Saturday, March 31, 2012

Guess I'll be going to work on Monday

This was not the winning ticket. We got nothing, nada, zip. Oh well.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

$4.19

Prices dropped, yah!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Apple cake

I made this apple cake and I guess it was a hit since it is half gone. I modified it slightly by using two apples instead of one and half and half instead of milk. Since there were so many apple slices, I placed some of the apple on top because I was afraid they wouldn't all cook if placed in the middle. Also, as noted in the recipe comments, the cake was pretty sweet. I think if I had just sprinkled the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top without the apples, the cake would have been too sweet. In any case, I still had leftover sugar, which I saved for future cinnamon toast.

ETA: I made this again, but with yogurt since I rarely have milk in the house, and I used the leftover sugar/cinnamon from the previous cake. The texture was better when I used milk, but cake was still tasty. I think the recipe is a keeper.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

A full fridge

We made a turkey for dinner tonight. Yes, just for the two of us, 13.7 pounds. It was on sale before Christmas for 59 cents a pound, plus I got $3 off so I couldn't resist. Can't imagine getting meat for any cheaper than that. It wasn't too difficult finding room in the freezer at first, but it was difficult to not have the room for a couple months. We finally took it out to defrost last week and the empty space as already been filled with frozen veggies and gelato.

Now we have a full fridge.Mr. Fix-it can have turkey sandwiches the rest of the week and I'll figure out something to do with the rest. Some will get frozen and of course, I'll have to make some turkey stock (not that I have time to cook during the week).

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Living without modern appliances

Our microwave died a few weeks ago. It sounded like it was working, but it wasn't heating. We didn't bother trying to fix it. It wasn't my favorite appliance (I thought it took up too much space) and I occasionally wondered if the microwaves are harmful rather than helpful.

It didn't take long for the empty spot on the counter top to fill with...stuff.
I didn't think we used the microwave that often, but as it turns out, we use it multiple times a day. Sometimes I need to reheat my coffee in the morning if I don't get to it soon enough. And you know I'm the leftover queen so we've had to be creative in reheating.

We've been dirtying a lot more dishes and using more pots and pans. Leftover rice is steamed. Most other dishes are reheated on the stove, though some are reheated in the toaster oven. Mr. Fix-it thought it was all too much trouble, but I didn't mind. I thought we were eating less since we were portioning out what we wanted to eat. And I thought the texture of some of the reheated foods was better. No microwave took some getting used to, but then, I still could heat up my lunch in the microwave at work.

But, as it turns out, Mr. Fix-it really missed the microwave. And he couldn't wait for a sale (sigh). So now we have this sleek beauty:

ETA: The microwave went on sale and we went back to the store for a $10 credit, woo hoo! As it turns out, this microwave doesn't have all the bells and whistles that our previous microwave had, but since it was so much less $ and it is red!, I don't mind.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

On my day off

I took the day off yesterday. No special reason other than I had a vacation day to use up. I had grandiose plans to clean the whole house (or at least a couple of rooms) or the more realistic plans of vegging in front of the computer and TV. There wasn't as much as I would have liked of any of that. I did manage to cook up a several quarts of spaghetti sauce and prep a couple of lunches for the week, plus pick/wash some Swiss chard so we're set food-wise for a few days.No, that large container on the right is not my lunch. That's the leftover spaghetti from dinner. I have a hearty appetite, but not that large. That's another dinner and a couple lunches for us. My lunch is the smaller container with the black lid in the back.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

$4.27

Woo hoo! Prices have stabilized!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

$4.27

Still ouch!

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

100 things challenge, day 100 update

Sorry about the lack of updates. These long work days are taking a lot out of me. I just want to veg in front of the TV, even the computer takes too much effort. But, I have good news to report.

We sold four items on ebay (for less than we hoped, but at least they sold) so that's a few more pennies our pocket. And this challenge forced us to make a donation trip. Otherwise, the boxes of to-be-donated stuff would still be sitting in the garage. That trip got 27 items out of the house. Actually, it was more than 27 since I counted the box of office supplies as one and the box of Christmas decorations as one.

office supplies, Christmas decorations, clothes, kitchen stuff = 27 items
ebay (3 mugs, cookie press) = 4 items

total gone 80/100

Eh, a little short of 100 (since I didn't count every little item). And you still can't tell we got rid of stuff. Maybe I'll hit 100 at the next challenge. Ever the optimist, lol. I hope you'll join me when I start the next challenge. I might be more motivated if you play along.

Sunday, March 04, 2012

$4.29

This price has held steady for a week.