It's back to work Monday for me. So, Wednesday and Thursday nights I went through the grocery ads to help plan my grocery lists and menus for the week. We normally shop at least two stores...one is Aldi and we get eggs, milk, dairy, fruit, and fresh vegetables there. In fact we buy the bulk of our groceries at Aldi. Then I shop at one of the bigger stores usually consulting the ad. Sometimes we hit all three, but that isn't normal. DH buys the Chicago Tribune on Sunday and they have far better coupons that our local paper so I scored $15 off in coupons for things we normally buy this week. We also went to an Amish bulk food store yesterday and stocked up on a few things we get there. So, for now, I'm pretty well stockpiled on a number of items.

For my birthday a friend shared some hamburger, sirloin, and chuck steak with us. She and her husband purchase a cow with a daughter in her family. So, I look forward to use this. For Christmas this same friend gave me some of her homegrown and home canned green beans. Nice friend, eh?

Some of the meals I have planned include:

- Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans
- Scrambled eggs, sausage, cheesy grits, toast
- Sloppy chicks and potato patties (made with left over mashed potatoes sauted in a little oil with Panko
- Oven baked chicken, cous cous, honey glazed carrots
- Italian vegetable soup (made with ground beef, vegetables, pasta)
-Pork tenderloin roast, roasted potatoes, carrots

The pleasure of cooking some of these things is I have leftovers. I peeled extra potatoes to cook and mash so I could make the patties. The extra meatloaf will make meatloaf sandwiches for lunches. The pork roast usually winds up being either pork stew or pork stir fry, or another pork supper as I heat the pork back up and then put barbecue sauce on it before serving. The sloppy chicks can also be lunches or I can add a little more tomato sauce and serve it over pasta. DH talks about how many ways I use leftovers. But he doesn't seem to mind; he says he eats like a king.

Each week I make a fruit salad and we have it at least for one meal.

Different couples we know complain how cooking is just too hard. Then they go out. Then they complain they are broke. One couple doesn't go to the store until they have nothing left in their pantry or fridge. So, that means multiple meals eaten out.

It takes planning. I know it does. But it is kind of fun too. What can I find that is on sale that we like? How can I save a few pennies here and a dollar or so there? Sometimes I try to figure up what a meal cost us and then compare it to what we would have spent if we had eaten out. I try to make it a game...how much money can I save us without compromising on healthy food? Or what did we save that can be spent on something else?

I do believe that people who don't bother to plan for their meals also don't plan for other things in their lives, like their retirement. Two people I know are always eating out and then complain how they can't make it on their pension and/or Social Security. I think most of the people at SA are planners. I read your blogs and the forums. I learn from them and I hope you learn from mine.

Today has not been a no spend day.

It hasn't been a bargain day either.

It has been one of those days you save up for.

Today is my birthday. DH took me shopping at a clothing store that had sent me a 15% off card for my birthday. I found some items that were 40% off and using the 15% and then using my credit card, also received 5% off. That was nice, but it still cost money. But, I did find some new clothes.

We went to a pricey restaurant for my meal. No balloons, no singing waiters, just an excellent dinner with fabulous service. It was nice and relaxing and wonderful.

I didn't worry about the cost or saving money or feeling guilty. All those days I scrimped and saved...all those overworked leftovers...all those coupons clipped and sales studied...it enabled me to be like a queen today.

Now tomorrow...I go back to being ordinary penny pinching me!

It's cold here in Central Illinois with a few snow flurries. Guess it is to be expected since we are truly in winter.

Here are the books I've read so far in 2015:

Book #1: "Almost True Confessions" by Jane O'Connor. Murder mystery by the same author of the "Fancy Nancy" series.

Book #2: "Kitchen Organization Tips and Secrets" by Deniece Schofield.

Book #3: "Top Secret Twenty One" by Janet Evanovich.

I won't finish a book today. After church, spent most of the day doing housework. That darn maid, laundress, and cook did not show up at the house yet again!

We did make it to the library yesterday and I checked out a couple more books and some magazines. I most certainly get my tax dollars' worth out of the library.

I did splurge this week. I wanted new curtains for my bathroom. It has a small window. I was very frustrated that so many places don't carry anything but 84 inch panels. I refuse to go to Wal-Mart because I consider it the evil empire. Our K-Mart is barely hanging in there, but they did have a set of two short panels and valance for the pricely sum of $13 with tax. I think I paid $9 for the ones I had been using over 10 years ago, so I think I got my money's worth out of them. I shoved them in the laundry and they will be washed, dried, and folded in case I want or need them for something else.

Last summer we went to a garage sale and someone had two sets of sheers for $1 each. They were just what I was looking for to put in my husband's den. I tend to re-purpose our curtains. The ones in our computer room had at one time been in the living room for a number of years. I still have some of them in the linen closet in case I need them for something else. A couple we know thinks we are super stingy when it comes to spending. I spend money, I just hate to spend it foolishly. They had their curtains custom made to the tune of $1500. Wow...I told them I don't think I've spent $1500 on all the curtains in my house, including the ones sitting in the linen closet. Of course this couple complains about not having money...golly, wonder why!

A friend of mine also does a lot of cooking like I do. We were comparing notes about menus and it was funny, we both planned a couple of the same meals. Maybe great minds do think alike!

My husband is all excited. Thrilled.

DH is one happy boy. We took an adventure today...to the meat market!

My boy loves his food. I often wonder if he married me because I can cook. He says "It helped." I tease him he isn't very romantic.

But, I digress. Yep, we journeyed to one of our local meat markets. I haven't been there for awhile. Unfortunately my meals have been sort of stuck in a rut as well.

We are ushering in the New Year with steaks. We used to go out to eat on New Year's and it usually was crazy. Not to mention expensive. Seems like some restaurants would have a special menu which would jack up the prices.

So, in the calm of our home, we plan to have steaks and baked potatoes with salad and homemade bread on New Year's Eve. The steaks were on special.

For New Year's we hope to have baby back ribs. Unfortunately the ribs were not on special. However, I think eating at home is more economical than eating out for the same types of food.

Lunches are leftovers reworked from previous meals. Today was a bonus day...a friend had made a ton of sloppy joe mix and she gave us some with some buns...we added chips and fruit salad and had a tasty meal.

As you can tell we are not party animals. I'm not apologizing for this. We enjoy a good video or a fine book for entertainment and good food is always a blessing.

I just have to chuckle over my husband. Some men collect fine wines. He prefers a good steak!

Yes, indeedy, it sparkles and shines, and cools and freezes. Since the fridge was starting to look bare, I took the time to pull everything out and clean everything. It wasn't bad, but it made me feel like I had accomplished something. While I was doing this, sent DH to Aldi for our weekly run so when he got home, I had things organized and it looked tidy.

I used some of our left over ham and made ham and beans. I had left over cornbread so it made a nice supper.

Since I'm still recovering from whatever it was (or is) I didn't leave the house. I really had no desire to fight the crowds for the returning or the sales. I took down a bunch of the decorations, did some breathing treatments, and rested in between. I have some books and magazines that are due tomorrow at the library, so I wanted to finish those so I can return them. It would have been a no spend day if we hadn't had the Aldi run, but that's OK. It was a planned expenditure.

Had an interesting phone call yesterday from a relative. Seems they wanted to bake an apple pie, but had no apples and wanted to know if the local grocery was open. Really? On Christmas Day? All I can say is everything is done last minute and then mews when things don't work out. We are sort of put on the spot because they claim to have little savings, lots of bills, and we have so much. I will agree, we are blessed. But I am a planner. I plan meals. I plan shopping. I plan savings for Christmas. So, I know this makes me sound like Scrooge, but I have trouble feeling a lot of sorrow for their predicament.

Hope you had a good day after Christmas and Boxing Day for those of you who celebrate it.

It's Sunday and there's a pot of soup simmering on my stove. We went outside for a few minutes and came back and let's just say the house smells wonderful!

One of my favorite celebrity cooks is Ina Garten and Parade has an article about her and her new cookbook about making things ahead.

I have never met Ina Garten and would like to. Apparently she will be in Chicago in November making an appearance and signing cookbooks. Alas, it is a school day/night and I just can't justify taking off time and the expense.

The article said she is very kind and thoughtful and from what I've seen on television on her show, "Barefoot Contessa" she appears to be that way and I picture her that way. It would be wonderful to meet her.

I have learned some things from watching her program and I have tried some things I might not have tried if she hadn't demonstrated them on her show. I own a few of her cookbooks and I check her others out from the library.

There is something about her voice, demeanor, and manner that tends to relax me when I watch. I know I will never have a cocktail party or own a specialty shop, but it certain is fun watching her.

I like the idea of making things ahead. The soup bubbling away on my stove is for a supper and a couple of lunches this week. I have whole wheat bread baking in the oven for some meals, and I used up the rest of our tomatoes to make a tomato sauce to pair with spaghetti for another meal.

So, although I won't be meeting Mrs. Garten anytime soon, I do think her common sense manner and ease in the kitchen have made an impression.

Last night the weather forecaster said there was a chance of frost. That meant DH and I got busy in the garden getting stuff out just in case.

DH planted some large pots with carrots. He did that because the bunnies kept eating them when they were planted in the ground. Wow, did he get a bunch...Bugs would be envious!

Last spring on Facebook someone shared something about taking the end of celery and putting it in water for a couple of days and then planting it. We figured why not try it since it didn't cost anything. We did get celery out of it. It wasn't as large or thick as the original, but not bad for something basically free.

DH also planted bell peppers and he picked them. He only had 3 plants and we've been enjoying them off and one the past few weeks, but he picked what was there and there were over 15.

We also picked the few tomatoes that were on the vines and the onions that were still in the ground and the small squash.

And, I cut some herbs so I could dry them.

Fortunately it didn't frost so we can still get a few things we didn't pick (there are some green tomatoes we left just in case) and I will still use the herbs until they freeze.

But, this afternoon, soup was started. So much of it came from DH's garden. It contains garlic we harvested earlier, onions, squash, tomatoes, celery, peppers, carrots, and some of the herbs. I am going to add some green beans and some barley. I am making a huge pot so we have it for a meal and some to freeze for another meal.

I was teasing my husband...how about getting a cow next year so we can beef and vegetable soup? He didn't think the city or the neighbors would approve.

In the paper's cartoons today, Blondie and Dagwood invite the new neighbors over for supper. These newbies were highly critical of the food and decor and said to come over anytime they wanted some food suggestions. Ironic? Yes, since Blondie has her own catering business. It reminded me of a couple we invited over for supper a few years ago. I never professed to be a fancy cook, but most of the meal was made from scratch. The wife informed me she had a better recipe for meatloaf and that her cornbread was better than mine because she used Jiffy. She would then tell me how she would fix this and that and how good it was. I wonder if they realize they have never been invited back.

Today is my husband's birthday. Normally we eat out on birthdays, but when I asked him what he wanted, he asked if I minded fixing him a nice meal at home. I said no, and that is our plan. We decided to splurge and get steak and I have tenderized and marinated them and will put them on in a bit and we will have baked potatoes and a salad and fruit. Last night I baked a chocolate cake because that is his favorite.

He did ask for a couple of things for presents, but nothing crazy. I wrapped them up and he opened them and the card and he liked what he received -- he should, he asked for it!

Today we went out and about going to an estate sale, a flea market, and some thrift shops. Nothing grand, but fun nonetheless.

Other than the steak, the meal is pretty reasonable. If we ate out, the meal would be far more than what we would spend and there's no tip. Wait, maybe I need to tell him to leave me one!

Lots of people are posting photos on Facebook for throw back Thursday. It is interesting to see these. I haven't shared any and maybe I should get ambitious and do so.

Thursdays at our house are sort of throw out days, at least when it comes to the fridge. Except I'm not throwing things away, but pulling them from the fridge to finish up stuff from the week. I hate to throw away perfectly good food and it saves us money eating at home.

It has an added benefit because I can clean the fridge when there is less stuff in it.

Today I took soup for my lunch in a little Crockpot. I bought it at a rummage sale last year and it has been handy. Someone asked me if I got up early to make the soup and someone else replied, "No she didn't. That is probably a leftover and we love to see what she brings for lunch." Pretty cool, eh?

Do you have a day where you finish up the leftovers?

It seems like this week passed by quickly. Each night we watched the PBS program on the Roosevelts which meant I wanted to have supper finished and cleaned up and things ready for the next morning so I could sit and enjoy. Between home and school, and school has been busy, I feel like I haven't had any downtime.

One of our stores has had penny pincher coupons near the beginning of the month. If you spend $50 and use that coupon on one of the items, you get another coupon for 10% off your entire order during the last week of the month. I wouldn't buy something and spend $50 just to get that coupon, but it has worked out this month that what the coupon was for was something I normally purchase and I did spend over $50. So, I spent last week culling my other coupons and checking the sales ad and made a pretty extensive list to either buy things I normally buy during the week and playing stock up on things I like to keep on hand. DH was surprised at how many things we had in our cart yesterday, but he knew my plan.

We get to the checkout and everything goes through and then the clerk scans my loyalty card and money starts coming off, she starts inputting my coupons and again, the balance gets lower. I'm feeling kind of proud of myself and the person behind me gets irritated. She starts griping to the checker that she is in a hurry and she has some place to go.

This kind of irritates me because she saw how many things we had put on the belt to begin with. There were other lanes open and they weren't full, most just had one other person in them.

The checker never says a word. She just looks at a coupon, never says a word to me, then proceeds to "read" the coupon. I honestly think she was paying the person back for her bad attitude. I thought at first there was something wrong, but no, she just starts taking her time finishing the coupons and then running the 10% off.

It isn't extreme couponing, but for us, we thought we did decently: the original bill was $173. With everything we saved over $41. And we have a few more things stockpiled in the pantry as well as our regular groceries.

That was the good news. The bad news is my hand mixer died. I sort of thought it was having problems, but I thought maybe I just put too much stuff in the bowl last time. Oh, well. It worked for 12 years. My friend was telling me hers last over 25 and I wanted to say it was probably back before they made things to dispose of. Oh, well.

The Roosevelts program was certainly good and I'm glad we had the opportunity to view it. I learned quite a few things.

The maid didn't show up yet again (she never has) so I guess I better get busy finishing housework.

One of the local grocery stores had a penny pincher booklet earlier this month. They had coupons on stuff that went beyond the regular sale price. On three of them, if you used your loyalty card, spent $20 overall, and used one of these coupons on the advertised item, you could receive another print out for 10% off your total grocery bill later on in the month, excluding alcohol and cigarettes. Not too bad of a deal.

So, DH and I went through the ad last night since this was the week the 10% ticket was good for. We made a list and I pulled coupons for stuff. We did a little stocking up on things we normally buy anyway, but with the coupons and the 10% off, we felt we had a good deal.

Last night we hit Kroger's and Walgreens for some of their loss leaders and he went to Aldi yesterday morning for our usual shopping. I like the idea of having a full pantry and getting bargains besides.

Today after our little stock up run, I reorganized the pantry and put the new stuff in. It is crowded, but I can at least see things.

Someone posted on Facebook a photo of a wall of canned goods from someone's garden. I will admit it, I drooled. Someday I hope to be adept enough at canning and have the produce to do that.

Besides the house we have shelves in the garage where we keep some of our things. I'm getting quite a collection of things that we bought on sale or had a deal. Nothing like Extreme Couponing and their stockpile, but it makes it nice to have things on hand so I don't have to buy some of the same things every week.

A gal I used to work with used to go the store before every meal. I wonder if she still does that with three kids and a full time job. I tried to convince her she needs to look at the grocery ads and plan her shopping that way and and if something nonperishable is on sale this week, buy a couple of extra so you have them instead of paying full price next week or the week after. She thought I was nuts. I wonder if she has changed her ways.

Where do you store your extra things?

A gal at work brought in some of her extra produce this week: tomatoes, zucchini, hot peppers. The first day the tomatoes were disappearing rapidly. The zucchini also left and the peppers...what peppers? The second day? Well, one of the two zucchini was taken and most of the small tomatoes were left. I took the second zucchini since no one else wanted it. I assumed people would gallop and get the rest of the tomatoes by the end of the day.

Nope. They were there yesterday and were starting to ge soft. They came home with me and I used them when I canned some of ours. I didn't have a huge amount to can and the extra 3-4 helped. I just hate seeing food go to waste. And I like the idea of having stuff preserved in some form. I have dried herbs and frozen some tomato sauce earlier as well as minced garlic and put it in olive oil in the fridge. I imagine I will be shredding the zucchini and freezing it for zucchini bread.

In our paper was some article about a Korean official eating Ramen noodles five times a week and how unhealthy they are and what poor choices he's making. Yeah, food high in preservatives can do that to a body. I heard a Pepsi commercial saying they are currently offering their product made with "real" sugar for a limited time. I wonder if the sales are good if they will continue to offer it. I wonder if many producers will get away from the mostly preservative laden processed lines. Probably not. I'm sure the bottom line will be profits. Plus people love cheap, even if it isn't healthy.

I realize some people have to have the Ramen noodle diet due to financial issues. But when there is free food available like the produce, I'm shocked that people don't want to be bothered with cooking or preserving it. There's something reassuring to me knowing I have a few things in the pantry ready for use. And free is always good!

For three days this week, I had training for school. So, I was delighted to have some time for some kitchen therapy today.

Many people I know do not like cooking, but I do, especially when I have time to take my time and work in my kitchen. A friend graciously shared some green beans with us from her garden. I cleaned and snapped them and cooked them in some chicken broth I made earlier this week.

DH's tomatoes are doing quite well, so I used some of them to make marinara sauce. He brought in some onions for me to use as well as basil. The kitchen sure smelled wonderful.

Kneading dough is relaxing so I have also baked some honey wheat bread for tonight's meal and beyond. What is it about the aroma of baking bread?

Supper tonight is turkey tenderloins, mashed potatoes, green beans, sliced tomatoes, bread, and cottage cheese.

Plus I think my stress level has dropped!

We will have leftover turkey for another couple of meals and extra bread...good sandwich making and saving some money as well!

For the record, I don't collect bricks.

My husband would disagree. He swore I put bricks in the garbage bag in the kitchen. I tried to tell him I was helping him stay healthy by doing some weight lifting, but he didn't buy it.

Actually, I'm not sure what was in the bag. I don't remember putting a lot of stuff in there. We recycle as much as we can and I don't use a large amount of stuff with wrapping. I think he just likes to gripe about something.

We had another meeting with our financial adviser today. After our discussion last week, we decided to move some of our money out of money markets and ladder CD's so it is still basically liquid, but makes a little more than the pittance we are getting now. We have our money in a bank and a credit union. The credit union was great, but the bank, well, they were a pain when we tried to make a withdrawal. They wanted us to work with their financial adviser whom they called over and he said he could put our money in an annuity. We explained we didn't want it tied up like that and he said it was our best bet. We asked if it was linked to an insurance company and he said yes and how wonderful it was.

Sorry, we aren't interested! It shouldn't be that difficult to withdraw your own money. We weren't taking it all out, just part of it and the hard sell didn't endear them to us.

I've worked with our financial adviser for 28 years. He was decent to me when I had little and is still nice...it isn't the money or investments. He's just a trustworthy, kind man.

DH was telling him how we shop at Aldi, hit loss leaders at the grocery store, and how I rework leftovers. Last week we had a pork tenderloin roast for one meal, then I cut it up and with the broth from the roast, cooked it with onions, carrots, zucchini, and celery to make a stew with crushed tomatoes. After the stew, I let it cook down a little more so it was thicker and served it over rice. Three different meals from one piece of meat.

I roasted squash tonight as well as potatoes. Since they were not all eaten, I put them with stew meat and other vegetables and some leftover green beans and we will have beef vegetable soup tomorrow night. I have been freezing the leftover soup so I can thaw and heat it up on those days when I get home too late to fix something. Fortunately DH loves soup.

Our squash plant is doing quite well and I look forward to making soup from it. Anyone have a good recipe they are willing to share?

Due to the garden and a local farm stand we've had some pretty amazing eats the past few days. We stopped at a farm stand the other day and picked up some fruits and vegetables as well as using things out of our garden. Last night I reheated some leftover sausage for the meat and we had fresh green beans, honey glazed carrots, and sliced cherry tomatoes with melon for dessert. For our evening snack we had fresh peaches from Southern Illinois.

Today's supper will be our Sunday night standby: sloppy chicks, but we are having corn on the cob with sliced cherry tomatoes as sides.

We live in a subdivision, but nonetheless we often have critters. A neighbor warned us there is a groundhog around. He/she sneaked into their garage when the door was open and it was after they closed the door and were in the house they heard something rustling around in the garage. The neighbor opened the door and saw the beast and it wouldn't get out. It jumped on their car and scratched the hood, top, and trunk, until they finally got it to leave. We have seen lots of rabbits too and DH spends a lot of time chasing them. I get free entertainment watching him yell and run after them! Anyway, DH as tried spices and moth balls, but finally broke down and bought some liquid fence stuff. Sheesh, is that stuff aromatic.

I pulled up half of our garlic and minced it and put it in olive oil. Our kitchen was pretty aromatic too!

Hopefully no rabbits, groundhogs or vampires will come around!

Supper tonight manifested a "big problem" for my husband. We stopped at a farm stand and bought some locally grown sweet corn. I fixed that with DH's tomatoes (sliced) and I roasted some of his squash with his onions and we had turkey tenderloin for supper. DH said he had a big problem...he wasn't sure what to eat first!

Seriously, it was a good meal and it was great eating fresh produce. If only all our problems were such.

We took a drive today and thought we would visit a small town and buy a couple of peach muffins at the local bakery. We used to buy them years ago. Seems the bakery has closed. There was also an antique shop we liked to peruse as well. Seems it also is shuttered. Kind of a sad situation, but not unheard of down in Central Illinois. Our own city has the highest unemployment rate for the state. So, I imagine small towns less than 90 miles away are part of the ripple effect.

We have a couple of farmer's markets near us on Saturday, but one of them I don't trust. It was begin before the other, but one of the vendors told me he grew the green beans. When I bought some, he reached underneath and got a box to fill up his stand...it looked identical to the box and packing that a local grocery store chain used. The place we went today is open every day and is grown right there by the family. So, although it was a bit of a drive, it was an added benefit of our little day trip. It was a beautiful day weatherwise and as I grow older, I enjoy seeing old barns among the corn and soybean fields...far better than a shopping mall any day!

It must be Thursday because the fridge is looking bare.

It happens just about every week at this time. The fridge starts looking sparse. I just used up a bunch of this and that to make lasagna for supper tonight. We had sloppy chicks (sloppy joes made with ground chicken) left over so I added some cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, Greek yogurt and tomato sauce and cooked the few lasagna noodles and made a dish of lasagna. I shredded mozzarella cheese to put on top. Not a super expensive dish to make and it should be filling as well.

We had meatloaf the other night and we had enough for sandwiches yesterday. I think we have enough for lunch tomorrow as well. We have had leftover turkey from the other night we've enjoyed as sandwiches too.

We met with our financial advisor the other day and we are scheduled for another meeting so we can go over paperwork and stuff. He wants a written budget from us. I wonder what he will think when he sees ours. We eat out some, but nothing like most. My grocery budget seems high, but then again, we eat at home a lot and I use lots of fresh vegetables and fruits. The garden has helped this summer.

My dear husband has a very small area for a garden, but what he does have, he makes good use of. He was delighted tonight to bring in 5 ripe cherry tomatoes. With the lettuce and radishes from his garden, it made a nice salad for our supper.

I tried a new recipe tonight called parsley potatoes. DH planted parsley and I wanted to use some of it. He liked the recipe. I found it on this site:

http://www.copykat.com/2011/09/27/parsley-potatoes/

I also made herb biscuits with some of the herbs he has planted. The biscuit recipe is simple -- 1 cup of flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, 3/4 cup milk, 2 tablepoons of may, 1/2 cup shredded cheese. Mix together and bake in a greased muffin tin. I have baked them at 400 degrees and today I baked them at 325...just extended the length of the time ... I had them with turkey tenderloins as well as green beans and it made a good meal and lots of leftovers.

We recently returned from vacation. We saved and paid cash for the entire thing. It was a bus trip with a church group and we have traveled with them before. We had a great time and some fabulous meals. We toured the Biltmore, Charleston, Savannah, and Chattanooga. It was nice trip, but I am so happy to be home. A dear friend watched over DH's garden and watered from our rain barrel and things look lush.

DH has planted green onions, carrots, and bell peppers too and we look forward to enjoying those in the future. We planted garlic last fall and hope we get a good crop of that as well. It's nice eating homegrown stuff. And eventually, it pays for itself.

It is Thursday which means I use up what we have before getting ready to grocery shop. Supper was bits and pieces. I had some dry pasta in the pantry. I had leftover sausage and tomato sauce in the fridge as well as different types of cheese. So, I put the pasta in boiling water and crumbled up the sausage and added it to the tomato sauce. I did have to add some tomato sauce to the mixture that wasn't leftovers. I mixed this together with the drained pasta and put cheese on top. I baked it for 35minutes at 350. After taking from the oven, I put chopped parsley and cilantro on top.

I picked lettuce and radishes and with a tomato I had on hand I made a salad.

Not a bad supper and easy on the pocket book!

School is out and it is nice to know I can sort of take it easy for awhile.

Of course, Thursday was my first day off and we ran like crazy people. Not because we wanted to, but things came up at the last minute. My husband's high school principal died and he really wanted to attend the visitation. The man had a long, healthy life and died at 97...it was a good way for DH to remember him and the good memories of his high school days. Plus, he saw some of his classmates at the visitation.

I think one of the best things about being off is getting to do things around the house at a much more relaxed pace. It is nice shopping for different foods knowing I don't have to rush home and fix them after work. And I don't have to have a cleaning marathon every weekend.

DH had his yearly physical Friday morning so I went to Aldi while he was out. I found turkey tenderloins which are seasonal. I grilled them Saturday night as well as grilling potatoes and zucchini so I didn't heat up the house. I was as excited about this meal than if we had gone out to eat at a fancy restaurant. They were good -- I grilled them and then added barbecue sauce right before I took them off. Moist and flavorful and enough for at least another meal.

I was teasing DH we spent big money today. Actually, we did. Our property taxes are due. But, it is nice to know I could just take the money out of savings and pay them and it was taken care of. We also put money in our different savings accounts. We have a lot of different accounts...one is our basic emergency account, we have one we are using for home improvements and we call it our new roof account at this point. We have a vacation account and a Christmas club account and then there is a basic savings account we sometimes put money in just to keep it active. Someone told us we were crazy to have so many accounts, but I explained it helped us plan for things. We know we have a certain amount of money for vacation so if we didn't save enough, it means our spending stops and we don't do as much or go as far. We have a Christmas club so we have a set limit to spend and aren't tempted to spend more. Actually, DH uses half of it for Christmas and half of it for my birthday since my birthday is less than 12 days after Christmas. Of course the same friend who was telling us we didn't need all these accounts is the person who eats out at least once a day and puts everything on a credit card. Think I'll keep my multiple accounts and pay cash.

After a dreary, wet week in the Midwest, today is absolutely glorious. Warmer, but not hot, and sunny. The plants seem to be saying, "A little sun on this leaf, and here too!" I like seeing the sun outside the kitchen window -- it is like a natural pep pill.

DH is out in the yard, his favorite place. He mowed and is trimming.

After church I fixed brunch of scrambled eggs, sausage, and pancakes with fruit. I cleaned up the kitchen and then put together dough for rye bread, cooked some pasta for a cucumber dill pasta salad, and thought I better use up some cherry tomatoes.

I remembered having a recipe for marinated tomatoes so I dug around and found it. I didn't have as many tomatoes as the recipe called for, so I used less of everything else too, but look forward to enjoying this dish. DH has planted herbs and green onions so I'm thrilled to be able to use some fresh ingredients.

We normally have sloppy chicks on Sunday night, but unfortunately our Aldi has been out of ground chicken. So, tonight I'm fixing a pork roast and will use the leftovers for pulled pork sandwiches. I thought the pasta salad would be good with it as well.

The pasta salad is easy. I don't have a true recipe because we had it a year or so ago at a tea room and I tried to recreate it. I cook some pasta and normally use whatever I have on hand. Depending on how much pasta, I thinly slice a cucumber. If you like cucumber, lots and if you can take it or leave it, less. I then toss with some mayonnaise and some dried dill and chill.

The marinated tomatoes:

4-6 large tomatoes cut into 6 wedges each
2-3 green onions, chopped
3 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons of fresh basil
3/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar

Mix the vinegar and oil together with the sugar. Pour over the tomatoes, onions and herbs. Refrigerate.

I'm sure if you like other herbs you can use them. I don't use a lot of salt so I don't add it, but if you like salt, you can probably add it while you are mixing it up.

I also made some sun tea. I like taking it in a Thermos in my lunch for a refreshing drink.

Another sunny Sunday in my kitchen!

Where, oh where, is the weekend? It seemed like it was just Friday night with the anticipation of the weekend showing ahead. It is aleady Sunday night and I'm preparing for work tomorrow.

My dad used to quote this to me: "Saturday night is my delight and so is Sunday morning. Sunday noon comes much too soon, and so does Monday morning." I have not looked it up, but what a very accurate saying.

Our weekend flew. It was fun and the weather was delightful so that made it even better. We went to Arthur and Arcola where are small towns by us and looked around. We stopped at the Amish run bulk food store to stock up on a few things, and we browsed some different shops. Other than the bulk foods, we didn't spent a lot, but had a delightful time. We ate at a buffet called Yoder's which I don't believe it totally run by Amish, but it does have some Amish cooks and the food although not a huge selection, is quite tasty. We met another couple and had a nice time eating and visiting.

Today was church and then home to eat brunch. I had enough leftovers for two lunches. We had sausage, pancakes, and scrambled eggs and fruit salad for dessert. Last night I had snapped green beans, made a fruit salad, and made sloppy chicks because we planned to run around today. It was nice coming home this afternoon knowing all I had to do was heat up the sloppy chicks for supper and making a salad. While I was heating it up, I chopped vegetables and added my homemade chicken broth and some stew meat to the slow cooker. I have an eye doctor appointment tomorrow after school and I wanted to make something in the slow cooker so it would be ready. DH, fortunately, loves beef and barley vegetable soup, so that is what I put together. I made it in my huge one so we will have leftovers for lunch and possibly enough to freeze.

Last night I froze what we had leftover of pork stew. The pork stew was made of leftover pork roast and some vegetables. We had enough for supper and a lunch and still some leftover.

Since we don't eat out very much, it is a treat. Last night was fun not only because we ate out, but also because we met some good friends. They are like us...very frugal and she cooks a ton and they eat leftovers too. We know another couple who are to point they eat almost every meal out...they are the ones complaining they don't have money. No kidding.

Well, I guess I better get back to my school work. Monday will be here before you know it.

It is has been a hectic couple of weeks around here. School has kept me quite busy and then Easter. Last week we received a call saying the flooring guys would come Monday to lay the vinyl. On Saturday we received a call saying the carpeting came in and they would also lay it so Saturday afternoon and evening was spent moving stuff to prepare the areas.

We were concerned that our house would be torn up for days with work in 3 rooms. Two are small, but still...

We received a call saying they would come at 1 p.m. on Monday. DH and I looked at each other and figured they would come, deliver the stuff, tear up a room and leave.

The three rooms were the laundry room, a very small bathroom, and a bedroom. The first two were vinyl and the second was carpeting. The guys unloaded and the next thing we knew, all three rooms were torn up.

Yikes...but we were pleasantly surprised...the guys worked until 8:30 and finished everything. I'm probably going to offend some folks here, but not once did I see them take out their cell phones to check to their messages!!!!! Could it be they decided it made more sense to be productive?

Anyway, we were delighted and my husband gave them some money to get some food on the way home. It has taken the past few days to get everything in place, but we are extremely pleased. We have lived in our home for 16 years and we have replaced all the flooring. Some of it needed to be replaced before we did it, but we always save up and pay cash for it.

Last weekend before we moved everything I decided to try and organize my kitchen a little better. I checked out books from the library and studied them. I can say I was frustrated because these pantries and drawers looked perfect, then it dawned on me if they were being photographed for a book, of course they were show room perfect. DUH! Anyway, I have some things to donate and my pantry is a little better organized. I also re-seasoned my cast iron skillets since I was cleaning and organizing. I have decided that my pantry will not look show room perfect, but it works for me. Plus, many of my items aren't in perfect containers. I have many of my pastas in jars to keep them fresh and bug free. I do use my pantry and it isn't for show.

I saw a recipe on Facebook for making zucchini chips. Slice them thin, mix with 1 T of olive oil and salt and pepper, bake at 450...sounds yummy. I just happen to have some zucchini in the fridge so I think we will be trying this.

I had to share this chuckle before I write anything else...the neighbor was complaining that is seems like her kids' school is always sending home something for them to buy. I chuckled because every time these kids have a fundraiser, this parent sends them over to us to buy something...I believe the irony was lost on her, but I did get a chuckle out of it anyway.

We hit a bunch of different stores this weekend. Two are our regular haunts, but there were things on sale at others that we wanted, so we stopped and bought there as well.

I made out my grocery list for this week and planned the weekly menus:

Sunday brunch: scrambled eggs, sausage, pancakes, fruit
Sunday supper: sloppy chicks, salad, chips
Monday: chicken tenders with barbecue sauce, baked potatoes, green beans
Tuesday: pork tenderloin roast with carrots and onions, fingerling potatoes, green beans
Wednesday: pork stew made with leftover pork, carrots, onions, potatoes and zucchini and celery added.
Thursday: Salmon patties, cous cous, green beans, cottage cheese
Friday: Quiche made with leftover sausage, salad

Lunches will be made up of leftovers. I had scrambled eggs, sausage and pancakes leftover for two lunches.

Walgreens has eggs for 99 cents a dozen and they had canned salmon on sale. For Easter dinner we are going to have a ham; one of our extra stops was to buy a small ham before they are all picked over. Hence, so many stops.

DH planted onion sets yesterday. He had hoped to plant lettuce, radishes, and carrots today, but it rained pretty hard around lunch time today and things are kind of muddy. We don't have a huge garden spot, but DH uses what he has and I think it really helps with the grocery bills. We are starting some herbs from seeds too. Are you planting a garden this year?

Just typing the title makes me chuckle. It goes back many years ago when the rage was getting those electric warmers and buying those wax things to make your house smell nice...long before Scentsy...which was then a step up from buying dried leaves, buds, and flowers and soaking them in water and warming on the stove. A friend of ours wanted to know what that good smelling stuff was and we told him potpourri. He, though, to be the weirdo that he was, would pronounce it POT pooree. OK, I digress.

Another busy week at work, but that is OK. I did have some random thoughts this week.

We have a mix of ages at work. We have some young staff who are in the 20s, then we have a couple in the 30s, and the age goes all the way to 67. We have one gal who is near 50 and loves to brag that she wears her high school daughter's clothing. I've concluded that the fashion industry truly hates women. The whole skinny jean or skinny pant is one example. We have some gals who are not heavy or overweight, but when they wear these skinny jeans, it shows bulges and lumps and makes them look odd shaped. We have some who are wearing tights and are wearing either shirts or very short minidresses and there isn't much left to the imagination. Then there are those of us who are overweight. Recently there was an article in the paper saying that plus size teens are finding it difficult to locate age appropriate prom dresses simply because they aren't being made. I am not in the market for a prom dress, but I can tell you finding clothing if you are short and overweight is very difficult unless you want to wear stuff that is either ill fitting or huge designs. And I could go on about how much more clothing costs for women than men, but that is another post. Sheesh!

We hit a few flea markets and thrift shops yesterday. We didn't buy a whole lot, but it was nice getting out in the sunshine.

DH has been cleaning up the yard. It has been a hard winter for us and the yard and trees and bushes have taken a beating. But he did come in and tell me some good news! The garlic we planted last fall is coming up! Hope springs! He is now encouraged and is planning his vegetable garden.

We try to hit the library every week. Like everything else, our library has had to make budget cuts. As subscriptions to magazines run out, they aren't being renewed so the magazine selection is dwindling, but I'm still happy to read those that I can. Not only does it save us money, I feel like borrowing and returning the magazines also is a way I don't waste resources by having to figure out what to do with magazines. We get the AARP magazine one and I recycle it when we are finished, but I just feel like it is wasteful to have a ton of magazines.

On the new book selection at our library, I found one called "The Working Class Foodies Cookbook" by Rebecca Lando. It must be a popular one because the stamp says the library got it in July 2013, but I saw it Saturday for the first time.

It has a lot of common sense stuff that I already incorporate such as making my own stock, baking bread, etc. It also reminded me to get up and put the dough together for No Knead Bread.But it sure is nice to be validated. Especially in the past few weeks with some of the comments made about me.

One person told another that I was the frugal one like it was a bad thing. Another made a comment that I must be cheap to always bring my lunch. But this week it seems like the tide is turning. I attended a meeting and like usual, brought my lunch. Someone said she needs to start bringing her lunch since her husband has gotten on her about her spending. Another woman said she and her husband realized they have no savings and had hoped to take their family on vacation this year so she was going to scrounge for snacks at her desk. I kept my mouth shut...I could have given them ideas, but they didn't ask so I didn't offer. As the year progresses, perhaps they are thinking of saving since with the end of school coming, paychecks stop.

DH is itching for spring to get here because he wants to start his vegetable garden. It seems like spring is delayed with our below normal temps. Today is sunny which has lifted many spirits around here.

We don't have a coin jar like many of you on this site, but I have a bank and when it gets heavy, I empty it. I usually ask DH for pennies from his change bowl and he gives them up and usually other change too. He's going to take it to the credit union and put it in savings. I don't get a lot of change because I don't buy a lot of stuff on a daily basis, so it takes a long time for me to get very much change. It's a painless way to add to savings, that's for sure.

It's another cold, winter Sunday in the Midwest. We received snow on Friday, a dusting last night, and the forecast for tomorrow is freezing rain. I'm saying it: "UNCLE!" I think we have about a foot of snow on the ground from all the snows. Our driveway is treacherous with snow over the ice.

OK, enough feeling sorry for myself. We have power and heat and we can still get out if we need to. We attended church this morning.

Brunch was scrambled eggs, sausage, and pancakes. DH was a happy boy. I have enough leftover eggs and pancakes for a lunch this week. Supper will be sloppy chicks and there will be leftover for a couple of lunches.

We hit Walgreens today because they had Maxwell House coffee on sale. DH said he read that coffee prices will probably go up since there has been a drought in Brazil. I normally wait until coffee is on sale anyway, so I have been waiting. I don't drink a pot a day, but I like having some every morning so I did get some while it was on sale. Our local paper had an article on a local business that roasts coffee beans and how they serve specialized coffees. I, apparently, am not a coffee prude. On Saturday I make a little extra and on Sunday I just microwave a cup before going to church. I'm sure the coffee experts are just cringing. I rarely throw out coffee...if I make too much, I often put it in the fridge and serve it over ice for iced coffee. Maybe I'm just a cheapskate. I just hate to waste stuff.

A few years ago I attended a conference and they served coffee and hot tea. With the tea, they even served little jars of honey. I love honey in my tea! So, I grabbed one and used it, but kept the little jar. It has come in handy when I take my leftover pancakes because it has a nice metal cap that seals. I put a little honey in it so I can put it on my pancake at lunch. See...I really hate to throw things away!

This is going to be a crazy week. We have parent conferences after school two nights. We were supposed to have one night last week and one night this week, but 7.5 inches of snow changed last week's date to this week.

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out some meals for this week.

For brunch today we had eggs, sausage, and pancakes. There was enough leftover for from lunches. Tonight's supper is sloppy chicks (sloppy joes made with ground chicken), a salad, and chips. I made a large fruit salad yesterday that we will have at meals this week.

Monday night will be pork tenderloin roast with mashed potatoes, cottage cheese, and a salad. I will use the leftover pork to make a pork stew for lunches. We had vegetable soup last week and I saved enough so DH can have it for supper Tuesday night while I'm at school.

A friend of mine gave me some ground beef, so I'm going to use some of that and make goulash. That will be supper Wednesday night, then DH can have it again Thursday night when I'm at work and I can heat it up for a meal when I get home.

Friday night is Valentine's Day so we have reservations.

Our pastor is a very kind person. He started his sermon with a reminder to all the men in the congregation...Valentine's Day is coming up this week so don't forget...and card selection is pretty slim on the actual day. He said the reason he knows all this...he forgot one year and didn't get a card and had an unhappy wife, and one year he waited until the day of. It certainly got a chuckle from the congregation.

So, what are your plans for Valentine's Day?

Supper today was using up leftovers...I made a stir fry with leftover pork roast and used leftover broth to cook rice. It was a filling meal and I baked biscuits and used up some vegetables we had in the fridge. Some friends of ours are eating out at least once a day a often complain about how much it costs...I think our total meal including ice tea was way less than $10 and I had enough leftover for a lunch.

I did buy myself a piece of jewelry today. We were perusing a thrift store and I saw a set or blue beads that with tax came to a total of 64 cents. I often wear blue sweaters so I thought this would be a nice change.

Earlier this week one if my coworkers commented she was jealous of my leftover laden lunches and joked she wants to move in with us.

We had every intention to do some spending today. But, the weather had other plans.

Every so often we go to a small town, Arthur, and shop at at Amish run bulk food store. We buy their sausage patties as well as different other bulk foods. Every Sunday after church I cook up the sausage and we eat some of them and I use the leftovers for other meals in the week. We are using the last package. I normally buy quite a few packages and have them in the freezer.

Well, today's weather was just bad. Not horrible, but bad. We had snow but then the temp raised enough to have rain and the temp kind of bordered around freezing. It was kind of slushy, but kind of chunky too, so we just stayed home.

Lunch was a sausage and pasta tomato based soup I made from leftover sausage, tomato sauce I made last summer and stashed in the freezer, and some medium shells from the pantry cooked together with some homemade chicken broth, celery, and mushrooms. The afternoon was house cleaning and laundry and I also whipped up some laundry detergent.

Supper was a turkey breast I out in the Crockpot this morning, mashed potatoes, green beans, peas, and cottage cheese. I made gravy and we have some turkey, potatoes, and gravy leftover.

Temps are starting to drop and we are to receive freezing rain. I only hope we don't have power outages.