End of the Year Wrap-Up

I'm busy tallying up all of my grocery receipts to give a grand total of savings for the year. Savings were down some this year because I did not pursue prescription transfers and drug store deals. There simply was too much going on and I had a fairly good supply of shampoo and the like. I'll be back shortly with a tentative grand total and a game plan for next year's budget.

Less than 48 hours now....

It's been a busy week even being off for several days. I really had more to do than I thought.
Tomorrow, Thursday, I have to get one more gift and solve a gift card situation. Groceries and green beans have been procured. The ham is reserved and is scheduled for pick up early Friday morning.

I still have more cleaning. After several hours of cookie baking with two four year olds, I will need to give the kitchen floor a good mopping tomorrow. I plan to be up bright an early to get things started.

While I finish my chores, I am taking a bloggy break until after Christmas. Hope you and your family a Merry Christmas and enjoy lots of good food and good tidings.

Weekly Menu

I just realized that I never posted a menu for the week.

Saturday - Buffalo Chicken Fingers and Mashed Potatoes
Sunday - BBQ Pork Chops, Mac and Cheese
Monday - Spaghetti
Tuesday - Cubed Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Broccoli
Wednesday - TBD
Thursday - Tacos
Friday - TBD

Here's a hint to jazz up jarred spaghetti sauce. Brown ground beef and add a jar of spaghetti sauce along with some dried oregano and basil. To this add up to one cup of red wine and up to 1/4 cup of virgin olive oil. Allow the sauce to simmer until it is well blended and thickened. This is a great way to use up a partial bottle of wine.

Another trick is to add some tomato paste (about two tablespoons) and some olive oil. Simmer as noted above.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

In the mail today, I got a .19 refund on the last bill I paid off. Heck, the postage and the cost to cut the check was way more than that .19! It reinforced the concept that I had paid that off and now they owed me money.


Christmas this year is a totally cash one. They'll be no big bill come January or February to fret over. Gifts will be thoughtful and useful. We all made Christmas lists of things we could really use. (Except for the little kids, of course!)


I have tomorrow off and I'm expecting a plumber to come resolve an issue we have. I hope it will be less expensive than last time. While I'm on the subject, let me emphasise that you should NEVER put raw rice into your garbage disposal. I made the mistake of throwing a cup of raw rice into the sink. After running the hot water and disposal, the drain (and disposal) became horribly stopped up. It ended up costing $400 to get the clog cleared. Since then, only very small quantities of pasta or rice are allowed down the drain. Potato and vegetable peels always go directly into the compost pile. (It's much cheaper than the plumber's fee.)

I hope to get the house cleaned, laundry and dishes done (before the plumber gets here) and some baking done. My plan is to make a batch of six different cookies - bake half now and freeze the other half for Christmas eve baking. Molasses cookies tomorrow and maybe fudge! (Fudge is always better after it ages a few days!)

Holiday Status Update

The tree is decorated, the outside lights are up and on.

The outside decorations have been a bit of a disappointment this year. Evidently, the icicle lights have reached their limit. We will definitely have to replace these for next year. I also wanted to get a new yard decoration but it was a bit pricey. It's still a possibility, we'll see how the budget shakes out over the next week or so.

Inside decorations are good. I wish I had some more bling for the kitchen. I historically have had indoor icicle lights in the kitchen but since my big window is gone, I'm not sure what I can do to bling it up.

Christmas cards went out last week.

Baking will start in the next few days.

I'm still waiting for the Christmas Spirit......

Groceries and Menu

Sorry I'm so late getting this posted.

My grocery expenditures for the week was just less than $50. No big bargains, no coupons, just essentials.

Saturday - Pot o' Chili
Sunday - Kbobs and Roasted Vegetables, Brussel Sprouts
Monday - Chili over Baked Potatoes
Tuesday - Spaghetti
Wednesday - Waffles and Sausage
Thursday - Chicken and Dumplins'
Friday - TBD (Chili cheese fries?)

I relied heavily on the freezer and pantry this week. The chili was from stockpiled items, I had potatoes already. I threw the spaghetti together with some leftover sauce with meatballs - I added some fresh sauce to stretch, some olive oil and red wine. DH said it was very good. Wednesday's sausage is from the freezer as will be most of the Chicken and Dumplins.

I did learn an important lesson this week. Spaghetti Sauce jars do NOT freeze well. Last time I cooked chicken, I put the strained broth (cooled) into a spaghetti sauce jar and a canning jar. The canning jar did fine but the spaghetti sauce jar was severely cracked when I removed it from the freezer. On a positive note, they make excellent storage containers for grains and half boxes of pasta. They look good and they are easier to store than all those packets and half empty boxes.