Saturday: I had a plan for mine and John's meal which involved using up all the bits of leftover vegetable dishes in the fridge and a crock pot cooked meat. Maddie enjoyed the bones from the beef.
Family coming in this evening, so I planned for a simpler meal. I had hot dogs in the freezer, made potato salad from scratch.
We packed up leftovers right away after the meal.
Living Well: My grandsons don't get opportunity to 'run free' very often. When they asked if they might go outside and play we told them what their boundaries were and turned them loose. They ran out to play. They didn't stay out long, but I couldn't help but think of the beagle incident the week before, lol.
Sunday: Grampa cooked eggs to order this morning and made breakfast for all of us. Gramma did the cleaning up after.
Maddie was happy recipient of lots of bits of food. When she didn't finish all that was in her pan, I brought it indoors where heat wouldn't cause it to spoil. She can have the rest of it tomorrow.
I had a simple meal plan for lunch. Steamed corn on the cob, hamburgers. The kids would never eat a regular sized burger, but I had small slider burgers in the freezer that I served them.
I hadn't planned to have guests an extra night...Fortunately my son offered to go into town to purchase supper. I gave him a short grocery list of the usual trinity of needed items: bread, milk, eggs. I am out of grocery money so the cash for the groceries came from my allowance.
No need to water plants today. A nice rain shower came along and did that task for me.
Went into survive mode, lol. I let others take care of the evening tasks and I relaxed. I love having my family about me but it's wearing.
Made an order at Walmart.com this morning and ordered the highly recommended glucometer and test strips. I've been given two but the cost of strips is prohibitive. I think I can get more with my insurance for one of the other meters, which gives me a back up to keep in my purse.
I checked my shopping list and ordered from it. I had notebook paper on the list but I know it's going to be on sale by end of July for $.10 a package somewhere for back to school. I'll wait until then and stock up.
I made sure my order totaled $50 so I got free shipping but I didn't put silly stuff in the shopping cart. It was all from my list of needed items.
John washed a full load of laundry this afternoon. It clouded up and began to rain just as the laundry finished spinning. He hung a few things to dry but the children's clothes went into the dryer.
Living Well: The quiet time in the kitchen sitting area each morning is the best part of each morning to me. John usually leaves me to myself and this morning I had much needed time for prayer before the boys got up. It meant a lot that little space of time.
Monday: I made pancakes this morning from scratch. This fact surprised my grandson a great deal. He asked why not just use a mix? I explained that sometimes we do, but I didn't have any and I did have all the ingredients on hand.
It's Harvest Day in our home. I worked on bills and checked our register against the bank record. In paying bills I discovered that a third pay period from March finally caught up with some substantial bills this pay period. It meant I had some extra money I could set aside to help cover medical costs and I was pleased with our bit of balance in the medical payments area.
John worked on the deck of the lawnmower and got the bent piece bent back into place. He's not quite through with this repair but at least it's started and has saved us the cost of new deck or a hefty welding repair.
We took bills with us to mail when we went to pick up John's check. We did our banking in that town as well.
Living Well: As we left the house this afternoon a little bird flew off...John said "Terri I think they are still nesting here." I peeked into the little round hole and saw four eggs inside the nest. I won't water that silly aloe because I don't want to get the nest wet. If the plant dies I'll get another. I'd rather watch the birds thrive!
Tuesday: We went grocery shopping today. We've become label readers. I'm willing to make a lot of switches for the sake of my diet at present but honestly if the carb/calorie/protein counts aren't much better than what we're eating (and saving money on) at present, why make a switch?
I was pretty happy with my Aldi total today. I have no plans to shop elsewhere this pay period now that we're pretty settled with what we need. I felt a bit unhappy at first thinking of the extra spent this last pay period but I reminded myself that except for vacation we never did shop for groceries for nearly four weeks. So whatever extra I might have spent will balance out over the weeks all the same.
John stopped in Publix to get a sandwich for our lunch...Honestly the last thing I wanted was another take out sub sandwich but I must say that this one tasted so superior to the last ones we've had from Subway...and cost no more. I told John I thought we'd just make that grocery our go to sandwich shop. Still...I'm going to do some research and figure out other take out/take away options because I've had about enough sandwiches!
I organized the fridge this afternoon after a rest spell. It was so jumbled up with foods I couldn't tell what was what. I did a fairly good job of it. I found a piece of chicken breast that got tossed. I know it's been in there for too long! Nothing else needed to go out though. And it's organized enough to see right away what we want and where it is, however full it may be.
I pulled enough leftover items from the fridge to make supper. I had some leftover soup (the black bean rice I made the other night trying to replicate the hospital soup), a half ear of corn and a smidgen of salsa left in a jar. I cut the corn from the cob and added it to the soup along with the salsa. Gosh but that made a good soup!
John had his own supper of leftover items. Good use of good foods in a timely manner.
Saved a quart sized jar we'd bought a good quality fruit cocktail in. I made sure standard jar rings and lids would fit it before I decided to keep it. I dislike the lids which come on those jars.
Put some instant mashed potatoes into another saved jar. I've had fewer incidents with ants since we moved to glass jars.
Organized the kitchen food cabinet while I was in the kitchen this afternoon. It needed the work and I was mildly surprised at how much of certain lunch bag items we had.
Living Well: This afternoon John played guitar. He does a mix of songs he's written and songs written by others but he inevitably finds just the right songs to speak to my spirit. I've felt a little battered of late and questioned my ability to do well what God has called me to do. Tonight I heard just the songs that spoke most deeply to my need at this time. I am so grateful God gave me a worship leader husband even if his current congregation is just one.
Wednesday: What we didn't do today: stop to get sodas at any point. It was hot and we were more than ready to get home, but despite being an hour away from home, we agreed to wait until we were home to get drinks. Of course, mine was plain old iced water. Sure hit the spot.
Stopped to buy lawn mower blades and postage in the small town we drive through just before we hit home grounds.
I cooked/planned out all three meals. Not take out, no fast food, no frozen convenience.
Leftovers were packed in the fridge for later use.
Washed zippered baggies that held cheese or vegetables.
No need to water plants courtesy the nice rain shower we had.
Went to a doctor's appointment. We chose to pay off the balance at that doctor's office. I was so happy that over half that money was already set aside.
Made my own taco seasoning for meat for taco salad.
Living Well: Family woes hit us hard today. Happily our daughter in law Bess came to spend the night with us, bringing along grandson, Josh. It was a very happy distraction for us.
Thursday: Sent Bess on her way to her destination with a fresh supply of water.
John washed and hung a load of clothes to dry on the line.
John spent a second morning working on the deck of his lawnmower and got it fixed just right. He was so happy he went ahead and mowed the lawn.
I had hair appointment this afternoon. I took off trash, picked up mail, dropped off outgoing mail and went by the dollar store.
I spent a pretty sum at the dollar store but I'm not in the least ashamed over it. I bought black out curtains for the living room windows. I bought four panels for $50. Turns out I only needed three for the double window. I will be buying two more at a different dollar store (I bought all they had at my local store) for the dining area window.
I also bought another basket for the fridge. I find baskets are handy for corralling things in the refrigerator. Right now we have lots of loose fruit and I was tired of it trying to 'escape' the fridge. Now that it's in a basket, it stays put.
I bought several cleaning products. It's really not a big distance but it IS convenient to have doubles of certain items for the two bathrooms.
I made tortilla pizza for supper tonight. I used tomato sauce as pizza sauce.
Received my Walmart.com order. This included my new glucometer and 100 test strips. I purchased both items for less than a bottle of 25 test strips cost for either of the other three glucometers I was given
Living Well: There's a lot to be said for small town living. I went in to get my haircut (and oh let's just pause a moment to contemplate the bliss of getting your hair in shape once more!) and received a heart felt hug from my stylist who'd seen my health plight on facebook a month ago.
Friday: Used two small sized chicken breasts to make four servings of oriental type chicken dish.
Used a variety of vegetables from the fridge to stretch the dish.
Set aside food for Bess who was due back in this afternoon.
Fed Josh a variety of on hand foods.
Encouraged Bess to take what she wanted of the pastas on the counter.
Made hamburgers for supper.
Made Challah. I attempted whole wheat this week. It was okay. I'll need to refine the recipe just a little more. Net: three small loaves.
Cut up two chickens for Saturday's dinner. Saved the backs for broth making.
Living Well: Another visit with my baby grandson...I don't typically get to spend so much one on one time with him and I confess he charmed me most thoroughly. He enjoyed playing with Gramma this visit...and Gramma enjoyed him. By the end of tomorrow I will have seen four of the nine grandchildren, had letters from two more. It's been a difficult week with family difficulties but a blessed week just the same.
4 comments:
You can add money saved to your post that you didn't have to buy a new mower deck. My friend's husband had to buy a new one recently as a stone put a hole in the other one and it was $700. That would be fun "play" money, except I wouldn't know what I wanted as my wants are pretty small at this point in my life. Glad you got to spend time with the grands. Nothing like it! Yesterday when we had breakfast with my son-in-law and 2 grandsons they were both telling their dad how they talk to grandma about everything even him! I hope he saw it as funny. Gramma D.
We had to have a new heat pump installed and so a very large chink of money was taken from savings. I am thankful that we had the money and did not have to finance it but it was hard to see it go. This is only two months after having to get a new roof. It is good to have cold air coming from the vents again!
Two of our grandchildren visited this week and we so enjoyed seeing them. It was way too hot here to be outside so we brought out toys that were saved from our children. We did have lunch in the screen porch with the ceiling fan on high.
We have done well with eating what we have and being careful not to overbuy on produce which is my downfall. I will end the month with 20% of the food budget leftover. It is so expensive to switch the pantry over when diets must change. I feel your pain there as I have done it so many times.
That is so fun that the bird's nest has eggs! Soon you will be hearing their baby bird voices. We had some bluebirds checking out our boxes until the roofers were here and they left our yard quick when all that racket started.
I had lunch with a friend on Wednesday and we used a BOGO coupon so it was inexpensive and we so enjoyed seeing each other. We plan to do it often. Good company is always good for the heart! Too bad all of us here don't live near to one another as it would be fun to meet up and really talk!
Have a good week!
It sounds like you are coming right along. It is a good thing you love to plan and organize. As always, enjoyed your post. It is finally getting hot and staying hot for a few days so AC will be going on soon. I can only take so much heat before I get a headache. I think back to pioneer days and they had no electricity, no fans, no AC. Makes me one grateful nana! Smile. Pam
Terri - so funny you mentioned shopping at Walmart.com. I had just seen another blogger talk about that last week and discussed it with my husband. We have a plethora of Walmart stores even within 10 miles of us (2 even closer) but I've recently started shopping for food at Sprouts and get really tired of two or three stops for all the household good since I do it all at once on Saturdays for the coming week. I priced everything and compared to Amazon. My only problem with the free shipping is how long it takes! I had thought to try the pick up in the store thing but hardly anything on my list is eligible despite me knowing they are always in stock at the store.
I'd be interested in knowing more details about what dollar store you are finding the blackout curtains at.
So excited that John was able to get the mower fixed! What a huge savings and a great relief. Handy to have such a handy man.
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