Saturday Smiles

Well, my lilacs have bloomed!  They look so beautiful this year and the fragrance is just lovely.  It makes sitting on the deck swing so calming and peaceful.

As I mentioned in my last post, B and I went to see the movie "Pressure".  I am not a big fan of war movies but B really wanted to see it.  I was surprised to find that I did enjoy it.  What I was not too pleased about was the cost of going to the movies.  Yes, we did go on the $5.00 Monday and we did get a senior citizen rate on admission but still it was expensive.  Admission for 2 plus 1 small soda, 1 small popcorn and a bottle of water came to almost $50.  I admit we haven't gone to the movies too often in these later years but that price is ridiculous!  B said we would only go to the movies again if there was something we really, really, really wanted to see.

The coffeemaker decided to die on Wednesday morning.  So we definitely had to go out and get a new one.  No caffeine in this house makes for a very dangerous environment (lol).  We had to go to Meijers anyway to get one of my prescriptions refilled so we went shopping for a coffeemaker while we waited.  There were so many to look at.  Brand names I had never heard of before and some with so many buttons on them, they could have been on a spacecraft to be launched by Nasa.  We finally found one with just enough buttons on it to brew the coffee and set the alarm for morning.  Just what we need....the basics.  We walked around Meijers some more to kill time.  Have you ever noticed how some people push their shopping carts around?  I mentioned to B that if those same people drive their cars the way they use the shopping carts, they are accidents waiting to happen.  After getting the prescription refill and paying for the coffeemaker, we headed to Lowe's to price concrete pavers.  We have an area between the house and garage that gets no sun and therefore turns into a muddy mess with either rain or when we use the hose.  We decided this year to put cement pavers down to eliminate the mess and to make the area look a bit nicer.  The price of pavers as well as the sand needed to set them was not bad, however, putting concrete pavers as well as bags of sand in the back of the car was not an option.  We are hoping we can get our youngest son to bring his truck over so we can use it to pick them up.

Thursday was my day to get my monthly B12 shot.  While I was at the medical center to get the shot, B took some donations to the St. Vincent dePaul store and some books to the public library that I donate toward their book sales.  Afterwards, we went to the local ice cream shop and had hot fudge sundaes just because it was a beautiful day and we were out.

Friday, there was a gun and knife show in Escanaba (which is about an hour from us) that B wanted to go to.  He was disappointed in it as it was mostly knives and very little other militaria.  After that, we went to Hobby Lobby where I wanted to pick up some 4th of July decor.  I was very annoyed that the store already had out Autumn, Thanksgiving and even Christmas items as well.  Talk about rushing things.  We had lunch at Culver's and then went to the local grocery store to pick up a few things as we headed for home.  The day had been absolutely gorgeous--beautiful weather, sunny & warm.  But we got about 5 miles from home and drove into a major rainstorm.  It was so bad that for at least 10 minutes, we couldn't see a thing through the rain.  Yes, the UP was in a great need of rain but blinding rain is not my idea of fun.  However, all the plants and grass got a good soaking which I am happy about.

I hope all of you are making the most of the beautiful and not so beautiful weather in your part of the world.
 

Wordless Wednesday

 

June begins with miscellaneous Monday

 Well, summer has finally come to the UP.  We have had beautiful warm days which have brightened my spirits and awakened my love for outside tasks-preparing the front and back decks, landscaping and plants.  B needed to restain the front and back decks as the winter reeked havoc on the stain put down last year.  However, since the weather was so warm, he was able to get it done and it dried by the end of the day.  The next two days were spent getting the furniture on both decks.  This year it was a bit easier for the both of us because we left the larger pieces on the deck during the winter under a weighted tarp.  B and I are getting a bit too old to haul those pieces out of the garage and up the deck steps every spring.  It was so nice to sit on the front deck swing and enjoy the peacefulness of the neighborhood (such as it is..we only have 4 neighbors and they are not anywhere near close to us).  We had planted white feather hostas the last few summers in the backyard and they have started coming up.  We added an antique iron bench that we found last year.  The seat was missing so B made a new wooden one.  We don't use the bench for sitting just to hold some lovely colorful plants.  A birdbath was put next to it as well as a bird feeder.  It does look pretty.  I will try to take a pic if I can.  Not much of a photographer here.  My oldest son is much much better at that.  We plan to put in a decorative wooden fence to complete the area but we haven't gotten to it yet.  B put some sod down at the bottom of the steps on both decks as they get quite muddy when it rains.  The sod looks good and anything that avoids getting mud in the house works for me.  Our neighbor down the road came over and offered to take down two trees that B was concerned about in the woods behind the backyard.  We get some pretty fierce winds here and he was worried that if one or both came down, they would land right into the house.  The neighbor agreed and said as long as he could have the wood, we would be even. Good deal. We have seen a lot of birds so far this year - turkeys, cranes, indigo buntings, and red breasted grosbeaks to name a few.  The lilac bush is getting ready to bloom. I can't wait. The lilacs are so pretty and they bring a wonderful fragrance to the front deck.

So last month, I decided to track our no spend days as we are trying to be more careful on how we spend our money.  I am happy to say that we had 16 no spend days for May.  I am hoping we can do that again for June.  As well as avoiding spending money just willy nilly, we are being careful what we do spend our money on as in groceries, gas, etc.  I made up a pantry and freezer list and have been trying to keep track of what we have in each and using those items before going to the grocery store.  It seems to be working as our grocery bill for once a month shopping is down by $100.  We also are careful about any errands we run in the car.  To save gas, we plan our errands on the same days when possible.  This way we only have to fill up 1 or 2 times per month.

I declutter whenever I clean the house and most of the time, those things are donated so someone else can enjoy them as we did.  As I said in a previous post, our cat Al passed away at the end of April.  We gave his cat food and treats to our son and dil for their cats and we are donating his carrier, extra kitty litter and litter pan to UPAWS which is our animal shelter here.  We will need to wait on that as the shelter has closed for the next two weeks because they had an outbreak of parvo.

B wants to see the movie "Pressure" so we will be going to the theater for the early show to see that.  Mondays are $5.00 days at the theater which saves us $8.00 in admission price.  The movie will be out by 6pm so B suggested we go to Applebee's for dinner afterwards.  I love their mozzarella sticks.

I hope all of you are enjoying nice weather as we enter into June.