I made a pretty to do list for this week and thought I’d share it.
I just wasn’t in a blogging mood all winter. There seems to be so much drama on the internet and I have no interest in.
I’ll be blogging things I do. I’m no expert and I’m not giving or seeking advice on how my family eats or shops or doctors or uses resources or anything. I’ll just share what I do and you readers can visit if my life interests you.
That being said, let’s move forward, OK?
One of the our recent highlights was a trip to Southern California to celebrate our 39th anniversary.
We didn’t see any whales but we truly enjoyed our 3 hour cruise š¢. It was beautiful day and the ocean water was so clean! We did see lots of dolphins.
I have an early appointment to get my teeth cleaned and then I plan to come home and get some housework done. I’ll also be checking on my parents. My dad was so sick yesterday and he couldn’t come for our family Easter lunch and egg activities.
5 of our grands were here a good part of this weekend so I tried to plan meals ahead.
At Aldi, I got celery and strawberries. We all like raw celery with peanut butter, or spreadable cheese or just plain.
The strawberries were on sale and were so good! They smelled like ripe berries in the store and at home, I was amazed they were very sweet and flavorful. See how they are shaped kind of long and pointed? I don’t know if that denotes their variety or what but they were just delicious!
I got a couple containers of donuts at Aldi as the grands like them for a treat or dessert.
And I almost always keep ready to eat bananas, especially when grands are here.
We are all fans of orange Jello with lots of mandarin oranges.
Friday night meal was goulash, asparagus and bagged Asian salad.
Saturday breakfast was eggs, sausage, toast and fruit.
Saturday lunch was pizzas on Naan bread- decorated by the children.
Saturday supper was grilled chicken tenderloins and turkey sausage
homemade macaroni and cheese, fruit and jello
Sunday breakfast was cinnamon toast, bacon, scrambled eggs and fruit. The 3 year grandson was so proud that he got to shake the cinnamon sugar on to the bread.
Thrifty tip
When I cleaned the celery, I saved the scrappy pieces in a plastic bag. I added the onion peels from the goulash.
I labeled them and they will stay in the freezer until th next time I cook a chicken in the crockpot.
I’ve got some more to post but my blogging app is not happy doing long posts so I’ll add the rest on another post later.
I made this list for the fridge, it’s my version of menu planning.
After we shopped, I wrote down meals I could think of that could be prepared with ingredients we have on hand.
I don’t think I’ll cook all these things in March but this gives me a daily aid to decide what to cook as the month goes on.
One of the first meals of the month was a whole chicken cooked in the crockpot. I just put the plain whole chicken with onion and celery scraps in the crockpot and covered it with water. It cooked about 5-6 hours.
The chicken was so moist and tender š
If you want good broth, make your own.
That simple cooking method made the best, flavorful chicken broth and it wasn’t full of salt like most canned varieties.
With that broth and some of the chicken, I cooked a bag of noodles in the broth and added diced potatoes, chicken and some frozen vegetables.
It was so good with the homemade broth and made 3 meals for us.
This shrimp is from Aldi and I think it’s ones of their special items and not something they will carry all the time. It was $4.79 at my Aldi.
I cooked it just like the package said and served it on top of hot rice.
It was just delicious and tasted like a good restaurant meal.
If you like an easy meal every so often, we highly recommend them.
It’s also nice to find convenience foods that aren’t just highly processed too.
BEFORE
In February, I did a few organizing tasks.
The silverware drawer was so full and very unorganized. I really had just got frustrated with it wasn’t even trying to keep it organized.
And sorry about the horrible photo quality ........
AFTER
After a lot of downsizing, this drawer is functional and not frustrating anymore,
Having dividers helps but I think the real key to organization is not having too much stuff.
SEWING
Am I the last seamstress to make one of the quick table runners? I think they are called 20 minute runners and there are tutorials all over Pinterest and YouTube. I made this one for Valentine’s Day.
If a person can follow directions and sew on any level, they could successfully sew up this runner.
I was scrolling through Instagram one morning while grandson JJ sat by me.
He got bug-eyed when this photo came by and said
“That’s not right, that’s just cray-cray”
I think this little terrarium is rather cute and shows it’s OK to just use what you have.
This week’s CVS deals were not the biggest bargains ever but I got good prices on things we need.
I started the week with $34 in CVS bucks from previous purchases.
I used some personal coupons from scanning my CVS card at the CVS red box coupon machine and price checker.
The $3 Eucerin coupons were printed from coupons.com and I believe are still available.
The .25 Charmin coupons are from last Sunday’s paper.
When I shop at CVS, I look for deals that give back ExtraCareBucks.
Below are today’s purchases
Before coupons it would of been about $63 ( very high I know, and that’s why I only shop at CVS sales with coupons)
After coupons it was $14
I have $29 for the next sale and should also earn some Beauty Bucks that will show up in my account in a few days. M
I was especially happy to get more of this Eucerin skin calming cream.
I have very dry itchy winter skin and this cream truly makes it all better. I’ve only been using it a couple weeks but my legs and arms are soft and smooth now, never itchy anymore and in my opinion, my skin looks younger.
I shared some with 2 grands that also have winter skin issues and they both like it. Their mom says their skin is doing much better with this cream.
Hello, thank you to all who left sweet welcome back comments.
February went by in a blur. That crazy cold I got in January continued to hang around for a good portion of the February.
Grandchildren were sick at different times with Flu A, strep, ear infections.
My dad fell on an icy sidewalk and gave us all a very big scare but thankfully his injuries were not too bad.
My wisdom teeth are gone and that was actually one of the easier medical things - afterward I had zero pain, bleeding and swelling. I’m still amazed it was so easy.
I have lots of crafts supplies, including a storage tub of plastic canvas yarn. I pulled out a gallon bag of yarn scraps from that tub and started making coasters. I loosely followed some online patterns and have really had fun making them, it’s just a relaxing sewing with not too much concentration required. I plan to make more as I still have so much yarn.
Fabric sewing in February was mostly doll clothes.
I made wrap skirts and t shirts for 3 American Girl type dolls.
The 3 dollies also got nightgowns,
I used free printable patterns found on Pinterest for all the clothes.
For the 3 shirts, I used 1 pair of girls white leggings bought on clearance for $1.
And I made potholders with some 1970s looking fabric.
Our bargain of the month was at a big grocery store in Oklahoma City called Crest.
We like to have sausage and eggs for breakfast. Good breakfast sausage is normally close to $4 a roll.
This sale was so good, we bought 30 rolls and they will stay in our upright freezer as we use them over the next 6 months or so.
After a several month break, I’ve started coupon shopping at CVS again. I’ll post the new deals as I do them.
This was at Andie’s birthday party last night.
The restaurant serves chocolate piƱatas and it was a very fun experience, especially for the 9 children attending.
On the publishing app I’m using, I’m not sure the video is going to show up when I push publish. If it doesn’t include, I’ll try to figure out a plan B.
The piƱata was quite fun. I was disappointed the chocolate part seemed to be a very low quality Chocolate. My daughter likes to make fancy desserts and she is planning to make a version at home for a future party.
But regardless of what I thought of that chocolate, there was no dessert left after 9 children and 9 adults all ate. So it tasted AOK to the rest of the guests.
