Frugal In Florida

it is amazing as i have been to three different gates so far ... there are outlets to charge cell phones, plug in laptops and .... amazingly enough ... ipods...the kids were happy to see that since ipods have been on since about four am ...

in chicago.  flight last night cancelled after over two hours in line. we are currently waiting to try one of eight flights as standby. worse case we fly to columbus tonight and then fly from there to lauderdale after two pm friday. nice huh? hoping everyone had a merry christmas and an upcoming happy new year.

You may have noticed that I didn't post a plan this week for my menu. Will, that's because I only have to worry about Monday and Tuesday. But hey, still linking up to Menu Plan Monday over at the Organizing Junkie! So here you go, Monday - Digiorno's pizza ($4.50 each at Target) and chicken wings (GFS, freezer) on the grill - I highly recommend this!! I also made myself a small salad in trying to keep in the healthy mode! Tuesday - sandwiches and maybe soup or salad. Wednesday - family (no clue) Thursday - family (no clue) Friday - my parents, ham, mac and cheese, finger foody type things ... you know the drill! Saturday - hubbys family, but no one has discussed food with US, the foodies! Thats where we are sooo different, our families!! Sunday - probably, most likely, leftovers!

We are so lucky that Ammie over at Domestically Obsessed has started a little Monday morning linky called Make It Happen Monday ... it keeps you a little more accountable for your to do list! For me, I really only have a few days to MAKE IT HAPPEN. Meaning, I fly out at the crack of dawn Wednesday ... so I really only have TODAY and TOMORROW to get my s*it together. Ack! 1. Laundry, iron and put away 2. Get kids to do their putting away (geesh, whats with the CLEAN laundry monster??) 3. Pack. Get kids to lay out their clothes by day with surety of extra outfit for Eve & Day AND snowmobile night (the clothes will smell of exhaust) 4. Double check MY bag (as I'm the last one!) 5. Make sure gifts are along in carry on. 6. Grab list to put in carry on AND bag. (this way I'm sure I don't forget!) 7. Get kitty food and litter for the cats. Check in with Lins. 8. Clear out fridge 9. Trash to street, check with J on bring up when done 10. Double check laptop conne...

Every year, hubby gets me gift certificates, for the spa, manicures, pedicures, hair, massages, etc. This last one he got for me at Christmas of 2009 was for a nice upscale spa and a rather large amount ... and I figured since I need to get my hair done AND would like a massage/manicure/pedicure, I'd just do it with the gift certificate. BOY am I glad I pulled it out and looked at it!!!! It expires exactly ONE year from date of issuance which is the 18th, SATURDAY!! Holy crap. That could have been ugly had I not thought to look at it ... I was thinking of waiting til after our trip but now I'm really glad I didn't. So for 4 to 5 hours on Saturday, I will be at the Spa. Ann Marie, please forgive me for letting someone else highlight my hair ... no cut though ... IF YOU RECEIVED A GIFT CERTIFICATE FOR CHRISTMAS LAST YEAR, PLEASE LOOK HARD AT IT AND SEE IF IT EXPIRES!!

I must say, I'm very glad that I took a few friends recommendation for a new gyno dr. Dr. S was pleasant. She was efficient, professional, QUICK and gentle. She was done within minutes. Easy Peasy. Seriously, I was like, done??? Already? Wow that was quick! What more could you ask for? No scolding for the 10 plus years since I've had my last pap. Simple question as to "why now?" which I responded that all my girlfriends are on me about doing it :) Got my mammo script. And a script for a ultrasound of uterus. Fun. Fun FUN! Uh huh, so looking forward to those! BUT at least I can get them done in the same place, hopefully the same day ... So, ok, now that I sucked it up and went, please, for all of you who are in the same boat as me and NOT keeping up with your annual checkups ... please do. It's not all that scary after all :)

I finally have an appointment with the gynecologist for tomorrow morning. Can I tell you how excited I am about this? (NOT!)  But it's been quite a while and I suppose it's like getting your car tuned up, needs to be done periodically ... Hubby has a follow up appointment with his doctor tomorrow also, but his is the follow up for his cholesterol. To "discuss the updated test result". It irritates us both that the doctor won't just discuss the results on the telephone (hello, this is Dr. so and so, your cholesterol sucks, you need to start watching what you eat a little more!). So tomorrow, just for 10 minutes of a doctor's time, we will each pay $25.00. This is our co-pay for a regular doctor visit. Yeah, I know, it's cheap compared to those who do NOT have health insurance. But remember that Hubby pays somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 a month for the THREE of us. This does NOT include Princess (who will be back on the plan January 1st, THANKFU...

In relation to my thoughts on going back to monthly menu planning and bi-weekly shopping, I've come up with the following quick ideas for dinners. Yeah, there aren't alot of side dishes and/or veggies listed, truthfully, those just aren't as important, I can always toss in some frozen veggies on the side! 1. BLT's 2. Quesidialla and black bean soup (a favorite - just had last night!) 3. Garlicky chicken and rice 4. pot roast (crockpot) with mashed taters and gravy 5. cuban pork and beans with rice 6. hot browns 7. taco soup 8. tacos and nachos 8 baked tater with works 9. spinach stuffed chicken breast 10. spaghetti and meatballs 11. chicken cesar pasta salad 12. chili cheese dogs with oven fries 13. burgers (sliders, whatever) 14. hot dogs (brats, sausage) 15. pizzas 16. pork chops and scallop taters 17. cubano sandwiches 18. pressed sandwiches (any kind) and pasta salad 19. baked tater soup 20. chili 21. grilled cheese and tomato soup 22. chicke...

1. If I saved 30% of MY income alone, that would equal $9720 a year. 2. If I saved only 25% of MY income, it would still be $8160 a year. I would think that would be motivational? 3. Heck, even at 20% it would be $6,528 a year! 4. I have one credit card that I carry a balance on (the shame!). I’ve been using it to pay for Princess classes and books. Who would have thought even with state funding scholarship money it would still cost as much as it does. The books cost more than the classes! It doesn’t help that she’s starting medical classes either. Yes, she could help pay for the stuff, and does, but just not a lot as she’s not making much $ either right now. Figured it would take me 1.5 years to pay it off at $150.00 a month. 5. Using both the American Express and CASH to shop with is not working for me. It was for a while, but then I realize that the American Express bill is really high AND I don’t have that much money in the account left to pay the bill. So yeah, using both ...

This will be the first Christmas in over 25 years that we will be North with the whole family. We are quite excited. Of course, the weather is just the exact opposite of what we are used to on Christmas. Actually, at the moment, the state and city that we are heading to is under a blizzard warning AND state of emergency. Which makes it all the more exciting since the kids have only seen snow 2 or 3 times in their whole life! So with that, we've been evaluating our clothing. Last night, I met the kids at the BIG mall and Macy's. I had coupons for $15 off $50 or $25 off $100 and so on. I figured, if each kid could find a WARM coat for $50 I'd be thrilled. Well, we found coats for UNDER $50 but not a single northerly, wintery worthy type of coat to be found here in South Florida. WTF. So they will be layering. And today, here in South Florida, will be a test for the new coats as it's currently 37.5 degrees!!! Whoa! That's cold baby! Then we have the luggage sit...

Another Monday has arrived and its time to put the list of things to do up! Thanks again to Ammie for keeping me accountable (somewhat more so than before anyways!) by offering a link up to Make It Happen Monday  ... guess this is what happens when you are Domestically Obsessed! So, I need to keep my list short and sweet this week ... yeah right! 1. Meet kids at Macy's after work and get winter coats ... chilly here and reallllllly cold in the Midwest! 2. Remind boys at work that I'll be late on Thursday. 3. Set up bill pay for bills that came in (they just don't stop!) 4. Make deposits and balance accounts. 5. Get 12 year old's gift (or at least an IDEA!!) 6. Get drainer towels (rolling over from last week!) 7. Clean out fridges 8. Empty cooler from party (still outside, still has tons of ice and the thought of touching the stuff in there gave me shivers) 9. Laundry, iron & put away 10. Get out luggage and give to kids. Pack up the stuff they are tak...

brrrrr...it's a chilly Monday morning here in South Florida ... 50 degrees and wind is blowing at about 20 mph out of the northwest. We are expected to get down in the 30's and even though a lot of you are already dealing with winter weather, it's way too early for us Floridians to experience this! As we will be leaving in 10 days for a week, I am going to try and avoid the store with the exception of produce and milk.  So here is what I hope to be eating...if you are looking for other ideas, hop on over to Organizing Junkie's site ... 100's of others are linking up! Monday - black bean soup and pressed sandwiches of sorts (could just end up with grilled cheese!) Tuesday - Baked tater soup (so many different recipes to choose from!) and garlicky chicken  Wednesday - chili cheese dogs and fries Thursday - Dinner out with office Friday - spinach stuffed chicken Saturday - burgers or Salisbury steaks (depends on the weather!) So there you have it ......

Another boat parade party has come and gone. About 20 people total, including me and hubby. 2 bottles of Patron. Gone. Unknown amount of Absolute. Gone. (I saw 3 bottles at one point) 2 bottles of wine. Gone. Unknown number of bottles of beer (gasp, not everyone recycled!!!) I have some snausages left. A little bit of lasagna. Some macaroni and cheese. Lot so rolls (not so good for this low carbin girl!). I'm eating the remainder of the greek salad as I type. 2 wings out of 60 (reserved for Princess) and I think that's about it. Hangover? You betcha. But not the incapacitating type. Just tired and blah. Thankfully. I'm glad I said no to at least 3 rounds. I've swept the whole house. Cleaned all the dirty dishes and such (crocks are soaking in the sink to clean shortly). Bar area has been wiped down. Cooler emptying is the last thing to do. Then I'm going to make me some popcorn in the whirly popper thing, grab a can of Coke and lay on the couch a...

The birthdays, that is. Sonny Boy is 18. He got his ears pierced (!!!!) Princess is 20. She didn't do anything special (oh, except met some friends at Coldstones) Now we just have the boat parade party Saturday. Company dinner next week. And then travels. I need to finish up and find something for my 12 year old neice. Anyone have any recommendations?? I feel so much older now. Yikes! My kids are no longer legally my responsibility. Oh. Hmmm. This COULD be good?

Listed over here . Cardio. Boxing. No special equipment needed. Just you! Sweaty. Gasping for air (and I know to BREATHE!) ... definitely kicked my butt and it was all MINE! Go on now, go get your heart rate up and get sweaty! Let me know how you did (I personally could not get my knees up consistently doing the high knee jog!).

Here's what I did today for my workout ... Abs / Core and ugggg...I'm stiff. Just so you know, I'm a REAL LIFE female, mid 40's with a desk job 40 hours a week. I'm not athletic whatsoever AND I HATE working out but realize that if I don't, I will be very very old before my time. My parents are both morbidly obese (over 300+ lbs) and it pains me to think that in their younger years they could have avoided some of what they are going through now had they made an attempt (Love you both mom and dad!). I'm not a personal trainer or certified to do so. Nor am I a nutritionist (uh, that should be obvious) ... I'm simply sharing HOW I am working out and what I'm doing and HOW I feel about it :) I do not belong to a gym and I'm trying to avoid joining one and incurring an expense that I know will be wasted money. I would however, consider joining some classes if I could find out where my old boxing instructor went to as I really liked his classes ...

I never did get around to the garage freezer inventory ... I should probably try to in the next few days huh? So, heres what I've removed from the freezer in the past week or so: 2 pkg boneless skinless chicken breast 1 pkg of sirloin steaks 2 bags red/green peppers 1 bag of sliced onions bag of broccoli 1/2 bag of shrimp 1 bag of brats 1 pkg italian chicken sausage 1 pkg cajun chicken sausage 1 pkg snausages And of course, here's what I've added: 4 1lb pkgs ground turkey 1 pkg chicken sausage (not the same as above) bag of fried turkey breast ANOTHER bag of fried turkey breast (we did take out half a few days later for sandwiches) 2 pkgs snausages (not the same as above) Pkg hot dogs buns 1/2 pkg hot dog buns So am I making progress? Yeah, a little. But not as much as I'd like to be obviously. I need to stay F O C U S E D!

Every time I type that title, I aways type "Make It Happy Monday" :) Doh. I'm having a horrible time typing as I'm WEAK from working out ... good Lord, what am I doing?? :) And yes, I did the sit ups that I realized I missed. So, thanks to AMMIE over at Domestically Obsessed , I'm linking up again for my Monday list ... 1. CLEAN keyboard out on laptop. 2. Set up work out plan for week. 3. Post work out plan (or at least have them ready to post!) 4. Weigh self. Either be amazed or disappointed as required. 5. Post  menu plan done! 6. Link to Organizing Junkie! 7. Take animals to Thrift stores first for warm clothes then target and mall (unfortunately, I probably missed the cold weather clothes as it's suppose to be in the 30/40 again tonight, tomorrow and Wednesday - bizarre!) This is for our trip to the Midwest. 8. Remind Sonny Boy to sign up for 01/22 SAT. 9. Get girls strainer towel for gifts. 10. Send Carmen thank you note for brutal sha...

Mondays. They come around every 7 days....whether you like it or not! And of course, to ease my pain, I always, always, always try to link up with Menu Plan Mondays over with Organizing Junkie ... check it out, lots of other menus listed! It's another fairly busy week ahead again ... Princess has her 20th birthday, Hubby comes back from his Dallas Trip, Boat Parade Party on Saturday ... and a few closings at work ... woohoo!! Monday - tacos (meat in freezer already cooked) Tuesday - Pasta chicken Cesar salad  (granted it's going to be downright CHILLY here and I should make a HOT meal...) Wednesday - Princess birthday (20!) - Black bean soup with veggie quesadillas Thursday - leftovers and/or sandwiches Friday - burgers (I'd like to get out early from work (?!) and have sliders for dinner since Hubby will be home this day too!) Saturday - Boat Parade Party ... appetizers such as chicken wings , snasuages, spicy meatballs, cheese spread and crackers, bean di...

It's been a while since I've been to Costco. No biggie as I've been able to pick up milk at Aldi's for less than $2 which is nice. But this morning, I went. Uggg. I HATE going there on Sunday. I had my list. And I deviated a bit. Well, a little more than a bit. Paper towels $14.99 bottled water $3.45 2% milk $2.39 x 2 Half and half $1.69 x 3 Always $11.99 Tampax $11.99 5 lbs ground beef in 1 lb chubs (93/7% fat) $13.49 (never seen this before!) ROC nighttime $28.99 less $7 ROC daytime $28.99 less $7 (hey, I'm bound and determined here to bypass a face lift!) Carnation instant breakfast (at last!) $8.89 x 3 Dawn dishsoap $8.39 Large hand sanitizer for office $3.99 5 lbs tomatoes $7.49 10 lbs onion $5.99 Crumbled bacon $9.49 5 lb shredded cheddar cheese $12.89 blueberries $6.99 strawberries $6.99 Newmans grape juice $6.99 60 count swiss miss $5.49 (suppose to be in low 40's this week...brrrr) 4 lbs unsalted butter $8.99 twin pack nutella $...

Who ELSE would say No/Low Carb for December?? Every single blog that I visit is all about cooking sweets for the holidays. Gahhhhh.... In the meantime, I'm fighting a major headache today. Could be the cold (we were 51 at the beach this morning!) or maybe carb/sugar withdrawal (day 5) ... I don't know. But I feel so much "slimmer" not bloated ... at last! Anyone else chosing to try a plan in the crazy month of December??

There are so many new recipes that I've gathered and am just dying to try ... I'm not sure how long I can hold out!  The beauty of this one for me is that I have everything in house to make .. I got this one from an email from the College Inn website (you know, the chicken and beef broth people!) ... and of course, I've modified it to our taste... 2 cups beef broth (pantry) 2 cup jasmine rice (pantry) 4 tbs teriyaki sauce  (fridge, I used Tonton Hibachi Japanese Steak & BBQ Sauce with Sake!) 3 tbs cornstarch (pantry) 2 lb sirloin steak, sliced thin (freezer) 2 lb b/s chicken breast (freezer) 4 tbs sesame oil (pantry) 12 oz bag of broccoli florets (freezer) Red bell pepper cut into strips (freezer, couldn't tell you how much but it was alot) Onion, sliced (chunky wedge would have been better but I had sliced in the freezer because I have none - freezer) A tsp scoop or so of minced garlic (fridge) Sesame seeds, lig...

A new month! The LAST month of the year! Oh NO! That means I have to start working on my 2011 goals, getting them lined up, put on a list, prioritized and goodness, make that plan. This is where my new buddy Ammie would come in :) Not to mention, this is the time to really crack down and start saving for the end of the year festivities. We are traveling to see family and well, it shouldn't be a big deal, but apparently, it will be. Oh well, such is life and must be faced and dealt with directly. So lets see ... I'm going to start with my December goals: 1. Lose 10 lbs. Ha. I know. Not realistic in the long run but it sure would be nice to at least get 5! I'm low carbing AND working out again. If you are so inclined to see my work out plan daily, check it out over here (please bear in mind, I'm NOT a professional trainer, nutritionist, etc., this is just stuff I've done in the past and I'm doing it MY way this time) 2. Exercise every stinkin DAY and p...