My Attempt at Frugality

I've been blessed immensely with this great side business of teaching piano lessons. I blinked and now I suddenly have 22 students! But I'll stop teaching in the beginning of May and have a baby and I'll quickly have 2 children and no students. Meaning, no extra income. And one extra baby (don't worry I'll teach again in the fall). So as the financial planner in the family, I'm trying to think ahead. You know, saving all my piano checks to pay things off, not getting used to living on two incomes, etc. This becomes a bit of a challenge, as we've grown accustomed to my little side income. But I've been clipping coupons, with help from Frugal Coupon Living. That has saved a lot. However, we were still spending too much. Something had to go.

That something was eating out. We have a crazy schedule, so unless I'm planning like crazy, dinner will simply not get made (or eaten) about 3 nights a week. And it's much easier to grab lunch on the run than always have something on hand. Well, say hello to someone who is now planning like crazy. How do I do it, you ask? I'd love to share!

I sat down on a Sunday night with my coupon inserts in one hand and the Publix sale ad for that week in the other (and Frugal Coupon Living on the computer for extra help). Based on what was on sale that week, meat-wise, I planned our dinner menu. It had to include at least one vegetable and be something that could potentially be leftovers for lunch or dinner on a crazy day. For both this week and last week I was able to plan a meal every single night that we didn't have plans. Here's this week's menu:

Monday: Dean had a Bible study at Coosh's, Tommy was eating at MeMe's, and I was eating at my small group. No meal needed.

Tuesday: Dean was out of town, I had a frozen Kashi Spinach and Mushroom trio pizza in my freezer from a few weeks ago when they were on sale at Publix. Tommy and I split it. They're delicious and healthy!

Wednesday: Autumn Sausage Casserole (from a great website called A Year of Slow Cooking. Definitely worth checking out)

Thursday: Slow Cooker Potato Soup (also from the same website)

Friday: We have dinner plans with my family and Dean's family at his parents' house. No meal needed.

Saturday: Lasagna

Sunday: Slow Cooker Shepherd's Pie (yes, again from the same website).

I was able to get all my ingredients and groceries for the week plus an extra pack of chicken breasts, because you never know when they'll come in handy, for a grand total of $78.00 (roughly). Not bad to feed a family of 3 (plus my parents for 3 nights) lunch and dinner for a week!

Accomplishments

We've had a busy few days in here in the Inserra household. Lots of things to be proud of. And because I'm a good mom, I'm going to share some of them with you.

1) Tommy is doing awesome on the potty training front. I actually ran out of diapers the other day and so decided that would be as good a time as any to sleep in big boy pants. And each time he's woken up dry. Even when he sleeps all night! I'm sure I'll be cleaning up a mess very soon, but I'm just enjoying the progress that he's making! Diaper-free for more than 48 hours!

2) Dean preached a sermon on Sunday night with a bat flying around the auditorium and didn't lose his cool. Seriously. It was a bat.

3) I did this puzzle all by myself. In a mere two days. It's 1,000 pieces. Not sure it's exactly an accomplishment, but I think I managed to feed my family and clean the house during those days as well.


4) Dorsi got a little mad while we were out last night and went through my pantry. She ate a container of cocoa powder and a tub of Crisco. Maybe she was trying to make brownies? The accomplishment is that she's still alive.

Randoms

In the past week...

- I've had two dreams that Tommy pooped on the potty. Two! He's never actually done it, but I know it's coming. The recurring dream tells me so.

- I have taught piano lessons to 21 different students.

- I made basic homemade apple muffins so much tastier by sprinkling cinnamon sugar on top before baking them. Cinnamon sugar makes everything taste better!

- I think my "nesting" time has officially started. I've cleaned out Dean's and my dresser drawers, and started going through boxes of baby clothes in the garage.

- But I have not even come close to attempting to clear out the baby's new room. It kind of gives me a headache to think about it.

- I thought my coffee maker broke and I was devastated. Then I realized that it wasn't, it just needed to be thoroughly cleaned and now it works better than ever. And I'm elated.

- I excitedly bought Tommy a pair of mittens. And the next day it warmed up to 60 degrees. Oh well.

- I revisited the great movie that is "Office Space". You should do the same. Mindless entertainment is always fun.

Lazy Dog Days

It's Saturday morning. And it's 26 degrees outside. But the weather channel says it feels like it's 16 degrees out, so to me it's 16 degrees out. It's a perfect morning to sleep in. But Dean has a morning meeting today so he's up and in the shower. And I have a 3-year-old and one on the way so I'm destined to not sleep in again until at least the year 2018 (totally not complaining, I absolutely love Tommy and can't wait to meet my next little guy). Since this is such a good sleep-in day, though, someone should take advantage of it.

And that's where Dorsi comes in. She's developed the habit of sleeping in our bed with us (keep in mind she's 90 pounds) and staying in there until at least 9:30 every morning. Even when everyone else gets up and moving, Dorsi is snoring away. Or at least looking perturbed that I'm waking her up to snap a picture of her.

Things to Do When It's 17 Degrees Outside...

Well, you can always use the stay-at-home-mom's tried and true entertainment spot, the mall. For about $7 you can get two pretzels from Auntie Ann's, a small lemonade, and about an hour of fun. Plus you can let your little one throw your change in the fountain!





And if you'd like to use a little more imagination, you can do what we did this morning. Tommy created Disney World in his room. Maybe it was just his excuse not to pick up his toys, but I thought it was pretty clever. He took out his stuffed bears and created the Country Bear Jamboree and we sat and watched a show (they didn't actually do anything but we imagined... apparently the girl bear even came down from the ceiling).



He also had his new zoo set up as the Jungle Cruise.




And then all the animals lined up to be in the parade. No, nothing was lacking from this imaginary Disney trip. We even had a snack at McDonald's.

114...

That's the number of times Tommy has said "Why" since he got up about six and a half hours ago. I forgot to count a few of them so it was actually more, but that's the number of "why's" that I was able to count. And when he used a sentence that had it twice, such as "Why do lions live in caves, Mommy, why?", I only counted it once.

So if your child has a third birthday coming up, do this little experiment yourself. Tommy started with the why's on his third birthday. Have you found this to be true with your kids?

Happy New Year!

For the record, I have officially made zero new year's resolutions. In fact, my resolution last year was to stop making resolutions. It's the first one I've ever kept! Instead, I figure I should just try to be the best mom and wife I can be every day. And when I screw up on that today, I'll just get back on the wagon tomorrow instead of having to wait until next December 31 to try it again.

Oh, and I've also decided (not resolved!) to take more pictures. So here's a few from Christmas and the anniversary trip that Dean and I took to Mississippi this week.


This is Club Ebony, in Indianola, Mississippi. It hosted the likes of Be Be King, Ray Charles, James Brown, Ike Turner, and a slew of others. It's in the middle of a run-down neighborhood (the entire town is run-down) and it would be easy to miss if not for the blue sign marking it on the Blues Trail.



Our first stop on our trip was Vicksburg, Mississippi, the site of a huge Civil War battle, and one of the last. This was the massive battlefield and we were able to drive the 13-mile loop around it. Very worth it.



MuhMuh's first time meeting her second great grandson, Mac. She's very proud to be a great-grandma to two wonderful little boys. And one more on the way!



I so wanted this to be our Christmas card picture (we didn't wind up having one). Notice the knight's outfit on Tommy. And the baby isn't Todd's, it's Sally and Bennett's.



These cows were taking pictures with kids at Chick-Fil-A on Christmas Eve. Tommy wouldn't go near them, so I did it instead.