With a model home..a Quadrant model home at that. Like, I wouldn't mind extending my commute from 10 minutes to 30 on a good day (and spending a pretty penny for my gas-guzzling SUV) kind of love. I was gushing over finishing a like a mother would a newborn.
I don't know how much we can afford, but if this house is not in our budget I may become clinically depressed. It was AMAZING. 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, bonus room right next to laundry room (that has a utility sink), giant master suite with 5 piece bathroom. Ginormous pantry and a mudroom with a built in bench and cubbies. It was only 2200 square feet, but they did such a great job with the layout that it feels like 3500-4000sqft. I died and went to heaven.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
Weekend Update
Eating dinner is so hard for me. Well, not the eating part, the preparing part. I work full time - with a lot of overtime. Hubs works full time. When we get home neither of us wants to cook. I just want to go to bed in all honesty...I'm trying to cook more though. I'm tired of my meals coming out of paper bags and shoved out a window, or delivered by the pizza guy. I want more "real" ingredients, and I want to know that nothing weird has been added. Now, I'm not an all organic person - my budget doesn't really allow that, not that I would be if I could afford it either..but fast food kind of grosses me out. I didn't grow up eating a lot of fast food. IF we did eat it, it was Arby's roast beef sandwiches or during the summer while living in Wisconsin we walked our dog to McDonald's and got the 50 cent ice cream cones. We didn't even eat hamburger helper or boxed mac and cheese...
So my project for the weekend was to make 5-7 crockpot ready meals and freeze them for when I'm in the mood for a meal after work that I don't have to put too much effort into and just stick in the pot before I leave for work. I made 6 meals - 2 bags of teriyaki chicken, brunswick stew, honey sesame chicken, meatball stroganoff, and italian bolognese sauce. Before I could make these meals, I had to clean out my freezer. I really wish I had taken a before picture - it was a mess! Bags of frozen fruit that were iced over, bags of bread that we'd probably never eat, gnocchi that I'm not entirely sure how long it had been in there. I organized everything where frozen fruits and veggies had a shelf, my bags of crock pot meals were on a shelf with a half full bag of Costco chicken tenderloins, third shelf down holds most of our frozen meats - ground beef, ground turkey, kielbasa, my remaining 4 chicken breasts from a Costco pack where 2 breasts came in a packet - and my two bottles of sweet tea vodka which I loved to add to lemonade in the summertime :)
On Saturday, I cleaned out my freezer. It surprisingly didn't take as long as I thought it would, probably because I just threw most of it away..afterwards I spent some time with my sister in law and went to a Scentsy party her friend was throwing. Bought some new scents and a new warmer that I think will look nice in the kitchen - it's a red color that reminds me of the poppies that are on my kitchen mats.
Sunday consisted of spending the day with my sister - we went to breakfast at my new favorite pizza place, Puget Sound Pizza. Christy and I went there last summer I think (?) after just exploring downtown Tacoma and came across it. Ever since, it's been my go-to breakfast place! I know, a pizza place/bar for breakfast, but let me tell you, it's so delicious! After breakfast Christy and I went to Winco, pretty much my go to grocery store when I have a long list (and if you saw the earlier picture of my ingredients, it was pretty long) because I feel I get more for my money. If I would have gone to a regular grocery store, I would have spent well over $100 - close to $200. My total at Winco yesterday was a whopping $65. What really saved me is the only meat I had to purchase was ground sausage for the bolognese sauce. Everything else I already had in my freshly cleaned out freezer!
After grocery shopping, I walked down to a bar in downtown Tacoma to meet some girlfriends for our monthly Book Pub where we discussed Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Most of the group couldn't make it, so it was just the three of us. One of the girls, Tori, hadn't finished the book yet so we just talked about things that had happened in the book she has read so far, and then we talked about the cruise Tori just returned from the previous night - she, her mom, her mother in law and a family friend took a cruise out of New Orleans and went to Jamaica. How fun, right?!
After I returned home I got started on making my meals. Hubs had soccer after work so he didn't get home until around 10pm, so I didn't have to worry about feeding him. Prep was pretty easy, thanks to a gadget I'm so glad I registered for! The Progressive Fruit and Vegetable Chopper. I love this thing so much, it makes chopping onions a breeze! I also chopped celery and potatoes for the brunswick stew with it. Did I have to? No, but I did anyway because it is so much faster than I would be by hand!
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| My list of ingredients needed |
So my project for the weekend was to make 5-7 crockpot ready meals and freeze them for when I'm in the mood for a meal after work that I don't have to put too much effort into and just stick in the pot before I leave for work. I made 6 meals - 2 bags of teriyaki chicken, brunswick stew, honey sesame chicken, meatball stroganoff, and italian bolognese sauce. Before I could make these meals, I had to clean out my freezer. I really wish I had taken a before picture - it was a mess! Bags of frozen fruit that were iced over, bags of bread that we'd probably never eat, gnocchi that I'm not entirely sure how long it had been in there. I organized everything where frozen fruits and veggies had a shelf, my bags of crock pot meals were on a shelf with a half full bag of Costco chicken tenderloins, third shelf down holds most of our frozen meats - ground beef, ground turkey, kielbasa, my remaining 4 chicken breasts from a Costco pack where 2 breasts came in a packet - and my two bottles of sweet tea vodka which I loved to add to lemonade in the summertime :)
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| The After. So excited to try these out!
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Sunday consisted of spending the day with my sister - we went to breakfast at my new favorite pizza place, Puget Sound Pizza. Christy and I went there last summer I think (?) after just exploring downtown Tacoma and came across it. Ever since, it's been my go-to breakfast place! I know, a pizza place/bar for breakfast, but let me tell you, it's so delicious! After breakfast Christy and I went to Winco, pretty much my go to grocery store when I have a long list (and if you saw the earlier picture of my ingredients, it was pretty long) because I feel I get more for my money. If I would have gone to a regular grocery store, I would have spent well over $100 - close to $200. My total at Winco yesterday was a whopping $65. What really saved me is the only meat I had to purchase was ground sausage for the bolognese sauce. Everything else I already had in my freshly cleaned out freezer!
After grocery shopping, I walked down to a bar in downtown Tacoma to meet some girlfriends for our monthly Book Pub where we discussed Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Most of the group couldn't make it, so it was just the three of us. One of the girls, Tori, hadn't finished the book yet so we just talked about things that had happened in the book she has read so far, and then we talked about the cruise Tori just returned from the previous night - she, her mom, her mother in law and a family friend took a cruise out of New Orleans and went to Jamaica. How fun, right?!
After I returned home I got started on making my meals. Hubs had soccer after work so he didn't get home until around 10pm, so I didn't have to worry about feeding him. Prep was pretty easy, thanks to a gadget I'm so glad I registered for! The Progressive Fruit and Vegetable Chopper. I love this thing so much, it makes chopping onions a breeze! I also chopped celery and potatoes for the brunswick stew with it. Did I have to? No, but I did anyway because it is so much faster than I would be by hand!
After finishing all my dinners so much urge to keep going, so I decided to make green smoothie packets.
I put 1 giant handful of spinach, between 1/2 - 1 banana depending on it's size, and 1/3 c of either frozen mango or frozen pineapple in a baggie. I had 3/4 full carton of vanilla greek yogurt in my fridge I wanted to make sure I used up in my fridge, so I put about 1/3 c of greek yogurt in a muffin tin in each hole and stuck it in the freezer to freeze into disks. I definitely put too much spinach in each pack because this morning when I took one out and put it in my Magic Bullet, I had the hardest time getting everything blended. Probably didn't help that everything was very frozen. Tomorrow I'll let it thaw a little. I blended it with almond milk and a splash of apple juice. All I tasted was the banana and almond milk. I could taste a hint of the frozen mango as well.
And that was my weekend in a nutshell! Next weekend consists of movie night with some girlfriends - I'm picking the movie becuase Jamie isn't allowed to have movie choice anymore after a crazy night of watching the Descendents with George Clooney (that movie was just weird), and Dee falls asleep during EVERY single movie we watch together. Has since high school. We're watching it at Jamie's apartment. She has a 3D tv and so the request I've gotten is it has to be a 3D movie. And it's peachy that no one rents 3D movies, you have to buy them. Boo. Another plan for next weekend is our nephew's 4th birthday dinner. His choice of restaurant was Famous Dave's so that's what we're doing. I'm also going to go out and buy his present...I'm thinking books because I don't know what to get the kid who literally has everything...
I leave you with my favorite picture as of late - the view from a vacant unit in Jamie's building that we looked at for Dee who wanted to move into her building, but after looking at her finances has decided she cannot move there. Sad day. I loved this view! And yes, this is the high school that 10 Things I Hate About You was shot at, Stadium High School.
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