My No Spend January – Friday, January 10

Day 3 – My No Spend January

It’s Friday, January 3, and I made it to town to pick up all my groceries and did not order from a window!! However, I got to town and realized I had not eaten breakfast, so I was very, very hungry.

I thought…“who would know?” The answer is me. Ouch. I can’t lie to myself.

I went to Walmart, Sams Club and Aldi’s. When I went to Aldi’s I broke open the apple bag after checking out and there was no more perfect sight than this.

So I had an apple and it kept me from breaking the rule of eating out. It was a little difficult. I drove by Hardees and thought how yummy a gravy biscuit and Coke would be. I drove by Pal’s and thought about a jelly biscuit and a peach tea. I drove by McDonald’s and thought about a sausage patty and scrambled eggs. Those three all all my go-to breakfasts. The learning here is to eat before I head out because being hungry really lightens my resolve. But I did persevere and I feel good about that tonight.

I’m also realizing how quickly I’ve been going to Amazon to order things. I found a hole in one of my socks, and my very first thought was to order a few new socks from Amazon. But, really. I don’t need new socks. I have plenty of other socks.

Second, I have cabbage plants out and they are very healthy. Unfortunately, I doubt they’ll make it though this cold spell, but I want to try. First thought — I went to Amazon and started pricing frost row cover cloth. Again, I stopped and thought — “do I really need this?” The answer is no. I’ve got an old sheet and a plastic baby pool over the cabbage plants. That will work fine for the next two weeks.

I can do better. I don’t want to be wasteful.

Today was a bit of a wasted day. The only home organization project I did was to straighten a basket. Lame, I know but at least I did something.

I’m going to do my Bible devotion in a minute. Check that off the list.

And, for today, I’ve met the goals set during January No Spend. Check that off the list.

I don’t think I’ll be leaving the house until Tuesday with the bad weather. I’ll catch up on organization projects during those days.

Stay warm!! Don’t spend!

Day 2 on My No Spend January

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Today was another successful day of not ordering from Amazon or Etsy or Belk or wherever. I did order pet food through Chewy but that’s allowed. Here’s what I’m doing if you just arrived.

Today was easier than yesterday without a Coke, too. The sugar withdrawal is real.

A few people I know are doing the same thing — or something similar. If that’s you, please comment and let us know how you’re doing.

One friend is doing a Pantry Challenge of sorts where she eats from her freezer and canned goods. She’s further along than me. I wish I could do that but my pantry is not that well stocked. Yet. Next year, maybe. However, what is shocking is the number of empty jars that leave my dishwasher every few days. I wonder if I’ll have enough canned stuff to last the winter?

I like having shelf stable food on hand, but I don’t want to have food that we don’t use or eat or even like. I have been guilty of that in prior years. In 2023, I learned to can chicken and found a spaghetti sauce recipe Mike and I really like. They were my success stories that year. In 2024, it’s been baked beans (which I need to can again soon), vegetable soup, cucumber relish and beef stew. Having these–as well as jellies tomatoes, etc.– on my pantry shelves gives me a sense of security and accomplishment.

Here’s the baked beans. They turned out nice. I took the rings off after the picture.

Here’s the vegetable soup. It’s pretty, too. Listen to her brag on her canned goods. LOL.

And the most recent. Having a meal in a jar is so convenient. This beef stew is a win.

My green beans this year were a failure as apparently, I put too much salt in them. Imagine that — I wasn’t paying attention. My canned tomatoes were good but they are always good. It’s hard to mess up canned tomatoes.

So as day 2 winds down, I feel pretty good about things. In addition to just general tidying, I cleaned one area good (the refrigerator). I’m getting ready to do my Bible devotional before I go to sleep and I didn’t spend any money on crap.

We are getting ready for the cold weather that is supposed to arrive and stay for the upcoming two weeks. We transitioned to wood heat today for the apartment/airbnb and the house. We have a woodboiler, and we only use it when it’s really cold. If everything works properly, we will stay warm, have hot water that’s free, and we won’t be worrying about our electric bill. It’s just work–no one likes going outside at night and putting wood in when it’s 10 degrees. But it’s worth it. (It’s easier for me to say that than Mike as it’s ultimately him that does the work — although I help.)

Most city people think it’s an outhouse. I kid you not.

The woodboiler requires that we have separate thermostats from the heat pump so today I replaced all of the batteries. Then, I changed out all of the vent filters. As we plan for the cold, we have plenty of propane for the inevitable power outage. I placed a large grocery order for pickup tomorrow so that unless we want to, we won’t have to go anywhere next week. I’ve got games, puzzles and enough house projects to keep Mike and me busy all next week.

I think we’re just about set.

I used to be embarrassed about my need to be plan and be prepared. And then there was Covid. And I had 100 rolls of toilet paper and everyone wanted to be my friend. I stand redeemed.

No Spend January 2025 For Me!

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As I finish out Day 1 of my No Spend January that’s detailed below, I’ll have to say not ordering on Amazon is the most challenging. Today, at least twice, I’ve considered breaking my own rule! On Day 1!! What a slacker. I didn’t, however. When we have extreme cold, we heat with wood using our wood boiler. We are currently bringing it “on line” right now and I realized Mike doesn’t have a good pair of work gloves, and he needs a new pair of gloves for this. I started to order a pair on Amazon. It would be oh so easy. However, he can go to Lowe’s or Rural King and get the gloves himself. If I get started breaking my own rules, I’ll continue. Besides, he can get exactly what he wants.

I have some goals for January — I’m going to walk on the trail 3 times per week, do a daily Bible devotion, and I’m going to systematically de-crapify my house. However, the one that I’ve thought most about is my No Spend January. It started today.

I did this once before but I would give myself about a C+ on my results. This year, I made rules that are more flexible. I’ve also got more buy in from Mike. Mike is not participating in the No Spend, but he cannot break the rules and buy me something that is on my list as a NO!

Here’s my list:

Not Allowed:

Don’t buy anything from a window or convenience store (no fast food). There is one exception. After church on Sunday, I can get a Pal’s tea and hotdog. One per week.
No soft drinks or candy
No clothing or footwear purchases (admission here–I ordered a pair of boots yesterday. They were on sale and I’ll save them for Fall 2025. They are excluded because while they’ll arrive in January 2025, they were purchased and shipped in 2024.)
No home decor purchases
No Amazon purchases (extremely difficult)
No quilt fabric purchases (very difficult)
No skincare purchases (very difficult although I am pretty stocked up)
No trips to the movies
No Audible book purchases
No streaming videos for additional cost or new subscriptions from what we currently have
No home cleaning/home organization purchases
No hair appointment in January

Allowed

Normal groceries and pet food (but no Azure Standard, etc.)
Medical for pets and Mike and me if needed
RX’s if needed
One meal out per week for the two of us in a sit-down restaurant
Car wash as needed
Any emergency supplies we may need for cold weather etc.

It’s important to note that Mike is not a participant. If you see him out buying from Pal’s or getting his haircut or stopping to get a snack, that’s on him. It’s my No Spend. I think he’ll support me and go along with most of it, but he’ll do what he wants to do. I have no control over this man, so why in the world would I think I could influence his spending?

In preparation, I went through my credit card statements and looked to see what subscriptions I have. I found two for streaming networks that I haven’t watched in months. I paused my Audible account and I may close it out as I can use the Washington County Library’s Libby ap. It’s paused until April. I found that there was a car wash subscription that I thought was closed out because I’d verbally told the carwash but the account failed to close — got a credit back on that one.

My January is about staying home, staying healthy, using what I have and enjoying it.

We Saw The Bob Dylan Movie “A Complete Unknown”

My First Azure Standard Experience

Since I have had a strong interest in food preservation for the past few years, I’ve watched many You Tube videos on home canning and freeze drying. Concurrent with those shows, Azure Standard came up frequently. Azure Standard offers natural and non-GMO groceries and other products in bulk. What is also unique is their delivery method. Customers may have orders delivered to their door, however, it’s very expensive. What is affordable and more common is the Azure drop experience.

You can opt to use their drop location which is manned and organized by an Azure coordinator. My Azure coordinator, Gloria, is located in Kingsport, but the drop location is convenient to all of the Tri-Cities by being in Blountville near the Tri-Cities Airport. It was actually in the parking lot of Second Harvest Food Bank (the former Sam’s Club building).

I was emailed a date by Azure of the drop but I was advised to stay in close contact with my coordinator and my email and text as the delivery time could change. It did change so this was useful information. I believe it was originally scheduled for a Friday and ended up being on Wednesday.

Mike went with me to the drop as I had no idea what to expect. At that time, I didn’t even know where 500 Jericho Road was — only later did I realize it was the old Sam’s Club location. We arrived at 4:30 pm with the drop at 5:00 pm. The lot only had about five cars and a tractor and trailer on it. No one was out of their vehicle, so realizing we were early, we went to a nearby restaurant (Wendy’s) to use the restroom.

When we came back about 15 minutes later, activity had picked up. A lot! There were about 75 people there. Here’s what to expect if you order from Azure and use a drop.

Our names were on 3 x 5 cards on the ground.

I found mine quickly.

Everyone was in a line — but they were not lined up to get their packages. They line up to help unload the truck. Otherwise, this would not work.

So. you get in a line, you get packages (if they are too heavy, they’ll give you smaller ones), and you go to the orderer’s name on the pavement and stack the packages there. Then, you get back in line and do it all over again until the truck is unloaded. It takes about 20-30 minutes. There was a lot of stuff on that tractor and trailer.

The coordinator said to bring a tarp if it rained. Now I know why. Rain would be a bit of a disaster.

My order was small. I ordered three bags of different types of organic pasta. I ordered elbow macaroni, penne pasta and spaghetti — ten pounds of each. Most of the orders were quite large.

Here’s some more…

Now, Mike is still puzzling over why we did this.

When we got home, I put some of the pasta in jars which I then removed the oxygen from. I put quite a few pounds in reusable Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. While they’ll keep for years, these will be used up during the next year.

So my cousin asked if it was worth it. In my case, it was a break even. I’d priced organic pasta and it was the same price or in some cases, a little less. There are many other items where the savings are quite dramatic. If I needed 25 pound bags of flour, I’d really save. For large families, Azure Standard appears to be very useful and very affordable. Interesting fact–I noticed that female names were on the pavement, but males were picking up the orders.

Other reasons people buy from Azure is because the company has a strong commitment to NON-GMO and organic foods. Also, if you are concerned about packaging waste and the environment, bulk ordering might make sense for you. For me, I like having a “grocery store” of sorts in my pantry so that if there’s an emergency and the grocery store doesn’t have a lot of stock, it doesn’t affect me adversely. My pasta is on the pantry shelf and will be used and replaced at some point.

I have an Azure catalog and I will order again from them again. It probably won’t be in the winter months because I can see where this could be problematic.

So that was my Azure Standard experience!

Mendota Community Cemetery – Part I

I recently shared a post of the quilt that is being raffled to support the operational maintenance of the Mendota Community Cemetery.

Someone asked a few questions about this community cemetery which I’ll go into in more detail a bit later, but I wanted to share a few details in this post. There’s probably a lot more details that I’m unaware of.

It’s my understanding that the land for the cemetery was donated by the Hamilton Family sometime in the 1800’s. This marker below is located in the Hamilton’s family plot in the cemetery. Other Hamilton family members tombstones date back further but were a little difficult to see in photographs so I posted this one. This is the same Hamilton family that is referenced in the name Hamilton Institute which later became Hamilton High School and Hamilton Elementary School. Apparently, they cared about our community very much.

The Mendota Community Cemetery has never charged for a community member in need. A great deal of history of our community is found in this cemetery. There are several cemeteries in Mendota, but this is the largest. However, all of these cemeteries share our community’s history; and if we value that, we should attempt to treat them with respect.

It is the resting place of a few who were Confederate Soldiers.

It is also the resting place of the famous outlaw turned preacher, Texas Jack Vermillion. Legend says he rode with Jessee James. Vickie Nelson did an excellent job of summarizing everything she could find about Texas Jack and presenting it at the Mendota Cemetery Annual Meeting and Homecoming in 2023.

The oldest tombstones are in the back of the cemetery. They stand like sentinels of history. Someone vandalized some of the old markers a few years back. We had to pay to get them straightened.

This marker has a lamb on it. I could not read the etching. My thought is that it is a marker for a child, but the lamb might be a depiction of one of Christ’s lambs waiting for his return. A bit of sweetness from a community with a strong faith.

Some members of the Stickley family rest here. For those new to Mendota, this was once a common Mendota name. There was an old two-story white house with a wide front porch on the property where the Mendota Lodge now sits. It was owned by Stickley’s. I’m sure they were related.

Likewise, across from the Mendota Baptist Church, the Stickley Hotel welcomed guests coming in on the train arriving at the Mendota Depot. Mendota was a thriving community in the early 1900’s. Will it thrive again?

And here lies one of my favorites from Mendota’s Past. Mrs. Faye Brooks had a gift shop located in a brick building where The Store@Mendota’s garden now resides. Silk stockings from her shop are located in the Mendota History Room in the Community Center. On Halloween, she made cupcakes for her Trick ‘r Treaters. We loved her. Cupcakes were a real treat. She lived in the house that sits directly to the right of the old brick Reynolds building (beside the Mendota Medical Clinic).

When Hamilton Elementary closed, we all grieved. It was an injustice that can never be undone. No elementary age child should have to ride a bus as far as our Mendota children were forced to do. They still are forced to do so. Politics and selfishness resulted in this wrong — but it happened. It’s why so many of our children go to Scott County’s schools or are homeschooled. (Scott County’s Hilton’s Elementary is much closer than Washington County’s elementary school — plus it’s ranked 40th in elementary schools in the entire state.) Can you tell this still makes me angry?

The last principal of Hamilton Elementary was beloved. His name was Richard Gardner. There is still a Richard Gardner Scholarship which commemorates Mr. Gardner. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner’s resting place is the Mendota Community Cemetery.

A friend of mine walks her dog on the loop of the Mendota Cemetery. She remarked that there was a “woman named Pink who lived in Mendota” buried there. I knew immediately who she was talking about. It was not a woman! Pink Pless was a man who lived in a tiny house across from what is now the Mendota Waste Disposal Station. I believe he could see out of only one eye, and I also think he kept roosters for cock fighting. You have to have lived here long ago and be pretty old to remember Pink Pless but it was fun revisiting him in my mind. There is no remnant of Pink where his house once stood. This marker, however, notes his presence in our past.

I want to share more about the Mendota Cemetery and the quilt raffle and why we have to fundraise.

At one time, we did not have to fundraise. Gas was cheap. Labor was cheap. CD rates were high. That’s all reversed. We raffled Mendota afghans for many years. We did a cook book. We did Bingo for a number of years. We had a concert which we all loved with Dale Jett & Hello Stranger. Then…we started doing quilts. It has been a small group of women making the quilts or sometimes a quilt has been donated that was raffled. I’ll share pictures of some of these quilts in another post. For the last two years, I donated the quilt. I don’t think I’ll do this again in the short-term, but I’ve enjoyed doing this the past two years.

I think the question recently asked regarded my accountability with raffle ticket sales. It’s a fair question, as we typically collect a lot of money. Anywhere between $1800-$2500 in ticket sales make a huge difference in maintaining the cemetery. This typically has come from efforts from Patsy Carrier, Dottie Dye, The Store@Mendota and my own efforts to sell tickets, so we are handling a lot money. Sometimes people Venmo me and they definitely have to know me to feel comfortable with that. They are not only trusting me with their money — I’m writing out the tickets for them! Other times, they wish to write a check to the Mendota Cemetery Association, and I mail them tickets to be completed and they return the tickets and the check to me. I pay for the postage out of my pocket. My parents are buried in the Mendota Cemetery, and I have an interest in its future.

However, as in any raffle or fundraiser such as this, there is an element of trust from those making the donations to buy the raffle tickets. I can’t make that go away.

The Mendota Community Cemetery is an LLC and has a Board. While at one time I was a Trustee, I am not on the Board at this time. These two quilts I have donated have had a cost to me of about $400 each. The fabric runs a little over $100 and the machine quilting and binding is done by a master quilter (obviously not me) for somewhere in the $230-$250 range. Full disclosure, I have also won one quilt — it was an early one and our sales were about $750 that year and I bought 250 tickets. Even though I make the quilt, I also buy 100 tickets each year. Patsy Carrier has won twice. Patsy buys a lot of tickets. Diane Salyer won once–she won my favorite quilt which was red and white.

Sometimes a person wins that we have no idea how they got a ticket. Margie Dean sold one ticket to a relative or friend in Kentucky one year, and that person won.

In 2024, we haven’t been actively selling tickets in the manner that we usually have. We need to sell these tickets. Last year’s quilt went to maintenance of the cemetery’s driveway. It’s why the driveway is nice and the hearse and funeral van can more easily make the steep trek up the hill. It’s why Carson can get his backhoe up there fairly efficiently to dig a grave. I’m hoping that our ticket sales pick up. You don’t necessarily need to know me or even like me, but if you have an interest in helping preserve a part of Mendota’s history, you’ll buy a quilt ticket. Checks are actually welcome and preferred and you’ll see the Mendota Cemetery endorsement on the back. Likewise, stop in the store and buy a ticket or message me, and I’ll drop some tickets off for you to fill out.

It’s about a community’s cemetery and its past — not a quilt. The quilt is just a means to garner attention and to get donations from people who otherwise would not donate. You can make your donation and not buy a quilt ticket. Most people buy the tickets as it’s also fun to have a chance to win a pretty quilt.

Thank you. Part II and more details on the Mendota Cemetery to come.

How Do You Do Things?

I watch people work, and I realize how differently we all approach tasks. Most of the time, we all have the same outcome — task completed! However, we each do things differently. I do better when I’m doing multiple things.

For instance, I came home from church on Sunday and milk was spilled in the refrigerator. At first I was slightly annoyed, and then I realized I needed to clean the fridge anyway, so why be hateful about it?

The cleaning began. First I took everything out. I was also unloading a few groceries.

There were “science projects” inside the fridge — moldy food. Yuck.

As I pulled out the potatoes, I thought “why not make some potato salad?”

Which required some chopping..

So while I had the celery out…I thought I’d rinse it in vinegar and seal it so that it’ll keep longer. (If you have not got a Mason jar sealer yet, you need one. Trust me.)

Do you see a pattern here? I’m not even thinking about wiping down the refrigerator at this point. Also, notice the groceries never got put away.

And then…the potato salad. I made it.

It was yummy! So…I sat down and ate some. Still no movement on actually cleaning the refrigerator.

But….then…I got moving.

Cold cut drawer. Check.

Removed shelves, wiped, disposed, cleaned and then put things back in. Check.

All clean. Everything put away nicely. I see two prepared dinners in there. There is a frozen casserole on the right with the red lid that is thawing for tonight, and beef kabobs on the left for dinner on Monday. (We have frozen casseroles on Sunday night because I hate cooking on Sunday. I actually hate cooking every day, but on Sunday, it’s particularly offensive. )

And…tidied the kitchen. Everything came together at the end.

Barn Swallows Made Me Think

For the past two weeks, I’ve had a mother bird with babies on the back porch. This is the third year a bird has built a nest in this spot. Is it the same bird? Maybe, I don’t know.

I didn’t know they were barn swallows until I posted this picture last week. Someone who knows more than me told me what they were.

In that picture in that tiny nest, there are four baby birds that are absolutely huge. They are almost as large as their mother who loyally comes to feed them. I keep judging her….”your children will never fledge and be productive if you keep doing all the work for them!” She doesn’t listen.

Then…on Thursday, I went out and watered my hanging plants on the porch. While the birds were used to my doing so daily, apparently I startled one enough to shift a tiny bit and it tumbled out of the nest, caught itself by fluttering its wings, and it flew. It flew away. In the next 60 seconds, the other three did the same. They finally fledged.

I didn’t want to destroy the nest until I was sure they were through using it. So, I left it up until the following morning. Then, bright and early at 7:30 am, I cleaned the porch. The birds had made a very nasty mess. You can imagine.

It was so nice to have it clean. I went in the house and sat down for breakfast, and thought about my former houseguests, the barn swallows. I learned that they are very beneficial. They eat insects. I started feeling very bad for all the things I’d been thinking about them. Like…why didn’t I left the snake that almost got them…just get them? I had that thought many times.

Even though I was disliking the baby birds when I saw the snake getting ready to climb the post, I just could not watch this happen. This snake was getting very comfortable with us. When we were out in the garden, we’d watch it climb the fence looking for birds in bushes. But..on the back porch…this was too close to home! So, on that day when the snake lurked around the baby birds, I went in and read what would be a deterrent for a snake, and I came out and threw vinegar on the snake. I have not seen it since. I hate this as this is a beneficial snake.

But the porch is now clean. I want to show you something I’m very proud of. See this little table below? My grandfather that I never met made this table. Peter Livingston Barker.

It has the outline of a biscuit cutter so it was made for someone’s kitchen. Probably my grandmother’s kitchen. Martha Kaylor Barker. I never met him, nor did I meet her. You can read a little about him here.

So…the table is probably about 100 years old.

My sister had this table, and she gave it to me. I am so grateful. I am going to move it in the house, but for at least a few weeks, I’m going to enjoy it out here. I put a burlap sack on it for protection. When it moves inside, I’ll work on it a little bit, but I like the character that time and circumstances have given this table.

We had guests this weekend…family. I was happy the little table was at the door to greet them.

While admittedly, I did clean the house…at one time I would have worried myself sick on what to cook, etc. I am not a great cook. It’s so nice to be a little older and not fret over useless stuff. No one cares! I sat the table with what I had. We ate what we would have eaten that night anyway…just added a little more to it. And the time we spent was precious.

Thank you for reading RiverCliff Cottage. It’s my blog about my life in Mendota, Virginia and nothing. Mostly nothing!

Mendota Cemetery Quilt 2024

We are a bit late getting this raffle off the ground. There is not really a good excuse. I think we’ve sold about 250 quilt tickets. However, here is the 2024 Mendota Cemetery Quilt. This quilt raffle raises money that goes directly to the Mendota Cemetery Association and contributes to our having this beautiful, well maintained cemetery in our community.

I think this is a pretty quilt. However, if you are looking for a very difficult, unique quilt block pattern, you’ll be disappointed (I made it…I have to work with the skillset I have)! However, I am pretty good at picking out beautiful fabric, doing a simple assembly then….the quilting is absolutely exquisite. (I did not quilt the quilt.). It fits a queen size bed.

Look at the fun pattern…can you see the flowers that are stitched everywhere? My mother, Vivian Barker, inspired this quilt. She loved polka dots, and a great deal of the fabric used in the quilt has polka dots. Polka dots or flowers. The entire back of the quilt is polka dots. Mother called them “Pokey Dots.”

But, while the quilt is beautiful, the reason we have the raffle is better. It supports our beautiful cemetery where we have never charged a family in need. Our hope is that those who have family members buried there do not forget this and provide a small donation annually. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always occur; and there is a need for additional fundraising. Thus, the quilt raffle.

Here are a few pictures to remind everyone of just how pretty our Mendota Cemetery is…

If you wish to support our 2024 Quilt Raffle, the tickets are $1.00 each. Katie Harris has been kind enough to allow us to place the quilt in The Store@Mendota where you may purchase raffle tickets. If you wish to contact me directly for tickets, please do so. I’ll be happy to help.

Thank you for considering supporting the Mendota Cemetery Association and our quilt raffle.