January 2018 Frugal Chatter (new calendars & spreadsheets)

[Angela273]

Natalka I am sorry for you loss of your kitty.

Our cats are 10.5yrs and 11.5yrs Old. We adopted them from our local humane society when they were about 10 months old. King is the older one and has been having some trouble the last few months, we’re still trying to figure out the cause. Some of his behaviour has changed, but he seems otherwise happy and healthy. Elvis is a little chunky, but acts younger than his years.

[Angela273]

Some more meal planning.
Tuesday lunch: chicken salad on toasted bagel. I’ll be using leftover baked chicken thigh meat.
Tuesday supper: Johnsonville breakfast sausage, home made waffles, fresh strawberries, sliced apple.
Wednesday supper: roast picnic ham, hash brown casserole, pan fried hash browns for the kids, fresh garden carrot sticks, fresh cauliflower
Thursday supper: leftover roast ham...

[sweet sparrow]

A blah day around here today. Looking forward to our trip to London tomorrow but not to my Doctor's visit as I am not expecting good news. Oh well, life goes on and I just have to live it one day at a time.

@macw1960 : I hope the news is better than expected.

Also when it comes to anything I buy that I might be able to return, I keep the tags on and the receipt until either I HAVE to use it or I exceed the return period.

I am completely like that. I have a envelope of receipts, by the microwave, just in case.

Dh and I took turns being up most of the night with twin boy. He had a mild cough the last two days, but that went down hill fast last night. I called our local hospital and made sure we would be the first ones seen when the doctor arrives this morning. We’ve been in the ER for the last hour and his stats are so-so. I know he’ll be ok, but this stuff is hard.
Update: He has prescriptions and is sleeping comfortably at home.

@Angela273 : I hope your son gets better very soon.

[sweet sparrow]

@Ciel and @Natalka : Happy belated birthdays!

When it comes to items that do not expire I have been forcing myself lately to use things. I find these items are like Giftcards I tend to tuck away and wants to save them instead of enjoying them.

@SassyAshley : I saved all my gift cards as well until a bunch of stores began closing. I remember the mad rush to get rid of my Target gift cards, then Jacob, ... I had to buy things at full price just because the store would no longer be there at the end of the month. I think I dislike that feeling most of all. Then at Jacob, I had to buy anything that remotely fit. I paid $20 for an ordinary pair of tights just because no one knew when the markdowns would start or if everything would be moved to a different store. From then on, if I could use a gift card I did - and fast!

I have one more gift card to Gymboree that I'm trying to use up and wonder if it would be better to sell online.

Have plans to window-shop and walk around downtown Toronto on Wednesday (my get out of town daytrip gift to myself and finally see Uniqlo, Muji and other stores' wares) and attend an evening panel presentation. I will definitely stop at a couple of libraries too to check out what's new on the shelves and read of course. GO Train or bus-have not decided which one to take into the big city. If the weather's not sloppy, I'll make a trip to King Textiles too and see what's new in fabrics as well.

@Ciel : I'm so jealous! That was my old neighbourhood! I miss the specialty businesses.

[sweet sparrow]

@Natalka : I'm so sorry to hear of Taffy's passing. She really reminds me of my former pet.

[Natalka]

Thanks for all your comments about our loss of Taffy cat... it's been very odd not having her around.
I've kept a close eye on Vader - other than her searching the house a few times yesterday, no odd behaviour. We had some good snuggles yesterday and she got some treats.

Today, an Alberta clipper is blowing in, so weird weather on the way.
I'm staying in, and husband is staying home another day to ensure his back is better; the dr. suggested it since he started a new kind of painkiller. Husband is much better, though.

I was hurting a lot last night, after having done too much with the physiotherapist. This morning, an occupational therapist will be coming to assess me - it shouldn't be as taxing as it was with the PT.

Hope you all have a good day!

[lizzie bargain]

Nat-I hope the PT/OT are able to give you some practical suggestions to use in your home to make your days a bit easier and help you get a bit stronger!

[Frugalbigmama]

Morning.
@Natalka - Sorry for your loss. And yes it is hard on the other pets in the home.

Cold cold here today. Guess I'm lucky to be at work with the heat cranked.

My baby is getting his Grade 8 Grad pics done today Sad and happy day in one!

[cath007]

I have a question: Can I keep my pc card and still get points when the new program arrive or I have to change for a pc optimun card?

[Frugalbigmama]

I have a question: Can I keep my pc card and still get points when the new program arrive or I have to change for a pc optimun card?

Pretty sure I read somewhere that we will get a new card in store when we combine them but I guess we will know more once they launch the new program.

[Ciel]

I was in Shoppers this morning (buying a paper with bottle refund money from Dad's beer purchases) and there's a store sign on the counter saying that Optimum points earned on Jan. 30& 31 may not show up on our accounts until Feb.28. I'm going to leave the 10 Optimum pts I earned today on my account in order to get pts for the new PC Optimum card on Thursday.
@cath007 -we have to switch to the new PC Optimum cards. Think in Quebec you have until May to use your Pharmaprix cards for redemptions but PC Plus changes to PC Optimum in two days' time.

Last night, I made the chiffon cake (chocolate spice) while the frozen Jamaican beef patties were being baked in the oven. I kept sneezing on and off and had a sudden sinus cold (no head pain-curious) on one side of the nose, so was running for tissues and handwashing every two minutes. Glad I made tea-I left the cake to cool all night and just drank mugs of tea after supper of patties and samosas (sibling wanted some in the oven but as the cake was baking, I put the toaster oven to use). Figured out I probably did not get a cold via hugging someone in the last two days, but on my cake walk home (Sunday just after 12pm), I was overheating and had opened my coat for 10min and had my gloves off and no hood or hat on. But I had a sinus headache later on Sun, felt fine Monday morning then in the late afternoon, sneezing began. Got to love fast colds. First one of the winter. Used a wet wipe to wipe knobs, remote controls and fridge door just in case.

Naturally, my breakfast decision was easy today-slices of chiffon cake (two before snow shovelling and more afterwards). Got hand laundry done, tossed the fake fur throw (now rolled into a cylinder shape and tied) into the dryer, and vacuumed the living room.

Tonight after supper, I'm going to ask if I can cube and roast the lingering butternut squash (two weeks have gone by...) with garlic and rosemary. May as well make the dish and use the vegetable. Hoping sibling comes through with Taco Bell takeout tonight (he suggested it last night but after snow shovelling, I had no interest).

[Angela273]

Pretty sure I read somewhere that we will get a new card in store when we combine them but I guess we will know more once they launch the new program.

I called to ask questions earlier in the month. The guy told me that I will need to take my new pc optimum card with me to a SDM along with my old optimum card. Then the clerk will physically scan the cards and transfer my old Optimum points over to the new program. The closest SDM is 2.5hrs away from where I live, so I hope they give us lots of time to do that.

[Ciel]

Morning.
@Natalka- Sorry for your loss. And yes it is hard on the other pets in the home.

Cold cold here today. Guess I'm lucky to be at work with the heat cranked.

My baby is getting his Grade 8 Grad pics done today Sad and happy day in one!

One thing that adulthood misses is yearly photos like students have in school (not like mandatory work or ID photos-you don't get much notice for those images). I was telling that to someone recently how important it is in one's 30s & 40s to mark each year with a few photos-say at least one posed scene and a few of one doing things s/he likes. I have no photos for some of those years and made a point this month to snap random images during Christmas and of my birthday cake on the Coolpix camera.
@sweet sparrow -if there is a way for you to plan a day back to your old stomping ground soon, go for it! I feel so behind as Uniqlo & Muji opened in late 2016 and now in January 2018, I get to visit but not buy. Happily, I saw the L'Occitane free gift blog post on the Smart Canucks blog (thanks @miss Splendid !) so I've printed it off for tomorrow's trip (two stores in downtown so if one store is out of stock, maybe the other has stock?). If anyone else has a Harvey's gift burger offer, let me warn you that it's 3 pages long and today I got page 3 printed (I was mad that the burger image took one page to print, as usually offers take just two pages to print not three!). I will find out if the Berry Shake is less than $3, so I can buy one to have with the burger and call that lunch tomorrow. Purchased local transit tickets too, eliminating change scramble for buses tomorrow. Have funds set aside for GO ticket.

Heard the weather forecasts on two morning shows indicate more snow tomorrow. Must bring my umbrella along.

[Ciel]

@Angela 273 -the store wants to scan cards? Here I was counting down to cutting up my cards when I got the new one. Keytags I would not mind letting go but for PC Plus, the card and tag numbers are not the same. Thanks for pointing out the new card protocol.

[lizzie bargain]

We have the PC pts hooked to our credit card so no PC card. I am hoping that all our pts will magically be hooked to my husband's credit card without any effort on my part-might be wishful thinking but will wait and see what happens. I transferred all my SDM pts to my husband's account and will just use the one account now I think.