Health Issues and the budget

 Apparently focusing on the positive isn't enough to keep bad things from happening. The day after my last post my MTW 'assistant' came down with shingles and missed those work days. Did the boss suggest a substitute come in? No. Did she suggest I get more time to do all the work? No. <sigh>.  Instead I rounded up my TH-F assistant to give me a hand on Monday and Wednesday and did everything myself in my new shorter hours on Tuesday. I know we all have problems at work and that this was relatively minor given everything else I've dealt with the last couple of months.
And then the other shoe dropped. I woke up last Sunday with a suspicious rash on my torso that felt mildly 'stingy'. Everything I read about shingles led me believe this was not them. The rash wasn't painful and you have to have skin to skin contact to contract them from someone else which I did not have obviously. I went to work on Monday even though the rash felt a bit like a mild sunburn.  I began to worry so I got together with the school nurse and the principal who insisted I go to the ER and be checked out. Better safe than sorry. And they were right. I did indeed have a mild case of shingles. The ER doctor was awesome (helped that middle daughter is their evening unit co-ordinator and she called in and spoke to staff before I arrived) and said it was good that I'd come in right away (which in all fairness I would not have if the assistant hadn't had them). I am on a 10 day course of an anti-viral and I had a three day "vacation" from work until they all scabbed over . And the staff is now better informed about the causes of shingles (chicken pox virus+stress and/or fatigue). The really horrible part is that the medication cost me a whopping $163. ACK. I also realized that the diocese does not issue prescription cards unless  you call and ask for them (?????). I phone call has been made and as soon as I have the card in hand I can return with it and the receipt to the pharmacy for a partial reimbursement of what I paid out.
Of course this unexpected expense left me without enough in my checking account to cover some bills that are due. We are running so very close to the line with the cut in hours that any little thing is going to be a major thing. I spoke with GF about a short term loan. He had another idea. Instead of loaning me the money I'd spent on meds (not to mention the copay at the ER) he offered to pay me $200 to do some major cleaning at his house. I'd much rather earn the money than be in debt so I jumped on the idea.
So today I will be doing a big clean at his place and another one later in the month in addition to cleaning out the coat closet in preparation to him once again putting the house on the market.
I also filled out and mailed in an application for a seasonal guest services job at the zoo and am pursuing a couple of other seasonal leads. Contracts for next year will be in our mailboxes tomorrow. If inclined please say a prayer that I get one, I am not entirely sure that will happen ( I did after all miss three days of work with the shingles and they can't cut anymore of my hours and still have lunch program so what else is left to punish me with?).  If it does appear I will move on to looking for something part time to make up what I've lost in pay due to the cut hours. If not I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Simple Sunday

I have decided that my last several posts have been too depressing for words and it is time to stop having a pity party and concentrate on the positive. I have also come to the conclusion that it is not healthy to focus so much on work to the point of not enjoying my life. To that end this post is dedicated to the simple yet wonderful and relaxing Sunday I am enjoying. A hot cup of coffee enjoyed to the sound of church bells began the day. GF and I had a nice breakfast out followed by a trip to the car wash and then a leisurely Sunday drive along some country back roads.
I did a load of wash and then ran out to Aldi to pick up supplies for the two Make & Take baking classes I am giving this week and a stop at the gas station to fill up for the week. Funny thing about the gas station, when GF and I went to breakfast the price of gas was $2.19 a gallon ( compared to $2.25-$2.37 at other stations). When I returned with my vehicle it had gone down to $2.17! Score!
Returning to GF'S house I settled in with my kindle to read some food magazines and begin to prepare May dinner menus.
I also did some prep on tonight's dinner by mixing together a marinade of olive oil, soy sauce, brown sugar, some balsamic glaze in his fridge, and a bit of Montreal steak seasoning. I have a smallish top round steak marinating in this.

GF had four russet potatoes that needed using up so I washed and diced these and put them in a pan of water to cook 

The steak went on the grill

The potatoes became my Mom's parsley potatoes 

And I put together two individual salads

Dinner was served!

Limping along....

No I have not suffered a tragic accident to my leg (and if I had I would NOT miss work, we've all seen how that works out). The budget is what is limping along here. I received my first  newer, lower, pay amount. I paid my car payment and the remainder is in the bank waiting for my car insurance to be deducted. These two items will use up almost the entire amount of the check. <sigh> However I hung on to anything extra from the last paycheck so we have a small backup amount in the checking account. I placed a phone call to DirectTV and got our bill lowered by $10 a month, a small amount but every little bit counts. Adult son also deposited his contribution to the finances in my checking account and the utilities have been paid. One item that was due that I didn't have in the checking was my city income taxes. I transferred the amount from my savings and wrote the check. So all the April bills are paid (or will be deducted) and we have a grand total of $109.
I am working the cleaning job today so I will have some cash handy for gas and in case we need it but we have plenty of food and  all the cleaning supplies we need. I am doing two Make & Take classes with some of the kids in the Aftercare program I work so this will generate a small amount of money as well.
I have filled out a couple more applications as well, one for a seasonal position and one for a full time childcare position. Too soon to hear back from either of these. None of the other applications I have filled out have generated any interest. It is very discouraging. I am trying hard to stay positive and trust that something will happen here. I began the application process for SNAP but frankly it is so confusing that I cannot see how anyone ever would want to do this. For example it wants the amount of financial aide my two college age kids receive in a monthly amount. First of all it doesn't come monthly and second they never see that money, it goes directly to the college. And there is no where on the application to explain that my hourly salaries only cover 36 weeks of work a year, not 52. I have decided that unless we get super desperate and I am unable to pick up either another part time job or something else permanent I am not even going to bother finishing this. Much easier to work and buy my own groceries.
I hate sounding so negative too but right now I am in a bad place despite vowing to live more positively.  Ugh.

April Dinner Menu Plans

  Although we are just about halfway through April I have finally sat down and made out some menus. I shopped on Monday and made a roast beef, mashed potatoes, and creamed corn for dinner. Lunches since I am on break have been sandwiches using lunch meat I purchased and/or the roast beef. Tuesday's night dinner was pork adobo with steamed rice. Wednesday I used some of the planned over roast and did beef and noodles in gravy with green beans. Last night I made a large salad of spring greens, tomatoes, red bell peppers, cucumbers, kalamata olives, gorgonzola cheese, pine nuts, and strips of planned over roast beef. Topped with a garlic vinaigrette dressing. I will be chopping up the remainder of the roast beef and sticking it in the freezer for a hash to be served on Monday night. I have two occasions to attend this month, one a dinner for my DIL for her 30th birthday and the other a surprise party for her. On different nights. Now that fish fry is over Friday nights will go back to being Val's choice except for tonight. He will be gone bowling so I am making myself a small meal.


Here are the rest of my monthly ideas:

Tonight: Grilled lamb chops, white & wild rice, salad

Broiled pork chops, baked potatoes, green beans

Spaghetti with mushrooms, salad

Roast beef hash, Harvard beets

Slow cooker chicken and dumplings, green salad

Pasta carbonara Florentine, Italian blend veggies

Swiss steak, egg noodles, broccoli

Val's choice

out to dinner

Roast chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans

Sun dried tomato sausages w/ peppers & onions, homemade fries

Honey mustard pork scallopine, parsley potatoes, broccoli

Chicken stir fry, steamed rice

Cheddar brats, buttered egg noodles, capri veggies

Val's choice

Out to dinner

BBQ pork chops, au gratin potatoes, corn

Skillet lasagna, salad

Grilled steaks, pasta salad

Pork fajitas, Spanish rice, refried beans

Chicken picata, pasta w/ garlic, broccoli

Stocking the pantry

With the hectic work schedule I was keeping during the six weeks of Lent plus some personal issues I was unable to find the time to grocery shop since the end of January. This is spring break week so I took the cash I had saved up and hit both Aldi and BJ's wholesale club today. I must be very cautious with my money in the future. My cafeteria work hours (my main source of income) have been cut by 7 1/2 hours a week (long story but the short version is administration went into a panic when I took 2 bereavement days and volunteers had to step in and help out..so office has decided to give these hours that were mine to an 'assistant'...this is a MAJOR hit to my paycheck over the course of a month). This cut means that we are eligible to receive assistance in the form of food stamps but I honestly do not want to do this. So I am in search of a 4th part time job to fill in the money gap. Things do not look good for being offered a position for next school year either (another long story) so the resume has been brushed off, letters of recommendation have been given to me, and I am actively searching just in case I find myself shown the door. I've never been in this position before. My parents always said if you were honest, reliable, and hard working you would be rewarded. Sadly not always the case. I am struggling with this as well as my mother-in-law's death and am not in a good place right now emotionally.
But that is not what this is supposed to be about. Groceries that is the topic.
I worked my cleaning job on Saturday so I had $208 in cash set aside for food/household supplies. My first stop was Aldi. I spent a total of $134.26
I brought home 2 packs of hamburger buns (discounted 50¢ for 2!!!), 2 bags frozen green beans, 2 bags frozen corn, 2 bags frozen peas, 2 bags frozen fire roasted balsamic veggies, 4 boxes 'rice a roni', 6 boxes Uncle Ben's white and wild rice mix, 1 box elbow macaroni, 1 3 lb. bag frozen boneless-skinless chicken thighs, 1 3 lb. bag blsl chicken breast, 1 boneless leg of lamb roast (seasonal special item), 1 box trash bags,  2 bottles coffee creamer, 4 cans diced tomatoes, 1 jar applesauce, 1 box toothpaste, 1 can mandarin oranges,  2 cans creamed corn, 1 bottle honey mustard, 2 packs of cheddar bratwurst, 1 box cotton swabs, 1 pint baby bella mushrooms, 10 lbs. russet potatoes, 1 cabbage, 2 bottles steak sauce, 1 bottle 100% cranberry juice, 2 bottles 100% apple juice 2 bottles ruby red grapefruit juice, 1 pint grape tomatoes, 1 bunch celery, 1 can pineapple chunks, 1 can coconut milk, 1 bag romaine hearts, 1 English cucumber, 1 quart lowfat cottage cheese, 1 bag spring mix, 1 bag spinach, 2 multi colored peppers, 1 bag on the vine tomatoes, 2 dozen eggs, 1 bag shredded mozzarella,, 1 bag shredded sharp cheddar, 1 bag dried cherries, 1 bag dried cranberries, 2 boxes au gratin potatoes, and 1 bag of pita chips.
My second stop was BJ's Wholesale club where I spent $98.23, $75 in cash and $23.23 on my Visa check card.
I brought home 1 12 pack of hot dog buns (all out at Aldi), one gallon organic milk, 1 2 pack of Smart Balance spread, a whole pork loin, a whole eye of round, a package of 4 lamb shoulder chops, a jar of pesto, a 1/2 lb. honey ham, 1 1/2 lb. beef bologna, 1 1/2 lb. hard salami, and 1 lb. swiss cheese.
I cut the eye round into a small roast plus 6 steaks. The pork loin became a 6 thin cutlets, a package of cubes, 12 pork chops, and a bag of thin cut pork strips for stir fry.  Menus for the remainder of the month to follow.

Saying Goodbye

  Spring has not been a kind season to my family in the last couple of years. And this year is no exception. Once again we have had to say goodbye to a loved one. In this case my mother-in-law Dot. She was an exceptional woman. In her lifetime she suffered much grief and yet she truly lived each day to its fullest with zest and humor. At 83 years young she continued to be active and interested in everything around her. She worked as a courtesy staff director for a ski resort up until two years ago. She had more friends than anyone I ever met. She was so full of life that when death came to claim her it was sudden but it was also kind. She passed away in her sleep two weeks ago today. She was my rock when my late husband suffered his accident and subsequent death. She was my example of living as a widow with grace and dignity. She was always there with advice, wisdom, support, love, and laughter. I loved her very much and I will miss her every day of my life.

Overwhelmed

 In the last six weeks I have had more than one day that I have probably looked very much like this clip art image. When I agreed to run the fish fry at my school I wasn't anticipating quite the large amount of work it has been. We are 2/3 of the way through and it has slowly but surely taken over almost every aspect of my life from worrying in the middle of the night to bringing paperwork from my regular job home to do at night or over the weekends nothing waits for the fish fry.
One good thing is that I have had very little time to do anything besides sleep, eat, breath, and work. Which is one way to save some money I guess.
I  haven't even made out a menu plan for March, I've been playing it by ear.
A couple of Saturdays ago I did make a small run to BJ's, mostly for proteins, picking up a whole center cut pork loin, a corned beef, an eye of round, a 3 pack of sun dried tomato & basil chicken sausages, milk, and smart balance. And I picked up some salad items on Sunday. GF and I have eaten out several times and attended a really nice fundraiser auction for my DIL's school. Thanks to my oldest daughter who dropped off some free to her produce she couldn't use (a squash, two cukes, cabbage, & grapefruits) I had a really nice cabbage to stick in the crockpot with the corned beef today. A produce run is really in order but with GF out of town for a week I won't be working the usual cleaning job until the following two weeks. We will make due with what is on hand since this cleaning job provides the food money.
Over the last month we also added a new addition to our family. A very early new addition who will be spending her first few months in the NICU. But a very loved new granddaughter. Prayers for this little one (and I mean little at 1 lb. 3 oz) would be so appreciated.
I aim to sit down and do a half month menu tonight and will try to get on here to share. Since we are down to only 2 more fries I also anticipate being able to get back into my regular routines.