Sam Squared

    Yikes, these pans blackened in the ridges.  An old picture of a couple versions of  homemade pizza.    I'd rather not do a regular grocery shop until the holiday weekend is over. After the splurging at both the farmers market and strawberry patch (and I intend to pick again this week) I want to be more intentional with the rest of my shopping. I'll need a few things for the party at my sister's and contribution to the meals at the lake though. I'll only go up for about 1/2 day Saturday and be on cat duty otherwise but will be there for at least a meal. Even for these events, I don't need a lot as some ingredients are on hand.       Friday's my sister's party and I'm planning cherry crisp, apple and carrot slaw salad, and broccoli salad. For the lake, I'll grab a family pack of chicken thighs, make black bean and corn salsa, tortilla chips, a pasta salad, and another cherry crisp. I'll bring muffins too for breakfast as two of my kids...

                           I copy the previous week, delete the old and updated as I go along the week as a way even when busy and not in a blogging mindset I'm accountable to myself.  Here's my recap of Friday, June 20 to Thursday, June 26. Avoiding Spending/ Saving on Needs The heat and humidity was above normal over the weekend. I'm fortunate to have an energy efficient home so even with using AC it's been minimally as needed, and I even tweaked it up to 77 so it truly is warm before it kicks on. I used a lingering bottle, I think finally the last, of Angry Orchard from Christmas to make a beer bread. I used the minimum amount of sugar. It's an ok bread, toasted, tastes pretty good for peanut butter. There was still some by Wednesday, but getting dry, so I made a sort of French toast bake. I froze it for my youngest ( after tasting- not bad) as she absolutely loves French toast bakes. She can warm a chunk...

     I'm going using Wednesday again to check in, at least on first four. Lose five pounds.  Nothing! I'm very frustrated but will look back over the past week and see where the faults lie. I'm sure it's the bites here and there creeping that I'm not paying attention to.  Walk 10 miles per week.  Fair still In that it's 10 miles, but not very intentional and I missed opportunities to move more. On the good side, I had a very long swim Saturday.  Strength and weight resistance exercise two hours per week.  Fail...must get better at this.  Ensure I have at least six fruit and veg servings per day with at least three being vegetables.   Lacking as well and too many carbs and apparently too many snacks.  Resume 16-8 intermittent fasting, meals/ snacks only between 12-8, but aiming for nothing past 7:00. The 8:00 gives me flexibility for nights like trivia that doesn't start until 7:00.  Most days this has been the plan. Calori...

      I Googled and went down lots of paths to confirm that yes, the base price will go up from $1.25 to $1.50 at Dollar Trees everywhere in the US. It's started at my local one on some items such as  bakery items, mashed potatoes, and some snacks. So are there any good buys at Dollar Tree left?       The greeting cards haven't been 2/$1.00 for a while but looks like most will stay at the $1.00 point. This has been helpful for me with the volume of confirmations, graduations, weddings, and babies being born in the last year.       I'll still grab shelf stable milk and almond milk. The convenience, even if $3 a 1/2 gallon is more than fresh is worth it to me to have it on hand and avoid a store run or going without. It's a necessity in my coffee and I do a lot of baking using both. At $1.50 it's still better priced than other shelf stable brands I've seen.       DT carries a box of fancy crackers usually foun...

       It was a hit steamy weekend. My son had a Friday and Sunday gig at the brewery/ pizza farm so stayed at the lake. As no one was there with him on Saturday pup and I went up for the afternoon and I got a good swim. The water hadn't caught up to the air temps so the cold water felt good on my hip and groin that I've battled with soreness. He had grilled chicken for lunch and there was plenty left so we had a nice supper before pup and I went home. I'd have stayed but can't leave the kitty alone overnight. Pup enjoyed cooling down and new again sniffs. I wish I had planned ahead to bring my (widowed) sister along. She'd have enjoyed the afternoon.  She and I are planning a midweek stay there in July instead of camping.  Pup explored and swam and lived his best life.  One tired pup!       Sunday the kitten made sure I knew she was left alone longer than she liked yesterday. I was heavily scolded. I hady my seemingly weekly pity party ...

                         I copy the previous week, delete the old and updated as I go along the week as a way even when busy and not in a blogging mindset I'm accountable to myself.  Here's my recap of Friday, June 13 to Thursday, June 19. Avoiding Spending/ Saving on Needs Made a copy cat Nothing Bundt lemon cake. Total cost including eggs, $7.20. The same size at the bakery is up to $40. Now not sure mine would quite feed 18, but 13 of us had decent slices and there was leftovers.  For my one Tuesday family lunch for June, I joined for the Tuesday burger, fries, shake $10 special at a newish restaurant I wanted to try. It was ok and fortunately I had mowed earlier to burn extra calories.  Bought just the minimal groceries ( after the weekend food shop for hosting), by making sure to use every fresh ingredient in the house, no waste.  Used my daughter's app at her local grocery store for four extr...