Dillon Family Changes 2016

The longer I put this entry off, the harder it is for me to write.

2016 has not been our year.

Neither was the end of 2015.

It started in October when the factory Alex was working at cut back on 3rd shift schedules and then did away with them all together. Those on 3rd shift were supposed to be guaranteed a job at one of the other factories with their same schedule and pay but that didn’t happen–for any of them. Alex and I had survived on just my income for the majority of the time we lived together so, besides pushing back our getting out of debt plans, it wasn’t really that terrible. Unfortunately, it was the beginning of a terrible cycle of hopes and dreams being crushed.

The second week of January, Max got really sick. She couldn’t hold anything down and was throwing up. I took off work and we rushed her to an emergency vet but we weren’t able to bring her home. She had developed a mucocele in her gallbladder and the only treatment was a surgery that we couldn’t afford and wasn’t guaranteed to work. She died in my arms at 1am Friday January 15, 2016 after a 4 hour hospital stay. It was an expensive trip but we did what we had to do.

I tried to get Saturday night off but it just wasn’t in the cards. Early Sunday morning, I tore the muscle on the outside of my calf that connects under my foot. 7 months, 2 orthopedic specialists, and 4 months of physical therapy and I’m still on restriction. I didn’t have to take any time off of work, but I also spent the next 6 weeks with a partner who sent me into sensory overload every night and led to me begging my doctor to modify my restrictions and allow me to work alone again.

During this that 6 weeks, I had my bridal shower and bachelorette party and my wedding party fell apart (again). One of my bridesmaids was busy with a new family but refused to be ‘treated differently’ by being given less to do than everyone else yet in the 2 years she was a part of my bridal party, never actually did anything she said she would do or that I needed her to do. We no longer speak and, although I wish her well, I don’t need that in my life. Another showed that 3 years of being close friends didn’t mean she paid attention to any of my wishes or knew me well enough to plan something with my tastes in mind. She ended up butting heads with my maid of honor and, when I refused to get in the middle of it, she respectfully stepped down. We still talk and we’re still there for each other when our schedules allow. My matron of honor was fantastic (and there will be full details why in another post)!  Due to scheduling changes, no one I worked with was able to be at my bridal shower or Bachelorette party. (I almost didn’t get my wedding off in April even though I requested it off in August.) A friend from work stepped in to help where she could and rocked out as well. Most people I invited tried, but I completely understand that it wasn’t their faults they couldn’t be there. Our officiant, who works at the chapel where I work, almost didn’t get the day off either. He had to drive 2.5 hours for our rehearsal, wait 5 hours for the wedding, then drive 2.5 hours back and work the second half of his shift!

My wedding was awesome even though it created quite a divide between myself and Alex’s family. Decisions were made without our consent that turned our wedding reception that was just supposed to be cupcakes and tea into a church-level potluck. I hated it. I cried. A lot. It was to the point where our wedding party almost skipped the reception all together and went to a restaurant instead. My friend who stepped in to save the day basically took food into the back and refused to allow his family to put anything else out we hadn’t approved of. It rubbed them the wrong way and we don’t get invited to things anymore. But we made the decision together that we weren’t willing to live the rest of our lives allowing that to continue the way that others have so we made our point and we’re okay with it. A wedding may not have been the best way to take that kind of stand, but it all worked out okay in the end.

We were married on April 16, 2016 at 2pm and we were blessed beyond belief at the outpouring of love and friendship portrayed:

-Our officiant driving across the state to marry us then finishing his work shift when he couldn’t get the whole day off.

-Our photographer driving across the state on he day off to photograph something she was initially terrified to do since she normally only does landscapes but blew it out of the park with having her photos match our personalities and recreating old photos of us.

-Our wedding party extended itself the morning of the wedding with everyone’s spouse stepping in and finding ways to help out. I could go on for days about how fantastic they were and how we couldn’t have had our day without them.

-His dad decorating the venue and my mom doing hair and make up for the wedding and making cute little chocolate desserts.

It was the best day of the year, if only briefly.

We rescued an older puppy a whole 10 days after we were married. It seemed right and we both fell in love with her. She already answered to NaNuk but I shortened it to Nuk (Nook) because I’m kind of lame. Things were looking up.

By the first week of May, I suspected I was pregnant. I came home from work on my “Friday” and slept for 17+ hours, my muscles ached and I was throwing up all the time. My symptoms showed up almost immediately. My pregnancy was confirmed 2 weeks later. Alex was over the moon excited and I was too. We knew that miscarriages are common in the first trimester so we only told the people we would have wanted support from if something happened:

Our parents, his sister, my matron of honor, and one woman at work who stayed up with me all night while I puked my brains out (she realized before I did but we confirmed it). I also told another upnight who was nearing the end of her pregnancy and my cousin who was only a couple weeks ahead of me with her 4th and was trying to prepare me for what I was going to experience.

Since I work somewhere that requires me to(occasionally)  physically manage clients I was told I needed to tell the members of my team. I told my boss and those who I would be alone with. Every professional we needed to meet with was impressed by how well informed we were about resources and how good of a head we had on our shoulders. I was beginning to get excited even though I was afraid of what may happen.

That pregnant upnight, Alex, was the one who rushed me to the hospital in the middle of my shift after I had a pretty bad reaction to an antibiotic I was given-Keflex, a PNC derivative. I had a fever, cold sweats, and full body aches. After spending 4 hours in teh hospital, the doctor (who was WONDERFUL) suspected a miscarriage. I had an ultrasound but the results were inconclusive. My numbers were still high and my cervix was still closed but they weren’t seeing what they wanted to see. Given all the evidence, there was a pretty good chance my due date was calculated incorrectly and all was fine. I was placed on bedrest and needed to come in 2 days later for blood tests. My levels dropped, but not enough to concern my OB. The doctors still portrayed a high chance of having a successful pregnancy. I was already mourning my baby.

After spending a week being poked and prodded every other day, the miscarriage was called and my numbers began dropping much faster than expected. I had some complications and ended up with 3 weeks off work to recover. It wasn’t enough, but I ran out of sick time. People offered to donate but I wanted to start getting a bit of normalcy back even if I wasn’t ready for it. Pregnant Alex checked on me every day and between her and Husband Alex, I was able to pick up some of my pieces. I chose to miscarry naturally instead of having a D&C. I didn’t realize what that meant when I made that choice. I did but, not really. Emotionally, I wasn’t ready for that. Especially not 2 days before I turned 26.

Those I trusted to keep my secret didn’t. My coworkers told their friends and I came back from my 3 weeks off to massive amounts of congratulations. My cousin told her father who proceeded to tell almost everyone in the family. Thankfully, they all told my mom congratulations instead of me but I’m sure it was hard for her too. I asked my cousin to tell whoever it was she told that I lost the baby so that I didn’t have to. I have no idea whether she did or not, it’s pretty fair to say we’re not speaking right now. It’s been over a month since the complications began and just shy of a month since the miscarriage was completed and I still struggle every day. People at work still congratulate me, I have to fill out “not pregnant” on medical forms and I still have to keep all the appointments I already made, the purpose just changed.

I was 10 weeks pregnant by the time it was over. So close to entering into my second trimester and lower risk. I feel like I failed. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t let the nurse convince me that the PNC in Keflex was such a different strain that it wouldn’t cause a reaction or if I would have been more firm in my questioning about the safety–not of Keflex on its own, but of what would happen if I had a reaction while pregnant. Instead, less than 2 hours after my first dose, I’m calling my boss trying to get coverage so I can go to the ER. I made a mistake. I didn’t trust my own judgement and now I’ll never know if I sacrificed my baby. I get to live with that. It’s a struggle.

28 days from yesterday we’ll be cleared to try again. I’m having a terrible time with that.

I can’t say that Alex and I aren’t closer now than we were before. He laid in bed with me for 2 weeks, he cried with me and called everyone who needed to be called for me, he shouldered the responsibility for both of us and broke every bit of bad news to me because I wasn’t strong enough on my own. Once I was released to get out of bed as long as my pain was managed, he planned day trips where most of the time was spent in the car so I didn’t have to worry about walking or being around people. We dug ourselves a bit further into debt to make it happen, but it was something that needed to happen.

The same week I returned to work, Alex started a new job and has already been promoted once with a second promotion expected by the end of August. We don’t see each other like we used to and the housework is suffering a bit while we figure out how to function on opposite shifts but if everything goes as planned the only debt we’ll have by August of next year is my student loan (and hopefully a new car payment)!

We grew a lot this year. We discovered what and who were important to us. We’ve gotten our priorities straight(er). It’s been such a horrible year for us but we’re still here. We still love each other and we have some of the most amazing people in the world who love us back.

 

Wedding Update!

Howdy!

Somehow or another both tons of things and no things have been going on when it comes to wedding planning. But after a couple of tries, I’ve assembled the best wedding party imaginable and we’re all going for them to try on dresses on August 24th!

There are three that I  want them to try on but the two above are my favorites! I’m so nervous it will turn out like the last time I fell in love with dresses for them and they looked AWFUL. I’m definitely not the type of bride who’s going to make my bridesmaids look awful to make me look prettier or but a crazy-expensive dress they’ll never wear again. Mostly because my bridesmaids are all gorgeous and partly because if someone told me I needed to buy a $300 dress that was ugly as all get out to, essentially, do her a favor I’d probably get arrested.

I’ll introduce you to my bridesmaids later on, I was just busy cranking out some emails and felt like sharing my excitement that everything seems like it’s, more or less, coming together.  We still haven’t set a date yet due to our crazy work schedules but, I figure, as soon as we get the dress situations figured out everything else will begin to fall into place around it.

Getting so many of us together in one place is more that difficult. My Matron of Honor lives in New Jersey and has crazy work schedules. We just so happened to have been able to schedule this around a business trip to Michigan for her. My “main” bridesmaid just finished her Master’s degree, just finished law school, works with the police department, is studying for her bar, works where I work AND works at a funeral home, and my final bridesmaid is a brand new mommy to the most gorgeous child I’ve seen since my oldest niece was born!

I can’t wait to have more updates! It’s starting to feel all real and stuff!

images: http://www.watters.com/CollectionHome/WtooDresses/

http://mackenziemichaels.com/Style/Mackenzie/88360/

Candles? You Mean 1/3 Fun, 2/3 WTF Do I Do With This?

I don’t know about you, but when I was a young girl, lots of parents bought their children candles and lotions and whatnots to give to their friends for holidays. Unless they’re homemade or tactful, words CANNOT describe how much I hate these. What I get out of it is, “here’s some stuff to cover up your stank,” and I always have. Give me a second, I’ll explain.

As a kid, I never wanted money from my family. Not because I couldn’t have used it on something awesome, but because I’ve always felt like if you don’t know me well enough to buy me something I would like/put the time into buying something then you probably don’t know me well enough to be giving me anything at all. I learned when I was older that this worked in my favor for family Christmases after I started explaining why I didn’t want money and giving it back. Apparently, my gifts from relatives always ended up being “worth more” than the money they were giving to my cousins. Yay for added bonuses.

I hated bulk gifts and I did my best never to give them to anyone. Sure, there were times when I gave friends body lotions and smelly things but they were always something personal. “Hey, I was wasting time in Walmart the other day smelling candles and this one smells just like the time we went [insert place here] and it made me think of you,” or, “you said you were having problems sleeping at night so I picked up this spray that’s supposed to be relaxing. Hope it helps!” I also love to receive these kind of gifts because they show that someone put some sort of effort into giving.

Now to the point:

Just because I hated these types of gifts doesn’t mean that I haven’t lugged around more candles, body lotions and overall smelly stuff from place to place without touching any of it. That is, until we moved the last time and I swore up and down that I wasn’t going to pack and unpack them again and I started looking for excuses to burn candles. Our apartment smelled like Bath and Body Works for the longest time, but I finally got “through” the candles. But I discovered that “through” has a very different meaning when you compare homemade candles to store-bought candles. Meaning-I still had 2/3 of the wax left and 0.00% of the wick.

I spent a couple of days trying to decide what to do with all the extra wax because, let’s face it, I wanted the containers. I was torn between melting the wax together and making an entirely new candle, saving myself the hassle and just getting rid of the wax, or throwing the whole thing away and decide to stop being a hoarder. In the end, I didn’t really do any of those things.

Instead, I was searching through stuff in the spare bedroom trying to find my sewing machine cord (grr) and I came across a wax burner that we’d won from a work party years ago. There were a couple of candles that I still liked the smell of so I used the (tiny) wax burner to melt the wax. It didn’t exactly look very stable once the wax had all melted and the weight had shifted a bit and there was a lot more wax than I thought. I went searching for answers and found them in the freezer.

When Alex and I first moved in together in September 2013, we bought a whole bunch of stuff to make jello shots. I made them once, decided that the entire concept was texturally unpleasant and haven’t used the molds for much of anything since. My molds were silicone (found for super cheap during the after Halloween sale at Walmart) so I didn’t have to use anything to keep the wax from sticking. I can’t imagine what you would have to use in order for it to stick but I’m sure there’s something.

Once the candle was completely melted, I poured the wax into the molds and let it sit until it was set. If there are bits of burnt wick in your wax, that’s okay. Once they’re separated and set in small enough portions so you can set it on the tray for the wax they will stay behind after they’ve been melted down and retransferred.

If you’re giving these as gifts, totally not a hypocrite moment, I promise, wrap them in wax paper and secure with a piece of washi tape and place inside the candle container. I’ve chosen to leave on and to remove the labels on the containers. It depends on whether it’s a variety or how many I have in each particular scent. For a long time, the only scent I was ever given was apple pie. *Confession: for the apple pie candles I didn’t even bother burning the candle first.*

If you’re having trouble getting the container clean you have a couple options, freeze it for about an hour and the wax should pop right off, use boiling water and let it sit until lukewarm then pull out and wipe with paper towel, or just keep scraping. I prefer to use hot water. I would not recommend doing this in your sinks but I usually boil a pot, pour the water in and let it sit instead of completely submersing the container. I make sure I dump it while the water is still warm so it doesn’t have the chance to re-harden.

As for lotions? I haven’t found anything awesome to do with them aside from putting them in the “incentive box” at work for the girls to “purchase” or throwing them out so I’m definitely open to suggestions!

It’s Been Awhile…

I’d like to say that I’ve been super busy and that’s why I haven’t updated this as often as I had originally planned but that’s not entirely true. Part of it is that I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of moving pictures from my Iphone (that can’t keep a working charger to save it’s life) of the projects that I’d made, recipes I’ve used, and kick ass shopping trips I’d taken, and part of it is that I consciously chose to do something else.  I had it in my head that no one would want to read what I had to say unless it had tons of awesome pictures to prove my point and it seemed like an awful lot of effort to hold my 6th lightning cord that month in a certain way so it would charge my phone. So I could take the pictures. That may or may not make someone want to read what I have to say. Crap logic, huh?

A lot of changes have been happening in the (almost) Dillon household. First and foremost a change in our schedules.  Alex got a job working 3rd shift right around the time that I volunteered for 3rd shift for a bit at work. I was feeling incredibly overwhelmed by everything going on and I figured third shift would help alleviate that feeling. Alex chose thirds so that our schedules would, more or less, match up.  I still have tons of extra time since I’m working 13 hour “days” 3 nights a week and Alex is gone for 7-8 hours every night I have off. Which is awesome for our budget!

You see what I did there? Seriously though, the change in scheduling was awesome and it allowed us to lower our utilities payments a bit as well. I’m sure this may not be big news but certain utility rates work the same as the “Night and Weekend” minutes on cell phone plans.  Our electricity costs us less at night. Which is when we’re both up using it. I’m sure it won’t be incredibly drastic but every bit helps.  Plus, it ties in nicely to those who call us using home phones where night/weekend long distance is less expensive.

I used the difference in Alex’s take home pay to pay the $40 upgrade fee and switched my Iphone 5 to a Droid Maxx since I have gone through so many chargers recently the clerks at the Dollar General know what I’m there for as soon as I walk in the door. The phone itself is an old enough model that it didn’t cost me anything other than the upgrade fee and, since we don’t have a home phone, it’s important to have a phone that is reliable. Speaking of importance of a phone…definitely washed Alex’s phone (through the entire cycle) and it doesn’t work anymore. He’s still on a family plan with his family and, although he’s eligible for an upgrade, he needs to meet with them first to go over his options and there are a bagillion things going on more important right now. In the meantime, he’s lucky enough to have access to wifi at work and at home so he’s just using my old phone as an ipod.

Alex’s family is struggling a bit right now as his step grandfather (and my favorite person in his family) was diagnosed with cancer in March, right after coming to visit us. He was feeling dizzy and suffering blurry vision and went to an optometrist to see if he needed a different Rx. His optometrist figured out what was wrong and called his wife (Alex’s grandma) to tell her that she either needed to come pick him up and take him to the ER or they were calling an ambulance. They found cancer on his spine, at the base of his brain and in his lungs. Since his diagnosis things have gone just about as far downhill as possible. This is especially hard since both Alex and I are close and Alex and I joke that this particular grandfather likes me more than him because we’re both “assholes with a heart of gold.” Hospice was called in almost a month ago so it’s only a matter of time.

We’re using the bit of extra money from Alex choosing overnights over first shift to make sure that we’re stocked up on things that we need and progress with our “get out of debt” plan. Right now, without Alex helping to contribute, I can have my emergency credit card paid off by September and be able to start paying off the rest of my car after that. With Alex’s extra help, it can be paid off by mid-August and we’ll still be able to get some of the more expensive stuff we need. You know, that stuff that you don’t REALLY need but at some point you have to bite the bullet and purchase. For instance,

Alex needs new shoes for work since his are dress shoes (definitely not made for hot factory work) and he’s lost so much weight since he wore jeans he looks like one of those REALLY old diaper-wearing men. You know the ones, with their rear all poofy but their waist and legs anything but. Basically, he looks really unprofessional for work, even for factory work. Max needs a trip to the vet in a month or so for her shots to be updated and I would really like to have work clothes in the correct size but it’s less dire than Alex’s need for clothes. Hopefully, by December we’ll be able to purchase a couch! Right now we’ve got a 2 person ottoman and a chair in the living room. Both nice and super comfy but there isn’t enough seating for guests.

More entries will (fingers crossed) be happening in the awkward hours of the night when everyone is sleeping and I’ve finished what I have to do for the night but the posts probably won’t have pictures for awhile. Unless it’s food 🙂

Family Values

I’ve been distant for the past couple of weeks. Not on purpose, just trying to figure out how to word what I wanted to say. Family means a lot to us so there isn’t much we’re not willing to go through to see our family. Last week we traveled back to our hometown the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend to spend time with his family. The Dillon family can be overwhelmingly large when you put everyone, including step families, together. This get together was exceptionally hard given that we were gathering, not only to celebrate Memorial Day, but for the “spring burial” of Alex’s (step) grandfather, Tom.

I’ve been an honorary member of the Dillon/Reinholm/Mochty/Groff family for years but this brought relatives I’ve never met.  The ceremony was short and sweet and we all wore Michigan State University jackets since it was his favorite team. I’m almost positive that he hasn’t missed a State game since his stepchildren went to MSU. Tom was a lot of things: a lover of golf, family, MSU, hunting, collecting old war patches, and the list goes on. Every time I saw him I was learning something new about him (and gaining an appreciation for watching golf on TV).  He was rarely seen without a toothpick hanging out of his mouth and, somehow, he made watching golf the most hilarious experience ever.

After the memorial and lunch, we ended up at his grandmother’s house and everyone was able to take something that reminded them of Tom. Alex ended up with his collection of patches and we all looked through old pictures and knickknacks. It was hard for everyone emotionally and it was a surprise to be going through things that day. But Alex got what he “wanted” and I was given an MSU sweatshirt since it was a sin for me not to have MSU stuff and a book about golf jokes and we were off to my grandpa’s house to see him and my mom.

We had the books of patches out on the kitchen table that night and my grandfather, who served in 2 wars-one in the army and one in the navy-saw a couple that were familiar. It led to wonderful conversations about his experiences in the war, the people he met, and which patches he had. A couple of them he had to look up what they meant since it had been so long since he’d worn them and he was flabbergasted by the amount of patches and designs there were now.

We all sat at the table after dinner that night talking and learning from each other until my mom finally reminded us there were dishes to be done. It was a wonderful experience and I’m thankful we were able to have that conversation with mi abuelo and grateful that Tom was able to give us a gift that seemed to have a much greater purpose.

Things Don’t Always Go According to Plan!

I had a wonderful project planned for today! I even got everything out last night so I could get started bright and early. I was planning on making my own throw pillows to match some our new living room, pick out some fabric to make my own curtains, and make a silk “lamp shade” for a shelving unit with a built in lamp. Unfortunately, I assumed that the cord to my sewing machine was inside my case when I packed it. Turns out, that’s not quite how it happened and we can’t find it so ALL of my projects are on hold for a bit.

In the meantime, Alex and I have a little patch of “garden” outside our apartment and we planted flowers last week before work. I can’t wait to take pictures when they finally bloom! We’re already getting tiny little hints of flowers pushing through the soil. Last night, I told a couple of the residents I work with about our mini flower garden and they decided they finally wanted to start working on their own gardens. They were given some seeds for Mother’s Day at church last week and a couple chose to plant a couple in pots for their rooms, others wanted to plant them around the house, and a few took a different path entirely and started planting vegetables.

One potato, an onion, the entire top of a green bell pepper, an entire tomato, and a deer carrot.

My grandparents and great grandparents used to have a potato farm and from as far back as I can remember, my grandparents have always had a good sized vegetable garden surrounded by fruit trees and bushes in their back yard. I loved helping her plant corn and dig around in the dirt after the ground began to thaw. Ultimately, that’s what I’d love to do when Alex and I finally decide to settle down and buy a house. But in all those years, I’ve never seen anyone plant an entire green pepper or tomato. I’m pretty confident that the potato, onion, and probably the carrot will have a chance if the gopher that’s been hanging around the house lately doesn’t find them first (they named him Tobey) but I don’t expect to see anything from them until closer to the fall. As for the other vegetables, I’m not really sure how those work. Mi abuela grew both but she always bought them from plants instead of seeds. But, we’ll see. Life’s an adventure and this is how we learn.

Mi abuela always had corn, tomatoes, green peppers, lettuce, red and yellow watermelon, green onions, dill, all sorts of tomatoes, squash, English cucumbers for eating, regular cucumbers for pickling, and then potatoes and onions in tires out by the shed. She rotated where things were planted every couple of years but somehow they always stayed in the same order.  One summer she gave me a garden of my own and I got to plant, grow, and eat the best strawberries I’d ever had! Nothing’s been planted there for a couple years now but I can still remember where all the plants go and the dill still grows like weeds.They also had huckleberry bushes and peach, pear, red and green apple trees!  Whatever was too much for them to eat in one season was canned, jellied, jammed, pickled, or froze so we could enjoy it all year round and my grandfather made the best homemade canned pears I’ve ever had! *secret: I HATE fresh pears the texture is awful*

Not only is growing food such a wonderful way to know what’s on your plate, it’s also a fun way to get kids involved, give back to the community and save money. I’ve gone with my grandmother on many trips to get plants or seeds for her garden and they’re super cheap! Some places have seeds for as cheap as $.25! There may not be many seeds in the packet but I don’t know many fruits, vegetables, or flowers that can be picked up at a store for less than $.25. Buying plants are a little more expensive, but, if properly cared for, can pay for themselves many times over!  It’s silly not to garden if you’re in an area where that’s possible and physically able to take care of it. Alex and I have both worked in grocery stores in the past and most places, plants that produce food are considered part of the EBT program so if you know anyone in this position, let them know too! I don’t know how many people mentioned they wish they could plant their food but couldn’t afford it and came through our lines their next time around with plants after we told them!

Fingers crossed Alex and I will find somewhere of our own that has room for a yard of delicious goodness! I can’t keep a house plant alive to save my life but I’ve always been good at the routine of tending to a garden.

Food for Thought: Frugal Shopping

Growing up without a lot of money has led me to be incredibly thrifty. Alex didn’t necessarily grow up the same way. His family didn’t usually have money but, when they did, they used it. So coming together and living on our own budget has come with some compromising on both our parts. The first step I took to being more financially aware was with what I spend the most money on-food. The key, for me, is to shop at a couple of different stores for certain things and take a cooler with me when I shop so I can go to a couple different spots each trip. Even with competitive pricing opportunities, remember that those “deals” are only meant to cover sale items not regular prices.

You may have noticed from the Asian Chicken recipe I posted yesterday that I get quite a few things at the Dollar Store. Now, I love shopping at dollar stores for certain “staples” in my refrigerator/pantry even though I used to think it was disgusting. Dollar Stores have come a long way since I was a kid and most of the food there was there because it was getting ready to expire or was covered in dust since no one ever bought it. Now I find new things every time I go there and, quite often, the expiration date on things I would buy are far past the expiration dates I find on the same products in chain stores. This change may have come from Dollar Stores (of all kinds) realizing that there was room for improvement in food or because of the mountains of ingredients added to most of our food to keep it fresh longer. Pick your poison, but I’m going with the first reason because it’s less depressing. The non-food items offered at the dollar stores are also worth utilizing. A dollar for conditioner! Heck yes! I have so much hair that buying expensive conditioner is costly so I’d much rather use twice as much of a $1 shampoo than use 1/3 of a bottle of an $18 one, kitchen wrap of any kind, bathroom products (sans TP) are also great buys at dollar stores. Their “new” smartphone app also allows you access to coupons that you can use while checking out at the register and, since I love me some coupons/smartphone apps/savings, I’m all about it.

Big Lots is also one I’ve begun to utilize recently.  Big Lots, more than dollar stores have gotten a bad rap in the past. Their ever-changing, off-brand products are a big issue for certain folks and, there was a time, when expiration dates didn’t mean anything to them.  A good 10 years went in between visits to Big Lots for me, but when we moved to an area where there was a Big Lots right behind our apartment I was impressed!  I fell in love! The The Big Lots near our area has a lot of international foods for not a whole lot of money and Alex loves him some Indian and Thai food but buying the ingredients at chain stores would be crazy expensive, so I never made them for him. Now I can incorporate his favorite curries once a month or so (since I’m not a fan) and not have to break the bank. I also went gluten free for a period last summer and enjoyed that they had products like Bob’s Red Mills for way cheaper than anywhere else I’ve found it. Not to mention, they have the best selection in the area. Where many people find their off-brand, sometimes out there products to be a bother, I think it’s fantastic! I’m all about expanding my palate and trying new recipes and, once again, Alex eats everything (except cottage cheese and bologna) so if I make a poor choice, he’s right there to eat it anyway.

Spices at Big Lots are $1 and, even though there are places where I can get them for 99 cents, I find the selection in those places to be poor. Large cans of nuts are almost always on sale for $5 and I have yet to see a drink for more than $1.50. Most of the time I drink water, but I love me an Arnold Palmer. The big cans are only $0.85! Occasionally, Max gets a treat or two from Big Lots as well. She’s a big fan of wet dog food, but we don’t buy it for her often since she’s super picky and…money but Big Lots lets us get her a can or two as a treat once and a while. *Side note: Switching in between dog foods can cause tummy troubles for dogs. We usually mix a bit into her food and make a can stretch a couple of days. Leftovers kept in the fridge.* I don’t usually partake in non-food things at Big Lots because most of their non-food products are things that are one-time buys for me but their paper products, including toilet paper are a steal! Occasionally, I’ll buy laundry detergent there as well but I plan on trying out homemade laundry detergent in the not so distant future.

Aldi is the last of the “super cheap” stores I go to and, possibly, one of my favorites. I get my grinder spices at Aldi (still only $1) and close to 100% of my meat. Aldi always has sales on meat and I always come back with at least half a freezer’s worth. The key? Find those red stickers with $-off labels. They’re cumulative! One time I walked out with 15 pounds of meat for under 5 bucks! Yes, this means it’s close to it’s expiration date, but I freeze everything but what I would use in a day or two anyway so this doesn’t faze me. I buy most of my perishable items here. Their produce is the cheapest around and I love that I can pick up a carton of strawberries without finding 7 or 8 cartons underneath it covered in mold. Even normally expensive fruits are cheap here (blackberries, raspberries, watermelon) and their veggies are awesome too.  I also buy all of my canned goods, dried beans and baking supplies here regardless of sale prices everywhere else. Occasionally, I even buy lady products and OTC pain meds here as well. I can walk out with a month of groceries for under $150 bucks! This includes meat, produce, AND canned goods!

I don’t shop at Walmart or Meijer often anymore, regardless of their smartphone apps. But there are a few things I get at each store or a few reasons I go there for certain items.

Before I start though, I think it’s fair to disclose that I absolutely HATE shopping at Walmart so sometimes there are things that I buy other places that may be cheaper at Walmart (like certain spices) but I’d rather pay a bit more than to shop there. It has to be a pretty big difference in price for me to make the extra trip. That being said, I do buy a couple of things at Walmart. The first being dog food. With dog food companies constantly recalling dog food I appreciate that Walmart is on top of recalls. It makes me feel like Max is safe when I buy food from there. Also, it’s a fair amount cheaper. I buy Max 2 or 3 different brands of all natural dog food. I make sure that wheat and rice aren’t the bulk of the ingredients and try to feed her the best I can. I can get a 50 pound bag of one brand of food for her at Walmart for $20 whereas the cheapest I’ve found it anywhere else is close to $40 after tax. I also buy most of my yarn there because the color selection is better. The price isn’t that big of a difference but Walmart carries at least twice as many colors as other stores in my area. I do use their price catcher app but the only thing I’ve ever gotten money back for is when Alex buys Kickstart energy drinks.

Finally, Meijer. I buy a lot of Max’s dog treats and the other 2 brands of food we give her. Meijer’s dog treats almost always have coupons on them *I’m sure Walmart’s do too, but they’re always all peeled off when I shop there* and with MPerks coupled with store sales, I can walk out with a $9.99 bag of Grandma’s kitchen dog food for around $4 every 3 months or so. Which is awesome. I also utilize MPerks for clothes, shoes, and fitness items. I prefer the quality of Meijer’s clothes to other (affordable) places around and they always have some sort of shoe on sale to fit my need (ONLY WHEN I NEED THEM). As for fitness items, I love that I was able to get my favorite activity tracker for 50% off with MPerks after mine fell off last summer while I was tubing *disclaimer: I also lost both flip flops that trip on my second step into the water. Current was rough* and they constantly have 25 and 35% off MPerks for workout equipment. About once a month, Meijer has a 10 for $10 sale where you get the 11th item for free. I always take up this offer but you have to pay attention. A lot of things in the 10 for $10 sale are already at or slightly below a dollar normally. I stock up on Angel Soft toilet paper, taco kits, bagged lettuce, bags of fruit, eggs, and salad toppings (olives, croutons, etc) during this time and do my best to fill in the rest of the items with things I wouldn’t normally buy, want to try, or things I genuinely need even if I can get them at another location.

I hope this helps, even a little bit. I used to spend $250 a month (at least) on food for two people when I just shopped at Meijer. I just spent $125 to replenish an empty kitchen after we put off shopping until we didn’t have food left before we moved. It was EMPTY. Now our pantry and freezer are full and, after 2 weeks, the only thing I have to buy is more lettuce.

Any tips or tricks you use to be frugal? Let me know!

Asian Style Shredded Chicken

Dinner became a bit more painstaking than normal when I decided I didn’t want to prep our meals for the next couple of days out of the same seasoned chicken that I had been making for ages. So I did exactly what young people do nowadays, I spent way too long browsing things I knew I couldn’t make or didn’t have the ingredients for and not a lot of time attempting to productively find dinner. It was my day off and I had a bit of time to kill before dinner so I spent a little over an hour on Pinterest searching for a chicken breast recipe that looked tasty. Then I had to search through the 500 or so that looked tasty and find one that I actually had all the ingredients for.

I found an awesome recipe for Bourbon Chicken. The glaze looked so succulent and delicious, I just had to have it. I didn’t have any bourbon, but I’d made bourbon chicken before and none of the many recipes I used actually called for bourbon. Until my mouth started watering and I looked at the ingredients for the one that I had handpicked out of so many other delicious recipes. 1/4 cup bourbon. Awesome. Cruel move, universe.

I moved on to an awesome looking barbecue baked chicken. Most of the time I try to stay away from recipes calling for homemade barbecue sauce. My mom and grandmother have a killer homemade bbq sauce “recipe” that I don’t like to stray from-basically just throw 6 ingredients in a measuring cup and stir with a fork then simmer until thick and delicious. I was still a bit iffy about it but I was tired of looking through Pinterest and didn’t want to get my hopes up for something delicious again. Alex likes anything so he’d eat it whether I liked it or not. I had all of the ingredients so I got started preheating the oven and all that shenanigans and I decided I had time to make baked potatoes, so, why not?

All of the ingredients were out on the counter and I, did the same thing I always do, started switching ingredients out. “Oh, I have olive oil, but I really like the way sesame oil tastes,” “It calls for ketchup, mustard, honey AND a honey bbq sauce, that’s ridiculous! I’ll just use ketchup and honey,” “1 clove of garlic? Nope. Three.”  And just kept going. By the end of it, I had substituted Worcestershire sauce with soy sauce, changed oils, took out ingredients, added cornstarch, shredded the chicken and turned out a FANTASTIC honey/sesame chicken with not too shabby macronutrients and a pretty forgiving calorie count.

Recipe below:

Ingredients:

3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast (I got mine at Aldi for combined total $4.24)

2 Tablespoons sesame oil (Medium-sized bottle purchased at Meijer for $5.74)

1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce (Dollar Store)

2 Tablespoons reduced sugar ketchup (Dollar Store)

1 cup honey (Huge container at Aldi for $8 something)

3 cloves garlic, minced (Bought in large prepackaged bag of garlic heads at Walmart $1.88)

1 Tablespoon cornstarch (it’s been in my pantry for a while. I had a coupon for it at Meijer)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Directions:

Place chicken in 9×13 inch baking dish. I poked each side a couple of times with my fork and set it aside.

Then, mix all ingredients except for cornstarch together in a container. I find a measuring cup to be the easiest, but use whatever’s around. Once combined, pour mixture over chicken. Flip chicken over in sauce so the sauce is able to get under the chicken as well. Bake in preheated oven for 60 minutes, turning every 15.

After 60 minutes, pull the dish out of the oven and separate the chicken from the sauce. Add approximately 4 Tablespoons of the sauce to the cornstarch and stir until smooth. Forks are pretty awesome at this. Mix the slurry back into the sauce and set aside.

*I chose to shred the chicken because the amount of sauce left over was ridiculous and the chicken breasts were huge. The original recipe did not call for cornstarch either since it was a BBQ chicken recipe. BBQ sauce thickens pretty much everything*

Return chicken to pan and then to oven. Bake another 30 minutes, turning after 15.

8 Servings, 377.7 Calories each

7.7g Fat/ 38.4g Carbhydrates/ 38.7g Protein (18.35F/40.67C/40.98P)

Let me know how it turns out if you end up trying this! It cost me between $5 and $6 total which is between $.62 and $.75 a serving!

First Things First…

My name is Lynnette and *confession time* I’m not yet a Dillon. But family is incredibly important to me. My fiance, Alex, and I have been engaged since June 6, 2012 and were supposed to be married December 14, 2014 but, we had a few hiccups along the way so we rescheduled. I work in the social services and I love anything cheap, DIY, or otherwise “granny-like.” I’ve never blogged before, so you’ll have to bear with me. I grew up without a whole lot and have spent most of my adult life making things so that I didn’t have to spend money on them. Before I hit kindergarten I was a novice “granny.”  I would sit next to my grandmother every night and watch her knit or crochet her latest project. Finally, I asked if I could try it and off I went! She couldn’t believe it. Alex and I recently moved closer to where I work and I was able to secure a whole room in the house to my crafting and books. Did I mention I love books? I love escaping into the pages of a story for a while. As long as it’s not a biography or anything of the sort. The closest to real life I like to be when I read is “based on a true story.”  I hope to have quite a few DIY projects coming as I start over with my wedding planning, some tips for being extra thrifty and frugal around the house, as well as the occasional look into other aspects of our lives.

This is Alex. The man who, not only stole my heart but, has been by my side since as far back as I can remember. Alex is an avid reader, occasional gamer, and all-around good guy. He helped me study all through high school and encouraged me to follow my dreams when it came to college, even though it took me from the banks of Lake Huron to close to the border of Eastern PA. Alex sticks by me no matter what is going on and is always looking for ways to make me smile. My grandmother and his grandmother were neighbors and good friends. My mom babysat his dad and I’ve known him so long I can’t even remember when I met him. He’s WONDERFUL with children and I’m so excited to start a family with him one day but, for now, he’ll have to settle for a dog.

This is Max, our 4 (almost 5) year old, more tubby than not beagle. We got HER the day before Easter 2014 after one of Alex’s coworkers said that his family wouldn’t be able to take care of her anymore. The man’s wife didn’t like Max and preferred Max’s son, Socks. She continuously opened the door to the open woods for Max to go out and then never waited around to see if she would come back. I’ve never had a dog but Alex’s dad had a chihuahua that I didn’t hate. So when we went over to his coworker’s house for a game night and Max took a liking to us, Alex and I jumped at the offer to take her. Max (named by two small children) isn’t short for anything, but that’s okay. We just accept that people assume that Max is a boy. Our lives have been made so much better by her and I’m constantly astonished that I helped keep such a loving creature alive for over a year now. Max doesn’t play much-we think it’s from being raised around so many small children-but we take her to the dog park once or twice a month and make sure that she’s being active. She’s lost between 10 and 15 pounds since we got her! She loves curling up with us while we sleep and we often wake up in the morning with her front paws on our arms or our chests and looking at us. With all the love, warmth, and comfort Max has given us this past year, I can’t believe it took me almost 24 years to adopt a pooch!