November ends today

View from son's living room and that is the Golden Gate bridge

Fun, Experiences and Giving

I just discovered this seasonal list of Trader Joe's product recommendations! I'm going to get some of them and enjoy. Best Trader Joe's Holiday Items

We had a really fun time visiting our Berkeley based family. Granddaughter turned 6 with a really fun for her party. She was very excited.

A nice dinner out the next day to celebrate Hubby's 70th. Traffic was heavier than usual driving home as it was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving but not bad.

Pup turns out to be a good traveler and loved playing with their old dog and generally having more people around. 

Who wore who out? 14 year old or 9 month old?

We happily had a quiet Thanksgiving dinner for just the two of us. Menu was turkey breast, mashed potatoes with gravy, carrots and peas, cranberry sauce and little apple & pumpkin hand pies from Trader Joes.

I binge watched season 3 of Miss Scarlett and the Duke which led me to understanding something I share with my granddaughter. She likes to read the Princeless comic books and watch the new Carmen San Diego shows. All of these feature a brave female making her way successfully in a man’s world. Go Ryan my intrepid 6 year old Grandgirl.

Forward Motion

We continue to fix up our old but low mileage car. This time we replaced the front struts to get a better ride plus there were other needed repairs found and done.

I found out that the massage therapist I was using before the pandemic is now working from her home and my chiropractor has a massage therapist. I’ve made an appointment for Saturday with the latter as she responded first. If I’m not happy with that I’ll go back to the prior one. 

While we were driving home, club members raised more money with sales at the district Holiday Boutique. Then the yoga studio and dance students renting the clubhouse have an opportunity to buy the remaining items that were placed on a table with a "Pay what you think it is worth" collection box. We will leave that up until mid December. 

Engaging Project

Do we want to move is still the big question. We eliminated some neighborhoods near our son's home while visiting, kept one barely in contention, and found another neighborhood we really like and were not aware of before. We will be tracking available homes for the two target neighborhoods and see what the situation looks like in 2023.

Prudent Spending aka Conscious Consumption 

As mentioned, fixed several things in the car. 

Frugal Things  

 One of our space heaters/fans was so full of dust that it wasn’t safe to run. I did some online research and the best suggestion was to use compressed air to blow it out. That and a bit of fine tuning with a long thin kitchen utensil cleaned it.

Random Odd Events  

Don't know how I missed the news that this was happening, but I was surprised to get a $700 Middle Class Tax Refund debit card from the state of California. That almost pays for the new car struts. Apparently this money is not taxable income as it is a gift from the state not an actual tax refund.