Following the Drama, 424 % Increase

 About 4 pm yesterday, a couple missed their dog. Finally, they found it was in a storm drain in a pipe.  Tiger Lily is 14-yrs-old. Finally, at 11 pm the dog was freed from the 18-inch pipe. I was so stressed and shed a few tears. The news today covered the rescue and recovery. I was really afraid the dog might be so stressed physically that she would die. Another blogger was much closer to the action.

Another blogger had a comment that all the cough drops in Walmart in another city were sold out. There were no cough drops in the whole store. Well, I depend on Halls Mentholyptus to keep me well and get me well. I use them to keep sinuses clear when suffering from allergies. On Wednesday night, I told Tommy that we would not come home today until I found them and bought them. 

Publix was out of the kind I wanted but had plenty of everything else. Next, we went to CVS in the same parking lot. There, I bought two packages just to be sure I had plenty. The price has gone up and the number of drops has drastically dropped! 

Before--$0.98 Now--$3.19

Before--40 in bag Now--30 in bag

Before--2.5 cents each Now--10.6 cents each

Increase in price from Before to Now-- 424% !!!

Read that last again. It is astounding. 

Now, I wonder if the size/weight of the cough drop is less. 

Maybe the exorbitant price jump is because I bought the Halls at CVS. I have no idea. 

Maybe the problem is that I bought the bags of Halls Mentholyptus cough drops. Maybe another store would be not so expensive. 

The person who commented said she had to throw away her stash because the drops had become sticky. Sticky is not a real problem other than the fact the paper wrapper will not come off. Bummer when that happens. 

I got sick of the last five cough drops in a bag being ruined the next fall when I needed them. Sometimes it was 20 cough drops I had to toss. No, it is impossible to get the paper off. Once, I was desperate and put the sticky drop with residue of paper in my mouth and kept taking it out to pick bits of paper out of my mouth and off the drop! Early the next day, I did go out and buy more. 

Now, I take the whole unopened bag and stuff it into a quart Ball canning jar with a used canning lid and ring. The plastic lids are not air-tight or waterproof. Dropping in an oxygen absorber might work, too. No, that would dry them out too much. Two bags will fit into a quart jar. Now that there are fewer drops, three bags might fit.

Tommy worked so much today; I was worrying about wearing him out. He watered, carried in three cases of 24-pack water, repotted my yellow pansy into the bunny planter, peeled the last two carrots and the rest of the potatoes, moved all the dishes from left hand side of sink so I could wash color from my hair, put all dirty utensils on a pan for me over the dishwasher, emptied garbage twice into outdoor can, dragged the outdoor can to the road, and other stuff I cannot remember. It seemed he was up and busy all day. Some of these chores I had told him days ago I wanted him to do them, but he decided to do them all today. 

Planting the pansies was something I planned to do until I have been so ill. I do not need the air, pollen, the dust, anything to make me sick again. I told him why I needed him to do the gardening...lol. 

I sort of slept well last night and slept for almost 7 hours. I awoke in dire need of the inhaler and other meds and have overcome the desire for a nap all day. 

Wednesday was a day of deep blue skies and fluffy clouds. Thursday was very pleasant, around 80 and low humidity. I could handle many days like this. Trees are starting to shed a few leaves. Some are turning a paler shade of green, almost imperceptible. 

Thursday night, I baked two bscb, two carrots, and a puny bit of potatoes. The reason I baked only two bscb is because that is what was in the package I thawed. Tommy had zucchini with his meal. We have as leftovers--1 bscb, two tiny pieces of potato, squash, and zucchini. 

Does the Autumn air affect your breathing, asthma, or allergies? 

Have you had a hard time finding cough drops? Have you ever had cough drops get sticky? 

Thursday Not Much

 I had things to say, but I don't remember what it was. Last night, I got 7.5 hours sleep, exactly what I require to feel rested. However, I did not make up deficits from the week. At 5:45 pm, I decided an hour nap would work. I put on the marinated pork loin with carrots Tommy had scraped for me and went to bed. 

He woke me at 7 pm and I ignored him. Finally, about 9 pm, I did get up. It was really nice to have a meal ready when I awoke. It was even more nice to have a meal ready to go into the oven.

We ate pork loin, carrots, salad. He had cherries; I had apple.

At the Big Box we found a cart at the farthest point of the parking lot. Thankfully, it was full of juice so that I did not have to creep along in the blazing heat of the asphalt. It really was hot staying out that long. If I were on foot, it would have been a very warm hike. As I left the store, I was told not to take the cart out of the store. Another woman was trying to leave, too. 

The guard in uniform pointed out the sign that said for store use only. We told him that had been on the carts for years. I conceded but told him I could not walk to the car. She pointed out she found hers outside, too. I kept asking how I could get to the car. Finally, he let us both leave. Tommy had already come to the curb to pick me up.

I could walk that far, but after being on the hard cart, there was no way I could walk. Hopefully, this was a glitch. Maybe the uniform had gone to his head and he had been reading the signage on the cart. 

When I checked out, the checker started ringing up the purchases of the woman behind me. We both objected. The checker told me she had taken off one item, so I paid. When I got home, I had paid for an item I did not intend to buy and did not get the item. I know, I know. I should have checked the receipt before leaving the store! 

Speaking of mistakes, did I tell you? I was going to buy a bag of panties. I got one package home and washed and discovered I had bought an unbelievably small size. So, there is no way I might ever wear those. I will have to sell or give away! Then, I went right back two weeks later and bought the same size, different style! Thankfully, I had not opened them and still had the receipt! Tommy is the "designated returner," so he got that done. 

Now, I remember. My a2milk is now $4.99 per half-gallon from $4.49. Tommy always drinks store brand milk. His milk is now $4 instead of something like $2.39 like it was last year. Last week, it was $3-something. Today, at the grocery store, bread was $4 a loaf. We went to the bread store to buy it for $1.75. 

Do you ever buy the wrong things, get it opened and figure it out so late it is not able to be returned? Is there flooding in your area?

Recovery and Vegetable Oil

 Tuesday night, it blew and stormed something fierce. Wednesday morning, all my flowers were bedraggled. Since Tommy did not need to water, I pressed him to deadhead. I hope he did not do more, like cutting off the new blossoms that don't look like flowers yet--liveheading. 

He put Miracle Gro on everything except the succulent. Now, at 8 pm, it has been storming and blowing again. So, I hope there are blossoms tomorrow. 

I put a chicken in the oven and it is out, so Tommy had chicken, corn, peas for dinner. He opened the peas and put glad wrap over the top and stored in the refrigerator two days ago. That is gross. I never store food in cans. But, I don't eat peas, so I am not going to mention it. 

Now, I have three other packages of chickens and 2 pounds carrots and an onion for the oven. I am tired already. I took today to rest. Good thing. I slept 10 hours, soundly, and did not get up until 1:30 pm. Monday and Tuesday wore me out--dentist and cardiologist. Thursday will be a hard day, so I am not doing anything more except put the other chicken in the oven. Tommy will get the meat from the bone from the whole chicken. And, the three other packages don't need anything except storing after cooking. Most of it will go in the freezer in serving portions. 

We sometimes make a pickup at a business. One day, this new guy was so rude. He was new and not doing the job well. I suppose he finally caught on as he has been so cheerful and nice, very accommodating, going beyond the job expected. He is all smiles and cheerfulness. I am glad he is catching on and glad he is not so unhappy as he was before, but not cheerful for our sake alone. He seems happier. 

Thursday, we have help coming to put shelf paper in the cabinets. If they have time, I will have one get a turkey from the freezer. Maybe one will have time to cut the stems growing around the tree we had trimmed. Tommy killed a huge swath of St. Augustine grass. He said that is always what happens with Roundup. I told him that the grass needed washing to get the poison off. He had never heard that. I have also put plastic or newspaper down to catch the Roundup, sometimes plastic, sometimes cardboard boxes flattened. He can make a mess or cause problems! 

If I had told him to hose off the grass, he would have yelled and said I did not have to tell him everything, that he knows somethings. No, not nearly enough. 

I got three half-gallons milk for $10 and found Cheerios bogo, so got those, too. Full price, the milk would have been $14.97 for three half-gallons! Of course, I bought bananas.  Zucchini and squash were pretty and cheap at The Pig, so got those while I bought two gallons of vinegar for $2.24 each, a good price right now. Vinegar, zucchini, and squash are all much more expensive at Publix. I need to pick up 8 more gallons of vinegar at The Pig before they disappear or the price goes up. A $1 coupon on the two boxes of bogo Cheerios helped even more. 

My recovery is not complete from a stressful dentist and cardiology visit and Thursday will be a hard day, too. At least, ten hours of sleep will help me feel a bit better or not so wrung out and Thursday will not be so hard. 

I bought eggs for almost $3/dozen. I checked to see if any were broken, but did not lift them up. The next time I scrambled eggs, two were broken on the bottom and leaking the white. So, ten eggs cost me 30 cents each. Next time, I will lift each egg like I usually do. As it is, I don't know if we broke them or they were broken when I bought the eggs. It has been years since I came home with broken eggs!

I will not use Canola or Soybean Oil. But, a very few times I do need a vegetable oil. What oil do you think is best for us or the least harmful? I am buying Corn Oil with trepidation. I don't want to be caught without oil for the very few times and in the small amounts I use it. 

Once, I found vegetable oil for a very cheap price and a decent date. I bought 6 bottles and put them in the refrigerator to keep the date from catching up with me and it all going rancid. My kitchen was very hot in the summer. A woman who helped me said to me in a tone that pitied the old lady--I should just store it on a shelf so I would have more room in the refrigerator, that it did not have to be refrigerated. He tone was what made me angry! 

When I told her the price I paid and that the expiration date would come around before I used the oil and the kitchen was hot, she was puzzled and then it dawned on her. I used the oil beyond the expiration or "use-by" date and it never went rancid. Some days, I do know what I am doing! lol

I have all the olive oil I can use and only buy it bogo. What vegetable oil do you use? What would you not use? Do you ever have anyone give you useless advice while posing as the expert who knows better than you because you are old? You know that condescending tone?

It is almost 10 pm and Tommy is in the kitchen taking the meat off the chicken. I will get the second pan of chickens, carrots, and onions out at 10  pm. Cooking late was better than cooking this afternoon. We both had dinner, so not eating this late. He never peeled potatoes, so they did not get cooked. He was not troubled, but he loves potatoes. 

We bagged up all the skin, fat, bones, and juice from the chicken. My friend will feed what she wants to her dog or put it over the dogfood. Nothing was wasted! I left a chicken in the crockpot so long one time that the bones were so soft we were accidentally eating them. 

Tonight, I put only garlic powder on the chicken pieces to cook it. I have other tasty spices, but they have too much sodium. From now on, I will use mostly fresh garlic and garlic powder and less of the sodium laden stuff. Tommy won't care, because it will be tasty. He uses too much sodium and drinks too many Pepsis, but I cannot control that as he is in denial. But, I don't need sodium, and I control the tastiness of our food.

Oh, the carrots were so tasty and the onion. My mother seasoned with mostly salt and pepper. Everything she cooked was delicious. She did use celery and bell pepper for seasoning, too, as in a roast, soup, or spaghetti. She did use other spices in spaghetti. We did use garlic, but we kids hated it. Daddy was not subtle in using it in food.  

He eats so much healthier without knowing it...lol. 

Okay, it is time to freeze baked chicken for other meals. Have the storms been loud and wet where you live? If so, have they beat down produce or flowers? What have you cooked in a big batch to eat now and freeze for later? What did you have for dinner tonight? 

All the Nothing I Did Today

 Today, Tuesday,I was going to arise early and go to Piggly Wiggly and use the coupon for $5 off when you spend $25. But, I rethought that after I went to bed. Okay, this may be why I cannot go to sleep--thinking. 

I can get the six-pack of Minute Maid jars of oj for $3.40 elsewhere--just found this source. But, they are $3.46+10% at the Pig. So, that was on my list. I went through other things I was going to purchase and thought better of my shopping trip. 

When I awoke at 9:30 or a bit later, I informed Tommy of the change in plans. My med for thyroid needs to be taken an hour before I eat, but by 10:30, not only was I hungry, I was tired. So, I went back to bed and slept soundly. I rarely nap in the morning, so this was strange. However, sleep has been skimpy for the past few days. 

I awoke at 2 pm to loud male voices. I peeped into the living room, partially hiding behind the door facing. "What's happening?" I was sort of whispering and Tommy quickly explained someone had come to fix his home phone line and was checking it. It turned out the problem was at the pole and not in the house. Tommy insists on the home phone line, and I agree with him. Thankfully, this fix was free to him.

He needed to pick up meds from a drive thru at his pharmacy. I needed to pick up one at Walgreen's. So, off we went. I needed to get saline solution. But, the small bottle was $11.99 for WG brand. . NO WAY!

So, I went into Publix and searched and finally found the Publix brand, same size bottle for $2.19. I cannot understand how WG can justify that exorbitant price for sterile water and salt in a plastic bottle. If the price had been $4, I probably would have figured the time and cost to get out of WG parking lot and go right across the street to Publix. 

While I was in Publix, I spied a bottle of pickled Vidalia onions as a woman was purchasing it. We talked. . Wow! The woman said there was no vinegar taste and her husband could eat it with a spoon. I got a jar. If it is too vinegary for me, I can throw some in jarred spaghetti sauce or stick it in a pan with burgers. At least vinegar is not the first ingredient after the onions.

Buying onions reminded me (why?) I needed tartar sauce for frozen bag of fish I uncovered in the big freezer. Now, I know what we are having for dinner. I will make slaw and open a can of corn. Since I eat little fish except home caught and fried, I did not know what besides slaw to make. I am not making hush puppies. Okay, maybe I will. 

I love an easy dinner. 

Tomorrow, I have scheduled an appointment to have a dishwasher installed, delivered from Cullman. Then, we have to get to Cullman for a dentist appointment for me. I need my own dentist. 

Have you ever had pickled Vidalia onions or pickled onions of any sort? Have you found exorbitant prices at some drug stores for things that should be very cheap?