Black Friday shopping

After spending a wonderful day with family on Thursday and then battling our way through some very dicey snow conditions to GF's house we determined that depending on the morning's weather conditions we would continue on with our annual Black Friday shopping plan.  As we have for the last seven years, GF and I are going halves on gift buying for family. We have set a budget for both this and for each other. We checked sale ads and made our plan. We have an awesome outlet mall not far from GF's house and past experience told us there would be deep discounts to be had there.  The weather was sunny in the morning so College age daughter and her GF joined us. As I anticipated I purchased GF two nice shirts, New khakis, and a sweater from the Haggar outlet at 70% off. He saw nothing. Lol. We also managed to buy several gifts for family members all at awesome sale prices. Our second stop was Kohl's where we used a 15% off coupon and sale prices to get a couple more items. I also used this price saving combo to pick up two long sleeved t-shirts for work for under $20.
A nice amount of gifts bought and all well within our budget.

Happy Thanksgiving

I want to take a few minutes to wish you all a happy Thanksgiving. May your holiday be blessed with love and good times. And of course good food. 

Our family tradition is to gather at the home of my sister M, who has the biggest space. This year we will have four generations around the table. Each family group contributes something to the meal. It appears to have become a tradition for me to bring our Mom's brown sugar butternut squash as well as a pie ( but not pumpkin since another family member is in charge of Mom's pumpkin chiffon pie). This year I chose to do apple.

I got started yesterday and cut three large butternut squash in half, scooped out the seeds, laid them cut side down in two baking pans, added water and baked them at 350` for an hour. After allowing them to cool I peeled off the skin and ran them through my food processor to puree. I melted butter and brown sugar and a smidgen of cinnamon (my tweak on this dish) and stirred it into the puree. It is now ready for reheating in the microwave.

I then went on to make pie. Since GF and I also will be going to his sister's house in the evening I will be bringing a cherry pie there. I like to do my own simple pie dough but make it fancy using pie cutters. I have a double sided one purchased a couple of years ago from Lehman's Hardware that looks like this:

I used frozen sliced Ida red apples added sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and tapioca. Dotted the filling and put on the top crust. It looked like this before going in the oven: 

I used two cans of cherry pie filling from Aldi plus a cup of thawed frozen sour cherries in the second pie. Flipping the pie cutter over I used the fall leaf side and the pie looked like this going into the oven: 

I can now enjoy a relaxing morning watching the Macy's thanksgiving parade, sipping coffee, and munching on cinnamon rolls before getting all gussied up and heading out into this:

December Dinner Plan

I want to be able to hit the ground running in December with so much going on between work and prepping for the holidays it feels as if I am ahead of the game if I have my dinner menu plans in place. Tightening up the food budget I will be scheduling more meatless and 'stretcher' type meals such as soups and stews. College age son has two more weeks of his Tuesday night class which doesn't see us getting home until 9 pm. We've stopped having a real dinner on these nights, choosing to go with hot cereal or cold sandwiches. Instead of driving home, then turning around and driving up to his school I've begun just staying at my school and either doing work at my desk or reading. Saving on gas this way!
Friday nights has me working until 6:30 so these nights are designated as GF's choice, he either makes dinner himself or takes us out to eat. There will be three of these in December since I have an upcoming two week vacation at the holidays. We also have annual plans to join GF's brother and sister-in-law for an evening out on New Year's Eve and Christmas day is potluck at my son's house.
This left me 24 dinners to plan. I designated Wednesdays as Meatless Meal night, Thursdays are Soup night. I am using either quick or slow cooker ideas during the work week. I have also included some meals based on planned overs.

Cheddar Brats, Spanish rice, green beans with lemon & herb (quick meal)

Winter Veggie Stew, pumpkin muffins (meatless & slow cooker)

Chicken soup Florentine, crescent rolls (slow cooker)

Heather's garlic baked chicken, mushroom risotto, peas with savory

Cranberry pot roast, mashed potatoes, corn (slow cooker)

Hot dogs, baked beans, mixed veggies (quick)

Homemade Garden pizza, salad (meatless, quick)

Chicken corn chowder, homemade biscuits (slow cooker)

Sloppy Joes, mac and cheese, green beans

Chicken and noodles (slow cooker), Harvard beets

Irish bangers, colcannon, candied carrots (quick)

Corned beef hash (uses planned over chopped corned beef from last month that I stuck in the freezer), mixed veggies

Pumpkin pancakes, Scottish skillet potatoes (meatless, quick)

Vegetable soup (aka Libby soup),  butter muffins (meatless, slow cooker)

Chicken marsala, homemade cavatelle, salad

Spicy meatloaf, mashed potatoes, red cabbage & apples

Horseradish encrusted tilapia, baked potatoes, sugar snap peas

Chicken stir fry, basmati rice

Christmas Eve: Pork Tenderloin balsamico, white & wild rice, Winter salad

Tacos with shredded beef (uses planned over roast from Christmas Day), Spanish rice, corn

Turkey Creole (uses leftover turkey from Christmas Day), brown rice, salad

Texas beef brisket, scalloped potatoes, green beans

Lemon & herb salmon, baked potato, peas with savory

Beef stroganoff (uses leftover brisket), egg noodles, salad

November/December Grocery Shopping

My last grocery shopping trip was a big stock up in October. With the changes in my paycheck I have had to trim back our food budget to $300 a month and this amount is now going to have to include nonfood household items as well (which means a reduction of $175 a month).
I took a long look at what I still have in my cupboards and pantry shelves and what is in the freezer. One thing about working an 11 hour day and with all adults in the house now going their separate ways is that not a lot of food gets used up in a month. However there were a few things I needed to buy.

My middle daughter K asked that since I am on vacation this week would I take her to BJ's wholesale club so that she could pick up a few items for her household. I agreed we could do this on Monday and while there I picked up a gallon of organic milk, a case of tomato sauce, a bag of plain pita chips, a container of garlic hummus, a container of edamame salad, and two bags of Smartpop cheese popcorn. We are on a smarter snacking program here at home and almost all of our snacks were gone. When I got to the register I used $20 of my cashback rewards and ended up paying $11.22 for my purchases. (and I still have $60 in cashback rewards to use)

Yesterday after dropping college age son at his school I went to the GFS Marketplace near there (the one I use for work all the time) and restocked our pasta supplies. The last time I did this was in June so we did good in making these stretch until November. I spent $44.20 and brought home a 2 lb. bag of frozen brussels sprouts, a 2 lb. bag of frozen mixed veggies, a 4 lb. bag of frozen sliced apples (to use in a pie for tomorrow), a 2.5 lb bag of bowtie pasta, a 2.5 pound bag of penne, a 3 lb. bag of Amish egg noodles, and a 5 lb. bag of medium seashells.

My next stop was the Farmer's Market. My main goal here was to get the butternut squash I need for tomorrow as well as some fresh fruit and a few seasonal winter veggies. I spent $32.94 (all cash from my wallet) and brought home 3 very large butternut squash, a 2 lb. bag of lemons, 5 lbs. ruby red grapefruit, 2 lbs. turnips, 2 lbs. parsnips, 2 bags of cranberries, a pound of chestnuts (never used these before so I am on the lookout for fun recipes), 2 spaghetti squash, and a small tub of fresh brussels sprouts.

My final stop was at Aldi. I just want to take a second to say how much I love this store. Without it I would be very hard pressed to feed my family.
I spent $153.79 and brought home a dozen eggs, 10 lbs. russet potatoes, 1 loaf whole grain white bread, 1 pint baby bella mushrooms, 1 almond butter stollen (had this two years ago at my stepd H's and loved it), a cabbage, 2 lbs. bananas, 1 box elbow macaroni, 1 box tall kitchen can trash bags, a bag of green grapes, a bunch of celery, a seedless cucumber, a bag of three romaine hearts, 1 pint ricotta cheese, 1 lb bag of baby carrots, 1 bag of fresh spinach, 1 block white NY sharp cheddar, 2 blocks colby (became last night's dinner of Mom's baked Mac & Cheese), 2 2lb. bags of granny smith apples, 1 jar red cabbage & apples,  3 containers coffee creamer, 2 bottle steak sauce, 1 jar cinnamon applesauce, 1 bag dried coconut, 1 bag dried mango, 1 2 lb. bag  carrots, 1 bag string cheese, 1 bag frozen corn, 1 package of sliced muenster cheese, 1 bag white chocolate chips, 1 bag plain bagels, 2 cans creamed corn, 1 pint grape tomatoes,  1 bottle brown mustard, 1 container of feta cheese, 2 bottles apple juice, 1 bottle 100% cranberry juice, 2 bottles ruby red grapefruit juice, 1 bottle 100% grape juice,  1 jar molasses, 1 can pitted olives, 4 cans diced tomatoes, 2 cans cherry pie filling (along with some frozen sour cherries in my freezer this will become a second pie for tomorrow), 1 pint heavy cream, 1 bag of chocolate mint pretzel stars, 1 bottle orange juice, 1 bottle honey mustard, 1 ball fresh mozzarella, 2 packages cheddar brats, 1 box toothpaste, 1 container caramel dip, 1 package hard salami, 1 2 lb. bag brown sugar, 1 bag dried apricots, 1 container fresco cheese, 1 tub old fashioned oatmeal, 1 container spreadable cheddar cheese, 1 box 'ritz' style crackers, 1 bag chocolate chips, 2 pomegranates, 1 bag spring mix, 1 roll breakfast sausage, 1 bag dried cherries, 1 package sliced cheddar cheese, 1 bag shredded sharp cheddar, 1 package of cupcake liners, and 1 box gallon storage bags.

My freezer is still packed with fish (salmon & tilapia, mussels & shrimp), chicken (BLSL breast & thighs), beef (brisket, ground, roast, steaks, cubes), pork (roast, cubes, chops, tenderloin) , a boneless leg of lamb, a HUGE bone-in ham, lots of bacon, some banger sausages, and Italian sausage. This is why I limited my meat purchases to just the cheddar brats and the lunch meat.
Now I am off to make the December menus. With December being such an expensive month I am hoping to limit my grocery shopping to just the necessities (milk, fresh produce etc.).
My total for this shopping trip was $242.15 so I still have $57.85 in the November budget as well as my entire December budget which I am hoping not to have to dip into.

The good news and the bad news

  Looking ahead at finances I became a bit alarmed when I realized that although we had three paychecks in January one of them would be for ZERO dollars. Ugh. My job has been hourly, only paying me for the hours I worked, for the 36 weeks of the school year only. Having been receiving social security death benefits until my youngest graduated this had not been a problem before. Knowing last year these would end we've been making adjustments to the budget and last year I picked up additional hours at school by working as one of the aftercare assistants. It makes for a long 11 hour workday but it also made me eligible for health insurance and gave us the much needed addition to the finances. And since I was already on location it didn't mean additional driving or gas useage to get to a second job. Which are very good things.
On the downside I still have a ridiculous car payment. A decision totally on me I understand but now one I regret. After much discussion with the GF who is something of a 'car guy' I agreed that the smartest move is to tighten the belt for the remaining 18 payments and hang on to this vehicle. It has been reliable, not bad on gasoline, and roomy enough to take additional family members when needed. Once paid for I can conceivably drive this for a few more years without payments, then switch to a small sedan.
A chance conversation with my aftercare director led me to a meeting with the parish business manager. I requested and was delighted to receive a change to my pay. From here on out I will be on salary for both my cafeteria job and my aftercare job!! This is the good news since it means a steady paycheck through the summer and those months when we have breaks. It also means I will continue to get paid on snow days, something that really hit us hard last winter.
The bad news: it means a smaller amount in each paycheck since instead of being spread out over 36 weeks it is spread out over 52. After crunching the numbers at home (estimating the tax taken out ) and discussing a small increase in the amount middle son contributes to the household budget I decided that we can do this. The relief at knowing that in January the pay will be steady and bills will be met is too big a plus not to take this offer.
It will mean strict spending limits since the 'disposable' part of what is coming in is very tiny but it should still allow me to put a small amount of money in savings. I will have to adjust my food budget downwards as well. Since college age daughter rarely eats at home these days and adult son eats at home even less than she does I am going to start out with a budget of $300. $250 of this will come out of my cleaning earnings (job number 3) and the remaining $50 out of the 'disposable' part of the work pay. I made a few calls yesterday and got my internet bill lowered by $13. Not a lot but every bit helps. I will be negotiating with our satellite tv provider this week to do the same thing (however since I took the 'free' upgrade on the dvr we are locked into this company for 2 years so that limits my  options when speaking with them). I am also going to be cancelling (must be done in person of course) my gym membership since I haven't used it in forever due to work hours (instead I 've been going to work 30 minutes earlier and power walking in the gym with two other staff members). When Amazon Prime becomes due I will not renew. I am also considering dropping a few magazine subscriptions as well. And I am getting stricter on utility bills . After temps dropped to the teens the last two weeks we discovered that 60 degrees is too cold for the house during the day when we are all gone and when we sleep at night because it takes the furnace a very long time (2 hours) to reach back up to 68 degrees on the main floor. Instead we tweaked the settings, going down to 63 degrees for away/sleep time and then up to only 66 degrees for when we are home. Our furnace seems grateful not to have to work as hard. Window coverings, draft dodgers, and using our fireplace to heat the living room plus lots of throw blankets and sweaters to help keep warm are in play as well (  I even hung up a polar fleece blanket over the French doors in the dining room to minimize drafts towards the thermostat). Nagging about turning off lights when leaving rooms, putting a living room light on a timer so college son and I don't come home to darkness each night (and doggies and the cat have some light), and unplugging unused appliances and chargers is being done. Short, five minute or less showers, turning off the water when brushing teeth, once a day or less running the dishwasher, and limiting use of the washer to one or two large loads is on the schedule for reducing the water bill.
But there was more good news to follow during this meeting. I was approached a few weeks ago by a parish staff member about the possibility of them hiring me to run the parish Fish Fries. These have been the bane of my job existence since it meant a lot of concessions on my part as to space, time, and also generosity in not complaining when items purchased by my cafeteria budget got used and not replaced by the FF staff. This means I can control and limit these types of irritations. And I will be receiving a generous salary for running the 6 fish fry dinners. Lots of volunteer staff is staying on so I will have help in the areas I am not familiar with and all the cooking will be done by volunteers. I will be there to manage only. It did mean missing my aftercare job on those 6 Fridays but now being salaried for that job means I won't miss out on that pay either. A win-win for me.
And money in the savings!

The forgotten holiday

Lots of work and out of work busy-ness has kept me from blogging as often as I would like to. With the Christmas season rapidly approaching this will probably continue to be the case.
My favorite holiday is not Christmas but Thanksgiving, a holiday I feel is often overlooked or forgotten in our rush towards gift giving cheer. Over the last several years I have made a point to collect decorations for both the inside and the outside of my home to reflect my love of the Thanksgiving holiday. What is better I ask than a day dedicated to counting your blessings, spending time with the people you love, and enjoying some good food?
Taking advantage of having election day off from work this year I made a point after spending a lovely day watching my youngest grandbabe of getting out these Thanksgiving decorations.
I began by hanging this fall wreath on my side door (I already had one up on the front door, somehow this smaller wreath got stored with the Thanksgiving decorations instead of the generic fall & Halloween decorations).

 

I then gathered and set up my front porch. I got the set of wooden "turkey parts" at a craft show I attended this year with a friend. It is a neat thing to do with a pumpkin that was part of the fall/Halloween display.

 

Here is a closer shot of the table and chair display using a Fall sign I picked up for a couple of dollars on clearance at a local craft store:

The antique drop leaf table used to be in our breakfast nook until I found a 1940s drop leaf enamel table. An item I had been coveting for a long time. this table and the chairs (which I intend to paint this coming summer) make a nice spot for a morning cup of coffee in the summer or a good place to perch with my laptop when the weather is warm.

A simply scarecrow in the bed next to the mailbox

 

And a fall flag complete my exterior display

 

 

Wrestling with Utilies and an expensive lesson learned

  Still trying to get a handle on the  new pay week schedule and when my bills are getting paid. Adult son who lives at home pays me a minimal amount for his car insurance and some extra as 'rent'. Since he is such a tremendous help around the house I keep this rent amount very small for him. He recently got his first new truck with the monthly payments that means. His job hours vary greatly depending on what jobs are scheduled by the boss (he lays flooring for a small 3 man company) so he doesn't have a set pay he can count on. So I am flexible about when he pays me. In general I use the money he deposits for utility payments since auto insurance is directly debited and I need to count on my own pay for this item. Friday he made a deposit into my account and this morning I made our natural gas, electric, and internet payment. TV comes out automatically and will hit my account on Monday. Homeowners will be withdrawn on Friday which is my payday. Mortgage and car payments will be made then. The cash I have on hand will have to be used for gasoline for the next two weeks.
My natural gas bill remains low because we have barely ran the furnace. This last bill only covered about one day when we ran the heat for two hours. As in the summer this bill reflects stove/oven usage and the hot water tank.  I anticipate that the bill will however run about $50-60 until it becomes necessary to have the furnace on fulltime since we have been running the furnace in the early mornings. With that in mind I have set our adjustable thermostat. From 5:30 a.m. until 8:30 a.m. it is set at 67°. All of us will have showered, gotten dressed and out the door by that time. From 8:30 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. it will be set at 63°. Warm enough for the dogs and the cat. From 7:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m. it goes back up to 67°. And at 10:00 p.m. it goes down to 60° for when we are sleeping. I left room for adjustments if the bill comes in too high at these temperature settings. I figure we can go as low as 65° for when we are home and 60° for the pets for when we are not.
Our electric bill should also reflect the long hours we are not at home. This month is was around $83 which includes running the dryer. Dryer usage is going to go down as I institute a new drying rack, hanging clothing in the basement policy.
The one utility I am frustrated by is our internet bill. TV is through a satellite company that does not have internet so I am forced to use the local cable company for this service. College age kids depend on internet on home to get a lot of their work done and stay in touch with professors so it is a necessary evil. We have chosen the bottom of the line service and yet our bill just went up another $10. I will be researching other options.
And finally I learned an expensive lesson last week. While driving home with college son I failed to pay attention and ran a red light. In front of city hall. Needless to say my 39 year clean driving record is down the tubes. To the tune of $160. Ouch. I won't be making that mistake again.

The Weekend!

  It seems that these days I live for the upcoming weekends. Not much gets accomplished during the weekdays besides necessary laundry and dinner and dinner cleanup.
This weekend has been particularly nice. Despite the cold temperatures and what appeared to be frozen white stuff blowing in the air it has been enjoyable. Friday night I went to oldest son's house and spent some time with my newest grandbabe E on her first Halloween. Yesterday I worked my twice a month cleaning job for some much needed cash. A two hour nap gave me some energy I'd lost from a couple of sleepless nights. Then GF and I ran some errands. We hit BJ's wholesale club where I purchased laundry detergent, fabric softener, MegaRed fish oil tablets, and Smart Balance for my house. GF bought some beef cubes, beef broth, crescent rolls and some work supplies. Our next stop was Aldi where GF bought carrots and cabbage and I picked up oatmeal and the Aldi 'cream of wheat' cereal. Our final stop was Target where I picked up sponges for work, Coricidin HB in case I come down with yet another cold, some reading glasses ( I was down to my last pair and really need several pairs of these), and a box of Throat Coat tea for youngest daughter's sore throat.
Once we'd finished our errands GF and I headed back to his house where after consulting my menu ideas I decided on making what I call Libby Soup. It is a beef vegetable soup I was preparing when I went into labor with my  youngest daughter.  Crescent rolls on the side rounded out the meal.

An evening snuggling under throw blankets and enjoying some dvr'd tv together put the nicest end to the day.

 

Sunday has been a lazy type of day. GF is working on his laundry, I've been doing some work I brought home to complete before Monday's lunch service. I did make a nice cooked breakfast for us though of Apple-Cinnamon pancakes and sausage patties. Used up the last of the apples we picked up at a local fruit farm in these.

 

Lunch will be leftover soup and dinner is going to be out in celebration of my middle daughter K's birthday which is tomorrow.

It has been what I consider to be the perfect weekend.