It’s all about the savings

Have you been buying this magazine? 

No? Why on earth not?

It has quickly become my favorite magazine. It’s FULL of coupons! Coupons for useful stuff. Stuff I already buy, such as*:

$1.50 off Dove CreamOil Body lotion, $1.00 off Softsoap pump, $2.00 off any Advil, $2.00 off Spot Shot. Those are things almost everyone uses, right? Plus there is a coupon for $5 off the movie Fireproof…and $3 off Open Season, but I didn’t like that movie.

Back to my point, the magazine more than pays for itself. Just for kicks, I’ve added it up for you. The February edition contains $32.11 in savings. Here’s how it breaks down:$34.35 coupons-$2.24 cost of the magazine(10% off cover at the walmarts)=$32.11 in savings!
Plus, there are all sorts of recipes, craft, beauty, fashion, and other helpful  articles. How can you go wrong?

*Any time I type or say ’such as’ I cannot help but think of this poor girl…

 

and laugh. Oh, how I laugh! And then I feel guilty. And then I tone it down to a giggle.

MPM

We did fairly well with sticking the menu last week. There were more leftovers than I expected, whick resulted in rolling the lasagna for a 3rd week and a few less supper meals on this plan. You’ll notice that our breakfasts and dinner meals don’t vary much, but it still helps me to list them.

~breakfasts~ oatmeal x2, cereal, birds in a nest, biscuits with sausage, fruits, oj & milk

~dinners~ leftovers x2 or 3, pb&j’s, grilled cheese, 1 lunch out

~suppers~

chicken & broccoli pasta, salad, SF/FF pudding

lasagna, salad, garlic bread

fish sticks, mac & cheese, green beans (karate night!)

pasta fagioli, bread, brownies

pinto beans with sausage over rice, SF/FF pudding

What are you eating this week? Visit Orgjunkie.com for more menu ideas. PLUS, she is hosting a giveaway!

*I know this is Tuesday…I did write this on Monday, it just didn’t get posted!

MPM

Last week the hubby and I inventoried and reorganized our freezers. Let me tell you, it has been a tremendous blessing for me! I highly recommend it. So now that I have an accurate list, I’m planning meals around what I already have. There are 2 whole chickens I plan to roast and debone for some of my meals (like the nachos and tortilla soup).

~breakfasts~

oatmeal, quiche, cheese toast, peanut butter toast, biscuits & sausage, cereal, yogurt, fruit, oj, milk

~lunches~

leftovers, homemade pizzas (I don’t really have a plan but I’m always craving pizza!), beans & greens with cornbread, sandwiches, salads, grilled cheese sandwiches

~suppers~

roasted chicken, steamed veggies, brown rice

spaghetti squash, turkey meat sauce, steamed broccoli & cauliflower, garlic bread

chicken tortilla soup with cheese, onions & chips on the side, SF/FF pudding

deer meat & vegetable soup, cornbread

chicken nachos, Spanish rice, black bean & corn salsa, fruit

black bean & turkey burgers with sauteed onions & mushrooms, Cole slaw, baked beans

pinto beans with sausage, rice, no bake cookies

lasagna (made with ground turkey, fresh spinach added), garlic bread, salad **Rollover from last week. We had too many leftovers to use.

Of course, I planned too much so one or two of these will also roll over to next week, but I like to have options!

What are you planning this week? Click on over to orgjunkie.com to check out some other menus.

I’ve got the itch

Do you ever have those days or weeks where you feel you just must create something? I’m having one of them. There are no less than 10 things I want to do right.now. Unfortunately the state of my home is preventing me from actually doing much of anything!

I did manage to alter a new prayer book for myself.

The lighter colored paper was a little too light…but that’s ok.

Here’s the back.

Normally, I would embellish with some ribbon but since this one is just for me, I’ll leave it as is. What are you working on?

Frustration

My widgets are missing and I cannot load pictures.

This spells much frustration for me.

I’ll return when I figure it out.

Kitchen Makeover Take 1

When we moved into this house the eat-in kitchen was, and I’m being generous here, a MESS. Here it is in all its ugly. The way it looked when we viewed the house:

From the start I had high hopes for an expansion of this kitchen. So, for the first two years I didn’t want to replace flooring, paint or decorate it. I was holding out. Well, I finally got a grip and decided to work with what I have. After all, why live with a kitchen I detest while I am waiting on my remodel? Ha! I realize that the expansion/remodel will most likely never happen, but a girl can dream.

As an example of the mess…The previous owners had removed the wallpaper from the dining room and tried to texture the walls. My best guess is that they slapped mud on the walls and used a broom to give it texture. I’ve seen this done and done correctly, looks ok. However, they were not very experienced and what we ended up with was more like spikes. If you accidentally brushed your bare skin against the wall you would bleed. Totally not kidding here. I kept a too-big-for-the-space china hutch on the wall for protection against the walls of death.

The decorating was interesting as well. The mix of ivy and peppers just didn’t do it for me. Those quickly came down, as well as the towel bars.  I repainted a light beige on the walls surrounding the cabinets/counters. Other than those minor changes, it remained basically the same. At one point I did slap some things on the walls which was worse than having a bare kitchen, I believe. I tried to disguise the ugly, but really, it was pointless. 

The husband and I decided to do what we could to make it better. So here is what we did: We taped, sanded, textured & painted.

And then we put in vinyl tiles. Not my first choice, but we have a limited budget here! 

Please excuse the mess.

Take 2 will consists of stripping and re-staining the cabinetry. Eventually we will also replace the counters. Now to accessorize! And find some window treatments!

New Nickname?

We are trying to cut costs and are keeping our heat on 66-68 degrees. This is a fine temp, but the back of our home faces the north and we really do need a new back door. You can easily get chilled in the living or dining areas.

Everyone has been told to wear warm clothes or move around. Well, yesterday my 8 yo son repeatedly complained of being cold (wearing only cotton lounge pants and cotton long sleeve shirt, mind you) so I made him get on the treadmill. After a few sessions, he quit complaining.

Fast forward to this morning: I hear my 75 yo grandmother with back problems, in the kitchen, talking to my son. She says “I am so cold this morning. I just can’t warm up.” Son replies, “Don’t let Mom hear you. She will make you treadmill FOREVER. She’s like the treadmill
Nazi or something.”

I really think it should be heat Nazi…but whatever. It was hilarious!

In a word…

Blah. That’s how I’m feeling today. My body is achy, my head is groggy and I am tired. I didn’t work out all weekend or today. My food choices have been less than stellar. My sleep patterns are wonky. I know these choices have caused the funk I’m enduring today. Tomorrow is a new day, consisting of many opportunities to make better choices! Thank God for clean starts.

Speaking of clean starts, I’m working on my kitchen post (with pictures!) and should have it posted tomorrow.

I hope your feeling better than ‘blah’ and that your day is blessed.

MPM

Due to renovations last week, we ate quite alot of junk time saving foods. You know, chicken nuggets, pizza, spaghetti and some fast food. The stove sitting in the entry sort of requires fast food in my book. However, it’s all put back together now (and organized, stay tuned to see my ’stations’!) , so I will be cooking more healthier meals.

~breakfasts~

oatmeal x2, eggs in a nest, ham & broccoli quiche, biscuits & sausage, cereal, yogurt, fruit, oj, milk

~lunches~

pizza on lavash bread, chef salad, sandwiches x2, baked potatoes, tuna salad, leftovers

~suppers

kidney bean pasta salad (I’ll probably add broccoli or red pepper & call it a meal)

pork chops, mashed potatoes (& gravy!), green beans

turkey taco salad over tortilla chips

roasted chicken, potatoes,  carrots, apples

turkey meatball subs on whole wheat rolls, salad

fish, okra, steamed squash, salad

lasagna (made with ground turkey with fresh spinach added), garlic bread, salad

What are you cooking up this week? Head over to orgjunkie.com to see what others have on the list.

May I pick your brain?

I can’t decide on my own and my husband would probably like to hold an intervention so I’ll shut up about…..PLACEMATS! Placemats, people. Who knew they could cause so much indicisiveness? Not me. No, never in a million years did I expect to be conflicted over placemats. So here’s the deal. We’ve ruined the top of our table by eating hot foods on paper plates. There, I said it. I serve my family on paper plates 90% of the time. I’m just lazy that way. We are planning to refinish the top of the table and we want placemats to protect it from the steam/moisture that causes those beautiful white marks.

 Oh! Did you think using real plates was going to be an option? Ha ha ha. Um, no. And yes, I do know how un-green it is, you don’t need to send me hate mail. We do reduce, reuse & recycle in other ways. Just ask my friends about my paper towel rules! 

Back to the issue, my table is 36×60, I think. Nevermind the dimensions, I can tell you that I need to seat six and rectangular placemats don’t work. So I found these:

 

Here they are up close and personal, but the color is off. The color ^ is more accurate.  Please note the water marks!

For a whopping $1.99! They fit perfectly, don’t you think? They are some sort of nylon which will be easy to clean, but the material also makes them look a bit cheap to me. Although we are not a fancy family, I don’t want them to scream “I COST $2 BUCKS” either.

I just don’t know if I like them. The color is a bit brighter than what I want to accent my kitchen with, but I could live with it. It’s weaved with black, so that tones it down a bit. I bought 8 of them just to have extras, but I haven’t let me famiy use them yet, or take the tags off!, because I’m just so undecided. Or I could just purchase them in taupe to match the walls, but that would be boring.  It’s the little things that trip me up!

So, I’ve created a poll and I covet your input! I need your opinons…my husband begs you because I’m sure he is sick of discussing it already. ‘They are placemats, Woman!”

*My poll isn’t showing up along with most of my widgets. I don’t know what is going on, but it sure is frustrating! Well, comments would do. Tell me what you thing. Thanks!

 

Clearly, I need window treatments, too. Let’s save that for another day.