Confessions of a Working Momma

This week I finally received my rebate from my new cell phone. So I hit alot of great deals and stocked up. So we will not be in need of many things for a while. See how everyone else did at the Grocery Cart Challenge Kmart Dove Body Wash 5.99 -$1.50 coupon 2.99 3 Irish Spring 6.57 - $1 coupon 4.57 3 Sauve Body Wash 6.00 - $2 coupon 2.00 Flinstone MultiVitamin 6.19 - $1 coupon 4.19 3 Degree mens deodorants 8.08 -(2) $1 coupon - 4.08 Sauve Shampoo 1.79 - $1 coupon (+0.21) Sauve Conditioner 1.79 Double Pack Toothbrushes 5.49 - $1 coupon 3.49 Tylenol PM 5.29 - $1 coupon 3.29 Tylenol 8 hr 5.49 -$1 coupon 3.49 Contact Solution 9.19 -$2 coupon 5.19 Dayquil Liquid 6.49 - $1.50 coupon 3.49 Nyquil Liquid 6.59 - $1.50 coupon 3.59 Ban-aids 2.79 - $1 coupon 0.79 Marcel Toilet Paper 2.79 -$1 coupon 0.79 Herbal Essenes Shampoo 3.50 -$1 coupon 1.50 Herbel Essenes Conditioner 3.50 -$1 coupon 1.50 Sparkle Paper Towels 3.29 - $1 coupon 1.29 2 Huggie Wipes 6.28 - $1 coupon 4.28 3 Huggie Diapers 32.97 - (

Our menu last week was amazing!! I don't think I have cooked that well in a long time and everyone was completely happy with everything that I cooked. See what the other ladies are cooking up this week HERE and check back tomorrow to see how I did on my grocery budget. Monday -BBQ Ribs Tuesday - Steak Sandwiches on WW Rolls with Salad Wednesday - Blackberry Pancakes Thursday - Pack for Sassy - Starch Side & PM Snack Dinner - Super nachos with leftover taco meat & lettuce, tomato, cheese & sour cream Friday - Pack for Sassy - Soy Yogurt & Main Lunch meal Dinner - Leftover Hamburger Barley Stew from the freezer Satuday - Tuna Noodle Casserole Sunday - Homemade Pizza Crust, Sauce, Cheese, Soy Cheese, Pepperoni from freezer

So on Monday afternoon Sassy took a REALLY long nap. So I took advantage of the 3+ hour nap and made to die for White Bread and some oatmeal cookies. Check out what others are cooking HERE . Country White Bread This recipe can be for Dinner Rolls or Bread. I will definately be making the rolls soon. There is no bread maker in this house so I just used the good old kitchen aid and hands. For the bread you will want to bake it at 350 for 30 min. My Oatmeal Cookies again came out of my favorite local cookbook - Susie's Kitchen. They are super easy and who doesn't love a good oatmeal cookie. When you are in a real pinch you can consider them breakfast who doesn't love that!! 1c shortening 3/4 c brown sugar 3/4 c sugar 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp water 2 eggs 1 1/2 c flour 1 tsp salt 1 tsp baking soda 2 c oatmeal 12 0z pkg chocolate chips (optional) 1 c chopped nuts (optional) Cream shortening; add sugars, vanilla, and water. Beat until creamy. Add eggs. Gradually add flour, salt and

So it has falled through for us to have our large garden this year at my parents house, what is a girl to do. We go back to the drawing board and figure it out.We live in a townhouse community and there are strict bylaws against having a vegetable garden however it says no where about having a CONTAINER vegetable garden, heck we put in 3 blueberry bushes last year and no one cared. I found this great article HERE from Ohio State University about having a Vegetable Garden in containers. My current plan is to keep it simple since it is going to be on my back deck. I am going to put up some planter boxes on my ledges and grow some lettuce and radishes, then I am going to plant a container of snap beans, eggplant, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, and winter squash. So I am currently in search of some good containers. Suggested Vegetable Varieties for Container Growing The following is a list of suggested varieties for vegetable container growing in the Midwest. This is not an exhaustive com

So this week our local grocery store had $1.00 coupon doubler. So I picked out some $1.00 coupons of things that we would be in need of soon and hit the sale. Also, this week check to see if your local Kmart is doubling up to $2.00 coupons. Ours is so I will probably hit them at the end of the week. Check out how the other ladies around the blog did this week with there budgets. HERE Giant Keebler Town House Crackers - 2.50 2 Frosted Flakes Cereal - 5.38 ($1 coupon doubled) 3.38 Good Season Itlain Dressing 4pk - 2.00 2 Nabisco 100 Calorie Snacks - 5.94 ($1 coupon doubled) 3.94 Hellman's Mayo - 3.29 5 lbs Bread Flour - 2.95 Simple Green - 4.29 ($1 coupon doubled) 2.29 Grapes - 4.84 (way more than I normally spend but I didn't need anything else this week at the produce store, so I caved in and bought them here) 2 Silk Yogurt - 1.58 Vegan Cheese - 3.99 Coffee Mate 15oz - 3.00 (1.50 coupon) 1.50 1% Gallon Milk - 2.80 Shredded Cheese - 2.49 Contact Solution - 7.29 ($1 coupon double

So after a couple of weeks of uninspired cooking. I dug up some new recipes and have it all linked up below. Check out what the other ladies are cooking up this week. HERE Then check back tomorrow to see how we spent our weekly budget. Monday: To Die for Crock Pot Roast with Potatoes, Onions, Carrots, and Celery Tuesday : Wawa hoagies (Daddy's working; I have a Ecomom Meeting and Aunt J is babysitting) Wednesday: Pack for Sassy's Lunch - Pasta & Sauce Dinner - Ultimate Breakfast Frittata Thursday: Pack for Sassy's Lunch - Soy Yogurt Dinner - Soft Tacos with Beef, Black Beans, Tomatoes, Cheese, Sour Cream Friday: Pack for Sassy's Lunch - PM Snack Dinner - Pork Tenderloin in the Crockpot & Rice Saturday: Tuna Noodle Casserole Sunday: Buffet of Leftovers

What does a girl love more than a grocery store that normally doubles coupons, one that runs a special this week, that will TRIPLE them. You could use any coupon up to 0.50 cents to be tripled up to $1.50. So I bought a couple of extra things this week to take advantage and use up some of those little 0.25 & 0.45 coupons. Check out Gayle and the other ladies over HERE to see how everyone else did. Target (Hit them up on Saturday before their sale on Soy Milk ended) 3 Soy Milk - 6.60 2 Frozen Juices 2.16 Hershey's Chocolate Syrup 1.62 Entenmanns' Chocolate Donuts 2.50 Creamed Corn 0.78 2 Bacon 5.38 Pepproni 1.67 Total - 20.71 Minus 10% Daddy's discount OOP 18.64 Giant Reynolds baking cups 1.09 Reynolds baking cups 0.69 - minus 0.25 coupon tripled (free plus .06) 2 Light & Fluffy Egg Noodles 2.50 - minus 0.50 coupon tripled (paid 1.00) Premium Saltines - 2.50 Swason Stock Broth - 2.69 - minus 0.50 coupon tripled (paid 1.19) Parsley Flakes 1.15 Tortialla Wraps 1.95 Gre

There is a switcharue this week. Erin over at $5 dinners is hosting this week. You can check out everyone else's great meal plans and see what is cooking around town. So last week was a crazy one for us. Daddy and I both got a stomach flu and then at the end of the week and this whole weekend, we took on a DIY project of redoing our flooring in our foyer. I will post pics later this week. So there are alot of repeats on the menu this week do to the craziness of last week. Oh and I don't have anything listed for what I am packing for Sassy's lunches because school hasn't put up the new menu yet for the week. Monday: Meatloaf, Mixed Veggies, Salad Tuesday: Corned Beef & Cabbage, carrots, potatoes & salad Wednesday: French Toast & Blueberries Thursday: Chicken/ Beef Fajitas on tortillas with peppers, onions, sour cream, cheese Friday: Oven-Fried Chicken Tenders & Homemade Fries Saturday: Buffet of Leftovers Sunday: BBQ Pork Sandwiches on WW Rolls with Salad

So a sick family has thrown my week into a complete mess. Here was my meal plan as of Saturday when I made it. That was before Daddy and I got food poisoning and Sassy was spiking fevers for 2 days straight. Needless to say I cancelled Sassy's playdate with friends and took her to the doctors and I was asuppose to have a much needed massage tonight (work pays for them!) and they have called and cancelled due to the therapist being sick. However we still have big plans for the weekend. I am taking off work on Friday and my mom is coming up and teaching me how to tile. We are ripping out our old press and stick tile and putting in nice new porclein tile. So our menu reflects the craziness in our week. Monday Make Chocolate Chip Cookies and Slice up Celery, Carrots and Cheese for multiple gatherings at our house Dinner: Meatball Sandwiches, WW Rolls Tuesday Oven-Fried Chicken Tenders & Fries & Salad Wednesday Pack for Sassy's Lunch: Soy Yogurt Dinner: Pancakes Thursday Pac

Weekly Shopping Trip 3/9/09 So this week is going to be an extra busy week. I am having two different functions in my house on Monday. What was I thinking (oh right, only have to super clean the house once). Sassy is having a play date on Monday morning with a bunch of our friends and then Monday night I am having some moms from the EcoMom group, I help organize over to learn about the hazards that are in typical household cleaners. So this is why there are some extras in the trip this week... like a box of Cheerybrook Farms Cookie Mix, this is a great cookie mix that is completely vegan since Sassy is allergic to milk and one of Sassy's friends is allergic to eggs so this insures there is something for everyone to eat at our play date ... then with the moms coming over we are going to have cheese, crackers and veggies and dip. So these items added about 20 to the budget this week. I honestly don't know how Gayle keeps so good in budget every week . I guess practice makes

Usually after I make cookies or brownies I will bag them and put them in the freezer so they will stay fresh. However with these cookies, they barely make it into the freezer. We like peanut butter cookies, however some peanut butter cookies are a little to heavy on the peanut butter and they are to over powering. These however are perfect and it is a super simple recipe too. I got this recipe out of a local cookbook called Susie's Cook Book. Check out what else people are cooking this week HERE Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies I actually ususally don't make them with the chocolate chips and the last couple of times that I made them, I used sunflower butter and they have turned out good as well. 2 cups AP Flour 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 1/2 cup butter/margarine, softened 1/2 cup peanut butter 2 eggs 1 tsp. baking soda 1 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla 1 TBsp water optional - 1 cup mini chocolate chips Blend all ingredients except chocolate chips. Beat 2 minutes on medium speed. St

So a friend told me about this great cosmetic company called E.L.F. Cosmetic. They were featured in O (Oprah's magazine) a while ago. So I decided I had to go check it out. Here is what I got.... Luscious Liquid Lipstick $1.00 Under Eye Concealer & Highlighter $3.00 Clarifying Pressed Poweder Tone 1$1.00 Therapeutic Lip Balm -Vanilla Crème $1.00 e.l.f. Professional 9 pc . Master $15.00 (I bought this since Sassy has been playing with my current set and has broken several of them in half.) Sub Total: $21.00 Shipping: $6.95 Tax: $0.00 Discounts:50% off orders up to $15.00! ($7.50) Total: $20.45 Who can bet these prices. I mean for a dollar to five dollars for the most expensive products. So far I love everything I have gotten. This is way better and cheaper than hunting through the grocery or drug store of their clearence items. To check them out go HERE

So this was our first week on our new weekly budget of $65. I was very excited about this and knew I was going to be able to stay within this one and then.... Daddy said that he really needed soda for his lunches... so I gave in and got him some so between that and the vitamins I picked up I went over it. DARN! So well, we will try harder next time. Sassy has an allergist app. in a couple of weeks and I am praying that we can do a food challenge for her and see if she is still allergic to milk. I can't wait for the day that I don't have to buy all of these expensive soy and vegan products. Till then here is how we did this week. Click over here to see how others spent their weekly budgets. Wegman's Tofutti Sour Cream - 2.89 Earthly Balance "Butter" - 3.99 Quart Silk Soy Milk - 1.79 2 Silk Yogurt - 1.58 Wegman's Vanilla Soy Milk - 2.79 Wegman's Plain Soy Milk - 2.79 Gallon 1% Milk - 2.80 1/2 Gallon Whole Milk - 1.55 1/2 Gallon Orange Juice - 1.49 18 count e

I am starting to get burned out and tired of cooking all of the time. In the summer and spring Daddy cooks more since it's nice out and we grill 90% of our meals. Bring on spring. Oh wait they are calling for a big snow storm tonight. YAH! Here my sarcasm So here are my easy prep and clean up meals for the plan for our week. Check out everyone else's meal plan's HERE Monday : Chicken Pot Pie & Salad Tuesday: BBQ Pork Sandwiches Wednesday: Pack for Sassy's Lunch - Sliced cheese & Noodles Dinner - Super nachos made with refried beans, black beans, lettuce, tomato &, sour cream Thursday: Pack for Sassy's Lunch - Soy Yogurt & Soup Dinner - Pancakes Friday: Pack for Sassy's Lunch - Sliced Cheese, Ravioli & Roll or Bread Dinner - Grilled Cheese Sandwiches Saturday : London Broil, Baked Potatoes & Salad Sunday: Hamburgers, Whole Wheat Rolls & French Fries