Dusty's Frugal Fortnights

As I said,the last month since we were informed of their visit has been a wreck as far as any finances,savings,exercise, diet,surveys,reading etc are concerned
Will start again on Monday with exercise,but apart from making Mr Dusty's meals I intend,after putting things back in place,to do as little housework and as much reading as possible for a while.:)
.My feet are really feeling very sore and tender after all the work these last weeks plus going out all day with the visitors. I was really pleased at how my legs stood the test but now I seem to be falling to bits!

Remember I was worried about feeding the vegan? Well,she was the one who didnt come. She did a wonderful essay on health care (another one wanting to do medicine. The eldest wants to be a neurosurgeon)and a college at Princeton awarded her a scholarship to a summer school course doing some sort of emergency medical technician's stuff,full board and fees paid and even paid her airfare from Virginia. No wonder she chose that over coming to squash in a tiny house here! We had a video phone call from her as she was going into the class for the end of course exam,and we wished her luck. Not that she needs it like her two sisters she is formidably intelligent.It will look good on her med school application next year :T
Next year she will graduate from her 3 yr degree course in May 2019,and the youngest girl will graduate from high school,so DSS wants us to go there next May for the celebrations.I have one year to save up at least £1000 so I had better get back into the saving and frugal living mode immediately.All plans for house decorating etc will have to be jettisoned,Xmas savings will need to be slashed,and I will need to really follow the MSE frugal ways!:cool:
Actually,I had wanted to go the following year when it is our 50th wedding anniversary, Mr Dusty will be 80,and my daughter 50,she intends to go to Las Vegas she went there once before and loved it. Not the gambling ,just visiting all the amazing, jaw dropping,spectacular casinos.
That would have been in late September2020 when the weather is cooler,and I wanted to see the spectacular Fall colours on the trees,and I would have had extra 18 months to save,but I was overruled as ever!

House is returning to normal. I did 3 washer loads of towels,bedding,bath mats and general washing yesterday,it was a good day for drying them all. Mr Dusty intends to iron them all,,and even he,Champion Ironer of the World,is a little daunted at the huge pile. I am attempting to persuade him to a little over 3 days,but he will probably be a martyr and want to do it all in one day. Good luck with that.
I brought in my computer table from the yard,and the computer is back in its place.:j:j Severe withdrawal symptoms there!
All the best glassware,crockery,placemats,cutlery are back in thecabinet,the everyday stuff back in place - hardly used because we went out to eat. I set up the table with an assortment of breakfast stuff,the cutlery and plates,and left them there all the time,we only ate at the table once,the first meal much to Mr Dusty's shock and annoyance. He wanted every meal as a full sit down affair,with me spending hours preparing and then doing mountains of washing up,before getting ready to repeat the whole thing in the evening.He was a tad disgruntled but all the rest were united that Nana should have a holiday like everyone else,so he had to go along with it.:D:D
The dining table is back in place,dropleaves down,so more space to move,but there are still 3 dining chairs to go back upstairs,and the downstairs is restored to order.Well,there are lots of horrors lurking in the cupboard under the stairs,and paint tins are stacked on the yard,and I have to reassemble my shopping trolley stashed away in cupboard and yard. But the upstairs is another matter,we will have to get DS1 and DS2 to do the heavy work of moving beds and mattresses. I've run out of large strong bags to wrap the duvets and pillows in to put back on the wardrobes,and I have persuaded Mr Dusty to dedicated one case for all the bedding so in future we dont need to scavenge the whole house for things he put away ''for safety''.I wold love an ottoman,but is literally no space available to put it! All cupboard and wardrobes are stuffed to the brim with Mr Packrat's junk and clothes Honestly,I need a medal for what I have put up with these last weeks.The fluorescent light is still hanging down precariously,waiting for repair on Tuesday. Going to be so embarrassed:mad: And we have argued over every tiny little decision with me having to give full logical reasons for little things while he stubbornly insists on something stupid.I am truly amazed that I have stayed alcohol free now since 7th March,in the face of severe provocation:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Off now to cook the salmon,I suppose I will have the tribe here for the visit postmortem. Not DD2 and GD1 who went on a work trip to Madrid this morning to do some sort of presentation with their boss.4 day visit but very little spare time to look around.

Have finished one book for our new June mini book challenge over on LibraryThing


The Amazing, Astounding, Astonishing A!
1. Read a book where a title word starts with A. Clifford D Simak - All Flesh is Grass

2. Read a book with an author beginning with A. Piers Anthony - A Spell for Chameleon finished

3. Read a book with an ''A'' item shown on the cover. - an apple.
Carrie Vaughn - Discord's Apple

Did one You Gov survey today,first in weeks, and earned a princely 25p! :DThat makes £9.75,in about 4 months! Since you must make £50 to cash in,it may take quite a while!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: I never seem to look at my emails at the right time.They offer me surveys and I dont see it for several hours,and when I go online I am too late.
I used to make around a fiver every few weeks on MySurvey but most of the time now I cant sign in,or they send me to a survey I am ineligible for,and close me out and I have to try yet again to sign in,only to find the surveys all gone!I havent had to buy a book this year,my Amaz*n voucher rewards from MySurveys paid for them,so I am not happy with the login problems.Now that I am going to have to save for next May's USA trip,Iwont be able to buy any books till I get vouchers at Xmas. Good job I stocked up on the SF award winners I needed to do my challenge. I may need 3 or 4 more if I am to complete the challenge,those books are rarely available in the library