December 9, 2022
1. $76 saved! I trimmed JB’s hair, cut Smol Acrobat’s hair, and cleaned up PiC’s self haircut and saved us the cost of two cuts and a trim.
2. My last purchase at CVS before cancelling Carepass: three toothbrushes ($16.77) – $3 off $10 Colgate purchase – $10 off max single item (no idea why they applied the full $10 to three items but I am not objecting) + tax = $4.66 with free shipping. Pretty good considering how pricy the extra soft toothbrushes are!
3. One of the TMobile Tuesday rewards came in handy: the BOGO on Jamba Juice. The kids love it, and we adults appreciate it too, but it’s too rich for our blood to have on the treat rotation. BOGO works, though!
Challenges this week: Smol’s on their third virus in a row in less than three weeks. I am very tired.
Finding ibuprofen and acetaminophen (I usually buy generic) took over an hour to find a store that had both in stock at a close enough location that would be feasible for pick up. Nearly everything was unavailable for shipping from Target, CVS, and Walgreens. Considering how many times Smol has caught something, we’re going to need this.
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December 2, 2022
I’m all about direct aid and mutual aid:
1. Saddle Up and Read is a 501(c)(3) non-profit literacy program that encourages children to read using equine related activities run by Gooch, @theblackcowgirl. Gooch is opening a free bookstore for kids on the farm and their fundraising goal is $8,000 to pay off the renovations. If you can support this awesome initiative: https://www.paypal.com/US/fundraiser/charity/3706821.
2. Child and Family Relief Round 2: @jelenawoehr‘s story about the first campaign.
3. We sneak-shopped for Penny’s students. So many of them are hungry and it’s not right. Our last shipment of snacks was really brightening the days of a lot of students so with the holidays coming up, I thought maybe they’d need something to take home or even just a big last day snack binge. I took up a lightning quick collection among friends and I sent the order off.
Challenges this week: Smol is still sick, JB has come down with a Thing, and I have too. Booo.
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November 25, 2022
1. Thanksgiving dinner was really tasty but two hours behind schedule. I was really looking forward to a 3 pm seating and a 6 pm follow up.
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November 18, 2022
1. We’re surviving. It’s been a hard week.
Please share: former-blogger friend Kelly Whalen’s friend Rachee needs a kidney
Challenges this week: Twitter being in an apparent death spiral is incredibly depressing. It’s provided me real time support and community in so many ways that were impossible for me to obtain offline and I hate that it’s being destroyed by a billionaire egomaniac for no other reason than he’s a giant baby in an adult body. Please check out Celeste Pewter’s action items.
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November 11, 2022
1. Comcast actually automated something useful! Our internet service was out most of the day on the weekend and I went to Xfinity chat to (I thought) argue for too long over a credit for our account. Instead I got this screen when I asked for a credit:
I entered the dates of the outage, and they just applied the credit:
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November 4, 2022
1. Safeway had a random free box of salad coupon and PiC snapped that right up.
2. We visited one set of family friends and hosted another. I might not walk again for two weeks but it was a LOT of fun.
3. JB got their booster! Now we need an approved booster for Smol Acrobat so we have a complete set of double boosters for all 4 of us.
Challenges this week: Sick again 🤢😷
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October 28, 2022
1. I made a giant 4 lb batch of beef-turkey chili that everyone, even Smol, loved. My taste buds are being weird again so all the lovely melded flavors were lost on me this round. But we had enough for a good dinner, enough to put up a meal to freeze for a busy week, and enough for a small meal later. Not enough to share with our friends as I originally intended so now I know to make an extra lb or two next time.
2. The kids got their flu vaccines and there weren’t any tears! JB opted for the FluMist, I didn’t know that was a live vaccine, and Smol didn’t get a choice but they were a champ for the jab anyway. Now it’s just me left for the flu, and JB needs to get their bivalent booster.
3. I scrubbed our bathrooms until they were about 80% clean and gleaming. At that I needed a 2 hour nap after. I’m glad that I stopped there instead of pushing for the full 100% because I’d be useless the rest of this weekend.
4. Halloween scavenger prep included buying prize stickers from a small business (check), making little tissue paper ghosts from used tissue paper (check) and finding hiding places for them (not yet). Gonna call that progress!
5. I stretched a pound of bacon for a week: breakfast egg and bacon sandwiches, breakfast burritos, adding some crunch to avocado turkey sandwiches that PiC got from work free. Usually it all goes into one giant bacon pasta. Nomz.
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