Freezer Cooking

March and April are ridiculously busy months for me. I am traveling non stop and just running around like a crazy person in general So when I had some time this past weekend I decided to do some freezer cooking to try to stay on top of my food choices so I don't feel temped to pick up convenience foods.

So I ended up making 2 personal pizzas (4 meals total for me)


And 1 small beef lasagna which will last 2-3 meals.


I also made some Jasmine rice and chicken curry (3 servings) for the freezer but forgot to take a picture! I am far from being fully covered but I am hoping these will fill in some gaps when I would otherwise decide to eat out!

Drug store deals

I recently had some luck picking up some needed items playing the drug store game. I even ventured into a Walgreens for a deal, something I've never done before!

At Walgreens I picked up 3 toothbrushes. I needed one for myself and I always like having extras around for guests.


At CVS I used some expiring ECBs to pick up some cheap body wash. I am now all set for a long time! I was on my last bottle of body wash so this was definitely a good find!

Home improvement: Foyer

So this wasn't specifically one of my home improvement goals but it is something I've been working on figuring out. I have very large walls and very tall ceilings in my house so I have been having trouble finding things for the walls that don't look absolutely ridiculous.

I was given a beautiful cherry blossom picture for Christmas and I wanted to highlight it appropriately but it looked so silly on the wall by itself. So, I added some photos of cherry blossoms that I had taken through my years of living in DC. I had quite a few to choose from.



Ta da! Highlights the cherry blossom theme and takes up a lot of space on the wall. Wahoo! Now I just need to get those walls painted but that is another project :)

Half bathroom project

I had some downtime this weekend so I thought I would tackle the towel racks in the half bathroom. The ones in place weren't my style so I thought I'd make some updates.

So, the before pictures:

Hand towel rack:
There was a full towel rack behind the toilet which seemed silly since 1. it is a half bath and 2. the rack wasn't high enough above the toilet to have a towel. So that had to go!



So here is the after - I replaced the hand towel and toilet paper holders and added a decoration behind the toilet.




I am pretty happy with the result and the best part - I paid cash!

Menu plan, week of 3/21/11

Well I've fallen off the face of the earth recently thanks to a really busy work schedule combined with the flu. It was amazing. I'm trying to get back on track in more ways than 1! I've totally been slacking in my healthy eating and my exercising so this week I am hoping to pick it up again.

Breakfasts:
Homemade granola bars, fruit

Lunches:
Peanut butter sandwiches, veggies, misc leftovers

Dinners:
Beef lasagna, steamed veggies, something with chicken tbd

Snacks:
Homemade apple sauce, cheese sticks, goldfish crackers, graham crackers

Financial Goal Update: February

I am feeling good about what I've been able to accomplish this month in terms of my financial goals. I am making a lot of baby steps!

- Pay cash for all home remodeling goals so far so good
- Make an extra principal payment each month yes plus a little extra!
- Pay off 5% of my mortgage this year. I have paid off 0.75% so far this year.
- Up my retirement savings by maxing out my Roth IRA. Not maxed out yet, but contributing!
- Continue saving for a new car. Yes
- Pay for all travel in cash Saving for summer travel
- Pay for Christmas gifts in cash Saving for this goal

Menu plan, week of 2/28/11

I've fallen off the wagon a little bit here with my exercising and my healthy eating so this week I want to step it up again.

I have a lot of veggies and some chicken here so I am hoping to have a lot of salads for both lunch and dinner.

For snacks I have homemade granola bars.

Breakfasts will be oatmeal and fruit.