My Tireless Retirement - Week 42

 

Hello my fine friends.  I enjoyed a really nice, albeit busy little week, and it flew by pretty fast.  How was it for you?  I hope it was a good one!

 

I found more stuff in my closet to get rid of

After my sciatica resolved and I was able to move easily once again (without swearing) I decided to reprint my decluttering checklist and jut start over since I couldn't remember where I had left off.  I am absolutely amazed with how many more things I have found to get rid of.  In my bedroom I found a purse (my neighbor ended up taking that home), a pair of shoes, two scarves and an oldcell phone.

 

My "new" shoe shine kit

In my second pass through the hall closet and in the spirit of using up what I already have I made myself a shoe shine kit using a zippered vinyl case some curtains had come in and part of an old bath towel.  I cut small rectangles of towel to use as polish applicator pads and a 12" X 12" square of towel to make a buffing cloth.  I zigzagged the edges of the towel so it won't unravel and make a mess.  I was able to combine all of my polishes, leather dye, tennis shoe white and water proofing sprays into one spot, neat and tidy, easy to grab and go, plus I now know where everything I need to take care of my shoes, boots and leather jacket is located.  In the process I decluttered two tins of dried out polish, as well as a lunch box, two old digital cameras and accessories and an old backpack from that hall closet.

 

As I was decluttering in December I came up with a much needed project involving my jewelry.  First of all, I don't own jewelry of any significant value and what I do have isn't much.  Primarily I only wear rings and earrings, I've never been much of a necklace or bracelet wearer, and most of my jewelry came from ShopKo or Fred Meyer so I've had it for ages.  I love earrings that match and go with what I am wearing and since I've had my earrings for so long the coating had worn off of the fish hooks to the point they made my earlobes itch whenever I wore them.  I've always had to have hypo allergenic posts and hooks, but I guess those don't last forever.

 

Just like new!

Last month I ordered a new set (25 pair) of hypoallergenic fish hooks with silicone backs from Amazon so I could sit down and replace all of the old ones with new.  I spent about an hour or so replacing all of the hooks and then cleaning all of my earrings and rings in my ultrasonic cleaner.  I also cleaned the glass pillar candle holder I use to hold my jewelry.  I decluttered everything I didn't wear or like as well as a couple earrings that were missing a mate.  Then I hung up all my earrings along the edge of the candle holder.  They look like new again.  I do have some family pieces that hold no monetary value, simply sentimental, as most of it is costume jewelry.  I was able to move most of those items into my sentimental bin

 

Ultrasonic cleaning my earrings

While I was at it I also cleaned all of my eyeglasses and tightened the screws since I had the ultrasonic cleaner out.  Why not?  Now all of my jewelry is ready to go and enjoy wearing once again.  And all of my glasses are nice and clean too.  It was a good little project.  I even thinned out a pair of eyeglasses I haven't worn in eons.

 

My eyeglasses got all cleaned up and in their cases

I cannot believe how much food I had squirreled away in the freezer in my kitchen.  I had pulled out quite a few items the week before and this past week I ended up with a container of cooked stew meat with onions and garlic which ended up going into my smallest slow cooker and I made chili.  A container of no crust pumpkin pie filling leftover from Thanksgiving which I baked up in my toaster oven.  Some cornbread which went great alongside the chili.

 

A beautiful little pumpkin pie

I still had half a container of turkey taco meat leftover to use up so I cooked it with some taco sauce and had tacos for dinner and lunch again the next day.  My neighbor had given me a loaf of pumpkin bread at Christmas that I had frozen so I took that out and thawed that for breakfast/brunch throughout the week.

 

I used stew meat & a pint jar of beans to make this chili
It was delicious!

As part of my quarterly housekeeping I wanted to get my curtains all down and washed up so I worked on that one afternoon.  It doesn't take long to get them down and back up again, most of the time is spent waiting on the washer and dryer.  I also gathered up all the throw blankets and pillows and got them washed up last week too.  Check and check!

 

I made this one for my friend to take home

Midweek I made a lasagna using all pantry and freezer items and invited a friend over to help me eat it.  I peeled and sliced a couple carrots and roasted those along with some frozen green beans as a side.  Since I knew I was going to use the oven to bake the lasagna and roast the veggies I decided to make some bread dough to bake at the same time.  I made two loaves of whole wheat bread and sent one of the loaves home with my friend as well as half the lasagna.  He was super happy about that.

 

Half pints of Italian sausage

I was able to get the five pounds of Italian sausage that had been thawing in my refrigerator cooked up and canned in half pint jars.  I made a big pot of split pea soup in my largest slow cooker using up some Christmas 2021 ham I had vacuum sealed and frozen.  Once the soup was done I canned it into seven pint jars plus a container in the fridge to enjoy during the week. I put a few jars in the pantry and the rest went into the long term food storage with the pork roast I canned the week before.  I also sent a cottage cheese container of soup home with my friend.  He made out really well. LOL

 

Split pea soup

My last "big" project to take on last week was to replace the toilet seats in both bathrooms.  They were looking pretty chipped up and I'd started to scrub the finish off in spots so it was definitely time for an upgrade.  They were looking pretty dingy.  Once that was done I was thrilled as this task had been on my "To Do"  list since this time last year.  I was even more thrilled that it didn't cost me a dime because I had used a Home Depot gift card I had earned doing surveys last month when I did my online order.  I even have a couple dollars left on that gift card to use on my next project.

 

After replacing the seat & scrubbing the bowl with a pumice stone
it's like having brand new toilets! 😂

After that I took the rest of the week off and enjoyed the snowy weather that moved into our area.  It sure is pretty, especially when you don't have to drive in it if you don't want to.  I happily enjoyed it from the comfort of my warm and cozy home.

 

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Let me know what you've been up to lately.  Any good bargains at the grocery store lately?  How about decluttering?  Who's making progress on that front?  Also, are you getting snow where you are at?