I sent the monthly $100 deposit to ING today.

$2088.58 Old EF Amount
+ 100.00 Deposit
---------
$2188.58 New EF Amount

I also did some organizing in the pantry and in one of the freezers. Still have a bit more to do until I can inventory what I have, though. I should get through that tomorrow.

Tomorrow I will be making a pot roast in the crockpot and a chicken on the rotisserie and we will use that meat for dinners this week. I'll have to freeze some of it so it won't go off before we can use it all.

I'll also be cutting up veggies ahead of time. I've done onions and a red bell pepper and I tomorrow I will do broccoli, cauliflower, celery, and tear up a head of lettuce to store in my salad spinner.

I also diced up a bunch of ham and shredded up some cheese for making omelettes in the mornings. I'd started buying those premade omelettes from the grocery store and they are a sorry tasting, preservative filled concoction that in no way tastes anything like my own. It only takes five minutes to make an omelette in my large fry pan and then I can split it between me and the kids.

I think I may make up little omlette making kits and toss them in the freezer, just a little container that has the diced ham, diced onions, and diced red bell peppers in them in pre-measured portions. Then take one out the night before to thaw in the fridge.

I can't believe I was letting myself by those omlettes. It cost $5 for a package of two. I can make ten omlettes that would feed the three of us for ten days for that same amount. That's how far I had fallen.

I suppose I ought to do up menues for the week as well, though that may not get done until Sunday. We'll see. Don't want to overtax myself.

I'm doing pretty good for the month of September so far. That makes 3 no spend days.

I used the pre-paid cash card to buy gas today, but that was paid for last week so I don't count that. as spending. Filled up the tank for just under $40. Costco gas is still at $2.559 a gallon while everyone else but one ARCO is upwards of $2.799. I know Costco can buy wholesale and get a better deal, but that much better just seems suspicious to me. The other places have to be doing some gouging.

The wait in line for gas today was ridiculous, though. I didn't even go at a busy time. I suppose it was the after holiday fill up.

School went great for the kids today. I am always happy to hear that. They also did tae kwon do class today. Tuesdays aren't a normal class day for us but the dojang was closed yesterday so we made up that class today. Rose doesn't want to do tae kwon do on Tuesdays and Thursdays because she has 72 minute long P.E. classes those days. Can't say I blame her!

We came home to another crockpot beef roast, tender and delicous. Both kids were whining about wanting nuggets on the way home. Tough. I'm not taking them out to eat for a good while, and especially not when there is a meal waiting for them at home.

Tomorrow will be a spend day as I have a 1.5 hour physical therapy appointment. $75 for that. My hip is pretty much back to normal so this will most likely be my last visit. I'll see what the girl has to say, but I think she'll agree with me.

My appointment is at 10:30 and the school bus leaves at 8:46, which means I could get to Curves by 9:00, workout, and still get to my appointment on time. I think my hip is well enough now to do that. Though maybe I should wait until I see what the girl says about it. Oh, who knows?

Mom gave me 20 pounds of red potatoes from her garden so I'm going to have to start working those into meal plans along with all the green beans and blueberries. They are a very good tasting potato so it shouldn't be a problem.

We have been really lax about eating out too much. Now that DH is gone for 3 weeks I am going to do my best not to eat out again until he returns, or at least keep it to the minimum, like once. With that in mind I'm making menus for the rest of the week.

I am making all meals from stuff that is on hand in either the freezer, fridge, cupboard or garden, or that I will be picking this week (blueberries at Mom's, blackberries from behind the chiropractor's office).

Wednesday
beef chuck roast, crock pot (freezer)
new potatoes, sliced and steamed (garden)
green beans, boiled (garden)
canteloupe (on hand)

Thursday
roasted turkey legs (freezer)
broccoli/cauliflower (garden)
new potatoes roasted (garden)
blueberries (garden)

Friday
fried chicken (freezer)
homemade gravy
new potatoes, fried (garden)
blackberries (wild picked)
green beans (garden)

Saturday
Roast beef hash (made of leftovers from Wed)
raw carrots (garden)
any leftover berries
salad greens (garden)

Sunday
Turkey sandwiches (made from Thurs leftovers) on 100% whole wheat buns that need to be used up (in freezer)
soup (cupboard)
leftover broccoli and cauliflower
canteloupe (on hand)

Lunches tend to be soup and sandwiches anyway, so Sunday's lunch will probably be some TV dinners I need to get rid of before they get freezer burned.

Breakfasts will be a combination of eggs, homemade sausage, waffles, pancakes, toast with peanut butter and jelly (blackberry, strawberry or apricot) or French toast. Maybe some bacon if I can find some in the back of the freezer.

I forgot to mention in the Safety Net entry that I went to my mother's today and we went out and picked her two blueberry trees (yes, they are trees, you don't know how tall they are) and her green beans. I ended up bringing home a gallon of blueberries and 2 gallons of green beans. Not bad for an hour of work.

The thing is though, that in three or four more days they will all be ready to be picked again. Oh, well, blueberries freeze and green beans can, so whatever she gives me I will gladly accept. Meanwhile we are going to be eating plenty of produce.

I've got cauliflower about to need to be picked, broccoli (mine bolted) from the neighbors in exchange for some of my zucchini, the aforementioned zucchini, cucumbers, and yellow crookneck squash. I'm still picking raspberries and the occassional strawberry (some of the plants are everbearing, not June bearing), and plenty of herbs.

I've got lots of tomatoes on my one plant that are green. My garlic is just about ready to pull. My potatoes are ready to be dug, and I've got kohlrabi coming out my ears. My bush cherries are getting there, maybe two more weeks and my own little blueberry bush is almost ready to be picked. I've got pears and apples like crazy but they won't be ready until September. I think I will can pears this year.

Imagine what I could be harvesting if I'd been able to plant more than half my raised beds this year? Scary thought.

I don't think I will buy any produce other than corn and lettuce for the month of August. My lettuce bolted the week the temp went up to 105. Maybe I should plant some lettuce seeds, too. I think there's still enough time for it to produce if I do. And maybe get some radishes in.

There are going to be a lot of good meals this week that are veggie heavy that's for sure. And lovely berries for dessert!

Today is a beautiful day here in my little corner of the universe. The weather is just right, not too hot, not too breezy. Just a lovely, perfect summer day.

I've got wonderful fresh food that I'm making for lunch. Fresh green beans and cauliflower from the garden, fresh cherries from the fruit stand, raspberries from the yard, and a lovely salmon caught this morning by local native fisherman off the reservation.

The first of the local corn is coming in to the stores and the corn wagons are up, if not yet filled. Should be open for business by next week. And the first peaches and nectarines from Eastern WA are coming over the mountain.

I love this time of year. We eat simply but so well off the bounty of nature's harvest, and it is seldom expensive. That is one of the best things about living in the country and close to the reservation and the farms.

Okay, so as I was complaining about earlier this evening, it is freakishly hot right now. So I've dusted of ye olde crockpots and borrowed one from Mom. That gives me three to work with. I have my three prong indoor/outdoor extension cord hooked into an outdoor outlet and I have the three crockpots lined up on my porch.

In crockpot number one we have potroast with potatoes, carrots, turnips, hubbard squash and parsnips. Out of this will come the regular potroast dinner, beef sandwiches, fajitas, and beef hash.

In crockpot number two we have two whole chickens with water, onions, garlic, carrots, parsley, and celery (including tops), salt and pepper, to make a nice stock that will be soup and the chicken will be used for quesadillas, sandwiches, enchiladas, tacos, a bit back into the soup, and added later in the week to a crockpot cacciatore.

And in crockpot number three we have beef ribs and barbecue sauce. No magic extra meals from this, but it will be a great melt in your mouth lunch tomorrow.

When the house is cool enough, at eleven or so tonight, I will cook up enough broccoli and cauliflower to use as sides for the week and roast some asparagus and some bell peppers. I'll also cook up some of my homemade sausage patties, so they will just have to be nuked in the mornings. I've done 3 pounds of salmon on the barbecue grill. Everything is going to be packages up into divided trays and meal-sized servings. Anything more than three days worth will be frozen and thawed as needed.

After tonight, I shall not have to cook again during this heat wave other than to nuke stuff, except breakfast time when I may do eggs, and a lot of breakfast is nuked anywho. So I will be a happy camper and will not have to heat the house up with the stove, a very important thing when you have no AC and only fans and the shade of trees to keep you cool.

Okay, in my quest to buckle down and save up the last $290 needed for our vacation at the end of July, I am going back to menu planning. This helps greatly in not eating out and in frugal food management.

Breakfasts will be variations of eggs and toast, sausage and toast, or ham and toast for the kids. For me its eggs and vegetables of some sort, or sausage and vegetables usually cucumbers or kohlrabi. I tend not to eat bread.

I've made up two pounds of homemade sausage patties, so there will be a fair bit of sausage this week.

The kids are having lunches at school through their last day on Thursday and for me, and DH when he arrives on Thursday, its always some variation of the leftovers of dinners. Which is what the kids will get, too on Friday.

Monday:
B: Sausage, vegetables, toast
L: Leftover chicken stir-fry (chicken and broccoli)
D: Wild Salmon, roasted asparagus (from the garden), fried potatoes, salad (from the garden), fresh berries

Tuesday:
B: Salmon and aspargus omelets, toast for kids
L: Salmon patties, cucumbers
D: Crab legs, baked potatoes, broccoli/cauliflower, salad (from the garden), cherries

Wednesday:
B: Crab and broccoli omelets, toast for kids
L: Salmon loaf
D: Chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, salad (from the garden), fresh berries

Thursday:
B: Eggs, ham, toast, kohlrabi
L: Chicken quesadilla, kohlrabi
D: Spaghetti and meatballs, zucchini and yellow crookneck summer squash, salad, pineapple

Friday:
B: Eggs and sausage, cucumbers, toast
L: Meatballs with zucchini and squash
D: Beef potroast cooked with potatoes and carrots, side of broccoli/cauliflower, salad, cherries

Saturday:
B: Eggs and Ham, sauteed red cabbage, from scratch pancakes of the kids
L: Shredded beef tacos, chips and salsa
D: Taco salad and whatever odds and ends are still left from the rest of the week, peaches

Sunday:
B: Sausage, French Toast for the kids, any leftover veggie
L: Meatloaf with salad
D: Homemade battered cod fish and chips, green beans, salad, any leftover fruit

Meals are consumed either with milk or water, sometimes the kids will have apple juice or some kind of junk drink that somehow made it into the house. I may make a half batch of brownies from scratch, depending on behavior this week. I don't like to keep sweets in the house because Rose doesn't have an off-switch when it comes to highly processed carbohydrates. So it is rare to have sweets of the non-natural variety.

Anyway, that's my menu plan and I'm sticking to it!

So, I'm taking a dust break. I sneezed my head off and needed to get away from the cleaning for a bit. Or at least that is my excuse, and I'm sticking to it.

Anyway, since its a cool rainy day, I've got a pot of soup going in the crockpot and it smells and tastes marvelous, so I thought I'd pass it along.

1 pound ground beef, crumbled
2 yellow onions, chopped
1 4 ounce can mild green chiles
2 heaping tbsp minced garlic
1 16 ounce can tomato sauce
1 16 ounce can stewed tomatoes
1 tbsp seasalt, ground
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 cans of water


Dump everything into the crockpot. Cook on low for 8 hours. You can add beans if you want to. This is mild, not really a chili.

Okay, back to the grindstone.

I forgot to post yesterday that we spent $55 on Chinese food. Part of that was two gallons of egg flower soup, for the two of us who cannot keep much down but soup. We like the egg flower soup because it is high in protein without being chewy soup, and also because this restaurant uses no MSG. Most store bought soups use MSG and we are allergic, it causes extreme stomach problems and when you are already having extreme stomach problems from a virus, MSG is not your friend. Not that MSG is ever your friend.

There was also other food bought so there will be leftovers for a couple of days. So DH doesn't have to cook much. I decided not to cook until this virus is gone as I am afraid I will pass it on to DH if I do. It's highly contagious. Tobias had it first.

I also wrote a $30 check to fund Tobias' hot lunch account at school yesterday. This should be the last one of the school year.

This morning DH took Tobias to the chiropractor before school and bought him a McDonald's breakfast. I'm not sure how much was spent but I gave him a $10 so it was under that. The rest of us went after picking DH up from the airport while T was in school. Since he had a t-ball game last night and has another one tonight, going in right after school didn't work and he hadn't been in since before my surgery.

We have the kids seen regularly as both DH and myself have mild forms of scoliosis. Mine has been corrected by chiropractic treatments. DH's is a little worse and his family has the the tendancy to go towards the hunchback osteoporosis hump. His grandmother had it horribly and his mother is starting. DH seems to have corrected against it since he's been seen for years, but we won't know until he's older. He has a high calcium intake as well, so the doc thinks he may not have this problem.

Tomorrow I go the surgeon for my follow-up appointment. I am not sure if that will be a co-pay or not, since surgery appointments are different from diagnostic appointments. It may be part of the surgery package. If it is not it will be a $15 co-pay. I will also be paying a $107 bill there, my share of the diagnostic appointments after insurance. I have not been billed for surgery yet. Tomorrow is payday as well, so there will be other bills and the mortgage stuff paid then, too. Lot of money going out tomorrow.

I've been eating so much bad food lately, most of it not of my own cooking. I have to say I have really gotten lazy this month and also have gained about 5 pounds. This is really, really bad. Not only healthwise, but medically and financially.

I have to be very, very careful with what I eat to keep my symptoms in check and I haven't been. My biggest excuse is lack of time. The thing that sends me off the most is skipping breakfast, but I don't like taking time to make breakfast in the morning after having made it for the kids. It's not like I can just eat the standard and not to mention carboriffic fare of toastor cereal or waffles either.

Anyway, today I decided to make up some breakfast TV dinners for the freezer. I now have 2 weeks worth of breakfasts in there. I have:

6 servings of omlettes (turkey ham, scallion, bell pepper, x-tra sharp cheddar, tomato)
6 servings egg scrambles with homemade sausage which will be accompanied by fresh cucumber slices
2 egg scrambles with sugar-free bacon and daikon home fries

This also accomplished using up some stuff that would have gone off in another couple of days.

If I make it to the store on Tuesday they should have some ground lamb marked down and I will make up some lamb de provence with lavander patties (just one pound ground lamb with 2 tbsp herbes de provence with lavander seasoning) and some ground pork for making more homemade sausage. I also would like to make up some salmon patties (egg, parmesan, garlic, salmon) to freeze for lunches. I can make the salmon patties whether I make it to the store. I've got some canned salmon that is getting close to the use by date. May make some tuna patties, also.

Dinners tend to be much easier for me to cook without planning ahead or even with planning ahead. I'm hoping starting my day with a good brekkie and not ignoring my health and dietary requirements will make this urge to eat out and eat junky go away.

NewlyFrugal asked for my cheese sauce recipe so I'll post it here. Not the most frugal of recipes but good for getting rid of cheese and sour cream, and using on veggies that have seen better days.

1 pound extra sharp cheddar cheese
8 ounces sour cream (I use Daisy as it has no fillers)
1 jumbo egg
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dry mustard

Shred cheese and melt in the top of a double boiler with 3 inches water in bottom of double boiler (you can just use a metal or glass bowl resting above but not touching 3 inches of water in a sauce pan). Water should be boiling.

When cheese is melty add sour cream and stir in until completely absorbed. Stir up an egg and pour in slowly as you stir mixture. Continue to stir for a couple of minutes while egg is absorbed (also helps to cook the egg so it is not a salmonella danger). Add in mustard and paprika, stir until no longer visible. Pour over veggies or use as a dip. This can be warmed up later but its best to do it on a double boiler again as the microwave makes it change texture a bit. Still tastes good though.

I have actually booted my paprika and mustard up to 1 tbsp each, but I'd start with less the first time.

I don't like sour cream but I like this recipe.

I certainly gave our new dryer a run for its money today. I think I did six loads but it might have been seven. I even got everything folded up or put away, or had the kids put away their stuff. Rose's room is now clean and its going to stay that way.

I hope my power bill doesn't take a ginormous leap this month. At least the dryer is more energy efficient than the last one.

Dinner tonight was from the freezer/pantry. I am gradually getting my stockpile whittled down. A lot of the frozen stuff is at that 3 month stage where it won't be very appealing in a few more days. So two very thick chuck steaks that I cooked like roasts in the oven, some pan-fried potatoes sprinkled with herbs, salt and pepper, that had probably seen better days but weren't squidgy yet, some frozen broccoli with paprika/mustard cheese sauce and some bananas that needed to be eaten today or made into banana bread tomorrow. But everything tasted fab. You would not know it was clean out the freezer/pantry day.

I am getting better and better at managing my food usage for my family. I hope to get down to less than 10% of wasted food. I'd say I'm running about 20% right now.

Today has just gone by very slowly. It is a no spend day, which is always good. DH let me sleep in so I didn't eat breakfast. Lunch was cheap and easy, homemade 100% whole wheat and egg spaghetti noodles, sauce, and cheap ground beef from a 98 cents a pound sale (first one in ages that was that low). We have a tub of garlic butter in the fridge so we use it on toast to make our own garlic bread. Added a salad of lettuce, cukes, and kohlrabi. Yummy, yummy. I love my pasta maker.

Dinner is very light tonight after that heavy of a lunch. Just canned tuna, a hard boiled egg, mayo mixed together and stuffed in celery. Repeat 3 times for four people.

Tomorrow while the kids are at school we are going to go look at dryers. I won't do it with them, they'd drive me crazy when I was trying to read the info on each machine. They are both going through an annoyance phase. As in lets see what we can do to annoy each other the most so that Mom and Dad get mad. Hope it passes soon. Oh, and Rose has picked up the lovely habit of rolling her eyes. I'm considering charging her 25 cents from her allowance each time she does it.

Not much going on. Kind of a boring day.

I have been cooking a potroast in the crock pot today, just seasoned with Lawry's seasoned salt. Just now I added some cut up baby red potatoes, carrots, a parsnip, a turnip, and some acorn squash chunks and will let it cook an hour or so longer, checking for tenderness to see if they are done after an hour or so. I love slow cooked beef with winter vegetables. Yummy. And there is plenty extra for freezing for future use.

My George Foreman grill died an early death about 10 days ago. I use this thing constantly and hadn't even had this upgrade for a year. Something shorted out while I was cooking, I think there was a power surge. I checked the fuse box but it was fine, I tried other outlets, but no go. It is officially dead.

I think this is what has been leading me to not cook, well aside from the flu, because it makes it so much easier to make meat quickly. Not having one is causing me to spend money on less healthy convenience foods.

Well, tomorrow is payday and I think I am going to buy a new one. I probably could have with the amounts I've spent on convenience this week. At least there will be 2.5 hours of overtime on this check, which should cover it. I'm just glad they are not as expensive as they used to be.

I spent $11.64 buying a family size can of beef stew, a family size can of chicken noodle soup, and a normal size can of chili. From the gas station. I definitely need my grill back. I'm too lazy or too tired to cook consistently without it, even though I know how quite well.

I wrote 12 pages last night, which puts me at 121. Two pages to go to be 1/3 of the way to my goal of 365 pages written this year. I'm doing pretty good, writing every day at this point, when the most I was hoping for when I set this goal was a couple of hours a week.

In the past I always just wrote when the mood hit me, it was more of a hobby, just something I did. I'm trying to treat it more like a part time job. I still enjoy it of course, but I'm making sure I put the time in and I think that is really important to achieving my ends.

Working on this book is giving me ideas about the one that I finished a year or two ago but was unhappy about something and unable to figure it out at the time. I think when I finish this one, I can go back to the other one and fix it. Because I'm putting the time in daily, making the habit become second nature, it is so much easier to see gaps and fix them.

Boomeyer asked what it was about and all I can say at this point is that its a coming of age story that follows the lives of 4 girls keenly affected by the death of one of their friends and how it shapes the people they become over the next four years.

Both kids seem better today. Tobias woke up feeling pretty good, even ate a little something and was not running a fever so he decided to go to school with the injunction to call me to come get him if he started feeling poorly. Rose seems 100% now, so that is nice.

It's a gorgeous day here today. It's only 42 but the sun is out and its very clear. Both google weather and msn weather say it was supposed to snow. It did yesterday but it was too wet and did not stick except on the shoulders of the foothills. And there are no clouds in the sky, just a very pretty shade of winter blue. I thought about hanging laundry out, but I wasn't sure if it would dry with it being this cold and no wind. It tends to dry faster in the house unless its at least 55 degrees outside.

I spent a little money today at the gas station. Got a large pepperoni pizza and a bag of chips. So totally not a necessary purchase, but I'm still in a very anti-cooking mood right now. I think a couple more good nights of sleeping will help with that immensely.

I wrote 2 pages last night. That puts me to 108, I think. I'll have to go back and check. 14 more pages to go and I am 1/3 of the way to my goal.

I've been working my way through the commentaries of the second season of the new Doctor Who while doing my PTR emails. Lots of interesting info and it gives me something to listen to while I do the mind-numbing pointing and clicking. Last night I was able to cash out $5 with a new one and $3 with an old one. So I should see that show up in my paypal account on Friday at the latest. I'm very close to cashing out on another $5 one and another $3 one. I still have never heard back from ReadRevenue about that lost payment 1/13/07. It's probably a lost cause. I did send them another email about it last night.

I paid my car insurance online today, 3 months @ $185.50. $5 of which was because I split it in two payments instead of paying it in full in December.

DH ordered a pair of size 16W shoes online and spent $40 plus shipping. He put it on the credit card so we will add that amount to our regular payment. DH has a very hard time finding shoes that fit his foot and neither one of us can stand the service at the local Foot Locker. Which is really too bad. The local Lady Foot Locker has excellent service and the guys need to take a lesson from them. And I've told management so after the last time.

Okay, I think that covers all the spending for today.

Today is leftover day in my quest for good food management. Well, its leftover day for the children, anyway. I don't have any leftovers but they sure did. So Rose cleaned out the last of the macaroni and a slice of pizza and Tobias cleaned out the half can of chili, a serving of green beans, and 2 breadsticks for lunch today. With us being sick with the flu we've had some convenience foods this week. Most of it canned or frozen.

I miss my good wholesome homemade fare, but this is the first day I felt like cooking in the last week or so. But first I was getting the other stuff cleared out of the fridge. Tonight's dinner will be homemade again. Beef ribs, baked potatoes, salad, and broccoli/cauliflower. Yummy.

I'm torn about dinner tonight. I know I could just make something simple like spaghetti and meatballs, something that I don't have to babysit if I put the meatballs in the micro. But I am still so tired and even that sounds like a huge production.

I have to go buy milk anyway so I'm trying to talk myself down from getting a pizza while I'm out. It's only $6 for a large pepperoni, but then again, its $6 that really does not need to be spent. The problem with being sick is that my resistance to spending money goes way down. There is just so much ease, or at least there is a perceived ease to getting take out.

If I didn't need milk, I wouldn't even drive down to the store as it requires more effort than I really feel like putting out there. Oh, I'm alert enough, its not like it would be dangerous for me to drive the 1.2 miles to get there, but I'm just really lethargic. Haven't done my treadmill since last Wednesday.

I do have a doctor's appointment for tomorrow. I'm kind of glad I couldn't get in today, so I could get some more sleep while the kids were at school.

As promised, my gluten-free meatloaf, which also happens to be low-carb or high protein for those who eat that way.

1.5 lbs harmburger
1 bunch of green onions, chopped, both green and white parts
3 heaping tbsp garlic, minced
4 large eggs
1/2 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Mix green onion, garlic and hamburger (torn into chunks). Mix in eggs and cheeses. Mix with hands for best consistency. Oil an oven safe dish lightly (helps with clean up later on). Put meatloaf in oven safe dish. Cook at 375 for an hour. Let stand about 10 min to allow the grease that rises to the top to reabsorb. If you blot it up the meatloaf will end up dry. This can also be made in a muffin tin for individual sized meatloaves, but will dry out quicker so check on it after 45 min. It can also be fried into patties but is kind of fall aparty that way.

Garlic is very essential to the flavor of this recipe, if left out it will be quite bland.

I so did not want to make a big production over dinner tonight. I had a huge case of the lazies. So I made salmon patties. I don't use bread crumbs or crackers like many people do, I use parmesan. Everything was on hand in the pantry or fridge So here's my recipe.

3 6 ounce cans of pink salmon
3 scallions, chopped, both white and green parts
2 jumbo eggs
3 tsp minced garlic (from the jar)
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (not from the green can, freshly grated)

Mix it all up, form it into patties, fry in olive oil over medium heat (turning once) until done. Simple, easy, took all of 5 minutes, if that, to prepare and not much more than that to cook. Add a can of green beans and you have a meal. Well, we have a meal, we eat big at lunch, light at dinner. But I suppose you could add a roll and a fruit if you wanted or some other sides.

Last night I threw two chicken legs in the crockpot with half an onion, chopped, 5 tbsp of minced garlic, 6 stalks of celery with leaves, 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper and 1 tbsp of freshly ground kosher sea salt and filled it to the top with water. I set it on high for 4 hours and then on low for 12 hours, then it set to warm.

Then I drained it through a collander, set aside the chicken, dumped the veggies, put the broth back into the crockpot, added a large diced carrot, 2 stalks of diced celery and 1/3 of a bag of egg noodles I found in the cupboard. Set the timer for an hour, than picked the chicken off the bones and shredded it and put it back in the soup. Voila, chicken noodle soup with very little effort and no constant watching that the pot doesn't boil over.

Of course, salt may need to be added to taste on the finished product. My kids didn't think it needed it, but I did, so I just added it to my bowl.

Very cheaply made and I have 2 meals worth of leftovers. Yummy.

Today I made a loaf of bread and a batch of hamburger and hot dog buns. I'm getting better at the buns, though next time I will double the time of the second dough rise. My hot dog and hamburger buns are flatter than I'd like.

Still the kids like the way they taste and will eat them up, so a little flatness isn't causing complaints.

I am also going to throw the makings of turkey soup in the crockpot tonight, just fill it up with turkey necks, an onion, a carrot, some celery leaves and inner stalks, garlic, salt, pepper and water and let it go all night. Then tomorrow strain it, pick all the meat off the bones to add back to the broth, add fresh carrots and celery and homemade whole wheat egg noodles, and have it ready for the kids when they come home from school for dinner, served with warm homemade bread. Yummy and cheap.

I am really glad I bought a pasta maker in my formerly less than frugal life. I didn't use it much then, but I sure use it a lot now.

No more fruit flies! We managed to kill the buggers off without using bug bombs. It took a week, but with fly strips, scrubbing down the kitchen, putting all food in sealed containers or Ziploc baggies, and DH vacuuming up stray ones, our kitchen is now fruit fly free. Try saying that 5 times fast.

We decided not to chance anything tonight by cooking in the kitchen so we grabbed fast food. Not healthy either physically or financially, but that's the choice we made. We just did fast food drive thru after going to the chiropractor and making our milk run to town, then back to the school just in time for Rose's basketball practice.

I made bread last night in the bread machine and I shouldn't have to make any now until Sunday. Tomorrow we shall cook again. It's spaghetti and meatballs night, with salad and fruit (either apples, blueberries, cherries or pineapple as that is what we have on hand). I need to make up a new week's worth of menues as I misplaced the other ones I'd done. Oh, to be organized.

We did do some cleaning in the laundry room, the bit that still hadn't been done yet. There's a little bit left but its almost done, will probably be done before we go to bed tonight. Which will be really nice. Hopefully tomorrow we can work on taking down the Christmas tree or at least getting the ornaments and lights off. I want it done before DH leaves for Alaska on Sunday. I want my living room back before he goes and the tree itself is to heavy for me to haul out to the shed for storage (its fake).

One of these days I will be organized! And I believe that slightly more than I believe my neighbor will ever pay me back the $11.55 he owes me. Anyone have a bridge for sale?

DH just went down to the gas station and filled one of our gas cans for $12.50 so we have it on hand for the generator. We have already had one brief power failure today and winds are expected to be nastier tonight, plus there is a very good chance of heavy snow if the temperatures plummet. Nothing like the 2 feet we got last time, but several inches.

I hope it doesn't hit us, but at least we have a back-up energy and heat supply. That generator may not turn out to be just an expensive piece of porch equipment after all. Though I am still feeling the pinch of buying the thing!

Rose's basketball practice was upped to 3 hours tonight. I hope the power does not go out at the school, though there are emergency lights I don't know if there are any in the gymnasium. I don't like these 3 hour practices. Especially on nights they assign math homework.

Dinner tonight is my lower carb version of Chile Verde.

Ingredients:

1/4 lb sugar-free bacon, crumbled
1 lb boneless pork roast, cubed
1.5 cups chopped scallions
1 T minced garlic
4 oz green chile peppers, diced (fresh or canned)
1.5 T jalapeno peppers, diced (fresh or canned
2 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

In large skillet, fry bacon crispy. Set aside. Start browning pork in bacon fat. Add bacon crumbled. When pork is browned, add scallions and garlic.* Saute until tender. Add remaining ingredients and stir. Simmer for 30 min. Turn up heat to medium for 15 min to thicken. If you want to add some thickener like corn starch or flour you can, but I don't.

*Optional: if desired, julienne chop a green bell pepper and add with scallions and garlic to stretch meal further. Serves 4 without bell pepper, 6 with.

Can serve by itself or with 100% whole wheat tortillas, veggie wraps, etc. Added cheese or sour cream also optional.

Recipe responds well to doubling, tripling or quadrupling for the freezer.

The evening saw a lot accomplished. We found the floor in Tobias' room and unburied the dresser and put all his clothes away in it. That helped a lot. So now he has a perfect dresser and a perfect desk with his computer on it, which was perfect to begin with. One thing he does keep neat is his computer area. Just like his sister. These are old computers by the way, leftovers. They don't have much on them besides Word and Works and games.

I swear I did not buy 75% of the junk in his room. Grandparents. Enough said.

Dinner was an old stand-by: Tex-Mex Chicken and Rice. And I cheated, too as I had leftover chicken and leftover rice. So I just warmed up the chicken and rice, dumped in two jars of salsa, stirred it, reheated it and stirred it again. Presto, chango, dinner. Cheap, fast, easy.

DH and I are going to try to finish T's room tomorrow while he is at school. Who knows how succesful we'll be? At least his closet was still completely clean and organized from the last time I did it. Of course, that was because he couldn't get into it because of all the stuff in front of the door, but I'll take what I can get.

Rose's basketball games went pretty well today--for Rose. Our team lost both games but Rose made the most baskets of any of her teammates in the first game and was one of only 3 people to make any baskets on her team on the second game.

The first game was against our own school's other team and they have most of the 6th graders and the 5th graders they do have are the most advanced players. They didn't divide it up well, not mixing the experienced kids with the less so ones. Of the 10 kids on Rose's team, only half have played before. And this is the team they practice and scrimmage with, so we knew going in we wouldn't beat them. I just told Rose to do her best and she did.

The second game went pretty well considering that 5 out of 10 of their players were half a head to 8 inches taller than Rose who is the tallest girl on her team. There's not too much you can do when people outreach you by that
much, so I'm proud my daughter did so well against them.

I do wish they would have separate 5th and 6th grade teams and not combine
them together. They have enough kids to do it and its hard when you are
overmatched because of height, even though you play well.

I just wish that the girl who used to bully Rose would get her act together. She used to be such a good player and now she's just acting like a ditz and has made maybe one basket in 3 games when she used to be a top scorer. She doesn't pay any attention to what's going on around her, I don't know why she is even out there if she isn't going to give it her best. Well, she doesn't bully Rose anymore. Kind of hard to when Rose has flown right past her in skills this year. It's a good thing Rose isn't the vindictive sort or she'd have good reason to bully back now. Or at least tease.

Anyway, I still feel really good about Rose, knowing she is getting better and better all the time and trying hard.

We got smart and packed lunches today for the kids, since the games were from 12 to 2 and they just get so hungry. If we hadn't packed food, they would have wanted to go down the road to the Casino and get sub sandwiches at their market store that has a Port of Subs in it. Wanted to prevent the "can we eat outs" from happening.

After that we went into my mother's house to do laundry and Mom took over so we could go do the rest of our grocery shopping. We are trying for a weekend shop that means we won't shop again for the month except to buy eggs and milk. That is the best way I can think of right now to keep to the grocery budget of $200 a month.

Then Mom decided to take the kids overnight so we came home without them. I made whole wheat hamburger buns tonight as we are planning on making cheeseburgers for lunch tomorrow. I've got a few ideas to try next time to see if they might work better. We put them in a 9 X 13 glass pan and next time I think we'll try using a cookie sheet instead. The pan works great for rolls but less great for buns. I think I'll see about finding a different whole wheat bun recipe that's a little different, too.

It's late now so I will post our spending journal for today tomorrow.

This is my 5th Entry for today but it is payday so it is to be expected that I can't silence my keyboard for any decent stretch of time once I sit down to it.

It is a very interesting experience tracking daily spending. DH is totally on board with it and is even reminding me when I forget which is very helpful because I want to do this.

We had a very good day out and about while the kids were in school. It is nice to have some time just to be a couple, even if it is doing mundane things like paying bills and grocery shopping. Being able to have an uninterupted conversation in the car is pretty cool, too.

Dinner tonight was cooked out of the freezer and pantry, none of the new stuff. I am trying to stick to a menu plan so things will stay on track. So dinner was oven baked chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and milk for everyone else, and just a piece of chicken and some green beans for me. My stomach is still unsure of itself, though I am feeling miles and away better than yesterday.

I really wanted to buy some bananas today but the last time we did it brought in fruit flies with them so until they have all died off we aren't buying fruit unless it goes in the fridge. It is so frustrating, I've got a few pest strips hanging but they just don't want to land on them.

A few more days and they should be all dead, there is no more available food for them. We are being extra careful that if we do leave dishes in the sink because the dishwasher is full, that we rinse everything off. Last thing I need is a resurgence of the the things because someone left a ketchup blob on a plate.

I've got plenty of apples and oranges, which of course is why I want bananas. Sigh. Oh, well, I will live and if this is the only thing in my life that is upsetting than I think I am very happy to live with that!

Vizsla asked for my bread recipe so I thought I'd post it here.

1 and 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp water
3 and 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 tbsp dry milk powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp honey (or cane sugar)
1 tbsp molasses
3 tsp active dry yeast

If your wheat flour does not have gluten in it you can add 1 and 1/2 tbsp of gluten as well. If you are grinding your own it will have it. There is no harm to the recipe in leaving it out.

Add ingredients in order indicated by your bread machine and use the whole wheat setting.

I don't have oven directions for it, but you could probably find them online for something comparable. This is for a 1 and a 1/2 pound loaf of bread.

This is a very filling bread, so when making sandwiches for the kids with it, we only make half sandwiches and they are full.

Today I:

Baked a loaf of whole wheat bread.

Made homemade tacos for dinner using a bunch of individual spices instead of from a mix. Healthier and with no fillers.

Cut up a 2 and a half pound pot roast into chunks to make chili tomorrow. If I had bought the pre-cut beef it would have cost twice as much for just under half the amount.

There will be enough chili leftover to package a family size meal for the freezer.

Today is shaping up nicely, well its almost over, but no money was spent. I will be using gas to go to basketball practice, the 2 mile round trip twice. A whopping 4 miles worth of gas.

The French Dip restaurant desire passed and I never made my chili today. The windstorm kept me up late last night. I took down the Christmas lights that are on the opposite side of my bedroom wall today so the clunking wouldn't keep jerking me awake tonight, like it did last night. I also turned off all the timers so the rest of the lights no longer come on. As tired as I was, I didn't think a major kitchen production was in order. Maybe tomorrow.

DH comes home tomorrow, maybe I'll make the chili then. It's a big recipe and there ought to be leftovers for the freezer.

I checked my regular savings accounts today. I made a total of 50 cents interest between the three of them. I am so glad I have ING.