A Year of Savings: 2013

June 1:  We ate out yesterday and it was just lovely...but we normally eat out after synagogue each Shabat as well.  I suggested to John last night that we skip eating out.  I made a big salad and planned to put one of those frozen pizzas bought on sale into the oven when we came in.  True we had to wait a little longer to eat, but we saved $10 that we'd normally spend on a value menu selection for the two of us.  My pizza cost just $5 and we only ate half.  Lunch for 2 for about $3 is a nice savings I think.  Savings of $7.

Questions, Answers, Comments, etc.

Karla, I know just what you mean about the leak at the back door.  I wonder if your set up is similar to mine.  We only have the deck on the back of the house and in a heavy rainstorm the water runs along the top of the door frame.  It then drains down through the frame itself and between the door and storm door.

Fingers crossed here... we're getting an estimate worked up on putting up more stable railings and a roof over our back deck which will officially make it a porch.  It occurred to me this evening that means furniture, plants, porch decor.

A Late Menu Post...Stormy Weather

I was roughing out a menu plan early when the thunder that had grumbled and rumbled and complained all afternoon long finally turned into a heavy downpour.  That heavy downpour soon became a rather rough and rowdy thunderstorm.  We lost electricity, hail pelted down, and then I heard a sustained roar of wind and the floor under my feet shook a bit.  I ran to get John, who was strumming guitar in the music room and we dove into the bedroom closet (center of house and the only safe spot here on our place).

A Year of Savings: 2013

May 8:  Mama gave me a stack of her recently read, still current, magazines.  And a bundle of coupons from her Sunday paper.  I consider it a score on two counts: I can stock up on any really excellent buys on personal care or pet food if a sale comes along with those additional coupons.  I make good use of the magazines: first I read them for inspiration and ideas, I gather coupons from them, I remove the photos and recipes I can use or want to ship off to the younger ones for their use.

Bought cushions for the patio furniture today.  I looked at the dollar store sale and the cushions were nice, but not enough of any one kind to make out.  These were just a little more than the sale price at the dollar store, but comparable to the usual price and I think better quality.

Coffee Chat - Back To Basics x 3

Come on in and have a cup of coffee or a glass of iced tea with me.  There are a few Lemon Brownies left...Not sure why they are called brownies but they are lemon for sure and pretty good.  It's a Pinterest recipe and is fairly inexpensive to make.  John's not fond of sharply lemon-y treats so I took advantage of it being Mama's birthday dinner.  I'll be making a chocolate cake here in the next day or two, with chocolate frosting, per his request.  It's a recipe I've held on to years and have never made. We'll see how it turns out.  I'd meant to make it Monday but I discovered I had only three eggs and I needed them for breakfast the next morning.  John does like his breakfast eggs and I'd already skipped them that morning in favor of another breakfast protein.

Menu Plan Monday

Well here we are once more.  Time to get back into routine.  Holiday aside, meals are planned once more.  Next task today: begin a freezer and pantry inventory.  It's moving on towards June now and high time I checked to see what I've got on hand and what is needed in the months ahead.

I had a 'practice' run of pantry cooking this weekend.  I skipped grocery shopping last pay period, saving my money for food for a little trip we took last week.  Not replenishing at home was fine...until we had to prepare a company dinner...I made a meal which will appear below in the menu plan, but it was a scraped together affair.  Truthfully, I might have made it until grocery day this week if I'd tried, but John was paid early due to the holiday, Publix had some too good to miss sales on items we can't buy at Aldi and when John was called in to cover for the other team due to a holiday presentation at Andersonville, I took advantage of his being gone and went off to pick up the sales items and enough produce to get us through until we go to Aldi later this week.  It's amazing how just having lettuce and tomato and an apple or two on hand can feel like a booster shot to the pantry.

Come Join the Creative Home Acre Hop

I love reading Manuela's blog.  She's co-hosting the Creative Home Acre Hop.  This week I'm featuring my 'new' table.