Happy Birthday, Linda!

Today was my mother-in-law's birthday!  She and Milton came up for a quick visit.  We had a great time.  I'm pretty sure I talked her ear off the first day she arrived.  Guess I've missed girl time since the big move.  We also....
1) Drove all over New Jersey.  I'm pretty sure I'd still be lost if she hadn't been in the car with me
2) Went to a movie.  I cried my eyes out.  It was a good one...more to come on that later.
3) Ate Korean food.  Yummy.  I love the rice noodles.
4) Visited a local deli...Valiani.  I think the parent-in-laws enjoyed seeing the Jersey culture at this fine establishment (and the food was to die for of course)

Happy Birthday.  Thanks for coming...don't stay away for too long!

I Miss You, Norfolk

Today, Joel predicted I would write about the things I miss in Norfolk.  I decided he came up with a pretty good idea....so here you go.

1)  Ohhh...epic and electronic charting.  How I miss you!

2) Community Group...are you sure you don't want to move to NJ?  We have a larger house, now.  I think we could all fit!

3) Trinity Presbyterian.  I miss Jack's sermons and the style of worship music.

4)  NCHS basketball.  I'll never forget you!  (I know you are also amazing at football and cheerleading...but I always got too cold to enjoy these sports).

5)  Ocean.  Sea Glass.

6)  My beautiful niece, Kalen....I miss your hugs!

7).  Doggy door.  I miss the freedom of NOT having to walk Maddie everyday!

I'm Ready For One of Those

Me,  "Joel, can I have one of those?"

Joel replies in joking voice, "You want to go to the store tomorrow?"

Me, "Yes, but I don't know how I would ever choose which baby I wanted...I think I would pick them all."

Joel, "Yeah, that might be kind of hard."

Me,  "Yeah, I'm glad I get to sleep in, eat and drink what I want, and give  babies back to their parents right now.."

Saving Money-Day 8-A Small Fortune

I've concluded that I have spent a small fortune on cleaning products in my short life.  Paper towels, Swiffer microfiber cloths and countless other products have probably prohibited me from having a really nice wardrobe/masters degree/fill in the blank.  When I gave up using paper towels, I decided to quit on my swiffer cloths also.  I just slap a cloth microfiber cloth towel (I've even used old terry cloth rags) on the sweeper and clean away.  I'm still horrified every time I pull the cloth off.  Seriously, I should be swiffering twice a day!  Thus, I've come to conclude that cloth rags work just as well as those expensive throw-away type.  PLUS, I'm not spending $5 for 16 measly wipes, which will probably last 8 weeks at the most.  That is $32.50 a year if you use two swiffer cloths a week.  I know $32.50 a year is not a lot, but it's all the little things that add up folks!

Towel

Attach towel to swiffer

I'm a little embarrassed by this, but I wanted to show that this really works

I additionally save money by wetting the towel with a mixture of windex and water.  I feel this works even better than wet swiffer pads because of the fibers in the towel. So,  if I wash my floors twice a week with a re-usable cloth instead of a disposable one, I will save approximately $46/year.  (In order to find this number, I found online that 12 wipes cost about $5.30.  If one uses 2/week the box will last 6 weeks.  6 into 52 [the number of weeks in a year] is 8.67.  8.67 x $5.30= about $46.


$46 +32.50= $78.50 savings per year.

Jersey Misunderstood...

There are a few misconceptions about Jersey I'd like to clear

1) Rude people.  I have not found this to be true at all.  In fact, I think the people here are actually more friendly than any other place I've lived....I've met more close and extended neighbors here than I have in any other state.

2) Ugly.  Obviously anyone who says this about our geography and neighborhoods have not really seen the state.  Yes..there are some urban areas.  Don't those exist in every state...not to mention most towns?(outside of Jersey of course)

3) Jersey shore....yeah, not a lot of Snookie's wandering around here.  Although, a lot of the 20 year old men do resemble the guys on the show.

4) Churchless.  I have a feeling this area could contend with the Bible Belt.

Righty-Oh...that's all I can think of for now (I've been hanging out with a couple of people from the UK lately)

Saving Money Day 7-Grocery Time

All of the blogs I've read about saving money state it's imperative to cut down on grocery cash.  Some people only spend $25 per person per week.  This seems IMPOSSIBLE to me.  While I'm not sure if I'll ever make it to the $25 dollar mark, I did cut about $20 out of my grocery bill this week.  Here's what I've done so far:

1) Plan, Plan, Plan.  I have a menu written out on our refrigerator.  This is so unlike me.  I try to be a list person, but it seems that the list gods hate me.  I can never stick to them!  It seems to be working in this aspect of my life at least.

2) I've started adding more beans to our diet.  This way we don't have to spend as much money on meat, which is very expensive.  I searched for vegetarian recipes and picked out a few I thought Joel and I would like.  I will supplement them with chicken breasts which seems counter intuitive, right?  Why would I look up vegetarian recipes if I'm just going to add meat?  The beans/pasta in the recipes help supplement all of the meat I would normally use.  Now, instead of needing 3 chicken breasts for dinner, we'll be full on one.

3) I wrote a list of all the items in our pantry and spice cupboard.  This helps me determine what I have to use in meals.  It also keeps me from accruing multiples of one item.  This is a waste...especially when it comes to spices.

4) I started eating oatmeal for breakfast EVERY morning.  I like it and it is much cheaper than store bought cereal.  It's also better for you.  Joel's not into eating "hot food when it's hot outside" so I made him his own granola.

5) We're cutting down on soda.  I know I've said this since I was 20.  I do buy ONE case of soda/week, but that is all. We've started supplementing our soda habit with 2 liter bottles of seltzer water.  The 2 liter bottles are less expensive, and they give you that fizz you just need sometimes.  Seltzer water is also healthier than Diet Coke.

6) Coupons-I don't use them.  I've tried.  It seems to me they are only offered on name brand items that are unhealthy...like Cheetos.  Maybe I'm just bad at couponing.

Anybody have some more tips for me?

Saving Money-Day 6-Making My Own Granola

That's right folks.  I made my own granola.  It's really tasty and super easy to make.  For the most part I followed this recipe.  Since I was baking during the middle of Irene, I decided I would forgo the trip to the grocery store.  Here's MY recipe.
1 cup steel cut oatmeal, uncooked
1 cup rolled oats, uncooked
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (optional...I added it for fun and liked it)
pinch of salt
1/3 cup slivered almonds, chopped (I skipped this b/c I don't like nuts in my cereal AND we didn't have any)
1/4 cup honey, warmed to liquid
1/4 cup light olive oil (or 4TBS butter, melted)
1/2 cup golden raisins or other dry fruit (I skipped this because Joel's not a huge fan of raisins and we didn't have any other type of dried fruit)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and almonds.  In a glass measuring cup, warm honey until it is no longer viscous.  Add olive oil (or butter) to the honey and stir.

Drizzle the honey oil over the dry ingredients and mix to combine.  Spread the mixture on a baking sheet or in a 9 by 3" pan.

Bake granola until golden and crunchy, stirring once, anywhere from 15-25 minutes.  Stir in raisins.  Makes about 3 cups.

So, I mainly changed the type of oats from the other recipe.  Enjoy eating granola that does not cost $5 per package!  It's also a super yummy snack.