Black Belt Coupon Ninja

Is it really only Tuesday so far? I feel as though this week is dragging by, and yet I’ve only been dragged to Tuesday afternoon. Bah. I suppose the slow, molasses feeling stems from my want for this Saturday’s wedding to be over and done with. Then, onto bigger and better things!

I went grocery shopping last night, mainly to use some decent coupons since one of our local stores periodically runs a coupon special: double coupons from .51 cents to $1, triple anything .50 cents and under. It's pretty handy when you have multiple $1 off coupons. I sorted through some coupons while on my lunch break, made a list, then headed to the store after work. I'm happy to say that the trip was a success and I'm now a black belt coupon ninja. My original bill was $77.03; after coupons and the discount for using several re-usable bags, I ended up spending $35.69. Yup, I saved a total of 54%. And funny enough --- grocery shopping is kind of relaxing for me, so it was a win-win sitch all around last night.

While Buppy’s only been gone for 2 days so far, it’s hard to get motivated in the kitchen when I have only my own mouth to feed. I’m used to at least 2, and often times 4, people to cook for. After he left on Sunday, I managed to make some praline apple bread, which for some odd reason baked out of one side of the pan. Left me an icky mess on the side of the bread pan and in the bottom of my oven. I’ve made that bread twice now, and this is the first mishap I’ve had. Odd.

Tonight I have to finish making split pea & ham soup. I cooked off a ham bone we had in the freezer over the weekend to make the ham stock, and now I have to actually make soup with said stock. I pulled out some turkey ham I had in the freezer to throw in, too; not sure how it’ll be with the turkey ham since I’ve never tried it in soup before, but how bad could it be [knock on wood!]?