March wrap up, and April budget

Blogging regularly is getting kind of hard. I've been going to the gym five times a week for about an hour each time, and that takes up a lot of what little free time I have. I'll keep doing what I can.

Tuesday was the last day of March. We ended the month at $463, which is $2 under budget. I made whole wheat macaroni and cheese with hot pepper jack and cheddar with Greek yogurt added to the sauce, and red and green bell peppers for dinner.

For a the Month of April our budget will be $410 because Winter will be gone for 8 days for Spring Break. Wednesday Jeremy and I went to Grocery Outlet. We spent $66. We bought another bag of whole wheat pasta, a pound of dates, sliced Monterey jack cheese, herb goat cheese, a quart of plain Greek yogurt, almond milk, whole grain tortillas, two bags of frozen turkey burgers, salsa, two small bag of sprouted whole wheat flour, some sparkling water and energy drinks, tofu, cauliflower, Oreos, two boxes of cereal and cereal bars, frozen strawberries, three dark chocolate oranges, hard boiled eggs, and some other stuff.

For dinner on Wednesday I made thin whole wheat spaghetti, tofu, bell pepper, and cauliflower sauteed in olive oil, and peanut sauce.

Thursday I had leftovers for lunch and dinner, and Jeremy and I went to the gym. We also spent $11 at Yogurtland after I got off work, and spent $18 at QFC on apples, bananas, carrots, organic whole grain bread, and bagel thins.

Breakfast: two scramble eggs with hot pepper jack in a whole grain tortilla
Lunch: leftover tofu, veggies, and noodles with peanut sauce
Dinner: leftover chicken and lung bean deal with plain Greek yogurt
Snacks/desserts: homemade cranberry apple walnut granola bars, plain frozen yogurt with strawberries and mango
Beverages: water, and lemon lime sparkling water

Second hand gift card fuckery

So Winter and I went to Comic Con on Sunday. I had bought a $50 gift card from Raise.com for Subway (of which we had used $15 in January) and we planned to have lunch at Subway since there is one in the convention center. But when I went to use it I was told it had a zero balance. I had to use another form of payment. When I got home I did some detective work and found out that evidently the person who sold it had registered the card with Subway immediately after purchase, sold it, and then reported it lost or stolen. As such, the remaining balance was removed from the card.

I sent a screen shot of the evidence to Raise, and Monday morning I got a call from them saying they were refunding the amount I had paid for the card, which was $43.50. I am really mad that this person did this, and I hope Raise is able to recover the funds from that seller. They did the right thing, and I am happy to keep buying gift cards through them, but in the future I will be registering any cards I receive (which are able to be registered) immediately upon receipt.

The Con was fun, I guess, in as much as being in a huge crowd of people can be fun. Winter dressed up as Louise and I dressed up as Tina from Bob's Burgers. Quite a few people took pics of us, though I haven't seen any come up on Instagram yet.

After the convention I made soup for dinner, and then Jeremy and I went for a walk. They were having a good sale at QFC, so we decided to stock up on a few things. We got two boxes of whole wheat crackers, three boxes of whole wheat pasta, shredded cheese, frozen blackberries, reduced fat cream cheese, a lemon flavored Noosa yogurt (we plan to split it, and luckily Winter hates yogurt), and a box of cereal. Jeremy also got a diet Arnold Palmer drink. We spent about $18.

Here is what I ate Sunday:

Breakfast: smoothie made with almond milk, plain yogurt, banana, strawberry, blueberry and honey (was really good)
Lunch: six inch turkey sub on whole grain bread with lettuce, tomato, olives, oil, and vinegar (was kind of boring)
Dinner: chicken soup with carrots, celery, quinoa and wild rice blend and brown rice
Snacks/desserts: lemon ALT bar, blackberry yonanas
Beverages: water

Monday I had a busy day at work. Bought three Fage plain Greek yogurts on the way home for $3.

Breakfast: two lemon ALT bars
Lunch: leftover chicken rice soup, turkey and herb goat cheese sandwich with lettuce on GF bread
Dinner: leftover chicken deal with plain yogurt
Snacks/desserts: Easter candy at work (ugh again), wheat thins with PB and a drizzle of honey
Beverages: water

$38 left

This should go pretty easily. Since my last post I have spent $6 on bananas, milk, a bottle of Sprite, and a can of cream soda Zevia from the reduced for quick sale section. Winter liked it. I thought it was merely ok.

Tomorrow Winter and I are going to the Emerald City Comic-Con, and we finished with our costumes around 1 in the morning. I am crabby. have a Subway gift card purchased from Raise a while back, and there is a Subway in the convention center, so we'll go there for lunch. I think I will go ahead and start eating whole wheat a couple days early because salads at Subway are sad and wrong. I am sure their whole grain bread is processed as heck, but it will have to do. Winter wants to go see a panel with a couple of the actresses from Firefly, and stop at Matthew Inman's booth. Other than that we have nothing specific planned.

I made some mung bean deal with chicken a few nights ago that turned out good. Had leftovers for lunch a couple of days. Tonight I just made a sandwich. There are way too many dirty dishes. The con ends at 5 tomorrow, and we are a five minute walk from the convention center, so I will have plenty of time to wash dishes and make dinner when I get home. Was thinking I might do a soup in the crock pot or something. We'll see how early I wake up tomorrow. Since I am old now, I would guess I will likely wake up the same time I always do.

Breakfast: plain yogurt with honey and a sliced banana
Lunch: leftover chicken and mung bean deal with plain yogurt, two clementines
Dinner: sandwich with buffalo style deli chicken, avocado, and cheddar cheese, herb goat cheese and GF flax crackers
Snacks/desserts: dark orange chocolate, some Easter candy at work (ugh)
Beverages: water