Chicken Spaghetti

Now I know most people have probably grown up eating Chicken Spaghetti. This was my favorite meal growing up, and it was the only thing my mom could make from scratch! haha :)

I see this meal all over Pinterest these days, which is crazy. I thought my mom was clever in coming up with such a recipe!

After making this meal for Rob, and him hating it, I've had to find creative ways to make this work. The one thing he always complained about was how spicy I made it (I LOVE spicy foods), and the fact that I used Cream of Mushroom. I honestly haven't made it in a year or two just for the fact of Rob's disgust with it. I could probably eat it several days in a row... which is what we usually do since I make so much of it.

Here are the ingredients of the previous Chicken Spaghetti:
Noodles
Boiled Chicken (gross)
2 cans of rotel
2-3 cans of cream of mushroom
1 box of velvetta cheese, sliced and placed on top
Mix it all together and stick it in the oven!!

My new recipe that Rob LOVED!! I'll say it again... LOVED!!
He told me 4 times before finishing it how amazing it was. And really, I didn't change much. It's amazing how well this boy's taste buds work.

Ingredients
Noodles (Not specified since I usually make too much)
1lb chicken, grilled
1 can of rotel
2 cans of cream of chicken
1 can cream of mushroom (I snuck it in)
12oz of shredded cheese.

Directions

While the noodles are boiling on the stove, and I am grilling my chicken on my nifty indoor griller, I empty all the other ingredients into a large casserole dish.



Rotel, Cheese, and cream of "things"

I mix it all together before I add the chicken and noodles to make sure I have an even coat in the end.
Once all that is mixed well, I add my chicken and noodles in and mix it again.
Top it with a little more cheese for super cheesy-ness.

Chicken Spaghetti

 And Viola!! Easy Peasy..

Warning: This might be too cheesy for most.

I think I would add more rotel next time for that extra kick!!

Lately I've been feeling a little pale... a little ghostly. I am not a huge fan of going to the tanning bed since we've all heard the big skin cancer scare. Plus, I don't like getting super hot and sweaty for 20 minutes at a time and risk the chance at a sunburnt on my butt. No thanks.

I researched getting a mystic tan and everyone claims it's the bees knees. I called a local tanning salon and come to find out it's about $25 a spray... plus it MIGHT last 7 days. A little pricey for my taste.

I then decided that a self tanner was the way to go. But which one? There are thousands out there, and everyone has their own bad and good experiences with tanners. Reading reviews really doesn't help since it all depends on how your skin reacts to it. Then, of course, you have another scare factor. A tanning booth might give you skin cancer, but how do you think the self tanner is making you darker? Chemicals..or so I've read and had the "talk" from my mom.

I decided to just dive in and try Jergen's tanner. I first used it on a Saturday night after I took my shower and exfoliated. It wasn't bad. I didn't see a sudden change in color, but I am aware it takes a couple layers to build the color you want. I definitely didn't turn orange... at least I don't think? And Rob couldn't tell a difference, but I expected that from a man.

I could see from my first time doing it that I didn't rub it all over the tops of my hands for fear that I'd look like I had gorilla hands after.. but I definitely saw where I didn't use the tanner. I decided to let it fade and try again the following week. That was 2 weeks ago. I put the tanner on Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday.

Cons to putting this on during the day, it made my skin stink while I let it sit for the 4 hours. I don't want to take a shower in the middle of the day. So I stunk all Saturday.

Cons to putting it on at night, poor lighting... making the possibilities of streaking sky rocket for me.

So I tried a little of both.

My desk at work is basically surrounded by natural light, which I freakin' love! Bad thing is, I started to see where the streaking happened from the tanner. I really thought I rubbed it in well and put an even coat on. So this leads me to believe I either suck at self tanner, or Jergen's just doesn't hold up. Maybe it's a little of both.

 

I actually rubbed it on the outter side of my wrist to ensure I didn't look like this! ^^

But you can also see that the cresses in my wrist didn't take the tanner well. And trust me, I rubbed it in.

 

Streaking all over the body, but only visible in sunlight

My other two toned arm

 

Not too shabby here.

 

 

So I can't decide if I failed at self tanner... which is quite possible...

I think I'll stick to tanning by the pool. Summer and warm weather is only a month away for us Texans.

Texas weather is just so unpredictable. We have been having days forties and then it jumps up into the sixties and seventies. I love it. Of course I wish it would just stay in the high sixties year round, but that's just wishful thinking.

Today actually hit 72 degrees and we have been soaking it up. Rob an I have started hiking and playing tennis, which has been amazing. A grwat workout without having that mindset.

I've spent my Sunday blaring 80s rock and drinking some beer with the windows open. Reminds me of my childhood (minus me drinking). I can't wait for summer!!

I've decided toclean my closet and dresser ou today so I have a reason to shop ;) I am giving 3 bags to goodwill. Tons of shirts, jeans, purses, shoes, and even a prom dress. I hope they go to good use.

What better than to spend a beautiful day outdoors and then spring cleaning. Bring on the warm weather!!

Since recently starting back on my super budget, I have already seen a major change in our eating habits.
We have been eating out a lot less and I've been getting back into cooking and making quick meals.

Last night I didn't actually cook anything. I just stuck some premade stuffed chicken in the oven and added a salad, but it was still a delicious meal!

I shop at Aldi, so most of the items I purchase are 30% cheaper than Kroger or Wal-Mart. Also, they do have fewer product options, but if you can get creative with your meals then this is the place to shop!

Cordon Blue Stuffed Chicken with a Side Salad

I can't say this was a super healthy meal since the chicken is premade.. but we did have a huge salad that covered half our plate!
Chicken $1 ea. Salad $2 total
A $4 meal!

And there's enough salad left do repeat tonight.

After dinner I sat down with my planner and wrote out a dinner plan. I'm still going off my "eating from the pantry" idea I posted about last week. So I made a grocery list of the basic items to add to my already existing food.

I came out only spending $63.98 for two weeks of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I'll probably end up going back for more milk or bananas but that's it!

Grocery List

Tonights receipt!

I ended up buying a little bit extra than intended since I left my list in the car! 

But $130 a month in groceries will be a lot more managable than just $220 in eating out lunches alone!!!

Can't wait to see our debt decrease!!

Now that Rob and my wedding is only 13 months away, and we are trying to stick to a $10,000 budget we are really having to crack down on our spending. The last several months I have done really bad. I quit focusing on my bills and set them all up for Auto Pay. I let Rob handle everything, and started couponing. Not to mention it was the holidays.

Rob and I sat down last night and went over all our credit cards, our spending habits, and our savings/investments and we realized we have been eating out way too much. I think I became really lazy and thought that because we had credit cards, we had money. Obviously I know better, but it's biting us in the butt now.

Last week if you noticed, I am going back to cooking the majority at home. Of course we will still get out every now and then (mostly Sunday mornings), but I really need to get it together!

I created this great Excel Spreadsheet for monthly budgeting. This spreadsheet actually calculates a percentage of what we have spent that month. I am going to keep a brief registry in the spreadsheet off to the side, and then on a separate tab I am going to create a credit card pay off sheet.

Here's a glimps of our new budgeter.

I have also taken away all of our credit cards and only left us with our Bank of America Credit Card since we get rewards back on that. Our plan is to pay off the highest accruing interest card first, and work our way down. Most of our cards are still within the first 6 months of no interest, thank goodness.

Hopefully this helps us pay things down since our big day is coming!! We need to get it together. Check back in a couple months for updates!

Since it has already been a month since I was got engaged, of course I have my entire wedding planned, right? Well, almost! I have several friends that got engaged right after I did, and one of them has everything booked and ready to go. The only thing she has left to do is buy the dress and decorations! And her wedding isn't for another 9 months. Talk about organized and jumping on it!

I on the other hand have yet to book my wedding. It's not because I haven't found the perfect spot, because I have. It's dead gorgeous, and completely compliments my personality. But for some reason, I can't figure out if I want a daytime wedding, or one during the night! It's killing me and creating a lot of stress.

I've talked out my ideas with several friends and family. Some preferred the night time, and others the day. So I really just need to focus on what works best for me. I am definitely going with a daytime "brunch" wedding. Hopefully this will help cut down on food and alcohol costs. Planning for the evening wedding was really going to push us over our budget, and I just don't want to do it, even if we have the money. I have friends buying a house and getting married in the same year, and I just don't think you should throw away your entire nest egg!

So, here's my thoughts on my wedding day! Hope you like it!

 

 

 

Now that I an newly engaged, and working on all the wedding plans I decided to get back into overdrive on my budgeting. I haven't actually been doing that well the last couple months. I stopped using my budget binder I created to track all my bills, as well as not using my planner to plan out meals. It's amazing how much those two things keep me on track. I thought I could keep up with all the money saving even without using it, but it just helps when you look at those books every other day.

I decided to get back on track to help save more for the wedding. I know we're going to go over our $10,000 budget so anything I can do to make the burden less painful. Rob, my now fiance, is very adamant about not asking our families for financial help. He's just always liked to be financially independent and that's just one of the many things that attracts me to him.

Last night I sat down with my new 2014 planner and planned out the next 3 weeks of dinner. As I was planning out all my meals, I had this wonderful idea to "live out of the pantry". As some might recall, I did a lot of couponing, and from doing that I had a ton of stock piled food that I have yet to use. Mostly it's hamburger helper and *free* noodles I purchased.

Basically, "living out of the pantry" is using the food you already have and just purchasing food to make complete meals. Here's some step by step instructions for you to do it to!

1. Make a detailed list of everything you have in your pantry and fridge.
2. Sit down, and open you planner. 
3. Start planning out meals. 
4. Plan meals that you already have the food on hand, then start planning meals around the canned/boxed sides you have.

I started with hamburger helper boxes and made a list of what I need to purchase to complete the meals.

Then I moved on to the canned vegetables and other canned items. For instance, I have about 3 cans of Mexican diced tomatoes, so this will create 3 different kinds of Mexican dishes. I also had black beans, corn, and refried beans, so this already helps to create whole meals. Once I decided on the meals I was making, I made a grocery list of the "add in" items I needed to purchase to complete those meals.

Here's the break down of my week's dinners:

Monday - Tacos - I just needed taco seasoning ($0.35)

Tuesday - Baked Ziti that will last 2 nights - I just needed spaghetti sauce and cheese ($4.19)

Wednesday - above

Thursday - Chicken Cordon Bleu - Aldi has these great pre-made stuffed chickens. Cheap and delicious. I just purchase a couple of this, and will use canned veggies in the pantry. ($2)

Friday - Pot Pie and mashed potatoes - just need the pot pies ($1.25)

Saturday - Broccoli Salad and BBQ cocktail weinies  - just need BBQ sauce, and cheese ($4.10)

Sunday - Soup - already have.

This week I only spent $17.23 on dinner. This should be able the same for the next 2 weeks. So three weeks of food for under $60!! Amazballs.

My grocery list!

So I scratched out some items since they weren't "dinner" items and I wanted to focus on that today!!

Bridesmaid Proposal

It's been three weeks since Rob proposed to me right before Christmas. Right away I knew who my bridesmaid's were going to be. My only problem was, Rob was having 7 groomsmen, and I only had 5 girls I wanted. So I did some research to mend my hurt feelings since Rob wouldn't back down on his number. Apparently having an odd number in your wedding party isn't so uncommon. With the research I did, I decided to get a little creative. My first two bridesmaid's will have a groomsmen on each arm, then the next 3 will just walk with a single groomsman.

For the last 3 weeks, I have been planning on how to ask the girls to be my bridesmaids. I didn't want to give any hints out until I did my big surprise that they were even being considered. I decided to do boxes, to hand out and ask the girls in a special way. Here's what I put in my boxes.

Mini Champagne Bottles

Champagne Flutes

Customized BM's shirts

Special Notes that go over the specifics of the wedding.

Originally my colors were going to be white, black, and gold. But then I changed my colors because the venue didn't work out. Which is fine now, since we found the perfect venue. It's so cute and quaint!

Now we are doing spring colors. Since I have my 3 colors at first, I was making all the BM boxes in those colors. So I just had to go with it lol.

I bought all my boxes "storage boxes" from Michael's during a 50% off sale the day after Christmas. So I got them all for $2.50 each. Then I bought gold scrap paper to put in the lids to give a little bling. They came with the note cards, so I spent a total of $17 on the boxes. Not bad :)

The beginning

The end result of the box! I customized them with their names.

I  used the existing cards and wrote special messages to each girl.

The final boxes!

My Customized shirts. They loved them!!

Drank

For my flower girls. Same concept.

Flower Girl boxes.

Flower Girl Boxes/

 I went to dinner last night with all of my girls, except one. She didn't make it cause she got engaged that night! Me and the girls had a blast. Some of them haven't met before, or met briefly, but after last night I know I made the best choices. They all get along so well, and they all agreed to wear whatever I choose for them on dresses lol. I couldn't ask for more supportive girls!

Shopping Done Right!

Thanks to Christmas and all the wonderful gift cards and money we received I got to spoil myself a little bit. This is something that doesn't happen as often as I wish it would, but I am glad when I get the chance to! So Thanks to everyone that gave me wonderful gifts. Even the non-cash gifts were amazing and things I definitely needed!!

Thanks to my super savvy shopping skills, and my hate for spending $15 on any clothing item, I found some amazing deals.

I have to say I am not a huge fan of Ross. Usually it's all been picked through and what's left is basically old fashioned items. That, or the items have some flaws in them (broken zipper or torn fabric).

Here's what I found!!

Ross - $6.99

Ross - pleather peplum shirt - $7.99

Ross - Eiffel Tower Shirt - $11.99

Ross - Nautical Shirt - $7.99

This is a navy, white and coral shirt. Great for the summer with white shorts!!

Ross - Leopard belt - $4.99

Forever 21 - $9.98

The belt is mine that I found hidden in the closet. My mom actually
gave thisto me a couple years back!

See! Fashion can be somewhat inexpensive is you just take the time to look!