I Hate Snow! Part 2

Well, here's an update to our snow storm. These pictures were taken just after 5 pm today.


The approach to our stairwell. This is after they had run the snowblower for the 2nd time today on it.

One of neighbor's vehicle buried under snow and plowed/drifted in.

I drive the Aztek that's in this picture. This was what I had to drive over when I came back from my appointment.

Another view of the cars. If I recall correctly, the one next to me that's covered didn't move all day.

Looking out my back door.

You can come get your snow anytime Shirla!

I Hate Snow!

I'm a GRITS (Girl Raised In The South). If we got as much snow as we've gotten here in the past two hours my hometown would be totally shut down. Most, if not all, of the schools here in Metro Detroit are closed today. They are forecasting 3" south of Detroit and possibly up to a foot of snow north of Detroit. We live right on the edge of the line that divides the 6"-9" section and the 9"+ section. This is what my fleece looked like after just a few minutes outside to take pics.

The back end of my vehicle. I should go out and brush it off but figure I will do that while I let it warm up.

My footprints on the walkway. We had 2"-3" at that time.

This pic is out the back door. This is my bistro set.

Video taken about 7:30 am. Snow had been falling for just over 2 hours.

I wouldn't mind this if I didn't have to go out in it. I have an appointment at 11 am and then will be picking up the kids tonight. Luckily, this system is scheduled to be over about 4 pm.

Who Made Mother Nature Mad At Me?

Ok, somebody got Mother Nature mad at me. I had an ugly commute home on Tuesday due to a snowstorm. We got about 3 inches from that storm.

Overnight until tomorrow afternoon we have a Winter Storm Warning up for our area. They are calling for 6 to 10 inches of snow tomorrow. I have an appointment tomorrow at 11 am. Luckily it's not that far from home.

I'll take some pics tomorrow as we're getting hit. Looking out the window now all I see is white.

He Said, She Said

Received this in an e-mail today. Thought it was pretty cute, especially the last line.


He said.......She said






Marriage (Part I )


Typical macho man married typical good-looking lady, and after the wedding, he laid down the following rules:" I'll be home when I want, if I want and at what time I want -- and I don't expect any hassle from you. I expect a great dinner to be on the table unless I tell you that I won't be home for dinner.
I'll go hunting, fishing, boozing, and card-playing when I want with my old buddies, and don't you give me a hard time about it.Those are my rules. Any comments?"

His new bride said: "No, that's fine with me. Just understand that there will be sexhere at seven o'clock every night...whether you're here or not."

(DARN SHE'S GOOD!)

******************* *****************************

Marriage (Part II)

Husband and wife had a bitter quarrel on the day of their 40th wedding anniversary!

The husband yells, "When you die, I'm getting you a headstone that reads, 'Here Lies My Wife -- Cold As Ever'!"

"Yeah?" she replies. "When you die, I'm getting you a headstone that reads, 'Here Lies My Husband -- Stiff At Last'!"

(HE ASKED FOR IT!)


*********************************** ******

Marriage (Part III)

Husband (a doctor) and his wife are having a fight at the breakfast table. Husband gets up in a rage and says, "And you are no good in bed either," and storms out of the house.

After some time he realizes he was nasty and decides to make amends and rings her up. She comes to the phone after many rings, and the irritated husband says, "What took you so long to answer to the phone?"

She says, "I was in bed." "In bed this early, doing what?" "Getting a second opinion!"

(YEP, HE HAD THAT COMING, TOO!)

*****************************************

Marriage (Part IV)

A man has six children and is very proud of his achievement.He is so proud of himself, that he starts calling hiswife," Mother of Six" in spite of her objections.

One night, they go to a party. The man decides that it is time to go home and wants to find out if his wife is ready to leave as well. He shouts at the top of his voice, "Shall we go home Mother of Six?"

His wife, irritated by her husband's lack of discretion, shouts right back, "Any time you're ready, Father of Four."

(RIGHT ON, LADY!)

*****************************************

THE SILENT TREATMENT

A man and his wife were having some problems at home and were giving each other the silent treatment.Suddenly the man realized that the next day he would need his wife to wake him at 5:00 AM for an early morning business flight.Not wanting to be the first to break the silence (and LOSE), he wrote on a piece of paper, "Please wake me at 5:00 AM." He left it where he knew she would find it.

The next morning the man woke up, only to discover itwas 9:00 AM and he had missed his flight. Furious, he was about to go to see why his wife hadn't wakened him when he noticed a piece of paper by the bed. The paper said, "It is 5:00 AM. Wake up."

Men are not equipped for these kinds of contests.

*****************************************

God may have created man before woman, but there is always a rough draft before the masterpiece.

What Type of Christmas Tree Are You?

Found this on Julieann's blog:

What Christmas Tree Are You?



I am:

You Are a Cranberry and Popcorn Strung Tree
Christmas is all about showcasing your creative talents.From cookies to nicely wrapped presents, your unique creations impress everyone.

A Visit From An Elf

I used to post often on an AOL message board. We have been doing a Santa Swap for as long as I've been on the board. A few years ago during one of the swaps, the Elf Wars started. It is said that there are only two sides: Elf Eater or Elf Protector. Supposedly, you can not be neutral on the matter.

Samantha and I put the 3 foot tree up in the kids' room on Sunday. As we were decorating it I came across this little guy. I don't recall him from previous years. I guess he has decided that I am an Elf Protector. He is perched up at the top of the tree keeping an eye over the room and the Sugar Pigs.

Saturday Snow

This was the scene out the back door late Saturday morning. We ended up with maybe 2 inches of snow. It is going away today as we've had a steady rain today along with above freezing temperatures.

Are You A Jackie Or A Marilyn?

Found this on another blog:

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are an Ingrid!

You are an Ingrid -- "I am unique"

Ingrids have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Give me plenty of compliments. They mean a lot to me.
• * Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself.
• * Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision.
• * Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little.
• * Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting!

What I Like About Being an Ingrid

• * my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level
• * my ability to establish warm connections with people
• * admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life
• * my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor
• * being unique and being seen as unique by others
• * having aesthetic sensibilities
• * being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me

What's Hard About Being an Ingrid

• * experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair
• * feelings of self-hatred and shame; believing I don't deserve to be loved
• * feeling guilty when I disappoint people
• * feeling hurt or attacked when someone misundertands me
• * expecting too much from myself and life
• * fearing being abandoned
• * obsessing over resentments
• * longing for what I don't have

Ingrids as Children Often

• * have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original games
• * are very sensitive
• * feel that they don't fit in
• * believe they are missing something that other people have
• * attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc.
• * become antiauthoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood
• * feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce)

Ingrids as Parents

• * help their children become who they really are
• * support their children's creativity and originality
• * are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings
• * are sometimes overly critical or overly protective
• * are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at

http://www.okcupid.com/tests/are-you-a-jackie-or-a-marilyn-or-someone-else-mad-menera-female-icon-quiz

For Shirla

This is what I saw out my back door today. It was a very brief shower though.

Thursday's Dinner 12/4

I felt a little sorry for Shawn after my Tarheels beat his Spartans Wednesday night. I stopped by Meijer on the way home from helping a friend. I picked up some steaks, bagged salad, fresh mushrooms and stuffed portabellos. I cooked them up along with some Baby Red instant potatos and Crescent Rounds. Shawn was pleasantly surprised to come home to this meal.

My "new" pans

Shawn brought home a surprise the other day. He located these pans while he was working. The pans that are stacked on top of each other share the same lid. I used these Thursday night to cook dinner in. I have included a picture of the bottom of the pans in case anyone knows anything about this brand. There is a lone T-Fal pan. It's the one with the one red spot in the middle.

A House Divided *PIC ADDED

Well, Shawn and I got some interesting looks tonight at Ford Field. Normally football is the name of the game at this stadium. Tonight though it was the site of one of the games of the 2008 ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Tonight's game was Michigan State vs North Carolina. As the title of the post indicates, we are a house divided. Shawn was born and raised in Michigan while I was born and raised in North Carolina. We both chose to support our respective teams with our clothing choices tonight. I hope to edit this post tomorrow with pics of our outfits.

MSU put up a valiant effort but UNC took them to school. Final score: UNC 98 - MSU 63. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of Carolina Blue I saw in the crowd. Shawn and I had an enjoyable evening for about $60 (tickets, parking and refreshments). Tonight's game was a test run for the city as Ford Field is the site of the Final Four for this season's NCAA Tournament.

I hope to be seeing my Tarheels back in town in March/April. Also, before I have any haters from the Big 10 say anything, I will root for a Big 10 team as long as they are not playing an ACC team.

Search & Shop For Kids

Ok, the title can be a bit misleading. Some may have noticed that I added something new to my sidebar. The POHI Parents Group that we are involved with for Samantha's school has teamed up with GoodSearch. The button below will link you right to a search page for our organization. The group raises funds to help provide equipment and/or supplies that are necessary for the children but the school may not be able to obtain in their budget.

The way it works is that you would use GoodSearch just as you would use Yahoo!, Google, etc. For each regular search (images searches don't count), the group earns 1 cent. There is also a program called GoodShop. It teams with numerous merchants. You would go to the merchant's website through a link with GoodShop and a portion of your purchase would be donated to the group.

Feel free to look at the site and make up your own mind. If you have any questions please ask. I will answer any question asked. If I don't know the answer, I will find it for you.

C.O.R.N.

We had some interesting meals this weekend and lots of leftovers. I decided to have a CORN (Clean Out Refrigerator Night) dinner.

I combined:

1 lb box of uncooked radiatore
1 cup (?) cubed ham (not sure on amount, just cubed up some from the half ham we had this weekend)
1/2 jar salsa
1/2 can black olives (I sliced them up)
1 small onion sliced
1 can tomato soup
1 can water
leftover chili with beans that Shawn & Nick used when trying to make nachos this weekend
shredded colby cheese

I combined them all in a 9x13 casserole dish and currently have it in the oven at 350 degrees. We'll see how it comes out.

Another Kroger Trip

I got home from yesterday's trip and sat down with my coupons and started matching things up. I went today armed with a whole pile of coupons. I felt sorry for the person behind me although both them and the cashier asked me to write down the websites for ShortCuts and CellFire.

Here's what I got today. I started writing down prices and coupons I used but stopped partway through. I'll post totals at the end.

1 box Corn Chex

1 box Rice Chex

2 box Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa mix

1 bottle Tabasco sauce

3 Betty Crocker cake mix

1 Kotex pads

1 Betty Crocker Frosting

2 cans Libby's pumpkin

1 Suave lotion

2 Colgate toothpastes

2 cans Progresso soup

1 Goody Ouchless ponytail holders

2 5lb Domino sugar

8 cans Kroger sweet peas

4 cans Kroger green beans

4 cans Kroger french style green beans (donated to food drive at storage place to get 10% off rent for the month)

4 cans Kroger corn

10 boxes Uncle Ben's rice

1 box Active Lifestyle instant oatmeal

4 pouches Bettty Crocker potatoes

4 pouches Idahoan potatoes

4 bags Pillsbury frozen dinner rolls

2 cans Reddi Whip

2 boxes GoGurt

1 Pillsbury Dough Sheets

2 Pillsbury Ready To Bake Cookies

3 Buddig Deli Cuts Ham

6 Yoplait yogurt

2 pomegranates

2 cans Grands biscuits

3 cans Crescent rounds

2 boxes Green Giant veggies

1 Kraft Bagel-fuls

1 Pepperidge Farm Texas Toast

2 Coffee Mate liquid creamer

I think I have everything listed. Everything is in the pictures though. Now for the totals.

Total Coupons: $99.45

Total Savings: 58%

Total Spent: $71.72

Target & Kroger

I made a trip to Kroger & Target today. I did pretty good at both stores. I recently discovered ShortCuts and CellFire. Both sites allow you to load E-coupons onto your Kroger loyalty card that you can stack with Manufacturer coupons. They also have coupons on ShortCuts for Kroger brand items. I also found some awesome Manager's Specials (MS) at Kroger.

What I got at Kroger:

1 24 pk Ice Mountain Water - Free with coupon Kroger mailed me
2 loaves Kroger Wheat Bread - $1 for one, $0.49 for one (MS)
1 loaf Jewish Rye Bread - $0.89 (MS)
1 Betty Crocker Frosting - $1.67 minus $0.55 coupon from Shortcuts
2 15 stick packs Juicy Fruit
2 15 stick packs Big Red
2 15 stick packs WinterFresh - All the gums were 10/$10 and there were coupons by them for B1G1
2 14 piece packs Orbit gum - $1.19/pack on B1G1 special
5 Honeycrisp apples - $1.98/lb. - $5.17 minus $1.50 off $5 of fresh fruit from Kroger mailing
3 cans Pilsbury Crescent rolls - 3/$5 minus 2 $0.50 Shortcuts coupons and $0.75/3 Blinkie
2 boxes Green Giant Veggies - 10/$10 minus $0.50 Shortcuts coupon
2 Healthy Choice microwave soups - They rang up $2.69 but I thought they were a different price. I did have a $0.45/2 blinkie.
3 Betty Crocker Cake Mixes - 10/$10 minus $0.50 Shortcuts coupon - Looks like they gave me a Shortcuts $0.50 off frosting one off them also
1 Betty Crocker Double Chocolate Cookie Mix - $2.29 minus $0.55 Shortcuts
1 pkg Kroger Shredded Cheese - 3/$5 minus $0.45 Shortcuts
3 pkgs Ore-Ida Steam & Mash potatoes - 2/$6 minus $1 Shortcuts, 2 $1 manuf. coupons and 1 manuf coupon for B2G1 (We weren't that impressed when I tried them for SheSpeaks but for $1/pkg we'll take them)
1 pkg Private Selection German Chocolate cake ice cream - $2.50 minus $0.75 Shortcuts
2 Pilsbury Ready to Bake Cookies - 2/$5 minus $0.50 Shortcuts and $1.50/2 Blinkie
1 box Active Lifestyle Instant Oatmeal - $1.99 Free with E-coupon from Cellfire
2 12 oz pkgs of deli style Honey Ham lunch meat - $0.99 each (MS)
4 pkgs Kraft 2% chunk cheese (Colby) - $0.65 each (MS)
2 pkgs Kraft 2% chunk cheese (Mild Cheddar) - $0.75 each (MS)
2 pkgs Kraft 2% chunk cheese (Sharp Cheddar) - $0.50 each (MS)
1 box Peperidge Farm Texas Toast - $2.50 minus $1 Cellfire
1 Old El Paso Enchilada Dinner Kit - $3.19 minus $0.50 Shortcuts

Total Spent (after $9.50 bottle return and $0.25 bag credit): $32.82


Target's haul was much smaller but was better overall savings I think.

2 3.5 lb bags of Kitten Chow - $4.19 each minus $4 internet coupon for each
2 bags Friskies cat treats - $2.89 each minus $3 internet coupon for each
1 pkg Goody Ouchless ponytail holders - $2.19 minus $2 internet coupon
1 bag Flat Earth Veggie Crisps - $2.50 minus $1 peelie
2 boxes Betty Crocker Roasted Garlic Taters - $0.79 each minus $1/2 manuf. coupon
1 box Market Pantry tea bags - $1.87

I do get a 10% discount at Target due to my job. I had a total discount of $2.14. There is also no tax on food in Michigan. I did pay $0.88 tax on the cat products that I will be giving to my Mother-in-law who recently got a new kitten.

Total paid at Target: $3.04

Having Some Fun With Santa

Those from KF will get a kick out of this:

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

MAY YOU GET ALL TREATS AND NO TRICKS!

Monday's Dinner

This was Monday's dinner. It's the only night I've really cooked dinner so far this week. I made the meat and veggies in the crockpot. We had: Corned Beef Brisket, onions/carrots/mushrooms cooked in crockpot with corned beef and butter, mashed taters with HM gravy and my humble attempt at biscuits.

My attempt at biscuits

As part of dinner on Monday I decided to try my hand at making biscuits as we didn't have any "Whomp" biscuits.

I only had two ingredients: Baking Mix and milk

Adding the milk into the mix
All mixed up

Before rolling on the floured counter. I forgot to take a picture of it all rolled out. That's where the problem was. I rolled it too thin.

Some of the finished product. The rolled ones are the product of using up the scraps left after cutting out the biscuits.

I think my main problem was that I rolled it out too thin. I might try it again. Let's just say that these were not the best part of dinner.

Yummy In My Tummy

I have a POHI Parents Group meeting tonight. We will be getting the prizes for the sucker pull at conferences organized. The group is purchasing pizza to eat while we are working. I figured I'd bring dessert. These are Devil's Food cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting. I had to make sure to take pictures of these since I didn't last week and Shirla called me on it.

I've been playing around with a Cookie & Cupcake Decorating kit I picked up on Holiday clearance. I only got 20 of the 24 cupcakes I made frosted but it's ok because that's all that would fit on my tray.

Long day

First, The Who rocked last night. We had some great seats and the guys put on an awesome show. Ringo Starr's son was the drummer last night. We got home just before midnight last night. We were then up at 4:20 in order to get going for the day. I dropped Shawn off at his coworker's house and then headed to Shawn's ex's house to get the kids off to school. After getting them off, I went to help a friend out until 3 pm. As I stated in yesterday's post I switched shifts with someone so I was scheduled today 4-7pm. I ended up leaving at 6 pm as we had some appointments not show up. I'm going to head to bed shortly as I'm about ready to crash.

One last word about the concert last night. It was hilarious to hear Pete Townsend's description of Eric Clapton from back in the day.

Dinner out tonight

Well, I was supposed to work tonight 5-8. I switched with someone though so that I would be able to pick up Shawn and we could get to The Palace. Back in August, we won tickets before you could buy them to see The Who. I had to run out to the radio station today to pick up the tickets. I just realized I need to look up where our seats are. I do know from glancing at the section that we are in the upper bowl. Can't complain for free tickets. They don't allow pictures or video at this concert so unfortunately I won't have anything to share. We will grab something to eat at the concert. I think we will both be "zombies" tomorrow as we will be getting up at 4:15 am tomorrow morning.

Steak & Cupcakes

I'll post more details later but my house is smelling so good right now. I have cupcakes in the oven. The steak comes into play with dinner. I have no idea what to make as the sides though. I'm debating fried okra and something else. Maybe some greens??? I need to figure this out. Hopefully Shawn won't call while I have the cupcakes in the oven needing a ride home.

The Mystery Dish

I can't say exactly how this turned out as I battled my sinuses this weekend so my tastebuds were way off. Here's what I did with ingredients I listed on Saturday.

The ingredients: Eggplant, spaghetti sauce, mozzarella cheese, ground turkey and canned mushrooms. I browned the ground turkey with some minced garlic. While it was cooking, I sliced the eggplant lengthwise. I then started layers in my Pampered Chef square baker. Each layer had eggplant, turkey.....

then spaghetti sauce and mushrooms................ topped off with cheese....
This is just out of the oven. I cooked at 350 for 30-45 minutes.
This picture came out a bit blurry. The family seemed to enjoy it though. Nicholas did comment that it was good and even stated that he usually doesn't like eggplant.

And Shirla, I think the new kisses taste just like pumpkin pie.

New recipe?

I have a dish in the oven right now that I made up. If it comes out good, I'll post what I did with pictures. It involves eggplant, ground turkey, mushrooms, spaghetti sauce and mozzarella cheese.

First there was Fred......

Well, it started with Julieann and Fred , then came Shirla and Wanda and then Crystal and Carl . We don't have room for a big one at our place but I think we found the newest additions to Fred's family.

This is Mr. Green Jeans and he hangs out on our back door.
This little guy is Randy. He welcomes guests on the front door.

Been Some Time....

I haven't posted much lately as life has been pretty busy around here. I haven't been cooking as much lately either. It's been lots of YOYO nights around here.

I did cook this last Monday (9/29) though. It's a recipe that I got off an AOL message board. I don't recall which board or the original poster anymore. I will post the recipe with my notes.

Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut in small chunks
2 cans condensed cream of chicken soup (I have used cream of mushroom with no problems. I've also used one family size can instead of two small cans)
1/4 cup onion, finely diced (I usually do 1/2 an onion)
2 cups water
2 10 oz packages refrigerated biscuits
1 chicken bouillon cube (I use powdered bouillon)

I did add some fresh mushrooms I had to this batch. That's why they're in the picture.

Directions:

Combine all ingredients, except biscuits, in slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours. 30 minutes before serving, tear biscuit dough into 1-inch pieces. Add biscuit dough to slow cooker; stirring gently. Cover and cook on HIGH for an additional 30 minutes or until biscuits are fluffed up and cooked through.

I have made this dish many times for the whole family and everyone gobbles it up.

My latest shopping trip

Well, we had a new Meijer open in our city. Their grand opening is this week. I received a mailing that had a card in it to get $10 off if I spent $50 or more. The card is good for 4 weeks. There was also a coupon in the ad that gave you a $20 voucher if you filled a new or transferred prescription at the new store. I had one that I transferred. Cost me $5 but got me the $20. I also took back the returnables (bottles/cans) that we had so $4.40 in bottle slips. I'm going to put my total at the end.

Here's what I got:

2 cans store brand biscuits
20 oz pkg chicken breast tenders
1 head lettuce
1 V05 shampoo
2 Suave body washes (bonus size: 18 oz for 12 oz price)
2 boxes Barilla Whole Grain penne
1.88 lb green grapes
1.40 lb black grapes
3 rolls (1 lb each) store brand ground turkey
2 boxes Stove Top
1 pkg Aunt Millie's hot dog buns
1 pkg Aunt Millie's hamburger buns
12 bottles (32 oz each) Powerade
3 dozen large eggs
1 24 oz tub small curd cottage cheese
1 box (17 oz) Froot Loops
1 box (17 oz) Apple Jacks
2 pkgs Dole Salad Mix (did Romaine for both)
1 bag organic blue tortilla chips
3 kiwi
4 bottles (50 oz) Purex laundry detergent
2 rolls Breakfast Sausage (can't remember brand name right now)
3 loaves Aunt Millie's Butter Top Wheat bread
1 box Noodle Roni
2 pkgs McCormick Stroganoff seasoning
1 pkg fresh sliced mushrooms
3 pkgs Steak (markdown)

According to my receipt:

Total Meijer Promotions: 30.00
Total Non-Coupon Savings: 50.49

My Total Amount Paid: 30.99

I also got a case of 12 bottles of lemon flavored sweetened iced tea for free as they were giving it out as I was walking in. I told the guys I would like to take it back to my car as I was afraid they might not be there when I came out. Turns out they weren't. Between the tea and Powerade, we are set for drinks for Shawn's lunch for some time.

What I got for $12.33

I took advantage of a deal that Target has this week on General Mills cereal so if you subtract the $5 giftcard that I got, I only spent $7.33 for everything pictured here. This is what I got from Target and Dollar Tree. Target has General Mills cereal 4/$11. I went in with 3 $1 off/1 coupons for Cheerios. Here's what I got at Target:

3 boxes Cheerios on sale for $2.75 each - $8.25
1 box Cinnamon Toast Crunch - $1.99 (was priced lower than sale price)
1 Johnson's Buddies Grip Soap - $0.99
1 bag Candy Corn (for DH) - $1.66

I had the 3 $1 coupons for the Cheerios and a $1 coupon on Johnson's Buddies. I also have a Team Member discount of 10% and my state does not charge tax on food. My grand total after all coupons and discounts was $8.15 and I also got a $5 gift card so I technically got all of the items for $3.15.

At Dollar Tree, I picked up the two plates (one dark, one light) as I'm going to try to take some cool pictures of the food I create. I also picked up the basket in order to put fruit in on the counter so we don't have it all over the place. The hamburger buns are for tonight's dinner. I spent $4.18 at Dollar Tree.

I think I did pretty well. Last night and this morning I was going through many of the magazines I recieve for free and pulled out the coupons I saw in there. I used to be a "coupon queen" but started slacking off when we moved. I need to get back into them for the items we use. I will probably only use them though if I can get the item for less than what I can get it at Aldi or Save-a-Lot as that is where we have been doing the majority of our shopping lately. Doing our shopping there though, I think I have finally gotten Shawn to see the reason why I have so many of the "green bags". Granted, he has taken one of them over as his "lunch bag".

Somewhat Menu For The Week

With the way the economy is today we are trying to squeeze everything we can out of our grocery budget. I've been trying to make enough for dinner that will have leftovers for Shawn to take to work. He's been using one of my "green bags (reusable shopping bag)" as his lunch bag. He told me his buddies at work call it his purse. I've tried menu planning before but it didn't work out too well. I'm going to try again though. I only have through Friday as we'll probably go grocery shopping at Meijer on Friday. We just had a new one open in our neighborhood and they sent us a Grand Opening Savings Card. Starting this week, for the next four weeks, if we spend $50 or more, we get $10 off. For those that don't have Meijer it would be similar to a Wal-Mart Supercenter or a Super K-Mart. We get the bedding for the pigs there so that will be almost $7 of the $50. I've already looked at their ad online and marked down the deals and what we need. Ok, enough rambling and on to the menu for the week:

Monday

Steak

Pierogies

Chopped Collard Greens

Fruit Cocktail

*Monday's Menu has become Tuesday's meal as Shawn didn't get off work until 8 pm Monday. I think I will take off the original Thursday dinner and push Tuesday to Wednesday and Wednesday to Thursday.

Tuesday

Hamburgers

Onion Rings

Tomatoes

HM Brownie Bites

Wednesday

Shrimp Monterey

Salad

Tomatoes and Cucumbers

Ice Cream or Popsicles

Thursday

Fish

Onion Rings

Hush Puppies

????

Friday

Sliced Steak w/HM Gravy over Rice

Green Beans

Peaches

Cupcakes (if I make them)

Cute Coupon Organizer

While reading through the blogs I follow, I came across this blog ( $ Moms Helping Mom Save Money $ )by way of one that I follow. They are giving away a really cute coupon organizer. I know I'm trying to figure out the best way to sort and store mine.

Last night's dinner and a potato review

I was picked to test the new Steam n' Mash potatoes from Ore-Ida through She Speaks. I received my package that included a potato masher, one coupon for a free package and 10 $1 off coupons. I picked up my free package last week and let Nicholas pick the flavor. He chose the Garlic flavor. I made them with last night's dinner. We were not that impressed.

The packaging is eye catching. It states that there is supposed to have 7 servings. Once I made them though, I could tell that their 7 servings would not equate to 7 servings in my family. Shawn does physical labor at his job and Nicholas is a growing teenage boy. This is the amount of potatos we had after adding the milk and mashing.
This was my plate last night. Samantha had less potatos then me. Nicholas had about the same amount and Shawn had more. I did have to reheat the prepared potatos in the microwave as they weren't warm enough. I don't believe that we will be purchasing these potatos again.

Soundtrack to my life

Stole this from Gail's blog:

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE​,​ WHAT WOULD​ THE SOUND​TRACK​ BE?

So, here'​s how it works​:​
1)Open your libra​ry .(​iTune​s,​ Winam​p,​ Media​ Playe​r,​ iPod,​ etc.)
2)Put it on "shuff​le"
3)Press​ "play"
4)For every​ quest​ion,​ type the song that'​s playi​ng
5)When you go to a new quest​ion,​ press​ the "next" butto​n
6)Don'​t lie and try to prete​nd you're cool[so,you can erase my song "answers",grab your ipod and answer the questions yourownself.]

Openi​ng Credi​ts:​ Cotton Eyed Joe by Rednex
Wakin​g Up: Cherokee by Europe
First​ Day At Schoo​l:​ Rock You Like A Hurricane by The Scorpions
Falli​ng In Love:​Walk This Way by Aerosmith & Run DMC
Fight​ Song:​ The Look of Love, Pt. 1 by ABC
Break​ing Up: Hot Rod Lincoln by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
Life:​ West End Girls by Pet Shop Boys
Drivi​ng:​ Panama by Van Halen
Weddi​ng: Our House by Crowded House
Birth​ of Child​: ​I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor
Final​ Battl​e: Bad to the Bone by George Thoroughgood
Death​ Scene​:​ AM Radio by Everclear
Funer​al Song:​ Burning Down The House by Talking Heads
End Credi​ts:​ Obsession by Animotion

This was out of 217 songs I have on my MP3 player. No IPOD here. Well, I can't wait to see everyone's list. I have to say I busted out laughing several times making mine. The two that had me laughing the hardest was Birth of Child and Final Battle.

The Next Morning

I was able to get some better pictures now that I have some light. This picture was taken just after 8 am this morning. I estimate the water level has gone down about 1 foot. Last night you could not see the vegitation that is poking through the water. This picture shows where the water level was. On the left side is a line of debris left when the water started receding.

I have tons of errands to run today. I need to get off this computer and get to doing them. No clue what's for dinner tonight.