First Day of Preschool

So, today is Olivia's first day of preschool...homeschool style, and at this point, I'm kind of kicking myself for trying to do a 'structured' curriculum. To put it mildly...she just doesn't have the patience, or the attention span for it.

I decided to go this route for no other reason than my 'stuck in the box' thinking that she just wouldn't learn enough through playing. But who knows, maybe sensory bins and playtime all the time is a better option. She has done well with her worksheets this morning...I guess as well as can be expected for a first day of school. She has more left for later this afternoon, but I'm second guessing myself like crazy. She fights so hard against following the directions. Even when I'm giving her lots of encouragement that she's doing it right. 

Then there's the little things that irritate me, even though I try my best to remember...she is only 4, and I'm pretty sure it's normal for them to NOT color inside the lines, lol. 

Long story short, I'm going to stick with it, try to lighten up, and add some more sensory play and decrease the number of worksheets per day. 

Meat: cost vs. value

While cooking biscuits w/ country gravy for my family last night, it occurred to me that I have very different views on the cost of meat than what might be normal. 

Let's just say that when shopping for chicken I freak out if it's any more that $1.99/lb, and will usually try to not buy it unless it's on sale for $1.79/lb....oh and if it's one of those rare days where it's on sale for only 99 cents/lb, I get this kind of crazy euphoric high and buy as much as I have money for and then freeze it.

Then there's ground beef. Generally I know it can't be found for less than 2.99/lb and I've pretty much accepted to get that price you have to buy one of those tubed ground beef packs. Which isn't really all that appetizing or as nice to cook with as the ground beef in regular packs. Occasionally I'll get lucky and find a sale on fresh ground chuck for $2.99 like I did this week....guess what, time to stock up!

Pork, you're looking at $2.99+/lb pretty much at all times. Maybe you get lucky where you live, but here this meat seems to never go on sale.

Now back to the whole cost vs. value thing....why on earth  have I accepted paying $5+/lb of deli lunch meat as completely normal!?

 Well, I'll tell you why...value of product. I may pay $5+ for a pound of  deli lunch meat, but that one pound of lunch meat can give us an entire week of lunches, especially if I get it sliced thinly. That one pound of $1.99 chicken, or $2.99 pound of ground beef gets us one meal. And sometimes it costs even more than that having to use 2-3 chicken breast to have enough for all of us.

So how have I tried to increase value in my meats? By making 1 pound go further. We now use a lot of shredded chicken....1- 1 1/2 chicken breasts are usually plenty for this. Cut down to 1/2 - 3/4 pound of ground beef in a meal. And I can get 2 meals out of a pork loin. Slice up 3/4 of it and then dice up the rest of it for pork fried rice.

Really it's all in how you think about cooking. And cooking frugally can be done if you just take some time to plan out your menu. I'm trying harder at this, and hopefully soon will have my camera figured out so that I can share some frugal recipes here.

Super Savings Alert!

During my browsing for kiddie clothes for Olivia & Emily, I came across these deals, which I thought were just downright awesome!

#1: Kohl's- Jumping Bean Bow Accent Canvas Pants, Sizes 12-24 months...Retail Price $12.00 On Sale for $3.60 

#2 Kohl's- Jumping Beans Printed Knit Pants, Sizes 12-24 months...Retail Price $12.00, On Sale for $3.60

 

These are just a sample of the great sales available at Kohl's right now. And while many of the big $ sales are winter clothes that they're trying to clear out ahead of the spring and summer months (um, when is that supposed to happen?)  it never hurts to stock up for next year. Some of the items are still relevant into the chilly spring days. Of course, it doesn't hurt that with prices that low, most of it could easily be purchased using up your accumulated Kohl's cash!

*Nope, I'm not affiliated with Kohl's, and I'm not being paid for this post...I just happen to like saving money and wanted to share those savings with you!*

New Beginnings

Much like this blog, my family and I are experiencing our own new beginning...sort of. Okay, to understand this, you'd have to know the back story. So take a little trip with me...

Middle of last year, our apartment (which is actually a 2 story house divided into two apartments, 1 up, 1 down) started having serious plumbing issues. And by serious I mean sewage backing up into our basement. Unfortunately, our landlord didn't seem to want to do much about it, except for sending  these highly unprofessional guys who came in with a little snake thing, were here and gone in 10 minutes with nothing to show for their 'work'. 

Finally fed up with it, we moved...wait for it, upstairs. Yes, I kid you not, we moved into the empty apartment right above ours, which actually used to be my sister in law's apartment. It definitely wasn't ideal, but at the time the only thing we could afford since rentals in our area took a serious leap upwards.

Suddenly it was 2 adults and 2 children crammed into a 1 bedroom apartment with a kitchen that wasn't much bigger than some people's 2nd bathroom, but it was slightly cheaper than what we were paying downstairs and at least we didn't have to deal with the basement at all.

But in a surprising turn of events, the landlord decides to finally send out the professionals, Roto-Rooter, to save the day! 

We thought about just staying in the upstairs apartment and keep looking for something better in our price range, but there just wasn't much out there. And being as cramped as we were in that apartment, we called the landlord and asked for our downstairs apartment back since the plumbing situation had been taken care of...and he agreed. Now, we're moved back downstairs and working to make the it feel more like 'our' home once again since all the walls were repainted white.

And that is how my family and I ended up at our new-old beginning. As for the blogging, I've been wanting to do it for a while, and now just seemed like the right time. There's just something about new beginnings that are so inspiring!