Lily says the lighting in the Tahoe is amazing….
Wordless Wednesday
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Author Archives: Sheila
Monday Menu Post
Things will look a little different this week because of Thanksgiving. I wish I could just plan to eat left-overs Thursday and Friday but this will not be happening around here. I will be taking the turkey to my brothers on Thursday but seriously doubt we have any left-overs from it. I actually have another turkey breast in the freezer that I might make if the mood is right. Haley and Amanda will both be over on Thursday night for our appetizers and most likely Friday morning for breakfast. Lunch on Friday will be a find it. Dinner on Friday might be a homemade pizza or it may be left-overs depending on what the fridge looks like.
Breakfast– Saturday-Eggs and hash brown casserole (new recipe). Sunday- Biscuit King Monday, Tuesday, figure it out! Wednesday- planning on a pumpkin baked oatmeal. Thursday sausage and cream cheese crescent rolls, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, pop-tarts, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, or omelets.
Lunch- Saturday–Left-overs including cheddar bacon fries. Sunday-Greggs . I have planned to take 2 bowls of soup for Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday- cheese quesadilla, Thursday- Thanksgiving, Friday left-overs or pizza
Dinner- Saturday-left-overs Sunday- Broccoli-Cheese soup. Monday- Hamburgers and FF Tuesday-Chicken and Dumplings in the crockpot. Wednesday- Left-overs Thursday- Appetizers. Friday-Good questions seriously!
5 Things Friday
- Matt has been working on getting the greenhouse functional this week which including install shelves to hold the planter boxes. We had originally screwed the plastic boxes to the wall and some had already started to crack with the weather change. We are running a small heater at night which has increased our overall electricity usage so this is something we will need to monitor.
- We planted 8 more boxes with more fall vegetables. I am hopefully that we will be able to have a mid-winter harvest that carries into the spring. It does appear that some of the lose leaf lettuce has already started to grow.
- Matt was able to try a new recipe this week for Impossible Cheeseburger Pie. Matt, Lily and Zach really liked it. Kendall said it tasted like beef. This will definitely be a repeat for us! I also found a breakfast recipe that I am going to try in the morning!
- We have NOWHERE that we have to go tomorrow. My plan is to work on cooking as much as possible for next week so that I can spend the extra time working on Christmas decorations!
- Food Lion finally has a sale on 2 Liter Diet Cokes! I have already stocked up on 30 with plans to add at least another 10 this weekend.
Menu Planning Monday
Things should start to settle in this week. Matt is officially unemployed and we are in the space between sports and holidays. With some extra time off last week, I feel like I am caught up. The idea is to eat at home and use up left-overs. I am trying to decide how to use the left-overs better. I usually do not plan for lunches or dinners on the weekends but since I have some spare time I like cooking so I might try a left-over evening a week? Any suggestions?
Breakfast– Saturday-Eggs, bacon and toast. Sunday- Apple cinnamon baked oatmeal Monday- Banana muffins, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, pop-tarts, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, or omelets. We have managed to use up all the eggs so back to more traditional and quicker breakfast.
Lunch- Saturday–Left-overs Sunday-Christo’s . I am taking several days of left-over turkey and fixing this week as well as a day of Chinese left-overs. If I have a plan I don’t end up eating out as much.
Dinner- Saturday-Chill cookoff and McDonalds for the non-chili eaters. Sunday- Turkey, mashed potato, gravy, stuffing, squash casserole and rolls. Monday- Beef and broccoli and rice Tuesday-Soft Taco. Wednesday- Impossible Cheeseburger Pie Thursday- Rice Creola Friday-Chicken and dumplings
5 Ways We Are Preparing for Unemployment
- We decided to sell your Toyota Minivan. We were planning to keep it as an extra vehicle and to use for trips with my Mom. After much discussion and given the fact that unemployment will be less than half of Matt’s normal salary. We decided to go ahead and sell. We got an online offer from CarMax and made an appointment. We spent a total of 1 hour for the entire process in the store and walked out the door with a check for $10,600.
- Paid off every little last debit, we could find or knew about for the next six months. This included things like garbage bill, taxes, tags and inspections as well as a couple of small medical bills. We also went ahead and paid all of the credit card balances to zero. I have been using some of the no interest promos combining with paying off the amounts as they come due. I felt like by going ahead and paying everything to zero, it would be easier to start and use a cash only system. We will continue to use our Sheetz card for gas as it reduces the cost by 8 cent a gallon. We have a set amount of $500 to pay each month on this.
- Finished purchasing Christmas presents. I actually already had 3/4 of it completed but this was the push I needed to finish.
- Took inventory and completely stocked up on groceries. We added items for appetizers and things we might only use for the Super Bowl as well to this list. I need to make a Dollar Tree run for body wash. We will still need to purchase bread, diary and vegetable items. My goal is to reduce the grocery budget to $300 a month which is half of what we currently are spending. In reality, I may be able to reduce it down to $200 a month after November.
- Established an emergency fund. This is placed in a money market account which is still easy to access but separate from our normal savings accounts.
Thankful Thursday
Today I am thankful for some extra time off from work. When I worked at the hospital, Veteran’s Day was not considered a holiday of any shape or fashion. At the school system today is definitely a holiday. I had some extra time today to spend at church preparing for the fundraiser this weekend. We all enjoyed a special treat with a lunch out. Matt and I made a grocery store trip. Finally haircuts for all of us!
Wordless Wednesday- Zach
Ready for the nerf war at church….these are his personal guns the rest he will share!
Monday Menu Post
The next few weeks are filled with lots of late meeting for me. In addition to the time change, I am not a happy camper. Thankfully, both Lily and Matt have stepped up to help with dinners. Menu planning save time, money and my sanity on weeks like this. We are very fortunate to have a completely stocked pantry and freezers. I have been working on using what we have since July and it appears to be working. This week everyone is home on Thursday so things may appear a little different.
Breakfast– Saturday-Find your own and use eggs. Sunday- muffins from Costco Monday- more muffins from Costco and I have a breakfast burrito , Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, pop-tarts, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, or omelets. We are making good use of our eggs and home to continue to receive some each month.
Lunch- Saturday–Costco for Matt and I Sunday-Gregg’s. The kids have started packing lunch with things they find. I will continue to take several days of left-overs as long as they are available.
Dinner- Saturday-Chicken from Costco, stuffing and peas. Sunday-Snacks and crackers. Monday- Paula Deen chicken casserole (new) Tuesday- Lasagna from Costco with garlic bread. Wednesday- steak and twice baked potatoes Thursday-Breakfast casserole Friday-Beef and Broccoli in the insta pot.
Saving On Saturday
I have been really quiet the last two weekends, actually really busy. Today, I am going to share why. Initially before purchasing the camper, we decided to add a couple of driveway spots by extending our current driveway. One of the main reason for that decision was the fact we just re-built our square foot garden beds this spring. 
Once we got the camper in the driveway, I realized how big it actually was and then Amanda hit one of the bed with her new car, we decided to rethink . It was decided that we needed to expand the driveway all the way to the road. I debated and thought about how we could salvage as much or all of the beds.. I also knew that I did not need to worry about the dirt as it was totally useless and needed to be replaced. The concrete guys offered to move the beds however I was not sure or even hopefully that they would maintain them in one piece so for the past two Saturdays, we have been working.
I ended up paying each kid $10 an hour to help with this huge mass undertaking. With a total of $200 spent to the kids each weekend. We also needed to build a small retaining wall next to the driveway to prevent dirt from eroding into the driveway. A third component of this massive project was the square cement pavers that we had place under and around the beds. I was able to purchase most on sale for between 75 cents and a dollar each, however currently they are costing $1.48 each. We have over 100 of these.
I am so happy to save that we have managed to save all the pavers, move the beds and it actually appears like we plan the whole operation.
The garden beds have been moved and filled with dirt except for the new sweet potato bed and one last raised bed. We decided to place two beds directly in front of the house.
The other beds are currently behind the beetle space.
I have no idea what we actually saved but I am very thankful that the entire project is complete.
Thankful Thursday
I so enjoy the month of November. It is uplifting and inspiring to hear and express gratitude. I have tried and failed in the past with posting a thought each day of thankfulness both on line and on the blog. This year, I am going to keep it simple. Of course I am very thankful for my family and friends. I am thankful to see and spend time with my Mom on a regular basis. I really enjoy modern conveniences such as central air and heat. But this year, my goal is to post a thankful thought each Thursday of the month. And it can not be the simple things already listed above!
Today, I am thankful for the financial blessing that we have received and enjoyed over the past year. They have help us pay of debit expand our lifestyle a bit and find ways to spend quality time together. But today, I am thankful for these financial blessing because they have allowed us to face and work around an expected job loss with minimal changes to our lifestyle.
Matt’s last day of employment will be next Friday November 12th. The current plan is for him to start tackling a long list of task and repairs that need to be completed. He will also be looking for another job but he is not forced to accept anything and we fully anticipate his unemployment to last around a year. But of course our prayer is that God will direct our paths and present a job either today or a year from now that will be the perfect fit.