My favorite trick or treaters!

Happy Halloween!

Unfortunately my week has not gone as planned. I spent the last few days in bed with a crohn's attack. Hopefully I will feel well enough to carve pumpkins and decorate a bit today!!!

The kids were a little disappointed. A note came home from the school asking that kids not be in their costumes until last recess. So how are parents supposed to help them? I tried best I could, but I sent my son with some face make up so who knows what he will come home looking like!!!

This year my kids had to follow a budget for halloween.

We have a huge trunk full of dress up clothes, so I told my kids they could be whatever they wanted out of the trunk and then they could spend $3 at the dollar store to make their costume better. My daughter is a witch and my son is a zombie!

What do you do around your house to save money during the spendy holidays?

From cool suburban mom to trash in 24 hours or less

I had the funniest experience today. Well, at least I can laugh looking back on it!

So I was home all day with my sick kid and I was planning on going to the grocery store for the last day of dollar days to stock up on a few things but her darn fever wouldn't break. Needless to say when my husband came home I saw my escape and took it! I grabbed my non-sick son and we fled! Halfway there I realized I had not combed my hair or put on make up or anything yet. I found a hair clip in the car and tried to make the best of the situation. When I got home my husband came outside to help unload and looked at me and smirked. I said "what?" and he goes "did you look in the mirror before you left the house?" I said "no" and he made some comment about how I should at least brush my hair. I asked him if I looked that bad and he says "Oh, I am sure they get all sorts of country bumpkins and white trash in that store, don't worry, you blended right in". So when I got inside I looked in the mirror. What a wreck!!! Then I realized that not only did I look like trash, but I just spent $45 on dollar items, so they probably figured I definitely was!

Oh well, I usually wear make up and brush my hair so they won't recognize me at all next time I go in, right?

Sicko

My daughter is home sick today. I am really not that disappointed that I have to take a day off work to stay home with my kids. Plus, it was a PD Day at school anyhow, so I was going to have to pay the daycare an extra $50 for them to be there today. This way I get to stay home from work, clean my house, watch some movies cuddled up on the couch with my sicko and sit online and play! Sounds like a good day to me!

Does anyone else have things they do on a "windfall" day off? When you aren't expecting it?

Maybe if she is feeling better later we will get out the halloween decorations and put some up.

In the meantime my son just woke up and realized we were staying home and that we are all out of the good kinds of cereal. LOL Poor kid!

Works for Me Wednesday

Works for Me Wednesday is getting personal this week and I thought I would join in with my top 10 ways to please my husband. (It's not as dirty as it sounds!)

1. Give him a back and neck rub while he is sitting at the computer.
2. Keep the freezer well stocked with pizza pops for those midnight snack attacks.
3. Keep the laundry caught up.
4. Keep the front entrance free of clutter such as shoes, coats, backpacks and other kid gear.
5. Keep a jug of his favorite juice in the freezer at all times (otherwise he will drink my pop!)
6. Make him 3 egg sandwiches every Saturday Morning.
7. Shovel the driveway for him (he has a bad back)
8. Keep the kids quiet when he is working or goes to bed early.
9. Have dinner prepared quickly when I get home from work (it helps to prep the night before and menu plan!)
10. Keep my credit card spending on the lower side. (I am trying REALLY hard)

And just for the heck of it... here is 10 ways he pleases me!

1. Gets up with the kids on Saturday and Sundays and lets me sleep in (until one or all three of them get hungry)
2. Randomly does things to my car like take it in for a new windshield or fills it with gas or takes it to the car wash.
3. Reminds me to do important things when I have too much on the go.
4. Keeps me grounded and spend conscious.
5. Thinks I am beautiful even on days I don't quite see it staring back at me in the mirror.
6. Always sides with me when I whine about someone else (family, coworkers etc.)
7. Spoils me with expensive appliances and electronics.
8. Makes me laugh every day.
9. Does his own laundry.
10. Gets movies for me that he thinks I will like even though he has zero interest in seeing them!

And those work for me!!!

For other works for me Wednesday tips click here.

New and Improved!!!!

Any comments on my new template? I really hated the orange. The only think I liked about it was the flower. Change is good!

RIP 42" plasma tv

Our tv broke. It is only 3.5 years old. The entire bottom of the screen just went black for no reason. It's only been 2 days and I already miss it. Apparently this is a common problem on the plasmas. I wish I had known that 3.5 years ago. The husband is taking it to the tv doctor to see if surgery will help. But if it costs too much we might have to put it down and send it to tv heaven. :(

Next time we will get an LCD.

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I have been meal planning lately and reading a whole bunch of blogs about saving money on groceries. My goal is $50 per week. I spent closer to $75 the last two weeks. But I think I will get there! Tonight I decided to try pigs in a blanket. But I thought it was ridiculous to spend $4 on a tube of refrigerated crescent roll dough like all the recipes suggested. And I couldn't find any reasonable recipes online. 99% of them used the pre-made dough. DOH! So I decided to try it with my favorite biscuit recipe and I have to say they were pretty darn good! I will post it for you!

Leslie's Homemade Pigs in a Blanket
(Kids of all ages will adore!)

1 pkg of hotdogs
2 cups all purpose flour
1 TBSP Sugar
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup of milk

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees
2. Boil hotdogs in a pot big enough that the water completely covers them.
3. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until it looks like fine crumbs. Stir in milk until dough leaves the side of the bowl. It will be soft and sticky.
4. Place dough on lightly floured surface. Split in 2 and put half back in bowl.
5. Roll one half out into large circle (about 1/4 inch thick) then use a pizza slicer or knife to cut into 12 equal wedges. Repeat with second dough ball.
6. Rinse cooked hot dogs under cold water and cut each hot dog in half. Place at the wide end of your dough wedge and roll up. Place on cookie sheet. Repeat.
7. Bake at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes or until the dough is golden. Serve with fries and ketchup!

I substituted 1 cup of flour for whole wheat to make it a little healthier.

Everyone enjoyed and I have enough leftover that I will send some to school for the kids for lunch tomorrow!

Meal planning is really working for me though. The point is to limit the amount we are spending on take out on the nights when I don't feel very imaginative. I did 2 weeks at a time then tried to shop for those two weeks and I picked my menu by looking through the flyers and coupons and seeing what I could get deals on, then based on that and what I had on stock I dreamt up my menus! I also tried to go for ingredients that I could use more than once. Such as canned diced tomatoes were on sale when I went shopping so I bought 2 tins and made chili one night and swiss steak another night. I am trying to cut out as much pre-made processed crap out of our diets as well, since they add up to cost quite a bit! Also I am thinking of ways to stretch the meat a little further, since it is usually the most expensive part of the meal!

What is your favorite way to save money on groceries? Any tried and true tricks for a newbie on how to coupon clip, menu plan or save altogether?

We gotta get those debts paid off so I can have a baby! It's amazing what a little motivation will do!