Er Mer Gerd!

I know I said I'd update our successes with our pinterest menu.  Fail, however, the two items we tried are fantastic!  Both will be making it into our dinner rotation, and that's no mean feat around here!  Luke even loved the soup, which is an Italian Sausage and Bean soup with Pasta.

Luke hates beans, but he actually ate them, and asked for more!  Whoot!  I am thrilled!  He's also kind of not a soup kid, but whatever, he loved it!  :)

The other thing we tried was this, which is also super good.  Luke didn't like that one as much, but it's still awesome!

I am making biscuits and gravy tomorrow for dinner- Thank you Loveless Cafe, for your sausage gravy recipe, and hopefully your biscuit recipe!  :)  Shush! I know that's a closely guarded secret! And I won't tell if you won't!

I was talking to Luke yesterday night, and we've decided to try and go to Disney every 2 years.  He had a blast there, and he really does want to go back.  Yay!  So now we've got to figure out a way to be able to put aside about $200 a month for the next 18 months or so.  We'll do it, I promise.  Charlie even wants to go back, even though he says it's just for Sweet Tomatoes.  Which, to that I say, phooey.  He loved it, he just won't admit it!

We have a Pinterest Menu!!

You know how Luke wanted an entire week of pinterest food?  Yeah, well, he's going to get 3 days!  Whoo!  I started combing through my food pins (all 2,000+), realized 1500+ are desserts, and narrowed it down to 3 basically simple, affordable menus that I don't have to do a ton of extra shopping for.  Because I'm all about not spending extra money on something that I might hate!  It's happened before- buffalo chicken in the crock was NOT a success, no matter what anyone says!!  :)

One day, we're having bacon/apple/cheese quesadillas.  Another day we're having Sausage and Bean Soup with Pasta, and the first day we're having loaded baked potato soup in the crock.  I'm pretty excited!  I will post pictures as we have them- I promise!!

It's Leap Day!

And my in-laws are coming for dinner tonight.  They might be taking us out to dinner, but they might not be.  Really, all I know is they are coming from a state park near here, and eating with us at 6ish.  Yes, and Charlie complains when my mom and dad don't have set in stone plans.  Whatever.  ;) 
Either way, if they eat with us or not, I am roasting a chicken here soon.  I've got it on the menu for 3 meals- and of course, the roast has to come first, before bbq chicken pizza and chicken quesadillas.  I love cooking once and eating 3 times.  It's so much better than cooking something different every night.  And, it saves money, so definitely double score!  And the carcass will make stock probably tomorrow or Friday, to freeze and use later. 
And, I've finally told my parents that we're moving.  Mom took it decently well, considering we've kind of been preparing her for a few months now- you know, if we don't buy a house, we're definitely renting, since I hate living in an apartment.  So I finally told mom Monday night, and she was all excited- her biggest concern was Luke, and how he's going to react to changing schools mid year.  Well, he's not, like I told her, we're not telling the school that we're moving until the end of the year, and we're just driving him to/from school every day.  It'll stink big time, but it's only for 6-7 weeks, and could be so much worse.  And at least it seems like the winter is over (knock wood), and hopefully the traffic/drive won't be too bad.  Basically we're moving to a more rural community in our county.  Less than a mile from our house is farmland.  Which, OMG, LOVE!  The older I've gotten, the more obvious it's become that I am a country girl/farmer at heart. 

Tarred

I was at work this morning, and my boss comes up to me to assume that I can stay late.  I really hate when they do that, I do have a life out side my job!

   I'm on a house cleaning kick lately.  I threw out two bags of garbage today, and that was only in the few hours that I was home alone before the bus arrived!  I can't wait until tomorrow, when I'm home all day by myself, not working tomorrow morning, and can actually clean for several hours.  Yay!  :)  So excited!  But, I have to go grocery shopping too.  Which will be fine.  :)

  My whole budget is $75 for the week.   Every week.  Sometimes it's less. But, I very rarely go over $65 in terms of spending.  I'm lucky in that I know prices, and am not brand loyal at all, except for Tide.  I cannot see spending almost $2 on a can of beans that I can get for less than a dollar in another brand, or cheaper than that when I purchase a bag of dried beans. 

All of my meals are made from scratch, and I try new recipes as well.  And, before you say, why, Frugal Girl, you must love your beans!, I say to you, I hate beans.  I eat them when necessary, and that's all.  :)  I serve meat at 4 out of 7 meals a week.  Portion control is so important, and so many people overlook it.