A Couple Hundred in the Future

I was off June 18-20, giving me a five-day weekend, and it was glorious. Just to sit a little longer with my cup of coffee and let my mind wander. To doodle on a piece of paper and then to putter around the house. I remember being much younger and asking my boss what he was going to do over the weekend. “A lot of napping, probably.” I thought this was pathetic at the time. No longer…

I didn’t have a ton of free time though because in this span we had two graduations, one awards ceremony, a photo op at T’s elementary school, and graduation parties. Plus more car shopping, party planning and cleaning, and a doctor’s appointment.

But I squeezed in little projects. I took a cutting from the hydrangea and put it in a pot (not sure if it’s going to make it). I harvested all the lettuce and most of the carrots ahead of the heat wave. I cleaned random items like lunch bags. I ordered two books from Thrift Books, The Good Life by Helen and Scott Nearing, and Prairie Fires, both of which should be great poolside reading.

A very long chunk of Prairie Fires was available to read online, and it totally hooked me. I must finish it. It delves into Laura’s ancestors and the events that were happening when she was born… fascinating stuff.

Back to the garden — gearing up now for tomatoes. I ordered some seeds for my next round of planting, the first money I’ve spent on gardening in a bit.

Overall, everything is looking good. The potatoes have something going on with their leaves, but they could just be ready to give up the ghost? I’m not sure when they are due to be harvested.

I was able to dry a bunch of oregano last Monday.

Expensive times, lately. I find myself leaning on the credit card more than I like. Still paying off the balance each month, but I have this sensation that I’m definitely not quite able to live within my means. Close, but not quite. My means get extended by a couple hundred bucks into the future every month. At least I get cash back on the card.

Most of the expenses have been related to graduation. As always, there was the push-pull of trying to save money vs. YOLO. We were able to find thrifty solutions for some issues, but not for others. If the heat hadn’t shot up to close to 100 degrees, I might have been able to do more myself.

For example, T was able to pull together a nice graduation outfit out of clothes he already had. F also wore a dress she already had and borrowed shoes from my mom, for her 8th grade graduation. This after they both were telling me they needed x and y.

As for myself though, I went ahead and got my hair cut and blown out and bought a strapless bra so I could wear the dress I wanted to, for T’s graduation. I wanted to look nice for once and I have no regrets!

Tom and N just wore whatever to both. It was too hot to care.

We had a party on Sunday. We avoided renting a steamer to clean the couch and borrowed one from a friend. Again, due to the heat, we could not have it outside, so the whole downstairs needed a thorough cleaning.

I did not cook anything myself for the party (see: heat). But I assembled a tray of cold cuts, rolls, spreads, etc., rather than ordering one, and a fruit and cheese tray. I also tried to buy as much of the other food as I could at Costco, including the cakes.

So I spent about $300 on party food, but that’s because I really overestimated the amount of lunchmeat needed, and also bought, e.g., two kinds of ham because I didn’t know what people liked. Needless to say we’ve been eating sandwiches all day today. But some of the other items are things we can use for a while, like pickles, crackers, and soda. And I was able to send people home with food.

Also grad-related, I bought a bag of candy for F to attach to letters she wrote all her middle school teachers, at her request. Couldn’t say no to that.

In between graduation and the party, on Saturday, I bought a car. On Carvana. Eeek! It was supposed to come today but then they delayed delivery til Friday. I was so tired of dealerships. I really hope it works out. It seems like we will really need it this summer, with F needing to go to volleyball in Cherry Hill, T needing to go to work, all the summertime doc and dentist appointments, etc. I also felt like not moving forward with a car was holding me back from other decisions — this had to be squared away first. But it sucks to have a car payment again, and it sucks that my money doesn’t go as far as it did in 2013, when I bought the van.

As far as last week’s meals, we did pretty good considering how busy it was.

Monday: baked chicken breasts stuffed with herb cream cheese. Allowed me to use up cream cheese and Italian cheese mix, and herbs from the garden. Don’t know if I’d make it again, but it was good.

Tuesday: don’t remember… leftovers?

Wednesday: more “pigs in blankets” (hot dogs in puff pastry, using both up) and salad

Thursday: Ready to heat up chicken carbonara pasta (meh) plus sauteed green beans, carrots and some stovetop garlic bread

Friday (the big day): sandwiches from Primo.

Saturday: egg salad sandwiches

On to summer!