A Quick List

This is not food or money saving related. This is what is in my head, and needs to get out.

I have to; finish sewing Josh's pants, making a new dress for me, a tunic for him, finish mowing the yards(possible call Wyndswifts for help), finish reading Crust and Crumb, make bread, clean car, help sister move Saturday, clean house, pack 4-runner, go to Gym, make food for West War.

Ok so all of this has to do done by next Tuesday!! EEEKKKK! How am I going to do it!? I'm super-woman obviously. Oh, and in between all this I have to work 6-8 hours a day. Nothing like getting ready for War!

One Year!

I planned to write about our one year anniversary tonight, but fell into the trap of web Sudoku and laundry. Oh well, maybe tomorrow I will write about the most fabulous meal EVER! It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

Getting back on the bloggin' train!

There are several things I really like about the way Josh and I are eating recently.

One, I've never seen my husband eat vegetables so happily or easily. Two, we have cut way back on our eating lunch out. I've been able to get rid of several jars of mostly eaten things;like pickles, the sauce that would have taken us ages to use.

Along with the not eating out as much, we are saving tons. I pack our meals each day which takes me about 30 minutes. Often eggs and cheese are in the packs. Tonight as a bonus I made some bacon for breakfast tomorrow. I usually have coffee, and Josh drinks water. Lunches are a little more difficult to have variety, but between tuna, lunch meat, and leftovers, we seem to get by. I haven't gone grocery shopping in a while so things are a little repetitive, but after Friday things will pick up. That way I can pay close attention to how much we're actually saving, and maybe find some good recipes to share

This week hasn't been as good. Our old roommate and friend are up from California, and it seems that the three of us can't get together without beer being involved. I've also been crazy busy the last couple of days, so I haven't gone to the gym as much as I'd like, but progress is still being made!

Food Update

Quick update and then I have to go pack food for tomorrow.

I weighted myself at the gym this afternoon, and in 7 days I've lost 1.5 pounds!

I was shocked.

Making our lunch and breakfast is definitely the key to this "diet", and it saves a boat load of money.

I'll write up what we are eating and how much it's costing soon, but I'm getting tired.

Carbs anyone

It's been ages since I've written here, but really I've got nothing news worthy to post.

Now I feel that I do.

Josh and I have started a low carb diet. It's not Atkins, it's more being very aware of how many carbs we're eating. It's been 5 days, and I have to say I have tons of energy, up until about 10pm, then I crash.

I eat breakfast at about 830, have a snack about 1030, lunch is around noon, another snack around 3, and dinner at 530 or so.

Josh eats more carbs daily than I, but so far he seems to be doing well also. I eat anywhere from 30 to 50, and he eats 50-70. So far, the numbers feel about right. I say feel only because I haven't weighted myself since starting, but like I said I have lots of energy.

Anyway, I plan on weighting in on Monday, so we'll see then if it's working.

My bit of advice would be that I make all our food the night before. We each have a lunch bag with breakfast, lunch and snacks.

If you have any advice or comments I'd love to hear them.

Add title here...?

I have been a complete failure when it comes to posting. It's a horrible cycle actually, because I think about posting and then I feel guilt for not posting in so long and then don't write anything.

Hopefully this will get me over it and in the near future will write something productive. I do have things to say, and have found some more tips that have helped me in my money saving ways.

As for right now, Happy Easter!

Spring Break fever

Oh my goodness, and actual post!!

I've had a wonderful spring break. True, I was sick for the first couple of days, but Tuesday I went shopping on the coast with my closest friend Maggie. Of course it isn't a coast trip unless we get lost, so we spent an extra hour looking for a cafe, but that's just part of the fun. The food was worth the extra wait as well.. I buy pants about once a year, and so a trip to an outlet was in order. I got some great deals, and have jeans that will last a good year. Yay coast trip and good shopping deals.

Wednesday I went hiking with my favorite dog Zoomy, and other friends. I forgot that the hike I chose was basically a steep hill and I over did it. Ihave blisters on my heels and was exhausted but it was so worth it. It also showed me it's time it get back in shape and more hiking will be, coming.

Today, Maggie and I decided to make Chicken Makhina. This is my absolute favorite Indian dish.

Here's the recipe we used http://www.indobase.com/recipes/details/chicken-makhani.php.

It didn't exactly taste like the dish I normally have at the restaurant, but for a first attempt, it wasn't too bad.

Next time I would blend the sauce using an immersion blender, and add more spice. Possible more butter since butter makes everything better!

I served it with rice and had a spinach salad on the side, overall a tasty well-balanced meal.

The ingredients were easy to get and I had most of them so there wasn't many high cost in making this.

If I had to guess I would say this meal totaled 7 dollars! It made a huge amount, and I will definitely be making this again, with a few minor changes.

Thank you's for all!...kind of

I'm trying to write about my goals, but it's not coming out how I want it to. Sorry it's taking so long, but I do have things to say. Hopefully this week will be less busy and I can get it up. I've been consumed with cooking, and writing our wedding thank you notes.

I feel bad that's it's taken us so long to get them out, but I found I really creative way to do it.

This can be applied for any sort of note as well. I found card stock that is used for scrap booking. Every three sheets is a different pretty pattern or color scheme. I just folded them in half and BAM instant cards! I found them at Fred Meyer. The price was unbeatable. It was 10 dollars for 72, and I had a coupon for 2 dollars off. 8 bucks for all my thank you. True this does not include stamps and envelopes, but how can you beat the price.

Little savings make all the difference I'm telling ya!

Canning Success!

It's late and I'm tired, but I wanted to know you know that I used my pressure canner today and nothing exploded! It was amazing to know that I can make my owe soups(at leats ones without dairy) and safely can them. Very empowering!!

I'll write a more involved post soon, as well as an update on how my goals are coming along. Tonight I'm fried, and in the hundred or so words I've written, I've needed to correct about half of them. Bedtime I do believe!

Money Tip

I don't remember if I talked about this or not, but Josh and I are wanting to buy a house. I know it's a little counter-productive in the whole saving money game, but stay with me here.

About six weeks ago we decided that our rent was too high and we wanted to be proud home owners. We knew NOTHING about home buying, so i made a phone call to my mom's realtor, and she pointed us in the directions of a first time home buyers class. The class cost 45 dollars, but folks it was worth every last penny! It was terrifying to be talking about mortgages, insurance, APR rates, the list goes on. It felt like a very adult topic, and one I wasn't hundred percent sure we would be ready financially for. I honestly thought that after our first class we would be told, "what are you doing here you stupid children, house buying is for grown ups". Luckily, the instructors didn't shame us back to childhood, and happily answered questions we had.

Today, we went for our first financial counseling to see what our credit scores are. No, I won't tell you what they were, btu I can tell you that I was TERRIFIED to hear mine. I thought that it was going to be rock bottom, and our dreams of home ownership were light years away.

The news was good, and the counselor talked about our next steps. At one point I laughed and had to mention this blog. She said "This may seem obvious, but keep saving money. It's not rocket science, just put money in the bank." This is were the blog was mentioned. Hehe. It does seem obvious, but she's right. Just put money away.

The other great tip is offered was keeping track of every penny. I simply created an Excel spreadsheet. I am color-coding the categories by; fuel, groceries, clothes, rent/bills ect... Hopefully, this gives me an idea for where my money is going and where I can cut back. I recommended it to all.

Cans on the brain

All I can think about is canning. I can't wait until March 3rd, when my pressure canner comes.

I''m sorry if nobody wants to read about this, but remember canning can be a healthy, cost effective way to feed your family.

When you can you know exactly what is in those cans. I'm making chicken soup and lentil soup. Each contain carrots, onions, celery, and homemade chicken broth. Chicken of course is in the chicken soup, and lentils and chopped tomatoes went into the lentil batch. That's it! No preservatives, added sugar or other chemicals. I love that idea.

I'd love to know what you guys think. Do you can? If so, what is in your cans/jars?

Under Pressure

I love canning food. Last year a friend and I canned close to 60 pints of various jams, fillings, and applesauce. It was amazing! What we couldn't do is veggies, meats, or soups. These MUST be pressured canner. We were both too terrified to use a pressure canner, so fruits were good enough.

This week things changed. We've had a spell of bad weather and today the roads were so snowy that they cancelled snow(which in turn means I don't work). I had a feeling this would happen, so I bought some veggies yesterday, and got out a chicken and have been cooking all day. So far, lentil soup, yellow cake, and the first stages of curried chicken soup and chicken and rice have been made.

Now back to the pressure canner. Josh and I can't eat all these tasty thing before they go bad, so canning is my only choice. I asked around to see if anyone I knew had one, but nobody did, so buying one was my option. Amazon.com has amazing deals, so between March 2nd and March 5th I should be the proud owner of a new pressure canner.

Hopefully it doesn't explode, and I don't kill myself. :)

Mac and Cheese

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5ZGV51neqU

This is a video a friend found for mac and cheese. We cooked in bulk with the idea that we would cook these ahead of time and freeze them. They've been a success with both our husbands.

Super easy.

Cooking and buying in bulk is a huge time and money saver, if you have the space to save the food, and will actually eat it.

I realize that last sentence may seem a tad obvious, but American's waste about 12%-25% of their food.

http://www.goodcooking.com/ckbookrv/winter_02/foodfaqs/foodwaste.htm

(An interesting and sad article about our food waste).

Man, I wasn't meaning this post to be a downer, but this is an issue folks need to work on.

Food Savers for EVERYONE!

Coupons everywhere

For the first time in I don't know how long I did a month's worth of grocery shopping and stayed on budget.

I've tried several times in the past to do this, but I always seem going way over or not getting enough food. I attribute my success to coupons. I saved 20% using then, and brought loads of food.

Finding the coupons did not happen in one day, and planning the list didn't either.

I started with the coupon side. Websites like coupons.com and printable-coupons.blogspot.com are AMAZING website, that I highly recommend. They often coupons for a variety of things, and the sites are extremely easy to navigate.

As for the grocery list, I made it according to the coupons I clipped, as well the in store flyers. I used Excel which allowed me to write which item I had a coupon for and how many of each item I wanted.

I'm so thankful to have my chest freezer so I can buy in bulk and freeze it. I do this especially with breads, bagels, and meats that are on sale. Yes, I spend a little more in a grocery trip, but it saves money in the end.

In the end, it's all about knowing what your family eats. I'm not going to print a coupon for prepared biscuits if we're not going to eat them. It would be a waste of paper, as well as I would spend money for something we don't need. This doesn't save money!!

Buying in bulk, buying what you need, being organized and planning your meals does.

Good luck and have fun

Oh, I should mention I used 20 coupons at the store. I thought the clerk was going to cry when he saw them.

Goal Update Febuary

I thought I would give an update a month after I wrote my 2011 savings goals. I feel really good about the progress we've made. There's always room for work, but things are really going well.

“save 20 percent of my paycheck right away. This will be money I won't even think about.” This hasn't happened since I've been paying off debts. I don't want to save money if I'm paying interest on my bills.

“Cook our meals from scratch. This will take some menu planning but it's doable” This goal has been so much fun. I love creating our weekly menus, and cooking with Josh is a huge bonus. It does take some work as well as planning, but whats 20 minutes out of my week? :)

“Continue to use coupons” I can not begin to talk about how much success I've had using coupons. This week alone I will save over 20 dollars. That's a weeks worth of food for one of us. I am finding new websites almost weekly, and hopefully it will continue.

“Make menu plans for the week using food on sale” It does take some thought, but it does get done. Sometimes I write it on just a random piece of paper and other days I'm more formal, and type in in Excel

“ Cook meals not using meat. (This saves crazy amounts of money. Meatless meals often=more cash)” Josh has had a hard time with this goal. We went from eating nearly every meal with meal in it, to maybe 10 out of 21 meals. I have to say though it does save loads of money. Stir-fries are a great way to eat a filling meal, and we don't miss the meat at all.

“Pay off all credit card debt by the year of the year” This goal really should have said “be debt-free by the end of the year”. Last month I was able to pay off my wedding dress, and any money I was throwing at that, I'm now using for another bill. If I continue at this rate, I'll be debt-free by October.

“Lower the heat and wrap in blankets” I HATE this goal! I am now sitting here typing in my winter coat. The house is maybe 55 degrees. It's cold, and uncomfortable, but last month our heat bill was 20 dollars lower. In a year that's over 400 dollars. It may suck now, but 400 can pay for a lot.

“Maintain my car's upkeep/do most of the repairs ourselves*

*I was lucky enough to marry into a mechanically inclined family. I could not do the repairs without the huge help of Josh and his dad. Do not do the work if you don't have the experience. It's unsafe and can be very costly.” We haven't had to do any work on our cars since it's winter time. This does save huge amounts though. I know that we will have to replace my clutch soon, so we'll be working on the cars soon.

“Drive slowly and condense my trips.” This goal is boring, but it does work. I like having a car full of things form my days errands as well.

“ Eat out only twice a month. Order wisely” I can surprising say we have been very successful with this goal. I love cooking at home, and we try to have one nicer meal a week. So far so good. Last month we went out probably three times, instead of the usually six or seven.

“Treat myself occasionally. Bubble baths, red wine and warm fires.” I love my bubble baths, though I can't say my cats do. They think it's very unnatural that I willing submerge myself into water. They sit a cry at the tub's edge. It's so important to treat yourself though, and I don't want this to be a goal I slip up on.

Rough day with a silver lining

Originally posted January 11th 2011

I'm glad to be sitting at home tonight, my belly full of some AMAZING Curried Chicken Soup and in good company.

I can't say that the rest of my day has been all rainbows. Last night I paid bills. This is fairly easy for me since Josh tallies them all on a spread sheet and just tells me how much it is. We've tried different techniques, and this is definitely the one that works for us. Doing this monthly chore may be easy, but it very stressful last night in particular.

I coughed up the rent, utilities, cat bill, and car repayment happily. Feeling good about myself, I thought I would pay some on my wedding dress. When I opened that bill I was shocked!! Apparently, I had let the window of no interest slip, and now owed interest. This bill was MUCH more than I thought it would be. At the moment I sucked it up and wrote the check. Though, the feeling wasn't quite as good as I thought it would I did just pay off a bill that won't just sit collecting interest.

It was then that I realized I had my credit card to pay. I thought I could get away with paying only the minimum this month, but saw that that would not do. I wasn't going to get anywhere just paying 20 dollars a month on a high interest card. I panicked but not for long. I had a football game to distract me.

I had just spent most of my paycheck paying for my dress and living expense. I still had to buy food and gas for this month so I was stuck.

I went to bed feeling not so hot, but surprising I slept well.

Originally Posted January 11th 2011

Today is when I fell apart. I panicked at work, panicked at the bank, and on the phone with my poor husband. I thought of different ways I could pay all my and wished I hadn't thrown so much money at my silly wedding dress. There were multiple bouts of tears, eventually making me sick. Not on purpose, just from the nerves of the day. I didn't feel any better, and didn't make anything doing it.

Do not do this to yourself! It's bad not only healthy, but bad for your psyche.

Life does go on, and although I will have to be extremely creative in our meals this month it is doable.

The silver lining of all of this...I have one debt all paid off! Now, on to the next.

Work in progress

So since I deleted all of my posts accidentally four hours ago, I managed to recover all but three.

I want keep working on the way the blog looks and fixing the dates, so please be patient.

Ugg, I still can't believe I deleted them! It's was really dumb on my part.

An Unusual Morning

My day is off to an amazing start. Here I am laying in bed, drinking tea and playing with the kitties. It's really quite cost effective in several fronts.

1. I haven't had to turn on the heat since I'm under several comforters. My hands are a bit cold, but the rest of me is as warm as can be.

2. I've spent most of the morning finding coupons for my groceries. It's exciting not for most, but in less then 90 minutes I've saved almost 20 dollars. That's not a bad wage when you haven't gotten out of bed.

3. Since my dearest husband left early this morning, I haven't made breakfast. That's not to say I haven't eat, I just haven't made anything fancy. This morning I had tow piece of homemade bread and butter with a large cup of tea. All and all breakfast cost me about 50 cents. If Josh was here it would have been closer to 2 dollars

4. Sadly, Josh is not here and I wish he was. :(

5. Hmm, I had a fifth thing and now I can't remember it. I'm actually quite hyper and should probably get up and do something productive like load the dish washer, or laundry.

Getting there

I've been wanting to post about the pasta drying rack I made a couple weekends ago, but I've been either way too busy, or absolutely exhausted. I was barely functional today.

Anyway, I will post pictures of my awesome pasta drying rack, as well as, a series of pictures on my homemade pasta. It's made without a pasta roller so it's super easy!

Chili Glop Recipe

This recipe came from my dad. He came home one day for lunch and had lots of mouths to feed. The only think he could think of that was quick and easy was this. If I remember correctly, we also hadn't gone to the grocery store in a while, so this was pretty much all he had in the cupboard.

2 cups rice

2 cans of chili

1 can of corn

Shredded Cheese(optional)

Taco Sauce (optional)

Tortilla Chips (optional)

Cook 2 cups rice as directed.

Add chili and corn to cooked rice

Microwave if it has cooled

Add toppings if desired. I like cheese and taco sauce

Cheap, fast, tasty, and it makes plenty!

It's What's for Dinner

I know that when I first started reading about people writing out weekly menus, it seemed like a daunting task that would take many hours. This is not the case at all, and I thought I would show you the dinner ideas so far this month. It takes me about 15 minutes. I try to do them Sunday night, but that doesn't always work out.

NOTE: These are only dinners. I can't find where I won't down past lunches and breakfast.

Monday Jan 3rd: Spaghetti

Tuesday Jan. 4th Sloppy Joes with Steak fries

Wednesday Jan 5th Slow Cooker Chicken with rice

Thursday Jan 6th Scallops+Shrimp Fettuccine Alfredo and garlic bread (This was our most expensive meal this week made at home. It cost about 10 total, and we had lots of leftovers)

Friday Jan 7th Ate out-we each spent about 8 dollars

Saturday Jan 8th Sandwiches brought from home while at an SCA event

Sunday Jan 9th Tuna Casserole

Monday Jan 10th Tacos with a can of beans

Tuesday Jan 11th Chicken Curried Soup

Wednesday Jan 12th Leftovers

Thursday Jan 13th Homemade Pizza

Friday Jan 14th Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes

Saturday Jan 15th Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Sunday Jan16th We ate at a friend’s house. I made homemade apple pie. Two pies cost me about 1.50 total

Monday Jan17th Leftover Meatballs and mashed potatoes

Tuesday Chili Glop and Corn bread(it isn't as gross as it sounds. Chili Glop=rice, chili, corn mixed together, served with cheese and corn bread. YUMMY)

Wednesday Jan 18th Tuna Melts with Tator Tots

Thursday Jan 19th Udon and tempera veggies

Friday Jan 20th Shake and bake Chicken

That's it! Even though I budget our food money, it doesn't mean we eat rice and beans each day. I have to brag a little bit and say that for the month, I've only spent 120 dollars. That breaks down to 20 a week, per person!

As for lunches, we eat a lot of leftovers. I make enough of each meal for at least 2 lunches.

Breakfast is usually some kind of grain I made in the slow cooker. Two weeks ago it was wheat berries cooked in apple juice. 3 cups was enough for 15 1/2 cup servings! Cost effective and SUPER fillings. Yogurt and a breakfast bar is also popular.

Weekends are a little more robust. Waffles, scrambled eggs and bacon French toast. This isn't a money thing, it's that we have more time Saturday and Sunday.

So there you go. Hopefully this helps.

Update

I thought I'd drop a quick note about the money saving progress so far. I know it's only been 7 days, but our lives have started to change.

Sunday night I made a quick menu for the week's meals. This only took about 15 minutes and although we might not have eaten Tuesday's dinner( tuna casserole) that night (we had Sloppy Joes) we haven't strayed from the general idea. It's been much easier and less stressful to come home and know exactly what dinner is.

As an extra, super bonus to this is Josh has been cooking with me. I have so much fun when he's there.

Tonight was definately a splurge for our meal. We had scallops and bay shrimp Alfredo sauce over pasta. I also brought some amazing bread I turned into garlic bread. As a third special treat, I brought two large pieces of cake. This meal was definitely NOT budget-friendly, but we needed it.

We had an SCA event this weekend, and used that opportunity to dine out.

Twice a month we want to go out, and want better time to do so than with friends. We also went to restaurants at least one of us had not been to. Friday night was Dickie Joe's, Saturday morning, the restaurant in the hotel.

Both places were good, but I realized very quickly how much extra I was paying for these meals. I don't want to get into the habit of thinking like this when out(that's not the point, when the company is so nice). Enjoy the meal, and make it worth it!

To wrap it, I think we did great! The menu I made last Sunday had enough variety to keep it exciting, and we had so many leftovers that we ate well for lunches too.

Now to write this weeks menu. We have a football game party to go to tomorrow (Go DUCKS!), but this is not a problem. We'll just cook dinner there.

I'd love to know what you guys think!

Project Money Diet: Here we go

Happy 2011 everyone! 2010 was a great year for me, but not necessarily not bank account.

The time has come for my savings to get a boost. I've researched, experimented, and read more than I would like to admit on the subject. I've shared some of the information with you guys, and hopefully it helped. The internet has loads of tips, hints and strategies but finding ones that apply to you can be tricky. Don't be discouraged by this. Keep looking, and make sure that the advice is practical for you! Don't forget about credit card debt. Interest on credit cards is a silent money stealer.

So here's my plan;

· save 20 percent of my paycheck right away. This will be money I won't even think about.

· Cook our meals from scratch. This will take some menu planning but it's doable

· Continue to use coupons

· Make menu plans for the week using food on sale

· Cook meals not using meat. (This saves crazy amounts of money. Meatless meals often=more cash)

· Pay off all credit card debt by the year of the year

· Lower the heat and wrap in blankets

· Maintain my car's upkeep/do most of the repairs ourselves*

*I was lucky enough to marry into a mechanically inclined family. I could not do the repairs without the huge help of Josh and his dad. Do not do the work if you don't have the experience. It's unsafe and can be very costly.

· Drive slowly and condense my trips.

· Eat out only twice a month. Order wisely

· Treat myself occasionally. Bubble baths, red wine and warm fires.*

I feel very strongly about my last point. Life is to be enjoyed treated yourself is important. The treats don’t have to be expensive, and shouldn’t be if they a frequent.

So there it is; my saving ideas for 2011!

Happy New Year to everyone, I hope it’s a wonderful year for all

ROAD TRIP!!!

We're leaving in less than 24 hours!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited I want to explode, but the clean up would just be one more thing to do.

I still have tons to do, and oh yea, we're having a New Year's party so I have to make sure the house is clean for that. Right now it looks like a tasmanian devil rushed through.

Ok, enough blogging must continue Operation Holy Crap I Have So Much To Do, Must Focus!

Rockin' the 80's hair do

I know I keep saying that I will post about the money thing, but I'm WAY too distracted!
Holidays are rushing at me, and we have multiple families too see. We've already seen one side of Josh's for Christmas, and are trying to make it to the other but the days are numbered. Sunday we will celebrate with my mom and sister and I have exciting news...for the first time in 17 YEARS I will be with my dad in Wyoming for Christmas!!
Every time we talk, I can hear the smile through the phone. He couldn't be more excited and the same goes for me. Typing can't even begin to show how happy, anxious, thrilled...the list of emotions goes on :)
So there you go, the reason why I haven't posted anything significant. My thoughts have been cluttered with packing, the 16 hour drive(we broke it into two days), getting someone to care of the animals, oh my list list gets longer by the second.
Even better, my Christmas break started tonight and to kick it off Maggie and I decorated gingerbread people(there were girls too ) and taking pictures with our hair in 80's hair styles.
It was pretty crazy and there was lots of giggling. As always I will try to get some pictures up

Not forgotten

I have not forgotten about the blog.
I have been crazy busy. I'm also having a hard time writing about the whole money deal, so I' a little stuck.
Thanks for your patience!

Alone

I feel extremely alone sometimes, even when there are people around me.
Alone in how and what I think
Isolated from my friends, though I know that they're a call away
Distance from my husband when he's feet from me
I'm sitting here wrapped in a blanket cold, and sad without much reason.
Today started out ok, and ended poorly. My only hope is that tomorrow is better, and I can shake this feeling.
Maybe some cuddling and tv with hubby will help, one can only hope

Ramblings Ahoy!

I was going to write something intelligent here tonight. I was going to write more on saving money and the tricks I have found that work. Instead I had several Bourbon and 7's. They are extremely tasty, and satisfying after a long week.
Now all I can think about about is quotes from Hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com. Quotes like;"Boop, boop, boop, we are sound making buddies","I made food. I'm magical". The list goes on, but these were the funniest, and easiest to spell.
Again, I'm sorry if this post sucks. I've had several drinks, I thought it would be fun to post. In retrospect, it was probably a bad idea.
Sorry!!

I will try to post a totally sober post this weekend.

Thanksgiving Run-Around

My In-laws are his Grandparents. Loving, giving people ,who welcomed me into their family years before we were married.

My wonderfully crazy family. I love them all.

We made it through the holidays. They were nice, but not terribly entertaining. It was the first year of my life I have not spent it with my Grandma(she's not dead, I didn't go to Colorado). In that regard, it was an incredibly sad holiday.
Josh and I spent the holiday with both sides of his family. Thanksgiving lunch/dinnery thing was at his grandparents, and Friday was spent at his aunt's for Thanksgiving/Christmas. It was nice, but bittersweet not seeing my family for the actual holiday. I knew this day was coming, but that didn't make it any easier.
Saturday I drove Josh, my mom, and myself to Eugene to see my sister and aunt. It was a typical day with my mom, and I was so happy to finally see my sister, and equally happy to drop my mom off at the end of the day. It takes loads of energy to spend the day with my mom. Sad, but true.
Sunday was our day of rest. Hallelujah! We had Cinnabons for breakfast with Gwen and Max. Gwen introduced me to http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com READ THIS BLOG! She is hilarious. After a slow game of Scrabble, we headed over to THE BEST FAMILY EVER! I can't even begin to describe how great this family is. I love being with them. Josh and I took their little girls and one of their boys to Tangled. It was a great movie and I recommend it to anyone, young or old. It was what I remember Disney movies being like. There was a bad guy, a sad part, and a happy ending. Perfection!
Happy belated Thanksgiving everyone!

Make it Yourself Syrup. Yay!

One of my first memories of my mother, is her making bread. She did this every day, and buying bread was unheard of. My sister and I would ask for it as if it were a treat. Take this idea for making things at home. Things that are used often, and can be easily made. Take small steps at first. My mother was able to make bread often for several reason. One she was a stay at home mom with time, two she was great at it and most importantly she loved doing it! Just by making bread instead of buying it, she saved our family bucket loads. Now, I don't have time to make bread every day or even everything day so that option isn't practical for me. Think of things that work in your life.
For instance, we make waffles, pancakes and french often and use lots of syrup. Pure maple syrup is CRAZY expensive! Yea it taste good, and there is a difference between it and Mrs. Butterworth's, but still I can't really justify spending at least 8 dollars on 16 ounces of syrup at is sloshed on bread products. Then again, I hate the way the fake stuff tastes. It ruins the work I put into making the meal in the first place. What is my solution, make my own syrup! It takes about twenty minutes, and a small amount of work, but the results are well worth it.
Here's the recipe I used with my comments
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. maple extract
(I also had half of a whole vanilla bean that I tossed in and remove but adding maple extract)
THAT'S IT!
In medium sauce on medium to medium low heat stir constantly the water and sugar until slow thick bubbles appear. (This took 20 minutes on my stove, and I adjusted the temperature slightly. If you see smoke rise from the pan turn the burner down. If you don't you will burn the sugar, and it sucks to clean off!)
Once mixture has thicken remove from heat and add maple extract. (I could only find imitation, but I was pleasantly surprised)
Note: The syrup will be thin at first. It does thicken further when you refrigerate it.
So there you have it, taste homemade syrup that cost about 50 cents for 2 cups worth. Incredible if I do say so myself!

Project Money Diet-Update

It's kind of ironic that I'm giving an update on my finances when I've had the most expensive week in a long time. I kinda went a little crazy with the useless spending, but this is something I feel is important. In all the articles and books I've read about saving money they never mention this. This I believe is one of the downfalls.
Think of it like a diet. To be successful, you don't eliminate all desserts, salts, and fats. No, you cut back, and have dessert once a week, or have steak once a month instead of NEVER. The same principal applies here. Don't eliminate buying something for yourself, just cut back.
Example: Before I started this process Josh and I went out to eat at least 10 a month! At 20 bucks a pop it adds up quick. Today we went to breakfast. Spent 17 dollars, but it was the first time we'd gone out in two weeks. This month we've eaten out 4 times. Way better! We also our ordering smarter. We order things that I don't make often at home, and our orders tend to be cheaper. My meals are generally large enough that there's enough for two meals. I didn't finish my breakfast this morning so I get tasty hash browns, eggs with bacon tomorrow! Oh, we don't order drinks either. Everything I've read online, and experienced tells me that drinks, whether there are alcoholic or not, are one of the most profitable for a restaurant. The way we get around this....stick with water. Not exciting, but is great for you and your wallet.
Make these drinks at home! A cup of tea at home costs pennies!
Water from tap: free
Tea bag 10 cents
At Home Cost .10
Restaurant Cost 1.25 AT LEAST!!
Savings 1.15
How can you argue with that. Little changes are the way to go

As always, these are just my opinions. You can take them, adjust them, make them your owe! It's your money, but sometimes we need a little support

Getting there

Yes I will post again soon.
No I have not forgotten about the blog
Expect to read about more of Money Diet as well as some tasty recipes
Thank you Teivella for the encouragement :)

Project Money Diet

This is a topic we can all relate too. Money! It's everywhere, and it's in our lives daily whether we like it or not. Recently, money and I have not been so friendly. Last week was a very expensive week, and it's made me realize enough is enough. The loss of our roommate has also quickly forced us to reevaluate how we spend. Time is get real, as my mother would say. Fortunately, this is a topic that really does interest me and I've already read what seems like a great deal on the subject already.
Currently, I'm reading a book on how to go from a two income family to one income. It's not totally applicable, but the bones are there. It's 11 guidelines on living frugally without depriving yourself. This is something I feel is very important. It's similar to a food diet. If you can't have the cookie, that's all you think about. Let yourself have a cookie, but not the whole box. Let yourself vacation, but don't stay in the fanciest hotel. Try staying with family, or a lower priced hotel. It's way your not deprived, and you're saving at the same time.
So here's what I'm thinking for myself. Starting in January, Josh and I will be tightening our belts and hopefully saving some real cash. My long term goal will be to have a healthy down payment for our first house. Short term, I'd like to be debt free in 12 months. Now when I say I have it debt, most of it is owed either to myself or Josh, BUT if I don't look at it as debt I'll foget about it. I'll use this time to research methods, and formulate our plan.
What I'd like to ask from you guys is encouragement. Would anyone else want to do this will me? I'd love to hear your money saving tips if you want to share.

What a Rotten Week!

I never thought I would write this way but I've had such a rotten week that I have to vent.
Saturday: Saturday wasn't bad until 11:30 at night when it was pouring down rain and we couldn't find our little cat Lupin. He didn't come home until 4:30 Sunday morning, and although he wasn't wet, he was in a lot of pain. He had hurt his back left leg and spent the rets of the night under the bed.
Sunday: We decided to take Lupin to the vet early that morning. I thought that he might have dislocated his hip, but the vet at the animal hospital said it was probably just a sprain and Xrays were not needed. Josh and him came home with some pain medication, and he went straight my underwear drawer. (He sleeps there sometimes, and it isn't hard to get into). He was not a happy kitty all day. I had been working almost all weekend, and I although it was raining I thought I would take Buggy for a drive to an area I'd like to live. The area is way too off away from Corvallis, so the drive was kind of a bust. We were nearly back to her house, when all the sudden a balck car cuts the women off in front of me, and I run into her tailgate. We both slammed on the brakes, but because the road was wet we didn't stop just skid along. My car is just fine, minus a broken blinker light cover and a small dent in the bummer It's about 15 dollars, and 45 minutes of work time. Her tailgate and bummer fared much worse. I knew the damage woudl cost much more, but I don't find out the price until Tuesday. I called Josh and he came over to comfort me. That was the start of my bad week.
Monday: That day was pretty painless. Lupin was still in a great deal of pain, but he took his pain medication easily and I went off to work. I was suppose to get off home at 5pm, after working 3 13 hour shifts, but didn't actually get home until closer to 6:15pm. I know it's only an hour, but it's a lot of time when you haven't been home a lot. I was exhausted when I got home, and went to bed early.
Tuesday: Again the day was super bad, until Josh told me how much the repair bill was for the woman's tailgate and bumper. 1300-1500 DOLLARS!! HOLY CRAP!!!! I don't have that kind of money! So here comes the rescue from my father-in-law. He's a super hero when it comes to cars, and thinks that he can fix it for 600-800 dollars. That's way better, but still a lot of money and it's still shocking.
Wednesday. The best day of my week. Got home a little late after working 12 hours, but I made dinner and went to bed early. It was nice. I was still upset that Lupin wasn't healing, and we spent a chunk of time cuddling on the couch.
Thursday: This is when my week goes downhill. I woke up super tired, even after 9 hours of sleep. It's just so irritating to have a good nights sleep and to wake up not rested. Lupin still wasn't feeling better, so Josh made an appointment for that afternoon. I was able to get off an hour early, so I took Lupin to our normal vet. It was a quick exam, but the results were terrible! Weston, our wonderful vet, said that she agreed that Lupin probably had a dislocated hip, or a fractured pelvis. It took all my strenght not to cry then. She said that she would keep him overnight and in the morning take Xrays. Then, even more shocking was that she siad she hoped it was a fractured pelvis! WHAT!? Cats evidently are very good a healing this part of their body when they are left alone, and have some time. If it's a dislocated hip, when he would need surgery to correct it. Cats are dumb, and when they dislocate their hip once it's back it the chances of it coming out are far greater. So a surgeon removes the ball of the hip, and muscle tissue figures it out from there. I go home and tell Josh. He was just as upset, and then some.
Friday: Confirmed that Lupin has both a dislocated hip and a fractured pelvis! Damnit CAT! Because I don't have enough money problems, let's rack on paying for some cat surgery! Of course we are doing it, and in the long run spending the 900 dollars will be better. If we didn't do surgery, yes the bones would heal, but poorly, and in 5 or so years he would need a total hip replacement which is in the ball park of 5000 dollars, and it requires way more heal time.

So, in 6 days I have racked up another 1600 dollars in debt. I'm glad this week is over. I know next week will be better. Thanks for reading my rant. I'm sorry it was so long, but I feel much better after typing it all out.

Such Class

I am a classy woman, let me tell ya. Lats night was the epitome of class. The OSU-Washington game was on, and I sadly didn't think I'd be able to watch it. I had to finish a report, and I didn't get the channel it was on. Fortunately, the report took 15 minutes to fix, and I found the game online. BY MYSELF! It was awesome, and I was super proud of myself. Normally, if I can't find something online quickly, I ask Josh and magically he finds it in seconds. Last night was my night though, and I proved to myself that I can be totally successful. Anyway, I was laying on the couch wrapped in a blanket with a cat lying on my lap. This part sounds cute and calm, what isn't so much is me screaming at my computer monitor! All sorts of things; "Throw the dang ball, run run faster! No why, how could you do that" Profanities were thrown in there as well :)
It gets more classy. I need to mention that in the second quarter Josh got me a glass of tasty red wine.
So here I am, wearing Josh's sweat pants, wrapped in a blanket, swearing at the monitor, while drinking red wine. It was an awesome night, with the exception that OSU lost during double overtime. It was a good plan, but the play just didn't work out. Maybe next week the quarterback will learn NOT to throw to the other team

Picture Finally

Maid Marion and Robin Hood cake topper
Thanks to my AMAZING husband, I figured out how to put pictures up! No more wall o' text. Yippee.
That's our cake topper from our wedding cake. A huge thank you to Tim for show me the website where we found not only the cake topper, but matching cutting knife, and serving thingy. They are beautiful, and even better totally Josh and I. Love them!!

Funny Money-expect not!

I have a wonderful life. An amazing husband, whom I could go on and on about how wonderful he is, the most amazing friends, that are there for me always, and a job that is the best.
Through all this I still have my down days. Days where I stress about life. Days that despite all the joys in my life, I seem to only see the negatives. Lately, this has been happening. I think about money for most the day. How I wish I had more, how I hat ethe I have debts, and that I wish I hadn't used our wedding money to pay off my credit card. Josh insisted I do this, and although it was the right and smart thing to do, I hate the I had debt that I needed to pay off.
I wish that someone, and stranger maybe, would come up and say " You do good things in life. It's been hard on you, and here is 5,000, 10,000 whatever," It would ever happen, but man it would be nice.
Ok, a happier, yet money related note; Josh and I started seriously talking about buying a house. Where we live now is great, with the exception that it's right on a main road, and has become a little pricey for us. Even with a roommate it's difficult. Our lease is up next spring, and although I don't think we will be ready to buy then, now is the time to start thinking about it. Hence, thinking about money, and saving lots of it, in not a lot of time. We are going to look at an area this weekend, and hopefully we'll come out of it, not with the idea to move there, but more of what we want and do want as individuals and as a couple.

"Doing Science"

My blog has not been very exciting and I'm sorry for that. I don't have great adventures, and I don't go extravagant places. It's sad really, but for the most part I'm happy with my life.
Our roommate has loads of great stories, and is always up for experimenting with all sorts of things. He calls it "Doing Science" :). Well science was done in the kitchen Friday afternoon. We made ice cream with liquid nitrogen using my Kitchen-Aid mixer It was very pretty, and tasted smooth and velvety. It took a bit of trial and error, but, oh man, once we figured out what we were (I say we but really it was Josh and Tim) doing things were rolling. My job in the "science experiment" was to take pictures.
We started out with Bailey's liquor and liquid Nitrogen first with a whip-it attachment. We got lots of crystals but nothing close to ice cream. Whole milk, sugar, and vanilla were added as well as more nitrogen. Closer, but still not ice-cream-like. We changed attachment, and then POOF! ICE CREAM!! Smooth, rich, creamy, silky, sweet ice cream. It was amazing.
Maybe this will teach me to take ricks more often, and be willing to do something most people wouldn't even think of.

Work, if you could call it that

My job is simple, but not easy. I spent 9 hours a day with severe mental disabilities. She doesn't speak, and needs help doing the simplest things. She follow simple commands, and I don't have to feed her, but that about her limit. I don't see her as disabled though. She's my friend. I tell her more than I tell most people, and the fact that she doesn't speak is often a bonus. Yes my days do sometimes get long, but she's a riot. Buggy, has more personality than most "normal" people I know. She's funny, emotional, sweet, sensitive, loving, stubborn. All wrapped into one. I don't make a lot of money, but have always said, "i don't do my job for the paycheck, I do it because I can't imagine doign anything else". It's amazing that I get paid to socialize, and do "normal" adult things, like shopping, and exercise. The hours can get long, and the work does get monotonous, but I won't trade it for the world. Her family is amazing, and recognize how much I do for her. They treat me to lunch twice a week, and are very flexible with my hours, well when I leave at least :) I love her plain and simple.
People have asked why I don't get my nursing degree and earn more money, but truly it wouldn't matter. I don't want it anyway. I do my job, because of Buggy. I would work the hours I do for anyone else, plain and simple!

"There's Just So Many Cans!"

Remember last post when I said "I might be canning tomorrow"? Boy was that an understatement! Holy smokes. It the last 48 hours Gwen and I canned 43 1/2 quarts of jams, applesauce, dilly beans pie filling, and quince thingy. It was amazing! Once I figure out how to post pictures, I show you the madness.
It all started very innocently. Gwen sent me a message Friday night, "what are you doing tomorrow, I'm thinking of canning some jams" "Oh fun" I said. We meant at her dad's house at 1 Saturday afternoon. I had a 5 gallon bucket of apples from my backyard, a canning pot and some jars and lids. Oh and some dill, and pickling stuff from dilled(dilly) green beans. Manageable for an afternoon of football watching and canning. Gwen went to the upright freezer in the garage to pull out her fruit. Bag upon bag came out. Raspberries, Strawberries, Quince, Peaches, Blackberries, Blueberries. Loads! Probably 5 gallon bags and several smaller bags, filled with fruit. Oh my gosh!
She bought a new spiffy hand-crank apple peeler, that although took half a bucket of apple to figure out how to make it work, was AWESOME, and I plan on rarely hand-peeling an apple ever again! Peeling, coring, slicing and dicing the apples took over two hours, so by the time we got to the actual canning part it was almost 4. We started canning applesauce, and dilly beans first. Two giant pots for water baths, helped the process move along quickly, but it was still a juggling act to get all the pots in all the right places :) We made applesauce and stuff green beans into sterilizing jars. It was fun, and we had to be quick, The jars were hot, but we found out I'm indifferent to heat *grin*. Into the water bath they went. I can't remember what came next, probably more dilly beans and applesauce.
Some awesome brandied cherries was after that in the bath, and much to my surprise the jam came together extremely quickly. Gwen loved it, and if we hadn't had so much she would have happily eaten the entire pot! We had been canned now for several hours and and still had apple pie filling to can. Normally, I would have just waited until the next day, but we had gotten a head of ourselves earlier and already had the apples peeled, cored, and sliced. So we braved the late night, and quickly hot packed filling.
I was toast by now and it was after midnight. We had close to 30 quarts and I couldn't go on. I don't think Gwen could either, she was tired and all the football games were over.
The next day we got an earlier start. We were still there for 5 hours, but a chunk of that time was dedicated to making the kitchen look like a kitchen again instead of a horror film set. The jam had boiled over yesterday so we spent the first hour cleaning the stove top. That sucked, and I hope to never use a S.O.S. pad again. Our strawberry jam gave us more issues, but use we got it right, boy did it taste good! I can't wait to have it on my morning toast.
Mixed berry jam came next, and the taste was AMAZING! You can taste each of the different fruits, and it's a gorgeous color. This will be good over pancakes, french toast, ice cream, the list goes on.
Sorry for such a long post, but it was a long weekend. Totally worth it, and I can't wait to try my hand at canning other things. Maybe more veggies, and not so many apples, but it all depends on what next season brings me.

Looking for Excitement...

Let me start off by saying this post is in no way complaining about my life. I love how hard I work and the results that I see. I love that I married a man who loves me regardless of what mistakes I have made, or how crazy I can be.
One thing I would like to change though is what I do on a Friday night. Let me tell you things are not exciting around here tonight!! Josh is playing a computer game, and I am here, sitting on the computer with sweats on. You always see people getting all glammed up for a night on the town (at least in the movies). I'm not like that. Once in a blue moon, it happens, but it really has been years. I'd even like to thrown a dinner party. An actual dinner party, with nice dresses, and wine.
Really I do believe I am just rambling in this post, with nothing really to say. It's been a long week, not only work wise, but personally. I'm glad it's Friday, and I'm quite happy to sit here typing, and hanging out with Josh. I needed Friday to be here about three days ago, but it's made it and BOY AM I GLAD!
Ooooo, I think I'm canning more tomorrow. Yay pie filling!

Can, Can, I Can

As a posted a few days ago, I love fall. Yesterday and today I did a very fall activity, even though it was 80 degrees outside. I canned food, for the first time. It was so much fun, and once I figure out how to post pictures, I'll do so.
We have an apple tree in our field that has exploded this year, and I can't keep up, just eating the apples, so last month I had some applesauce. I'd never done it and it was SUPER easy. It was tasty, and I enjoyed making it, but you can only eat so much applesauce day after day. Canning comes into play here. Gwen had canned jam earlier in the summer and although I couldn't make it that time she had plenty left to can. It was the hottest day in September, but what the hell we said, we're canning! I made about 2 quarts of apple sauce and 1 quart lemon butter, and she had cucumbers she would turn into pickles. We started with my stuff first and although I didn't be any of the canning per say, and I played more of a supporting role it was a blast! Listening for the tiny "pops" as the jars sealed themselves never got old, and I can't wait to open my first jar.
Today, I was feeling ambitious and decided I would can apple pie filling by myself! I have to admit I was also putting off paperwork :) I peeling and sliced 16 cups of apples, soaking them in a water/lime juice bath to prevent browning. All the ingredients for the sauce I had on hand, so that was no sweat, though I did forget lemon juice...oops :) The sauce came together beautiful and everything was well timed, since the jars were done boiling just as the sauce had thicken. Pouring the boiling water out of the jars was a bit of a mind trick, since I was only holding the jars by basically metal tongs, but I was successful in not burning myself. Quickly, I stuff drained, sliced apple into jars,and ladled sauce into jars. Then it was just a waiting game, since the lidded jars went back into their boiling water bath for 20 minutes.
Now they are happily and slowly cooling in a Rubbermaid storage box. I can't believe how much fun it was, and I am grateful to Gwen for taking a crazy hot weekend to show me what it do. My next canning project will involve apples I'm sure. If you have any suggestions I would take them, and if you want to take any apples, please do

A Very Fall Day

Happy first day of Fall!!! This is my favorite time of year. I've watched the leaves turn beautiful colors for awhile, but now that the true season is here, it's amazing. It seems like over night the trees knew it was fall and time to shed their leaves.
I had a very fall like day. I raked leaves in flip flops and a fleece jacket. I was shocked to smell that someone had a fire going, but it made me happy at the same time. I love watching the leaves fall while warm and comfy inside. It makes me want to stay home and make apple pies, and drinks tasty things.
Speaking of tasty things, Josh and I made dinner together tonight. We had pan fried garlic red potatoes, and grilled steak. Recently, we haven't had a lot of steak, and I have to say Josh is great at making it. The potatoes would have been prefect if they had a bit of parmesan cheese, but that isn't necessary. The best part about this recipes is that it can be made in less than 45 minutes, and requires very little prep work.
I love cooking with Josh! It gives me a chance to share something with him that I love to do. Yesterday I work an 11 hour shift and when I got home I was totally brain fried. I made shake and bake chicken for him, and I ate an apple and popcorn. Not the classiest meals, but it did the job. With this new work schedule, I need to revise the meals I make and how I prepare them. I envision my slow-cooker getting used a whole lot more. I love coming home to the house smelling amazing, so I don't think this will be hard.

A Note of Appreciation!

I've thought about blogging for some time now. Should I blog? Would people read it? What would I write about? All questions I asked myself numerous times.
Should I blog...Why not?! I'm not hurting anyone, and I'd like to be able to look back at this and see that I have improved my life. That my thoughts have grown, and I have matured. True I have a Livejournal account, but recently that has been plagued with my complaints. I don't want this to be like that.
Would people read it...Do I care? The answer is yes to both. I want people to read what I have to say. I just don't want this blog to be my word vomit typed on a page, but something of meaning. I'd like to write about recipes I've had success with and those that were disastrous. I want to write about people who inspire me, and why. I have people who make me feel better, and I want to write how I feel about them.
This brings me to my first post topic: Appreciation.
Sadly, this is not a feeling a feel often. I work hard at my job, and at home, and there are lots of times this goes unnoticed, and the feeling a being unappreciated sets in. I believe it stems from how hard I worked growing up. Caring for my sister and my alcoholic mother was not easy, and something I wish on no one. I lost my childhood, and am just now beginning to realize how much I've given up. I'm not blaming it, I just believe that's the root.
Last weekend, I helped with a reenactment group (the SCA-I'll write about this later I'm sure) Josh are with. I ran the gate portion where people sign in, it's fairly important, and I've never done it before solo, so I was pretty nervous. Turns out I messed a few things up, and when I went for help I felt horrible! I thought I had royally screwed up, and my mistakes were huge. I told the right people, Lyndis, Jenara, Jacomas, and Ned. and they reassured me several times that things were fine. Hearing this I burst into tears. Tears of relief, tears of being over-whelmed, but mostly tears of appreciation, gratitude, and love! I had messed up and nobody was mad, nobody was yelling. Really, it was fine! Things were fixed, and I've learned from it. I can't even begin to describe how much I care for these people. I think you guys are top notch, and I truly appreciate all of you!
Sally