Menu Plan Monday

Last week I had a post ready to go on Monday and I never ended up posting it.  Last week was another crazy week. I had a menu plan all ready for the week but that went out the window when we found out my Husband's Aunt passed away.  His Aunt and Uncle live up by Chicago so we had to head out on Wednesday afternoon for the visitation and spent the night to go to the funeral the next day.  We didn't get home till Thursday evening. My mom kept the oldest two so they wouldn't miss more school( our school was closed Monday and Tuesday because of the cold weather). The little guy got the fun of going with  us. Actually my  husband's uncle really enjoyed seeing the little guy and we were glad we took him.  We got home Thursday night and had to get everything ready for my son's overnight wrestling tournament. The boys were leaving Friday after school so everything had to be ready to go to the school the next morning.  My son had a huge bag to take to school and of course the meet ended up being cancelled because of MORE SNOW!! 
I am really tired of this winter and all the snow.  I know I live in the  midwest and we get snow and cold but it has been colder this year than it has been in 20-30 years.  I am ready for spring!


Here is what we had on the Menu for the first two days of last week.

Monday: Taco Casserole
Tuesday:Pulled Pork Sandwiches - I cooked two large pork roasts and separated them into freezer bags for quick and easy meals.  The amount I saved out for us ended up giving us several meals throughout the week.


Menu Plan for this week:
Monday: Spaghetti
Tuesday: Stuffed Pepper Soup
Wednesday:Crockpot Teriyaki Chicken

Thursday: Grilled Cheese / Tomato Soup
Friday: Leftovers/ Sandwiches
Saturday & Sunday: Up in the Air. We have Wrestling Tournament, Basketball games and Baseball practice.

Eating Out and Thank You!

Last night a friend of mine shared this article on Facebook. 
Red Lobster is having Financial problems

The main point of the article is that Red Lobster is having tough times and may have to close.   The article touches on a very important point that most of us have already realized.  Times are tough and people are not eating out as much.  It talks about how the working class is the ones taking a hit right now. 

My first though well Duh!! We have been saying this for a while now. We can't eat out like we used to. Prices are higher and for our family of five it costs us easily $45 - $65 at a restaurant. I know it will just get more expensive as my kids get older.  We still have one that eats on the kids menu but at seven years old he is starting to get to the point where it doesn't fill him up.  The article got me to thinking about some of the changes we have been making to save more money.

I started really watching what we spend about a year and a half ago as I was trying to get us out of debt. I have quickly learned that a weekly meal plan saves us a ton of money and eating at home is not that bad. I started following Melissa over at House Full of Searls  right after I started doing meal plans.  I started following Melissa and that lead me to everyone else on the wonderful blog world, Judy, sluggy, Kim, Cindi, Carla, Sharon and many more.  I have been opened up to so many more ways of saving money that I would have ever thought of on my own.


To the wonderful group of ladies who take the time to blog and share your experiences and your money saving tips I say THANK YOU!!

 I still have lots to learn but slowly and surely we have started making our way out of debt.

Weekly Plan

This is late as usual.  I started the week off with snow and below zero temps.  The HIGH yesterday was -8F, we had wind chills in the -40 to -50 range.  Schools were closed and a lot of businesses were closed it was too dangerous to go outside. The snow started Saturday night and ended on Sunday afternoon. I didn't leave the house from Saturday night until this morning and I was starting to go a little stir crazy! :)

Weekly Meal Plan:
      Sunday: Meatball Sandwiches w/ Appetizers ( junkfood). We watched movies and Football all day.
      Monday: Chili , Cornbread.
      Tuesday: Tacos
      Wednesday:  Ham & Bean Soup or Lasagna Soup  - not sure which yet.
       Thursday: Pork Chops  w/ Veggie.
       Friday: Homemade pizza. 
       Saturday:  ??  My son has a wrestling meet and then we have a basketball game.



Goals:

1.  Find my dining room table. We moved some furniture around and the table became the dumping ground for everything.  
2. Organize my craft corner.  I made several gifts for Christmas and my craft corner is rather messy still. 
3. Exercise - I have got out of the habit of going to the gym and I can tell.

What are you goals for the week ?

Happy Thanksgiving

I know it is a day early but I won't be on here tomorrow.  Happy  Thanksgiving to all my friends in the blog world.   I hope everyone has a safe and fun Holiday. We will be spending ours with my husband's family and eating too much food as always. 

On Friday my daughter and I will venture out to do some Black Friday shopping.  I know there are lots of opinions out there about Black Friday shopping but my daughter and I enjoy it.  We spend Thanksgiving with our family and then get up early for shopping.  Do we save a lot of money ? Yes/No, Some are good deals and some are not. Last year I ended up getting everyday items and not much Christmas shopping.  We just enjoy going out and spending the time together. I know she won't always be home so I am enjoying it.

Happy Thanksgiving !

Day 26 - Hard time staying focused

I have had a hard time staying focused on publishing my daily Thanksgiving post. It seems like this month is just slipping away.  Here are the days I missed plus my weekly menu.

Day 22:
           Thankful for our bowling group. Hubby and I started bowling on a Friday night league this year. Hubby has bowled for years but I have only done it on a league a few years before my daughter was born. We have a lot of fun and just hang out. It is technically a competitive league but no one makes it that way. We all encourage each other and reward each other when someone has a good game. Nobody takes it too serious.  It is something that just Hubby and I do. The kids come along but all go watch a movie together at the owner's apartment that is attached to the building. 

Day 23:
           For our vehicles. Hubby and I both have vehicles that run. They may be older but they are still running. Hubby's truck is paid off and my van is getting closer.  I am thankful that we are able to afford two vehicles. It makes transporting kids a lot easier that both of us have a vehicle.

Day 24:
          Relaxing Sundays: Sunday is my favorite day of the week. We usually try to make Sunday a down day. We go to church and try not to plan anything else for the day.  I try to have all the housework down also so we can just relax. This doesn't always work out but that is the plan. Some Sundays I make a big dinner ( I enjoy cooking so this doesn't seem like work) and then some Sundays we just have sandwiches. It is football season so we usually have a game on or we pick a movie to watch.  Sundays is family time. :)

Day 25:
           Food. :) We had a huge Thanksgiving potluck at work today and I was so full that I didn't need to eat dinner last night.  It was nice fun event at work. Everyone in our department brought something and we just sat around and talked and ate. Of course we had to work in the afternoon but  I think we all really just took a nap because it was very quiet yesterday afternoon.

Day 26:
          Short Work Weeks.  I am one of the luck ones that I don't have to work on Thursday or Friday so this is a short week for me. It has been a busy couple of weeks at work so i am ready for a few days off.  We are going to my sister - in laws on Thanksgiving and then my daughter and I are venturing out for Black Friday shopping.  My daughter loves to go so I am taking her. I am not sure what all we may find but we have going. I know I know some thing we are crazy and we are but it is something we do together and enjoy.  she is 15 and I know that eventually she won't be here to go with so I am making the most of it.

Weekly Menu:
            Monday: Sandwiches
            Tuesday: Spaghetti & Garlic Bread
            Wednesday: Ham n Beans. (That is if I remember to soak the beans I keep forgetting)
             Thursday: Thanksgiving. All I have to do is the green bean casserole. Yay me !
            Friday: Bowling night, and everyone is bringing food. Will feed the kids before we go so they are taken care of .
            Saturday:  ??
            Sunday: ??

Day 21 - I missed a few days

          I have not done very well the last week with my thankful list. I would think about sitting down and writing one every day but just didn't take the time. It has been a crazy busy few days. Here is what I am thankful for in the past week.

1.  My youngest son. M2 - He is still in that little boy stage ( 7) but wants to be a big kid. Even though he wants to be a big kid he still welcomes me home everyday with a great big hug. Sometimes he almost knocks me down because he launches himself at me. Those are the best hugs ever.
2. My daughter - She is 15 years old and going through Drivers Ed right now. She tries my patience at times especially with her driving :) but I love that she is growing up to be a very special young lady. She loves school and already knows what she wants to do after HS. She wants to be a surgical nurse. 
3. Friends - I am not a very outgoing person and I tend to be very shy. I don't have a lot of close friends but I truly cherish the ones that I have. There are a few that I can relax around and tell them anything.
4. My House - I live in Central IL and several communities within 20 minutes of my house were hit with an EF- 4 Tornado on Sunday. My sister in law lived in one of the communities and was luck they only damage they had was a tree came down on part of their front porch. I know several people that live in the area and none of them lost their homes but there are hundreds of homes that were lost in our are and it just seems unreal the damage that is done. Our small town had heavy wind and some rain but the heavy stuff missed us.
5. First Responders - Be it  Fire , Police, Medical there was a huge show of support on Sunday.  There was so many Medical personnel that showed up that they eventually had to say we have enough Dr and Nurses. 
6. Electricity Lineman - We lost power on Sunday before the worst of the storm hit.  We ended up being without power for about 12 hours.  The Lineman were out quickly and worked all night to get power back on to the affected areas. We got ours back around midnight. In the town where I work there were lineman working for two days to restore power. I know they are paid well but it is still time away from their families and it is a hard and dangerous job. 
7. The Volunteers - The amount of people that have turned out to Volunteer and contribute help to the Tornado victims has just been unreal. I have not made it over to the affected area yet but our church has been sending in supplies. There was a group that drove up from Louisiana to feed the volunteers and victims yesterday. It restores my faith in people. 

With everything that has happened in our neighboring community my list of things to be thankful for could go on forever.  It makes me realize how much it is the little things we should be thankful for.  Hold close to your loved ones they are what  matters most.

I hope everyone else is having a good week.

Day 11 and Weekly menu

Today I am thankful for all the veterans past and present that have served our country. I want to thank one special Veteran, my dad. He was a MP in the Army and stationed down in Panama. I don't know the exact years but I know he was proud of the time he served.

Weekly Menu: I only have through Thursday figured out but here is what I have so far.

Monday: Pulled Pork from the freezer.

Tuesday: Meatball sandwiches.

Wednesday: Ham n beans ( this didn't get made last week) 

Thursday: Salisbury steak and potatoes

Friday:  

Saturday:

Sunday: