Thursday and Friday, not much going on

The days feel like they have been passing so fast. Seems like I don't have time to do anything, but I think it's just that I am too tired. Thursday night Jeremy made stir fry for dinner, and I made a loaf of banana bread when I got home. I accidentally doubled the butter in it. I also added walnuts. It doesn't really taste different from usual. It's very moist, but that's not unusual.

Jeremy also bought a bag of fun size Hersheys candy corn flavored candy bars for $2.50, and caramel apple flavored candy corn for $1.39. The candy bars had this,weird sort of passion fruit aftertaste. I am not sure what to make of that.

On Thursday night Winter got a call from her dad, who told her that her new baby sister had been born. Winter is very excited about that!

Friday, Winter skipped art class as she wasn't feeling well. When I got home from work I made soft tacos with tortillas, some of the pre-cooked spicy beef, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, and taco sauce.

Thursday:

Breakfast: whole wheat bagel with cream cheese
Lunch: leftover broccoli cheese soup from the freezer, honeycrisp apple, lemon flavored Greek yogurt
Dinner: stir fry with chicken, broccoli, carrots, brown rice, and teriyaki sauce
Snacks/desserts: Halloween candy, banana bread
Beverages: water

Friday:

Breakfast: banana bread
Lunch: leftover chili with jack cheese, honeycrisp apple
Dinner: beef soft taco
Snacks/desserts: Halloween candy, Butterfinger ice cream
Beverages: water

Yesterday was such a bust

Although we have all kinds of food in the house, it is mostly just unprepared ingredients. Combined with the fact that I waited too long to get ready for work yesterday, I woefully under packed my food for the day. The result of this was that by the time I got off work at 7:00pm at the airport I was ravenous. I got a Big Fish combo at Burger King for $6.34 and large chocolate frozen yogurt for $5.25.

When I got home I found that Winter had gotten a container of pepperoni soup from the freezer, and heated it up. She also cooked a couple more cups of pasta to add to it, so it wasn't really soup anymore. I ate a bowl of that too.

Breakfast: chocolate strawberry flavored Greek yogurt
Lunch: peanut butter and jelly sandwich, apple
Dinner: BK Big Fish sandwich, small fries, leftover pepperoni soup with added pasta
Snacks/desserts: chocolate frozen yogurt
Beverages: water, Sprite mixed with lemonade

I could have easily spent more, so I'll just call it a partial fail. I left really early yesterday because I was doing a usability study at the Julep Beauty headquarters for their new app. I worked there for five years as a manicurist, and still keep in touch with many of the current employees. For my troubles I got a free tote bag with a bottle of nail polish remover, a bottle of hand cream, two nail colors, a lip gloss, a glass nail file, and a cuticle oil. I do like their products, and still purchase a lot of them.

Their monthly subscription box is pretty cool. Since they launched the option to be able to customize your box each month I haven't skipped a single month. I have hundreds of nail polishes at this point, so I only go for the skin care and makeup items now though. I've also gotten the last few boxes for free as some of my orders have been late or messed up recently, and they gave me a bunch of rewards points for my troubles. Not complaining. I'd have paid for them anyway.

First day back with no food in the house

I didn't have time to grocery shop until after my acupuncture appointment last night, which was right after work, so I didn't get home until 8:30. We had to make do with whatever food was still in the house from before we left.

I packed Winter a lunch with broccoli florets, honey mustard pretzels from the airplane ride, a tube of strawberry Greek yogurt from the freezer, and a wrap made with ham, provolone, and mustard on a flour tortilla.

I also made chili in the crock pot, which was interesting since we were out of so many things I use to make chili. It had half a lb of black beans, two 6 oz. packages of pre-cooked spicy ground beef, 3 7 oz boxes of tomatoes sauce, the rest of the garlic and a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. Jeremy said he'd run to the store if it still needed seasoning. It actually turned out pretty good, and didn't need anything added. It wasn't as thick as usual, but the flavors were fine.

I also wound up buying a banana and a muffin for $3.48 at Starbucks to tide me over.

Breakfast: smoothie made with milk, frozen banana, peanut butter, and a squeeze of honey
Lunch: banana, two tubes of Greek yogurt from the freezer, smoked turkey and cream cheese rolled up in a tortilla
Dinner: chili with shredded hot pepper jack cheese
Snacks/desserts: cranberry apple bran muffin, Butterfinger ice cream
Beverages: water

I went to QFC after my appointment to replenish the fridge and pantry. We'll try to get to Grocery Outlet soon for the things we always get there as well, like lunch meat and canned tomatoes.

Butterfinger ice cream $2.99
1/2 gal 2% milk $1.99
Whipped cream cheese $1.79
5 lbs flour $2.69
Won ton wrappers (RFQS) $1.49
Gourmet peppercorns $7.56
Butterscotch chips $2.99
Dried onion flakes $1.60
8 oz sour cream $1.39
12 oz. tomato penne $1.00
12 oz. mini rotini with fiber $1.00
Red velvet cake mix $1.50
1 lb unsalted butter $3.99
4 flavored Greek yogurts ($1.00 each) $4.00
5.87 lbs honeycrisp apples $14.62
1 lb trimmed radishes (RFQS) $.99
1 cucumber $.99
.10 lb bulk walnuts $1.00
Loaf of potato bread $3.00
Six whole wheat bagels $2.50
Red leaf lettuce $1.79
Small box of red wine $2.99

Total $63.86

Texas

We are currently headed back to Seattle from the DFW airport. We left right before seven am on Saturday morning. We got breakfast burritos at Q'doba in Seattle. We got in to Texas around noon, but had to wait until 3:30 to be picked up due to some miscommunication earlier. We went to TGIFriday's at DFW, and Haagen Dazs, a little later. We got to my grandma's house about an hour before dinner (or "supper" as they say in the South). For supper we had brisket, mashed potatoes, peas, corn on the cob, sweet potatoes, and salad.

I had two aunts, two uncles, two cousins, and a second cousin there. My grandma an  her husband live on a small farm with cows. One of their cats had just had kittens, and there were six of them. There were also a few younger cats who were larger than the new kittens, but smaller than the adults. And one of their cows had a calf the day before we arrived.

Sunday I had a waffle shaped like Texas, and a fried egg for breakfast. For lunch we had cheeseburgers and tater tots. For dinner we had spaghetti and salad. I had some grapes and orange juice between meals, and after dinner we ate some home made ice cream that was in the freezer. Last night there was a huge thunder storm with lightening. The cats stayed in the barn and kept dry.

This morning we had biscuits and gravy for breakfast, and chicken and dumplings with salad for lunch. Right after lunch we left for the airport. Our flight was delayed for an hour, so we ate dinner at a place in DFW called Tequilarila. I had shrimp tacos with rice and beans. We went back to Haagen Dazs after dinner.

We should be getting back to Seattle around 10:45, and will be glad to get home. Jeremy misses his cats. It has been a long three days.

Friday recap

Friday I worked until seven, and then had to wait until Winter got out of her art class at 9:30. We were running low on food at home, so I brought lunch with me, but nothing for dinner. I also had to meet up with our housesitter to get him a key.

I went to Charlie's on Broadway for their Friday night special. It is fish and chips for $6.00. After tax and tip it was $9.57. I still had an hour after that, so I went to Roy Street Coffee and bought a hot chocolate for a total of $3.56. It was really good, and I am fairly certain it is not low in calories. After picking Winter up for class we stopped at Menchie's where I had a $5 reward on my loyalty card. I was able to get frozen yogurt for both of us for $2.15.

After we got home around 10 we had to pack and finish cleaning up the house. I finally got to bed around midnight, and we had to get up at 4 am the next day.

Breakfast: lime flavored Mediterranean yogurt
Lunch: leftover broccoli cheese and potato soup, banana, blueberry flavored Greek yogurt
Dinner: fish and chips
Snacks/desserts: pumpkin frozen yogurt with caramel and peanuts
Beverages: hot chocolate, water

Getting my appetite back

Finally feeling pretty recovered from this days-long hangover. I should probably not have more than two drinks in the future. This is not the first time I have told myself that.

We are leaving super early Saturday morning for Texas, so our recent goal has been to eat up as much non-frozen leftovers and things that are close to expiring as we can. That way we have fewer dishes to wash as well. Here is what I ate Wednesday:

Breakfast: lime flavored Mediterranean yogurt, Smores cereal with milk
Lunch: banana, bagel with whipped cream cheese and smoked Turkey
Dinner: left over pasta with broccoli and garlic cheese sauce
Snacks/desserts: cupcake, molasses cookie ( purchased at the airport for $1.72)
Beverages: water

Yesterday I woke up with a massive headache. I had to walk to the King County Metro customer service center because I lost my transit card on the way home Wednesday night, and I had to have it shut off and replaced. Unfortunately whoever found it had  already used about $5 worth of the credit on it. After that I decided I needed some caffeine and something to eat to get rid of the nausea and headache I was experiencing. I had taken Aleve, which did nothing. I stopped at Starbucks for an iced coffee and a breakfast sandwich. I spent $5.69 there.

After work Jeremy met me at work and we went to the store. He said that Winter had told him we needed milk (we got a pint since we're leaving so soon), and frosting (spoiler alert: we did not need frosting). I also had a coupon loaded to my QFC card for a ten pack of free Mission soft taco tortillas. They had offered it for national taco day. So we got those too. We spent $3.28.

Breakfast: Starbucks breakfast sandwich
Lunch: frozen turkey and potato entree, strawberry flavored Greek yogurt
Dinner: cavatappi pasta with leftover turkey sausage and tomato pasta sauce
Snacks/desserts: cupcakes, last caramel apple Oreo
Beverages: iced coffee with half and half and two sugars, water

Grocery and food purchases up to this point

Jeremy and Winter saved all the receipts from food purchases while I was gone, as well as from when he went to the store yesterday. Here is what they bought.

Subway: $16.96

Bartell's Drugs:

2 Chicken Ramen packets ($.25 each) $.50
1 doz eggs $2.69
Hot cocoa mix $.99

Total $4.18

Grocery Outlet:

3 boxes of Krave Smores cereal ($.97 each)  $2.91
3 lime flavored Mediterranean yogurts 3/$1.00
8 oz garlic jack cheese $1.79
2 packages of six bagels ($1.99 each) $3.98
2 Energy drinks ($1.49 each) $2.98
14 6oz. pouches of pre-cooked beef ($.99 each) $13.86
6 Crystal Light liquid drink mix ($.99 each) $5.94
2 2.5 lb bags of frozen chicken tenderloin ($6.99 each) $13.98
1 box of pretzel thins $1.69
8 oz pepper jack cheese $1.79
Family size can chicken noodle soup $1.49
2 bottle BBQ sauce ($.99 each) $1.98
1 cucumber $.79
22 oz. Deli honey ham $3.49

Total: $57.67

QFC:

9 protein bars ($1.00 each) $9.00
Sugar free strawberry sparkling water $1.00
1.84 lbs Bananas $1.27
2 lbs carrots $1.29
1.21 lbs broccoli $1.80

Total: $14.36

I am also going to count the second package of caramel apple Oreos I bought at Target in San Diego to bring back home. They were $2.84.

Yesterday I had acupuncture right after work, so I got home around 7:30. Jeremy made cavatappi pasta with broccoli and a garlic cheese sauce. He added sour cream to the sauce because he found it to be super garlicky. I thought it tasted good. I was still feeling kind of hung over yesterday, and didn't eat a whole lot.

Breakfast: lime Mediterranean yogurt
Lunch: honeycrisp apple, granola bars
Dinner: pasta with broccoli and garlic cheese sauce
Snacks: cupcake (made by Winter), cookies
Beverages: water

• My dad texted me yesterday morning. I guess my mom got sick and they had to miss their flight to Texas. It would cost them too much to reschedule for later this week, so they won't be able to be there. :(