Menu Planning Monday

It's time to get on track again! I've done a major grocery shopping spree and it's time to get things done right. I have some very exciting news. ANYONE who knows me knows I have a battle with laundry... it never seems to go away! Well... I have an annoucement... drum roll please.....

I HAVE OFFICIALLY FINISHED LAUNDRY! No, it doesn't mean that I have washed everything and that it is in a nice pile on the top bunk bed where it ends up messy in a few days... IT MEANS I HAVE WASHED EVERY PIECE OF CLOTHING AND IT IS ALL PUT AWAY! sorry about the all caps but i really am screaming here. This is victory! Wanna do the dance with me?

So now there is no excuses... it's gotta be done once a day. Ok, maybe every other day. But I want to keep it up. So here is the deal. I will post once a week where I am on the whole laundry deal cuz I don't ever, ever, ever want to be at that place again where the laundry creeps up on me and it's a whole big mess again. I LOVE challenges so let's see how it goes.

So here's my menu plan:

Monday - Arroz con Pollo (thanks mom for the recipe!)
Tuesday - Apple Cider Vinegar Chicken (yum!) with creamy mashed potatoes
Wednesday - Picadillo (Latin seasoned ground beef with chopped veggies) w/ rice
Thursday - Vietnamese Pork Chops
Friday - couscous with shrimp kebobs

Wish me luck!

Love,

So sad...

I anticipated this week would be terrible. I've been pretty depressed up to this day. I've been trying to focus and stay strong but I can't help it. It's been one year since I learned that my little one has went to heaven. It's been so hard. There hasn't been a time where I don't think about it or what it's been like to feel that loss.

I have faith that God will provide. I have faith that my Lord knows why. I trust that God will see us through this. As much as I say it, I hope I can eventually truly feel it. I know it takes time to heal but... if only.... it's so hard.

On the same day of my surgery, it was also the same day my grandfather passed away 4 years ago. I just keep thinking that he was there to greet my little one and hold her too. My grandfather adored babies and loved children very much. I know he is with her now and they are together in heaven watching over us. One day we will all be together again. Until then... I miss them very, very, very much.

My 30th Birthday!

So my mom and sweetie put together a 30th birthday party for me today. I still can't believe I've made it to the BIG "Three O" but you know, it's where i wanna be. I remember when I talked to my girlfriend Rachele last December and she told me when she was turning 30 that she LOVED where she was at 30. I thought about that and it stuck with me. I have two beautiful boys, an amazing husband who loves me very much, a loving mom and family... fantastic girlfriends who are always there... I just thank God for my blessings.

My mom made Puerto Rican food and we had a DJ and a WaterSlide! My goal was for the babies to have fun... and it seems like they did!

More found money!

After yesterday's success, I thought I would try TMobile today and see if there was anything we can do. I was able to lower my bill down by $10! Yes! That's right! I am soo psyched. That's $120 savings in a year! The best part of the whole thing is that I didn't even sacrifice any of my cool features. I still have my Instant Messaging, my email, and my web surfing. .. I've come a LONG way from my cheapie phone, I know!

I love being able to live a frugal life but still living it large LOL ;-)

If you have done anything to help cut costs in small places, I want to hear about it. Just jot me an email or leave a comment below...

Thanks!

In Him,

Cutting corners whereever I can!

So I made a phone call to Cox cable/internet/phone to see what they can do. I am afraid to give up our DVR (I just love that thing!) but I figured there HAS to be somewhere in that bill where I can cut corners and find some $$. After much persistance they found that I don't even use their long distance enough to compensate for the Unlimited Long Distance and further, they charge a whopping $5 just for voicemail. Hey, isn't that what answering machines are for anyway? So I was able to lower my bill by $11.08 per month. Let's see, if I multiply that by 12, I've managed to get almost $133 MORE for next year! Hey, those pennies add up and well... now that's got me all pumped up to find myself some more money!

Woo HOO!

Menu Planning Monday

Menu Planning this week:

Last week was sooo successful! Though I didn't make what I had planned every single night, (i.e. we had pasta carbonara on Wednesday night and burgers on Thursday night) we had all the ingredients and I had my ideas already on what I was going to make that we didn't eat out ONCE! Did you hear this? NOT EVEN ONCE! I even thought we were going to eat out on HomeTeam night on Thursday, but here was my thought process... all we were going to do was buy some burgers and no way would we eat take out burgers when I had all the ingredients at home so I made the burgers in a flash, wrapped them up like take-out and had them in the car! Whew! Amazing!

So here we go again! I am pretty psyched becuase they have chicken tenders for 1.67 pound at Fry's this week and we are going to try our this chicken tender recipe this week. It's going to be sooo much fun!

Monday - Free Pizza that my girlfriend Katrina gave me :-) Thanks girl no cooking tonight!

Tuesday - Picadillo with Rice

Wednesday - Home Team night, Chicken Tenders and Pasta Salad with veggies


Thursday- SteakFajitas

Friday - Pizza Night (Boys are going to have a sleepover so this will be fun!)

As always, for more inspiration and menu planning ideas visit: www.orgjunkie.com

Swagbucks

I learned about Swagbucks from other coupon blogs so I thought I might give it a try. I think the most inspirational posting about swagbucks is when Trina from http://fabulouslyfrugalicious.blogspot.com/ talked about getting this fabulous purse for free using swagbucks she earned. Mama wants herself a new purse too, so of course I had to give it a try too!

So here is the deal, you can sign up for swagbucks by clicking the above link (you and I will BOTH receive swagbucks for doing so!), then do your normal "google" searches by using the swagbucks toolbar or their homepage...it's powered by google anyway, so it's worth a try! You will need only 45 swagbucks for a $10 Amazon GC or even 50 Swagbucks for a $10 starbucks GC. So far I've earned 6 swagbucks in a couple days, so let's see how this goes!

Happy searching (and getting paid to do so anyway)!