Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Hubby is in a frenzy!

A cleaning frenzy that it.

Let me preface this by saying that neither one of us likes to dust. We do it, but it is generally only when you can see the dust. If you can't see it, we don't worry about it.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that we needed to reorganize the second bedroom. It holds my stockpile shelves, our freezer, a recumbant bike and a weight bench. We also had boxes were saved for ebaying and just other general junk. When anyone came over, we just shut the door. LOL!

I came home from work one day and Hubby had been organizing for several hours and it looked great and more roomy than it had. The next night I got home and he said he had finished. So I went and looked and he had totally reorganized and dusted my stockpile shelves. It looks fabulous!

Last week, he tackled the bathroom and kitchen. Cleaning and dusting every surface. Last weekend it was the entertainment center. He pulled out everything on it and dusted and washed all the little doo dads on it. He also tackled one of our bookshelves that is packed full of books and doodads.

Tonight I got home and he had tackled another of the bookshelves. Pulling off all the books, and doo dads dusting and reorganizing. He has another bookshelf and the desk to go and everything will be SO clean and dust free.

I love having a hubby that likes to clean! I am so lucky!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

I can't cook Thanksgiving dinner for JUST two.

Though, I tried. I have cooked for more people for so long that it is hard to do for just two. But it was okay, since we just had lots of leftovers and work lunches. Yummy!

Since we had not heard from any kids, I decided to cook our dinner on Thursday. Here was the spread:

I roasted a turkey breast, after brining it the night before. It was delicious! Accompanying it was cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, broccoli cheese casserole, candied sweet potatoes with pecans, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. I didn't plan the broccoli cheese casserole, but Hubby asked me to make it Thursday morning and how can I say no to him? And he wanted some mashed potatoes, so he made those.

Everything was ready around 3 and we were just sitting down to eat when the phone rang. It was Samantha asking if it was okay if she stopped by. Well, of course! She was just leaving the get together that w did not attend, so said she would be over in about and hour. So, Hubby and I had time to eat and put on some clothes before she arrived. Yes, SonyaAnn, we were eating nekkid.

Not really. LOL!

Samantha arrived a little after 4 and her boyfriend John, who had dinner at his parents' house came over a bit later. We visited for a while and Chance and Jacob got here around 5. They said Meredith was coming but did not know when. So we had a great time visiting with kids and playing with Jacob.

Sam and John left around 6. Meredith, Theo and Wyatt got here around 6:30. So, we visited and played with Theo and Wyatt. Chance had to leave around 7:30 to take Jacob to his  mom's. (Jacob's mom, not Chance's.) And Mere stayed until around 9, then headed off. So we had 5 hours of visiting. It was sorta like tag team visiting. LOL!

It was a nice surprise to have all the kids and grandkids come over, as we really had not expected them. Heck, I didn't even put on makeup. (I know, Mark, I am a bad wife.)

Friday, Chance came over around 2:30. He and Bob went to eat while I did a little deal shopping at CVS and Walgreens. I had just eaten something when Chance came over and figured that I would give them some "guy time."

We got back home about the same time and Chance hung out and we visited until around 6:30. So we got some quality time with everyone this weekend.

Saturday and Sunday were spent relaxing with only a few chores here and there. Well, except for Hubby. He has been on a cleaning kick lately, so there was a lot of dusting and polishing going on last week through yesterday. I did help a little.

What a great holiday weekend! I hope everyone had a great one!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

We have a winner!

The winner of my Kroger giftcard giveaway is........momma8385! Congratulations, Jeanne! I have sent you an email for your mailing info.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Rebelling against Thanksgiving tradition

Those of you that have followed me for a while may remember the insanity that I went through last Thanksgiving. I posted about it here.

This year we are NOT going through that again this year. Once again, the other side of our family decided to have Thanksgiving at our nephews house. MIL invited us and we told her that we will not be attending. Fortunately, she dropped it at that. Though Hubby and I did not tell her all that happened last year, she heard a lot of it from the kids. They weren't as concerned as we were about upsetting her. I didn't think she needed to hear all of it, but it turned out to be a good thing for Hubby and me that she did.

All 3 of our kids have decided to attend said nephew's house. Hubby feels a little betrayed, as SIL not only tried to get them to side against Hubby last year, but has also said some nasty things about each one of our kids in the past. And the kids know about the things that were said. Oh well, they are adults, they can do what they want.

We talked to MIL about having a get together at her house on Friday or Saturday, but it would be dependent on what the kids were doing. As of today, we have heard nothing from  any of them. Usually, I am the one trying to arrange our schedule around everyone else's, but this year, I am not going to do it. I have everything I need to cook dinner for Hubby and me and that is the extent of it.

I think Hubby is still hoping to hear something from someone. I told him that I would cook on whatever day he wanted if he hears from anyone and they want to come over. I will wait and see what happens. I hope this does not ruin our Thanksgiving. Sigh.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Kroger Giftcard Giveaway!

Purchase any four participating General Mills products* that your family knows and loves and Kroger will reward you for your purchases. It’s that simple! Head to your local Kroger to take advantage of this great offer: From November 13th through November 26th, with the purchase of any four participating General Mills products, you will either receive free milk (up to $3; limit of 2) or to receive $3 off your shopping order**

Look for some of your favorite participating General Mills products like Cheerios, Pillsbury Ready to Bake Cookies, Nature Valley Bars and Fiber One Bars

Promotion varies in different locations. Please be sure to check your local Kroger Co. Family of Stores for specific deals and offers which include Kroger, Ralphs, King Scoopers, City Market, Dillons, Smith’s, Fry’s, QFC, Baker’s, Owen’s, Jay C Food Stores, Hilander, Gerbes, Food4Less, Fred Meyer, Pay Less Supermarkets and Scott’s Food & Pharmacy

What’s better than being rewarded for buying your favorite products from your favorite store? Visit Kroger.com for more information and great ways to save and be sure to check out the Kroger Facebook page to join the conversation and share which General Mills products you’d like to stock up on during the promotion.

*Excludes General Mills meal and baking products including; Betty Crocker, Old El Paso, Progresso, Hamburger Helper, Macaroni Grill, Wanchai Ferry, Yoplait

**Promotion varies based on store location; check your local Kroger store for details (Cash Offer: Mid South, Delta, Mid Atlantic, SW Louisiana stores, Central Missouri stores and Dillons Missouri stores)

Kroger and MyBlogSpark sent me a $25 Kroger giftcard and are offering another one for one of my readers! I just received the gift card yesterday and since I want to give everyone a chance to enter, you might not receive your $25 giftcard in time for this sale, but still, $25 is $25, right?

To enter, just leave me a comment, letting me know what General Mills products you from the above promotion are your favorite.

If you already follow my blog, leave another comment for an additional entry. (Please do not sign up as a follower just to do this. I know who my followers are and they should get a little bit of an advantage for putting up with me.)

And for those of you that love daily entries, you can leave one comment each day, telling me something interesting that you are doing that day.

So, get to entering!!

A winner will be picked randomly on Wednesday, November 23, as soon as I get home from work. So you can enter on that day is well. I will email the winner, that evening.

Disclosure: The Kroger gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by Kroger and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Monday, November 14, 2011

10 pounds of butter!

I am set on butter for holiday baking. HEB had Challenge Butter on sale for $2.69 with a $1 off store coupon. The limit was 5 lbs, so I bought 5 yesterday and went back this evening for 5 more. Two trips in one week! I never do that! The sale is through tomorrow, but I think I will stop with 10 lbs. (Though Hubby said he would go get some tomorrow if I wanted. I will think about that.)

With what I had in the freezer, I am now set. I was really happy with the price as the last time I bought butter, I paid $2/lb. I really miss finding really cheap butter. But I won't complain as it would not do a bit of good.


I will just be happy with the deal I got!

Sunday, November 13, 2011

I am no longer loyal to any one grocery store.

I used to be a loyal Kroger shopper. Every weekend, I was at Kroger, stocking up on the deals and buying our regular groceries. I ONLY went to Kroger...didn't flit from store to store like some couponers. I wanted good deals, but I also like the convenience of going to just one store.

Then Kroger stopped doubling/tripling coupons. I looked at some of my receipts and figured that it would not be a huge loss and wouldn't make a big dent in our grocery budget.

I don't know if it has made the difference, or if there have just not been the deals that there used to be, but I was not getting the biggest bang for my buck by just shopping at Kroger.

I still don't flit from store to store. I may be too lazy. Now, I look at all our local ads and decide who has the best deals and decent prices on my non-deal purchases. And I just shop at one store. Some weeks it is Kroger, other weeks it is not.

Last week it was FoodTown and this week it was HEB. And some items I get at WalMart. We used to rarely go to WalMart. Now we go about once a month.

Sorry, Kroger. I never thought I would cheat on you, but I have been and will continue to do so. I have to stay within the budget I want to have and that means stepping out on you.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

I went and got you some apple cider vinegar.

I know that does not sound sweet, but it did to me today.
 
I have been drinking apple cider vinegar (Braggs unpasteurized) everyday to help with the arthritis and bone spurs in my left knee. I know some will think that ACV does not help, but it does for me. I started taking it last year and wasn’t sure if it helped or not. 
 
Until I ran out of it. 
 
And didn’t drink any for a week. 
 
And wanted to cut my leg off because of the pain.
 
So, now, I make sure I am not out for more than a day or two. This morning, I drank the last of the bottle and figured I would stop and get another bottle on the way home from work.
 
Hubby got back from a little camping trip this afternoon and called me to tell me that he noticed I was out of ACV, so he ran and got me a bottle.
 
Isn’t he sweet!

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Happy Birthday to me!

I have had a wonderful birthday today! I had lunch at a local seafood place with Hubby, his mom and Samantha. I ate the most delicious fried shrimp! Yummy! The waiter came out with a deadly dessert and wished me a happy birthday. No one told him....I guess he notice me opening my gifts. The dessert was made with chocolate cake, chocolate mousse, cheesecake chunks and chocolate chunks. OMG....it was amazing!

I got some lovely gifts. Sammy gave me a Christmas ornament that says "our nest" and is a nest of golden wire with 3 eggs in it. I said they represented my babies and everyone said, "Awwww." I am so sappy. She also gave me a lovely music box with a "Mom" sentiment on it. Not stepmom, but mom. I was really touched.

Hubby's mom gave me a really pretty vintage bracelet that, though it is not my style, was a wonderful, wonderful gift. It belonged to Hubby's great-aunt, who died long ago, but I have heard about her since I met Hubby. She was quite excentric and quite adventurous. I was so touched that my MIL gave me a family heirloom. I will cherish it.

After lunch, and a long visit, Hubby and I went grocery shopping and to the meat market. Quite the birthday adventure, right?

I received a ton of birthday greetings on my facebook page, and have felt loved all day.

Happy birthday to me!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Going fishing.....

Not really.

My birthday is tomorrow! Yeah me! I know a lot of people are not big on birthdays, but I am. I love birthdays, whether mine or someone else's. I don't know why...I just do.

A  while back, Hubby asked me what I wanted and I couldn't think of a thing. I guess that means that I have all I need and that is a good thing. But, I did tell Hubby I would like a tackle box. Does that mean that I want to go fishing? Alas, no, it does not. Though I have gone fishing a time or two in my life. But, I have another purpose in mind. So, Hubby got me a tackle box. Here it is:

You may be asking yourselves, if I don't want to fish, what do I want with a tackle box. And you may be asking why there are two Wilton frosting knives in front of the tackle box. Well, I will tell you. I love to decorate cakes. But I have kept my decorating stuff in this box:
I wanted the knives for frosting cakes (Hubby got those for me, too.) and the tackle box to hold my decorating stuff. I have stored all of it in the above box, which works fine. Except that I kept all my decorator tips in a ziploc bag and had to dig through looking for the one I wanted to use. Or line them up on the counter. I had seen a Wilton caddy and thought it was great, But they cost more than I am willing to spend. But I love tackle boxes. I keep my makeup in one and have for years.

So here is what my decorating stuff looks like now:
I love how organized it all is! Now I am ready to decorate some cakes!

I took today off to have a 3 day birthday weekend and Hubby and I went out to lunch, then did a little shopping. Tomorrow Hubby and I will be going to lunch with his mom. Then I plan to relax for the rest of the weekend. Ahhhhh....birthdays and weekends, my favorite!

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

And a dryer magically appears!

Our dryer has been taking forever to dry a load of clothes. And last week, Hubby dried a load of his camping linens and when I went to take them out, I smelled burning! Ugh! So I told him not to dry anything else until I cleaned out the lint. I learned a few years ago that you have to actually open up the dryer and clean out lint. I learned that when I smelled burning then.

So, Saturday, I opened it up. Thank goodness the panel you had to remove to get into it was on them front, so I didn't have to crawl behind the dryer. I spent about an hour and pulled out a plastic grocery bag full of lint. And some of it was burned. We had at least one dryer fire!!!

Sunday, I threw in a load of clothes and turned it on. There was a weird buzzing sound. I have NO idea what that was, but I turned it off and told Hubby the dryer was broken. Since it was about 20 years old, we decided a new one was in order.

I was going to hang the clothes to dry, but Hubby, sweetie that he is, took the clothes to the laundromat to dry.

Yesterday, I called the office and told them we needed a new dryer. I didn't know when they would bring it, so was totally surprised when I got home today to find that we have a new dryer. Hubby said he went back to sleep after I went to work this morning. He said he heard some noise and peaked out and the maintenance men were setting up our new dryer. They took the old one away and even put everything back the way it was before they left.

How cool is that! So, hopefully, cothes will take a lot less time to dry and our electric bill may even go down.