Thursday, January 31, 2013

January 31st, 2013

Well that's it, just like that an entire month of the new year is over as of today. The older we get the faster time seems to fly by, how I wish I knew how to slow things down.

Kara is sick again, to be honest I think its more that she kept a little of it all along and its just decided to cause trouble now. So she and I slept out in the livingroom last night, under the cloud of humidifier vapors, her on one couch me on the other, hoping the menthol vapors would aid her breathing and help her get some rest. A 3yr old who is up several times a night and doesn't get good nap due to stuffy head and coughing is a bad bad thing. She's be grouchier and grouchier as the days went by so it was time to take some serious action. She slept a bit better last night than she had in a few nights, she only got up once but once is a whole lot better than 3x + a night.

And no wonder why everyone is sick, 60*-70* weather monday and tuesday, then torrential rains and howling winds met with dramatically lower temps last night and this morning. This winter has been a merry-go-round of temperatures and conditions. Warm one day,snow and ice the next.

My day today will be mostly at home, I have laundry to catch up, meals to prep and the house to pick up. I hope to be able to go shopping this afternoon, I need some meats to get us through the month. I hope to find some great deals and not spend a fortune. We are seriously trying to eat all our meals at home and save some money, we have gotten very lax on eating out and we need to cut that out, we have several Dr Bills I would like to be able to pay off this year  and the sooner the better.

Not sure about dinner tonight, I need to check with the hubs and see what he would like to have for dinner tonight.

Enjoy your day!!!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Monday 1/28/2012

Good Icy morning to ya!!

We've started our day with an early morning phone call announcing school is out for the day (AGAIN) due to bad weather conditions. Right now it is currently sleet and freezing raining down on us. It's supposed to taper off later this morning and hopefully warm up some. Only time will tell!!

I really need to go grocery shopping, but with this weather and 3 kids home I don't know that I see it happening today.

I've got some leftover roast in the fridge I think I'll put in the crockpot to warm slowly for dinner tonight. Hopefully I have enough potatoes and sides to make into a great dinner for tonight. Since the meat is essentially already done I think I'll make some hm bread to go with it. Baking will warm the house up and this crew never turns down hm bread, so I'm sure it will be a hit!!!

Other plans will have me doing laundry and picking up this house, I told my husband he really should fire his maid, lol she certainly slacked off this past week.

Hope you have a great day, stay warm and be Safe!!!



Monday, January 21, 2013

Monday 1/21/2013

Good morning!!

Today is a no school-kids home all day- we're staying home all day- kind of day! Except for scouts later, we're not leaving the house!! Plus its like 20* out there! C.O.L.D !!

This is a new week and looking back over last week, we did well to not eat out, even on the weekends, even after church there was no family eating out!!! Which is a good thing because we've ran the bank acct way to low and payday is still a ways away. I'm dissapointed that we did this but less stressed because I did a big grocery shop at the end of last month and we've got enough to last us till pay day, except for a loaf of bread or a bag of chips for lunch boxes, we're doing ok, the bills all got paid so thats the big thing and really we need to stay out of the stores and out of the restaurants!!

So being home, with no money gave me time to concentrate on HOME and the things needed to make it run and how can I do it better, cheaper??

Here are somethings we've done this week to curb our spending or to be frugal:
We repaired a pair of dh's work pants, saving us as least 15.00 or more over having to buy new pants. I can usually get his work pants for 15.00+ on sale through a mail order company. Buying them name brand in town they are something like 40.00+ a pr. Being able to repair the clasp saved us tons!!

We ate all our meals at home. The boys had money in their lunch accounts and eat a few meals at school each week but mostly I pack both of their lunches as well as dh's lunch everyday!! Kara and I ate leftovers or whatever we had on hand for our lunches. But ya know now that I think about it she and I did eat out while we were at a play date, but that money didn't come out of our bank account it was money I had scraped together for just that occasion. So I guess I can't say we ate ALL of our meals at home, because she and I did eat lunch at a playdate.

We normally have hm pizza on friday night- which saves us from ordering out but I didnt' have enough cheese to make our normal pizza night so I used what I did have to make a pizza-esque lasagne. It was really good. Just like a supreme pizza only with lasagne noodles instead of crust, I also didn't have any ricotta so we just used a little mozzarella, it was different but it got eaten so I guess it wasn't to hateful, lol

Just being home,saved us on not using gas. Thats huge. And speaking of gas, I did need to fill up in order to be able to go to work, but I used my bonus points that I had been saving for a good long time and was able to fill up for 1.95 a gallon, I saved 1.40 a gallon with my gas points, AMAZING savings!!

I clipped most of my coupons yesterday and still have some to clip and hopefully I can match the coupons I have with whats on sale so that come payday we can restock the cupboard as cheaply as possible.

oh and a kitchen tip which is also a way to save money is: I will no longer buy those glass liquid measuring cups. They look great for a while then eventually the measurements start to fade off the side and they are essentually useless!! Instead I've been using my canning jars!! I have a quart size and a pint size canning jar with raised measurements on the side. I've tested using both in several recipes and they work great!!

Ok thats enough of my rambling for now!!
Enjoy your day!!



Thursday, January 17, 2013

Plans for today 1/17/2013

I am staying home- HOPEFULLY, lol

I have so much to do that I am behind on....dishes...laundry...cleaning...coupons...grocery lists... ahh the list goes on and on!!

So thats what I'll do today as well as mending, cooking, hopefully small snippets of crafting/gift making will take place here as well.

Not sure what dinner is tonight, I need to go looking  in the freezer to find out!! :)

Have a great day, the washer just stopped and I am determined to stay on top of my chore list and get done today!! Wish me luck!!!

Dana

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Tuesday 1/15/2013

Good morning!!

Here we are 15 days into the new year and I am still having to remind myself to type 2013 instead of 2012!!!

Today is my neice Lacie's birthday!! She is 11 today!!!

We are staying home for the most part today. I ended up taking K to the dr yesterday, she's a pretty sick little girl she's got an upper respitory infection, a really nasty middle ear infection and acute conjuctivitis in both eyes. She was so pitiful Sunday night that Monday morning I called the dr as soon as the office was open.

They've got her on 2 really strong antibiotics, the one she takes only 1x per day and the drops she uses 2x per day. The amazing thing is that these antibiotics must truly be a miracle drug because she's up and running around, her eyes are so much clearer and she's essentially acting like her bubbly happy self, which is a true blessing after seeing her crash and be lathargic and so sick just Sunday night. I'm not one of those run to the dr kind of mom's every time they sneeze funny but I am so glad I took her and she's back to her happy little self!!

So other than the dr yesterday we've been holed up at home pretty much quarantined ourselves to give the antibiotics time to do their thing and to make sure no one else came down with anything. I am happy to report that the boys are great, Daddy and I are fine and looks like we escaped sharing the ickies!! 

I've got laundry to do and normal household chores. I'll lay out some chicken breasts for dinner, I promised B that I would make him one of his favorite dinners tonight Crispy Chicken Alfredo, I'll also make Broccolli and Corn, the kids like corn and Daddy and I prefer broccolli!!

K has a date today with the couch propped up and watching movies. I'll join her, I've got crochet work to do, coupons to clip (2 weeks worth, I'm a slacker, lol ) and so we are just taking it easy to make sure she's continuing to heal and get better, she's doing great the meds are definately working but I want her to have the best possible and quickest recovery, so she can enjoy her play date scheduled for this week, its been months since she's seen her little friend and I want to make sure she's good and on the mend before we get there, we don't want to share any yuckies with our friends!!

So thats our day today!! Hope you enjoy yours, and be careful!! Looks like some nasty weather could be moving in tonight!!!



Thursday, January 10, 2013

Thursday 1/10/2013

Good morning!!

My plans for today have been changed  *again* so I am just going to stay home  and catch up with things around here!!

I was supposed to help a friend today with her kids, but thats been changed.  Her husband is having surgery today, My friend is really sick and so are most of her kids so instead I'll make dinner for them and take it over later once they are all home.

I've cut alot of meat off of a ham I've baked recently and froze the dices to use later on, I've got the ham bone cooking in a huge pot and a 2 pounds of beans soaking. I'll cook the meat off the bones and then make some good bean soup!! I'll make some corn bread to go with it as well, then once they are all home I'll take it over for them to enjoy and give her the night off. This pot of soup will make plenty for us and plenty to share!! And its all from leftovers  except for the beans I LOVE IT!!!

While that ham bone boils away I've got tons to do here, laundry, dishes and regular housework. I  also need to read over my books and make sure I am ready for my class on saturday. and I have kids to love on!!  Busy Busy and I love it!!

Enjoy your day!!
Dana



Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Wednesday 1/3/2013

Wow that feels weird to write, 2013!!!

Today is a back to normal kind of day for us, I've packed the hubs lunch and he is off to work, the boys are off to school and that leaves little miss and I home today to take care of the laundry, dishes and housework.

I am fixing to put some leftover roast in the crockpot to cook off the bones and I'll turn it into dinner for tonight.I am thinking beef and gravy over hm buttermilk biscuits mmm sounds good to me. Or maybe beef, mushrooms and gravy over rice, mmm either way it will be great. Great for the budget to use up leftovers and great for the tummies because they'll be full of yumminess!! Win-Win if you ask me!!

Looks like this week will be full of leftovers. I baked a ham on Sunday. We've been enjoying it since!! On sunday we had Ham and Fried Potatoes, Monday dh took a ham sandwich in his lunch box, then Monday night we had more Ham made into Ham, egg and cheese on Toast, YUMMY. Today dh took a ham sandwich in his lunch box,and if I get to it today I plan on cutting up what I can to make him sandwiches for the rest of the work week, and also to cube some to use in fried rice. I also have some veggie platter leftovers from Saturday's birthday celebration for our daughter, I'll use the veggie platter leftovers in stirfry, there's carrots, broccolli, snow peas and celery, that will make a great stir fry!!  That ham was decent size so I'm hoping in addition to the  fried rice I have planned I'll be able to freeze some for later use either in more yummy fried rice or with eggs in an omlet or in Scallopped potatoes with ham, hmmm I LOVE leftovers!!

Well I better get busy, lots to do and just me and Boo here to get it done!! I'm thankful that we took the tree down yesterday while everyone was here to help, thats one less thing that needs done :)