Extra Savings Tactics

Loyalty Cards!
I have a key chain dedicated just for customer loyalty cards.
Some stores will have great deals on foods, and then there's a special markdown if customers have their loyalty card. That's how I got my rib-eye down from sixty dollars to twenty dollars.

A lot of stores are now working the internet...
Emailing coupons (I scored a free package of Kraft singles).
Pre-loading their customer card with coupons (I got a free pound of bacon and a free gallon of milk)
And manual customer coupon clipping to their loyalty cards. Where the customer looks online for the weekly specials and manually load those coupons to their card or print/clip.

CVS's loyalty card on the other hand...
The stores have a coupon kiosk
You just have to scan your card at that kiosk until the screen tells you there are no more coupons.
Sometimes they're good, sometimes they're junk. It's a crapshoot.

Another money saver

Reusable bags.
A lot of stores will give your a slight discount if you shop with a reusable bag.
Target and Tom Thumb do this. I believe Market Street also participates. It's five cents per bag. But if it's a large shopping trip, you can get a decent discount on top of your coupons and loyalty discounts.

Speaking of these bags and CVS, you should be able to find a GREEN TAG. You put this scan tag on one of your reusable bags and you get bucks back. Not actual dollar bills, but "good for your next shopping trip on any product" bucks. This tag is 99 cents. I've only looked at one CVS location for this. I'm not a big CVS/Walgreen's shopper unless I have stackable coupons.

Then this gets into bonus bucks/free gas/register rewards. I haven't done any of this yet so I'm not going into details. But it's if you buy a certain product or spend a certain dollar amount on certain products, you get "like cash back" coupons that are good for your next shopping visit.

10 years ago and now

I was getting ready to go to school (college) - my second semester. I had remedial math and a US history class.

I was eating breakfast in the living room and just turned on the TV. The first tower had already been hit. I saw the second plane hit. I called my mom into the living room to see. I called Ryan to wake him up and let him know.

I went to school anyway.
My math teacher was not willing to discuss the issue and plowed through class.
My history teacher asked about it and some dumb guy said something about "them damn Iraqi's." I made the statement that we didn't know who did it. Point, set, match. We didn't do anything for the rest of the class.

I got home and stayed glued to the TV for a while.
Found out about two more planes. One hit, one miss.
I had some newspapers for history's sake. But I got rid of them.

Today, I have the news that my eldest uncle passed away.

Other dates in history...
The Challenger mission with the teacher on board. We watched that in school. I was in first grade. I don't know why, but my vision (the image in my head) says I was in 3rd grade. I don't know. I just remember watching it and it exploding. I don't remember my feelings about it.

Obama's inauguration.
I watched the whole thing in school. My first year teaching and I had a student who refused to watch history because of the color of the man's skin.

Couponing Tactics

Yup, there's Google and a ton of excellent resources. But I thought I'd go ahead share how I save money.

1. Sign up for or subscribe to websites that do coupon matching for free.
Couponing101 is a great start. I get so many emails about coupon match-ups, free samples and other deals. It's ridiculous!

2. LIKE product/brand pages on Facebook/Twitter... they tell you about special deals/samples/coupons all the time!

3. Sunday newspapers & eBay are excellent resources for getting coupons. My local library also has a monthly coupon swap. Also ask your friends. I also print coupons from places like Target's coupon page. Sometimes you can find coupons IN or ON products.

4. Sign up with product/brand WEBSITES. Sometimes they email special promos.

5. Shopper loyalty cards. Forfeit your personal info (email at least) - you will benefit! I have a key ring with just those.

6. Using coupons...
Manufacturer coupon + store coupon + rollback/price cut = big savings!

7. Lame and tedious as it is, but reward codes in packages (for me, it's Huggies) can be redeemed for some good stuff. I have two free magazine subscriptions and a big Starbucks card coming to me.

There ya go. That's how I've saved money by using coupons.
No, this doesn't include register rewards or same-as-cash rewards from chain stores yet. But it's basically a discount on your purchases.

Awesome

August!!!

Everything has been pretty hectic all of August. The move, work and more work. I hope to get back on a regular "schedule" for myself.

Sadly, Ryan wasn't able to land a job in any local schools. However, had he gotten a job, we would have had to buy another car (hello increased gas and insurance prices) and find child care for Ivy (which is, duh, expensive). He did some math and figured out that we'd be making (saving, keeping, whatever) less money that way. So he has joined the ranks of Stay-At-Home-Dads. Of course, I'm going to try to generate his photography business for senior portraits for him too.

Work for me has been.... different. I had 7 days of in-service. And I just got through my first week with the kids. The difference with the kids is the schedule. I have only 3 classes, but they're about 90 minutes each. And so far, the kids themselves are great. But of course, I have high opinions of all my students anyway. Class sizes are rather large due to RIFs, but my food science course really needs to have fewer students. There's no possible way 30 students can work in such a small room with 4 kitchens.


It is really different working with a department of teachers, instead of being THE department. I get to have ideas and share with other teachers who teach the same thing as me! Such a difference. I get ideas! The downside is that I (we) don't have our own classrooms so we share for now. I think we may have our own once the building gets completed. It's hectic moving classrooms and not having my own space. But the good thing with that is... I don't accumulate stuff. People are asking me "Do you want" and I cut them off right there. Even my buddy teachers... "Don't you want to set up an area for yourself over here?" Nope, not really. I accumulate too much. And I am now in the wonderful habit of getting things out. Throwing out, donating...



I'm excited about Homecoming though. I've already got two students ordering mums. I'm venturing out and offering more choices. Wrist mums, hair mums and ring mums. A lot of the kids seem interested. So there will be a week in September that I will be working only on mums. I love being crafty though.

I have been coupon crazy lately though. Let's see, some highlights for August... A free gallon of milk, a free pack of bacon, free Kraft singles cheese, free Pantene, free Herbal Essences. All this free stuff here... $16.28. WAHOO!!!

Another highlight is back to school supplies. I missed the $.10 composition notebooks at Staples. But I did snag $25 worth of notebook paper for $.25. TWENTY FIVE CENTS! A whole whopping QUARTER!

And one more worth mentioning. Got some rib eye steaks. With my shoppers card, they were $3.99 a pound. They looked good so I went ahead and got them. A pack of 4. Normal price, $60. On sale for about $36 (no shoppers card, that's a pretty good deal anyway). But with my shoppers card... $21. And Ryan and I can probably share each one, they're that BIG. That's FOUR steak dinners. Oh! And speaking of meat. There was a sale going on somewhere else where pork chops were BOGO. No kidding! I THINK that was a $7 savings. Compared to the steak, that's all whoopdeedoo, but still BOGO?

So August savings... $172.51

And FYI, my total savings for July was $62.82. HUGE improvement.



Now, here's where things get strange-ish. Since I have to be presentable for work, I had to get some actual clothes. Last year, I got to wear chef gear. Not anymore. Everything I've gotten has been discounted, on clearance, or on sale. I paid full price on only TWO things - out of about 25 pieces, including shoes. I've learned my lesson. Sign up for the freaking emails. Discounts galore! I will not pay full price anymore, or rarely will.

Menu Plan Mondays...
Here is last weeks - August 21

Sunday - Enchiladas
Monday - LO
Tuesday - Hamburgers
Wednesday - Pork chops and mashed potatoes
Thursday - Pizza
Friday - LO
Saturday - Brisket and potato salad

Here is this week's MPM -
Sunday - Pork chops and LO potato salad
Monday - Chili dogs
Tuesday - Enchiladas
Wednesday - LO
Thursday - Nachos
Friday - Pizza
Saturday - Pizza

Menu Plan Monday August 7-13

Sunday - Strange day. Didn't eat supper really. Had like two lunches. Meh But I made crockpot meatballs today.
Monday - Meatball sandwiches
Tuesday - Leftovers
Wednesday - Hot dogs
Thursday - Leftovers (either more hot dogs or frito chili pie)
Friday - No plan, family in town
Saturday - No plan, family in town

I didn't want to hassle myself last week with a menu and moving. Couldn't find the plates and stuff for three days. So we (tragically) ordered in. Not too thrilled, nor is my waistline. We are now living a more urban location, we've got restaurants coming out of our ears! What are you hungry for? So many choices!! We will, however miss Chiloso (sadface).

See more menus! Menu Plan Monday!

Move and groove and move and groove!

I hate moving.

I hate moving and it is such a shame that we move so much. Every two years on average.

I moved in with my husband a few months before our wedding. A very cheap apartment(1), but decent quality. Two years later, I graduated college and we moved so I could go to graduate school. We stayed in our second apartment(2) for about a year. We decided that their increased rates weren’t worth it. So we moved into a cheaper place.

We stayed in this apartment(3) for two years. I had finished my teaching certification and accepted a position about an hour away. We lived in the next apartment(4) for one year. Then we decided to have a baby. So we moved into a larger apartment(5) in the same complex. One of the easiest moves ever! Two doors down. Our stay in apartment number 5 was for two years. Our largest apartment yet.

We are now on apartment 6. We moved back to the same city as apartments 2 and 3. I interviewed for, was offered and accepted a new teaching position.

The last few days of July, we were rushing: to find an apartment and get a move-in date and  to pack stuff and get rid of things we didn’t want. We ‘hired’ a lot of help. Someone to help pack the truck. A couple more people to help unload the truck and someone to watch the baby.

(8/1)

We arrived to our new apartment complex to find out that they did not get our apartment ready. So they decided to give us an upgraded ‘model’ apartment at the same price as the original apartment. Keep in mind we had already changed our forwarding address, drivers licenses, electricity, internet and all this crap. But at least we got an apartment. It’s just horrible that we were moving in 110+ degree weather.

(8/2)

Our second day in the apartment, our electricity got cut off. Ryan was afraid that it was because of the electricity accounts. Turns out it was because a company was doing some work. No warning. So we went to the city library and got our library cards! 

Ryan was able to get on the internet and fix some of the accounts to the correct address. This was Ivy’s first library trip. She had fun running around, climbing the stairs... until she ran smack into a glass wall. Poor thing. It mostly startled or scared her than it did hurt her. All I could do was laugh. Of course I picked her up and comforted her. But she was okay and running around immediately. She’s pretty clumsy – and gets over it quickly.

(8/3)

Day three... I had meetings all day long. The first meeting was getting my new hire paperwork in and going over benefits. Then we had harassment training. We had a lunch break and I’d been wanting sushi. There was a place in front of the second meeting location. Convenient! It was also pretty tasty. The second meeting was FOUR HOURS LONG. About something I was already familiar with. PDAS. I’d already had the same training. And I have been PDASed every year. I nearly fell asleep. It was ridiculous.

We are finally getting stuff unpacked and put away. We are also going through everything and donating or trashing what we don't want or need.

Today (8/6) we finally got internet hooked up to the apartment. It's nice to be able to look at websites I frequent on a screen larger than a credit card. Typing now sounds strange. It's annoying.

An afterthought... websites say that toddlers don't do well with this kind of change. Ivy has done amazingly. She naps like normal. She sleeps like normal. The only problem is that she's able to get into more stuff the way the rooms are laid out.

I cannot wait to get back on a regular menu. We've ordered in (or had those leftovers) every night since we got here. Mainly because unpacking and crap takes so much out of us, we don't really want to cook. However, I'm determined to get us back on track tomorrow.

Dita Von Teese & Burlesque

I don't know how I got into it, but I have an interest in burlesque. I love watching people perform. And I knew about Dita for the longest time. I have casually been keeping an eye on her performances just waiting to see if she'd come anywhere near Texas. I would never see anything in the states unless it was in California. Right, like I'm going to CA.

I did what any logical person would do at this point. I 'fanned' her on Facebook about three months ago. Her posts were basically promo here, photography here. Until one day, she announced a southern US tour stopping in only 3 cities: New Orleans, Dallas and Houston and that facebook fans were able to grab tickets first before public consumption. Needless to say, I got my tickets. Hell or high water, I was going.

The plan was that Ryan and I would go. We already knew we were moving and we've been in a cyclone of boxes and garbage. Yesterday, Ryan said that I should just invite someone else to go with me. So I canceled the babysitter and was finally able to find a girlfriend to go with me.

Apparently, the show was going long with a launch for her cocktail called the MargaDita.
1 oz. of Cointreau
1 oz. of silver tequila
1 oz. of fresh lime juice
½ oz. of Monin rose syrup
A pinch of chipotle seasoning.

We got there super early. I thought the doors opened an hour earlier than what they actually did. We got in the line to go in, only to find out that we got to go in before any of the people waiting in line outside! And we were really close to the stage. I ended up with only ONE person in front of me. FMLshortness over here was overjoyed.  If I were a jerk, I'd have been able to reach my hand out and touch someone. The way the show was lined up, everyone performing had two acts - except our headliner, Dita. She had four.

Dita opened with her martini glass routine. Then she did her mechanical bull routine (and had pink, TX shaped confetti blown). After intermission, she did her carousel/feather fan dance. And the closing number was an Oriental opium den dance.

The performers Dita had with her were:
Mr. Murray Hill - MC
Monsieur Romeo - BRO.lesque
Selene Luna
Dirty Martini 
Medianoche 
Lada Nikolska


Everyone was just beautiful. The show was amazing. I cannot put into words just how great it was.I really wanted to meet Dita (at some point in my life). Seeing her perform? That'll work!

Crock Pot Meatballs

A former co-worker gave me a tip one day... cooking meatballs in the crock pot.

I finally dug around the internet to see what kind of recipe I could find.

Equal parts ground beef and ground pork
Italian seasoned bread crumbs
Parsley
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Egg, beaten

I don't measure when I'm making this kind of stuff. But I'll include the original recipe at the bottom for your measuring reference. I just went on how moist or dry the mixture was. I also counted in the fact that the pork is a moist meat.

I demolished the ground meat and pork, mixing by hand so that it didn't resemble the form in the package. Hate to gross you out so I won't say it. This produces a softer result. If it isn't mixed very well, it tends to be tough. You want your meat mixture to be moist enough to be sticky, but dry enough to hold a ball.

I formed the meat into golfball sized meatballs and put them in a baking pan and put them in the freezer. Once they were solid, I transferred them into baggies.


Today, I was ready to make the meatballs.

1 large can (about 26 ounces) of spaghetti sauce

1 small can (8 ounces?) tomato paste

Combine sauce & paste in crock pot
I also seasoned with garlic and onion powders, parsley flakes, a little bit of red/cayenne pepper and a touch of black pepper.
Add frozen meatballs
Low heat for 6-8 hours
Serve over spaghetti

Pretty simple. The meatballs were tender and moist. Of course, since they cooked in the sauce, there wasn't that crispy browning that I love. But I'm not complaining. The meatballs were delicious.

Here's the original recipe...

1.5 lbs ground beef
1 1/4 cups italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 cloves garlic minced
1 medium yellow onion chopped
1 egg, beaten

Mix thoroughly and form into 16 meatballs.

1 (28oz) jar spaghetti sauce
1 (16oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 (14.25oz) can tomato paste

In slow cooker, mix sauce, tomatoes and paste. Add meatballs and cook on low 6-8 hours.

This recipe said nothing about time for fresh vs frozen meatballs. I'd say if you do fresh, cook for less time.

Coupon-ing Update

Today, there was a diaper deal through Babies R Us. But I didn't want to go all the way out of my way just for a pack of diapers. The email I was sent reminded me of Wal-Mart's price matching. Duh! Grabbed my coupon, printed the ad and headed out.

I couldn't find what I really wanted. I had to get a package of those Huggies 'jeans' diapers. I don't really understand that appeal. I figured that Ivy would be pretty much covered any way so I went ahead and got it.

Original price: $8.97
Ad: This pack = $5.00
Coupon: $1.50 off.

I saved $5.47!

And a bonus, I made the cashier mad!

When we got home, I found a booklet of coupons waiting for me in my mailbox! Incidentally, I did start a coupon binder. Like I said, small time.

And I've set myself up with a spreadsheet so I can see my savings per month. I'm doing pretty well for a beginner!

Menu Plan Monday week of July 24

I saw an ad for a 71% discount for an Omaha steak package. We have been gifted these before and I really like that everything is pretty much individually packaged. So I may be ordering some once we move.

I'm really getting into couponing. I'm not an extremist. But I am looking for major discounts on products I (we) use. I even found some coupons on ebay that I won. And I'm sharing the wealth. I've got a couple of friends with whom I share the coupons I don't want/need. I've even found a good use for expired coupons - sending them to the military.

I hadn't planned on it, but I'm starting a coupon binder. Small scale of course. It'll be a lot easier to look through my coupons with that.


So onto the MPM!

Sunday - Hamburgers with oven fries

Monday - Spaghetti and crock pot meatballs with salad
Last week's dinner that didn't get done because if the hot dog mania and one of us not feeling well. We ate out one night last week instead. So we've pushed this to this week.

Tuesday - Leftovers

Wednesday - Breakfast for dinner!

Thursday - Hot dogs or whatever. We're going out this night to see Dita Von Teese perform. So something quick or something out. Who knows.

Friday - Crock pot pulled/bbq chicken sandwiches
*Saw a recipe for the crock pot pulled chicken and I want to do that, but I didn't want to buy all the ridiculous ingredients for a 1-2 tbsp use.

Saturday - Leftovers

For more menus, visit OrgJunkie!

Bento Boxes

Click on photos to enlarge

Pink/Yellow Feel at Ease SET - $7.00

Drawstring bag has minor stains.
Main box is two tier with lids between each tier and top lid.
Comes with chopsticks.
Approximately 6" long, 4" tall, 2" wide.
Yellow "side dish container is about 3.5" long, 2" wide 1.5" tall



Goes with above set. Smaller side dish containers about 1 x 2 x .75"
Bento belts.

Pink and White side dish containers

About 2.5 diameter, 1.5" high

$.25 each

 Two smaller side dish containers (top left) .5 x 1 x 2 - 4.25 for both

Top right, condiment container, freebie

Fork spoon sets $2.00 each

Bag 

Smallish - about 4 x 4 x 4" capacity

$1.00

 $.75 - set of 6 or $.25 each

Various shape ripple cutters

 Flower shape veggie/food cutters

$1.00 for set

Rather large hand towel

$1.00

Small hand towels
$.50 each

National Food Days

I don't know how I happened upon it, but today happens to be National Hot Dog Day and National Vanilla Ice Cream Day. July is also National Ice Cream Month. National Ice Cream Day was like on the 19th.

So today, we are deviating from our MPM and having hot dogs and vanilla ice cream. But it's for lunch. Does that really count? Well anyway, we're pushing the spaghetti and meatballs back to next week. Plenty of enchilada leftovers to last another day.

Fried Pickles

I love to fry.

I used to be "afraid" of it when I started out. Timid. However, my mom did a lot of frying and I knew I could count oh her to help me out. Ended up not really needing much assistance. Growing up, Friday nights were special. One of three things happened. We made boxed pizza. We ordered pizza. Or we fried. But we always had a trip to the video store to rent VHS tapes or Nintendo games. Movies were always involved.

Frying. We're talking about frying. My mom would fry chicken or shrimp and home fries. Man, can my mom fry. Usually when we had fried shrimp, I would wake up early the next day and eat the leftovers for breakfast. I was greedy. GREEEEEDY.

My mom used to fry in a Fry Baby and used Crisco. I use a very large cast iron skillet and canola oil. Much healthier. Or at least better than a lot of other fats out there.

Pickles. I love pickles. And the first time I heard of fried pickles, it grossed me out. Then about a year or two ago, I had my first taste. And I'm hooked. That crunch, that dill flavor... Ugh.

Sadly, I don't have any pictures - not even from my students' frying labs. Shame. But here's the process. And I'm going to get long-winded because it isn't really a recipe, but a how to.

Assemble your ingredients.

• Frying pan - Something heavy to keep your fat at a slow, even temperature
• Canola oil - Not too much. You want a 'deep' fry but it's pickles, they're thin. Maybe a quarter of an inch in your frying pan.
• Thermometer - Only if you need it. You want your fat to reach 350F. I rely on time and swirls.

• Pickles - I do regular hamburger dill slices. But you can get all fancy if you want. You want your pickles dry. You can also slice your own pickles. And if you can, get/slice your pickles about double thickness compared to your regular jarred dill pickles.

• Flour - No amount necessary. It really depends on how much you want to make.
• Egg - Scrambled. One egg will do ya
• Milk - About a tablespoon per egg, mixed with the egg of course.
• Seasoned bread crumbs - Italian seasoned bread crumbs are good. This is the perfect amount of season. 

Notice I'm not listing salt or pepper or whatever. Your pickles are flavored enough. That flavor will come through.

PROCESS
Oil in your pan, heat to medium-high.

While your fat is heating, get three dishes for battering/breading.
1. Scrambled egg & milk
2. Flour
3. Bread crumbs

Take your DRY pickles and dip in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Coat evenly. Batter all of your pickles. It's a very quick fry and you don't want to put any in the oil yet (it may not be hot enough or it may be hot enough and you'll end up burning your batch if you're still breading pickles.)

Your fat should be hot enough by the time you've got your pickles coated.
One by one, put your pickles in the hot oil. This is so they don't stick together.
It will only take a minute, IF THAT. You're only cooking the breading. Be sure to give your pickles a flip for even cooking. Your pickles should be a golden brown. I prefer a darker golden brown - more crispy.

Set on a pile of paper towels for draining.
I like a 'dipping sauce' with my pickles. Ranch dressing with parmesan cheese mixed in.

Enjoy!

MPM Dog Days of Summer

It is really hot out there. Makes things unbearable and makes me irritable.

Today is cleaning day. Last weeks laundry is now folded. I got one load finished and folded and one in the dryer. The dishes were done last night so I need to unload and start reloading. I am also going to get the kitchen tidied and the bathrooms wiped down. I may also dust.

I called a local charity/donation center on Friday. The guy finally called me back today and came on by. I think there were 10 garbage bags of clothes, a few boxes, some furniture and some shoes. I can now take baby stuff over to the consignment shop and see if I can sell the big stuff. After that, I can really start going through the stuff in the garage that can be thrown out. We've sold a bunch of DVDs, CDs and books so that helps a bit. But it still seems like we're not making any progress. I just don't see the "dent" yet.

And now to this week's menu...

Sunday - Pizza (Last time, Ryan made a white pizza. This time it was the norm pepperoni and cheese)
Monday - Hamburgers & possibly oven fries
Tuesday - Buffalo chicken strips with potato salad
Wednesday - Chicken and cheese enchiladas
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Spaghetti and crock pot meatballs
Saturday - Leftovers

MPM is regularly hosted at OrgJunkie. Today it's hanging out at Finding Joy... Find more menus there!

Menu Plan Monday

WhooWee!!

Apart from the job and vacationing situations, we didn't to any MPMs. However, I knuckled down last night and came up with some stuff for this week.

Sunday - Since we arrived back in town around 4pm, we decided on a quick fix. I picked up some instant mashed potatoes, deli-fried chicken and some brown and serve rolls.
Monday - This was a busy day... we went by the school and went apartment hunting. Leftovers from Sunday.
Tuesday - Hamburgers and chips; I finally have me some hamburger dill pickles and I cannot wait to have them on my burger.
Wednesday - Skillet chicken (fried? grilled?) l/o mashed potatoes, rice-a-roni.
Thursday - Sandwiches with chips.
Friday -Grilled pork chops, fresh corn on the cob, mac & cheese.
Saturday - Pizza

Find more menus at OrgJunkie!

As long as I'm talking about food... Ryan took me to Sake Sushi for my birthday while we were still in the hometown. Yum! Then we went to a local bakery for some little sweets. I got a iced cookie that was in the shape of a lobster. I asked Ryan if he wanted a "robster craw." He thoroughly enjoyed my movie reference. ;)

When my mom and I were here at home for my interview, we made the crock pot chicken parmesan. It wasn't a pretty sight, but it sure did taste good. And of course, we made more cheesecake stuffed strawberries.

Are you hungry yet? Well, good. Food is good for you.

The big news is...

I got a new job.

I hadn't planned on looking for a new job at the end of this school year because of the budgets and schools all over the state were letting go of teachers. I didn't think anyone would have any job openings and I also didn't think that there would be any elective openings either.

However, we heard from a friend that there were openings for our subject areas in the district we wanted so badly to be in. Our friend helped get us pre-screening interviews. BTW she works in the administration building. So a few days after we applied and emailed the director, she called us for our interviews. I didn't feel like mine went so well because I was extremely nervous and I felt like I was a complete blathering idiot. However, she told me to start contacting principals. Done.

At this point, Ryan and I had decided to go visit family in southeast Texas. We're nowhere near home but planned to make the treck back home if we got called.

A few days go by and I got an email from a principal at a middle school asking for an interview. I accepted. But that same day, she emailed me back letting me know the position was already offered to someone else unbeknownst to her. She was out of the country and the outgoing principal offered. She apologized and I understood and thanked her. No harm done. It was great knowing that I piqued her interest.

A couple more days go by and I get a phone call from the high school asking for an interview. I accept. That day, my mom and I went back to north Texas. We made plans to just go to Austin from there. She was accompanying me to one of my conferences like last year. The following day I had the interview. I was pretty confident, but still nervous and I kept replaying the questions and answers in my mind thinking how I could've answered better.

Got home, mom and I made dinner and halfway into my meal, I get a phone call. The hiring director announced that the principal recommended me for the job. I excitedly accepted!

But then, drama started. What to do with that pesky conference in Austin? Kosher to go? Probably not. And Ryan wanted me to start looking for apartments the following day. A move was in store. I made some phone calls and got the conference reservation cancelled and the money refunded to the ISD. In all the excitement, we decided to have a garage sale so mom and I got that done. Made a little money and a small dent in the amount of junk we have stored away. The following day, we headed back to southeast Texas.

We officially resigned from the ISD today without a problem. They wished us luck. I'm going back to the school tomorrow to clean out my office. I know a lot of the students are going to be disappointed. One called me today and the poor darling started crying. This is going to be difficult. I just hope that they can understand. That's all that I can ask of them.

The school gave me a start in my career. I've grown so much as an educator and an individual. And I'm very thankful of the opportunity I had. Even with those very trying and tiring days.

Another chapter closed, a new one opening.

Uh oh!

Nah, it's a good thing.

There's a big change coming up and it's all hush-hush until it's 'official'. Speculate all you want, but I'm not saying anything.

I purchased some needed items (laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, fabric softener, and a few other things) today and saved $18.50. I basically got my Charmin for free!

I had made some summer goals or a wanna-do list:

• Get my septum pierced. Not gonna happen this year.
• Do something fun with my hair involving the color blue. Again, this will be put off.
• Make stuff and be crafty. There's still time but I'm not sure it's going to happen.
• Certified Handgun License. Just for the heck of it. 
• Get a house and move. Can't afford it.
• Garage sale - happening TOMORROW! Yeay! One thing I am accomplishing!

So, I'm getting rid of a lot of junk. At least, I hope so. Getting all kinds of hot, sweaty and stinky in this stupid Texas 100F+ weather. Yuck!

Anyway, that's about it.

FREE!!

I made sure to pick up a newspaper today. I found an offer for free toothbrushes. So I got my mom and we went to Walgreens. No toothbrushes. Went to another and again, no toothbrushes. One person cleaned them out. Of course. Then I had the idea to go to WalMart because they'll price match. BINGO. They had the toothbrushes. The lady at checkout took the ad and discounted each toothbrush from $1.94 to a dollar a piece (2 for $2). Handed her the coupons and she started to say she could only do one. I piped up with the coupon is for two and I have two coupons. I got 4 toothbrushes for free. An eight dollar value! Gave mom two and kept two for me. Yeay!

Did I go extreme? No. Do I absolutely need new toothbrushes, not really. I will replace my travel toothbrush and have one for later.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

My dad wanted to grill for us for lunch today but that fell through. So mom and I decided to go to the store to see what else we could do. We got some brisket, pinto beans and other freebies. Mom saw some strawberries and she wanted to get them. So we did. Then I had the brilliant idea of making cheesecake stuffed strawberries. I'd been stumbling on several recipes and I suggested it to her. I remembered the ingredients off hand. We got what we needed and got to work.

I don't know how many sources there are but I used this one today. This site has in process photos. And I didn't do them but I do have some photos.

Here's the recipe:

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

About 20 strawberries (ours were small so we used 2 lbs)
8 oz pkg softened cream cheese
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla (we had authentic mexican vanilla, YUM!)
3 whole graham crackers, crushed

Wash and dry the strawberries and cut off the tops. Take a knife or narrow vegetable peeler and remove the white core in the strawberry. Scoop/scrape out as much as possible without damaging the berry.
Beat the cream cheese with a mixer until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla. Continue mixing until combined. Use a piping bag or a zip baggie with the corner cut off. Fill the baggie with your cream cheese mixture and pipe into the cored strawberries. At this point, I put the filled strawberries in the fridge to set/chill.
In another zip baggie, crush the graham crackers. I did the whole sleeve, apparently you only need about 3.
Sprinkle or dip the cheesecake end of your strawberries. Voila!

Reviews: For something so simple, terriffic! For cheesecake, it was ok. But it wasn't cheesecake. Alright in my book!

Pictures! Okay, for presentation, I didn't care so my berries don't look pretty. That's why I gave you the link. Go see her pretty pictures. ;)

Oh Yeah, Today is MPM

This week will be short and busy. We'll be heading back to our hometown for another week-ish on Friday or Saturday. While we are down there, I'll be taking my mom to Austin for a conference.

I've been doing pretty good on not paying full price for some things. We went to visit my brother-in-law and his girlfriend on Saturday. She took me shopping. I walked away with five things and only payed about 60-70 dollars. Not bad considering it was all from the mall and higher-end boutiques. Yeay! Then some purchases yesterday were all discounted. Soap, a portfolio and something else... I don't remember. Oh yeah, diapers!

So there it is. On to the menu... Keeping everything pretty simple.

Sunday - Roast chicken & vegetables (crock pot)
Monday - LO roast chicken & macaroni and cheese
Tuesday - Chicken pot pie
Wednesday - LO CPP
Thursday - Grilled pork chops, mac&cheese, mashed potatoes
Friday - OOT (Out of Town) ??
Saturday - OOT

Check out more menus at OrgJunkie!