Grocery Sales ~ I Live For Them

Grocery shopping in Lizzie's Home generally happens on Mondays. This week, I'll be shopping on Tuesday. I'm still dragging my feet after our week away :P

Let's take a look at my local grocery catalogues for this week (for my overseas readers, this will give you an idea of Aussie prices - don't fall over in shock, okay?) . I only note the sale prices of items I actually buy. Cans of tuna will never, ever make it into my cart, no matter how good the discount! Blech!

Main Supermarket

• Quilton 3-ply toilet paper, 24pk, $11.99/50¢ per roll (save $2.50 - usually $14.49/60¢ per roll)
• Lipton Black Teabags, 100pk, 2 for $5.00/2.5¢ per teabag (save $2.38 - 2 x 100pk usually $7.38/3.7¢ per teabag - though I usually wait for the 100pk to be $3 or under, making it about 3¢ per bag, so I'm saving money either way)
• Green's Traditional cake mixes, $1.75 ea (save 50¢ - each mix gives twelve slices of cake or twelve cupcakes so approx 14.5¢ per serve on sale/18¾¢ per serve reg price) I don't buy these often but they're a great, cheap standby for unexpected guests or the kids' lunchboxes.
• San Remo pasta, 500g (1.1 lbs), $1.89 (save 30¢) I have plenty of pasta already but it stores so beautifully and is so cheap, I'll probably pick up another couple of packages.
• Yoplait yoghurt, 1kg (2.2 lbs), $3.98 (save 70¢)
• Middle bacon, $8.78 per kg (2.2 lbs - save $4.97 kg)
• Hungarian salami, $15.95 per kg (save $6.03 kg) Hubs likes to have this in his sandwiches so I pick up a little whenever it goes on special.
• Semi-dried tomatoes, $17.98 per kg (save $3.00 kg) A bit pricey, but I love them. And I only use a teensy amount at a time.
• 'Premium' beef mince (ground beef), $8.95 per kg (save $3.04 kg). This is the stuff that's one step down from super-lean. We go through a lot of mince because it's so economical and kid-friendly. I'll probably buy 2 or more kilograms this week and stick the extra in the freezer.
• Beef round steak, $10.96 per kg (save $6.03 kg) About 600g or so (something like 1.3 lbs?), along with some potatoes, carrots and other fixin's, makes a good beef stew.
• Seedless white grapes, $3.74 per kg. Being that fruit and vegetable prices change so rapidly, this particular store almost never includes a 'save' amount in the catalogue. But this is a reasonable price. The kids like these in their lunchboxes.
• Celery, $1.83 per bunch.

Other Stores

• Tomatoes, $1.99 per kg (2.2 lbs, save $2.00 - this store does have a base price to compare it to)
• Cottee's cordial, 2 litre/half gallon, $2.59 (this store isn't showing a 'save' either - very frustrating for those not up to speed on their Price Books, auugh - but it usually goes for over $4). We use this sparingly and always, always, far more diluted than the instructions suggest.
• Carrots, 1kg (1.1 lb) bag, 99¢ - usually around $1.30
• Loose white potatoes, $1.99 per kg - usual price varies but a medium to large prepacked bag can get up over $5
• Brown onions, 1 kg (1.1 lb) bag, $1.99 - fair price
• Trix dishwashing liquid, 1 ltr (half-gallon), $1.99 - save about 70¢
• Lynx body spray, 100g/3½ oz, $4.79 (save about $1.80)
• Broccoli, per kg (1.1 lb), $2.89

Looks like beef stew, quiche (with the purchase of some eggs) and spaghetti (with the purchase of some pasta sauce) is in our future :)

What else could be made from the above food items?

Cheers,
Lizzie

Eyes On Stalks

We've had a seriously MASSIVE few days.

We returned this evening from five days away, setting up, holding, and dealing with the aftermath of Hubs' first photography exhibition. This afternoon we drove for five hours, returning home around the kids' bedtime. Then we still had to give the kids baths and right this second, at 11:30 pm, I still haven't prepped for school tomorrow. It's been a really, really long day.

So here's the bullety version of the last few days. Details to come tomorrow.

• We arrived Wednesday at around lunchtime.
• Wednesday afternoon and evening and all day Thursday was dedicated soley to the cutting of matts. Lots and lots of them. And cleaning frames. And panicking. Lots and lots of panicking.
• Thursday afternoon Hubs and his co-exhibitor began setting up in the gallery.
• Thursday evening we spent three hours attaching hooks to the backs of the images.
• Friday was completely consumed with all the little 'bits and pieces' jobs that needed to be done.
• Friday night - AWESOME. Opening night was fantastic, the gallery looked wonderful, and Hubs managed to get through his speech without fainting although he did require notes. Oh, and I clapped hard enough to spill my drink on the floor with eveyone watching. Mental note: put down drink before rapidly moving both hands next time.
• Friday, post-exhibition - there could have been one or twelve celebratory drinks involved. There may have been one or twelve remorseful moments thereafter. But not from me. No sirree. I'm dainty.

Sunday morning was spent recovering from Saturday which was spent recovering from Friday night, which was the culmination of several months worth of work.

End result? One heck of a memorable week.

Bonus end result? In the two days since opening night we've had several sales totalling nearly $700, and tons of interest. The exhibition is on for another five weeks or so. This thing of ours might actually work.

Plus, I'm so proud of Hubs. He totally deserves it. We spent most of the trip home bouncing marketing ideas of one another.

And now I must slip into the kitchen to rustle up something for tomorrow's school lunches.

Yeah, at midnight. I'm wacky like that. And also, hopped up on the icypole (popsicle) I just downed. Because I'm beat. And sugar helps. I know, crazy.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Popping In...

I did mean to set auto-posts for while we were away. Honest. I just never looked at the reminder note I stuck to the laptop lid. Sorry!

We're away this week (until Sunday night our time, anyway) for Hubs' photography exhibition. On Wednesday we were out of the door and driving by 7:30 am (unheard of). Five hours later (auugh) we arrived, exhausted, at a relative's house in the town where the exhibition is being held. Which is TONIGHT. Hubs is completely frantic! He and his co-exhibitor spent Wednesday night and all day Thursday matting and framing 80+ full size prints. Last night we secured a key to the gallery and began setting up - my job was moral support, of course, and putting sticky-hook things on the backs of each image so they'll hang on the walls. When we left at 12:30 am last night (this morning?) it looked AWESOME, and that was with half of the prints still leaning against the wall. Things have really come together and I'm completely and utterly proud of Hubs. It has been a lot of work (and a lot of expense, some of which we're hoping to recoup in the next few weeks!) but I'm thrilled for him. And as I said to him last night, I know that when I have to bind 3000+ self-published novels myself, he'll be right there next to me.

I think that scared him, LOL.

We're using this exhibition to guage response to his work. It's really the first time he's publicly displayed his images and, as is his nature, he's worried that he's not good enough. Piffle! From there, we will probably do more exhibitions and (hopefully) move into private sales over the internet and at various arts fairs and markets in our area, as our schedules allow. His photographic greeting cards, which were finally delivered last week after a month's delay (grrr...but phew!), look great, so I'm hoping to go 'live' with sales of those here on Lizzie's Home in the next month or so. Nothing too major, just a little box in the sidebar. He'll be famous one day. There's your heads up folks!

The guys are down at the gallery right now finishing the setting up. There are a few other things to do today, then the opening is scheduled for 6:30 tonight. So far the numbers are sitting around 100, which includes people from the local council down here and we know of at least two arts governing bodies who are going to be going through the gallery at some point during the next six weeks. We've been SO fortunate because our co-exhibitor is a local and has contacts absolutely everywhere within the local government. We simply could not have brought something like this together without his knowledge and help.

So. Things are moving along. I hope to post a few pictures early next week, after we get home - show all you nice folk how the gallery looks, LOL.

Right now, I have to go panic. Purely out of sympathy for my husband, of course.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Lizzie's Link Love ~ February 12

Good morning Bloggityville!

Lots of awesomeness this week. Let's get stuck into it, in no particular order.

Cindy's Porch ~ If you haven't yet discovered this site, you simply must. Must, I tell you! It has parallels to Flylady but concentrates on home finances, saving money, emergency funds and so on. You can sign up for emails, similar to Flylady, but instead of 15 or 20 daily reminders you might get one email every day or two. Always financially relevant (Sidenote: I believe Cindy used to work with Flylady several years ago but branched out on her own - you'll notice several similarities, including frequent acronym use, LOL)

A Strong Man With Deep Convictions ~ by Mrs Julie Fink from Living By Grace. What a beautiful and devoted description! And I stumbled across it at just the right moment, too.

MapMyRun ~ I think this was posted on another site and I just followed the link. It's worth revisiting it though. Though aimed at runners, walkers like me will find something useful here too. Members of the public can map out run routes, submit them and then folks like me down here in Australia (or anywhere else for that matter), can type in something like 'New York' and a big long list of different routes pops up on screen. Isn't that cool? I found one near me (won't post that one though). You can also view these in Google Earth, keep fitness logs - even info on shoe mileage. Okay, so I'm no runner, but I thought this was neat for the bird's eye view of any number of fictional walking tracks I could set up. I could 'walk' a three mile track in the Mall in Washington DC right from the comfort of my local neighborhood :P Of course, I haven't a clue what the mall in DC actually looks like, but hey, I could be walking it!

A Job Chart That Actually Works ~ MeckMom is a gal after my own heart. I love her charts and organising ideas! This one is especially ingenius. If you haven't yet discovered this site, spend time browsing the archives. I ♥ MeckMom :P

MomsMenu ~ a family cooking recipe database and tips/articles archive. Real food. Not, you know, braised artichoke hearts in a balsamic-glazed truffle sauce. Blech. Unless you like that kind of food. In which case, power to you. Me? Not so much. I need all the family-friendly recipes my hard drive will hold.

And to finish:

This is just plain weird. Or sad. Or sick. I can't decide which. Kind of falls into this category for me. Which in turn reminds me of the whole Angelina Jolie/vial of blood thing. Shudder.

Cheers,
Lizzie

Souper Dooper?

We're in an uncharacteristic-for-February cool stretch where I am at the moment, and for the last couple of days I've had to crack open the canned soups for some hot lunches. When you're used to battling 40ºC (100ºF plus) summer days the last thing you feel like is hot soup, but with the lower temperatures, even though they might not last much longer (it is still summer here, even if this week feels like mid-late Autumn), I'm thinking ahead to expanding my list of 'fallback soups'.

I'm after a hearty vegetable soup recipe - something with lots of chunks and a really flavoursome broth - can anyone help me out?

Cheers,
Lizzie