This Week: January Promises

Saturday:  Breakfast casserole this morning when John came in.  This used some bread cubes I'd cut last month and kept in the freezer.  I didn't have room to put up croutons at that time which is what I planned to make.  In the meantime, more odds and end pieces of bread loaves accumulated.  So Friday I made  1 quart and 1 pint of croutons and took the bread cubes out of the freezer determined to put them to good use, as well.  Breakfast casserole can be as pricey as you choose to make it.  It's basically a Strata which is dry (but not usually croutons) bread cut into cubes and soaked in milk and eggs to soften.  I read recipes all the time where someone will write "I added extra cheese because we love it."  Well so do I, sugar pie, but I don't see making an economy recipe cost the same as a steak dinner!  I used 2ounces of cheese to top the casserole, 2 ounces of cream cheese that I cubed to mix with the bread cubes.  I did want a little more to my casserole since I meant it as a one dish sort of breakfast.  I dug about in the fridge and found stir fry vegetables (carrots, red and yellow bell peppers, onion, garlic) and added those in along with some cubes of turkey Spam.  Despite my only using four eggs and 1 cup of milk along with the three cups of bread cubes, I had more than enough to feed us two or three times.  If I'd been really smart I'd have put half in the freezer before baking.  This does work just fine.  I didn't.  I made a 9X13 pan of the stuff.  We'll use the leftovers for supper, a work day lunch for myself, and likely a breakfast again.



I put a corned beef in the crockpot for our big meal today.  I wanted to make mashed potatoes and decided to steam cabbage atop the potatoes as they cooked.  I have a lovely little enamel steamer that works just beautifully inside my deepest pot.

Gave myself both a manicure and pedicure this morning.

I didn't try to work today...but I was very restless, no doubt due the incredibly good sleep I got the night before.  I decided to piece together a few outfits (pants, top, scarf or necklace, jacket, etc.), something I haven't done in months now. Here I'd been thinking I had nothing to wear!  I even managed a few combinations that I'd not made before.

In a second restless spell, I sorted out my jewelry.  I let go of some badly worn things, set aside some vintage pieces I want to keep but am not currently wearing.  I have plenty of jewelry yet and barely noticed the difference in my drawer despite the substantial pile on the dresser that wasn't going back in.

I tried to write the In My Home post, but John kept finding programs on Netflix and Prime that I got interested in watching.  By the way, as of Friday we are Directv Free for the first time since we moved here.  Officially we shall save $840 this year, which is more than enough to pay our car insurance for the year.  Call me a happy woman.  I finally won a long siege by sure persistence.

Spent a lot of time on Pinterest today.  Puzzled by why I kept looking at certain pins I journaled about it and as usual I found my answer.  Writing is for me what most people get by thinking out loud, lol.

"Mr. Church" is a film well worth watching by the way.  Mild language usage in only a very few scenes and it was relevant to those scenes and the circumstances.

Sunday:  We slept a little later than usual this morning.  No problem.  I had only to put the lasagna in the crockpot.  I froze it last month.

We ate cereal for breakfast.   The protein cereal worked the trick for me.  I had no surge of blood sugar nor spike and drop.  Glad to know my instincts were right on this score.

We didn't go by the grocery today.  That's too Sundays in a row.  I do have need of two items to complete dinner this week but I'll pick them up while out with Mama or on my own later.  John picked up the Sunday paper at a gas station on our way home.  I was happy to see lots of coupons and to read the sales papers.  I am planning another trip to Target to pick up household and cleaning items while the $15gift card with $50 purchase is still good.  I think I mentioned last week that my store disallowed my use of any other coupons with that offer.  Krazy Koupon Lady keeps posting that you can work deals with coupons but it may not be so.  It wasn't a manager but the register itself which over rode the coupon and refused it.  Yes,  I had well over $50 in my buggy.

As always, nice to come home to the aroma of cooked dinner.  I made a salad and dinner was on the table in about 5 minutes time.

It's so nice outside and the sunshine is super bright.  We opened windows this afternoon and let the house get fresh air.

John washed a load of clothes and hung most to dry.

I washed a full load of dishes after dinner.

I decided to get in gear and do this afternoon.  I made up several items for breakfast and prepped things for dinner through out the week ahead.  I cut up potatoes and onions and covered with water to make hash with later in the week.  I washed lettuce for salads.  I cut up oranges.  Then I went to work on prepping ahead for breakfasts:  I scrambled eggs, potatoes, spinach, onion, and sausage for breakfast burritos. I put together 10 burritos with shredded cheese and salsa.  I wrapped each in waxed paper for easy heating in the microwave.   I shredded a whole 8 ounce bar of cheese.  This was used in the burritos and in sausage egg muffin cups (baked 6 while I also baked 4 potatoes), and I made up 8 pre formed ready to put in the pan Quesadillas for easy suppers when I'm stumped about what to make.  I saved back two tortilla to use as pizza bases.  I used a total of 9 eggs and frankly could have used just 8 and managed fine.  I used 10 slices of frozen turkey sausage (about 1 pound total).

Noted all the leftovers in the fridge and planned meals around those rather than make more things.  The refrigerator is quite full at present.

Sorted and clipped coupons, so I could easily find what I might need when I do go shopping.

Set up oatmeal and coffee for the morning.

Monday:  Up early this morning to see John off to work.  I sent him off with a packed lunch bag, breakfast eaten and coffee in his thermal cup.

When he left this morning, I stripped the bed and the slipcover off my chair in the living room.  I've looked that thing over plenty and I'm not really sure how to make it fit better or work better.   I think I may have to completely rip open every single seam and start over again, fitting it to the chair as I go, because I don't really know how else to go about it.  In the meantime, the slipcover got washed with the sheets and towels and hung on the line to dry.

Gave myself a fresh manicure.  The one I did on Saturday was completely ruined.  I took extra time this morning to clean my nails well before starting a new mani.

I decided I'd go on to Target since I had vacuumed, remade my bed and hung all clothes to dry by 9am and was fully dressed and ready to go visit with Mama.  I know full well if I wait until after I do not have the energy to tackle any big tasks and I had my list ready to go.

Did my shopping at Target.  My first stop was to drop into the women's department.  Really wasn't looking for anything but curious.  Golly gee but they have organized it and clearly marked the women's plus department and it just looked so very, very nice.  Those of you who are long time readers remember how deeply disgusted and disappointed I was a couple of years ago to go in and find it the catchall area for every return and in general disorder.  It really has shaped up prettily.  The whole clothing/jewelry and handbag sections have been integrated into one department and it's just very well done.  Shoe department got a makeover too.  No purchases made in any of those sections, it was just a roundabout route to my intended area.

That distraction cleared out of my system, I went into the cleaning/household department.  Using my list I was able to find $57 of household and cleaning items.  I got several single roll packets of paper towel (less than the cost of a multi roll pack), toilet tissue, zippered bags ( two 20ct. boxes cost less than  1 40ct. box), waxed paper, green scrubbers, stainless steel pot scrubbers, Comet, Mr. Clean, ant spray.  I think that was all I got there and it all finished up my cleaning/household needs for several months ahead.  

Since I had another 10% off organizational pieces, I went to look at the bins and discovered they carried Hefty brand weathertight bins very similar to the Ziploc brand I told you all about, larger than the ones I'd bought at the grocery at the end of December. They latch on one side and are hinged on the other side which works fine for me.   I picked up two of those and then went to check on bedding, since the coupon was good for that as well.

The pillows in the bedding department had been decimated.  I don't get it.  It's not like they were having an especially good sale but there was hardly a pillow left in the department except the display pieces.  I checked the prices of plain white full sized sheets.  Zowie!  I'll just keep picking those up at TJMaxx, HomeGoods and Ross for Less,( or any thrift store that might have a decent set),  where a set seldom runs higher than $30.  Seriously some of those sheet sets cost $90 for full size!

My last stop was on the pain reliever aisle.  Buy two Tylenol or Aleve and get a $5 gift card.  This was another item I wanted to do a minor stock up on.

The only registers  open again were self check out, even though it was 10:15a.  When another woman asked why no register was open she was told that only two cashiers were scheduled and one was working in customer service.  For all the nicety of appearance Target has acquired for the New Year, I can't say I much like having to do all the checkout work and juggle items and money when I have a buggy well laden.  I'm curious if this is the trend of the future?

Headed to Mama's.  She had a store she wanted to 'just see where it is'.  I suggested we eat out while we were in that area but this met with disapproval.  Apparently she no longer likes that place which kind of disappointments me because I do like it!   She suggested a place that was a good ways away, a spot where she's never eaten. I headed in that direction via a round about route.  As we neared another restaurant she has eaten at only once she suggested we stop there.  It is a little pricey but we ate from the lunch menu.  My food was a disappointment.  It was hot and it was fresh but it just wasn't that good.  I should have ordered what Mama did.

I ran into the grocery on our way out of the area.  My plan was to grab Rye bread and Swiss cheese, a piece of cake to share with Mama for her required dessert.  No Rye bread, but I did buy two loaves of bakery bread to replenish our home supply.  Mama requested a loaf of bread, as well.  Long drive back to her house via several back roads.  It was so nice outdoors we rode with the windows down and enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air.

I stopped at CVS on my way out of town after dropping Mama at home.  I used the ECBs I earned last week and paid just $5 out of pocket for the purchases made today.  I bought a beauty sponge for applying foundation, a new makeup primer and sensitive toothpaste.  I'm bummed over the primer only because I just bought some, different brand and it's nothing at all like the other product.  It's super thick and heavy and leaves my face feeling dry and thirsty before the day is half done.  The stuff I bought today is a mineral product I've used for years.  I'd switched only because it comes in a pump bottle that leaves a good inch of primer in the bottom.  I'll just have John open it up when I'm done with it, as I did with the last one.  So back I went  for more of what I like.

Long day from 5am.  I came home and took the clothes from the line and sat on the porch with a cup of coffee.  I had a brief visit from Bess and the boys who walked most of the way home (they walked to the bus stop and then here and that's more than halfway home again)..  I had water and watered down juice ready for them when they arrived.  Josh ran all the way from the bus to my house!  I knew he'd be thirsty.  And I didn't underestimate Isaac's thirst.  He and Bess walked from their house to the bus stop and then all the way up here.  He sat on my lap while he drank his juice, then thanked me and got down to play for a bit before Daddy came by to pick them all up.

I came back indoors and put away all the stuff I'd purchased.  I am going to have to get into my pantry closet this week and get it organized because it's current state is NOT working at all.  I hadn't planned to do that job this week but it's moved to the head of the list.

An advertising email from CVS prompted me to order perfume for Spring.  $15 off a $60 order.  Those sorts of discounts are well worth while and I got free shipping.  I paid the same I'd have paid through the discount fragrance center online.

Ate leftovers for supper tonight.

Tuesday:  John in this morning from work.  I made scrambled eggs and half a can of cinnamon rolls.  Breakfast was filling, took only minutes and he was well satisfied.  Yes, indeed, I shall rethink my former plan of huge breakfasts for him.

I realized that we'd had beef all weekend and were planning to have beef all week and I really wanted a meal of chicken.  I dug about in the freezer and discovered a single chicken breast and about 1/3 of another fillet in an Aldi bag that I thought had more chicken in it.  It was enough for a meal for the two of us.  I barbecued that meat, made steamed broccoli and twice baked potatoes to go with it.  It all tasted very good.  I split the breast between us and gave John that little extra bit of meat.

Before making lunch, I went to work on my kitchen cupboards as I'd planned for my zone work this week.  I did all the upper cabinets today.  I was shocked at how dirty they all were, inside especially, since I never put dirty things in my cabinets.  I organized things and am very pleased with the end results.   I moved all my good storage pieces to one area.  This does not include the recycled pieces I've saved from frozen whipped topping or luncheon meat containers.  The children love playing with those pieces for some reason (as did Katie when she was small) so I have left those in an accessible spot in the new little cabinet we got last month.   I put away only the glass and purchased set of plastic storage.  These are stored in the same area with my glass jars which I use as storage pieces.

My second big organizing move was to gather all the pitchers and large thermos and put them together in another area and then to better organize the thermal cups, coffee cups and glasses in the glassware cupboard.  All in all I am thoroughly pleased with the results of my work today.

Noted all the dry beans in my one food cabinet...I buy them because they are economical but I never plan ahead and use them.  I'm going to try to incorporate dried beans into our diet at least once ever ten days.  No need of starting any this week as we are overloaded with leftovers.

Sorted out the kitchen drawers.  I tried the Marie Kondo method of rolling and storing my dishcloths and towels.  Looks very neat when you open the drawer and I was better able to fit all the same items back in the drawer with room to spare.  Wonderful!

John suggested we eat leftovers for supper tonight.  No problem with that!

Re-thought my plan to remake the slipcover on my chair.  There's extra width in the back but not really enough across the seat area to make it over properly even if I remove all seams.  I'd end up short and having to piece in some visible area to make it work.  I put the clean slipcover back on the chair and it will suffice until I find fabric enough or find another one that is very reasonable.

Wednesday:  The little pile at the back door to go out to the shed is growing.

Slept a portion of the night in the guest bed atop the new mattress.  John snored a lot last night and at 4am I gave up pretending I was going to get any rest and slipped back there.  I'm both happy and sad to report that the new mattress (one of those compressed foam ones from Walmart) sleeps just great.  Happy on my own account, sorry because I really don't want to encourage long term guest stays, lol.

We had frozen breakfast burritos this morning.  John ate two, I found one sufficient.  I heated them from frozen for two minutes which wasn't quite enough.  In future, I'll take them out to thaw overnight in the fridge.   Bonus: Cleaning up after breakfast was easy breezy.

Dinner plans today: Corned Beef Hash (homemade), green beans, slaw.   I've never made corned beef hash at home before and it was really good.  I'll certainly do this again!

Cleaned all the lower cabinets today.  I shifted where I stored our water storage to under the kitchen sink and moved the potatoes and onions to a small cabinet away from water pipes that might leak.  I didn't reorganize the cupboard where I store casseroles and frying pans and small appliances because I worked on that in September to a big extent and did minor work there last week when I removed appliances I do not use.  I worked on the food storage cupboard and got it organized nicely.  There is a whole section of shelf that is empty.   I restocked that cupboard with pantry items.  I have, for the past several weeks, had to go to the back to get a can of green beans or a jar of mayonnaise.  I do not like to go to the pantry every time I need an item.  I want to keep a smaller supply in the kitchen.  For one thing, it's a time waster to walk to the back in the midst of preparations and for another I have noticed a tendency to think "Oh I've got plenty of that!  I'll use a little extra..." or "I'll make so and so!" regardless of the expense of a meal.  Having a small supply in the kitchen which is replenished from the pantry is a much better idea.

After lunch had settled this afternoon I went back to the pantry and got it cleaned up.  I realized that I have nothing to do tomorrow except take my pile of things out to the shed and my brief morning routine.  What shall I do with practically a whole day free?

Thursday:  What did I do with a practically free day?  I started out working.  I waned to bleach the countertops in my kitchen.  It's a manmade material and over time begins to look a bit dingy.  If I scrub it, the green scrubby sponge scratches it badly.  So I lay down paper towels (1 layer) and spray it with a properly diluted bleach solution.  Even so the smell was rather heavy this morning and it was too cold to open windows.  I resorted to turning on the stove vent and walking out of the room.  Still a smell of bleach but I was not hanging about in the kitchen with it.  It did the job and I had only one or two stubborn stains that did need the green scrubby.

With the countertops looking spanking new all over again, it was easy to see that canisters and mixer and cookie jar and such also had to be cleaned.  That took up more of the morning than you'd expect.

I rearranged things I'd put on the mantel in the living room and  realized after about two hours of looking at it that it wasn't right at all.  It looked fussy and cluttered.  I took down the window frame I'd had on that wall and I know that is the right thing to do.  It filled the space, but I could never do anything more with it.  I found a picture in our room that I'd shoved in a corner that will work nicely with my seed packet artwork.  It's a floral as well.  The frame will be painted shortly and the piece hung above the mantel.  It's not enough to properly fill the space though.  I'm still working on what should go with it.

I've decided I am going to look for some pretty vases to use. I have loads of those cheap standard issue florists vases and they look cheap and standard issue.  I thought I might see what I could find that looked a little more dressy.  I have two fairly nice cut glass vases but they are too large to comfortably sit on the one table in the living room where I like to have a small arrangement of fresh flowers  The few pottery pieces I have are chipped.    Naturally the chips are along the lip of the vases where they're sure to be seen.  Time to let them go.

Lovely interlude between first and second coats of paint on the picture frame.  Bess and Isaac came to visit and have lunch with me.  They brought an excellent lunch of leftovers.  I was plenty hungry and pleased to have company and ready food.   

Isaac had a lovely two and half hours of climbing on the ottomans and chairs and sliding off them again.  He was very active and tired himself out for his afternoon nap.  We had to bribe him to leave, lol, even with reassurances that he'd be coming back tomorrow for a couple of hours.

I'd meant to do that vacuuming but only swept the kitchen and baths instead and called myself done for work for the day.  I found myself well and truly tired after they left to go home and spent the afternoon napping, scratching together a simple supper and toddling off to bed quite early. 

Friday:  The last day of another working week.  I slept right up until John called this morning to say he was on his way home.  I was happy to have some baked potatoes in the fridge I had not used which made for easy hash browns.  I reheated the sausage and egg muffin cups and made toast.  That meant I had time to shower and get a first cup of coffee before he came in.

John's been busy this week doing online CEUs for work license renewal.  Its meant that I've been pretty much left on my own to attend to what work I felt needed to be done.  This morning that was scrubbing the back splash behind the stove clean.   I also got the vacuuming done and then carted all the stuff out the door to the shed.  It took me five trips out the door to get all the stuff onto the porch, so I loaded it all into my car trunk and drove the car over to the shed.  It sounds lazy to say that but some of the stuff was quite heavy and awkward to manage.  I saved my energy there so that I could work on sorting out getting all the Christmas things put away properly.  I also put away properly those things I meant to keep and set other things to one side to be donated.  I spent roughly an hour outdoors working I think.

My only other tasks for today is to make dinner and supper meals and keep the boys for a couple of hours.  I really need to hurry on and start lunch...so I shall end here and wish you all a lovely weekend.  Do stop by and tell us what you did to save this week!