An Update and Some Latest Frugal Escapades

Sorry I haven't posted the past few days. So I wanted to update you with what's been going on in my life.
I've been working on a really cool blog post about something I'm passionate about (take a guess in the comments below what it is) but it's taking a lot of mental power and focus to write it (because of all the mathematical calculations -- my math brain is a little rusty as of late) so I haven't gotten that up yet since I haven't finished it. But stuff is in the works.

On Thursday when I first woke up, I was searching for my glasses on my night stand and in my fumbling, accidentally knocked a small speaker (and yes, i mean small!) onto my big toe and was in excruciating pain. Not long after my toe turned purple and had a giant blood blister next to it, and the pain did not subside. I didn't rush to the doctor because there was no way I was going to be putting on shoes, and the local doctor wasn't in that day, and I wasn't going to go by bus to the urgent care in the next city when I wanted to cry from pain, especially when even if it was broken, the doctors likely wouldn't do anything to it, since there isn't really what to do with a broken big toe (and I confirmed that with my dad as well as my uncle who is the head doctor of an urgent care center).


Basically since Thursday, the amount of pain I'm in has definitely diminished, but it's still noticeable. Thursday I was in constant pain. Friday I was in pain if my foot wasn't elevated. I was able to put it down for maybe a minute tops and then the pain would start again. By Saturday I was able to be upright for longer periods of time, but at least every 10 minutes I needed to put my foot up again.

Yesterday I made it to a doctor. It was also the first time I put on shoes since Thursday. Walking the half block to the doctor's office was tremendously painful in my shoes, and the doctor basically took a look at my toe, said "that looks painful and will probably hurt for a while" but otherwise did nothing.

Today I had to go to the city for an appointment and I wore my shoes and hobbled the whole way. I decided to stop at a cheap shoe store to buy sandals that hopefully won't press on my toe, and they helped somewhat but it still hurts to walk, even if less so. While I was in the city anyhow, I picked up some fruit from the open air market, since locally the fruit have been so overpriced and my kids have been desperate for fruit. I got some peaches, plums, apples, mangoes, and avocados, not the cheapest per pound to be honest, but there was a limit to how far I could walk and hunt around looking for bargains, and as everything locally is $1.29 or above for fruit, paying 78 cents a pound for these apples and nectarines and peaches was at least better. And I bought some somewhat more expensive avocados and mangoes for $1.29 a pound. I ended up paying $20 for all that fruit.

I decided to see if the scratch and dent store nearby had anything decent, and they had gluten free cereal boxes, for very cheap. They were small boxes, sure, but it was 3 for $1.29 or 43 cents a box, which is a steal for gluten free cereal or any cereal really, locally. So I... uhm... bought 36 boxes. Yea, that's right. That probably won't last so long for my family with the frequency that my family has been eating cereal and milk lately... They also had prepackaged gluten free cookies for the same price, 3 for $1.29, or 43 cents a box. For these, I bought 18 packages.
Total at that store? $51.42.

In other news, Mike has gotten up to some frugal things lately.
Our yard is small and immediately next to our neighbors' yard, separated by a thin metal bar fence. We have no privacy because anyone who goes into their yard can automatically see into our yard. (On the other side, the neighbors' yard is a nice full story drop, so no privacy issues there.) Mike built a fence himself using wood he purchased cheaply. It is 2 meters tall and cost $77. I love that we now have privacy and can go into our yard without having to feel like we're literally in the neighbors's yard.

Our dishwasher has been acting problematically for some time, and even after bringing a repair person to help us find the source of the issue, new issues came up. A few days ago the dishwasher decided to simply stop working; I couldn't get it to turn on. Mike took it apart and somehow managed to connect the wiring and some other parts and it's working again! We have no hopes that this will last indefinitely, but hopefully we can eke out a few more months or more from this dishwasher before needing to replace it.

So that's what's up with me. Attempting to be frugal despite being in pain. Trying to get things done.

What's new with you? What  frugal things have you gotten up to lately?
Those of you who've had toe injuries, how long did it take until you could walk without pain?