Meal Planning?!

We need a meal plan. Definitely.

We tend to just go to the grocery store and buy whatever we want off the shelves. No bueno. We spend too much money on food that we don't even need.

So I've decided we need to meal plan. At least have two weeks worth of meal plans to go grocery shopping for. That way, we know what we're going to eat, when we're going to eat it and we know what to go shopping for.

Husband is behind it. He thinks that it'll be a good thing, especially because we've been like this for so long. No budget or anything, we just get what we want when we want it. And sad thing is, we really can't afford this. With meal planning (and couponing, another thing I wish to venture into this year), we can do our best to cut costs at the grocery store, instead of just going in there and spending willy-nilly.

I'd like to also sit down with my husband and set up a monthly budget, keep track of spending, stuff like that.  Not only do I want to do this, but I feel like we need to do this. My parents never showed me how to manage my finances and for the longest time I had no idea how to. But my parents had two houses go into foreclosure, cars repo'ed, etc. I don't want to be like that. I don't want to set that example for Little Miss and any other future children that Husband and I have.

I want to grow up and be responsible. And seeing as I am the most disorganized person on the planet, I figure organizing things like meals and budgets and stuff like that would be the best place to start.

I'm looking online for meal planning templates, but I think I'll make my own. And I plan on getting a picture frame from the dollar store and turning them into a dry-erase board, so I don't have to print off several hundred of these things.

I guess I'm wishing myself good luck here. Hopefully I don't stray from the beaten path on this.

Complaints From Dog

This is Polly (or Miss Polly, Polly Pocket, Pollywollydoodle, Pollywogs, Pocket, or Mutt)

She likes sneaking into the recliner, barking at the Christmas tree (that we really need to take down), jumping onto the sofa (and everything else) and trying to get the kitties to play with her. 

If we take her to the dog park, she'll find the biggest dog there and hump him until he falls over. If we go to Petsmart, she knows where to go to get treats and actually has a fan club there. I get yelled at if I go to Petsmart without her. At my In-Laws, she tries to dominate the house (and their chocolate lab) by peeing on their carpet (which goes over so well, let me tell you). Oh yeah, and if we go out anywhere, she prances on her tiptoes like a show pony, instead of running all over the place like a bat out of hell. 

She's eaten countless amounts of toys (stuffed ones with squeakers, nylabones, etc.) and now only has one toy left which has survived several months of abuse, thankfully. She's eaten two leashes (we have a chain one now), two harnesses, several dog beds, shoes, tissues and tried to eat my gearshift. 

Needless to say, a lot of my time going "Ah! No!", "Drop it!", "Leave it!" or even worse "Honey, do you know where the dog is?!" Because she's really sneaky and when she's quiet bad things happen. (This rule also applies to four year olds).

But Pollywog leads a good life. She's cuddled, hugged, kissed, fed, watered and even allowed to sleep in my wonderful bed on occasion. 

Of course though, she obviously thinks that there could be some more improvements. That much is evident from the way she just lays around the house and whines pitifully for no reason. So, tonight's installment is Complaints From the Dog!

But wait! You say. Last night you wrote about your two cats and there were only two complaints. What makes the dog more interesting?

Because my cats are snobby and prefer to spend the majority of their time outside trying to kill Cardinals, so I don't know much about their complaints. But I did forget one, so there's now officially 3. I'll edit that later. 

Anyway, to answer your question: Polly is a dog. That automatically makes her more interesting. 

I'm a dog person, can't you tell?

Complaints From Dog

1. They won't let me on the sofa. They keep telling me "Off!" I need to work on training my humans better.

2. They don't see the trash can as a never-ending buffet, like I do. 

3. I hate my stupid crate.

4. I want to play with the kitties, but they don't want to play with me and now I have to get more band-aids. 

5. They take me outside in the rain and the snow to go to the bathroom. They go to the bathroom inside and I don't complain, but I go inside and they get all upset at me.

6. Blankets, shoes, leashes, harnesses and gearshifts are yummy. They won't let me eat them.

7. I like cat food better. And table scraps.

8. The tiny human doesn't drop nearly as much food as I want.

9. If they didn't want me to chew on the toys at the Petsmart, they wouldn't have them at optimum chewing level.

10. The couch is SO much more comfortable than the floor. Why do they keep telling me to get off?!

11. I shook the stuffing out of that shark to make sure it was dead. Why is the tiny human crying? 

And the list goes on and on and on. 

Sigh. 

Silly animals.

Complaints From the Cats

See this cat?

This is Lucky Bear. He is a lover of sinks, the spaces between legs and tuna fish.

He's such a happy looking cat isn't he? I mean, all happy and smiling in the sink. The complete opposite of Grumpy Cat (whom I still love because, let's face it, she's adorable).

IT'S ALL A LIE.

This cat is obsessive and jealous - he hates it when Husband gets too close to me, walks me to the mailbox and back and absolutely DESPISES everything that takes me attention away from him.

Tonight Husband and I were talking about our kitties.

Oh yeah. We have two cats. This is Brother Bear. He's a little bit...er...well, he's special.

We were talking about how even though our cats never shut up or catch mice or lay around the living room and kitchen acting like they haven't eaten in days and are starving, that they live pretty well. Very well, seeing as they both weigh upward of 15 pounds a cat.

But, we know, they have complaints. Everyone does, after all, no matter how well their lives are. Especially cats, because everyone knows that nothing is ever good enough for cats. However we don't think that they have much to complain about. So, for everyone's reading pleasure, here are 

Complaints from the Cats!

1. They have a tiny human. They give us less attention because of it. And they let the tiny human dress us up in humiliating outfits and brush our fur the wrong way. 
2. They have a dog who thinks we want to play. Guess what?! We don't.

See? Only two complaints. Unless I move Brother's box. Then he looks lost and stares at the spot where it once was meowing pitifully. 

Next up: Complaints From Dog.