Today Has Been A Creative Day!

I took the day off today. We have so much going on this weekend, I just knew I'd get stressed out trying to do everything. So, I took the day to do groceries. Exciting, huh? I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I actually make a game out of the whole thing. I try to see how I can stack my boxes, cans, packets and a whole variety of other items I need to purchase in my cart so that I maximize all the space. I leave no space wasted! I also try to see if I can get the best deal. One day I had a coupon for a particular brand of baking goods. It was for a $1 off 4
packages of anything in this brand. I found corn bread mixes for $0.29. So, four boxes were $1.36. I only paid $0.36 for four boxes of cornbread mix...so, I paid $0.09/box! I was giddy! I'm still giddy about that deal! LOL! I'm a geek, I admit it! Today I spent $317 for groceries that will last us at least six weeks! Woooohooo! See what makes me happy? I told you I was a geek!

So, I got home and put all my $317 worth of groceries away. Holy moly that's a lot of work! Usually Robin brings in the bags and I start putting them away. Today, it was all me! Everything is neatly stacked in the pantry cupboards, the refridgerator and the freezers. Our first year we were married, I saved every last cent of change from Robin's pockets until I had enough for an upright deep freezer. We went to a scratch and dent place and got a great freezer for $150. It's been the best money I've ever spent. I can store tons of food in there. My family will never go hungry, that's for sure!

After that, I decided that the meat sauce I got going earlier in the morning was enough for dinner. So, I made an apple crisp. YUM! It was so good! The kids just gobbled it up. Here's the recipe I used from allrecipes.com:

Apple Crisp II:

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 cups peeled, cored and sliced apples
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F
2. In medium bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and melted butter. Stir until crumbly. Press half the oat mixture in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Cover with sliced apples.
3. In a medium saucepan, combine white sugar, cornstarch, water and vanilla. Cook, stirring until thick and clear; 10 minutes. Pour over apples. Cover apples with remaining crumble mixture.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes, until bubbly and golden.


Of course, that's not the end of my creative day! After dinner, I sat down and made a flower arrangement for my front door. It's been sitting bare for far too long and I bought a bunch of fake flowers from Michaels Monday and I knew if I didn't get to it tonight, it wasn't going to happen.

So? What do you think? :)