Braxton at Disney!

Another Picture heavy post but I definitely don’t want to ever forget this time!

Zach loved matching Braxton and they looked too cute together. Everyone pitched in to help with a 2 year old in the lines. Our wait time range from basically walk on for Haunted Mansion (17 actual minutes) to an hour wait for The Jingle Cruise

Braxton wanted to wear Kendall’s ears so on Tuesday while Matt, Lily and Zach were getting Starbucks we found this that fit perfectly. Braxton had thrown a hat the day before but he left these ears on the whole day and even wore them home on the plane.

Braxton was awesome about wearing his mask. We would tell him to fix it and he would cover his nose. When he was tired, he would often get his drink and pretend to drink from it, even filling his cheeks just to keep his mask down.

If you had food Braxton would help you!

Monday Menu Plan

I can already tell you that the menu plan is not going as planned. I like the eat with the weather. The last couple of days I want hearty warm meals. I am trying to stick with easy fast meal but also work on cleaning out the fridge and freezer. My goal is not to go to Costco till the week after Christmas.

Breakfast– Saturday-Biscuit King Sunday- Left-overs or breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, bagels or omelets, French toast.  .   Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, bagels or omelets.

Lunch-  Saturday–Whatever burger (while shopping)   Sunday-Red Robin  Eating from fridge and salads sounds like a plan for me .

Dinner-  Saturday-  Dinner with Haley Sunday-Left overs  Monday-Ham(left-over)  and macaroni and cheese  Tuesday-Million Dollar Spaghetti Pie . Wednesday- Turkey pot Pie Thursday-  Depending on left over situation or honestly I have no clue.   Friday- Time Square Pizza

November in Review

November it was very different and I could have NEVER predicted the outcome either.  Big changes did occur this month, we traded for a newer better suited to us car and then then COVID-19 happened. But as today is the last day of the month, I can say it was not all bad and I am really ready to enjoy the holiday season.

Gardening-   We still have our small basil plant that is living on the kitchen sink.  I am debating how much work I want to put in the Garden for the next year.  Not exactly sure where this will land.

Goal #1 Grocery Budget of $550- The total for the month is $676.  This included the Honey baked ham I purchased for Thanksgiving and a trip to Costco. Looking back over the year, based on averages this is an area that will need to be re-budgeted next year. The kids are all growing and so this is an area that will need to be adjusted annually for the future.

Goal #2 – Record and keep up with gas/ auto purchase- $184.44 . This is actually less than I had anticipate, which is likely due to being at home two additional weeks this month. However the goal and plan is to pay off the Sheetz credit card in December and then will will begin paying any excess from this category into other credit cards.

Goal #3-Use a cash envelope system for everything possible!. I was able to find the money for the memory maker. We also have purchased a portable garage and a new Christmas tree this month. I would like to spend as little as possible for the first three weeks of December and use any excess for Disney.

Goal #4- Blogging- 15 post per month. This is post number 11 for the month! I am impressed with this accomplishment!

Goal # 5- Fitness- Goal is to walk 3 times a week. Covid

Goal #6 – Bible study- Goal- 3x a week –Yikes!

Goal #7-Attempt at least 52 new recipes this year.-  Currently on #58

Earnings_ $90. This is actually a huge improvement over most months of the year. I did cash out Ibotta which only occurs once a year. We will continue to monitor and determine if this time is well spent in the future.

We are on a solid foot financially. I am breathing a sigh of relief that has been years in the making. I want to spend some time in December taking a hard look at numbers and already have a huge goal in mind just not sure if I want to put it on paper yet.

 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a very fluid holiday around our house.  Many of our Thanksgivings have been spent travelling.   We have travel to Michigan and Georgia to visit with family on most of these trips. We also have discovered that Thanksgiving is an awesome time to visit Disney World.

This year we are quarantined.  Technically, Matt has been released but the kids and I are officially quarantined through Monday November 30th. The good news is that Matt is definitely better. I am starting to feel human again. I am positive that I have experienced COVID twice now but did not chose to test on either occasion. The kids all have not had any symptoms.    I chose not to test this time because the kids would end up needing to quarantine another 14 days after my test. They have been really troopers and this really would benefit no one.   We did end up cooking both the turkey and ham along with multiple side dishes. We have been enjoying and even packed some lunches for next week.  Thanksgiving was not cancelled just quarantined.

Zach has been experiencing some stomach issues. After multiple discussion with his pediatrician’s office, we don’t feel they are COVID related. Instead, a food intolerance. We are going to watch his diet as well as complete some testing to try and get a handle on what is causing this.

The goals for the rest of the holiday are to get the Christmas decorations complete!

5 Things Friday- COVID 19 Edition

Did you ever think to yourself- why might could happen if you decided to buy a new car on Friday the 13th 2020?    I am so glad I am not the only one and I do have the definitive answer- COVID!

  1.  We decided to go ahead and trade the 2016 Honda CVR that I have been driving in for a 2019 Chevy Equinox on Friday November 13th.   We actually were going to shop on Friday night and planned to purchase on Saturday but we ended up finishing up all the paperwork and driving away in the new to us car around 9pm.
  2. I am going to share the reasons we decided to trade cars just for future reference and so I can prove to myself that we did think this through and not regret the purchase. First- neither Matt nor I really enjoyed driving the Honda CVR, it was not a car that we would have purchased. It was under powered and although the gas mileage was better than the van, not enjoyable to drive. Next- the payment was extremely high. I actually had to split the payment in half in order to make it fit our budget.  After doing the research, I realized that we could likely reduce our payment by trading even with our upside down status. Finally- Matt has been employed at his job for over a year. Which allowed us to improve both of our credit scores at the same time. By trading and placing the new Equinox in Matt’s name, we reduced my debt ratio and improved his rating with consistent payments.  We have accomplished all we set out to do. Car payment is $100 less, Equinox is a car we both enjoy driving and credit will improve in the next six months.
  3. Sunday, the kids arrived home from spending the weekend with Haley and we took them for a drive in the new car. We ended up eating outside at the Salisbury Cracker Barrel. Matt and I had skipped church that morning because he was not feeling well and we did not want to expose any one to our germs. After eating on Sunday, Zach became sick and threw up.  It was a one time thing so I did not worry about it as this can happen.
  4. Monday- Matt says he is staying home from work so I decided to take Zach to school. He does not have a fever at home or at school. I honestly thought he had a case of the “Mondays”.  I dropped him off at school and headed to work where I was schedule to see 3 kids back to back a 30 minute break and another 5 kids back to back.  I get a call from Matt that his boss suggest he go test for Covid, because he is positive and has exposed the whole office all week. I finish the third kid and as I am checking my phone to call Matt back, Zach school is calling he threw up!
  5. Matt did test positive. By Friday (today) his symptoms are very light and he is only taking medicine at night.  We suspect that Zach had food poisoning – I ate some of the spinach dip that he had on Sunday and it was bad. I threw it out after one bite and had a horrible stomach ache.  By Friday, Zach is completely better! I have had what feels like sinus stuff to me. I have not had a fever, but runny nose and wet cough.   Lily has had a sore throat but feels much better today. Kendall ended up with a headache. Everyone is currently on quarantine. We have not left the house since Monday.  We are praying for two specific things- no one else get COVID and we can have a small family Thanksgiving. We have been told that 3-4 days without symptoms can end Matt’s quarantine and if no one else has symptoms especially a fever before then. We should be safe. the health department is suppose to call  on either Thursday or Wednesday to officially release us as well.

Recipe Challenge #58

forkful, Slow Cooker Tater Tot Casserole

Disclaimer this is not how ours turned out. But after seeing this picture do you have any doubt why I wanted to try this recipe. It had such potential and promise. Chicken, tator tots and bacon what possibly could go wrong?

Crock pot Cheesy Chicken Tater Tot Casserole

The problem it was too dry.  We did add some ranch on top of it and that worked out well. This will go in the No category.

The official count is
Repeating 30
Maybe 9
No 19

Monday Menu Plan

Really debating on sharing this for the week as life has thrown us a curve ball and I am not sure where we will end up. But I figured we might as well start with a plan and see what happens from there.  I will share the curve ball later  this week depending on which direction the curve ends up being.

Breakfast– Saturday-Biscuit King Sunday- Bacon eggs and toast .   Monday,  Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, bagels or omelets, French toast.  Tuesday- sausage gravy and biscuits Wednesday-Sausage crescent  rolls.

Lunch-  Saturday– left-overs   Sunday-Cracker Barrel.  Eating from fridge and salads sounds like a plan for me .

Dinner-  Saturday-  Wedding for Matt and i  Sunday-Chicken noodle soup in crock pot.  Monday- Philly cheese steak and chips.   Tuesday-New Chicken tator tot casserole. Wednesday- Rice Ceola .  Thursday-Corn dogs and sweet potato fries . .  Friday- insta pot creamiest mac and cheese.