Random Thoughts...Food, Firearms, and Fun

I'm still exhausted, and yes, that's even after going to sleep at 9 PM last night! I'll deal though, and will muddle through with today. I may take tomorrow off though, but I'm still trying to decide that. I did stumble onto another "free" money site, Great Bridge Group . Once you join, you link your cards (debit and credit), and they reward you a percentage of what you spend, everywhere. They pay once/quarter, up to $60/quarter, via PayPal or Amazon.com gift cards. I'm up to over $27 this quarter, and they list your payout date in your account as well, so there are no surprises. The link above is a referral link--if you join using that, I receive $5, and so do you. That bonus posts once you've linked a card and have been active for 90 days. I have my Amaranth initiation tonight, and I honestly don't know how I'm not going to fall asleep on the way home from there! Depending on what time I get home from work today, I may squeeze in a shor...

So, my budgeted savings for cooking breakfast every morning took a nose dive of sorts. I realized that, on Fridays, since Mac doesn't work, I never put any effort into making coffee or anything, since he won't be awake to drink it, and because then on Fridays, I can sleep in for an extra hour. I've decided that I'm going to revise my budget sheet to reflect that on Fridays, I'm going to splurge and still pick up breakfast on my way to work. If that changes later in the year, great. If not, it's a small luxury that I'm going to take, in part because I can use the extra sleep! I'm very grumpy today, for many reasons, and I'm thinking I need a mental health day soon!

It's been a while since I've shared some of my random thoughts, so now is probably a good time. I've lost 13.4 pounds on Weight Watchers, which while it isn't much, I should explain that for quite a while, I've not been following it, and have just really recommitted to it. I've found that if I plan my meals in advance, I do much better at following it. Yes, it gets boring, yes, it frustrates Mac, considering that on Saturday, I had 4 points left for dinner. He had a reuben, I had a grilled chicken salad with fat-free Italian dressing. I've even found that I can eat out at places like Buffalo Wild Wings. I can't always get what I really want there, but I can compromise. I tried something different for breakfast this morning. Typically, breakfast is a McDonald's Egg McMuffin. While it fits into my daily points, I know it's not the healthiest option. Likewise, since we're on a quest to save money this year, spending $2.50/weekday for break...

I prepared the Dream Dinners Pork Burritos last night, and wow, were they easy to prepare and rather yummy. When you prepare them at the store, you place them into a foil pan. To cook them, you simply remove the lid from the pan and bake in a pre-heated oven. After allowing them cook for 25-30 minutes, you're then supposed to cover them with the enchilada sauce provided and bake for another 10 minutes. I opted to use salsa verde instead, and also covered them with a dusting of cheese. I served the Pork Burritos with Spanish rice, refried beans, and Southwest salad. The meal was extremely yummy! The burritos had a nice flavor, with a touch of BBQ sauce, and the corn added a hint of sweet. While they contained black beans and rice also, I supplemented our meal with refried beans and rice, in addition to the salad, in part so we'd have extra leftovers. The clean-up was extremely easy. Once we packaged up the leftovers, the foil pan was tossed in the garbage, and Mac washed the...

Occasionally, my debit card gets flagged by my bank's security/card loss department. They'll intentionally deny a transaction, and will call me to ask me to verify transactions. Usually, it's not a bad thing. In prior experiences, calling back simply transfers me into an automated system that, recognizing my phone number, asks me to confirm the phone number, then pulls up my account. It then asks me to verify several transactions, and after doing that, my card works again, without an issue. Today, I attempted to make a purchase online, and the transaction was denied. A few minutes later, I receive a phone call. The voice mail message asks me to return the call. Figuring that it's the same old situation, I call. This time, a live person answers, and asks me to provide them with my card number. Um, no! Does that sound like a scam to anyone else? So, I call the main banking number, and they connect me to someone in their card loss department. They verify transactions, an...