Wednesday Night Publix trip

Oh my sweet bloggie friends... It's the Thursday afternoon before a LOOOOOONG holiday weekend! Can you feel my excitement?!... The familia & I have ABSOLUTELY nothing planned for the long weekend and I am THRILLED about it!!! We usually spend our Labor Day weekend at the lake house with our extended family but since we were there last weekend for my Bday & we are scheduled to work the church nursery this Sunday, we are laying low all weekend... and that kinda makes me happy! :)

I just wanna clean & organize my house all weekend, cook for my family, hopefully watch (and stay awake) for a couple of movies with my sweet hubby & maybe indulge in a little retail therapy! :) ... I've got a few gift cards from my Birthday that are burning a hole in my wallet & I'm thinking this weekend, with all the Labor Day sales going on, may be the prime opportunity to cash them in! :)

What are y'alls plans for the long weekend??

So last night after dinner, I gathered up all my gear & headed to Publix...

I LOVE going to Publix on Wednesday nights! It's so quiet & peaceful!... And down every aisle are women just like me... no make-up on, sweat pants, hair hidden under a baseball cap or in pony tail, and their GIGANTIC stash of coupons perfectly organized in the front seat of the shopping cart! :)

Everytime I passed someone with the above description, I always give them a neighborly smile :-) ... but what I really want to say is, "Hey sister! Whatcha shopping for? What coupon deals did you find this week?!"...

I mean, I'm not normally a "walk up to a stranger and start a conversation" kinda girl, but on Wednesday nights at the local Publix, I feel like all of us ladies are cut from the same cloth!... I imagine they are all mommies like me... just barely got out of their houses with a little bit of sanity & dirty hair... somehow managed to sweet talk their husbands into taking the kid(s) for the night, so they could get a little bit of grocery shopping done in peace while getting high on coupon deals!... Does anybody out there know what I mean??? {I sure hope so, cause I'm kinda feeling like the cheese stands alone right now :( }

Don't you know, if somebody came up to me on my Wednesday night Publix coupon trip, I would be thrilled! In my grocery store dreams, we'd talk coupons and recipes, share notes & coupon organizing tips, maybe even swap coupons we weren't using... then become best friends forever... :) lol... Ok, so maybe not that far, but the other stuff would be nice!!...

So last night, I spent $133 and saved $87! WooHoo! That made me really happy since I bought a TON of produce! All in all, I'd say it was a great Wednesday night Publix trip!... I came home with a trunk load of groceries & a little more sanity than when I left the house... Next time, maybe it'll be even better & I'll have made a new friend! ha :)

Happy Labor Day Weekend Y'all! Be safe!

Food for Thoguht...

Happy Friday friends! Wow this week has flown by! Has it for y'all too?!

I am SUPER excited for this weekend because for once in a LOOOOONG while, hubs & I don't have to be anywhere or there aren't a million things going on or to-do's jam packed in there! I LOVE weekends like that!... I can't wait to just relax, cook for my family & hang out with my sweet baby girl & husband at home all weekend! (p.s. I am fully aware I will be somewhat irritated & sick of my family and ready to get out of the house by Sunday afternoon because that's usually how it always works for me... but for now, I'm looking forward to family time! ;-)

To kick off our weekend family extravaganza, when sweet baby girl woke up from her nap today I had a special surprise treat waiting for her...

That's right... me & my sweet little girl sat down & watched MY favorite Disney movie together...She has never seen any of the Disney Princess movies (never ANY movies for that matter) and I thought it was HIGH TIME!... Surprisingly, she already knows most of the Disney Princesses by name without watching any of their films but today when we were running errands, I put on a Disney Princess music CD in the car and she was in heaven! (I was too, I'm not gonna lie! :)

So at that moment this morning, when I saw the look on her sweet little face as we drove down the road (and I sang every word to the songs!), I knew the time had come!...

I tried to make it as special as possible & put pink Sixlets mixed in with the popcorn (P.S. why have I never combined these two before is beyond me because the salty/buttery goodness of the popcorn with the chocolaty morsels were BEYOND WORDS DELICIOUS! This is my new FAVORITE snack!!)

I think she enjoyed it too... :)

But as with anything in life... a good thing only lasts for so long (an hour in this case)... before my "sweet" little girl got antsy & dumped out her popcorn onto my freshly vacuumed & steam cleaned carpet to "pick out" all the pink Sixlets... *sigh* we were just about to my favorite part too when Sebastian sings "Kiss the Girl" while Ariel & Prince Eric sail into the blue lagoon... :-(

Oh well... it was good while it lasted...

In other food news...

Tonight, I made this for dinner... (that pretty yellow tomato is from my garden!! And it was delicious! I'm so proud!! :-)

It's "Grilled Fish with Gremolata"... I got the recipe from Publix a couple weeks back & had a little sample while I was grocery shopping & it is YUM-O!... I'm always looking for easy grilled fish recipes & this is a good one- especially since it mainly uses stuff I keep on hand! (I don't however suggest making this for a 1st date because you will have garlic seeping out of your pores when you're done!!)

Ingredients:

Zest of 1 lemon

1/2 bunch fresh Italian parsley, finely chopped

5 gloves garlic, finely minced

4 fish fillets such as snapper, orange roughy or tilapia (1 1/2lb)... *I used salmon because that's what I had already*

1 cup Italian-style panko bread crumbs

1 teaspoon chipotle hot pepper sauce (I used Frank's cause that's all I had)

5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon Greek seasoning (I didn't have any of this either, so I just sprinkled a little salt, pepper & lemon juice on the fish before i cooked it & it was fine..)

Steps:

1. Combine lemon zest, parsley, garlic, bread crumbs, pepper sauce, & 2 TB olive oil. Mix well, using fingertips, until blended; set aside.

2. Brush both sides of fish evenly with 1 TB olive oil, then sprinkle with pepper & greek seasoning (or in my case- fresh lemon juice, salt & pepper). Place fish on heated grill & grill 2-3 minutes on each side until 145F (PS. I baked mine in the oven at 350 for about 20min)

3. Transfer fish to plate & top each fillet with a generous portion of herb-crumb mixture, Drizzle with remaining 2TB olive oil; serve. (I also squeezed a bit more fresh lemon juice over top of mine before I served...)

On a different food for thought note...

I read this on Pinterest the other day & it really struck home with me! I hate to admit it, but I get so wrapped up with the stresses of daily life that so often I forget to just STOP and thank the Lord for all his blessings!... For the ones I CAN see, as well as the ones that mask themselves in trials!... Thank you! :)

I also read this and I hope to do a little of this this weekend...

I hope you all find the time this weekend to do something just for you! I also hope you take the time to thank God for whatever that "something" is...

I also hope I "find the time" this weekend to get rid of this annoying rodent!

SERIOUSLY! This squirrel is a PAIN IN MY SIDE!!... Look what these little creatures are doing!...

It is DRIVING ME BANANAS!!! Several times a day I catch these pesky animals eating up all the bird food & leaving a HUGE mess on my deck! Too many times a day, I run out from the back door, BIG plastic soup ladle in hand, screaming at the squirrels! (oh, my poor neighbors have to get a kick out of watching me because it is quite comical!)...

I am probably more scared of these rabies-infested rodents than they are of me, but without fail, everyday I come barreling out of the door, banging my ladle & screaming at the squirrels on the deck! I've even got my child involved! Several times, I've turned around to come back in the house to see my sweet daughter with a flip flop in each hand & smacking them together saying "GET SQUIRREL! GET!" lol ;-) Precious! ... But as angry as I get, I just try to remind myself, God is probably putting them there to get happy full bellies so they stay away from my veggie garden... right?!

Anyhoo, that's all I have for now bloggie friends... Nite Nite!