6 days and counting

Til we go to SC! It looks like the weather will be nice for the first part of our trip, then turn cold and nasty the latter part.

I need to figure out a gift for Steven. He turns 18 while we're gone. Deana got him a Wii, but I don't want to give him a game for it, if he's not going to get the game til we return. KWIM?

So, I need to figure out a small gift for his actual birthday -- beside the trip :)

Isn't she just the cutest?

Wow - and she's only 12 years old.

Many adults aren't so wise.

A new time waster

Play Games at AddictingGames

Owww, Owwww

My legs are hurting tonight. . . I walked up and down the halls at work, too many times today. I was going to go to Deana's concert tonight, but decided to stay home, take my BP meds (diuretics and driving 1 hour each way, is not a good mix), pain pills and go to bed early. It's now 6:35 PM and I'm thinking bed is a good idea in the next few minutes ;)

Menu Planning to Save Money

Ok- going to menu plan for this week, and next - so we can clean out the fridge before we leave on vacation, and save a few more $$. So here goes:

Week of 2/22

Sunday:

Breakfast- sausage/biscuits/gravy, juice
Lunch - lunchmeat sandwiches, chips, soda
Supper- shrimp scampi, rice, green beans, jello

Monday:

Breakfast - oatmeal, juice
Lunch - tuna,crackers, fresh veggies, mixed fruit cups, soda
Supper - baked potato/cheese sauce/ left over veggies , tea, brownies

Tuesday:

Breakfast - toast, peanut butter, juice
Lunch- various leftovers, soda
Supper - some type of meatloaf, corn, salad, leftover jello

Wednesday:

Breakfast - waffle french toast, strawberries, milk
Lunch - ranch chicken wraps, fresh veggies, yogurt, tea
Supper - beef stew/dumplings , apple crisp, tea

Thursday:

Breakfast - cinnamon rolls, fruit, milk
Lunch - salmon patties, cabbage wedges, cookies, tea
Supper - meatless spaghetti, garlic toast, mixed veggies, tea

Friday:

Breakfast - cold cereal, milk
Lunch - homemade hot pockets (using up leftovers), salad, tea
Supper - oatmeal patties, mashed potatoes, gravy, mixed veggies, fruit pie, tea

Saturday :

Breakfast - bacon, toast, eggs, juice
Lunch - chef salad, tea, banana
Supper - potato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, leftover sweets, tea

It's my birthday :)

I got mom 6 red roses sand some baby's breath at Aldi's yesterday and took them to her today. . . I also took her out for lunch. We'll go back out to her house in a bit for pizza and cheese cake.



Not much else new for today. . . keeping the thermostat low, lights off, etc. to conserve energy and save more money.

I'm going to try to match some of my yarn stash with projects from the "new to me" craft books Marty got me for my birthday.

Gosh - times flies

We leave for SC in 17 days :) I think we'll have enough money to get us there, and to enjoy our time while here. Steven gets to go too!

I can't wait to hold Lily again.

So, now to find good deals on travel foods, so we don't go broke eating out a lot. Lunch meat, bread, fresh fruits and veggies, etc. Anyone know where I can get small quantities of individual packets of jam, mayo, mustard, ketchup?

Well --

I stayed home from work last night, due to extremely violent vomiting. Missed out on the shift differential pay too :(

I still don't feel the best today - so I'm just hanging out, and trying to find some less expensive ideas to feed us. Something in the budget has to give. I'm thankful for the warmer weather recently - my furnace hasn't been running as much.

Anyone have any ideas on easy, cheap stuff to take on our vacation to eat? Any great, frugal meals for home?

Happy Valentine's Day Marty

Make a Smilebox greeting

Trying to save

So today's frugalness:

used 5 potatoes that were going bad, to make potato soup (also used powdered milk, instead of regular milk)

snagged the Sunday inserts from mom -- not a lot of coupons, but a couple of B1GOF

keeping the thermostat down, and the lights off

working night shift with differential (about $3/hour more)

Need to figure out a budget for the trip, and make sure we have enough to cover everything, plus some for incidentals.

OH --

So much past tired. . . neither Marty, nor I could sleep much last night. We both took turns getting up to cough. I got less than 4 hours sleep and I'm exhausted. Had a stupid mandatory meeting at work. They are going to implement hourly rounds, starting next week. I can not wrap my mind around how it's going to work. . . when I have admissions that take over an hour to complete, or traveling with patients on monitors, etc.

I managed to break a knitting needle -- in the middle of a project. *sigh* I hate to buy another set of needles, in an odd size. . . but I really hate to FROG the project again too.

I had hoped to get a few hours of overtime today -- but they floated us a nurse instead. If this keeps up, I may have to look for a 2nd job.

Oh golly - what a day.

It's been a wild and crazy day. . . started out the morning with a rapid response. . . and another patient with a heart rate in the 40's, at the same time. . . got them both under control (made one a DNR, and got the other one some meds for the heart rate). . . then got an admission from ER that decided to drop his BP -- apparently had perforated his bowel , so off to emergency surgery.

Whew. . . got off work and stopped by the grocery store to get some TP. . . some elderly man in a handicapped parking space yelled for me to stop a piece of paper, that was blowing in the wind. I chased it about 5 blocks before I got it -- turns out it was a check worth over $3000. He offered to buy me dinner or a drink but I declined. Just glad I was able to catch it.

This is random acts of kindness week - -so I guess that counted for mine today.

Oh -- and I was informed they were having a potluck for all the February birthdays, on Wednesday -- what was I going to bring? Seems like they forgot it's my birthday this month too. They aren't asking any of the other birthday people to bring in anything. AND they don't want me to cook anything, due to my cold -- and could I bring a main dish? as they already have people bringing chips, soda, veggie tray. Sheesh. Ahhhh well. Guess whatever I figure out to take will be my random act of kindness for that day too.

Aunt Dorothy's 85th Birthday BAsh

We went to Petersburg for Dorothy's birthday party. What a nice time! I was glad to see people, when we weren't at a funeral , for a change. Dorothy seemed to enjoy all the company - and the cake!
I had to post this picture of the party -- I was trying to get a good picture of Marty and his sisters, but Deana and Steven were trying to mess it up. Deana thought Steve was going to get his hand in the way, when I snapped this -- I love her expression :D

Quick post, so I don't forget

I saw a neat idea to personalize candles. . . . use temporary tattoos and apply just like you were putting them on your skin. . . and you can buy temporary tattoo paper and use your own pictures, words, etc.

Saturday - 26 days til vacation

Can you tell I'm getting anxious?

Doug called this evening -- not sure if he called because he's on a short term deployment and a bit homesick, because he and Brenda had a fight, because he's sickly and wanted to talk to his mom, or just bored. . . but it was good to hear from him - whatever the reason :)

Marty and I did some shopping today -- weather was fabulous, with sunshine and temps in the mid 60's. Got pasta on sale for .49/lb, whole chickens .78/lb, bananas .25/lb (getting past their prime but still eatable and not yet banana bread stage), some baking potatoes $2.49/8 lbs, potato chips at half price, and probably a few things I've forgotten.

Went to the Salvation Army Store, and only got 3 things -- a leather kit with 3 projects in it - a bookmark, a comb case, and a baseball card holder - all in one kit for .50, a new skein of Lion Brand chenille yarn .39 and a needlepoint kit of a Valentine Teddy Bear for .39 Marty was impressed and he'll be doing the leather kits. Now, I need to figure out a one skein pattern for the yarn.

Put today's change in the change jar -- will roll the coins and sort the bills for our trip.

I started another dishcloth - this one is round. Should be a stretch for my knit cheallenged mind, but I like the pattern, and wanted something to use up some varigated cotton yarn. You can see the pattern here: http://foothillsofthegreatsmokymountains.blogspot.com/2007/07/picot-swirl-cloth_25.html

Finally Friday!

Well, as you can see, I finally finished my knitting project for a Valentine's swap. The one I'm swapping with, loves ladybugs , so I made this ladybug washcloth. Knitting is hard for me, so I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. . . but I can see it needs blocked better.

I worked today -- not bad, but busy with lots of sad cases. Worked about 15 minutes of overtime, and headed home in sunshine and warm weather :) Marty was a good sport and hung the laundry on the lines outdoors, to dry .

Heading out in a bit for the HS basketball game. .. only going to watch Steven play in the band.

Vacation is one day closer

Days like today, that is about the only thing that keeps me going. I think they deliberately have tried to do me in at work, this week. Today, I was the med nurse in IMC - so basically no chance to sit down and get off my legs (normally, you can sit to chart, check labs, call doctors, etc.)

After work, I stopped by a discount Christian bookstore and picked up a few treasures . . .but didn't even spend $5 of my blow money.

Still working on my knitting project for my online Valentine's swap (from scrap yarn I had on hand), keeping the heat down (it's still COLD here), and eating from the pantry/freezer.

Tonight we had:

chicken rolls
rice
cucumber slices

No Super Saturday Sales at Meijer's this weekend. . . so I'll probably take a few $$ from the grocery money for this week and get some of the sale pasta (.49/lb) and milk ($2.50/gal).

I need to figure out a birthday gift for Marty's aunt. They are having a surprise party for her on Sunday. She'll be 85 and is basically blind. I have no idea what to get her, that will be frugal too.

Some peace at last

I got floated at work today , to the burn unit. . . what a change of pace. . nice and quiet, and serene. God knew I needed some peace.

We are continuing onward with the pantry challenge. . . tonight's meal was meatloaf (leftover and frozen from a previous meal, just reheated for tonight), corn (from our garden last summer) and ice cream (on sale). Lights were off and the thermostat turned down most of the day.

We're continuing to gear up for the trip to SC. . . Deana and Sarah have been wheeling and dealing to get their weekends off/trading, etc. Mine was already arranged months ago. Brenda is going to check out a campground for us , tomorrow. The website looks nice, but I know pictures can be cropped and be deceiving. $26/night will a lot less expensive than $100/night at a hotel. Doug and Brenda's house, simply cannot hold us all for sleeping/bathing/etc. Marty has the van in the shop now - getting the fan motor replaced so we'll have heat/AC on the trip. . . and hopefully getting the passenger door fixed so it can be opened from the outside (hasn't worked since we bought the van). New tires , an oil change and we should be good to go.

Oh - and Deana was named to the college's President's list for last semester! yes, I'm a proud momma

Still sick

So, it's Tuesday - and I'm still sick. I did manage to drag myself to work, but I turned down 4 hours of overtime that was offered. I figured I was better off to turn it down, than get worse and end up missing 8 or more hours later in the week.

I came home, straight from work, and we had dinner from the pantry (pork chops on the George Foreman grill), boiled potatoes and tossed salad. So far, so good on the pantry challenge.

It's freezing cold here again, but we're trying to keep the thermostat set as low as we can possibly tolerate, to conserve propane, and therefore $$. We sit wrapped in blankets for most of the evening :) and dh just fixed me a nice cup of hot chocolate.

So today's frugal doings:

packed my lunch, sodas, snacks from home - for work
thermostat set low, and wrapping in blankets to stay warm
supper from the pantry/freezer
decided to stay home from the basketball game, saving entrance fees and gas to get there.

First Blog post

Not really sure what I intend to do with this blog. . .it's mostly just a place for my rambling thoughts.

We are currently gearing up for a trip to SC in 31 days. Trying to save money, plan, get the van ready, etc. We're doing a pantry challenge this month to free up some cash for the trip. I'm working as much overtime and bonus as I can get, and we're praying that Bill pays Marty some more, before we go.

Anyone have any other ideas for saving money for this trip, or while we're on this trip -- please post them :)