This Stay At Home Momma

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the last day of September! It feels like I just started this grocery challenge....that it shouldn't be the end of the month yet. Crazy. So, I suppose this is my last update regarding my grocery challenge. I do intend to continue giving you guys insight into my grocery buying every so often though. For one, so that I feel accountable for my purchases (and don't go overboard!) and for two, so that I can open up discussion on what everyone is buying and where they are finding their deals. I realize that different provinces and countries will have varying sales and prices - but I find it really helpful to know what other people are buying and what they are paying for grocery items. So here's all that I bought for these last two days of September: Yup. That's it. All $3.52 worth of fruit, haha. And no, we won't go through six bananas in two days! I ended up juggling a lot of my meals this past week or so and ended up ...

Hey all! Just wanted to tell you about a tiny cleaning adventure I took yesterday. My microwave. You know that box that you throw every sort of food or beverage into and it comes out hot? The contraption that heats up your food but sprays food and grease everywhere in the process? Yep. That one. I am guilty of rarely cleaning my microwave but it was getting super gross. I'm sure some of you will look at the picture and say "Ummm, Roz, mine is WAY worse." Well this is just the post for you! I realized that I hadn't cleaned my microwave in about 6 months. It had a few food chunks that you can sort of see way in the back and I'm pretty sure one of them was molding. How sanitary. So, I decided it was time to give it a good clean and after a little research found a method that sounded nice and easy with minimal grunt work. All it required was a bowl, some water, a little white vinegar, some lemon oil, and a sponge. I didn't have any lemon in the hous...

This weekend ended up being a little rough as well so I'm not in the mood for much chit-chat today...but I wanted to give you an update on my grocery challenge. This is one area that still seems to be on track right now in my life so I'll cling to it and wait for everything else to get a bit better. I ended up doing multiple trips for groceries due to prices and sales and here's what I got: This was my main shop at Walmart and Chan's - I went a little crazy with my produce this week but I'm making a pork stirfry and nothing beats a good variety of fresh veggies! I also stocked up on the greek yogurt that Chad takes to work as it was on sale so he's covered for the first week of October now as well.  I picked up a select few items at Save-On because of some sales. The cottage cheese was over $5 at Walmart and I got it here for $3.99. We've also been going through avocado much more quickly than we used to. Chad enjoys eating them straight ou...

Well, this week was a little rough for me. After such a great weekend full of family the days after sort of just fell short. I settled into my routine of cooking, cleaning, and toddler duty and the days went by; but, they were lonely. I was able to have a brief visit with Mom Wookey on Wednesday as she was my much appreciated babysitter while I went to the lab for my gestational diabetes blood work, but other than that I didn't exactly get much adult contact. Chad has been gone for suppertime three nights this week so my morning to night has been filled with dogs and a toddler who only speaks one word sentences. Not that I'm totally complaining....I LOVE my one word conversations with Abby :) her vocabulary is growing immensely! But, it's not at all comparable to full sentences and the thought processes that adults have. Being a stay at home has some great perks but it also can be really tough! No one tells you or prepares you for the reality of losing day-to-day intera...

Anyone else feeling like the month of September is flying by?? It's going to be October before we know it and that means Thanksgiving and Halloween already. Boy oh boy! I'm also really excited that it's the middle of the month because it's pay day. Hooray! I don't think there's a single person who doesn't like pay day. I mean, don't get me wrong, pay day doesn't mean we will now have money to throw around and spend frivolously (the thought of that actually makes me laugh since it's SO far from our present situation) but it does mean that our bank account moves slightly out of the red...until the next wave of bills get paid. Hah! But it's at least a momentary reprieve. I'm learning to find joy in the little things - no matter how short and fleeting - in order to stay sane and keep hope :) I have my weekly grocery update for you guys now. Here's what I bought for the week of September 15th - 21st: I went a little more crazy in ...

So over the last week or so I've been getting a whole bunch of random phone calls from different numbers starting with area code 778. This is the same area code as my cellphone so I found it weird but most of the time it only rang once or twice and then hung up before I could answer. I finally answered one of the calls the other day and it ended up being one of those stupid pre-recorded "WestJet" things where I was apparently picked for a survey or something - except that I haven't flown WestJet before so I just hung up since it was clearly a scam of some sort.  Yesterday morning I get a phone call from some random guy.  "Hello?"  "Hi, I've been getting a pre-recorded message from you for a few days now...."  "You have?? I'm not sure how....this is my own personal cellphone." "Huh. Really?" "Is it a WestJet message of some sort? If it is, I've been getting the same thing for about a week now......

I just wanted to say I'm still on track for my monthly spending! Hooray! Here's what I bought last week for my produce: I was able to get all my fruits and veggies for the week for $9.56 - bringing my monthly total to $54.60. I get my produce mainly from a little store in White Rock/South Surrey called "Chan's." They remind me of the T&T I used to go to in Edmonton but the store is a little cleaner and the produce is one step up in quality. They tend to have the best prices overall for this area and they also have a clearance bin that often has some really great stuff in it for even cheaper!  I am planning on going shopping again in the next day or two for the dairy/produce I'll require for the week of Sept. 15th-21st so we'll see how my budget continues to work. Chad has requested I buy popcorn (not exactly a perishable item...) and I think I will break my rules for him. He's an evening snacker and he usually eats chips or pretzels eve...

How was your week? Mine actually went quite quickly! Sometimes I find that the short week after a long weekend feels longer than a normal week, but not this time! I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that I kept myself supremely occupied. With Chad's changing eating habits (due to his new gym membership and therefore increased protein need/consumption) I decided to try my hand at making mini quiche. I had all sorts of random things in my fridge, including some of that moose roast from the weekend, and figured I could do a nice clean-up of the fridge while making a great, portable, high protein breakfast for him. I proceeded to throw in all sorts of veggies (including a small portion of homemade salsa I wasn't sure what to do with) along with the moose meat and popped them into the oven. They turned out awesome! Heed my warning though.....DO NOT forget to grease your muffin pans if you decide to make these. I used non-stick muffin pans and figured I'd be okay. W...

How was everyone's long weekend?? I would say ours was pretty darn good! I especially enjoyed the fact that we were able to get sunburns which speaks to the weather we had :) On Saturday we got a little adventurous and had moose roast for supper. I don't know if you have tried it, but it's definitely not beef and it doesn't taste like chicken! Moose is a really lean meat so I liked that it wasn't fatty but it meant it was a bit dry. We were gifted the roast and I felt like taking on the challenge of cooking something I had never cooked before, so we had Chad's parents over and cooked up the roast with some mashed potatoes and green beans. It was an experience for sure, but not one I'm likely to do again. I didn't prefer the flavor much and was glad I had made a gravy since it helped with the "game-y" taste of the meat and it's dryness. It was, however, free meat and I don't say no to free groceries! I also now have cash for my first...