Boom! I just did so many errands. I definitely get an adulting sticker for today:
- I got free coffee for me and hubs at Wawa (it’s Wawa Day today) (and didn’t buy anything else);
- I mailed an eBay package (sold a life jacket);
- I donated two bags of books to my town library;
- I donated several bags of clothes, purses and random items to Goodwill;
- At CVS, I picked up a prescription and bought new smoke detector batteries.
Mainly, I’m excited that I got a lot of stuff out of the back of my van. It was pretty well stuffed with bags. Food shopping was becoming a problem. I still have several bags of unredeemable clothes in there that I need to take to H&M for recycling. Plus, I have items to trade in at the Nesting House, and old shoes, Christmas lights and empty juice pouches that can be recycled at Mom’s Organic Market. (H&M and MOM’s are in the same town so better to batch them together.)
In other adulting news, I went on two job interviews this week and had my contacts lens follow-up appointment. I also picked up my new glasses. I LOVE THEM. I might not even bother getting new contacts for a while, that’s how much I love them. And believe it or not the frames were only $70. Last time I got new specs was 2010. The doc said it would be better, now that I have astigmatism, to, you know, actually have the same prescription in both glasses and contacts.
And this morning I got up and made gravy so dinner is all taken care of aaand it’s going up to 68 degrees aaaannnndddd I just got a job offer via email so this day rules.
More on the job later, if I accept.
In addition to the life jacket, I’ve recently sold a small lot of baby clothes for $25, a kitchen gadget for $5, and some lotion for $5. I have 2 other pending sales. Some other items are sitting on my porch waiting for their new owners to pick them up (giveaways). I’ve been working on my basement and definitely made some progress in emptying out, consolidating and rearranging the bins down there. For instance, all the holiday bins (8?) are in one spot. Ahead of our potential move, I may take bins like that out and ask my parents if I can keep them in their garage (hi mom!). Because I will need the room in the basement to store all the other stuff that has to come out of the main floors while the house is in “stage” mode.
Last week was spring break. We did very little Monday through Thursday, mostly hanging out at home. I started to get antsy and began planning a trip for Friday that wouldn’t break the bank.
I wanted to go to NYC, but train tickets and museum/zoo admissions for five were kind of pricey. My Internet job searching led me to a farm in Delaware, which in turn led me to Ashland Nature Center, in Hockessin, about an hour away. Looked fun, and admission was cheap, so that became our new plan.
Late Friday morning we headed out. Everyone was excited to be going someplace, and the weather cooperated — it was a beautiful day. We spent a couple hours hiking the trails at Ashland, playing in the Red Clay Creek and its branches, and spying on birds and squirrels from the bird blind (a little cabin).
Of course there were some squabbles over directions and GPS between hubs and me (I drove), and when we went to leave Ashland, the battery was dead because apparently I had left the lights on. Thankfully we had jumper cables with us and a kind man gave us a jump. Oopsies.
Whenever we go on a road trip, I can’t help but think of this. Self-satisfaction followed by disaster. Lol.
Overall, we spent $4 on tolls, $60 on eating both lunch and dinner on the road, and $19 in trail fees. $83, plus whatever the gas cost. A lot cheaper than NYC would have been.
Saturday evening, we met up with friends to go bowling, which set me back $50. Sunday, the kids wanted to go to SkyZone, so I sat there and worked on this here blog while they bounced on their own dime (gifts from grandparents and the tooth fairy).
We had a pleasant Easter at my sister and brother in law’s house. I had gone to MOM’s a few days before and bought mushroom ravioli and sage, and made a yummy brown butter and sage sauce for the ravs. For Easter, I gave mashed potatoes the same treatment.
Unfortunately, they came out a little salty. The recipe called for a quarter cup of salt in the potatoes’ water. Um, a little too much. But I will definitely make them again. Such great flavors. I was in heaven while the sage was frying. Mmm, what else tastes good with sage and brown butter?
I also baked cupcakes from mixes and made frosting from scratch — whipped chocolate cream and vanilla buttercream. I actually sifted the sugar for once and it really makes a difference. These two recipes came out great and will definitely be part of my repertoire from now on.
Everyone had acceptable Easter outfits ready except Gemma. I took a chance and went to the Nesting House on Good Friday. We lucked out and found white dressy sandals in her size and a cute Gymboree blouse. And I had credit available to use so I only spent $5. They also had tap shoes there that were a size too small for her. Probably a good thing. She paired them with a white skirt that she already had. It had a hole in it that I meant to sew… but didn’t. Oh well… Only when you’re adulting do you have to worry about holes in your skirt. (Which reminds me: I colored the toes of my black boots with Sharpie for a job interview rather than buy shoe polish for $8. Win?)
Besides the new glasses and the emotional roller coaster of job-hunting, the most exciting thing going on is that I moved a TV into the living room. Basically, we started heating the front zone of the house instead of the back one, to save money. Meaning, watching TV in the living room and eating in the dining room, rather than the kitchen. It’s like having a new house. It’s so different. Since the kids are impervious to cold, they actually still use the family room TV for gaming, but the Roku came with me up front. It won’t matter now that it’s getting warm out again, but it was a fun little shakeup.
So nights have been spent in the living room watching The Crown with hubs. Very enjoyable. On Overdrive, I was reading Bruce Springsteen’s memoir, Born to Run, but didn’t get to finish before the loan expired. Now I have Flat Broke with Two Goats to read, another memoir. It’s very good and I’ll tell you about it when I finish. (Confidential to KF: it’s got a whole section that’s set in Macomb, Illinois!)
Here’s your homework for tonight:
I want to talk about it next time but for now I have baths and bedtime to attend to (as usual, it took all day to write this).
McGuire Domestic Enterprises 