Loaded with cherries

I feel just awful. I slept almost all afternoon. I simply can't figure out why any physical activity gives me flu like symptoms? If I go for a walk.... I get chills, congestion, aches, and fever. If I work extra long hours at the machine... I get chills, congestion, aches, and fever. If I mop floors.... I get chills, congestion, aches, and fever. I'm a senior citizen but most days I feel as if I'm a hundred years old. I'm too young to feel that old.

I worked on the current quilt for awhile before going to bed for most of the afternoon. Before that I asked my neighbor if she wanted the cherries from my tree. I walked back there with her to show her where the tree is. As you can see the tree is loaded with cherries.

She decided to pick only what she could reach from the ground. She didn't want to get on a ladder. Neither did I. I sat and kept her company for awhile then went to lay down. This is the tree from ground level.

This is the top of the tree. The birds will get all of those.

She got about 5 or 6 gallons of cherries just standing on the ground. This is an 8 gallon bucket. There's probably another 20 or 30 gallons on the tree. They will all be gone in a couple of days. Some birds have already started raiding them. I can remember the first year after this tree was planted. I got a whopping 4 cherries from the twig that it was. My how it's grown.

This little cherry tree is dwarfed by the trees hanging over my yard. The trees are actually in the empty lot next door. I've complained and complained to the city about having the trees cut down. I'm always told that I can pay to get it done myself. Like I can afford to pay for someone else's yard work! There aren't any help programs in this city to handle debris or trees. That's a shame.

You can barely tell that the cherry tree is in my yard. That's it next to the clothes line pole. I haven't been able to use that pole for many years. Too much bird poop gets on everything.

My yard looks just plain awful! Nothing I can do about it though. I can't clean it up myself and I can't pay a landscaper either..... so it just keeps on growing and claiming my yard.

All of the brush and trees are on the other side of the fence. See here. I do pay the guy that cuts my grass to cut what he can from my side.

But here's the problem..... this is on the other side of the fence. No way to get to it to clean out the fence.

Another view of the other side of the fence.

My fence is 4 ft and the debris is as high as the fence. Under all those branches are old car parts, tires, bricks, metal sheeting, wood with nails, broken bottles, and a bunch of unknown stuff.

I noticed this stuff growing in the yard too. Is this poison ivy? It does have three leaves. I have weed killer on my shopping list for next week.... if my SIL doesn't mind going to the hardware store.

It's growning near the gate going to the back yard and also near the back gate to the alley.

I guess the trip to the back yard today will be the last one I make this year. I won't go back until cherry time next year. It's not a place to hang out and I don't have any other reason go. I'm going back to bed now so I can get an early start in the morning. I should be able to finish the quilt that's on the machine..... if the fever and aches go away.

The deadline quilt is done



She picked it up yesterday. This is the top.






I did a leaf and vine design on each side of the applique design.

I did a leaf and flower design on the pieced inside border and a different leaf design on the very inside border.

I did line dancing on the nine patch blocks.

I meandered around the photos and a leaf in the corners.

Another view of the borders.

Ok, now that the quilt is finished and the customer is happy I finished by the deadline.... I can relax. I want to thank Quiltin Library Lady for the comment you sent me. I needed it to remind me that I'm in control of my life..... not the other way around.

I got another stern lecture from my doctor when I saw her Monday. She sent me home with some instructions to make changes in my life.... right now. I'm trying.... really I am. She just doesn't understand. My budget doesn't allow for simply going out to buy all new groceries or changing a lifestyle on the spur of the moment. I have to plan my budget carefully. She wanted me to see her again in two weeks but there weren't any appointments available that soon. My next appointment is July 2nd.

I went to the thrift store across the street from the doctor's office. This is what I got.

No, I didn't pay 19.95 for it. They had a sale 75% off everything in the store that day. The extra beaters were free. The clerk gave them to me for buying the mixer. It's been sitting on the store self for a few months. I've been eyeing it and waiting for the right sale while at the same time hopeing that no one would buy it. It works fine. A bit of cleaning and it will look great.

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I'm not feeling quite up to par today. My head is stuffy and my throat is scratchy. I'm trying to decide what to do today. Do I finish the next quilt because I'm so far behind schedule and need the money? Or should I pick cherries from the tree? Maybe I should just leave them for the birds to enjoy this year? If I pick the cherries do I want to simply put them in the freezer or do I can some cherry pie filling? Last year I lost most of the frozen cherries when we had the power outage in the fall.

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I had the interview with the reporter. It was over the phone. She was asking me about how I save money and about my blogs. Her name is Katya Cengel. I forgot to ask her when the article will be in the paper and she didn't say either. I guess I'll won't get to read it myself. I don't get the daily paper. There were a couple of questions I didn't answer. For personal safety reasons. I do live in a bad part of town. Too much personal information can put a senior at risk. Criminals read the paper too.

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The ant problem is taken care of. I realized I pay a yearly fee for an exterminator. So I called. There wasn't any extra charge for him coming to spray for ants. I didn't see a single ant when I woke up. Yea!

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Well I guess the work won't get done until I go do it. I have to make a choice and get to it.

More about the price book


I'm up just a bit too early. Too early to start quilting. I thought I'd drink another cup of coffee and tell you a bit more about how the price book helps save money.

These days the buzz words seem to be all about stocking up your pantry..... just in case. What is a well stocked pantry? It's not so much about a place in your house where food is stored.... it's about an attitude. Sure, you can do an internet search to find all kinds of "pantry stock lists" where someone else tells you what is the ideal items to have on hand. If you follow those lists to the letter you may find yourself, sometime down the road, cleaning out dusty cans of food to take to the food bank because your family just doesn't like what's in there. Or you might find yourself tossing outdated items you couldn't figure out how to incorporate into foods your family would eat.

A well stocked pantry is an attitude of knowing you are getting items your family loves at the absolute lowest price you can find.... and the items will be used instead of gathering dust. A truly frugal person is also well organized. Keeping organized helps prevent over spending on things you thought you needed but didn't. Staying organized shouldn't be overwhelming. Yes, it does sometimes feel like staying organized is beyond your control. It happens to me too. That's why I try to combine my organizing whenever possible. To keep it simple.

A price book is a memory helper. (These days I need all the memory help I can get.) It helps you remember the store that carries the stuff you like the most.... at the lowest price. What prices you keep up with are your family's personal choices. The brands you know won't gather dust. How many items you put into your price book are also your own personal choice. It might be only a few and it might be everything. The point is that you want to know for sure if store A, store B, or store C has the lowest price of anything you are about to shell out hard earned dollars to buy.

For example: store A has your favorite brand of toilet paper priced a whole dollar less than store B and C so you buy it from store A. Saving a dollar of your grocery budget. Store C carries the spices you always have on hand at about 30 cents cheaper than store A and B. You see the idea? A price book lets you look up which store is cheapest when you are making out your grocery list. The price book also tells you if the sale price for toilet paper at store B really is cheaper than store A this week. All you have to do is look in your price book to compare.

As I explained in my last post.... you can't outsmart the marketing people at their own game. Well, maybe that's a wee bit wrong. It all depends on how quickly you get into the store and get out again. The longer you stay in a store the more likely you are to pick up an extra item or two. I'm sure you know what I mean. You run into the store to get milk and bread but come out with a cart full of stuff. If you learn to get in quickly and get out quickly... you win. A price book helps you learn.

How you create your price book is also a matter of choice. The form it takes really doesn't matter. Do you prefer paper? Do you prefer keeping it on the computer? Do you really want to keep up with the price of 4 brands of peas at 6 different stores or only track the price of your family's favorite brand? Would you want to inventory everything in the house all at once or would you prefer starting with only your current shopping list and adding to it over time? What really matters when creating your personal price book is using it to save money on your shopping budget.

A price book becomes more valuable and easier to manage over time. As you start entering data you'll find it requires fewer changes as time goes by. You'll be able to spend only a few minutes each time you make our your grocery lists. If you stick to your grocery list.... buying only want you plan to buy.... your inventory will also be updated in just a few minutes at the same time you create your shopping lists. Eventually the price book will help you with meal planning too.

Eeeeeek! Ye gads!! $#(*^(*&^$&^%#%$*^ ANTS!!!


Do you have any idea what it feels like to wake up in the morning to find swarming and flying ants invading your home? Silent little creatures that are flying and crawling all over the place. Somehow leaving enough droppings to make the house look dirty. I didn't know ants left droppings like this. Yes, some of it is dust... but dust is grey.... droppings are yellow looking. These ants are in every room of the house. I'm not going to go searching for the swarms though.... it might creep me out far too much.




This swarm is crawling up the wall toward the ceiling. I didn't know ants did that either! I thought they preferred underground. No food for them at the ceiling that I know about. Hmm... maybe there is some other kind of bugs around the ceiling? What do I mean?

Well.... these ants bite! They are meat eaters. If I were to put out a bit of sugar and a bit of meat side by side; the ants would swarm around the meat and leave the sugar. I've tried the experiment before.... when the ants stayed outside. I'm not about to feed them anything as long as they are invading my house. You'll just have to take my word for it without pictures. Maybe there are flies or silverfish or some other kind of bugs around the ceiling? To ants that would be meat.

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I couldn't even take a decent shower this morning without a few of the flying ones deciding to take a shower with me.

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I know I won't get much sleep for the next few days. These ants swarm at night. They swarm every night for about a week then go back into hiding until the next year. No telling whether they are plotting to attack me while I sleep. I can visualize someone finding my skeleton in the bed after being attacked and eaten. I'm going to call the exterminator today after I get back home. I have a doctor appointment this morning.

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I'm beginning to think I'm never going to catch a break! It's one crisis after another these days. Between stubborn water cut off knobs; quilters saying..... I'm not trying to rush you BUT can you get my quilt done by ______ LIKE YOU PROMISED; a daughter that needs a last minute baby sitter because she's called to work (daddy doesn't want to be stuck at home); and now invading ants.... my life is one big series of stressful events. I'm wondering what will be next? I don't think I can handle many more crisis events before I decide to run away from home.

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Hmm..... What happened to my 2009 goal to say yes to less? Good question. Maybe the ants carried it off? Maybe it went down the drain with all the free flowing water? Maybe my grandaughter hid it in her toybox? Or maybe it's hidden underneath the quilts waiting? Yup, I think I'm very close to running away from home.

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Ok, I've got to get to the doctor's office. While I'm there maybe I can come up with a plan of action? A plan to handle one crisis at a time and get my life back in order.

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P. S. to Elaine and Agnes. I would have emailed you privately but you have your "no comment reply" turned on. Bloggers can't privately answer questions unless you allow replys to be sent.

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For Elaine: Thank you, it's perfectly ok with me for you or anyone to use any quilting design seen in the pictures of my posts. It's one of the reasons I take so many pictures.... so readers can see how any design looks on a quilt.

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For Agnes: I'm taking pictures and writing posts as fast as I can for the frugal living blog. If you follow each "step" as I create it you should be saving money by the end of the series. I'm updating and stream lining every thing as I write about it. Each step should be organized and helpful by the time I get it posted.

Start with a grocery inventory and a price book



You really should know what you need before you go shopping. If you don't make out a list of what you need; you may find yourself buying something you already have. Everybody knows you save money by shopping with a list. Am I right? Ok, you understand doing an inventory in order to make out your grocery list; but, what the heck is a price book? A price book is a list of what you normally buy every shopping trip. It lists the prices charged by several stores or only the lowest priced store depending on what you choose to keep track of. You use the price book to decide where to buy items at the lowest cost.


Not too many years ago; no thrifty stay at home mom would dare go shopping without her handy price book in her handbag. It was a small notebook with a single page for each of several different grocery items she bought regularly. If she saw something she believed was a good bargain..... out came the price book for a look see before buying. If the price of the bargain was lower than what she had been paying.... she bought the bargain. If it wasn't lower.... she walked right on by. You might see this thrifty mom with her price book jotting down prices as she went from isle to isle of each store.


I use a price book too but I don't carry it with me anymore nor do I walk around stores jotting down prices. Actually, I've used a price book for many years. I've come up with a different way of using my price book and I'll be explaining it further in the next few posts.

My price book is created and used at home. There are times when I'm planning a special occasion purchase. It might be an appliance that needs replacing or maybe a birthday gift for someone. This is when I will carry a file card or a slip of paper with me to jot down prices while in the stores. I'm going to be in the store anyway so why not start checking prices on these special occasion purchases..... long before I actually make a purchase.


I must confess. I haven't used my price book for several months. The stress of keeping up with quilting work and all the illness I've had over the past few months caused me to skip it. Now that I'm back to shopping every couple of weeks instead of every 4 to 6 months; I find I'm needing the price book more than before.


When I went to the computer to find my price book.... it's gone! What the heck? It was then that I realized I haven't used my price book since last fall when my computer had to be wiped clean and everything reinstalled. Oooo.... that's not good! How much money have I wasted by not using it? I decided to re create it..... right away!


If you want to make your own price book please use mine as an example. You can create your own after you understand how the price book works. For now, read about mine first. I printed out the pages so it's easy to carry around my house to do an inventory. Later I will type everything in the computer. If you follow my example you won't be carrying a price book around with you and you won't be writing down prices in the stores. Everything will be done at home.


This is what a printed copy of my price book looks like.






Each page has these columns:



Product / brand

Size

Inventory

Unit price

Sale price

Sale date

Store


I realized after I printed the pages that the inventory column should be before the size column. I'm not going to reprint them just for that. I'll change it before I start typing the information in the computer. This is a simple table done in ms word. I haven't figured out how to use the new excel yet.


The pages are titled with these: (one sheet per title)

Baking and staples

Beverages

Bread and bakery

Breakfast

Canned goods

Cleaning

Condiments, dressing, and spices

Dairy

Frozen foods

Health and medicine

Household maintenance

Meats

Office supplies

Paper and plastic

Pasta and quick meals

Personal hygiene

Pet

Pre made meals (meals I prepared for the freezer go here, as well as store made meals)

Snacks

Miscellaneous

I'm using these printed pages to do a complete grocery inventory in my house. I need to know what I have and what I need before I continue to the next step of saving money at the grocery store. I'll carry these pages from place to place throughout my house as I do my inventory. While I'm at it.... I might as well check expiration dates. If something is outdated.... out it goes. The only columns I'll be filling in at this time are the product / brand, size, and inventory.

Please be patient with me for the next step of the process...... I have some other things I need to deal with and may not get to the it for a couple of days. My goal is to explain every step before I go shopping again. My next shopping trip is planned for June 12th.