July 9 

$9 Lunch Out

I ate out and redeemed my free soda.

TM(21) requested homecooked chicken and dumplings (birthday dinner).  A newer recipe of MH's, that is more of a chicken soup gravy with biscuits.

The cake did not last long. 

July 10

$20 Groceries 

Another chaotic day.  My employer will be out of the country next week and so was pushy about needing certain things done.  While also having planned a work event.  & then I will be out of town taking care of my mom for a few days.

So we did some cooking thing (summer work event).  Much like the cake, the food was not pretty but it turned out pretty well.  I brought home tons of food for the kids, which is kind of usual anyway.  I am always saving food from the trash, but will have to let it go when I no longer live with human garbage disposals.

I just worked from home for a couple of hours, drove to the event (closer to my house than the office) and we finished up very early (2:00?)  Which was a relief because I had some packing to do.  Hadn't anticipated working after the event, so was over it and ready to switch to other stressful life things.

I am more of an off peak early bird but didn't think I'd have time in the morning to grocery shop.  I tried 8pm grocery shopping which was really very nice (more empty than 8am).  I spent $20 on cat food, ketchup and potatoes.  The last time I was with my parents their ketchup looked scary and was way expired.  I figured I would just bring my own.  (Ended up getting stuck with scary expired PB & mayo, this time.  I get it.  It's not so easy when you don't live with growing boys.)  I was going to pack some ground beef from our freezer, but for whatever reason it came up and my Dad told me he had beef I could use.  So that saved me some $$$.  I packed up some dinner leftovers and bread (about to expire) and figured I would be good for a few days. I also packed up a can of tuna, some veggies, and crackers.