My Tireless Retirement - Week 104 - Happy Anniversary!!!

 

It seems a bit hard to believe, but today marks my two year anniversary as a retired person!  It just keeps getting better and better too!  Did you have a nice Easter yesterday?  I sure hope so.

 

Do you ever have one of those weeks where odd little things keep happening and as a result your emotions end up all over the place?  That is how the majority the past week was for me and then I managed to pull myself out of it.  If it wasn’t for my friends I don’t know where I’d be.  I had a great visit with one of my friends I hadn’t seen in a while and then another one contacted me the following day.  Then I met a third friend for lunch on Wednesday.  I’m so blessed and fortunate to still have so many wonderful people in my life.

 

Tuesday evening my BFF took me to see the latest Jason Statham movie at the cheap seat theater.  While Jason Statham doesn’t necessarily do it for him he knows it does it for me, ha, ha, ha.  I’m only one Jason Statham movie away from a really good mood and I thought this one was pretty dang awesome.  When we left the theater I was definitely a happy camper.  Now you know, this girl loves her kick butt action flicks.  Yep, it’s true.

 

Full disclosure – The BFF did some grocery shopping for Easter and he laughed at me for setting it all out and taking a picture.  I told him he was messing with my grocery budget challenge and he told me to get over it, which I happily did.  In my opinion, his best buy was the three pounds of butter he picked up for $2.19 each (haven’t seen it that low in a very long time) and the ham for 77¢ a pound, which was a lower sales price than it has been in years.  Usually we’re doing good at 88¢ a pound at the holidays.

 

I held out hoping potatoes would be on sale for Easter and they were.  Not at the prices I’m used to seeing but much lower than the regular prices they’ve been charging.  The last time I bought potatoes was just before Thanksgiving and I got ten pounds (two 5# bags for $1.29 each).  I used up the last four from that lot when I made a potato salad for Easter so the timing was perfect.  Last week I picked up a 5# bag of russets at Fred Meyer for $1.99 and then a 5# bag of red potatoes at Albertson’s for $1.99 so I should be set with potatoes for a good long while.  I also picked up another two pound block of cheddar cheese at Albertson’s for $5.99.

 

Ways I Saved $$ 

I graciously allowed someone else to do the holiday grocery shopping and most of the cooking.  I baked a pie and used up some granny smith apples I had in the refrigerator.  I have to admit it was kind of nice to be treated as a guest in your own home.

Gas prices jumped up again last week.  I only drove a couple of times, grouped my errands to maximize my trips and rode the bus the rest of the time to get me where I needed to go.

 

Meals I Prepared: 

I pulled frozen leftover dinners and homemade burritos from the freezer to thaw and reheat.  I also made soups from items I already had.  I found a package of Chinese noodles in the pantry and tried my hand at making homemade ramen and it was pretty darn good.  I used home canned turkey vegetable soup as the base and dressed it up with minced garlic and soy sauce.  I added a drizzle of sesame oil and some Thai chili sauce to mine to give it a punch.  I’ll definitely make this again.

 

By Thursday things were leveling off and pretty much back to normal.  Sometimes you just have bumps in your road, but we persevere and continue on.  NO bad days!

  

FYI - My retirement week runs from Friday through Thursday.