I'm On A Roll!

Look at my totals for the year. If I can keep my spending at $83 per month, I will easily make my goal for the year. As it stands right now, I'm about a month "ahead" of myself.

Yesterday, I was able to do the "3-a-day." The only problem is that it makes so much food that I eat leftovers for a few days. I just can't quite keep up with the "3-a-day" rule, but, I'm really trying.

I had a brainstorm this morning. I have leftover mac & cheese and pinto beans. I also have some taco seasoned ground beef in the fridge. How about mixing some ground beef into the mac? It's already nicely seasoned and would punch up the mac & cheese.

I've had a really big mess in the house for a few days. I have some shelving that snaps together and I have had it up for years, storing my food in the open shelves. Well, I had some work done on my house a few days ago and one of the workmen needed to get to my heat/air vent in the floor. The shelving was just barely on the edge of the vent. He tried to push it over, and because these are "snap-together" shelves, the whole thing just collapsed! He did not tell me what he'd done and I only found the mess after they were gone. I've been working since midnight last night to put the shelves back together. Of course, I had to remove all the groceries, putting them all over the house, until I could get the shelving back up. I've been working for more than 8 hours and still not quite finished with the work. This time, I made sure that the shelving didn't cover the vent so that when he comes back, he can finish the work on the vent. One of the advantages of this problem is that I've been able to get a good look at all the food items on the shelf.

Cat food alert! Someone sent me enough Purina cat chow weight circles to redeem for (4) $6 checks on future purchases. That is such a gigantic help to me. I have two cats in the house and about five outside and in the basement. It fluctuates from season to season and whenever females are having babies, but, it has held steady at five for quite a while now. I've been missing a cat for about 3 months, which is about the time I first saw the coyote that apparently lives on my property. I see him all the time. We came face to face in the yard one day. I was frozen. I couldn't move, couldn't get away, and didn't want to spook him into attacking. He finally decided to trot away. You may think I live out in the country, but, no, I live less than 2 miles of the courthouse in a city of 200,000. I mean, lots are 50 feet wide and the whole street is lined with houses. I have some wooded area behind my house and I have seen his trail into the woods. Here's the kicker; the Wildlife Resource Agency will not come out to kill a coyote and if I kill him, I will be cited to court for discharging a firearm in the city limits. How's that for a "Catch 22?" Not to mention that all I have is a snub-nosed .38. I'd have to practically be close enough to kiss him to hit him with a little thing like that. I do use hollow-point bullets, so, if I hit him, no problem, he's down. It's just getting close enough, and besides that, who walks around with a gun in their hand all the time?

One more thing. I'm going to beat this into your brain. Do you have a wallet full of gift cards? CHECK THE EXPIRATION DATES!! I almost lost $30 at Office Depot this weekend. I "found" it yesterday and it expires today. That's much too close for comfort. You save up your MyPoints or other survey sites and redeem for a GC. Then, you forget you have it!

Geez! The Groceries I Have!

Due to some work on my house this week, I had to dismantle some of my grocery shelves. I didn't realize how much Hamburger Helper I've got and I have so much ground beef in the freezer. I have enough elbow macaroni to feed a small army. It's so easy to overlook what's on the shelf when there is just so much.

I have a lot of pancake mix. I guess I could make waffle mix out of it. I so rarely eat breakfast that I just forgot about all this stuff.

Anyway, looking over all this stuff that I've had to relocate in the house, I see that I can eat for a year off of stockpile. Yeah, I know, I just ate off stockpile for a year already.

I promise to get back on the "3-a-day" stockpile rule soon. I really try. I just ran across a bag of Christmas presents I received and there were 7 bottles of body wash. Oh, yeah! Like I didn't have enough!

My daffodils are coming up, although, my January jasmine didn't bloom at all last month. I can't wait for spring. We've had more snow here this year than we've had in the past 3-4 years total. You know, when you live in the south, you expect a mild winter. This has been awful.

O.K. Besides mac & cheese, what else would you do with elbow macaroni? I have a bag full of bread crumbs in the freezer. I hate to throw away those stale pieces of bread, so, I grind them to make crumbs. Your suggestions are appreciated.

Details Of My Speeding Ticket

Well, I had an attorney represent me in connection with my speeding ticket down in south Georgia last month. I am going to have to pay a fine of $210, but, the charge will be reduced to 59 in a 55 zone and it will not be reported to my state or my insurance company.

It's a good thing I'm not spending much money for groceries since I've been hit with a $210 fine.

I'm telling you about my speeding ticket because I just want to warn everyone what it costs to break the law. I know it has nothing to do with my grocery challenge. Believe it or not, I am usually very careful about my speed. It just got away from me on this particular time and there was the trooper to catch me.

I haven't been to the grocery store lately, so, I have nothing to report as to good deals or how well I've done. I think, though, that overall, I'm doing pretty well. I've made it almost 2 months this year and only spent $66. For my next cat food purchase, I have a $6 check to use from Purina.

Soup/Stew On The Fly

After consulting with my aunt,I decided to try this thing on the fly. I searched for recipes, but, couldn't find anything that exactly matched up with my ingredients. I decided to just "do it." It smells good,the broth tastes good, and I'm hoping for the best. I just didn't realize how much I was making. It's enough for a small army!

I was able to get some boxes of Martha White cornbread mix for about .09 per box. I think a skillet of cornbread is in order today. It's been snowing off and on all day and a good bowl of stew or soup (I'm not sure which to call it)is just the thing.

Anyone Have A Favorite Savory Stew Recipe?

Here's what I've got on hand:

1 lb. of cut up stew meat, thawing.
1 pint of vegetable stock, thawing.
1 cup (+/-) of frozen button mushrooms, thawing.
Canned chicken stock.
Russet potatoes.
Fresh carrots.
Lipton onion soup mix.
1 qt. home-canned tomatoes.

Of course, you know I have a full pantry. I just don't know what else should go into the stew. Slow-cooker recipe is great, but, I'll take whatever you are offering.

Are You A Hilton Hhonors & Priority Club Member?

If you are a member of the Hilton Hhonors program, you know that they have just devalued your points by quite a large %. Priority Club is taking advantage of that by offering a free 1,000 points if you are a current Hilton member. You must be enrolled in both programs to get the free points.

Here's the link:

http://www.pointsloser.priorityclub.com/?cm_mmc=IMMerch-_-PC_US_en-_-HiltonPromo-_-luckiestloser

Free Sample Of Cream Of Wheat

This looks like a really long URL; you might get there just by going to smartsampling.com, but, I'll try.

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/101055/captureAddress.iphtml?item=101055&lp=eml&source=BGEmail&ss_id=&key=380ebee951b86239a5e0bc1e27349f82

Get a free sample of one of their many flavors and offerings. The message says to expect it in 6-8 weeks. What the heck! Winter will be over by then!

January Has Given Me A Real Bump

I only spent $48 in January and used $250 in store cards, store-specific GC, and Qs. I feel really good about my progress. If I can average $83 a month oop, I can come in under my $1,000 budget.

I haven't given away much stuff this year; about a dozen 2-litre bottles of soda for my great-nieces and several jars of peanut butter to my parents. Last year, in one day I gave about $1,000 of stuff to my favorite local charity, the Chattanooga Rescue Mission. I don't necessarily think that you should make the homeless sit through a sermon every single night to get a "hot and a cot," but, other than that, I feel pretty good about what they do there. I'm ashamed to admit it, but, I don't think I could work with the chronically homeless on a daily basis. I think you need a very special talent to do that. I'm glad there's someone out there doing what I cannot do.

There's an entry over on HCW to get a Q for a free dozen of Eggland's Best eggs. I got the envie today, but, it didn't have a free Q, only 2 .50 Qs. This week, this brand is on sale for $2.72 at my double coupon store. The store brand of eggs is about $1.70 this week, so, I was able to get a couple of dozen of the premium brand for the price of the store brand. Maybe by spring, the "egg man" will show up at the flea market and I can trade my egg cartons.

My dad has already planted his tomato seeds. They should be poking up through the dirt in a couple of days. He will put them under the grow lights in the basement until time to put them in the ground in the spring. That means that he has about a 6-week jump on anyone else at the flea market with ripe tomatoes. He's the eternal optimist; we are already planning our flea market selling this summer. I guess I'm going to have to start going through my stockpile for things to sell. You wouldn't believe all he "taught" me about marketing last summer. He thinks he's the only one who knows how to present product. I just went along. It was fun anyway.

I made some taco seasoned meat this morning. I have sour cream and salsa. I have shredded cheese. I think I have a jar of petite diced tomatoes. You know what that means; the taco train is about to pull out of the station! I have boxes and boxes of taco shells, several bags of tortilla chips, and some flour tortillas. I always think of the cartoon character, Speedy Gonzalez, when I start up the taco train. How many of you are old enough to remember Speedy? Ariba! Ariba! Or something like that.