September 11, 2001

Eight years ago today the worst attack on US soil occurred. Who can forget that day? Seeing all of the images of buildings burning and that feeling of pure shock. I remember sitting in my Senior English Class watching as everything happened (not to date myself) and thinking, "This is not really happening." We will never forget all of the loved ones that were lost, or the tragedy that was September 11, 2001.

Thankful Thursday

This is my absolute favorite time of year - I love football, but especially the Steelers. It gives me a connection to home that I do not have during the rest of the year. This was especially important on a day like today when I am missing home soooo bad. Seriously.
So, this Thankful Thursday goes out to all of you that love football, the Steelers, or your family.

1. Today is the NFL season opener.
2. We are going to the Tennessee v. UCLA game this weekend
3. My car broke down. Again. BUT, I was only 10 miles down the road, so I was able to make it back take Mr. H's car to work today.
4. I had a HUGE breakthrough with one of my clients today. I can't give out too many details, but it was HUGE.
5. Our house is clean! Woohoo, it does not happen too often
like this!

Empty.

As I posted yesterday, our house has been devoid of food for a few days. Seriously. Here are a few pictures of how little we had.
Fridge? Unless we ate a liquid/mandarin orange/condiment dinner on Saturday, we had to order pizza. Said pizza is the only thing of sustenance we in this picture. Sad, I know.
I promise that we eat. A lot. We just both eat two meals per day at work, and had not made anything with left overs in awhile. Plus, Mr. H is on this kick where we eat everything in the house before buying more.


I agree with that philosophy; however, I enjoy having more than this in my house. This picture of the freezer does not even do justice to how little we have. Most of the 'bags' are frozen vegetables and cheese (I know, most people do not freeze it, but it keeps well enough for casseroles and cooking. And, it keeps for longer). Yes, I do have freeze pops. They're great, and can double as ice for a cooler.





Here's our 'pantry'. Keep in mind that there are only two of us so we don't need as much as families. But there is not a whole lot that we can use to make a meal in here.












So now that I've shown how barren our house has been (a little embarrassing I must admit), here is how the same cabinet looks now.

Much better. Unorganized (it's usually better than this, but we just kinda threw things in for now), but better. The fridge and freezer look much the same. It's nice to be able to plan actual meals and not have to scrounge when getting home from work.

I heart days off

I have one word for this weekend: productive. We had so much fun relaxing and watching college football, but we accomplished so much around the here. Don't you just love those weekends?! Mr. H's car needed a whole bunch of routine maintenance which we have not had the time nor the money to do until now (we're talking brakes, rotors, transmission fluid, oil change, rotate tired, alignment, etc) so we spent most of Saturday morning doing all of that. Then we cleaned out the house. Ah-mazing! Clean kitchen floors? Yes, please. Move the furniture to vacuum in all rooms? Check. I think you get the point. We even made time to get rid of our massive amount of cords near the TV (it was heinous).
Most importantly, I finished the quilt that I have been making for Mr. H (it was supposed to be for his 21st birthday - 4.5 years ago). He loves it and promised to stop teasing me about it. It's even long enough to cover his entire body (he's 6'2'').

Menu Planning Monday

We finally went grocery shopping yesterday (post to follow on how little we had in the house), and we are ready for a week full of awesome meals. The total price for the entire meal is listed as well (keep in mind we always buy on sale, and combine with coupons).

Monday: Fried, Oven Chicken*, stuffing, green beans ($5.00)

Tuesday: Tacos, corn ($6.50)

Wednesday: Salad with almonds, mandarin oranges, and raspberry vinaigrette ($4.00)

Thursday: Calzones (me = lots of veggies, Mr H = lots of meat) ($5.50)

Friday: Homemade Subs, carrot sticks ($3.00)

Saturday: Tailgating food with Carolina Couple before the Tennessee v. UCLA game :) (???)

Sunday: Whatever we feel can find, but keep it lite

Total Cost: approx. $24.00**

Our week will be a little crazy, but we have the game to look forward to (hopefully I can keep the food somewhat healthy while we're there)

*We make fried chicken, then bake it on a cooling rack in a cookie sheet for 30 - 45 mins to let some of the grease drip off (it's actually good)

**This is an estimate based on what we have spent on our food. We usually do not eat everything that is planned because our schedules are crazy, plus there are always lots of left overs for the 2 of us.