Ending March

Here's a funny one!

This month Brad finally made it up to the college and got his student ID! He's been working on the steps for induction into an honor society for the college and just finished. I'm so proud of him!

This was his last year participating in Science Olympiad. He was a coach to the younger students as well as a participant.

I did my nails cute for a couple of craft shows on St Patrick's day weekend.

And I've been busy processing herbs that I dried, as well as starting new concoctions to brew for making products.

If you remember from my big trip to the middle east last fall, my camera took a dive and is no longer with us. I had to find a replacement so I decided on this Kodak. I can't wait to test it out on my next big trip!

My spring craft shows have gone well with my new table display. I have a few more to come before summer is here.

I even dusted off my crochet hook to make this for a friend!

As spring is attempting to push through the snow, I grabbed some medicinal herbs. This one is purple dead nettle.

While I had my hook out, I finally started working on a project for myself with wool yarn I got in Iceland a couple years ago. I'm returning in July and wanted to bring this project with me!

After being teased by warmer temps for several days, we had a snow storm come through with a few inches for us.

That's about all for now, but check back soon to see pics from our latest trip to Oklahoma!

Is Spring Here Yet?

Here we are on the second day of March already! This leap year is flying by despite getting an extra day.

Our February was pretty quiet. I worked on improving my table for craft shows as well as making lots of new products to have on hand before the busy season. I also picked up several extra shifts at work--working more now so I don't have to in the summer!

Jacob is doing great in school--he enjoyed his first year in Science Olympiad as well as Geo Bowl competitions. He is slowly building up his reading points and gets a coupon for a free pizza for every 10 he gets! He just got his third coupon and is excited to use it soon.

This winter has been SUPER mild, and unfortunately reminiscent of Oklahoma winters! We've had barely any snow and several warm days. Last week we grabbed some coffee and enjoyed it on the porch while we watched for the school bus to arrive. Next Monday is suppose to be almost 70 again! Buffalo has set the record for it's warmest winter ever recorded.

Our Cuddle boy is still going strong, and he turned 19 years old on Feb 13! He lazes around where ever there's a comfy pile of blankets, and occasionally graces us with his presence just long enough to get pets before he begins the cycle of eat/drink/sleep once more. He gets spoiled daily with love by the boys.

I've got a couple craft shows this month, then Easter weekend we have road trip plans to return to Oklahoma for a family visit and to take care of some business with Nick's mom's estate. I'm hoping to start getting outside more and build up my hiking trip in preparation for some fun trips this summer and fall! Thanks for reading, check back later on....

A Snowy January and our Anniversary

Better late than never--our snow finally came this month! Parts of Buffalo, NY received over *8ft* of snow!! Can you even imagine?? Thankfully due to our specific location we are just out of the crazy band of lake effect snow so we got a bit over a foot during the course of a week. Just enough to get out and have fun in it!

I went with a friend down to our fave stomping ground, Letchworth State Park where we originally planned to snowshoe. However there wasn't quite enough snow for that so we just winter hiked and enjoyed the views!

Our old man Cuddles is staying warm and snug with lots of snuggles from the kids this winter. His 19th birthday is coming up soon!

And on January 17 Nick and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary!! My how the time flies. We happily returned to the Hibachi restaurant we tried out last year because it was so good! This time was no different, and we for sure will be returning again.

After weeks of waiting patiently, Nick was finally able to crank up the snowblower and use it a few times at at last!

And the kids got to hit the town sledding hill as well for a couple hours of fun before we were all frozen.

Bradley and I met up with a friend and did some snowshoeing at Mendon Ponds Park in Rochester last week. The snowshoes may have been a bit of overkill for the amount of snow, but we did it for the workout! Brad got to walk on a frozen pond for the first time.

And now January is already coming to a close with February already here! My first couple of craft shows of 2024  have already come and gone with many more to come so I'll be staying busy with those and my online orders as well as working the night shift!

Check back and follow for more craziness to come this year.

Frugal Meal Series: Easy Tuna Macaroni and Cheese Casserole

Welcome to my new series aimed at helping families on a budget with some new and cost effective ideas for meals! I aim for around $5-7 per meal while trying to highlight dishes from scratch, meatless options, common ingredients, and whole grains. My typical weekly grocery bill for 4 was $50-60 just a couple years ago, but with the current economy it has increased to about $80-90/week. This series shows you my average family dinners including cost breakdown, links to recipes, and other details to help inspire you!

Step 1 of saving money on your grocery bill is to MAKE A MENU! Once a week I sit down and write out a dinner menu for the next 7 days. I take into account what I have in the freezer, what our schedule is like for that week, what the weather is (hot/cold), and any leftovers. It also stops everyone from asking "What's for dinner??" From this you can easily make your shopping list to only get the items you need while keeping an eye out for any markdowns/clearance items you can stick in the freezer for a different meal. I do 90% of my grocery shopping at Aldi as I find that they have the best prices on most items. For a few other remaining items I go to Walmart.

Some meals I make are easy, some are more complicated. I mostly stick to tried and true dishes that I know everyone likes, but occasionally I like to try out a new one and experiment! I cook many style from American to Italian, Chinese, Mexican, and lots of Tex Mex. Variety is the spice of life!

For my cost breakdowns I will show real or estimated prices of items (based on current prices in western NY), but I don't include typical pantry ingredients i.e. spices/oil/butter/milk etc. unless it's a significant amount.

For this meal I made Tuna Macaroni and Cheese Casserole

Total cost of meal for 4: $3.64

Cost per serving: $0.91

Price breakdown:

4oz shredded cheddar: $1

1 box macaroni and cheese: 0.50

1 can cream of mushroom: 0.75

1 can tuna: 0.89

1c frozen peas: 0.50

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 400. Prepare box of mac and cheese. Drain tuna and add remaining ingredients, mix well and top with shredded cheddar then bake in 8x8 dish for 15-20 min until heated thru and golden on top.

As you can see this is a super cheap and easy recipe that is a favorite for kids and parents alike! We love this one on a slow weekend day or for a quick lunch for the kids. You can double the recipe to make even more, or add on sides to make dinner go farther.

Welcome to 2024

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday season with family and friends! We enjoyed a quiet Christmas break at home with the boys. Unfortunately there was zero snow for our first time in NY so that was a bit odd! We still did our fun family traditions, including homemade roast beef and cheddar sandwiches for Christmas Eve dinner.

Christmas morning we doled out the presents and watched the boys open up their gifts. Brad only requested money but we did get him a few small things. His favorite was super warm and soft wearable blanket!

Jacob got all the things he requested from Santa like a watch, a computer program, and lots of candy!

I was very happy with my new Golden Girls coffee mug and drink thermos. Love it!

After presents I cooked us all homemade biscuits and gravy and scrambled eggs for brunch.

Dinner we kept simple with yummy chicken enchiladas, refried beans, and Spanish rice with apple pie for dessert later on.

After the boys went to bed, Nick and I enjoyed a quiet evening by the Christmas tree.

NYE we all had an assortment of finger foods that quickly got eaten and watched some funny movies. This was the first year that both boys stayed up till midnight with us! We popped poppers and watched the NYC ball drop on TV before shooing them off to bed with us to follow soon after.

Now for a fresh start and a fresh year with an EXTRA leap day! Make this one count.