Bargain Day Monday

Wish every day could be called Bargain Day!  I’m always looking for bargains, so they’re always on my mind, that’s for sure!

Monday started off as it will for weeks to come with a trip to Dunkin’ Donuts for my FREE iced coffee.  Free is good, right?!

Ok, You try smiling and drinking and taking a photo all at the same time!  At one point I made myself laugh and spilled coffee on myself!  Gotta get better at these self photos! 😉

Mondays lately almost always involve a trip to the produce market.  It’s one of my favorite places and I always get lots of healthy things for not much money.

Romaine lettuce, red bell pepper, yellow squash, broccoli, red delicious apples and pears.  Not in the photo- tangerines and celery.  I’m really getting into celery for snacks and adding to salads.  The crunch it adds seems to make the salad seem more filling.  More chewing involved, I guess!

I made a quick stop at Walmart and found two good things.  First, this knife.

It’s the kind of knife I see all the TV chefs using.  It cost $3.00!  I was pretty excited!

Also exciting was this…

Biscoff Spread! I’ve been reading about this on a lot of blogs and I thought I’d give it a try.  I know I said I was backing off of peanut butter, but this is supposedly a little different from regular peanut butter.  We’ll see.  This was not necessarily a bargain, but I consider it research! 😉

My other bargain-these tongs…

I’ve been looking for a pair and I couldn’t pass them up because the were only $1.00!  Found these at Rite-Aid.  I also got multi vitamins Buy One Get One Free!  Good deal!

Those are my bargains for Monday.  Not sure if Tuesday will turn out to be much of a bargain.  I’ve been awake since 2am and up since 4am.  I believe there will have to be a nap in my future this afternoon.  We’ll see how it goes.

Happy Sleepy Tuesday!

Just Land Somewhere

I remember when I was little that although I was chubby I could move around pretty good.  My mother would often say to me, “Will you just “light” somewhere?!”  I’m not even sure how to spell that, but what she meant was land somewhere, stay in the same spot for a few minutes.  As I look over Monday, it seems I needed “light” somewhere.

I got my pinto beans in the crock pot when I first got up.  After posting on BCDC, I was up and out.  I had things to do.  First thing, was a wonderful treat.  My best friend, Gail had given me a Dunkin’ Donuts coupon that allowed me a free iced coffee every Monday in October!

It even includes the first Monday in November!  It was a little out-of-the-way from my errands, but for free I decided it was worth it. 

Can you say pumpkin spice?!?  It was so good and fueled me through my errands.

I headed first to the produce stand to re-stock.  Romaine, plum tomatoes, apples, potatoes, red bell peppers, and strawberries.  All that for just a little over $11.  I was excited.

Next I headed to Wal-mart for the rest of my grocery shopping.  I kept myself very much under control.  Only splurge was to buy some Sriracha sauce because I found I loved it so much in New Mexico.

This will go a long way and spice up a lot of things!!

When I got home from shopping I did a few things and didn’t get around to eating my overnight oats until Noon! 

With strawberries fresh from the produce stand.  Hey, it was just as good for lunch!

I made a green tea mix that I’d heard about a few months ago.  If I remember correctly it comes from the Carb Lovers Diet and is supposed to help you lose weight.  I’m not trying to promote that diet and I don’t really know anything about it.  This just sounded tasty and good for me. 

Eight cups of green tea (they don’t say, but I used 8 tea bags.  I boiled 4 cups of water, let the bag steep, then added 4 cups of cold.)  You then add the juice of an orange, a lemon and a lime.  I was lucky and all of the fruit was very juicy.  I added some store brand stevia to it and it’s pretty tasty.   I may add more stevia, but I like it.  The fruit is good for me (and it’s free!) and so is the green tea.  I think I’ll do this again!

Pinto beans cooked to perfection in the crock pot and ready to keep me filled up for the week!

Boy, this is definitely a post for the Human Randomizer!  Anyway…

I wanted to share my treasures from the rummage sale on Saturday.

A teeny tiny Cuisinart mini-processor!!  Did you notice the price??  $1!!! I couldn’t believe it.  It looks like there might be something missing on top, but I just need it for the basics so I don’t really care.  I think I’ll be able to make hummus, now.  So Excited!!

Also 2 great bags for $1 each!!  The first one is much roomier than it looks.  I’ll be able to carry my mini computer in there as well as regular purse things all at the same time.  The second one has an elephant on it and is also very roomy.  So excited to get such a good deal!!

This morning, I’m trying to get myself more focused.  I do have issues with that, don’t I??  I decided it was time to pull out some fall decor, starting with my cool mugs…

Very cool!  I realized I have several different ones.  Makes coffee even more fun, if that’s possible!!

Off to face the day…

Happy Tuesday!!  Focus…Focus…

 

Blursday

With so much to do, some days really are a blur.  I know I was there, I’m still here, so something happened…details?  I haven’t got any for you!  😉  Just kidding of course!

Thursday was one of those day, but I have a few details to share.

I had an appointment for a hair cut at 12:30p but before that I walked down to see Alice.  She had a discount card that I needed to borrow.  While talking I mentioned my dilemma from yesterday…4 bags and counting for this trip and my frustration with it.  She had a marvelous solution.

During the time Alice and Gail spent in Florida this summer, Alice’s 12-year-old niece came to visit.  During her visit, Alice introduced her to the joys of the Great Thrift Store Tour!  She fell in love and with $29.00 bought her entire school wardrobe!  She’s hooked now.

So anyway, Alice continued to shop for her while still in Florida.  So much so that she needed an extra suitcase to bring home all of her treasures.  While I was there, we went to Last Chance and Alice got a huge rolling suitcase for only $5.00.  Alice didn’t need it other than for that purpose…so she gave it to me!!

May I introduce to you my New Best Friend…

She’s big and red and she now holds ALL of what had been in those 4 bags except for some books which are now in a tiny tote bag!! I was SO excited!

Alice doesn’t want her back so I think I’ll call her Big Red!  She’s mine now.  Gotta love a thrift store!

I did get my hair cut.  It looks good, but I didn’t bother to photograph it. You’ll see it soon enough!

Stocked up on some mandatory road trip snacks…

Twizzlers are our Favorite road trip snack…and I don’t think I even have to tell you how I feel about Tootsie Pops!!

I realized late in the day that I really hadn’t eaten anything.  I quickly put together a salad that looks suspiciously like all of the other salads I’ve had this week so…visualize, Kids!!

We pick up our rental car today and I get to find out if Big Red will actually fit in the trunk!  I have faith in her.  Lots more errands to run also and probably 20 other things I can’t think of at the moment.  I’m getting excited, but I’m trying to not forget anything.  Friday may turn into another Blursday!  Help Me, Big Red!!

1 Day to Go…Yikes!!  I have Weight Watchers tomorrow morning…No Clue how that will go!!

Happy Friday!!

Done And Done, Then Let’s Eat Quesadillas!

It took some work, but I finally have Everything out of the storage unit and it is no longer ours!  I’m excited.  I got the last of what was there out and at sister Ele’s house on Monday.  Now I just have to do the moving around over there.

I’ve got about 20 boxes still in her dining room which I need to move this week because she’ll be having company for the weekend and she doesn’t need my things in there.

The proof is in the photo…I present an empty storage unit!  I’m very excited about this!

Ralph was out for the afternoon on a mission so I went over to Gail’s house to try out one of the gadgets we got on the Great Thrift Store Tour in Florida.

A shiny red quesadilla maker.  They had tried it in Florida but after I left, so I was excited to see the results.

Very tasty!!  With black beans of course!

We even made nachos!  But since we cooked these directly from tortillas, I’m not counting them as chips, so my record still stands (No Chips For Me!)

To finish off lunch, Gail made wonderful little parfaits with fat-free vanilla yogurt, strawberries and grapes…So Tasty!

We went off to our chiropractor appointments after lunch and we are all standing taller now!

Ralph was home when I got here so we hung out for a while talking about our plans for the trip and soon it was time for some dinner.  I made Ralph his salad that he likes with tuna.  I made myself a fairly recognizable one.  I probably won’t be making anything to out of the ordinary.  Don’t want to be buying a lot of stuff, since we’ll be away for almost a month.

The last of the romaine and the wonderful baby spring mix we get from Sam’s Club. So glad Gail’s a member! 😉

Added black beans (of course!), some freshly made couscous (I was going for quick here) and more of the light ranch I’m trying to finish up, with Mrs Dash’s Fiesta Lime seasoning added.  Definitely one of my favorites!

The finished product.  Always good and always filling.  Only needed a Lemon-Lime Tootsie Pop to finish off my night a little later.

Wanted to share a cool photo I took in Ele’s front yard.  It’s a small branch that came down during the storm.

Acorns on an oak tree branch.  A sure sign of Fall!!  Can’t wait, myself!

So I’m off to do some lugging around of boxes at Ele’s house.  When I get back, I really need to think about packing…We are going away in 4 days!!!  Yikes!  I’m off!!

Happy Tuesday!!