Grocery shopping at home

 

As you all know, I love to go grocery shopping.  The grocery store is one of my happy places.  I am there at least once a week if not more.  Normally I go to the Food Lion that's not far from my house.  That is where I'll do my bulk shopping.  If I just need one or two things, I will go the Bestway, the neighborhood grocery store around the corner.  It's a little more expensive depending on what you're buying but I save on gas, so it evens out. 

Something I have started to do first, before I even step foot into the grocery store, is shop at home.  That may sound like a no brainer to some people but not everyone does that.  I am guilty of that.  Not that shopping at home is required but I often find myself having duplicate items when I only really need one.  Why?  Because I did not shop at home first.  

Shopping at home first has made me start to really pay attention to what I have in stock. I have a great set of pantry shelves in my laundry room which has given me the option to stock, and sometimes overstock, things that I use in cooking.  That plus the kitchen cabinets and the chest freezer equals a lot of food available to me.  But I had not been paying attention to what I already had before making my grocery list. Thus, I have 6 cans of Rotel LOL

I have been watching a series of videos on YouTube about ways to save money.  I know that's something that we all want to do.  One of the videos said that you should always shop at home first before you go out and buy something.  This did not just apply to groceries but to everything.  Check your cabinets to see if you already have what you need before spending money unnecessarily. So that is what I did.  

My neighbor Lois was coming over on the 4th for lunch.  I wrote out the menu and then wrote down everything that I would need to make the dishes.  Then I went shopping in my house. There were some ingredients that I knew that I already had like onions and butter.  Pantry staples.  But after doing my first round of shopping at the house, I managed to take a two-page grocery list and shave it down to about 10 items.  That was it.  Whew!! It truly saved me money by paying attention to what I already had on hand.  

From now on, I am shopping at home first for everything.  I never know what I'm going to find!

Avocado Egg Salad

 I love some egg salad.  Grandmother showed me how to make it when I was a child, and I have been making it ever since. And as much as I love traditional egg salad, and always will, I do like to branch out and try new versions of it.  One day I was looking on the internet for a heart healthy egg salad and this recipe popped up.  I have only made it once, but it was very good and I will make it again soon. I will say this, though, about it.  If you are going to serve it to others, make it right before you do.  Otherwise, it will turn that brownish color that avocado likes to do.  It will still taste great; it just does not look very good haha. Enjoy!

Avocado Egg Salad

6 hardboiled eggs

2 avocados - peeled, pitted and cubed

1/2 cup minced red onion

1/3 cup mayo

3 Tbsp chopped sweet pickles

1 Tbsp yellow mustard

S&P to taste

Mash eggs lightly in a bowl with a fork.  Add all other ingredients and combine well. S&P to taste.  Chill in fridge.  Serve with crackers on a bed of greens.  

Organizing the Garage

 I have picked one of the hottest times of the year to try and get my garage organized.  This is going to be my daily challenge for July.  Now that Michael has gotten most of his stuff out of the garage, I have lots more shelf space to put boxes and containers that have been on the floor for a long time.  Jason and Marc still have a good bit of stuff out there but that will not stay forever either. I have been trying to go through the boxes out there and sort things.  That has been pretty productive, and I have been able to get rid of things and condense boxes.

I want my garage to be more of a functional space than just storage.  Not that there's anything wrong with having storage!  But I want to have my heavy bag available for workouts.  And if I need to do any kind of woodwork or whatever, I'll have a place for that.  I also have realized now that I have almost no tools LOL  I will need to invest in some of my own.  But I will build that up slowly.  

So that's my challenge for this month.  I hope I can get some things done each day despite the heat.  We shall see!!

Quote of the Week

 

This is something that I have been working on lately.  Letting go of the things that I have dreamt about my whole life is hard because I have not found any dreams to replace them.  I am working on that and will find something else to embrace and pursue. 

Wish You Were Here - Jack Cassidy

I have heard this song sung numerous times by many different artists.  I know I have it on several records.  I always have been intrigued by the song and find it on the haunting side.  I'm not sure why but in some ways it's very sad and in other ways it's very hopeful.  I had no idea that it was the title song of a musical from the 1950s.  It's a musical about a summer camp for adults in the Catskills.  Interesting concept.  I want to do some more research on it but I heard the score on the Sounds of Broadway website and found it quite charming.  Here is Jack Cassidy from the original cast singing the title number.  Enjoy!

 

Royal Rose China

I am always happy to accept a new set of dishes.  I can't help it; it's just part of who I am.  Much to the chagrin of my house, though.  Trying to find storage for it all can be daunting at times.  But I do not let that stop me.  And the important thing is that I enjoy it.  And I use it.  This particular set is called Royal Rose.  It was manufactured by the company Fine China of Japan.  

This set came to be by accident.  A friend of mine that I work with knows that I love dishes and things like that.  She told me that she had a tea set that belonged to a relative of hers and would I be interested in it?  I think it may have belonged to her brother, but I cannot recall off the top of my head. I told her that of course I would be interested.

A few weeks later, she brought me this box.  It was not a huge box but definitely bigger than what a tea set may fit into.  That didn't bother me at all, though.  I gladly loaded up the box into my car and got excited to see it when I got home.  You see, she didn't tell me what it looked like or what the pattern was.  It was a mystery at the time. Once I got home and opened the box, I thought there were an awful lot of pieces in this box.  I will admit that it was incredibly packed.  

The first piece I unwrapped was a cup and saucer set.  The pattern was pink roses on a white background with gold scrollwork around the rims.  I thought it was lovely.  I proceeded to empty out of the box of all its pieces.  My friend lied to me LOL  This was not a tea set.  This was a service for 8 of fine china.  I did not mind at all.  I did not have any pattern that looked like this so I thought it would make a nice addition to my collection.  And it has. 

I have used this set for several dinners and really enjoy having it on my table.  It had many pieces like the cream and sugar, salt and pepper sets, serving bowls, platters among all of the dinner plates, b&b plates, dessert plates, cups, saucers, etc.  There never was a tea pot which disappointed me since I initially was told it was a tea set.  Oh well.  I will enjoy it for many years to come!

Give yourself some "internetless" time each day

 I think it's important to take some time every day to do something for yourself or someone else that has nothing to do with social media, a computer and a phone.  Giving yourself a break from the constant streaming is healthy for the spirit.  At least in my opinion.  Get outside.  Read a book or a magazine.  Play a game, one that doesn't require a login LOL. Write a letter.  Go visit someone and have a real conversation.  Just do something that's different for a change.  Listen to music. The possibilities are endless.

I started thinking about this earlier this week because of something a friend said to me.  We had a huge storm roll through on Monday.  Many places in Greensboro were without power.  Luckily, my house was not among them.  But a friend I work with said she was without power for about 6 hours.  She and I are roughly the same age, so we remember what life before the internet was like.  Her daughter, however, does not know about that. My friend told me her daughter had three major meltdowns during the power outage because cell service was down and she didn't know what to do with herself.  While I did chuckle when I was told this, I also felt very sad for her.

It's not her fault.  It's a generational thing. They never had to live without it but I do think it's important that they find things to do when this happens.  Same goes for me and everyone, really.  When the power or the internet goes out, what do you do?  Some of my friends laugh at me because of my huge record collection and all of the DVDs and VHS (yes, you read that right) tapes I have.  But when the internet is down, I know I can entertain myself.  

But this incident just reminded me that I need to take some time each day and get away from having the world at my fingertips.  I think it's important.