40 Year Class Reunion

Last night was my 40-year class reunion.  I was on the fence about going right up until the last minute.  Call it social anxiety, or a challenge for my introverted self, but I am happier staying home

most days.

The reunion was in the planning stages back in April of this year, I had all these plans to get back on track with diet and exercise to bring my best self to the reunion.  The plans were well intended, and on occasion, we did get to the gym but truth be told, there was no real success with weight loss. Eh.  I can live with it.

We arrived at the event location, checked in and picked up our name tags.  It took me a minute to locate my name tag, as I was not sure if it was listed by my maiden name or married name.  It was listed by my married name, with my maiden name included.

Most of the people chatted in the lobby of the venue while other classmates were arriving.  It was interesting to see how people were interacting. There were those who kept to themselves watching others. And then there were those who were like butterflies and mingled successfully with just about everyone.  Just like high school!

What I noticed for me is that I recognized more people than recognized me.  It could have been that this was my first reunion and they were unsure who I was.  I could have been that I had gaps of attendance during my junior year of high school and I had a fall from grace from my clique that was mostly the involved in everything group because of those absences. I found that once I got a car, I would rather go shopping then go to school. It is a wonder I did graduate.

Me between two friends from junior high.

Even though I am on the shy side, I did go up to many individuals and reintroduce myself to them and have a brief conversation.  The majority of the ones I did chat with or had more in common with attended my elementary and junior high school.  It seems I remembered them more than they remembered me.  That was fine.  I did see and chat with several of my closer contacts from high school and we were able to catch up a bit. 

FaceBook helped us to stay connected and see a peek into each of our lives on a regular basis.  We had the commonality of talking about watching each of our families grow up on FB and that was a part of our conversation and helped with the awkwardness, at least for me.

After all is said and done, I will try harder to stay in touch, as in face to face conversations with a couple of friends.  These girls were friends from junior high and I still feel a special connection with them.  For me, when you are young, raising a family right out of high school and working like crazy to keep things afloat there really is no time for the friends you had in high school.  All of my energy was directed at my family.  I think that is true for many of us. 

Overall, attending the reunion was a positive experience and I so appreciate the effort of those that worked so hard to make it a success.  It was a challenge for my social awkwardness, but as they say, "fake it until you make it" and I have that skill down pat. 

Will I go to our 50th reunion?  Yes, I will.  If the good Lord sees fit to keep me here on earth I will make the best of each day He gives me and give Him the glory.

Catching Up

We had a large unplanned expense this week that happened when I went to the dealership to get my oil changed.  They were going to rotate my tires but the service guy came back and said two of my tires were very low tread, (I kinda knew this already) and the other tires were cupping.  (this explained the loud and rough ride.)

So, with my regularly scheduled oil change, we added the purchase, installation, and alignment of four new tires. Expensive, yes.  It came to $1048.00. Meh.

On the plus side, the ride is much smoother and definitely safer.  In order to maintain better tire care, I will be getting my tires rotated every 7000 miles or every other oil change in order to extend the life of my tires.   I use to do regular tire rotation on my Camry, but I fell off the wagon with our Santa Fe.

Yesterday, we started painting our house, specifically the back wall before the pool cage/screen is

Paint on back wall of house 

installed.  The paint was bought months ago when the summer rains and heat prevented us from getting any painting done.  It is much cooler now, well at least for us in Florida (about 65 degrees in AM and warms up to 85 degrees in the afternoon)

Next week, it will be significantly cooler and I hope to get more of the painting done.  If we finish the back wall before the screen is installed, I will be thrilled.  I am so looking forward to cooler weather.  We haven't had our Fall yet.

The first half of the month has been busy,  and I am grateful for that.  Staying on track with everyday chores and the grandkids afterschool events keeps me focused. 

Grocery Shopping Week 1 Oct 2018

When you track your grocery shopping you get to see just how many times you go to the store. Sheesh!

We had hoped to keep the weekly grocery spending to $150 a week.  We were close, but there is definitely room for improvement.

Oct 1 Publix     $29.74
Oct 4  Publix    $19.47
Oct 4 WalMart $51.64
Oct 5  Publix    $17.41
Oct 6 Aldi        $45.92
Total                $164.18

The weekend was a busy one.  We celebrated our daughter's birthday with a visit to Epcot, and in, ride our fast pass rides and get out.  The kiddos are usually pretty pooped out by then.


Sunday, we went to SeaWorld for a couple of hours.  We were able to see a couple of shows, but we did eventually get rained out.  Tropical storm/Hurricane Michael is sending us it rains bands as it approaches the Panhandle region.

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  Oatmeal and butterscotch cookies were on my mind and I spent most of the afternoon putting them together and baking.  The weather is getting cooler, temps in the high 80's so it felt like the perfect baking weather at least for Florida.

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They were a hit with the family and  I am glad I froze some for later as they did not last long.  I may have eaten too much cookie dough.  I do love cookie dough.  Guilty pleasure.


Tomorrow, the kiddos start up with their activities.  The girl has ballet and tap and the boy has boy scouts.  I really enjoy taking the kids to their after-school activities.  Its just extra time that we get to spend together. Luckily, my hubs will be taking the boy camping in a couple of weekends.



How was your weekend?  Busy or relaxed?

Today's Grocery Shopping Oct 2018

This morning I had a chance to run to WalMart and Publix to pick up a few items.  I had coupons from last week and I also had a few Ibotta and Checkout51 that I wanted to use.

Ibotta had Sweet Hawaiian Pillsbury Grands "free after offer" with a limit of 5.  I had a coupon for $1.50 off of a purchase of three.  After an earning of $6.54 from Ibotta  My referral code is mr4aea   You get $10 and so do I!
I made $1.50 from the coupon. 


Unless Ibotta decides that I should be penalized for using the coupon. That may change.

I also earned $0.50 for Palmolive Ultra Strength dish soap, $0.50 for Breakstone's sour cream and $0.25 cents for any item.  Total Ibotta earnings $7.79

CheckOut51, I earned $4.00 back on BicSoiel disposable razors and was able to use a coupon for $3.00 off $5.97.  That was a moneymaker for almost $2.00.

And then I scanned both receipts in to Fetch Rewards for points that can be redeemed gift cards.  WX8BV is my referral code!  You get points and so do I!

 I also had coupon savings $8.50 at Walmart.


IBotta dollars: $21.54
Checkout51:  $5.30
Fetch Rewards:  11,061 points

I picked up some BOGO's at Publix with a saving of $13.96 on BOGO's.  No coupons.

I earned $2.00 for the Lance crackers and Honey Maid Graham from CheckOut51.

Do you use all these reward programs successfully? 

National Night Out

The kiddos, their mom and I went to National Night Out in our local community last night.  The event was at the lake in downtown.  We went early, right as it opened as parking can quickly become an issue.

The kiddos met Daisy the Bloodhound

The weather is still warm, but the humidity was not as high as it was the last couple of weeks.  We managed to walk through the event, visit many booths for free samples of food, goodies for the kiddos which was mostly pencils, and small toys.  The local police department had an obstacle course for the kids and that was a bit hit with everyone.

After spending about an hour and a half, we left the event and headed home.  The kids had fun, and overall it was a pretty good night.

Dinner was leftover chili from Monday, there still enough left for me to take to work for lunch today.  Today's dinner is grilled pork chops and grilled zucchini.  Putting the meals on my calendar has helped greatly with dinner planning.

After work, I will be taking one of the kiddos to the allergist for weekly shots, then maybe, just maybe I can get the yard mowed and liquid edged.  Since going back to work, the yard has been getting a bit scraggly.  This may be the last time we have to mow as the grass is barely growing due to lack of rain.  During the summertime, I was mowing every 5 days just to keep up with the growth.

Our exterminator is coming out today after work for our yearly service.  It has been probably two years since we have had him come out.  He treats the house and if we see any more bugs, they come out and retreat at no cost.  Usually, we don't have to call them back.  The one-time treatment does thew trick. We skipped last year as we were dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

Did you participate in your local National Night Out?  How was it?  Would you go back next year?

Menu Plan Monday

The weekly menu is on the calendar and here is what we are working with, and will it change?  It might. 

But, having it wrote down on the calendar in the kitchen will help when I walk in the kitchen from work and wonder what the heck I am going to fix for dinner. 

Monday - Chili with rice and cornbread

Tuesday - Leftover Chili

Wednesday- Grilled Pork Chops
Grilled Zucchini

Thursday - Western Omelets with Toast

Friday - Chili Dogs

Saturday -  BLT's

Sunday - Salmon and Brown Rice

What about you? What's on the menu plan at your house this week?