2024-05 May Frugal Chatter

[Ciel21]

My surge protector died this morning. Of course everything was plugged into it.
Went to Staples and bought the best one they had and now everything is well protected. Have my office ripped apart since it was time to organize all the cords properly through the desk/cord holes so it is so much cleaner now!

Great to have a working surge protector!

[Ciel21]

Several songs at the semi-final competition of Eurovision seemed raunchy with all the pelvic gyrations and more on stage. Songs sung in those performances appeared to be more about volume than song craft. The two female hosts had some good jokes in their commentaries. The one I liked best was when Petra Mede had a Eurovision fan test her knowledge of songs from different contests...

Three singers stood out for their vocal abilities-they did not do the over the top dancing or movements: Iceland, Moldova and Portugal. One singer also played a violin (it brought back memories of 2009 contest and Norwegian Alexander Rybak). Noticed a trenchcoat theme in wardrobe. Norway had one singer in a trench made of mostly denim rectangles (neat effect!), someone wore a white smooth trenchcoat (seemed Matrix inspired), and Ukraine-one singer had a Japanese inspired kimono sleeve trenchcoat as part of the tone on tone outfit. I would not call Poland's singer's coverup a trench coat-it seems to be a good use of shiny vinyl as it matched the boots (aka Sailor Moon sings a song with chess theme/dancers).

[HermanH]

So next hydro outage will be a learning curve since phone line will be impacted as well.

Do you experience outages often? I was always concerned about emergency phone availability during an outage for my mother, so I thought that staying with Telus with a land-line was safer, since it (supposedly) drew current from another source. I only found out during the last (infrequent) outage that it was also kaput, since the new system is connected via fibre-optic line and there is just now way to utilize the old copper phone lines.

[SassyAshley]

Good Morning Everyone,
Oh did I mess myself up yesterday LOL. I have fallen into a routine of getting up at 5, getting a couple of hours of work done before I start my training day. Yesterday we were doing plant tours and starting at the one closer to my home and I was so tired I decided oh I can sleep till 6. BIG mistake, all day yesterday I felt groggy and tired. Even when I got home it was 5:15 and I was ready for bed and all night I felt like it was so much later than it was.

Today I was back to being up at 5, getting a few things done before training starts today.

Need to look at the flyers, I did not go shopping last week although we aren't really "out" of anything. But some fresh options would be nice.

I also need to go to Costco but I was a bit disappointed the one I normally shop at was out of so many things last time and I have noticed they are changing what they stock so I think I need to go to a different location. There are two locations I shop at and the one that is a bit further away seems to still be stocking a few things I now need but it is the complete opposite direction of where I am working this week. So we will see.

Let's see what else I can knock out before I have to start training for the day.

Happy Wednesday Everyone.

[coupon girl]

I went to visit little miss cara today ,her ears were hurting (all in the process of her surgery).I did manage to colour 2 pages with her and cuddle her for a few minutes .

I took her a strawberry smoothie from McDonalds which she loved.

Chatted with my son ,then came home .Hubby pulled something in his back or turned the wrong way -who knows .

[HermanH]

Found a jar of untouched plum jam, while walking across a field.

[Ciel21]

Do you experience outages often? I was always concerned about emergency phone availability during an outage for my mother, so I thought that staying with Telus with a land-line was safer, since it (supposedly) drew current from another source. I only found out during the last (infrequent) outage that it was also kaput, since the new system is connected via fibre-optic line and there is just now way to utilize the old copper phone lines.

We experience power dips all the time (nice way to notice that the modem is broadcasting wifi after it reboots) and yes, we've had about 4-5 electricity outages each year in the past two years. Today is the day Bell turned off the copper land line system; glad we did the switch before May regardless but no more generator power for the phone if the electricity is out a few minutes or a few hours.

[Ciel21]

The high winds in the morning made quick drying work of my bedding and kitchen linen (about 30-35min for each set of laundry) outdoors. Did not lose anything textile to the winds but the odd plastic clothespin did jump. Last night, we had a strong rain just after 11:35pm and a few seconds prior I heard a Canada Goose honk? at that time (so it must have felt some rain and took off). The rain lasted ten minutes and caused a couple of thunder rumbles. Then it all stopped.

[Ciel21]

By the way, have other members living in houses noticed an uptick in door knockers for pest control services, student painting, etc. in the past two weeks? There had been someone for lawncare/fertilizer service over a month ago at the door too.

I've observed that some townhouse surveys seem to be not getting their grass cut weekly-could be a pricing issue or the cost of gasoline adding to the weekly lawncare team visit.

[Frugalbigmama]

Good Morning! What a beautiful day it is out there!

Yesterday had to join a 2 hr long lawyer appointment with my sister and mother to sign papers for my mothers estate planning.
Happy to have that all done and now we don't have to worry about it.

We took mom to the casino for dinner and gambling after for an early Mother's day dinner. ( I just find it so busy to go out for a meal on the weekend especially on a holiday so better for our mom on a less busy night) The best part is she always takes the leftovers home and has a meal the next day! (she got pasta and it was huge so I think she will be eating it for the next 2 days!) I had bought my mom a planter and a hanging basket. Seems to be the usual Mother's Day deal (flowers and dinner )

Started work early this morning and then popped out to RCSS to take a look at the steak on at RCSS. Found 3 packages, 2lb strawberries and 2 boxes of crackers for DS for a total of $40.29. Redeemed $40 in points and paid .29 (
Will pop out to Walmart later today to grab salad and take a look in their garden center.

Didn't make it to Costco yesterday (need our coffee beans!) so will go at some point this weekend.

Off to wrap my steak for the freezer and to clean the strawberries

[harbie]

Yesterday was the first day back at work and it was harder than I expected. Today should be better *fingers crossed *

It's going to be HOT today. 27+ . I feel bad because of the lack of water and fire season but my old lady bones need some hot weather!

Dh and I picked up some new runners at NB yesterday and I’m super excited to run after work . They are definitely a pricey shoe but I have found NB to be the best for me and these particular ones the best for me when I run. Plus they’re flashy (they are are a neon green IRL)

[coupon girl]

Frugalbigmama nice to take you mom out early-dinner out is always a nice gift.
Harbie-nice shoes ,nice to treat yourself and hubby.

Well i went to shoppers and spent $60.32 before tax so got 10,000 points for seniors day
milk is now $6.09-20% seniors
=4.87
i got 4 of the planters cashews for 3.00 each
plus various other stuff.

My deal of the day was a flyer put on my door knob which most people would just toss out -nope i read it .
Walley Parr is around the corner and i joined their club last year -free.This hanging tag said $25.00 promo ,my neighbour said nobody would give away $25.00 nowadays well guess what it was free

i got 2 pkg chicken breasts $8.45,8.70,8.85=26.00
then put in a coleslaw homemade 4.69
their small bottle of honey garlic sauce 2.99

Total 33.68-25.00=8.68 you may as well say i only paid a dollar for all the chicken -love it free chicken breasts for me and hubby.

[HermanH]

There had been someone for lawncare/fertilizer service over a month ago at the door too.

I've observed that some townhouse surveys seem to be not getting their grass cut weekly-could be a pricing issue or the cost of gasoline adding to the weekly lawncare team visit.

I would pass on a word of caution, regarding door-to-door lawn services. Be careful you do not allow them to spread things like fairy rings to your lawn, through infected/poorly cleaned equipment. I suspect, but am not certain, that one aeration service might have done just that to our lawn. It took forever to get rid of the rings.

[Frugalbigmama]

Redeemed another $50 in PC pts today. ($50.71 so redeemed $50 in points and paid .70 in change)
Went to No Frills and the chicken drumsticks were $1.87LB (DS likes) so bought 5 packages around $5 each.
$10 bag of Buttermilk chicken fillets
2 x English muffins .97 each.
$9. Planter
$1.99 Blueberries
$1.50 Cheez it crackers

Then Walmart for 2 x Sunflower Crunch salad $4.97 each ( get me through the next few days)
5 x Annie's shells $1.94 each (for oldest DS)

Now we don't have to grocery shop till next week- Have lots of good/fresh stuff to eat.

[Ciel21]

The final phone bill came from Bell-it's a credit. Bell did not provide a cheque, so looks like one of the bill payment envelopes (I have a couple of them saved in the Bills folder) will be put to use with a letter requesting the money back this month.