Giveaway Winner

The giveaway winner was picked at random from all the valid entries.
I have already made contact with them.

The lucky winner is.............

Sara Rai!

Congratulations Sara and I'd like to thank everyone who came to the blog and played along.
I'll have another giveaway coming up soon so stay tuned.....

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Can't Do Anything" Edition......
Have you ever had so much to do that it paralyzed you so much that you couldn't even take the first step to finishing any task on your list?
That's been my life lately.  Though I do have some uncertainties going on that are keeping me from accomplishing items it shouldn't be stopping me from working on other items.
I just have no "mojo" maybe?  Feeling like "what is the point to trying to do anything?" lately.
sigh.
At least I can do a meal plan though, right?  ;-)

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week.......
1. Sunday--Meatloaf, Leftover Easter Veggies, Baked Potato
2. Monday--Leftover Tacos/Taco Salad
3. Tuesday--Hubs Birthday meal Out
4. Wednesday--Tandoori style Chicken Thighs, Rice, Harvard Beets
5. Thursday---Beef Bourguinon, Bread
6. Friday--Leftover Ham on Rolls, ?
7. Saturday--Pork Chops w/Apricot Glaze, Sugar Snap Peas

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Meatloaf, Leftover Easter Veggies, Baked Potato
2. Monday--Leftover Tacos/Taco Salad
3. Tuesday--Hubs Birthday meal Out
4. Wednesday--Hamburger on Roll, Leftover Potato Salad,Baked Beans
5. Thursday---Tandoori style Chicken Thighs, Coconut Rice, Harvard Beets
6. Friday--Chicken Parmesan, Grilled Asparagus
7. Saturday--Beef Bourguignon(Hubs had his over rice, me had a baked potato)

 6 meals cooked at home.
 5 new meals, 1 night of leftovers, and 1 night of Eating Out(Birthday meal).
Pork chops got bumped off the rotation again last week.  I am just not a fan so that's perhaps why they get bumped so often? lolz

I tried a new dish last week, Tandoori style chicken Thighs.  It's a recipe I saw on a PBS food show where the chef made Tandoori style chicken wings but I changed the chicken to thighs as they have more substance to them.
I figured with a curry spice blend and hot sauce they might be too spicy for me but I knew Hubs would like them and I could just substitute a chicken pot pie for myself from the freezer if the dish was too much for my gullet.
But sadly(or is that happily for me?lol)the "heat" of the dish was negligible and I ate of it heartily.
It was very disappointing however that there was little to no heat.  I am thinking my bottled yellow curry spice blend is not up to snuff on the Scoville scale?  Perhaps or the fact that I grilled the thighs and the fat flare-ups burnt the skin and all the spice out of the meat?  I don't know.

I do know it had good flavor even though so we'll make this again, perhaps pre-baking it and then finishing it off on the grill quickly.

As for my grocery spending...... Hubs made 2 quickie trips last week, we made a trip to Weis together and I went to Dollar Tree and Maine Source,, spending a total of $112.24 last week.
I have spent $130.24 in all for April so far and have $119.76 left of my food budget with 19 days to go.

Leftovers going into this week.......meatloaf(2 slices), coconut rice, harvard beets, asparagus, and a lot of Beef Bourguignon(4 helpings?).

Here is this week's "food plan"--

1. Sunday--Ravioli(freezer)in Mushroom/Meat Sauce, Salad, Garlic Bread
2. Monday--Leftover Meatloaf, leftover asparagus, leftover beets
3. Tuesday--Sloppy Joes made with beef/turkey, using homemade low-salt sauce, Rolls, Sugar Snap Peas(freezer)
4. Wednesday--Leftover Beef Bourguignon, Cuke and Tomato Salad
5. Thursday--Kielbasa(freezer) on Rolls, Collard Greens(freezer)
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Leftovers or FFY(Fend For Yourself)

This week will see 4 new meals cooked and 3 meals of leftovers(re-purposed into new dishes or not) and 0 meals Out/Take-out.

What I need to buy for this menu.....a head of Cabbage.  Not much I need to buy and I don't see much in the Deal Department at the stores this week.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?

Sluggy

Giveaway Ends Tonight

There are only about 6 more hours to enter my Giveaway so don't forget to go HERE before 11:59 pm Eastern Daylight Time.
Also remember to include an email so I can contact you if your email isn't included in your Blogger profile OR Blogger links to your Google profile(circles)instead.  Or email me privately your email addy(link to mine is in my "About Me" section on the right sidebar).

If I can't email you, you can not win.

Sluggy

Shopping This Past Week

Well I went to Maine Source earlier this week since they were having their Customer Appreciation Sale.  Once a year everything in the store is 10% off, even stuff that they NEVER put on sale.
How could I NOT go? ;-)
I spent $62.56, picking up 3 jugs of a favorite peach tea, a large jug of a sesame dipping sauce(we use for potstickers.....a jug lasts us about 2 years), a gallon of Russian dressing, a quart of plain yogurt, a bag of russets, roma tomatoes, asparagus, 5 lb. of freshly ground beef, a 20 lb. bag of onions, and some paper plates as we are almost out.
The produce and meat were already on sale so the 10% addition off on those was a bonus.

I also hit the Dollar Tree as we were out of potstickers and bottled lemon juice.  Also bought were egg noodles, breadcrumbs, wine vinegar and rolled breakfast sausage.  We like the brand sold for $1 at Dollar Tree plus even though it's got more fat in the mix than the premium brands at the grocery stores, it's a better deal penny for penny.  This brand is .10¢ per ounce while the average premium brands run .25¢ per ounce.
Total spent at Dollar Tree was $20 OOP.

Hubs picked up some bottled water, a cuke, grape tomatoes and slicing tomatoes this week too, at that local Shursave affiliate grocer, for $7.45.

Hubs also stopped at Target to use that $3 Catalina I got before Easter.  He picked up 2 packs of mushrooms for $3.98, so spent .98¢ OOP.  I used the shrooms in my Rustic Beef Bourguignon.

A quick run to Weis(PMITA)Markets yesterday for more mushrooms, lettuce, pearl onions, milk, 50% off green tea, 50% off bakery items(including a small cheesecake for Hubs birthday)and potato chips Hubs requested cost another $21.25.
I also picked up a small package of P&P loaf lunch meat.......

I've never had this before so I thought for .99¢, why not?  I don't make a habit of buying processed lunch meats(due to the sodium content)so this was a special treat.....well, if I like it. lolz
Surprisingly it's not as sodium-filled as I had thought at first glance.
P&P stands for pickles and pimento by the way, but looking at the ingredient list it seems the second "p" is actually for red peppers.
Hubs was shocked to learn at the store that I had never eaten this lunch meat in my youth.
His family growing up was frugal because they had no money basically so he ate whatever lunch meat was cheapest for lunches because that's what his mom bought.  Usually it was PBJ or bologna but on occasion the lunch meat du jour had been p&p loaf.

So we've spent $112.24 last week on groceries.

I also popped into Rite-Aid this week to do a quick transaction and try to use Ibotta at Rite-Aid. Using Ibotta is different at R-A since you have to unlock rebates and then link your Plenti card to the Ibotta app on your phone and verify purchases/have your phone on and with the Ibotta app open on it at the time of the purchase to get credit for those rebates.  You don't submit a receipt to the app after your purchases at home.  I was dubious it was going to work since there was nothing on the phone to scan or anything but I got an email this morning that I got that rebate. yay!
Ya is right because now I don't have to return the St. Ives. ;-)

Here's what I bought.........

2 x St. Ives facial scrubs bogo50%=$7.93
1 x large Purex detergent 50% off=$6.14
SubTotal......$14.07

I used a $1/1 St. Ives Scrub ManuQ knocking the total down to $13.07.
Sales tax added another .78¢ so my total was $13.85 and I used Plenti Points to pay this amount.

I earned $3 in new Plenti Points for buying the St. Ives.
I earned $3 cash rebate on Ibotta for buying the St. Ives. already received
I earned another $1 in Plenti Points as I activated an offer on my Plenti account online for$1 off St. Ives. already received
I also earned $5 in Plenti Points as I activated an offer on my Plenti account online for Purex(spend $15 get $5 in points-this put me over the $15 needed-I had used a rain check 2 weeks ago and bought 6 jugs of the smaller Purex jugs at $1.99, paying with a free R-A gift card). already received

So $13.85 in Plenti Points used and $12 in a combination of Plenti Points and Cash Rebates earned back, making this a $1.85 "spent down in Plenti Points" transaction for me.

1 x 150 load laundry detergent and 2 facial scrub products for $1.85 including tax isn't too bad, right 8-)

So that's about all I got here.
Did you find anything that was a good buy last week at the stores?

Sluggy

March To-Do List....Update

So how did I do with my March To-Do List?


MARCH

*  Pick up CB from School  DONE
Duly picked up and fed for a week while on Spring Break.

*  Take CB back to School  DONE
Hubs actually took him back.  My contribution was baking CB cookies to take back with him so he doesn't starve between end of break and the end of the semester.

*  Pay Bills  DONE
I done paid them all.  Go. Me.

*  Bike 65 Miles  FAIL

As you can see I only got in 46.18 miles.  I was falling off the mark mid month but still progressing and then I got a stomach flu.  8-(  No more bike at that point......

*  Paint 2 Items  FAIL
Nope.  Didn't do it.  But I did get my paints out.  Baby steps here people, baby steps.....

*  Sew and Complete 1 Item  IN PROGRESS
I decided to make canvas grocery bags.  I have a few rolls of canvas fabric and webbing/strapping I bought on eBay about 10 years ago.  I have cut out 2 bags so far.  I'll cut all of them out before production sewing them all at the same time.  I may not finish this project before the month is out however.

*  Mail CB's Taxes  DONE
CB came home, signed the forms and off they went to the IRS and State Revenue Departments.  He has already gotten his refund as well.
Boy, my kids never appreciate me until they leave home and have to do this shit on their own! lolz

*  Finish Book DONE
Was I ever glad to finish that one....what a snoozefest! lol

*  Nag Hubs about doing Local Taxes  DONE
He was duly nagged and last weekend he got around to doing them. ugh.

*  Buy Stuff for new Bathroom  DONE
We hit Ollies(Good Stuff Cheap!) a couple of weeks ago and picked up a new bath rug and a wastebasket that is smaller and fits in the space we have for one in the room now and spent about $12 total on those 2 things.
We also hit K-Mart the week before Ollie's and I got 2 nice white hand towels and a toothbrush holder for FREE, using my Shop Your Way Points.
Nice. 8-)

*  Seal Grout in new Bathroom  FAIL  
Despite my nagging efforts this didn't get done but will happen this coming weekend if I have to get down on the floor myself and do it.

*  Get Construction Binder from Tony  DONE
Finally had the post construction inspection and product/job binder is now in the house.
rah.

*  Plan trip to LA  IN PROGRESS
I've got the route there figured out and hotels booked for the "going" and the stay in LA.  Just have to figure out what route to take home, what to see, and where to sleep.  I hope to get this finished by next week.

Now it's time to work on my April To-Do List.

How did y'all do getting stuff on your list in March knocked off?

Sluggy