Tasty Tuesday

I am connecting to http://beautyandbedlam.com/ Tasty Tuesday.

I wish I could say im a fabulous cook, but im still learning. My mother is a wonderful cook and im hoping those genes will rub off on me eventually.

I found this recipe on the web, and since hubby and I are super picky eaters we love it. I dont think its that great for you, but it sure is tasty.

Anniversary Chicken

Here's what you need :
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 6 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
- 1/2 cup teriyaki basting sauce
- 1/2 cup Ranch-style salad dressing
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 3 green onions, chopped
- 1/2 (3 ounce) can bacon bits [I used about 6-7 pieces of real bacon]
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

Here's how you make it :
Pre-heat over to 350
First, I cooked the bacon & set it aside
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts, and saute 4 to 5 minutes each side, until lightly browned.
Place browned chicken breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Brush with teriyaki sauce.
Then, spoon on Ranch salad dressing.
Sprinkle with cheese
Then sprinkle bacon
Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear. Garnish with parsley

SERVE!!

Our House Is A Very Very Very Fine House

So hubby and I were talking about our house today. We have done alot of work to our house since we bought it in Dec. 2007. Some of this work was not schedule (our flooding basement which is now a beautiful family room), and some was: installed a pellet stove, painted our cabinets in the kitchen, laid down laminate flooring in the kitchen, installed granite countertop, added new washer and dryer and added new lighting in the kitchen.

Sometimes I get angry at our house (when the water heater blows up after a year of use) or when our roof starts leaking.

But overall I have to say I love it. Here are a few pictures of my favorite spots.

My Kitchen... The before and afters. Sorry I dont have better befores where you can really see the nasty lanoliem and ugly carpet in the dining. room.

Our living room.. I think one of the reasons I bought this house was for the built in bookcases.

TJ Maxx

So I convinced hubby that I Needed (it was an emergency :) )to go to TJ Maxx and check out their boot selection. Im in huge need of new high heeled knee high boots.

Unfortuneately there were no high heeled boots to be found but... I found some other great deals on the clearence rack!

• Seven Jeans (not to get confused with the brand Seven for Mankind.) I love love love these jeans they always fit me soo well and they're usually $29.99 but today I found them for $10.00!
• Wicked cute Bandolino sling backs with a pointy toe and cute bow on the front. The 6 1/2 was $10.00 but the 7 1/2 was $15.00 (bizzarre to me) so of course I needed the 7 1/2 so i dragged both sets of shoes up to the register. The sales girl didn't seem impressed but told me this once she would give me the 7 1/2 size for $10.00
• Last but not least a chocolate brown sleeveless shirt with a scoop neck. Super cute $7.00

I have always had a love for TJ Maxx. Before my thrifting days I spent alot of time (and money) there. I dont visit there as much as I like to find cheaper deals, but still have to stop in every once in a while.

So for $27.00 I had a great trip. Pictures to follow!

Happy Super Bowl

$.50 Day At The Thrift Store

So I finally had a Saturday off to go to the thrift store. I hit up my favorite thrift store which was having a $.50 sale on all their clothing.
Here is what I got:

• Clogs
• Fleece Hat ( I usually dont buy hats at second hand stores but this one for some reason was calling to me)
• Brand new Van Heusen shirt in packaging for hubby
• Cordury Pants
• Cordury Jacket
• New turtleneck with tags still on it
• Workout long sleeve shirt
• White Long sleeve shirt
• Sweater
• L.L Bean Striped 3/4 length sleeve shirt
  

My favorite deals
Brand new Scrabble Slam game i've been looking for

7 black and white notecards (Vertical New York by Horst Hamann) not sure what im going to do with them but they're really cool.
Total spent $6.50

So I took it one step further and looked up all the clothes online by brand to see if I bought them new what I would have paid for them. (These are just based on online prices, which some are ridiculous I would have never spent that much brand new). Alot of the clothes I found exact matches on their company website, a few of them I had to compare to an item in the same price range.

Anywhere Clogs $52.00
Brand new Van Heusen shirt in packaging for hubby $28.00
Willi Smith Cordury Pants $19.99
Marks & Spencer Cordury Jacket $104 converted from 65 pounds
Energie New turtleneck with tags still on it $19.00
Athletic Works Workout long sleeve shirt $10.00
Faded Glory White Long sleeve shirt $6.00
Poles Sweater $42.30
L.L Bean Striped 3/4 length sleeve shirt $29.95

St. John's Bay Fleece Hat $12.99

Vertical New York Horst Hamann Notecards $14.95

Scrabble Slam $5.24

Total if I paid retail $339.18

I Paid $6.50 at the church thrift store. I saved $332.68

A few different pictures. Missing are the cordury pants, scrabble slam, and notecards.
Happy Thrifting!

New Blog In Town

So my lovely mother whom I learned all of my frugal secrets from has started her own blog! She always has great finds and has interior decorating background so this will be a great place to hit up if you want to see thrifty finds turned to beautiful pieces. I'm hoping she'll take pictures of her house to show you just want a talented decorator she is.

Check her out!

http://acornhollow.blogspot.com/

Shaws Shaws Shaws Shaws Shaws

So I must say that my grocery shopping trip was extremely successful today. Shaws was having some great sales and I had some great coupons. All my coupons were found either for free online or in the Sunday paper. I bought $112.24 worth of groceries before coupons (34 items). Out of Pocket (oop) I paid $44.93 that is a 60% savings (if I did my math correctly).

Alot of people ask if I buy alot of junk food on sale, and if anything I buy is healthy. This trip was a very healthy frugal trip. Here are some of the foods included in our trip:

• (2) 24 packs of bottled water
  
• (1) 6 pack of bottled water
  
• (2) packages of salad express
  
• bananas
  
• cucumbers
  
• (2) packages of special K cereal
  
• (3) boxes of special K bars
  
• cantaloupe
  
• (3) cans progresso soups
  
• chicken
  
• carrots
  
• Hamburger
• v8 Juice

Thats just a sampling of what I bought today. I calculated that I put in about 30-45min planning my grocery list. This included planning dinners, cutting out the coupons, and writing a list of what we needed.

I think that the state needs to have a program where they teach people how to frugally food shop. One of my goals is to spend less then $50.00 a week and still eat a healthy diet. Alot of people on state assistance have a strict amount they need to spend each week and this would help to maximize their budget.

Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year's Eve and Day. I've given up setting New Year's resolutions. Every year I would set a huge goal, and stick with it for about a week then give up. Well this year I am not setting a resolution but I am going to continue to work on finding great deals, and saving money with my thrifty ways.

According to http://content.kiplinger.com/tools/slideshows/slideshow_pop.html?nm=ExtraCash Kiplinger someone who is 30 years old needs to save $448 a month for the next 35 years to become a millionaire.

I bet if I put my mind to it I could save $448 a month just by acting thrifty ;)