hot legs and cold weather

we were supposed to get a lot of snow.

we got a dusting.

i am so immature that i still get excited when it snows, because school is out.

one of my favorite "snow day" activites was making something sweet after lunch. my dear old grandmother, who was 70 years older than me, managed to always allow us to help her cook.  she had the patience of a saint. we usually made fudge or cookies.

my grandmother's fudge was phenomenal! the recipe came out of the bh&g big red plaid cookbook. the recipe she used is no longer published in their cookbook and i have had no luck in finding a copy of it. i probably don't need to make an effort to find it. what an evil thing it would be if i could make fudge on demand.

i stayed home today and didn't go anywhere. i am cooking dinner now because i am bored. i cooked dinner yesterday too. it is so much better to make a real meal rather than try to find bits and bobs to eat.

tonight's dinner is hot legs. hot legs are chicken legs made  like hot wings. it's cheaper and you get a lot more meat.

i fried the chicken with only a dusting of seasoned flour. this partially cooks the chicken and gives the sauce a crust to hold onto. once the chicken has a nice crust, remove it from the oil and put it in a baking dish. don't worry if the chicken isn't done all the way through, we will be baking. make a sauce of 1/2 honey mustard and 1/2 hot sauce. i added some garlic too. pour the sauce over the chicken and bake it on 400 for 45 minutes. be sure to baste it occasionally. when it's done, i put the hot legs on a platter and put the sauce over it.

i am making mashed potatoes and green beans to go with it.

for the rest of the week, i have the following meals to make:
chicken and dressing
spaghetti
steak

we also have sandwich stuff, eggs and cereal/milk to fix.

i have in the refrigerator to serve later:
deer chili
goulash

i may not make it out on my date this friday, but at least i won't go hungry!

if you don't have to go out, DON'T!

if you have to go out,  be sure you have a good battery and at least a half tank of gas. be sure to pack blankets, water, snacks and something to occupy your time, in case you get stuck. my husband has a lunch box full of beef jerky packs, a bag of pretzels, 2 big bottles of water, a couple of juice boxes, and a rubik's cube. he also has a sleeping bag jammed under the seat.

if he ever gets stuck in the smartcar i want, it might look like this:

stay warm!

act smarter, just barter!

i helped my friend get her computer cranking. i only had to remove the cookies, clear the cache and move her wireless card from the back of her computer to the front. something as mundane as that sped it up. i ended up staying over there all afternoon, and helped her set up a blog where she can post photos of the horses she has for sale, along with a description and price. it looked really good, and we were able to get up the ones she has for sale! she is going to find photos and descriptions og the horses she has sold and then we will make some back-dated entries. that will give people a better idea of what she has for sale and show that she handles only healthy quality animals.

she gave me a nice sumbeam mixer she had that someone gave her- shae has a kitchenaid! so i got a nice surprise. i found it online:

Sunbeam Heritage Series. These stand mixers look very retro and have been around for a long time. They are affordable and have enough power for thick cookie doughs and bread kneading. It has a 450 watt 12 speed with 4-1/2 and 2-1/2 quart stainless steel bowls. It comes in white. Price $99.99 .

she ended up staying on her computer until about 2 a.m.

i think she did too much clicking. this morning she had a virus. i went over there, and it seems as if she has been running one of the scammy-spammy fakedy fake spyware removal programs RELIGIOUSLY, like almost everyday. i downloaded mse (aka morro) and started a computer scan. it was taking forever, so i told her i would check in with her later.

before i left, she gave me a huge bowl of chili, enough for 4 servings. so that was a surprise freebie.

bartering is a good thing. the mixer was probably about $100 and the the chili i would say is worth at least $15, so i made about $13 an hour for my skills.

not bad. smartcar, here i come!

living the glamorous life

i spent the day with a friend of mine who is a horse broker. she matches people with the appropriate horse for their needs. she was delivering a horse today ad i went along for the ride. she tends to multi-task while she's driving, so i act as an extra set of hands for her: i takes notes while she drives, i jot down directions she calls out as she talks on her cell phone and i put peanut butter  on rice cakes. in echange for my priceless services, she buys me breakfast, lunch and snacks (usually sonic happy hour 1/2 price drinks! YUM!) and i get to go to a new and glamorous city.

next week we are returning to the amish settlement to get her donkey shod. we will get there early and drop the donkey off. then we are free to gallavant across the area and go to amish houses that have things for sale. last time was the end of harvest and mostly i saw a lot of pumpkins and yellow/orange mums. i hope to score some nice cheese and canned pickled delights.

i consider this to be a frugal thing to do because you not only get to experience new places and things, but you get free food to boot! i mean, if i pay for museum admission, they aren't going to give me a pound of honey nut goat cheese and a jar of pickles! and i get to see real live amish people!

tomorrow i am working on her computer for her. it will be simple. she's NEVER emptied her cache or deleted any cookies off her computer since she bought it in 2000! get rid of that crap and she should go along like nobody's business.

for a surprise, i am setting up a gmail account and blog for her! i have to find a template.

will i be getting a horse? i don't know. it costs $30 a month to feed them. i would need a fence and a lean-to built for a stall. maybe when it gets warmer. but i am not much of a horse person. i would just pet it a lot.

maybe i could teach my dog to ride the pony. then maybe i can sell enough admission tickets to buy that smartcar!

eating in

lots of other bloggers are doing the "eat from your pantry challenge" for january.

being cutting edge, i have to admit i did this for the time from the day after thanksgiving until january 2. i only spent $55 on groceries during this time, buying such "replacables" as milk, eggs, butter, eggs, bread and fresh produce. woohoo!

before thanksgiving, i ransacked the cabinets and gave the food bank anything i knew we wouldn't use. then i pulled all the thanksgiving stuff together in one cabinet. we ate out of the rest of the cabinets.

as we ate the food, we would move the remaining cans together. the pantry looked emptier and emptier. we got a bit creative toward the end, but it worked.

we were stopping it at new year's eve, but squeezed 2 extra days out of it!

this is a great way to clean out the cabinets and be frugal. we used our grocery money to buy christmas gifts instead of food. this year, i am putting a $20 bill in a bank every friday, to be used to buy gifts at holiday time.

i read about the challenge here: http://farmhomelife.blogspot.com/2010/01/eat-from-pantry-challenge-week-1.html.

all i can eat

i ended up eating the chinese buffet for lunch today. it's $4 cheaper for each person at lunch than dinner. we have to always have our weekly date. we have gone out once a week since before we married 27 years ago. before someone tells me that i'm wasting money, remember it keeps our marriage from getting in a rut and it's cheaper than marriage counseling. plus i don't have to do dishes!

we always cheap out by using coupons or gift cards, ordering the special if it's a good deal, going for lunch instead of dinner and discussing what we are going to order beforehand. we sound like this-

"are you going to get the steak combo? if so, get me  ranch dressing for your salad and i'll give you the fries from my seafood platter. oh? then get an extra order of shrimp on the side and i'll just eat your salad and the extra shrimp. no, don't order the onion rings as an appetizer, order them as an extra vegetable. it's cheaper!"

i made some good food choices. i stuck to eating mostly the lean meat i spooned out of the dishes and also ate a salad. they always have fruit stuck in among the desserts, so i had some cantaloupe. it was hard, but since it's out of season, what did i expect? they also had boiled egg halves sprinkled with parsley with the dessert- i guess because it requires cooling- so i had a boiled egg for dessert too ?!?

i did save a bit more today. i have decided to forego purchasing drinks at  restaurants. i will save $1.50-$2.00 each time  i order water instead of tea or a soda. i can save around $100 a year by doing that each week.  i look at it this way: when i am writing out my budget for the year, would i plan on spending $200 a year on sodas? no, but it does add up. add a bit of lemon and i'm good to go.

plus water is better for you, has no calories and doesn't rot your teeth.

just say no...to the buffet!

i stayed home today. i was planning to eat chinese but instead i made a plate of sausage and scrambled eggs mixed together, with cheese toast. tasty, tasty, tasty!

i have been trying to avoid the dreaded "W" store. i don't even want to write it out. i have been shopping at  a local meat market and trying some of the things they have there.

the sausage was very good and didn't have a lot of fat. in fact, i had to add a bit of oil to cook the eggs. i used a non-stick pan, but added the oil because i wanted a meal, not a mess!

they have really good ground beef that has caused me to swear off the "W" chub of gristle forever. again, not a lot of fat, just a lot of meat! we had chili tuesday and we may have it again this week-end. there is something so comforting about a bowl of good chili with a piece of cheese toast.

the prices at the meat market are a bit higher, but since it doesn't all cook away to grease, i think it is a better value.

i do buy a lot of vegetables and fruits at the "W" but when the temperatures are warmer, i always patronize the old men who park their trucks on the side of the road and sell homegrown fruits and veggies. you have to watch out, sometimes they will try to pass off "W" produce as home grown.

suddenly i have a craving for watermelon!

 

            

happy new year's!

i have a new home to start out the new year.

if you know me, you know i drift around. i plan on staying here for a while.

stop back by, i will be up to my usual passive-agressive subversiveness.

you may see a lot of ads here. the reason: i need lots of money! but if they get unbearable, let m eknow and i'll tune them down.

i need to get rid of the hang-over looming like a dark cloud over my head. anybody up for a run to ihop for pancakes and bacon?

just kidding, no drinking for me tonight! i baked chocolate brownies, ate 2 and slept from 7-11 pm. what an exciting life i lead!

plus i am tryng to be more frugal this year- and alcohol is expensive! also, any ihop runs are out. where i live, a ride to anywhere is a gallon of gas, so i am trying to eat at home and save more money this year. i have a goal in mind: i would like to buy a smartcar (or something small and very economical) at the end of the year. if i can get stable transportation in place, i can rejoin the ymca. so i need like $15K to buy a car. my honda (named tinkerbell) has 160,000 miles on it.it may live another year, but i think tinkerbell's prime is past.

so if you see anything in the ads that legitimately intrigues you, please feel free to click. if it's not something that floats your boat, please don't click! i don't wan't them to cut me off.

i have always been very frugal but now i am tightening my belt a bit more. i plan on documenting my progress toward $15K for a new car. my first report:

previous adsense earnings:     $1.32
current amount to goal: $14,998.64

sad!

i will post this the first of every month. i may even put up a donate butto, haha! because you beautiful people don't have anything better to spend your money on, right? yeah, let's buy me a new car!