More savings today

So I saved even more today... CJ & I went to Albertson's because they had a sale on items that were 10 for $10 and if you bought $10 worth, they deducted $3 so the items you bought were $0.70 each. 2 of the items in the sale were packets of Taco Bell taco seasoning and 8-oz containers of Daisy Sour Cream. So I bought 6 packets of seasoning and 4 tubs of sour cream. I kinda wish I bought more. We go through a LOT of sour cream. I may go back since the sale is through Tuesday. I noticed they also had cans of Albertson's enchilada sauce 10 for $10. I may pick up some of those too.

I cooked up the 5 pounds of ground beef I bought this morning into taco meat (used up almost all the taco packets I bought) and just packaged it up into 5 freezer bags. That'll be great for last minute tacos or burritos.

Super Savings at Safeway on Saturday

I did some early Saturday morning shopping and I wanted to brag about what a great job I did. Crazy thing was I didn't have hardly any coupons. It was mostly due to some really good sales at Safeway. I did combine a couple of sale items with coupons and got an even better deal! Here's a breakdown of what I bought:

10 Nabisco Snak-Paks
6 cans Rosaria refried beans (I loved the flavored ones)
4 containers of Del Monte Fruit Naturals
2 8-cup bags of Lucerne Shredded Mexican Style Cheese (looks like 1 in the picture but there are 2 big bags there)
4 cans Campbell's Select Harvest Coup
2 boxes of Pop Secret Popcorn
5 pounds ground beef
1 4-pack of 60watt bulbs (my only non-sale purchase because a bulb burned out in the bedroom last night)
2 gallons Lucerne milk

The total before coupons and Safeway card savings was $103.66 but I only paid $43.60. That would be a 58% savings. w00t!

Deals worth mentioning? The fruit cups retail for $1.99 each (insane) but I ended up paying $.25 for each. :D They were on sale for 10 for $10 and I had 2 different coupons that were save $1 on two and I got them doubled up to $.50. So it was a savings of $1.50 for 2 or $.75 each. My other awesome deal was the soup. The soup retails for $2.99 a can but Safeway is having a 48 hour sale (Today and tomorrow) where they are $.88 each. I had a Safeway coupon (printed from their website) that was $1 off of 4. I was told that you can't use the Safeway doubler on Safeway coupons, you can only use them on Manufacturer coupons by my checker doubled mine up to $.50 again. So that meant I got $1.50 off of the 4 cans of soup, bringing the price down to $.505 per can. Oh, and Safeway had a coupon that where you got $10 off if you spent $50. That was a good deal too! The Snak-Saks and refried beans are both normally $2.79 each but were on sale 10 for $10.

I do the majority of my shopping at Winco but I'll hit up Albertson's and Safeway for their sales, especially since they take the Internet Printable coupons but Winco won't.

Yes, I can be flexible!

Okay, so change of plans since my earlier post. It turns out that CJ's boss didn't want him to store the boat at the Salem shop (big shock there) so we had to find another place. We found a storage place on Hwy 34 that had a reasonable price to store the boat. Sad thing is now that the boat is gone, the garage still looks full! I asked CJ how the boat even fit in there. I suspect he had quite a bit of stuff stored on the boat. But I think with some re-arranging, we can still fit stuff in the garage. It's possible we may need to rent a small facility but I'm trying to avoid that. We shall see. So anyway, we didn't get a chance to go to the gun range and we had such a late lunch, we didn't have dinner. Just munched on some popcorn while watching a movie tonight. So I moved the Taco Pie scheduled for tonight to next Saturday. See, I can be flexible. :) Baby steps.

Schtuff

It's Saturday and the sun is shining. Awesome! The boys are out in the garage and I just finished my menuing for the next week. We're taking the boat up to Salem to store it at Salem shop (Where CJ works, there is an office in Albany and one in Salem). While we're in Salem, we'll do some shopping at Winco so I had to get some menus figured out to know what to buy at Winco. We took the boat out of the garage to hopefully make room for more stuff from my house in Springfield. I desperately want to get that place empty so I can start renting it. I have a friend who might rent it from me for 2 weeks, starting Feb 28th. He is moving to Seattle, rented out his house, but his work pushed his move back 2 weeks. So he needs a place to crash for a couple of weeks. If he does rent it, that means $200 for me. Yay!

Regardless, I still need to get that place empty! We'd like to put stuff in the garage here and get things sorted as far as what we want to keep and what we don't want. We've been taking stuff to Goodwill but we're realizing we could be selling that kind of stuff at a garage sale. So we're going to try and see if we can sort through our stuff for a garage sale. We'll see. I think we're going to Springfield tomorrow to see what we can pack into the Suburban and what we don't take with us, I'd like to move into the garage of that house so I can at least hire a cleaning service to get the house clean. We'll see.

I think later today, we're going to go to the gun range so I can finally try out my Valentine's gift. Yes, I got a gun for Valentine's Day. How's that for real love? Not to mention trust. :) CJ bought me a pistol~a Springfield XD subcompact 9mm. Now I have no reason not to get my concealed permit. I told him I wouldn't get one without having my own gun. We'll see how I like it. It's a bit heavier than I thought I wanted but I'll shoot it and see how it goes. Here is a picture:





And here is next week's menu:

Saturday - Taco Pie
Sunday - Stacked Enchiladas (slow cooker)
Monday - Open face hot turkey sandwiches with potatoes and stuffing
Tuesday - Chicken Fajitas
Wednesday - Chicken & Dumplings (slow cooker)
Thursday - Goulash
Friday - Ranchero Enchilada Casserole

one quick thing...

I just wanted to pop on real quick and say how nice it is to have a man who likes to say 'I love you' first instead of just replying to your 'I love you'. It is refreshing and I am forever thankful.

Marriage Advice from Barefoot Contessa

"People always say 'what the secret to a good marriage?' I don't know. I would hate to have a marriage where you have to work at it but that's what you're supposed to do. We just have a good time together. He wants me to be happy... I want him to be happy. It's just so simple"

This is something Barefoot Contessa said on her most recent episode, while cooking an anniversary dinner for her 40th anniversary with her husband. And it really struck a chord with me. I always hear people talk about how much they have to work at their marriage or how hard it is... I don't want a marriage that takes work. But then again, the quote above is made by a woman who never did have children. I'm sure that makes a difference. But I really like what she said and I hope that is the kind of marriage I have. :) Yes, you can stop laughing now.

The joys of commuting

I have a 40 minute commute.  It gives me time for reflection... and to zone out a little bit.  Is it bad to zone out while driving 70MPH?  But my favorite thing to do on my commute is look at all the animals.  There are lots of fields along I-5 that have sheep and baby lambs.  Those lambs are the cutest.  The other day I saw 2 of them chasing each other and one ran under the mama.  So cute!  I've also started keeping track of the birds I see.  The big birds.  Yesterday, on my way to work, I saw 3 red tail hawks and a bald eagle.  On my way home, I saw 5 red tail hawks and some vulture/buzzard looking thing.  I've seen the eagle just a couple of times but I love when I see him.  He truly is a magnificent bird.  Every once in a great while, I'll see some white water bird of some kind... like a heron or something?  They're usually in the middle median of the freeway and there's usually some kind of puddle they're checking out.

I also have been able see some gorgeous sunrises and sunsets.  My commute times have corresponded with sunrise and sunset so that makes for a beautiful commute.  And I have an odd little mystery that I would love to solve.  There is an overpass at the Coburg Rd Exit.  About half a dozen times, I've seen a maroon minivan stopped on that overpass.  I always wondered if it was some kind of police vehicle that was doing a speed radar on the traffic below and radioing ahead to a cop parked on the freeway.  About a week ago, I saw the van coming from the opposite direction, which allowed me to see what they're doing.  They're parked on the overpass and waving to the traffic below.  Seriously??  That overpass they're parked on is a road that people drive on and it isn't very wide so they must be blocking the lane to park there.  And I've seen them do that twice (But I assume they've been doing that every time).  What is the deal with that?  Who is that?  If you live in the Eugene area and you know the story about the maroon van that likes to block traffic so they can wave to the I-5 traffic, let me know.

Other than gazing at animals/scenery/freaks in vans, I just like to enjoy the solitude.  Especially since I'm still trying to used to my lack of solitude lately.  It's an interesting adjustment being someone who lived alone for a long time and then having a man and a 12 year old boy around all the time.  You don't get a whole lot of quiet time to yourself.  It wasn't something I realized I even had until it disappeared.  Funny how that happens.  

I hope everyone has a spectacular Valentine's Day.  CJ is off to Portland to take the test for a job with Pacific Power.  I wish him all the luck in the world but I'm not sure he needs it.  He's been studying pretty good the last few weeks so I think he'll do great.  Kyle and I plan to head to Corvallis today while CJ is gone.  I must buy CJ's gift!  But have a great sweetheart day, everyone!

Ugh...

I went to the Springfield house this afternoon.  I left work early because I scored a ton of boxes from work.  I went home and emptied both downstairs bookcases, packing up all the cookbooks and even putting some in a box that I plan to get rid of.  Yes, I'm getting rid of *some* cookbooks.  Anyway, I filled like 8 paperboxes full of books and just about cleared all the crap off the dining table.  I also did my last load of dishes in the dishwasher.  I had a couple of dirty water glasses and some dusty wine & martini glasses that I took out of my wine rack so I ran a load of dishes.  I also threw out some trash and was able to fill the garbage can.  Tomorrow morning is garbage day so I wanted to get that done.  I have garbage service every two weeks so I really need to make sure the can is filled.  I think I was at the house for about an hour and a half... by myself... with no radio.  It totally sucked.  I'm so bad at staying motivated for such an icky task.  I thought I would load up all the clothes from upstairs so I can sort through everything and figure out what goes to Goodwill but by the time I was done packing up the two bookcases, I was D-U-N, done.  I called CJ to tell him I wasn't going to bring anything back with me but he said I had to bring two boxes... so I packed 2 boxes of miscellaneous stuff and brought them with me.  I left the boxes of books because they were too heavy (Amazing how being in a relationship zaps all your strength and makes you just a "wee bit" helpless.  :-D).  The next trip that CJ makes to Springfield, we'll load up the boxes of books, the bookcases and the dining table.  And hopefully the clothes.  I really need to get that house emptied so I can rent it.  I'm hoping to get a couple months of rent out of it before the wedding.  I'm so tired of paying a mortgage on a house I don't live in.  Anyway, I dragged the can to the street before I left and my Dad, who is working in Eugene this week and will drive by my house on his way to work, said he will put the can back to the house for me.  So that's what I did before I drove to Albany and cooked dinner.  I'm exhausted.  I hear a nice hot bath calling my name.  Treeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesy...

Superhero by day, couch potato by night

I helped fight crime today.  Today, I was a crimefighter.  Okay, I'll explain.  The building where I work is located next to a CostCo.  As I was getting into my car after work, I saw a man running through our parking lot as fast as he could, running away from CostCo.  I noticed a CostCo employee with a walkie-talkie watching him run.  I kinda chuckled to myself and then started to wonder "I wonder what he did."  Another employee had been getting into his car at the same time and also saw the guy.  I even drove my car by his in the parking lot and asked him why he didn't chase the guy down (and yes, the guy was still running and just left our parking lot and driveway).  We kinda laughed about it and I noticed that the CostCo employee was still watching him and was trying to run up to the street to follow him visually.  He never did try to chase the guy down.  As I was leaving the parking area and driving down the drive I decided I would see if I could follow the guy to see where he was going.  Then I decided maybe I should call 911 because chances were pretty good that CostCo was calling the cops on this guy.  I did have my bluetooth speaker hooked up and I called 911.  As I was talking to 911, I had slowly driven by the guy (who was no longer running but was walking quickly and constantly looking over his shoulder) and pulled into a parking lot ahead of where he headed.  I told the 911 operator that I had watched this guy run from CostCo and saw the CostCo employee trying to see where the guy was headed.  At first she said they weren't aware of a situation but she put me on hold and came back to say she had the CostCo employee on the other line.  As I was explaining where I was and where the guy was headed, I left the parking lot because I watched the guy go around the corner into an apartment complex.  I pulled into the apartments but didn't see him at first but then caught up with him again.  I drove right past him and had to turn my car around.  I watched him leave the apartments and continue down the street.  This continued for a total of 20 minutes, as I kept driving past him, turning around and driving past him again.  The guy was pretty stupid for not noticing my car drive by him a dozen times.  Anyway, I did lose him when he cut through a neighborhood but I caught up with him again when he exited the neighborhood.  Followed him down the road and saw him cut through a field so I went down a side street on the other side of the field and caught up with him again.  He walked right past my car again and every time he did, I always looked right at him and he never once looked at me.  Again, he was stupid not to notice my car over and over.  Especially since I have custom plates.  Anyway, he finally ducked into the office of a Motel 6 and that's where I told 911 he ended up at.  

I really wish I knew what ended up happening.  I'm tempted to go over to CostCo tomorrow and see if I can locate the security guy I saw with the walkie talkie.  He must know that 911 was on the phone with me since they told me he was on the other line.  He saw me leave our parking lot and may have even been signalling to me, I'm not sure.  It almost looked like he was waving his arms at me but he may have been just motioning about the guy or I dunno.  But I did end up tracking him down and even found out where he was gonna try and hide.  If I do find out what happened, I'll definitely post an update.  But seriously, it was so fun and exciting.  I always thought being a private investigator would be fun and exciting.  Maybe it's something I should look into.  But in the meantime, I'll stick to being a plain ole crimefighter.  

I came up with a new verb... menuing!

For the last few weeks, I've been doing pretty good with creating menus for the week and sticking to them.  Since it takes me 45 minutes to get home, I always feel rushed to get dinner going as soon as I get home.  To know what I'm going to make that evening is half the battle so I think it saves me quite a bit of time.  The weekends work best for menuing and grocery shopping so I'll probably be posting my menus and such on the weekends.  I'm also trying to premake things and keep them in the big freezer to make later.  A couple weeks ago, I made a huge batch of meatballs and froze them in bags.  I think I'll do the same thing with taco meat.  Next time I see bulk ground beef on sale, I'm going to make a huge batch of taco meat and freeze it in bags to use later.  I've been buying the 1 pound ground beef chubs at CostCo and also the boneless skinless chicken breasts.  A month or 2 ago, we bought a used freezer off of Craiglist for $40 and it has been the best $40 we ever spent.  The freezer rocks!  All that being said, here is my menu for the next week or so:

Sunday~Beef Taco Skillet

Monday~Italian Beef Sandwiches

Tuesday~Fajitas (using frozen grilled chicken strips we bought at Costco)

Wednesday~Beef Stroganoff and Mashed Potatoes (CJ has frozen steaks he'll grill)

Thursday~Fiesta Ravioli (using frozen ravioli from CostCo)

Friday~Meatball Subs (using the frozen meatballs I made earlier)

Saturday~I'm keeping it open because CJ has a job application test in Portland that day and since it is Valentine's Day, I'm keeping the evening open for possible dinner out

Sunday~Crockpot Stacked Enchiladas

Welcome

So I thought I'd start a blog because I'm starting a new chapter in my life.  I get married in 5 months and in the process, I'll gain a 12 year old son.  For a woman who has been single for 36 years, there's sure to be some interesting adventures and challenges.  Especially for someone as hard headed and opinionated as myself.  Should be interesting.