8/7 Expressions

Frugal deeds for the week:  While visiting our new house, I looked up the tax assessment records for the properties on both sides - on line.  Both homes are about the same size.  The home to the "right" is about 10 years older and has a fence - it is valued at $88,000 - tax is $1,600.  House to the left is a few years younger, has a swimming pool and a small shed - $140,000 - tax is $2,900 (looks like it is in foreclosure).  Our house is valued at $122,000 - tax is $2,600.  I called the tax assessor and asked how I could get the property re-assessed.  She said I have to wait until January - and fill-out a form.  Believe me, we will be filling out the form - getting it valued closer to the $88,000 (we paid $70,000) would drop the taxes by $1,000.  Sounds good to me.  I have already placed a note in my planner to mail the tax assessor a notice in the new year.  Other than that, although we have celebrated my daughter's birthday already, today is the "real" day - happy birthday!  Added:  Adoptive grandmother made my daughter a wonderful birthday cake - decadent chocolate/marshmallws/walnut icing - very tasty.  We are going to freeze part of it as it is too rich and will most likely stick to the waist-line.  I also cooked up 3 lbs of boneless/skinless chicken breasts - two for pasta - the rest in the crockpot w/onion soup mix.  The soup mix went in my broth container in the freezer.  Now we can make chicken sandwiches/salads, etc. for lunches and dinner.  We have plenty of pasta - used the cheap after 2 coupons of Philly cooking cream, some feta, fresh tomatoes from office-mate, purple onion, garlic cloves, and a bit of olive oil - totally yummy.  We have a bunch of salad fix'ns and I got more whole wheat bread from the dollar store.  Thursday night, I will make another bath of baklava and some baked brie.  I will return adoptive grandmother's pan with a bit of both.  We will also have an overnight guest.  We just came back from some quick shopping.  First, we did not want to spend a whole lot of money and secondly, it was just too hot.  We used quite a few coupons and I also filled out two rebates - one for a Southern Living Cookbook - $34 value - printed the form on line - should be able to google it if you are interested - but I had to purchase $15 worth of certain products.  I ended up getting 2 packages of Seattle's best Fair Trade coffee, 1 1/2 gal of Breeze Almond milk - had $1 off each coupons on all 3 products and a $15 Publix giftcard - I thought it was $10 - but, it took off $15 - I also had an Organic Tazo Chai Latte Mix on sale for $2.99 - out of pocket was just over $1.  I also found a $5 rebate form on meat at Wal-mart.  Since I printed 2 BOGO Bratwurst and Italian Sausage patties coupons - I definitely had enough to get my $5 rebate - the patties were just under $6 a box.  So far, no note from the HOA patrol - we must have done a fine job - I also touched some poison ivy in the process as I have a few welts on my arm.  I use anti-bacterial sanitizer which seems to get the itch out and dry the welts out :(