Thrifty Thursday and Other Odds and Ends

We've been mainly hermetically sealed in this house for awhile. Not because of the heat (I tend to leave screen doors at least partially open for fresh air and cross breeze and run the air conditioner), but rather because of the fires. The air quality has been really awful and my son grabbed this picture of the red sun above amidst all the haze. Today was breezy and tolerable though, so I managed to get outside with my knitting. After putting it aside for awhile I"m back to an hour or so a day. Eagle eyed knitting pals will see that I enlarged my needle size mid stream. Hopefully it all works out! I tend to be a very tight knitter.  

Guys,  some readers seem to think that I am a busy bee, especially in the past during my meetup queen social butterfly phase. The truth is, I am not productive as such. I think productivity is highly overrated much of the time (especailly in retirement). I was a gal who stayed at home even when my kids were no longer small and were completely independent because I didn't want to "work" (and yes, I realize I was blessed to have a husband who loved his job and afforded me that leisure). I mean I've worked not even ten years since leaving the army in 1980. And most of that was dong crafts with kids!!

That old timey quiilt? It took  me a year to finish. Lots of fellow bloggers who are knitters would have that blue and yellow shawl finished yesterday. It is true that when I really get into something, I go with the flow. And that flow can last for awhile. But that flow can just as easily be finishing a book in a day in my chair or binge-ing a Nordic Noir in the middle of the day. I read daily, during the day. I watch TV daily, during the day.  I generally spend an hour outside in all but the coldest weather on my swing,  often just sitting and day dreaming.

 I am not an energetic housekeeper or cook although I love those who are and eat the food of those who are. I exercise because I need to for my health, not because I feel the need to feel the proverbial burn. Mainly I putter, and sometimes that puttering leads to productivity and sometimes not. Either way it almost never, ever leads to boredom. Heck, even when I was the retiree meetup group's social queen, at least eighty percent of my time was spent sitting and eating and drinking and talking or watching a movie and eating and drinking (and not talking).

It's fitting/interesting that for the moment I live with someone who is the opposite. A new retiree who needs to fill her days with productive things from morning till night other than taking a mid day walk and spending five or ten minutes here and there on a difficult puzzle. She does not read or watch TV until she is "unwinding" in the evening.  Will she change? I dunno. I suspect so. It's a learning experience.

All of which leads me to that first Thursday Thing:

1.  Christmas has, thankfully, changed in the past few years.  The side of the famly with sixteen people has finally decided we'll each give to the charities of our choice and then share it in family emails.  That leaves my dear brother and sister in law and nephew, my sister, my son, and my daughter and son in law.  Also my sister in law's brother and mom, and in the normal times probably three group exchanges (church small group, knitting, retirees). Others get token gifts here and there. 

This year, not only will my money be limited after the thousands spent in moving but I'm going to have a severe time crunch as well with packing and moving and unpacking. Accepting reality and my available productive time and money, I'm changing plans. I still look forward to making those blankets (all of which would require new yarn to the tune of at least sixty dollars) starting after the first of the year, and gifting them at birthdays and holidays. Any big knitting (and sewing/quilting) will be done in the directon of daughter, son, and son in law. The relatives here will receive small handmade items made from stuff on hand or food gifts using jars I have on hand. Things I can do before I leave. 

But in Christmas colors I expect

So THAT'S why I save all those extra cool jars when I'm finished with em. Mine won't exactly match but that's creativity for ya.

2.  Once again, we have a fridge full of interesting, creative food. My sister planned a huge lasagna and thought she pulled out pasta sauce from the freezer. Instead, it was diced Tri-tips cooked in something with wine or whatever, so the lasagna turned into really good beef with flat noodes and there is much left. Also still some leftover chicken from my son's fifty dollar debacle (although I am unashamed to say that the biscuits are all gone) and last night we had flat irons of all different sizes and thickness. Add those things to the various sides and the leftovers for the next couple days will be interesting-and require no other food being made (at the beginning of the pandemic I was using a private delivery guy and I would just say 'get me some meat or the freezer". His choices were always good but he almost never found larger packs so we would end up with differing packs that were small and uneven).

3. I used YouTube to learn how to do a specific stitch instead of gettng the book I had planned. Each time I log on it tries to get me to join the paid people, but not this day. I also learned how to draw a perfect equilateral triangle pattern to use as a template without using a protactor. Laugh you will, but I am the only person in my family without a math brain and did not want to spend the money for  a triangle quilting ruler that cost twenty bucks.

4. I've decided that in Texas I will only have the Amazon Firestick. No antenna, no cable. I'm sure this means that eventually I'll need to upgrade to either the expensive Hulu or Sling, since I want to watch news and all the sports there are whenever all the sports there are reappear. For now I'm just getting internet, no land line, and as I experiment after the first of the year, we'll see if the subscriptions are still cheaper than cable or not. It'll be another of those learning experiences.

5. In between my spurts of produtivity and laziness, I've been taking advantage of some mainly no effort money earning. I signed up for some free trials that offered rewards through a cash rewards site, threw my tablet on my lap and did some suveys (almost all political or Covid related) while watching the Premier Cup games, and other things. The end of which is that as of today for August I have forty five dollars in paypal cash, sixty dollars in Walmart gift cards and forty five dollars in Amazon gift cards.  Today I joined Sam's club (which I was going to do anyway to try it) for forty five dollars, got a forty five dollar gift card to use at Sam's and twenty dollars. I'll take it.  

On the more questonable side, the gal who sold me my Fitfort tracker on Amazon now wants to give me a different item (a digital food thermometer), give me the cost in Paypal funds and in exchange I would write a totally "honest" review. On this one, I think I'll pass!

Assuming the air quality works for me tomorrow, I'm gonna take that first longer drive and get a rootbeer float.  Because I need that road mojo.  And root beer!