Category: Every Day

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Every Day

Are You Drowning In Debt?

The economy has been tough these past few years. Do you feel like you are drowning in debt? Maybe you are. The amount of credit card debt in this country is growing rapidly. It reached $1.13 trillion dollars by the end of 2023. The mortgage debt is $12.25 trillion dollars. Home home equity loan debt is $360 billion dollars. Auto loans are $1.61 trillion dollars. Student loan debt I have no idea because the President seems to be forgiving “his select groups of people” who have student loan debt even though the Supreme Court said he couldn’t. Someone has to pay for that and it is the taxpayers who most likely paid their own student loans themselves or for their children. Isn’t buying votes wonderful? Okay, I will get back on track now.

If you have credit card debt, there is only one way to solve that problem and that is to pay if off. You borrowed it, you pay it off. Over my lifetime, I have heard people make so many excuses about why they have credit card debt. They use their cards for what they consider emergencies. It starts with one emergency and then balloons from there into many emergencies. First, the pipes get clogged and they use their credit card to pay the plumber, then the furnace goes and they put that on the credit card, then they have a dental emergency, or an auto repair emergency, etc. After that everything is an emergency, even food. The worst part is when they are paying the minimum payments every month. They get farther and farther behind with the interest payments they are making. Some of those interest rates are in the high 20’s. Yikes! You are making your credit card companies rich and you poor!

What are you going to do if you lose your job? What are you going to do if you have a reduction in income? There is nothing worse than losing your income. One day you are chugging along and then you are out of a job. Have you prepared for that?

The worst excuse I have heard over the years is “I deserve” a vacation or to go out to restaurants to eat quite frequently, or to go to the latest movies, or to buy new furniture or carpeting or the latest decor, etc. No one deserves anything that they can’t pay for. If you are living above your income, just STOP! You are doing so much damage to your future that it just breaks my heart thinking about it.

I have known people who have lost their homes. I have known people who have never owned their homes for many decades because of credit card debt. Every time they run up their credit cards and can’t pay them off, they redo their mortgage taking the equity out of their home or take a 2nd mortgage on their home in the form of a HELOC(Home Equity Loan). That is the dumbest thing you can ever do. Credit card debt is unsecured debt. By using your home to pay it off, you put your home at risk because your home is secured debt. You don’t pay, they will take your home.

So let’s start being responsible for all of that spending that was of your own making. You have sabotaged yourself and your family. You have no one to blame but yourself. I am tired of hearing poor me because I just don’t have the money to buy “fill in the blank”.

The first thing you do is start a real emergency fund so that you have the money when a true emergency comes up. If you have recently depleted your emergency fund, you have to work to replace it. With all the large and small things you can cut, you can do it even if you just build it with $25. a week. Then do not touch it unless it is a life or death emergency.

Start putting more than the minimum payment on your credit card bills. How do I do that Precious when there is no extra money? You cut all costs that are not a necessity. Next you look at the frivolous spending you do on a daily basis.

You don’t need to buy a cup of coffee out; make it at home and take it with you. You can cook ALL of your meals from scratch so much cheaper than paying for restaurant meals or takeout. You can catch the new movie a few months later on a free or cheap streaming channel for pennies on the dollars you would have paid for tickets and the expensive concession items. There are so many things that are free that you can do for entertainment. Just check your local area. Take up a free hobby like learning how to save money by watching you tube or taking a book out of the library to read.

If you are an impulse purchaser, do grocery or department store pickups. That way you aren’t just browsing in the store seeing all the goodies that you can put in your cart. If you buy on Amazon or Walmart online, put your necessary item in your cart but don’t check out for a few days. If you still deem it necessary in 3-5 days, then purchase it. I do this all the time. 90% of my items aren’t really necessities so I remove them from my cart. If it is a want and you can afford it then get what you want.

This is totally not targeted at any one person. Many people are very responsible with their money. If this post makes you mad, then you probably needed the advice. I will be trying to help anyone who needs to hear this in future posts.

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Every Day

Why I Don’t Take Hubby Shopping

Our pharmacy closed this weekend. I found a new one 2 blocks from the one we went to. I visited last week and looked around the store and talked to the pharmacy personnel. I have 4 requirements when choosing a pharmacy. It has to be close to where I do other errands, it has to be very clean, it has to be one that it is in our drug plan, and the pharmacist and other people that work there have to be friendly, accurate, and efficient. I was satisfied that the new one most likely would meet our requirements. I came home and told Hubby about it. He was happy to switch there. So we switched to the pharmacy and gave that pharmacy to all of our doctors to send future prescriptions to. Then Hubby ordered two prescriptions. We were amazed that just three hours after we ordered them, they were ready.

I decided that I would pick them up the next day before I did my weekly shopping at Top’s. Hubby insisted on going because he wanted to make sure that he knew right where this pharmacy was. I told him no problem but that we needed to shop at Top’s afterward. He said okay which surprised me because he hates grocery shopping.

First we went to the pharmacy. I was anxious to see how many pills they gave Hubby for each script. We have never had a pharmacy that filled them correctly the first time. We get 90 days of pills with our plan. It would be so aggravating when I would go to pick up scripts and they would be filled with 30 because they paid no attention. Then I would have to wait while they redid them. This pharmacy did them correctly to my amazement.

Then we went to Top’s to get some loss leaders. I had a list and I even ate breakfast before we went so that I would stick to my list. However, it didn’t take long for Hubby to start picking up things and putting them in the cart. The first few were on sale which was no problem. That is the way I shop and then I shop my shelves to make meals. So we are almost always eating food that was on sale. However he decided he wanted cold cuts. I said okay and took him over to the deli and showed him what was on sale. He didn’t want the sale cold cuts. He wanted the Charlie The Butcher roast beef which the girl told me was $ 18.00 a lb. I told him but before I could say I will get some he got mad and went out to the car to saying he couldn’t get what he wanted. I continued shopping and got him a half a lb. of the roast beef. Then I picked the rest of my items on my list and checked out.

I explained to him that I have no problem getting the things he likes. But I will give him the ad every week so that he can pick out the sale items. I explained that almost everything that he would want would go on sale over a 12 week period. I would buy him enough to last 12 weeks. I told him otherwise I would need a raise in my grocery budget. He said that is fine and any time I need a raise I can just take more cash from the bank. I told him I have been doing just fine this year. So when the ad comes in the mail this week for next week, I will give it to him to look at. Then he can tell me if there are any loss leaders he wants and I will add them to my list. He is happy with this arrangement.

The first 4 items that Hubby picked up were 2 boxes of Cheez-It’s that were on sale for $3.00 a box and 2 bags of croutons that were on sale for $2.00 each. We already have 8 bags of them but they are the Caesar ones he always asks for and I guess he is tired of them. Next I got the 1/2 lb. of roast beef he wanted and noticed when I looked at my receipt and this picture that the roast beef was on sale. It was on sale for $ 14.99 a lb. which I still think it outrageous. So it cost $ 7.94 for .53 lbs. It was not advertised in my flyer and the girl told me it was not on sale.

Then I purchased what was on my list which was 2 sirloin steaks on sale B1G1F and cost $ 11.98 for both minus a $2.00 off $10.00 meat purchase Monopoly coupon so it cost me $ 9.98 for the two steaks. I got a bag of frozen tortellini which was on sale for $ 3.34. I make soup and some pasta dishes with this.

We were out of tomatoes on the vine and I want to make BLT’s this week so I purchased these on sale at $ 1.88 a lb. for $ 3.46. The last item was an 8oz. chunk of cheddar cheese on sale for $ 1.99. We eat cheese as a snack sometimes.

So my total for all ended up being $ 36.71.

Did you get any grocery bargains this week?

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Every Day

Things We Have Done To Save Money This Past Week

Ninety percent of our meals were made at home this week including homemade chicken soup, taco bowls, and turkey sandwiches.

Leftovers were eaten other days. Waste not, want not!

For entertainment, Hubby and I watched the NCIS, FBI, CSI, and Equalizer shows that Hubby had saved on the DVR.

Hubby planted the daffodil plant that my son and daughter in law had given us for Easter. We were thrilled to see that there were 3 bulbs in that pot.

We are still going through our home and getting rid of things that we no longer want by donating them. Hubby took all of our old electronics: computers, cellphone and tablets to the electronics pick up at our town hall this morning. This did not save us money but it is saving us space and clutter.

I inventoried our canning jars not only for the seasonal things this year but for more meat. We have been using up the meat that was canned in 2021 and 2022. So I need to put up a lot more beef and chicken. I do have enough jars, rings, and new lids.

We have been making lots of pudding for snacks this week. I also have celery and carrot sticks that we eat with homemade veggie dip.

If you have a thrift store close to your location, run in there when you are doing other errands and see what they have. You never know what you may find. I rarely find clothes but often I find cheap books and greeting cards. It only takes me an extra 5 minutes when I am out.

We got our electric and natural gas bill for the past month. It would have been $ 193.09 for 31 days but we got the NYS Energy Credit on this bill which New York is giving to everyone. So our bill after the credit for $24.23 was $168.06. We are now having very cold weather for this time of year. It has been in the 20’s at night so I expect this next bill will be higher.

We have been doing the usual: one to two loads of laundry a week using cold water and hanging most to dry. We have been cooking either on the range top or in the countertop 11 in one oven. The dishwasher is run once to twice a week.

Hubby will be giving me a haircut today. It has been a year and a half since I have gone to the hairdresser and I am enjoying saving the $ 140. I was spending going every 5-6 weeks.

What have you done to save money this week?

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Every Day

My Weekly Grocery Haul And The Worst Thing I Have Ever Eaten

I apologize for the blurry picture again today. I will figure out this new camera when I have time.

Hubby is feeling a lot better today. He is just not 100% yet. I think it is definitely my homemade chicken soup that is curing him. We will be having that for dinner again tonight.

Since Top’s is only 3 miles away, he told me to go to the market. He said he would call me if he needed me. I went early and it was not crowded so I wasn’t gone long.

I got 3.05 lbs of Hot Italian Sausage which was on loss leader sale for $3.99 a lb. for the cost of $ 12.17. We had no shrimp so I splurged on a bag of Colossal Shrimp on sale for $11.99 and the 10 Knorr sides on sale for $1.00 each. They were a long term stockpile item. I earned $.20 off a gallon of gas in points for the Knorr deal. I got a 30 count package of bandaids and the Post Cocoa cereal cup for free with 2 Monopoly coupons. West will enjoy that. I purchased a bottle of Ken’s Steakhouse Sweet Vidalia Onion salad dressing on sale for $3.00 and used a $1.00 off coupon that they sent me in the mail for a cost of $2.00.

I have not bought a Hot Pockets since my kids were in school many, many years ago. It was $ .99 with a Monopoly coupon. I will never buy one again. I had one for lunch and it was awful. The dough was flavorless and the pizza fillings inside were like mush. This has to be the worst thing I have ever eaten. I choked down the one I was eating and debated on throwing out the other one in the package. But Hubby said he will try it later in the week. I think his opinion will be the same. It was a total waste of $ .99. The Hot Pockets back in the 1980’s were much better than this one. I think they have either changed ingredients for their profit or can’t get the ingredients. Yuck!

Lastly, I got 2 boxes of SteakUmms on sale for $ 3.99 each for a total of $7.98. I love these with my eggs for brunch. They have new pork ones out too. I have asked the company for coupons.

My total today for this weekly shop was $ 45.13.

Did you get any good grocery deals this week?

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Every Day

I Did Not Do Much Today Because……………………..

So sorry that this is not perfect. I have been taking care of Hubby today who is not feeling well. He woke me up at 1:30am this morning saying he did not feel well. I tried to get symptoms from him but all he wanted to do was go back to sleep. I couldn’t because I was very worried. So I have been up since then. He fell back to sleep and seemed to sleep well.

He got up at 8:30 because he had a late morning dentist appointment. He still did not feel well. He told me some of his symptoms which could have been many things. I gave him a Covid test. He was negative. But I called the dentist and rescheduled his appointment. It could be a stomach bug or something else. I offered to call the doctor or take him to the emergency room but he declined.

So I did the next best thing which is spend the entire day right by his side. I also made him some homemade chicken soup for dinner using a jar of homemade canned chicken and some homemade chicken broth, diced celery, and diced carrots, and added rice. It is the only thing he has eaten today and he ate a bowl full telling me how delicious it was. I made enough for a few days. The pot had just started to boil when I snapped this picture.

Today, my shipment of butter arrived from Amazon. The picture is above. With dairy being a supply chain issue, I wanted to make sure that we had some on the shelf. They were $ 9.48 a can but we like it and it will be on the shelf if the power goes out. So my order was $37.92.

Lastly, Hubby made some hummingbird food this weekend so we could fill up our 3 feeders. It costs him about a $ .25 for this gallon of it vs. $ 8.74 to buy the same size at the store. Every penny counts!

I hope you all had a great day!

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Every Day

Saving Money A Little At A Time

I hear so many people today saying I can’t save money. So many of them think that they have to save a large amount of money on one item to make it worth it. They are so wrong. There are usually only a few things that you can save a lot of money on but there are hundreds that you can save a little bit on. Those little things add up to huge amounts of money over a year’s time. We are a testament to having saved on the little things and the big things over our years of marriage. We would not be where we are today without having done that. Retired and comfortable for almost 23 years.

But enough about us. I want to tell you about someone who made his first loaf of bread from scratch yesterday. I don’t know if he thought about how much money he could save over a year’s time but I do know he will save a lot. He made it because it was healthier. You all know how much a nice loaf of bread like this would be in a grocery store or bakery. I think I could make this for under $2.00 a loaf. Especially if you buy your ingredients in bulk like I do. I buy 25 lbs of flour and 25 lbs. of sugar in bulk and store them in food grade buckets. Olive oil and yeast is purchased in bulk at a warehouse store. Most clubs like B.J.’s and Sam’s Club sell yeast in a 2 lb package that you can keep in the freezer. You just spoon out what you need when you need it. I always let mine warm up for a bit before I use it. If you prefer to buy honey instead of sugar buy it at an Amish store or warehouse club in a large container. It never goes bad. I always buy butter when it is on sale for $ 2.69 at Aldi’s around Thanksgiving and Easter. It freezes well.

I wish I could be with him to taste this beautiful loaf of bread. But since I can’t, I will just have to make it myself. He substituted honey for the sugar and olive oil for the butter to make it healthier. Now he has plenty of bread for his work lunches this week.

Here is the recipe:https://baranbakery.com/sandwich-bread/

My son who lives in the Adirondacks made this. I think he did great for his first loaf. I hope I do as well when I make it.

I want to thank him for allowing me to share this with all of you.

Do any of you make homemade bread to save on the cost of store bought? Do you have a special recipe that you could share?

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Every Day

What We Have Done To Save Money The Past Couple Of Weeks

  • Made almost all of our meals from scratch using food we already had in our home.
  • Made lemon bars, carrots and celery sticks to dip in homemade onion or veggie dips, banana muffins, jello and pudding for snacks. We no longer buy junk food. I don’t know what the corporations have done to it but it does not taste the same as a few years ago and it is very expensive.
  • I have been doing only two loads of wash a week done in cold water with 2 tbsp. of detergent for each load and hanging most of it to dry.
  • Instead of changing our tablecloth in the breakfast room every day, I have been using place mats on the cloth. They keep the tablecloth cleaner and I just throw the mats in with the regular wash.
  • I am washing our windows a few at a time using homemade cleaner. Hubby will be doing the outsides soon as this rainy weather breaks using the pressure washer. They have not been done in a couple of years because of all the building of homes behind us. Those are now done so I feel it is safe to wash them now and we won’t get blowing dirt to make them dirty again. I thought about hiring a company to do them but did not want to pay the $850. they wanted to do them.
  • We have not heard from our landscaper about a spring clean up of our property so Hubby has done it himself a little at a time. Hubby will contact the landscaper for mulch to be put down and a new garden put in around the shed in May. We did pay in full getting a discount for fertilization of our lawn this season. They usually start the end of April so they should be coming soon.
  • New York State is providing funding to our electric and gas company to give a one time credit of $ 9.52 on our electric bill and $ 15.66 on our natural gas bill as an effort to address energy affordability due to inflation. It is in the state budget which has not been passed yet, so who knows when that will show up. It will show up sometime down the road under the miscellaneous section where all the fees and surcharges are. It’s not much but as I always say, every little bit helps.
  • We put a metal rack out with our garbage last week and the garbage company did not take it. So I put it back out last night hoping they would take it today. Within an hour of me putting it out last night, a man took it. I am happy that it is gone and I didn’t have to use my gasoline to donate it.
  • I have only used my big oven once recently. Otherwise we use the countertop 11 in one oven for everything.
  • I continue to take navy showers which saves on our water bill.
  • Our son and DIL gave us a daffodil plant for Easter. Hubby will be planting it in our garden soon.
  • Our lawn got so long that Hubby has been mowing it for two weeks now. It looks great really early this year. I believe it is because we had a warm winter and lots of rain the past couple of weeks. Our flowering trees are all in bloom which always makes me happy. Our cherry tree is blooming and setting cherries. We should have lots of cherries this year earlier than normal.
  • We have been using up all of our produce and eating all of our leftovers so as to not waste anything. Food is way too expensive to throw out. We have been eating beef stew, made using homemade beef broth, for the past two nights. We will eat it again tonight and then it should be gone. All made from scratch using a sirloin tip roast that I got on sale many months ago for $ 4.99 a lb. I cut it up into stew beef. I refuse to pay $7- $8. for stew meat. I added fresh potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery and then made gravy towards the end of it cooking.
  • Be aware that the post office is talking about raising the price of a first class stamp again to $ .73 on July 14th after just raising it to $.68 earlier this year. I am so glad that I bought a 100 count roll of forever stamps at $ .66 before the last increase.
  • Some of our winter coats can be washed at home and I will do that. But a couple have to be dry cleaned. So I am keeping my eye out for a discount coupon.
  • My chives are in full bloom so we have been using them on baked potatoes with sour cream.
  • It seems like gasoline is rising almost every day due to the mess in the middle east. So I filled up our gas tank today getting $ .20 off per gallon with my Top’s gas points. After the points I paid $ 3.20 per gallon.
  • Hubby got 4 new all season tires put on our car yesterday. We had to buy new ones due to the fact that our car is 11 years old. The snow tires we bought at the beginning of the winter will be stored on the ceiling in the garage. The tires were $1,000. We have odd sized tires that have to be preordered. The rubber that tires are made from has really gone up. But these tires should now last until we no longer have the car. We paid cash with money we had saved for this purpose.
  • I picked up my prescriptions at my Rite Aid pharmacy for the very last time. They are closing my store in a week or so. Hubby and I have to decide who we are going to use now. We still have 2 Rite Aids in our area but I hate the customer service at one of the stores. The other is much farther away from me. We are considering two other chains and two grocery store pharmacies.

What have you been doing to save a bit of money lately?

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Every Day

Stock Up Shop

I believe most of you have probably heard by now that the Bird Flu is back with a vengeance. Not only are chickens being culled but now according to our government, cows are catching it. Eggs have been rising in price but I believe they will go even higher in price as they cull more and more, just like the last time. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to pay almost $34. for the 6 dozen count box like happened before. So when that box was at $ 9.98 I purchased 2. One is in my refrigerator and the other is now in my ice cube trays(one egg in each hole) freezing. When they are solid frozen, I will pop each egg cube into a freezer bag and put them back in the freezer. This way we can continue to have eggs for breakfast and for baking. You have other options also. Many places have freeze dried eggs like Augason Farms.

On Monday the government big wigs were supposed to meet to decide what to do about the cows who have caught it. I do know that they are dumping milk from the herds that have it. So prices on milk, cheese, yogurt, cream, butter, and any other dairy products will skyrocket in price or become short if it gets any worse. It is now in 8 states. So stock up on what you can. Get any kind of shelf stable milk like milk in boxes that you put on the shelf, evaporated milk in cans, or dry milk.

On Monday, I went to Walmart and got 6 boxes of shelf stable milk at $2.98 totaling $ 17.88. One shelf stable melting cheese at $ 5.28. A container of yogurt for $2.36. Two blocks of cheddar cheese( $2.77 each) and two blocks of Monterey Jack cheese( $ 3.44 each) for a total of $12.42.

We were getting low on Parmesan cheese so I picked up one at $ 5.48. My total including the eggs at Walmart was $57.90.

Since Walmart only had 6 of the shelf stable milks, I picked up 2 more at Dollar Tree for $ 1.25 each. It is not our favorite for drinking but we can use it in baking and for SF puddings. I got a can of pineapple tidbits for $1.25. I was out of the tidbits that we use just occasionally. While I was there, I picked up 4 more of the John Morrell smoked sausage which we use in casseroles. You can’t beat the price. My total at Dollar Tree was $8.75.

Top’s had these strip steaks on sale for $ 10.99 a lb. We love these. They are so tender and flavorful. So I picked up 3 packages of them. My total for them was $ 71.11. I have been shopping less and saving grocery money this year so when I see a stock up price like this I can buy a few packages.

The total of my stock up shop was $ 150.18.

Did you get any grocery deals this week?

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Every Day

It Has Been Crazy Around Here

I am without a cellphone right now so I can’t take pictures. I have a new one coming soon. Hubby and I decided we needed a second line at the same time. So we went to Mint Mobile and ordered a second cellphone and a new line. He is using my old one to monitor his blood sugars and it always has to be right near him. Because of this, I have gone out to run errands a couple of times without the phone. I don’t like doing that in case the car breaks down. I am hoping the new phone will arrive today or tomorrow and we can them activate the service.

The eclipse was not all that we thought it would be. We had an absolutely beautiful day on Sunday and yesterday. But Monday we were overcast and you could not see the sun. However we and all of our neighbors sat outside hoping to catch a glimpse. It never happened. However it was amazing how dark it got here so quickly and then it lightened up just as quick. We had 100% totality here. That was kind of neat. The other thing we noticed was that when it got dark, it got really cold. We had gone outside when it was in the sixties and the temperature dropped so fast. At least it is the first time we saw the sun rise in the West.

Yesterday Hubby got out our chairs for our sitting area in front of the house. It was so nice to be able to sit outside for a few hours yesterday and then have our drink before dinner outside. It was 80 here, sunny, and very low humidity. We enjoyed every minute of that fresh air and sunshine. I even turned off the heat and opened some windows. I left the heat off last night and it is still 71 in here as I write this morning. It is supposed to be in the 50’s and 60’s the rest of the week and storm so I think the heat will be going back on tonight or earlier.

We have new neighbors who moved in across the street from us. They moved here for the same reason we did….grandchildren. So I will be baking them some homemade pumpkin bread this week to welcome them.

I woke up on Sunday with some kind of stomach bug. So I have not eaten much this week. The only thing that has tasted good to me is toast. My sciatica is acting up again so I have not done a lot except put on pain patches all the time. It is hard to get anything done.

Remember I told you a while ago that Hubby was going to wall in the pantry he made me. Well, he moves slowly and is just now getting to it. He and my son are going on Saturday to get the material to do it. He did get all of the wood up to nail the walls to a while ago but that is as far as he got. He carpeted the floor a few years ago with gray carpet squares. He asked me what color I would like the walls. I told him light gray would be great because it would make the space brighter. So they will get everything on Saturday including the paint. Also the majority of my shelving is plastic. I have been lucky that all these years they have not broken under the weight. So we are having delivered all new shelving… sturdy gorilla shelves. I will be tied up for a few days moving everything out of the space. I have not been able to store any canning jars of food on those shelves because I was afraid they would collapse. So I will be very happy to get all of my jars out of my cupboards in the kitchen. It is a lot of work but I will be thrilled when we are all done. Since I plan on canning the majority of our food this year, it will be great to have the proper shelves for it.

I hope to be back blogging sometime next week. I hope you all have a great week and weekend.

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Every Day

A Little of This and a Little of That

When I cleaned the chest freezer the other day, I pulled out a couple of bags of frozen bananas. There were 7 total so they made this pan of 2 dozen muffins. The pan is so large that it just barely fits in my big oven so I had to bake it in that instead of the countertop one. We use these for snacks for a week or more. They go fast around here because Hubby loves them.

I pulled strip steaks out of the freezer this morning for Hubby to grill. I baked potatoes and added steamed brussel sprouts to our meal. I also reheated the corn that was leftover from the KFC bowl yesterday for Hubby.

When I got up this morning at 6am, I just had 2 muffins and a cup of coffee. If I am hungry later, I will make eggs and ham. Hubby had muffins also.

I spent about an hour in the basement today but didn’t finish it. It has been so dreary and rainy around here that I am not very motivated.

Hubby’s new Dell computer arrived so has been busy getting ready to transfer all of his data and files to it. This and setting it up will keep him busy for a few days.

Have you done any baking recently?