Confessions of a Former Stocker

Shortly after I was diagnosed last year, I noticed that my appetite had changed.  Suddenly many of the things I'd eaten in the past just didn't taste good any more.  Burger and fries?  No appeal.  Pizza?  No thanks.  Ice Cream?  Eh, not so much.  What I really started craving was much healthier foods.  Lots of fruit and veggies, a little bit of lean beef and chicken, Greek yogurt, plain pasta, frozen fruit bars.  And I can't eat a lot at one time.  In fact, often for breakfast and lunch I just sort of snack.  Maybe some yogurt for breakfast and a while later a piece of fruit.  Then around lunch time, a bit of cheese and some nuts.  Later maybe another piece of fruit and a few crackers.

I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the medications that I take, but there was definitely a huge difference.  Additionally with the heart disease component of the cancer, I've really had to cut back on the amount of sodium I consume.  Which is really a good thing!  Honestly, it's quite shocking to find out how much sodium we take in every day.  Shocking and scary!  Until the edema started last year, I hadn't really worried much about my sodium intake.  Now I notice.  Trust me.  When your ankles become cankles, it's hard not to notice!

Anyway.

Though we've changed the way we eat, we haven't changed what our cupboards hold.  Well, technically we've added some things - like lower sodium chicken and beef broth, lower sodium soy sauce, and a wide variety of different snacks - but we haven't taken anything away.  And I admit, it's overwhelming to me when I open the cupboards to find something.  Rather than sort through what's in the cupboard - which I haven't the energy to do - I choose to pick up whatever we need for a recipe at the market.  I know I'm only putting off the inevitable task of cleaning out the cupboards, but at least I'd been able to avoid it just a little longer.

Until last weekend.

We'd been talking about going the 'Graze' snack route, (but creating the snacks in our own containers and taking them to work -- much cheaper than subscribing to Graze or it's competitors) and had been doing so for about 2 weeks.  It's worked out well, but the snacks were just sitting on the counter taking up space because there wasn't space in the cupboard.  So I did it:  I broke down and bought some of these awesome containers...                                                  

The cereal and snack cupboard was fun to organize!  There were a few products that had expired, or crackers that had gone stale, but overall, it went together pretty well - things were much more organized and accessible.  Just what you want when you clean out your cupboards!  Then…I headed over to the canned goods and mixes cupboard.  Oh.My.  When had it become so disorganized and crowded?  The cupboard was so full I swear I heard it moan under it's own weight when I opened the doors.  Where to start?  Kevin took a break from what he was doing to come in to help - and I'm so thankful he did!  Many of the canned goods had expired and most of the rest of them, as well as the rice mixes, etc., had SO MUCH SODIUM that we knew we couldn't keep them.  We would never eat them, so it wasn't even a question - they had to go.  We filled up a large box to donate to our local food pantry and dumped out the products that had expired.  We were overwhelmed with the many things that we hadn't used and didn't really need.  I decided right then and there that I would never again stock this much stuff in our cupboards.  There are only two of us for Heaven sakes.  It hurt my poor little frugal heart to see all of the waste we'd created.  It was senseless.  From now on our cupboards will hold just enough. I don't care if soup is on sale for just twenty five cents a can - we don't eat it.  We've become soup snobs and are really only interested in our own homemade soups.  Canned veggies?  Blech.  Bring on the fresh stuff or nothing at all.  After we removed all of the things we can't eat, and tossed out the expired items, our cupboards were a thing of beauty.  I kept opening them to peek inside and make sure everything was still in its proper place.  

Ahhh.  So simple and yet so extraordinary at the same time.  Be honest - when was the last time you cleaned out your cupboards?  Don't you think it's time? Go on, go…clean!  It will make you feel better!

The Great Pumpkin … Mystery

(I have no idea why part of this post, and all of the last post is in black…talk about your mysteries!) 

So I’m doing a little advanced planning.  I’m planning on making those adorable plush velvet pumpkins that are so popular in the fall (see, told ya I was planning in advance!).  One of the things I love about the pumpkins is that their stems are real pumpkin stems - which is what brings me to the advanced planning bit…

This year we had 4 pumpkins of various sizes and shapes on our front porch.  They will meet their demise this weekend to make way for something a little more holiday appropriate, but before they do, Kevin is going to carve off the pumpkin stems for me.  Four.  Only four.  Now, of course, I wish I’d planned even further in advance and picked up a few more pumpkins before they were all gone.  But alas, I did not.

However.  An interesting thing happened over the weekend.  Kevin and I were driving along one of our favorite routes and we passed a house that had bunches and bunches of pumpkins lining the wall, driveway and front porch.  The pumpkins were all shapes, sizes and varieties.  Sooo cool!  We passed in on Saturday.  Then again on Sunday.  I drive home from work that way, so Monday and Tuesday I spied the pumpkins again.  Finally on Wednesday, I decided to go up to the house and ask if, before they tossed them out, I could have a couple for my craft project.  I wrote out a slip of paper with my name and phone number and the word ‘Pumpkins’ on it to hand to the homeowner should they agree with my request.  So.  I ring the doorbell and a very nice lady answered the door.  I told her that I had a strange request.  She immediately told me that she was not the homeowner, but she asked if the request was about the pumpkins.  I said it was and asked if the homeowner was around, and sure enough, she was.  She joined the other lady at the front door and when I mentioned the pumpkins, they both giggled.  They said that the pumpkins really weren’t theirs.  The homeowner said that she woke up one morning and went out the front door, and there they all were...dozens of pumpkins!  Seventy in all.  She still has no idea who put them there or why.  It’s the Great Pumpkin...mystery!  She invited me to take as many as I wanted, wished me a Merry Christmas and that, my friends, was that!  I am now the proud owner of six more pumpkins with fun and unique stems for my craft project.  Yahoo!  

PS - She did mention that the pumpkins had been disappearing over the last several days and that I was the first one to actually ask if I could have one.  I’m glad I did the right thing and asked -- it was completely worth it to hear the story of how she acquired all of those pumpkins!

A Space Odyssey

We're very lucky to live in southern California and have access to one of the most incredible machines NASA ever built: the Space Shuttle.

Last winter, the Space Shuttle Endeavour wound its way through the streets of Los Angeles to its new home - the California Science Center.  Currently the shuttle is being housed in a temporary location at the center while its new abode is being built and fussed over.  Since it is so close, we just had to go and check it out for ourselves.

AMAZING!

You've seen photos before, so you know that it's really something of a beast, but you really have no idea just how monstrous it is until you're in the same room with it.  It was cool to be able to walk around and check it out in person.  A first hand view of each of the tiles, having their own little designated number.  The enormity of the engines.  It's great height and girth.  The entirety of it is just awesome.

If you happen to be in town, this is something you definitely want to take the time to see.  After all, how many times in your lifetime do you really have to stand up close and personal with a Space Shuttle?  Oh yeah, and ... it's FREE!  Exactly!

The Maxwell Files

Dad's office used to be in a small out building in back of the house.  He set up shop out there years ago and ran a very successful home-based business until just two months before he passed away.

After we moved into the house, one of the monumental tasks was to sort through everything in the office to see what we needed to keep and what could be tossed.  Eventually we would be turning this space into Kevin's drum room, so we needed to move out all of the furniture.  We were able to deal with most of this last summer - at least the larger pieces (desk, large wooden filing cabinets, etc.), but knew that we still had a lot to work on over the spring.

We narrowed it down to boxes and boxes and boxes of files and old binders, and one small filing cabinet that was in pretty rough shape.  The paperwork in the files and binders we organized and boxed up for our credit union's annual 'Shred Day'.  I was wondering what to do with the small filing cabinet when it dawned on me that we could really use it for our own paperwork, but it just looked terrible.

I then remembered that many years ago, I'd acquired an old filing cabinet - about the same size as this one - from my dad's old business.  It, too, was in pretty rough shape but I was able to bring it back to life simply by covering it with Contact paper.  I covered this particular cabinet about 18 years ago and it still looks great!

Yep, I had another spring break project ahead of me =)

All in all it's a fairly simple process.  The thing I love about it is that the Contact paper is sticky and adheres well to the cabinet.  The think I hate about it is that the Contact paper is sticky and adheres well to the cabinet!  It takes a bit of patience, peeling and unpeeling until you have it just right,  but the end result is so worth it!  For the small investment of $7.00 for the roll of Contact paper, and about two hours of my time, we ended up with a very respectable filing cabinet that I don't mind having out in the open.

See for yourself.

Before:  

And after:  

Kinda cute, right?!

...now I just have to work on getting our paperwork dealt with and placed inside the filing cabinet.  Good thing summer break is right around the corner!

My own little frugal fest!

Last week I posted about the great deal I got on those cute lil boots - and they were a smokin' deal!  But actually, I've been finding really wonderful deals all over the place.

With prices on just about everything going, up, up, up, I've really been looking through coupons and scouring to find the best deals, and I've had some great success.  I want to keep myself motivated, so I thought I'd sharing some of my finds would keep bargain hunting forefront in my mind.  (Yeah, like I'm not always looking for a bargain!)

Eggs
Last weekend while grocery shopping I found a great deal on eggs.  They had several dozen cartons marked down to just .50 cents each!  The sell-by date was coming up soon, but eggs are still good for 3-4 weeks after their sell-by date, so I decided to stock up a bit; I bought 4 dozen eggs.  In my area, eggs normally run about $1.99 per dozen, so this deal resulted in just over a 74% savings.

Clothing
The same day I purchased my boots, I also purchased some clothing: four pairs of pants and a winter sweater.  The total for all five items came to just $52.32, including tax.  All of the items were between $8.00 and $10.00.  When I was removing the tags, I calculated out what the price would have been if I'd paid full-price (which, of course I'd never do!).  Full price on everything would have been $205.00, so again, I saved right around 74%.

Beauty Products
Okay, I'll admit it - I love ULTA!  I'm a member of their rewards program so each time I buy something, points are credited to my account.  When you have enough points, you can redeem them for a certain amount off your bill.  I'd bought some things in the fall, and a gift over the holidays, so I had some points on my account, but not all that many.  Last week they sent me an email stating that they'd added more points to my account as a 'bonus', but I had to use the points by Saturday.  The points on my account totaled a $9.00 reward for me - yay!  I also found a coupon for $3.50 off any purchase of $10.00 or more and I was able to combine both the $9.00 reward and the $3.50 off coupon.  One of my favorite products is BioSilk.  It's a wonderful moisturizer for both hair and skin, but it's a bit on the pricey side - $14.00 for a medium-sized bottle (It lasts a long time, though. I've had the current bottle for just over a year.)  I am down to the last bit in the bottle I have, so I thought I'd go and pick some up.  While I was there, I also found the mineral make-up I like in the clearance bin.  The company is changing the packaging, so the current lot is clearanced out.  The make-up normally sells for $12.99, but I paid just $6.49 for it.  Without the sale price on the make-up, coupons or points, my purchase would have been $29.42.  Instead, I paid just $8.71 total.  That's a savings of $20.71, or savings of over 70%.

Produce
We have a nearby grocery that has phenomenal weekly deals on produce.  I don't go often, but I'm going to put it on my weekly To-Do list for Wednesdays.  Why Wednesdays?  They have a double-ad special that day.  That means that you get the sale prices for whatever was in the ad last Wednesday, and the sale prices for whatever is in their ad for this Wednesday.  Because Kevin was running some errands close to this grocery yesterday, he stopped and picked up a couple of things I wanted from this store:  bunch spinach - .48 cents per bunch; haas avocados - .48 cents each; red bell peppers - .88 cents each; Texas ruby red grapefruit - .48 cents each; ataulfo mangos - .48 cents each.  Great deals!  Kevin bought 3 bunches of spinach, 6 avocados, 2 red peppers, 4 grapefruit and 4 mangos.  The total bill came to just $11.00.  I can hardly wait to see what's in the ad for this week!

YeeHaw, Y'all

Years ago I had a really nice pair of black cowboy boots.  They were given to me as a gift, and there was a time in my life when I wore them - A LOT.   Time went on and things changed and I changed right along with them, and sooner or later, I stopped wearing the boots.  I kept them; they had a their own little spot in my closet, but I never wore them.

When Kevin and I moved to the Prospect house, I donated them in our move.  They were still in excellent condition and I figured that somewhere along the way, someone else would buy them and love them the way I once had.

Six or eight months ago, I began looking at boots online.  I found several pairs I liked, but there were two things holding me back:  1) every pair of boots fits and feels different, so it's difficult to purchase them online when you aren't sure, and 2) good ones are prohibitively expensive!

Last week jury duty ended early and I thought I'd do a little shoe shopping.  While I didn't find any shoes, I did find a cute pair of cowboy boots for a great price.  YAHOO!!  They are not 'top of the line' by any stretch of the imagination, but they are just fine for what I had in mind.

For the fall/winter season, they had been priced at $80.00; I bought them on clearance last week for just $30.00!  That's a definite bargain in my book!

Kinda cute, huh?

Preserving the Season

One of our teachers at work has been bringing in fresh, homegrown oranges from her tree.  Let me tell you, they are addictive!  Thankfully they're good for me because I can't stop eating them.  I'm not sure why oranges that come from your own (or a friend's) tree taste so much better than the ones you buy in the grocery store, but they definitely do.

Last week when she stopped by the office, I thanked her for bringing them in and told her how much I'd been enjoying the oranges.  I mentioned that one of my goals this year was to learn how to make orange marmalade.  She thought that sounded fabulous and asked how many oranges I'd need.  I told her that the recipes I'd been looking at required 8 or nine oranges.  Two days later, she left a bag of oranges on my desk =)

Since I'm definitely one who is always up for a challenge, I knew that my first attempt at orange marmalade was in my very near future.  I mentioned it to Kevin and he thought it sounded like a great project for us for the long President's Day weekend.  Having given donated all of my canning jars in our move last summer (I know, I know, but honestly we were too darn tired to move and/or find a place for one more thing), I stopped at OSH one day and picked up a dozen canning jars and some paraffin.  (Yes, I know that paraffin is not 'the' standard for canning, but it's what I've always used to make jam.  If it was good enough for my grandmother, it's good enough for me!).

When the weekend finally rolled around, we were ready.  Kevin and I were both very excited to attempt something new.  Moreover, we could hardly wait to taste the end result on a warm, buttery biscuit.  Mmmmm.

What we discovered is that orange marmalade is not difficult to make.  Compared to other jams we've made in the past, it's a bit more time consuming (particularly preparing the ultra fine strips of peel that go in the marmalade), but certainly nothing prohibitive.  And with only three ingredients - oranges, sugar and water - it's an inexpensive way to preserve the bounty of the citrus season.

If you have an abundance of oranges, why not give it a try?  It's a cinch, and you'll be glad to have those gleaming jars of yummy orange marmalade lining your pantry shelves.

Dodger FanFest

Ho.Ly.Cow.

This past Saturday, Debbie and I were scheduled to have a girls day.  But it was also Dodger FanFest day and the boys reallllllly wanted to go, so we decided to go to FanFest and make it a Family day instead of just girls day.

But, Kevin ended up auditioning for a band and Bill was busy working on their laundry room re-model, so Deb and I decided to take the boys ourselves and make a day of it.

Muuuuuaaaahhhhaaaaaaa.  Little did we know what was in store for us!

All of the information we read said that the gates would open at 10:00 a.m., but the event didn't start until 11:00 a.m.  We figured that if we arrived shortly after 10:00, we'd be fine.  NOT.  We arrived to find the gates had opened earlier and by the time we parked the car and walked over to the line, we were, in fact late. How late you ask?  Well .... let's put it this way:  Here we are:  (well, more precisely, here's Deb - doesn't she look happy?! The boys have already wandered over to the merchandise area by this time ... and we've only been here a few minutes!)

...and here's the line we're waiting in:

Why yes, that line does go up one side of the hill, and those folks you see headed in the other direction back down the hill?  Well, those are allllllllllllllllllllll the folks that are in line AHEAD of us.  No.  Don't worry.  Really, it wasn't that bad.  A brief THREE hours is all it took.  

For what, you ask?  WHY were we standing in line for three hours?  Well, to get wristbands of course!  Why, you're asking yourself, did we need wristbands?  Well, to get an autograph, silly!  Whose autograph?  Well, that kind of depended.  On what?  Who was still there - and whose autograph hadn't already 'sold-out'.  

Now it all makes perfect sense, right?  

No?  

Yeah, well, after three hours in line, a lot of crazy things began to make sense.  At least, more sense than they would have made if we weren't delirious from waiting in that line while suffering both thirst and having to use the bathroom.

But I digress.  I will say that while we were in line, we did see some lovely sites...

...and met some interesting (albeit mostly whiney) people...

...and still had to stand in line once we got said wristbands...

but was it really worth it?  Well, sure.  I mean really - we have stories to tell, boys who were thrilled to be here, and an autographed baseball, so yeah, I'd say it was worth it.  (Yes, Jeff - we did stand in line to get Luis Cruz' autograph.  Please don't ask again!)

January in Southern California

Ahhhh California.

While the east coast is basking in several inches of snow, we were busy basking in the sunshine of a delightfully warm and sunny Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

To celebrate, Kevin and I headed to Huntington Library - sunglasses, sun hats and picnic basket in tow.

As always, the grounds were magnificent.  The roses weren't in bloom yet, but it's definitely camellia season.  They are just gorgeous.  

It's been a while since we've been there, so we had a great time wandering through the gardens and stopping in a few of the museums to check out the current exhibits.  Before we left, we found the perfect shade tree under which to picnic.  It was the perfect way to spend a holiday with my honey.