Happy New Year!
Inspired by a few simple/frugal living blogs, I’m going to try to stick even more to planning our meals in advance. We had most of January planned before we left on our Christmas vacation, but we had a few days to hammer out, and we filled in the gaps today.
1 ham & bean soup
2 pizza
3 chicken tortilla soup
4 cheeseburger pie
5 falafel
6 tuna pasta salad
7 vegetable gratin
8 tamales
9 pizza
10 lentil soup
11 peanut chicken
12 twice-baked potatoes
13 fish
14 burgers
15 chicken popovers
16 pizza
17 pasta & meatballs
18 pork w/mango chutney
19 bbq chicken & cornbread
20 red beans & rice
21 chicken stir-fry lettuce wraps
22 tomato couscous
23 pizza
24 BLTs
25 roasted chicken
26 chicken salad sandwiches
27 bbq lentils
28 beef goulash
29 falafel
30 pizza
31 stuffed shells
January 1st, 2009
I’m already doing a non-fiction book group in 2009, but I wanted to be part of a fiction one as well. So I decided to make my own, and I hope it will continue past 2009. Introducing the Reading is Sexy Book Group!
Here’s our book list. There’s no real theme this year; these are just books that I’ve heard about and want to read.
Water for Elephants - Sara Gruen (Jan. 1 - March 5)
Wonder Boys - Michael Chabon (March 19 - May 21)
The Robber Bride - Margaret Atwood (June 4 - July 16)
The Wind-up Bird Chronicles - Haruki Murikami (July 30 - Aug 27)
Farthing - Jo Walton (Sept 10 - Oct 22)
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman (Nov 5 - Dec 31)
You’ll notice there is time between each book - we’ll use that time for discussion and reviews.
All the books can be found cheaply - The Graveyard Book should go down in price (or be found used) by the time we get to it.
Interested in joining us? Just read along and keep an eye on this blog. Discussion will mainly be here, but feel free to post your thoughts to your own blog and link over. And share with your friends! I don’t know anyone who wants to read less, so we all can gain something by participating.
Oh, and leave a little note here to let me know you’re joining in, so I can keep track of y’all.
December 16th, 2008
My new favorite blog is Joy the Baker.
Yesterday I made both the milk chocolate chip buttermilk pancakes and the peppermint meringues. Tonight for our work cookie swap I made the double chocolate peppermint cookies, although I made them triple chocolate (cocoa powder, 60% chips, and white chips). Everything has been very yummy and easy to make. The cookies aren’t as pepperminty as I was expecting, and they are crisper than I like cookies, but they are still good.
Her food photography is excellent and I love the posts themselves (not just the recipes). I mean, the woman did a doughnut tour of LA. What’s not to love?
December 15th, 2008
On Tuesday we had to take the little man to urgent care because he had a fever of almost 105. The nurse offered to get him a Pedialyte pop, but they were out, and she returned with three Flav-o-ices instead: lime green, pink, and purple.
Nurse: Which one do you want?
Me: Want the pink one, Reese?
Nurse: I’m a boy! Here’s purple.
Me, in my head: What, is pink sugared ice going to make him gay?
November 27th, 2008
I am incredibly boring lately. Seriously, some of the biggest excitement in my life recently has been my American Apparel co-op order arriving. I’m doing NaNoWriMo but I’m behind. Right now by about 5,300. Thankfully when I go to write-ins I can be fairly productive, considering I wrote 3k in the last two I went to. Not including the dinner/write/chat session I had with Juliana on Friday, which only resulted in a dismal 1k. But good chatting. I have no idea where I’m going with this story, but I’m OK with that. Just as long as I get to 50k.
Grocery receipt, 11-9-08
$27.93 (all food)
total: $53.13
November 9th, 2008
The past 24 hours have been amazing.
Grocery receipt 11-4-08
Food: 25.20
Election day alcohol: 15.98
Other: 20.31
November 5th, 2008
Now we are one, baby. A year of life for you, and a year of a new life for me, your mama. In this short time we have already taught each other so much, and it seems impossible to comprehend that with each passing day we will grow even more. So before you grow any older, I want to say thank you, Reese.
From the first time I saw you, your eyes trying to figure me out, to now, when they reflect the innate joy you find in life, you have amazed me. You have taken me along to discover the world, and I am reminded how simple it can be. It’s hard not to be happy around you, because you are such a joyful boy. You have invented ways to make yourself laugh, and even the smallest things we do can send you into fits of giggles. I hope you keep that as you get older, because laughs are the cure for everything.
You have grown so much in the past year, even though you still don’t have much hair, just like I did as a baby. You love to move, and even though you keep one leg tucked underneath as you crawl, it doesn’t slow you down. Now you are cruising, and amazingly, taking your first independent steps. We know you can walk on your own, but you’re scared, and that’s OK. Lots of things in this world are scary, but hopefully Daddy and I will help you through it all.
Depending on when you read this you might be grossed out to know we are still nursing. But it is some of our most special time together, and we have taken many naps snuggling together after a good snack. Although Daddy gets nervous about you eating in public, I don’t mind, and we’ve even participated in a group nursing with 100 other babies! I do hope, however, that you keep from trying to get me to flash other people.
Sometimes I wonder what you will be like when you are older. I hope you enjoy reading like I do, and that you have a hobby you really love. I’m not sure what kind of job you might taken on, but right now you are such a sweet, happy guy that I can’t imagine it being something that didn’t have to do with helping people. We’ll be proud of you whatever you decide - but that is far into the future. For now, just be yourself. Curious about everything, full of hugs and giggles, and ready for each new challenge.
Love,
Mama
October 17th, 2008
I figure you’re probably bored with looking at my grocery receipts. Strangely, I’m not yet. This month I added up all the crap food we bought and it easily hit $50. Stuff like ice cream, chocolate, chips, etc., took a big chunk of our money. The question is, do you consider the organic selections to be junk? After all, Green & Black’s organic chocolate is still chocolate, and Garden of Eatin’ cheese doodles are still cheese doodles. We’re a work in progress, I guess. One of these days I hope to be one of those people who reaches for carrots or an apple when they want a snack, but I grew up on junk food and it’s been rather hard to kick that habit. At least we paid off another credit card.
I’ve been watching the financial stuff with interest. I find the whole thing fascinating, and not just because I’ve always thought the stock market was a poor indicator of what is actually going on in the economy. It’s about time they decided to fix a few things, although I don’t think the current plan will work. For one, I don’t think I should be punished and have to take care of the stupid decisions other people made. It’s true that the banks gave mortgages to people who probably shouldn’t have gotten them, but both sides are at fault for that. I’ve got thousands upon thousands of debt and I know I have to suck it up and take care of it myself. Maybe I could just print more money like the government does. That wouldn’t dramatically increase inflation or anything!
Ah well. All I can do is take care of me and my own.
October groceries so far: $32.07
October 3rd, 2008
As you can probably tell, we didn’t manage to stay under $200 for our groceries this month. I tallied everything up and subtracted non-food items, and in the end we spent about $237.75 on food. However, we also ate out more than we should have (especially at lunch) but those totals aren’t included.
This was our first month tracking spending so closely, and we’ll now be able to fine-tune our budget and tweak where needed. Most of all we need to curb that “Oh, I don’t want to eat, let’s eat out” urge we are used to pleasing. There were also things we bought at the grocery store that probably weren’t needed, most notably the junk food. We’re both trying to get over the junk food madness but it definitely is hard. Fat and sugar and salt taste so good!
It is interesting to track things like this. Because you are paying attention to what you’re spending money on, it makes you think twice about what you put in your cart. Even though we did buy junk food most of it was on sale. Buying in bulk is awesome. I pay more for the foil packets of tomato sauce instead of getting the cans, because one packet is the perfect size for one pizza, but I know I could buy a bigger can and split it. The “ethnic” section of the grocery store is the best place to buy staples. For some reason a bag of lentils from the Indian section is so much cheaper than a bag from the dried beans aisle. Good luck even finding a bag that big in the dried beans aisle.
In terms of our debt, we paid off two credit cards this month. We are on track to have three more, plus my lowest student loan, paid off in November. Husband has taken a side job of about 20 hrs/week doing more programming, and I’ve been experimenting with online surveys and being a ChaCha guide (more on my results later). Obviously his extra work will bring in more money than mine, but every bit counts.
September will have some extra budget issues: Bob’s birthday, buying a new carseat for Reese during the Britax sale, refinishing our starter emergency fund since we went over budget this month. Hopefully that will all be taken care of with the extra income. After that we’ll be setting aside some extra money for travel in December, and throwing the rest at debt. It’s a pretty awesome feeling to see those last payment dates creep up more and more!
August 31st, 2008
Purchased at HEB Pville
Bananas, 2.22 lbs, $1.09
Hatch peppers, 1 lb, $1.34
Tomato, $0.68
Pears, 1.52 lbs, $2.11
Italian salad mix, $2.00
Avocados, 4, $2.00
Chopped broccoli, $1.03
Green beans, $1.14
Mango chunks, $1.89
Russet potatoes, 5 lbs, $1 <— woot
Health valley blueberry cereal bars $4.35 <— splurge
Chicken broth, $1.99
HCF peanut butter, big jar, $3.29
Simply Orange juice $2.99
Blue Fish Riesling $4.49
HCF body wash, 2/$5
Natural applesauce, $2.13
Ziploc sandwich, $2.94
Ziploc freezer, $3.89
Toothpaste, $0.96 after coupon
Cat food, $10.97
Total: $59.49
Purchased at SuperTarget Aug 23
White vinegar, $2.19
Burts Bees conditioner, $7.99
Lansinoh storage bags, $9.99
Reese’s mini cups, $2.69
Bulk coffee, $2.46
Total: $27.23
Purchased at SuperTarget Aug 24 (food items only)
Lays chips $1.88 x2
KitKat $0.50
English muffin $1.87
Earth’s best waffles $2.49
Ice cream $3.50
Ravioli $2.78
Buffalo chicken tenders $5.50
Total $20.40
Purchased at HEB Aug 29
(no receipt)
Total: $14.07
August 31st, 2008
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