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Saturday, October 15, 2022

Mid October Update: fun, frugality and forward motion

Did I say I wanted more fun? Well fun certainly was had! Several lunches with friends, club monthly meeting which was a wonderful performance of Opera and Broadway songs by a professional performer, book club, a lovely dinner out with Hubby, dog park visits with the party pup, lots of books read and more.

I flew to Berkeley and spent a long weekend with my son, DIL and granddaughter. Good long talks with my son. Laughs with DIL. Swim lesson observation, working on puzzles, listening to beginner violin practice, picking garden produce, helping a large Amazon box become a “kitty (and child) castle and mail station”, baking a cake and more with granddaughter and family.


Yes, those are her mailbox creations. The sign on the front says Kitty as in Kitty Castle but the entry is a girl sized opening. Several hours spent with the 4 of us writing messages and getting them. Eventually the dog and cat got mailboxes set on the top of the box so they could be included.

Frugal Things: The usual day to day stuff. My big clothing expenditure was a 6 pack of no show socks from the Jockey outlet store. Used coupons and Von’s online app to increase our pantry which is pretty stocked now. I bought a few more emergency prep supplies (emergency blankets and headlamps). 

Our high temps are bouncing around mostly in the 70s with an occasional hotter day so little us of the AC which will hopefully lower the electric bill.

Several things do need repairing but hopefully not replacing. Problems with the dishwasher and one shower temp control. We have a good appliance repair person and I just asked for plumber recs so need to get it all booked. Holes from critters in the drip irrigation line but that is the HOA’s responsibility so they just need reminders to act on it.

It also turns out we are not going to make it through the pup's adolescence without some furniture destruction. This happened although we didn't witness it so don't know if he was chewing on a toy right next to it and just moved on over or if he went for it specifically. We'll wait a while and then figure out how to stain it.

Experiences and Giving: I spent freely to fly to Berkeley, take us all out to dinner, buy puzzles for my granddaughter, etc. In line with give freely, I bought raffle tickets at our club meeting and won a homemade pumpkin bread. It is quite tasty.

Forward motion includes decluttering now done in 10 to 15 minute bursts, planning a club sale at the November district meeting, shifting how I keep the house clean so there are smaller bursts of targeted cleaning instead of the dreaded cleaning day and so on. 

Engaging Project: We are once again seriously thinking about moving to the Berkeley area as we imagine our lives for the next 10 to 20 years and think we would like very much to be physically closer to family who indeed do want us closer. A big decision. It would give me a big project though!


10 comments:

  1. You are always so well organized and I love that you got quality time to spend with your granddaughter and son.

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    1. Thanks and being so organized is both a blessing and a curse (just ask my family lol).

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  2. It's great to spend time with family, isn't it!?! I always say, you can have a nice house, or you can have a dog, but you can't have both. We used to have a dog. But somehow we still have a messy house. I can't figure out why.

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    1. Our family is getting a new little addition in February so we are trying to figure out how to spend even more time with the grandkids. Thankfully they are in the same family.

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  3. Good for you spending time with those you love. Boxes make wonderful castles (or mailboxes).

    God bless.

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    1. A box, tape, paper bags, markers and more produced hours of creative play and building activity. It was fun to see how she proceeded.

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  4. The photo of your lemons, peppers and tomatoes could easily be a still life painting. Love the contrast between the dark backdrop and the vibrant colors of the food. Pretty capture.
    Would hate for you to have to leave your club and friends but I completely understand wanting to be closer to family who also want you to be closer. Grandbabies do add such an element of fun and joy to our lives.
    I wholeheartedly approve of the new cleaning approach. I tend to try to clean the upstairs one day and the downstairs the next so the whole house is clean for a few days. But this week I spent a day putting things away. We had had company and things were out of place. Then the cleaning was much faster the next 2 days.

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    1. Thanks. I know how much you are enjoying having half your grandkids close by.

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  5. Glad you had a great time with your family. Isn't it the best? My sweetest childhood memories are usually about the time we spent with my grandparents.

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    1. I have lovely warm memories of time spent with my nearby grandparents too.

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