Work Out!

Like most people, I hate working out! You will never catch me in a gym for more than 30 minutes. My walks/runs last only 30 minutes. I just can't keep focused long enough. Thankfully, I found this amazing workout on Pinterest the other day. I did it Saturday and Sunday and oh.my.god can I feel it!! The video is only 12 minutes long, and I did 5 minutes Saturday and about 8 minutes on Sunday. MY calves, butt, back, shoulders, and arm are feeling it! I think that's a great workout for only 5 minutes.

Cheap Dinners

So here are a couple more Budget Bites straight from my kitchen!

The first one is one of the Voila! bags I bought at Kroger last week.

It was okay, I wouldn't get it again, but Rob said it was fine.

Viola! Chicken Parm.

Total Price: $2.79

Feeds two

Black Bean Quesadillas

I figured out the key to making a great crispy quesadilla. Don't use any spray.. just throw it on the skillet bare.

I just mixed a can of black beans and some cheese in a bowl, and put about 2 spoon fulls into a tortilla.

Black beans: $0.49

Cheese: $0.60

Tortilla: $0.40

Total Price: $1.49

Makes 4

Hawaian Sliders

Biscuits: $0.75

Swiss Cheese: $1.30

Ham: $0.30

Pineapple: $0.50

Total Price: $2.85

Makes 8 sliders

Lucy wanted some for herself!

Nelson and Madden

This week I scored Rob and I some free tickets to the Byron Nelson. Super excited to go! I've been practicing my swing at the driving range, so maybe I'll learn a thing or two when we go. Or I'll just have some beers :)

I've been looking forever for a great white/tan purse. I finally found a really cute one that I can take to work!

It's a Steve Madden purse, originally over $100 and I got it for $40. And Rob actually likes it too!

(Cont'd) Grocery Store Prep

Yesterday I posted about some sales that were happening this week at a couple stores. I didn't have pricing for you guys yesterday, but I have a couple today.

I stopped by Kroger after work to jump on some of those 50% off deals. I only got 3 of the 4 items listed. I had a hard time finding the chicken. I bought the cheese , even though I'm not listing the break down again.

This was a pretty amazing deal. 2.2 Liters, it says 37 loads on this one, but the other ones at the store said 50 loads with the same Liter size. Made no sense.

Purex: $2.74

Purex Ultra Packs: $1.77

Voila! Skillet Meals. 50% off. I bought 3 off these so I don't have to cook so much :)

$2.69

I made some new changes to my menu plan, due to what I just bought. Can't beat these deals!

Grocery Store Prep

I love getting our weekly ads in the mail and going through them. I typically don't shop at the bigger stores, unless there is just a great sale going on! If and when I find those great deals, I try to find some coupons online to print off. I'm not one of those girls that actually has the time to be an extreme couponer. I just like to match up deals occasionally. 

When I find deals in the ads, I always try to make a meal out of it during my two week dinner menu. Right now, the deals I'm looking at is - 

Aldi:

Pineapple - $1 for one. {Hawaii Sliders}

Bananas - $0.39 a pound

Strawberries - $1 / pkg

Kroger : 

Viola! Skillet Meals - Not sure the price 50% off. {update later}

Chicken: For my salads at work (50% off)

Purex : 50% off

Cheese: $1.77 {I'd save about 0.50 more than usual}

Albertsons:

Bread - $0.75 {$1 at Aldi} for lunch

Chicken: Buy 1 get 2 free {For my casseroles}

Steak: Buy 1 get 2 free

I made a few changes to my Menu Calendar. and I'm sure I'll be making even more by tomorrow. 

Now I'm just going to make a list of everything I need and go get it Saturday!

A more thorough update tomorrow or Saturday morning, so check back!

Kitchen Wish List

One day I wish to have a kitchen stocked with all these amazing appliances. 

Maybe when I have a kitchen big enough to store all of them I will. :)

Here's a list of things I possibly need for the future!

Waffles?! Who doesn't like yummy waffles.

A Panini Grill. I love making sandwiches, and this would only enhance them.

A flat griddle, to help me not tear up my quesadillas.

Who knew, a grilled cheese press. I thought after my last food post, I could definitely use this!

I haven't had a toaster in literally 3 years. Some how I've managed without the need of one.

A skillet grill. Maybe this and a reversible grill/griddle.

Thanks to my lovely [soon-to-be] mother-in-law, I now have a bread maker!! I haven't made any bread yet, but hopefully this weekend I can go get the ingredients and start making some.

Happy Administrative's Day!!

Happy Administrative's Day to all the Admin's out there!

I didn't have some a great day at work today. I had a little demon inside me called mother nature trying to destroy my day, and eliminate all the energy in me. I was nodding off at my desk, and taking too many pain meds. 

But I came home to a great man, who, unlike anyone at my work, acknowledges this day. I came home to an array of gifts, which I loved! This man has good taste.

This adorable bag was filled with stuff for my job, as well as stuff to make me look prettier!

A horrible picture, but a pretty necklace from the boo.

$10 Jeans

A couple days ago I posted about needed to find some new jeans. At work, that's all we are required to wear is jeans and their company shirt. Of course, everyone should know by now that I am super cheap. I hate spending more than $6 on a meal that I make at home, and $15 is pushing it for clothes.

Saturday I was on a mission to find some cheap pants that still looked amazing on me, and had good material. I hate when people talk about cheap clothes never last. Well, they do if you keep them looking nice, keep the clean, and don't tear them up! I bought jeans from F21 and they've lasted two years. And we all know forever 21 doesn't have the best materials in clothing.

The first few stores I went in was because I knew I had jeans from my college years that looked great on me, and thought they would be a great place to start. American Eagle jeans just make my butt look amazing. I'm all about showing my curves, and not being a stick figure. The only thing I don't want to appear bigger is my belly!! American Eagle, Express, Abercrombie and Fitch (clearance) - all these are way to pricey for me.

Finally I walk upon H&M. I've never looked for jeans here so I wasn't sure what I'd find. But guess what?! First Aisle : $9.95 jeans. Of course I ran over, pushing girls out of the way (jk), but I was super excited. Well, I don't know about you, but I don't like embellishments on my jean pockets. I've always been one for the plain ones. I checked the pockets and then the sizes... 24,26,28,30.. what happened to 5,7,9??? I had to google this.. shame shame. I ended up getting 2 jeans here, and a pair at Forever 21.

Anyway, here are my picks!!

H&M - $19.95 - 30 x 32 - Skinnies -  as you can see I cuffed them.

{ Jeans } H&M - 30 x 32 - Skinnies $9.95

{Shirts} H&M - size 6 - $5

Forever 21 - 30 x 30 - Skinnies - $9.95 

$2 Meals and Under

It doesn't get much better than only spending $2 on a meal! All this was store bought unfortunately. Next week I'll actually be "cooking". I've just been taking it easy and super cheap since I'm transitioning between jobs and paychecks. 

Anyway...

2 pot pies : $0.79 ea. = $1.58

1 box mac and cheese : $0.39 

Total meal cost : $1.97

Awesome!!

You can find my receipt and food calendar here - 

Mid April Food Budget

Last night, I made grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner. My poor bread just torn as soon as we put the butter on it! I also ran out of spray olive oil, so my bread stuck and ruined it more. This is the end result.

Ham, cheese, and bread we always keep on hand for lunches

tomato soup : $0.59

Total meal cost : Probably under the $2 mark

Our Breakfast yesterday morning:

3 eggs - $1.75 for 12 = $0.45

1/2 pack of bacon = $1.02

Total meal cost : $1.47

DIY : Body Scrub

So, my madre works for a health care agency, and actually goes out to the doctor's offices and tries to market off her healthcare agency. She explained to me about two weeks ago that she's running out of ideas. She's done the candles, cookies, lunches, ect and needs some new ideas. Thanks to pinterest, I had a ton! Lip balm, lip scrub, body scrub, bbq sauce, the list goes on!!

We settled on Body scrub, since we could pick out different colors and scents for the girls and guys in the office. My mom pre-ordered 100 tiny jars, we got 2 things of dye, and 3 different scents. She apparently thought we needed a lot of sugar, so she bought a 25 lb bag of it. lol.. let's just say I left with 12 lbs of sugar to take home. Thanks mom. I'll be set for a year.

So, here's the recipe we used. This filled about 33 jars of each color/scent. I'm not entirely sure the jar size, but maybe you'll get a feel from the pictures. They're small.

What you will need (33 jars):
8 cups of sugar
3 cups of EVOO
1 entire thing of fragrance 1/2 fl oz {hobby lobby}
2 entire things of dye {hobby lobby}

Mix well and scoop them into your jars. They smelled amazing!!

Our ginormous amounts of sugar and oil

The first batch of everything mixed together. We later dumped it back in and added more red.

Our color dye.

Wild Berry Fragrance, smelled great

Coconut was the best one I though.

Our assembly line of colors. This isn't even all of it!!! Still more blue, and all the red/pink was packed

My mom's logo and work sticker.

The final product!! It attached these cute tags on them to let the people at the doctor's office know what kind they got. So cute!!! 

Weekend Fun

So today is the first weekend Rob and I have gotten together that wasn't scheduled. 

It was actually a pretty amazing day so far. It's nice having a day off, and not having to worry about working the next day. Just pure freedom.

After last night's incident, I needed to go find some new jeans (great excuse). I was on a mission to find some cheap jeans, that make my butt look amazing. People always talk about how cheaper items don't last as long, which is turn in some aspects, but if you treat your clothes well, no matter how much they cost, they'll always last a long time. Two years ago I bought skinnies from Forever 21, and they still work for me! In fact, I probably wear those the most. 

I wanted to find some similar pairs at F21 again. So, off to the mall we went. 

First stop. H&M : I found two great pairs of jeans! They looks fab on me :) One was $9.95 and the other was $19.95.  Two amazing, plain shirts for 2 for $10, some new glasses $6.95.

F21: I found the same style of jeans I bought two years ago, just a different wash. Awesome!! $9.95

In a later post I'll include pictures.

All this shopping already pooped Rob out. We got this amazing spot in the food court. They have an area in the very center that is actually outdoors. It was such a beautiful day, we couldn't pass it up.

We tried out a bunch of new places we never have before. You think after being here almost two years, we'd try Which Which?? But no....

As you can see we had some fun. Our name was Plurf.

The lady that called our name to get the order looked at Rob strangely and tried to pronounce it. Then he tells her it's his girlfriend's name. Thanks babe.

My new favorite!! Gelato. It. Was. Amazing. 

We split a Texas Pecan Caramel cup. I was in heaven with every bit. Thankfully we got the tiniest cup since it was so so rich. Def getting this more often!

 To top off our amazing day - The Croods at the AMC

This movie is recommended for all people of all ages. I was laughing through the whole movie! And it's soooo pretty in the forest! All the amazing animals created for this movie. I applaud the artists. Even Rob liked the movie, and he typically doesn't like animated ones.