I saved some money this week.

I carry my lunch every day to work. Usually, it is leftovers from some previous night’s dinner. We make up lunches from most dinners, then they go in the freezer to grab at a later date. So, I am never eating what I ate the night before. (Unless it was so delicious that I wanted it again.)

So, I am being good and saving some money by not buying lunch out every day, like many of my co-workers do. There are a lot of places to eat near my office, some pretty cheap, some pretty expensive. If I were to buy lunch everyday, is would cost me at least $5 a day. That would be for a sandwich and drinking water. That IS pretty cheap for eating out, but I save that $25/week, by bringing leftovers.

Lately, though I have still been bringing lunch, I have been stopping at Whataburger for breakfast!

And they DO make it just like I like it. But I was spending money unnecessarily.

I don’t know why I wasn’t just bringing breakfast, like I always have before. Buying once in a while is okay, but over the last few weeks, I was stopping 4 -5 days a week! Spending $3- $4 a day. I was almost totally blowing my lunch savings! What was I thinking????

So, this week, I brought my lunch everyday and saved that money. I can make breakfast food at home. I can make breakfast tacos. I can make biscuits. I was just being lazy. So, I am getting off the lazy train and will be bringing breakfast from now on. I am not spending the money when I can make it at home, healthier and more delicious than I can buy.

Have you heard about Groupons?

I had seen something about this, but didn't really pay attention to it. Then, Samantha, our middle child, told us about the great deal she got for her boyfriend for Christmas. She got him a haircut, shave and facial for $15. He LOVED it and she loved the price, since she is a poor college student.

So, I decided to check it out. It is a site that has a daily deal in your area. Now, these are only available in major cities, so if you don't live near one, it will not be a good deal for you. Unless you are headed somewhere on vacation!

The deal is based on collective buying power and is usually half the price of the value of whatever is the deal of the day. I went and checked out recent deals, and found them for spas, gyms, restaurants, flower arranging classes, and other things.

You can sign up to have a daily email so you don't have to go to the site to check out the daily deal. I am looking forward to find some good deals!

If you want to check it out, you can go here: Groupon Yes, this IS a referral link. If you sign up, I get $10 Groupon Bucks when you buy your first groupon. But this is my blog, so I can put up a referral link! If you don't want to sign up through that link, just go to http://www.groupon.com/.

Hope someone finds a deal they can use!!

I wish I were older.....

That is not something you hear very often, is it? Recently, I find myself wishing I were old enough to retire. Or maybe I should say well off enough to retire. I have a nice amount of money going into my retirement savings, but is sure isn’t enough to retire on soon, especially after last year’s major stock market losses.

I find myself wanting to be at home…not at work…almost every day. My job is not that exciting, though it has been a little stressful lately. Maybe that has something to do with it. It is just not very fun lately.

Over the weekend, I was thinking that maybe I am just lazy. LOL! But I don’t want to do NOTHING at home all the time. I just don’t want to be at work.

I should have married money. (just kidding!)

My new favorite dish!

Last weekend I made something that was DELICIOUS! Shrimp Corn Chowder. Yummy!

A few years ago, Hubby and I went to the Coushatta Casino in Louisiana and went to dinner in one of the restaurants (comped, of course.) and had the most wonderful Shrimp Corn Soup. I wanted to make that at home! I actually got their recipe, but it was to make in HUGE quantities and though I tried it, and a couple of other recipes, it just was never the way I wanted it.

Well, last weekend, I had found another recipe to try for Corn Chowder, figuring I could just throw in some shrimp. The above was the delicious result. Both Hubby and I loved it and it will become a regular recipe at our house.

Here is how I made it.

Shrimp Corn Chowder

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 large baking potato, diced small
1/3 cup flour
6 cups chicken broth
1 cup half and half
1 pound shelled, cleaned raw shrimp.

Saute onion and celerey in 2 tablespoons of olive oil until softened. Add potatoes and flour and stir until flour is distributed throughout. Add chicken broth, salt and pepper to taste. (I also added some garlic powder, because we use it in everything.)

Bring soup to boil. Lower heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Add shrimp and cook until pink. Add half and half and cook until hot.

That's it! Hubby and I each had 2 large bowls of it. I had it again yesterday for lunch and I still have one container in the freezer for another lunch and we have some in the fridge for tomorrow night. It freezes and reheats well, so is great for me to carry for lunch.

I am getting hungry just writing about it!

One of the WORST movies ever!

Let me start by saying that I will watch almost anything. I worked in the video "biz" for years, so will watch anything once. Strangely, I enjoy every genre. LOL! Hubby and I are the perfect pair, since he will watch pretty much everything, as well. (He does not LOVE "chick" movies, but he WILL watch them. LOL!)

I always give movies a lot of chances to be good and have only ever turned one movie off before it was over. That movie was "Dancer in the Dark", starring Bjork, that we tried to watch several years ago. Hubby only watched about 30 minutes of it, then went into another room to watch something else. I think I made it through an hour and could not take it anymore. For those that watched it and liked it, my hat is off to you.


Well, last night Hubby went and got "Paranormal Activity" for us to watch.

We love MOST movies. We love SCARY movies. We love movies that are supposed to have really happened.....

This movie almost put me to sleep. It was not scary. I did not like the characters and I cannot BELIEVE I watched it all the way to the end. Hubby wasn't quite as put out with it as I was, though he agreed that he didn't find is scary either.

I have talked to some people that liked it, but I will tell you Hubby and I are not those people. I won't ruin it for you. Maybe you want to watch it and maybe you will like it.

But don't let your kids watch it. It is full of the F-word.

Here is hoping to find a good movie to watch soon, to erase the memory of this loser movie.

Christmas is gone!

I am just a little sad, too. I took down our tree yesterday and now there is a big hold in our living room. Well, it DOES look a lot bigger now, so I guess that is a plus.

I will just make myself be happy that we had a wonderful Christmas. Here are some pics of my grandsons:

Theo, 3 years old

Jacob, almost 3
Wyatt, 8 months old

And here is one of my wonderful kids, Meredith, Chance and Samantha:

The best part of Christmas was spending time with all of them.

This week, Hubby had to have another surgery on his foot, but he is doing fine. It was minor, but we wanted to get it in before the new year and new deductible and higher co-pays kick in. He is doing fine and staying off of it as ordered.

We had a very quiet New Year celebration, toasting in the new year with sparkling grape juice. No champage, as Hubby is on antibiotics and pain killers. But it was nice. It was also a celebration of the 14th year since we met! Where has the time gone?!