Thursday This n That

Dragged, kicking and screaming, into this decade, I am finally allowing Windows 10 into my home.  I'm kinda forced to, and believe me, I wouldn't be doing it if they* weren't forcing us to.  But nothing seems to be updating for Windows 7 anymore.  Bastards.  You see, Hubs needs a new computer because his laptop is like 13 years old and we're on tenterhooks wondering whether today is the day it's going to die.  We stopped closing it years ago because the monitor/lid hinge was getting to where it was close to popping off the next time we opened it.  Anyway, I hit Newegg and ordered it up last night - 'puter, monitor, keyboard, mouse.  All for under $200.  Yay.  Yeah, they're refurbs, but I've been working on a refurb for 3 years.   Once Hubs' is in and we're sure it works and junk, we'll order me up a new 'puter, too.  Just the machine - I have a monitor, etc.  Maybe afterwards, we'll be able to load stuff faster than the speed of snail.  Freakin' browser with it's 'we won't update your software anymore you dinosaur' messages.

I know you haven't heard from me in a while.  Work takes pretty much all my brain space these days.  I wish I could talk about it, but there are eyes everywhere.  :waves:  

The kittens are 11 months old now.  Sawyer is my chonky boi, but Finn's no itty-bitty kitty himself.  They're the same length stem to stern.  Sawyer's a bit wider and Finn is smidgen taller.  We'll weigh them at a year.  

Sorry, I had to stop there for a while because Hubs wanted to go over the budget.  End of year, trying to figure out where the money went... Weeee.  We're definitely better off this year than we were last year, and last year was way better than the year before.  Hell, we're out of debt now.  Woohoo.  Say what you will about work, it does the trick, eh?

Speaking of which, I should probably stop here and start moving in a general workly direction.  Have a great day wherever you are.  

Peace out.

*The assholes who make computer software.

Sunday Update - Week WTF

Okay, so it was Week 8, but I think you'll agree there was a bunch of WTF in it, eh?

For me part, I spent a lot of this past week editing again.  I got 125 pages done.  And as of last night, I am 38 pages from being done with this edit round.  Right now the book is 377 pages and just under 110K words.  I've been thinking about the next book and, yeah, the amount of work this one has been is scaring the crap out of me.  But let's take this one day at a time, yeah?

I still haven't done any marketing or reading of other people's books.  I've got tunnel vision for this book.

I did do some more baking/cooking, though.  This week, I made a vat of chicken soup and biscuits to go along with it.  I did French bread pizza.  And :drumroll: I made my own homemade hamburger buns.  Those totally rock, so the recipe is pasted at the end of this post.

On the activity front, I only got 3 days with something active.  One day, I did some woods work.  Another day, I vacuumed.  And finally, Hubs and I worked together to cover the car ahead of the approaching ice storm.  (Which we didn't get, by the way.)  Other than that, I've been a lump and I'm paying for it.  In case you're wondering what I mean by that, I hurt when I don't move.  So I am hurting this morning from my lack of activity.  Anyway, despite the inactivity, I lost a pound.  Weight: 181.2

A little while back, I talked about cutting the budget.  Well, this week, I went ahead and cut Anthem.  I went with a United Health policy that cuts my expenses by over $400 a month.  And it still covers everything I need, with a lower out-of-pocket.  Nothing irritates me more than paying for something I don't need, so yay.  Don't get me started there, okay?  Unfortunately, we also got the bill for our homeowner's insurance this week.  Yep, they jacked it up again.  If I can find comparable insurance there for less, I'm telling State Farm to kiss my wide, white hiney, too.

In weather news, we got sleet.  Enough sleet that it looks like a winter wonderland out there.  But the second you go to step on it, you know damn well it ain't snow.  It's inches worth of tiny ice balls that have now melted sufficiently to meld into a big block of ice.  It's hard to walk on, a bitch to drive on, slow to melt, and generally a pain in my ass.  But the temps are supposed to slowly rise from 50 today to 70 later in the week.  

As for the elephant in the room, or the WTF I alluded to above, I'm sure you've all heard about the Russia/Ukraine thing.  Thanks, Sleepy Joe.  Appreciate ya.  (Note sarcasm.)  After spending my formative years as a Cold War kid, and seeing Reagan set things on the course to right, this all depresses the holy hell out of me.  And I just have one thing to say in response to it all... WOLVERINES!

And on that note, back to regular life, such as it is.  I have a book to finish.  The plan is to have this edit round done today or tomorrow, do another quick read-through for typos, and call it good.  I'll be looking for beta readers shortly, so if you're interested and have some spare time in March, let me know.  I'd like to be able to get this sucker up for sale by April Fool's Day.  Maybe on April Fool's Day, since it's an important date in my life anyway.

How was your week?

Thursday This n That

Still not dead.  

Yesterday, Hubs got the idea to cover the car ahead of the impending ice doom.  We used the boat cover (boat don't need it... it's in the garage with our Jeep).  While we were in the process of putting the cover on Cally Cavalier, a big blue RAV (Rural Assault Vehicle... looked like a little Humvee) pulled into the driveway.  She was looking for her little dog.  I recognized the car as one I'd seen parked in the newly-sold house here, so yay, met the new neighbor.  She seems nice.  Oh, and Hubs had to walk over to turn on the heater in the well house, so he stopped at her house to make sure she found her little dog.  She did.  Happy ending.  Yay.

Not sure yet if we got any ice yet, but we still have power, so yay.  We are as prepped for potential power outages as we can be at this point.  And Cally is about as wrapped against ice as we could make her.  Especially considering she's wearing a camouflage cover designed to be on a 15' boat.  I should take a pic of her in her new outfit.  (Yes, I talk about my car like it's a person.  I've had her longer than Hubs.)  

In the middle of the sleet-pounding we were taking yesterday, I looked out the window to see two deer standing in the woods, covered in white.  Poor babies.  Hubs went out to feed them.  He's such a nice guy.  He put out extra rations for the birds, too.  

Speaking of birds, we had a bunch of them hiding out on our covered porch during the worst of it.  Poor babies.  Winter is hard on animals, especially here where they aren't really used to it.  

Shit's happening in the world and I don't really want to talk about it.  Or think about it.  

I had to make a call to customer service for a nationally known company.  The gal I got barely spoke English.  Like I could understand maybe one in ten words out of her mouth.  I kept asking her to repeat stuff and she'd say it louder, but it was still mostly unintelligible.  It was like talking to a cricket on crack.  Chirp chirpchirpchirp CHIRP! CHIRPCHIRPCHIRPCHIRP.  I had called to ASK what would happen IF I closed my account - like timeframe and billing, etc.  Before I could figure out what she was saying, she closed my account.  I was all like 'NO NO NO', but it was already done.  Just as well, I guess.  I don't want to do business with a company like that anymore anyway.  The next call was to see if I could set up an account with a different company - now on super short notice so I don't have any break in services.  When the gal there answered the phone, I could've wept for joy because she spoke English.  She set me up and there's won't be any break.  Yay.  Would've sucked if she'd told me I had to wait a month.  

You know, I get why companies send their phone trees overseas.  But for pitysakes, find workers who can speak the language your customers use.  You wouldn't hire ME for a customer service line for Mexican customers, would you?  No habla.  (And no, the above cricket wasn't speaking Spanish.  It was just an example.)

I snagged a bucket of cheap ice cream the other day.  Neapolitan.  The last bucket the store had at a price I was willing to pay.  It's pretty tasty... but it has a weird after residue.  Like fat coating the roof of my mouth.  Sorry, that sounds gross.  But it's true.  I'll eat it all, of course, but I won't be buying that brand again.  Ever.

Okay, I should probably wander off to other parts of the web.  Have a great day.  And feel free to leave your this and that if you're so inclined.  

Cutting Back

With the economy slowly circling the drain, I thought I'd write a post about cutting back and making things work for less money.  It's not hard.  Okay, it is kinda hard at first, but once you train yourself to do without, it does get easier.  

This is a test month.  You know, just to see if we can do it and how much we can lower our expenses.

First things first, I've already cut out a lot of stuff.  No more bottled water, for one.  No more snack cakes.  (Sorry, Little Debbie, but your shit is expensive.)  No more KFC.   Slashed the book budget WAY down.  I mean, I was spending like $300-$400 a year there.  I think one year, I spent $600 on books.  Last year I spent $105.  Go, me.

But that was then and this is now.  To start, I took stock of what I was currently spending money on.  Decided what's necessary, then what's next to necessary.  Those shouldn't be things I have to cut unless we somehow find ourselves a hair's breadth from living in a box under the freeway.  

I'm working to cut all the not-necessary.  Ruthless bitch that I am.  If I don't need it, why am I paying for it?  Derp.  For instance, I think DirecTV is on its way out this month.  That won't be easy, but more me than Hubs, and I think I can wean myself off.  I mostly watch reruns anyway.  And Hubs can watch sports online.  If we find we can't live without it, I can always switch to DISH.

Of the necessary and almost-necessary, I looked for places I could trim.  For me, and the safety of the free world, cigarettes are necessary.  You really don't want me going without.  Trust me on that one.  But name-brand cigarettes have jacked up to nearly $70 a carton here.  Hubs and I smoke about 7 cartons a month between us.  (3 for him, 4 for me.)  $490 a month.  Blerg.  So, we switched to an offbrand.  $25 a carton.  That'll save us $315 a month.  Cha-ching.  

Food is, of course, necessary.  And food prices are rising to GAH levels.  I'm trimming the budget by buying pork instead of beef, chicken thighs instead of breasts, pre-packed lunchmeats instead of deli sliced.  Cheaper cheeses.  No more M&Ms.  I didn't need those anyway.  And I'm trying to make snacks instead of buying them.  

I made my own bread.  It is a cost savings, kinda.  But it's inefficient.  And I'm saving less than 30c a loaf (saving almost nothing if I can find the loaves on the day-old rack) so I'm back to buying bread.  Plus, buying it requires no effort on my part with the kneading.  Saves the wrists.  Yay.  Good to know I can make it if bread becomes scarce, though.  Unfortunately, about the time bread becomes scarce, so will flour and yeast.  

I've been making my own french fries.  Those aren't hard at all.  Cut up potatoes, fry them.  To mix things up, I cut them different ways - regular fries, wedges, circles, thin and thick.  I've also done sweet potato fries, but I bake those.  Depends on whether the sweet potatoes are on sale.  Otherwise, regular spuds are cheaper.  

Head lettuce instead of bagged salad is also cheaper.  And big carrots instead of baby.  I'm still hoping to have a container garden and cut out the need to buy veggies, but last year was a bust.  We'll see how that goes for this year.  I need to buy dirt... but that's a whole 'nother story.

Anyway, it's amazing how much I can cut when I stop being so damn lazy.  I wish I could show a savings in the food budget, but right now, I'll have to be happy saying I'm holding the costs steady, even with the rising prices.  

What are some other ways to trim a budget?  Got any tips or tricks?  Feel free to share.