Weekly Meal Plan

I'm lacking a lot of photos here lately and wanted to change up my blog a little bit until I can get some more pictures. I'm going to post my weekly meal plan for the week. As I've mentioned before I try my best to coupon. I had been looking in cookbooks and pinterest for recipe's that sounded good and that I had most of the ingredients for. I would then build my shopping list on the items I didn't have. I have found that I go over my budget by a good bit by doing it that way. This week I have decided to build my meals around what was on sale and what I already had. I showed you all my publix trip here. It was mostly dog food and powerade. I did get a pack of chicken breast because it was on sale for $2.99 a pound. I also went to Bi-Lo and got a dozen eggs($1.04), london broil roast(on sale for $2.99/lb), baby carrots(.99), and Sara Lee bread ($1.24). I was able to make a meal plan from there. Tonight we had the london broil roast, mashed potatoes, corn bread, and green peas. I must say it really hit the spot! Here is Maddy enjoying her dinner.

Ok, so maybe she was in the middle of talking to me and trying to get out of eating dinner today lol. She isn't much into meat but ate all the rest and even asked for more peas. I love that she loves food like she does and love how broad her tastes are. Ok, back on track :) Tomorrow we are having Paprika Chicken with Mushrooms or Alice Springs Chicken (pinterest inspired). I'm not sure if I have everything for the Paprika chicken so I made a back up just in case. Wednesday is our hectic day so I'm actually not cooking. I am eating left overs and Maddy is either eating at church, eating a hot dog, or eating a lunchable I picked up at Wal-Mart for $1. Thursday is Beef Tips w/Rice and corn. I know corn isn't something you'd normally eat with beef tips, but Maddy loves corn and since she isn't too much into meat she may only have corn and rice. Friday is White Chicken Chili night. I'm not a normal person when it comes to food or drinks. I don't only eat soups/chili's in the fall/winter or drink hot drinks in the fall/winter. I can eat and drink at any given point of a season. It is starting to cool down, but has still been pretty warm. Saturday and Sunday we eat our left overs or eat with my mom. I don't like to waste food and I have actually wasted a lot of the pizza casserole I made two weeks ago. I'm having to figure out this cooking thing so I don't waste a lot of food,but have enough all at the same time. I think this week will be better...I hope anyways lol.

I hope you all had a great weekend and are off to a great start this week!!! If it's already a rough week then just remember only four more days to go and for some people it's a three day weekend :)

*Jeremiah 29:11

Publix Savings

I decided to start showing my actual coupon trips on here. Today Publix was my main store, but I also went to Bi-Lo. Here is what I got at publix minus a thing of chicken breasts:

It's hard to tell exactly what there is in the picture so here is the break down:
30 32 oz. powerade's for $1.00 each
2 Kens marinade for $1.50 each
1 Peter Pan Peanut Butter for $1.70
1 32 oz. Mayo for $2.74
1 10 oz. A-1 sauce for $1.88
20 13.2 oz. canned dog food for .65 each
Perdue Boneless Chicken Breast for $4.75
2 packs of hot dogs for $2.59 each
Lipton Tea Bags for $1.30

I also had a few coupons. $.40 off mayo, 2 buy 10 powerade's get 5 free, $.70 off ken's marinade sauce, and (2)$1.50 off 10 cans of dog food.

My total came to $52.01 and I saved a total of $44.92

I have a pretty low weekly budget for groceries that I am trying to get down to. I miscalculated this trip so instead of being under I went over because I have to factor in my Bi-Lo trip and tomorrow I am going to Wal-Mart to get Maddy's milk, breakfast bread, and papers. I'm getting so close to my allotted budget.

Praise You In the Storm

I can tell you that I am definitely being tested and have been since the last full week of July. Today was kind of the last straw for me...or should I say when I just kind of hit bottom. Luckily our church has been talking about when bad things happen. One thing that has stuck with me is to not question why but to look for the opportunity. I used to always question why when something bad happened to me. I always thought it was always because of my sin that bad things were happening. Yes, when we sin bad things can happen but it doesn't mean that is always the case. This song has been stuck in my head because it's just perfect for my situation. It's not always easy to praise God during a storm, but it's something we should be doing. I do feel at peace with my situation even though I know there are more tears to be shed. I don't like the situation I'm in but complaining about it isn't going to solve anything. Another good song to think of during the storm is by Group One Crew...I've actually posted this before but it's def worth posting again lol

I've got a full day ahead of me tomorrow and I desperately need to clean so I will make this a short post. If you are going through a rough patch just hang in there and lean on the Lord. Life is not easy nor is it by ANY means fair but God wants good things for us no matter what He is always here. On a completely different note have you heard Taylor Swift's new single?? I haven't listened to it completely because I haven't bought it, but I sure love the title lol

*update...i just now listened to it :)

Whirlwind Wednesday

I'm still trying to catch my breath from today. I knew today was going to be crazy, but I had no idea just how crazy it would be. Today was the first day of Awana's. My mom took my two nieces and I had Maddy. We had no idea where to go or what to do, so we decided to stick together to figure it out. The lines were so long, which is good, but Maddy quickly lost her patience. Maddy refused to go at first. She was kicking and saying no and mommy and was just so mad. Thank goodness for this angel who came in and rescued us. She walked right up to Maddy and held her hands out and said, "Do you want to go make a castle with me?" Maddy quit her fit and just listened. She asked one more time and Maddy let her take her and off they went. I seriously wanted to hug her!!! I had every intention of snapping some pictures of the experience, but people were scattered everywhere and you add Maddy's fit and there was just no way for that to happen. I decided to take a picture of her bag and art she did.

When I went back for her she wasn't pitching a fit so I was thankful for that. I think once she gets in the routine of going she will do a lot better. She struggles with change and I think she was pretty tired as well because she went straight to sleep once she crawled into bed. This was a big night for Maddy and my nieces and I'm so very proud of all of them. My nieces were very nervous about going because they don't know anybody, but they both seemed to like it. This wasn't just a big night for the kids...it was a big night for me as well. I tried out orchestra tonight. I only got to play one song because Awana sign ups took forever. I used to play in the church orchestra a long time ago, but it's just so different Fafter being gone for six years. Everybody was nice, but my music reading abilities aren't as sharp and neither is my playing. When I was in the orchestra last time, I was in high school and had band and had a lot of opportunities to better my playing/music skills...I don't have that anymore. I'm hoping it will come back to me after I play for a while, but it's a bit frustrating in the mean time. It's going to be hard on Wednesday's because I still have to get my time in at work and church cuts into my time. I've been praying for a new job...one that will allow me to participate in church without stressing out over my time and production. Before tonight I just knew the Lord would give me a new job, but I'm really not so sure that is going to happen now lol. I won't be playing this Sunday morning, but maybe in a couple of Sunday's I'll manage to get my nerve up.

I tried another pinterest recipe today...chicken parmesan bake

It was super easy to prepare and only took 35 minutes in the oven. I was surprised that Maddy actually ate it. I cut hers up and put it on a plate for her to eat on the way to church.

People at church who knew me before could not believe I had a child of my own. It's amazing how many times I get stopped with Maddy. Everybody comments on her blonde hair and tell me she looks like a doll or tell me she is beautiful. I of coarse happen to agree with all the nice comments, but it's nice to hear other people agree :)

Next week is the final episode of the original teen mom girls and I'm a little sad to be honest. I'm probably going to do a post on this soon. I feel like I've bonded with these girls because when their 16&pregnant show aired I was pregnant with Maddy and I wanted to see how they handled birth and being a mom. Maci lives in my town and hers was the first one I watched...I was hooked from then on.

I'm kind of glad today is over with...now if I can escape the next two days without getting royally in trouble at work I will have made it lol. I hope you all are having a great week!!! Happy hump day!

Our Weekend

I seem to be writing these later and later in the week. We have a pretty hectic schedule during the week and there just isn't much time for anything. We had a great weekend! We spent more time at home. Friday was my grandfather's birthday. He is still recovering from his hip surgery and it turns out he may be having another knee surgery in the future. I didn't think I would be able to make his party due to work, but our systems shut down earlier than normal which allowed me to go. I kept Maddy up and put on a movie for her to watch so I could finish working....of coarse it was none other than Mickey Mouse! She did a great job of letting me work. Towards the end she was wanting me to hold her, so I just called it quits. I don't have any pictures from the party because I've been without my camera for a while. It was a fun time to spend with everybody and Maddy had fun playing with Aria's toys...until the end and she got mad at Aria. We got home around 11:30 p.m. and went straight to bed. There was no cleaning, there was no staying up, we were just plum exhausted. I've decided that Friday nights are my favorite because I know there is no work the next day and we get to sleep in. I woke up at 10:48 a.m. I was shocked! The power had gone out at some point because Maddy's monitor was turned off, so I got up and didn't hear a peep from her room. She did wake up soon after but it was great to sleep until I woke up. I started to clean up a little until I became a little overwhelmed. I decided it was best to get the stores out of the way first and then clean later. I ended up going to my mom's and off to the stores we went. We went to Publix, CVS, Bi-Lo, Baskin Robbins, and Walmart. We got home a bit late....again, so I never got to finish my cleaning. Sunday is church day and Maddy's still adjusting to her new room. She loves going to church, but doesn't like mommy leaving her. She leeched onto me and they had to pry her off me. I felt so bad! When I went to pick her up she was having fun playing. I'm so happy to have us in church. After church we went home and Maddy played while I cleaned. It's amazing what I can get cleaned in just a few short hours. I never get our house totally clean because I tire out fast. I feel overwhelmed with not knowing where to put everything, so I figure if I just keep doing what I'm doing eventually everything will find a spot. I think this was the most uneventful weekend we have had in a long time. It was nice to not have much to do. Pretty soon fall will be here...and Maddy's birthday for that matter and we will have lots of activities planned. I found a fall "to do" list on pinterest that I am most definitely going to do with Maddy this year...I can't wait for all the holidays :) I don't have many pictures to share, but will find something to post here so it's not so boring lol.

These are hand me down pajama's from my niece. I'm not 100% sure what size it is because the tag is torn off, but I'm pretty sure it's a 4 or 4T. You can tell it's still a little big on her, but not as big as I would have thought. I was shocked! I found out Sunday that she can wear some 4's because the dress she wore on Sunday was a 4...talk about growing up!

I took this picture to send to my mom. He was fixing to get a bath and let me tell you...that was a chore! He did not like me picking him up. I finally got him in the tub and halfway through his bath he found a way to jump out. I was soaked and trying to catch him wasn't easy. We did make it through and he feels and smells so much better!!! I'm going to try to give him a bath at least twice a month.

She fell asleep on the way home Sunday. She was so tired because she hadn't had a nap at all that day. I just love watching her sleep!

On Monday she started her new classroom at school. I will write more about that tomorrow. We have a busy week ahead of us this week because I have enrolled her in Awana's at church. I'm hoping she will love it!

I hope you all had a great weekend and are having a great start to your week!

Coupons & Budgets

As my bills start to add up (and go up) each month, I have had to really watch everything that goes out. As I participate in good deals, or what I consider a good deal, I will more than likely write about it because I love talking about good finds :) I do use a website as I've mentioned before...Southernsavers.com. They take all the work out of couponing for those of us who have zero time to figure it all up. This week was a good diaper deal at CVS. CVS has jumbo packs on sale for $9.49, regularly $11.99 (I think). In last Sunday's paper there were two $1.50 coupons for Huggies diapers. If you buy $30 worth of participating items at CVS, you get $10.00 back. I bought 3 jumbo packs of diapers and 1 toothbrush. I had (3) $1.50 coupons for the diapers and a .40 coupon for the toothbrush, which made it $2.59. My total after coupons was $29 and some change. I qualified for the $10 back, so it's like I paid $19. I saved $13.30...talk about jackpot! I am in need of some more foundation because some silly person left the top off of hers and it's kinda gross now lol. I'm going to take that $10 and use it for my foundation and get $3 back. You only have to spend $10 on L'oreal cosmetics, so if I didn't need foundation I could just get $10 worth, which is maybe two eye shadows and make $3 profit. I think foundation is around $15 so I pay $5 up front, but get $3 back so I am buying foundation for $2. Is it starting to hurt your head a little? I think I need some pictures with this post, but my camera is out of batteries and I don't have anymore and my phone...well, it's running out of room.

One thing that has stuck with me since I have been couponing, is the diaper deals. I used to just buy the big box of diapers at Babies R Us for $41.99 and be done with it. I thought it was the best deal. I think it is if you need a lot of diapers and none are on sale. I've learned that those big box of diapers actually cost more per diaper than the small packs. In the jumbo pack at CVS there are 27.  Those diapers cost roughly .17 a diaper, whereas the big box would have cost me around .29 a diaper. My math is probably wrong somewhere, but you get the idea :)

On top of getting a good deal on diapers, I am also going to try out a method of budgeting I've read about before...can't remember who, but I think it may be Larry Burkette. The idea is to figure out what your budget for everything is and put the amount of money you have budgeted for a particular item in envelopes and once you are out of money for that item then you are done until next payday. For example if your grocery budget for the week was $100, then you would put $100 in an envelope to take with you. I would suggest making a list before going to the store and calculating costs, so you have no chances of going over. I'm hoping this will help me stay on target in my budget. I tend to see all these cute things for Maddy and want to buy them all, but I kinda need to stop lol. I did use my personalized tote I talked about here and it was a huge help. I was able to carry all my extra coupons in case I found something I wanted/needed and I was able to leave my purse in the car. Maddy thought it was a great idea to put all the candy at the checkout lane in our bag while I was paying. She has the hang of shopping....grab everything you want and stick it in a bag and somehow it's magically paid for lol...if it's in the basket...it's ours to keep ;)

One more work day and we are done for two!!! We also have Labor Day coming up so woohoo!!!

Midweek Ramblings

I am already exhausted and it's just 9:35 a.m. I had to make myself get up early to get some stuff done for work that would have caused some errors if I didn't get done. I didn't do too bad. My alarm was set for 6:35 and I ended up getting up at 6:42. Sure, I poured me some coffee and then sat in the floor and watched the news a little before I got started, but I was still able to get some work done before getting Maddy up. It doesn't help that I've been fighting sinus' this week and my throat has been hurting and I feel run down because of it.

My bed time since I've moved into my own place seems to have changed to 12-12:30 a.m. If I didn't need sleep I would stay up until 1 a.m. at least and get my house clean. I'm not a stay at home mom (although I really wish I could be and still have income coming in) but if you were to see my house you would certainly think I was. I'm still trying to develop a routine that works for me.

I tried my first pinterest recipe this week and I must say I was impressed. It's called pizza casserole. I didn't think it would be as good as it said it was, but it really was. It's probably my second favorite meal I've cooked since I've been here. Maddy seemed to like it as well.

I did a before and after shot. I needed a bigger pan really because the juices spilled out a little, but oh well.

I'm not going to write about how to make it since it's not my recipe in the first place. If you have pinterest I definitely suggest looking this up :)

My grandmother surprised me yesterday with some homemade cookies. They were chocolate chip with cranberries in it, or craisins. It didn't really sound good to me and I was really not sure I wanted to try it, but I'm so glad I did. They are so yummy!!! I ate way too many yesterday, but did save some for Maddy. Even Maddy liked them so it was a win win.

I don't know what's wrong with me, but for the first time ever I forgot Maddy had water day yesterday. I woke up late and I think that had a lot to do with it. I was happy we got to school on time. We walk through the door and her teacher asked if she was ready for water day. My face fell and I about just cried right then and there. I offered to go get her a suit and shoes but they had an extra one she was able to wear. I felt so horrible! I know I would forget my head if it wasn't attached.

School started back on Monday here in town and that means my nieces had their first day of second and fifth grade. My oldest niece had a rough start to her first day because they got there a little late and there was no where for her to sit and her teacher wouldn't acknowledge they were standing in the door way. I am not ready for my baby to be in school, but in just two short years we will be among the back to school people.

I got a neat grocery tote online for a $1 +$3.99 shipping. It normally costs $8.99, which I don't think is worth it at all. I haven't used it yet because I just got it, but you get to personalize it and I love the way it turned out.

It's from York photo so go check them out and maybe there will be other promotions.

Manny has decided he loves my side of the bed. I either have to sleep in the middle, or on the other side. It's quite cute.

That's all my ramblings for now. Happy hump day!!!