Menu Plan Monday

Oh, how I LOVED working/playing in the yard with my family on such a fine, delightful, sunshiny day!!!

We pretty much spent the whole day outside, today, and, boy, was it ever great!!!  We have quite a huge yard/garden and LOTS, LOTS, LOTS to do, so having an unexpected, beautiful, sunny day in February was much appreciated!!  The kids played and played and got dirty, dirty!!  I had fun whacking down some bushes and pruning some apple trees while Mark rota-tilled the dahlias and veggie gardens and mowed our entire yard.  It was so beautiful being outside together!!  And soooo beautiful getting so much done!!!

Saturday we ran lots of errands and spent the day shopping together.  One of our stops was Costco, which, we only do about once every 3 months, and stocked up on all our essentials.  One "essential" I bought this time, which I haven't done before, was a 25-lb bag of pinto beans.  I have been researching pinto bean and their prices, and found that Costco's price is right up there with the best:  it breaks down to be, about, .59 cents a pound, which, is pretty excellent.  I've been loving making my own re-fried beans and have wanted to try many more recipes with beans.  Beans are super healthy and super frugal, so I thought it'd be worth it to buy my beans in bulk!

Tonight I made a really amazingly simple, yet, delicious meal:

Beans and Cornbread

[caption id="attachment_2233" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo courtesy of Ree Drummond--The Pioneer Woman"][/caption]

HERE is the delicious recipe.

We loved it, the kids loved it, so healthy and hearty----ooooh, and that cornbread is to die for!!!  YUMMY!!

Here's what I have planned for dinner for this week:

Monday:  Grilled Steaks, Baked Potatoes, Corn

Tuesday:  Baked Teriyaki Chicken, Steamed Rice, Steamed Broccoli

Wednesday:  Veggie and Cheese Omelets, Bacon, Toast, Fruit

Thursday:  Chicken Delight (freezer), Raspberry Muffins (freezer), Green Beans

Friday:  Roast Pork Panini Sandwiches, Chips, Pasta Salad, Fruit

For more Menu Planning Inspiration, check out ORGANIZING JUNKIE

Safeway Policy

If you are a big Safeway shopper, like I am, I wanted to fill you in on a bit of  information, in case you weren't privy to it:

• If an item is rung up incorrectly, the sale price does not ring, the clearance sticker is not peeled, etc.  Basically---if they mess up the price of your item in any way------did you know that you get that/those items for FREE?!?!?!

Safeway is not vocal about this policy (and, I'm assuming it is a company wide policy, but, check with your local store), at least, they hide it at my local store.  There have been mmaaaaaannnnny times that I have been rung up incorrectly, I go to customer service, and they just give me back the difference.

That is, until another mom filled me in on this policy.

Soooooo, the next time it happened, I marched right up to customer service (mind you, I had already gotten to the car, put all three kids in their car seats, loaded all the groceries in, when I looked at my receipt and realized the mistake!!  Which, is, in and of itself a great tip-----LOOK AT YOUR RECEIPT BEFORE YOU EXIT THE BUILDING!!), showed them their mistake and the customer service associate proceeded to tell me she would give me back the difference.  That's when I said, "Um....yeah, I heard that your policy is, if there is a pricing accuracy mistake, you refund the entire amount of that item.  Is this correct?"  She looked up at me with a, somewhat, horrified look on her face, and muttered, "Yeah.  Ok."

I have a feeling this is not a policy they are shouting from the rooftops, but, hey, IT'S THEIR POLICY, nonetheless.

Folks, this is not trying to get more than you deserve, this is not being deceitful, this is not being greedy------ this is THEIR POLICY!!  Pricing accuracy is very important to Safeway, which is why they have this policy, and if they screw up, they want to give you that item for free.  It's their way of staying on top of pricing and signing in the store and helping us out for this major inconvenience.

Don't be ashamed to ask for this if they don't offer it!!!

Gooooooo Safeway Shoppers!!!!!!

Growing so fast

It's hard to believe that Anna is SIX MONTHS OLD today!!  I am baffled at where the time is going.

Here's a few shots of our sweet Anna playing with her two favorite toys:  the remote and the phone.

What a little punkin!!!

And, not to be outdone, here's a few updated shots of Ava and Luke:

Ahhh, yes.....my handsome Luke potty-training!

My beautiful Ava

And...............the sweet trio.

My. how. they. grow.

Fast.

I am so privileged to be their Mama!!!

Don't forget the Dairy

Just like the good 'ol MEAT CLEARANCE, don't forget to scour your DAIRY/cold case section for ah-mazing clearance deals, as well!!!!

Look what I scooped up:

Cheese, cheese and sour cream!  Each orange tag is .75 off------that yummy Tillamook cheese was already on sale for $3.99 and as you can see, I got another $3 off!!  Only .99 cents for a "special reserve" Tillamook Sharp Cheddar!!  Also, see that Kraft Cheese, with $2.25 worth of clearance stickers??  I bought another one with it ($2.49) and used a coupon:  $1 off 2!  I got two packages of Kraft Shredded cheese for:  $1.73.  That's about .86 cents a bag.  Not too shabby.  Just like I ALWAYS look through the meat clearance, I also, ALWAYS go through the Dairy cold cases, every time I go shopping, because you never know what you might find!!

These scores are from Safeway, and I love how they use the bright orange colored stickers---it helps me spot them RIGHT away!!  Each grocery store has their own way of tagging dairy/cold case clearance, so keep your eyes peeled!!

AND, remember-----You can ALWAYS use coupons along WITH these clearance items!!!  Woot!  Woot!

Back to it!!

It's a new week and a new perspective.

Hallelujah for that!

Let's see if I can re-group and pull it together again!!!

We did have a marvelous weekend, though!  It started off fabulously with my sister Martha coming up to visit us and giving Mark and I a date night!!!  Oh, how much needed that was!!!  :-)  She had all three kidlings and, from what she reported, the night seemed to go just fine!  Mark and I ate at a wonderful restaurant, had a super tasty dinner, went to a movie and capped the night off with an ice cream cone from DQ.  We had such a great, fun evening.  Thanks, again, Martha!!!

Saturday proved to be just as great!!  Martha stayed the night and my parents came up for a visit!!  We celebrated Valentine's Day and my Dad's birthday---we had great food, great conversation and great fun!!  Such a blessed day!!!!

Unfortunately, yesterday, (and the veeeeerrrrry wee hours of the night) started out with a sick little babe who has a sick mommy.  Not the greatest way to spend Valentines' day, but, let's hope and pray that Anna and I can kick whatever "this" is, soon!!!

But, as I said, it's on to a new week and new, grand adventures!  The kids are out of school the next few days, so I'm looking forward to some outings and fun with the kiddos!!!

With that in mind, here's what our Meal Plan looks like this week:

Monday:  Pork Fried Rice, Green Salad, Smoothies

Tuesday: Homemade Pesto over Cheese Ravioli, Caesar Salad, Garlic Bread

Wednesday:  Chili (freezer), Cheese Quesadillas, Tortilla Chips and Salsa

Thursday:  BBQ Meatballs (freezer), Mashed Potatoes (freezer), Fresh Corn Casserole

Friday: BLT's, Oven-Baked fries, Fruit Salad

Hope you all have a fantastic week!!!

~Sarah

For more menu planning inspiration, visit, I'M AN ORGANIZING JUNKIE!