July 2015 Frugal Chatter

[Natalka]

It is cooler today, so I am happier.

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http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/405759-...mailed-canada/

[Angela273]

Today is our friend's birthday party. He turned 47 and got married last Halloween. He was the best man at our wedding and at my brother's wedding. DH was his best man and my brother and I were both in his bridal party. Anyway, he's a good friend. We are attending a BBQ in his back yard this evening. We'll stop at the store and bring something with us. They are providing all of the meats and grillables.

[Granger]

Well I weeded and weeded. My dad came up and did some weed whipping for us too. He is also fixing up our Gazebo (and taking on the cost of the renos). With the plumbing and a huge church event for Canada Day DH hasn't had time to weed whip. We appreciate the help so much. DH was able to work on the garage and get it into order which is must for all other project completions!

Love my hubs but also love my daddy. 😊

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Slept in today and by that I mean quarter to 7. Just going to enjoy a nice cup of tea before I start my day.

Yesterday I started to clean out living room, there is only so much I will be able to do on my own. Right now all around and on our love seat is all Mom's cake stuff which is up and over my head. We will see what happens last time I got so mad I just boxed it all up and put it in the basement so that is always an option too. Now that she is no longer teaches cake decorating it is not like certain things need to stay upstairs.

I have to figure out what we will eat this week. Today Mom is working through dinner but she left overs from my dinner last night to take so I only need to fed myself. Tomorrow we both work and I will be home first so going to try to come up with something I can prep ahead. Will also check with Mom when she gets up to see what the rest of the week looks like for her work wise.

I do not have a plan for today will just see what I get done. I am trying to get more stuff done but not put too much pressure on myself. My leadership coach keep telling me I need to find balance in my life. I know he means between work and home life but I realized in trying to find that balance I was forcing myself to do things around the house so I would not have the time to work but really I am not finding balance I just increasing my stress. Now I am just setting all of these goals and timelines for myself, be at work by 6 any later even though you don't start till 8 will be late, work till 4 come home, between 4 & 5 get dinner made, take shower and work on lunch. Be done dinner by 6 from 6 until 7 work on the house, from 7 to 8 catch up on work, from 8 to 9 get ready for bed and work on household project upstairs. So yes I was not working 24/7 but I still feel I have not found balance because I am still working 24/7 just splitting it between work, work and house work so I am trying to go a bit more with the flow.

Hope everyone has a great day.

[Momof3girlies]

*following.

[Andit]

Good afternoon, everyone.

Since it's Sunday (I actually thought it was Monday, sigh), we're having a do-nothing, enjoy the weather kinda day. Brats are napping in the sunshine, panting, refusing to go where there is shade. Guess I'd better get my act together and make them some popsicles. I suspect I need a life.

The celebrations have begun for the Pan Am Games. Athletes have started arriving. I didn't have my camera ready when team Brazil came by with their big yellow/green bus. But I did get a shot of the Welcome Centre (my building is the short brick one above the Toronto 2015 sign).



Just to give an idea of how close I am to the Panamania fun, this shot is taken in the back alley - the white tents on the left are the Welcome Centre & Media Centre, the tent straight ahead is the cafeteria (which can feed 2000 athletes at once), the buildings on the left (with the George Brown logo at the top) are the Athletes Village, and the brick building on the right is where I live (although I face the opposite direction).



Might venture out later to see if there is adventure to be found.

Hope everyone has a wonderful day.

[Crochetlady]

Last night we were at a pond party. My BIL always barbecues the pig and the rest is pot luck. Lots of salads...potato, macaroni, caesar...cheese tray, nachos and desserts!!! oh my. Watermelon, strawberries, grapes, pineapple and then the good stuff. lol Peach cobbler, cheesecake, chocolate cake, cookies, icecream cake. I know there was more but I can`t remember what.
We left around 9:30...I was so cold and the bugs were getting really bad. Came home and crocheted for a few hours. I should get this afghan done for tomorrow. Will be delivering stuff to a couple places on Monday.

Have a great day everyone!

[lizzie bargain]

Spoiled DD and drove her to work and then stopped at Co-op on the way home. The Liberte truck was there and I got 3 free sample yogurt cups-yum. Also 3 BOGO coupons from them so I will wait for it to be on sale.DD was happy to get her first paychque of the summer and she put it in her savings account! DH is vacuuming the car(yeah) and I did a load of laundry and we went for a walk- it was quite chilly here this morning. Haven't had a free Stampede breakfast yet but you could do that every day for 10 days around here! I have been busily scouting out the best hotel deals for when we are down around Seattle in early August and deciding the best way to use my aeroplan pts-hotels next month or flights to Argentina in Jan or England next July. Clearly I have way too much time on my hands these days, but I do love to get the maximum value out of my free points!

[coupon girl]

well hubby got the toilet in -very hard this one
-I did laundry -cooked nice mashed potatotes, pork chops,carrots meal
-also went to shoppers

[lilo0003]

We had a good weekend camping, but the boys bickering can get on ones nerves. I forced myself to go to No Frills today as I had an awesome PC offer of 3000 points for every 30.00 spent. I have never had that one and I stocked up. My total was 150.32 before tax so I was pretty impressed with my self. I also had the measly 100 points for both beef and pork so with all my offers I earned 26000 points today. With the kids home for summer I need extra bagels and milk as well as cereal.

[jasperandchar]

@coupon girl great news about the toilet!!! @lizzie bargain the more points the better and I agree making the proper decision on how to spend them is time consuming but well worth it @Natalka hope the weather has cooled down and your rash & leg are doing better - all caught up, you have all been very busy,

[jasperandchar]

We had a wonderful 5 days at the cottage but I will admit nice to be back home to the world of plumbing (lol) and satellite tv, etc. Lunch this week will be leftover macaroni casserole & chili (yes there was enough food at the potluck). We'll be home all week which will be nice. My plans for Tuesday while out at ds2's audiology testing mail defective sat. receiver, photocopy & mail prescription reimbursements and returns to WM. Wishing everyone a very frugal July and to health & harmony.

[lizzie bargain]

Well apparently I am easily entertained-spent sometime perusing Airbnb and booked a lovely room in a beautiful old B and B to complete our accomodation needs for our upcoming family vacation. Never tried them before but thought it was time to try as it was about 1/2 the price of the chain hotels and I think we will really enjoy it-will report back later. So for a 2 week vacation my total accomodation cost is $137 US.

First 3 nights-staying with friends who are house sitting in West Van( which I am sure will be a gorgeous home)
Next 8 nights-staying at our house exchange on Vancouver Island
Next night-hotel in Victoria for free booked on American Airlines miles( includes breakfast)
Next 2 nights-Airbnb-$137 US for both nights( includes breakfast)

I loved the room for the price-king bed, twin bed and ensuite bathroom-works for me! Of course I could be lazy and just book a bunch of hotel rooms but I enjoy the fun of researching-and saving money for another trip. I guess I will save the rest of our airmiles to fly on later. Now I am busy looking for a week in London next summer after our 3 week house exchange in England-the prices ranged all over the map-found an apt for $52 per night which sounds too good to be true-better check that one out carefully. What is that old expression-if it sounds too good to be true it probably is!

[thriftygranny]

Back from the lake and enjoying the cooler temps, it was getting a bit much the heat is so dry in Alberta.Still smelling smoky from the Northern forest fires but not as bad as yesterday.
Had a wonderful surprise today, I stopped at NoFRills on my way home from the cabin to grab a bit of produce and noticed the lady in front of me had a whole frying chicken in her cart for 3.05.I put my cart in reverse and went to check the meat department, sure enough there were 8 whole fryers sitting there for 1.00 a pound.The expiry was tomorrow, it gets better I had my coupons for 4.00 off chicken with me and asked if they could accept them, they rounded down but I was happy to get 8 free fryers for the freezer. I cooked two for supper and have lots of lunch meat for the week, what a great find!!
busy week at work this week, I am catering a lunch for 50 on Wednesday at the golf course so will be busy prepping the next couple of days. It has been really windy here and my south windows are dusty so that is on my to do list for later in the week, as well as some more purging.
Enjoy the upcoming week everyone!!

[Natalka]

^ Glad you enjoyed your time away, J&C

Well, good news to report - finally I see some improvement on my leg infection. It's day 5, doc had said I should see improvement after 4, so it's good. It gave me some peace of mind to know the antibiotics are working. It can still hurt like a sonofagun though - I get shooting lightning pains just whenever.

Son came for supper - absolutely fabulous burgers husband BBQed - Sobey's had Sensations by Compliments on for 6.99, so picked up two boxes and got bonus AM, too. Had the Angus ones, they really were juicy.