I've missed you!

so it looks like it has been just over 3 months since I last blogged. Well.........life was pretty rough there for a while, my mind was gone and the winter was very long, BUT I'm back! woohoo! Spring is trying to chase away winter, so far, winter is having none of it. (Maggie actually made a snowman on her birthday last weekend-wow!) My new house is done and we have moved back in, it is beautiful and huge (well, not really, but it feels huge and I have my own bedroom with a door and a lock!!) We are still getting settled and learning how to live here, it's really hard to get everything just how you want it. I LOVE everything about my new house (well except for these tiny stupid cabinets that flank my sink-I hate those, and wish they were different) but mostly everything, and we are so happy here. I went on my cruise and had an absolutely fabulous time--the weather was warm (mostly), we ate fantastic healthy food (mostly) and slept tons and came home happy and rested (mostly), all in all a great time was had by all.

Well then, off on our next adventure, which this month is paying the bills-haha. So it was wierd living in the garage, I used to joke, "we aren't poor, it just seems like it." Well, now that we live in the new fancy house, there are some bills coming due and so I have challanged myself to a bit of a game. (If I call it a game it sounds fun and not desperate right?) I used to spend a certain amount of money every month on things (food, gas, bandaids, hair pretties, socks, etc, you're getting the picture) but this month I am attempting to cut that amount in half. That's right-in half (crazy I know) so in order for me to want to play, I have made incentive amounts and the prizes are cumulative, so if I do in fact meet my goal, I will have a nice night off at the end of each week. (then possibly continue the game to save up for my hottub...yeah right) The plan is to buy as little pre-packaged things as possible and make tons of stuff to save money. The funny thing is, this is generally the plan, but apparently some things don't count. Alan needs snacks for work, and doesn't like my oaty, nutty concoctions that so often grace our goodie jar, he prefers granola bars (store bought) and pop tarts (don't even ask, I know these are evil, but it is something we have agreed to disagree on) among other high calorie, high fat, preservative filled "treats". Well come to find out--these things can get really expensive. He has agreed to play along this month and eat the (wierd) things I come up with instead of his usual fare, but will be happy to go back to "normal" as soon as this is all over.
So today was payday, and we were out of everything, so I had to hit the stores. I was pretty excited to see if I could actually pull this off, so headed in with high hopes. I had to pick up some picutres of the girls first thing, and they had printed some extra prints (really cute) I spent $14.06 before I had even totally entered the store. (not so good) But all in all, after all of my stops, I had spent a little over half of my budget for the week. Not bad considering I have the menu for the whole week planned out, and will only have to get fresh fruit and veggies with the rest (hopefully!) It is amazing the price difference in some things--store brand graham crackers and vanilla wafers are half the price of the name brand-wow, that's a huge difference. I almost got some cheaper bread, but when checking out the ingredient list noticed that high fructose corn syrup was the second ingredient-YIKES!-guess I will be saving that dollar some place else-we got our favorite brand like always, some things are worth the price. It looks hopeful for me, but it also looks like we will be coming up due for a lot of things next week--gas, diapers etc, I am wondering if I should go ahead and get one or 2 of those this week, so I don't get slammed all at once--we'll see how it goes. (also hoping for a few $$ left for beer money)
here's some recipes I'm going to try this week:
*brown rice crispy treats
*fruit and oatmeal bars
*vegan chocolate chip cookies
and dinners with noodles and potatoes (haha-like in college but a little fancier and more nutrients for the kiddos) I'm off for a nap before Alan gets home and I have to boil up some veggie dogs (gourmet I know)