Layout:
Home > Archive: July, 2015

Archive for July, 2015

Making Jam and Chutney

August 1st, 2015 at 02:48 am

My day was spent making jam and chutney. We made 36 jars of peach ginger and peach and blueberry jam and another 21 jars of chutney. It was lots of fun doing it with two friends. And it was delicious!

Carpet Ordered, Peaches Purchased, Package Shipped

July 29th, 2015 at 11:58 pm

The three big things on the to-do list for today all got done. I ordered the office carpet: Shaw's Functional in a grey called "Operative." https://shawfloors.com/flooring/carpet/details/functional-j0060/effective

I also made it to the peach truck where the growers from Georgia sell from the back of the truck, bought two crates of peaches, then into Menards for more jars (on sale). Friday I have two friends coming over to make peach jam. It should be a fun day.

The shipped package was a bit of good financial news. DH's professor gave him a bunch of things from his office as a gift including an unopened Woody Allen box set. I like Woody Allen films, but not enough to own a box set, so I sold them on Amazon trade-in for $37. I may have made more if I was willing to wait to sell them, but they're just taking up space so have been shipped already.

I'll add that to my totals when Amazon credits me. I did use the healthcare assessment Visa gift card for the carpet deposit, so it sort of seems free.

August Spending is Ugly

July 28th, 2015 at 05:46 pm

I don't like our August spending. DH's tuition, home and car insurance, back to school spending, DH's annual life insurance are all due. It's always like this, and I'm always fretting about it. I think it's time to handle these big expenses differently. We have plenty of cash to cover them, but I need to face up to not being able to "cash flow" them.

Part of it is that DH objects to the extra couple of bucks it costs to pay the household insurance in more installments, but I'm switching it over to quarterly as we do with the car insurance. I know it's a psychological thing, but I hate taking money from savings to pay for this. I could set up a separate account, but honestly, for $3-4, quarterly makes me feel much better.

Now, over to the insurance website to handle that.

Goal Fulfillment on the Horizon

July 27th, 2015 at 05:48 pm

The carpet store is coming today to measure my office! We're about to get a goal checked off the list!

I'm planning on using the prepaid Visa that I got for the health assessment for 1/3 of it and am hoping to convince DH to use his too.

In other thrifty news, we're having zucchini "zoodles" from the garden for tonight's dinner.

As I expected, the textbook editor was pretty upset with the supplementary writer's work. I suspect he'll be fired as it seems he reused many of last edition's questions without checking the material appeared in this edition. I'm not happy that he's so bad and will likely lose the contract, but it's really sloppy work. It probably also means another delay--just when I was hoping to get the bulk of the work done this summer.

Weeding--Ugh

July 27th, 2015 at 06:00 am

We came home to an overgrown garden after more than a week away. The darn invasive campanulas needed a lot of attention so after church I spent two hours in the various gardens. I pulled campanula, wild carrot, sedges, and countless other things and tomorrow will try the white vinegar treatment on the driveway crack weeds. I hate weeding, just like I hate cleaning the house but love it when it's done.

I also spent a lot at Costco yesterday including a case of wine and food for yesterday's group/community dinner. We had excellent Asian food, and my Korean beef was very good, I must say.

After three hours sorting my textbook edits, I think they need to have a firm word with the supplementary material writer. I found far too many errors. I'll be eager to see what the content editor and project manager say.

More tomorrow on end-of-summer plans.

Sales!

July 17th, 2015 at 04:52 am

Granted this was just two things--a dress I never wore and a vintage book given to me, but I'm happy to add $26 to my sales totals.

Things I had listed but that didn't sell are now at the charity shop. No real other financial news, just enjoying the summer.

We're off on vacation for a week or so, and have given the next week's CSA produce to some friends who are really struggling. It was a good reminder of how much we have.

Happy Dance

July 14th, 2015 at 07:06 pm

Yesterday was testimon(e)y to the KEEP PUSHING mindset. After six months of on- and-off arguing with my dental insurance provider about DD's root canal, we received a check for $707 yesterday. Hooray! And a $5 rebate check. And a $35 credit from Amazon on a trade-in book they apparently "lost."

Granted all of this should have happened automatically. The dental insurance should have paid in January; Amazon should've credited the book. It was a lot of time and aggravation for both me and the endodontist office, and I was on chat with Amazon for at least 25 minutes.

I'm more than excited.

Checking Things Off the List

July 9th, 2015 at 05:43 pm

I had my London de-brief meeting yesterday, and they've asked me to do the program again. I'm undecided, but leaning that way. Lots of things to discuss with the family first.

My DD is still at French camp, and I'm missing her a lot. She's my partner in crime in the summer. But I'm getting a lot done. On the way home from yesterday's meeting I dropped a big bag at Goodwill. Then I stopped to deposit checks from a friend and for the root canal reimbursement. For the life of me I can't figure out what and how they're paying. It seems the endodontist has received half the amount, and I keep getting tiny check for other portions of it. I'll wait until next week for the endo to reimburse me, but I'm not sure what else they're actually paying me for. Honestly, it's like putting tiny shards of tile together to see what kind of sculpture they form.

I've been dragging my feet on closing my Wells Fargo checking. It means moving my paycheck direct deposit and my IRA direct debit, but I moved the direct debit a while back, and since I don't get paid again until October, it seemed like the ideal time. I figured it might take 15 minutes but 90(!!) minutes later, they finished it up, and I walked out with another check to deposit in our joint checking. Check that one off. Now to fix a few other direct debits.

I also need to spend some time on the phone setting up dental and doctor appointments. And some more decluttering--and a long walk. I've also blocked off a couple hours to write next fall's teaching materials.

Our CSA box had turnips this week. Anyone have fabulous (stop laughing) turnip recipes they'd like to share?

Road Weary

July 8th, 2015 at 05:57 am

I am home again after driving 1200+ miles to take DD and her friend to French camp. The trip taught me a few things including that my DD is pretty low maintenance. Her friend is not. My DD is used to our rules about food, stopping, buying junk, etc, and it was interesting to see their differences.

We spent $100 on Sunday's hotel, had a lovely dinner with some of my Minnesota friends at a place where kids eat free on Sundays. Again, my daughter was a star. Free breakfast the next morning saved us some cash as did the car snacks in lieu of lunch. I stayed with friends on the way back who made me an excellent dinner. So gas, hotel, and some road food was all that I spent--and I even managed to stay out of the outlet stores.

It's very quiet in the house without the kid around. I hope she's having a grand adventure.