Frugal In Florida

I know a lot of people right now who are sick with a ‘stomach virus’ … nausea, chills, fever, and just plain crud. Which made me think. Hmmm. What ever happened to the swine flu panic. Oh. I’m sorry. H1N1. Really. Whatever happened? First it was all over the news. Mask and hand sanitizers were nowhere to be found. Schools closing. Our VP making a not so smart recommendation … WAIT! I think that’s when the media became quiet. When VP made the remark of staying off public transportation, airplanes, etc. Oh yeah. Does anyone remember that?? I find it amazing that one week something is front & center and holds everyone’s attention. And then poof. It’s gone. Just like that. Shoot. Florida had 12 cases the last time I heard. I just went to the cdc.gov website and LOOK, Florida now has 139 cases (well, as of this morning, but when I went and looked again at 3:15pm, it was up to 165!!!). AND there have been a total of 11 (15 as of 3:15pm) deaths in the US. So what’s up??? That much...

On Friday, I was vacuuming the guest room, cursing the darn Eureka vacuum that I've had for a few years, if even that long. I HATE this vacuum with a passion. It spits stuff out, suction stinks and it's just a miserable vacuum. I also have the little dirt devil that I use on the tile floors (80% of the house) but I tell ya, my ears are ringing after I use it, its so loud! So anyways, grumbling, swearing, just plain cranky as I'm cleaning. I only have a certain amount of time before company starts coming in before princess graduates on Saturday. Finally, threw my hands up in the air, grabbed my purse, keys and 20% off coupon at Bed Bath & Beyond. I'm going for it. Told Hubby (who was working on the boat so he can get it back in the water) that I would be back in 30 minutes. And left. Folks, this is serious business. This is what I got: Wow. I save $110 with my coupon. I literally ran in, grabbed the box, ran to the cashier, gave him my american express &...

A&E had the movie on today, Jesus Camp. I’m sorry, but I found it very disturbing. Very much so. I was raised Catholic. BUT prior to attending consistently Saturday night mass with my grandfather til his death, my parents would allow other parents take us kids to church services. I dreaded one family. They had 8 kids, all girls. And they all had long hair, kept up in buns. They also only wore dresses. And they idolized & worshipped the father. Does anyone recognize any of that? I thought up until recently that they were LDS but of course, it all came out today while watching this movie. The children, standing there, arms up in the air, sobbing, crying their hearts out, in a trance. Yup, been there, done that. Oh man, that used to scare the crap out of me. The pastor/minister, whatever he was, would YELL, I mean, SCREAM at the young kids if they were not crying & begging for the lord jesus Christ to come into them. I am 45 years old, and watching this show made me cr...

So we've had the Animal for almost 5 weeks. Wow. 5 Weeks? We still do not have a name, other than, Kitty. And sometimes Trash Can Kitty. Or Frankenstein Kitty. He's got loooong legs. And BIG ears. And is just as fun as can be, most of the time. Someone told me I need to video tape him when he gets running and kicks off walls & such. Uh, no, I'm trying to discourage that but he does need to rid himself of all this pent up energy :)

Not like 'that' ... but he really is a super nice guy & extremely generous. I came in to work on Monday morning and there, sitting on the kitchen counter, was a big case of tomatoes. We are talking GOURMET tomatoes. Like oh my god these are delicious tomatoes. They (him & wife) have an acquaintance that has land and they grow veggies to sell to the restaurants down on Las Olas Blvd and they were over there Saturday night for dinner. They were told to go ahead and walk the aisles and pick whatever they wanted, however much they wanted. See, here in SE Florida, our growing season is pretty much over and done with til October or so (we are the exact opposites of northern areas due to the heat and sun) and things were pretty much becoming overripe. So they picked BIG tomatoes, little tomatoes. Green tomatoes. Orange tomatoes. Purple peppers (imagine my disappointment, still taste like a regular pepper), yellow peppers & orange peppers. Everything is RIPE and needs ...

Because I'm 'cheap', some things are just bought as cheap as I can find it. Coffee was one of the things. I would buy what ever was on sale and the cheapest there was on the shelf. I would listen to princess and hubby say 'yuck' and make references to dirt & mud. Hey, if you don't like it, don't drink it. Then a few months back, I was able to get some GOOD coffee dirt cheap. Cheaper than what was on sale and store brands. I was hooked. What a huge difference there was. I just could not believe it. Less equal and Coffeemate needed. And it was just so darn tasty. I managed to keep getting it cheap, sometimes free (Publix Promise a few times!) and now I can't find it on sale again. Ho hum. BUT I refuse to go back to the Max or Folg stuff. No way. Sorry. So I've been making less than a full pot. About 10 cups or so now instead of 12. Saves a half a scoop which I figure gives me another weeks worth of coffee (4 scoops a day on normal days). U...

It's May. Another month with lots of $ that goes out the door. We have insurances this month. And unfortunately, our 'cheap' insurance last year decided to drop us. Our 'worthless' new insurance guy from last year is totally clueless and helpless, therefore, in my opinion. Worthless. So, being in the real estate biz, I have a few contacts that I seem to see come up frequently. So I start sending emails out to see if any of them can get me coverage for my area. I live in a 'high risk' area. On water. Flood zone, within a few blocks of ocean. Therefore, either I can't get insurance OR they want to charge a fortune. Citizens is my wind policy again. Joy. It's double what my policy was last year (for hazard AND WIND). Hazard is more than what my policy was last year. All in all, for the 2, $4K or so. A year. This, when we have not had a claim in over 10 years. Our car insurance? $2400 a year. Still paying on that ... hope to be finished by June. ...

To me. Joy. I’ve got a sick kid. Told me last night when he got home from school that he didn’t feel very good. Was sleeping when I got home. Didn’t eat dinner, went straight to bed and this morning, at 5:40, I woke him up & told him he had to come see me. His head hurts. And he went and passed out again. Hubby said that he’s been feeling nauseated. Oh NO! Pig Flu! NOT. He’s been trying to take a new medication for the past 6 weeks that makes him nausetated. They say his body needs to get used to it, so he’s gradually increasing his doses. But still. Hubby got me a box of chocolates. Oh yum. I’m sure sonny boy would make a cake or cupcakes if he felt up to it (that’s what he likes to do) … but it’s ok as I really do NOT need that. 45. Wow. I colored my hair Sunday night. Finally. Been putting it off for the longest time. Finally got some Perfect 10 which was on clearance (box was beat up) for $3.50 instead of $14.99. Did good. I like the applicator so much that I rinsed it o...

Busy week. Birthday & Cinco de Mayo Tuesday (woohoo) company audit on Thursday and Mother's day on Sunday. Let see how well I stick with the menu ... already thinking of a change or two as we will probably have a few friends over at some time... Turkey with gravy and mashed potatoes (for hubby & sonny boy) with green beans Tacos (beef) with chips & salsa, cinco de mayo Homemade pizza (darn, I thought I had my pizza recipe linked, but don't see it, sauce is in freezer) Sandwiches & salad (green) Hot dogs & cheese fries (the hot dogs are to die for, chicago style) Pork tenderloin Spaghetti & meatballs with homemade dinner rolls (the sauce is already made & in the freezer, the meatballs is a new recipe that I have not tried yet) Oddly enough, I really think I could skip the whole grocery store thing this week as I have all the ingredients needed to make everything. Well, as long as sonny boy doesn't decide to make himself a bag of fries ...

What should have started out as a casual trip to the music store turned in to so much more. Sonny boy needed to have the connection on the bass rewired. Also needed new strings for bass and for guitar. And to exchange 2 cables that broke. So off we went. Only one guy working (small place, only music store locally). 4 to 5 other people in there. 2 are getting repairs. 1 is playing a keyboard. Another is scooping out the drums. Tell the guy what we need with repairs, said would not be available til later today. Ok. Then sonny boy says we can get the rest of stuff when we come back. Uhh. Probably won't be til after work on Monday, kiddo. Oh. Wait for the guy to finish the repair (looks like a hihat stand?) then get what we need. $31. Hey, can I get a receipt, thinking on of these days, I am going to incorporate sonny boy for a tax write off on all this musical stuff. Then I realize I've got a best buy reward of $10 that expires on the 9th. So off we go. I ended up buying a ...

Happy Saturday! Got up at 6:30. Nice to sleep in a bit! Made my menu for the next 2 weeks. Made a grocery list (not much really needed, may skip the store today) Need to pay bills Did 2 loads of laundry (still need folded & put away) Did my ab routine and hope to finish the rest of the day's workout Made a protein shake for breakfast Made a list of misc. things that I need to do today Finally, updating my blogs (which, by the way, are all linked to Frugal In Florida) I really need to go through my coupons and get rid of the expired ones as it's May (!!??) 2nd already. Good lord. Will be having dinner with princess tonight. Nervous. Excited. Worried. Angry (still). All the emotions that I must try and keep in check. I can only hope that she is learning SOMETHING from this little dramatic venture. Ok. Hope to post later. Now, I must get ready to take sonny boy to Modern Music so he can exchange his cables, get new strings for both the bass and guitar and find out WHO i...