More Grocery Talk

Well, I am amazed! You are all some pretty savvy shoppers! The comments in my last post are teaming with great advice. Keep it coming!!! One thing for sure, I plan to make my own laundry soap. I will purchase the products when I run out of my current bottle of soap.After hearing from several of you, I am convinced it will be a big money saver. I was a tad reluctant, wondering if it would really get my clothes clean, but if Milah can get her farmer husband's clothes clean, it will work for us! Speaking of Milah, she sent me some great links. One for a menu planner, one for a grocery planner, and one for a book that will find it's way to my shelf somehow! Thank you Milah. You have been so helpful! All of you have! I loved what Cheryl said....."We may not like shopping, and we may especially not like some of the stores we visit; but we need to remember one thing. When we're out, we're not in the stores just to do our shopping, we're also there to be salt and light to a dying world. Undertaking the shopping with that in mind sheds a whole new light on the matter."

I did my weekly shopping.....I went to all 3 stores, and kept to my budget. First I will share my menu for the week. I do not plan breakfast or lunches out formally, but I make sure there are a variety of breakfast and lunch foods handy. Our dinners this week will be:

Fried Chicken Tenders w/Mashed Potatoes and white gravy served with Peas

(that was Sweetheart's request)

A Beef, Noodle and Tomato Casserole

Burgers on the grill w/ grill broiled potatoes

Spaghetti and Meatballs with homemade bread

Hot Dogs and Chips.....gotta eat em once in a while

Breakfast for Dinner: Eggs, Ham, Potatoes, and Toast

BBQ'd Chicken on the grill with mashed Potatoes and Corn

Like Niki, I do not have each night picked out. I am never strict enough to stick to a specific meal on a specific night. When I get up in the morning I look at my menu plan and decide which one I want. It is the "Char" in me.....Char would be my mom. I need to have some of the spontaneity of her in my meal prep! By the way, Mom went to Walmart and Kroger with me today. Her shopping habits have not changed. Her list for Walmart was.....napkins, coffee, unmentionables, and cereal. She walked out spending 83 bucks!! Uh huh. I won't bore you with my list and what I bought where....I bought all I could (or would) at Aldi, then I got whatever else at Walmart, minus the coffee and ground chuck. Let's talk coffee.....

I buy decaf. Decaf is expensive! At Aldi, it is no real deal and it is a powdery substance instead of the normal "grounds" It clogs my pot and overflows it. Walmart's coffee is no real bargain either, however, Kroger has a great deal on their coffee. Also ground chuck. I use to buy 3 pound packages and use ONE per meal. I know....crazy, and alot of it got thrown out. Pick you jaw u p off the floor.....I am no longer doing that. I buy 3 pound packages and split them in 2 and freeze them.This week it was $1.67 per pound. I really dislike the ground chuck at Aldi and Walmart. It is worth the extra for me to get good meat. We eat A LOT of ground chuck!Of course wrapping it for the freezer was no big deal....quilter's always have freezer paper on hand!!

The kids have gotten use to generic cereal. The little kids had no problem but I was concerned about Kyle. He has been a trooper about it to.No more Hefty or Ziploc. I have had no real problems with the Great Value brand of baggies or garbage bags. The price difference is HUGE!There will come a time when I can buy in bulk again, but for now I am sticking with what I need for the week. After that there is nothing left over. I am getting this rocket science a bit more each week!!!

One of my "things" is diet soda. I was able to get a case for 5 bucks today. WOOHOO!!!So keep sharing your shopping tips and if you make your own laundry soap, let me know how it is working for your clothes and your wallet.

Poor Sass......She was all worn out. She took her nap in Zach's lap. What wore her out so badly??????Yep. That is the screen over my kitchen sink, which means she was ON THE COUNTER!!! She saw a bug and HAD to get it. Grrrrr. All that money I saved and now I have to get more screening. Thank goodness I have a handy Sweetheart.

Grandkids come tomorrow!! I am teaching a hand quilting class at the local quilt shop on Saturday from 10-1, so say a prayer all goes well. Until then, keep those tips coming! Maybe you could do your own post on grocery shopping. Let me know if you do!

Blessings, Bren

Food Budgets

Grocery shopping has always been a struggle for me. I am not good on a budget. I have tried many times over the years and failed after only a few short weeks. It is a mind set, really. You have so much money to spend on food and you work your menu plan/grocery list accordingly. How simple is that? For me it is rocket science! I do not remember my mother ever making a menu plan or even a list. In fact, she went to the grocery store several times a week....sometimes as many as 5 times. We ate out a lot too....not out in restaurants, but she would grab a pizza or a bucket of chicken on her way home from work. Working moms lead a very different life and making dinner after working for 9 hours is not something I would look forward to either. Big grocery shopping trips would be terrible, as your days off would be spent in a crowded grocery store. It was much easier to stop at the store on your way home from work and grab what you needed for the evening. That is what she did.
I never remember seeing a coupon. I know she never looked at prices....she still doesn't, and the only list she has is to make sure she gets those things she needs without forgetting. Menu planning??? I never remember that either. It was, "What sounds good for dinner?", then you ran to the store and got what you needed. It was all I knew. I have been married for 30+ years and Sweetheart will tell you, if he could change one thing about me, it would be that I was a skilled food shopper. I have friends who shop on a teeny tiny budget and they eat better than we do. My Pastor's wife recently mentioned she spends $60 a week on groceries for her family of 4, and that includes diapers and cleaning supplies. That sounds a bit tight to me, but they look healthy and well fed. She does have a garden, but not a large one. How do people do it??? I cut my grocery bill from approximately $300 a week (which included eating out), down to $200. That was a couple of years ago. Then I cut it to $150....that was hard. I only shopped at one store. A Kroger store. Now I have cut my budget to $100 a week. Incredible, I know.
This means I have to shop at 3 different stores.....I HATE grocery shopping. I mean I REALLY hate it. I tell my kids, "Do not use the word hate....it's not nice.", but I really HATE grocery shopping. I am looking at this as a challenge. So far, so good.Another problem with my food budget is, I always run out of things....milk, bread, eggs, and need to run back mid week. This gets me in trouble, because I am known for running in for a a loaf of bread and coming out with 6 bags of "stuff" and $70 less in my bank account. I made up my mind that if we run out of something, too bad. That was until I ran out of laundry soap and we had no clean clothes! I would have normally ran up to Walgreens and spent $8 on a teeny tiny bottle to get me by. Instead I ran to Walmart (which is the WORST of the stores for me) and bought a large bottle for $6. I have a stash of $30 set aside in cash. If I need anything I can take from that $30. This was the first time in 2 weeks I needed to do that, but now it will come off my food budget. I must say, that $6 hurt! Once you start counting the actual dollars, it is amazing how easily they can get spent if you are not watching. So how are we eating? Pretty darn good. We have had homemade cookies twice in the last couple of weeks, and even though tomorrow is grocery shopping day, the kids still have treats, and snacks, and there is enough food for many lunches and a couple of dinners still left in the freezer. Bread is low, as is milk, but there is enough to last til tomorrow.
So I am learning rocket science.....slow but sure. How is your food budget? Any tips for a slow learner??? Maybe I will share what I actually bought and my menu plan for this next week, so you can help me along.Sassy still gets her Fancy Feast and Purina One....I worked it into the budget and she is happy about that!
Blessings, Bren

Work Day/Fun Day

Friday found Sassy spending much of her day on bug patrol. That cat LOVES bugs! Birds are her next favorite, but bugs rank way up there! Friday was a work day for me. I spent most of the day in the kitchen. I made homemade meatballs and spaghetti sauce, (not so homemade), all put into the crockpot to simmer the day away.
I also made homemade chocolate chip cookies. Sweetheart has been asking for them for a while! Since he took the day to go work at his mom's house, I thought I would treat him. He was very pleased!Charlotte made bread. Now Charlotte is a wonderful little kitchen helper. Yesterday, however, was a struggle. We were experimenting on whether or not she needed her meds. Her hyperactivity is completely gone. Her behavior was great over the few days we stopped her ADD meds. I was certain it was a go to stop the daily pill I dread giving her. That is until it came time to supervise her reading of a recipe. Oh. My. Gosh. The poor girl could not get it right for ANYTHING. (we are on Spring break so there has been no school.) She said, "My brain won't let me see it correctly." We worked together, but our experiment was over. Though we are lowering her dosage, she still needs to have her meds to focus. We finally managed to get the dough going with the proper amount of the correct ingredients!This pull apart bread was a HUGE hit. The recipe is in the previous post!With all the kitchen work, I had sink full after sink full of dishes......I will share something strange about myself with you all. Have you ever heard of a fleece? A fleece is where you say to God, "If You do this, then I will know I am suppose to do this." Well I don't do that. I do not believe in fleeces, however, I make deals, which many of you may say is the same as a fleece. I am not making a deal with God....I am telling myself something. For example, I told myself if Hope (the sick little cat we cared for) survived, then my son's family would survive too. It was a deal I made with myself. Of course, you know Hope died and so did my son's family. Now I have convinced myself that if I wash all my dishes by hand, another situation will resolve itself. Crazy, I know! LOL. My poor mother offered to buy me dishwasher soap thinking I was doing the dishes by hand for the last week because I had none. I actually have a brand new package, unopened under the sink. When there is a situation I can not control, or even begin to fix, I have to feel like I am doing something.....I do pray also. I actually pray about that new situation while washing dishes!!
So that was the work day.....Now the fun day. NO WORK TODAY. Sweetheart went back to his mom's this morning and took Charlotte with him. That left me and the boys (Kyle and Zach). On Easter, my son, Bud, brought me a new card game.He knew we loved Phase 10 and this is a new version with a twist. I LOVED IT....so did my mom, so she came to spend the day while my dad golfed.That is her talking to the drug store on speaker phone. We played a series of 3 games. Well, Bud stopped over and played most of a game that I had started with her, but we did not count that in the series. If we did, I would have won and she could not have that. So she beat me, seriously, 2 out of 3 games. At the end she gloats and says in a sing song tone, "Add em up, Buttercup." She is a very gracious winner.....NOT! We also made a quick run to Target and then out to lunch. Truly a fun day.
I have also been working on the flowers of the Underground Railroad Sampler over the last few days. I have all 4 sides DONE. Now just 1 more flower in each of the corners, which will be done tonight and then on to the leaves.
It is so much fun picking fabrics to create the different flowers.There are only 4 colors in this quilt (not counting the gold stars and centers of the flowers). Brown, Green, Blue, and Red. I can not pick a red fabric for the bigger base flower, because of the red border. It would never show up. This limits me greatly, but the challenge has been enjoyable.Since it is "fun day" I am not cooking.....hot dogs on the grill and chips for dinner! Better get them on before Sweetheart and Charlotte get home.
Hope you had a fun day too!!!
Blessings, Bren

Sue's Pull Apart Bread Recipe

My new favorite bread recipe. WE LOVED IT!!!!Savory Pull-Apart Rolls (one pound recipe)
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon basil or thyme
1 1/2 teaspoons Yeast

Pull all ingredients in breadmaker in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Run machine on dough cycle. (Or combine bread ingredients in the usual way (I put all dry ingredients, including yeast, in mixing bowl and mix them together, then add wet ingredients one at a time, leaving heated milk or water till last. I used the hottest water from the tap or microwave milk for 2 minutes, then drizzle water in and mix...the yeast will rise well every time.)

If bread maker is used, first rising is already done at the end of the dough cycle, follow directions in the next paragraph. If not, allow dough to rise until at least doubled. Punch down and now move on to next paragraph.

Pull small balls off of dough, about the size of a golf ball, roll them in melted butter (about 3 tablespoons, melted) and place them in the bottom of a greased (I use cooking spray) bundt or ring pan. Do this until all dough is used up, first filling bottom of pan and then piling them on top of the bottom row. Allow to rise 20-30 minutes, until at least doubled, then bake in a 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool just for a minute or two on a wire rack, then invert onto a plate and remove the pan.

(I did not have a ring pan so I used an 8x8 square baking pan. Also, I added garlic powder to the melted butter to make it a garlic style bread since it was spaghetti night.)

Thanks Sue!!!!!

Easter Weekend

I meant to get here yesterday to post on our Easter weekend, but spent my day cleaning house and putting my feet up while appliqueing flowers. Well, I finally made it. Better late than never!

Our Easter weekend was beautiful. It started Friday when the grandbabies came for an overnight. We spent the gorgeous day outside.....well, some of us.Someone had to stay inside and try to catch bugs through a screen!
The rest of us had fun playing in the great outdoors. Sidewalk chalk is always a favorite.
Remember when you still had the freedom to do this...........for absolutely no apparent reason???? Ahhh, to be young again!
Speaking of young, Emmie loved the backyard!She spotted Paw Paw's lawn mower which just got cleaned up and ready for another year. She thought it looked very interesting.She looked at it and then looked up at me and said "Owie". I told her, "Yes, that part is an owie." She moved on to the front....smart kid.It will be a few years!
Frizbee fun!!!!!!We had our "Easter Morning" on Saturday, as the kids had to go back to mom on Saturday night. The kids chose to fill plastic eggs with candy instead of coloring eggs. It was the first Easter in 28 years I did not color eggs. Is it terrible that I did not miss it????Saturday morning's hunt was such fun. Emerson loved it!!Mmmmmmmm. M&M's for breakfast!
Zach hit the jackpot!It was a great weekend. We celebrated Easter Day with my family. Mom, Dad, my sister and her family, my Aunt and her family, and all 4 of my children. We cooked steak, burgers, brats, chicken, and hot dogs on the grill. Potato salad, baked beans, mac and cheese, fruit, veggies, chips & dip, and carrot cake, brownies, and pineapple pudding cake were all enjoyed! I am still full! Sad part is, I did not take ONE picture of that day. I kicked myself later. I was so busy and enjoyed myself so much that I forgot completely.
Our Easter weekend was so beautiful, weather-wise, but the last couple of days have been stormy. Night before last, we were hit with 70 mph winds with gusts up to 90 mph and quarter size hail. The rain was massive and it was a bit tense for a while. It past quickly, but then we had another 2 rounds, not as severe as the first, but certainly warning level. Today it looks stormy again. That is ok....April showers bring May flowers, right?
Stormy days are great for sewing. I am hoping to be able to get some more flowers on the UGRR sampler. Only 8 more to go and then on to the leaves. Sassy has kept me company. It seems that she is drawn to any facet of quilting....even the hard box of threads become a comfort to her!!!Thanks for visiting! Praying your Easter weekend was as blessed as mine!
Blessings, Bren

A Winner

I had a wonderful weekend with the kids and a beautiful family Easter celebration. I will come back tomorrow and post on that, but for now we have a winner to announce! Drum roll please..................................................

And the winner is....................

Rose Marie!

I need a couple of weeks to make something special for Rose Marie. I have a gorgeous wallhanging from Rose Marie hanging in my sewing area. It is the pride of the room. Her hand and machine quilting is compared to none....that's because is it is so incredibly good that it is in a category all it's own! Talk about intimidating!!! My hands are shaking!

I will do my best. Thank you all for entering and mostly for supporting me in my new venture!

See you tomorrow!

Blessings, Bren

A Blessed Easter To You

From my home to yours....may you find the joy of Easter every day!

He Is Risen!!!!

Blessings~ Bren

A Day At Home

What a wonderful day it was. Yesterday was perfect. The sun was shining, windows open, Spring break started and I had the house to myself. I was not home alone, mind you, but I may as well have been. Sweetheart spent the day, into the evening, at his mom's house working hard. For him that is a perfect day too! The kids were outside playing, literally, ALL day. I had to call them in at 7:30 last night. So what did I do with my time? Well, I had lots of plans....they changed many times over the course of the day. My first plan was to put dinner in the crockpot.That big ol chicken cooked all day. The house smelled wonderful. Only problem??? Sweetheart called and would not be home for dinner. That was fine....he was having fun. So that big ol chicken will be tonight's dinner....we ordered gyros and burgers and had them delivered.

Next plan....run that completely LOADED dishwasher. It was full to the brim. I reach under the sink for the dishwasher soap and there is NOTHING. Plan B for the dishes????5 sink fulls later, all the dishes were washed, dried and put away. I actually enjoyed this process. The window over the sink was open. A soft, warm, breeze came through and the birds were singing a special concert just for me. No background noise in the house....just me, the birds, and the warm sudsy water. Plan B was not too bad after all.

So with everyone occupied outside and no one needing me, which sewing project would I do? I really need to get the Hidden Star pieced. I had no desire to do that. Plus, I reasoned, if I was downstairs tucked away, I could not keep an eye on the kids. I would continue working on the applique border of the Underground Railroad Sampler. It is on my goal list, so I told myself it was a good choice.I needed to cut and prep more flowers, Each side of border will have 5 flowers. Each corner will have a cluster of flowers. I decided to complete one side of the border, or at least get it all set and a good jump on it. Sassy was a huge hindrance. She decided all my applique supplies looked like fun.Finally I pulled the quilt top out and set it on the couch. INSTANTLY she claimed it for herself.That gave me time to prep more flowers and centers. In between, I checked on the kids, who were riding bikes and playing out front. They also had a big blanket on the ground and Zach was playing his gameboy while Charlotte crocheted dish cloths. They even ate their lunch out on that blanket. I think the temp was 70 easily. All day long, not one fight or argument...not even one time of bickering! It really was a perfect day!

I got my flowers all prepped and was able to complete all 5. Now granted the base flowers were already there for 4 of them, but they all were so much fun to do.While working on these I convinced myself that my son would not appreciate a new quilt in the middle of the summer......wouldn't a Christmas quilt be so much more loved? I plan to give his children quilts for Christmas, and giving him his at that time would be perfect.
It took me 4 flowers to talk myself into that new plan. I think it is a fine one. A tad on the selfish side, but if you are doing something you are loving, keep going! This quilt has been in the works for more than 4 years. My friend Coleen and I planned to make it together. She has a few blocks done, but could not complete it. I went ahead and made mine. Once I decided on the applique border, it got put aside. Why? It was waiting for the perfect time....I am so thrilled to have this kind of hand work right now.I am enjoying this border so much I can't wait to get side 2 done! Today is suppose to be just as glorious. Maybe I can figure out a way to add some more flowers today. Laundry, and grocery shopping are on today's list. My grandchildren come tomorrow and I am over the moon to see them. We will do Easter morning on Saturday here so they can experience it with us. In the meantime, I will enjoy today as much as I did yesterday. Praying your day will be as blessed as mine!
Blessings~ Bren