Spent a couple of hours on the beach, including a walk 
A little wistful as I used to enjoy such things w/the hubster. Maybe I’ll have an aide help me take him to the beach next week. It’s hot enough now that going from 9-11am is better than later.
Between breakfast and heading to the beach I pre-fixed quinoa bowls for lunch (tri-color quinoa, chopped kale, diced roasted sweet potato, diced chicken from a rotisserie chicken I bought on Monday, a little chopped red onion, chick peas, olive oil, cider vinegar, fresh parsley, salt. And fruit salad for dessert (honeydew, cantelope, pineapple, mango). Yummy lunch! DH is eating with Shaina in the kitchen while I’m relaxing in my recliner in the den as I’m “on duty” from 1pm today to 9am tomorrow. [[Too bad nobody pays me $25/hr for that shift!!]]
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This looks like things are moving in a good direction for you. I couldn’t be more delighted! You can take time to b-r-e-a-t-h-e!
=sheila
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" [[Too bad nobody pays me $25/hr for that shift!!]] "
You could pay yourself - put something aside for something fun.
Howie52
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You could pay yourself - put something aside for something fun.
Hmmm…my expenses just increased ~50% between inflation and the hubster’s aides. Slush in the budget is history.
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I might add that I’ve had a lot of fun in my (former) life. More than I ever anticipated (eg, 9 trips to Europe, 1 to India, 1 to Africa, a few to Canada, 1 to Hawaii). A lot of restaurants when we lived in California. Years of season tickets to San Francisco Symphony and Charleston Symphony. WHile I’m sorry I never made it Japan or Mexico, I am content. And now I live less than 10 minutes from the gorgeous beach at Isle of Palms (plus Sullivans Island and Folly Beach), about 15 minutes from several lovely and unique walks by Charleston Harbor, a world-renowned raptor center, national forest trails. 1 1/2 hours or less to quaint towns on the coast, including Edisto Beach, Georgetown, and Pawleys Island.
With my aides caring for the hubster for 3-5 hours every weekday morning, I can visit all of these places during their hours w/the hubster.
I have eaten out and attended performances more than sufficiently for my entire life and don’t care if I never do so again (it was hard to face “nothing to look forward to” at first, but I have made my peace with it). I attend my grandchildren’s recitals and ballet/gymnastics performances via Zoom. DGD even introduced a song and had a brief solo at her choir recital a few days ago.
I find reading and listening to music, podcasts and (some-) tv/movies fun.
What I’m mostly missing is a social life apart from online and phone.
PS–My disabled brother invited me to live with him in his apartment if/when my husband dies or I have to put him in a facility (and thereby can’t afford to live in my house any more), or maybe he’d move in w/me. Now I’m sorry he doesn’t still own his big house(!).
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I forgot to mention the city of Charleston itself! 20-30 minutes from my house to downtown, depending on time of day 
jut ran across this:
CNBC: “Consumer prices rose 8.3% in April from a year ago. As a result, U.S. households are spending an additional $341 a month to purchase the same goods and services compared to a year ago due to inflation above typical inflation of 2%.”
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CNBC: “Consumer prices rose 8.3% in April from a year ago. As a result, U.S. households are spending an additional $341 a month to purchase the same goods and services compared to a year ago due to inflation above typical inflation of 2%.”
Working backward, given 8.3% = $341, we get a total (100%) per month of $4,108, or $49,301 annualized. Just to give a more complete frame of reference.
Working backward, given 8.3% = $341, we get a total (100%) per month of $4,108, or $49,301 annualized. Just to give a more complete frame of reference.
The 8.3% increase is in the cost of a specific basket of goods & services–it’s not relative to anybody’s income. IIRC median HH income is in the upper $60s.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI), produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), is the most widely used measure of inflation. The primary CPI (CPI-U) is designed to measure price changes faced by urban consumers, who represent 93% of the U.S. population. It’s an average, though, and doesn’t reflect any particular consumer’s experience.
The CPI is constructed each month using 80,000 items in a fixed basket of goods and services representing what Americans buy in their everyday lives—from gasoline at the pump and apples at the grocery store to cable TV fees and doctor visits. The BLS uses a survey of American families called the Consumer Expenditures Survey to determine which items go in the basket and how much weight to assign to each item. Different prices are weighted according to how important they are to the average consumer. For instance, Americans spend more on chicken than tofu, so changes in the price of chicken have a greater impact on the CPI.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2021/06/28/how-does-…