Author Archives: Nora

August Grocery Review

05 Monday Sep 2016

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Stocking up is commencing.  And, I’ve bought a few items not on sale that we’d like to have back sooner than they will hit the sale cycle.  That being said, it wasn’t terribly high.  We moved mid month so there were a few days without kitchen stuff.  The dishwasher also failed so I was trying to cook a bit less than usual to take the load off (though I did eventually resort to paper plates).

  • August TOTAL:  $1035.29
    • Stop & Shop: $53.54
    • Wegman’s: $430.97
    • BJs: $371.57
    • Other: $179.21
      • Local: $60.98
      • Star Market: $69.87
      • Trader Joe’s: $7.96
      • Target: $40.40
      • Other: $0

On Thursday, I went to Stop & Shop.  They didn’t have our preferred brand of rice so I bought the store brand.  We aren’t fans, but we’ll finish the bag.  As a side note, our local Stop & Shop has been continuing to eliminate specific products I buy.  I’m going to have to start going one town over (about 20 extra minutes round trip and directly past our local one) every now and then to restock these items.  Thankfully, they’re all shelf or freezer friendly.

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I also went to the farm stand that day.  I got my Labor Day supply of seconds bananas so I can make a bunch of banana bread for the next few month’s of kids school snacks.

Last Week’s Accomplishments – Back to School 2016

30 Tuesday Aug 2016

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Today is the first day of school!  Getting through the summer was an accomplishment in itself, but other things did happen last week.

  • I did some more work setting up the kitchen.  Specifically, the extra shelves I had requested arrived.  Unfortunately, two were an inch and a half too long so we’ll have to trade them in for the correct size.  Fortunately, they were filling space that will be used to expand in the future.  The largest shelf I ordered went into the base cabinet, and I did need this one to finish putting things away.

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It was a bit of a puzzle to get these shelves so tight, but I persevered.  The slot at the bottom is for a large roasting pan whenever I make that investment.

  • I took the boys to the pool.  Hopefully we’ll get in one more trip this week before they close for the year Labor Day Weekend.
  • I took the boys for haircuts and a new shoes (three needed them).  Always good to get this stuff done before school starts.
  • Two participated in the End of Summer Soccer Clinic.  I had to get a new pair of soccer socks so we could promote both to their next sizes.
  • I’ve started hand watering the patches of lawn that irrigation isn’t covering adequately.  I had set the sprinkler up initially, but had watering is even more focused and not that much more time consuming.

Grocery Update & Menu Plan

29 Monday Aug 2016

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First week of school!  I’m trying to keep things simple.  Groceries first.

 

I had intended to go to BJs on Tuesday, but a spontaneous park play date took up that time.  So, I went to Shaw’s instead.  I got a gallon of milk (expensive here so that’s why there’s not more), apples, goldfish, and my usual Shaw’s items – oatmeal, pizza dough, and pizza cheese.

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In the afternoon, I went to the Farmer’s Market.  It’s my first trip of the year, which is much later than usual.  I don’t always go much at the beginning because its mainly greens.  Then we were moving so I was paring down and not cooking as much.  Last week it rained; this was desperately needed so I won’t complain.

Everything here is local and I was happy to see the apples because Shaw’s hadn’t had Macintosh.

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I made it to BJ’s on Wednesday.  I got 8 gallons of milk, along with the items shown.  I don’t actually need this much jelly, but it was free with the peanut butter purchase and it will keep.

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I’m still working through the holes created as I used up but didn’t restock before moving.  So, Thursday’s trip to Wegman’s was motivated by a lack of Chili Powder.  If I’d realized this earlier I would have picked that up at BJ’s.  I also used up our Red Wine Vinegar before moving.  The other items are for regular use.

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Saturday we were at Wegman’s again (this was planned during the previous visit) to get a roast to BBQ.  We also started to restock the school supplies – craisins and granola bars.  With this were 12 gallons of milk (1 was left from the 8 purchased Wednesday at BJs).

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Now for the meal plan.

Saturday:
Beef roast
Carrots
Mashed potatoes
Salad
Gravy

Sunday:
The new dishwasher has failed so in an attempt to not generate too many dishes I opted for take out pizza.

Monday:
Chicken pot pie
Broccoli

Tuesday:
I’m going out so we have leftover chicken pot pie.

Wednesday:
Shepard’s pie
Green & wax beans

Thursday:
Asiago chicken

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

I’m Starting to Think About a New Table

26 Friday Aug 2016

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We’ve had our dining room table for a long time, actually since before we had kids.  With the leaf in it does seat 8, though its better for 6.  As you can see from the picture, when set up for 8 there isn’t much space for food.

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Dinner last night was tacos.  We had hard shells & flour tortillas; salsa; cheddar cheese; ground turkey with home-mixed seasoning; corn; tomato; avocado; tabasco; and lime slices.  Normally we have sour cream also, but I haven’t replaced that since we moved.

This isn’t a huge meal – Thanksgiving or Christmas would have more serving dishes, even without guests.  And, it pretty much covers the table.  In our previous houses it was tight fitting this one in the dining room.  Not the case now!  So, I’m looking to get something somewhat bigger – both longer and wider.  Ideally, it would be something that wouldn’t be too huge for us to use on a daily basis, but could sit 14 for family gatherings without everyone feeling overly cramped.  I haven’t seen such a table at a store yet, though I’ll keep looking.  I’ve also been referred to two custom table builders so I’ll explore them.  This isn’t a near term item.  I’d love to have it by Thanksgiving, but I don’t think the stars will align to make that happen.

Boxes can Say a Lot

25 Thursday Aug 2016

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I noticed a few things about my collection of boxes during the moving process.  First, as evidenced by this picture of the office, we have many diaper boxes.  Pampers and Huggies could give me a commission for this.

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What people don’t realize is that diaper boxes make great moving boxes.  They’re thick.  They’re glued on the bottom.  And, they used to have handles on the sides.

Note:  Pampers has completely ruined their boxes by moving to suitcase style top handles.  I agree these tear less.  But, they’re difficult to carry unless you have large hands.  And, more importantly, when you’ve tucked the box somewhere (closet, trunk, etc.), there’s now nothing to grab on the end to slide the box back.  Pampers: you can feel free to keep the top suitcase handles, but please bring back the end handles before I run out of kids in diapers.  Most of these are older boxes with the end handles.

I also suspect some people might think I bought a whole new kitchen to go with the new house.  But, no.  I am happy to report that all of the kitchen items that had been in use, but living in their boxes in the basement, now fit in the cabinets.  It’s not that this kitchen is dramatically larger.  Instead, it is much better designed.

I didn’t take a picture of the recycling last week, but it looked something like this week’s version.  That’s a lot of kitchen boxes gone!

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Last Week’s Accomplishments – Time to Unpack

23 Tuesday Aug 2016

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Most of what I did last week focused on unpacking.

  • The kitchen is fully unpacked, with the exception of a few items.  Those will go on additional shelves that I’ve requested from the builder.  All the other shelves have been adjusted to fit our things so the six I’ve requested should finish things off.  I’m happy to say that all our kitchen stuff fits with room to spare.  Its been nice to be able to finally put things away, vs keeping them in their boxes to ward off basement dust.  I’ve used most things, but they always went back in their boxes after washing since I didn’t have space to store them in the kitchen.
  • My related, big accomplishment was to finish off the pantry.  I added a few more shelves, a mat for under the electrics, and some end dividers for shelves that might get things that could tip over.

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  • It’s not completely done.  The stand mixer needs to come out of its box and onto the shelf with the other electrics.  And, the items on the floor under that shelf need to go – sell, Freecycle, trash – along with another box of kitchen stuff.  But, we’re pretty close and very useable.
  • I feel the pantry will be very helpful with so many people.  This is something we added by adjusting the floorplan prior to construction.  Basically we slid over the kitchen wall to make the kitchen 5′ smaller so we could add the pantry, plus two other areas (to be shown later).

Aside from unpacking:

  • Our oldest had baseball camp.
  • The oldest three had a golf lesson.
  • I sold a few items we weren’t using on replacements.com.
  • I’ve made two trips to Bed, Bath, & Beyond for typical new house stuff.  Thankfully I have a seemingly infinite supply of their coupons so I’ve been able to maximize the amount off each time.
  • We went out to eat for a very belated anniversary dinner.
  • I went to Target to purchase most of the school supplies I didn’t already have.  That being said, moving means I have to actually find those things I know we have.
  • I ordered headphones (a school supply) for the twins on Amazon.  I fixed our address with Amazon.

Grocery Update & Menu Plan

22 Monday Aug 2016

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This past week I finally got back to restocking.  But, I was still stuck with extra small grocery runs as we chose what to eat (that wasn’t take out).

On Monday I went to Wegman’s.  I actually bought a dozen milks, but this was all that fit in a single location in the car.  The rest were scattered and therefore didn’t make the picture.  I did some restocking – ketchup, cereal, granola bars, etc; bought some produce for the first time in what seemed like forever; and bought a few easy lunches- chicken salad & mac n cheese.

I also went to the farm stand for more produce.  Everything is local except the peaches, which are from Pennsylvania.  I recall hearing that we had a bad freeze or such that damaged the fruit trees in New England this past winter so we may not get local peaches this year.  These were good though, better than standard grocery store fare.

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On Wednesday, I went to Stop & Shop.  With the exception of bananas and pepperoni, these are things I can’t get at Wegman’s.  Either they don’t have the brand I prefer or I prefer the Stop & Shop version.

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Once we knew the weekend weather was going to hold, we decided to BBQ.  We got steaks at Wegman’s (no picture).  I went back to Stop & Shop for a few sides.

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Now, I admit I don’t have this whole week planned out.  We’ve got a couple of weeks here with few evening activities so I’m trying to make the most of it.  But, I still don’t have everything I usually have available at home.  And, the kids are still off school so I have to balance my desire to shop with them vs my desire to plan interesting menus.  There wasn’t anything in this week’s sale flyers that interested me.

Saturday:
We all went to the minor league baseball game.  Most people had hotdogs.

Sunday:
Rib-eye steaks
Pan fried potatoes
Carrots
Salad

Monday (boys’ have last summer golf lesson in the evening):
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

Tuesday:
Tacos

Wednesday:
TBD

Thursday:
TBD

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

Goodbye

22 Monday Aug 2016

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I know I don’t usually post on Sunday, but I found the cord!

Before we get a look inside the new house.  Here are a few pictures of the old house in an empty state.

The playroom has never been this clean.

Actually, here it is even emptier.

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And, here’s the empty dining room.

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Goodbye, house.

Last Week’s Accomplishments – We’ve Moved

17 Wednesday Aug 2016

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Well, this post is a bit late in the day.  But, that’s better than not at all.

Really, the big accomplishment of the past month is moving.  I packed most of the house (much to the surprise of the movers).  While this does take more time, I prefer to do this because I can label the boxes better and stand a better chance of finding things during the unpacking process.

Some other notes of interest:

  • Swimming finished for the summer.  For the first time ever, someone (actually two people) passed a level over the summer.
  • Baseball & golf are ongoing so we are still booked most weekday evenings and therefore haven’t gotten back to organized dinners.
  • Thankfully, though, we have eased back to dinners made at home.  We got a little tired of the constant restaurant / takeout menu at the height of the move.
  • I ordered new backpacks & lunchboxes.  After many years ours were getting too small, smelly, worn, etc.
  • I added another missing grocery post:

Sorry for the lack of pictures.  I need to find the wire to connect to the computer for downloads!  Hopefully by Thursday.

Back in Business

15 Monday Aug 2016

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I know its been a while.  I’ve spent all my time packing, and then we had no internet for a while while we switched houses.  But, all that is behind us now.

In addition, while I did go to the grocery store last week it was always for a specific day/meal and I didn’t get to take pictures.  Today was my first restocking trip and I did get pictures, so you’ll see that next week.

The weather here has been hot and very muggy so we’ve spent most of our time inside unpacking.  We also got the POD back and unpacked.  Everything was in good condition and didn’t seem to have shifted at all despite our unprofessional packing/tie down job.  My only complaint is that everything inside was covered in a fine black dust.  I’d been warned of that before using the POD, but it was still annoying.  The dust seemed to stick to tape in particular.  Cardboard wasn’t so bad and furniture varied dramatically.  All things considered, though, I’d get one again to move as it really helps to get some stuff out of the house before putting it on the market.

Tomorrow, we’ll get back to a more regular schedule and I’ll start sharing some of my more favorite things about the house later in the week.  In the meantime, there are many more boxes to unpack.