Eschewing Shopping!

Give up shopping for the year???

This sounds very extreme, so I will clarify. My main New Year's Resolution for 2012 is to continue my efforts in cutting back - which I've been doing for the last 6 or so months already. I've challenged myself to take this to the next level. (Along with increasing my reading load.)

I took a substantial cut in relocating to accomplish my goal (which I did) of being in a good school district closer to home to complete my practicum in Fall. It's been a bit of an adjustment for me, and I knew I would make sacrifices going into this. I left a job that demanded so much of my time to take on a new challenge with better hours. When I am feeling shorthanded, I remind myself that I do have more freedom.

I think I am doing pretty well holding down my little fort on my own. I have taken advantage of couponing, subscribed to some helpful money saving Twitter accounts and used my "librarianship" skills to research the best deals out there.

Giving up "shopping" for me does not represent the extreme of trading in my car for a bicycle and pioneering a community bartering system. We all know this is not me! It is all about "scaling back," and avoiding frivolous shopping - where a 10-minute Target run for a single item turns into 1-hour and 5 items later.

I put my resolution to the test in January. I aimed for one main grocery store trip and one main drug store run for the month in which all items purchased had to be a combination of sales and/or coupons.

A single drugstore trip was substantial this month, and I only picked up a few detergents and deodorants (less than $10). I store extra household/health items in a rubbermaid bin from previous couponing. For instance, if I find a deal to get Colgate toothpaste for around 50 cents a tube, I buy a couple for my stockpile. This way I never run out and always pay the best prices for name brand goods.

The single grocery trip was not realistic in January. If I did very little baking or cooking, then this could work but that's not the case. I go through butter, cream cheese, sugar, flour, etc. It also fluctuates from month to month depending on the occasions for baking that occur.

I made my one main trip to Kroger at the beginning of the month. I made an additional trip near the end of the month to Publix to replenish staples (i.e. milk, fruit, bread, etc.). But it wasn't a budget busting trip either. Additionally, my fave Food Lion stores here went out of business. I made a trip on the day that their final inventory went 75% and picked up some cooking spices and baking ingredients for dirt cheap.

I was really proud of myself with "frivolous" shopping which is where it can really add up. I've decided to set aside one time (any day of my choice) each month when I can make purchases that are not considered necessities. That means no online shopping and avoiding malls and Targets and WalMarts during the other 30ish days. (Gifts from my mom do not count, of course! She treated me to a lovely cardigan from The Loft over the weekend!)

I decided to save my day in January until the end of the month. I found that there were certain items I'd had in mind all month that I selected carefully (eliminating impulse buys): a pair of jeans, a cape I've been eying since November that went 60%, adorable Valentine cards that I designed online using a $25 coupon code...and the piece de la resistance, a Nook (which will also promote my other resolution to expand my reading horizons.

I had been researching refurbished Nooks, plus I had 2 large gift cards from my Aunt and Uncle from birthday and Christmas that I had been sitting on. I highly recommend looking into refurbished products when researching deals. These items undergo extensive testing and are highly scrutinized before ever making it to a retail store. The outer casings are all shiny and new, with revamped inner workings. Look for manufacturer refurbished products, because these will include full warranties and arrive in a pristine, factory sealed box/packaging.

My new camel cape with brown leather trim that's sure to be a classic which I am excited about nabbing. It's been marked down to $36 from $125 (I also used a 15% coupon code) at JCP.

Sweeten up January with Peppermint Frozen Yogurt

This afternoon I had planned to work on a little project outside involving paint, but unfortunately my humid, tornado weather is stirring up these clouds and add heavy rains and hail since snapping this view off my back porch a little bit ago. Perhaps tomorrow I can get on it. Until then, I thought I'd share my first batch of yogurt with my new Cuisinart.


I have never made homemade yogurt before, and it has been years and years since I've participated in the making of ice cream either. My grandparents always made homemade peach ice cream during summers when I was a kid. I can remember assisting by pouring the box of rock salt into the outer section of their ice cream maker. This machine is so compact that the days of rock salt are long gone.

I chose Peppermint as the frozen yogurt flavor, because I had a lot of candy canes left over from Christmas. I had quite a few mini-canes plus several standard candy canes and a few of the peppermint soft candies. I am not a big hard candy person, and I would never consume these otherwise.

Here is a recipe I found for Peppermint Frozen Yogurt through a site called YumYum.

Peppermint Stick Frozen Yogurt

INGREDIENTS:
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
2 eggs
1/2 cup whipping cream
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup crushed peppermint candy
2 cups PLAIN yogurt
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp light corn syrup


I had a few ingredients at home, and I picked up the rest at Kroger. As you can see, I bought the store brand as Kroger was having a big sale on their private label products. I think I calculated I had about $10 in the ingredients, but the recipe only calls for a small amount of some of these which have a lengthy shelf life. I will be able to make future batches without having to pick up as much now.

First I inventoried my ingredients versus the recipe. I realized that the recipe called for 2 cups of plain yogurt, but I only had purchased one. I resorted to my refrigerator, where I had some coconut yogurts that I take to work as a snack. Since coconut yogurt has a mild flavor, I crossed my fingers that it would not affect the flavor of my frozen yogurt (and it did not).


Before I started anything, I opened all of my peppermint candy and placed it into one quart-sized Ziploc bag. I took a small hammer from my tool box and pounded the candies through the Ziploc bag onto my cutting board. Some pieces ground up to almost a powdery consistency while others remained in very small chunks. (It's a great way to get out any aggressions too!)


The first step of the recipe is to pour the milk (1/2 cup) into a saucepan on low heat and then sprinkle one packet of the unflavored gelatin over the milk. I used 1% since the recipe did not specify that it had to be whole milk. This worked beautifully as would whole milk. I was just cutting out fat and calories.

I stirred the above 2 ingredients for just a few minutes until it had pretty much dissolved for me. Then I set it on a cool burner to allow it to cool down.

In my mixer on medium speed:
I beat the 2 eggs until thick.
I beat in the corn syrup.
I beat in the milk+gelatin mixture from my skillet.
I beat in the yogurt.
I beat in the ground up peppermint candies.
I beat in the lemon juice.
I beat in the whipping cream (whisk these a few hard strokes before adding).


At this point I had a smooth pale pink mixture with the residue of peppermint candy to give the final product a little texture and subtle crunch. I did not add food coloring. The red color from the peppermints created this ideal shade of pink (you can see in the photos below) once it was completely mixed in my Kitchenaid mixer.

I bypassed the recipe steps that explain how you can make the frozen yogurt by hand without a yogurt machine. If you don't have the machine, you can follow steps #7-11 HERE. (It is about a 4-hour process without the machine).

I removed the stainless bowl for my yogurt machine that had remained in my freezer up until this very step. I wanted it to be as optimally cold as possible to work its magic. I placed the stainless bowl in my freezer 2 nights before making my frozen yogurt, based on the recommendation in my manual.

I put the stainless bowl into the base of the yogurt maker. I poured my mixture from the mixing bowl into the stainless bowl. I could see the mixture already becoming visibly hardened. I placed the machine's plastic paddle down into the mixture. I secured the plastic cover making sure I locked it onto place.

I plugged in my machine, pressed the power button and watched it work its magic. This was so quick, less than 15 minutes. Below are pictures of the mixture's consistency from start to finish.

At the end, it was perfection. I was so pleased with just how tasty it turned out and how well the entire process flowed for me. Once it was complete and I had enjoyed a scoop, I transferred all of it to a plastic container with an air tight lid which I stored in my freezer. I would say it made enough for about 5-6 servings (2 average-sized scoops). I figured up each serving to have less than 5 grams of fat and approximately 200 calories.

I'm thinking of trying a berry flavor the next time.

Just January

Well, I don't know about y'all, but the theme of my week (besides busy) is paying bills and surfing the Higher Ed job site for any sort of online, part-time instructional technology teaching positions (as a side gig)...seems everyone is looking for Business or Literature teachers instead.

My first 101 class met Wednesday morning, and it went pretty smoothly. My students were just so quiet, and I could not get them to say hardly anything. The first day is a bit overwhelming for them, because this is an orientation class and there are tons of handouts and things to take in. I even made french vanilla coffee with toppings for them, but most of them acted too shy to partake. What a vast difference from observing HS students during my practicum in Fall! They would've knocked each other over to get to a coffee bar, and I would have had a few discipline problems to boot! So I can't complain, all in all.

I also made a couple of awesome bulletin boards at work: one for the office on careers and one for the college to promote campus organizations. I received a lot of positive feedback on these. Sometimes I feel like a working machine.

It's been so warm and humid here that I am loving the cooler temps and gusty winds tonight. I just wish we had a few snowflakes in our forecast too -- jealous of those northwesterners and their blankets of white. I am gearing up for a busy MLK Holiday weekend and will be in touch soon!

A Few Pictures to Sum Up My Week

A week in photos.

I discovered a new yummy (healthy) treat this week. I like Greek Yogurt, but I'd never seen coconut Greek yogurt before until a recent trip to the grocery. It was extra good with a few blackberries (that were on sale at Kroger) on top ... almost as good as La' Berry.

Friday afternoon I kept Kansas for my mom. She kept looking at me pitifully while I was in the kitchen, because she is not liking her very strict prescription dog food diet.

I've started watching the DVDs of the first season of Downton Abbey this weekend. I read a review in a magazine over the holidays about this new British series (a new season begins this month on PBS), and it looked liked something I would take to watching. It's weird because I've not followed a TV series in some time with school work having taking precedence over everything. I feel like I'm crawling out of a pop culture coma.

I have heard great things about the resident sushi chef at the Kroger closest to my house. Every time I go out for sushi, it always seems to add up so fast. I picked up 2 packages of generous sized rolls tonight: Hawaiian on the left and Rainbow on the right. I ate my sushi (which cost me a grand total of $15 for all of what's pictured above) and watched some Downton Abbey and Something Borrowed for a quiet evening at home. I was up early for a work meeting, and I was in need of some down time.

The first batch of cupcakes I've baked in I-don't-know-when, chocolate devil's foodcake with a rather tasty icing: Bailey's Irish Cream Buttercream Icing. These were to celebrate my boss' birthday at the office Tuesday.

2012

Happy 2012! I hope everyone started off the New Year on a good note. NYE was my last weekend before returning to work from the holiday break. I spent a couple days leading up to it engaging in some overdue heavy cleaning. I also organized my bedroom closet for the first time since I have lived here - yikes. It looks 100% better though.

I went to dinner with Josh and two of his friends on NYE at Outback and later to a concert. The next day we hiked around a state park on the side of a mountain in Tennessee.

Below I've posted some of my favorite pictures that were taken with my Droid phone and stored on it from the end of December 2011. :)

Best deal of December: Chick-fil-a Grilled Nuggets Kids' Meal with a bonus cow watch that's so cute and fun... lunch and watch for less than $4.00.

Beautiful paddle boat that resides on the Tennessee River in Chattanooga.

My Christmas tree shining from the window on my porch.

I got it! Santa (Josh) delivered a Cuisinart frozen yogurt machine the week before Christmas.

I transformed a Charlie Brown tree into an artsy Christmas tree for our countertop at work. It was easy - a dead tree limb, silver spray paint, an old extra large can, a string of pearl garland and some Dollar Tree shimmery snowflake ornaments.

My mom's pretty mantel all decked out on Christmas morning. Santa came to visit and stuffed our stockings 'til they were splitting at the seams. The same with my parent's tree below. Obviously, we were all good this year. ;)

I love this shimmery lamp that my mom got me for my bedroom. My favorite lamp kicked the bucket this Summer, and I've never replaced it. Santa also spoiled me with new red Cuisinart cookware, a personal laminating machine, a new Coach black patent leather bag, pearl bracelet with my initial, rolling pin, personalized stationery and some cake cartridges for my Cricut Cake Machine.

Snowman S'mores are so sweet. I made these little stocking stuffers for friends. Peeps Marshmallow Snowmen, resting on a Hershey bar square on a graham cracker...all tied up with coordinating snowmen ribbon.

Stocking Stuffers. Snowman Sanitizers to keep winter cold and flu germs at bay.
(Made with my Cricut machine and outdoor vinyl.)

Being exposed to new music, The Features concert NYE.

Andrew, my childood friend's baby boy, was born on the afternoon of December 29, 2011. :)

Poor Kansas! My family's 5-year-old beagle has spent the holidays very sick with stomach issues and acute pancreatis. They are pretty certain it is caused from her favorite chicken treats by manufactured by Waggin' Train in China and packaged in the U.S. If you have a pet, you must be aware of this (as this is her 2nd bout with this in less than a year): http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recall/chicken-jerky-treats/.

It's My Birthday!

This past weekend was my birthday weekend and a good one!

My birthday fell on Thursday. My co-workers brought in an assortment of Hello There Cupcake! cupcakes. I had the gingerbread cupcake, one of their holiday flavors. It was yum-o.

Another very nice surprise was that Josh was able to take couple days off from work at the station to drive down Friday. He took me to dinner at my favorite, Carrabba's. I love their white sangria, and as an added bonus they had e-mailed a birthday certificate for a complimentary dessert of my choice. They were out of almost every dessert on the menu, but on the waiter's recommendation we tried their winter special: a homemade brioche chocolate bread pudding. It was different and tasty - though not something I would likely order again.

Afterwards we drove through the "Light More Homes" Chick-fil-A Christmas lights- 45,000 lights. We attempted to snap a quick pic with my cell phone which turned out rather goofy!

He had asked what I wanted to do Saturday, and I told him I wanted a relaxing day for my first weekend without HW and other assignments. I had said it would be fun to watch some of the classic holiday specials I enjoyed as a kid. He came prepared with the best ones: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Mickey's Christmas Carol, etc. In addition to Christmas classics Saturday, we made gourmet monterey jack cheese hotdogs, cheese fries and s'mores. I really wanted that crunchy, toasted marshmallow texture in the s'mores, which meant I had to use a pillar candle to roast the marshmallows on my patio which he found terribly amusing!

GOOD Things are Happening in December

Fall 2011: LONG and STRESSFUL.

But I have terrific news to share... I am a December 2011 candidate for Georgia Southern University's College of Education Masters of Education in Instructional Technology, Library Media degree.

I completed my lengthy practicum in 2 HoCo schools and 1 Bibb school -- all the while building and finishing my portfolio which can be viewed here: http://lauralanelee.weebly.com/ (if you're really bored). I presented the portfolio last Thursday evening which went very well.

December looks to be a great month. These are my next four weekends: celebrate my birthday, graduate "in absentia," Christmas, New Year's Eve. Good stuff. :)

For Thanksgiving my parents, Kansas the Beagle and I drove to SE Georgia to see my Dad's side of the family (about 30 miles outside Savannah). My cousin Wendy and her husband were thrilled to move into their new house just weeks before Turkey Day. Our family had our first Thanksgiving feast together in their beautiful dream house.

That weekend I met Josh in Atlanta, and we went to Stone Mountain Christmas, my ideal way to get into the Christmas spirit. This is the first time the temps were perfect -- not too cold with the perfect amount of chill in the air.

The next weekend we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday with the family. I used my Cricut machine to make some cute "Sweet 60" decorations. I decorated plastic tumblers for party favors with the date. I baked a rum cake and cookies cut out in the shape of shoes (She loves shoes.). I think she really appreciated all of it.

Happy December!

Josh and I had so much fun at the 2011 Stone Mountain Christmas outside Atlanta. Here we paused for a pic in front of the massive Coca-Cola Christmas Tree.

At the end of our night, the Snow Fairy made it "snow" real, crunchy icey bits and I appreciated catching the snow drops (though you can only faintly see it in the photo... those dandruff-y flakes on my navy coat!)

If you know me, you know I am becoming a frozen yogurt connoisseur -- so much so that I asked Santa for the Cuisinart frozen yogurt and sorbet maker. My "hurry up and take the pic so I can dig into my dessert" face. (Yogurberry in Atlanta.)

My first trip to Macy's Pink Pig in Atlanta. Josh had never been either. I was impressed that he was so willing to ride a a hot pink pig ride around the roof of Lenox Square.