Grocery Shopping

I grocery shopped yesterday and I feel good about what I spent.

First things first, I went to Aldi :) I spent $40.90 on:

2 milks (2.19)
2 OJ carafes (1.99! this went down 20 cents! You are probably thinking big whoop but I buy two every week. 40 cents time 52 weeks times 7.5%. It is like someone just handed me $22.36 a year!)
watermelon 2.49
mandarins 2.49
all purpose flour 1.49
cheese crackers 1.79
pringles 1.45
grape jelly 1.29 (because they wont eat homemade eye rolling good strawberry with peanut butter. Freaks.)
Italian Seasoning .99 (and I found my other huge container minutes after being home. oops.)
spaghetti sauce 1.19 - wait a minute, why did this go up in price? I need to keep an eye out for a $1.00 ragu sale.
peanut butter 1.49
tator tots 1.65
honey nut oats 1.19
bananas .70
garlic powder .99
tortillas 1.69
frosted flakes 1.29
saltines .99
3 eggs .79
4 pounds of red grapes .78 pp
bread .85

Then I ran over to Kroger. As much as I love Aldi, Kroger is like my Macy's of grocery shopping. I like looking at their weird and fancy stuff although I rarely buy it. It is my fun store.

I bought 20.12 pounds of pork loin at $1.79 pp. That is 20 meals of meat. I used the first pound last night. I am going out of order on meal plans again. I put the rosemary garlic sauce on it instead of chicken. It was a fantastic crock pot meal! That meal with peas, potatoes, gravy and roast was under $5. And it was delicious!

I also got lured into the produce department where I bought:
one romaine lettuce .99
3 peaches 1.18
fresh green beans .87 (two big handfuls)

Total there was 42.16

So for the week, I was a little higher than I want to be. BUT I have 18 pork roasts going into the freezer for later use. Things like the eggs, seasonings, peanut butter, jelly, flour, and cereals will last longer than this week. So I feel good about it overall :)

Harvest Monday August 8

I am joining Our Happy Acres in their harvest Monday posts :)

I took a few pictures this week of our garden stuff. I wish I had tallied last week's haul separately, I will start doing that.

Our garden consists of 7 4x4 beds, 1 2x2 bed, and 2 2x8 beds. I also have a bucket of tomato sprouts, and several small buckets of herbs. I also sprout alfalfa, broccoli, and radish seeds for salads in my windowsill.

One 4x4 is all pickling cucumbers. We have picked 60+ pounds of them with about 8 pounds being just this week (made 6 quarts of dill pickles). We didn't trellis them as we should have (first time gardeners here) so they are a mess. We have two kinds of pickling cucumbers in there. I bought a six pack of mystery vines when our plants from seed didn't look like they were going to grow. Well they did, and we have a lot going on in such a small space. This is normal for my every other day pick.

Just one day of treasure...

We had heirloom purple beans in a bed for awhile. They didn't do anything, I don't think they liked our soil. We also had ants invade them. So I yanked them up. Normally I would not have picked these tomatoes but can you see the holes from those thieving ants? They moved to the tomato bed. We have home made ant killer out there now so I hope it fixes the problem. I couldn't leave these out there to mush up and get worse.

So I made freezer salsa :) Tomatoes, onion, hot pepper, bell pepper. I put this in a ziploc raw then dump it on precooked ground beef. I can have a taco dinner ready in 15 minutes. 

I also sprouted 4 tablespoons of alfalfa this week. I used to do it all the time and stopped, I don't know why. Normally I mix my seeds up, but this week I did just plain alfalfa because I was using it as a salad base. I think it tastes just like crunchy lettuce, I love it. These are a little hull-ish because I didn't switch the strainer lids on the right day. Once they green up and curl up, your hulls are pretty much trapped. They don't taste like anything, it just isn't as pretty as it could be. 4 tablespoons made over 12 ounces of sprouts. Converting pounds to grams to tablespoons, I should get 20 pounds of sprouts from my 2.5 pound bag of seeds. It was $20, so $1 a pound for organic greens? I'll take it considering Aldi organic lettuce is 3.49 a pound and you have to recycle the large clamshell. 

My first zucchini :) This is going to be pizza for dinner tonight, delish. And there is another cucumber harvest back there. I have about 4-6 vines in one corner that give me weird shaped cucumbers. They taste ok so I just go with it. If I don't pick them as gourd shapes, they grow into large balls. Weird huh? Anyway, we also have 20+ zucchini plants. Some are very small, two are very large. If I can get 5 plants producing like our squash did, I will be happy. My goal is to freeze stuff for winter and I can eat zucchini all day, every day.

This is our corn!!  I did four corn in each square foot (saw it on youtube). So a total of 64 plants (and actually I did more than that because I didn't know they would all sprout). We have about 20 that are up and growing. We are racing the clock with our first frost, this is mostly just a learning thing for us. If we can actually get corn from a raised bed I will be very excited :) 

Our watermelon bed is a 2 X 8. It has now extended through the fence 6 feet into the yard (you can kiss all that goodbye, we have deer). It also extended underneath the zucchini in their bed (another 2 X 8), 10 feet past that bed around the corner (trying to keep it on our edge out of other beds), and 10 feet the other way (wrapping itself into an empty area so that is ok). I have no idea what kind these are. Our sugarbaby seeds did not sprout in our fancy cups. So I bought 8 plants for $1.50. We have ten watermelons, from the size of a roma tomato to the size of a cantaloupe. 

So that's the summary of our little garden this week. We have 50 small cucumbers growing. We have 100 cherry tomatoes trying to turn red. We have 50 large tomatoes trying to ripen. I have 7 yellow squash trying to make it to picking size, 3 zucchini, and 10 watermelon. Our basil has sprouted, along with the beefstake tomatoes in the bucket :)

Picked so far....

Cucumbers 989.86 ounces
yellow squash 229.15 ounces
tomato 147.00 ounces
Cherry tomato 2.90 ounces
Zuchinni 7.35 ounces
Sprouts 12.35 ounces

4 hot pepper

3 tiny green peppers
green beans 9.1 ounces

July 2014 Hello :)

I just wanted to stop by and say hi :) Natalie is a big seven years old now. Not sure how that happened! She is on her gym's competition team now, her meets will start next spring. She also takes Taek Wondo and loves it. She will be testing for her blue belt in about a month.

I bought a store last July. It is a little 850 square foot house in a commercial zone. It is on Natalie's bus line and just 3 minutes from our house. It wasn't the right time to buy a store, but it was one of the two that was suitable (price and location, mostly price). So I work my corporate job during the week then do hair stuff at night, and on the weekend. I have the store open for appointments only right now. Once I get the mortgage paid off I'll  get to have regular store hours :)

I think that is all for now. Bye!

Well hello there....

So much for my plans on blogging again, it has been almost 2 years since I stopped by my little blog. Time just gets away from you. I have my regular job in corporate land, my hair biz which took off like crazy (like turning down business crazy), we moved and I got married.

We got a great cheap fixer house at an auction in the fancy part of town. We are on a golf course against a mountain. There is a herd of 11 deer that visit us daily along with tons of other little critters. We had to redo all the floors, remove a bunch of paneling and drywall, gut the half bath, clean up the full baths and gut the kitchen. It is a 1960's trilevel whose original owner did not update...at all. Original everything, including carpet (eeeww). It isn't done, but it is livable. I love my kitchen, sometimes I watch HGTV and see their makeovers and I am like meh...they should have gone to Lowes like me! :)

Being the "fancy" side, Natalie is in a awesome school. She is rocking out Kindergarten, as I knew she would. Her reading is a little above grade but her math is through the roof. She taught herself multiplication (it's just clumps of numbers mama!) and she does a little algebra (just for fun mama!). She is a stink lol

She is doing really well in gymnastics, she loves it. She has her first training session with our gym's jr Olympic team today. I am a little worried she won't be able to finish the entire 2.5 hour class, but I guess she will get used to it. If you had told me 3 years ago when I took my 3 yr old to gym for the first time that 3 years later she would be flying over bars and doing back handsprings, I would have have said no way. But here she is at 6 yrs old, all muscle and bones.

The "hitchin" got pushed back because we found this house. Natalie and I lived here during all the mess (which I will never do again) and Stephen moved in after the wedding. I married my guy on 12-12-12 at 12:12. Why? Because we are old, and we could :) If you can't be those old weird people, then what's the fun in life? We seriously had a 20 second "ceremony" at a friend's church. Do you? Great! Let's go eat lunch! Seriously tho, we almost missed our time spot because I stopped at the grocery store for flowers and tea from McDonalds lol Weddings are so much easier when you don't get your panties in a wad! (Kim used to work in bridal, I know these things lol).

Anyway, that is enough for now. Let's see if I can make it back in under 2 years next time :)

Natalie, Easter 2013 (new drywall, no trim yet!)

Our herd at the neighbors house.

They leave their babies under our magnolia tree in early summer :)

We are back :)

I was going to lock down the blog so I could copy the parts and pieces that were my favorite and make a book. Well you can guess how far along I got in that little project.

So instead, here we are. All is well. Let me see if I can do a quick recap....

Natalie =
awesome!
starting 4K next month. It is a full day program and she is going with her little BFF. They are so stinkin cute together.
has been moved into the "Star" team in gymnastics which is the first step to being on a competition team. I am super excited, she's just 4! lol

Me =
engaged, getting married April 28th
big house closing next Friday (has been rented for 2.5 months now)
started a second biz selling hairbows, fluff and anything twirly
on facebook as Super Twirl and online at www.supertwirl.com (I am still setting everything up!)

I will post a new Natalie pic soon, see ya!

Bow Making Mama

(close up, hot pink)
(seafoam, light aqua, light blue, gray, peach, orange, beet, golden yellow, dull yellow, yellow)
(baby pink, pink, hot pink, french pink, red, raspberry, deep purple, medium purple, bright lighter purple, wisteria, navy blue, royal blue, turquoise, turquoise-green, dark aqua, emerald green, spring green, yellow green, neon green, sage)

I know, I've not posted in forever and now I'm doing an ad for my bows. I'm a bad bad blogger.

I have stuff up on Etsy but thought I'd throw this out there for any bloggie ladies who like ribbon as much as I do (it's a wicked addiction).

I have a 4 inch triple loop bow that is my favorite. I have it in 34 colors. Right now I have a package going on, $98.50 including shipping if you buy it on Etsy, $95 if you buy it off my blog instead (darn those Etsy fees!).

I know that is quite a bit purchase bow wise, but think how fun it would be to have one that went with everything. This is the lot you'd get. Not pictured, ivory, black, dark brown and white.

This is the size of it on Natalie's noggin.

Email me if you are interested and please tell any bow addicts that you know about my deal lol

Thanks! - Kim

Happy Spring!

Mr Sun

Always singing, always happy :)

Happy Birthday, Part 2

Natalie's BFFs :)

Natalie's future cousin from Hubei.

Amazing changes in 3 years!


At 4, Natalie's favorite things include playdough, coloring with markers, cutting paper with fancy scissors, gluing stuff together, sprinkling glitter on everything, doing puzzles and playing with her tag reader. She loves working the wii and loves to mop the floors (woot!). She was just moved to the advance class in gymnastics and goes twice a week now. She is also taking ballet and will be moved in with the older girls in the fall. She is very flexible and is all bone and muscle. The child has 6 pack abs. Overall she is sweet, funny good little girl :)

Happy Birthday Natalie!

4 years old today! :) We went on a playdate today to celebrate a little bit. Her friend party is on Saturday, she is very excited about going to chuck e cheese again!

(lesson learned today - do it all on the birthday or nothing - Natalie boo-hooed after the playdate because she though that was her party and she didn't get a present from Mama to open. I had to run home, wrap everything and take it to my Mom's to open to make a big deal out of it. The shoes of course made up for any tears lol)

:)

Natalie is being moved to the advanced gymnastic class next week and is being moved in older girls in ballet in the fall. I'm a wee bit proud of her lol

Merry Christmas :)

Her first picture with Santa. My camera was on the wrong setting, that is why its shadowy. I can't wait to get the better picture from her teacher.

One of her favorite gifts was the used vsmile I got from a garage sale. It was a whole $10 and had three games. I got her two more and Stephen got her another one.

The carnage. The bags are valentines day ones but she liked them anyway lol

Her Christmas Eve present.

Playing in the snow after playing with her face paint set today :) Happy girl!

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Use coupon FATWALLET4 to bring the price down to $1. Enjoy!

Fall 2010 Pictures- Halloween & Silk

Toy Story mania for Wii $19.99

woohooo (like I've not spent enough this year? haha)

25% off Crocs

CROCS SALE

25% off today, Sunday until midnight eastern.

Code: FRIENDS10
Link: CROCS

Hi, remember me?

So if you look at my blog you'll think the only thing I do any more is shop. That's about right. I've spent a ton this Christmas and don't feel a bit bad about it. I...drumroll please... bought myself a wii. Not for Natalie, not for Stephen but for me me me. And it's red! And I bought Epic Mickey! Yippppeee! lol Anyway, stay tuned to view the carnage on Christmas morning!

We went on a cruise, it was a lot of fun. It made the cold weather when we came back unbearable though. Yuck! Send me to FL please!

Cozumel - Mr Sanchos

Isle Roatan - Mayan Princess

Stinker on the atrium staircase.

The Mayan temple we climbed in Belize. See the people way below it? I climbed almost to the top before vertigo got me.

This is the side of it almost at the top. I climbed the other side up to the cool carvings.

(why oh why does it take so long to upload pictures to blogger? it's painfully slow! I have tons of other pictures but can't stand the wait)

It took 3 hours to clean and purge the playroom tonight. I wanted to take a picture for proof that at some point in her childhood it was clean(ish). I took out 6 bags of toys to sell in the spring. Actually, I am thinking about selling all the little kid stuff. Cheap Kim wants to hang on to it so I don't have to rebuy it. Shopping Kim wants to sell it all and rebuy limited matching items when the time (if it ever) comes. Decisions decisions! Did you all keep all your baby loot?

So this shot doesn't look too bad. But...

This wall really needs help. I had a bunch of stuff hanging on there before the dresses so the mails aren't where I want them to be. I want to hang the expensive gowns up high until she's old enough to not mess them up. The everyday play clothes, I want those lower to the ground so she can get them herself. I'm also not a fan of the apple crate bookcase thing I have going on. All the assesories are in the pink bucket, that doesn't work well either. I plan to buy a hanging hook for her bike. Any suggestions?
And there is now a music corner. I'd like any ideas on how to make it cute!

Also, that pile of red plastic is about 10 fisher price little people farm sets from her 1st birthday. Any ideas on making that pile look better?

I won't even show the other wall. It has a stainless shelving unit with boxes everywhere. It's not pretty lol

That's all for now, its super late, bye!

Shopping

I don't know why I do it, but I like to wander around on Amazon looking at all the Doug and Melissa toys. These are all on sale. I got the cheap safari puzzle and I'm trying really hard not to order that awesome pink dollhouse.

This is $100 here and never on sale. They can't keep it in stock, I wonder why people don't save almost $50 with tax and get it online??

I will prob break down and get these before Christmas. Its a smidge over $1 a horse and they are lot better than anything you'd get a dollar tree.

Cheap alert! This is under $6 with shipping. Some states you might have to pay sales tax. I got this :)

I thought this one was pretty. I want to start a hard puzzle with Natalie and keep it on cardboard, maybe under the sofa.

I'm on a medieval sort of kick.

I want this bad. So bad it hurts. I'm just saying.

I need your help

A co-worker's little boy is dying. He needs a bone marrow transplant. Be the Match will mail you a free cheek swab test to add you to the database of donors.

Donation is easy. You take a couple of shots the week before donation. One needle in each arm. That's it....a tada! You've saved someone's life.

here is the link:

http://www.marrow.org/JOIN/index.html?src=tabjoin

If you have a blog, or facebook page, will you post something about registering there? I have 40ish unique hits on myblog every day. If everyone posts to their blog plus facebook...well that is at least 80 posts there. Then if just a few of their friends do the same thing...we could bring in hundreds of new registrants!

(if you remember, I matched and they didn't get the donation set up in time and he died.....this little boy is too young to die)

Fall 2010