A new menu and some superstition

Its only Tuesday but already the menu plan is messed up! No worries I imagine our whole world will be this way until we are in a new home! so here is the new menu (old is in italics)

M- Sheppard's pie, (I have to make this, this afternoon since we are going to look at houses, my MIL came over so I didn't get to making this but I made spaghetti sauce at about 4pm and we went looking at houses and didn't get home until 830 so we went and got burritos)
T- Spaghetti and Texas toast, and a veggie. (sauce is already made) Drumsticks, rice and veggies
W- Pork Chops, Pasta, veggie
Th- Whole chicken and whatever I can come up with
F-Chili Verde
Sat- Sheppard's pie maybe pizza
Sun- who knows... (anything that we don't get to this week, probably drumsticks rice and veggies, or a buffet of leftovers.)

I am not going to jinx anything so I am just going to say that out of the 7 houses that we looked at last night we liked 3, 2 of them we could see ourselves in for ever and one just as a starter home, when I have more confirmed information I will share!

Shopping

I didn't really make a menu or do to much shopping for this week,

I am going to go and get a few things from Smiths either tonight or tomorrow but other then that here is what I have bought;

starting balance 45.69

Rancho Market

3# carrots 2.37

3.6# banana 2.48

1.45 # onion .72

total 5.57

Balance 40.12

Super Saver

2 bags short bread cookies 1.96

3 jello 3.24

4 bags fideo noodles 1.00

lemon sandwich cookies .98

5 limes 1.00

1.13# broccoli 1.11

6 cucumber 2.00

1.10# tomato 1.08

15# potato 2.98

total 15.35

balance 24.77

Menu Plan and Updates

We are house hunting again this will be the third time and you know what they say, "third times a charm" so we are keeping our fingers crossed. We are feeling very hope full, we have a great agent and think that everything is going to work out.

So our menu might change day to day, because we may have to go out and look or sign papers so here is what I have planned for the week;

Breakfast and Lunches are the same

Dinner;

M- Sheppard's pie, (I have to make this, this afternoon since we are going to look at houses)

T- Drumsticks, rice and veggies

W- Pork Chops, Pasta, veggie

Th- Whole chicken and whatever I can come up with

F-Chili Verde

Sat- Maybe pizza

Sun- who knows... (anything that we don't get to this week, or a buffet of leftovers.)

Silly Cat

We have a cat his name I Buster "Kingston" Brown, when we bought him (for 10.00 on craigslist) he was really little and his name was Kingston, well I didn't really like that name so I changed it, I think he likes Buster Brown better, he actually comes when you call him and meows a very load "hello" lately he has been a bit of a trouble maker, maybe because he knows it should be spring and he is waiting for all the ladies to start coming around I don't really know, last night after dinner he stole a roll, and then after we sent Snow White up to bed we heard some weird noises coming from upstairs, so I went up to see what it was and this is what I found...

I switched purses last week and I left the paper stuffing and the bag on the side of our closet, well Buster thought that it was there for him to play with... not the case, he got his head stuck in the handles! we let him "suffer" a little bit just to teach him a lesson, and then he freed himself, I will make sure that I don't leave things like that out, if we wouldn't have been home he might have really gotten hurt... but at the same time I think he might have learned his lesson, because I still forgot to put the bag away last night and he didn't mess with it!

**No cats were harmed in the making of this post**Just embarrassed**

A quick note

I now know why I never wanted to Twitter! It is a gateway addiction, (think marijuana the gateway drug) since signing up I cant stop watching YouTube videos! it started with ijustine and now I am searching for "whats in your purse?" tags I am loosing my mind I sat in front of my computer for over an hour, ditched all my house hold responsibilities, and my sister, (well she ditched me but I am sure it had to do with the fact that I was to busy looking into strange women's purses oops) so if you are nosey like me search it but please make sure that you have all your "to do's" checked off, because now I am going to run around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get everything done...

In other news here are a few things that I did get done today;

Cute hair for snow whites picture day

A huge mess for Natalie's "pre school" (I think I should come up with a clever name) we are learning the color white today, since it is snowing out! (why do I do this to myself??)

(yeah that would be all the paper that was in my shredder I thought that she would just play with it in the box I guess I thought wrong huh?)

Meal Plan

here is the meal plan for the week, I know it looks a little boring, but well what can I say we cant buy too many exotic ingredients on our budget...

breakfast and lunch is about the same as always

But here is the Dinners

Monday

Pork Chops, rice and brocolli

Tuesday

Chicken soup, rolls

Wednesday

Spaghetti with Italian sausage, Texas Toast and salad

Thursday

Clean out the Fridge

Friday

Out of Town for a mini vacation

Saturday

Still away

Sunday

tuna cassarole or meat loaf

Shopping 3/23-3/29

So since we had a big (read expensive) trip last week we only had 44.00 to spend this week I think we did really good heres the totals;

Smiths

3 rice a roni 3.15

2 cadbury creme eggs 1.00

1 gallon milk 1.49

1 2liter kiwi strawberry soda .69

1 lb turkey lunch meat 4.74

1/2 lb salami 2.69

5 pork chops (not necessary but we got them anyway) 4.57

total 18.33

balance 25.67

Wonder Bread Store

3 loaves of bread 3.36

balance 22.31

Mexican Market

18 eggs 1.99

balance 20.32

SunFlower Market

1.63# tangerine 3.57

6# grapes 4.62

2 celery 1.54

2.03 # broccoli 1.56

head lettuce .99

4 fruit leather 1.56

1.31# banana .77

2 clam shell blackberries 3.00

1# strawberry 1.50

total 19.11

balance 1.21

balance for the month (until 4/20) 137.08

so... 45.69 a week ouch thats kinda streching but we will see what happens...

What are you doing?

I am dealing with the great Twitter debate, do I join or dont I join....

Do I really need one more thing to do online?

I went to youtube yesterday looking for Kerri Underwood songs and I came across ijustine she is so funny! and totally random, I think thats why I like her, anyway she Twitters and I was looking into it and I think I want to Twitter too!

I showed Grumpy her site, and she was asking me what Twitter was and she said "you should do it" so here I go I am going to sign up... I will be back later with my info...

preschool-y??

I babysit 3 days a week and am thinking of making it a little more preschool-y instead of just hauling out the bucket of toys we are going to try to start doing more crafty hands on things... key word TRY...

Heres what we did Monday and Tuesday;

Played with buttons in the bin (She played with them for over an hour, and really liked stringing them onto pipe cleaners);

Played with feathers that were in the bin (this was really messy but she had SO much fun)

froze buttons in muffin tins and then melted them in warm water (then played in the water for over an hour)

made a yellow collage (and a huge sticky mess SO fun)

I am going to try to switch out the items that I put in the bin twice a day, so there is always something different! If you are going to give little ones buttons please make sure that you monitor them at all times!

Disney On Ice

It was like going to Disneyland only cheaper! (well free) we had alot of fun at Disney on Ice and it took care of the Mickey withdraws that we might have been feeling! here are a few shots!

Meal Plan

Its a new week, therefore another meal plan....

Snow Whites Breakfast

Oatmeal (x2)

cereal

waffles and grapefruit

eggs and toast

Grumpy takes oatmeal to work

and I just snack, I have a bowl of grapefruits

that needs to get eaten sometime this week

Lunches

Grumpy and I eat lunch at home and Snow White eats at school.

Dinner

M- Drumsticks, rice and broccoli

T- Corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots

(what else would we eat on St. Patricks Day?)

W- Texas Style Lasagna, jello, Texas Toast

Th- Pork Chop potato casserole, corn

F- Tuna Casserole and some sort of veggie

S- Breakfast- Sausage, eggs, waffles

Lunch- Leftovers or grilled cheese and soup

Dinner- baked whole chicken

S- Breakfast- fend for your self!!

Lunch- leftovers or grilled cheese and soup

Dinner- OUT!

I am trying 2 new recipes this week the Texas style lasagna and pork chop potato casserole so watch for those reviews later on in the week!

Shopping

Have you ever shopped without a budget?

This morning, I said.. "you know what we have been doing so well with our budget, lets not tell ourselves no this week and just get what we want..." BAD move... we started the day with 311.00 that has to last us until 4/19 woopsie!!

So here we go Smiths

2 cream chicken soup 1.78

2 diced tomato 1.06

diced chili .79

4 Kens dressing 7.96

2 brownie mix 2.90

3 jello 5.07

1 jello .99

cottage cheese 1.78

creamer 3.29

2 frozen lemonade 1.98

2 hagn dazs ice cream 1.98

potato salad 4.99

6 packs spaghetti noodles 5.94

3 Quakes 2.97

2 32oz cheese 9.98

corned beef 4.66

cabbage 1.02

1 2 liter orange soda 1.25

2 2liter root beer 2.50

total 62.89

total after coupons and store savings- 50.52

Next stop Super Saver

6 jars spagetti sauce 5.28

pickles 1.88

cooking spray 1.88

4 cans tuna 3.12

4 nectar juice thingies 1.76

corn chips .98

2 gallons tampico 2.86

dozen eggs 1.43

8 frozen burritos 2.24

2 frozen mixed veggies 1.96

stew meat 5.72

8 pork chops 10.97

8 #'s ground beef 11.85

tortillas 2.98

1.51# brocolli 1.48

4 cucumbers 2.00

2 bunches radish 1.00

15# potato 3.98

total 63.37

Last stop Tenochitlan Market

Limes 2.10

2 cantaloupe 1.33

flap meat (for tonights bbq) 12.70

3 pan dulce for breakfast 1.47

total 17.60

balance for the next 4 weeks.... 179.87 so that leaves us with 44.00 for the next 4 weeks, I am sure that we will be just fine, we did a freezer invintory this afternoon and we have about 40 bags of meat in there so no worries all is well!

I dont think we are going to shop without a budget anymore...

The Bridge

I had a best friend

her name was Terri we new each other about 5 years

from 8th grade until 9/11/1999 when she took her own life...

at the time we were distant she was heavy into drugs and I was 9 months pregnant.

I still remember where I was when I heard the news, sitting on my moms couch our neighbor had come to the door with the news paper, and asked if Teresa had a middle name I said yes it was Michelle and asked why after that its all a blur I remember screaming "No" and someone picking me up off my knees, and then I called her house and spoke with her aunt apparently things were to hard for her and no one saw what was really going on with her.

The next day was her funeral, the church was filled with loved ones and my aunt Carmen sang it was a beautiful service, we rode to the cemetery where Indian dancers danced, and we all just sat in silence remembering where we were when we last spoke to her... I was at the park and I saw her, she was with her friend high on something, I was about 5 months pregnant and she said that she was so happy for me, she was distant and looked lost, but I just figured it was the drugs, when I left her that day she was dancing at the bottom of the hills like she was some sort of angel with her arms spread spinning around.

I will always remember her playing the clarinet in the marching band when we were Freshman, we got to travel so much since she was in the band and I was in flags, we had so much fun together, after football games on Fridays we would go and hang out at each others houses or sneak out of each others houses to get into trouble. I use to call her "peanut" because a boy she secretly had a crush on went to her window one night and yelled "Terri my little peanut" it was stupid but we were only 14 so it was clever! We had 9th grade science together and our teacher would always make fun of us and say that we were connected at the hip, she was out spoken and I was shy we were the perfect combination... I don't really know what changed her 4 years later, I just wish that we would have seen the signs and tried to help her more.

The reason that I am thinking about her today is because last night Grumpy and I watched a documentary called The Bridge its is about suicides that happen on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, it was pretty hard to watch, they actually show people climbing up on the railing and jumping it is insane! They sat there for a year and 24 people took their own life. they showed one man actually pulling a woman back over by the hood of her sweater to stop her from jumping, it was a really sad movie and it really makes you think, is there anything that can be done to prevent this? There have been 7 attempts to make a suicide bearer but the plans always fall threw an 8th plan is in the works right now. The railing is only 4 feet tall so really anyone can jump over it, alot of people use the term "romantic" when they talk about jumping off the bridge, I for one see nothing romantic about taking your own life, there is always another answer. Isn't there?

This is the only photo I have of Terri....

a few photos

See Snow White really did win tickets... dont mind her outfit, shes part hippie...

Grumpy holding a trantula, gross!

Snow White at the district science fair with her new haircut

Cheap Meat

Natalie and I had to take a walk this morning to return a RedBox movie, and if you are in Ut today you know that its really cold! Well once we got to Smiths we thought that it might be a good idea if we went inside and warmed up before we ventured back out so I stuck her in a cart and we wandered around the store looking for morning manager specials and look what we found;

turkey sausage for 1.29 a pack they are regularly about 3.50!

oh but wait it gets better they had 1.00 off coupons on them

so I got them for .29 a package!

And I have to be honest...

I took the last 4 packages...

I can break them up into 5 dinners since each one 1lb 22 oz!

I am so excited, we hardly ever get super cheap meat! I think I am going to go over tomorrow morning and see if I can get more!

I ended up paying for 4 what I would have paid for one...

More Radio Winnings

This morning Snow White won 6 tickets to see Disney on Ice!

she had to play the "Generation Gap Game" here are the questions

Is the band

The Turtles or The Gurtles? answer: Turtles

Is the band

The Golden Earring or The Diamond Earring? answer The Golden Earring

Adventures at the Dollar Tree!

Yesterday after we went to Sunflower Market, and Walmart my mother in law wanted to go to the Dollar Tree, so we went along, well while we were there Snow White and her aunt (she is 13) thought it would be fun to play with the ball in the store...

as parents how many times have we said not to play in the store?

Well they got caught!

We watched as we saw the manager go up to the girls and we heard everything, we were only one aisle over,

he told the girls that it wasn't a playground,

and to go and put the ball away,

they said OK and walked away

and he just kept on,

"are you here alone" "no"

"where are your parents" "I dont know they are somewhere in here"

"don't get lippy with me" "ok"

and then "get out of here" "what?"

well Grumpy stepped in and said that she would take care of it from there,

and then the guy said "look don't you get lippy with me!"

pointing in her fave and puffing out his chest as if her were going to do something crazy and well that started it....

The Jerk called the police!!

yeah really he did!

Snow White was freaking out, she was so scared that we were all going to go to jail!

when the police came they talked to us and then the jerk,

after a few minutes the police came and talked to us and had the attitude like

"I cant believe I am here right now"

we got the general managers number because apparently the jerk was the manager!

Shopping

We zero-ed out the grocery money for the week! We went to SunFlower and something happened to the register mid transaction, the kid didn't want to try to figure it out so he just shrugged it off, when we were driving off we realized that some of the things we bought weren't scanned... I called once we got home (we were already on the freeway when we looked over it) to see what to do and the guy that answered just said, enjoy! so here's what we got;

1.59# onion .53 (I should have gotten more, oh well)
2 bunches of radishes 1.00
4 grapefruit 1.00
10.25#/4 bags green grapes 6.87 (these were so good! yesterday we had family over and ate one and a half bags we might have to go back and get some more)
and then I didn't get charged for;
6 ears of corn should have been 2.00
2# carrots should have been 1.00
4 tangelos should have been @ 2.00

-.10 bring your own bag
total 9.40

then we went to Walmart and got a bag of Doritos and some tomatoes which brought us to a zero balance!

Meal Plan

Here's the plan for the week;

Snow Whites breakfast;

waffles

oatmeal x2

cereal

eggs and English muffin, or toast

Snow White eats lunch at school, and Grumpy and I eat whatever we can find around the house

(food wise, not like the couch!)

Dinner

Monday Spaghetti Texas toast and salad

Tuesday Foil taco chicken, some sort of veggie

(whatever I find at Sunflower this afternoon)

Wednesday Chili Verde

Thursday Shepperd's pie, jello

Friday Pork chops, rice and again some sort of veggie

Saturday BBQ steak, pasta salad and beans

(If the weekend weather allows it)

Sunday Corn

more shopping

With 29.72 left we thought that we would splurge a little, so we went shopping tonight and got a few extras (they are marked with a *)

Ruffles 2.50*

2 rice a roni 1.96

vanilla wafers 1.27*

2 dozen eggs 2.28

celery 1.32

broccoli 2.08

2 2 liters raspberry soda 1.56*

1 2 liter orange soda .78*

1 2 liter grape soda .78*

gallon milk 1.66

fudge stripe cookies 1.17*

total 17.56

balance 12.16

I am going to make the list for Sunflower Market right now so we are still going to get a few things!

shopping

I need a break from Snow White, she woke up in a braty mood, so when grumpy came home I left... I took a walk, and got most of the shopping done for next week,

starting total 50.23

Smiths

Gum 1.19

sour cream 1.00

2 Texas Toast 3.98

2 frozen lemonade 1.98

2 ben and jerry's 5.98

4 bags Armour meat balls 9.96

3 bags spaghetti noodles 2.64

1 bag elbow macaroni .88

1 spaghetti sauce 1.09

1 smoked sausage 3.00

savings

-5.00 Mega Event

-4.00 noodle coupon (she gave me the full 1.00 instead of .88 per bag)

-1.19 free gum (catalina coupon)

-1.00 wyb 2 texas toast (catalina coupon)

total 20.70

balance for the week 29.72

We still need, Milk, eggs and vegetables, not too much probablly 15.00 more, so maybe we will go and get some carne asada to bbq or some other "treat"...

Why??

Why cant buying a house in real life be as easy as it is in my dreams

-it would go like this-

seller- "I have this beautiful home and I want to sell it"

buyer- "Wow that is a great house, I have X amount"

seller- "that's great that's exactly what I wanted"

buyer- "my inspector and appraiser will be here in the morning"

-the next day-

appraiser to buyer- "you got yourself a great house here, its worth X amount"

buyer- "great that's exactly what I have!"

inspector to buyer- "you got yourself a great house here! there is nothing wrong with it"

buyer to seller- "great I will meet you at the title company in an hour"

1 hour later.... all the papers are signed and we part ways but first....

seller to buyer "wanna go have a drink, my treat"

and then I woke up, I have a great imagination don't I!

we are going back into the unknown we are going to lock in for 30 days while the seller makes a final decision!

Scratch that

So I want you all to forget about my last post...

The seller backed out and decided that she is going to try to make a little more money on the house so she is going to list the house either with an agent or as a "for sale by owner"

We are back on track with our May 2010 date!

Buying a House

With the new 8000.00 tax credit (or whatever its called) when the opportunity came up for us to buy our friends house we thought that we should look into it and see what we could do right now, we were planning on making "the big purchase" in May of 2010, but since this offer kinda just fell on us we thought that we would take it....

(note, all numbers are fictional)

The seller only has $168,000 left to pay of the house,

but she is wanting to sell for $210,000

a $42,000 profit

the buyers (that's us) only qualified for $190,000

so the seller would make $22,000 (that's only if the house appraises for 190,000)

but we are asking that she pay the down payment for us and we will pay all the closing costs so then she will make 3% less then the $22,000

the sellers are going to crunch the numbers and if it works out for them then we are going to be moving soon, however, if it doesn't then we are going to be staying where we are, paying down our debt doing exactly what we said that we were going to do until 5/2010. We are trying to stay positive and

keep with the saying

"if it was meant to be it will be"

but its much easier said then done, we already have been looking at paint and carpet samples...

Keep your fingers crossed (and crossign your toes wouldnt hurt either)

I will keep you updated!

Pay attention to cartoons!

Grumpy was listening to the radio this morning, and when they asked

"On the show Blues Clues, what is on the clue?" (the paw print)

She called in and won tickets to see Knowing

She was just saying last night that she wanted to see it,

while I was fast forwarding trying to get back to

The Secret Life of the American Teenager (don't judge me!)

So the next time the kids are watching cartoons at least keep one ear open you never know what might happen!

Meal Plan

This week is going to be "chicken week" I didn't plan it that way, its just the way it happened.

Snow Whites breakfast;

M- Waffles

T-oatmeal

W-cereal

TH-eggs and muffins

F-oatmeal

Dinners;

M- whole chicken, asparagus, rolls

T- Italian Tortellini Soup

W- Chicken Spaghetti (YUMMY) jello, steamed broccoli

Th- Fish tacos, Snow whites yummy peaches

F Chicken Quesadillas

S- OUT!!

S- Baked Potato bar, C.O.R.N

Friday, Saturday and Sunday most of the time get mixed around.

Shopping 3/1-3/8

We went and did our shopping yesterday we went over budget and I am not sure where we went wrong, maybe when we went to sunflower market or maybe we got too many extras, either way I think we still did good. We started with 52.59 here's what we bought

Walmart

Lays (extra) 3.00

biscuits .86

Jr Mints (extra) 1.00

Jolly Rancher Gummies (extra) 1.00

ranch dip mix (extra) 1.23

Milk Duds (extra) 1.00

Sweet tarts (extra) 1.00

beef broth .68

salt .33

biscuits .86

28oz tomato .87

beef broth .86

tortellini 1.56

Dairy Ease 3.26

Soy Sauce 1.36

cream of chicken soup .78

cinnamon rolls .78

.44# zucchini .83

Total 21.96

balance 30.63

Sara Lee bread store

2 loafs of bread 2.50 (they raised their prices to 1.25 a loaf, so next time I am going to try the hostess store and see what they charge for Wonder bread)

balance 28.13

Albertsons

3 Jello 3.00

4 Maxwell House coffee 10.00

2 Taco bell seasoning 2.00

2 Tomato sauce 1.00

2 sour cream 2.00

2 dozen eggs (one was cracked I missed it!) 1.98

3 80z bags shredded cheese 8.97

6 pot pies 2.00

3 Hawaiian frozen juice 3.00

9 banquet frozen dinners 9.00

2.79# cabbage 2.20

1# smoked turkey lunch meat 4.27

coupon savings-

-4.53 albertsons cheese coupon

-1.89 banquet dinner

-6.00 mix and match sale

total 36.98

total preffered card savings- 65.45!!

total coupon savings- 6.42

we also got 2 1.00 off your next purchase coupons for buying the Maxwell House coupons so that will be added to next weeks budget.

Balance -8.85 oops!! (extras total was 8.23)

Total for next week 50.23 + the 2.00 in coupons. 52.23