…I refuse to accept that it’s September!

I am usually am excited about the coming of fall and winter, but as I get older, I find that I do not look forward to the colder weather and all that it entails. Summer is just easier.

It was a good and mostly frugal week overall. I worked all week. On Monday and Wednesday evenings, I walked for an hour with my neighbor and friend A on our road (free). She gave me a tomato, some basil and a pottery platter (useful free stuff). I took a solo 70-minute walk on some quiet trails on Thursday evening right after work.

On Tuesday, I had a late afternoon chiropractor appointment (covered by insurance) and then I met my knitting group at our favorite lakeside state park for swimming and a potluck. There's a $3 entrance fee, but I bought a punch card a few years ago that I haven't finished yet, although I'm now remembering that the collection booth was empty and I had no cash to put in the fee box. Oh well, I was only there for about 2 hours before the park closed.

I prepared a cold green bean salad which was a big hit - lightly steamed green beans with halved cherry tomatoes, chopped red onion, flat-leaf parsley and scallion greens, and chunks of feta cheese. I made a dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, stone ground mustard, salt and pepper. The greens beans and cherry tomatoes were free from a neighbor's garden. I have parsley and scallions growing in containers and I bought a red onion and the feta. I had all of the dressing ingredients on hand. The dish probably cost about $3 total and was enough for a potluck with 7 people and I had leftovers for a few days.

It was a beautiful evening and most of us swam and then we ate and talked until sunset, when they kicked us out of the park. It was a fun, satisfying and frugal evening.

On a side note, the lakes and rivers in my area are very low this summer due to an ongoing drought, but the swimming was still good. I hope to host our end of September gathering, but I haven't claimed it yet. That's my usual month because my birthday is in late September and it's fun to have everyone over around that time.

I had a massage (covered by insurance) after work on Friday. My biggest expenditures were, as usual, food! I have received tons of free produce this summer, but I'm still buying way too much food. I'm so tempted by the bounty at this time of year.

Labor Day weekend was super quiet. I've been on the go all summer and wanted three days at home to relax, organize and clean. Ah, the life of an introvert! I was really hoping it would rain so that staying in wouldn't seem so weird, but, alas, we had three days of glorious weather. Oh, well.

I only spent $1 all weekend when I drove down the street to drop off my trash and recycling on Saturday morning. A small bag of trash usually costs $2.50, but I had a tiny grocery bag that the woman only charged me $1 for.

My neighbor is a car washing fanatic and let me use his shop vac to clean out my very dirty car. I think that early December was probably the last time it was cleaned. What a relief! I also did some exciting sorting and organizing of Tupperware, clothing and my office, which was a disaster.

I just have too much stuff and I can't seem to get rid of any of it! Some sort of mutant depression-era mindset took hold of my brain at some point and has held me hostage ever since. I try to declutter and somehow come up with a reason to keep everything.

I've tried the "what brings you joy" method as CB suggested in a comment, but that doesn't seem to work either because I’m so out of touch with what makes me happy. It's very interesting to observe, but kind of torturous to live.

My main goal for the weekend was to nail down my travel plans and plane ticket for a walking tour I'm taking in Portugal this fall. Oh my, it's now 10:00p on Monday evening and I'm still undecided. Meanwhile the prices keep rising! I have a few different scenarios and I just have to choose one and soon because I'm tired of thinking about it.