First weekend...

...was not terrible. We have tons of food in the fridge, I am still cooking from fresh veggies I bought on March 31 and we still have a plenty of booze in the house. No fighting over who gets the last can of Coors Light, yet.


Here are some of the activities we did this weekend that did not cost us a dime.

Cole and I participated in the Santa Anita race. I ran the 5K and he ran a 1/8 mile dash. Technically not free but because I registered in advance, but it was free in April.

Bill hung out with his Saturday Morning Old Man's Tennis Gang and played tennis.

Gave Kitty Claw a bath instead of taking her to a groomers.

Clean the house using no cleaning products except vinegar and baking soda. (I think Bill used Comet for the toilets, but I am totally ok with that because the Comet is free, plus I didn't have to clean the toilets.)

Additionally, we are learning how to replace the things we normally do, which costs bucks, with things that are free.

Go to the movies and watch I Love You, Man, instead, we watched 3 movies at home and I made homemade popcorn, old fashioned stovetop style.

Grab a quick snack on the way home from elder tennis, instead, Bill managed to live without his bag of Lays until he got home and scarfed down some free real grub.

Get a massage after the run, instead, I sat on the massager and rubbed out all of the aches.

Again, the first weekend was not bad, as we expected. We are anxiously awaiting when we run out of normal provisions and we'll have to improvise. A task, I predict, that will challenge and frustrate Bill more than me or Cole.

PS: Bill has this aversion towards food that has expired dates, even though I have shown him articles that clearly state the dates are usually arbitrary and are used more for tracking than for freshness. Especially with canned goods and even some refrigerated items such as cheese, fruits, meats. Using your senses, such as sight, smell and common are better tools than manufacturer's dates. This might be the one issue that tears a huge gaping chasm in our otherwise perfect love nest.