We bought a new ride! :)

Yup, just like that. :)

We've been looking to upgrade our VW Rabbit for quite some time now and we finally found something that would work for us. We wanted something more practical, easier for traveling and something to brave the Prairie winters.

We decided on a Santa Fe 2010 - it's indigo blue and it comes with all the fixins. Obviously, the picture is bellow isn't a photo of ours but it's what I could find on the net in a pinch.

We are SUPER excited to finally stop counting KMs (our Rabbit was on lease) and to be able to plan road trips without worrying about Nova's comfort. It's a pretty huge leap but I think it's well deserved.

With that, we're on another no-restaurants-month again to save some dough and to get back to regular (more reasonable) eating habits post Holidays.

Did I mention I broke a tooth?

Earlier this week, Js and I went out for some Vietnamese deliciousness as part of our mental prep for our month-of-no-eating-out starting January 4th. Wish us luck!

So, about my tooth. I was munching away quietly on some rice vermicelli, of all things, when I felt a little *tik* in my mouth. The filling I got when I was like 10 years old that I thought was starting to feel gritty was apparently a cavity. It somehow took hold of about a forth of my tooth and well... now I'm left with only 3/4.

It didn't really hurt but it sure felt weird. I can brush my teeth normally but I'm being careful and I rinse as often as I can. I have to call the dentist tomorrow and see. I wanted to call them earlier but with my recent super-bug flu, I figured it was kind of bad timing. I would have found plenty of creative uses for their little doo-dad that sucks up spit. Ew.

I hate going to the dentist... which is (I know... I know...) the reason for my current state. There really is no reason for me to skip the regular visits since we get some great benefits but... owwwie!

No-Eating-Out Dealio - WE DID IT!

Woohoo! We did it - a whole month of no-restaurant!! It wasn't always easy but we stuck to it.

We had to get pretty creative at times :

• Pack a lunch - save time and money! If we had to go to Regina to run errands all day, instead of having lunch when we got there we packed a lunch and ate it on the drive there. We made it back home in time for dinner where our BBQ patiently awaited. Normally, we'd leave home around 11am and come back around 6 or 7pm. This time around, we left home at 12noon and we were back here by 5h30pm but we somehow accomplished more while we were there.
  
• Make plans that work. We would plan our entire day around having to be home for mealtimes and quite frankly, our days turned out way more productive and fun. We had more of a schedule than we normally do and it forced up to get up earlier and to limit our errand trips. We saved a ton on gas and on random spending money or impulse buys.
• Friends don't let friends eat out. Our friends were well aware of our challenge and quite understanding. They didn't ask us to meet them for dinner somewhere, they didn't tempt us with some take-out while we were at their house and they encouraged us to stick to it! I think it's important, when you attempt something like this to let your friends know so they don't lead you to your demise. We'd eat home and then meet them later for drinks or simply bring something we made at home as our contribution to the take-out food.
• Free food is good food. Let's face it now, this whole challenge had some health benefits but the main thing was financial. Free donuts at a little work party - BRING IT! We satisfied our cravings with food we got for free. We didn't crash any wedding buffets or anything but it made us enjoy the free-ness even more. Not only was it free but it was also a thousand times more delicious to us than it really was!
  

...but we managed to learn a couple lessons along the way :

1. Eating out costs a shwack load of money!!
   Well, I think we already knew that but we never really stopped to figure out exactly how much money it cost! ...and it's not always worth it. I haven't received any income or compensation (arg! but that's for another post) over the last month and a bit yet we were still able to save up as we normally do and haven't dug into our savings nearly as much as we anticipated. We're counting on some sick leave benefits to come in soon so it'll put our savings account right back on track for wedding expenses.
   
2. Eating at home is just as fun!
   We realized that eating out had become a hobby for us. Therefore, it's not a necessity - we have a ton more hobbies to choose from to occupy our Saturday nights. Yes, it might be a bit lame to play Scrabble but have you met us!? We thrive on lame. It's also inspired me to try new recipes and stock up on frozen-left-overs. So in the long run our efforts will keep saving us even more money - who doesn't like that?!
3. Doing something together!
   Yes, it was fun cooking together more and spending more time at home together. Most fun though was actually doing a challenge together. Working at something, putting our heads together to come up with solutions or ideas and accomplishing something together. Hurray!!
4. Good health starts at home.
   It's insane how large restaurant portions are and I don't think we notice exactly how that affects our food intake in a week. I feel super healthy and I have much better portion-control-skills now than I've ever had my entire life. Eating only at home helped me kick the habit of stuffing my face until I explode. We also normally buy the "light" version of things when available and not disgusting (aka PC Blue Menu Butter Chicken Sauce *vom*) so we cut back on lots of calories, sugar, fat and a ton of that kind of stuff.
   

All that being sad, today, June 1st - we are having Burger King for dinner. As a reward and because we've been talking about it for the entire month.

Moving forward, we've decided to limit our restaurant outings to twice a month. Once from the 1st to the 15th and then one more time from the 15th until the end of the month. We definitely will be doing the no-eating-out dealio again - it won't have as much of a huge impact but maybe we can cut back on coffee purchases or something like that again next time.

I definitely recommend giving this a try to anyone who's trying to save a bit of money, anyone who wants to get some good eating habits back on track or anyone who simply wonders if they could do it.

No-Eating-Out dealio - DONUTS!

Js got a promotion today and - you guessed it - they served DONUTS and coffee!

I didn't clue in right away that this was restaurant food that I could actually stuff my face with. Glee!

I was good and only had one while all the important people were there. I think it was the best donut I've ever had my entire life. We got to take home some left overs and so far I have inhaled two with my post-dinner coffee.

I guess Timmie's donuts were never a luxury before and this whole dealio. It's making me realize how much of a treat resaurant food should be as opposed to a hobby or an easy way out of having to do the dishes. I guess you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get to that last Honey Dip before Js.

No-Eating-Out Dealio - PMSing is not cool. Ever.

I would step over a box of kitties to get a fry right now... with salt.

When I PMS, I get massive cravings for junk food (who doesn't?) and it's like my mind goes blank on all things that are not covered in salt or gravy. It's like in those cartoons when everyone turns into a walking turkey.

It's been especially difficult with our N0-Eating-Out dealio. I've tried to make some fries at home to kill the craving to no avail. Tonight it's burgers on the BBQ and nachos - let's hope it helps!

I'm trying to think of salty-junky style food we can make at home that will help sooth my need for greasy goodness.

On the menu over the next 14ish days :
- Fish and chips
- Mac and Cheese
- Poutine with real poutine sauce
- Chicken burgers

Any other suggestions or recipes are welcome! :)

No-Eating-Out Dealio - Week 1 down!

It wasn't easy to kick the habit of eating out but we're 1/4 of the way to our goal. Oh man!

This week was good because I was able to make a ton of food - I made a huge lasagna (even made a smaller batch for friends), banana bread with chocolate chunks, chicken fajitas and a whole ton of delicious stuff. Luckily, I'm off work right now so I had plenty of time to figure out meals and actually prepare them. I enjoy cooking and baking so I didn't have a problem with that.

Today it's the weekend and there isn't much to do. Js is a tad hungover, he had drinks with friends last night so he doesn't want to go anywhere. I'm itching to get out of the house though so we're trying to find inexpensive things to do in town. Normally, on a day like today, we'd do stuff around the house or take the dog to the park and then go somewhere for a nice dinner. No dice. Not this weekend - and not for the rest of the month. It's not going to be easy!

I would kill for lemon grass chicken vermicelli right now. Kill.

To top it all, our worst fear and biggest challenge we'd envisioned came true. Last year, we were ADDICTED to the Angry Whopper from Burker King. It's a limited time thing and they normally only have it during the summer. As we predicted, it's back this summer and we have to wait a WHOLE month to get one. Oh hell.


You'll know where to find us at 12:01am on June 1st. ;)

No-Eating-Out Dealio

In our efforts to save some money considering the upcoming wedding and my non-working for a month, we have made a deal with ourselves not to eat out at the restaurant at all for the whole month of May. Oh my, it won't be easy.

We're on day 5 now and so far things are going good. We're trying to stay positive and here's what we're doing to keep sane :

- We're keeping our weekly junk food nights but having frozen pizza or Qing up some burgers. This way, we're not craving junk food as we normally would if we cut it all out of our meal planning.

- Bringing some variety to the mix. Trying new recipes is *almost* as exciting as eating out.

- Making huge batches of freezer friendly foods for the lazy nights.

- Inviting friends over instead of meeting them at the restaurant.

With our action plan in mind, I'm sure we'll be able to stick to it. :)