Bargains and windfalls

Last week when Cliff and I were at Walmart, we saw rack after rack of coats on clearance.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you want to look at it), we're neither one in need of a casual coat.  If I could find a nice coat worth the money, one to wear when I go shopping or someplace, I'd grab it.  I've been perusing Kohl's and Target clearance online; so far, nothing has been cheap enough to suit me.   
I filed our income taxes Friday.  Although I've been confident that our refund wouldn't show up in our checking account this soon, I've checked every day.  Funny thing is, I was looking for that big fat federal refund; so the measly little $500 state refund sat there for two days before I noticed.  And trust me, we're not so wealthy that we consider $500 to be chicken feed!  It just goes to show that if your sights are set too high, you can miss the treasure that's right in front of your eyes.  I still can't believe a refund showed up only four days after I filed our taxes online.  
I have to visit the doctor's office before I can get any more of my blood pressure pills.  Yesterday I called to schedule an appointment with a nurse-practitioner and was put on hold.  After five minutes of waiting, I gave up.  I'll try again today.  
It's snowing; so what else is new?  This round isn't supposed to amount to much.  The forecast low for tonight is five below zero.  The forecast for Sunday has a high of fifty predicted, and highs should remain in the forties and fifties for the following week.  Won't that be nice?  
Cliff has a review and a raise coming up at work.  This will be his last raise, I believe, before he retires.  From what I've seen since I've been on Social Security, we'd better enjoy it.  Raises are few and far between when you're retired.  And the raises you do get are downright pathetic.  I keep raising the percentage of his check that goes into 401K, knowing this is our last shot at retirement savings.    
That's your daily report from Redneck Central.  Have a great day, everybody!

I love a bargain, and I hate to waste money.

Every time Cliff and I are in Richmond at Walmart, I check out the meat that has been marked down 40% because the "sell by" date is almost up. Today I spotted a package of nice center-cut pork chops. We don't eat a lot of meat of any kind, especially pork; but I can't pass up a bargain.

Rather than freeze it like I usually do my bargain meats, I put four of them in the bottom of a Corning Ware dish, spread Stove-top stuffing over the meat, and spread a can of cream-of-chicken soup over that. I covered it and baked it for almost an hour.

Someone I once worked with told me about this simple pork-chop fix, and until we changed to healthier eating habits I fixed it often. It really is better than it looks. Normally I used Cream of Mushroom soup, but I didn't have any today.

I can always find marked-down bread at that Walmart, too; and today was no exception. I bought a square loaf of sour-dough for a buck.

This time it wasn't such a bargain; it was pretty dried out.

"Oh well," I told Cliff. "You win some, you lose some."

After he went out to the shop, I remembered another dish I used to make a lot: bread pudding. I figured we may as well have two unhealthy items for supper, because I really hate to throw out that bread; I paid good money for it. With whiskey sauce poured over it, it is hands down the best bread pudding I've ever made. Of course, the fact we haven't had it in years might be a factor.

Granddaughter Natalie was here to help us eat this bargain-based meal, and when Cliff's sister gets home after twelve hours of working, she'll be glad to have supper ready and waiting. Tomorrow Cliff and I will have nice, healthy Chicken Gumbo. With maybe a small piece of bread pudding for dessert.

bargains

I guess like most folks, I get caught up in griping about price increases: the cost of gasoline or propane; good grief, $3 for a loaf of bread; veterinary services for dogs and horses.

But sometimes there's some good news.

Our microwave oven is getting a bit tired. It tends to burn popcorn before it's all done popping. It's taking longer and longer to cook those frozen chimichangas I keep around for the grandkids.

So, I browsed the Internet to check out prices. Wow, have these things come down in price, or what? The one pictured here is less than $50 at Wal Mart. It even has a turntable, which is a feature I've never had on a microwave.

We bought our first microwave when my kids were still living at home, probably around 1983. I'm sure it cost over $300, and of course we got it on credit. Hey, that was a lot of money then!

Computers are like this. I believe when I got my first Gateway in 1998, it cost close to $1,000; and that was one of the cheapest models to be found. It had a 6-gigabyte hard drive.

These days, the cheapest computer you can buy has at least 60 gigabytes, and you can get one for under $400.

Wow.