Saturday Schmatterings-New Month, New Thoughts

      Good Saturday morning to you all. I use Saturday as a dumping ground for things, sort of  an admin catch up day for my blog and a grounding for the weekend. It's a non cohesive "schmattering" of stuff.

Birthday Shindig

       I'll be off in a few hours to haul food and a cooler to the park along with a few outside games to keep all busy and having a good time. Fingers crossed the rain expected is light, and doesn't disrupt the whole day, though we are under a  pavilion. It should be a fun day with lots of food and laughter. I hope we get a good turn out from my brothers old Minnesota friends. It took some effort to track a few down to help spread the word. 

Farmers Market helped me out with this 

gift as I have yet to make jam.

     I created a care package goodie box for his gifts. It's filled with local jams and salsa, plus  treats like crackers and chips to go along with them. My brother is a minimalist and will be working his way back to Florida by means of campgrounds and  friend visits, and this should be a welcomed addition to his meals as he travels. 

 Friday Shop and Other Care Packages

     My daughter and I had a good time shopping at Trader Joe's and a few other stops. There might be duplicates as I shopped for my brothers gift, her care package, and myself and at times an item fit all three boxes. She's getting a few pumpkin treats and the vodka sauce, palak paneer and naan she requested. There's a few frozen things I'll grab right before we leave not pictured. I bought two packages of clearanced mini cupcakes for her to share with her friends-they had a best buy date of yesterday so put in the freezer, but I think they will be eaten  by the end of night. At $1.00 per dozen, I couldn't bake for twice that! 

The mini cookies and pretzels have been wowed over on YouTube.

Not a small carbon footprint, but the chips are a rare treat for her

     We found some more of the Indian flavored Lays potato chips and an Indian ready meal at the grocer as well. My daughter remembered the small noodle packet from her time in London, and so we put that in the cart as well. She said a lot of the aisles reminded her of shopping, there, especially when she was with her friends from India and Pakistan. We decided that the price of the huge bags of basmati rice was such a good deal, we'd get a bag and share between our houses. She has lots of storage in her kitchen, much more than I do, so I'll fill up from her.  Here's the bulk savings. Trader Joe's price: $4.49 for 2 pounds (looked on line). Indian Grocery store: $9.99 for 10 pounds. I love rice as does my daughter and in the fall and winter, we eat a lot of it. 

Ibotta, Fetch, and other apps

     I may or not keep the apps on my phone. I'll give it a go at least for the remainder of the year. I appreciated the feedback on how you all use them.  JoAnn-I'll be using your code for Fetch so hopefully it makes a difference for you. I had my daughter do the receipts last night-she earned a total of 100 points I believe.

     I spend far too much time on the Angry Bird App. I will pull it up as a wind down, and pretty soon, 15 minutes has passed. It's being deleted after the road trip tomorrow. There is a solitaire app, but I can just go to a website and don't have to tie up space. I play the harder version, where three cards are shown at a time. 

Blogging Ads

     Something changed since  I last allowed Adsense on my blog and I can't change. I am sorry for the way the ads show, but I can't move them as I could before. I'll see  if I can putter and change. I want to give it a fair shot as it is kind of nice to see a little  money connecting to the blog. I got positive encouragement to put them back on, but let me know if it becomes unreadable. 

Blogger Meet-up

     I went and finally scheduled a Zoom Blogger Meetup. If you are interested in participating, send me an email at samandcoffee65@gmail.com and I'll send you the details. I picked next Saturday, October 9th, 1:00 Central US time. I was hoping to schedule not too early so those on the US west coast might join, but not so late that anyone from out of the country wouldn't be able to  come on. I also have something going on in the morning so needed to avoid before 12:00. I'm open to different times based on feedback. Grab a mug and consider joining. Even if you do not blog but have been a regular participant on my blog, you should feel welcome. Heck, even if you pop on sporadically and happend to see this, you're welcome. Come as you are and we'll see if our virtual friendships can translate to real life-at least via the computer. 

     There might be some changes coming but I'll say no more until more is known. Perhaps nothing will change and I'm being like one of those click bait stories to try and get your attention. There will be a story though, I promise. Enjoy your weekend! Likely no post tomorrow unless I get good  service on the road.