Menu Plan Monday 10/6

Monday- Chicken and Potatoes with asparagus
Tuesday- Salsa Sloppy Joes with french fries
Wednesday- Philly Cheese Steak Pasta with salad
Thursday- Olive Oil Pasta with garlic bread or peasant bread
Friday- Dinner out for our Anniversary
Saturday- Leftovers/Dinner with family?? no idea what I am making
Sunday- Leftovers/??

I had a heck of a time making it through the week last week because I changed up my entire menu plan mid-week which left a little bit of a hole with what I was making.  The great news is that I did make a few of the meals on the menu and we got through the whole week with dinner every night.  I think that this school schedule is hard because there is something to do at least once a week and I have to try to have a few easy meals because dinner is on the table shortly after everyone gets home and we are all hungry.  I am hoping to get into the groove of this soon but I find that planning now is more of a challenge then it was during the summer.  How do you feel about planning now that the kids are back in school and the days are getting colder??

Wild Storm Book Review

I was excited to read the first book in the Storm series and then find that the second one was already out!!  I reserved Wild Storm: A Derrick Storm Thriller by Richard Castle and it came in quickly.  I have to admit that I was more interested in the Nikki Heat book so I read that first but I was glad to open this one.

At the beginning of the book, there are airplanes dropping from the sky and Derrick is on one of them!!  Derrick talks to the pilot and ends up getting out on the wing to use some heavy duty tape to tape the plane back together.  It works and Derrick's plane lands safely but all of the other planes crash.  With many people dead, Derrick has to go immediately to work to find the people responsible for this tragic act of violence.  He goes to the crash site of one of the planes and sees a piece of the plane that has been sliced just like his plane was.  He decides to look for anyone who could be missing and making the laser powerful enough to do this damage.  He finds a scientist that retired that he thinks might be the missing link after doing a lot of research with his father.  He goes on the hunt to find out what is going on and gets himself into lots of trouble.  Pick up the book and find out what happens!!!

I enjoyed the book and can't wait for the next one in the series.  I know that I will enjoy it even more now that I have gotten so into the characters that are forming.  The characters are so interesting and the events into are unexpected.  Derrick Storm is a dreamy main character that makes you fall in love with him even though he is a horrible playboy that you would overlook for him!  I love to find out what happens next and you will too.  I hope that you pick this up at your local library or bookstore.  I think whether you like mysteries or not, you will like this book.  I super enjoyed the escape from reality in this book and I hope you do to!!!

End of the September! What?!

Okay, I feel like I was a little prepared for this but then it still came up unexpectedly.  It is already the beginning of October so I wanted to let you know what I got this month at the stores for my monthly budget of $160 for our family of three.  I think that you will be impressed with all of the stuff I got and the totals are at the bottom!!

Giant $1.67 (rest paid with gift card)

Giant $11.19

Aldi's $36.95

 

Harris Teeter $16.21

There was an interesting deal where you bought some of the items included on a very specific list and you got $1.50 off ground beef.  I used that to buy the expensive ground beef that was on sale and the smallest packages were around $3.80-$4 so I got them for way cheaper with the deal and I could get most of the things in the deal for free or money makers so that I got get a bunch of deals.  I also used a rain check to get all of the yogurt super cheap because it was the last day of the $0.75/2 coupon that I had and I also had the $0.35 coupons.  My son only likes one kind in his lunch and I decided to stock up since they go straight in the freezer.  The most expensive thing in the picture was the darn toilet paper but we were out so it had to be done.  Still looking for the deals of past of toilet paper and they just aren't there!!!

Harris Teeter $3.00

Excited to get the great deal to use the overage to pay for most of the stuff and paid less than the price of the package of ground beef (after getting the money back at customer service for the evic zvr that didn't come off).

Wegmans $7.22

Harris Teeter $43.88

This obviously was more than just this because you look at this picture and think how did it cost her that much!!  I bought a $50 Harris Teeter Gift card to use on future purchases with all of the deals on the other food and the $10 off $50 so that I could use the great coupon and still get a few bargains.  It was actually all of the food for free and the paying less than $50 for the gift card worth $50 so I was super excited.  I didn't get an evic zvr off so I had to go to customer service to get the money back for that but it was a great deal and I got to splurge and buy the jelly that I love (on sale and a coupon but I paid $1 for it)!!

Harris Teeter $0 

(spent $31.99 on gift card and got back $7.18 cash back)   

 This trip was by far the most impressive.  I did do two check outs because I thought that I had everything and while I was waiting at customer service to get money back, I realized that I needed to get a few more things that I couldn't pass up because I wouldn't be able to come back and shop another day.  I got 6 cranberry juice and 6 boxes of Cheese Its using rain checks.  I picked up Gallon of Milk, 4 cartons of 18 eggs, 2 packages of 6 Ramen Noodles, 3 Chicken Noodle Soup, 2 Cream of Chicken Soup, 1 Cheddar Cheese soup, Jiffy Corn bread (money back from saving star), 2 bags of sugar, and 3 bags of 2 lb rice. The things that I got for free or that were money makers were 6 packages of Mahatma Rice, 2 Pantene Mousse, 5 Gillette Razors, Glade Plug-in, Just for Men Hair Color, Toaster Strudel.  This was an amazing haul for under $25 (after I got the cash back) and a retail value of over $132

What do you think of my month?  I was pretty happy with what I got and how well it went staying under budget.  There were a lot of deals to be had and I stocked up with lots of ground beef and chicken which we quickly eaten or cooked and prepared to be eaten in the freezer.  We also needed tissues so I was super glad to get a bunch of them for free to add to the cupboard since our sickness went through all of our stockpile.  I also had some money makers with $5.25 already credited on my Saving Star account and some more on Ibotta and Checkout 51.

Total Retail $415.74

Total Savings $302.80

Total OOP $112.94

I still have a $10 Gift Card for Giant and then $18 left on my card for Harris Teeter to use in October (hoping to have another $10 Giant gift card coming in soon).  I am hoping to spend those wisely with some $5 off $15 coupons that I have to get the most for the money with sales, coupons and deals.  I can't wait to see what great deals I can get in the new month. Here is hoping that I get my act together and start selling some stuff on eBay!!  Are you ready for the fall weather and fall shopping deals??

Deadly Heat Book Review

I was really looking at the computer system at the library to find lots of new books to read.  I am going to tell you that the computer system is the only saving grace for busy moms who want to read.  I don't have time to walk around the library and pick out books like I did before I had a kid.  Who knew that this was something that I would miss?!  I get to do it now on the computer and reserve them so that I can pick them up near the check out when I am there to get books for my son.  I found Deadly Heat (Nikki Heat) by Richard Castle and was really excited that there was a new one in the series because it seemed like it had been ages since I read the last one.  I picked it up at the library and had to wait through a few other books that I needed to get done for review.

In this book, top NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat pursues the elusive former CIA station chief who ordered the execution of her mother over a decade ago. Nikki is working with her boyfriend and Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Jameson Rook, as well as many police detectives in her office.  Trying to uncover the motive behind the past murder unearths an alarming current terror plot.  The two cases are quickly combined and the serial killer begins menacing the Twentieth Precinct and her homicide squad is under pressure to stop him quickly. The frightening murderer, known for his chilling stealth with two previous police officers killed and a string of other enforcement officials on his path to Nikki is hard to track down and identify.  Can Nikki do it before she is another victim? You won't know unless you pick up the book and find our for yourself.

I really enjoyed the book and had a hard time putting it down to get other things done.  I have had a lot of books like that recently (or at least that is what I am telling myself).  I am blaming my lack of energy on my sickness that has been dragging on but it might have something to do with the lack of sleep I am getting because I am up all night reading!  There are lots of parts in this book that you don't want to put the book down so I don't but as soon as you get through that part and read a little more there is another part that crops up that you have to see where it goes.  It is the reason that the show Castle only comes on in one hour time slots because we would just sit and watch the television all night.  This is a great book and series to pick up if you like the show and even if you have never watched it.  The stories are based on the stories that the writer is writing in the show and not on the plot of the show.  It is very interesting to see the different characters develop and evolve.  I hope that you check this out the next time you are at the library or bookstore because I promise it will entertain you and keep you at the edge of your seat.

Menu Plan Monday 9/29

Monday-Waffles
Tuesday- Chicken??
Wednesday-Mac and Cheese??
Thursday- Cheese Ravioli with peasant bread
Friday- Chicken and oven roasted potatoes
Saturday- Leftovers/ Pork Tacos with saffron rice and corn bread
Sunday- Baked Potato Soup/Chinese take out

I started to work on the plan for October and then surprise, October is here!!!  We are having unexpected company so I started moving the plan around for what we were having but I am still looking into it and trying to figure out what we are having this week.  I am working at the beginning of the week and preparing for the end of the week company so all bets are off as to what is for dinner.  I am still going to be thinking about that and hopefully waking up with a plan for the next few days and a list of what we need at the store so I can get it after work and before I pick up my son at the bus stop.  I already made a list of the things that I need to make and my bread machine pan broke so it got quickly taken off track.  I am going to start a new list tomorrow!!!  Hope you have a good week planned and some yummy meals in there too.

Can you believe that it is time for another new month??  I hope that you have a yummy week planned too!!!

Joyful Book Review

I have gotten into the Amish fiction with the help of lots of different books that I have reviewed as well as a bunch of books from the library so I couldn't pass up this book even though it was the third book in the series.  I looked into the library to see if they had the first two that I could read before my review started but they didn't so I was going to start with the third in the series. Joyful: Return to Sugarcreek, Book Three by Shelley Shepard Gray was the next book in my pile and I was excited to start reading it even though I never read any others in the series and really didn't know a lot about it.

In this book, Elizabeth Nolt is living with her grandmother because her mother has gotten married and moved away.  She stayed in the town to take care of her grandmother and because she had been courting Randall Beiler for two years.  She thinks that it is only time before he asks her to marry him until one night when he comes calling when she isn't expecting and breaks up with her.  He says that he has a lot of pressure to do the right thing and take responsibility for his family.  He is now the older and with both his mother and father passed away, he is now response for taking care of all of the others in the family.  One of his younger brothers come calling on her because they need some help taking care of the family with cooking and cleaning.  They offer to pay her for her time and the only thing is that she will have to work for her ex but since she needs to support her grandmother and she can't turn down the family she was almost a part of so she takes the most painful job.  Check out what happens while she is there to the Beiler family and her own.

I really enjoyed this book but be prepared with a few tissues because I needed them!!!  I loved the characters as soon as I read about them.  I started the book and read it in about 24 hours because I couldn't put it down!!  The best part is that I never felt like I was missing something because I hadn't read the books earlier in the series.  Super excited to read other books by the same author because I love her writing style and the subject matter in her books.  I hope that you pick this book up at your local library or bookstore because I know that you will like it too!!!

Even better news is that I went to the library and found out that I could do the inter-library loan process and there were local libraries that would send the book to my library for me to check out.  I can read it and return it and not spend any money to get caught up on this great series!!!  Woohoo!!  So excited and put both of the first two in the request and crossing my fingers to get them soon but need to read a few more of the other books that I have in my pile already from the library so I better get reading!!!

** I was provided this book from the publisher for my honest review of the book.  All of the opinions here are my own.

Hidden in the Stars Book Review

I picked out this book because it was part of the Quilts of Love series.  I read one previously and was happy to check out another one when I got the opportunity.  I was excited to start reading  Hidden in the Stars: Quilts of Love Series by Robin Caroll.  I didn't remember what this one was about but the cover shows the ballet shoes with what looks like a dancer laying on a quilt so I interested to see how a quilt had anything to do with ballet.

Following an attack that killed her mother and had her hospitalized with stitches, broken bones and damaged vocal cords, 21-year-old gymnast Sophia Montgomery is working with the police and a lip reader to solve the crime.  Reporters find her in the hospital after the announcement of her placement on the Olympic team. She has no choice but to accept her estranged grandmother’s offer to return to her house because her mothers house was burned to the ground. In the course of the investigation, Sophia and Detective Julian Frazier start having feeling for each other but the Detective hides his feelings as concern for a trauma victim and focuses instead on finding the killer.  They learn the clues to solving the case may be right in front of them, displayed in Sophia’s mother’s “special” quilt design. Read the book to find out what clues they find to solve the crime.

I enjoyed it and read it in less than 24 hours.  I might have stayed up until 2 am reading it the first night because it jumps right into the action and is hard to put down. It has great writing that has you directly relating to the characters and wanting to see the best results for them.  I know that I will have to search out other books by this author because I know that if the characters and plot are even half as interesting as the ones in this book, I will be hooked.  I hope that you pick up this book at your local library or bookstore to see if it doesn't make you stay up to find out what happens.  Consider yourself warned!

**I was provided a copy of this book for my honest review from the publisher.  All opinions here are my own.