In The Refiner's Fire

Our Christmas Eve Dinner Table! I had hoped to have pictures of the cake I made this last week for you but it stuck to the pan and came out in crumbles.  So much for doing what I thought was a good job of greasing the pan!   The crumbs tasted good though and I guess it doesn't matter if you eat cake with a fork or a spoon! The children are off school two days this week for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and a teacher in-service and I'm teaching 5 Jazzercise classes this week, instead of my usual 2-3, but John mercifully has a quiet week this week with only Confirmation on Wednesday night.  That means a lot of easy and/or crockpot meals this week! Here's what we're eating: Sunday, Jan 18th:     Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Sliced Fruit     Lunch: Potato and Sausage Frittata in the Cockpot, Baking Powder Biscuits, Orange Wedges     Snack: Homemade Bread with Butter     Dinner: Chicken Divan, Homem...

Since we were out of almost everything, we spent more than we had planned today but I think just about everything in the photo, with the possible exception of the fruit, will last well into next week. Buddy and I hit one store after my workout this morning and here's the run-down: Butter Kernel Canned Whole Kernel Corn 4 @ $0.69 = $2.76 Buddig Lunch Meat 5 @ 5/$3 - $1 coupon = $2 3.92lbs Red Grapefruit @ $0.99/lb = $3.88 2.31lbs Gala Apples @ $0.99/lb = $2.29 2.30lbs D'Ajou Pears @ $0.99/lb = $2.28 1.1lb Red Delicious Apples @ $0.99/lb = $1.09 (Buddy asked if he could get one for him and one for Missy since they love this kind and John and I definitely do not!) 2lbs Whole Carrots $0.99 Fresh Express Salad Greens B1G1 2 @ $2.99ea = $2.99 Kemp's Vanilla Ice Cream B1G1 2 @ $4.69/ea = $4.69 Smart Balance Spread $2.49 1 dozen Grade A Large Eggs $1.99 Kemp's Skim Milk 2 @ $3.99 - $0.75 coupon = $7.23 Total: $34.68 Total Saved According to Sto...

We've been so busy here since school started again last week!  I've made a huge amount of progress on getting some things crossed off my to-do list too, which I love.  I'm definitely a list-type person and it makes me feel good to cross things off my to-do lists. We are in the penny-pinching mode again for a while - between beginning of term expenses, a break in paychecks, and a few other things, I am trying NOT to shop unless I already have the cash or a gift card in hand.  I'm also hoping to defrost our chest freezer before summer comes  - I had hoped to do that this fall but that didn't happen so spring it will be!  That means we need to eat out the freezer before then.   I'm also hoping to refine our spending habits so we can work on some big goals we have coming up! Here's what we've done since the beginning of the 2015 year in terms of frugal things: * Spent New Years and John's Birthday with the in-laws this year.  We used a credit fo...

So, how did you do with last week's challenge? Me - I actually have to laugh.  I started the challenge on Monday and the only day this last week I didn't do it was Tuesday. Um, yeah.  The day I posted here.   ***BLUSH*** So for this week: Habit #2: Take "the long way". Honestly, when I was trying to come up with a good title for this habit, it was really hard.  So "Take "the long way."" it is! The goal for this is to build a little more activity into your day without doing anything drastic. I find that typically these things take very little extra time. And, now that I've done them for a while they are a habit - something I do without thinking!   Here's what I mean:   * When I'm at work and need to go use the restroom, I walk the long way.  In my old building, unless I was really desperate, I used the restroom one floor up and took the stairs.   * When I need to throw something away, unless it's drippy or me...

Homemade Cinnamon Rolls - Before Frosting, that is!  It's another cold week here in Minnesota - I guess it's cold all over the country!   Brrr.  Either way, I'm thinking of hibernating until spring!  Warm food is the key here this week.  We've been drinking a lot of hot chocolate, coffee and tea around here. John has meetings or events at church Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday this week so I asked the kids what they wanted and they voted on pizza twists and chicken noodle soup.  My go-to on Wednesday nights when John has Confirmation at church is waffles - then I can make an extra batch and freeze them for later!  So that's the game-plan on Wednesday night this week.  The kids have gotten into scrambled eggs lately so that's an inexpensive, easy breakfast that we all enjoy now.  I like that!  Not to mention some protein is good for breakfast...I like that! Here's what we're eating: Sunday, January 11:    Br...

So that isn't even close to being the best picture in any way, shape or form!  It's a photo anyway and I'm okay with that! John rand to two stores late last night on his way home from another commitment to do the grocery shopping for this week.  We spent more than I wanted to so we'll have to hold back for while -  I don't get paid again until February 20th - yikes! Anyway, here's what we got: Store #1: Lysol Toilet Cleaner x 2 @ $1.50 each Total Store #1:  $3 plus tax  (I misplaced the receipt) Store #2: 4 boxes Cheerios @ 4/$9 - $1 = 4/$8 ($2 per box) Kellogg's Nurtigrain bars 2 @ $1.99 each = $3.98 Old Orchard Juice 3 @ 3/$5 = $5 Progresso Soup 2 @ 8/$10 - $0.50 = $2  ($1 each) Starkist Tuna 2 @ $0.69 each = $1.38 Hunts Tomato Sauce (almost not in the photo) 2 @ $0.89 = $1.78 Baking Powder $1.59 Yellow Bananas 3.54lbs @ $0.59/bl = $2.09 4lb Navel Oranges $3.99 2lb Yellow Onions $0.99 Nature Sweet Tomatoes $2 Gala Appl...

John had another birthday this last weekend and we were so blessed to celebrate three times!  First, with his family last week, second with a small special dinner just the four of us on his actual birthday and then a date for the two of us and then our "traditional" birthday dinner here at home on Sunday. Missy has been all about homemade decorations this year and he did a whole bunch of decorating with the help of their babysitter while we were on our date. I don't have any photos from our date, but I'll leave you with some photos of our "traditional" birthday dinner and some of the decorations that Missy made.   A few years ago John asked for a crab leg dinner as his birthday present.  Since crab legs are typically on sale for New Years, it works out well!  We had a local grocery store (it's a high-end one we rarely shop at) that had a buy one pound, get one free sale and we bought this whole plateful with our Birthday fund as one of John...

In 2015 I'm hoping to implement one healthy habit per week.  Care to join me? Since we're on a tight budget this year, I'm hoping to have these habits be things that are either free or inexpensive or things that are definitely worth the effort and financial contribution. This week's habit:   Week #1:   Drink a glass of water first! I always, always start my day with coffee.  During the Christmas break from school, I started going out to the early morning Jazzercise class a couple mornings a week.  On those mornings I didn't start with coffee, I started with water. And, um, yeah, I felt more refreshed for the day too.  I'm not sure if it was the workout or the water, but I'm pretty sure the water helped. So, for my first habit in 2015, I'm going to work on drinking a glass of water first thing each morning. I figure that way, even if I don't do a good job of drinking all the water I should each day, at least I started the day well!...

Lefse - an essential at holidays around here! Is anyone else just genuinely surprised at how fast the new year got here?  I am completely shocked. I am also ready to make some changes in how I do things.  For one thing, while my weight has held steady, I've gained inches around my waist where I have never gained weight before.  That means my stress levels are high so I need to do something about that.  John and I have been talking a lot about how we can make our lives simpler and less stressful and I'm hoping to implement some of those things going forward here in our lives.  I don't think food will change much - we're pretty happy with what we're currently doing and, quite frankly, our budget isn't going to allow for much change at this point. So, what are we eating, this first full week of 2015? January 4, 2015, Sunday:      Breakfast: Fruit and Milk      Lunch: Leftovers      Snack...

Happy New Year! We've had a whirl-wind week or so with time visiting John's family out of state, my parents visiting for two weeks and John assisting at several worship services!  This week gets us back to "normal" around here and I'm grateful for a fresh start with 2015 and the quiet after all the hubbub. My parents had bought a few groceries while they were here - mostly things like ice cream, olives and chips, pretzels and the like.  Since we spent much of this week with John's folks some of what they bought is leftover. We do have oranges, apples, and yogurt left from when they were here last week so we decided to just do a top-up on everything necessary and then go forward from there. I don't get paid again until February (mid-month) so we are going to try to keep the shopping to a minimum.   Here's what we did for shopping this weekend: Store #1: Bananas 3lbs @ $0.59/lb = $1.77 - 1st lb free coupon ($0.59) = $1.18 Total store #1: ...