8-20-12

8:50am to 10:10am

Getting ready to work on making a

bunch of ham, egg and cheese sandwiches

to put in the freezer for breakfasts

before school.  

2 packages rolls,  24 total

$1.49 and $1.19 found marked down half price at Kroger

 $2.68 for both

1 dozen eggs

(each can be cut in half to make

two sandwiches)

These were free with Kroger coupon.

12 cheese slices

(used half slice per sandwich)

$1.08

mayo  .25 cents

Deli type shaved ham slices $1.86

(used about 3/4ths of a pack.

The rest I froze for another time)

TOTAL COST TO MAKE

24 BREAKFAST SANDWICHES

$5.87

or .24 cents a sandwich.

Enough for two kids to have

breakfast before school for 

two weeks and two days.

My sandwich assembly line

all laid out on cookie sheets.

Don't want to waster nothing

so will try and recycle these items.

-Mayo jar.  Once cleaned I'll use it

to put soups in for the freezer.

Or I can use for dry goods like rice

and beans to put on the pantry shelf.

-Bread bags.  Reuse to put breakfast sandwiches

in and put into freezer.

-Egg shells.  Will crush these up

and sprinkle around my rose bushes.

They didn't not bloom this year so

are hoping for next since they were

planted late.

-Egg carton.  Using this to put 

lunch money for the kids in for each day of the week.

11:00am


Got a load of laundry in washer & dryer
and another load hung up and brought upstairs and hung in closets.
I had to do a re-evaluation of our closet.
Tony just brought home some new work uniforms.
5 shirts, 5 pants and a new Winter jacket.
I was running out of room in our closet for
all his work clothes!
Not including the uniforms I just mentioned above
I just removed 11 pairs of NEW with tags work pants
still hanging in the closet along with
11 pairs of worn work pants.
We don't pay for uniforms,
the company pays for them.

Each year Tony has to do an evaluation
on himself.  On this evaluation it asks
where the company can improve.
For years I have been telling him to have the
company supply each apartment they punch out with 
a new plunger and leave picture instructions
under the sink of how to use the darn thing.
How much can a plunger possibly cost?
$5 maybe less through a company discount.
How much is it costing the company to send
out maintenance guys after hours to plunge a toilet
giving them overtime at the rate of
$24 to $30+ per hour!
Well this year they finally started 
putting new plungers in the apartment. 

And now I see another area of improvement,
too many clothes purchases each
year for their employees!
I'm sure they are not cheap especially
having embroidered logos put on each shirt and jacket.
And the Winter jackets they buy 
all the maintenance employees are
costing them $125+ per each person.
They are buying these heavy duty coats
with zip out linings every year for them!
Tony has I don't know how many coats now.
This is crazy!  One jacket should last many years.
Why is it these big companies cannot see 
where they are losing money?
Bonuses are nice but even bigger ones
would be better when they can shave
off some of these extra expenses.
Another expense I see that would
save them money in the long run would
be to buy quality replacement parts.
These cheap parts they buy are 
having to be replaced all the time
at the cost of the part and the cost
to pay the employees, especially
if it's when they are working overtime.

Oh well, just my thoughts for the day.
I think outside the box and outside
my home with being frugal and try to help
people save money.


12:00pm


Time to start thinking about what to have for supper.
I think I'll make 
Slow Cooker Sausage Breakfast Casserole
from Jimmy Dean.
Looks good doesn't it and who says
it can only be for breakfast.

Gonna have to tweak the recipe with
what I have on hand.

1 pound Bob Evans maple sausage-  $2.50

bag of hash browns-  $2.00

I'm not putting tomatoes in it.

Packet of Kroger onion soup mix- .35 cents

Used 7 eggs instead of 12-  .70 cents

1/2 cup milk-  .10 cents

1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
$1.00

TOTAL COST TO MAKE
$6.65


 12:55pm

I did three layers of hash browns instead
of two called for in the recipe. 
I have made this in a skillet for years.
This will be the first time trying it in a crock.

10:00pm


Our house smells like a campground.
Smoke has filled the air in the neighborhood
and can be seen under street lights still.
We went out to Groveport around 6:30 or so
to visit Tony's friend by Ricart.
On our return trip home around 7:30pm still out by Ricart I 
could see smoke off in the way distance.
As we got closer and closer to home we saw
that the huge cloud of billowing smoke is coming from
our neighborhood.  That's not the kind of thing
you want to see as you are just blocks from home
and wonder just where that fire is.  I
It was less than 5 minutes from our home
and is a large apartment fire.
100 people were evacuated and
over 30 apartments were involved.
I usually have my camera in tow and
of course tonight I had left it at home.
They had roads closed and so many red lights
from fire trucks surrounding the area 
and hook and ladders along with other fire trucks
coming from any and all directions trying to come
down some of these side streets.
I was determined to see what was on fire
and knew my way around back roads.
I ended up in another apartment complex
directly behind the building on fire.
So close I could throw a stone at it!
And my camera was at home, GRRRR!
I'm pretty sure a guy I saw there was
from the Dispatch with his fancy
SLR camera.  
We all got out and watched the fireman
on the hook and ladder aiming the water down
onto the roof which was causing the roof to open
up.  It seemed like they were fighting a 
never ending battle because once that roof opened up
in a few places it allowed oxygen to get in there
and feed the fire causing it to flare up and
shoot flames upwards.  There was so much water
on that two story apartment building
that it looked like a waterfall coming off the roof.
We watched as the sofit and gutters collapsed to the 
ground.  They must of used a foam at one time
to try to put on the fire because it was all over the
ground.  Pretty scary evening that I never
imagined would end up this way.

 Channel 10

Channel 28 

Channel 4

And of course it's all over Facebook with
photos from friends of ours.
The only pictures I got were from Tony's
cell phone and I have no idea how to 
even get them from the cell phone to the computer.
I'm sure the pics were crappy because the 
flames were so intense and bright 
in the photos.
I'm taking my camera with me from now on
because something always happens when
I don't have it. 

Eyes are burning and my hip is killing me!
It's gonna be one of those nights.
I didn't sleep well last night either.
Then I gotta get up at 6:30am tomorrow
as usual.  I get up when Tony gets up to see
him off to work.  Then about 8:00am
I'm gonna take the boys and mom over
to see where the fire was (with my camera, battery is on charge now) then head over
to my insurance office to submit
my tow truck bill and hopefully
get reimbursed in the near future since I have roadside assistance.
Let's see what else, oh yeah still have
to give the boys each a haircut.
That didn't quite get done tonight
with everything going on.
School starts Wednesday so gotta
round up and make sure they
have their clothes set out and ready to go.
It's gonna feel weird Wednesday without
any kids here (including neighbor kids).
It's been three months since this
house has been quiet, lol.
I don't know who stresses more with
the back to school thing,
me or the kids. 


Oh, I almost forgot.
Earlier today my friend called and asked
if I wanted to come over and pick some
Concord Grapes from her grapevine.
So me and my boys and a another neighborhood kid
all walked over to her house with bags
and started picking away.
Here was our haul-
Concord grapes,
apples & pears.

I spent the evening before Tony got
home removing any grape stems and leaves
and getting the grapes prepared for
some jelly.  It'll have to be later this week
as I am too busy at the moment.
I have them sitting in the fridge at the 
moment and poured a little sugar over top
them and will let them sit to help release some
of the juice before smushing them all up
for the jelly.

step-by-step with pictures of 
HOW TO MAKE GRAPE JELLY.