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:woo hoo:happy you both won @havasu and @MoBookworm1957 . DH sort of won today as someone saw the fantastic gardening job he did on the RSL grounds and wants him to mow and care for their lawns too :) and it is only a couple of blocks away from home. That will be more money coming in towards other gardening equipment such as more above ground garden beds, money towards sinking our bore and some plumbing work needed too for linking up the 3 rainwater tanks.

We have also been so frugal being under budget in multiple categories that I replaced the expenditure of our backyard garden beds and petrol auger out of our savings in our working account to our bank emergency kitty too where the money came from. I told DH I was not entirely happy with us raiding that for something that was not essential and he agreed so that is back up to the balance it was before.
 
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Round 1 of today is that DH put on a loaf of bread in the breadmaking machine and we each put on a load of washing in the washing machine and hung it out to dry on the clothes line. We then stripped the bed and made it with clean sheets and folded up 3 loads of washing. Having some late lunch now with our homemade bread.

This afternoon we are getting ready for having a stall at the local school here on Saturday so we will be packaging some of my homemade items and pricing them for our stall. DH and I shall also be manning the stall for the RSL club to raise funds for them as well and we are having our stalls side by side to do this. There are few volunteers in our tiny town/village so everything helps. It is what we call STP or same 10 people do it all and being that we only have a small RSL branch here we think it is only fair since one man (ex serviceman) works the RSL pretty much by himself as a volunteer a few days a week and has macular degeneration too. He was so relieved when we offered and will have a couple of people in reserve to take over from us for toilet breaks and the like. So kind he and the RSL club has offered to pay my yearly membership as I volunteer to mop and clean the facilities when needed and help him read and sort out paperwork for the club which he finds hard.
 
@Sewingcreations15 what does RSL stand for?
It sounds like you and your darling husband know how to pick up all kinds of odd jobs to make money or how to barter skills/labor for other goods. What a team.
My kids do stuff for others and get paid for it too. Not bad pay at all. Surprised me how much people will pay babysitters too. How can people afford a date if the babysitter expects $10+ hour, per child! I've told my kids to keep it low. One of them made over $100 recently babysitting the party guests' children. Lol
 
@Patchouli the RSL is the Returned and Services League for veterans and soldiers who fought or are currently serving in wars, peacekeeping or any active service or support service roles. DH is a veteran who served in peace keeping roles in multiple countries and did some intelligence work in a supporting role too. He was in the armoured corp and drove tanks.

Thank you yes although we are retired we try and keep active and serve in our community and earn extra money where we can or trade too. It is all good practice if the SHTF and keeps us healthy and helps with our activity levels and keeps us at our proper weight too as we get older.
 
Round 2 of today is that we have taking in the two loads of dry washing off the clothes line and brought it inside and had dinner which was porridge as we wanted to have something easy to cook.

We have raided our food storage boxes to put all of our loose handmade items in and put price tags on them and packaged our handmade table placemat and table runners in plastic and priced them with sizes etc. We are ready to go to the school fete on Saturday morning now and just have to pack our portable pergola to take with us for shade. The lovely gentleman at the RSL club is providing both tables and chairs for us for both ours and the RSL club fete stalls.
 
@Patchouli in Australia we have dedicated RSL clubs where veterans can meet, have meals and generally socialise and general members of the public can go to. They are a not for profit organisation in the sub branches only and use those funds from fetes, raffles, selling their branded products, meals etc to help those in the community. They also run aged care facilities for veterans etc with that money too and provide support services to veterans.

Not sure if you have the same there in the States as it may be different in Australia.

Good to hear your children do paid odd jobs too and they can be lucrative. You would be surprised how many people pay babsitters when they go out.
 
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Had my Wellness Doctor appt. yesterday and I am well! LOL Walked up to City Hall to pay water bill and then to Drugstore to turn in the one prescription I have. Visited with a friend from Church on the way home and then went to Bible Study last night.

This morning, I took my Peanut Butter (pictured) to the vet for teeth cleaning. I would appreciate any prayers as I hate when she gets put under! Will pick up the prescription this afternoon before springing Peanut from the vet. Will rice a head of cauliflower to freeze and make a spaghetti pie for the guys. I will be having salmon and broccoli with a side salad.
 
I just put a lemon cake in the oven. I plan on making a poke cake using some meyer lemon pudding mix to pour into the holes.
Did one load of laundry and its dry, now just waiting on the washer to get finished spinning and I'll throw those in the dryer.
Doing the usual dusting, straightening,etc
Have to go to the post office tomorrow to pick up a package and to the grocery store which was bought out by a larger store and the grand opening is tomorrow. I have to say I really like the big store but getting to their actual store in the larger town 25 mins away is a PIA traffic wise. Completely messed up traffic pattern. So now I can just go into my local small town ( yay!!!)
I hopefully will get to repotting my plants and herbs in the next day or two. I can't put them out until Mother's day here because of frost.
 
@Patchouli the grape vines were so old they were crumbling as they hadn't had any water as the house here was vacant for 2 years so unfortunately they had to go to the tip. The yard is looking way cleaner now too and we have clear air to mow today.

@Tank-Girl seeing if you are ok haven't seen you on here for a while.

Thanks for your concern SC.
I only just got back online this morning.
Vodaphone/Kogan have been having major issues atm and I'm not impressed.

Today I'm doing a vast meat shop online with free delivery.
My gut is telling me it's bad to be in crowded spaces atm and
I'm entering into a major bill paying cycle so my freezer
needs to be stocked as I'm short on meat, cheese and frozen veggies (which last longer than fresh
Over the next 2 months.)
 
Good to see you back @Tank-Girl and I thought it may have been an internet problem but wanted to check on you just the same in case you were having health issues.

A good move to top up on meat if you can find it cheaply as the prices are shooting through the roof here after the droughts and floods. We have lately picked up a lot of cheap meat on clearances for ridiculously low prices. We do living quite remotely visit a lot of the smaller supermarkets in our country area that are not crowded so it is a quick in and out and we look mainly for the discounted meats and weekly half price specials.

Glad to say our meat freezer is bulging and full. Not sure if you have an IGA or foodworks store near you but you can check out their weekly specials online in their catalogues and we picked up 4.5 kg of rump steak for $8 a kilo on special at IGA which is a much lower price of normal mince here, steggles chicken drumsticks for $1.99 kg on near to date clearance, mince in foodworks for $5.24 kg on near to use by date clearance with markdown stickers. All are fine if you freeze them and are good quality meats. We found here that they mark their meat down on Tuesdays and sometimes Wednesday's so really worth going in there and checking it out if you have either near you and take note of their meat markdown days.
 
Had granddaughter today.
Wednesday she got 3 shots and bloodwork done for surgery.
She getting her tonsils, adenoids outs, tubes put in her ears sooner than later.
She was slightly cranky today.
Today she helped Granny sweep up coffee grounds(she jostled my arm while trying to empty them in empty coffee can for the garden).
For being such a good helper today, she earned 3 pennies.
Which are promptly put in her mason jar bank.
She likes putting her pennies in her bank.
We went outside and looked in the herb garden to see if anything else was coming up.
We found chocolate mint was coming up, thyme were coming up.
We got chives up already
Today she helped Granny stir up in her toy Tupperware bowl pancake batter for lunch.
Her pancakes were about the size of half dollar. She had hers with peanut butter.
She smacked her lips like she was eating pie or a sweet. she's a hoot.
Tomorrow if I have going to try dusting with her.
So far knock on wood, no flowers have bit the dust from her cleaning off the coffee table.
Tomorrow will be hard because Mom will have been gone a month now.
Doesn't seem possible. Sitting here with tears flowing.
Started to cry today, Estelle and Strawberry howled , bawled right along with me.
But they are a whole lot louder than I am.
Estelle patted my knee while I cried today.
Then she let out man size burp, fart.
She signed (sign language) what happened to me and her dad.
It's hard to be sad with her and Strawberry around.
No Estelle is not deaf. But we watch cartoons that use sign language along with speaking words.
My youngest sister is an interpretor for the deaf.
Estelle already know the signs for approx. 60 words.
 
Started off the morning with me deep cleaning the bathrooms and toilet for the week and DH vacuuming the whole house. This afternoon went through some more craft items in the sewing room and packaged and priced more for the school fete stall we are having. Everything including the pop up gazebo, tent pegs, hammer, axe for punching in the tent pegs if the ground is hard as it is mostly around here, craft items, water and hand wipe refresher towels are in the car ready to go tomorrow. We also went to the RSL club and picked up their items for sale and some white tablecloths too and have them in the car. The local policeman and helpers took our tables down along with chairs to set up for us ready for tomorrow and the extra chairs from the RSL club will help others to sit on during the day. We will take some snack foods with us too.

We went on a hammer search as DH had managed to misplace 2 hammers but through thinking back on his steps I realised the last place I saw him use it was when we were taking down the grapeyard vineyard and there he found it in the tool wheelbarrow we have down there in the leanto shed and the other one he put in his car. We will need it to hammer in the pegs for the gazebo tomorrow for the fete. Boy for a man who tells me " I always put things back where I find them" he misplaces a lot of things :rolleyes: but he does have short term memory loss and also quizzing me about where I may have put it comes into play too. Gotta love him :D.

Now relaxing ready to have hot showers shortly and dinner will be steak, eggs and cheese we are being naughty and not having vegetables but in all seriousness we eat a mound of vegetables with most meals. Dessert will be a tad of ice-cream yum yum.
 
Spent five hours on the phone arguing with Expedia over an error they made back in February and I have been trying to get fixed since. In the end, the actual correction took about 30seconds for them to do but I have literally dozens of hours and pages of emails invested in having it fixed. Since it was a taxation issue I had to keep at it. Then spent an hour and a half arguing with Apple support about a software issue that they say can’t happen, even after they have seen it with their own eyes and I have sent screen shots and videos of it to them, that has been going on since March. It has been re-escalated to software engineering.

You know, I have a simple philosophy, if it is wrong fix it. Don’t deny the problem. Don’t give me excuses. Don’t lie to me. Just acknowledge the problem exists and let’s work in getting it right. I guess that isn’t the way business is done anymore.

I get it. Things happen. It isnt in your job description, just put me through to someone who can help me ... don’t fight me every inch of the way
 
Had grand daughter today.
Her daddy is trying to get moved.
He and his lady(her 3 kids under the age of 8) are moving in together.
And the there is Estelle, who thought Strawberry should go home with her today.
My son's lady kids are 8, soon to be 6, 4 and Estelle will be 2 in June.
Strawberry is still with me, Estelle's protest was duly noted, but Strawberry stayed with me.
Strawberry and Estelle are still working on the hugs part.
Sometimes Estelle hugs too tight, Strawberry just gives her big slurp.
That breaks the hold. They are working on the running, playing tag part too.
Of course Strawberry tries to herd Estelle. Or she grabs hold of her britches, sits down till daddy or I rescue Estelle.
She's getting pretty good at that, hasn't broke any skin yet.
Couple pair of britches needs the butt sewn back in, but that's a learning process too.
They weight about the same, about the same length too.
But Strawberry knows Estelle is her girl besides me of course.
Estelle know Strawberry is hers and my dog.
Think I will get ready for bed.
Haven't been sleeping well.
Two more families are moving out of the complex this weekend.
Hopefully I will have all my ducks in a row before October.
Have good night, day, evening.
Estelle peed in the potty today.
She got herself on the potty, lifted the little lid and everything.
My oldest son was misty eyed when she did that.
He wanted to know where his baby went.
Night everybody.
 
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finished another work week. Im finally off 5 10"s at least for now. Im thrilled I get my life back. I celebrated today , since it's Friday I went to the hotsprings and soaked for 45 minutes...It's been about 5 months since Ive been able to go to my favorite hotspring hangout.
I had plans to get a lot of outside stuff done this weekend but looks like the weather will be crappy..but Ive plenty to do inside still.
After my soak I came home to a wild thunderstorm that rolled in about 10 minutes after I did.
I got a fire going now and catching up..
I want to get caught up on news too but Im a tad tired..we'll see.
 
Up early this morning and not a lot done today other than going to the school fete and running 2 stalls 1 for the RSL and 1 for us. We are pleased to say we sold a lot for the RSL club so that will help with their fundraising for veterans support services and community welfare too. The RSL president went home to have something to eat and fell asleep and came back and apologised to us. We told him it was about time he had some time off as he is a one man show apart from 1 lady who opens the RSL sub branch club a couple of days a week.

Our stall however was dismal and we sold minimal items as it seems only about a third of the people they expected there turned up for the event. A lot of work put in by the Bluelight disco (police run disco for young childrens entertainment through schools etc) team for minimal profits unfortunately and I think they made a loss. They had some wonderful attractions and rides for the children that they paid for and some that were donated too, such a shame that the locals do not support such wonderful events. It seems the market was for under $5 items and most were not willing to spend more. It isn't a problem as we sell a lot of items online and were mainly there to support the RSL club and raise funds for them.

DH was excited as he managed to snag a military surplus jacket really cheap that he had been after for ages that are normally really expensive at the school fete, I found a suede country hat new for about an 8th of the normal price and we bought a breadmaker at the school fete all for $25 bargain.

Just fed the cat and sitting down and relaxing now.
 
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I had a prime example of the beef shortage today when my grocery delivery turned up.
I had ordered 2 beef roasts approx 2 + kgs each.
What I got was two small ones just over 1kg each and a refund for the balance.
Fine and fair enough I got the refund BUT I can't eat a refund.
One of the blade roasts was to be my Sunday roast and soup and cold meat for the rest of the week and the other was to be diced up and bagged
To be used for at least 4 stews. That's not going to happen now.
The refund isn't enough to buy another blade roast even at the sale price.
I might go into a smaller IGA and see if I manage to snag some marked down
beef to make up the difference.
 
I had two chicks hatch from the incubator yesterday...but from a broody hen, and they were two days early. They were actually due Sunday, so watching the other 20 something eggs till Monday. The 17 baby turkeys that arrived yesterday on their 3 day journey look good this morning. Figured I'd lose one or two, but no.
Have plans today to get regular chores done, then to start working on our shed storage. Our son had moved a lot of his stuff in there, and now has moved it out, so it's time for a cleanout and to see what room I have for our use. Our garage is very cramped. It's a walk from the garage to this shed, so grandkids and a wheelbarrow will be handy.
 
Tuesday/senior day is beef rump roast for 2.88 a pound; pork spare ribs 1.48 a pound[3 pack]; corned beef is 3.18 per can ; m.h coffee is 2.18 per brick and bananas is 48 cents a pound. All of these prices are good for here.
 
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