Tuesday, May 26, 2015

What's Up?

For the second time in two weeks Buddy is back to wearing the cone of shame so he won't lick his new incisions.  I didn't want to post another embarrassing photo of him so you get the cartoon instead.  He got "fixed", tattooed and microchipped yesterday.  Fortunately due to lots of tug play in the last two weeks we managed to get all his offending baby teeth (two were not coming out as new ones were coming in) out and no teeth had to be removed at the same time.  He is an extremely high energy dog.  The vet says he cannot jump for 10 days nor have a bath.  That will be extremely difficult - so we have had to cordon him off to the kitchen where he can't jump on the couch.  We can go on walks but no rough house playing.  I think hubby is taking that harder than Buddy.  Buddy came through the surgery quite easily and personality-wise is completely normal today - except he is not happy about the cone of shame and being locked up in the kitchen jail.

In other news I scored six meals worth of ground beef yesterday at a huge discount, what amounts to less than $3 a meal.  I base all of our dinners on the concept that they need to cost approximately $7 or less for all ingredients.  Some cost more, some cost less, it all evens out in the end.  Groceries are extremely expensive in Canada so this was a huge deal as I haven't had a decent sale on ground beef in months.  I am only buying a minimum amount of groceries until we go on holidays in 2.5 weeks as don't want things to get wasted.  Any produce left at that time will be carted off to Mom's house.

We talked to my oldest Stepson the other night who just finished basic training in the Canadian Army.  He is now being trained on machine guns and grenades.  Just what you want for your kids.  Oh well, he chose this path but some of it is difficult for us to take.  He likely won't be deployed anywhere until next year as still has lots of training for his chosen division.

Today I have to get things organized for our garage sale this weekend.  Whatever we make goes straight into the travel fund.  I like a nice short garage sale, 8 am to noon and that is the hours Mom's condo association have chosen for the sale.  I don't expect to make a lot but this way we keep our clutter to a minimum and part with things that are no longer useful to us.  Right now the forecast is for sun.  Anything but rain would be great - I don't expect any as we haven't had any in many days and are going into water restrictions in our town due to low snow amounts this winter.  I can't believe I haven't been to a single garage sale this year.  At least Mom and I can take turns at the sale and check out the other unit's shopping opportunities.

Have you been yard-saling lately?  Found anything good?

19 comments:

  1. Sorry about your dog, that's no fun! We are also socking away money for our travel fund. this is our plan, once a month, we grocery shop very minimally, The kids have to "fend for themselves" sandwiches for dinner, we always have a lot of food in the house, so they can grab something out of the freezer, can of soup...whatever. One week a month, no extra snackies or treats, just bare minimum, Normally our weekly grocery bill is about $250-$280 (I know YIKES) but once a month, I am able to bring it down to $130-$150. So we are saving over $100 bucks a month AND I don't have to cook...bonus!

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    1. The kids probably love that - great plan. Hubby is a great cook but has very little time for it so I tend to cook 90% of the time. I love it when he goes away and I exist on anything that takes less than 5 minutes to prepare lol. Nice to have a break from cooking. I like your plan!

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  2. Before you know it Buddy will be all healed up and ready to play again. Zoey has never had to have the cone, thank goodness, but there's always a first time I suppose.
    We eat ground turkey and ground chicken more than we eat ground beef or any beef for that matter. It's so darn expensive.
    Good luck with your garage sale!

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    1. Buddy definitely is trying to lick his incision so we had to use the cone again. Fortunately we have one and we will keep it for future use. I think he is done growing so the size is perfect. I can't get ground turkey or chicken at a decent price. I am able to buy skinless boneless chicken breasts on a regular basis relatively cheaply though plus legs and thighs. We eat chicken more than anything else.

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  3. While Buddy is wearing the cone of shame, compensate by giving him lots of stuff to chew on. You would be amazed at how that can help burn energy. Also, if you are inclined to speed along healing, homeopathic arnica has always served us well. Before Teddy, our Border Collie was "The Scratch and Dent Doggy" and got stitched up a lot. Arnica really speeds healing along.

    It's funny that I was making dinner tonight with marked down pork and aiming to get it done within six to seven dollars!

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    1. We have lots of chewies but he chewed right through his harness that was on him (so we could take him to do his business without him hurting himself in the yard with the cone) so have to go buy another today. Bad ass puppy!

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  4. We use much the same rule with our meals. I try to keep them at $5 a meal for the two of us. Most of the time it works out. Ground beef is on sale here for $3.49/lb which is up from last year at this time when I was able to buy some at $2.99/lb. We will buy some tomorrow but I will still keep my eyes open for a better deal.

    Good luck with your garage sale this weekend. Our daughter is also having one this weekend.

    Hope Buddy heals fast!

    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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    1. I can actually buy decent steaks cheaper than I can buy ground beef usually as we have a high end grocer that always has pink stickers with 30-50% off. I make sure to go there midweek to get the best deals and pick off their loss leaders.

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  5. Poor Buddy! Maybe the cartoon will make him laugh. Did he get a mermaid tattoo, an anchor... a scorpion? I hope he didn't get a tramp stamp!

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    1. Definitely a tramp stamp lol :) You kill me.

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  6. Poor doggie. I feel so sad when I see them in those cones or, as us history-loving Brits call them , Elizabethan ruffs!
    No meat in this vegetarian house (unless it's cat food). Veg is cheap and curries are our standard fare. Three cauliflowers for £1 last week - that's aloo gobi, jalfrezi and veg madras! xxx

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    1. We eat a lot less meat than we used to. I actually had to pay $5 for a head of cauliflower the other day - ridiculous! 3 for £1 was a great deal. I will soon have cheap veggies again though as the farm market I go to opens up in a few weeks for the summer. They grow everything right there and we get great produce cheaper than growing it ourselves.

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  7. Our fruit and veg is so expensive right now it's ridiculous! Can't wait til things are in season. Grenades? Oh my!!

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    1. I know - I just bought relatively cheap corn for .75 per husk yesterday. In summer it goes down to .33 cents each. At least we are eating fruits and veggies though.

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  8. So sorry for Buddy. Hoping the cone, non-jumping days pass quickly so your husband can be happy again!

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    1. He is almost there, no cone during the day and he can run around. Hubby can play jumping games with him again in a couple days - fortunately he is healing up nicely!

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  9. Ahhh the poor cone of shame.
    We are just kicking in to high gear with the garage sales. I think I'm just so happy that its nice enough around here to get out. It was a bad and long winter.

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  10. I planted my garden late but it's coming in early. Way early with all the warm sunny weather as long as I keep things well watered. Good part about that is we don't need to buy as many fresh veggies. We've been up at the cabin most of the time this last month, so I am quickly trying to get caught up on the lives of my blogging friends. Enjoy your Mexico trip. - Margy

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  11. Yes, it's very hard to contain a lively pet. It will be quite a long ten days I imagine! Good for you, though, to get all these important things taken care of early.

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