Lunch Box Ideas

Young Girl With Lunch Box on Sidewalk

I feel like we didn't even get a proper summer this year. We didn't have much time for sleeping late and no one got bored. What kind of summer is that?

Marcia and Bobby are already in "back to school" mode with summer sports. They have to pack a lunch every day (the cafeteria isn't open even if they wanted to eat there) and it's too expensive to let them do what some of the kids do and drive to the nearby fast food joint for lunch.

They pack their own and I try to have things that are fairly healthy and easy to pack as they often wait until the last possible second, no matter how often I suggest they pack them up the night before. 

Here's a list of lunch box foods I like to keep on hand that can be combined in all sorts of ways:

• whole grain sandwich bread
• tortillas
• peanut butter
• tuna
• cheese sticks or those Mini Babybel cheeses (we all love those but they're more expensive than cheese sticks so I don't buy them as often).
• yogurt
• applesauce or fruit cups
• lunch meat
• whole grain muffins
• crackers
• carrots
• apples
• granola bars
• tortilla chips (they can add a small container of salsa too)
• bananas
• plums
• hard boiled eggs (I don't make these very often, but they love them)
• Tea (is that weird?).  They love Snapple Lemon Tea, but it's too expensive for everyday.  They also like homemade tea packed in a water bottle or a re-purposed Snapple bottle.  You can freeze it the night before and it will be nice and icy cold at lunch time.
• oranges
• Leftovers (which are rare around here)
• And of course the occasional oatmeal cookie or slice of banana bread

Do you have any other good ideas for lunch box foods to keep on hand?

Vintage Shopping

1950S Diner

I love to find retro bargains! My favorite vintage items are aprons.  I especially love the ones that are a little faded and threadbare because I know that they have a history. I feel like I go back in time a little when I put one on. Suddenly I'm wearing a smart pair of capri pants, a polka dot blouse, and a chiffon scarf while listening to Buddy Holly (or maybe even The Guiding Light) on my radio, getting a casserole ready for the oven and a congealed salad in the fridge.

I love all sorts of vintage things that have been passed down a generation or two.  It's especially nice to have something that your own mother or grandmother used, but finding retro goodies at garage sales, flea markets and thrift stores is great too.  You may have to sift through lots of junk, but the thrill of finding something fantastic at a bargain price makes it all worthwhile.

From vintage books, to vintage glassware, I love it all!  Maybe I'm impossibly romantic, but  I like to imagine the story behind it.  I wonder who rolled out biscuits for her family with the rolling pin I bought at a garage sale.  How did it get the little burn mark on it?  Did she roll out pie crusts too?  What about the original owner of the pretty dishes I found at the thrift store?  Did she save them for special occasions or use them every day?

I thought I would share with you a few of my favorite "gently used" finds.

Milk glass that is currently on my summer all-white mantel. Some belonged to my grandmother and some I bought.

A pewter candlestick.  It doesn't have any markings on it so I have no idea how old it is, but I love the classic Americana look of it.  I've had it for years, but I think I only paid a dollar or two for it.

A darling toile pillow I found for $2!  Totally worth it!

An inherited ruby glass bowl on a hand embroidered garage sale find tablecloth.



Do you like to shop at garage sales and thrift stores?  What are some of your favorite finds?

Kitchen Bargains

The kitchen is probably my favorite room in the house. I spend a lot of time there and I love to have everyone gathered at the table or around the breakfast bar. When it came time to spend my birthday money, I of course, spent some of it on things for the kitchen.

I bought this cute little rooster. I think he really spruces up my kitchen table and he was only $7.99 at TJ Maxx. I've been wanting a rooster for awhile, but they are usually so expensive.



I also bought a bamboo cutting board. I have two plastic cutting boards; one very small and one huge. I've been wanting a bamboo cutting board because they are so pretty, but also because they are harder than wood and resistant to bacteria. This one is a perfect medium size that will be useful for almost all of my chopping. It was also a TJ Maxx bargain at $9.99. Even the one at WalMart was more expensive than that!

I got a couple of books too (surprised? ha ha), but I'll have to tell you about those later. I'm off to watch Bobby play in a band contest (he has a solo). Both books are really cute and one was written by a very sweet lady who is a blogger and comments here occasionally. Can you believe a published author has commented here? I can't!

See you soon!

Love,

Laundry

Laundry
I had a wonderful birthday yesterday! Thank you ladies for all the comments and birthday wishes. I am having such fun reading through them. I love thinking about what life might be like in all the places that you live. Some as near as my own lovely state and some across the globe. You are the sweetest readers in blogland!

Today I'm playing catch up around the house, especially with laundry. Two days of not doing any has led to a huge Mt. Washmore calling my name. :) I found some HE detergent at Sam's that I'm looking forward to using. It is Ecos all natural detergent with organic lavender. I love the scent of lavender! Doing laundry is more fun when your detergent smells good don't you think?

I also have to find time today if possible to buy some groceries. If I get a chance this evening I'll show you the results of my birthday shopping. My mom insisted that I spend all my money on myself and not use it to buy groceries or something for the kids. Now what ever gave her the idea that I might do something like that? :)

Master Pantry List

The Pantry
I have been re-reading The Complete Tightwad Gazette (bought at the thrift store of course) and Terri's post about shopping based on the pantry principle and I am thinking about changing the way I shop for groceries.

Basically the pantry principle means buying what's on sale, keeping certain things on hand at all times, and making menus based on what's in the pantry. You shop to replenish the pantry rather than to buy ingredients for specific meals.

I generally plan my menu based on what's on sale (and based on ingredients that are everyday bargains), but I shop for one week at a time and only buy what's on my list.

We get paid once a month, so even though I shop weekly, my food budget is figured monthly and then I just divide it by the number of weeks I will be shopping. I'm thinking it would be better to have the whole month in view rather than a week at a time. I can buy larger quantities that way and maybe even have one huge grocery shopping trip a month with smaller weekly trips to pick up perishables.

I am currently working on a master list of all the things I would need to keep on hand to make the majority of our favorite meals. I have my grocery lists and menus for the past 5 weeks and I am going from that. Once I have the list complete I can just make copies and check off the things I need instead of making a new list each time.

Do any of you shop based on the pantry principle? Do you have any tips for me?

Black Friday Adventures

Christmas is NOT about the latest toys or getting a good bargain. My children won't be getting all the latest gadgets and we don't spend a lot of money. They always have a nice, but not "over the top" Christmas. They know that Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Christ, spending time together, and sharing with others (trying to keep the TV off as much as possible helps with this).

Surprisingly though, my mom and I have a tradition of shopping on Black Friday. Not so much because we're super eager shoppers trying to get bargains, but because it's so much fun to spend that time together. Usually by lunch time we are giggling together like a couple of school girls.

This year we met at Target a little after 6:00am (no 3:00am shopping for us). We got right in, but the store was PACKED! It was shoulder to shoulder, especially in the electronics section. We decided that nothing was worth that, so we looked around at the other areas of the store. Mom needed a few things for her dogs, so she picked those up and we headed to check out. The check out line snaked all along one whole side of the store! She decided she didn't need those things after all and we left Target (after going around the back of the store to try and get around the people waiting to check out).

We were so worn out after Target that we decided we needed Starbucks. :) I rarely go there (I can't justify spending that kind of money for coffee very often) so it was a special treat and I enjoyed every last drop of my skinny vanilla latte.

We then headed to Wal-Mart. By this time it was around 7:30 so I guess we missed all the crowd. We saw lots of smiling faces and didn't have any trouble finding what we wanted (I wasn't buying a TV or video game system so maybe that's why). Every check out lane was open and we were out of there in record time. I take back all those mean things I've said about shopping at Wal-Mart. :) Unfortunately I can't tell you about the good deals I got there because my kids might read it, but let's just say I'm almost done shopping for them.

Of course, I couldn't shop on Black Friday without hitting CVS. I got Aussie shampoo and conditioner, 2 bottles of Gatorade, Garnier Nutritioniste facial cleansing wipes, Colgate Total toothpaste, Maybelline Mineral Power foundation, Cover Girl powder, Sally Hansen nail polish, Loreal lip gloss, and a Hershey's chocolate bar all for about $9 and I earned over $28 in ECBs for next time.


Did you venture out for Black Friday?
You can find other Black Friday posts at Money Saving Mom.

Thrift Shopping

Greg and I went thrift shopping today. He and Peter are stationed near each other and are planning to move off base together into an apartment. They have NOTHING. Greg has been going through my kitchen taking coffee mugs, glasses, silverware, dish towels... We thought we might be able to find him something at the thrift store. We only had time to go to the one nearest our house and there weren't many bargains this time.

I did find a denim dress, two ties for Mike and a sweater (new with tags). Greg was rushing me, so I didn't get a chance to try on the dress. After I got it home he said I should take it back because in his words it looks "too Little House on the Prairie". Mike hasn't seen it yet, so I don't know what his opinion will be. What do you think? Should I take it back?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

X mas ornament on tree
It's cold and blustery around here, we have a fire crackling away in the fireplace and the kids are wanting hot chocolate. I can't believe Thanksgiving is already over!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my mom's house. We all ate too much (as usual) and had lots of yummy leftovers to bring home for supper. Neither of my military sons were able to be home, but they were both able to call. They each got to have turkey and trimmings,but neither had pecan pie which is a favorite around here. I wonder if I could figure out a way to ship a pie? That will definitely be on my list of things to bake when they finally get to come home.

Did you all go shopping yesterday? I went for the 6th year in a row with my mom, although we didn't get out quite as early as we did last year. We enjoy spending the day together and finding bargains. Plus she always treats me to Starbucks which I love. I almost never go because it's hard to justify spending more than $3 for a cup of coffee. I got my favorite non-fat, sugar free vanilla latte. Delicious!

I got some GREAT deals at CVS (and walked Mom through a few good deals too), but I'll have to post about that later. There are some things I bought that the kids can't see and I want to have pictures of everything. Maybe I can take some pictures after they go to bed tonight. I will just say that in 3 separate transactions I bought about $130 worth of goodies and only spent about $9 out of pocket, plus I have a fair amount of ECBs to spend next time (can't remember right off hand exactly how many). I also got some pretty good deals at Wal-Mart. I have a few more little odds and ends to pick up (and some more baking to do for the home baked gifts), but I'm nearly done!

We are thinking of putting the Christmas tree up today because we have several things planned for next weekend, but it's SO cold my husband doesn't really want to get up in our unheated attic. We southerners don't do well with cold! :)

New Shoes

I love new shoes, don't you? Mrs. Wilt has been talking about her Mary Janes and how versatile they are. They are even featured in her week of dresses. Wouldn't you know it...while "window shopping" at Kohl's today I came across this really cute pair. I've been needing a good pair of all purpose, go with anything shoes for Fall and these are perfect! They are sooo comfortable and were on sale for $24.99. They have a brown suede upper, a bronze metallic strap and a rubber, non-slip sole. The inside lining is pink. I love pink and brown together. I'm sure I will be wearing them almost every day.

I forgot to turn off the flash, so the picture didn't turn out too well, but you get the idea. Oh, and the skirt is one of my recent thrift shop finds. It's Ralph Lauren and I only paid $3 for it!