Five Things Friday

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  1. Two years ago, Facebook reminded me that I had COVID for the second time. Today, I hope I am at the end of a stomach virus.
  2. We are in the single digit until our Disney trip. I actually have a long list of items that need to be accomplished before we leave. The goal is to get everything completed this week.
  3. Our grocery budget is currently still under $200 which makes me very happy!
  4. We gathered 7 chicken eggs after getting 4 yesterday which means that all the chicken laid an egg today! This is a first!  One that I hope at least for a week or so continues.
  5. We will be spending some time tommorow up potting our tomato plants.  Another first that I am excited about and can’t wait to share on Sunday with a garden update!.

Saving on Saturday

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  1. This week both Matt and I realized that we are in need of new shoes. Both of us have tennis shoes that did not have any trend on the bottom. We decided to check out Belk’s last night as well had some time without any kids. We did hit the jack pot!  Stechers were buy one get one 50% off. With that discount, we purchased a pair of tennis shoes for $63.50 each.   Matt also found himself a pair of dress shoes!
  2. Part of using what is in pantry is not allowing things to go to waste, I am very proud of myself for this!  I used two boxes of Chex cereal to make “muddy buddies” and a ranch Chex mix.   I will not admit how long those boxes have been in my pantry. I also noticed that the Hawaiin rolls had not been openned that I purchased several weeks ago.  Matt suggested that we make a smash burger with them.  I used a pound of ground beef and fed five of us with that one pound!  The burgers were delicious!
  3. I did end up at the grocery store today to purchase some fruits and veggies that we have been completely out of for a couple of weeks.
  4. I am continuing to shred up junk mail and unusable paper to make the grounding and bedding for the chicken coop!  So far it is a win win!
  5. We have spent time cleaning and organizing and cooking ahead again this weekend so I will call it a success!
  6. Gardening update to come tomorrow!

Monday Menu Plan

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After just being overwhelmed last week when our new scheduled started, I feel like I am back on my game this week. Thanks to Matt really stepping up, we did not even end up eating out last week! This weekend I was able to spend some time baking and even cooked 3 full meals on Saturday and a big dinner on Sunday. We have enough left=overs for lunches all week and to ease some of the cooking load.

It is March 11th and I have not been to the grocery store the entire month!!! We currently are out of milk and chick-a-filet sauce so we might have a small spend. I was also able to reduce the subscribe and save to $109 for the month!  This are both huge accomplishments!

Breakfast- Saturday- Banana bread French toast and cheddar bay sausage balls.  Sunday-I had grits and others had pop tarts.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday- find it (breakfast burritos, muffins, oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs). I did find some more french toast sticks so breakfast should be covered for the rest of the month!
Lunch- Saturday-Bagel sandwiches with fresh bagels.   Sunday- KFC with lefto-overs for multiple lunches this week.  Monday, Tuesday, -Wednesday, Thursday left-overs are the name of the game!

Dinner- Saturday-Bacon and tomato pasta- Not a repeat but eatable. Sunday- Copycat Panera Broccoli and Cheese soup.  Monday-Ballgame so MCDONALD Tuesday-Baked Ziti.  Wednesday- Taco Bowls.  Thursday-Pick your soup night    Friday- Grilled chicken and pasta salad.

Starting the Garden

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I realized that I need to do a better job with keeping up with updates on the garden. The main reason is the information it provides is so useful for planning.  I spent an hour or so reviewing all the information from the past several years and have a better idea of what I want to do moving forward.

This year we have started spinach outside probably 3 weeks ago. It finally started to sprout

My thoughts are that they will likely not produce as it will be too warm soon. But I have a guide that says 55 days are what is required until harvest, this would be at the end of April which could be cool or could be in the 90s.  I am going to remain hopeful and hope to plant again in the fall.

I was able to get outside and plant around 30 snap peas in the front bed, so we shall see how well they produce.  I have a table of seedlings in the living room!

The broccoli plants (9) were placed outside today to start the hardening off process. I would like to plant these outside next Saturday.

We currently have
14 lunch box pepper (I soaked these seeds prior to planting which I think is the difference)
2 wax peppers (specifically for salsa)
6 bell peppers (this is the 2 week point)   I am planning to soak a second batch of 12 bell peppers to start as well.
20 Roma tomato
12 Slicing Tomato
2 cherry tomato
4 Cherokee Purple tomato

I have planted 6 Garlic bulbs and we have about 20 onions currently growing as well.

5 Things Friday

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  1. The goal for this weekend is to rest and prepare. We are looking at 3 of the busiest weeks starting on Monday!  I need to get a game plan for food and make sure nothing is missing.  Kendall and Zach have a youth group activity next Friday night and a parent meeting for summer swim next Sunday.
  2. Lily is currently at Disney with her friend Izzy!  She will spend the weekend with Haley and fly home late on Monday.
  3. Zach has his first official baseball game on Monday night.  He has practice Tuesday through Friday nights. Next Saturday is a all day school fieldtrip. With his MPA band performance on the following Tuesday.
  4. Kendall started with year round swimming this week. She has practice Monday thru Thursday evenings form 5:00pm to 6:00pm. She also is preparing and planning to start community college classes next fall.
  5. I am planning to make a complete garden update on Sunday. But we have been seed starting for the past three weeks!

Menu Plan Monday

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Things are starting to get busy over here.  For example, this week, we have something in the evenings in addition to baseball practice for 4 of the 5 days!  I am working toward simple easy filling meals. The other change that is becoming apparent is lack of leftovers for lunches.  It is time to get back prepping most lunches on Sundays!

I am actually doing really well for the pantry challenge. I have not been to the grocery store in 10 days. I will be going to Costco on Tuesday to get my tires rotated but I am using my reward certificate to cover any spending I may have!  We are currently out of milk as I turned the rest into greek yogurt on Friday. However we do have Almond Milk that will work for the short run if anyone wants cereal.

Breakfast- Saturday- Pancakes  Sunday-I had fried eggs and others had poptarts.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday- find it (breakfast burritos, muffins, oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs).  I made a couple of bowls of the egg scramble from Sunday night and also added 8 additional breakfast burritos to the stash!
Lunch- Saturday- Fix your own convenience food.  Sunday- Mexican Restaurant  Monday, Tuesday, -Wednesday, Thursday I have a veggie tray for one day, chicken salad and crackers or sandwiches and Friday is my day to eat out!

Dinner- Saturday-White chicken chill.   Sunday- Breakfast bowls Monday- Gyro Tuesday- Pizza from Costco Wednesday- Pork Chops with rice and green beans.  Thursday-Homemade Chicken bowls   Friday- homemade pizza

February in Review

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February is complete!   I would like to say that we enjoyed some of the slowest month of the year but then I would not be correct. I will say we are steadily moving forward!

Groceries- Budget $975/ $450   $1059.04 Goal fail! No reason just we bought food.  I do know that grocery prices have risen 25% but other than that we failed!  We are doing a no spend grocery challenge for the month of March until just before our trip. I am hoping for the best!  I do have some free money to use so that should help!

Auto/ Gas. Goal -= $600.  Goal Met!  We have spent $334.49 this month.  This did not include the tags so the better number is $450.  March will be expensive as well, the car needs an oil change and we need gas.

Blogging- 15 post per month. 8 post this month. Yeap a struggle.

Exercise- I am down to 207 which is 19lbs!   I did manage to walk an hour 3 times this month. I am challenging myself to walk 10 times before our trip!

Earn extra money: a $50 gift card from Fetch.  I am at 49653. Slow as slow!

Monday Menu Planning

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Food remains one of our largest expenses of the year. Part of the reason is that all 5 of us eat 3 meals a day from the groceries we purchase. I have failed the pantry challenge for the month of February.  In order to redeem myself and save us a bunch of money, we are going to do a 30 day pantry challenge. I will admit to stacking the odds in our favor as I asked the kids for what they thought they would need and we made a trip to Costco on Saturday.  Our February Amazon subscribe and save arrives on Wednesday so I am staying positive to see how this will work.  So far we have gone two days without going to the grocery store.  I was able to clean out the refrigerator and have a list of 30 something dinner meals so at this point we are off to a good start.

 

Breakfast- Saturday- Bacon, sausage and eggs Sunday- Muffins from Costco Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,  Thursday   and Friday- find it ( breakfast burritos, muffins, oatmeal,omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, sausage, pop-tarts,and eggs)..
Lunch- Saturday- Left-overs from fridge Everyone found something.   Sunday- Christos  Monday, Tuesday,-Wednesday, Thursday left-overs or sandwiches and  Friday is my day to eat out!

Dinner- Saturday-Costco chicken, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pineapple, peas and corn from the fridge.   Sunday- everyone picked a leftover soup except Kendall who made Tomato soup and will take left-overs for lunch.  Monday- Chicken and broccoli  casserole, already made in the fridge.  Tuesday-  taco bites (made from left-overs from last week)  Wednesday-  Baked Ziti.  Thursday-Gyros  Friday- Kielbasa and rice T