My Tireless Retirement – Week 152

 

Hello, hello!  It’s March!  And almost spring!  Our weather has been wet, but warmer so that makes me a happy camper.  I enjoyed February, but most of it was freezing cold.  I’m itching to be outside more so warmer weather is right up my alley.  Looking ahead at the forecast I decided it was okay to set the main heat thermostat a few degrees lower.

 

I worked all day last Friday, as is my norm.  Those seniors wore me out!  I’m pretty sure I had my steps in by 10:00 a.m. so by the time I got home I was exhausted.  I was also grateful for leftovers to reheat in the microwave and a quiet evening to enjoy.

 

Saturday and Sunday made for a fun, but rainy, weekend.  I immersed myself in my art journal and quite a bit of paper crafting as well as a fair bit of time spent in the kitchen with a little meal prepping and canning some delicious homemade minestrone soup.  My soup shelf in my LTFS is almost completely restocked and I have plans for one more soup to finish filling it up.

 

My crafting helper

Monday afternoon I worked four hours and then on the way home I stopped at Winco and then went to Trader Joes to pick up some items on my shopping list for March.  I picked up fresh produce, a couple dairy items and a handful of pantry stock up items to go in my LTFS replacing items I’d recently used.

 

Tuesday I did something I’ve not done since I retired.  I did some serious shopping!  Armed with a list and a couple of good coupons I headed first to the mall where I picked up a new bra (my annual brassier purchase), a spring/summer nightgown to replace one I purged last summer and a pair of winter pajamas (Christmas kitties!) to replace my oldest set that is beginning to wear out.  All of these items came from the clearance rack at Dillards.  Next I went to Encore and bought a new pair of discounted Sketchers.  My oldest shoes will now replace my well worn project/yard shoes.  Then downstairs to Bath & Body Works to redeem a coupon for a FREE full sized item.  I chose a bottle of shower gel with a light rose fragrance.

 

After leaving the mall I went to Wal-Mart because there were a couple items on my grocery list I wasn’t able to get the day before.  I also had several non food items to get while I was there as well including oil and a filter to change the oil on the Subaru and canning lids and a couple new flats of canning jars.  After that I crossed the street to stop in at Costco for gas and then went inside to pick up a couple items on my list.  After completing my list I am now well set for the month of March and well into April and May.

 

I got home and put all of these things away then grabbed my largest slow cooker and started a new batch of chicken stock.  I added the bag of vegetable scraps and all of the chicken bones I’ve been collecting in the freezer and let that cook all day and overnight.  On Wednesday morning I strained the stock and canned it in pint jars.  As always I am very happy to have that bag of scraps and bones out of the freezer and used up to make something useful.  My efforts left me with nine jars of delicious and nutritious stock for my LTFS.  I also chopped up green onions to put away in the freezer.

 

On Thursday I worked that afternoon and brought another busy and productive week to a happy conclusion.  The food I prepared this past week was delicious, I got a few little tasks done around the house and outside and I did a boatload of crafting.  Win! 

 

FYI - My retirement week runs Friday through Thursday