Hawaii in two weeks!


I like that MonkeyMama is listing their dinners, so I think I'll do that too.

Okay, on to the spending...
Friday, 4/6:
$342 DS's Daycare Lady (we pay on the 5th and 20th)
$19 Oliver's Market. I went for a cannoli today and saw that they had a special local beer on sale that my parents, DH and I all enjoy.
$10 Amended tax return online.
Dinner: "Bangers n' Mash" (chicken sausage & potatoes) mushrooms sautéed in butter and garlic, oranges.

4/5:
$19 Sears.
$ 0 Victoria's Secret. Free panty.
$42 Local ham store.
$81 Costco gas. Fill-up. $4.15/gal.
$112 Costco.
$1776 Mortgage.
$90 V. Secret Online.
Dinner: grilled apple/chicken sausage, grilled veggies.

4/4:
$ 8 My lunch.
$13 Safeway.
Dinner: pancakes, egg scramble.

4/3:
$35 DD's After-School Enrichment class #1.
$45 Class #2.
$ 4 Starbucks.
Dinner: Leftovers

4/2:
$11 Lunch.
$156 Betty's Organics month of service.
Dinner: BBQ chicken breasts, brown rice, veggies

4/1:
$18 Whole Foods.
Dinner: baked chicken breasts, green salad

of produce.
We've already eaten all the mushrooms.


(3) lemons
(4) apples
(4) tangelo
(3) kiwi
(3) avocados
(1) cucumber
(1) bag baby carrots
(3) beets
(12-13) mushrooms
(6) bananas
Asparagus
Romaine lettuce
Arugula

Carrots, romaine lettuce, asparagus, apples, pears, tangelos, mango, cucumber, zucchini.

I went ahead and signed up for weekly produce delivery. $39/box.
I can cancel or reduce the service anytime I like. For now, while DH is on his "cleanse", we are eating more fresh food I figure this is a good way to go. I love it. It would be good if we kept up the extra healthy eating.

Getting the delivery is really a good way to eat more fruit and veggies. The box came yesterday and as soon as we opened it up we were munching on the carrots and the tangelos (so juicy we had to eat them over the sink!). I cooked one bunch of asparagus with last night's dinner. Tonight I am making homemade spaghetti sauce and I chopped up one of the zucchini and added it in.

Yeah, I have another Tuesday off. Just slow at work this afternoon. It's a good day to be home because it's raining out. I have several things I should be doing here at home, but I'll probably spend my time playing on the computer while DS takes his nap.

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Last night DH called the fraud dept at the bank and everything is all straightened out. He was on the phone for maybe six minutes? The amount is credited back to our account as of this morning.

I am going to wait a few days before I order diapers from Diapers. and I am going to use a cc from a different bank (the BoA maybe) so I don't create a problem. It probably doesn't matter, but just in case... I might even wait until I get the formal letter from the bank that everything is cleared up.

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I received all my stuff from Victoria's S. One of the swimsuits is really a good fit, so I think it's "the one". Two out of three dresses fit very nicely, but I must limit myself to just one. I also ordered a bra and a nightie that I will keep.

Here is the swimsuit:

(BTW, it doesn't look this good on me. )

I will still keep looking until we go to Hawaii in case I find something I like better. If I do I will still be able to return this suit.

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I have a big soup cookbook. I have made several recipes from it. I think of Monkey Mama when I do because it's published by Taste of Home. This afternoon I am going to make a lentil, rice and veggie soup for dinner. It has things DH is allowed to eat on his "purification diet". As of this morning he has lost 8lbs.

I will have to stop at the store for a few little items. It won't add up to much, but I shudder at the thought of adding to the food spending for this month.

DS is feeling like his regular happy self again. No more fever, just a bit of a runny nose and a pesky cough. The pesky cough is worse when he lies down, but thankfully it only woke him up once last night.

Yesterday morning I went to the grocery store. $155.

I took a nap when we laid DS down for his. After three nights of getting up and interrupted sleep I was so crabby. I felt so much better after getting two hours of sleep.

We watched a SF Giants Spring Training game. They won.

I made the traditional corned beef and cabbage for dinner. Yum! I was going to make soda bread too, but I was too lazy/unmotivated. Corned beef is so easy; great for a lazy day.

DD went to a girlfriend's house and then ended up staying for a sleepover. So it was just DH and I once DS was all tucked in. We shared a peach ale and rented "Harry Potter 2" thru cable. $5.

Today is blue sky and sunshine, but cold out. It's going to be another lazy, stay-at-home, Sunday.

Box of organic produce delivered to our door today.

(4) Kiwis
a bunch (6) bananas
(4) pink lady apples
(4) navel oranges
(4) d'anjou pears
(1) grapefruit
a bunch (6) asparagus
a bunch (3) red beets w/greens
bag (18) white mushrooms
bunch green kale
head of red butter lettuce
(3) zucchini
(4) sweet potatoes

All very fresh. We had the asparagus with dinner tonight. We also ate two of the oranges and a pear.

Not sure yet if I'll sign up for regular delivery.

Pretty much a lazy weekend at our house. Doing a lot of movie watching.

Last night I went over to a girlfriend's house and had mimosas and watched "The Help". I brought the champagne which was left over from a few weekends back. We were out of OJ so I stopped at a convenience store on the way over. Ugh, $2 for a little bottle. That's what I get; paying for the quick convenience. At any rate it was a cheap girl's night because that was all I had to pay for. Friend bought carrot cake and the movie. We had fun and the movie was good. Funny and sad. I think I want to read the book now.

While I was out DH and DD had movie night at our house and rented "Puss 'n Boots" thru our cable for $5.

This morning we watched "Puss'n Boots" again and then "Zookeeper" which was free.

Just going to run a few loads of laundry this afternoon and window shop online. I have chicken breasts defrosting for dinner. A pretty quick dish that bakes in the oven and I serve over rice.
I like lazy, kickback Sundays.

I am excited because in the last two weeks I've lost a few pounds and haven't really been trying.

Mostly much healthier cooking at home since DH's doctor's visit and blood test showing elevated cholesterol.

I want to lose at least five more before Hawaii. I feel like that is doable.

Yesterday DH met with a nutritionist and today he "buying in" on their three week detox/cleanse plan. $385. Yes, ouch, I know, but he wants to commit to this and I am going to support that 100%.
I am looking forward to it too because it's loads of fresh fruits and veggies which I love.

He'll get supplements, a week of meal plans, a food log and a once a week hour check in with the nutritionist to keep him motivated and accountable.

Yesterday I ended up having the day off because it was so slow at work. I was glad because Monday I started feeling not-so-hot. Scratchy throat, headache, that sort of thing. Anyhow, I thought "Great! I'll spend Tuesday resting and try to kick this bug."

Well DH calls me while I'm out for my Tuesday morning walk with some girlfriends and tells me he's having like chest pain. (I wasn't too worried, but I was concerned.) As quick as I can walk I get back to my friend's house where my car is. Then I drive over to hubby's work and run him to our family doctor.

DS and I waited for a bit over an hour while the doctor did an EKG. Everything was fine with his heart. *Phew*
Then over to the lab for some blood work.
Then to get chest xrays about 10 miles up the road. Which was about two miles from my work. (So much for not having to drive my usual commute.)

His blood tests were fine. His chest films were normal. Doctor thinks he was having a bad bout of heartburn/acid reflux. Thankful for that news. Not surprised that everything was normal, but thankful all the same.

I joked with him that because it was Valentines Day his heart was full of love it felt like it was going to burst.

We stopped at Costco on the way home and picked up the acid reducer his doctor recommended, a few other items and filled up with fuel. $3.59/gal.

Finally ended up back at home about 2:30pm.

To celebrate V-Day we exchanged cards and each got a card for DD. I also bought peanut butter hearts for DH and DD at $3.50/each and their cards were $1.99/each.

DH made dinner. Fettuccini w/homemade Alfredo, breadsticks, roasted mushrooms, steak for him, lobster for me and DD. (DS got surf & turf. Lucky toddler!) A little champagne. Éclairs for dessert.
It was wonderful.
$61 for everything and we have two steaks leftover that he'll BBQ tonight.

And DH is feeling fine today and I feel better than I did Monday.

We were blessed enough to have another lovely Christmas here in our home with family.

I hope all of you had a blessed holiday also.

Not much drama from the in-laws. Or my family either.

DH and FIL tiled the shower. It looks AWESOME! Pictures to follow.

I made out with plenty of really nice/useful gifts. Everyone seemed very satisfied with their "haul". DS still has a few gifts he hasn't opened yet. He opens a gift and then wants to play with it right then. So it's taking a little more time to get thru his stack.

The food has been amazing all this weekend. I am sure I've put a few pounds on.
DH handled most of the cooking.
Christmas dinner last night was sooo delish. Prime rib, ham, mashed potatoes, green beans, fruit salad, dinner rolls, deviled eggs..

Okay, now I'm hungry. Gotta go eat some leftovers!

Sure, he has run into burning buildings, cut open mangled cars and has performed CPR. BUT, today he headed to the mall on a Sunday in December AND he took both of the kids with him!!!

For THAT I give him the brave badge.
LOL!

Such a nice break for me. I am watching the 49er game and having a nice fresh cup of coffee with eggnog mixed in. Yum.

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Last night DD and I ran all over town searching for a pair of solid red tights to go with a black and red dress she has. We searched about 12 of the outlet stores before we went to Kohl's. There we found one pair and it was lying on the floor kind of under another rack. We grabbed them for $9. Kinda pricey, but supply and demand I guess.

Afterward she and I went to Safeway. They are doing the buy $75 get $10 off next purchase deal again. I didn't know that ahead of time or I would have split my basket into two transactions. The total was $210. Well at least I earned one -$10. I will need to go back in before the 14th(?) to use it.

The splurge item I bought was lobster tails. On sale for $5/tail. I have had them before and they are pretty darn good. Better than some restaurants and for $5 how could I pass it up??? DH boils them a few minutes then grills them on the BBQ. He doesn't care much for lobster, so more for me and DD.

Steak and lobster for dinner tonight with rolls and corn. $27 total for "fancy" dinner makes me .

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This morning we went to a friend's house to see Santa. She has her dad dress up so she doesn't have to take her children to a mall Santa. I think it's because of the germ factor. It's pretty cool that she invited several families over. Free pictures with Santa!

When we got back home I spent about 1.5 hours cleaning up the backyard. Poop patrol, cleaned the hen house, cleared out the garden box and swept the patio. DD raked up a bunch of leaves. It's another gorgeous day with beautiful clear blue skies. A bit cooler; about 60F right now, but so mild. This type of weather makes it easy to be outside doing things.

The sleepover went very well. Everyone had a good time. Nobody needed to call home (actually I don't think any kid who has stayed at our house has ever wanted to go home! ) There wasn't any fighting or squabbles either. Yay!

At one point when I was driving five loud, sugared-up, pre-teen girls home from the movie I thought to myself, "Oh what the hell did I get myself into?!?" LOL! It was raining and they were all wound-up practically shouting at each other all within the cab of our truck. **OH My Ears..**

But, once we got home they all settled pretty quickly and DD opened her gifts and we all had dinner. They all loved the "color me" t-shirts I had picked up on clearance from Kohl's. DH and I retreated to our room about 10:30pm and they were pretty quiet. Enough so that I fell asleep easily.
They were still up and going at 1:40am when I woke up and checked on them.
DS woke me at 5:30am because he had his covers off and was cold. All the girls were asleep by then.
It was pouring rain at that time. Just pounding. It was nice to snug back in bed and listen to it. I love to listen to the rain.
By 8am we were all up and DH made chocolate chip pancakes. They were awesome!
Everyone was picked up by 10am.

I did spend a bit more than planned.
- I bought a veggie pizza and a pepperoni pizza instead of two pepperoni pizzas. That was $3 more.
- Ended up running to the store for a package of plastic cups and some cupcakes. It would've taken too much time and been too late for the girls to bake the cupcakes themselves. That was $10 more.
I don't feel bad about the pizza because the gourmet veggie is my fav and I had a coupon that saved $3.
I should have baked the cupcakes myself and then they would've been ready for the girls. I had everything I needed in the pantry. Oh well..

I used the Chase card at the theater for the 5% back.

The movie was very cute and the 3D was pretty good. I enjoyed it and so did the girls.

Tonight DD is having her belated birthday party. A sleepover with four of her friends.

*Please keep me in your thoughts tonight! LOL!

I am going to take them to see "Puss In Boots" in 3D this evening while the ticket prices are still low. Then we'll come home and they'll mix up and bake cupcakes. We'll have take'n bake pizza for dinner and then they can decorate the cupcakes and eat them for dessert.

This will cost about $50.

Some recent expenses and EF additions.

- $285
Eye doctor exam and six pairs of monthly disposable contact lenses. I don't have vision insurance. My last eye exam was two years ago. I usually wear my disposable contacts much longer than a month. (More like four months at a time.) I will make six lenses last me awhile.

- $125
Baby DS's 18 month-old doctor visit. Self-pay.

- $46
Christmas gift shopping. Three BE makeup gift sets.

- $230
Costco. Chicken meatballs, two tri tips, two pork loins, 2.5lbs dry-cured bacon, two dozen eggs, 1800+ Q-Tips, 36pk Pepsi, 28pk V8, gallon Orange Mango juice, 3pk Boursin cheese, 10lb Krusteaz pancake mix, Copenhagen (DH's bad habit), 2lb roasted almonds, 52pk razors, two pack chocolate Cheerios, 18pk Uncrustable sandwiches, (I'm missing something???) and dinner for four at the food court.

- $64.
Costco gas. $3.64/gal.

+ $25
Regular EF auto transfer.

+ $10
49er win this past Sunday

We are having chili for dinner tonight. When I make it I do it up in our big 5.5 quart crockpot and then we can have chili for days. Usually I'll freeze some too.

Well last night I realized I needed an onion. I had used the last one making enchiladas last weekend.

Then this morning I realized I had forgotten to set out meat to thaw. Oops!

Okay, now I needed some ground meat and an onion.

I went to Safeway and was thinking about their $10 off coupon promo they were running. Figuring I would take a page from Retire@50 and buy a gift card in order to earn the coupon. I pulled out my $10 coupon I earned last week only to discover that TODAY was the last day I would be able to redeem!

I was SO glad I needed to go and get that onion TODAY or I would've missed out on my $10 and I would have been so angry with myself.

Oh, and that $10 paid for what I needed for my chili.

I made this frosting for the first time a few weekends back. It's chocolaty with a bit of coffee flavor and is the easiest frosting I've ever made.
Awwesssomme!!

- 5oz semi sweet chocolate. Chopped. (I used chips)
- 5Tbsp brewed coffee.
- 1/3cup Unsalted Butter. Cut into small chunks.

Microwave chocolate and coffee for 30 seconds. Stir. Microwave another 15 seconds. Stir until smooth. Add 4 or so bits of butter at a time and stir until smooth. Let stand until a spreadable consistency.

* I used an electric hand mixer to blend the butter in. I was worried at first because the frosting did seem thin, but it did thicken to a perfect thickness. DD and I used a pastry bag with a large tip to pipe the frosting on cupcakes.

I used this to frost some cupcakes a few weekends back. Chocolatey with a hint of coffee flavor.
Awwessomme!!

- 5oz Semi-sweet chocolate. Chopped. (I used chips)
- 5Tbsp Brewed coffee.
- 1/3cup Unsalted Butter. Cut into small chunks.

Microwave chocolate and coffee 30 seconds. Stir. Micro 15 seconds. Stir. Add 4 or so bits of butter at a time and stir until smooth. Let stand until desired consistency.

* At first I mixed by hand then I used an electric hand mixer to blend. The frosting did seem a bit thin at first, but it firmed to a perfect thickness. We piped the frosting on to the cupcakes with a pastry bag and large tip.

Skip to the end if you don't want to read about MIL's visit.


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MIL's Visit:
MIL left early this morning before any of us woke up. Naturally, there was drama with her visit but not all of her visit was bad.

She came Thursday night. Watched DS and took DD to school on Friday. Treated to pizza delivery on Friday night. Very nice.

Saturday we went shopping at Kohl's and had a nice trip. She and I enjoyed shopping and visiting.

By Saturday evening things were going downhill. DD was in tears because MIL said she'd never bring crafts to our house again after DD didn't wash out a paintbrush. Then MIL tells me she would've rather bought KFC for dinner on Friday. Which would have been okay with us, but she picked pizza, but only after she said she wanted to go out for Mexican.

When DH and I got home from our "date" Saturday night DD told me that she had been crying again. MIL got angry that she wasn't helping her clean DD's room. MIL told DD that she would never stay in DD's room again. *Nice way to foster a loving relationship with your granddaughter hu?

I told DH that two days/one night seems to be the "sweet spot" for a visit from MIL. More than that and things go bad. He agreed.

She's called twice since she left. Apologized to DD and cried to DH because she doesn't feel FIL gives her enough love and attention.

While she was here, she and I talked about some of their financial issues (could write a whole post about that.) The biggest thing is that they've been in their house for 20 years. They bought it for $120k. They owe $240k. Current value is about $145k.
Cashed out in a refi and used the money for RV, new truck etc. None of which they kept.
BTW, she's glad they haven't paid off their house. They wouldn't have any tax deductions then. Yeah really!
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Weekend Happenings:
At Kohl's I checked out the clearance racks and found a shirt for DS and a set of PJ's for DD, both were $4.80 each. Will be Christmas gifts. I also found girls T-shirts that are meant to be colored on, like a page from a coloring book, with markers that come with the shirt. $4.40 each. My first thought was to grab a few to hold on to for birthday gifts for DD's friends. Decided we will use them as party favors for DD's party. The girls can color them together at the sleepover and then take them home. My grand total was $32 for 5 shirts, 1 PJ set and 1 toddler shirt.

DH and I had a nice date night. Saw the movie "Moneyball" with our free passes. Afterwards we had a great steak dinner with drinks for $62 total.

Now I'm having a cozy and relaxing Sunday watching football and just lounging about. It's been chilly out so we have a toasty fire going.

I have chicken enchiladas all ready to go in the oven for dinner later on. Ice cream cake for dessert. Yum!

The 49ers won their game so I will transfer $10 to the EF.

Ended up buying DD a trumpet.
We have a young man working with us two half days at work and I asked him last week if he or his siblings ever played any instruments. He said he had played trumpet and he still had two at home.
He brought them to my work on Monday to look at. I bought the nicer one for $120. Our local music store rental was $30/month, so in four months I'll be money ahead. Plus, the least expensive trumpet I saw on Craigslist was $150.
I spent an additional $36 at the music store for her music book, metal stand and valve oil.
DD is very excited to play her new horn.

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Twice yearly (Fall & Spring) DD's school has after-school enrichment classes. They do have a fee and run once weekly for four to six weeks. She is interested in the Fused Glass ($50), Cooking ($35), Golf ($60), Lego Robots ($35) and Pottery ($45) classes this session. We will choose one or two and have an alternate in case her first choice is taken. It used to be that all the classes had the same cost. Now you write a separate check for each choice in case you don't get in the class the PTA doesn't have to issue a bunch of refund checks. It is inconvenient, but I can understand how it makes their bookkeeping easier.

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Used the last of my 30% cash-back-credit at Diapers.com last week. I bought a ton of "squeezy pouch" food and meals (Happy Tot)- $54 worth of food for $17.70! What a thrill, hehe. And we are well stocked on diapers. I bought so much while on the cash-back program because I wanted to "max out" on the credit.

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Our water bill was emailed to me this morning. Highest it's ever been. $102. Blah! DH will need to cut back on his lawn watering. He re-seeded a few spots and has really been babying the lawns. It also seems like we've been doing nonstop laundry. That doesn't help either.

What will help is when we replace the toilets. I want to go with a dual flush. It's a toilet that has one lower water flush for urine and a regular water flush for #2. I think they may be eligible for a rebate thru our city. Water saving incentive thing.

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I have pretty much nailed down the tile I want for our master bath. Just deciding on the shade of the accent tile. Darker? or Lighter? Hmmm.

I got an estimate of $675 to install the tile. Great guy. Excellent work. But, we can't afford that and the cost of tile.

I took a Home Depot tile workshop Saturday and I really think I can do it. Especially with a little help from DH who has done floor tile before. Plus it was fun.

'Course I used to think painting was fun until I painted the interior of our house. :P

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My mom came for a visit this past weekend. We bought Chinese food for Saturday night dinner. It's a place we hadn't ordered from before and they had left their menu and COUPONS on our doorstep last week. They totally hooked me with their coupons and their menu prices are on the lower side. We ordered crab & cream cheese wantons, pork pot stickers, fried rice, veggie chow main, sweet/sour prawns, orange chicken and broccoli beef. $48.

Now I'm hungry and it's bedtime...

DH has been so motivated this weekend to get things done. Yay him!
He cleared out and organized the pantry and Lazy Susan.
Yard work in the front and backyard.
Folded a ton of laundry.
Loading the dishwasher.
Cooking all the meals so far.
And a few other things.

I'm a lucky girl.

Me? I've been watching the baby, watching TV, surfing the web for tile ideas (more about that later), sorting laundry and I bagged up a bunch of too small baby clothes.

About 30 minutes ago DH decided he finally wanted to get rid of his "project". An old horse trailer he wanted to convert to a heavy-duty utility trailer. He decided we should just get rid of it ASAP. I snapped a few pics and posted it for free on Craigslist. It's gone! (Well will be soon as it's picked up.) I think it's funny it took me twice as long to post it as to get rid of it.

Lovely Sunday. Lots of stuff got done (Thank You DH) and dinner is almost ready - BBQ babyback ribs, corn and rolls.

Oh yeah, tile.. Going to finally tile our bathroom soon. It's only been 11 months since DH tore the wall down to start the remodel process.

We are staying at home and BBQing up some ribs.
Funny story about that..
When DH bought the ribs the grocery checkout girl wouldn't touch them. She even made a comment to him about how she couldn't stand meat eaters! He couldn't believe how he was treated just for buying meat. So stunned he didn't even say anything to her. He said the bag boy made a joke about it and kind of laughed off her behavior. But come on, you work in a grocery store! If it clashes with your beliefs that much you need to work somewhere else.

So, staying home today BBQing, watching baseball, reading, relaxing. Then tonight we'll watch the city fireworks from our front lawn and set off a few ourselves.

Have a Happy and Safe Fourth of July!

The fair was lovely yesterday. I think the day topped out at 82F with a very slight breeze. Beautiful! DD and her friend had a great time. I can remember how much fun I used to have with my friends at fair time. This is the first time she's been able to cruise the fair unaccompanied. I had them meet me at a set meeting place every 60-90 minutes. My (first) baby is growing up!

Both girls had $20 to spend. They ended up pooling their money and bought food, a few carnival games and one fuzzy hat shaped like a dog, with long ears that have hand pockets. I guess their plan is to "share custody" of this hat. Switching off every time they see each other. We'll see how that goes..

I spent $4 on a huge corndog and $5 on a basket of sweet potato fries that I shared with baby DS. We left about 8:30pm and I took myself and the girls to McDonalds for $12.

I continued spending on myself last night at Amazon when I bought the four book set of Game of Thrones. I so enjoyed the first season on HBO I feel like I can't wait a year for the next episode. Plus the books will have a whole lot more going on. I also bought a board book for DS so I could get the free shipping. Total was $26.

Meanwhile, I am reading Suze's new book, The Money Class. I had been on the waiting list at the library and my turn finally came up. It took a bit over two months and truthfully I had forgotten until I got the phone message that it was on hold for me. So it looks like in the coming week I'll be going from reality to fantasy, literally!

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The Giants won yesterday. Plus $2 to the EF. Balance now $3778.

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Now I'm going to do some reading, while the girls are selling lemonade out front and the baby takes his nap. Looks like a NSD today.

Quiet morning here at work so I've a moment to post, and catch up on reading other's posts.

Last week we had the truck that picks up charitable donations come around our neighborhood. DD purged a large, black trash bag worth of clothes that didn't fit anymore and set them out on the sidewalk. Such an easy way to donate stuff; the convienince of living in town.
Does anyone use this type of donation as a tax write-off? How do you figure a value?

And we are slowly gathering things together for a yardsale come summertime. I also need to get back to posting a few nice items to Craigslist.

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Saturday my inlaws were in the area for a spring motorcycle ride with a group they belong to. After the ride there was a large group dinner at the Hilton. $40 per plate! I had told DH we wouldn't eat with them for that price. We'd visit with them, maybe do breakfast the next day, but no way do $40/person. Not when that would get us a gourmet meal and not just cookie-cutter banquet food. Anyhow, the inlaws wanted us to have dinner, so they bought. Which was fine I guess. The food was better than average fare for that sort of thing, but we all could have eaten much, much better for the price. Oh well..

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The Giants won on Saturday night. $2 to the EF. Total is $3917.

Last weekend I had posted that DD was going to make these for our dessert. They're pretty easy to make and taste just about like the Chocolate Lava cakes that are served in restaurants.

These really cure your chocolate cravings and they're only 50 calories apiece!

Individual Chocolate Melting Cakes

10oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped.
(we used Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate chips)
4Tbls Unsalted Butter
5 Eggs
1/2cup Sugar
3/4cup All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2tsp Baking Powder
1/8tsp salt
caramel sauce
vanilla ice cream

Heat oven to 325F. Lightly coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a large bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Remove from heat once melted and smooth.

In another bowl beat the eggs and sugar on med/high speed until light and fluffy. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and melted chocolate. Mix with a spoon until completely blended.

Divide the batter evenly into eight of the muffin cups. (our batch made 10)

Bake until the cakes have just cooked thru, about 14 minutes. The cakes will still look moist in the middle and on top. Let cool 5 minutes. (I found it easiest to "pop" the cakes out of the tin with a spoon) Serve warm with caramel sauce (You can make your own if you want) and ice cream.

They were delicious!


And
they,
unfortunately,
are not 50 calories..

April Fools!!!


But, they REALLY are easy and yummy!

For Sunday dinner I have a crockpot full of carrots, potatoes and corned beef cooking right now. I will add cabbage later this afternoon. It smells heavenly, I can hardly wait.

Last night the rain was pounding and the wind was whipping. Didn't get to see the SuperMoon. (Well we saw it on the news.) DH is a volunteer fireman and last night they were called out for a tree down, then a mud slide onto the hwy, then flooding at some cottages along the river. He was gone from 1:30am to 5:00am. Then he had to go work the Home Show at 9:30am. I packed him a ton of food to take with him so he doesn't have to buy anything to eat or drink there at the show. You all know how expensive the food concessions are. Yikes!

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Friday was the beginning of the new week, budget wise. Last week we were over by $74. Even though we've been over every week, it has still really helped us spend less.

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Our truck's yearly car registration is due the end of this month. $290. Blah! And in California they've started a smog check program for diesels. SO, we get to have that done this year. $50-$60 I figure for that. I will be seeing this week.

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My trees in the backyard are blooming. In between cloud bursts this morning I took this to share.

This tree has really taken a beating this weekend in the wind and rain. I need to look up what type of tree it is. A type of Magnolia maybe??




This is our Oklahoma Peach. It just started getting its buds and blooms this week. DH really pruned it back last year. I was afraid he had killed it, but it looks like it survived.

I made more enchiladas on Sunday and we've got one left in the fridge. I added up all the cost for 16 enchiladas to $23.60.
$6.99 for 2lbs. shredded jack cheese (I didn't use all of it!)
$1.29 for tomato sauce
$1.49 for can diced chilies
$5.99 for rotisserie chicken
$3.92 for two packs (16) hand made tortillas

I had all the spices, some cheddar, onion and garlic already.
I did use up the last of my chili powder so I will need more of that on the next shopping trip.

This is one of two baking dishes. Each held eight.

Our goal of spending $175/week didn't work out this past week. We were over by $130. It's okay, we're just going to keep trying to hit that mark each week. It may be a bit ambitious, but I feel that the amount is doable. I went a little crazy at the grocery store; it's hard to walk away from a good deal.

Bought gas on Friday. (Gas has it's own budget, so it's not deducted from the $175 thankfully, or we'd have no money to eat with!)
It was $3.68/gallon at Costco. Total to fill up - $64.
The price of diesel has really shot up. In 24 hours the stations in our town had raised the price by 0.20/gallon! We don't drive our big truck regularly, but the company DH works for has all diesel trucks and these prices really hurt business like them.

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My mom came for a visit yesterday. We meet with my co-worker and had mochas, these amazing éclairs and a nice visit. Yummy, Yummy. I spent $7. Then we dropped DD at a birthday party for one of her friends. Gift was $7. Mom treated me to a pedicure. (Thank you mama!) We picked up DD from the party and had take-and-bake pizzas and chocolate chip cookies for dinner, cost $20.

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My DH is almost back to normal. Thank goodness! I was worried that he might need further treatment. This type of thing is why having savings/EF is so critical. It is also a reminder why I need to get life insurance squared away on us. I know - bad we don't have it yet.

I ended up having the day off from work because it was so slow - no appointments this afternoon. It worked out fine because DH ended up going to the doctor. Had a pain in his leg last night. By this morning he had a hot, red, painful lump on his inside thigh about two inches by two inches. Doc said it the start of an infection and started him on antibiotics. He has catastrophe medical coverage, so visits like this are out of pocket. The office visit was $96 (discounted for self pay at time of visit) and the meds he bought at Costco for $6.70. I'm glad he went today and didn’t wait until it got worse!

Needed some shampoo for me and lotion for baby DS. Well Diapers.com has a "sister" site called Soap.com and they've been sending me offers like, "Try us and get $10 off your first order". I figured today would be a good day to use this offer.

I ended up with $26.19 worth of product for $5.19!!!

How'd that happen? Well I bought Aveno Oatmeal Bath packets for $6.65, Aveno Eczema Cream for $11.95 and Head and Shoulders Extra Strength for $7.59. They had an e-coupon for $1 off one of those items, I forget which, then I had my $10 off code. $15.19 would've been great. But when I tried to checkout I kept getting an error message. I called customer service and he fixed it right away and gave me another $10 credit to the order! I was totally jazzed! DH said I should call every time with a problem.

Dinner time - Meatloaf and mashed spuds tonight.

We had our cold front move thru here in northern California on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Sunday morning was chilly, but warmed quickly with all the beautiful sunshine. The weather people were forecasting snow flurries for our area. It would have been very odd because we're close to sea level and it only gets cold enough when it's clear. We ended up getting down to about 28F, but no snow here, although there were flurries in San Francisco! With the cold we had a crackling fire each night in our living room and I couldn't help but snap a pic of it. We had our lights off and just snuggled in watching TV by the firelight. The fire brought our living room temp to 83F. Oohh yeah!



Sunday I made enchiladas. Normally DH is the enchilada maker in the house, but the past few times I had been a bit disappointed. Shh..Don't tell him. It really hasn't been his fault. He has always used canned sauce and the past few times we'd tried some different brands and none were very good. I figured I could do much better.
Here is what I came up with:

- 1 29oz can tomato sauce, plus 1/4 can of water
- 1 7oz can diced green chilies
- 3 Tblsp Chili Powder
- 1 tsp Cumin
- about 1/2tsp Cinnamon
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 a large purple onion diced
- 3-4 cloves of garlic minced

In a large sauce pot I melted a pat of butter and softened the onion and sautéed the garlic (about 90 seconds). Then added all the above. Heated to a boil and then turned to low and simmered while I preheated the oven and DH shredded the chicken. (I bought an already cooked whole rotisserie chicken from the store. $5.99) I mixed about 1 1/2 cups of sauce with my shredded chicken. OMGosh it was KILLER good! I used these nice soft corn and flour blend, handmade tortillas. 8ct/$2.19. So I didn't have to pre-warm them in order to make them flexible; just used 'em right out of the package. Stuffed them with the chicken, a small handful of shredded jack cheese and in some of them I added a bit of canned corn too. Covered them with the sauce, then jack cheese then cheddar cheese. Baked at 375F for about 30 minutes then broiled on low for about 5 minutes to toast the cheese top.

Served with sour cream and some beans. I could only eat two! I made 14, so they've been dinner twice and lunch once and I've got four in the fridge right now...

hhmm..I think it's my lunch time!

This weekend I made the chicken club casserole that Frugal Foodie posted. Thank you FF, it was tasty and like you said made plenty for two casseroles. We had one Sunday night and the other is in the freezer. I did make it up from scratch, as in I didn't have any leftover chicken or bacon, so I had to cook everything first before I could assemble the casserole. That took a bit of time. Next time I'd like to add more cheese and bacon. DH bought me the chicken when he stopped at the store and he totally scored these huge boneless, skinless breasts for 1.59/lb.
I also have plans to make Monkey Mama's pistachio cake at some point. I love pistachios and pistachio pudding, so that's right up my alley.

Sunday a local girl scout stopped by and I bought three boxes of cookies. My box was the Samoas, DD's pick was the Dolce De Leche, and DH's fav is the Do-si-dos. $12.

Sunday evening DD fell off her scooter and scraped up her knees, her upper lip and chipped both front teeth! I already had a dentist appointment schedualed for her on March 1st. I think at some point she's going to need some cosmetic work for those teeth.