11-3-12

11:15am

Got up early and went to the scrap place.

Here is what we took.

We made $40 on the scrap metal

and $21 on the batteries for a total of $60.97.

Plus $50.40 from last week's scrap.

For a grand total of $111.37 for scrap for the past two weeks!!

Got home and started a crock pot full of

baked potatoes.  I sliced the large potatoes

in half, slathered them in olive oil, sprinkled

with seasoned salt and then wrapped in aluminum foil.

My aluminum foil was recycled from pieces I had saved

where I had wrapped bowls or the tops of casserole dishes.

I put them in a dry crock pot and will cook

them on low heat for most of the day til supper. 

 I should be on the show Extreme Cheapskates.

Well I'm not as extreme as those people though

but find ways to make do when money is tight.
We ran out of toilet paper.
Hubby, when he does maintenance on 
vacant apartments, will save all remaining rolls
of toilet paper left on the roller left behind by
previous residents.  He's saved up a small bag
of half rolls of toilet paper so far.
That is what we are using currently.

I changed out my shower curtain.

It was getting some mold on it and

had rust stains from the water.

A resident left behind a shower curtain in a vacated

apartment at hubby's work so I took it

and that's what I am putting up.

We have a bathroom ventilation fan but 

hadn't been using it because it was very noisy.

Hubby replaced the motor in it with a much

quieter one so hopefully htat will help

with any moisture in there now.

Before

After with my salvaged shower curtain from an empty apartment.

I'm still going to save my old shower curtain and 

plan to put it in the washer with some hot

water and bleach.  I put the changing table

full of aluminum cans and supplies for my

solar heater outside til I am able to make

the bigger  version.  I plan to take

the shower curtain and put it over my supplies

for the Winter or til I can make it. 

While hubby was working on cleaning the kitchen

and doing dishes I got the cat boxes dumped.

I decided to try something a little different with them.

Usually I have two litter boxes sitting side by side.

And the problem with that is they will scrape litter

from one box to the other sometimes leaving one box

without litter.  Another problem I'm having is

cleaning up all the litter they get outside the box

from all their scraping.  So much litter that I can

fill my canister in my vacuum full of it.

So here's the solution I came up with.

I set the litter boxes each in a tote with

taller sides.

1:00pm


Lunch time.   Having hot dogs and mac & cheese.

I've already started working on supper for tomorrow.
Figured I'd try out my Oster Kitchen Center's
 pasta attachment.  I don't know why pasta can
be so expensive at the store when the ingredients consist of 
1 cup flour, 1 egg, and a dash of salt and
a couple tablespoons water per batch. 
I also added in some onion powder and basil.
I am making rigatoni pasta and will have it 
with spaghetti sauce and Italian sausage tomorrow.
Here's the first run off the pasta maker
which uses the meat grinder attachment.
To let the pasta come out too far when making
rigatoni causes it to collapse the tubes.
I run the machine for a couple seconds,
trim off rigatoni pasta with scissors after a couple of
inches extrudes through the die, place on tray,
and repeat.

4:55pm





Went to Kroger to get a handful of items.
I've spent between $20 to $25 for groceries this week.
Told y'all I didn't have much to spend.


I did get two cake mixes.
One to make pumpkin cake
and one to make caramel apple cupcakes 
for Thanksgiving.
I already had devil's food cake to make
for my birthday but had to get a cream cheese
to make black bottom cupcakes, my favorite.
I also got some sharp shredded cheese so
I can start making roll dough for Thanksgiving.
Tony thinks I'm planning too far ahead
for Thanksgiving.  Me, well I just want
to get the stuff mostly done and freeze it while
I have the time and I don't have
to worry about making much of it right
before the holiday.

For Thanksgiving I'm making-
-cheddar, garlic & honey butter homemade rolls
-homemade noodles
-pumpkin cake with cream cheese drizzled frosting
-caramel apple filled cupcakes with frosting

Thanksgiving is making my head spin.
One moment I think we're going to
my brother's house and as of today
we're going to my in-laws house.
Someone make up my mind!!
For the past 8 or so years no one was doing
anything for Thanksgiving and we decided
to have it at our home for parents to come to.
Now out of the blue last year we were 
invited to my brothers and this year
to my brothers AND in-laws.  It's kinda nice not having the
stress that comes with having it at our house.
Now the stress is you can't be in two places
at one time so where do you go for
Thanksgiving that it doesn't hurt someone's feelings.
As for Christmas, we're staying home!!


5:45pm

Time to get supper dished up.
Potatoes in the crock are done,
nice and tender.  Oh, and as a special dish,
I did another crock pot full of chicken
gizzards for hubby and the kids for 
a treat later on.

7:30pm





I'm going for a new look.
What do ya think?

11-2-12

If you need help paying your heating bill this Winter

you can apply for a program called HEAP,

Home Energy Assistance Program.

Applications are being take from Nov 1 to March 31.

You can print an online application HERE. 

In the photo below you can read about

it a little more and see an income guideline.

8:15am

Well this is an interesting way of sleeping in the middle of the floor.
He's a back sleeper.

I also wanted to mention that if you use
or make a solar can heater that you will need
to find a way to cover the holes at night or during cloudy days
when not in use.  If you don't the solar heater
will do the reverse of what it's supposed to do.
It will start kicking out cold air.
I covered the top of mine with the shade
and the bottom with a paper towel.

Forgot all about this til I checked it last night
and felt cold air blowing out of it.
That is the reason when I make a larger, outdoor
version of this that I will be using
one or two of these louvered exhaust dryer hoods.
Only difference is mine has 4 louvers.

9:30am





Got some ham and bean soup in the crock pot for supper.
It was already made and was in the freezer.
Think I'll make some fried bologna sandwiches

to go with it and call it a meal.

 My birthday is in 12 days.
I told hubby he doesn't have to worry
about getting me anything, not even a card,
as we cannot afford it at the moment!
I have a devil's food cake mix in the pantry
I'll bake.  Might splurge and get a cream cheese
to make black bottom cupcakes since that's
my favorite and doesn't require any frosting.
I love anything with cream cheese, lol.
Maybe it will go on sale with 
stores advertising Thanksgiving items .


Tomorrow's lunch will be hot dogs.
For supper I'll put some whole potatoes
in the crock, poked with a fork, slathered with olive oil
then wrapped in aluminum foil.
Top with french onion potato chip dip
(I choose dip over plain sour cream because of flavor.
Other flavors include ranch, spinach and vegetable to use.
Who says you have to use it just for veggies and chips!)
and a slice of melted American cheese, butter and salt.
That's it for supper.  Potatoes are pretty filling.
Not every meal has to include meat. 


1:40pm


I wish someone would do something about
the increasing costs for health insurance.
It's hurting us to pay this much.
We are paying $616 every month
for vision, medical and dental.
The deductibles are too high and increase every
year.  Copays are too high and some prescriptions
still cost and arm and a leg with insurance.
We are under the standard health plan.
Take those standard amounts below for employee + family
and multiply by two for how much we pay each month. 
That amounts to paying $7,882 a year for health insurance.
Oh and if we don't take an online questionaire
at the beginning of the year for them
our insurance increases another $10.

Mailman just came.  He brought another
prescription from our mail order prescription company.
I don't even know what the 
prescription is for.  Got charged $20 for that.
That's $20 I don't have!!!!!
Now that puts us down even less money that we have.
I hate these mail order pharmacies and
would prefer to be able to go down
the street to a pharmacy in person!! 
Oh and Mr. Mailman brought me a free sample
of coffee today.  Tony will like that.
I've been saving up a bunch of coffee samples
for if we should run out and cannot afford to buy any.


2:00pm


Just called hubby at work.
I guess he's got a little more scrap metal
to recycle tomorrow.  Not as much
as last week.  Maybe an extra $10 to $20 if we're lucky.
Plus he got an old car battery from work that 
we can scrap somewhere.
Hoping to get $7 to $10 for that.
Never scrapped one so don't know
competitor's prices for them.
I think I saw a sign in front of
Interstate Battery saying they buy junk batteries. 
Talking about batteries,
we're still putting hubby's car on charge every couple of days
to keep it going.  Better than not having a car to drive.


4:45pm


Since we'll be cooped up inside this weekend
I thought about getting a head start to baking
some things for Thanksgiving and freezing them.
 I've been eyeballing this copper jello mold
hanging on my wall wanting to possibly use
it to bake cakes in.  I've used this mold before
to make taco bowls by pressing tortillas in them
and baking.

Anyways this recipe for 
Butterscotch Pumpkin Pudding Cake
looked yummy.
Drizzle it with maybe a warmed cream cheese frosting
down the sides.

And I might make some rolls to put in the freezer.
This way there's no rush to make
things at the last minute for Thanksgiving.
Baker's Dozen Rolls. 
Has shredded sharp cheese in them topped
with garlic, honey and butter. 
If need be I can buy a couple ingredients
here and there when I can afford them 
like butterscotch pudding and cheese.


6:00pm


Me and Tony cut up his scrap metal 
he brought home from work.
I'm gonna guess $20 to $25 worth.
We'll see tomorrow morning.

He also brought home a regular car battery
and 2 electric batteries from golf carts
that are no good.
I'm thinking maybe $20 for all three?
I don't know what they go for.

8:00pm

Everyone including hubby was wanting a snack
so I got a box of chocolate chip cookie mix
out the basement pantry.
I made it according to the directions
and pressed the dough out onto a small cookie sheet.
Once baked I wanted to jazz it up some.
I didn't have frosting so made up my own.
I mixed about 1/2 package of fudge instant pudding,
about a cup of powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla
and gradually added milk by the tablespoon
until it was the consistency of frosting.
I frosted the cookies and then sprinkled
very lightly with some sea salt.

11-1-12

7:50am

First of the month means bills need to be paid.

Getting flustered trying to figure them all out.

Where do I cut back, what needs paid right now?

Going to have almost everything paid

except, once again, I have to short

my electric bill by $90.00. 

I got the gas bill all caught up after not paying 

it at all last month.

I figured catch the gas bill up because it's

the one utility that's going to go up

for the next 5 months or so.

The electric bill should be starting to come down

so that's why I shorted it.

Doing the best I can with what I have.

Don't have much to go on and payday

is 8 days away.  Living paycheck to paycheck

totally sucks.  Haven't had to do this in quite some time.

Please pray that we find a buyer for our truck!

That would help us out sooooooo much!

I just got up and with everyone gone to work

and school, I turned the heat down to 66 degrees.

That'll shave some off the gas bill if I can

do this for about 7-8 hours each day.

I usually keep it at 72 degrees but have read that

it makes a difference on your bill for

every three degrees you can cut back.

So 72 minus 6 degrees is 66 degrees.

I'll just throw on some extra clothing

til about 3:00pm then I'll turn it back up to 72.

Right now it's 41 and feels like 34 degrees.

Supposed to get a little more sun shining through

those clouds in the next week so will have

curtains and blinds open to take advantage of that

to help some to heat the house. 

I usually watch tv while home.

Well I got up and turned that off as well to save money.

Made a trip around the house to turn more things off.

Unplugged microwave, turned off a couple fans,

a nightlight, unplugged an XBox and a DVD player. 

8 hours a day times at least 30 days a month

is 240 hours of not using those appliances

so that's gotta shave some electricity off the bill.

I've already managed to somehow get

the electric bill down about $90 since last month.

I'm sure that is partially a result of running the 

air conditioner a couple months ago

when we had higher temperatures outside. 

10:30am

Spur of the moment thing I decided to do.

I made a temporary solar window heater.

I know I do not have the money to buy

supplies to make a real good solar

heater at this time.  Unless we sell the truck

is the only way I can make one.

So here is the cheap way of making one-

I had a screen I found in the basement.

Came with the house and cannot find

anything that it would go to.

I built and duct taped a box the size of that screen.

On the backside of the box I cut out square holes

on each end that would fit a small fan that will

be ran by way of a small solar panel.

I cut it just a little smaller than the fan so it would fit snug.

Make sure to cut another hole at the

other end so air has a way to come out!

I taped sides of cardboard around the box

leaving an opening where the fan would be.

You still need those sides though so be sure to save them.

Place your cans inside the box

between the two squares you cut out.

I then cut two cardboard strips half the width

of the sides and taped them at the top and bottom

once all my cans were in place.

This is used to help hold the cans together since

they are not glued.

Place these cardboard strips above the space where 

the fan will go and above your other hole.

This is now what it will look like.

Now let the painting with flat black paint begin.

Oh yeah I got a headache now.

Be sure to spray paint one side of

those two extra cardboard side pieces that will go near the

fan openings.

Insert the small fan into the hole and

tape your side pieces on once dry.

Be sure to make a small hole in one of the

side pieces where your fan will go and run

the wires from the fan through it. 

Next take the screen and lay it on top of 

the cans.  Duct tape in place.

This will keep the cans from falling out

of the box.  Plus the screen is a good conductor of heat.

Since this is an inside solar heater placed in

a window I won't be using a piece

of glass for the top.

Now attach the wires from your fan

to the wires on your solar panel.

This solar heater is very lightweight

and can easily be picked up and traveled from room

to room if need be.

Here it is sitting in my dining room window

tucked up underneath the top of the blinds.

You can't really see it from the outside of the house.

And here it is in my son's bedroom window.

The solar panel is sitting in the window 

in front of it.

It took me a couple of hours to make this.

Now It's almost 11:00am and I'm

going to lay down and take a nap,

something I have yet to do this week.


2:25pm


I ended up putting a piece of thin glass from one
of the poster picture frames on the solar heater.
Wasn't an exact fit but was better than nothing.
My solar fan isn't running at the moment as the
batteries need a little bit to be charged by the sun.
I ran the fan to the outside of the house.
Even without the fan I can still feel heat coming
out the top hole!

3:20pm


Since the grocery budget for the next week is much much
slimmer than last weeks, I had to decide what to do
for drinks around here other than milk and juice.
Kids won't be having pop this next week!
Instead I have a bunch of Kool Aid canisters
sitting in my pantry that already have the sugar in them.
As much as I don't like to give them Kool Aid,
that is what they will be drinking this next week.
I've already started making some up to
store in the fridge.  I reused saved 2 liter pop 
bottles which are about a half gallon each.

 

 For breakfasts this next 8 days will be 

either cereal or pop tarts

with milk or chocolate milk made with

the chocolate powder I got free from a vacated apartment.

Plus I still have some frozen chocolate milk

in the freezer I bought marked down .50 cents for 1/2 gallon.

I bought a year's supply of pop tarts

after Christmas last year when they

had holiday mark downs.  .50 cents a box of 16 poptarts.

I bought something like 20 boxes of them!

Who cares if they are gingerbread or holiday berry flavors. 

4:15pm

Supper tonight was going to be sausage, biscuits

and gravy.  But I only have one can of biscuits

and realized that would be enough for 5 servings

or enough to fill everyone up.  The more I fill

them up at supper time the less likely they'll

want to snack before bed.  This is what I call

a rib sticker meal.

So I'll still make the sausage gravy and will pour it

over some homemade mashed potatoes instead.

-2 packets gravy (free from mom)

-5 to 6 small to medium potatoes (free from mom)

(saving my larger potatoes for baked potatoes

and can have them as a meal by themselves)

-2 cups water (free)

- 1 pound sausage ($1.00 save-a-lot) 

-butter, milk & salt (.25 cents)

TOTAL COST TO MAKE $1.25

serves 5 @ .25 cents a serving.

My saying is and always will be,

"Do what ya got to do with what ya got to do it with!"

5:25pm

Just sat down for supper and all of a sudden

the palm of my left hand started itching really bad!

I hope that's a sign. 

The rib sticker meal is working!

This is how I feel after eating, ughhhh!

7:25pm

This was about 6:30pm tonight,

a beautiful sunset.

Another photo of mine was posted

on channel 10's Chris Bradley's Facebook page (meteorologist)

:0)

I love taking weather photos.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Kitty

8:10pm


Daddy and Boo playing pool against Mommy
on the computer.