Day 65 of 365

My mom received her Mother's Day present in the mail today so I can let the cat out of the bag.

My mom lives in another state right now. She's moved several times over the last few years, downsizing each time she moved. Sometimes kicking and screaming at the downsizing, but getting rid of things nonetheless. Several years ago when I was visiting I helped her purge items that she had a hard time letting go of. Things like a dried bean collage I made when I was 8 or so.

I felt like one of those professional organizers you see on Hoarders. If you've seen the show, you know how difficult the decision is for some people to get rid of old newspapers, pizza boxes, or busted shoes. Now my mom isn't a hoarder, but she did struggle with getting rid of things that held sentimental value. Things like old bean collages. (She did finally toss it out.)

As she's moved multiple more times over the past several years, I think it's gotten easier for her to get rid of things. Most recently she moved back to California where she was born, raised, and lived most of her life.

She lives near a dear friend, and they both are faithful readers of my blog. And when my mom calls me every week or so, she talks about the pictures, the food, and the creations.

So as I was searching for what to give to my mom for Mother's Day, I came up with what I thought to be a pretty darn good gift.

I sent her a large box, priority mail. A box full of those things she's talked about and commented on. I sent it Wednesday afternoon, and she received it on Friday. Way to go US Postal Service!

She was headed out to her friends' house when the package showed up. I imagine right now the two of them are on a sugar high!

She received:
A pincushion (Day 1)
Blueberry Muffins (Day 19)
Rosemary Bread (Day 33)
A Potholder (Day 34)
Dick and Jane Magnets (Day 41)
Mimi's Cafe Carrot Bread (Day 62)
Sugar Cookies (Day 63)

Happy (early) Mother's Day, Mom! 

Exercise update: 19 for 19

Day 64 of 365

Thursdays are usually pretty rough for me but today was a full, productive day.

• The plumber came and put in my new kitchen faucet from Day 56 and fixed our leaky toilets and showers. Now maybe our water bill will go back down.
• We had a high school kid come and do some yard work for us this afternoon. He's a keeper so we'll have him back again and again.
• My daughter got our new climbing roses from Day 62 planted. Red roses on a white arbor for the entrance to our rose garden.
• I finally (yes, finally) started on the quilt that I fought putting in the frame way back on Day 38. Better late than never.
• I rode the exercise bike for the 18th straight day. Yay!
• We celebrated Mother's Day today. My daughter heads home tomorrow and works through the weekend so we had a Mother's Day dinner tonight. We had barbecued steak, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, and grilled garlic bread. Yum! 
• My daughter helped me (or I should say I helped her) finish up planting our garden. Corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, broccoli, cabbage, bell peppers, hot peppers, red potatoes, russet potatoes, kohlrabi, carrots, spinach, arugula, zucchini, cantaloupe, watermelon, kale, rosemary, basil, Italian parsley, and pumpkins. It's not pretty right now, but it will be soon.

Day 63 of 365

 I sure miss my daughter.

I didn't really notice until she came home yesterday. She lives in the big city (big for Idaho) and has a job, an apartment, and a boyfriend. She calls me every day, but since I don't get out much I don't see her much. She comes home ever so often to visit but mostly she comes home to help out.

But that's not why I miss her most. During the week, my conversations with people are nil. I say goodbye to my husband at 6:30 in the morning and go pick him up from school at 4:00 or so. My daughter calls in the evenings. In between the time my husband leaves and the time I see him again, I talk to no one (unless you count the cat). I don't leave the house but once every couple weeks for shopping and even then I can almost get through the day without speaking to anyone.

So when my daughter came home yesterday and helped me bake, we talked and talked and talked. I mostly listened, but I did get a few words in here and there. And it made me realize how much I miss her being around. When I lived with her the first two months of this year as I recovered from shoulder surgery I don't think we talked as much. I think this time home she was glad to be here, glad to hang out, glad to see her kitty. She wasn't always glad to be here. We certainly had teenage troubles, but that seems like so long ago.

We did do some more baking beside the carrot raisin bread yesterday. I had to make some sugar cookies for someone. Unfortunately we kept - and ate - the rejects.

So now this is the absolutely, positively, last time I will bake.  Sugar and flour, be gone!

Exercise update: 17 for 17.

Day 62 of 365

I tried hard for today to be another Sale-A-Bration day like on Day 40.  But it wasn't meant to be. The bad luck at my first stop kind of clouded my day.

This extreme couponing that's getting all the press is hurting those of us who use coupons not in an extreme way. The word is out that one of the gals portrayed on the show committed fraud with her coupon usage, using coupons for items she did not purchase. The show also portrays people nonchalantly clearing shelves with no concern for subsequent shoppers. More and more often, I see people with multiple items in the stores. Not just three or four items of the same items, but 30 or 40 of the same item. 

I started my trip off at Albertsons to use some double coupons. I would have walked away with free pizzas, but the shelves were bare. No sale pizzas anywhere to be found. Sounded like coupon use at that store had increased quite a bit. So I got a raincheck (won't help too much since today is the last day for double coupons) and only came away with free Yakisoba noodles and a 69 cent can of enchilada sauce. If I really cared that much about pizzas, I imagine I would have showed up first thing Sunday morning. Oh, well. Maybe next time.  

I returned my bathroom faucets from Day 56 (so I guess I made money there - except I then turned around and bought two climbing roses), and had to pick up my Enbrel injections (got those free because of the prescription assistance so I didn't have to pay $2037.09).

Target wasn't too bad. Before the coupons, the price was $25.95 After coupons, the price was $12.66. I paid with a $10 rebate card I received earlier in the week so the total cash out of pocket was $2.66.

Shopping wasn't my only activity today. My mom has been telling me about this Mimi's Cafe Carrot bread. I've never even heard of Mimi's Cafe, but I guess they're all over the place. Their rich dark carrot bread is supposedly unbelievable rich and delicious. I checked around on the internet and found a recipe here on how to make it. Even though I said no more baking so we can cut back on the sweets, I decided to try it. For those of you who have had this bread before, is it typically this dark?

Rich? Oh, yea. And full of carrots, raisins, and nuts. We certainly won't be eating all of it ourselves.

Exercise update: 16 for 16.