November 2020 Frugal Chatter thread

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Dinner is going in the Slow Cooker, we were going to cook a Ham today but decided we wanted to keep the Oven free incase we wanted to Bake (no baking was done yesterday) and the Ham was too big for our Slow Cooker. So instead I pulled out a cheap Roast (not the nice ones that No Frills has been putting on sale, oh I love those ones) and am making a Balsamic Roast in the Slow Cooker. I tweaked the recipe a little you are supposed to cook the Carrots and Potatoes in the Slow Cooker with the Roast but I only put the Carrots in as I decided I would prefer to have Mashed Potatoes which I will make later. I might also make an Acorn Squash as I have one to use up.

Yesterday not a lot got done. I did get some work stuff done but that was it. All of a sudden I have a ton of anxiety, I know some of it is $$$$ related we are going into winter which is always more expensive for us with heating the house so that has me a bit on edge, then where we live we all own our houses but park in a parking lot and they sent out an email Friday suggesting they may start charging for parking which just set me off and sent me spinning on how I could tweak my budget if needed. Although it now sounds like the parking will remain as is for the time being, fingers crossed.

I am also stressing over work, I finally get to be me again but need to float among 3 branches and work remotely with 1 branch but also I need to start getting my projects done again and it all just hit me yesterday and I starting to panic and get really stressed. It just felt so overwhelming which made me spin out. I have decided today I am going to take some time write myself a work to do list and try to come up with a plan that is realistic on what I can get done and what will need to wait.

Today, I would like to get some cooking and baking done although I am not sure what I want to cook yet. Nothing food wise is really jumping out at me saying "yes, let's have that in the fridge this week." As far as baking goes, I think I will make a 3 Berry Ricotta Cake & Special Apple Pie which is not a pie which is good as I do not make Pie Crust. Might also make some Muffins, Muffins sound yummy and are always great for grab and eat.

Alright, dinner is going and time to plan my baking. Have a great day everyone.

[crafter]

@SassyAshley . Sounds like you're on your way to a productive baking day
Hugs re your work stress. You should treat yourself to at least one complete day off thinking about anything work related.
Have a super day!

[barbis9]

Fortino's has Starbucks coffee pods on for $6.99 and I found coupons at the door for $2 off, so I bought Pike Place, Verona, and decaf as a treat.

This month I am going to cut back on snacks - chips, chocolate etc and try to eat better.

Yesterday a woman at Swiss Chalet pulled her mask down to talk at the counter, and left it off. Another lady politely asked her to put it back on. The woman got very defensive and told the lady to mind her own business and started swearing at her. The guy in front of me started recording it on the phone. I spoke out and said that everyone here wants you to wear a mask. Than the woman said the employee couldn't hear her, than changed her story about having a medical condition (which I highly doubted). I said the only medical condition you have is you are crazy, that we all don't want to get sick. She than kept her mask on for the duration but kept complaining. The lady thanked me in the parking lot. I don't understand why people have such a issue wearing them? I bought nice ones at The Gap that are very comfortable and keep my face warm too.

[Giseledta]

good morning!
i am hoping for a really good month!! positive thinking...

plan had been to take down the halloween stuff outside... and its is raining... alot... alot... sigh. hopefully i can get all teh bags of black walnuts out for leaf pick up . i do not compost those

thats ok, i can work indoors for a few hours , get a bunch of stuff done.

yesterday i did my rcss shop.. co 51 submitted. and i got about 25 000 pts. i also picked up a few weird things for christmas. i am feeling good about Christmas. so far. ...lol.

my goal is to have to done in November, so December i can focus on work. I suspect it will be a absoulte ####show. Halloween showed me that . the kids are so confused.. sigh. if i have a few plans in place i can handle it better. gotta love a good plan.

[coupon girl]

I dont think many kids came around my crescent ,but i chose not to give out after just getting over my cold and with covid out there.So i have no chocolate in the house .

This morning i was up early 5.30 a.m so i baked the cheese muffins that walkonby posted in the baked section -so yummmy thanks for the recipe it is now added to my collection .

Pouring here ,just relaxing today and cooking half a ham ,mashed potatoes and seamed carrots.

[SassyAshley]

Barbis, I have to admit this is my biggest pet peeve is people who pulled down their masks to talk especially since this is when they are not social distancing. They will be right side by side and both pull down their mask to talk.

We also did not hand out Candy last night, to be honest I am not sure if houses around us did or did not, we closed all our blinds and no one knocked on our door. It was not recommended in our area.

Not sure if I shared, if I did sorry for the repeat. A couple of weeks ago I found out through almost six degrees of separation I may have been exposed, thankfully the tests came back negative for those who were tested, I was too far from the exposure to be tested. But it really scared me as I felt I was doing everything I could to keep myself safe but it makes you see you cannot control what others feel is safe.

[lilo0003]

5 minutes ago the sun was out. Now we are getting hail ! Roast beef for dinner tonight and then working on a menu for the week. I am running out of ideas so hopefully the older son has some tricks up his sleeve. November is going to be another eat from the freezer/pantry month. I will probably make it halfway before I cave because the last two months we reduced our groceries by half of what we had spent in April to August so it means there are things we are running out of.

[Giseledta]

Sassy---- my goal is 7 days... i would like to make it 7 days without someone I know having t get tested..... i have had this goal since september... and have yet to make it 7 days...... i am not in direct contact with most of them... but... 7 days... currently i am on day 5............


ok, menu made for the week. laundry is going . playroom is a bomb.. definatly needs love. but I will spend a hour in the am i think.
i have the free lasagna from rcss cooking now. smells delish.
plan is laundry and tv tonight.....

[flemeth]

I dont think many kids came around my crescent ,but i chose not to give out after just getting over my cold and with covid out there.So i have no chocolate in the house .

This morning i was up early 5.30 a.m so i baked the cheese muffins that walkonby posted in the baked section -so yummmy thanks for the recipe it is now added to my collection .

Pouring here ,just relaxing today and cooking half a ham ,mashed potatoes and seamed carrots.

@coupongirl I also made the muffin that @walkonby post yesterday and the are already gone
I also did not give out treats but I felt bad when I made that decision weeks ago . I don’t think anyone in my neighbourhood came out last night because I did not see ,kids or teenagers on the street

[lizzie bargain]

Sadly I am cancelling our Jan Maui trip-with the Covid numbers and a 2 week quarantine on either end and my travel insurance not covering since travel outside of Canada is not recommended it is a definite no go. Perhaps another year. I think most everything will be refunded thankfully.

[GoodBoy]

Sadly I am cancelling our Jan Maui trip-with the Covid numbers and a 2 week quarantine on either end and my travel insurance not covering since travel outside of Canada is not recommended it is a definite no go. Perhaps another year. I think most everything will be refunded thankfully.

When did you book it?

[lizzie bargain]

a few months back.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Balsamic Roast was okay, I need to tweak the recipe a little bit to make it more to our taste. I love Balsamic Vinegar but it was a bit overpowering, the sauce/gravy needed to be a bit more balanced. Next time I would not cook the carrots in the Slow-Cooker because they just absorbed vinegar and were too strong, they tasted over pickled.

Ricotta Cake is made, oh I love this recipe it is so yummy. Mom also made some Almond Cherry Loaves, tried one yesterday and they lacked flavour, for everything in the recipe they had no flavour, will try another one today and see if maybe they are one of those recipes that need to sit for the flavour to come out.

I did not get my work to do list done yesterday, I started working on some inventory stuff and got pulled down a rabbit hole, so I am working on my to do list now. It is a lot of going through the things I pushed to the side and seeing what I can get one now or what needs to wait as other things need to be done first.

I think my main goal for this week will be to find balance, yes, I have a ton to get done for work but my house needs my attention and my mental health needs some me time. I am proud of myself for pushing through for the last 3 months but it is not sustainable to keep pushing the way I was, mentally, physically and emotionally I was cracking so although we still have a ton going on I need find some balance so that is my goal for this week.

Alright time to get back at it. Have a great day everyone

[crafter]

Good morning! Today is chilly but wonderfully sunny.
DH and I are celebrating our 35th anniversary today. We usually go away every anniversary to Orillia so we're trying to do a COVID version of our fav meals etc here.
This morning we'll be making french toast and for dinner steak, roasted peppers and sweet potatoes.
my parents were super sweet and sent us an interac for $350 .. I doubt if they're paying DH $10 a year for staying with me LOL. It was super nice of them, hoping to put it towards a new bed.
Have a great day all!

[SassyAshley]

Cafter Happy Anniversary to you adn and your DH