First I started the day by taking the kids to school… ok no biggie. Then on the way home, I stopped by Zieglers Foods (the locally owned small grocery store) and picked up some of the great meat buys. I nabbed 4 chickens, on sale for 79c a pound, and 1 pork roast which was on sale for $1.09 per pound. Isn’t that some pretty meat?
So I cut the roast in half and rubbed it with spices and such and set each half up in 2 of the crock pots. Then I seared some stew meat I already had in the fridge defrosting. While that sat resting in the pan, I chopped up some onions, carrot, celery, etc. and through all the vegetables in the last crock with some beef broth, mesquite flavoring, spices, and the meat of course. I topped it with a bay leaf and set it to low. YUMMY Mesquite flavored stew!
Then I seasoned some yard buzzards… more affectionately known as chickens LOL… and roasted them in the oven. I let them cool and deboned and shredded the meat to use in other dishes YAY! LOL.
While the chickens were roasting, I was outside in the garden. Do you know how hard it is to work out there with the aroma of sheer loveliness taunting your nose coming out of the kitchen window behind you? LMAO… ok so in the garden, I repotted my living Christmas Tree and pruned it good. See I HAD it on the front porch, but one of the stray kitties decided to dig it up and spray the pot. UGH! So some of it was dying. So it got a NEW and bigger pot, fresh dirt, a haircut, and lots of water and love! Keep your fingers crossed for him… but no get well cards please, as he can’t read LOL!
Then I removed the Porter Dark Cherry tomato plants OUT of my big planter. The celery was hiding it and it was cramped for space and sun. I put both plants in a big pot and fed/watered it well. I need to get a new cage because I hope now it will explode! As you can see they are much smaller than some of the other plants, which is odd cause they were lanted at the same time. I told ya, the celery was hogging all the dang sun, water, everything! That better be the best tasting celery I have ever had! LOL!
Remember me and my Giant Pumpkin plant? Ya’ll keep laughing… I hear you out there! LOL… I will get a 500 pound pumpkin out of that sucker! JUST watch me! LOL! It has WAY outgrown the 4inch pot I had it in, so it got a new gallow pot of yummy delicious dirt for it to thrive in… hopefully soon this too will need to upgrade! LMAO!
I also repotted my daughter’s regular pumpkin plant. These 2 are on their own now… bigger pots means they can no longer come inside to hide LOL! I’m keeping these 2 kind close together so they don’t get lonely. Not sure what pumpkins say to each other when I’m not around, but I’m sure its something seedy! LMAO!!!!!
No this is not a weed! Its corn! Yes my one lonely stalk LOL… I WILL get me an ear of corn!!!! Pretty soon it will have baby brothers and sisters, but right now it is an only child…. A healthy only child, but still an only child LOL!
I also tied up some berry vines and giggled over my pea pods LOL! (For those of you wondering, no I am not going insane, just having a bit of fun LOL). I did a lot of pruning to my tomato plants as they had some yellow foliage that needed to be discarded. Not sure if underwatering or nitrogen is to blame for the yellow leaves, so I am watching them real close!
Alrighty, so I came back in and took out the chickens. Deboned them and put the meat in the fridge. I sat and checked emails and chatted with my mom for a spell and then I was off! I checked the mail on the way out and I got my $5 Petsmart Gift card I was waiting on… YAY! OK, let’s go!
First I was off to Food Town where I found some BEAUTIFUL bunches of Cilantro on sale 3 for $1… got my 29c chicken bags and a few other in-store specials… one being 3 free cans of corn with my purchase with the coupon from their ad! WOOHOO I like free corn! The lettuce was 49 cents a head, macaroni 4 for a buck, tomato sauce 5 for a buck, and some other good sales too!
From there, I went to H.E.B. to get a few advertised deals. I found it was not fresh chicken thighs on sale for $1 a pound but Chicken thigh meat fajita packages 5 for 5… so I got one of those! Then they had Buy a Natures own bread, get a HEB bread (both Honey Wheat) FREE! Ok, got that in the basket. I also have a coupon for Nature’s Own bread, which made the loaf I had to buy cost only 75 cents! WOOHOO! And were walking… and STOP! I see the strangest thing! Dehydrated OKRA! I mean I have seen dried fruits, but NEVER okra! They were called Okra Snax. I tried one, expecting them to be vomitous but OMG they were pretty dang good! BUT they were $6.99… not exactly frugal, so they had to wait. I just grabbed a handful and wandered in the store LOL. OK so THEN I walk by an end cap which has Buy planters peanuts, get HEB Corn chips (generic Fritos) FREE. Hmmm… ok I get Dry Roasted Unsalted peanuts and will use them in an upcoming dinner… although I don’t quite know what yet LOL. Planters on sale for $2.37 a 16oz. jar and get free corn chips… and guess who just happens to have a coupon for $1.50 off any planters purchase!!! YEP! 87 cents for a normally $4-5 jar of nuts PLUS free chips… I’m diggin this! I also picked up a red onion and ¾ a pound of fresh jalapenos (on sale for 64 cents a pound too!) Time to check out! WOOHOO!
Then it’s off to Wal-Mart. Now this was fun… ok I had 2 free $5 gift cards that I got in the mail… well mom got one she didn’t want, and I got one. The store you had to use them at was too far for her… so she graciously gave me hers. Awesome. So I have $10 in free gift cards LOL! I find Tyson Boneless pork clearance for $4 and you guessed it… I have Tyson coupons! $2 off any fresh meat purchase! Gotta love it! So using one on each package made one of them FREE! WOOHOO! I picked up milk and some other things I needed there too. Grand total at Wal-Mart $11.93 minus $10 in gift cards = $1.93 for 2 packs of boneless pork, a gallon of milk, shredded cheese, 2 packs of tortillas, a pack of cream cheese, and about 10 chicken wings I ate for lunch while on the road LMAO! YAY! GO ME! (Ya got motion sickness yet? LMAO)
Oh, I have another bargain to tell you about too! Petsmart this time… I think this offer is running until the 18th or the 25th… I can’t remember which one. BUT when you buy 30 cans of Friskies or Purina (I think) cat food, you get a FREE reusable shopping bag! You have to make sure to pull the coupon from the shelf display. PLUS use those Friskies coupons fixing to expire on 5-7 and you save even more money… not even mentioning the cans are on sale for 40 cents each now. $12 for 30 cans, minus (at minimum… depends on your coupons) $2 in coupons = $10 for a case plus 6 loose cans of cat food PLUS a free reusable bag (retails for $2.99 I think). Then minus the $5 gift card I got in the mail on a rebate offer = $5 for a case + 6 cans plus a reusable bag! Not great, but not too shabby either. I like how the stores are getting on this reusable bag kick! Save the Earth people… Save the Earth!!!
This is what I ended up with, with the exception of the missing chicken and roast from this morning. Less than $25 for all of that + 2 items… pretty snazzy huh? Now THAT’S a FRUGAL MOM DAY! YAY! And before you ask, yes, my coupon folder goes EVERYWHERE with me… just in case ya know… for days like today! LOL! Time to pick up the kids! Band did well... they got a 1 on their performance (the best you can get) and then the school treated them to CiCi's pizza for lunch afterwards. I thought that was great. The kids all came to me excited about the day! I was very proud of all of them!
Ok, so I get home and get all this stuff put away and go to check the crockpots. Mind you the house smells absolutely to die for! I am rotating the pork and the dang bone falls out! Clean as a whistle LOL! Oh that’s gonna be some good eatin’ in a little while! I made some homemade fresh Pico De Gallo and put it in the fridge to chill. Wrap that baby up in some tortillas or cover it with Chili Con Carne and OMG! Are ya drooling yet? LOL!
So with all this going on, you wouldn’t think I had time for anything else, right? WRONG! LMAO… About 5pm, I get a knock on the door. It’s the daughter of one of my customers, needing a gift basket by TOMORROW at 4pm! A little short notice dontcha think? Good grief. Anyway, so she brings me her deposit and I have to go out again to get supplies. I am really appreciating the crockpots now! SO I fix everyone dinner… I eat too much and don’t want to go out LOL! But I head out on my mission. I walk and walk around aimlessly without a clue on what to do… it kinda hits me, so I get a few things I think will be appropriate and I head home. To exhausted to work, I make sure everything is put up and cleaned up and then the DS18 comes and asks me some very odd questions. 45 minutes of questions and answers and then they are off to bed… and so am I! The end to a very exhausting day! So this morning I have to assemble a “flirty” basket for my customer. I’m not sure what else I should do today… but I am wondering if I should fire up the crocks again LMAO!
Now crafty time… I figured I would stay with recycled crafts until Earth day. I know when I did the big recycled crafts weekend, everyone was really super cool into it, so I figured what’s a few more? LOL! Here is a really spiffy idea for some outside lights for things like BBQ’s and parties (color coordinate cans for more appeal LOL!). Just be careful… don’t play with fire and NEVER leave it unattended!
Craft Idea of the Day: Soda Can Lanterns
Materials:
Soda Can
Wire
Exacto knife
Candle
Directions:
First what you do is, you fill the can (not all the way though) with water and freeze it.
Then you cut the sides of the can with an exacto knife or box cutter.
To hang it, you have to leave the pop tab on and use that to attach some picture wire.
To be able to put a tea light in there, you have to hollow out a little niche for it because the bottom of the soda can is convex on the inside.
I just stuck a screwdriver through the top of the can and banged it out. it doesn't look too pretty but once the candle is in there, you don't see it anyway so it doesn't matter.
Isn’t that the coolest thing? You could use Pepsi for the patriotic holidays, Sunkist for Halloween, Squirt for Luaus, Big Red for Valentines, you name it! Now, I don’t know about you, but I am really really craving something sweet! Chocolate and sugar and OMG yummy deliciousness! I know back in the day, a favorite of my mom’s was eclairs. Well here’s how to make a really big éclair at home LOL… Just remember cut it into pieces! LMAO!
Chocolate Éclair Cake
Ingredients
2 individual packages graham crackers
2 (3 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
3 cups milk
1 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
4 Tablespoons butter
4 Tablespoons white corn syrup
6 Tablespoons of milk
2 teaspoon vanilla
3 cup powder sugar
Directions
Line the bottom of a 9x13-inch pan with graham crackers. In a large bowl, combine pudding mix and milk. Stir well. Stir in whipped topping to pudding mixture. Spread half of mixture over graham cracker layer.
Top with another layer of graham crackers and the remaining pudding. Top all with a final layer of graham crackers. Melt chocolate, butter, corn syrup and milk. Stir in vanilla and sugar. Spread on top of dessert.
Refrigerate until serving.
Ok, now that I am drooling for some chocolate, I’m gonna get off here and go work on putting that basket together and starting my day. I’ve got some parting wisdom for you today… NEVER leave the Ben-Gay by the Preparation-H… it can be a very HOT experience! LMAO! See ya tomorrow… HUGS!
No comments:
Post a Comment