My Tireless Retirement - Week 97

 

Hello, hello, hello my friends!  I do hope everyone is doing well.  Another busy and fulfilling week has rocketed right on by.  I worked eighteen hours last week between the senior center and the community center.  I’m also working on a special project with the city finance department.  They’re keeping me hopping!  And I love every minute of it!  It is so nice to feel fulfilled and have a purpose in my daily life.  I also have another project in the works once tax season wraps up and I’ll be excited to share that with you once it is actually scheduled.

 

I managed to meet up with a couple of my gal pals last week and we went out to dinner.  We had a really nice time and enjoyed some good food at a local restaurant here in town.  By going during their happy hour we managed to keep it budget friendly as well.

 

I filled up my truck with gasoline for the first time this year.  The tank wasn’t empty, I still had a third of a tank, and with gas prices much lower now it only took $25 out of my $35 budget to top it up.  I didn’t buy any fuel last month.  Riding the bus has definitely made an impact on my overall fuel use and budget.

 

Ways I Saved $$: 

I rode the bus again on two of the days I worked.  I told myself I don’t have to ride the bus when it rains and have to deal with wet clothes if I don’t have to so I drove to work the other two days.  I think that’s fair. 

I saved money by shopping at different stores in order to get what I wanted for the best prices.  I ended up shopping at Wal-Mart for a few non grocery items I needed and since I was there I checked and found they had the molasses I wanted for my LTFS at the best price over Winco, Albertson’s or Fred Meyer so I picked that up.  That ended up being the same situation with a bottle of lime juice that was also on my list.  Albertson’s had a three pound bag of mandarins on sale so I popped in there on my way home from work and treated myself to a bag.  They are so good!

 

When I needed to use the oven I made sure I filled it full and made the most of heating that puppy up.  Once everything was done I shut it off and left the door open a little bit to allow the heat to escape into the kitchen and help make it nice and toasty.

 

I had a pretty easy week of cooking 😀

Meals I Prepared:

 

I started of my week with a much anticipated chicken pot pie, a recipe I haven’t made in well over ten years, if not longer.  I used to make this one often when my children were little.  It’s just a simple filling topped with biscuits I made from scratch.  I used a jar of my home canned chicken breast and some frozen mixed vegetable in the filling along with a can of cream of chicken soup that I wanted to use up and get out of the house.  I made a full batch of biscuit dough and baked up what was left over to enjoy with my soup and salad meals.

The rest of my meals were simply soups and salads with biscuits on the side.  I have zero complaints about all of the delicious meals I’ve been enjoying lately.

 

Overall it was such a nice week and I got to do pretty much everything I expected to.  I hope you all enjoyed a very blessed week and I very much look forward to hearing about it.  Let me know how it went.  In the meantime take care my friends and I wish you a great week ahead.

 

FYI - My retirement week runs from Friday through Thursday.