Wordless Wednesday - Political Edition

One of my favorite souvenirs from last year's Chicago visit amidst the Great Recession.

Happy Hump Day.

B-I-N-G-O

Last night we headed down to BAO Bingo. One of my best friends husbands was the caller, so we went to support his vocal skills and hopefully win a little cash in the process. It's quite a, um, diverse group. It always makes for an interesting start to the work week.

For a $20 donation, you get two sets of cards, and a paper cup for your drink of choice.

Doesn't everyone drink their cab out of a paper cup? Everyone at Bingo does.

Optimistic (at this point) about our chances at winning!

Once we realized that wasn't going to happen, you just have to enjoy a good time with some props.

Until the end. At which point I was teased with a nearly winning card. O-64. I hope we meet again.

I thought we would at least be in our late 90's before we passed time with Bingo. But it's a good time for a good cause. Maybe next month is my lucky month...

Somebody call Parker Brothers

Saturday night we headed to some friends for game night. The food was delicious, the competition fierce. I am ridiculously, Monica Gellar-ish competitive prefer to win. There was a heated debate discussion about whether you still get the point in Catch Phrase if your team correctly guesses but a member of your team is still holding the buzzer. The rules clearly state that I am right. Any one know the answer to this? Bueller? We decided Parker Brother's needed a hotline. Maybe it was a joke, but I thought it was brilliant.

Hostess with the Mostess made an amazing spread, and after we stuffed ourselves, it was time to get our game on. Although I hate to admit it, the girls didn't come away victorious. Maybe next time. Here's some proof we were winning at one point.

Team One Wins! In case you can't read it. That would be Mrs. Smith in the background with her serious camera. She also brought some delicious pork loin.

Name that show -

Why do you keep taking pictures?

I was tasked with bringing dessert, so I went to a classic standby, the chocolate chip poundcake. It sweetened the bitterness of defeat. I got the recipe from a good friend at work.

Gather together your ingredients.

1 box of yellow cake mix
1 box of instant choc. pudding
¾ cup oil
4 eggs
8 oz sour cream
12 oz of choc. chips

Mix the first five ingredients together, then fold in chocolate chips. Pour in a bunt pan.

Bake on 325 for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. You can serve it with ice cream, strawberries, powdered sugar, or just plain. Plain delicious, that is.

Confession: I don't own a sifter.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Saturday morning at the Pub

While this Pub may not serve bloody marys or mimosas, I still love to visit. I've talked frequently about budgeting and most recently, couponing, so I thought I would document a Publix visit. This wasn't my best ever. I think the goal is to save more than you spend, but I got lot of good stuff, and probably won't have to shop next week, except to pick up the really great deals.

This week I bought $96. 05 worth of groceries for $56.66 for a savings of 41%. I came through this week with a picture:

2 boxes Fiber One
1 box yellow cake mix (for a recipe I'll have to share later this week)
1 bottle Berio Olive Oil
1 Minute Brown rice
2 boxes Playtex tampons
2 jars spaghetti sauce
1 carton Publix eggs
1 package Publix sharp cheddar
1 package celery
1 package zucchini squash
1 package yellow squash
1 tomato
1 publix sour cream
.87 lbs bananas
2 softsoap
1 jello pudding
1 chicken sausage
1 Oscar meyer shaved turkey breast
1 pack Perdue perfect portion chicken
1 pack chocolate chips
2 starbucks ice cream
1 tub Sabra classic hummus

There's always a balance to be found between what will keep your wallet fat, and what will make your thighs fat.

And a couple side notes - as I was going through my receipt, I realized I bought the wrong fiber one bars. I bought the pound package, and that wasn't what was BOGO. I guess I just really wanted to be regular. Thankfully, I'm stocked up on toilet paper.

I'll be taking one of those $8 boxes back making my total $48 or 44%, thank you very much.

I know some people think all this clipping and shopping is a lot of trouble and only saves you a few cents, but my coupons alone saved me $18. For me, it's totally worth the time I put into it. Time to go buy some Sunday papers!

Five Reasons

Not that I need a reason to get excited because it's Friday, but this particular Friday is a really good one. Here's why.

1. I got to run with this guy this morning. A rare treat, since you have to run in the mornings in this heat. Was worth getting up a little earlier and driving a little farther. And I caught every green light on the way home. It's the little things some days.

2. Four times a year there are five Fridays in a month. Two of those four means an extra paycheck that month. And not only 'extra' but no insurance, parking deck fees, etc. Oh happy day. I can pretend for a minute I didn't already spend this money yesterday on car maintenance. It's my blog.

3. Lots of good stuff on the agenda this weekend. For starters, a good friend of ours is in town and we are looking forward to kicking back and hanging out tonight after a busy week. Namath will be excited to see his Uncle D. Or he'll totally ignore us all and sleep under the bed. Time will tell.

4. Today marks three months. Or 92 days. Not that anyone is counting. Getting the invitation proofs this morning really added to my excitement. Inappropriate monogram or not, I loved them.

5. Good Publix trip on the agenda - and got a $5/30 coupon in the mail yesterday. I repeat - it's the little things some days. I'll attempt to take a picture, but I can't make you any promises.

Pages

While my reading this summer may not have improved, I promise I do read books with substance from time to time. For proof, here's a few of my favorites, as it relates to my life right now. *

LOVE this book. A good friend at work let me borrow this in a darker day a few years ago and it truly changed the way I looked at relationships. I think it gives you great perspective of the heavy responsibility of meeting your partners needs and its repurcussions, especially transitioning from dating to marriage. It almost made me a little mad, until I realized it was absolutely right and true. There's a reason they say marriage is hard work. Because its hard work.

Note - my copy was not bright pink.

About the same time, I read this book. They really compliment each other so well. If you don't know what your love language is, it's high time you find out. More importantly, what your partners love language is. Who doesn't want to find the most effective way to make your partner feel that you love and appreciate them? I'm all about being effecient.

Not too much later, I read this cover to cover. I won't lie. It made me feel like a total failure. But, you have to start somewhere, right? I'm not a total Dave Ramsey disciple. If you open my wallet, you'll find credit cards. And sometimes, I put stuff on them. Dave would die. But I have a plan to pay them off by the end of the month, and I'll thank Dave for that. It instilled an aversion to debt, motivation to save and plan for large expenses and purchases and made me a big believer in saving for retirement. (We aren't getting any younger, people). I've read a lot of personal finance books since then, but I'll say this one had the most profound effect.

There you have it. Now that I've proven I do a little more than watch bad TV and read hot pink books, am I allowed to ask who else is super excited about tonights new episode of Bethenny Getting Married?

*If you are marrying me in three months, these might be applicable to your life as well.

Wordless Wednesday

Thirty eight days.