Frugal In Florida

It's Saturday. Saturday afternoon, matter of fact. 2:15pm at this very moment. I am sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a slight headache (too many beers last night), listening to hubby and sonny boy tear apart the wood deck right outside the window. Hubby went and bought himself a BFH. Ok, I will not elaborate what a BFH is, but it has a long wooden handle, and a 6 lb weighty thing at the end. And it's for big jobs. Such as tearing up the wood deck. Sonny Boy is using the big crow bar along with the crow bar screw driver looking thing (would that be classified as a BFSD?) The sawzaw (??) and the chainsaw have both made appearances. I've got 911 predialed on both the cell and the house phone :) One can never be too prepared. The alternative was for me to go shopping and blow my budget. Sonny Boy has just put on work gloves. After 2 hours of this. But then comes in and ask for a stick of deoderant (?) and a papertowel. After he washes his hands real well and dries t...

to stick with it at least to the end of the MONTH! Stopped by Publix this morning down the street from work. 1. Looking for a coupon book 2. Looking for more wine tag coupons ($1 off salad) 3. Wanted a banana (or 2) for the office Didn't find the coupon book ... Got me some more wine tags for $1 off bags of salad AND $1 off one avocado (!!!!) Got me some coupons for $1 off pack of EXTRA gum and any cola (thinking dasani water bottles) ... AND picked up: bag of coleslaw $1.49 one lonely Hess Avocado $1.49 2 bananas. After my $2 off coupons, paid $1.41. Darn bananas cost almost as much as the coleslaw and avocado. Geesh, 69 cents per lb. So ... I'm good to go. I want to make turkey, avocado, spinach paninis Teriyaki Chicken Thighs and Sesame noodles , Chicken Cesar Salad, BBQ pork and coleslaw ... but now thinking more like smoked beef and coleslaw, baked taters and broccoli and cheese soup. And ... the rest of the pasta . No particular order or day. Just...

Recently, I was talking to a girlfriend of mine who made a confession that surprised me. She was slightly offended that her boyfriend of over a year did not introduce her as "My girlfriend, K..." Hmmm. This was really an issue for her.... That made me think. When I introduce my hubby, do I say, "my husband, M?" Or do I say "this is M, my hubby" ... or simply, hold his hand, arm, waist, etc, and say "this is M"? I think all 3 ... and then I thought of how he introduces me. First off, before I go any further into this conversation, you need to know a few things: he's my high school sweetheart, meaning, the honeymoon is way over... we know each other better than most people since we've spent over half our lives together... we are not touchy, feely, clingy (you know the type) and are very secure in being OURSELF yes, we do complete each other, but do NOT feel that our life is incomplete without the other (does that sound wrong??) Whe...

Continues ... for the next week. Sunday would officially be the end but I really think I need to continue on into February. $30 a week sound reasonable? That's $10 per person (cat not included, but he's got caught up in the stockpiling frenzy too) ... I have done HORRIBLE. Ok. Not 'that' bad, but bad enough where I feel it was a failure. Ok. Maybe that's a little dramatic (who, ME?) We have emptied out some of the older stuff. Donated some stuff. THREW AWAY some stuff. But I've also bought stuff. The first 10 days started out pretty well. Stayed away from the stores. But then something happened. Oh. Yeah. I had friends coming over. Hubby decided he didn't want to pat out the hamburger so I had to go back to the meat section and buy patties in ADDITION to the ground beef. Oh, yeah. Then I needed chips. And instead of buying beer, I decided I would drink wine. Oh. No. You better get some beer, just in case (mind you, I had not had a beer since before ...

Well, sort of. As you read, I fell off the wagon, or rather, succumbed to pressure ... or ... lack of enthusiasm? There are so many ways to say it: I am having a very difficult time!!! Oh, I know. I'm not the only one. And it really does take a lot of will power AND support of other family members!! Princess was coming over on Tuesday evening to visit (this, in itself, is just a whole 'nother story which this is not the time NOR the place) and I wasn't sure if she was staying for dinner. I wanted to be prepared. And perhaps make her all time favorite, chicken picatta. Of course, had I known this BEFORE I left the house Tuesday morning, I could have taken the chicken and sauteed shrooms out of the freezer, but you know, real life kicked in yet again :) So with GOOD INTENTIONS, I stopped at Winn Dixie (less likely to get sucked in as I HATE shopping these stores) ... have my 2 $1 off coffee coupons for the current b1g1f sale ... and head in. Walk out spending $34. With 5 ...

We always start out with good intentions, right? :) Hubby seems to be in the mood to eat out lately. Not your typical run of the mill fast food places though, japanese takeout, sweet tomatoes, italian joint (non pizza, strictly go there for the garlic rolls) and a little place called Ernies. Most of the places are running under $30 for the 3 of us with coupons. I've done very well on the shopping front though! I didn't step foot in a store for 10 days! 10 days folks!! I mean, heck, I got the milk from Walgreens for 50 cents less than the store ... hubby swears it doesn't taste as good, but him and Sonny Boy drank it all. But then yesterday came. The end (at last!) to our brutal cold snap we had. Finally, people want to hang outside, eat, drink and be merry! Woohoo ... I know what the term cabin fever means now so I'm all in! Of course, I'm NOT prepared to entertain, meaning nothing defrosted, but that's ok, I was thinking along the lines of burgers and dogs...

Day 5. How many more days are there in this month?? It's 39 degrees this morning, the start of day 6. I could eat soup every stinkin day at this rate ... uggg. Brrrr Ok,focus, focus, focus. Day 5. Tuesday. Only Tuesday? Breakfast, cereal, egg & bacon on bagel. Oranges Lunch, salad, soup, rest of ham for sandwich for hubby Dinner, scounge for something on your own guys. I'm tired. Sonny Boy found a pizza (where did THAT come from??), hubby had mac & cheese with turkey (??) The pizza? Ummm. Well. Hmmm. Winn Dixie had a sale going on. Not a GREAT sale, but with my coupons, made it much better. 2 pizzas, 1 bryers ice cream, 1 box mozz sticks, 1 box garlic breadsticks, 1 2 ltr bottle of coke, $11.47. And I had $1 off 4 of those items, so the price was $7.47. Of course, bought a few other things, such as coffee creamer, but not milk or eggs. Duh.