Just Ducky!

 

We ate dinner out on our patio and strangely thought we heard a duck.  Our house is in a very closely developed first ring city suburb.  For a while, there was a turkey roaming around, but never ducks.  Turns out a friend came over to see Neighbor Dave (which is honestly the name I've given him), and she brought one of her pet ducks along.  I was smitten!  Boy, do I want a couple of pet ducks. A few donkeys. Maybe some goats...

Yesterday was a black and white day.  Nothing was high fashion -- a Walmart camisole, Old Navy leggings, and a Lane Bryant sweater.  The Grasshopper sneakers were a dollar like most of my other thrifted shoes. I have been waiting for warm weather so I could wear them! Today's ensemble made use of the same shirt I wore over a dress two days ago.  It helped hide my thick waistline and sack of potatoes belly.  The jumpsuit was one of my 99 cent finds.  I got dressed for the pool, but found it was closed once I got there because the high school has a swim meet this weekend.

Not being able to swim, I decided to deal with unpleasant business.  I signed us up for new health insurance because we lose ours at the end of the month. Gotta love the American system where your coverage not only is hugely over-priced, it's tied to employment.  Tommy reached out to a personal broker with the same company that his employer uses, but the broker never returned his calls.  With only a week and a half to go, I got too nervous to wait.  There wasn't a lot to choose from, but at least there is a plan we can use and get a decent subsidy to help pay for. I am keeping fingers crossed that I get things squared away early next week so I don't need to worry.

I also called the property assessor to have them correct the information for our house. When we updated our electric, the inspector made us remove a bathroom because the electrical panel was in the same room and the wall between it and the toilet was 3" too short.  That's the way it was when we purchased the house! After signing off on the permit, he never bothered to update the property record. I am hoping this will take a few dollars off our assessment.

I had a really good Flashfood day yesterday.  My main purchase was turkey for Frankie. However, I wanted to pick up a few things for Tommy to bring hiking this weekend (he's away with a friend).  Because I don't like to feed just turkey to my girl (it's a little rich), I decided to stop into Save-a-Lot to see if I could find some ground pork marked down.  I hit the jackpot with reduced beef patties that were only $1.14 per pound.  between the meat and stock in the freezer, I had plenty of stuff for a big batch.

Making dog food is a lot of effort, but it's how I keep expenses low.  The banana skins go for compost. The veggies and filler are FF and other marked down ingredients that may be cheap -- but are also super healthy.  This is shredded rainbow salad veggies, overripe bananas, frozen shredded potatoes, and old blueberries. I did also mix in some old-fashioned oats. This is just such a healthy way to feed Frankie that I think I would find it very hard to go back to traditional bagged kibble.

I fed us the same way for dinner!  I basically cleaned out the refrigerator to make this soup. It's important that I buy shrimp with the shells and tail on -- so I can boil them for flavor. This soup also used homemade chicken stock. Veggies are carrots, celery, and onion, plus a little garlic. There are also lupini beans (which I got on a clearance endcap and have five more jars of!), frozen peas, tomato paste, the very last of sauce from last week (which had a little pork in it), and soup shells. Homemade bread is the very last of a loaf I made last week.

It was also a decent thrifting day. I really only wanted a small dish so we would have something to set our coffee spoon in when we made up a pot to enjoy together. We'll be doing that a lot more after Tommy retires!  However, I couldn't pass up a pair of sandals because my orthotics fit in them and they were half price. I also grabbed a pair of navy-blue slacks. In an effort to reign myself in, I put back a long-sleeved t-shirt and a cardigan.  But I couldn't resist cheap pillows.  These are destined for our lounging area in the backyard.

But I have to admit, sitting along the river under a bright blue sky, with my best girlie, was probably the most satisfying part of my day.

There's just so much good stuff out there, if you know where to look for it! Find any good things lately?