freezer. Besides the meals, we have both been having turkey sandwiches and turkey on salads. 

How much of Christmas dinner do you have left? 

How much do you have in your coin jar? Do you have a method of saving coins?

Have you found places that no longer take cards, just checks or cash?

89 Diabetic Friendly Desserts

 Recipes for diabetic-friendly desserts. Some look delicious.

We went out to snag some bargains. Mostly, we bought at Publix, bringing home Christmas designs of Ziploc freezer and storage bags to use all year long. We have not tabulated exactly what I bought.

Then, we found more bargains at another store where we bought little. I was surprised the stores were not packed. 

Today, we had  a replay of Christmas dinner. It was even better today. 

I won't be sorry to put away the decorations. I do dread it, especially the tree deer. 

I turned the water on in the sink to warm it up, walked away. When I came back the counter on the left side of the sink was standing in water. I put a towel in the water. I threw out a whole large canister of oats which was soaked an inch up the side. Tomorrow, I will buy a new faucet and call the plumber. I have not looked under the sink of the counter that had water on it. So, no telling what is wrong. No water was flowing out of the sides or bottom of faucet. But, I am sure the plumber can find the problem. 

Did you shop at sales?

Return things? 

Find bargains or gifts for next year? 

If you cannot post a comment on my blog, please inform me at lgd113@yahoo.com. 

Exasperated

 

Okay, tonight, I cannot get rid of this picture above. But, you can see what ribbon candy mix looks like. the stripes are ribbon candy.

After Tommy brushed my body last night, I yawned for hours. Then, when I went to sleep at four am, I slept soundly until 1:30 pm. I was shocked because my feet were almost back down to normal size. Then, a few hours later, only then did my feet swell much at all. So, brushing is a part of his life whether he likes it or not. 

This brushing calls for a natural hair brush moved lightly over the body, all in the direction of the heart.=. I avoid brushes on my body and any animal hair on bare skin. So, I used a soft brush I use for washing my feet. I wrapped a softer washcloth around that and securing it with a hair claw. I had to keep telling him 'not so hard.' He got it done. Boy, that puts me in mood to sleep. I have known about this for years, but he always said no.

Plus, I forgot to take diuretic, and my feet still did not swell. Maybe brushing could take the place of a pill. I will discuss this with my doctor. Or, maybe I will experiment on myself. lol

The rest of the day was wasted because of his vile temper. 

Yesterday, I put out a new candy box, a crystal Christmas ornament. Inside I put colored balls for the tree. It looks festive and will not tempt me to eat it. 

At Christmas, I always put ribbon candy into a covered candy dish. I hate the stuff, but it is pretty and Christmas festive. It is always given away sometime in the spring. One year, a young guy was helping me move something. I offered him all of that candy he wanted. He was polite and would only take two pieces. The dish was six inches across and candy was three inches deep. Finally, I said, "Wait." I took a quart storage bag, dumped the candy as well as I could because it had stuck together. He was shaking with happiness as he stuffed it into a pocket with much work. It was June, time to get rid of all of it. 

I am telling you, I won't eat that stuff as it is too sweet. If I wanted to gain weight, I would eat chocolate. There were days I was desperate for a sweet, but I never touched it. The ribbon candy always had round pieces that were pure sugar, too. 

Tonight, I was desperate for an apple. I depend on fiber and apple fiber works best. I had not had an apple on Sunday. We went after dark to Publix. Someone brought me a cart. It stopped at the seam of the ramp to Publix. It stopped when the front wheel touched the threshold. It stopped when the back wheel touched the threshold! Inside the store, it never went over 6 feet while I moved about. Often, it only moved six inches or less and stopped with a lurch to my neck. 

Finally, it stopped as I was turning from a main aisle to the aisle across the front of the store, and would not go again. I was blocking people who wanted to go across the front of the store and down the one aisle. There was quite a bottleneck. I was so disgusted! I finally got the attention of an employee who was going to try and make it go. NO! It was on and charged. I asked fobnanar another cart. That cart was set where my knees hit the basket. So, I had him get another. 

I watched as the Public employee took the cart back where it belonged. It did not stop once!!! grrr

Bananas, apples and bread is all I needed. But, it took me almost an hour to collect what I wanted. I did find the Ziploc pint freezer bags that were bogo. My raincheck had almost expired, only 4 days left. Bread was bogo, at least. The use by date is December 21. I wonder how much preservative it contains. 

I rehurt my knee trying to get into the electric cart. It was recovering from the fall. The cart was so tight, my left knee would not go in. I had gotten into the cart with right foot first. When I tried to get out, the knee would not slide out as usual. I had to try to raise myself enough to get past a center part that supported the cart. I hope I never, ever get that cart again.

About two weeks ago, I used Elmer's school glue. Saturday, I found it. I had not missed it, yet. It was open in the chair I sit in and had oozed out an area about six inches in diameter. So, Tommy washed it for me tonight.  If I did not keep this chair covered with a quilt, it would be nasty, sticky, disgusting. 

No decorating done today.

In a bit, I will get brushed again. I am looking forward to improving my health and sleeping. 

Do you ever use brushing skin to achieve better health? 

If you ride electric carts in the store, are you sometimes exasperated by their eccentricities?

Tommy had never heard of ribbon candy. Do you like it?

Ziploc Alert

First

Ziploc always has bags decorated for Christmas, pints and quarts. The day after Christmas, they are marked down 50% off and a few weeks later they are marked down to 75% off. For the last few years, I have bought Ziploc storage bags at 75% off. Sometimes, I have coupons which really brings down the cost. This year, I will watch more closely for coupons and maybe order coupons.

Second

I have had four $4 coupons for Ziploc in my purse for several years, $4 off one box. I did not want to lose money by spending the coupons on reduced bags. Finally, I used the $4 coupons.
 I purchased:
a box of 32 1-gallon freezer bags
a box of 38 1-quart freezer bags
a box of 152 sandwich bags.

All boxes of bags were $4.46x3=$13.38 minus 3x/44 coupons=$12.00
$13.38-$12.00=$1.38 oop.

There were boxes holding more bags per box, but the cost per bag is less when you are using a coupon if you apply it to the smaller size/amount whether it is detergent, Ziploc bags, or whatever.

Since I still have Christmas storage bags from last year, I am set. I do hate to have to buy storage and freezer bags even though I buy few. But, I can live with these three boxes costing me $0.46 each.

There is still one more coupon for $4 in my purse to spend when I figure out exactly which size bag I really need to replenish. I think I need pints.

Your turn
Do you ever snag any of the decorative Christmas Ziploc bags when they are marked down? Is there one Christmas item you try to find on markdown after Christmas?

75% Clearance!!!

Every year I prepare for this clearance sale. I look for it. After Christmas items are first marked down to 50% off at WM. On New Years Day the clearance is 75% off. YAY

Glad Ziploc quart storage bags with Christmas designs, 48 in a box, are the same price as the regular quart storage bags--$4.46. At 75% off the Christmas designs are $1.11, not a bad price. I bought 8.

Glad Ziploc gallon storage bags were also $4.46, 38 in a box. They were also 75% off, making the box of 38 also $1.11. I bought 5.

This is a $57.98 value for $14.43.

Saved 75%. Of course, I did.

Snack crackers with a holiday design were also 75% off. I got the last two boxes of Wheat Thins, my favorite cracker. Originally they were $2; clearance price was $0.50. I spent $1 on two boxes of Wheat Thins.

Saved 75% again...lol..

A $4 value in Wheat Thins cost me $1.

Total:
I paid $15.43 for merchandise worth $61.98.

You're right. I am giddy. Hopefully, I have enough bags to last until next Christmas and beyond. When I give exbf food to take home, I try to use these bags instead of Tupperware or breakable glass. He cannot stand much to wash dishes, either. Right now, we probably both use too much plastic. But, it is necessary for the present. Or, you can come wash my dishes.

I gave my friend a box of the quart bags and a box of the Wheat Thins for taking me to WM + $2 for gas.

Your turn
Do you find these items on Christmas clearance at WM? Maybe there are still some left. What items on Christmas clearance have you gotten?