STAY HOME PEOPLE

I am considered high risk.

Not only do I diabetes, a liver condition, and now what looks like chronic asthma, but I can’t get into the doctor’s office right now because all non emergency appointments are canceled. I can’t breathe without using the inhaler given to me at least three times a day. I should stay at home. But I don’t have an income as of right now. And there is no saying when I’ll have one.

I don’t have any real material written up yet. And I don’t have a real base yet of readers, so I don’t feel like I have much to offer right now in trying to make money from written content. Because of this I’ve been doing some grocery delivery for money.

PEOPLE

STAY HOME IF YOU ARE SICK.

AND WASH YOUR PRODUCE.

I’ve seen sick people coughing all over your cucumbers. One lady came up behind me coughing and damn near coughed on me! She was definitely coughing all over the produce she was looking at.

STAY HOME.

Get your groceries delivered. Call someone to bring them to you. Healthy people, offer to get your neighbors their groceries. So that if they are sick they can stay home and not make other people sick.

This, That, and Other Things

I think I’ve missed a few weeks in updating. I’m sorry.

Things that are stressing me out right now:

– The fact that I may not be able to work my job

-The brakes in my car are not working right so I can’t drive.

-The car needs more repairs and I can’t afford them

-Money

-My health

-Food

—

My car is not safe to drive, and my job is an hour drive away. So that is a problem. My boss is super amazing and was able to put together a way for me to work from home. Kind of a save up money and get that car fixed when you can sort of thing. But then I get a letter from HR and a contract. They contract me to two weeks. Yay. I’m not sure what I’m going to do at the end of this next week. There is no way my car will be safe to drive by then.

So.

Yeah.

I’m freaking out.

The car just needs to have the brakes figured out, new tires, and a new lower control arm. I just don’t have the funds for it. At all.

I don’t know how to make up $600 in a week.

—

My health is just as bad right now. I’m in pain 24/7. But because I don’t have a working car right now, and my work schedule, I can’t get to the doctors I need to see to correct the problem. The best I can do is a Saturday appointment but I need to have a way to get to the appointment. And the next available one is like three weeks away.

—

The whole food thing is stressing me out, not so much due to lack of it, but more of not having enough energy to do what I want with it. I’m so tired even working from home that I just can’t do anything.

This also includes cleaning and trying to find rides so I can run errands. I don’t have the $30 a trip one way to go to the grocery store and I only really have cash for spending so getting things delivered is out of the question. And walking is kind of out of the question. My body barely allows me to go up and down the stairs on a good day.

I’m looking for some more vegetarian ideas to make as well. I want food that feels good after it’s eaten. And that has a lot of nutrition.

—

I feel like I’m just running in circles. I know I need to relax a little but it feels like it never stops. And I just want to sleep.

Anyway…. That’s all for now. I’ll write a kitten update soon.

Burnout

So I made myself sick trying to make some extra money by working overtime the last few weeks. And it feels horrible that I can’t help make my situation better by working more to solve my problem. As of right now I’m about $300 short every month in my budget. And it comes down to it being the money budgeted for gas to get to work, tolls, and food/groceries. None of my bills are negotiable because I had to set up all the payment plans while doing my interview for security clearance for my job.

I’m so tired, I can barely keep myself awake. I’m in horrible pain as well. A muscle issue that I have where my muscles cramp and hold the cramps for up to 30 minutes was triggered by the exhaustion and its been rough. I did go to the doctor for that and they, as usual suggested my magnesium and sodium might be low, but as usual the blood work came back normal. I’ve also had this sinus infection from the air conditioning at work since I started there. So my body is on overdrive at the moment.

I also got hit with the seasonal depression like a ton of bricks. I still don’t have access to antidepressants and not having a therapist or someone that I can talk to makes it worse. But the new kitten is making it at least so that I can get out of bed in the morning. Both cats are doing well right now.

I’m trying to figure out what I want to cook for the kids and myself for the week, but I just can’t even summon the drive to make meals for myself. I’ve eaten once in the past 48 hrs. So I don’t know. My girlie did ask for fudge, and I think that would be fun to make so I’ll probably do that tomorrow. It might be a nice fall thing to do.

I will probably see if I can get a deal on tomatoes somewhere. There was a request for more sauce and well, that is something I like making so, more sauce.

New Kitty and Lots of Laundry…

It’s Sunday again!

This week was busy with me working extra hours again at work. I think I need to find something to do on the side on the weekends so that I don’t have to do extra hours. It just really really tires me out. Something that I can do from home or something because I just don’t think I have the energy to go out and work a second job when I can barely do the first one.

Anyway, this week I brought home a new kitty. Miss Murder Kitty is not happy about this development and has let me know so by peeing on the bed – while I was laying in it. She’ll get over herself eventually. I hope. But I’m also so amused by how dramatic she is being. The kitten is a good boy though. He’s pressing his boundaries with her a little, but he is giving her space and is pretty much ignoring her. The dramatics are very much one sided.

Because Murder Kitty peed the bed, I had to do laundry. It took about three hours, but I managed to do the huge backlog of laundry I’d been putting off doing. I finished the five load but now have to fold and put away everything.

—

Yesterday my daughter and I went grocery shopping together. She got her own groceries but also we picked out a few things for me to make for prep meals. I’ve currently got meatballs in the slow cooker with grape jelly, ketchup, and bbq sauce. I’m going to make rice to go with it and that will be dinner.

She helped me prep my lunches for this week. I have little cups made that have salami and ham in them. I bought some string cheese to go with those. There is yogurt. Crackers. Also mini packs of cookies and chocolates. Mostly healthy. Mostly nutritious. Will make the day easier by having snacks handy. Right now I end the day by eating a few Sour Patch Kids to keep up my blood sugars before I drive home. Not the best.

—

I’ve only managed to write half a page this week. I know that I need to be easy on myself with this process but I wish I had more time to write. I was gone for over 14 hours a day this week and it just made for no time to do anything. I’m so tired. I’m hoping to get a little more written today but I’m not sure.

Well, that’s my update for now. Maybe will post some kitten pics later. I posted a few on my instagram. You can find me under @M_is_for_Mo.

Stew

I made a stew for dinner as I’ve been cutting back on eating to save money. After two weeks of this, I was so hungry I was getting angry and irritable. And my muscles were starting to twitch from lack of red meat. So I took some money and decided stew would probably provide the most servings that I’d eat more than once.

I had read somewhere about using tomato paste in stew. Also to thicken with corn starch. I used veg brought from my local farm stand and the local butcher provided me with the beef. I also used sweet potatoes as they are healthier.

I usually use onion flakes instead of real onions. So today was a treat. I also seasoned with pepper, salt, paprika, and parsley. I used my slow cooker on high for three hours.

Final product. Filter curtesy of my Instagram.

It’s been so long since I’ve made a decent stew. So good. I’m freezing some for later. I’m so happy this came out good. What is something that you like to make?

What’s on the Agenda for this week?

For the sake of getting back into a groove, here is what my week looks like this week:

Day job work:

This week I’m working Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. Doesn’t look bad, a nice short week for me. I took Thursday off to hang out with my girlie as it will be a rough day for her. And I totally forgot that I get most holidays off now. With pay!

Writing Goals:

One more blog post written.
Two pages in my Village story.
Possibly take a look at Lacey’s story again.

This weeks menu:

Roasted veggies with
- kielbasa
- chicken
- pasta?
Leftover frozen pizza
Spam sandwiches
For snacks
- chips and homemade dip
- pretzel crips
- yogurt

I do need to figure out a way to get in some light exercising, but I do a lot of cleaning so I think that counts. I’m leaning towards going to a more veggie based diet, which will be interesting because it seems my muscles twitch more when I eat less beef. I may have to make an exception there. The problem is that I’m allergic to nuts so I’m not sure how else to get protein. I’m open to ideas.

So I hope to have one more post up this week but honestly, trying to get things done is a struggle for me right now. I’ll hopefully have something new up soon!

Money may be tight but I still eat well

The other night I made fajitas. I was wanting tacos, but since I had onions, peppers, and precooked chicken strips, I decided on the fajita kit. I picked up sour cream and cheese. Cost maybe $5 total. I got two meals out of it. I got a bunch of yogurts at $.50 each, so I’ve been adding that with meals.

I’ve also been making sandwiches. Deli meat on store baked country bread. I’ve been cutting the meals in half and then eating it with a yogurt. I also have cut up slices of cucumber to eat with the sandwiches.

I’m working on making sure I have good nutritious meals that don’t cost a lot. I do shop at a store that’s considered pricy, but I use the store’s loyalty program and coupons. This store doubles coupons under a dollar. I also don’t buy a lot from the middle aisles. Fresh veg, meats, and dairy are my main buys. Then I usually will see what I have coupons for before I hit the middle aisles. Frozen helps as well.

But just because that works for me doesn’t mean that it works for everyone. It’s taken me years to reach being able to do this. I just know I have to eat better, and that’s what I’ve been trying to do.

Yummy eggy veggie sammich

I was craving bacon hard today.

It didn’t help that I made Crack Chicken in the instant pot and I had eaten half the crumbled bacon before it was done. I had an Instacart shift today with no orders, so I was waiting around and hungry, dreaming of bacon. I was given the option of ending my shift early, so I did and went to work cooking the rest of the bacon.

I had bought a loaf of multigrain country bread at the store yesterday. It was a little pricey at $2.99, but it was fresh baked so I figured it was worth the price. This is a nice dense bread. I decided to make a veggie omelette and use the bacon and bread to make a sandwich.

I took a slice of onion, a little broccoli, and two small sweet peppers and diced them into tiny pieces. Cooked them up and threw in two beaten eggs. I added a handful of shredded cheese and let it cook up.

Two slices of bread were toasted, a layer of bacon, the veggie omelette and a smear of salsa. Sliced in half. It was delicious. And cheap.

I’m all about making yummy food and not spending too much money. The two other meals on my list for the next week or so are tacos with precooked chicken in the freezer, spaghetti sauce, and sandwiches. I have yogurt for snacks. Which is good because I’m hungry ALL the time right now.

Meatballs and pasta

I got hungry and decided to cook while I was supposed to be writing. I was really just watching tv so cooking was more productive. I had initially planned to make something with my instant pot, but ended up just using the stove top. I made the above sweet meatballs and pasta with cheese sauce. I made it a little differently than normal and it came out well.

The meatballs:

I used one package of frozen mini meatballs. I put them in my pot and added a can of tomato soup. I added about a quarter of a jar of grape jelly, a tablespoon of brown sugar, and then garlic, dried onion, red pepper flakes, and curry powder to my liking. I cooked it until it started to bubble and then lowered it to keep warm while the pasta cooked.

Pasta and cheese sauce:

I cooked the pasta according to the box and then drained and rinsed it. I put it back in the pot, added a can of cheese soup, about a quarter cup of milk, and the seasoned to my liking. It came out well. I had thought that I still had some cheese to add to it, but I couldn’t find it. It must have been eaten at some point.

The meal came out good. My pasta I used was veggie pasta so it also came with a serving of veggies! I had enough for three more meals so I added that to my collection prepped meals to eat.