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.

Oh Retail, how I've missed your ways!

So I finally got a new job. I interviewed for it 2 weeks ago and then accepted the position last week. It's retail management - I'll have staff that doesn't show up for work, out of whack inventory, cash registers that don't balance at the end of the night - all's right in the world again.

I don't want to disclose too much info about the job just yet because I'm not quite sure what the company policy is on that but I'm looking forward to something com-ple-te-ly new and challenging.

My first day was supposed to be on June 14, doing manager training in Saskatoon but I got a call from my DM this afternoon. I start on Wednesday. Yes, this Wednesday.

five by five: Why I (love/)hate the Twilight Saga

five by five: Why I (love/)hate the Twilight Saga

I refuse to jump on the Vampire bandwagon and Whitney does a great job at making points that convince me even more that I'm doing the right thing.

I've read many articles about it, trying to decide if I should read the books just to hate them more... but I don't even think it's worth my time.

I'm sure they are quite entertaining because, well... let's face it, the entire world is reading them or seeing the movies. I might give it up one day and decide to give it a go I just don't think the irritation is worth the entertainment.

Dog for sale!

This weekend is supposed to be the Base Yard-Sale and true to Saskatchewan weather, it's raining. It's been pissing buckets all week and everyone hoped it would stop in time for the event. It was supposed to be today and then pushed back to tomorrow if it rains. If the sun doesn't come up tomorrow, I'm having a Living-Room-Sale.

To keep myself entertained and ready for the slightest ray of sunshine, I priced everything in the house yesterday. In a moment of craziness, I priced Nova for $0.30 ... she didn't get what was so funny.

Js bought her.

Countdown to my Tattoo!!

I'd been thinking about getting a second tattoo for a couple months now. I finally booked my appointment about a month ago and I'm getting super excited.

I was sure I'd blogged about it already but I can't find the post anywhere... boo!




Stay tuned for some photos and long posts of me complaining about the healing process.

Link - Lost Finale Explained Well!

A friend of mine, Chris, posted this to Facebook and I was amazed. Definitely worth the read. Everything is explained clearly, straight to the point and just... yeah. Read it.


Click here for the full post or keep reading for some snippets I thought were worth quoting.

They really crashed. They really survived. They really discovered Dharma and the Others. The Island keeps the balance of good and evil in the world. It always has and always will perform that role. And the Island will always need a “Protector”. Jacob wasn’t the first, Hurley won’t be the last. However, Jacob had to deal with a malevolent force (MIB) that his mother, nor Hurley had to deal with. He created the devil and had to find a way to kill him — even though the rules prevented him from actually doing so.

Bam!

According to the show, everyone creates their own “Sideways” purgatory with their “soulmates” throughout their lives and exist there until they all move on together. That’s a beautiful notion. Even if you aren’t religious or even spiritual, the idea that we live AND die together is deeply profound and moving.

Agreed.

But, from a more “behind the scenes” note: the reason Ben’s not in the church, and the reason no one is in the church but for Season 1 people is because they wrote the ending to the show after writing the pilot. And never changed it. [...] It’s pretty fantastic. [...] For those that wonder — the original ending started the moment Jack walked into the church and touches the casket to Jack closing his eyes as the other plane flies away. That was always JJ’s ending. And they kept it.

Interesting fact and quite cool when you stop and think about it.

Sweating up a storm... lovely.

No, it's not super hot out here. The weather was shite all weekend and there was even rumor of frost last night. Today is a good day though. The sun is back but there's a chilly wind so it's all good.

*back to topic*

Today was my first day back at the gym since... oh... ages. I should know by now to start slowly and gradually increase the intensity of the workout. That's what a smart person would do. Hi, nice to meet you!

Plus, my allergies are totally messing up my sinuses like it's going out of style. Breathing shouldn't be this hard!!

So after 25 minutes of intense cardio, I stumbled to my friend's office to chat while I wait for Js to be done. Now we're home and I want to die. We have a community event to attend tonight and I really really just want to sleep. I guess it's just the post-work-out laze.

I need to go more regularly and me smarter about it all. I also need a work out partner that I don't mind sweating rivers in front of and looking like a damn fool. Oy, I miss Maggie.