My Tireless Retirement - Week 94

 

I know I am not alone in saying this but, Boy!  What a week it was!  Mainly because of the weather we had.  Winter showed up and we got it all at once this year.  It snowed and snowed and snowed and it was so pretty.  At one point we had snowflakes falling that were about two inches in diameter and I’m not even exaggerating.  I don’t recall ever seeing snowflakes that big before.  I just stood outside and marveled at it.  And then I realized that all of my shoveling I had been doing now needed to be redone.  That’s okay though, it was worth it.  It was just gorgeous!

 

Sometimes shoveling the snow is about
 the same as raking leaves in a windstorm 😄

One of my goals this year is to start using public transportation more this year meaning I would take the bus places instead of driving.  With the snowy weather and horrible road conditions I made the decision to go ahead and start using the city bus system and let someone else do the driving.  The first day I caught the bus, which was Tuesday, was to go to work and it was only 1° outside.  That ended up being the perfect test for my winter gear and I am so happy to report it kept me dry, warm and toasty.  I’m only a quarter mile from the bus stop that takes my right downtown and then I can either change buses or just walk the slightly over half a mile to work.  I chose to walk and it was great.

 

I was relieved the eggs made it home safe & sound

I love walking and I enjoy it even more when I have a purpose to it.  After I got off work on Tuesday I bundled myself back up and walked over to Winco to pick up a quart of cream and a dozen eggs as I was low on both of those items and I’d brought my backpack with me.  The cream was on sale for $2.98 a quart (haven’t seen that price in a good long while) so I decided to get two of them and the eggs.  Then I walked to the bus station and caught a ride home.  It was a really good day!

 

Well worn items I said good bye to

In the spirit of continued decluttering I had printed off my 30 day decluttering list at the beginning of this month and have been working on it bit by bit.  Last week I went through all of the drawers and cabinets in my kitchen and both bathrooms as well as my bedroom closet.  I found quite a few worn out items that needed to be tossed and one item, a Scentsy pot, to donate.  I haven’t used it in ages so I’m passing it along with the rest of the scented wax I had onto someone else.

 

Care to have a seat? 😁

On Thursday I made it out to the garage to do a general tidy up, top off all of the feed bins for the chickens, kitties and the bunny, emptied the recycling into my big blue wheelie bin, put away the remaining empty storage containers I had gotten out to do some re-organizing in the house and took an inventory of the pet food and supplies.  I do have enough to make it through the next month or so before I need to think about making a trip to the feed store.  Yay!

 

Ways I Saved $$: 

I used my city employee ID badge to ride the bus to work and back for FREE.  My little pickup truck enjoyed a week off and I saved on fuel.  More importantly I feel like I protected my truck from being in an accident due to the slippery roads. 

I kept my shopping to a minimum only spending around $8 at the grocery store.  I didn’t do any online or in person shopping other than the cream and eggs I bought at Winco.  I ate all of my meals at home using up items I already had on hand.

 

Meals I Prepared: 

It was a use it up kind of a week for me.  I began by eating up any leftovers I had in the refrigerator as well as enjoying some good hot soup after I had been outside for a while.  I opened two pint jars of taco soup that I had canned last year as well as a can of Progresso soup from my LTFS.  I do not plan to replace any of the store bought canned soups so I want to get the rest of what I have used up as soon as possible. 

I found a box of frozen waffles in the freezer that I had picked up from an Albertson’s FREE item offer.  I originally thought my daughter would use them, but she didn’t so I went ahead and prepared a couple along with a fried egg for a few brunches last week. 

About the only meal I truly cooked last week was to make up a package of Italian sausages with diced tomatoes, minced garlic and some basil along with a cup of penne pasta I boiled up to go with it.  There are five sausages in a package so took two of them and put them into the freezer to eat later and the other three were meals I had for supper.  I divided that one cup of pasta once it was cooked into three portions and that was more than enough for me as I’m not a huge pasta eater.  I also had some grated parmesan in the fridge to sprinkle on top of each meal.

 

After letting go of my old worn out pair of slippers I
got out the new slippers I'd purchased well over a year ago

I hope everyone is doing okay and if you were hit with any stormy weather or super frigid temperatures that all is well with you and yours.  Do stay safe and warm.  Take really good care of yourselves and let me know in the comments how your week went.

 

FYI - My retirement week runs from Friday through Thursday.