Rain, Rain, Rain down on me

WE got a bit of rain yesterday. Between three and five inches of rain. How much rain is that? Enough to wash out and puncture the natural gas supply line that supplies our town and one other, which means...no natural gas.

No hot water. No gas for the stove. No showers. No washing dishes. No cooking. At the earliest, this will be resolved tonight, although I'm seriously doubting that it will happen that soon.

Now, no showers I can live with. We can heat enough water in the micro for sponge baths and even hair washing, if need be.

No washing dishes I can also live with. We can scrape them very well, and again heat enough water in the micro to give them a good scalding to make sure we don't attract any vermin or other assorted ickies.

No cooking. That is an issue. See, we've planned for a power outage. In the winter, you can shovel out a snowy area and set up the grill and you're good to go. Generally, even when it snows, the humidity is still relatively low. The wetness doesn't sink into everything until it begins to melt, and even then it's not the pervading humidity that comes with a good monsoonal rain, which is what we're having now. When it snows, you get mud. You don't get mud because your house has turned into an environment suitable for growing rare orchids.

In Southern Colorado in the Spring, and in August, we get what's called Monsoonal flow. This means we will have three or four days where everything is just drenched. We spend that time bleaching everything, because the wetness just sinks in to everything. I have known people who left a window in their car cracked during this time and opened it afterwards to find a patch of mushrooms growing in their back seat.

That means the grill is wet. The charcoal, stored inside, is damp. WE do have a small portable propane grill, but this raises the issue of where to use it. We don't have an area outside protected from the rain. It doesn't have a cover like most grills, so I can't use it in the rain.

So, breakfast today will be....umm, not sure. PBJ is a possibility, but we will have to go to the store first as I don't have enough bread for that. We are hitting the store at their opening time to stock up on paper plates and silverware. I have some, but not as much as I should have, planning as I have for an extended power outage and not a gas outage.

Lunch will be something out of a can that I can microwave or sandwiches.

Dinner is a mystery at this point. Last night we did TV dinners that I had saved for a fire night. We did have two calls (including the gas line rupture, that we were stood down from), but I was in the middle of cooking dinner after they had calmed down when I noticed the flame on the stove was really little. I called the county dispatch center, because when we were first toned out, I assumed the line, due to its location, was a transport line, not a supply line. I should have realized that it was a supply line, because we were told that witnesses reported a strong smell of gas, and the fake smell that is added to natural gas is not added to gas in transport lines, only supply lines. The dispatcher then notified me that there were plans in the works to shut down gas to the town of Aguilar.

So, dinner...who knows, we'll figure it out. After all, I'm a prepper. Even though I prepped for the wrong event LOL. Corn dogs and pot pies anyone?

Wow...

Has it really been over a month since I've posted?

Well, as you may have guessed, things have been rather busy here.

Larry took his EMT-B National Registry test yesterday. We find out his results on Friday.

My work is going about the same-plus I'm writing more again (although obviously not here). I did finally finish the department's web site (http://www.spbcfpd.org), and then I helped our new grantwriter put together two AFG grant applications.

And the kids-ah, life is good. Aimee is finishing up her Junior year. She got a 25 on her ACT (I still scored higher than her!), Saren is playing with the high school band, Nikki just had a great field trip to the zoo where she petted a snake, Roan is registered for preschool and Aria's verbal skills are improving every day.

OK, off to check the work email!

Sunday afternoon with friends

A few weeks back we got a new firefighter. She's a really sweet girl (I shouldn't call her a girl, she's only 5 years younger than me) and has all kinds of firefighting experience.

She's a substitute teacher, so I took her over to the school and introduced her around there; hopefully she'll get some work from that. She's been at the station quite a bit learning the trucks and doing her S130/190 recertification. She invited us over to have a cook out with her and her fiance yesterday.

We had an awesome time over hamburgers, hot dogs and BBQ chicken. Found out they read like we do, so we have someone new to trade books with. Told them all about the used book store in Walsenburg. Might be able to turn her into a shopping buddy, too. I would like that, I think Larry gets tired of driving me around everywhere. But someone else who shops like I do would understand! I know she coupons, so we're probably good to go.

The kids had a blast running around in their fenced yard. Aimee and Saren had a wrestling match-I think Larry is relieved that Saren is finally big enough to give Aimee a run for her money-since she's big enough and Larry is old enough that he's usually hurting after they have a go at each other-although they both sleep really well!

Get a Free Easter Ham

Unilever is offering a rebate on the price of your Easter Ham or Turkey when you buy $40 worth or unilever products.

Participating Unilever products are:
Amora
Axe*
Becel
Bertolli*
Blue Band
Blue Bonnet
Breyers*
Cif
Close Up
Comfort
Country Crock
Degree*
Domestos
Dove*
Flora
Heartbrand
Hellmann's
I can't believe it's not butter
Knorr
Lever 2000
Lifebuoy
Lipton*
Lux
Omo
Pond's
Qtips*
Radiant
Ragu
Rama
Rexona
Signal
Skippy
Slim·Fast
Snuggle
Suave*
Sunlight
Sunsilk
Sure
Surf
Thermasilk
Vaseline
Wishbone
Wisk

* indicate that I KNOW coupons are out there for those products, there may be others.

The forms were in Sunday coupon inserts on 4/5 or 3/31. If you didn't get one, The Coupon Clippers has one available on their site. Go to Forms, then scroll down, and you'll see the unilever rebate.

If these are items you need, this month would be a good time to buy them (purchases can be made between 4/1 and 4/30). Some of these brands are also included in Safeway's Living Well Promo that starts 4/15, so if you purchase them at that time, you'll also get a $10.00 Catalina for your next purchase. Rolling that Catalina to future purchases of the same products will further reduce your cost, lowering your overall bill and still qualifying you for the free ham. So far I have $15.90 towards a free ham, although I only spent $11.60 actual cash (based on sale price, after coupons).

This Week's Shopping 4/3/09

This week I did three different stores:

Our local in town market, Ringo’s. The usually have some great sales. Their regular prices are considerably higher than the stores in Trinidad, but with their sales, and the convenience of them being local, they are great for when you run out of bread. They also have amazing customer service.

Safeway. Our store in Trinidad is coupon friendly. I do, however, often have to get rainchecks on sale items.

Walmart. Blech, but necessary. It is my goal to reduce my Walmart trips to one a month or less once the littles are out of diapers.

Prices noted are shelf prices. Items in Italics were on sale (shelf price, not sale price, reflected). Items on which I used coupons have * next to them.

Ringos
48 cans (four flats) veggies (3x carrots, 1x peas)$51.36

Safeway
*Chex Snack Mix $3.19
*2x Pop Secret Popcorn $6.78
2x Safeway Chocolate Chips $5.98
*4x Reynolds Wrap 75 ft. $19.96
*4x Milk $9.96
*Dannon Activia with Fiber $2.99
*10x Yoplait Yogurt $8.90
*2x Lysol Disinfecting Wipes $7.98
*3x Suave Shampoo $6.87
*5x Suave Conditioner $11.45 (with many of us having long hair, we use far more conditioner than shampoo)
*4x Tyson chicken $31.96

Walmart
*2x Triscuit Crackers $4.00
*2x Artisan Crackers $4.00
*Gogurt $$2.62
*Gogurt $2.62
Frozen Berries $2.94
2x Grated Sharp Cheddar, 16 oz (I think) $3.56
*String Cheese 10 pack $3.38
Taquitos $5.88
*Rold Gold Pretzels $2.50
*Celestial Seasonings Tea $2.36
2x Great Value Pie Crust $4.24
Great Value Sour Cream $1.53
*3x Reese’s Easter Candy $8.88
*3x Pillsbury Grands Biscuits $5.04
Country Kitchen Syrup $1.98
*Celestial Seasonings Tea $2.36
*2x Hormel Chili $3.00
Canned Tomatoes $1.18
Brisket $18.42
3 pack Wipes $4.96
Organizer for Saren $5.44
2x Canned Tomatoes $2.36
2x Great Value Ranch Style Beans $1.34
10 Pr. Socks for Aria $5.00
Boxers $6.50
Birthday Present $6.88
*Q-Tips $2.38
Some Misc Item I can’t determine from the receipt $1.00
*Face Scrub $3.54
*Neosporin $4.76
*Disposable Razors for Aimee to take to work at Scout Camp $4.74
*Bengay $4.27
*Visine Allergy Care $3.98
Equate Children’s Tylenol $1.94
Equate Pepto Bismol $2.96
*20 ct Excedrin Migraine $3.12
Canned Tomatoes $1.18
White Cloud Pull Ups $12.84
Great Value Dishwasher Detergent $2.27
*Spray N Wash $2.64
*2x Sparkle Paper Towels $6.24
*24 Roll Angel Soft TP $6.68
2x Whole Wheat Bread $4.36

Before Tax, Shelf Total $349.25

Sale Savings $75.83

Coupon Savings $34.50

Total Savings $110.33

Total Out of Pocket $238.92

Lesson Learned: Even with coupons, some store brands are still cheaper. It is, however, a good idea to still hold on to coupons you can get in your paper or for free for items you need often, but buy the store brand of (diapers and pull ups, for us). Our store is often out of the store brand for diapers, so we end up having to buy the higher priced brands. Coupons help us save there, even if we wouldn’t normally buy that brand without a coupon, or even with a coupon.

I do find myself buying more items that I normally would have made from scratch (biscuits, chicken nuggets, etc), but with working, time is more valuable-I'd rather be spending it tickling giggly girls or kissing baby belly or reading Aimee's writing or having a philosophical discussion with Saren than cooking in my tiny kitchen that makes spending family time together in there difficult. Yet another one of those choices we have to make.

The power of 15 minutes

Well, I must say, after the first full day of cleaning under the Flylady method, that I am truly amazed by the power of FLYlady’s fifteen minute segments. From my previous post, you can see that I have about 3 hours of time scheduled. Of course, it took me much longer to get all of that done. Interruptions from littles, fixing lunch, quiet time during nap time, etc, all took away from that schedule. Of course, starting earlier would have alleviated a lot of that. Having Larry home would also have alleviated a lot of that, as he would have helped in whatever capacity I asked him to, whether it was taking a fifteen minute segment or helping with the littles. It’s a special blessing having a husband who is generally as eager to help me as I am to help him. It makes it a joy that he realizes the hard work involved in keeping a home, and that he makes an effort to help with it. Not that I expect him to. And not that he does as much when he’s working, but he still helps as he’s able.

I’m digressing again. I know you’re shocked.

Anyway, this week’s zone was the living room. I actually ran out of things to do in there. Not that it’s perfectly clean, but that the remaining tasks that are more than just routine maintenance need to have time where the littles are outside or otherwise distracted. Maybe save those for evenings after bedtime. Well, checking on flylady.net I see that I got my zones messed up, but that’s OK. I can live with that. I have a shiny living room!

Next week will be the kitchen, which I am really looking forward to. I have been working on decluttering a lot in there lately, and on organizing, with using my shopping money better, I need to utilize my space better. So hopefully, with this week’s zone work, I will be able to finish that up.

I actually took several grocery bags of donations and clothes sharing stuff out to the van, instead of letting it sit, waiting to go in the van. We DO have some stuff sitting, but only because we needed space in the van.

Now, I did NOT get everything done. But it was the first day. I did get about 75% of the day’s goal done. It will take practice, and better use of my time and resources. But that’s OK. FLYlady is, after all, about Finally Loving Yourself. Not about loving yourself above all, but about loving yourself enough to say “It’s OK that my home isn’t perfect, because it’s better than it was. I got something done!” And I actually got a LOT of somethings done!

It feels earlier than it is...

...but that's what happens when you have a middle of the night med call.
I guess I need to organize my giveaway earlier in the week and get it ready to be posted for Friday.
Have a post I wrote about how the big cleaning day FLYlady's way went, I will post that after all our stuff today.
Doing church at home.
Then going to friend's house for late lunch on the grill in the snow! Hopefully most of the snow will be melted by then so we can play outside.
Then home to get ready for school in the morning.