Name Brand Junkie

Ooooh, I am so into name brand clothing! But only when it is second-hand or 75% off at Dillard's. I refuse to pay retail for name brand clothes. But, honey, when I come across those name brands at a yard sale or consignment sale for dirt cheap, my little ol' heart jumps a beat, my blood pressure rises, my pulse quickens, my eyes dilate, and I think I even salivate a little. Aaaaah . . . the beauty of dressing your family like big bucks on a real budget of a dime. And, let's face it, good name brand used clothing lasts a lot longer than new clothes from a discount store.

Here's my problem (I mean besides the addict reaction I have to used name brand clothes): I love my deals so much that I freak out when they get stains. Am I the only one? For example, Rhett gets a lot of black grease on his khakis when he has to work on equipment out on the line. I just kind of give 'em a little squirt of stain remover, shrug, and go on. I just can't worry about it or waste the time on it. Yet the other day, he was wearing a pair of Nautica khaki pants I had recently bought him and got caulk on them. I shrieked, "Those are the Nautica pants I got for 99 cents!!! Give them to me right now so I can get that off!!!" and I made him hand them over right there in the kitchen.

Let's take an example from BFG. Every season, I buy her those little T-shirts from Target when they go 75% off. In her size now, they cost $1.20 or so per shirt. I buy them brand new to be play clothes. I let her where them for every day and lots of times I don't even try to get the stains out. I just don't care about a $1.00 shirt from Target. But a Gymboree shirt I got for a $1.00 is gold. Absolute gold! A week or so ago, BFG and I were at a yard sale and she sees this white dress that was several sizes too big. But it was only 50 cents and she really wanted it to play wedding in. I got it for her to play in. But unfortunately for the both of us, I looked the tag up when I got home and realized it was a name brand. I was so excited!!!! I could sell this thing and make some money!!! But I had promised BFG that this was hers to play dress up in, so I had to let her. I was on pins and needles every time she played in it. "Be careful! Don't mess that dress up!!! Don't touch anything! Don't get a stain on it!!" Well, after only 3 times of playing in it, she shut me up. A felt tip black pen. Yup, right on the front. Again, I did the whole shrieking thing and made her take it off immediately to wash. But, it did not come out. Oh, well. Now, she can really play in it.

But I seriously think I have a problem. I can't believe I get so upset over 50 cent clothes just because they are a name brand. Y'all, I think this means that (Yikes!) I'm just as prideful as the people who pay full price for them! I don't think I'm prideful about the actual brands. I think it is pride for the deal I got. But it is still sooo wrong. On the other hand, I could look at it as I am making a better investment because name brands consign better and for more money. Yeah, that's it!
Mama Said

Menu Plan Monday

Here's Week 2 of my Menu Makeover: This is a really easy week and is great for a busy week like this one where I'm knocking myself out trying to get BFG's clothes ready to consign.

Monday: Braised Beef Cubes in Gravy (HBHW), Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

Tuesday: Chili Pie--My own very simple concoction of Aldi's brand of chili and Fritos topped with shredded cheddar cheese in an 8x8 pan popped in the oven at 350 til cheese melts. Simple, simple and cheap!

Wednesday: Steak, Baked Potato, Candied Carrots (HBHW)--These carrots are delicious, but BFG still didn't go for them.

Thursday: Chicken Fingers, Knorr-Lipton Rice Side, Corn

Friday: Quesadillas--The frozen dinner kit at Aldi. Only costs like $4.00 and is super easy. A great alternative to eating fast food on a Friday night when I am just plain sick of cooking all week.

Have a blessed week, Y'all!

Mama Said

I'm Flattered

Look at what Katy gave me from Sycamore Stirrings! I am so flattered! And so unworthy! I tell you what she's the one with a brilliant blog. Her ideas are so cute and creative! I think I'm supposed to nominate 7 blogs and pass on the award. But I'm already so behind in even acknowledging this, I guess I'll pass on that part. Thank you, Katy! And I'm so excited! The same week I won some very cool headbands she made in a giveaway on her blog! I cannot wait to get them! Yea!!!

Catch Up

Thought I would catch ya'll up on a few things:

1) I have alot of people find my blog because they are googling lead paint. Remember that, my faithful readers from the start? (If you're new, you can click Here to read about my craziness.) I don't think I ever let ya'll know the results. I did have BFG's lead levels tested after our ceilings were scraped and painted. And she was absolutely fine! Yea! So, if anybody is looking this up because you have kids in an old house, I don't think it's a death wish like the government acts like. I do feel a little bad that I made BFG go through the blood test to satisfy my own paranoia. Okay, she cried big fat crocodile tears and I felt terrible. But I'm so glad to know. Of course, now I'm wondering, Did we get good test results because I scoured the house from top to bottom after any work was done? or Did I waste my time and hurt my body for nothing? I guess I'll never know.

2) I found my broom. It was outside on the deck where the window guys left it. Thank you very much. I'm not as crazy as I thought and neither is Rhett. I thought about calling the floor guy and telling him that I do actually own a broom, but he's hiding from us anyway. I guess the economy is so bad that he doesn't want the other work we were going to hire him to do. The bad thing about the broom is that I didn't find it until about 5 or 6 rainstorms later and about 2 weeks in the hot 90 degree sunshine. So, it's pretty much ruined. I think I may attach one of those clapper beeping key chains to my new broom.

3) It is still 90 degrees down here!!!!! We are miserable!!!!! Everyone is ill with each other. Nobody wants to do anything. Oh, wait! That's just me. But seriously, who can do housework in this heat? Ya'll, we don't walk outside. We swim. The humidity is so high you can literally feel how thick the air is. It's hard to move, it's hard to breathe. There is no breeze. Just hot stickiness. Maybe this is the reason the South is the Bible Belt. I honestly don't see how anyone could spend time in this heat and not want to be saved from the fiery pits of Hell. Praise the Lord I won't be there!
Mama Said

Menu Plan Monday

Here is my first menu of my Menu Makeover. Any recipes I use from Hillbilly Housewife will be designated with a "HBHW" and a link to the recipe. For this first menu, I'll include some meals I rotate for breakfast and lunch.

Breakfast:

-Scrambled Eggs, Bacon or Sausage

-Oatmeal, Cinnamon Toast

-Cereal, Toast & Jelly

-Pancake/Sausage Corndog with Syrup

-Bagel & Cream Cheese, Bacon or Sausage

-Muffins

-Poptart

Lunch:

-Muffin Tin Monday (Contents Vary)

-Ramen noodles, Cheese toast, Applesauce

-Salami, Chips, Apple

-Spaghettios

-Grilled Cheese, Fruit

-Peanut Butter & Jelly, Pretzels, Apple

-Stuff like Corn Dog Nuggets and Mini Tacos depending on if I have any from coupon buying.

Dinner:

Monday: Country Style Steak (HBHW), Green Beans, Rice

Tuesday: Creamed Chicken (HBHW), Biscuits, Leftover Rice

Wednesday: Leftovers from the Previous 2 Nights

Thursday: Vegetable Lo Mein (HBHW)--This tastes just like the "real" thing from a restaurant. I did add a little more sesame oil and soy sauce though.

Friday: Hamburger Pinwheels (HBHW), Mac & Cheese, and French Fries--These hamburger pinwheels are awesome! Great for picking up and snacking on the rest of the weekend. They would also make the perfect sleepover food esp. if you add HBHW's Magic Milkshakes.

Here I Go Again!

Yeah, you're in the right place. That LeeLou keeps creating the cutest blog designs for FREE! I just absolutely fell in love with this one! I think it will be easier to read too because it's wider. So, ya'll just bear with me as I switch everything over and change the colors of past posts.
Have a blessed weekend!
Mama Said

Menu Makeover

I've mentioned before to ya'll that I am doing a menu makeover. I was inspired by Kathy Peel's Desperate Households to get that area of my life in order. I just got sick of never knowing what we were going to have for dinner, scrambling to come up with something, tired of BFG eating junk all the time 'cause I didn't have a plan on what to feed her (now it's just half the time), and throwing away food that expired 'cause I'm buying crap I don't need or I have good intentions of being a gourmet chef when I buy it but never follow through with that particular meal.



I've read alot of organize-your-life-books and decided that I wanted to plan out 6 weeks of menus that I can rotate and to try to have different things for dinner for each night of the 6 week period. I started out by listing all the meals I could think of that I can cook or have cooked in the past. The list wasn't very long. I know I used to cook alot more different things, but I absolutely cannot remember what I used to cook. I don't know why I ever stopped cooking those thing either whatever they were. Is that really weird? Or did I cook? Do I just think I did, but I really didn't? That was before BFG came along and we had two incomes. Did we eat out alot? Or have coupons now changed the type of food I buy?



Anyway, I'll stop the psychoanalysis and move on. After reading through my list which mostly consisted of very easy things to make like Hamburger Helper, I decided that I was going to learn new recipes and I refused to reinvent the wheel. I turned to one of my sources of inspiration Hillbilly Housewife. She already has menus made out, she focuses on feeding your family cheap, she has conservative beliefs that support that this is a way to minister to my family, and I have tried some of her recipes before and loved them! Plus, bless her heart, she must know how lost some of us are in the kitchen. She tells you the absolute basics and takes you through step by step. If you've never cooked before, you could cook with her recipes. I always hate when recipes assume you know what something means. I can't even think of an example. That's how clueless I am. But if you're like me, you know what I mean. Plus, any good ol' Southern girl knows that good ol' Southern cookin' is throw in this and that with no specifics, which makes it quite difficult for the Southern girl who's trying to learn to cook. Hillbilly Housewife tells you how to cook from scratch with the specifics. Yea!



I know I've seen around cyberspace a blog that does a Monday Menu thing. So, I think I'm gonna do that and share my menus with ya'll. I know ya'll are just dying to know how Mama Said eats! I will warn you I don't eat healthy at all! In fact, the pounds are coming on 'cause Hillbilly Housewife's recipes are soooo good! So, follow my example at your own risk.



Here's a few notes about my menus before ya'll go and start thinking we're loaded or something:

• If it sounds like something pricey, I either bought it dirt cheap with coupons or at the grocery outlet.
• I get day old bread, bagels, and Entman (sp?) doughnuts and bites FREE in a nearby community. Yeah, it totally rocks! It's the same stuff I used to buy at the grocery outlet.
• You will see alot of beef in my menus including steak. The reason for this is we divvy up having a cow--hmmm, how do I say this delicately---okay, I can't, folks---we have a cow slaughtered, okay? We go in on it with my parents and it averages around $2.00 per lb. for all cuts of meat. So, when I fix steak, it only cost us $2.00. This does make our hamburger a little bit higher than I could buy, BUT it is like 90/10 hamburger with barely any grease, tastes like ground sirloin, and is basically organic meat. Free range, grass fed cows. If you can find a deal like this in your area, this is the way to go on buying meat!!!! And don't look for those people advertising that they sell organic meat. Start asking around just regular farmers or part-time farmers that have cows. Or heck, buy your own cow and raise it if your able.