Saturday, October 13, 2018

Rain and Grocery Shopping on Friday

It was sunny and cold when I woke up, this morning, but it warmed up, nicely, in the afternoon (mid-80s).   I spent the morning relaxing, as I felt disinclined to run errands as planned, but, eventually, in the afternoon, I ran errands.

In general, I like to group my errands so I go to the farthest place, first, and then, make stops along the way home.  So, today, I went to the pet supplies store, first, to buy more outdoor flea spray so M could spray the garden for me when he came by this evening.

Then, on the way back, I bought a few groceries and other items at one of the dollar stores.  I bought another bag of frozen meatballs ($1.99), because I changed my mind about serving them as an appetizer and will make a meatball curry, instead, to serve as part of the lunch.  It'll be easier than making a beef curry, as I don't have to cut the beef into small pieces. 

Then, I bought three packages of garbanzo beans (chick peas); each package was one pound and, at $1 per 1 lb. bag, cheaper than the bulk garbanzo beans at the Armenian store (where it sells for $1.29/lb). 

Garbanzo/Chick Peas

I also bought another can of peach pie filling (shown here with the can I bought, earlier) and a box of cake mix:


Peach Pie Filling and Cake Mix
I want to make a dump cake with them for dessert for the prayer gathering.  I have not made a dump cake, before, but the directions I've seen seem easy enough.  I'll serve some ice cream with it.  Everything tastes better with some ice cream!

I also bought some air fresheners, a 2019 calendar, and a sheet of rhinestone stickers for card making.  I spent a total of $12.47 with tax.  Everything other than the stickers and calendar are for the prayer gathering, so it comes from that budget.

After that, I put gas to the car.  The cheapest gas (I checked the prices at several stations before I actually put the gas) in my neighborhood is $3.65/gallon.  I put $40 worth of gas.  It should last me for at least two weeks, since I don't have to drive to downtown every day (but I'll be going to downtown twice, next week for medical appointments).

Came home and had lunch; then, put the dried garbanzo beans to soak.  I will soak them overnight and cook them tomorrow.  Then, freeze them for next Sunday.  They will be the appetizer I will serve, instead of the meatballs.

M sprayed the garden and after he left, I went to the temple for meditation.  Halfway through the meditation session, we were all surprised by flashes of lightning!  There was no thunder that we could hear, but lots of lightning!  It was raining lightly when I left the temple and it rained a bit harder after I got home!  RAIN!  Of course it would rain on the day we sprayed the garden!  LOL!  All the spray probably got washed away!  But, I am so glad to have some rain, that I won't complain.  It sprinkled on and off, all evening and Dancer kept listening to the sound of the rain, wondering what that sound was!  Friend M texted me just as I was leaving the temple to say it was raining!  Yes, we southern Californians get all excited when it rains!  This is our first measurable rainfall since May.  Other parts of the city got some rain, earlier in the month, but not in my area.

I had rice with the last of the smoked sausage stir-fry for dinner; grapes for dessert.

Later in the evening, I video chatted with my daughter.

Today, I am grateful for:
- Rain!
- The sunny, warm afternoon when I did my errands
- M helping with the garden
- Friday evening meditation at the temple
- Video chatting with my daughter


Friday's To Do List:
- Buy more flea spray for the garden  - DONE
- Grocery shop - DONE
- Sew
- Meditation session at the temple - DONE
- Daily walk (go in the other direction, away from the doughnut shops!) - DONE
- Have M spray the garden - DONE 
- Put gas to the car - DONE

Once again, I didn't sew, because I knew that if I sat down to sew, I wouldn't want to run errands!

Weekend To Do List:
- Cook the soaked garbanzo beans and freeze them
- Grocery shop
- Cook the meatball curry and freeze
- Start cleaning the house
- Sew
- Laundry

I'll see what I can accomplish tomorrow and then, do the rest on Sunday.

How was your Friday?  What are your plans for the weekend?

10 comments:

  1. I was laughing when I read your excitement with the rain. The first time we ever went to Portland the lead story on the news that night was that a house was struck by lightning during a freak thunderstorm. We were amazed since every time there is a thunderstorm around here something gets struck, and 3 of the houses we have lived in have been hit by it. To us lightning is expected, regular and no big deal.

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    1. Ha, ha, the standard joke here is, there's a moderate earthquake and we just go about our normal business, no big deal; there's a drizzle and we get all excited and rush about shouting that it's raining! :D The lightning storm was in the network news, this evening! Apparently we had 1/2" of rain! And 10 palm trees caught fire from the lightning!

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  2. That is funny that you had flashes of lightning and no thunder. One night recently we had a lot of thunder and no lightning!
    Good that you had some decent rain.

    I am going to make a card for our granddaughter. I bought her a pair of cute Hallowe'en socks today and I will put them in a small padded envelope with a homemade card.

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    1. The lightning storm made it to network evening news! LOL! I'm sure there was thunder, but perhaps it was too far away for us to hear? According to the news, we received 1/2 inch of rain! Our average annual rainfall is 14 inches. So, half inch of rain, this early in the season is very good! The rainy season is from Oct. to April.

      Oh, I'm sure your granddaughter will love the pair of Halloween socks and a homemade card from Grandma! Did you send her the library books she left behind?

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  3. Wow! It was the first measurable rain since May? Here we have too much. Maybe I should not complain, as long as the rain doesn't come with a storm. 😊

    I too went grocery shopping today and bought chickpeas. 😊 I hope you have a relaxing Sunday.

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    1. Yes, we don't get much rain in the summer, here! That's why it's so hard to grow a garden in summer - we have water restrictions because of the recent drought, so, without rain, it's hard to grow anything.

      Enjoy your chickpeas. I made a big batch for the prayer gathering, but I kept some for me to eat during the week, too.

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  4. How do you make your garbanzo beans?

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    1. Mia, after soaking and boiling them, I saute them in a little oil with diced onions, mustard seeds, curry leaves (you can add a bay leaf or two, instead), and either green chilies or dried red chilies. Sometimes, I add a little curry powder to them, as well, but I didn't do so, this time, as I am making them to be eaten as a snack and not as part of the main meal.

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  5. I like the change you made to your menu: firstly, because the curried meatballs sound so delicious and much easier to prepare; secondly, because roasted chickpeas used to be a favourite snack of mine (but can no longer have). Anything that lessens the amount of work you have to do on the day, is a great idea.

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    1. Thank you, Susan. The curried meatballs were a hit! And the chickpeas, too. This morning, I was so happy I had prepared both those dishes ahead of time! I just had to warm them up and adjust the seasonings. Made it much easier.

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