My Tireless Retirement - Week 87

 

My vacation/staycation came to an end at the beginning of last week and I was so thrilled with how it turned out.  I had plenty of downtime to relax as well as loads of time spent doing fun stuff while visiting with my friends.  A lot of movies were watched during the week.  I was able to do everything I had hoped to do and then some.  It was a great week!

 

My sweet little helper

I love my cute little tree!

All of my fall décor has been gathered up and put away until next year and I brought in my two Christmas totes from the garage.  The red one holds all of my neatly organized ornaments and decorations while the large gray one keeps my tree, two mini trees, my wreath and the lights.  This year I am down to one string of tree lights and another one made it into the trash after I determined it had a short in it.  However, I used two of the bulbs from it to replace two that had burnt out in the working stand before I tossed it.  I had it added on my list to pick up two more sets of lights at Home Depot this year so I’m all ready to go next year when I decorate again.

 

I may have been watching Die Hard while I was decorating

Loss leaders at Fred Meyer
I also had a coupon for the mandarins

I returned to work on Monday and on the way home I stopped at the Fred Meyer gas station to fuel up the truck using my fuel rewards points to save me 10¢ per gallon.  Next was to Walgreens and pick up my latest order of photos (years 2014 & 2015) I had uploaded to be printed.  Again I used a promo coupon code to save 50% OFF on my order, which was very helpful as this one is my largest photo order yet.  I then made a quick trip into Fred Meyer for cheese and milk that were loss leaders in their latest sales ad.  To finish up I went next door to Home Depot and picked up the light strands that I wanted.

 

Replacement lights for $3.48 each
Fred Meyer has them for $12.99!  That's a bit steep!

Homegrown tomatoes

Tomato sauce!

I worked again on Tuesday but was off again on Wednesday so  I filled up my largest slow cooker with all of the garden tomatoes I’d been collecting throughout the summer and adding the green tomatoes I’d brought in as they ripened and had put into bags in my freezer.  I let it cook on high for four hours and then used my immersion blender to make them into sauce.  I then let it cook down and thicken for another two hours.  After that I filled up seven pint jars and canned it in my water bath canner.  While to some this may seem like a pretty meager outcome it is the perfect size for me.  This sauce will last me quite a while, possibly until summertime when new tomato plants will be producing in my garden again.  Seven pints of homemade organic tomato sauce for my pantry.  I call that a success.

 

I added these to my LTFS

My big haul from Winco

I worked again on Thursday and on the way home did my “big” shop for December a daily early at Winco since I was in the neighborhood.  I didn’t need a whole lot, mainly some fresh produce, cream for my coffee, eggs (the chickens are on winter break) and a few pantry items for some upcoming holiday baking and to add to my long term food storage.  I had been working on a detailed list of items I needed and some that were want items and only purchased what I felt was a good price.  Some of the items on my list I am planning to purchase when I find them on sale or markdown.  While I didn’t get everything on my list I did manage to pick up the bulk of what I had planned.

 

A few items to replace what I removed from my LTFS

I was gifted these pumpkins for my chickens

I finished out my week along with my grocery shopping pretty much where I began.  We got our first snow of the season and I braved the roads after lunch heading out to Fred Meyer where I picked up a couple of the items on my list that I didn’t get at Winco.  While I was there I treated myself to a cozy scented jar candle that was on sale.  I’m all stocked up once again and ready for whatever meal, appetizer or baked good I may be making this month.

This should keep them busy for a little bit

 

I got all of my Christmas cards ready for the mail

All of my Christmas cards have been made out and are going into the mail today.  That is truly the biggest thing I had left on my list to complete so I’m in really good shape this year.  It is definitely going to be a low stress Christmas this year I think.  I sure hope so anyway.

 

Trust me, kitties on a tree is
better than kitties in a tree 😉

First snowfall of the season!

I don't think the chickens are impressed

That about does it for me.  I had a super great week and I hope you did as well.  Who’s put up their Christmas tree?  Anyone else still have gifts to buy?  What is your favorite holiday movie?  Got snow?