New blogging home

I am co-blogging with my pal "Bumps" (wants to remain anonymous) at our new blog Bumps in the Road.  So far it's mostly book related stuff but we're going to be blogging about just about everything and anything.  I'm headed back over there right now to post a recipe that looks really good that I found on PW's Tasty Kitchen site.

More Knitting Projects!

My brother and his wife are in the process of buying their first home.  According to Facebook, cause apparently that is where one goes to get up to date information, they are going to the bank, meeting the seller and doing paperwork on Wednesday!  Holy Buckets!

I've been looking all over the Internet for things that I can knit them and I have found a TON of things!  I can hardly wait to get started on these projects!  So I guess I'll be doing less reading and more knitting into the near future!

Wish me luck!  I'm going to need it to stay focused on the prize.

Weight Loss on a budget...Re-Creating Me part 2

Ladies and gents (if there are any gents reading this)....

It is time.  I decided that 2011 was going to be the year of ME and so far I've been putting it off.  Not anymore.  I am officially headed towards a healthier lifestyle.

As of this writing, I am 24 hours with out soda.  I am trying to get it out of my life almost entirely.  In the past I was one of those people who would drink 3 or 4 cans a day of Pepsi and not even think twice about it.  Now I'm losing the battle of the bulge.

So far, I'm down 5 pounds.  I started at 183 pounds and I'm down to 178.  My goal is to get down to about 140 pounds.  So as of right now I'm about 38 pounds from making my goal.

What I've been doing so far?

1. I have 2 dogs that are rather demanding about being walked daily.
2. Sometimes I even go on an additional walk just by myself...sometimes they can be really clingy.
3. I've decided to finally cut out soda for good.
4. I've been using my Wii Fit and my Biggest Loser Challenge for Wii
5. I've been drinking more water and eating more fruits and veggies.

What you can do?

I need more suggestions of things to add to my routine to help supplement what I've already been doing.  Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Jamie

Frugal Tip ~ Use your library

I LOVE to read.  It's one of the things that keeps me out of trouble....along with knitting and digital photography.  Because I love to read, I have a strong desire to buy books all the time.  Last year I would have given in to the urge to buy bags of books.  Now I have found that a HUGE chunk of the books that I have on my wishlist are available in my library system.  So now I'm using my library more and when my mom and I go thrifting I like to check out the bookshelves....I love that I can buy a bag of books for a couple of bucks at our favorite thrift stores.

Right now I have 19 books checked out of my library.  All of them with the exception of 2 were on my wishlist.  I also have another 14 books that were on my wishlist that are "in transit" to my library.  If you don't have a library card, I recommend getting one.  Especially if you like to read and save money.  With the exception of late fees or lost books, checking items out of the library (at least at my library anyway) doesn't cost a thing.  I know that all libraries are different but please check into it.

A couple of great frugal sites

I've been going through my google reader, which is up over 1000+ posts in it yet again, and I came across a couple of frugal living blogs that I thought that I would share with you.

Getting Ahead - I found that while scanning through the archives of this blog that there were many things that I can implement into my life right now as well as in the future.  The blogger keeps it real and shares what has worked or hasn't worked for their family.

Learning The Frugal Life - This is a blog that I've been following for a little while now.  I find that I really enjoy the "Frugal Tip Tuesday" that they host.  This is also the blog that I found the inspiration for a "No Spend" month (which I will be doing again, hopefully with better success).

Life as Mom - This blogger is one of my favorites! There are a TON of great idea's, recipes and knowledge to soak up on this blog.  Plus, every Friday is "Frugal Friday" where other bloggers link up their frugal idea's.  A great source for more frugal tips to add to your life.

Re-creating ME part 1

So I haven't really been blogging on here for close to a month.  During that time I have been doing some thinking about ME and where I want to see myself in the future.  The right now me is up to her eyeballs in debt, has a borderline addiction to hand spun/hand-dyed yarn, is STILL living at home at 27 years of age, is driving around in a car that she doesn't feel particularly safe in (if it leaves you on the side of the road it goes in the borderline unsafe category), hasn't been on a vacation in YEARS and just overall is NOT happy with the current me.

So I have decided that I am going to "re-create" ME. 

One small step that I've taken in "re-creating" ME is setting up a Mason jar for all the change that I acquire.  I've got a pretty decent chunk of change in the jar already but I want to fill that sucker up.  So I guess that means that I'll have start using more cash from now on and become less dependent on my debit card.

I have actually gone ahead and moved my banking to another bank.  With my new checking account my money will actually work with me instead of basically doing nothing.  The interest rate on this new account is a whopping 2.51% APR.  I hadn't done it when I originally posted about it because my budget was still pretty unstable at that point but now that it's a little more stable I felt comfortable with the move.

I've decided that I'm actually going to get a passport.  The plan is to go to where my family is originally from in Germany next summer.  I am EXTREMELY excited about the prospect of actually getting on an airplane and actually seeing somewhere outside of our recession ridden country.  Now I have to learn a little German!

So there are 3 things that I've accomplished on my way to "re-creating" ME.

No Spend Month and other tidbits

So I've been partaking in a "No Spend Month" where I try not to spend $ on things that I haven't allowed for....For the record...We're headed for an epic FAIL on that front.  But I absolutely HAVE to get my spending habits under control. And here is why.....

We are currently getting our hours cut at work AND our Distribution Center is cutting us a truck a week for at least the next 2-3 months.  NOT fun by any means.  Seriously considering looking for a second J-O-B just to have a little more security $wise in my bank account.

On Monday I turn 27...Seriously the highlight of the past week.

My step-aunt's funeral was yesterday.  Liz was loved by a lot of people and for such a sad occasion there were a LOT of happy memories.

Knitting-wise I'm really challenging myself...I'm attempting my first pair of socks.  I've given up on mittens for a little while.  I'm going to have stick with my original pattern.  The one I tried off of Ravelry was giving me serious fits.

The plan for today is to do some reading, some knitting and some digital photography therapy....All of which is great stress releases after a VERY stressful week.

Pastor Ryan's Monkey Bread

I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman.  She's just awesome!

Pastor Ryan’s Monkey Bread

Prep Time: 20 Minutes  |  Cook Time: 40 Minutes  |  Difficulty: Easy  |  Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 3 cans Buttermilk Biscuits (the Non-flaky Ones)
• 1 cup Sugar
• 2 teaspoons (to 3 Teaspoons) Cinnamon
• 2 sticks Butter
• ½ cups Brown Sugar

Preparation Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Open up all three cans of biscuits and cut each biscuit into quarters.

Next, combine the white sugar with 2-3 teaspoons of cinnamon. (3 teaspoons of cinnamon gives it a fairly strong cinnamon flavor. If you’re not so hot on cinnamon, cut it back to 2 teaspoons.) Dump these into a 1 gallon zip bag and shake to mix evenly.

Drop all of the biscuit quarters into the cinnamon-sugar mix. Once all the biscuit quarters are in the bag seal it and give it a vigorous shake. This will get all those pieces unstuck from one another and nicely coated with cinnamon-sugar. Spread these nuggets out evenly in the bundt pan.

At this point, you’re going to want to melt the two sticks of butter together with ½ cup of brown sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. This can be light or dark brown sugar. Cook butter/sugar mixture, stirring for a few minutes until the two become one. Once the brown sugar butter has become one color, you can pour it over the biscuits.

Bake for about 30-40 minutes until the crust is a deep dark brown on top. When its finished cooking, remove it from the oven. If you have the willpower, allow it to cook for about 15-30 minutes before turning it over onto a plate.

Recipe ~ Fluffy Biscuits

Prep/Total Time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
2/3 cup milk

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.  Cut in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Beat egg with milk; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

2. Turn onto a well-floured surface; knead 20 times.  Roll to 3/4-in. thickness; cut with a floured 2-1/2 in. biscuit cutter.

3. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.  Serve warm.

Yield: 1 dozen

Recipe ~ Home-Style White Bread (BREAD MACHINE)

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Bake Time: 3 hours + cooling

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup water (70 to 80 degrees)
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons nonfat dry milk powder
3 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In bread machine pan, place all ingredients in order suggested by manufacturer.  Select basic bread setting.  Choose crust color and loaf size if available.  Bake according to bread machine directions (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons water or flour if needed).

Yield: 1 loaf (about 1-1/2 pounds, 16 slices)

Recipe ~ Beefy Vegetable Stew

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

1 pound ground beef
1 can (28 ounces) stewed tomatoes, cut up
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
1 package (16 ounces) frozen California-blend vegetables
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup frozen broccoli cuts
2 cups water
1 tablespoon beef bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon sale
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In a Dutch oven, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.  Add the remaining ingredients.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Yield: 10-12 servings

Meal Plan Monday #1 2/14

Good Morning!  We've been trying out meal planning for a little while now...Just have to get EVERYONE on the same page.  So here is our plan for this week, I'll be posting the recipes for several of the items on the list shortly.

Monday 2/14 - Beefy Vegetable Stew , Home-Style White Bread

Tuesday 2/15 - BBQ chicken breasts, veggie, potatoes, Fluffy Biscuits

Wednesday 2/16 - Stir fry and rice

Thursday 2/17 - *Box Night* Mac N Cheese

Friday 2/18 - Pastor Ryan's Monkey Bread

Saturday 2/19 - Grilled Cheese & Soup

Warmest Mittens Pattern Warning

I started this pattern last week in an effort to make myself a pair of mittens.  I have found that if you have a larger hands like I do the number of stitches it says to cast on is NOT enough.  I knitted this up a little ways and found that it was too tight and had to tear it out.  Instead of the required 36 stitches I have cast on 45 stitches on attempt number 2.  I'm hoping that this is the magic number.

2011 Debt/Savings Challenge hosted by Penny Pinchin' Mom

I just found this challenge on one of the new money saving blogs that I follow and I immediately decided to take on this challenge.  I have decided that 2011 is the Year of ME and part of that is knocking down a considerable amount of my debt.

Have you heard?!

The Packers are in the Super Bowl!  Which is tomorrow!  Even though I'm 99% Steeler fan there still is that 1% of me that likes the Packers.  Ok, so my AFC and NFC team are in the Super Bowl.  Funny how things work out?! I mean they are soooo much better than the Vikqueens and 'Da Bears.

Any way moving on....this is the dome on our state capital. Which our governor has turned Green and Gold in honor of the Packers being in the Super Bowl!  My mom and I went out at the wee hours this morning and shot some REALLY AWESOME SAUCE pictures.  Between the 2 of us we have a couple hundred pictures and I have a pretty AWESOME "blooper reel" that I might feel the need to share with everyone!

I'm moving my banking...

Recently my parents changed banks to State Bank of Cross Plains and opened a new checking account where they will actually earn a considerable amount of interest on their balance.  I've decided that I am also going to open one of these checking accounts, since today is payday I'm doing it as soon as the bank opens!...I'm tired of my money being lazy.  Here's the skinny on this Ultimate Interest Checking Account (from the bank webpage):

Finally a Checking Account You Can Get Excited About! Open your Ultimate Interest Checking Account today!

• Earn 2.51% Annual Percentage Yield (APY)* on Ultimate Rate paid on daily balances up to $25,000 or 0.05% APY* (standard rate paid) when account conditions are not met and on balances over $25,000.
• To qualify for this “Ultimate Rate” you must meet the following requirements: 1. Make at least 16 completed Debit Card transactions per monthly statement cycle. (ATM and PIN based transactions are excluded). 2. Receive a monthly eStatement. 3. Must have at least one direct deposit into the account per statement cycle. 4. Log onto eBANK! once per statement cycle.

*2.51% Annual Percentage Yield (APY) paid on daily balances up to $25,000 and 0.05% APY paid on all balances over $25,000 each statement cycle the minimum requirements are met. If you do not meet the requirements per statement cycle, you will earn the Standard Rate of 0.05% APY, your account will still function as a Free Checking account with no monthly service fees and no minimum balance. Rates are accurate as of December 16, 2010. This is a variable rate account, and the rate may change after the account is opened. Available on personal accounts only.

Me vs Our Pantry

So my goal for today...after I post this post actually...is to tackle our pantry.  We know we have all sorts of food...we just can't find it in all that mess.  Wish me luck...I'm going to need it.

Oh, and on the no spend front...I did spend 3 dollars last night....I needed caffeine (I'd forgotten my beverage at home) or I was gonna murderize someone and I didn't care who.

February is declared a NO SPEND MONTH!

I've recently posted about how I am up to my eyeballs in debt and how improving my knitting skills has caused me to blow my budget.  So I have decided to declare February (with 1 exception day) a No Spend Month.  I found this post which lead me to find this blog, which is also having a No Spend Month this month, who linked to this blog post, which had me coming up with my own No Spend Month.

Now we're 2 days into February already and I know I need to be extremely frugal with this paycheck that's coming in on Friday. Because of the blizzard we are currently having (which has resulted in me NOT going to work) and being in a slow time at work where we are getting our hours cut I will be short 2 days on my next paycheck and I still have bills to pay.

Here is how my No Spend Month is going to break down....

1 exception day...February 21st....My 27th birthday

My Goal:  To put an additional $100 into my savings account by the end of the month.  NOTE:  I have $100 taken out of each paycheck and directly deposited into my savings account.

The Details:  I am allowing myself $200 for the month of February to spend on anything I want.

What's included in my challenge:

~ Food
~ Gas
~ Clothing
~ Household items...which includes dog food
~ Entertainment
~ Valentine's Day

What's NOT included in my challenge:

~ Fixed bills (car insurance, credit card bills, cell phone)
~ Tithe
~ Medical Expenses
~ Car expenses (oil change)

Here is what I'm starting with....

~ A full tank of gas (it has a trip to and from work on it)
~ $17 cash
~ At least 2 weeks worth of soda
~ A library card
~ A full pantry...just have to clean it out and organize it figure out what kind food we have in there.
~  I'm hoping for a boat load of support from my bloggy pals.

And we have MITTENS!

Oh yeah!  Check those bad boys out!  My first attempt at double point knitting is finally complete!  Putting on the thumbs was a little challenging just because of the awkward angle.  They are made out of Three Irish Girls Irish Sea in their bulky weight.

Scene's from our Blizzard

So I live in the Great White Midwest...More specifically...Wisconsin.  Since Monday it has been pretty much snowing non-stop here with the exception of about 10 hours...But that was before the REAL blizzard showed up and raised all sorts of hell.  Below are some scenes from the blizzard.  

 The little bit of green you can see is a flower window basket attached to the side of our deck and the post is the corner post of our deck...We have a covered deck so that my mom could have a porch swing.  As you can see at about 3:15 this morning the snow was as high as our deck and it's not supposed to end until later this morning.

 This is the same corner post just a different angle.  The red thing is a shovel...we have to dig out a path/area for our dogs to do their business.  Again it's deck high on this side too.

The snow depth according to our patio window.