My Tireless Retirement – Week 108

 

The view outside my kitchen window is glorious right now.  It often is, but with this season now in full swing I’m appreciating it more than ever.  Spring is definitely my most favorite of the four seasons and every time I look outside my heart swells.

 

After a busy week I treated myself to a day out on Saturday.  I hopped on the bus and went to my neighborhood shopping center where I treated myself to some truffles from the candy store and lunch out.  I had received a coupon at work for a FREE hamburger so my lunch only cost me $3 for a side of onion rings to go with my burger.  I brought my own water to drink.  The weather was perfect and I was able to eat outside on their patio.  Afterwards I went for a walk and then hopped back on the bus and made my way back home.

 

Between the candy store and lunch I popped into Dollar Tree and picked up a packet of stickers to use in my daily journal.  I also found a crossword puzzle book I thought I might like.  Once I was home I spent a fair amount of time decorating some journal pages and relaxing before I headed back outside and got busy pulling up all of the weeds that had popped up alongside the driveway and in some of the relief cracks.  I was able, once again, to give the chickens another bucket of leafy greens.

 

Phoebe laid me this giant egg last week
Pretty sure this is a double yoker

Now that the majority of the yard cleanup is pretty much done, I have one more flowerbed to work on and the pond to flush and get up and running, things are looking pretty much ship shape around here.  It feels so good as I walk up to my house each day and see how nice everything looks.  I’m hoping to get some more bark this year to spread in the flowerbeds and hopefully, if the price is right, I can get enough to finish the backyard around the raised garden beds.

 

Ways I Saved $$: 

I used a FREE hamburger coupon I was given at work to treat myself to a nice, inexpensive lunch out.  A rare treat indeed these days. 

I emptied the five gallon gas can into my truck to use it up so it doesn’t go bad.  I plan to refill it next time I go to the station and top up my tank.  For now though I have of fuel in the truck to get by with for a few more weeks.

After feeding the girls all of those weeds, I didn't need to refill their feeder as it still had quite a bit of feed in it.

 

Meals I Prepared: 

The tortellini soup I had made the previous week was rather filling so I didn’t eat as much as I thought I would.  I ended up with one more serving plus an extra meatball so I started off the week finishing that up. 

I made two very delicious salmon dinners with baked potatoes and steamed broccoli.  Oh my goodness, what a fantastic meal that was and on an extreme grocery budget no less.  A digital coupon offer from Albertson’s in March allowed me to purchase four salmon fillets for less than $5!  I figured it up and each serving came to less than $2!  A salmon dinner!  Where can you get two salmon dinners for only $4?  Oh wait, I know, my house.  Ha, ha. 

I used a pint jar of pasta sauce and one of spicy Italian sausage and peppers to make a little pasta dish.  I ended up with three meals for the week.  I also took some leftover rice as well a slice of ham from the freezer and made myself a small batch of fried rice one day.

 

My journaling class went well with only one little squabble between two participants.  Yes, that actually happened.  Will I be teaching another one?  I’m not sure.  We shall see if there is an interest for me to do one, if so, I’m game.  It was definitely not the experience I was thinking it would be, however it was an experience and I am glad I did it.

 

My rhubarb plants are already huge!

How did your week go?  Has spring arrived and is the weather warming up where you live?

 

FYI - My retirement week runs from Friday through Thursday.