Christmas is Near

 We got lots done today. Of course, police, insurance, car rental and attorney made no contact as promised. 

Cleaner came today. She helped by getting junk from living room, threw away sweet potatoes. We store them in decorative boxes in living room, the best temp for storing sweet potatoes. 

Last summer, I had neighbor cut a Christmas wreath in half. My intentions were to put the pieces on the red mailbox. Cleaner fluffed the two pieces. I just stuck them on mailbox, hoping they would stay at least until morning. It looks beautiful! I have made a bow to go on top. I thought I needed more greenery, too, but after fluffing, it looks great. 

Tommy wrapped three tomato cages with a hundred-strand string of lights each. He got them hooked up to the electric with deers. Now, they look great. All we need to do now is clear off a couple of tables.

At 7:30 tonight, I received a call from nurse wanting to come by about 1:30 on Friday. I told her we had to be somewhere at 1 pm.  acted like I was being uncooperative. Really, I don't know how this company decides to make an appointment the night before. We actually do have things to do. She said she would call next week for an appointment. They won't make an appointment now before we get things lined up on our calendar. When I called nurse to talk about this, she has been a week without responding. I am puzzled. 

I refused to worry about this or deal with it.

Today, I decided I had better get cards addressed.  The few I got addressed just need a stamp. So, there.

The living room looks so much brighter after dusting! 

I keep remembering things I have for Christmas decorations that I cannot find. I tell her to stay on the lookout for these things. She does. She found two new phones, never out of the package. I told her last week I had them and sort of wanted to sell them and thought this would be a good time, so she wants to know price. Hopefully, they sell. I will charge half of price they were. 

She is also good at finding boxes I need to toss. She even goes out and breaks them down. Of course, I do pay her for helping. 

Christmas Day is near. It makes me happy.  However, the weather is not Christmas weather, warmer than most Southern Christmas Days. 

I still need to find my postage stamps! Is there any little thing you need to do or find that could become a big deal?

I Will Never Cross Another Bridge!

 As I looked through the three ads, I found nothing I wanted except for grapes. Tommy bought bad grapes, so I will get some of these on sale. I want to make it to the farmer's market for tomatoes next Tuesday. In the meantime, maybe I will cook a pound of bacon.

Tonight, I watched Mothman on TV. Tommy asked me if I were sure I could handle it because it was scary. The only thing that scared me was the bridge and the drama before it fell. I love vampire movies. They do not frighten me. This was tame. It did not live up to the hype. 

Today, I managed to get my pool noodle for the lollipops. The pool noodles have been stored in front of the stores. Suddenly, they were out of them. So, I started calling around. I found a Dollar General that had them 2/$1. He groused that it was too far to another I found. So, I told him we could just drive around here and he could get out at every store. It hurts him to get out and pull out his walker from the car. Well, it hurts him to do it over and over. 

He went to one Dollar General and found five noodles, 5 blue and one green. I had him get all of them. They were 3/$1, so cost $2 total.  

Then, we started toward the other one. It was 14 miles round trip. That store had pink and blue, and one green. I had him get 6 pink and 5 blue. I suggested he remind them they were 3 for $1. He did. They charged him $11 but took off a $5 coupon. I am not sure what that is all about. But, they cost $6 for the 11 noodles. Spent $6.  

The four I got before were $1 each so total of $4.  

Now, I have 21 noodles that cost me $12. 

I bought the first four several months ago, thinking I only needed one noodle for a lollipop. After watching several videos on the construction of the lollipops, I realized I was woefully short on noodles. Also, one guy cautioned that the finished lollipop needed to be wrapped in paper to avoid the hot glue melting in the rain. That seems strange. I wonder. 

Today, Tommy took my cc into the PO and bought me three books of Forever Stamps before the price goes up once again. These may be too many, but they last forever, so I can use them until I die, then Tommy or someone else can use them. I bought hummingbirds, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and flags. I may frame the RBG sheet. 

Chef Juls finally has her prize from guessing what kind of rodeo I wanted to attend. I had said in the post that I would find something for a prize. Well, once I had a winner, I felt constrained to find something she would like absolutely. That kind of thinking was a pain. I wanted to buy something. My frugal side kicked in because then I would have to also spend money to mail the prize. So, I went with an egift card from Amazon. But, I never got an email saying Amazon sent it. I never heard from her. Nothing. I emailed her finally and she had gotten nothing. She checked her junk/trash and it went there. So, the prize was a $10 egift card. I know it will fit and be the right color for her. Happy Spending, Julia!

Have you ever seen Mothman? Did it frighten you? Cause nightmares?

Are you making Christmas display for the yard? Ornaments for the tree? Anything Christmas?

Have you bought stamps before the price goes up soon?

Just My Toenails and Christmas Cards

Addressing Christmas cards continues, just a few cards at a time. It will get done eventually. I love cards but refuse to buy full price. I bought more stamps, some Christmas and others just to use. They are flowers in the snow sort of thing. 

The last time we had appointments with the podiatrist, I did not go because I was ill. Same with the time before. Even though I slept less than three hours on Tuesday night, I got up, bathed and got dressed. My toenails had gotten so long that they caught on my pants legs when I put on pants. I lay down for a nap afterwards and could only sleep one hour. So, I am fading fast tonight. 

I finally got a package into a box and taped up. Yay for me. 

Tommy brushed me again last night. I am now wondering if that is enough. It helps my swollen legs and feet. Maybe twice would be better?

Dinner was Stove Top Stuffing, cranberries, and turkey casserole. I put the SS into a colander and shook out all the powdered spices, ALL. I put cranberry sauce and brown meat turkey in it. That and vegetables were dinner. I left of the soup. It was okay, not a winner, but turkey roasted after Thanksgiving is gone. 

Tommy pulled out two 1-pound chubs of ground beef. I am thinking spaghetti and a meatloaf. Maybe soup? Who knows? Planning ahead, he will pull out a package of bscb to cook with vegetable. I want to watch for a cheap turkey breast, too, and buy several for the freezer for next year. However, bscb is fine for my taste.

Plus, I am in the mood for steak. I love round steak. It is tasty, thin and easy to mash out all the juice, dry it out. I know others don't care for my method of grilling steak, but I love it. 

Remember stamps go up in January or February, forgot which. I will buy more Christmas stamps since I bought the last pane/sheet.

Okay, time for my brushing.

What cut of steak do you like?

Anyone love round steak like I do?

Personal "Christmas Club" Postage Stamps Savings Account

Sometimes, I save stamps through the year and have enough stamps saved by Christmas to use them and not have to fork over money to the PO for mailing gifts. It is sort of like a Christmas club savings account, but with stamps. This is akin to saving change all year to spend it at Christmas. Saving stamps is my unique parsimonious scheme.

I did not set out to do this, but one year I knew I could not afford to mail my gifts that I had worked so hard to acquire for little throughout the year. As I scrounged for stamps so I would not have to come up with cash, I found a stamp here and a stamp there. Those single stamps, forgotten by me, helped to save almost the whole cost of mailing a box.

Often, I find envelopes stamped and never mailed. If you cut these stamps off and affix to a package with Elmer's glue, you have salvaged a stamp. Right now, I have an envelope with a 33 cent stamp. This will go into my stash of Christmas stamps. The stamp would never have been thrown away! But, now I have a new goal for stamps! It is my new Christmas tradition!

Some of the stamps were not adequate for mailing a letter after postage went up and I had forgotten to buy penny stamps. Others were just lost. Then, there were the penny stamps I bought and did not use. Yes, those packages had loads of stamps!

Using less cash and more forgotten stamps worked for me! Now, I just set aside the sheets with at least three stamps left and use those at Christmas for gift mailing. Setting aside three stamps each month for a year: 3 stamps x $.42 x 12 months=$14.12.

You must realize I don't use a book of stamps each month. So, I will not have deliberately set aside stamps that will mail a box without using some cash. However, if you do use many books of stamps during the year, this "savings plan" will work for you. A flat-rate box costs $10.95 or $14.95 at USPS, depending on the size box.

One year around September, I started saving change with the express intent of using it for mailing gifts. Since I mail gifts for three people to NYC and five in Texas, I put all gifts for one destination in one box. The weight of the gifts does not matter. However, they must all fit in one flat rate box.

I do and can use change during the year even if I am saving it. Stamps can only be used for one thing--mailing items.

Has anyone ever scrounged for stamps to mail a letter or box?