a surprise

A couple of days ago I cleaned out the drawer containing receipts I have been saving. I always keep my grocery receipts so I can tally the month and look at my yearly totals and averages. Apparently I didn't do much except plan a wedding since last November, because the receipts were quite stacked up in my skinny little drawer. What amazed me was how much I spent in some months, and more surprising was how many trips I made to the stores! I live close to Costco and go about 2 or 3 times a month - mostly for the great produce, chicken, and bread. We don't buy any junk food from there. I also go to a regular store for all the other stuff I need. I have planned menus and shopping lists for YEARS, and my spending seems under control, I thought. But adding up the number of receipts (=trips to a store) I have some self control or planning to improve. But Days Grocery is just three minutes away! Adding all the trips together some months I had 12 - 18 receipts!! (=trips to a store=spending $$) Yikes! I am going to try to plan even better, have stuff on hand for special events ( like work parties, family dinners, etc.) and go to a two week menu (buy more, shop less often). Every time I go to a store I always buy more than the items on the list or what I need so it adds up. It is a good exercise to see what you spend on food some months, because it makes you more careful, thrifty, and creative the next month. Just don't wait 9 months before you do the tally, like I did recently. I have kept track of our food spending since 1992! Since that time my household has changed sizes several times, and now it is just me and Clyde. The challenge has begun...

Who am I?

Twice in the last two days I have been mistakenly identified. Yesterday at church I was sitting next to my friend Pattie Shumway. We both have dark hair, about the same style and length. A ward member leans over to Pattie and says,"thanks for the ice cream." She looks puzzled and I whisper to her, "it was me who gave them ice cream."
Then today at 5 pm on the way to my car, someone on the sidewalk was talking on their cell phone. He looked right at me, only 4 feet away and said, "Hi Debbie, have a good night." I smiled and said goodbye. I have no idea who he thought I was! So I guess I can stand in for many faces!

the way up!

This is a photo of one of the streets we drove on as the GPS tried to get us to the hotel!! We just kept going higher and to narrower streets. Very old streets!

GPS confusion

Here is one little story from our Germany Trip:
We rented a car and brought our own GPS system to help us get around. Camille was the great navigator, interpreter of the directions etc. It worked pretty well to get us to Salzburg. We put in the hotel address and it seemed to take us right to it, except it took us kind of past the street the hotel was on. Then it took us kind of around the back side of the city, and then started taking us up hilly old cobbled streets. Before we knew it we were next to an old monastery, on a hill and going towards a very narrow stone arch - people were walking on this path. We stopped, put in the mirrors, and after a few scary stalled starts, finally inched through the arch and on to level ground. We then saw a couple of other cars up there. NO way were we going to go down that same way, and our hotel was NOT up here. When we got our nerve to drive again, we saw a different path (cement walking path that went down the front of the hill. We put Camille in the drivers seat and as we slowly started towards the path down, the GPS glibly announced: "Turn right in 500 feet... you have arrived!" We were on the edge of a cliff beneath the fortress and apparently our hotel roof was just down below us!! HAHA. Here is a photo of the fortress in the last light of day. we later learned that our hotel was in a pedestrian area and the GPS will NOT take a car into a forbidden area.

Empty nest/ ness?

We are officially Empty Nesters. Things are a bit quieter here around bedtime. Meals are not elaborate sometimes. But I'm glad I have married children close by who drop in often!!

TA DA!

I did it! By myself! I got a new background for the blog. Simple enough. Matches the cool wedding backdrop!

family

We had a wonderful wedding weekend! I love my family!