Rich Poor Food

My kids are sitting down to plates of leftovers right now. Steaming, huge plates of reheated lasagna, risotto, leftover veggies sauteed with garlic.

And they are HOUSING them. MissAngelLittleGirl is not really putting down her fork, except to pick up her wine glass, at the tiny bistro table I've set up for them.

Yes. Her wine glass. Because we are not having 'leftovers', we are EXPERIENCING a tour of Italy.

Yes, the popular Olive Garden dish. I've got grape juice in wine glasses, a fab assortment of dishes to sample, and three happy little girls.

Happy little angels= happy Mommy. Oh, and Garfield is showing- you can't have a fancy dinner without a show! And what better show, than a cat that loves lasagna!
I am a parenting genius (and a modest one!) Or, I have far too much time on my hands. But it brings me to another point.

You can do things one of two ways. You can stretch your grocery dollars by eating every bit of leftovers in the fridge....(Awwwww, Mooooooommmmmm, can't we have something else?) Or you can have a little fun with it... You can make a fabulous Vegas Buffet by layering objects under a tablecloth (like boxes or bowls turned upside down to create steps). Place the dishes of food on the steps...and honey, that's art.

You can have scrambled eggs for dinner because you're broke-or you can make a fabulous cheese souffle. The choice is up to you. But the attitude you do it with...that's what the kids reflect.

Oh, and by the way, leftovers usually suck because they get dry. You need to moisten them prior to heating. A bit of milk for lasagna, a bit of broth for risotto, a bit of gravy or broth or even water goes a long way.

Make sure they get heated to 165, and serve it with panache. Your kids won't know what hit them. It's all about the packaging, right?

What are your leftover tips?

Realistic Bill Cutting

There have got to be Seven. Million. Articles. out there today about how to save money. The sad thing is, there is nary a creative thought among them. Check out your cell phone package. Check. Bundle your services. Check.

It's been said. Over and over again. The bottom line is, people, that this is NOT new information. It's been out there since the recession began and probably before that. If you are looking to cut bills, and you're getting kind of toward the ends of your financial ropes, it's likely you checked out your package options two years ago.

Now, I've got a creative thought for you. Dump the packages. You don't need cable. After a while, you won't even miss it. Find a decent internet package for your area and invest in Netflix. If you're really broke, skip it all together and go for a bare bones high speed internet connection. You can watch lots of tv online for free. Free.

Show me a package deal for free. Just one, because I'm there. And it's likely at least one person in your house is watching too much tv anyway.

Here's another creative thought-make your own food. And I'm not talking about dinner, I'm talking about not paying more than 99 cents a pound for anything you put in your mouth. Crackers, bread, cookies, cake, all take a minimal amount of work-and you will have a lot more time on your hands after you dump the tv- and the little ones LOVE to help out. Check out the artisan bread in five minutes a day method...it's to die for. Also, Amazon has the best prices on yeast and vanilla I've ever seen, so consider ordering things there, just make sure to wait until you have 25 bucks worth of things you need, and to order from a place that qualifies for free shipping.

Another thing people spend a lot more money on than they have to is medical care. And it's really kind of silly. Wegmans offers free antibiotics during the winter, and it's a pretty decent list. Your doctor's office isn't thinking about that when you go- he's thinking about the drug rep that came in last week with free! flavored! tongue depressors! for the kids. Go armed with a list of what you can get for free, and don't be embarrassed to whip it out.

I could go on about medical care all day... your insurance has a set of tiers. Each tier has a different copay- the amount that is passed on for you to pay out of pocket. This is MAJOR in cost cutting, as there is absolutely NO REASON for you to purchase a more expensive prescription than necessary, unless the cheaper prescriptions for some reason don't work for you. And you can't know that until you try. So, give your insurance company a call if you get a prescription for something with a fifty dollar copay. It's likely there is a similar drug available for five under your plan. When your doctor zips that prescription over to your pharmacy, give them a quick call and find out how much the copay is going to be, and have THEM call the doctor for a cheaper option. I've had GREAT luck with both the pharmacies at Target and Wegmans doing this for me...each time saving at least twenty five to fifty dollars.

One more word on drugs, and I'm going to close this piece out for the day. Know your classes. An NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) is probably going to be expensive under your insurance...because it's another kind of Tylenol or Ibuprofen. Before you fill that $75 dollar script, ask your doctor if there's any reason you shouldn't see if a nickel's worth of tylenol won't be as effective.

Don't trust your doctor-he's ripping you off.

Well, more appropriately, his office is. Or the hospital you are trusting with your life.

This is very true. It's called human error. And, since two or three people can have a hand in each medical bill you receive- that's two or three times the errors. I've seen the commercials where you can learn to "work from home" in the "exciting and fast paced medical field" while doing "medical billing."

That means you've got a good chance of having someone like ME-with three children crawling all over them-drawing up your bill while deciphering your doctor's chicken scratch.

 This is never good.

Case in point- I received a medical bill yesterday...it bore an electric orange sticker that said, "You have ten days to contact us or this bill will be sent to a collection agency." From my gyn. Addressed to my husband. The bill was for-wait for it- $145. I'm due to go see in her in February, haven't seen her since last February, and always pay my bill them immediately with our flexible spending account.

There were two charges for a single missed appointment that I'd canceled, and they charged me for a co-pay I'd paid them. I'm so glad they sent me that incredibly effed up piece of paper, because now I know they owe me five bucks. They even agreed they owed me five bucks. So I know I'm right.

This isn't the first time this has happened to me, though. Every bill I've ever gotten has had medical errors on it. I've been charged for prescriptions my doctor ordered, but I'd refused. Yes, I know I'm the only person on the planet that would refuse a Vicodin. But I do. I've been billed for it, though.

I've been billed eighty dollars for four Tylenol. Not even extra helpful Tylenol. Drug store Tylenol.  Four. These people have issues. Two many chefs, and all that.

It's almost worthwhile to keep a notebook with you and have someone document what they do and  what they give you. Because they sure as hell don't know.

So, go over your bill. Even if you have no intention of ever paying it. Because those mistakes still add to your debt. And don't be shy about questioning it. You aren't questioning your doctor-you are questioning a team of people who are human and weren't in the room.

You wouldn't go to a restaurant and pay for an extra beer. Why would you go to a hospital and pay for an extra pill?

How to Swagbuck and not lose your mind...

I've tossed aside my idea of completely funding Christmas via Swagbucks. It just takes more time than I've got. Not only do you have to aggressively complete surveys and special offers, but you have to keep track of each and every one, and make sure they pay. This only happens on its own, once every three or four tasks.

And when they don't pay? You begin the harrowing task of arguing with a computer for your points. WAY not cool. When it takes me four hours and nine conversations to earn twenty cents, I'm wasting my time.

However, the search engine IS worth the trouble. I earned fifteen dollars in gift cards last month just using the search engine instead of any other search engine, and will continue to do that and watch for codes. It may not fund Christmas completely, but every penny is a penny I didn't have to wait on tables for. (even though I do love that).

Sometimes, time really is money. Or in this case...washed dishes, clean floors, and snuggled babies. Yeah, I'll take the easy road here.

I'm just going to go back to bed.

It's been that kind of morning.

 Last night, immediately after dinner and before the dishes were done, and before the loaf of breakfast bread in the oven was finished baking, the power died. This has happened no less than four times since we moved in, only this time it last for almost four solid hours.

Four solid hours, with nothing but two very pretty candles, two rambunctious toddlers, and an eleven year old that chose that very evening to assert her independence. The house sounded something like this, "give me the flashlight," "no, I want the flashlight," "stop pushing your sister" "no, I DON'T LIKE YOU, MICHELLE!"

Finally, when the power came back on at 930, the three year old had passed out mid scream, the toddler was wide awake and wild, and the eleven year old was sweet and apologetic. I went to bed, about as beaten as any mother has ever been.

Fast forward to this morning, as I seek to set right the house, which looks like last night's storm was inside, not out. I turned the oven on, to make peaches and cream muffins, only to find that the last peach had been taken after I'd already mixed the batter. As I searched for a replacement suitable for the rich, buttery muffins, my oven erupted in flames. Evidently last night's toad in the hole had erupted unnoticed, and left some grease in the bottom of the oven.

 Yes, baking soda is my friend. My house smells like an ashtray right now.



 With the batter for the muffins unusable until I scrub out the bottom of the stove, I set out to make homemade apple cinnamon oatmeal, only to find that the same person who had silently eaten the last peach had probably washed it down with the last of the apple cider, just as silently. I used my last egg in the peach muffin recipe, planned, and I can't bake anything until the oven until I'm able to return it to it's pre-Apocalyptic state, at least an hour from now.

As I'm attempting to find a solution to the mess at hand, Lovinangelbaby has taken the opportunity to scale the kitchen table no less than eight times with Chris Sharma like agility, leading me to squawk various reprimands and feel like I'm channeling mommy dearest.

My cabinets maintain their post move level of emptiness. As this months bills have rolled in, various installation fees, security deposits, administration fees, even a twelve year old past due bill have surfaced, my stock up trip has been pushed further and further into the future, as I buy just enough to get by between shifts at work, to prevent further detriment to our bank account. I was pretty firm on no eating out this month.

 Mr. lovinangels just went to get bagels.

When he comes home, I'm going back to bed.

Never mind, I'm going to scrub out the stove.

It takes a Village...

I'm making chicken curry tonight.

The kind of curry a dear, sweet staff member from good, old FV taught me to make. A lady that shall remain nameless, as I firmly believe it's quite rude to name people on the internet without getting some form of permission first. The kind you could smell walking up the hill to the cafeteria, on those special Friday nights that another sweet lady had taken the night off, and you just knew that dinner was going to be something GREAT. The best nights were the nights she let us help make homemade egg rolls... vast quantities filled, rolled, and stacked high, crispy, light, and heavenly. I wish I could remember how she made them. The only thing I remember was finishing the filling with a light sprinkle of ground peanuts before tightly rolling into a log.

I credit the ladies at the Village with my love of cooking, and restaurant work in general. I love to play the hostess, love to set up dinners, hate to clean it all up.

So tonight's curry, much like the curry at the village, features whatever veggies I can find in my fridge, which would be some potato, carrot, green pepper, and peas. Gotta clean that baby out- nine days left till the big move!

My giant crock pot reminds me of the huge electric pot that sat next to the convection oven by the back door. Oh, the experiments I pulled off in that thing, and fed to my unsuspecting classmates.

Oh, well. Nobody died.

So here's what I did for my no-stove, tribute-to-high-school curry:
in the crock pot on high:

four chicken breasts

Mixed in bowl:
1 Can coconut milk
3 T Yellow Curry Powder
2 T flour
1 T paprika
1 T ginger (out of fresh, so I'm slumming)
1 t garlic (see above note)
splash of soy sauce

Pour over chicken, cook one hour.
Add long cooking veggies,
tonight we've got half a pound of baby cut carrots,
and three small red potatoes.

Cook one hour, add short cooking veggies,
tonight, it's a couple of bell peppers.

check chicken and veggies for doneness, stir in no cook veggies, if using,
tonight, it's a half a bag of thawed peas.

Serve over long grain rice...

Yes, it took a Village to teach me to cook. Although, I clearly remember this being made with bone-in thighs and drumsticks, and I'm sure I've changed the sauce over the years, the smell takes me back to the good dinners that sweet lady used to fix us.

Man, that was one great lady.

I've been dying a slow, painful death without my homemade bread.

I love artisan bread in five minutes a day. You mix the dough one day, filled with healthful whole grains...and then simply dip into the dough for up to two weeks to make pizza, pastries, bagels, and the prettiest bread shapes you can buy at Wegmans, for pennies a loaf.

And I've been on a baking hiatus for over two months due to the propane situation.

 I adore the smell of fresh baked bread...the crack of the crust, the look on the kid's faces, the fact that the little angels will eat multiple loaves in one day, and  I know EXACTLY what's in it. Oh, it takes me back...
 
To me attempting to teach myself to bake bread. I grew up in the 80's, we had instant everything. When my mom wasn't ordering take out or serving melt-away meat, it was On-Cor meals with a boxed side dish and a can of veggies. We did not have fresh baked bread, we had giant loaves of a white, mushy, cake-like substance, with the nutritional value of styrofoam. That's what people ate.

Baking is one of the ways I cement my anti-Mom status a couple of times a week. Perhaps the lack of propane was contributing to my poor moods as well. Tough to bake when you're trying to make three months of propane last four.

Today, I feel better. Much, much better.

I had forgotten that I can make homemade English muffins on my electric griddle, no oven or propane required...Check it out!

(You do have to scroll past the blueberry muffins)

I love Alton Brown

All my single ladies...

Dear, sweet, single friends.

I'm so glad I'm done with the dating game. When I started out it was pretty simple. Man see woman. Woman see man. They talk, connect... grow old and have babies. With a couple of steps in between or reverse, who knows. The internet was just past the dot com boom, and never in a million years would I have gone date shopping on it.

(Mr. Lovinangels might tell a different story.)

Even with the whole face to face out in the open kind of dating, there was a certain safety net in being able to look someone in the eyes. You still have an 95 per cent chance of him being creepy beyond belief, but at least you can make a slightly more informed judgment.

So, fast forward ten years, and suddenly you can find any kind of date you want online. You can hook up for a night, a week, have an affair, get murdered on craigslist, whatever your pleasure..

Needless to say, dating scams are at an all time high.

The most recent, though, hurts my heart and makes my stomach sick.

The scammers are impersonating a US soldier. This is brought to you by the same people who send you the emails that say you won the lottery or had a long lost relative who left you more money than Bill Gates (you don't answer those, right??).

The scam goes something like this: Nice looking soldier scours dating site for lonely ladies, strikes up a conversation, plans a wedding, and gets the fiancee to pay for a plane ticket home.

Hold the phone.

A plane ticket home? Doesn't the us military usually at least return the soldier to the country of origin? I know I'm not looking through love struck eyes here, and lord knows, I've been duped a time or two, but I'd like to say I'd see through this one.

The crazy thing about it, (and probably why it works so well), is $1200 is not a huge amount of money for a long con. Which is probably why it works so well. No one is going to think somebody is going to spend six months working on them to make so little.

but honey, take it from Mama Angel. If the boy wants you to forward him money so he can meet you, take your computer and head to the local PD.

I'll never say I told you so.

Update on the Moving Budget.

Well, here we are, six weeks out, and I realized that while I've expounded on everything from gay marriage to hamburger helper, I haven't actually updated you on our moving budget.

I'm proud to say, I'm well on our way to coming up to the positive! (and no, I'm not using that very special fuzzy math known to politicians near and far).

We've sold several items on ebay, and our profits total over $145 dollars used. Now, if you remember, I had appliances and a new couch to purchase, a deposit to pay on electric service, a moving truck to pay for, and food for the moving party.

We've decreased our expenditures considerably by purchasing used appliances and a set of couches from my brother in law. That takes our out going budget down to a tenth of what it was... yay us! Those totalled $180, the truck is $150 up front, the electic is $200, and I think maybe $150 for food, beer, and soda for the day of.(The food budget is high, but that includes the cost of me possibly ordering pizza for everyone if I'm losing my mind that day.) So the whole budget is -680, I've added $140 in ebay sales, leaving me at -500. I'm sure I can make that up in the five or so yard sales it's going to take to get me through all this stuff!

What do you think? Can we do this?

How to Get Your Man to Cook...Every Day of the Week.

My Husband and I spent the better part of the first five years of our relationship fighting.

About chores.

I love to cook, love it... but I hated that the entire burden of nourishing our two bodies was placed squarely on my shoulders.

Literally. He would eat "snack stuff" all day long.

Snack stuff. I still don't know what that actually means. In my head, it means my daughter perched on the chair next to him, while they both pig out on chips and soda.

*sigh....or flat out *curse depending on my mood.

Later on, much later on, it occured to me that he and I...we don't speak the same language. I say, "you need to have lunch before I come home."

He hears, "there are five drive thrus in between where we have to go and home. Sweet!"

The constant nudging made me feel like a control freak. In reality, though, I didn't tell him what was in the kitchen, I expected him to go out, poke around, find something he wanted to eat, and fix it.

The male brain hears "Drive thru! Much easier. Saves five steps."

So, we've compromised. I no longer leave him to plan a meal for himself or the kids, and we cut our drive thru budget by 7/8ths. Now, it's a fun treat, not a panicked stop to fill bellies for lack of better planning.

And, it turns out, he is perfectly willing to cook. I used to joke that meant spaghetti or tacos, but the man is really accomplished at man food.
As in, grilled food.

Therein, lies my rescue. I simply pick up large packages of simple meat, and let him have his way with them on the grill. Usually that just means salt and pepper, which is perfect, because the rest of the week, the leftovers are easy to work with. Yesterday, he fired up the grill and made sausages and corn, and I'll take the leftovers today and make spaghetti, along with a breakfast casserole for tomorrow. (We leave for the beach bright and early.) I make french dips out of leftover steak, and grilled chicken just has so many uses it isn't funny. It doesn't require a lot of supervision from me when I have a stack of grilled meat to work with, and (I think) he enjoys it.

Win, win!

So, I guess he's not technically cooking every day of the week, but it feels that way since I have such a head start on things. Plus fighting with that grill is not my thing, and I've been more than guilty of ordering takeout on hot days to avoid turning the stove on.
Of course, the other option is marry someone who likes to cook all the time

Do you have a strategy to get your man to cook?

Today's Freebies and Other fun things

Well, I updated our computer virus protection software today with a free offer from McAfee. A free six month trial, which considering my propensity for freebie sites, updated virus protection is crucial. I also maintained my PC today, by cleaning up toolbars I don't use and other programs, and then running disk clean up and disk defragmenter. A healthy PC is a happy PC, and keeps my mailbox full of freebies!

This weeks freebies consisted of a nice package of dog food from purina one, a single paper towel (I kid you not) from bounty. A conservative bumper sticker with a request for a donation, the address labels that St. Judes sent around, and two giant packages of boxes from the post office to assist in my ebay ventures. I have over 900swagbucks so that's ten bucks worth of amazon gift cards for Christmas!

Speaking of Ebay, I'm giving it another two weeks. I've netted ten bucks out of two hours worth of work and a bunch of stress... I'm going to get all the expensive stuff I want on in the next two weeks while they are offering free insertion fees for any starting price auction style format, and then I think I'm going to retire my gavel in favor of the yard sale style format. I think the boxes may help, but I made mistakes in shipping prices on at least one item, and lost .45 of my total profit.

Speaking of freebies, my giveaway will end tonight when I get back from running errands, so you have time to click the "follow" button... and don't run away when it's done! I have more good, solid freebies coming your way!

What are your favorite online freebie sites

My Ugly Green Monster rears it's head, does yours?

Well, I'm off to the post office this morning, on the way to visit my dad. I sold not one, but two items on ebay this week, with at least two more to sell today. I'm up... ten bucks. It seems a little effort heavy, for only ten dollars, since I do have to run to the post office to ship, and I can't stop grabbing the computer to see how my auctions are doing. It's like waiting for water to boil. Ugh. Still, ladies who have been doing this longer than I have tell me the initial fascination fades. I hope so.

For father's day, MissAngelBaby took her first steps in front of her great-grandpa. And only her great grandpa. She did it multilple times in front of him, but I don't have an exact count, because the stubborn little thing waited till I turned around EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Still, if I was going to miss the event, I couldn't be happier that he got to see it.

This morning Mr. Lovinangels told me he has a friend who has a baby MissAngelBaby's age, that took five steps the other day. "He's ahead of her?"I practically shouted. My husband gave me an odd look. "Other people have smart babies, too, you know," he laughed at me.

Yes, but my baby is supposed to be the smartest and the best.

Do you ever fall into this trap? Pushing your child towards a milestone simply because her peers have reached it? I thought I was above such nonsense, but there it is. My gut reaction is, my baby should be first. Wow. I've got some soul searching to do. I should just be grateful my kids are progressing normally, that God has given me three healthy, beautiful girls.

Oh, well, perfection as a mother has not been achieved by anyone to date. I'll work on it.

In the meantime, crawling over stacks of boxes is getting to be quite an adventure. And I'm up ten bucks in my goal to make money, bringing it to -140. Yay me!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

This week I've decided to take my decision to make money off this move seriously. I've posted on ebay, and craigslist, and have more to put up. The yard sale is tentatively scheduled for the end of July, and I can say, I just can't wait. I'm seriously considering having a pre- Yard sale, so we can cart less across town to a better location.

Mail call this week was phenominal, I got two father's day cards just in time with my swagbucks, samples of pantene for curly hair, dove, and aveeno shampoo and conditioner, a Shrek poster evidently Mr. Lovinangels won in my name, a sample of crackerfuls, my free collage from snapfish, along with my 50 free prints and free 8X10, and have finished testing about half of my free sunscreen.(Which is a really great product by the way)

Today I'm ordering a free snikkekidy kids pack, here. I find most of my freebies, here.

Well, wish me high ebay auctions, I'm off to sell more stuff! Moving balance is currently -140 dollars!

Did you eat a beaver anal gland today?

Well, you may have if you ate some raspberry candy!!! Don't give me that look! How about a daily dose of sand or ingredients used in caulk? Well, if you've eaten at taco bell, you have!

Maybe some crushed bugs in your red candy? The best part of this coloring labeled carmine or carminic acid, is that it can be labeled "natural coloring." I guess that fairly accurate, since buds are natural. Crushed and boiled, they're just,well, yummy. And, evidently, PRETTY.

Ugh, the list goes on and on. Beef fat in hostess snacks (lard). Ok, I admit this is not a biggie for me, because I eat meat. But, when I was a vegetarian, I scarfed these down every week.

So-my freak out list for the week contains-
Taco Bell: I've been feeding my kids sand in the form of Silicone Dioxide.
Beaver Anal Glands: or
Castoreum used in perfumes, and raspberry candy.
Carmine- the red food coloring is used in lipsticks as well- so I've been smearing crushed red bugs on my mouth while spraying my neck with beaver anal glands and eating sand. Fabulous!!!!!

Three ingredients I didn't know about before. Taco bell dollar menu, I will miss you, but I can eat sand and msg for free.

What your 8% tip says to my boss

I love my job. I wait for my two shifts a week, and my little foray into the grown up world of employment. I love waiting on tables, as silly as that might sound. It's fun, it's active, and I get to socialize with a crazy amount of people in a pretty limited amount of time.

Personally, *I* don't mind how people tip. (Of course, *I* am not the average server.) I'm good, I know it, and whatever tip you give me is the most you would ever give. I would rather have a 12% table, than an empty table making zero percent. Of course, I would also rather have the table that's going to leave me 25%, as well.

The industry standard for average service right now is 18-20%. Sorry to break it to you in the cheap seats, but there it is. Personally, whatever you leave me, we're good. That's what you wanted to give me, and I'm happy you came in.

However, there is the matter of the credit card slip. It's the kryptonite in my happy go lucky work philosophy. It's the note that you just handed to my boss that says I suck. You see, my company holds me to the industry standard of 20%. Yes, they use those credit card slips to judge how well we take care of you. You had a good time. I know it, because you and laughed a lot, you had everything you asked for as fast as I could possibly acquire it, and then you said so on the way out the door. This is all great. And then you handed my boss a note that says I'm the worst server in the world. I know most people don't think like that, but there it is.

Here's your fix- either tip the industry standard, or carry a couple bucks in cash to give your server. Unless they really did suck, and then go ahead and slip in that permanently documented poor tip. They deserve it.

ah, the perils (and perks!!!) of blogging!

So...my email account got hacked this week. I'm sure it was the result of my forages into the world of "free stuff". Think about it, FREEEE STUFFFFF! Every shampoo sample saves me real money. Each little tube of lotion is one more dose I don't have to buy. I faithfully fill out the surveys they send me, of course, because I want them to continue to send me that FREEEEE STUFFFFF. Love it.

So, this week I learned about posting negativity online, without back up or proof. I had signed up for a four week review of neutragena sunscreen here and authorized use of my email to share. The next day, my dear father asks me what he should do with the five dozen viagra he ordered from the site I sent him. His wasn't the worst. Throughout the day, many of my male friends assured me that they didn't have a problem that required said drug, and a couple insuated that they'd prove it. It's all in good fun.

Ugh. No more email sharing.

Well, Matt from Tidal Labs was nice enough to email me and let me know the spammage wasn't them. *hangs head. That's what I get for ASS-uming. I still can't wait to review my sunscreen sample!

I also learned NOT to give my email address out to perfect strangers promising coupons. I did this on the site www.retailmenot.com. Someone posted that they would send you a link to a site that would give you two free boxes of a certain coffee for a certain maker I received for a certain holiday. After I read the offer he sent me, I realized it wouldn't work for me, so I just responded "thankyou" and moved on with my life. Evidently he didn't.

I received four emails from this individual. FOUR. The last one after he called the company AND RECEIVED INFORMATION ABOUT MY ACCOUNT from them. This is creeping me out beyond belief. I will post more information gladly, once the company responds to my email. WAAAAAYYYYYY TOO CREEPY.

So, my lessons learned this week may not be monetary in value, but they are treasured nonetheless.

Tomorrow we resume packing after box pick-up. For now, free stuff a-hunting and off to work I go!

The Myth of So-Called Deregulation

In 2010, the PP&L "rate caps" expired in PA. These kept the rates in PA at 1996 levels, with the promise of deregulation and competition in the future. Well, guess what? The future came yesterday. Along with a major headache and a waste of about four hours I'll never get back. And a savings of...$0!!!!!

The theory is, you are supposed to be able to shop for the lowest price in generation, encouraging competition and prices to drop...all things a good little conservative like me wants. Let the market regulate itself, right? Capitalism is something I firmly believe in.

Well, this time it bit me firmly in the bum. The prices went up, the demand stayed the same, and no new players came to the party to encourage this competition. So I've spent hours trying to find a lower price on our new electric service, only to find, there's only ONE electric service. The most expensive one on the block. *sigh*

So my beloved capitalism, I will wait patiently for you to work your magic. I will check, every two months, to see if another supplier is available for my energy. I will be relentless!!!!!

I will go back to packing, nursing my poor, aching head.

Found Money! Don't forget to request a refund for overpayed utilities!

Last night I had the strangest dream. I dreamt the "other" from Lost season 1 turned into a vampire, got invited into our home, and turned my nephew and my friends son into vampires. We locked ourselves in an upstairs room, and I lowered my wild child first to the ground. She took off, of course. I jumped out the window, landed on my feet, and ran after her. Having caught up to her, it appears that her hair has been cut off, and she has a large bite mark on her neck. I realize her hair is simply tied back, and am utterly relieved, and unconcerned with the large bruise on her neck, which isn't bleeding.

My good friends over at http://www.cafemom.com/ seem to think it means that I'm nervous about our upcoming move, but feel that I can handle it. I like that.

Yesterday, it occurred to me that we needed to order propane for our stove. You can only purchase it a full tank at a time, and it takes me 4-5 months to use it up. The move is 85 days away. Either I can bake like mad, or lose about $70 in propane, or try to stretch what I have an extra, say, 24 days. I spent the majority of the afternoon pondering solutions, since my gas company was closed.

I called first thing this morning-and was told to go ahead and fill it, all I have to do is request a refund. This is GREAT news, since I LOVE to bake our bread, but I may just try to stretch it out anyway, since it's hot out and requesting a refund is one more thing I'll have to remember to do in the post move mess. However, the lady at the gas company said many people NEVER leave an address to forward a refund check to, so I'm counting this check as a drop in the bucket toward my goal of making money.
Score one for the cheap girl.


Did you remember to check for overpaid utilities on your last move?

Day 2: One box and one bag from each room per day.

Let me tell you, I have been a ball of fire today! I'm not even through my second cup of coffee, and I've gotten a whole SLEW of moving goodness accomplished. Yippee for me! My goal is to pack up one box for a yard sale, and one bag for either trash, freecycle, or donation per room per day. I've completed the goal for two rooms already! Of course, my goal to make money is being severely compromised by the fact that my moving budget is currently -$150. I'm hoping to change that by adding some goodies to craigslist later today. We have a nice brass coat rack I can't see moving, a baby carrier Miss AngelBaby outgrew three minutes after she was born, and an excersaucer that can go on. I'm betting these will fetch far more dough on Craigslist than at the yard sale, so I've got a busy day ahead of me! Wish me money!

And I digress...What's for dinner?

One day, many years ago, when Mr. Lovinangels and I were young, and broke, and hungry, I went into the kitchen to see about some food. I had exactly five things in my refrigerator- italian sausage, cheddar cheese, milk, potatoes, and beer.
Did someone say soup?

The recipe has morphed, time and time again, as we quickly learned never to be THAT broke, and that planning meals is a positive thing. This is the final product, the one I send to potlucks, etc.
I have to say, this is the one thing my family has asked for over and over. It's not a fussy recipe, either, as long as you follow the basic theory. Of course, you could do it without the sausage, or even the beer, but why would you want to?

4 tbsp butter or oil
1/2 C flour
1 capful of cajun seasoning.
1 lb bulk sausage, or remove sausage from casings.
half a bag of hash browns o' brian
1 quart of chicken broth
1 quart of water
1 bottle good quality dark beer (if you are insisting upon using light, please find a different recipe)
1 good couple of glugs of milk.
half a pound of nice, white, sharp cheddar, shredded.

Melt the butter or heat the oil in the soup pot, add sausage, breaking up with wooden spoon, until cooked. Add flour and continue stirring, until a blonde roux has formed around the sausage.

Shut off the heat if you have a gas stove, and pour in the beer, stirring constantly. Turn heat back on and stir, stir, stir, until the beer begins to thicken.
add the hash browns, seasoning, stock, and as much of the water as you need to just cover the hashbrowns, then pour in the milk, just enough to color it creamy. Continue stirring until it's nice and thick, and taste. Season with salt and pepper and lower heat, to a nice simmer. Now, begin adding the cheese, slowly, one handful at a time, allowing each handful to melt almost completely before adding the next. Taste after the third handful, and adjust seasonings. You can add all the cheese or a portion, and then let it set for a couple of minutes so you don't burn the roof of your mouth off.
Serve with more shredded cheese to pass.