Confessions of a Working Momma

Since I am a working mommy I have to be organized in order for our lives to run smoothly and be able to get everything done that I want and needs to get done. I currently work 4 - 10 hour shifts. Sassy is in daycare 3 day a week and my mom watches her one day a week. Daddy works 60-80 hours a week between his two jobs so he is not able to help out as much as he use to. So that leaves a lot of the burden up to me... the cleaning, the cooking, the child-rearing, the laundry, taking care of 2 dogs, etc. My SAHM always tell me they have no clue how I do it... well I don't get a whole lot of sleep. I usually go to bed around 11pm and the days that I work I have to be up at 5am in order to get Sassy and I out the door to school and work by 6:20. So this is how I do it. I while ago, I found that I was wasting a lot of time by doing things multiple times during the week, like paying bills, emailing, laundry, cleaning, etc. So I have now broken everything down to days..... Mondays - Clean...

Okay so it takes a lot for me to get excited about food shopping and prices, usually because I am always in shock by how much things cost even at the outlet stores. So anyway, remember how I said we had a new produce place in town which was claiming cheap produce. Well I went today and checked it out. Here is what I got.... Bananas - 2.00 Okra - 2.00 Grapes - 2.00 2 heads of Iceberg lettuce - 1.50 For a Grand Total of 7.50!!! I am in shock... Now this place is unfortunately not right down the road from us, however venturing there every two weeks is definitely do able especially at these prices. The selection was fabulous. The okra was the best looking stuff I have ever seen north of the Mason Dixon. So the bananas are green still, they should come around in a day or two. Daddy is really looking forward to the banana bread. If you have any great recipes for bananas send them my way. I will be looking for something to do with all of the extras.

We have been member's of BJ's for about two years now and our membership just came up for renewal. Daddy and I talked long and hard about whether or not to spend the $45 to renew. The last couple of months that I have gone that I did not find really good deals. So we decided to not renew our contract and if we can always sign up again in the future if we decide we should go back. Our monthly budget for BJ's was $100 so we will increase our weekly budget from $40 to $65 and starting next month I will start shopping accordingly. However, this month since I had not gone to BJ's we were starting to run low on staples and pantry items, I spent this week stocking up on some great sales that Wegman's had going on. Bonus to going to Wegman's is down the street is Amelia's Grocery Outlet. So head there first and stock up on things and then headed over to Wegman's for the rest. Check out HERE how else everyone spend their grocery dollars. Amelia's Grocer...

So my parent's did a fabulous thing for us this weekend, they took Sassy for a night. They picked her up at daycare and Daddy and I picked her up Saturday late afternoon. So you will see that Chicken is back on the menu this week too, this got pushed back from Sunday night last week. Monday Chicken on the Rotisserie & Gravy & Filling & Corn Tuesday Pasta & Sauce & Bread & Butter Wednesday Pack for Sassy's Lunch - Butter & Pasta & Sauce Dinner - Blueberry Pancakes Thursday Pack for Sassy's Lunch - Biscuits Dinner - Hamburger Barley Stew & Salad & Bread Friday Pack for Sassy's Lunch - Soy Yogurt & Chicken Nuggets & Italian Dressing Dinner - Sausage Peppers & Onions Saturday Tacos with Beef, Black Beans, Tomatoes, Cheese, Sour Cream, Shells Sunday Bake Cookies & Bread Homemade Pizza’s Crust, Sauce, Cheese, Soy Cheese

So this week, two nights are mine. It's not often that I get to have a couple nights to myself and to spend with friends. On Monday night I have a meeting with my local EcoMom's group and then on Friday night I am having dinner with some girlfriends. So obviously our menu this week reflects the fact that I am not home and Daddy is working at Target a couple of nights this week as well. Monday Breakfast for Dinner – Cereal or Pancakes or Eggs Tuesday Meatball Sandwiches On Rolls Wednesday Pack for Sassy's Lunch - Chicken Nuggets & Crackers Dinner - Salmon, French Fries, Peas Thursday Pack for Sassy's Lunch - Butternut Squash & Roll Dinner - Pot Roast – reheat meal Friday Pack for Sassy's Lunch - Soy Yogurt Dinner - On Your Own Saturday Ribs, Baked Beans & Salad Sunday Bake Cookies & Bread Chicken on the Rotisserie, Gravy, Corn & Mashed Potatoes

So this week was a little higher than I would have like, but WOW did I save a lot with my coupons and in store sales. We finally had Sassy's 2 nd Birthday party today with family and close friends, which was why I was a little over since I had to pick up a couple of last minute items for her party on Saturday and then we have another one on Monday with our playgroup. Check back later to see how I am going to put all this food to good use. To check out how others are spending their weekly grocery allowance. HERE Giant Bissell Fiber Cleaner - 9.99 (lent our carpet steam cleaner to family and they used all our solution and didn't replace, isn't family great) Multi Grain Cheerios - 2.99 2 Kix Cereals - 5.04 Lucky Charms - 2.68 Banana Nut Cheerios - 3.29 Triscuits - 3.29 Honey Teddy Grahams - 2.50 McCormick Veggie Dip Mix - 1.05 Celery - 2.49 1.5# Bananas - 1.26 1 Sweet Onion - 1.08 2# Carrots - 3.00 4 Smart Ones Meals - 9.00 2 block cheeses - 3.34 2 bags of shredded che...

Shall we talk about how God always provides and supports us in all we do. Daddy calls me at work a week ago to let me know that our garage fridge is currently 50 degrees. Now let me tell you that we live on the east coast and the day he called it was 12 degrees outside. So this was a little problem. Luckily we had know that the fridge was acting up so I had removed all of the major food items and had just left some bread, ice cream pops and freezer packs in there. Needless to say the ice cream had melted all over the bread. So we lost all but about 3 loaves. Thankfully, I have had a desire lately to try my hand at making my own bread. I kind of figured, I should try it before I ran completely out of bread in the freezer. So I thankfully made my first batches of homemade bread a couple of days before the freezer went. I used this recipe from Mommy's Kitchen. I made two batches one plain and one cinnamon. I made the cinnamon with 2/3 cups of sugar, it was a HUGE hit. We will definit...

This week, was a pretty typical week for us. We are starting to run out of staples in our house like Toilet paper and cereal. So I have to pick some of this up at the regular store instead of BJ's. We won't have the money for BJ's till the end of the month when we get our tax return back. So till then I will be stocking up at the grocery store with sales and coupons. This might continue as long as I can keep finding good deals at the stores. Ohh, I heart $1 doubler coupons. This is the time of the month when our local grocery store puts 4 - $1 coupon doublers in the weekly mailer. It means that I get to match up their sales with my best $1 coupons to have them doubled up to $2. Here's how we did. Giant Kix Cereal 3.99 Tortillias 2.15 6pk Toilet Paper 3.54 2 Post Cereals 4.00 Taco Shells 1.49 (they ended up being stale and I returned them) Raspberry Tea 3.29 Coffee 4.59 Lettuce 1.49 Radishs 1.79 1 Onions 1.23 Creamer 2.75 4 Soy Yogurts 4.00 Soy Cheese 3.95 Gallon 1% milk...

As you may have noticed you didn't hear much out of me this week... Well, every single person in this house came down with some verison of a nasty respiratory cold. Sassy ended up with a sinus infection that started pushing out her eyes...ewwww. Daddy still has a cough and is running fevers for the last week (I am sending him to the Dr's tomorrow to be checked out.) Thankful I didn't get hit that bad and was only down for 2 days. But as all of you moms know 2 days is like 2 weeks in other people's world. So I have spent most of my waking time, catching up, scrubbing the house down and washing everything that could be washed just to rid ourselves of these germs. Thankfully here on the East coast it was relatively warm today so I was able to air out the house as well. Needless to say we didn't have a 2nd birthday party for Sassy this past weekend, so I have rescheduled it for next weekend and we will hope everyone is better by then. This is my hope/goal for a meal pla...

So this week, is both my and Sassy's birthday. I had planned on having homemade pizza's this past Sunday, however, Daddy decided that we had to have Crab legs, since they were on sale and it was my birthday. So this week we are again a little high. But we would have been on target had I not purchased the crab legs for my birthday dinner. Hey everyone deserves a treat every now and then. So here is how it went.... Superfresh 2 - 6pk of Whole Wheat Rolls - 2.79 2 - 4pk of Hoagie Rolls - 1.89 2.52 lbs Grapes - 5.01 Cake Topper - 1.00 (The bakery was discontinueing some cake toppers they had in stock.) Cup Cake Topper - 1.99 5 lbs Potatoes - 1.48 Snow Crabs - 18.39 4 - 12pk Coke - 10.00 Total - 42.55 Dollar Tree Baking Soda - 0.59 Rubbing Alcohol - 1.00 Total - 1.59 Giant Bakers Chocolate Chips - 2.19 (only ones that do not contain milk) Campbell's Soup - 3.78 -1.00 off coupon 5lbs Flour - 1.69 2 - half gallons Silk Soy Milk - 5.78 -1.00 off coupon Half gallon of whole milk - 1...

So the meal plan last week didn't go exactly to plan. We ended up not having the Salmon on Thursday nite, because Daddy didn't feel like cooking it. Also, Sunday was my birthday and Daddy decided that we should have something special and crab legs were on sale this weekend. So we will be seeing homemade pizza back on the menu for next Sunday. Also this coming weekend is Sassy's birthday. So I will be making a cake for our family party and cupcakes for her playdate. Here is the recipe that I use for a milk free cake and icing. I have done this with egg substitues as well and it turned out great, as well. Click here to see whatelse is cooking this week around the country. Monday : Meatloaf; Baked Potatoes; Mixed Veggies; Salad Tuesday : Pot Roast & Veggies – reheat Meal Wednesday : Sassy's Lunch : Mixed Fruit; Jelly Sandwich & Chips; Grapes Dinner : Soup & Sandwiches Thursday : Sassy's Lunch : Trail mix; Chicken Nuggets & Sweet Potatoes; Apple Slic...