On the positive side, we ended up (after almost a week of no Internet and almost no phone) with things back to normal and actually a better connection than we had before. Plus one free doughnut won during a Wifi stop at Tim Horton's.
Mr. Fixit installed a couple of extra clotheslines in the garage to take the laundry overflow. We unplugged the dryer altogether to save money and energy. We also unplugged a small extra fridge downstairs that was mostly used to store cold drinks.
Mama Squirrel has been able to feed her since-Christmas crossword addiction with not only the really-quite-easy daily puzzle in the paper but with two extras that come on Saturday, including a fiendish New York Times crossword. (She can't imagine how many Saturday papers with NYT puzzles she put out for recycling before noticing this.) That definitely beats putting out $8 on a puzzle magazine.
Mama Squirrel also said "no, nyet, nein" to a $12 flea market style magazine. On the next library trip I will have a look to see if they have back issues to borrow. Because the new ones are fun, but they really don't change all that much over a year or two.
Mr. Fixit went to a used-CD shop that also sells DVDs, and they were clearing out a lot of their DVD sets. Believe it or not, they're out of date now. So he picked up a few seasons of old sitcoms for crazy-cheap prices. If you have a store like that near you and you still watch DVDs, you might want to check for similar clearout deals. (We have also found good deals at places like Wal-Mart and Giant Tiger, but nothing like those prices.)
Mama Squirrel used an online recipe to make a big container of instant oatmeal. I used quick oats and ran it through the Ninja for a few seconds, but you do have to be careful not to get carried away. I got it too fine at first, and had to add in some extra (unpowdered) oats for texture.
That's all I can think of for this week. I am now going upstairs to make a cheerfully frugal dinner.
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