21 Weeks: Dairy, Disaster, Deals

Well, the baby must love ice cream.  It has NEVER tasted this good to me!  This (above) is what I have been working on this week.  Mayfield is awesome, and it was on sale last week at Target.

This week we had a small disaster.  We found out that our heating unit was leaking carbon monoxide into our house…..yikes!!!  So, that had to be repaired and it was a major expense that we obviously had no time to prepare for.  But at least we got it fixed, and Brent has installed some carbon monoxide throughout the house.

More pug pictures, as usual:

And a new addition to the nursery:

I saw this giraffe at Babypalooza several weeks ago & fell in love with it.  I also saw it all over Pinterest when looking at nurseries.  But I was disappointed about the price….$100! I knew there was no way that I would pay that much.  So, I started searching on ebay and I began to see them for a little bit less – mostly around $75, which was still too expensive.  I decided that I would pay $50 if I could find it for that price.  The last Saturday I got on ebay and saw one for $60 or best offer…..so I put in an offer for $50 and it was accepted within minutes!  Plus free shipping!  It came this week and I love it!  I think it will look great in the nursery and then will also transition to a big boy room, etc, so we will use it for years.  I’m so happy about it.

Little buddy has lots of toys waiting on him! The little Mickey Mouse was Brent’s favorite toy as a baby!

And a friend from elementary school sent him a little onesie for football season!  It is adorable!

21 week pictures (Please excuse the dirty mirror!  My goodness!):

That dress above is a thrift store dress that I *almost* took back last year….but turns out is a PERFECT maternity dress. So comfy!

This is the first week I feel actually pregnant an not just super chunky.  On Saturday I wore maternity jeans for the first time.  I am also feeling the baby kick/move around several times per day. I love it.  There have been two times when I think I have felt him from the outside.

Also, I am very proud to report that I exercised 5 of 7 days this week.  Woo hoo!  I went to the gym twice & walked with Brent on the other days.  Love the warmer weather!  Although I am struggling so bad to walk the hills in the neighborhood.

One other thing I am loving lately is couponing!  I got into it back in January when I saw an extreme couponing show on TV.  I’ve been using the Krazy Coupon Lady website, the newspaper inserts & www.coupons.com. I’ve been shopping at mostly Publix & CVS and also sometimes Walgreens & Winn Dixie & doing great!  In fact, two cashiers today complimented my skills!   Here are the pictures of the things I got today:

Winn-Dixie: 5 boxes of K-cups, 3 bottles of laundry detergent, 2 body washes, 6 bars of soap, 1 toothbrush, 1 deodorant & 2 Cadbury eggs for $38.00.  I saved ~$45.00 with store sales + coupons.

Walgreens: all of these items pictured above for $20.00 out of pocket.  I got back $9 for use on a future purchase, so it’s like getting all of it for $11.00

CVS: This came to $13 after coupons/discounts + I got $4 back to use on future purchases, so it is like getting it all for ~$9.  Yay!

Publix is BY FAR the best grocery store to use coupons.  Today I saved ~$75 with store sales + coupons.  Before coupons the total for groceries was $101 and after coupon it was $85….I was pretty impressed.  I am still learning A LOT and I could do a lot better if I bought multiple copies of the paper or used a coupon clipping service, but honestly, this is as good as I can do with the amount of time I want to spend on it. Our goal is just to save money on stuff we already buy and have a little stockpile of things to use when the baby comes – so we won’t have to worry about buying a lot of groceries & household supplies.  At this point I have got the hang of it enough that I just go on Krazy Coupon Lady, go to my stores, see which items are “stock up” items & only purchase those.  I don’t do the really complicated transactions and I don’t buy things we don’t need/use, of course (i.e., lotions, lots of makeup, Crest whitening strips, etc).  It is pretty fun to be able to get great deals!  All you have to do is be willing to #1 plan your meals for the week based on what is on sale at the grocery store & #2 search out the coupons, which does take some time. 

That’s all for this week!!!  I will leave you with a picture of my view when looking at the floor:

The belly!  I can still see my feet, but not much of them!  I *love* it!!

Pug Love

Pizza Craving + TGIF

TGIF!!!!

This week has been pretty uneventful.  Just work + pugs + Zumba!  I love it!  In fact, yesterday at Zumba class I won the bracelet!

The bracelet is supposed to be given to some one in class who works really hard, but I think they give it to the girl that the teacher feels most sorry for. Ha.  But this Zumba teacher is absolutely the best exercise teacher I have ever had.  She is so upbeat and positive!

It has been a long time since I did a recipe post.  Unfortunately, I have been pretty uninspired in the kitchen lately.  Since I have been going to the gym in the evenings, I haven’t really been cooking much at all.  However, I did make homemade pizza this week.  Let me preface the story by saying that this time it wasn’t good, but last time it was SO GOOD that I inhaled it before I could take a picture of it.

I have written about my love for pizza before.  Oddly enough, in the short period of time since I wrote that post, my tastes have changed.  Actually, in the spring we discovered Hungry Howie’s pizza chain and their fabulous sesame seed crust.  We got kind of obsessed and ordered it constantly. Could. not. get. enough. Unfortunately, the last time we had Hungry Howie’s was the weekend that we got food poisoning.  Even though we didn’t get food poisoning from the pizza, neither one of us can bear the thought of it any more.  And it just so happens that another pizza that I love was the pizza fresco from Jason’s Deli, where I actually did get food poisoning (although not from the pizza).  So I just can’t do that either.

Then, if you can even believe it, several weeks ago I made a homemade pizza that was SO GOOD that I just don’t even crave chain pizza anymore.  I know, right?  Sounds crazy, but it is true.  I have been craving MY pizza ever since.

In my opinion, the dough is what made it so wonderful, plain and simple.  I used fresh Publix pizza dough from the bakery. I was sticky, yeast-y, and just delicious.  This past week I used that refrigerated Pillsbury pizza dough in the exploding cardboard roll. Blech.  It was terrible.  It didn’t handle well, bake well, or taste good at all.

There are a few other key ingredients for a good pizza:

1. Garlic Gold.  So, yes, I think I’m intolerant of garlic.  But my gosh, this stuff is so good.  It’s like a garlic-flavored oil but there are actual pieces of garlic in it.  I use a basting brush and coat the dough with this oil.

2. Pesto.  Yes, more garlic.  I love basil pesto.  It gives the pizza a really unique and authentic taste, in my opinion.  I have always wanted to try making my own, but the jar is so much easier!

3. Good pizza sauce.  I used this Roselli’s sauce and absolutely loved it.  Sometimes I also use meat-flavored spaghetti sauce.  I don’t like the cheap Ragu, etc, pizza sauce.

4.  Pizza seasoning. Not sure what all is in this seasoning, but I buy it from the bulk bins at Manna Grocery.

5.  Cheese, obviously, but be realistic. Sargento’s Italian 5 blend, not part skim Kraft shredded mozzarella.  Do not use part skim.  Do not use only mozzarella.  You will ruin the pizza, I promise!

6. Sausage, if not using a meat-flavored sauce.  I used 1/2 of an Applegate farms chicken sausage last time, and it was great!

And then, you have to bake it right.  I have tried a regular baking sheet (fail), a pizza stone (not bad), and a vented pizza baking sheet (best).

So, there you have it: the way to make a pizza that will turn you away from chain pizza for life.  I am definitely getting some Publix pizza dough this weekend!  In fact, that is really the only thing on my agenda for this weekend!

Weekending: Autumn Sunday Evening

….at the Arboretum tonight with the puglets. 

   

At one point, we were walking through the park and came up on two women with about 8 little dogs of various breeds, a guy & girl about our age with about 4 pit bulls, and another guy about our age with a pit bull.  Add Oscar & Milly to the mix and it was a huge group of dogs!  And our pugs were the only ones on a leash, until the single guy ran up and put his pit on a leash.  After we walked away from them, the following conversation ensued:

Brent: Hmph. Well, I guess you got some eye candy.

Me: What?

Brent: Yeah right! You know you noticed.

Me: Who? What are you talking about?

Brent: That dude with the pit bull.

Me: Which one?

Brent: Oh please. You know you noticed!

Me: Noticed what?

Brent: The dude with the pit bull and his muscles!!

Me: Seriously, I didn’t notice his muscles.  He looked like some one I went to pharmacy school with.  Did he have big muscles?

Brent: Please!  When he reached down beside me to put his dog on a leash, his muscles were like “BOOM! Roasted!!!”

I laughed so hard!  Maybe you just had to hear Brent say it, because as I read back over this, it doesn’t sound funny.  But it was!  He’s such a hoot!  He said tonight that he was thinking about starting running again and I said “Yay!  You can do the couch to 5K plan with me!!!”  To which he replied: “Hmph!  I can’t do couch to 5K…maybe coma to 5K!”  Gosh, he’s had me laughing all night!