Fun Fun Fun!!!

I awoke early this morning to much cooler temperatures and rain. While I'm not too crazy about the rain (it means I cannot hang laundry outside or weed my brick patio today and our chimney is still leaking because son in law J who is a roofer can't get over here to fix it due to Baby L's appearance..mental note to self check on bucket in my room to see if it needs emptying) I am loving the cooler temperatures.  I've already showered, dressed, and cleaned the bathroom. My plan is to do a quick clean of the kitchen, living room, dining room, and upstairs hallway before taking youngest son H to the barbershop and then out to a friend's house.
GF was generous in offering his dryer so I plan on  taking a load of towels to his house today. Tonight is dinner date night, we will be having Tuna and Sun Dried Tomato Penne and a salad off of the June menu plans.
Looking ahead at the weekend and upcoming week it looks like it is going to be a fun (and still frugal) one!! Friday night we are going on our rescheduled dinner outting with another couple we are friends with. Saturday is yet another church festival. Sunday we are planning (weather permitting) to go to one of the free concerts in the park located near where GF lives.
Monday the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra is performing a free Independence Day concert followed by fireworks in Public Square downtown. I will pack a picnic dinner and drinks to take along with us for this.
Tuesday I am scheduled to clean again, while not exactly fun, it is bringing in some much needed cash.
Wednesday youngest son H & high school band is marching in a local parade that begins their 4 day festival. We will go to watch the parade then spend a couple of hours at the festival which is located on the beach. Hoping to do a bit of sand sitting and watching the lake waves with GF.
Thursday of course is Independence Day and we will be joining family at a local park for an all day picnic followed by a local fireworks show.
And the fun does not stop there since that Saturday is my sister M's 50th wedding anniversary party.
Certainly 'whirl of gaiety' in the next week. And almost all of it will be free of charge!

This N That

The week got off to a terrific start with the arrival of baby L and so far has just gotten better and better.
Yesterday after spending some time visiting our newest addition and his mommy at the hospital youngest daughter L and I stopped by the Farmer's Market.
We came home with a hand of fresh ginger, 4 lemons, 2 cucumbers, 3 heads of romaine lettuce, 5 corn on the cob,4 red bell peppers, a pint of grape tomatoes, a bag of baby spinach, a smallish watermelon, a quart of strawberries, a pint of blueberries, 3 lbs. cherries, 12 nectarines, 12 peaches, and 12 plums. Total cost $62. A bit high I thought but we did buy quite a bit of fresh fruit for snacks and the watermelon will keep for our July 4th picnic, and it was paid for with money I earned cleaning over the weekend. Since this will last at least an entire week I'm looking at it as a jump start on July groceries.
I did get some communication from unemployment who denied my benefit claim (odd since they approved the daughter in law who has the same exact job situation as I do). I filed an appeal but don't really expect to get a different answer. I immediately sat down and crunched the numbers. As long as I don't get lazy we will be fine.
 On the upside I got a phone call from a relative asking if I'd be interested in doing some deep cleaning jobs a couple of times a month. I snapped up the opportunity and spent this morning there, so there is a bit of ready cash in the pocket.
When God closes a door, he opens a window!!

The best gift ever

As I mentioned before my middle daughter K is expecting child number two. Well, actually not anymore. On Monday she presented us with yet another grandson to love! Welcome to the world Baby L!!!

This Week's Expenditures: June 17-22

We have had a pretty good week around here expenditure wise. A fun time out on Monday, some to-dos getting done around the house for zero cost, a little money coming in from today's cleaning gig and my last paycheck from work. Bills are all paid, groceries are mostly stocked up and savings are untouched!

Monday 6/17: Trip to zoo $0; lunch at the zoo for myself and daughter L: $10

Tuesday 6/18: $0

Wednesday 6/19: $0

Thursday 6/20: $20 gas for SUV (local station has gas for 20 ¢ less a gallon than competing stations so I took advantage when I saw this)

Friday 6/21: $23.50 gas for SUV (I did a lot of driving on Thursday & Friday so I filled up again while that gas station still had that low price)
$96 at Target for 1. graduation gift for daughter L (she'd asked for a new bikini), 2. nonfood household items (carpet deodorizer, air freshener, contact lens solution, disposable razors, Target brand "magic erasers", new shower curtain liner), and 3. a maxi length cotton sundress for yours truly to wear to the dinner that didn't happen (however I plan on wearing that dress tonight to the church festival GF and I  are attending with his brother and sister in law).
$55 Farm Bureau annual membership fee (we save $30 a MONTH on our auto insurance by belonging to the state farm bureau).
$31 to school band so son H can go on the band trip/performance to Cedar Point amusement park this Wednesday. This performance and the upcoming parade/festival they participate in will wind up the band obligations for the school year.

The upcoming week looks pretty good.  A cousin asked me about helping her out a couple of times a month doing unusual cleaning jobs and I will be going to her place on Wednesday so that will be a little cash in the pocket, I will need to get some fresh produce and give son H spending money for food on his band trip, I have to pick up some Damp Rid bags for the basement, and I will need to gas up again at the end of the week. However I will have enough cash on hand to take care of all those needs without touching my checking or savings. I'm pretty happy about that.

On the fly and off the menu plan

I recently had an interesting conversation about meal planning with a sibling. She thought the entire idea of planning out a month's worth of menus was ridiculous. The actual word she used was inflexible. I pointed out that there was variety on there and that if need be I always have a fully stocked pantry/freezer so that I can change a recipe plan. This particular sibling has always prided herself on her reputation for making a dollar stretch so her failure to see how this contributes to the bottom line when buying groceries amazes me. She is also a big fan of name brand grocery shopping. While she will avail herself of Marc's/Xpect for her name brands she'd rather go hungry than shop Aldi or the wholesale club or even a farmer's market.
I was therefore very tempted to phone her and tell her about last night's dinner. GF and I had plans to dine out with some friends which fell through at the last minute. Being hot, tired, and just the teeniest bit cranky GF suggested we eat in. Being hot, tired, and reluctant to leave his AC I agreed to cook. GF has not shopped in a while and he had pretty much cruised through the supplies he had. Not realizing we would be eating at home I didn't grab anything from my house to make any of the planned menus I'd put together (and yes when I plan I take into account if we will be eating in at his house..he pays for meals out together and generally I provide what's needed for meals together that I cook).
So I took a look in his freezer and grabbed some boneless skinless chicken breasts. He had a bottle of Italian dressing in the fridge and some Italian seasoning in the cupboard so I poured the dressing over the defrosted chicken and sprinkled on the seasoning and let that marinate. The cupboard was thin on side dish options and the refrigerator was a wasteland. However he did have several boxes of mac and cheese and half a dozen cans of beets. Milk and smart balance in the fridge and we had the makings of sides. Simple Mac and cheese, and buttered beets (no cornstarch or I would have done them Harvard style). I grilled the chicken and threw together the sides. It wasn't a gourmet meal by any stretch of the imagination but we didn't go hungry and it tasted pretty good.
It wasn't anything on my menu plans and I had to create it out of items that were already on hand. Inflexible? I don't think so.
And as a bonus I have two grilled chicken breasts I can turn into chicken salad for tomorrow's lunches!

Hot Lunch

Looking around for some lunch inspiration on Wednesday (we were a bit tired of grilled cheese and salami sandwiches) I poked around in the freezer drawer of my refrigerator and came across a ball of pizza dough buried deep within. At first I thought I'd just make a pizza but then got to thinking about being a bit more creative than that. I settled on doing a pepperoni and cheese Stromboli as something just slightly different yet still familiar.
I allowed the dough to defrost then rolled it out on a stoneware sheet pan and sprinkled shredded Italian blend cheese and sliced pepperoni on top.

 

I added another layer of shredded cheese then folded it over longwise and sealed the edges.

 

I mixed some melted Smart Balance with garlic flavored olive oil and brushed this over the top then grated some fresh parmesan cheese over the top before putting this in a 400 degree oven

 

Once baked I removed it to cool, brushing a second time with the butter/oil mixture. Then using my pizza cutter cut this into generous slices.

 

 

I warmed some jarred pizza sauce that was in the refrigerator and served it in a bowl along with the slices of Stromboli for dipping.

 

 

 

July Dinner Menus

Inspired by my friend Carol (CT on a Budget blog)'s preparedness in menu planning for the next month I sat down and got busy this morning and did my own menus (thanks Carol for the incentive!).
We have  several social obligations for July, two graduation parties, one 50th anniversary party, a parade/festival youngest son H is participating in, and the family July 4th picnic. I also left two free days for any festival or dinner outtings we may decide to do. That left me 24 meals to plan. I am trying out four new recipes and they are all coming from  Pampered Chef's It's Good for You:Healthy Recipes for Busy Families . I also made sure to include 3 recipes using seafood and 3 meatless recipes this month. I am hoping to ease up the amount spent of meat this way and 3 meals using planned overs to ease up on the budget as well. Recipes using leftovers have an * and new recipes will be in bold. These are in no particular order.

Asian Summer Salad, Hawaiian Rolls

Heather's Garlic Baked Chicken, risotto, peas

Skillet Lasagna, salad with homemade White Balsamic Vinaigrette, garlic toast

Spit Roasted Pork Roast, Herbed packet potatoes, Harvard Beets

Pork & Noodles in gravy*, corn on the cob

Horseradish encrusted tilapia, white & wild rice pilaf, salad

London broil, Pasta & Lentil salad

Mediterranean Steak Salad*, Herb rolls

Chicken Marsala, Mushroom risotto, salad

Spaghetti & Meatballs, garlic toast, salad

Grilled lemon pepper salmon, rosemary potatoes, Capri blend veggies

Coffee rubbed steaks, baked potatoes, grilled 'blooming' onion, green beans

Quick Curried Chicken, basmati rice, cucumber salad

Pork Tenderloin Tacos, spanish rice

Chicken Parmesan, Cavatelle, Salad

Vidalia Onion Pie, Spinach salad

Moroccan glazed lamb chops, couscous, peas

Portobello Pita Pockets, ranch oven fries

Shrimp Orzo skillet, salad, garlic toast

Sloppy Joes on homemade buns, corn on the cob, pickles

Teriyaki Pork stir fry, rice

Fast N Fresh Frittata, fly off the plate rolls, salad

Glazed & grilled turkey breast, au gratin potatoes, broccoli

Grilled BBQ Turkey Pizza*, salad

My Frugal and Fun Monday

I got off to a real nice start yesterday by having a pretty fantastic and frugal Monday. My middle daughter K (she of the soon to be Momma again) suggested a trip to the zoo with my grandson J. She is pretty close to her delivery date and really wanted to get some walking in to help things along. I have a membership to the zoo which includes one free guest. One nice thing about the membership is that my grandchildren as well as children can be on this. Youngest daughter L also wanted to come along and with this membership we knew there would be no admission fee for any of us. K had a checkup at the OB so while she was there I did some minor housework,SSV (or Sweep, Swiffer, Vacuum) in the living room, dining room, & kitchen, got a load of laundry in the washer, unloaded the dishwasher, and wiped down all the kitchen counters. Then we were ready to have some fun.  Forgetting that anyone in the county can get in free on Mondays we were pretty surprised when we reached the zoo. It was so crowded we were parked in a lot I didn't even know they had.  We only saw a small fraction of the zoo this trip, between the crowds and the heat K was wiped out pretty quickly. We did grab some lunch, McD's, at the food court area which was our only expense for the day ($10 for myself & L). Here are a couple of pictures of J & L and our fun time:

 We will back there more than once over the summertime. Sometimes we eat there and sometimes we pack food just depending on how we are feeling at the time.

 

Once we reached home I got my laundry out on the line and a second load washed and hung up as well. I spent an hour or so with a good book then made dinner. After dinner I visited with a neighbor/old friend for a couple of hours just 'porch sitting' and talking.

A really lovely day.

What we've been eating!

  Just a quick roundup on what has been for dinner this last week since grocery shopping. Hopefully nothing as alarming as what is being served in this picture. LOL.

Wednesday 6/12 we had homemade spaghetti and meatballs. Made my own sauce and meatballs from scratch and paired it with a salad.

Thursday 6/13: I did simple Smoked Maple rubbed grilled pork chops, au gratin potatoes and green beans for GF and myself for our dinner date night.

Friday 6/14: Spicy Pineapple Rum grilled chicken & Shrimp ( GF didn't have enough of either item to serve singly so I did a surf & turf idea, marinating chicken breast & shrimp in Pampered Chef's Spicy Pineapple Rum sauce then brushing on additional sauce as I grilled), rice pilaf, and beets.

Saturday 6/15: We ate out while attending a classic car show.

Sunday 6/16: Made the GF's favorite dinner for Father's Day: Herb crusted eye of round roast, gravy, mashed potatoes, and candied carrots. I also baked a chocolate-coconut poke cake for dessert.

Today 's dinner was simple Chili Lime Pork fajitas with yellow rice.

For the pork: I mixed together 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons of lime juice, a teaspoon of sugar, 2 teaspoons of chili lime rub, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I took the pork strips I cut up and froze from my last shopping trip and marinated them for 30 minutes in a bowl.

 

 

 

While the pork was marinating I cut up some red bell pepper and an onion.

And got them sauteeing in a skillet on stove.

I started a package of Yellow Rice in a pot on the stove

And using one of my Pampered Chef grill pans I preheated the grill and got the pork strips cooking

 

I forgot to purchase some flour tortillas on my big grocery shopping trip but we had a nice package of corn tortillas in the refrigerator. Not traditional  but they did the trick

I put several of them between two paper towels and warmed them for one minute in the microwave.

Dinner was so yummy I even forgot to take a picture of my plate.

 

 

 

 

 

Keeping a close eye on expenses

 Now that school is done for the year I am keeping a closer eye on expenses while realizing I was going to be putting out some extra money for my stepdaughter's wedding, a Pampered Chef show I was invited to & Father's Day this month. Planning ahead for the remainder of the summer I put away enough in my savings to equal what I'd pull in if I was still working for the next two months. I got paid at the beginning of June and will get a paycheck this Friday for the last week I worked (half a regular pay amount) but then it will be a long dry spell until September . There may be some relief in the form of unemployment checks but the final determination on that remains to be seen. I recently learned through someone who is also an hourly wage employee of a school that I am eligible to apply for said benefits so I went ahead and did so but the jury is out on whether or not I'll see any money (and if I do it is usually only 1/3 of what you earn and takes 3-4 weeks to get the first check). I am planning my expenses as if I will not receive any money. Better safe than sorry. Here is my first two weeks of June expenses.

5/31: $200 cash withdrawl to help cover travel expenses to my stepdaughter's wedding.  $21.37 at Target for snacks & drinks to take with us in the car.
6/1: $100 of the cash withdrawl went into the card as a gift
6/2: remaining $100 of cash withdrawl went to gas and lunch on the drive home (GF paid the hotel bill and I will give him my half when the bill comes in)
6/3: $0
6/4: usual bills, mortgage, car loan, insurances, tv, electric, & gas
6/5: $0
6/6: $0
6/7:$149.00 on Pampered Chef kitchen stuff (some things to be put away as gifts for adult daughters/stepdaughters/daughter in law)
6/8:$0
6/9: $47.01 gas for the SUV
6/10: grocery shopping $341.25 (out of budget of $350); nonfood household items: $40.36 (out of a budget of $75)
6/11: $0
6/12: $0
6/13:$0
6/14:$0
6/15:$0
6/16: $56 for breakfast out to celebrate Father's Day with kids, GF; $32 for movie matinee tickets to celebrate Father's Day; $47.00 for gas for SUV.

Looking ahead I will have expenses for a graduation party for my daughter, a gift for my sister & brother in law's 50th anniversary,  and also for a graduation gift for my daughter's boyfriend. Talk has been thrown around about a long weekend camping trip (which we traditionally take each summer with the GF) as well. I took all these things into account when building up the savings.

May's big shopping trip

With a lot of commitments on my plate so far this month I have not been able to find the time to do my big shopping until now. After reviewing my freezer and pantry contents and making my menus I sat down and made a shopping list. I determined I really only needed to go to two locations this time (with an upcoming trip to the farmer's market for later in the month) and that I needed to get very little in the way of meat/poultry/fish. I did do a bit of restocking of the pantry staples keeping in mind my upcoming summer off from my job.
I began my trip at BJ's Wholesale Club where I spent $ 16.99 on a large container of laundry detergent (I still need fabric softener & mouthwash both items they were out of, I will try again this weekend for those). The remainder of my bill ($93.32) was spent of food items. I brought home 1 jar of chicken base, a jar of beef base, a quart of light cream, a quart of heavy cream (both items to be used in homemade ice cream), a gallon of organic 1% milk, a two pack of Smart Balance spread, a gallon of soy sauce, 10# of flour, 10# of sugar, a quart of real maple syrup, a 6pck of Uncle Ben's white and wild rice, a 48 oz box of cheezits, a 24 pck of Chobani fruit yogurt, and a half pound of hard salami.
My next stop was Aldi where I spent $16.81 on nonfood items (dish soap, toothpaste, trash bags, and quart sized freezer bags) and the remainder of $106.56 on food. I brought home: a loaf of bread, 4 'slim jim' snacks for the kids, a pack of sugar free gum, a bottle of 100% grape juice, a bottle of 100% cranberry juice, a bottle of apple juice, a bottle of ruby red grapefruit juice, a container of Fit & Active lemonade mix, 4 cans of Arizona Green Tea, a box of corn flakes, 2 bottle ranch dressing, 4 bottles steak sauce, 2 jars marschino cherries, a bunch of celery, 2 cans diced tomatoes, 2 quarts strawberries, a bunch of bananas, a pack of string cheese, 1 3# bag boneless skinless chicken breasts, 1 jar bread and butter pickles, 1 bottle chocolate syrup, 1 can whipped cream, 1 box white cake mix, 1 box devil's food cake mix, 1 jar Miracle Whip, 1 container blue cheese,  1 container old fashioned oatmeal, 2 cans mandarin oranges, 2 jars coffee creamer, 12 jar orange marmalade, 1 bag spring greens, 1 bag tortilla chips, 1 bag sweet potato chips, 2 bags potato chips, 1 bag chocolate chips, 2 bags (4#) brown sugar, 1 pck. provolone slices, 1 jar honey, 1 quart lowfat cottage cheese, 6 containers regular yogurt, 1 pint raspberries, 1 bag pistachios, 2 bags dried cherries, 1 box 'ritz' crackers, and two dozen eggs.

Violent Weather

  I really enjoy a good rainy day in the summer. I love the sound of rain on the roof and how green everything becomes when the rain finally drifts away. What I do not love is rain so heavy that you cannot see the end of your vehicle or even where the road is (or is not) and the sound of tornado sirens. Two weeks ago while traveling to my oldest stepdaughter J's wedding we had this dubious experience. Fortunately we were not on the highway, only on a two lane road and had just gone through a mid sized town so were traveling slowly anyway. We got lucky and a burst of wind allowed us to see the side of the road and we safely pulled over and stopped and hunkered down. Winds didn't seem that bad so we stayed in the car. Turned out we were on the northern edge of a smallish tornado. After about 5 minutes of waiting and it cleared up enough that we were able to safely go on our way. And now we have a story that will not allow us to ever forget our trip to central Illinois. Safety tip: If you are ever caught in the car in violent weather and cannot make shelter make sure you keep your seatbelt fastened and crouch down below the level of the windshield and cover your head with your arms or a pillow if you have one. If winds are bad and a tornado can be seen, leave the car and get into a ditch or other low ground, face down on the ground and cover your head.
What else do I not enjoy? Well I do not enjoy being violently awakened at 2:00 a.m. to the brightest lightening and loudest boom of thunder I have ever heard in my life. You could hear the lightening sizzle. Sizzle. I swear it was right outside my window. We'd been warned repeatedly that violent weather was coming with the possibility of winds high enough to take down trees and power lines. Having learned my lesson from Superstorm Sandy last fall I have bags of ice in the deep freezer that stay there in case of loss of power, I had our flashlights ready, our phones and laptops and kindle fire all charged up, and our tornado safety plan all reviewed with the kids. My adult son J who lives at home gets severe weather alerts on his smartphone so even though my community does not have sirens I knew we'd be warned if something bad was headed our way in the middle of the night. J and I also went around last evening and took down the patio umbrella and our flagpole and secured our outdoor furniture. As is the way with these things our preparations were for naught.
We got very lucky and winds here were not severe enough to cause any power outtage in my community although I did get to 'enjoy' that middle of the night bonding experience with my teen daughter L thanks to that burst of thunder and got a good reminder to put battery operated lanterns (and extra batteries) on my 'to buy' list.
Update: Turns out that lightening took out a transformer box behind the houses across the street from us (so not literally in my yard but pretty darned close). We are on a different transformers but all the homes across from me were without power for most of the morning.

Freebies!

Our old set of couch and loveseat were looking pretty shabby. Lots of holes and tears in the fabric from doggie nails and a bad puppy left them covered under a set of slipcovers that got the job done but which I never really liked. I got extremely lucky in the last week. My middle daughter K was gifted with a couch and loveseat from a friend of an inlaw but she and my son in law didn't care for them once they picked them up. She called and asked if I'd be interested in them since the color went more with my decorating than hers. I took a look and was delighted. They are a charcoal grey with flecks of brown and blue that goes very well with my chocolate/red/navy decorating scheme. This morning my middle son J had the day off from work and we went and picked them up. I am extremely happy with the results. Throw blankets (out drying in the sunshine) will cover the seats and backs to prevent doggie accidents with nails and too much dog hair on them.

 

My other freebie of the day is the laundry I have hanging out on the clothesline. The weather was a bit dicey this morning, cool and grey but the forecast was for mild temps and sunshine this afternoon. And sure enough we are low 70s and sunny with a nice light breeze. Perfect for drying laundry without having to involve the electric company. The load of towels I am doing will go over to my son's house for drying since I am not a big fan of the rough, scratchy, "spa towel" thing.Here's a pic of half of my clothesline (you can see a throw blanket drying right at the end).

 

June Menu Plans

I have put together 29 menus although with Saturday plans we won't need that many. I figure this gives me leeway to pick and choose what I cook for the remainder of the month. New recipes I am trying have an * next to them and menus using planned overs are in bold. Lunches since we are all mostly home for the next two months are going to consist of easy sandwiches such as PBJ, grilled cheese, egg salad, leftover based like chicken salad or french dip; egg dishes like omelets, salads and leftovers that can't be turned into something else will round out the choices.

Dinner Menus June:

Grilled 'steak' burgers with mozzarella cheese and caramelized onions on Hawaiian buns, homemade baked garlic fries

Korean steak, steamed basmati rice, grilled asparagus spears*

Cheddar burgers on homemade whole wheat buns, pasta salad

Spicy pineapple rum shrimp*, coconut rice, asian coleslaw

Chili Lime Pork fajitas, yellow rice

Grilled pork chops with Cherry Cola BBQ sauce*, au gratin potatoes, green beans

Chicken stir fry, steamed basmati rice

Herb crusted eye of round roast, mashed potatoes, brown gravy, candied carrots (Father's Day dinner for GF)

Philly steak stuffed peppers, oven sweet potato fries

Grilled Applewood rubbed pork chops, Grilled rosemary potatoes, corn

Texas style beef brisket on homemade buns, cheesy potatoes, peas

Grilled Zesty chicken oregano, Katie's Quinoa salad

Grilled Chicken Provencal, baked potatoes, salad

Cheddar brats on homemade buns, German potato salad

Chili dogs on homemade buns, baked beans

Tuna and sundried tomato penne, salad

Balsamic glazed salmon fillets, mushroom risotto, salad

Grilled lemon parmesan tilapia*, couscous salad*

Spaghetti with meatballs, salad

Grilled pizza , salad

Steaks, Grilled onion blossom, balsamic mushrooms*, baked potatoes

Caribbean Pork Roast with sweet potatoes,  capri blend veggies

Pork pita sandwiches with mango salsa, homemade potato chips

Turkey burgers with cranberry mayo on homemade buns, corn on the cob

Beef stroganoff, egg noodles, green beans

Bowtie pasta with garlic and grilled chicken, salad, garlic toast

Pan fried whiting, oven fries, coleslaw

Fettucine Carbonara Florentine, broccoli with garlic and herbs

Easy Pad Thai, Thai cucumber salad

A few morning thoughts

Although June is one third of the way over I am now just getting to doing my menus. I did it all backwards this month, shopping first and then now having to create menus to fit what I have in the house (with a few ideas needing items I can pick up at the Farmer's Market later in the month). I have hardly even cooked at all so far this month; the first weekend of the month we traveled  to my oldest stepdaughter J's wedding so no menus necessary. Last week I just made meals that fit from last month's menu ideas or from what we had on hand (we had a roast boneless leg of lamb one night, a Greek salad with warm lamb strips another night (see photo above),breaded chicken strips a third night, then out to dinner with GF after taking prom pictures for youngest daughter L, a Pampered Chef party on Friday that I didn't need to cook for & kids all got pizza for themselves, and then over the weekend we had a car show & festival we ate at on Saturday and then out to dinner on Sunday following L's graduation from high school as a treat from GF, and then last night youngest son H brought home pizza from work). GF and I have talked about our standing Thursday night dinner date night for the summer and have decided that since we usually have some kind of plan on Saturday nights (classic car shows, festivals, celebrations to attend) I will make us a nice dinner for two on Thursdays and we will eat out on Saturday instead. With the teens and my young adult son all having their own weekend plans as well as jobs this works for everyone concerned. 
I want to get back into doing some of the  homey things that I so enjoy this summer as well. I am going to bake bread & cookies & crackers, I am going to do a bit of canning, I want to find some pick your own places for fruits and make jam, I am going to use the clothesline more, and I am going to grow a few of my own food items in the really nice raised bed that my adult son J built for me as a belated birthday gift.

 

 

I plan on using my local library more for reading and videos, we have memberships to the zoo and the waterpark that we will use (if it ever warms up and stops raining), and I have a list of things I need to get done around the house:

1. Clean off dining room window seat which has become a catch-all for stuff and make cushions for this as well

2.Repair the broken drawer front underneath the window seat

3. Clean and organize the basement. Adult son built some nice shelves for pantry items and larger pots and small kitchen appliances to live on and they need some serious attention so this is where the basement cleaning will begin. I need to wipe off cans and bottles and get the older stuff out to the front of the shelves. I also need to replace the moisture catching bags we have hanging down there since they are full and the shower curtain liner that hangs at the top of the steps is torn and needs replacing.

 

4. Clean out the area behind the living room tv and organize the built in bookshelf that is back there. Right now there are stacks of books on the floor and piles of old magazines in a basket that need throwing away.

5. Clean out the living room coat closet and donate too small jackets to charity.

6. Rescreen the kitchen window that the kids broke out when attempting to enter the house after forgetting their house key one day. I also should rescreen the sliding screen door in the dining room which leads out to the back yard. I am in two minds about how I am going to do this however. It needs rescreening because the doggies broke through the screen to chase a squirrel last fall. This created a very convenient doggie 'door' at the bottom of the screen. It looks bad though because it is torn through and bugs can get inside. I am considering rescreening the door but leaving the bottom corner loose from the edges so the dogs can still let themselves in and out while at the same time preventing flies and mosquitos from coming in and not having the torn pieces hanging down.

 



 

 

June Grocery shopping

School ended up the year last Thursday and I spent my first day of vacation just hanging out with daughter K who is due with her second baby at the end of the month and grandson J. The weekend was super busy, a Pampered Chef party where I confess I spent way more than I should  have (let's blame the sangria shall we? ), then my cleaning job followed by a classic car show & church festival on Saturday, and finally youngest daughter L's high school graduation yesterday.
 
Today I tried to get into more a routine and started my day off with my big beginning of the monthly grocery shopping trip. I went to four locations, Gordon Food Service (GFS), BJ's Wholesale Club, Aldi, and a local discounter Marc's/Xpect. The last two months were way under budget so I knew I'd be spending more money on stocking up meat for the freezer. I am hoping that I won't  have to buy hardly any meat in July outside of what I will need to get for L's graduation party.
I began at GFS where I spent a total of $ 35.94 and brought home a jar of au jus base, a 5 lb bag of seashell macaroni, a 5 lb . bag of penne pasta, a 2 lb. bag frozen peas, a 2 lb. bag of frozen capri blend vegetables, and a 6 lb. bag of regular popcorn (for popping in the whirly pop!).
The next stop was BJ's Wholesale club. I spent $19.20 on a 36 roll of Charmin toilet paper and the rest, $ 127.75 on food, mostly meat. I brought home a gallon of organic milk, a 48 oz box of Cheezit crackers, a dozen assorted flavors of Chobani greek yogurt,  5 lbs. of ground beef (which became two large packages of ground beef, 4 cheddar burgers, and 3 Montreal Steak burgers),  3 lbs. ground turkey (which became 8 turkey burgers thanks to my burger press!), two London broil, a large eye of round (which became one roast and 6 steaks), a large pork loin (which became a bag of kebob cubes, a bag of fajita strips, and 10 pork chops), and a large brisket which I cut in half for two meals.
The next stop was Marc's/Xpect, foodwise where I spent $21.43. Foodwise I only bought a bag of broccoli slaw, a bag of Hawaiian sandwich buns, a bag of Hawaiian rolls, a gallon of Arizona green tea, and 15 envelopes of koolaide for a cost of $12.93. The remainder of $8.50 was for a box of generic bandades, a box of generic antibiotic cream, and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.
My final stop was Aldi. I have been aiming to spend the lion's share of my budget there and this month was no difference. My total was $156.13. $12.66 was on nonfood items of storage bags, trash bags, and a citronellla bucket candle for the patio. I spent $143.47 on food and brought home one box of 'sundae'cones, one box of 'eskimo pies', one box of popsicles, 4 slim jims, a 3 lb bag of boneless skinless chicken breast, two packages of cheddar brats, one pineapple, two red bell peppers, 1 jar spicy brown mustard, two cans black olives, 2 lbs. spaghetti, 1 bottle mango-tangerine juice, 1 bottle apple juice, 1 bottle ruby red grapefruit juice, 1 bottle cranberry juice, 1 bottle grape juice, 1 jar Spanish olives, 1 jar miracle whip, 4 bottles steak sauce, 1 box cinnamon grahams, 1 quart strawberries, 1 pint blueberries, 2 lbs. elbow macaroni, 1 box ritz style crackers, 1 jar coffee creamer, 1 bunch celery, 1 bag spinach, 3 heads garlic, 1 bag shredded cheddar cheese, 1 block swiss cheese, 1 bag shredded Colby-jack cheese, 1 bag deli sliced mozzarella cheese, 1 bag spring greens, 3 lbs. bananas, 1 bag romaine hearts, 1 cantaloupe, 2 lbs. lemons, 1 pint mushrooms, 10 lbs. russet potatoes, 2 boxes chocolate pudding mix, 2 boxes Neufchatel cheese, 1 quart lowfat cottage cheese, 1pint lowfat sour cream, 1 pint blackberries, 1 pint red raspberries, 1 quart cherries, 2 packs hard salami, 1quart half and half, 1 pint heavy cream, 1 bag string cheese, 1 ball fresh mozzarella, 1 can whipped cream, 4 greek yogurts, 6 regular fruit yogurts, 1 dozen eggs, 1 bag croutons, 1 jar salsa, 5 bags assorted chips, 1 bag pistachios, and 1 loaf of bread.

A total of $ 320.09 from a budget of only $300 for food and I know I will go to the farmer's market for fresh produce at least one more time. Household expenses on nonfood items was extremely low since we are pretty well stocked up on almost everything so I only spent $40.36,

Catching Up

It has been almost a month since I posted anything. It was extremely busy around here. The last month of work before summer vacation means extra things to wind up the school year. I've been trying to attend as many of my grandson J's baseballs games as I can get to as well as going to watch my grand-nephew J play Little League. I spent two weekends dog sitting for my GF while he traveled to a couple of bowling tournaments. We enjoyed a local parade my youngest was marching in with the high school band and a family picnic over the Memorial Day weekend. And we traveled out of town last weekend to my eldest step-daughter's wedding and had a wonderful time meeting her new inlaws as well as visiting with family we don't get to see very often. It was well worth the travel expense although our close encounter with the edge of a tornado was not something we'd like to do again. While in Springfield Illinois for this wedding we did a bit of sightseeing taking the free tour of the Lincoln Home and National Historic site. And since the reception was at the Lincoln Library we also got to enjoy that as well.

Finances worked out pretty well for the month, all the bills were paid and we had a suspiciously low electric bill. Since it was an estimate I went and ahead and paid it but the other shoe dropped when I read my meter for this month's bill and realized that sure enough as I suspected this month the bill is above average. This just teaches me the importance of always reading my meter myself.  Groceries were a nice $204.87 for the month. Well below my budgeted amount. Gas expenses for the month were $ 171.79 so average. I expect gas expenses to drop slightly over the summer since I won't be driving to and from work every day but we will be driving to and from the waterpark (membership paid for by GF), the zoo (membership), the beach, and local parks. Household nonfood expenses for May were $ 65.46. I've recently had to readjust this budget from $50 to $70. Everything is just costing more. I also spent some money on clothing, my youngest son really needed his first suit for his sister's wedding but we shopped around and finally ended up at the Haggar store which was having a 70% off sale and I got him a very nice black suit for $105. GF gifted him with a brand new shirt and tie to go with it. He looked very nice at the wedding which was last weekend and will be wearing this same ensemble when he goes to his girlfriend's brother's wedding this summer. I'm hoping he doesn't grown much and can wear this suit for homecoming in the fall as well. I spent $30 on myself for a black lace bolero style jacket to wear with a dress I already purchased (and only wore once before) for the wedding and another $25 for a pair of capri pants to replace a pair that got ruined by grease. We ate out three times in May for a total cost of $ 99.24. My final expense was $50 spent on replacing the outdoor umbrella for our patio table. Our previous umbrella got taken out by a thunderstorm last summer.
I also managed to transfer enough money into my savings that we are all set for the summer months while I am not getting paid.