My Weblog

Now, that's a cuppa

coffee.............Trying my newly purchased Yuban in my "new" old drip pot. Finally, for the first time in several days I have a cup of coffee that tastes good without the addition of a sweet flavored syrup. One problem I should have foreseen and didn't: lifting a full pot of coffee to pour into my cup really makes my wrist scream. I am just going to try to view the pain as an extra cost to pouring myself some joy in a cup.

Sometimes my plans work..........

Well, first of all, if you read my previous post, I was out $125 for an $83 grocery order from Smart & Final. Thank you, Lord. That money has been restored to my account as of today. That's the 2nd business day later, not 3-5 business days as forecast by S&F customer service. I offered to bet you dollars to donuts that S&F would screw it up and only credit me $42. You should have taken my bet. I'm still wondering who actually received my $83 delivery--I hope they needed it more than I did.

Needless to say, I am not amused at the idea of processing another delivery order through S&F--afraid of another screw up...........And, I still can't process a pick-up order through the Smith's website. So, I resorted today to an order through the Albertson's. Didn't want to do that because, in my opinion, the Albertson's website is pretty unwieldy compared to Smith's and their prices are higher. But, they are closer so I guess I saved a few pennies on gasoline.

I rarely leave the house these days, so I have a lot of pending errands. In the same strip mall as Albertson's is a Goodwill drop off and a branch of my bank. So, I knocked off a few errands all at once. I dropped off a bunch of bags of donations. Then I managed to make a bank deposit. Then I got my groceries. And finally on the way home I went just a few blocks out of my way where I normally find the cheapest gasoline and for $40 almost filled my 3/4 empty tank. The "good news" there is that hibernating at home means 3/4 of a tank of gasoline lasts a good 3 months where, when I was working, I'd have needed that much gasoline much more often. 

Day before yesterday, my Keurig died. It was a very sad occasion for me. Fortunately I did have some ground coffee in the cupboard. I pulled out my make-it-on-the stove percolator but what I made in that was darn near poisonous. Completely vile in taste. The coffee in my cupboard was Folgers and I think that is my problem. I never made a decent cup of coffee with that brand. Joe did--one of his few culinary talents. I went out in the garage and dug out a drip style coffee pot I'd retired years and years ago. I couldn't even make "good" coffee in that with the Folgers! So, today I bought some Yuban. That was one of my two go-to brands back when, so maybe I'll have better luck with that. I'll keep trying because a container of Yuban coffee and an old recycled drip pot are cheaper than the most bare bones Keurig. I do hate that I had a fresh cup of coffee with the Keurig in about 2 minutes and the recycled pot takes about 10 minutes. However, I can always find something to clean or put away in the kitchen...........

The pitfalls of online grocery shopping

For months now I've been doing pick-up orders for my groceries through Smith's. However, starting about 3 weeks ago, the Smith's website will not allow me to sign in. I have no idea. I've spoken to their customer service. I went through a procedure with them and the website allowed me back in--once! Since then, we're back to the exact same error message.

I decide just to go ahead and order through Smart & Final. My closest S & F store does not have pick-up--you have to use delivery. That costs an additional $9.99 plus a 5 % tip. This is the reason I seldom use their service. I do not need the extra expense. However, yesterday I processed an order for $105.60. ( My order last week was under budget and I decided I would use the excess this week.) They put a hold on my bank account for $125.81. In theory, that's an estimate to assure the money's there to cover the order.) Well, the bank reduces my account balance by the amount of the hold til the store tells them something different, like the ACTUAL order total. Some of what I ordered was not available so my actual order total is $82.89. 

S & F tells me it will take them 3-5 days to process any credit. They also tell me the Insta-cart employee signaled she'd delivered the order. (I wonder where.) S&F says they don't have the $125 and won't have any money til they notify the bank of the actual total. According to them, the bank only has the money "on hold". The bank tells me the opposite--S&F has the $125 and will continue to have it til they process a credit. On my bank account, there is a note that the $125 is "pending" but not processed. Nevertheless, my bank balance has been reduced by $125. As far as  am concerned, it's all gibberish which merely means that, at least temporarily, I am the loser. If I were to try to reprocess the order, it would overdraft my account and they would hit me with a $34 charge.

I don't see that I can influence this mess at this time in any way. All I can do is wait and monitor my account. I'll bet you dollars to donuts that when S&F does process a credit, it will be for $42 not for $125. Anyone want to take that bet?

Makes me glad I'm something of a prepper. There was nothing on my list I can't live without. Also, I do have some checks I could deposit to my bank account which would take care of the possibility of an overdraft. OR, I do have some cash, which I would use if I was desperate. I'm not desperate--just frustrated and angry.

 

This n That

i keep working arouns here, hoping things will improve. So far, I can show you pockets of improvement, but not, in my estimation, enough. I have no choice but to keep after it. I bought a new tool to help. It was pricey in view of my $0 budget, but certainly not something any normal person would think twice about. You know I am still battling dog hair. In spite of numerous vacuumings and scrubbings, it's still here, there and everywhere. I feel like my kitchen is especially bad with it and that drives me batty. I think the kitchen is so bad because she, the roommate, would sit in the kitchen every night from no later than 10 PM til 5 or 6 AM with the dog closed in out there as well. And, for me, I find having dog hair in the kitchen to be disgusting--I just don't want it around food. Anyway, this thing I bought looks to be about 1/2 inch deep, maybe 3 inches wide, and between 2-3 feet long. Wrapped around this solid base and tightly attached, is microfiber cloth. It also has a handle. I'm sure you could use it to clean the tops of paintings, mirrors, etc., but it's designed to ferret out dust and dog hair from under appliances. Of course, living here alone, I have no way of moving an appliance to clean under it, so I am particularly thrilled to have this thing. When it gets disgusting, you can use your vacuum attachment to clean it or even throw the cloth covering into the washer. 

I have still not been able to find the pad I use for kneeling or sitting on the floor. And, believe me, I have searched. I have, however, those ruined kitchen chair cushions. I'm gonna give them a try. Right now I have Tupperware all over my kitchen because that cupboard is totally upside down and I can't seem to find a way to put all this Tupperware back where it came from.

Also "lost" is a box with two new Berkey filters in it. If you're not familiar with Berkey, those water filters cost about $50 a box and the two filters in the box are good for one filter change. Fifty dollars is not something I want to rush and spend to buy duplicates right now!

Yesterday was grocery delivery day. I have had to abandon Smiths because, for some reason, I can't sign on to shop. I've had to switch to a different store whose website still loves me. I'm unhappy about that because the other store doesn't have free pickup. Rather, only delivery at $10 a pop. I found a coupon for free delivery last week, but this week I had to pay. When I was going to Smiths, my carrot to myself was a visit to Starbucks at about $5 a pop. No Smiths, no Starbucks, so I guess I can tell myself I'm really only out $5 and that will feel better.

So the "new" store had 85% ground beef in 2 pound chubs on sale this week. I usually avoid those "chubs" because you can't actually see what you're getting. Well, I'll tell you I opened one of the chubs last night and I was thrilled. If there was 15% fat in that meat, I couldn't see it. I wish now I'd bought a lot more of that stuff. 

I am still trying to buy a few items ahead. I've heard from several trusted sources that grain is going to be in short supply. Think essentials like flour, bread, pasta, those sorts of things. I'm pretty well stocked up with a variety of pastas, but I'm going to lay in more bread and flour this week. I'm also trying to beef up my stash of water. Right now I have enough water to sustain life only about 6 days--another reason I need to find those Berkey water filters!