I didn't post the menu that I'm working with this week, so here it goes...
Monday - homemade pizza with chicken on it (we make these out of flour tortillas. Of course we make these ourselves from the flour tortilla flour and make thicker, cook first and then top and bake. GREAT!)
Tuesday - London Broil (marinated with a next to nothing, if not free marinade I bought a few weeks ago)
Wednesday - Stir Fry - made with leftover london broil
Thursday - Chicken Fajitas
Friday - Burrito Casserole (the hubs favorite and cooking since he will be home, made from some of that cheap split chicken breast that was on sale at HT)
Saturday - left overs
Sunday - mother in laws house
I love sitting down and making the schedule for the week. I even put together a spreadsheet that I use. I sit down with my sheet each week and plan it all out. Then, I put it on the fridge so I can remember what to take out of the freezer and what I can pre-cook to make things easier. There is a place on the sheet at the bottom for a grocery list (since it's already on the fridge) and a place to put ideas for the next week.
Then, the next week when I make my new menu I use the previous week's menu sheet and add to that grocery list what I need to make for next weeks menu. I fold it so only the shopping list is showing while I'm at the store and there is part of the back of the paper showing so I write down the cost of things as I go along so I can keep track of how much I've spent so I know if I have left over to stock up on other things that are on sale and I have coupons for.
This has worked well for me. I have my three ring binder of coupons that has a zip pocket pencil holder in the front. In the pocket I keep a pen and calculator for keeping up with my running total as I go along and I always need a pen! I normally always have the kids with me so I throw my wallet in the diaper bag and all my pens are in my purse, in the car... not where I need it! Then, I just pull out my list and get to shopping.
I asked my three year old today what her favorite store was and she told me the "dinosaur cookie store!" Harris Teeter has a stand that is a dinosaur that has free cookies for kids, so HT is now called the "dinosaur cookie store".
FYI... if you shop HT you need to sign up for their eVic program with your VIC card. I did this and am now receiving coupons in the mail from them each month. It contains four coupons, one dated for each week in the month, for $5 off $40 purchase. This has really helped me with my grocery goal. I just make sure I give them that coupon first because it's supposed to be $40 after all coupons and VIC savings have been deducted. It's worked so far for over a month. Watch this week not work!
Monday, August 31, 2009
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Christmas 2009
OK, so I have started our Christmas budget for the year. I was intrigued by my girlfriend who has her money together. She is the one who prompted and enticed me with the $40/week grocery budget. She plans out all the holidays, birthdays, fathers/mothers day and just everything for the year and how much they will spend on everyone. Then she divides that by however many weeks and takes out that much money each week. We are going to attempt to tackle Christmas this way on a budget, which we've never done.
On the way back from Miami, went through our gift list. We listed everyone we had to buy for and then put an amount by each person. Added this all up and divided it by 17 (number of paychecks between here and there with two weeks to spare). I have yet to actually take the money out but will go to the bank next week and take out two weeks worth in cash. This way it doesn't hurt as much in the end.
I hope to expand this to all holidays and everything for next year because after Christmas we can rack up on things for other holidays and maybe cut that budget back. That would be awesome and that's what I'm hoping for.
I already hit the clearance stuff after Christmas. Especially the kids bath stuff gift sets. I've always bought a few of these for the oldest (pre-baby) because these are great to keep on hand for Valentine's, Easter, etc. I also buy some of the art sets that are girl and boy because you can get them for next to nothing and they make great gifts to have on hand if they get invited to a birthday party or if you don't have time to run out and get something or just plain forgot!
I'm going to try and apply that to everything next year. You with me??
On the way back from Miami, went through our gift list. We listed everyone we had to buy for and then put an amount by each person. Added this all up and divided it by 17 (number of paychecks between here and there with two weeks to spare). I have yet to actually take the money out but will go to the bank next week and take out two weeks worth in cash. This way it doesn't hurt as much in the end.
I hope to expand this to all holidays and everything for next year because after Christmas we can rack up on things for other holidays and maybe cut that budget back. That would be awesome and that's what I'm hoping for.
I already hit the clearance stuff after Christmas. Especially the kids bath stuff gift sets. I've always bought a few of these for the oldest (pre-baby) because these are great to keep on hand for Valentine's, Easter, etc. I also buy some of the art sets that are girl and boy because you can get them for next to nothing and they make great gifts to have on hand if they get invited to a birthday party or if you don't have time to run out and get something or just plain forgot!
I'm going to try and apply that to everything next year. You with me??
Saturday, August 29, 2009
$40 Grocery Goal
AAHH!!! My $40 grocery goal is BUST this week. I had to buy all kinds of paper products... toilet paper, paper towels, diapers and toiletries this week. I hit Wal Mart Friday after work and spent $60. I was also out of fabric softener and had to laundry Friday night and I didn't want to do it without fabric softener. Sorry, but I'm a laundry snob!
I spent $60 there and still wanted my $40 for groceries. Harris Teeter had super double coupons (will double all coupons up to $1.98 face value) plus split chicken breast on sale for .88/lb. I was ready to stock up on some chicken. Which I did. I ended up spending $39 and change. Not bad for the week I guess.
Now, my new goal is to fit my paper products in there better. I might try buying something each week whether it be toilet paper, paper towels, laundry stuff and cleaning products. I think I'm good on dish detergent for more than a year because I always get it for free and I still have tons of Lysol concentrate for everything else. Regardless, I have to find a way to fit all that in so I'm going to try one paper product per week.
After I figure this out then I'm going to start in on the drug store games and deals to get some free or seriously inexpensive toiletries. I am more concerned with out of pocket expense versus getting the "bucks" back, but I guess I will see how it goes. If I spend $3 out of pocket and then get $5 bucks back then yes, it was worth it.
I have all the drug stores right by my work, so I'm hoping I can do this part on lunch so it doesn't cut into my time with the family, house stuff and grocery shopping. I hate running around a ton of different places with the girls so if I can do it on lunch then I'm good.
Here is the new budget for household stuff...
$40/week for groceries
$10/week toiletries
$72/week for Christmas
Yep, already started my Christmas budget!! This is a new thing this year. More on that later!
I spent $60 there and still wanted my $40 for groceries. Harris Teeter had super double coupons (will double all coupons up to $1.98 face value) plus split chicken breast on sale for .88/lb. I was ready to stock up on some chicken. Which I did. I ended up spending $39 and change. Not bad for the week I guess.
Now, my new goal is to fit my paper products in there better. I might try buying something each week whether it be toilet paper, paper towels, laundry stuff and cleaning products. I think I'm good on dish detergent for more than a year because I always get it for free and I still have tons of Lysol concentrate for everything else. Regardless, I have to find a way to fit all that in so I'm going to try one paper product per week.
After I figure this out then I'm going to start in on the drug store games and deals to get some free or seriously inexpensive toiletries. I am more concerned with out of pocket expense versus getting the "bucks" back, but I guess I will see how it goes. If I spend $3 out of pocket and then get $5 bucks back then yes, it was worth it.
I have all the drug stores right by my work, so I'm hoping I can do this part on lunch so it doesn't cut into my time with the family, house stuff and grocery shopping. I hate running around a ton of different places with the girls so if I can do it on lunch then I'm good.
Here is the new budget for household stuff...
$40/week for groceries
$10/week toiletries
$72/week for Christmas
Yep, already started my Christmas budget!! This is a new thing this year. More on that later!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
$40 Grocery Goal
I think this was week #3 with my $40 per week grocery goal.
The first week I made it with a few pennies to spare. The second week, this past weekend, I went over by $2.47.
I couldn't help it!!! My laundry detergent was on sale for buy one get one free and I had a $1.50 off 2 coupon so I got two bottles for $6. If it wasn't for that I would have stayed within my budget. We have an HE washer so the detergent is a bit expensive to begin with so when I find it on sale I can't help it!!!
Otherwise I did very well because we'd just gotten back from our trip. I had nothing thawed out or planned to eat Sunday because we'd been out of town and his mom ALWAYS cooks Sunday dinner, but she'd been dealing with the baby all weekend so she was worn out especially after her vomiting issues and scrubbing my carpets (she brought the baby back to our house to sleep in her own bed). Luckily we also have the MOST comfortable bed in the world so I'm sure it wasn't that much of a heart ache to sleep at our house.
Well, we bought a rotisserie chicken for him to make chicken salad and take Monday night for dinner since I wouldn't have anything ready for him and we also bought something to make for dinner that night. Too bad I can't remember what it was.
So, I went over budget by $2.47 which I plan on making up for next week. Let's see how that goes, but I have a feeling I'm going to go way over because this is new to me and I haven't thought about how I'm going to fit paper products and all into my budget. Oh well, it's a learning process, right??
The first week I made it with a few pennies to spare. The second week, this past weekend, I went over by $2.47.
I couldn't help it!!! My laundry detergent was on sale for buy one get one free and I had a $1.50 off 2 coupon so I got two bottles for $6. If it wasn't for that I would have stayed within my budget. We have an HE washer so the detergent is a bit expensive to begin with so when I find it on sale I can't help it!!!
Otherwise I did very well because we'd just gotten back from our trip. I had nothing thawed out or planned to eat Sunday because we'd been out of town and his mom ALWAYS cooks Sunday dinner, but she'd been dealing with the baby all weekend so she was worn out especially after her vomiting issues and scrubbing my carpets (she brought the baby back to our house to sleep in her own bed). Luckily we also have the MOST comfortable bed in the world so I'm sure it wasn't that much of a heart ache to sleep at our house.
Well, we bought a rotisserie chicken for him to make chicken salad and take Monday night for dinner since I wouldn't have anything ready for him and we also bought something to make for dinner that night. Too bad I can't remember what it was.
So, I went over budget by $2.47 which I plan on making up for next week. Let's see how that goes, but I have a feeling I'm going to go way over because this is new to me and I haven't thought about how I'm going to fit paper products and all into my budget. Oh well, it's a learning process, right??
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Missed our Flight... almost!
I completely forgot in my first post about our trip to Miami how we almost missed our flight down there... sorry for that mishap!
We get to the airport early enough to get lunch at the restaurant/bar in the airport. We decide to kick the weekend off with a beer and shot since we are celebrating for my birthday. (FYI... it's a "big" birthday that kicks off a whole other decade in my life) After all that food and the alcohol I wanted to smoke one last time before we board because I wouldn't get another chance until we get to Ft. Lauderdale. (I know it's a dirty habit and something I'm going to discuss with my doctor at my next check up in two months)
Anyways... i grab a boarding pass out of my purse along with my cigarettes, lighter and wallet that has my ID. I go outside and enjoy my last bit of nicotine before heading back in. I get to security and pull out my boarding pass and ID. That's when the not so polite TSA lady tells me she can't let me through because the boarding pass doesn't match my license. I look down and realize I'd grabbed hubs' boarding pass while mine is still safe in my purse. Which is also where my cell phone is! OK, I'm getting flustered because our flight is supposed to leave in less than 30 minutes.
I go downstairs to the customer service desk and they page him, no answer. I try to call from their phone because it's a local number and it completely doesn't work. They try to call him and nothing! So, one of the ladies volunteers to go up to the bar and get my boarding pass from him. She does this and brings it to me so I can get through.
At this point I thank her profusely and head to the bar to greet my hubs who is laughing at me. Imagine that! We grab our luggage (we're taking carry on only) and start speed walking for the gate. We finally get there and are the last two people on the plane.
Needless to say the flight was crowded so we had to sit separate. I sat next to a nice Air Force couple. Granted, they were an older couple and she was more than happy to show the pics of her family. Her hubs is a retired air force pilot. Her son was an airforce pilot and now a pilot for SouthWest. Her daughter is married to an air force pilot. Both kids have two children each, so four grandchildren. Both have one boy and one girl. Perfect families. Gorgeous kids, beautiful grandkids and all look happy.
He sat next to two boring guys and is stuck right in the middle. Thankfully it was a short flight and we were reunited on the next flight! Grateful that we were since we were stuck on the runway for almost two hours.
That concludes our Miami trip... great trip... weird being child and diaper bag-less... great company with my hubs/best friend... and HAPPY to be home!
We get to the airport early enough to get lunch at the restaurant/bar in the airport. We decide to kick the weekend off with a beer and shot since we are celebrating for my birthday. (FYI... it's a "big" birthday that kicks off a whole other decade in my life) After all that food and the alcohol I wanted to smoke one last time before we board because I wouldn't get another chance until we get to Ft. Lauderdale. (I know it's a dirty habit and something I'm going to discuss with my doctor at my next check up in two months)
Anyways... i grab a boarding pass out of my purse along with my cigarettes, lighter and wallet that has my ID. I go outside and enjoy my last bit of nicotine before heading back in. I get to security and pull out my boarding pass and ID. That's when the not so polite TSA lady tells me she can't let me through because the boarding pass doesn't match my license. I look down and realize I'd grabbed hubs' boarding pass while mine is still safe in my purse. Which is also where my cell phone is! OK, I'm getting flustered because our flight is supposed to leave in less than 30 minutes.
I go downstairs to the customer service desk and they page him, no answer. I try to call from their phone because it's a local number and it completely doesn't work. They try to call him and nothing! So, one of the ladies volunteers to go up to the bar and get my boarding pass from him. She does this and brings it to me so I can get through.
At this point I thank her profusely and head to the bar to greet my hubs who is laughing at me. Imagine that! We grab our luggage (we're taking carry on only) and start speed walking for the gate. We finally get there and are the last two people on the plane.
Needless to say the flight was crowded so we had to sit separate. I sat next to a nice Air Force couple. Granted, they were an older couple and she was more than happy to show the pics of her family. Her hubs is a retired air force pilot. Her son was an airforce pilot and now a pilot for SouthWest. Her daughter is married to an air force pilot. Both kids have two children each, so four grandchildren. Both have one boy and one girl. Perfect families. Gorgeous kids, beautiful grandkids and all look happy.
He sat next to two boring guys and is stuck right in the middle. Thankfully it was a short flight and we were reunited on the next flight! Grateful that we were since we were stuck on the runway for almost two hours.
That concludes our Miami trip... great trip... weird being child and diaper bag-less... great company with my hubs/best friend... and HAPPY to be home!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Miami, Part Deux
So much for not being long winded... I can't help it, but in case you're enjoyin my tale of our first childless weekend adventure... look no further, here it is.
Saturday morning... my first chance in almost four years to sleep in and guess what happens? I'm wide awake and bushy tailed at 7:40 a.m. I can't sleep. Hubs is lying beside me snoring blissfully, so I decide to do something else I never get to do... lounge in bed while watching a Law and Order marathon.
Hubs is still overcome by his exhaustion come 9:30 a.m. so I lie there some more. I can't take a shower because the light from our not so private bathroom would wake him up. I decide to continue watching the marathon on TV.
10:30 a.m. hubs is still sleeping and I'm getting ancy. I've looked out the window and it's a beautiful sun shiny day. Perfect cotton ball clouds with a perfect blue sky. At that point I do what any other good wife would do. I start tossing and turning a bit in bed to try and rouse him awake without waking him on purpose.
He finally wakes up about 10:40 a.m. all on his own without any prompting by me! LOL We get up, take a shower and get ready for the day. We get a call from his mother telling us that our youngest (14 months) had been vomiting at 1:30 that morning but that she was sleeping and seemed to be doing OK. No fever or any other symptoms. We decide to see how she's feeling once she wakes up from her nap to figure out whether or not we needed to come home early.
First on our to do list... find something to eat. And something that's not at one of these ridiculously expensive places. We want something that is more along the lines of Diners, Drive ins and Dives... a great show on the Food Network. Some hole in the wall place that has good food at decent "normal" prices. We finally find it! A "shiny diner" type of place that is a huge silver place on the corner of Washington and something. We had a great breakfast filled with omelettes, bacon, sausage, potatoes, grits, toast and english muffins between the two of us.
We leave there and we're wandering around aimlessly and still have yet to see the beach. We're walking by all these stores and I start to notice that not only do the women down there seem grotesquely out of proportion on the top half of their bodies, but so do the mannequins! They even look like they have huge implants! I'm the stupid tourist taking pictures of the mannequins in the store windows. Sorry, but I found it hilarious!
We finally make our way to the beach and it's beautiful. Perfectly clear water, beautiful white sand and it was just beautiful! I notice there are no waves in the water and my hubs notices that women are lying out topless. It was quite an experience. It didn't bother me about the women. I thought it was funny and kind of envied the fact that they had the nerve and guts to bare themselves like that. Regardless, you could definitely tell who had children and who didn't!!
We decide to head back to the hotel and put our suits on and enjoy the beach for a bit. We pass a shop and decide to buy some gifts to bring home in case we needed to come home early. We buy the girls a dress and a t-shirt. Then, we decide that I need to buy something for my birthday. I buy a dress that's cute and a little bag that says Miami on it. Nothing more touristy than that, but it's cute. Hubs picks out a shot glass for my dad that says "I've got too much blood in my alcohol system". He found that humorous.
We get back to the room and I try on the dress and it doesn't fit like I imagined it would, so we get dressed for the beach and go to return it on the way back. We get to the store and are told that they don't do returns, exchanges only. I'm ticked and irritated because I really wanted a dress and I didn't pack a strapless bra to wear any of the other ones, so I'm stuck. I decide on a cute shirt, a baby t and a pair of shorts.
Now, we head to the beach. More time of boobies, men wearing speedos, no waves, and valley girl talk all around us. We swim out in the water and float for a bit. We then lay out to get some sun, but I am not a good "layer outer". Aside from the fact there are no waves to lull me into a state of mind where I'm relaxed but not asleep, but I got bored and very quickly. Hubs was amused by this and didn't complain a bit. We head back to the room to get dressed and walk around some more.
I feel like we've walked around forever. We've gone to a stripper store called "Assy Sassy", visited Miami Ink (from TLC) and their bar "Love Hate". We take a few pictures of the ocean and the land/streetscapes around us. We go into a Irish Pub that we saw when we came into town and get something to eat. It's OK. We then try the other Irish Pub across the street for dessert, a beer, some pool and darts. After that we decided to head to the liquor store across from our hotel and get something to drink and go watch a movie and relax before heading out for the night life. It was only 6:30 at this point. We get our drinks and head back to the room to chill out. Hubs falls asleep.
I get bored and decide to head out towards the pool and check in on my girls as we'd done throughout the day. Hubs finally wakes up about 10:00. We're thinking falafel sounds good and walk down to a place we saw on the way to the first Irish Pub. We get all the way down there and guess what... they're closed! We chose sushi this time. We get to this quaint little sushi place and order an appetizer that describes itself as homemade pastry filled with ground turkey and spices. We get the app and it's frozen in the center! not happy. The owner offers us both a glass of wine for the mishap. We're happy with this. We ordered the huge sushi for two thing that is served on a boat. We get the sushi and are horribly disappointed. We would normally polish the whole thing off but sadly this time... half of it or more is still on the boat when we leave. Not a great experience.
By this point it's almost midnight so we head back to the hotel to wind down and get ready to travel the next morning. We tried to arrange for a shuttle to take us back but unfortunately they don't have one available so we have to pay for a towncar to take us back to the airport. Luckily on the way home it's a direct flight so no two hour lay overs, BUT we did get to the airport so early that it was funny. I wasn't thinking when I arranged the towncar and gave them the pick up time I thought would be suitable for the shuttle not taking into consideration we had the towncar to ourselves and didn't have to allot for it picking up other people. Oh well, we got there on time and didn't miss our flight.
Now, I completely forgot the story about how we almost missed the flight down there because I wasn't thinking!
Saturday morning... my first chance in almost four years to sleep in and guess what happens? I'm wide awake and bushy tailed at 7:40 a.m. I can't sleep. Hubs is lying beside me snoring blissfully, so I decide to do something else I never get to do... lounge in bed while watching a Law and Order marathon.
Hubs is still overcome by his exhaustion come 9:30 a.m. so I lie there some more. I can't take a shower because the light from our not so private bathroom would wake him up. I decide to continue watching the marathon on TV.
10:30 a.m. hubs is still sleeping and I'm getting ancy. I've looked out the window and it's a beautiful sun shiny day. Perfect cotton ball clouds with a perfect blue sky. At that point I do what any other good wife would do. I start tossing and turning a bit in bed to try and rouse him awake without waking him on purpose.
He finally wakes up about 10:40 a.m. all on his own without any prompting by me! LOL We get up, take a shower and get ready for the day. We get a call from his mother telling us that our youngest (14 months) had been vomiting at 1:30 that morning but that she was sleeping and seemed to be doing OK. No fever or any other symptoms. We decide to see how she's feeling once she wakes up from her nap to figure out whether or not we needed to come home early.
First on our to do list... find something to eat. And something that's not at one of these ridiculously expensive places. We want something that is more along the lines of Diners, Drive ins and Dives... a great show on the Food Network. Some hole in the wall place that has good food at decent "normal" prices. We finally find it! A "shiny diner" type of place that is a huge silver place on the corner of Washington and something. We had a great breakfast filled with omelettes, bacon, sausage, potatoes, grits, toast and english muffins between the two of us.
We leave there and we're wandering around aimlessly and still have yet to see the beach. We're walking by all these stores and I start to notice that not only do the women down there seem grotesquely out of proportion on the top half of their bodies, but so do the mannequins! They even look like they have huge implants! I'm the stupid tourist taking pictures of the mannequins in the store windows. Sorry, but I found it hilarious!
We finally make our way to the beach and it's beautiful. Perfectly clear water, beautiful white sand and it was just beautiful! I notice there are no waves in the water and my hubs notices that women are lying out topless. It was quite an experience. It didn't bother me about the women. I thought it was funny and kind of envied the fact that they had the nerve and guts to bare themselves like that. Regardless, you could definitely tell who had children and who didn't!!
We decide to head back to the hotel and put our suits on and enjoy the beach for a bit. We pass a shop and decide to buy some gifts to bring home in case we needed to come home early. We buy the girls a dress and a t-shirt. Then, we decide that I need to buy something for my birthday. I buy a dress that's cute and a little bag that says Miami on it. Nothing more touristy than that, but it's cute. Hubs picks out a shot glass for my dad that says "I've got too much blood in my alcohol system". He found that humorous.
We get back to the room and I try on the dress and it doesn't fit like I imagined it would, so we get dressed for the beach and go to return it on the way back. We get to the store and are told that they don't do returns, exchanges only. I'm ticked and irritated because I really wanted a dress and I didn't pack a strapless bra to wear any of the other ones, so I'm stuck. I decide on a cute shirt, a baby t and a pair of shorts.
Now, we head to the beach. More time of boobies, men wearing speedos, no waves, and valley girl talk all around us. We swim out in the water and float for a bit. We then lay out to get some sun, but I am not a good "layer outer". Aside from the fact there are no waves to lull me into a state of mind where I'm relaxed but not asleep, but I got bored and very quickly. Hubs was amused by this and didn't complain a bit. We head back to the room to get dressed and walk around some more.
I feel like we've walked around forever. We've gone to a stripper store called "Assy Sassy", visited Miami Ink (from TLC) and their bar "Love Hate". We take a few pictures of the ocean and the land/streetscapes around us. We go into a Irish Pub that we saw when we came into town and get something to eat. It's OK. We then try the other Irish Pub across the street for dessert, a beer, some pool and darts. After that we decided to head to the liquor store across from our hotel and get something to drink and go watch a movie and relax before heading out for the night life. It was only 6:30 at this point. We get our drinks and head back to the room to chill out. Hubs falls asleep.
I get bored and decide to head out towards the pool and check in on my girls as we'd done throughout the day. Hubs finally wakes up about 10:00. We're thinking falafel sounds good and walk down to a place we saw on the way to the first Irish Pub. We get all the way down there and guess what... they're closed! We chose sushi this time. We get to this quaint little sushi place and order an appetizer that describes itself as homemade pastry filled with ground turkey and spices. We get the app and it's frozen in the center! not happy. The owner offers us both a glass of wine for the mishap. We're happy with this. We ordered the huge sushi for two thing that is served on a boat. We get the sushi and are horribly disappointed. We would normally polish the whole thing off but sadly this time... half of it or more is still on the boat when we leave. Not a great experience.
By this point it's almost midnight so we head back to the hotel to wind down and get ready to travel the next morning. We tried to arrange for a shuttle to take us back but unfortunately they don't have one available so we have to pay for a towncar to take us back to the airport. Luckily on the way home it's a direct flight so no two hour lay overs, BUT we did get to the airport so early that it was funny. I wasn't thinking when I arranged the towncar and gave them the pick up time I thought would be suitable for the shuttle not taking into consideration we had the towncar to ourselves and didn't have to allot for it picking up other people. Oh well, we got there on time and didn't miss our flight.
Now, I completely forgot the story about how we almost missed the flight down there because I wasn't thinking!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Wow!
That's all I can really say... Wow! Miami was so different than home.
Here is the medium length version of our trip (of course I can never keep things short but I'm trying not to be long winded)
First we have a lay over in Orlando, FL and we sat in the plane on the run way for almost two hours. That delayed us getting down there. I think we finally arrived some time after 6:00 p.m.
We get to the Fort Lauderdale airport and hubs asks, "How are we getting to the hotel?" My response... "I dunno!" I did know, but I didn't know. I knew there was a shuttle that serviced the South Beach area and that it wasn't related to our hotel. I just didn't know how to find it. The hotel website said there was a kiosk by the baggage claim. We're at the baggage claim and no kiosk, so I call the hotel. They tell me that it's outside by the taxi desk. We find the "GO Shuttle" people and arrange for transport to the hotel.
We got in this van with two single ladies (traveling separately) and two older couples traveling together that have a cruise the next day. The company is nice and we talk the whole way. We're trying to ignore the erratic driving of the guy driving. We finally get to the hotel about 8:00 p.m. Friday night.
Our hotel is a cute little boutique hotel... Hotel Clinton. We walk inside and it's very pretty, very, what's the word... contemporary. A lot of the hotels there are older buildings that have been refurbished so that being said, we get in the elevator. It's big enough for three people which I expected since an older building. What I didn't expect was the white walls with the black lights in the ceiling. I'm thinking "we're in a murder movie!" Then, we get off the elevator onto our floor. The hallway is dark with small lights at the floor every few feet. I'm expecting a mobster from the Dick Tracey era to step out with an automatic gun and start spraying bullets every where. I'm laughing to myself.
Next, we get to our room and beside the door is the placard with our room number on it. Not abnormal until you realize there is a silhouette of a naked woman on it! I'm dying even more. We get into our room after fumbling with the electronic key multiple times. The bathroom has glass enclosing a portion of it so you can see from the room into the bathroom and vice versa. We knew this and expected it, but I also expected the toilet to be in a closet-esque room with a real door without see through walls. No such luck. It is in the bathroom visible to the whole room. The only thing separating you and giving you any privacy is a sheer white curtain in the window. There is a nice walk in tiled shower though. Very nice!
The rest of the room is cute and modern. Platform bed with all white bedding and down comforter. Very comfy. There's a window overlooking the pool. A full length mirror on the wall that is laced up at the bottom like a shoe. Regardless, a nice room.
We change and head out to dinner. We're walking around on Ocean Blvd where there is restaurant after restaurant and we're trying to figure out which one to eat at. We finally go by one and like the menu. The fact that they had buy one get one free drinks didn't help our decision! We have a weekend away from the kids so of course we're looking for a few good cocktails. We enjoy a great dinner and are expecting a bill around $60 - $70. A splurge for us. We get the bill and it's $122!!! Imagine my surprise. Evidently his mojitos were $39.95 each. Granted the glass was bigger than normal, but it was not $40 big! My martini which was in a normal glass was $15/each. Luckily for us they were buy one get one. They automatically added in 17% gratuity which is not outrageous so I didn't fuss about this. We paid the bill and left.
We are doing some more walking and he sees a shirt he likes so I tell him to check it out. We are on vacation and are using money we received as wedding presents for this trip, so nothing out of our "pocket" so to speak. He looks at the tag on the shirt and about falls over. $169.00! He asks the sales lady if it was supposed to say $16.90 and is met with a WTF expression. I laugh but look around anyways at the women's stuff. Very cute, but the dress I really liked was almost $400! That's almost both of our car payments each month. We leave that store.
We end up at a cute outside bar/club type of place and order two beers, $13. Oh well, we kind of expect that at this point. Then we sit down at a table and are told by the server that it's a service table so if we need anything else we need to order from her. After a while we order two beers and two shots (it's my birthday and we're walking so why not?), $26. We stick around there for a while watching people make fools of themselves by trying to dance. Always a good past time. We decide to go walking again.
A guy we walk by offers us paper bracelets to get into this club for half price. Me being money oriented is always thrilled for a deal so we check it out. The place is called Bed. Even with half price it is $40 for both of us to get in. Inside they have beds lining the right side of the wall and down the center. I threaten the hubs with bodily harm if he touches one of them much less sit down on one, scared by what may be on them... gross!! We hit the restrooms and then order two cranberry and vodkas... $23. They are in little plastic cups, not even a big red Solo plastic cup. I'm beyond commenting on the prices by this point and try to enjoy myself. We dance a few times and decide to go back to the room and get some sleep.
We pass a pizza place on the way back and decide that a big greasy meal is in order before we get some shut eye. The pizza lady's english was thick with an accent I didn't catch. I thought she said $31 and something and I hand her $32. Imagine my surprise when it was only $13 and change. The best money we've spent yet. We get back to the room, eat and go to sleep. Hubs is extremely tired at this point because he worked all Thursday night and got off work at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning. He napped until about 10:00 and then his mom brought him to my work where we took my car to the airport to start our trip. He was extremely spent by this point.
Did I forget to mention that the bars and such down there are open until 5:00 a.m.?!?!
Or the fact that there was a serious transvestite working at one of the restaurants we passed? I was tempted to ask if we could take a picture with him/her but didn't know if that would cause a bad reaction or if said transvestite would take offense. I'm sure that wouldn't have been the first time someone asked, but why take the chance of infuriating him/her?
Oh well... that's enough Miami tonight... maybe more tomorrow...
Here is the medium length version of our trip (of course I can never keep things short but I'm trying not to be long winded)
First we have a lay over in Orlando, FL and we sat in the plane on the run way for almost two hours. That delayed us getting down there. I think we finally arrived some time after 6:00 p.m.
We get to the Fort Lauderdale airport and hubs asks, "How are we getting to the hotel?" My response... "I dunno!" I did know, but I didn't know. I knew there was a shuttle that serviced the South Beach area and that it wasn't related to our hotel. I just didn't know how to find it. The hotel website said there was a kiosk by the baggage claim. We're at the baggage claim and no kiosk, so I call the hotel. They tell me that it's outside by the taxi desk. We find the "GO Shuttle" people and arrange for transport to the hotel.
We got in this van with two single ladies (traveling separately) and two older couples traveling together that have a cruise the next day. The company is nice and we talk the whole way. We're trying to ignore the erratic driving of the guy driving. We finally get to the hotel about 8:00 p.m. Friday night.
Our hotel is a cute little boutique hotel... Hotel Clinton. We walk inside and it's very pretty, very, what's the word... contemporary. A lot of the hotels there are older buildings that have been refurbished so that being said, we get in the elevator. It's big enough for three people which I expected since an older building. What I didn't expect was the white walls with the black lights in the ceiling. I'm thinking "we're in a murder movie!" Then, we get off the elevator onto our floor. The hallway is dark with small lights at the floor every few feet. I'm expecting a mobster from the Dick Tracey era to step out with an automatic gun and start spraying bullets every where. I'm laughing to myself.
Next, we get to our room and beside the door is the placard with our room number on it. Not abnormal until you realize there is a silhouette of a naked woman on it! I'm dying even more. We get into our room after fumbling with the electronic key multiple times. The bathroom has glass enclosing a portion of it so you can see from the room into the bathroom and vice versa. We knew this and expected it, but I also expected the toilet to be in a closet-esque room with a real door without see through walls. No such luck. It is in the bathroom visible to the whole room. The only thing separating you and giving you any privacy is a sheer white curtain in the window. There is a nice walk in tiled shower though. Very nice!
The rest of the room is cute and modern. Platform bed with all white bedding and down comforter. Very comfy. There's a window overlooking the pool. A full length mirror on the wall that is laced up at the bottom like a shoe. Regardless, a nice room.
We change and head out to dinner. We're walking around on Ocean Blvd where there is restaurant after restaurant and we're trying to figure out which one to eat at. We finally go by one and like the menu. The fact that they had buy one get one free drinks didn't help our decision! We have a weekend away from the kids so of course we're looking for a few good cocktails. We enjoy a great dinner and are expecting a bill around $60 - $70. A splurge for us. We get the bill and it's $122!!! Imagine my surprise. Evidently his mojitos were $39.95 each. Granted the glass was bigger than normal, but it was not $40 big! My martini which was in a normal glass was $15/each. Luckily for us they were buy one get one. They automatically added in 17% gratuity which is not outrageous so I didn't fuss about this. We paid the bill and left.
We are doing some more walking and he sees a shirt he likes so I tell him to check it out. We are on vacation and are using money we received as wedding presents for this trip, so nothing out of our "pocket" so to speak. He looks at the tag on the shirt and about falls over. $169.00! He asks the sales lady if it was supposed to say $16.90 and is met with a WTF expression. I laugh but look around anyways at the women's stuff. Very cute, but the dress I really liked was almost $400! That's almost both of our car payments each month. We leave that store.
We end up at a cute outside bar/club type of place and order two beers, $13. Oh well, we kind of expect that at this point. Then we sit down at a table and are told by the server that it's a service table so if we need anything else we need to order from her. After a while we order two beers and two shots (it's my birthday and we're walking so why not?), $26. We stick around there for a while watching people make fools of themselves by trying to dance. Always a good past time. We decide to go walking again.
A guy we walk by offers us paper bracelets to get into this club for half price. Me being money oriented is always thrilled for a deal so we check it out. The place is called Bed. Even with half price it is $40 for both of us to get in. Inside they have beds lining the right side of the wall and down the center. I threaten the hubs with bodily harm if he touches one of them much less sit down on one, scared by what may be on them... gross!! We hit the restrooms and then order two cranberry and vodkas... $23. They are in little plastic cups, not even a big red Solo plastic cup. I'm beyond commenting on the prices by this point and try to enjoy myself. We dance a few times and decide to go back to the room and get some sleep.
We pass a pizza place on the way back and decide that a big greasy meal is in order before we get some shut eye. The pizza lady's english was thick with an accent I didn't catch. I thought she said $31 and something and I hand her $32. Imagine my surprise when it was only $13 and change. The best money we've spent yet. We get back to the room, eat and go to sleep. Hubs is extremely tired at this point because he worked all Thursday night and got off work at 6:00 a.m. Friday morning. He napped until about 10:00 and then his mom brought him to my work where we took my car to the airport to start our trip. He was extremely spent by this point.
Did I forget to mention that the bars and such down there are open until 5:00 a.m.?!?!
Or the fact that there was a serious transvestite working at one of the restaurants we passed? I was tempted to ask if we could take a picture with him/her but didn't know if that would cause a bad reaction or if said transvestite would take offense. I'm sure that wouldn't have been the first time someone asked, but why take the chance of infuriating him/her?
Oh well... that's enough Miami tonight... maybe more tomorrow...
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Where does it all go?
Do you ever wonder that exact question? Where does it all go... money especially. The other day our account looked fabulous and we have blown through more than what we thought. We just don't look at each of our transactions and before you know it we are nickle and diming ourselves! Most of our transactions are less than $15, so it's off to budget land for us.
I am going to do all that I can to make sure we spend less than what we make. I'm sure that we are not living beyond our means but we can't seem to save. It's time to tighten the belt and get on a serious budget. I'm going to be doing some research online and finding the best spreadsheet or something to help me keep up with everything.
I will posts my finds as I find them.
Have a great weekend because I definitely am. We are off to Miami for the weekend. I guess that wouldn't be a great example of saving money, but we are using the money we received as gifts from our wedding almost a year ago.
I am going to do all that I can to make sure we spend less than what we make. I'm sure that we are not living beyond our means but we can't seem to save. It's time to tighten the belt and get on a serious budget. I'm going to be doing some research online and finding the best spreadsheet or something to help me keep up with everything.
I will posts my finds as I find them.
Have a great weekend because I definitely am. We are off to Miami for the weekend. I guess that wouldn't be a great example of saving money, but we are using the money we received as gifts from our wedding almost a year ago.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
hectic Hectic HECTIC
Wow, this week is proving to be rather hectic!
We had the baseball game Monday night, the interstate was a parking lot on the way home because of construction, we stopped and got my car from my work on the way back, and on the way home a car came over in my lane on a two lane road and I went off the side which caused my tire to blow! I had a four inch diameter gash on the inside of my tire. I called hubs to let him know and he turned around to come help me. We finally got home, we all needed baths/showers and we were all exhausted! Hubs and I finally got into the bed after midnight.
Tuesday I worked again as usual and hubs was off so he took care of my car. He got a new tire put on, my car inspected and renewed my registration. That was so awesome of him! And took one more thing off my to do list! After work we went to the gym, then to his work so he could take something back, finally home to cook dinner, feed the family, hubs bathed the girls so I could get the kitchen cleaned up and I registered the oldest for her dance class that started the next night.
Wednesday (today) I had to run out during lunch and get her dance stuff... hot pink leotard with a shirt and footless tights. Also had to get a bunch of travel size stuff to adheres to TSA guidelines so we can get through security at the airport since we are only taking carry on since it's a weekend trip. After work I rushed to get both girls (two different places), home to change her into her dance stuff, then to dance class. Which, by the way, I show up and there is a sign in the front that they'd moved! So, had to find the new place. After dance class we went through Chick Fil A drive through (I screwed up my food budget for the week right there, but did NOT have the time tonight and didn't plan on her being in dance quite yet but she really wanted to). The drive through guy screwed up our order, but not too bad. Then, get home and we have no napkins, straws or sauce for nuggets. What a disappointment. Regardless, we ate, I bathed the baby and put her down. Then, proceeded to make homemade spaghetti sauce from tomatoes we got from our own plants that we grew! I didn't want them to go bad and be wasted while we were gone. Needless to say we have pasta on our menu for next week. I also did our menu for next week since we'll be gone this weekend and did my grocery list from that. I cleaned up the kitchen, did all the dishes (don't want any dirty ones when we leave), took out all the trash, trash can to the street for tomorrow morning and just all the household stuff that needed to be done.
Now, left for tomorrow stuff we HAVE to do before we leave is looking like more than I can handle on my own since hubs will be asleep all day tomorrow since he's working tonight and tomorrow night.
To Do...
Pack - me and the girls for the weekend (OH... this is a trip for hubs and I without the girls. The first time that has ever happened)
Mow the grass
Put the laundry up
Clean the bathrooms
This all has to be done between 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. and doesn't include the normal cooking dinner, bathing the girls, cleaning up the kitchen and living areas, taking care of the dog and just the "normal" to be done every night stuff.
Hopefully I will get it all done, but we shall see how much energy super woman has left by the end of the day, but the yard has to get done. It looks horrible. I guess I should check the gas can before I leave for work in case I need to get some when I get home so I don't have to load and unload the girls twice.
We had the baseball game Monday night, the interstate was a parking lot on the way home because of construction, we stopped and got my car from my work on the way back, and on the way home a car came over in my lane on a two lane road and I went off the side which caused my tire to blow! I had a four inch diameter gash on the inside of my tire. I called hubs to let him know and he turned around to come help me. We finally got home, we all needed baths/showers and we were all exhausted! Hubs and I finally got into the bed after midnight.
Tuesday I worked again as usual and hubs was off so he took care of my car. He got a new tire put on, my car inspected and renewed my registration. That was so awesome of him! And took one more thing off my to do list! After work we went to the gym, then to his work so he could take something back, finally home to cook dinner, feed the family, hubs bathed the girls so I could get the kitchen cleaned up and I registered the oldest for her dance class that started the next night.
Wednesday (today) I had to run out during lunch and get her dance stuff... hot pink leotard with a shirt and footless tights. Also had to get a bunch of travel size stuff to adheres to TSA guidelines so we can get through security at the airport since we are only taking carry on since it's a weekend trip. After work I rushed to get both girls (two different places), home to change her into her dance stuff, then to dance class. Which, by the way, I show up and there is a sign in the front that they'd moved! So, had to find the new place. After dance class we went through Chick Fil A drive through (I screwed up my food budget for the week right there, but did NOT have the time tonight and didn't plan on her being in dance quite yet but she really wanted to). The drive through guy screwed up our order, but not too bad. Then, get home and we have no napkins, straws or sauce for nuggets. What a disappointment. Regardless, we ate, I bathed the baby and put her down. Then, proceeded to make homemade spaghetti sauce from tomatoes we got from our own plants that we grew! I didn't want them to go bad and be wasted while we were gone. Needless to say we have pasta on our menu for next week. I also did our menu for next week since we'll be gone this weekend and did my grocery list from that. I cleaned up the kitchen, did all the dishes (don't want any dirty ones when we leave), took out all the trash, trash can to the street for tomorrow morning and just all the household stuff that needed to be done.
Now, left for tomorrow stuff we HAVE to do before we leave is looking like more than I can handle on my own since hubs will be asleep all day tomorrow since he's working tonight and tomorrow night.
To Do...
Pack - me and the girls for the weekend (OH... this is a trip for hubs and I without the girls. The first time that has ever happened)
Mow the grass
Put the laundry up
Clean the bathrooms
This all has to be done between 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. and doesn't include the normal cooking dinner, bathing the girls, cleaning up the kitchen and living areas, taking care of the dog and just the "normal" to be done every night stuff.
Hopefully I will get it all done, but we shall see how much energy super woman has left by the end of the day, but the yard has to get done. It looks horrible. I guess I should check the gas can before I leave for work in case I need to get some when I get home so I don't have to load and unload the girls twice.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
$40 Grocery Goal
One of my friends is the inspiration for this goal. She maintains a $40/week budget for groceries and she does it! She is severely pregnant, has a husband that eats constantly and a fourteen month old son (our daughter is exactly one week older). I have decided to implement this in our own lives. This doesn't exactly go along with simple = easy goal, but if we only spent $40/week on groceries this would definitely help our budget!
I decided the first place to start was by making a menu for week, so I invited some girlfriends over this past Friday night to do just that. We sat down, traded some recipes, they helped me cut out my coupons (Harris Teeter had triple coupons) and we got to work on our menus for the following week. My list wasn't as long as normal because hubs and I are flying off to Miami for the following weekend, but I planned what we needed.
I planned the following meals...
Monday - turkey burgers with chips
Tuesday - taco cups with all the fixings and yellow rice
Wednesday - Cheesy Italian Chicken with noodles and peas
Thursday - London Broil, mashed potatoes and salad
I didn't have to buy the fixings for the taco cups, yellow rice, noodles, peas, potatoes or london broil because I had all that on hand, but check out what I did rack up on at Harris Teeter using the sales and coupons as my guide.
Trident gum (had to buy something to add $1 to my total to use a $5 off $40 purchase at HT)
Betty Crocker Warm Delights
Purina Dog Chow (8 lb bag??)
Little Debbie brownies
Ziploc Containers (the "fake" tupperware)
2 cans green beans
1 tub huggies wipes
wish bone italian dressing
wish bone balsamic vinegarette dressing
2 boxes teddy grahams
weber gourmet burger seasoning
skippy peanut butter
2 boxes flavored uncle ben's rice
colgate toothpaste
family pack boneless skinless chicken breasts
family pack chicken leg quarters
8 bananas (discount rack b/c seriously ripe)
bag of romaine salad
hamburger buns
tombstone deep dish personal pizzas
2-5 count biscuits
jimmy dean turkey bacon
gallon of milk
I got all that for a grand total of $37.24!!
Then I went to Aldi's and picked up a pack of ground turkey for $2.54
GRAND TOTAL $39.79
Is that not awesome!
Now, if you didn't notice I only picked up one thing of turkey, but I needed two and didn't realize this until my shopping was complete and I was back home! I needed one for burgers and one for tacos, so I was a little upset that I didn't get it done. Luckily for me though his parents invited us to go to a ball game Monday night so they bought our dinner out there and I was spared from having to come up with something else.
I took all the uber ripe bananas I bought and promptly made some banana bread and muffins Saturday when I got back from the store. It produced about 3 dozen mini muffins, 6 muffins and one loaf. I put all the muffins in ziploc bags and they are in the fridge. I've been taking them to work for breakfast. The loaf I cut into slices and put on a cookie sheet to freeze. Once frozen I promptly used the vacuum seal bags and put the bags in the freezer for a later date.
Also, I got a lot of chicken this trip so that will save money on future trips and menu planning because it's already in the freezer in vacuum bags awaiting their demise in whatever I choose to cook.
So for this week I maintained my $40 budget and was THRILLED with my finds and how little I spent and even bought dog food. My friend did say she bought all paper products with this budget as well, so next week will be a different story as I will need toilet paper, paper towels, dish washer detergent and trash bags!
I decided the first place to start was by making a menu for week, so I invited some girlfriends over this past Friday night to do just that. We sat down, traded some recipes, they helped me cut out my coupons (Harris Teeter had triple coupons) and we got to work on our menus for the following week. My list wasn't as long as normal because hubs and I are flying off to Miami for the following weekend, but I planned what we needed.
I planned the following meals...
Monday - turkey burgers with chips
Tuesday - taco cups with all the fixings and yellow rice
Wednesday - Cheesy Italian Chicken with noodles and peas
Thursday - London Broil, mashed potatoes and salad
I didn't have to buy the fixings for the taco cups, yellow rice, noodles, peas, potatoes or london broil because I had all that on hand, but check out what I did rack up on at Harris Teeter using the sales and coupons as my guide.
Trident gum (had to buy something to add $1 to my total to use a $5 off $40 purchase at HT)
Betty Crocker Warm Delights
Purina Dog Chow (8 lb bag??)
Little Debbie brownies
Ziploc Containers (the "fake" tupperware)
2 cans green beans
1 tub huggies wipes
wish bone italian dressing
wish bone balsamic vinegarette dressing
2 boxes teddy grahams
weber gourmet burger seasoning
skippy peanut butter
2 boxes flavored uncle ben's rice
colgate toothpaste
family pack boneless skinless chicken breasts
family pack chicken leg quarters
8 bananas (discount rack b/c seriously ripe)
bag of romaine salad
hamburger buns
tombstone deep dish personal pizzas
2-5 count biscuits
jimmy dean turkey bacon
gallon of milk
I got all that for a grand total of $37.24!!
Then I went to Aldi's and picked up a pack of ground turkey for $2.54
GRAND TOTAL $39.79
Is that not awesome!
Now, if you didn't notice I only picked up one thing of turkey, but I needed two and didn't realize this until my shopping was complete and I was back home! I needed one for burgers and one for tacos, so I was a little upset that I didn't get it done. Luckily for me though his parents invited us to go to a ball game Monday night so they bought our dinner out there and I was spared from having to come up with something else.
I took all the uber ripe bananas I bought and promptly made some banana bread and muffins Saturday when I got back from the store. It produced about 3 dozen mini muffins, 6 muffins and one loaf. I put all the muffins in ziploc bags and they are in the fridge. I've been taking them to work for breakfast. The loaf I cut into slices and put on a cookie sheet to freeze. Once frozen I promptly used the vacuum seal bags and put the bags in the freezer for a later date.
Also, I got a lot of chicken this trip so that will save money on future trips and menu planning because it's already in the freezer in vacuum bags awaiting their demise in whatever I choose to cook.
So for this week I maintained my $40 budget and was THRILLED with my finds and how little I spent and even bought dog food. My friend did say she bought all paper products with this budget as well, so next week will be a different story as I will need toilet paper, paper towels, dish washer detergent and trash bags!
Monday, August 17, 2009
My Inspiration
So, you have learned my purpose to my blog. Now, here is the inspiration behind it... my family.
I am a very happily married woman to the most wonderful man in the world. He works nights half the month and sleeps during the day that half as well. He works hard not only at his career but also works part time doing construction for himself and for his old boss depending on which day it is. There's not set schedule and half the time I forget what he's doing, but that's just par for the course when you have mommy brain!
He's a wonderful man who loves his job and his family. I have never felt less than number one on his list. He's very attentive, helps around the house and is all in all wonderful. I love him even more because he's such a wonderful daddy to our girls.
Now, the biggest inspiration in both of our lives are our girls. We have two, our oldest is fom my previous marriage and she is almost four. The baby is almost fourteen months. They are complete opposites in every aspect. From their personalities and demeanor to the rate that they grow! One loves cards, the other proteins; one loves to play by herself and the other has to be entertained. Regardless of anything they are the loves of our lives. My hubs has been in our oldest daughter's life since she was about ten months old so he is the only daddy she knows. My ex husband is still around, but not very much. That's OK for us though because we offer her everything she needs, especially stability and rules.
Finally, you have me. I'm not quite thirty years old (a few days before that happens!). I work full time at a desk job, but at least I like my job. I have great friends and a wonderful family. I am completely happy and content with our lives. I am completely normal. I, like most every other woman, wish I could lose more weight which I'm working on, have my ups and downs, try to shoulder the world without anyone seeing any effort behind it and try to make our lives flow seemlessly. Do I always obtain that goal... not always, but I try and that's what matters. I just wish I could save more. I wish I could save more of everything... time, money, food, etc. I'm working on it and one day at a time!
Make it simple, right?
I am a very happily married woman to the most wonderful man in the world. He works nights half the month and sleeps during the day that half as well. He works hard not only at his career but also works part time doing construction for himself and for his old boss depending on which day it is. There's not set schedule and half the time I forget what he's doing, but that's just par for the course when you have mommy brain!
He's a wonderful man who loves his job and his family. I have never felt less than number one on his list. He's very attentive, helps around the house and is all in all wonderful. I love him even more because he's such a wonderful daddy to our girls.
Now, the biggest inspiration in both of our lives are our girls. We have two, our oldest is fom my previous marriage and she is almost four. The baby is almost fourteen months. They are complete opposites in every aspect. From their personalities and demeanor to the rate that they grow! One loves cards, the other proteins; one loves to play by herself and the other has to be entertained. Regardless of anything they are the loves of our lives. My hubs has been in our oldest daughter's life since she was about ten months old so he is the only daddy she knows. My ex husband is still around, but not very much. That's OK for us though because we offer her everything she needs, especially stability and rules.
Finally, you have me. I'm not quite thirty years old (a few days before that happens!). I work full time at a desk job, but at least I like my job. I have great friends and a wonderful family. I am completely happy and content with our lives. I am completely normal. I, like most every other woman, wish I could lose more weight which I'm working on, have my ups and downs, try to shoulder the world without anyone seeing any effort behind it and try to make our lives flow seemlessly. Do I always obtain that goal... not always, but I try and that's what matters. I just wish I could save more. I wish I could save more of everything... time, money, food, etc. I'm working on it and one day at a time!
Make it simple, right?
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Cutting Corners From a Circle
I'm sure that you can tell where this blog title came from. It seems like no matter how many corners you cut you are always looks for more that can be shaved!
How can you save more money? You sit there and think that there HAS to be more than what you are doing that you can do to pinch a few more pennies. You are clipping coupons, shopping the sales and trying to appease everyone's requests.
What can you do to save time? Doesn't matter where you save more as long you can. Whether it be cleaning, laundry, paying bills, really just anything you can do to save some time because everything is time consuming and we all know there are other things you would always rather be doing. Like absolutely nothing!
You try to save everywhere and it seems like there is never enough "whatever it is" to go around the way you want it to. I made this pact with myself in January (dreaded resolutions) to try and make things in our lives more simple. I want to go back to the simple ways where everyone isn't always running around and to be able to sit back and enjoy. Well... things didn't exactly go as planned. Granted, I have simplified some things and they are great, but then I realized why things haven't gone exactly as planned. I was reading something the other day, a book (which we all know as moms the only time you really have to read is during your "private time" in the bathroom) and this one sentence stood out amongst everything else. I stopped. I read it again. I thought for a second. I read it yet again. I was completely dumbfounded by the statement that I read. I can't remember the exact phrasing to quote it now, but here you go... simple does not mean easy. Yes, very thought provoking. I sat there and was like "huh... that is very true." I have been trying so hard to make our life simple and it's not easy.
There is a lot of work to make the household flow. Granted, I don't have a deadbeat husband by any stretch of the imagination (i.e. he helps with laundry, does dishes, etc.) but he works nights and sleeps during the days. He doesn't work every night, nor does he sleep every day (well, he sleeps every day at some point but not always during the day) but it seems like the majority of the responsibility of making the house flow is taken on by the woman. Not that I mind because I thrive off of it and love taking care of everyone, but it's a challenge and I thrive off of those too.
We are your "normal" family. At least by today's standards. We are married, with two children (one of which is from my previous marriage so we are blended), we have a house, two cars, we both work full time, have bills, all that good "normal" stuff. We have a great relationship and are horribly in love :0) We have two girls. One who is almost four and the baby is fourteen months. Life is interesting to say the least. When he's not working at night he is working side jobs during the day in construction so he more than contributes to the household, so I have taken on the responsibility of the house.
I manage all the money, pay the bills, do the grocery shopping, cook the meals, clean the house, do the laundry, take care of all the plants, the lawn work is about 75/25 (with me being the 25), plan our budget, keep the family schedule, doctor appointments for the girls are attended by us both, maintenance of the cars, and just every little thing that comes up.
You get the point... I am the woman in the family. I shoulder it all by choice and because I think I can do it better :0) Doesn't that about sum it up? I am starting this blog with hopes that someone will read it, but if not I will never be the wiser and will keep on writing. I hope to put my trials and tribulations of making our life simple AND easy! I strive on being the best mom and wife possible and this is my story.
Next... meet the family.
How can you save more money? You sit there and think that there HAS to be more than what you are doing that you can do to pinch a few more pennies. You are clipping coupons, shopping the sales and trying to appease everyone's requests.
What can you do to save time? Doesn't matter where you save more as long you can. Whether it be cleaning, laundry, paying bills, really just anything you can do to save some time because everything is time consuming and we all know there are other things you would always rather be doing. Like absolutely nothing!
You try to save everywhere and it seems like there is never enough "whatever it is" to go around the way you want it to. I made this pact with myself in January (dreaded resolutions) to try and make things in our lives more simple. I want to go back to the simple ways where everyone isn't always running around and to be able to sit back and enjoy. Well... things didn't exactly go as planned. Granted, I have simplified some things and they are great, but then I realized why things haven't gone exactly as planned. I was reading something the other day, a book (which we all know as moms the only time you really have to read is during your "private time" in the bathroom) and this one sentence stood out amongst everything else. I stopped. I read it again. I thought for a second. I read it yet again. I was completely dumbfounded by the statement that I read. I can't remember the exact phrasing to quote it now, but here you go... simple does not mean easy. Yes, very thought provoking. I sat there and was like "huh... that is very true." I have been trying so hard to make our life simple and it's not easy.
There is a lot of work to make the household flow. Granted, I don't have a deadbeat husband by any stretch of the imagination (i.e. he helps with laundry, does dishes, etc.) but he works nights and sleeps during the days. He doesn't work every night, nor does he sleep every day (well, he sleeps every day at some point but not always during the day) but it seems like the majority of the responsibility of making the house flow is taken on by the woman. Not that I mind because I thrive off of it and love taking care of everyone, but it's a challenge and I thrive off of those too.
We are your "normal" family. At least by today's standards. We are married, with two children (one of which is from my previous marriage so we are blended), we have a house, two cars, we both work full time, have bills, all that good "normal" stuff. We have a great relationship and are horribly in love :0) We have two girls. One who is almost four and the baby is fourteen months. Life is interesting to say the least. When he's not working at night he is working side jobs during the day in construction so he more than contributes to the household, so I have taken on the responsibility of the house.
I manage all the money, pay the bills, do the grocery shopping, cook the meals, clean the house, do the laundry, take care of all the plants, the lawn work is about 75/25 (with me being the 25), plan our budget, keep the family schedule, doctor appointments for the girls are attended by us both, maintenance of the cars, and just every little thing that comes up.
You get the point... I am the woman in the family. I shoulder it all by choice and because I think I can do it better :0) Doesn't that about sum it up? I am starting this blog with hopes that someone will read it, but if not I will never be the wiser and will keep on writing. I hope to put my trials and tribulations of making our life simple AND easy! I strive on being the best mom and wife possible and this is my story.
Next... meet the family.
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