Hey There!!!

Hey!!  I'm still here but haven't felt like blogging.  My family is well.  Work is going well, getting busy which is typical for this time of year.  I am still focused on my financial goals but just didn't want to blog about them.

Lil Punk turns 9 next month and is begging for a phone.  She's in baseball, soccer, swimming, tennis and golf this summer.  She's also doing a full week at a Bible camp this summer.

Lil G is all boy at 4 1/2.  He's in t-ball this summer.  He is kind and fearless.  I've seen him jump over 6 stairs at a time.  He is already asking to go over to his buddy's house all the time.  He will be in preschool in the fall.

I've been working out a lot and making an effort to socialize.  I go to the gym about 4 days a week.  My goal is to be able to do a pullup.  So hard!  I can do one with a 30 pound assist.

Y is doing well.  He's had some big changes at work.  As a family, we've stumbled through the last year.  With his brother's passing last June, it has been difficult.  Y's dad is coping as best he can with ALS.  He's in a wheelchair full-time now.

I may or may not blog again but things are well. I do try to still follow and comment on some blogs but I'm no longer glued to financial blogs the way I was a few years ago.

October Food Challenge

I haven't kept up with posting but I have been pretty solid with eating down our pantry.  I have spent $416 this month on groceries but DH stopped for a couple items so I need to get his receipts and add to the tally.  We have had our first snow here so I will be back to having a more stocked pantry.  My pantry still has the basics but there are certain items that I always have in the winter to be prepared for the lovely weather that is surely in store.

We have a busy weekend.  We had friends over last night and I made beef stroganoff and green beans.  I'm planning on taking my daughter to the library this morning.  Friends invited us over to their house later to see it.  They finished up building it about 6 months ago but we haven't been over to see it yet.  The Vikings play tomorrow in London so we will watch them tomorrow morning at 8:30.  We have friends coming over tomorrow and the guys are going to shoot.  I'm planning on making fish tacos.

I love getting together with friends and it's easier to get together at a house than try to go out.  I used to try to cook a more elaborate meal for guests but now I just focus on making something good.  Beef stroganoff isn't fancy but it went over well last night.  If you have people over, how do you decide what to make?  Or do you go out more than have people over?

Columbus Day

I had a lovely day off.  I went shopping with a good friend as we both had the day off.  We went to the mall to take care of a couple exchanges and hit up an awesome department sale.  We had a delicious sushi lunch downtown.  We then found an awesome little boutique.  I bought a vest, blush jacket and a long sweater, just right for fall.  We finished the afternoon with my first trip to Costco.  I spent about $100 at Costco.  It was nice to go with a friend for my first trip there as she showed me why she always gets and what she loves. I think I am going to get a membership there but I will definitely have to watch how I spend money there.

I also spent $125 at the grocery store this weekend.  I was hoping to make it another week but we were out of almost all produce.

This is what we had for meals this past week.
Thursday-- I ate at the funeral and DH took the kids out
Friday-- I was exhausted and cooked a shrimp sesame veggie meal from the freezer.
Saturday-- Saturday lunch we went out with a friend and I made spaghetti for dinner.
Sunday-- My in-laws came over for lunch and we made eggs and biscuits.  I made a rice, sausage, spinach and tomatoes with cheese.
Tonight-- I made spinach salads and topped them off with Costco quinoa salad.  We are having carrots and cauliflower with dip as we watch the Vikings now.

So far I've spent about $225 this month with groceries.  I'm hoping we can skip grocery shopping this weekend.

Using Leftovers

We had a dinner comprised of leftovers.  We had meatball sandwiches on buns from last week.  The meatballs were left over from a party I had last Friday evening.  We had frozen veggies on the side.

I did stop at Walmart after work for milk, bananas, romaine lettuce and a yellow cake mix.  The cake mix was a must as I'm making bars tonight for a friend's baby's funeral tomorrow.  Her baby had Trisomy 18 and was lucky to live a week.  It makes me so grateful to have healthy children while also feeling for my friend.  Y didn't want to go to the funeral with me tomorrow.  I was going to push him to go but my bf told me not to.  She said it was likely too soon for him to handle another funeral after his brother's 3 months ago.

In good news, I had a huge sales presentation today to 22 people.  It went well and I'm so happy it's over.  Public speaking is hard but sales presentations are even harder.

Monday Eats

I was held up at work so DH made dinner.  He made rice noodles with stir fry sauce with green beans and chicken, topped with almonds.  It was delicious but Lil G didn't like it.  

Tomorrow Punk has basketball practice 30 minutes after daycare so I made us a lunch.  I made her a pb & honey sandwich.  I made a sandwich with leftover boneless pork ribs, onions and jalapeño mustard for myself.  I threw in some cherry tomatoes from the garden and veggies straws.  I would love some suggestions about how other parents handle dinner with bringing kids to sports right after school/daycare.  We live out of town so we can't go home quickly to eat.  

I'm praying for everybody affected by the terrible shooting in Las Vegas.  What a horrible and senseless atrocity.  

Sunday

We had a really nice Sunday.  We watched the Vikings lose unfortunately.  Then we went outside and did some chores we've been putting off for far too long.  I tossed several old hay bales out of the barn.  We then loaded a neighbor's trailer with some old scrap metal that was in an outbuilding.  DH would like to tear it down and build a new shop.

We started the day off with banana chocolate oatmeal.  I used the last of the oats and the last of the cocoa powder plus the one leftover banana that was almost too ripe.  The kids didn't love it but they ate it anyway as they love oatmeal.  For lunch, we had bacon cheeseburger wraps which were really like tacos but slightly different ingredients.  Inside a flour tortilla, put cooked ground beef, bacon, cheese, tomatoes, onion, lettuce and pickles.  I used a spicy horseradish Mayo for my sauce.  For dinner, DH and I had leftovers.  The kids had pancakes and lettuce salad which is what the requested.

I have chicken stirfry planned for tomorrow.  I did dry 5 gallons of apples this weekend which turned out really well.

October Grocery Challenge

I'm going to challenge myself to eat down our pantry and spend less on food for October.  I told DH that we are not grocery shopping this weekend.  I'm going to try to post what we eat for meals.  For tonight's dinner, we had boneless pork ribs in the slow cooker, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans.

Tomorrow is a football day as the Vikings play.  We are planning bacon cheeseburger lettuce wraps, basically aa bacon cheeseburger without the bun and wrapped in lettuce.  It's what DH wanted so we will see how it goes.  

We just bought half a beef so that will help the challenge but we aren't just going to eat beef for an entire month so we might have to get creative.  

Anybody want to join me?