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Meal Planning Goals Update

Posted on January 9, 2021June 26, 2021 by Mandy

I thought I would give a little meal planning goals update since I survived my first real week of meal planning. A friend posted this funny about meal planning on Facebook and it made me laugh out loud. It’s so true!!

Can you relate, too?

Pic Source

My week went pretty well. Last week I made a meal plan and we only spent about $89 at the store getting what we needed (this includes household items, so it’s not food only). The only person who had fast food in the house was my son, and this was to be expected. He is very picky and basically eats the same things week after week. I promise you it isn’t for lack of trying for years and years with him. He has SPD (sensory processing disorder), so food textures are a big deal for him. He likes what he likes, so I made allowances for that in the plan. I only had to cook a couple of “big meals” for dinners and I made sausage balls and froze them for quick breakfasts for me. The dinners made a ton of food, so I had lots of leftovers. I ended up freezing some, so there are some meals ready for those days when I just can’t.

The Week of Casseroles

The first thing I tried was Ground Beef Casserole with Rice. It was just “ok”. If I make it again, I will definitely add in another can of diced tomatoes and perhaps some black olives. This made a TON of casserole, so I had leftovers for a couple of meals and one container for freezing.

The other casserole recipe we tried was Beef Florentine. I have to give props to the husband because he actually cooked this one. It was delicious! Again, plenty for leftovers. This was my favorite out of the casseroles we tried this week. I also liked that we were getting more green veggies in our diet. I highly recommend this one!

Tonight we made Broccoli Chicken Cheese and Rice Casserole. This was wonderful! We used our Butcher Box chicken tenders in it and they were delicious! Hubby really liked this one and it also makes a TON of casserole, so one container went into the freezer and one will go with hubby to work this week. I have another set aside in the fridge to use within the next couple of days.

For breakfasts, I had sausage balls and grapes on most days. I threw in some bananas for snacks and did leftovers or sandwiches and chips for lunch.

Final Thoughts On Meal Planning Goals Update

This was much easier than I thought and the fact that I could come home and have all the ingredients I needed to cook did so much good for my “what are we going to have for dinner” anxiety. And yes, there were some days I just didn’t feel like cooking at all. But I trudged through and I am finding the things I cook tend to make a lot of food at once, so freezing the leftovers is also building up a little stock of extra meals for me. This is great to have on hand if I should get sick and can’t cook for some reason.

However, the best part is…I actually lost a couple of pounds this week! I absolutely stopped my convenience store run that I was making each morning before work to buy salty snacks and chocolate bars. Since I can work half the day from home, I’ve had more time for snack planning and am actually home when I get hungry, so I choose snacks from what we have here. I honestly never thought that would be a “side effect” of meal planning, but I’ll gladly take it!

Yoga and Meal Planning

Posted on January 4, 2021January 4, 2021 by Mandy

Yoga and meal planning. What a combination, right? Ha! That’s what I have been up to the past couple of days so I thought I’d share about these new-to-me adventures. If you are looking for expert advice on either of these, keep on scrolling by because I am NO expert. I’m just trying to find my way starting out.

Beginning Yoga

The yoga….oh my! I have done this same Pahla B. Fitness video for two days in a row. I heard about this YouTube channel on another forum and loved that Pahla tailors her workouts to women over 50. Now, I’m not 50. I’m 46, but that’s close enough. I feel like I’m 150 most days!! Anyway, yoga is tough, y’all! There were a few positions I couldn’t manage, so during those times I just stretched or did another yoga pose. Well, let me tell you….getting out of bed this morning was ROUGH. I was so sore. However, by lunchtime (and after 2 Motrin), I felt SO much better. I even had more feeling and range of motion in my numb left foot. I was sold, so I decided to do the video again tonight. I also noticed she has a 5-minute sciatica relief routine video. I may try that one tomorrow. My son kept asking me if I was OK while I was doing the workout. Yes, son. Mom’s just overweight and trying to do yoga. LOL!

Cooking According to the Meal Plan

I made my first real meal from my new meal plan I am trying out. Hamburger Rice Casserole sounded good, so I decided to give this recipe a try. I wasn’t crazy about some of the seasonings/spices it called for, so I used less than the recipe said to. If I had it to do over again, I would definitely add another can of diced tomatoes and maybe throw in some sliced black olives. But it turned out pretty darn good.

This makes a LOT of casserole, so I wish I had waited for a night when hubby was home. But it was enough for me to have supper last night and tonight and then I froze 2 other containers of it for later.

Tip- I added the cheese in the last ten minutes of baking. I hate when cheese burns, so I always wait to add it near the end when a recipe calls for cheese to top something.

Working From Home

I was able to work from home today since it was a professional development day and I absolutely LOVED it! Here I am, all ready to get my day started from my home desk:

It was a day full of Zoom meetings, but doing it in the comfort of my own home made for a good day. It’s been gorgeous the past couple of days outside. The high has been around 60 with lots of sunshine. The stray kitties have enjoyed themselves.

2021 Financial Goals

Posted on January 3, 2021 by Mandy

My 2021 financial goals aren’t really complicated. I only have a few main things I’d like to focus on as far as paying off and saving up for.

DEBT

This is what I’ll be working towards to pay off or pay down. These are not our only expenses or debt by any means, but it’s the few I have really set my intentions on accomplishing this year:

Car– We owe $4152 on the car. I want this paid off this year. We are so close! We are scheduled to have this paid off around December of this year but I’d like to hit that goal sooner. Not having a car payment will free up $320 extra a month that can be rolled into other bills, like…

Student Loan– I owe $9965 on my student loan. I call this the “stupidity tax” that I pay each month. I don’t know that I could get this paid off in a year’s time, but I definitely plan to throw extra money at it each month to help. Why do I call this stupidity tax? It’s not that I don’t use my degree…I most certainly do and I had to have a degree to have the job I have. However, I was very undecided when I started college many years ago and I never should have taken out loans only to drop classes some years, etc. A community college for the first 2 years (which I could have attended for next to nothing) would have been the wiser choice until I was certain about what I really wanted.

Credit Card– My husband has a credit card with a balance of $3500. We want this debt eliminated in full this year.

Medical Bills– Our medical bills are still being tallied. We have insurance plans with high deductibles and I have had to have some expensive testing done towards the end of 2020. I just accept these bills as a fact of life. I am a heart patient and I will always have to see my cardiologist and have expensive tests run. The end. However, paying them down or off as fast as we can is always the goal.

SAVINGS

My husband and I joke that Murphy loves to visit us when it comes to saving money. You know Murphy’s Law….If something can go wrong, it will. And boy does it, every time we try to save money! Something always happens. However, I’m always thankful when those things happen that we have money saved back for it. The plan for this year is to save, save, save! Hubby has separate savings account at work, but we also have our personal savings and that definitely needs to be beefed up.

SPENDING

Our biggest expense is our grocery bill. I took an inventory of our pantry on New Year’s Day and came to the conclusion that there is absolutely NO need for our grocery bill to be so astronomical when we have so much food here already. I finally sat down with my meal planner and came up with a game plan for meals this week. We made a shopping trip and kept our grocery bill under $100 for this week. I was pleased with that. Normally, it’s over $200. This is an area that we definitely can improve upon. It just takes some effort on our part…planning and cooking.

So, these are our major financial goals for 2021. We have a whole year ahead of us to hopefully eliminate or seriously pay down some of this debt.

Welcome to 2021!

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Mandy

Happy New Year and Welcome to 2021! It’s hard to believe yet another year has rolled on by. Like everyone, I was very glad to see 2020 on its way out. However, we have been very blessed this past year in spite of it all, and I can’t say the whole year was awful. I learned a lot about myself and others in 2020 and I hope to take the good of what I have learned with me into this new year.

No Internet Service

I wanted so badly to post yesterday, but I post in the evenings and by the time we had supper and I had a little free time, our internet went out. Apparently, a main line or something had been shot up….like literally shot up. The night before on New Year’s Eve, our small town was treated to someone (or several someone’s) firing off semi-automatic rifles over and over and over. It was very unnerving because it was coming from several different directions and it just went ON and ON. It sounded like our neighborhood was under attack and I was just about to wake up the hubby but it woke him up. We have NEVER heard gunfire on NYE. It was the talk of the town on Facebook the next day.

New Year’s Day

My cousin brought me several containers of her gumbo for Christmas, so we had a rice and gumbo dinner last night. It was so good. We didn’t have our usual traditional New Year’s Day food (greens, black-eyed peas, etc.) this year. I didn’t feel like cooking and we were looking forward to the gumbo anyway.

I sat down and began coming up with our plan to tackle our debt and meal plan for the next year. I think I made some good progress and I will be sharing my plans here for that soon.

January 2nd

Tonight hubby made us steaks and we had green beans and mac and cheese to go with it. Hubby took some over to my mom and grandmother.

I’ve loaded up the dishwasher and washed some pots and pans that were used. My foot with the sciatic nerve pain has really given me trouble today. I’m sure it didn’t help that hubby and I walked all over Walmart this morning doing the grocery shopping. Yesterday was a much better day physically. We went early this morning to avoid the crowds and so we could get that out of the way. Walmart is the only store in town that has my absolute favorite thing about wintertime….pomegranates! I scored some huge ones today!

The Last Day of the Year

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Mandy

Well, it’s the last day of the year! I had a pretty productive day in spite of it being a very rainy one. It started getting nasty outside yesterday evening and has just continued on for 24 hours now. Very rainy and windy.

I really had no plans today other than to shower and get the Christmas tree and decor put away. I was up pretty early and fed the cats outside. I then showered and by the time I got back downstairs the kid was up and ready for breakfast. I finished a couple of loads of laundry and wanted to go to Dollar General since I felt like I could manage that today. I was so glad I did! My sole purpose was to go to get a little plastic stool (like this) to prop my feet up on underneath my desk here at home. I’m so short and with one foot practically numb from sciatic nerve pain, sitting at my desk for long periods of time had become unenjoyable. However, what made the trip a total score was finding Clorox Wipes (wooohooo!!!) and all Christmas decor and supplies 50% off. I stocked up on bags and bows for next year. It has been years since I have had to buy any of that, but our stash was running low this year. This should hold me over for a while.

Hubby made it home right after lunch. He picked up some sandwiches from our favorite little bistro and we ate lunch and then went and took a two-hour nap. When we got up I started taking down the Christmas tree and rounding up the holiday decor sprinkled throughout the house. I just realized I forgot to pack away an item. It happens every year!

We decided to get Chinese takeout for supper. It was good. I finished up by vacuuming the downstairs and we moved a recliner that had been in our back living room to the front living room. I’m not sure if it will stay here or not. I’d really love to have it upstairs in our bedroom but would hate to have to get hubby and the kid to drag it upstairs.

Now I’m catching up on blog reading. Hubby and the kid are already in bed. I’ve heard a few very loud fireworks this evening. I expect to hear much more at midnight. I’m trying to stay up to see the new year in.

Jake (the neighbor’s cat) is passed out in the big recliner. All is calm. So long, 2020. What a long, strange trip it’s been!

A Clean Chimney and Getting Myself Together

Posted on December 30, 2020 by Mandy

Today was a better day. After the Christmas excitement, and still feeling pretty crappy from sciatic nerve pain, pulling myself together has been tough this week. I’ve been a little sad because there is so much I wanted to get down around the house while I was off work, but I have had to really slow down and put myself on the “do what you can plan”.

We were able to find someone to come and clean our chimney today. He showed up at 8:15 and was very nice and efficient. He said our chimney was a little dirty inside, but all was clear. I was relieved to hear that. He got it cleaned in about 2 hours so hopefully, the next time we use the fireplace there won’t be any surprises. Hubby really thinks it may have been some old wood he tried to use. We will go and buy some new firewood this week.

While the chimney sweeper worked, I got a lot of organization done at my desk. There were papers to be filed, bills to pay, coupons to cut, and just junk to throw out. I got all of that done and even cleaned out my purse. I ventured out to get the kid and me some lunch. I also took a long nap. Kid did, too. We were all up very early this morning. I’ve spent this evening going through our Christmas cards and saving them for something artistic I’d like to do with them. I’ve also been reading blogs and going through emails. I managed to do a couple of loads of laundry and mop the kitchen.

Tomorrow I have great aspirations of getting the Christmas tree down and packed away with the other decor. That will depend on how my leg is feeling. I really like to have it all put away before the new year. It does make me a little sad, though. I really, really enjoy the lights at night and the Kid does, too. I’ve even caught him plugging in the tree first thing in the morning. That’s something for a 15-year-old.

We have a quiet New Year’s Eve planned at home. My cousin made gumbo and brought us some (frozen) at Christmas and we will most likely be having that for supper. She makes THE best gumbo! I’ve also set out some ribeye steaks to thaw for New Year’s Day. They are from Butcher Box, which we love! I haven’t checked to see what will be on TV. We usually watch the NYE ball drop in NYC. I know it will still be done, but of course, it will be different this year. It’s rainy as well, so no fireworks here.

Do you have big plans for NYE? Staying in?

The 2020 Christmas Recap Post

Posted on December 28, 2020December 31, 2020 by Mandy

I wanted to get my Christmas recap post up before the year ends. I don’t know about you all, but this has been the strangest and longest year in all of my 46 years on earth. The Christmas holiday was also very different this year for us. I’ve been through all of the emotions…I’ve laughed, cried, been disappointed, and utterly exhausted. I’m still in a sort of holiday haze over here.

Change of Plans

Our holiday started off with a slight disappointment. My mom has been hosting her side of the family’s Christmas celebration for the last 5 years now and we were looking forward to it. However, it was abruptly canceled two days before it was to happen because a couple of family members had been exposed to COVID and for all involved, the right and only thing we could do was cancel. I was a little sad, but then I realized how very behind I was at wrapping gifts and shopping for party food for this until I just accepted it was probably for the best. We finally did end up having our family Christmas the day after Christmas, and I really enjoyed catching up with my cousins. We only see each other sporadically because of geography, and the virus had cut even those visits out. It was a fun time and I’m glad everyone who was exposed earlier ended up ok.

Back on Track

We also always do Christmas Eve with my aunt on my dad’s side of the family. This went as planned and again, it was so good to catch up with everyone. We enjoyed party food and the kids always have to “sing for their presents”. I had to do it growing up, too. Haha! But it always ends up with everyone joining in to sing our favorite Christmas carols. We went to my mom’s house afterward and exchanged gifts with her and my grandmother. My mom always loved playing around with my Amazon Echo Show when she is at my house and is so impressed with Alexa, so we got her one for her kitchen. She was thrilled!

Christmas morning is always just our little family of three. We open gifts and have a good breakfast. The kid was happy with his new Oculus Virtual Reality headset. It is all he wanted for Christmas. We also got him some gift cards for games he plays online. Hubby made a wonderful breakfast and afterward, I decided to go back to bed and be lazy. And that’s when the excitement started.

Christmas Morning Excitement

I guess I had slept a couple of hours, but all of a sudden I heard our smoke detector going off downstairs. The house was kind of quiet, so I jumped up and started running for the stairs…and that’s when the smell of something burning became so very strong. I screamed for hubby and he was downstairs attempting to start a fire in our fireplace, but something was going wrong. Smoke started filling the living room and kitchen and I tore through the house opening doors and windows. He got the fire out in the fireplace, but there was a thin cover of ash over just about every hard surface in the living room and kitchen. Surfaces I had just cleaned a few days ago.

I spent the rest of Christmas day dusting and vacuuming and trying to get the smell of smoke out of our house. Then the tears started…I was exhausted from cleaning and from Christmas in general….from this very strange and tough year….from being in sciatic nerve pain. The tears just flowed and they wouldn’t stop. It’s now two days later and I’m just feeling somewhat human again. I think I have just pushed through and smiled through everything this year and it just finally came to a head. I’m feeling a little better now, and I honestly feel a little silly about it. Throughout it all, we have been so blessed and I don’t really have a reason to be upset. I just couldn’t help the way I was feeling.

So that was Christmas 2020. Whooo boy! I’m glad I have another week off from work to recover from it.

Thanksgiving Recap & First COVID Testing

Posted on December 6, 2020 by Mandy

I am so late getting my Thanksgiving recap up, but better late than never I suppose. I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I know it must have been very different for so many families this year, and ours was no exception.

After our extended family grew by leaps and bounds, my aunts started having our Thanksgiving dinner at their small country church’s fellowship hall. This small church was just big enough to hold us all and allow us to spread out. We had a very small group this year compared to year’s past. Our little family socially distanced and sat together while we ate. It was good to see everyone and I feel like as opposed to not being with family at all, we did this as safely as we could. Here are a few pictures:

I even tried my hand at pumpkin pie this year. I just used a pumpkin pie recipe from All Recipes and it turned out ok, just a little bubbly. Ha! I suppose I figured it should taste a little more savory (meaning spices…not hot).

Everyone said it was good, so I’ll count that as a win.

First COVID Testing

I also had my first COVID test a week before Thanksgiving. We had a couple of cases at work, so to be on the safe side, I went to the clinic after work to be tested. The test was not at all bad as I had seen on TV. The nurse was very gentle and I had my results in about 15 minutes. It was negative, thank goodness! I always dreaded the day I might have to be tested because it looked like they stuck the test swab all the way up to your brain, but this was not my experience.

Home Repairs and Setbacks

My Thanksgiving week was spent cleaning and overseeing home repairs. Like a fool, I deep cleaned our upstairs over that weekend and then we had someone come in to do sheetrock repair work in my son’s bathroom. I closed the bedroom doors, but of course, sheetrock dust goes everywhere. All of my hard work was completely undone. I had to clean everything again. Everything. Then, the day before Thanksgiving, our hot water heater died. I was especially upset because we had it repaired just a couple of weeks ago and I had just paid the bill for it that very day! Of course, trying to contact a plumber after 5 PM the day before a holiday is completely pointless. Thankfully, we had a new one installed the day after Thanksgiving and my mom lives a couple of blocks away so we were able to shower. The only frustrating thing was, of course, the dishes and laundry were backed up a little. But I caught up on everything and was ready to return back to work with a clean home by Monday.

Chiropractor Visits for Sciatic Nerve Pain

I also started seeing a chiropractor for my sciatic nerve pain. I am happy to report it seems to be helping. Living with this leg and foot pain since September has been so annoying. My left foot still feels a little numb and I feel awful sore the day after my treatments, but I do start feeling better by the weekend.

Binge-Watching TV

I never watch TV. Ever. But, hubby and I caught a great deal on a larger TV during the pre-Black Friday sales and it has all of our streaming services he already used built-in, which means one remote to operate. Our older TV had so many remotes and was so complicated that I just chose not to watch it than fight with it. However, this one is super easy and I suddenly got sucked into Downton Abbey!! I am already on Season 3. I also have discovered Hallmark Christmas movies and reruns from when I grew up, like Mama’s family. The recliner and I have now become one, and I can’t wait for Christmas break so I can veg out again! The kid and I have been watching 80’s movies like Back to the Future and The Breakfast Club. Tonight it’s The Goonies!