This week is very fake-meat heavy; there were some good sales/coupons, and plus we're all just really in the mood for that sort of meal (traditional meal where the meat is swapped out for a substitute); it's comforting, I think, since we all started out as omnivores.

Friday (last night)
General Tso's mock duck w/rice (N)

Saturday lunch
huevos/tofu scramble with refried black beans, rice & cheese

Saturday dinner
bangers, mash & beans

Sunday lunch
pancakes & facon with apple sauce

Sunday dinner
veggie burgers, fries & salad

Monday
mock duck satay with rice & tofu spring rolls

Tuesday (trivia)
BBQ pasta w/tofu & veggies

Wednesday
Italian sausage & peppers hoagies w/ fries

Thursday
pinto beans & rice w/avocado

Our favorite Vietnamese grocery store, where we got cheap staples such as tofu and soy sauce, is closing. They're having a clearance sale so we'll stock up on nonperishables. Also ramen noodles, which are a guilty-pleasure lunch now and then.

AS says there's a similar store just across the street on the same block, so I'm hoping they have good deals too. We never bothered to look since we liked this one so much!

Our building's water is off because a water main leading into it broke. We were warned, so we filled our bathtub and a few pots and pitchers as well; we have enough to make the toilet flush and to cook and drink and wash our hands, but we can't take showers. I'm dying for one, so I hope they fix it soon!

I handled our holiday grocery overspending with surplus money and various snowflakes, so that gave us a clean slate on the grocery budget starting the Saturday after Xmas. So far we are keeping slightly under our spending limit, which is great. I scored some great deals today, such as two free frozen juices (by stacking a coupon on a sale) and local apples for .99/lb. We didn't do too badly on food waste but did throw away some stuff. Not nearly as much as I was afraid we'd toss out.

Monday in Minnesota is supposed to hit record-low temperatures. My and AS's jobs are both doing work-from-home days. We do have to take the kids to daycare in order to get said work done, so we'll be taking a cab there and back, and then again when it's time to pick them up.

I was starting to build up a bit of surplus money with various eBay sales and other snowflakes, but it's been dribbling away about as fast as I accumulate it, on things like the upcoming taxi rides, and stroller rental at the Mall, and eBay fees from past sales, and so on. I'm glad for snowflakes even when they get eaten up by incidentals, because these types of expenses aren't precisely budgeted for and need to come from somewhere. But at the same time it's disappointing when we score a good snowflake and then don't get to put it toward debt repayment or savings!

Still, all of the credit rewards that will come from paying my dental bills are not spoken for. I'm trying to ignore the fact that they're coming; hopefully I can put each one toward some big-picture goal as we get them.

I have a faint hope that my company will give us a small bonus; they postponed our holiday party and a couple other things until the new fiscal quarter started, since we were doing so poorly last quarter, so I feel there's some chance we'll get a bonus. It's usually a $200 Amex card or thereabouts. If I get it, I'll use it for groceries and put a corresponding amount of grocery money aside for my 40th bday festivities in March. I really want to have a blowout party but it's not budgeted for, so I'll just have to scrape together money and see how much of a party I can afford.

Our January doesn't have many social or other obligations, and I'm LOVING it. So ready for a quiet month; the past few have been insane. Tomorrow we have one friend coming over; Tuesday is my dental implant surgery; next Saturday is haircut day for all of us; next Sunday is my "League of Ordinary Savers" meeting; the following Saturday AS has a work-related party. And that's IT, except for optional trivia every Tuesday. Compared with December, when there was seriously only one day on our calendar that DIDN'T have something scheduled, it feels amazing! Even when NT's college starts up again later this month, it's independent study this semester, so he won't be out late at classes several times a week.

I may try to revise my novel this month, and I might do another DietBet to take off the holiday poundage. Other than that, just going to try and enjoy my family and work on my New Year's resolution of being nicer and calmer in my interactions with people (family included). Mixed results so far, but the year is just beginning.

February doesn't look too bad so far, just our Puerto Rico vacation (5 days) and possibly AS going out of town later in the month for a book fair.

March is going to be slightly nuts again, with all five of our birthdays (probably mine is the only one we'll make a huge deal of since it's my 40th), and potentially THREE business trips (two for AS and one for NT). But knowing we have all that going on, I'm going to try really hard to not schedule much else for that month.