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Archive for October, 2011

A couple of no spenders-

October 4th, 2011 at 04:01 am

I spent yesterday working on homework, preparing my oatmeal for the next few days and making/ planning meals for the week. It paid off, because today was my second NSD in a row- well, at least for food. I did spend $520 today on the hubs RT airline ticket for his 3 week rotation home. Usually the RT ticket is closer to $600- so this was a deal!

Tomorrow should be another no spender, and then Wednesday I am taking my friend, who just lost her 21 yo son, to dinner.

I got 100% on my two first week assignments for school. I have two tests coming up, so lots of study time ahead.

Last night I tried a new recipe and it turned out really good. Chicken and dumpling casserole :

Text is http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chicken-and-Dumpling-Casserole and Link is
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Chicken-and-Dumpling-Cass...

Just a really good dish of comfort food! When I make it again I will probably add carrots- but the dish turned out very similar to the picture on the recipe.

Well, time to stude before bed.






Day one on the new job

October 2nd, 2011 at 02:49 am

The hub called and his first day was a loooooong one. He got up yesterday at 3am to catch his flight to the slope..then, the plane was delayed. He finally arrived at 9am and went into training. After attending training all day, his shift started at 6pm and he worked until 6am this morning. 8 hours of regular time and 9 1/2 of OT for his first day (He earned about $650 for one day!). Poor guy- he was exhausted this morning and then slept all day. He is working the 6pm-6am shift, which is fine for him since he has always worked nights.

I spent the day doing homework and cooking. I made a big pot of black bean and chicken soup. I had all of the ingredients for this, so no cost today.

I also made the first batch of muffins from the mix I put together last weekend. I bought a pkg of frozen berries (blue, rasp and black berries) ($3.29)and made triple berry muffins this time...It looks like there are enough berries left to make two more batches. The muffins turned out awesome. I can see why the recipe got rave reviews!

Text is http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/All-Star-Muffin-Mix and Link is
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/All-Star-Muffin-Mix

Tomorrow, I will make a second batch to have for next week as well as the oatmeal. Between the soup, the oatmeal and the muffins, I am pretty well set for the first half of the week.

I pulled all the bedding off and washed the sheets, blankets and bedspread today. I swapped out the sheets we were using for a set of shabby chic rosebud sheets my kids bought me about 5 years ago. They are pretty and I am reluctant to use them daily when the hub is here...he occasionally falls into bed after working all night oblivious to how much residual (grease) he has on his arms...Id rather not use my foo-foo sheets when thats posssible. SOOO, for the next three weeks, I get pretty sheets! Cost for feeling uber feminine while I sleep, nada!

All in all, an awesome day. Loving the weekend and the chance to catch up and relax. Smile

Beware of the talkative cat...

October 1st, 2011 at 04:42 pm

This week has been so busy.

The hub is in Alaska and back to work! I am uber busy with school- taking two classes might not have been the wisest decision Ive ever made.

Let me start this post by telling a story. Wednesday morning I was getting ready for work- I had stayed up late Tuesday working on homework, so I was not as alert as normal.

I was sitting at my dining room table putting my shoes and socks on and my cat was being very talkative..not his usual style, but it was entertaining. I slipped my foot into my shoe and it didnt go all the way in....about the same time I hear an unual squeek for somewhere nearby...as I wriggled my toes trying to get my foot in my shoe...it dawned on me- that moment of clarity - why the shoe wouldnt go on, my cat was so talkative and the squeek...

I kicked off the shoe and SURE ENOUGH...a MOUSE went scurrying away...followed by the cat.

EWWWWWWW

no, make that a double ewwww...

NEVER again will I feel ok just putting my foot into the black abyss of a shoe without first checking to make sure my cat hasnt chased a critter into it.

DD3 texted me that she needed school books. I signed up for my classes last May and ordered my books at a deep discount from Amazon, to save $$. Of course, she needs her books by Tuesday...which means paying a higher price for an amazon prime provider to get them here quickly. Instead of $130 for the books, I paid $165...but that was still cheaper than the over $200 we would have paid at the college bookstore. But still, I hated paying so much more because of her procrastination.

It worked great this past week to pre-cook and prepare the oatmeal for my breakfast at work- so I will do that again. I also have chicken in the freezer that I'll pull out to make some dishes for dinners and then leftovers for lunches. It was MUCH less expensive for meals this week. Weekend preparation will definately help me stay on budget while the hub is gone!

I have so much homework this weekend..so off to hit the books. I want to carve out time to relax and have some fun too!