The Crossroads Book Review

I did the summer reading program at a few libraries that gave me coupons to get free books.  This library didn't give me a coupon but I had to pick a book there even though I didn't have a ton of time.  I grabbed The Crossroad (Amish Country Crossroads #2) by Beverly Lewis off the shelf.  I didn't think that I read it before when I looked at the name and the description on the back.  I was trying to figure it out but my blog is my way of searching and the older posts don't seem to be coming up when I search anymore.  I was glad when I got it home and found out that I really hadn't read this one!!

Journalist Philip Bradley can't forget Rachel Yoder, the blind Amish woman he met while on assignment in Pennsylvania. He is determined to find a cure for her and to get to know her better. But before Rachel can move on in her life, she must first confront traumatic memories. Can their growing love survive the vast gulf between their different worlds and Rachel's agonizing road to recovery?
A gifted storyteller, Beverly Lewis draws on her childhood in the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country and her mother's Amish family heritage to create realistic situations. Narrator Barbara Caruso vividly brings to life Rachel's setbacks and victories as the young woman struggles to move from the darkness into the light.

I thought that this was a great story and I was glad that I picked it up.  Philip was looking to move forward in his career as a writer when he realized that I didn't really fit in when he was in the city.  He went to the small Amish town and stayed in the local bed and breakfast and realized that he really enjoyed the slower pace of country life.  In addition, he met Rachel who became blind after a horrible accident where she saw her husband and child killed in front of her.  Philip decided to research the ways that she could get better and talk to lots of different doctors on what the causes of this type of blindness are.  I loved Rachel's story and all the things about her life that are shared through her blindness.  She is an amazing character and you have to pick up the book to find out what happens.  I usually like the Beverly Lewis books but this one stood out as very unique.  I hope that you check this out for yourself and enjoy it as much as I did.

Menu Plan Monday 10/8

Homemade Pizza
Pasta
Chicken Fries and homemade french fries
Grilled Chicken with white rice
Spicy Honey Mustard Chicken with mac and cheese
Leftovers
Barber Chicken and white rice


This week started before I knew it because of the holiday so I didn't post my menu yesterday but here is what I am planning for the week.  Last week we had my son's favorite dinner on Monday with chicken fries and homemade french fries and we had chicken wraps.  Tuesday was pasta night.  Wednesday was tacos but I forgot to take out the ground beef but amazingly I had ground chicken which I just got on sale so I cooked that up and we enjoyed our chicken tacos.  We had grilled chicken and rice on Thursday.  I made Rosemary Chicken and Potatoes on Friday and made my son plain hash browns instead of the seasoned ones like he prefers.  Saturday we were busy most of the day and ended up with Leftover Family Fun Night.  We made homemade mac and cheese balls and homemade mozzarella sticks which were really tasty with a few other things thrown in.  Sunday I had to work so the boys ate a late lunch and they were on their own for dinner and they had leftovers.

Here is hoping this week goes well and I catch up with my schedule.  Still looking for my to do list that I didn't finish from last week so probably not going as well as it could!!  I have hope for getting dinner ready and start some baking that I still haven't gotten to.

September Month End Shopping and Eating Out Budget Update

Every month, I work with my monthly budget of $160 for our family of three to get the most for the least amount out of pocket. I mix sales, coupons and any deal that I can find to stretch the budget as far as possible and fill the pantry and freezer with things at the lowest cost.  The great thing is that leaves lots of room to get things that we need to use for future months at the lowest prices because we have so many things already in the house in our stockpile.

I did a horrible job of adding up my receipts this month.  I added up my first half of the month receipts and broke them all down here.  After that, I put no more receipts into the spreadsheet and just put them in a pile on my table.  I finally got to it on September 25th with 5 days left in the month.  Luckily I was still under budget with a few more days to get deals for the month and then I added a few more trips and realized my formula was wrong and it didn't include the first trip of the month. This math calculation messed up my month and I ended up going a little crazy.  Below is everything that I got for the month with the things that I got in the second half broken down.

Aldi $17.58

Giant $0.44

Safeway $12.30 

Harris Teeter $6.19

Harris Teeter $5.16

Shoppers $0.08

Target $0

Aldi $19.89

Aldi $1.42

Harris Teeter $13.56

Shoppers $0.04

I got a yummy freebie from Shoppers and I enjoyed it lots!

Giant $0.15

I went to the store to get the cherry juice and the yogurt showed up free on my account when I was in the store.  I ate the yogurt for lunch that day and it was yummy!!  I still haven't had the cherry juice but I look forward to it because the last one was really good.  I got $0.25 back from Saving Star for the yogurt.

Harris Teeter $13.07

The sugar was on sale for $0.97 each with limit 4 so I got them all.  I was excited to get the Veggie Straws for $0.50 each.  The Hodgson Mills Vital Wheat Gluten was on sale for $3 and there was a printable coupon which made them $2 each.

Shoppers $0.11

Another great snack for free and I only paid the tax.  I opened it and ate in the car so that was where I took the picture.

Wegman's $19.68

We were running low on ground beef and totally out of mac and cheese so I went to Wegman's to grab those and decided to get the yeast because they are free after coupon there.

Aldi $5.31 

I went to get ice cream sandwiches which according to my son are very important and turkey for my husbands lunch which according to my husband is also very important.. not really but I haven't had a sale on turkey in a little while so we were running low.

 Harris Teeter $21.79

I was super excited to hear about the rumored super doubles and even more when I knew that I had money left in the budget to spend.

Traders Joe's $3.58

I went to get blue cheese because we were running very low so I decided to make a lot of trips in one day and this was my first stop.  I grabbed this and put it straight into the cooler.

 Shoppers $0

I went to Shoppers to get the freebie and they didn't have it in stock so the manager said that he would give me anything from the cookie and candy aisle under $3 so I grabbed the Oreos and went to customer service to get rung up.  There was a little delay because the person there didn't think that it was a match and I explained twice what the manager said so he rang it up and kept the receipt but I was right by the door so I just left with my cookies.

Safeway $0

Next stop was Safeway to get my freebie that was loaded on my card which I am looking forward to making into Cinnamon Sour Cream Pound Cake.

Harris Teeter $14.19

I went to get the Kool Aid Sparklers for the taste and tell.  I also grabbed the Canola Oil sale for $1.97.  I grabbed four more of the oatmeal because they were an amazing deal and that should get us through the winter months with my son's oatmeal.  I turned in the Kool Aid for a $0.75 Ibotta rebate.

Wegman's  $0.48

I did a lot of transactions with different registers to get a bunch of yeast with all the coupons that I had and change in my pocket.  I was super happy to have the previous ones that I could cut down the side and dump into a small mason jar that I keep in my fridge.  I use a lot of yeast so I will be having lots of fun bread with this for super cheap.

 Aldi $1.94

We were out of milk so I got another milk as my last grocery stop for the day.  I was exhausted but glad that I got everything done with my one free day.

Harris Teeter $4.61

This was the start of super doubles which I started off with a bang!!! Free Annie's pasta, Lipton Tea, Enjoy Life Rice Milk bars, Turtles, Hormel Bacon, Barilla Pasta Sauce, and Birds Eye Veggie Pasta.  I got the Tide for $0.47 each and the Fruit Gushers for $0.97 each.

Harris Teeter $0.03

I grabbed my two free Tomato Sauce.

Harris Teeter $0.18

I was excited to get the nail polish because it normally gone by the time that I get to the store.

Harris Teeter $4.91

I got the Barilla Pasta Sauce, Blue Diamond Almonds, and nail polish for free.  I got 6 more boxes of granola bars and after coupon and sale, they were $0.74 per box.

Harris Teeter $0.20

I went to another store to grab a few things that were out at the last store and they were all free except tax.

Harris Teeter $0.08

My husband grabbed three jars of spaghetti sauce.

Harris Teeter $7.57

I went a little crazier the later in the day and put in a huge total for me.  The TastyKake doughnuts were $0.75 each and one of my son's favorites.  The Quaker Chewy bars were $0.74.  The Mahatma Rice was $0.39.  The Barilla Pesto was $0.79 each and I turn it in for a $3.00 Ibotta rebate.

Harris Teeter $0.08

I was excited to get lots of spaghetti sauce to stock the cupboards.

Harris Teeter $3.19

I didn't get this deal in the morning because I didn't think that I had a coupon but I found one so I had to go to a few stores to find it before the deal was over.

Harris Teeter $5.68

Last stop of the month and I got more of everything from above and was glad to get home and unpack and try to see what my totals were for the month.

Total Retail $626.89

Total Saving $443.40

Total OOP $183.49

I went super crazy at the end of the month and found that I had a little error in my formula on my spreadsheet so my first total wasn't included in my calculation.  Oops!!  Also there was a super doubles that landed on the end of the month.  I was $23.49 over my grocery budget but well under my Eating Out Budget (see below) to make up for the overage so I was still under by $8 for the total budget.  I was happy with all the amazing deals that I picked up this month including 30 boxes of granola bars which would normally be about $90.  I also got 20 jars of spaghetti sauce, pesto and alfredo sauce which would normally be almost $60 but I got it all for free after sale, coupon and Ibotta rebate.

My happiest thing that we have done this month is amazing saving with using gift cards and free money this month.  My husband used Home Depot gift cards to buy stuff for the house and still has some left to use towards fertilizer and other things we need.  I went to Kohl's because I realized that my son didn't have a shirt for picture day and found shorts on clearance for $6 and shirts for $5.  I had a gift card that I already got from My Points and got another one while I was in the store and only spent $11 for 5 items.  I still had two Target gift cards which I used to get new dish brushes and clearance notebooks for $0.07 so paid nothing.  I used the rest of the gift card and Pay Pal to pay for our Target purchase.  I used Pay Pal for my son's school pictures. Working on using my Swagbucks and My Points to pay for lots more going forward including ordering $75 in Swagbucks for Amazon in case I need to order a new bread machine and $50 for Home Depot for more fertilizer. 

Eating Out

My husband and son decided that we had to have take out pizza so we ordered a Pizza Hut pizza and picked it up.  It was $8.47 and gave me a night off cooking so it was a nice change of pace.  The best part is that it is way under budget for the month and we earned a free pizza which we used on the last day of the month with no money out of pocket.  That was nice because we still had $31.53 left in the eating out budget which I spent on groceries.

Menu Plan Monday 10/1

Chicken Fries, Chicken Wraps and homemade fries
Pasta
Tacos
Grilled Chicken with white rice
Rosemary Chicken and Potatoes
Leftovers
??

Last week was a blur and I was a little confused when I sat down to write up the menu because I don't have any of October planned yet!!  We had my son's favorite dinner of chicken fries, chicken wraps and french fries for dinner.  Tuesday was busy and I wasn't home so my husband made pasta for my son and had soup himself because he didn't feel good.  We had a frozen pizza that I got free from Safeway and a Buffalo Chicken Naan Bread Pizza for Wednesday dinner.  Thursday dinner was chili with cheese and chips with mac and cheese which was super easy because I had already made it and frozen it.  We had Barber Chicken Kiev and Cordon Bleu with rice on Friday.  On Saturday, I used the rest of the chili to make Salsa Sloppy Joes and my son had pasta.  Sunday was busy and we had our free rewards from Pizza Hut which cost nothing.

I am hoping for a less busy week this week but who knows.  We are planning to eat lots from our yummy and full freezer and pantry.  I started my monthly menu plan so I will go through and figure out what is planned for the month and the rest of this week soon.

Roadside Assistance Book Review

I reserved every book by Amy Clipston at the library because I really enjoyed her book and I wanted to read all the series that I had the chances.  This was the last book in my pile to get to enjoy her great writing.  Roadside Assistance by Amy Clipston turned out to be a youth fiction book.  It was a great book for adults or kids.

A very bumpy ride. Emily Curtis is used to dealing with her problems while under the hood of an old Chevy, but when her mom dies, Emily’s world seems shaken beyond repair. Driven from home by hospital bills they can’t pay, Emily and her dad move in with his wealthy sister, who intends to make her niece more feminine—in other words, just like Whitney, Emily’s perfect cousin. But when Emily hears the engine of a 1970 Dodge Challenger, and sees the cute gearhead, Zander, next door, things seem to be looking up. But even working alongside Zander can’t completely fix the hole in Emily’s life. Ever since her mom died, Emily hasn’t been able to pray, and no one—not even Zander—seems to understand. But sometimes the help you need can come from the person you least expect.

I thought it was a great story with the two main characters connecting over a car repair.  I thought it was amazing to watch the change in Emily while she was working with her dad or Zander on making a car repair.  It was so different then the unsure girl who was trying to make it through losing her mom, living in her cousin's shadow at school and trying to start her new life.  Emily kept thinking that everyone was against her and she was against taking charity.  It turned out that she wasn't giving everyone a fair chance and she was pushing away everyone that was trying to help.  You have to pick up this book and find out what happens but I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I have.  I hope that you check it out for yourself!!

Menu Plan Monday 9/24

Chicken Fries, Chicken Wraps and homemade fries
Pasta
Leftovers??
Chili with cheese on Fritos (Spaghetti for my son)
Barber Chicken and rice
Frozen Pizza
Leftovers

Monday was my son's favorite dinner so we enjoyed chicken wraps while he had chicken fries and we all had homemade fries.  I made cube steak and rice for dinner before soccer practice.  It was so much food that I couldn't finish mine. Wednesday I worked late so I tried to have my husband make homemade pizza but he couldn't figure it out.  Luckily he preheated the oven and got out all the ingredients so it was a quick put together and got dinner on the table in just a few minutes.  I was exhausted and decided on leftovers on Thursday.  I finally got to make the ground beef and it was defrosted!! I made french dip sloppy joes on homemade rolls with the leftover gravy and beef stock that I had in the fridge as part of the sauce.  I also made mac and cheese to go with it on Friday night.  Saturday we decided on Philly Cheese Steak Pasta and Spaghetti. Sunday was Pork Chops with white rice because I got some more clearance pork chops so I did that instead of the Barber Chicken.

I don't have a clue what is going on this week but I have a feeling that it is going to be busy.  We all are feeling a little tired and maybe a touch of allergies.  I don't have the full plan but going to dig through the freezer and hope for inspiration!!

The Beloved Hope Chest Book Review

The next book in the series was The Beloved Hope Chest (An Amish Heirloom Novel) by Amy Clipston which I was glad to start after the last story ended in a bit of a mystery.  This book started right into the story that was left off in the last book.  It was hard to put down but sad to near the end of this great series.

When Mattie packed her hope chest, she put away the heartache of her past. But as her daughters begin to unpack it, she discovers a healing more powerful than she ever hoped for.
Mattie Fisher’s three daughters know that she’s been keeping a secret from them. With each item pulled from the beloved family hope chest, they’ve discovered a new clue about their mother’s past.
But there’s a reason Mattie has been keeping her history hidden, and she’s not sure she’s ready to reopen old wounds. Will dredging up the past change the way her children view her? Or her marriage to their father? And can she handle the pain of revisiting the memories that preceded the last few happy decades? Mattie’s story is one of grief and learning to love again. But like the best things preserved in a hope chest, it's a story of love and redemption born out of heartache—and it's past time to share it.

Mattie is the mother of all of the daughters from the previous books.  This book follows the beginning of her life before she had her girls to give them a glimpse into her past.  Her daughter came upon her secrets in her locked hope chest and wanted to know the truth.  Spoiler alert if you haven't read the other books, you might want to skip this part of the review.  All three girls are called to their childhood home to learn about their mothers past and they are shocked at what they learn.  They find out about her life before their father and they were in her life.  Mattie was in love and married to a man before and lost him in a tragic accident but she was carrying her baby.  In order to not be a burden on her family, she decided to marry her childhood friend who was willing to support her through this and raise the baby as his own.  She is going through a lot of grief over the loss of her husband and a lot of hormones being pregnant so there are a lot of ups and downs in this book.  You have to pick up the book to find out what happens.  I promise you will be amazed!!  I hope that you check out this book and the rest of the series and enjoy it as much as I have!