Monday, February 3, 2014

2-3-14

I have been a  busy little bee this weekend.  And, yes, I am counting today as part of the weekend since I had the day off. 

Saturday we got our taxes done.  We're getting a sweet refund, thank goodness!  Then we went out and about and did some window shopping.  After we made it home I worked on clipping coupons and organized those.  Well, Michael organized them.  I worked on planning meals.  Sunday morning, bright and early, we went grocery shopping.  With sales and coupons I saved over $100.  That always makes for a happy Monica.  I got a ton of groceries too!  Why, you ask.  Because I had a plan. 

After a long day at work, I want nothing more than to come home, ring a bell and wait on my servants to bring me my dinner.  Oh wait, I don't have servants.  So, I like to make my own fast food.  You see, to paraphrase a popular line from a Barbara Mandrell song, I was into freezer cooking before freezer cooking was cool.  Yesterday I made chicken and spinach lasagna rollups, chicken pot pie soup, irish beef stew, and navy bean soup.  Today I made chicken and bean burritos, jambalaya, and three batches of turkey spaghetti.  I now have enough put in the freezer for at least 14 meals with leftovers to take for lunch the next day. 

Lasagna Roll ups
  Irish Beef Stew
Navy Bean Soup

Chicken and Bean Burritos
Spaghetti Sauce with Turkey

Sorry, I have no pictures of the jambalaya or the chicken pot pie soup. 

Not only do I have these meals in the freezer, I also have the ingredients to make a creamy garlic pasta and several different varieties of chicken and a pork chop night.  So now, no matter what I am only a few minutes away from an awesome meal, leaving me time for other stuff...like knitting.  It also helps me with portion control and not spending money on awful food choices like Burger King, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Captain D's  Zaxby's, etc.  I have had a chance this weekend to get about a third of the way through one baby blanket and got the yarn for 2 more. 
Michael wants everyone to know that he rolled each of these skeins into balls for me.  My man:  always willing to help.  He swears I work him like a house-elf, but we all know better. 
Tomorrow I have to go back to work so I can make money.  Oh to be a lady of leisure!  Until I make that happen though, I will try to content myself with being a self proclaimed Queen of the Kitchen.   

Saturday, February 1, 2014

2-1-14

Friday was one of those perfect days off. Knitting, shopping, meeting with our insurance agent to talk about The Future. Well maybe not so much the last one, but definitely the first two. The meeting. With our insurance agent was pretty interesting though.  We talked about adding liability umbrella coverage, investments, disability and things we could do to make our retirement easier.  I felt like such a grown up!  And that's something that, even at almost 39 years old, I rarely feel. It was a very interesting meeting. It was also something that our previous insurance company would never have done in a million years.

Once upon a time our car and home were covered by a different insurance company.  For shits and giggles lets call them...Nationwide. We were longtime customers of that company. Specifically we were longtime customers of a particular agent.  That agent was fantastic.  Then he retired and the agent who took over the agency turned into a douchebag. I am a huge fan of customer service. If I'm paying for a service, I kind of expect to get my money's worth and part of getting my money's worth is being treated like a valued customer.  We were not treated like valued customers by this agent. In fact, we were called liars by him after we were charged a late fee several months in a row even though our payment was sent and received well before the due date because the company didn't cash the check in a timely manner. Not acceptable. There were some other things that happened as well, but that was the nail in the proverbial Nationwide coffin.  (So if you live in the Columbia area, stay far away from the Gary Hodge agency if you value customer service).

We went to State Farm. I know a lot of people have had issues with that company, but so far we've had nothing other than a good experience. Like yesterday.  They didn't have to ask us to come in so we could talk about The Future, but they did. At no time did we feel they were pressuring us to buy a product from them. We got some good information and now we have to figure out what to do with it.

Today is going to be another perfect day. We're going to get a little something for breakfast then go get our taxes done.  Then we might go window shopping and just see where else the day takes us.