Frugal In Florida

Hi Hi ... here we are again, Menu and Meal Prep Time! Wheeee! Yeah, I'm really excited, NOT!  Too much drama in the household this past week AND I went to Orlando for a few days to the Halloween Horror Nights ... which, by the way, was scary as all get out! Whew. Glad I made it home intact ;-) The Whole30 has officially ended, even though I did not complete the 30 days ... however, I have found out that BEER (!!) does NOT do me good ... so I'm skipping that for the most part ... glad to have met with LaCroix Sparkling Water and even happier that I'm able to introduce others to that wonderful stuff .... so glad! Did a quick stop at Aldis after stopping to see my dad at the rehabilitation facility ... he's doing much better speech-wise, his right arm movement is improving but walking and standing is still a major issue. Received a phone call at 12:30am to let me know, yet again, that he had fallen when he tried to go to the bathroom on his own :-( I am going to s...

I don't know why, but I love to read what other bloggers are buying at the grocery store. Yeah. I guess you could say I'm obsessed with food ... but I 'think' I have a healthy relationship with it ;-) So, with that said, I thought, what the heck, I'll try to share my weekly grocery trips ... and if everything is going according to plan, you would even get a picture or two ... but of course, things don't always go as planned ... so no picture this week :-) A bonus for me to share weekly is to keep my grocery budget in check (hopefully!) Luckily, I only hit up the grocery store once this past week ... AND only spent $66.64 ... thank you Aldis! Here's what I bought ... check back later for the Menu Plan to see how I plan to use some of the food ... red wine vinegar $1.49 2 pkgs of taco seasoning $.39 each bottle of chocolate syrup $1.49 2 paper bags $.06 each 2 plastic bags $.10 each (shame on me, I was not prepared with MY own bags, driving Hub...

Ahhh .... it's that time of year again, and well, yet again, I have to say, I'm still  not sure if I'm on the soup train or not!! I do know, however, that I'm on the Whole30 train and was  doing so good for a while there, then of course, had that little Pei Wei mishap, overcomed by sugar cookies and then the B E E R and well, I figured, I need to get my act together and hop back on!  Of course, trying to feed  Hubby this was has been difficult as he and the Boy are both firm believers that man needs carbs, processed carbs, which means bread and pasta ... otherwise, they may just die. Men. So, are you following me on Instagram yet? I'm not normally all that active, but the Whole30 community has an overwhelming presence and of course, I'm stalking all the Whole30 'gramers out there and finding some pretty awesome bloggers with some pretty awesome recipes ... Just like this one! This surprisingly easy and yummy recipe comes from Whole Fork ...

Hi Hi ... it's that time of the week again ... Menu Plan Day! Technically, it SHOULD be Week 4 of the Whole30 ... but, ahem, there was a Pei Wei dinner on Thursday night, a few sugar cookies on Friday and then Saturday night ...  B E E R And man, do I feel like crap. Headache. Stomach ache. Woozy. Shaky ... hangover, yeah, probably. BUT I felt like crap on Friday, Saturday AND today ... I would like to say it's all the sugar cookies fault which is a likely scenario ... so yeah, no more sugar cookies. I am also hitting Orlando and Halloween Horror Nights on Thursday and Friday this week ... and well, I think I may be able to safely say I'll skip the beer ;-) I certainly have NOT miss waking up with this crappy feeling! But food, well, I will probably eat some less than stellar food choices, but will keep it as clean as possible! Meal prep for the week includes making celery soup (recipe coming this week), mayo , (gonna try this with the avocado oil this time), salad...

My hands have NOT been bothering me as much lately and I would like to think that perhaps it has something to do with the Whole30 way I've been eating. Then again, I may have just jinxed myself, right? Don't get me wrong, they still hurt. But it would seem that some of the swelling has gone down, and I've not taken ANY Aleve in 3 weeks (its a miracle, I tell you!) but have popped one of Hubby's anti-inflammatory pills a few times. Which, by the way, is perfectly fine for me to take NOW that I'm not consuming alcohol.  So I a few days ago, I went back and did something that I've not done in quite a while. Yes, I DID do it consistently for oh, about, 2 months. Then life stepped in and got busy and I got distracted and just set aside that nightly routine. Hand Scrubbing. Which really, should be Hand Soothing. Or, how about, just plain ole Pampering the Hands? All you need is:  Baking soda and Coconut Oil. Uh huh. Again. My two favorite things. I d...

At almost 48 years of age, I finally discovered green beans. At 51 years of age, I discovered green beans with scrambled eggs for breakfast. But THAT'S a different post for another day!  TIP: even better is green beans dipped in a wet yolk ;-) Green Beans. All those years I dreaded going to my maternal grandmothers as I knew we would be snapping, snapping, and still more snapping of green beans from her garden. She would then can a copious amount of beans which meant every dinner we had at her house involved green beans. ::shudder:: Wimpy, mushy, overcooked green beans, no kidding. Fast forward many, many years ... my sister in law was making green beans one evening and had them sitting there, already cooked, just needing to be reheated a little for dinner. They looked beautiful, bright green and smelled heavenly (aka, garlickly).  I told her they smelled yummy and she was like "go ahead and have some, there's plenty" which at that time, I had ...

And ... here we are again, Funday Sunday ... This past week has been hell.  Princess came home from the hospital on Tuesday (yeah!) but had a few follow up appointments throughout the week. Yes, she's almost 25, but she's still my daughter so I'm active with her when she needs me ;-) Then Hubby went again for back injections. It's been a rough few weeks for him, and still, 4 days later, it's still bothering him bad. I hate to seem him in such discomfort :-( THEN .... my dad fell in the bathroom early Thursday morning. Nothing like that phonecall from the facility at 4am. Ugh. Originally taken by transport as his shoulder was bothering him. Ended up in ICU for bleeding on the brain and is showing stroke like symptoms. The only good news here is that they moved him out of ICU on Saturday morning and tonight (Sunday) they are moving him to an acute rehabilitation facility. Excellent. If he can't transfer from his bed to his wheelchair he will not be able to s...

My dad fell the other night and hit the back of his head pretty hard. Needless to say, 2 days in ICU for head trauma and bleeding on the brain adds a little stress to my life ... he's definitely showing signs of a stroke, right side of face droopy, unable to move or lift right arm, unable to grip with right hand and slurred speech. Never a dull moment :-( Sunday morning the nurse said that he has discharge orders BUT they are following up on recommended rehabilitation ... he can't get out of bed, he can't use his right arm or hand, uhm, yes, he needs some rehab before he goes home ... I've asked that they inquire further with the doctor. Just found out that he will be going to a facility for Acute Rehabilitation (which is the place that we both love in that it's a nice facility, good care and very very active in treatment). Anyway. So when I went to see him on Saturday morning, I stopped at Costco, I mean, heck, it's less than a mile away, I had a running li...

So this Whole30 thing hasn't been too horribly bad ... I think the first "failed week" was due to my total lack of preparation. This last REAL week hasn't been too hard at all ... the food prep on Sunday has paid off and I'm glad I had that food on standby for those few nights I got in later than anticipated ... even with the stressful issue with Princess being admitted to the hospital on Thursday, I've held strong ... thankfully ;-) So ... the BLT Lettuce Cups were on my Whole30 Board, because I knew I had everything on hand. Sadly, it wasn't until SATURDAY that I got around to making them and then I was like, geesh, I should have made these sooner ;-) This was MY lunch on Day 6 ... and if you follow me on Instagram, you can see what I've been eating for about 75% of the meals ... I just can't be bothered remember to snap a photo each time I -eat! Lets make these little food bombs, shall we? *This was for ME and me only, otherwise I...

On DAY 3 of Whole30 (well, the 2nd time around) we had burgers and dogs on the grill ... and man, I was sweating it on so many levels. Yeah, it was hot and humid too but I was more worried about: B E E R See, when we grill, we sit outside, where it's like a sauna and NOT in a good way ... between swatting at the skeeters and dabbing at the back of your neck with a paper towel, it's almost a given that you Get Yourself a Coozie and have a chilled beer (bonus point for the first person who can Name That Song!) ... but that's not very Whole30'ish like. Actually, it's everything the Whole30 isn't ... But don't you worry ... I improvised on so many levels and was so proud of myself ... I did indeed grab a coozie and then a can of LaCroix Sparkling Water Lime ... and you know what? That satisfied that habit/need/desire/whatever to roll the edge of the coozie around the table in a circular fashion, sip from the can and give it a little shakey shakey an...

And ... Week #2 is here for Whole30 ... I think I can do this ... I really do!  I wish Hubby was on with me but he's eating what I make and then some so I guess it's a start ... We've had a little excitement this past week between Princess being in the hospital and then Hubby's having some serious back issues again (crud, this last round of shots did NOTHING) for him ... to the point where when he went to see Princess on Saturday, he asked how far he was going to need to walk and I was like, crap, maybe you should ask for a handicap hanger for times like this :-( He refuses as he doesn't "need it" but I told him that there are times when he DOES need it ... even today, he's pretty much immobile which really stinks ... I can see how people under pain management can totally abuse and over-medicate themselves now. Keeping a close eye on him so that doesn't happen! Anyway. A Costco trip came along, finally, last week ... did you catch that post ...

I had a funky day at work today (Tuesday) ... I was just tired and didn't have any ambition or motivation to go the extra mile which is TOTALLY not me! I felt bad about it and even told my boss that "geesh, I'm sorry for being such a deadbeat employee today" ... I'm wondering if it's the lack of coffee AND the Whole30 thing going on ... then again, it could just be because I'm tired of the job ... not the people I work for, but the job and industry itself. Thanks to Dodd Frank, the whole entire lending industry is going to be topsy-turvy and if I have to hear, one more time "well, we just don't know what the lenders are going to expect from us" I'm going to scream. I think maybe its partly that: not knowing what to expect with these changes coming next week ... I'm good at what I do, but it's taken me almost 15 years to be an expert ;-) Anyway.  Enough whining, right? Thanks for pretending you cared and sympathize :-) So. Told...