One Week into July

Lois Lane Kent Mango

The newly transplanted Lois Lane Kent Mango doesn't look too good, does she?  Her leaves feel dry to the touch.  We watered it when we transplanted it on Wednesday, I watered it yesterday (Thursday) and M will water it again, today, too, so I hope it will survive.  It's been a survivor, so far, while the others (Clark Kent SuperMango and Conner Kent Mango both died).  In case anyone is wondering about the names, the variety of mango is called Kent Mango and it seemed appropriate to name the first mango seedling Clark and the rest sort of fell into place!

Yesterday (Thursday), the pharmacy called to let me know that Dancer's new medication was ready for pick up.  I drove there in the early afternoon and collected the medication (the dosage is twice the strength of the previous one).  Then, I gave into temptation and went into the doughnut shop next door to the pharmacy and bought myself two doughnuts - a glazed doughnut and one with a chocolate glaze.  This is the first time I've been in a doughnut shop and bought doughnuts since before the initial lockdown.  Neighbor S had given me some doughnuts a couple of times, but, I have not bought any myself in over three years.  As I mentioned to one of my friends, last night, when did a regular doughnut go up to $1.65 each?  The fancier ones like bars and twists were $1.85 and higher!  I was not surprised, exactly, as I had expected prices to have increased, but, at the same time, I was a bit taken aback!  I wonder if the prices are the same at my local doughnut shop, up the road from me?  (I am in a less upscale neighborhood than where I was, yesterday, when I bought the doughnuts).  The doughnuts, however, were delicious.  I enjoyed them after I had eaten a slightly healthier egg salad sandwich for brunch.  

I spent the rest of the afternoon, yesterday, doing some paperwork, renewing my car registration, and paying bills, including the monthly gas bill.

Feel free to skip this next section about the gas bill - unless you are Debra, in which case, it is required reading for her!  LOL!

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I am fascinated by how the gas bill breaks down: 

The gas bill for the billing period 5/18 - 6/19 (32 days) was $43.23.
I had used 22 therms, which was 8 therms above the baseline of 14 therms (probably due to those couple of cold mornings in June when I turned the big heater on!).  The rate per therm for the baseline was $0.86390; the rate for over the baseline was $1.30922.  The charges for the gas used (called Gas Transportation on the bill) was $22.56.
But, in addition, there was a "Customer charge" of $5.26  ($0.16438 per day for 32 days); a Gas Commodity fee of $8.67 (22 therms x $0.39403), which brought the total gas charges to $36.48 ($5.26 + $22.56 + $8.67).
Then, there were the various taxes and fees on the gas charges, based on the number of therms used, amounting to $6.74.  Those fees and taxes are the State Regulatory Fee of $0.07, the Public Purpose Surcharge of $2.49 (part of which goes to help low income customers pay reduced rates), the City Users Tax of $2.90, and the Local Franchise Fee Surcharge of  $1.29.
Add them all up and the total bill comes to $43.23.  

This gas bill was higher than the previous one of $29.61, which was a bit disappointing.  The next gas bill is estimated to be $29.63.  I'm not using the heater, now, of course.  

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Resuming regular blog post...

After I paid the bills, I took a nap!  Later, I watered most of the fruit trees and vegetables in the garden.  

I had a long conversation with Aunt C, yesterday, in the evening, and another long chat with friend R.  Later, I video chatted with my daughter.  She had been on-call for jury duty this week, but, she was not required to report for jury duty in person; she has now been released from jury duty for this time.   

Today, Friday, has been a relatively relaxed day.  It was sunny and warm, but, with a high of only 79F not exactly hot.  I did a bit of weeding in the garden, clearing one of the planting beds where we had snow peas and lettuce growing.  M finished clearing it, added some manure, and planted some really, really old vegetable seeds I had with me - some of which had been packed for 2010 planting! Four varieties of tomatoes, two varieties of squash, and (gasp!) zucchini! We both doubt if any of them will grow, but, I didn't want to continue to keep the packets of seeds.  We'll see if anything grows, if not, seven packets of seeds have been decluttered!  I still have a few more packets of old seeds - we might plant them next week and see what happens.  

In other news, neighbor T's house has a real estate agent's sign out in the front yard.  It doesn't actually say, "For Sale" on it, but, it is implied.  I took a photo of it for the summer photo scavenger hunt, but, I might hold out for a sign that actually says "For Sale" or "Sold".

Thursday's brunch was an egg salad sandwich and doughnuts.  Dinner was rice, chicken curry, lentil curry, and green beans.

Friday's brunch was a tuna salad sandwich; dinner will be leftover rice and curries.

At the end of the first week in July, I am grateful for:

- Dancer's new medication was available
- Being able to pay my bills online
- Chats with family and friends
- M's help with the garden
- Sunny, warm days

Joyful activities have included enjoying some doughnuts and tending to the garden.

I don't have any specific plans for the weekend.  I would, however, like to do some sewing, decluttering, and sort out the kitchen.

Do you have any plans for the weekend?

Wednesday

Passionfruit and Flowers

There are flowers on the passionfruit vine and fruit starting to form!  I'm looking forward to picking the fruit, once they are ripe.

It was a cooler day, today, with a daytime high only in the mid-70s.  But, it was sunny and quite comfortable.

The morning got off to a bit of a wobbly start because Dancer came into my room very early in the morning and threw up right next to my bed.  I registered the fact, but, went back to sleep, thinking I'll clean it up later.  Except, when I eventually woke up, I discovered that one of my pillows had fallen down from the bed, and guess where it had landed?  Yes, right on top of the yucky stuff!  Eww!  

Fortunately, I use two pillowcases on my pillows and nothing had got onto the pillow, itself.  Even so, I washed and dried the pillow, just to be on the safe side.  I dried it in the dryer, first, then, aired it a bit, and kept it in the sunshine streaming in from the front window in the afternoon to sun it a bit.  

At first, I was tempted to toss the two pillowcases.  But, I washed them with bleach, and plan to wash them a second time..  I think they will be OK to use after being washed twice.  

Dancer has been fine all day, though, eating as usual.  I did give him his flea prevention medication today and he was not very happy about that!

The rest of the day went smoothly.  I brought in the trash cans, dusted the main rooms, cleaned the bathroom, swept the kitchen, and picked two ripe tomatoes and a small handful of blueberries.  Gardener M was here today and we repotted Lois Lane Kent Mango, the only surviving mango plant!  I think I'll have to buy some more mangos this summer and try again!  Later, I cut some branches from the pomegranate tree and arranged them in a "vase" (the ice bucket I decided not to declutter some time ago) to keep on the mantelpiece in the living room: 

Pomegranate Branches

I made egg salad sandwiches for brunch, today, and dinner was leftover rice and curries.  

Today, I am grateful for:

- Dancer seems to be fine after the morning's incident
- M's help in the garden
- Working appliances
- Garden produce
- Pleasant weather

Today's joyful activity was picking tomatoes and blueberries from the garden.

Plans for tomorrow include:

- Vacuuming

- Mopping the kitchen floor

- Calling the pharmacy to ask about Dancer's medication and when it might be available
- Paperwork

- Baking some blueberry muffins (M has been asking if I've made anything with the blueberries, yet!)

How was your Wednesday?  What are your plans for Thursday?

Happy Independence Day!

 

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July, everyone!  Independence Day here, in the USA.  

A certain very hungry kitty woke me up at 6:00 a.m., loudly complaining about the lack of a proper breakfast (he has access to his dry food at all times).  I muttered a few complaints of my own about being woken up after just 3 hours of sleep, but, I got up and gave him a serving of beef pate which is his current favorite (he's been turning up his nose at the other flavors), and went back to bed!  

Once I woke up for the second time, a bit later in the morning, I texted my late friend A's daughters, letting them know that I was remembering their mother on what would have been her birthday (we had a running joke that all the 4th of July fireworks were to celebrate her birthday) and thinking of them with a special prayer.

I did a couple of loads of laundry in the morning and hung everything up to dry.  I made American style pancakes for brunch to celebrate it being the 4th (even though I ate them with chicken curry gravy and lentil curry!  Fusion food!  I did have the last pancake with syrup!  LOL.)  I've planned to have a hamburger for dinner.

No special plans for the rest of the day.  I'll probably repair my Log Cabin quilt and watch videos.

Today, I am grateful for:

- Celebrating the Independence Day of my adopted country
- Another sunny and warm day
- Working appliances
- Almost all the internal doors in this house having a door frame from which I can hang laundry, on clothes hangers, to dry!
- Phone calls and texts with family and friends

Today's joyful activity is sewing.

How is your day coming along?  

July Meal Planning, Week 1

Sunday Dinner: Rice & Curries (Chicken, Lentils, Green Beans)

Time to start the month off right and plan a few meals!

I picked up groceries on Friday, June 30 and did just a little bit of meal prep over the weekend.  I cooked milkrice, seeni sambol, and 10 hamburger patties on Saturday and cooked a chicken curry with 4 lbs. chicken thighs and a lentil curry and curried sauteed green beans (from the garden) on Sunday.   I'm not sure if that counts as batch cooking, but, meals during the week will be based on what I've cooked over the weekend, with other items prepared to supplement them as needed.

Brunches: Milkrice and seeni sambol (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, too, with some chicken curry, as well); toast and cream cheese; cereal and milk, egg salad or tuna salad sandwiches

Dinners: Hamburger (with the ends of bread for the bun; Saturday and Tuesday); Rice, chicken curry, lentil curry, curried sauteed green beans (Sunday and Wednesday); Chicken curry sandwich with potato chips and sliced cucumber (Monday; who needs cold cuts when there is chicken curry?);  coconut roti with leftover chicken curry or mackerel curry; breakfast for dinner (scrambled eggs and baked potato wedges or pancakes with bacon).

Snacks/desserts: ice cream bars, the last zucchini muffin, fresh fruit, canned fruit cocktail, cereal

That is the plan; we'll see how it all turns out!

How about you?  Are you making a meal plan this week?  If you are in the U.S., are you planning a special meal for July 4th to celebrate Independence Day?  

Ending June, Starting July

Garden Flowers

The first half of the year is over and done with!  The second half of the year has already started!  Seems to me that the year is just whizzing by!

The vet called me on Friday afternoon to go over Dancer's blood test results.  His blood pressure was a little high, she said (well, of course it would be, he was upset about having to go to the vet's in the first place and was hyperventilating in the car!); she understands that it might be due to being at the clinic and it was not high enough to be over concerned.  She will want to check his pressure in about 6 months.  But, his thyroid levels have not improved and so, she wants to increase the dosage strength.  She said she will call in the new prescription to the pharmacy and I suppose they will let me know when it is ready to be picked up.  In the meantime, she wants to see him again in a month from when he starts his new medication.  

Gardener M was here on Friday evening to tend to the garden and he fertilized the fruit trees and watered the garden.  He also brought me two tiny new plants - a striped aloe ("Because your aloes are thriving") and a dwarf jade:

New Aloe and Jade Plant

They are sharing a 2" square pot, right now, but we will pot them up separately, later.  

June ended on a nice warm note (finally!) and July started out with summer like temperatures, with a high of 90F.  I started off the day in a long sleeved shirt and switched to a short sleeved blouse in the afternoon and the socks came off, too!  You know it's summer when I go barefoot!  Today's high is only 84F and I still have my socks on!  

On July 1st, I made milkrice and seeni sambol as is my custom, picked some red roses for the altar and the mantel, and lit incense to cleanse the air. 

After brunch, I did a load of laundry (sofa dust sheets, the towels Dancer lies on, etc.) and recovered the sofas with the spare dust sheets.  I  fluffed everything in the dryer, on air/no heat, for 10 minutes to get any Dancer fur out of them and then, hung them up to dry.

Later in the evening, I watered parts of the back garden and picked some chillies, green beans (two kinds - flat Italian and round French), and a handful of blueberries:

Garden Harvest

The tomatoes were picked on Friday, when M was here.

My cousin R called me on Saturday; she has recently retired from being a special education teacher and is planning to go to Scotland for a few weeks (her husband is Scottish and they have a house there, as well).  She was calling to let me know that she has been cleaning out her closets (again) and has a bag of clothes set aside for my daughter and me!  She wanted to know if I wanted to pick up the clothes now or wait until she returned from Scotland and I said I'll pick them up later as I'm sure she is busy getting ready to leave, later this week.  I still have all the clothes she gave me at the end of last year!  Some of them have become favorite pieces of clothing.  I will have to declutter my closet to accommodate the new clothes!  What a blessing, though!  I will share the clothes with my daughter, of course.  

While I was out watering in the garden, I missed a call from my oldest half-brother.  He lives in Sri Lanka, but, he is visiting his daughter in North Carolina, having made the trip to attend his oldest grandson's high school graduation.  I called him back, later, but, due to the time difference (they are three hours ahead of me), his daughter answered the phone and said her parents were already asleep.  I said I'll call back in the morning.  Afterwards, I called my half-sister and chatted with her for a bit.  She lives in southern California, so we are in the same time zone.

This morning, I woke up extra early (a little after 6:00 a.m.; after going to bed after 3:00 a.m.!) and called my half-brother, just as his daughter was leaving the house to pick up her son from somewhere (the phone number I had is her cell phone and of course she needed to have her cell phone with her).  We agreed that her father would call me once she had returned home.  He called me within the hour and we had a little chat.  My half-brother is 16 years older than I am and according to my mother, he was the only one who could soothe me when I would cry as an infant.  He was sorry he couldn't fly out to the west coast to visit my half-sister and me on this trip.  But, he said he's planning to return next year, for his granddaughter's graduation and he's planning to visit us on that trip.  It will be nice to see him, again.

I decided not to go back to sleep afterwards.  Maybe this early morning rising will help reset my sleep schedule!  

I changed my bed sheets this morning, washed the flannel sheets and the top quilt and remade my bed with cotton sheets.  I have two sets of flannel sheets and two sets of cotton sheets, but, one of the cotton fitted sheets is extremely worn and threadbare.  It's not torn (yet), but, you can see right through it!  I think I might have to buy a new set of cotton sheets this summer or see if I can turn a mistakenly delivered full sized fitted sheet  (way back at the very beginning of the pandemic, when a store included a sheet set I had not ordered with my order and they said to keep the sheets when I called them about it) into a queen sized fitted sheet!  I've done that, earlier, with another full sized fitted sheet, by cutting it and inserting a panel.

My cousin V called this morning (cousin R's sister) and we chatted a bit.  Later, former neighbor T called.  So, the month is off to a good start where family and friends are concerned, with many phone calls!

Plans for the rest of the day include cooking the tray of chicken I bought (planning to make a curry).  I cooked all the hamburger patties on Saturday night and had one for my dinner, with the end slices from the previous loaf of bread substituting for a bun.  I kept one hamburger patty in the fridge for another meal during the week and froze the other eight burger patties for future meals.

As we start July, I am grateful for:

- Phone calls with family, especially my half-brother
- Cousin R offering more clothes
- The garden harvest
- Working appliances
- The warmer temperatures!  

July joyful activities have included speaking with family and friends.

How is your weekend coming along? How is the weather where you are?

  

Balanced Life Monthly Goals: June Review and July Goals

My overall goal is to live a life that feels well balanced to me.  To that end, I have created several areas of importance to me to focus on.  I try to evaluate each area, rating my satisfaction in that area of my life from 1 to 10, with 1 being most dissatisfied and 10 being most satisfied.  Ideally, all the areas get equal rating, but, lower satisfaction ratings indicate that these areas need more work.  My ratings for each area are shown within the parentheses, with the beginning of the month ratings in (black) and the end of the month ratings shown in (blue). 

These are the individual areas of my life and their ratings for June:

Spiritual (10)(10):   The goal is to live a spiritually meaningful life:
I continued with daily prayers, meditation, etc.  I feel that I am living a spiritually meaningful life in accordance with the teachings of my religion.  I am happy with this area of my life.

My goal in July is to continue to live a spiritually meaningful life.

Daughter (10)(10):  The goal is to continue to have a close relationship with her:

Daughter and I continued to keep in touch by phone, texts, and video chats in June.  I was able to send her a care package with home grown produce and home canned preserves thanks to two friends who drove up and visited her one weekend.

She isn't planning to come for a visit in July, but that is OK.  My goal in July is to continue to have a close, if long distance, relationship with her!

Leisure/Crafts/Hobbies (10)(10):  The goal is to relax doing something I enjoy doing for the pleasure of it.

In June, I continued to repair the second quilt and I knitted myself a second pair of socks with leftover wool from prior projects.    

I will continue to repair the quilt in July.    

Finances (9.5)(9.5):  The goal is financial security:

I continued to budget and spend mindfully, with purpose, in June.  There were higher than expected pet expenses as I had to take Dancer to the vet a couple of extra times, but, he's worth it, isn't he?  

I will continue to budget and spend mindfully in July, too.

Garden (9.0)(9.0):  The goal is a garden that is productive, yet drought tolerant:

- Maintaining (water, fertilize, and weed); M will continue to visit twice a week

- Focus on the winter vegetable and fruit plants

The garden did very well in June!  I've had a bumper crop of blueberries and peaches!  I've started picking green beans, green chilies, and tomatoes.  Unfortunately, the nectarine tree dropped both fruits that were growing on it and the persimmon tree lost all but two fruits.  The pomegranate tree had lots of flowers but not a single fruit set.  It can't be helped; the weather was unusually cold and I don't know if that had any impact or not, but, I'm thankful for what I was able to grow and harvest.

July garden goals include tending to the fruit trees and keeping the plants watered, etc.

Family/Friends/Community (9.0)(9.0):  The goal is to have a close connection with family and friends and be involved with my community:

- Regular phone calls and emails, etc., to keep in touch

- Participate in the blogging community and the online organizing community

There were regular phone calls, texts, emails, etc., with family, neighbors, and friends in June.    I received many gifts of food and some household items from neighbor S and I was able to gift her with peaches and blueberries, etc.  I also received some items from neighbor T when her children held the yard sale and cleared her house; I purchased some of the items and the others were given to me and I thanked them with fresh fruit from my garden and some baked goods.  I shared more of the peaches with a few other friends and received dinner from one of them.  Other neighbors "treated" me to an evening of extremely loud music, but, I was a good neighbor and tolerated it!    

Goals for July will remain the same.  

Health, Self-Care & Well Being (8.5)(8.5):  The goal is good health:

- Focus on continuing to improve my health through diet, hydration, adequate sleep, etc.
- Attend my medical appointments
- Continue to take my medications as prescribed

- Continue to take necessary precautions against viral infections

As I've stated before, improving my health through diet, hydration, etc., is an on-going effort!  I received my latest Covid booster in early June and have taken a few trips to stores in person when needed! 

Health goals for July will be to continue improving my health.   

Time Management (7.5)(7.5): The goal is to spend my time in a mindful manner:

- Spend time purposefully, mindfully

- Continue to focus on making my schedule work for me

- Procrastinate less

I felt that external factors, such as Dancer's vet appointments and the peach harvest, directed my time management in June!  There were things that had to be done according to a set time - appointments to be kept and peaches to be preserved before they spoiled, etc.  I don't think it improved my time management skills, but, at least I got the important things done!  I let other things, like housework, slide, though!  

The goal in July is to continue to improve my time management skills!  

House (7.5)(7.5):  The goal is a home that is pleasant, comfortable, and welcoming:

- Clean - Clean the house as needed 
- Organize - Continue to find a place for everything and keep everything in its place
- Well maintained - Keep "erasing the evidence"; implement daily and weekly cleaning schedules
- Decluttered - Continue with the decluttering process

June housekeeping slid back a little bit as I was busy doing other things!  I kept on top of things for the most part, however, until I hurt my toe and walking became painful for at least a week.  It was easier to leave things out than put them away and I didn't do a lot of cleaning, either.  The house didn't get dirty, as such, but, it has become a bit messy, again.  Only the two coffee tables remain clear - there are canning jars on a side table, canning equipment on the big dining table, and some files and paperwork have accumulated on the small dining table!  

I joined in on the declutter 50 items challenge in June, but, I brought in some 17 items, including a filing cabinet, a bookcase, an occasional table, a patio table and chair, a set of 4 bowls, and 2 sets of new kitchen towels!  I was hoping to declutter 50 +17 additional items to make up for that, but, I just barely managed to declutter 50 items. 

I decluttered:
1 kitchen towel

1 blue and white china bowl

1 cardboard box the stationery items (from T's yardsale) came in
2 cardboard boxes that had been used for storage

1 cardigan

1 sweater

2 magazines (I was hoping to declutter more magazines, but, I still enjoy looking through them from time to time, so I kept them!)
14 plastic containers (2 recycled, 12 small ones sent to daughter for sorting out her beads)

2 books
9 crafting supplies items (ribbons, bows, floral picks; I am not counting the box of beads I sent to my daughter as she'll probably return it with any unused beads, later)

6 canning jars with jam and chutney in them (plus another 6 sent to daughter, but, she'll probably return the empty jars to me)

2 frying pans

1 patio chair plastic (it broke)
1 pair of socks

1 jigsaw puzzle

2 plastic scoops

3 kitchen utensils (spoon, spatula, ladle) 

= 50 items decluttered

Not the kind of items that will make a big dent, but, every little bit helps, right?

My July decluttering goal is to keep at it and declutter a minimum of 31 items.

Once again, certain areas continued to get a high satisfaction rating and others remained the same.  None of the areas decreased in my satisfaction ratings, which is good.  All in all, June was a very good month, I think.  I'm hoping that July would be, too.

June Grocery Shopping - Part 2

I put in a grocery order on Friday, June 30, and picked it up in the evening.

I was debating whether to put in a grocery order or not because all I was out of was bread.  But, there were some really good deals (chicken on sale at $0.99/lb., sausages at $2.99/5 links package, chips for $1.99 a bag if you bought 4, etc.) and I had money left in the grocery budget, so I decided to take advantage of the sales, especially to stock up on junk food treats!  

I bought:

4.28 lb. chicken thights @ $.99/lb. = $4.24
35.2 oz. ground beef hamburger patties (10 patties) = $10.00
2 packages of Italian sausages, 5 sausages per package ($2.99@ on sale with digital coupon; reg. price $5.99@) = $5.98 

1/2 gal. milk = $2.39
8 oz. cheddar cheese (reg. price $3.99, on sale with digital coupon) = $1.99
1 carton French vanilla ice cream (48 fl. oz. reg. price $6.99)  = $3.49
1 carton ice cream bars (6 count; reg. price $5.99) = $3.99

3 bananas, 1.56 lb. @ $.69/lb. = $1.08 (I asked for green bananas, but, they gave me very ripe ones)
3 lbs. grapes = $3.98 (grapes were $1.99/lb. and I had ordered the 2 lb. pack, but, they substituted the 3 lb. pack at the same price as the 2 lb. pack)

1 cucumber = $0.79

1 container orange juice, 52 fl. oz., reg. price $5.49 = $2.99

2 boxes corn flakes, 13.5 oz. @, reg price $4.89@; on sale for $1.99@) = $3.98

1 loaf sandwich bread = $1.99 (had to go back for it because they left it out!)

2 x 5 lb. bags rice, reg, price $3.79@, on sale for $3.50 @ = $7.00 (due to the sale, it was cheaper to buy two 5 lb. bags than to buy one 10 lb. bag)

2 bags (8 oz @) potato chips (Reg. price $4.49@; on sale for $1.99 if you buy 4 or more) = $3.98
2 bags (9.25 oz.@) tortilla chips (reg. price $5.99@; on sale for $1.99 if you buy 4 or more) = $3.98
1 bag (8.5 oz.) Cheetos (reg. price $5.69@) = $1.99

2 bars chocolate (reg. price $4.49; on sale for $3.00 @) = $6.00

My order total came to = $64.84

According to the receipt:

The original price of all my groceries, at regular price = $118.92
What I saved with coupons (including a $5 off on over $50 spent in a single transaction) and sales = $54.08

The store clerk who brought the items out to the car, Ricky, said, "You saved over $50! That's awesome! Congratulations!"  I told him it pays to shop the sales!

June grocery budget = $100.00

Spent on groceries in June = $5 (on June 6) + $30.24 (on June 8) + $64.84 (on June 30) = $100.08

I went over the budget by eight cents!  

I'm not going to worry about that!  Besides, I also have $64.46 carried over from the May budget and I can deduct 8 cents from that, if needed!  

After I came home and put away the groceries, I realized that they had left out the loaf of bread although they had charged me for it.  So, I called the store and was told to come back to pick it up.  I had to go into the store in order to do so, but, I had my mask on and I felt comfortable enough for the 5 minutes or so that I was inside the store.

That was my grocery spending for June!  July's grocery budget will be $100 (plus $64.38 carried over from the May budget - yes, I deducted the 8 cents I overspent in June from that carried over amount!)

How did you do with your June grocery budget?  Were you able to keep to your budget?