1-14-14

7:20am

Here's a few things we got from two vacated

apartments yesterday.  I'm sure there are a few

things I have not included.

Gas tabletop burner.

I'll be putting this back in my emergency supplies.

It has a can of gas with it.

Kitty litter, shampoos, fingernail polish, makeup,

Rogaine for women, instant coffee, towels, chocolate,

aluminum foil, bucket.

Box of crab, package of imitation crab,

2 packages bacon, package of rice balls,

7 packages pork/cabbage/onion buns, package of crawfish.

12:05pm


Today I don't feel right.
My body is starting to ache all over
and my stomach is making some loud gurgling noises.
I called my GI over a week ago regarding 
needing refills on my meds.
The nurse said she would tell the doctor and call
me back when he refills them.
Whelp I am still waiting for my medicine to be called in!!
Heck I got told by them last Wednesday that
they were sending a form out that day so I could
fill it out and send it in to try and get
a reduced rate on my prescription.
Uh how long does it take for them to mail out
something from downtown Columbus because
I'm still waiting on that also.
I get afraid of not having my medicine that it will
once again cause me to go into a flare
because of them!
Why would they risk doing this to me after
being in the hospital 2 times recently?!

At the moment I am working on 2 cakes.
One for hubby's work and one for us.
Do I really feel like making them at the moment?
No, I would rather be back in bed!
But I'm making them because hubby's
potluck Christmas party is tomorrow.

Then this evening me and hubby have to go
back over to his work and cut up scrap metal.
He has so much of it because of all the
water line breaks and freeze ups this past week.
Gotta push myself to help hubby because
it's extra money to be made that we really need.

I just took a couple of ibuprofen, something
I'm not really supposed to be taking,
but it does help the body aches when I get them.
I do not want to feel down and out again.
I want to be back to feeling somewhat normal
again and being able to do things!!
I've been feeling so good these past 4.5 weeks
til my medicine ran out.
:'O(


4:20pm


I got both my Boston Cheesecake Cakes made.
Thank goodness because I still don't feel the greatest
but I try to keep going somehow.
I would love to go lay down right about now
but have to work on making supper and get
other things done this evening.
My butt is dragging.
I don't want to feel sick.
I'm making something easy for supper,
lil smoked sausages in biscuits with mac n cheese for a side.

--

1-13-14

2:20pm

I've just been chilling today for the most part.

I did get the shower sprayed down and cleaned,

got most of the things put away that we found the other day,

and just recently got some eggs boiled for supper.

I'm making chef salad with honey ham, turkey,

boiled eggs, cheddar cheese, bacon ranch dressing

and salad.

Hubby just called long ago saying there was another

vacated apartment with some things in it

I want to go check out tonight.

Plus I need to stop by Kroger to pick up some more milk.

Need it for cereal and I have some cake-cheesecakes

to make by Wednesday which requires milk

for the cheesecake mix I have.
Does it not seem weird that hubby's work

is having their Christmas potluck/gift exchange

party three weeks after Christmas?!

Well I gotta run to the bus stop, chow.

8:10pm


Back from hubby's work and the store.
We stopped by two vacated apartments
and found a few things.
We're doing pretty good with finding food.
Gotta learn to like a little oriental food is all lol.
Got many bags of pork buns which looks like
pork covered with either a pasta or bread.
2 packages bacon, 2 packages crab meat,
1 package of crawfish, 
a box of Anthony Thomas buckeys.
Along with other things that I haven't gone through
but will tomorrow that weren't food related.
I'm tired and spent this weekend and today
getting the last go round of freebies put away
and now have more to go through.
Not complaining one bit!
This helps us out a lot!!

1-12-14

10:10am

I no sooner woke up this morning and had just made

my way to the kitchen for some caffeine

when the pager went off.

Hubby has been up since 6:30am.

Drove over to hubby's work to check out

an under ground water break that's flowing pretty good.

It's coming up in the concrete around one

of the pools.  Thankfully it's flowing out towards the 

street and into drains and not towards apartments.

Not a whole lot we can do about it at the moment

so came back home.

Now I'm making French toast for breakfast.

I used a loaf of cinnamon bread we found

and soaked slices in an egg, milk, orange juice,

cinnamon & nutmeg mixture then fried in a pan.

I served it with vanilla spice maple syrup.

Whelp I'm going to enjoy my breakfast

then work on finishing up my laundry before

the pager goes off.


1:30pm


I've been hurrying to do things around here
for fear the pager will go off.
I know how a fireman feels that's for sure.

Anyways I got a cupboard cleaned out,
a hanging pantry and cleaning area
in the basement stairwell cleaned out.
I needed to do this to make room
for things we just found.
Got lunch frying up in a skillet of
potatoes, Italian dressing and smoked sausage
with parmesan cheese and season salt.
A side of a fried egg and toast.
Something easy with everything else
I'm trying to do at the moment
since I feel like I'm running in ten different directions.
Gotta run down and change the laundry over,
fold clean laundry and
bring some hanging laundry up and put away.
I'm tired already and it's only 1:30pm.


3:00pm


The last two loads of laundry are in the
washer and dryer.
Then I still have all the towels, undies and socks
to go through, fold up and match up.

I just now got all my clothes washed and finally
hung up in my closet.  I'm talking about
all the clothes that I was given.
I went from having about 6-8 pairs of pants
to having around 40 pairs!!
Maybe more because there may still be some
getting washed or dried.
I should not need clothes the rest of my life!
This is only the pants I have.
We won't talk about Winter sweaters,
Summer clothes, coats, shoes/boots, dress up clothes,
undies and socks that I have at the moment!!

---

1-11-14

2:15pm

Been out on a few calls today to hubby's work.

Nothing too major thank goodness.

The weather has been 52 degrees,

cloudy with some sun peaking through at times,

rain sprinkles and lots of wind.

Stopped by Kroger for some weekly groceries

and spent around $30.

Found a couple of things marked down from

a salad kit, couple bags of lettuce,

beef broth, ham & bean soup, cheese brats

and mini sausages.

Stopped by the one vacant apartment we went

to the other day and picked up a few more items.

In the freezer was a package of hot dogs,

a tub of cool whip and one of those

huge reese peanut butter cups.

I also found in the cupboards-

seasoning salt, jar of spaghetti sauce,

corn syrup, corn meal, spaghetti.

I also got hubby a couple more shirts

that were still new in packages.

The only thing is that there is a company

logo patch on one of the sleeves.

I think I can take it off with a seam ripper.

We stopped by another apartment and found

a box of a couple pounds of hamburger

and 3 hamburger patties all from Omaha Steak company!

So today only with freebies I found about

4 meals worth of food.

Now I need to think up a menu for this week.

Suppers & weekend lunches-

1.  Frozen pizzas

2.  Cheese brats with macaroni & cheese

3.  Spaghetti

4.  Fried taters & Italian sausage

5.  Beef noodles & gravy

6.  Ham & bean soup

7.  Hot dogs

8.  Fried bologna, egg & cheese sandwiches
9.  Ham & bean soup
10.  Pigs in a blanket

Breakfasts

1.  Cereal

2.  French toast made with cinnamon swirl bread

3.  Bagels with cream cheese

Snacks

1.  Pringles chips

2.  Boston Cream Cheesecake Cake

(making one for us and one for hubby's work)

6:00pm

Me and hubby went on a ceiling leak about 2 hours ago.

The ceiling was bubbling from water

and needed cutout to get to the plumbing to the

tub in the upstairs apartment.

Not a fun job or mess to clean up.

The hubs was soaked!

Back home chilling til I hope tomorrow.


8:00pm


I'm too pooped to pop after doing all the laundry
and carrying it all upstairs.
There's been a lot of clean laundry that I have
left down there hanging on a bar for the longest
time due to being sick.  Well I got all that brought
upstairs and my back and legs are broke.

1-10-14

9:15am

Got the truck unloaded this morning from

the stuff we got yesterday out of the apartment.

I'm all about looking for food,

cleaning supplies and bathroom toiletries,

everything else is a bonus.

I'll get some photos later as I'm really tired

right now with about 4 hours sleep.

Wednesday when I went to work with hubby

that evening I noticed they had a bunch

of large bubble wrap in their shop from

a shipment of things they got in.

I snatched it all up and brought it home.

Wanted to show you a cheap idea of

insulating windows with bubble wrap.

Cut the bubble wrap to fit your window panes.

Mist windows with water or whatever,

I used Windex. 

Place the bubble wrap onto windows.

It will stick.

I'm going to try to get 4 windows done

in our bedrooms that don't have curtains on the windows.

Well it's 9:20am and I'm gonna go lay down for a nap.

This is the first day since Dec. 20th that I've

had the house to myself again.

Hubby is at work and both kids are at school.

Then when I get up I have all the stuff out of the

truck to start putting away somewhere,

who knows where.

You take it while it's free and stock up for the year

so I'll find somewhere to store it!

It's not like you run across freebies everyday.

2:00pm


I got all the bedroom windows bubble wrapped
for a total of 5 windows.
There's one sheet of bubble wrap that I'm
deciding where to put.
Maybe the bathroom window.
I can actually feel a difference
in the bedroom area of the house which
gets a little chilly compared to the rest of the house.
Last year I also caulked around the window panes
in the bedroom but it still needed something else.
I'm hoping this free fix fixes it.


3:15pm


Ok, here we go with most of the scores
from the vacated apartment.
Some things are not shown like packages of sponges,
box of fabric softener sheets, pocket knife,
school supplies, a large box of envelopes,
paintball gun, etc as I still have a half tote left to go through.

About $32 worth of Pepperidge Farms
bagels, bread & english muffins.

Toiletries and a couple cleaning supplies.

Toiletries, organizer drawer, stuffed animals,
gallon of antifreeze, ceramic curling iron,
hair dryer, 2 Bibles, shirt new in package, smartphone.

Cleaning supplies and air fresheners.

Food

Baker's rack.

Car stereo with MP3/CD player with remote.

Jewelry box.

Misc cords, USB car adapters & memory card reader.

Purses & pans.

Matching necklace and bracelet,
heart necklace and there was a cz ring not pictured.

4:50pm


I peeled up the whole bag of potatoes I found.
Got about a third of them boiling in a pot of water
and the other two thirds I have in the oven.
I am making scalloped potatoes with ham.
I mixed together a packet of sausage flavored
country gravy with 2.5 cups milk.
Slice potatoes and stir them into the gravy & milk mix
and season with seasoning salt.
Butter a casserole dish then pour the potato & milk mix
into it and sprinkle ham and cheddar cheese on top.
  Bake 375 degrees for about 40 minutes.

Hubby told me they are having a potluck after
Christmas dinner at work next week.
I'm thinking about making a Boston Cream Pie Cheesecake Cake.
Did that makes sense?  LOL.
Something I made up so we'll see how it turns out.

1-9-14

7:10am

Thankfully the emergency pager didn't go off

anymore last night and hubby was able to sleep

somewhat with all the stress he's been going through.  

There are almost 900 apartments where he works.

There's a kitchen and bath in each apartment

and some have half baths and washer & dryers.

About half the complex if not more

has water tanks that sit outside in sheds.

That's a lot of plumbing to deal with.

Then there has also been main water line breaks underground.

Some underneath apartments because they are all on slabs

and some in parking lots.

I couldn't imagine if he worked

at another apartment complex right around the corner where

they have a power outage to 18 buildings.

Residents have no heat and some have no place

to go and are staying in their cars for warmth.
I'm sure there are plenty of water line freeze ups
there with no heat in those apartments.

They've also had water line rupture outside causing

streets to be ice.  Hubby took me through

this complex last night and showed me a car

that was frozen in the ice.

Here is an example from a water line in a kitchen that burst.

It freezes, expands and then the pressure builds up

and finally explodes through the pipe.  

Imagine putting your garden hose nozzle

on jet spray and that's what it is like coming out

of the pipe.  About 90 psi (pounds per square inch) if not more.

Enough pressure to tear through drywall

and flood an apartment.  If this little pipe can do that

much damage now imagine what a main water line

under the streets can do!

I am keeping my son home one more day from school.

While his fever is gone and he hasn't thrown

up anymore, there is still the issue with diarrhea.

9:15am


I made up some fruit salad jello.
I used 2 small boxes of raspberry sugar-free jello.
In place of the water it called for I used
chunky applesauce, pineapple juice
and water when I didn't have enough
juice or applesauce.
I then stirred in a can of crushed pineapple.
It's in the fridge now.

The reason for making it was because I gave my
son chunky applesauce to eat for his diarrhea
and he didn't like the chunky style.
I didn't want the whole jar of applesauce
to go to waste so made this jello fruit salad
instead.  He has been wanting me to make jello :0)
As long as he likes it is what matters.
I don't have to tell him that the chunky applesauce is in there.
I think the pineapple will disguise it.


5:00pm


For supper I am making goulash.
Instead of tomatoes as originally planned
I am using a half jar of mild salsa that needed used up.
I went through the fridge today and cleaned
out things to see what I had and what needed to go.
So I have about .99 cents tied up in my supper meal.
.49 cents mac & cheese,
.50 cents half jar of Dollar Tree salsa,
deer burger was free.

6:00pm


Woo hoo, hubby just called on his way home
and told me some residents 
moved out and left an apartment full of stuff.
Guess where I'm heading tonight, LOL!
Free stuff...I'm on it!  Especially since
we don't have much money at the moment.


12:08am


Went out and got a bunch of stuff from the apartment.
Enough to sort of fill the back end of the suburban.
Got back home and ended up going back out on 
call around 9:00pm.  It took a little to get there 
considering it was snowing pretty heavy
and the roads were really slick.
After doing the emergency call hubby has been plowing
and salting.  There's an extra 4 hours overtime for
hubby today.


---

1-8-14

1:00pm

Well I got at least one kid back to school today.

Hoping the other feels well enough to go back tomorrow.

My GI doctor's nurse finally returned my call today

after calling and leaving a message Monday.

Monday, hellooo it's now Wednesday

and I called about needing a prescription refill 

because I'm about out of my pills.

She said unless I make an appointment

I can't get a refill on my prescription.

The reason she said, is that they haven't 

seen me in a year with a follow up appointment.  

I bit my tongue and wanted to say, 

well you saw me 2 x's between November & December

in the hospital.  And when I went to make a 

follow up appointment in November it took

a whole month to be seen that I ended up back in the hospital

before my follow up appointment.

Didn't you get enough information, tests, money and

everything you ever wanted out of me

from the hospital then?!

Because of course you know they charged me for

having my GI doctor come to the hospital for

his visits and colonoscopy.

And your GI doctor diagnosed me with Colitis

when I really had C. Diff. 

Then she says,

normally our next appointment would be available in March

but we now have a nurse practitioner you can

see so we can get you in next Thursday.

So I'm thinking again,

if you hadn't of hired this new nurse practitioner

I would of had to wait til March to be seen

just to get my prescriptions refilled?!

Then I ask if she might have any 

free samples of my medicine because my prescription

is so expensive and also due to the wait

of being seen before I get them refilled.

She says she doesn't have any but she could

send me paperwork to fill out to see if I can

qualify for a discount on my prescription

through the maker of my medicine.

I can fill it out and return it back to the office

when I see them and they'd fill out the rest for

me and send it to the company.

UH, I've been going to this office for 2 years or so

now and why is this just now being told to me?!

And while I am on a roll should I also add

in that I have 4 days to submit paperwork

to try and get assistance with my hospital bill

and I have yet to get anywhere with hubby's

work getting me his paycheck stubs

back to September for income verification.

Well that is all for now with my venting.

Going outside to look for a money tree

for yet another doctor bill and 

prescription that is needed.


4:30pm


Instead of spaghetti & meatballs I've decided
to do a spaghetti casserole.
I used ingredients I had on hand.

Break spaghetti into thirds and boil in a pot of water, drain.
In a skillet fry up 1 pound deer burger, drain.
Add in a can of spaghetti sauce, 3 packets splenda,
1 small container of Helluva Good Greek yogurt ranch dip
and mix together.  Stir in 2 large eggs til well blended.
Dump in spaghetti and stir all together.
Pour into large casserole dish sprayed with cooking spray.
Top with shredded cheddar cheese.
Bake 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.


6:10pm


Hubby is still not home and who knows when he is expected.
He says they still have pipe freeze ups and 
there have been floods in apartments from burst pipes.
Is it Monday yet???


11:05pm


Hubby got home earlier long enough to pull into
the drive way and leave again, literally.
I went with him and we are now just getting home.
We had a furnace only getting to 40 something
degrees in one apartment and in another
apartment a pipe burst and flooded it.
There was about 3 or so inches of water all
over the entire apartment.
The resident had to find somewhere else to stay tonight
because sub contracting carpet extractors
that the apartment complex uses are so booked full
from busted water lines all over Columbus.
So far hubby has 14.5 hours for today.
Like I said, is it Monday yet?!
Monday is when he goes off call.