The Adventures of a Calamari Queen

Hi friends! Happy Sunday:) We had a nice weekend with the In-laws celebrating St. Patricks day and totally enjoying corned beef and cabbage! My DIL prepared most of the meal. Growing up in the Philippines, we normally don’t eat “fresh” corned beef, always in a can!HA.. both are my fave though!

Mia and I had a mommy/daughter time yesterday and we decided to go grocery shopping together! She loves shopping and it’s so fun to listen to her stories,we had Starbucks after (the price of their cake pops are shocking to me!HA). She wanted to get this unicorn headband but I told her she can as long as she pays for it using her savings, she quickly changed her mind!LOL.

Hubs and I had a little lunch date last week (thanks to my In-laws who offered to watch the kids), we decided to eat at our local sushi place and get coffee after!

The kids had fun at the park this week. Mia is so good with the monkey bars now and she loves showing off to us that she can do it “without Daddy’s help”. She’s growing so fast.

I’m still going strong with my “no/low spend month” for myself! A lot of temptations for sure but so far I’m winning! I did shop for the kids and got them basic clothes like onesies for Matthew. He has eczema so I always put him in onesies to prevent him from scratching his belly / legs. It’s getting better but he has flares up still.

Have a great night friends! Going to relax with the family and watch a movie:)

Take care and stay safe!

Hi Friends! It’s been a while since I posted here, with what’s going on around the world I just didn’t feel like sharing what I normally share here. It feels so small compared to what other families are experiencing. I also had doctor and dental visits this past week,thus I just wanted to rest and minimize my time online.

My little family is doing great! Mia had fun celebrating Dr. Seuss this week at her school. She had fun participating, especially in Wacky Wednesday and silly socks day! We had a couple of nice sunny days too, so we’ve been going to parks and the kids love using their scooters.

I’m still doing great with my Low spend month/year. February was good, no unnecessary shopping. This month, Hubs will be buying new sneakers and I’m thinking of getting new exercise clothes because Hubs and I are trying to get back to exercising and proper clothes that support will make a difference when one is active/moving.

This picture is such an encouragement to me when I feel like the world is going crazy and so out of control!

One snowy February day!

Wacky Wednesday at school!

My buddy and I waiting for sister at school!

One of my kids favorite Filipino food! Chicken Adobo:)

I cooked braised short ribs!

We continue to stock our pantry and freezer (we increased our budget) because with prices increasing and shortages, it’s convenient to not go to the grocery all the time.

Have a wonderful Friday night friends! Hubs and I are going to relax and watch Netflix (watching Korean shows tonight). Stay safe and Take care:)

Hi friends! How was your weekend? And Valentines today? We invited my In laws to have HotPot/Shabu Shabu with us yesterday and watch the Superbowl. Hubs and I really don’t follow football but my DIL watches it so we did have it on while we had dinner. I love HotPot, it’s such a fun way to gather family and friends, and have a good night with yummy food! Hubs had fun making dipping sauces for everybody and he nailed it! Good Job Hubs:)

We shopped at Hmart Supermarket, we got lamb,beef, and pork belly. Lots of mushrooms and bokchoy because my DIL loves bokchoy. We had Dungeness crabs too. The prices are so crazy high right now, and I can’t believe how expensive meat is right now. I included the price of the crabs, I swear it doubled this year. $85 for two large crabs.

We had guacamole and chips before dinner. Hubs made puppy chow too and Mia liked it, Matthew not so much!HA

Her Valentines outfit for school. They were encouraged to wear something red and pink. She got lots of goodies from her friends like Stickers, keychain, and cards!

Hubs asked me if he can get me something today and I told him that I don’t really need or want anything! No flowers or gifts. We did exchange cards today:)

I hope you all had a wonderful day friends! God bless and stay safe:)

Hi friends! I decided to get a new vacuum because I’m tired of using my heavy bulky one!HA. I ordered from Costco online and it arrived yesterday. So far I like it and I cannot believe the amount of dust/dirt it is sucking up despite vacuuming the main area everyday. $500 after! UGH, so there goes my low spend month challenge:( . Hubs also “convinced” me to replace my massager (still working but making a loud noise) and get a new one. Oh Well! It’s for the house (clean floors!LOL) and happy footsies for everybody here! Mia used it already and said she liked it!

Matthew and I have been doing little walks around the neighborhood and we’ve been enjoying it a lot.

I made Kimchi Jjigae With Ribs and it’s so good!

We had couple of nice,sunny days this week, so we’ve been going to the park:)

I dehydrated some cherry tomatoes!

Hope you’re all having a great week friends! Stay safe and take care:)

Hi friends! We did our first shopping for this month at Trader Joes last night. I wanted to stock up our pantry. One of my goals this February is to stock up on canned goods like tuna, spam, tomato sauce,etc. I’ve got olive oil, coconut milk and frozen meals for quick lunches/dinners. I made chicken broth today and am freezing it for future use. I will dehydrate cherry tomatoes tomorrow too.

Stuff going to my pantry!

With Mia shopping with us, we got treats for this month! All about chocolate and Valentines goodies!HA

Poke after shopping:)

Kids doing arts while Hubs and I started Reacher series on Amazon today!

Lunch Break:)

Chicken broth cooling down!

I’ve been enjoying a simple ceasar salads this week! Good and refreshing:)

Low spend February is going strong friends! Aside from our TJ shopping (it was a little high close to $300 because of our pantry stuff) we are doing great! My wireless vacuum cleaner is broken though, so Hubs is convincing me to just get a new one. It broke last week!UGH. I’m currently using my heavy bulky one that we refurbished last year. Decisions, decisions….

Have a great night friends! Going to relax with Hubs here:)

Stay safe and take care!

My January low spend month has come to an end! I think we did good because I stuck to my lists and no unnecessary items were bought (just leggings and Vday clothes for Mia) outside of our budget, so that is great. Our grocery bill was a little high because we did stock up on our meat like bacon and sausages. I plan to do more stocking up this February because with inflation and supply chain issues, it’s just a smart thing to do and saves us money in the long term.

One of my goals this year is to try different recipes and cook at home (most of the time. I’ve been watching Korean youtube channels and I was inspired to cook DAKDORITANG (Korean spicy chicken stew). It’s simple and delicious! I do have to adjust the spice level because their spices can be on another level.

I had Poke twice this month. I love it but it’s pricey ($15) a bowl. So this is a treat for me!

I’ve seen lots of “frugal February” around social media and seems fun to join but I plan to stock up and add to my pantry so I’m not sure how it will work out for me. I will still be intentional with the spending and buy what’s essential to our family.

Take care friends and stay safe!

Hi friends! We had a fun and busy weekend because two of Mia’s friends from school had birthday parties and she attended both. She had such a great time with friends and it was so fun to see her with them. She loved picking their gifts and shopping for them. She was excited that both friends loved her gifts! So precious:)

We had a couple of nice days this week so we ended up having a playdate with friends.

Both kids had their haircuts too! Thank God Matthew cooperated and a little cartoons and sucker worked this time!HA. It’s such an ordeal when we get his haircut because he doesn’t like it when people touch his hair. No tears this time though, so we consider that a success!

After such a fun and busy week, we finally got to relax and watch some movies with Mia. We ended up watching Encanto because her friends from school were all talking about it, she felt a little out of place!HA. She ended up loving it.

Have a good Sunday night friends! I hope you’re recharged and ready for the new month!YAY. January is almost over:)

Hi friends! How was your weekend? We had a nice couple of sunny days here so we’ve been out in the park a lot of times. With Hubby having a long weekend, we wanted to do a little road trip to the Ocean but then we had a tsunami warning around WA coast, so we didn’t push the idea. We visited Hub’s sister this past weekend because her puppy was celebrating her BDAY! The kids love the family’s fur babies!

I’m still decluttering here and there! Slowly but surely:) HA! I was happy because my DIL noticed and said “good job with the decluttering” HA. The easiest thing for me to declutter are the kids clothes and mine. I don’t include Hub’s clothes because he will be the one deciding what he wants to let go. I’m thinking of decluttering my cookbooks and books next.

Also doing great with my “No/Low spend year”. So far, I’m sticking to my lists of not buying any thing that I don’t need or want. Go ME!

Have a great night friends! Hubs and I are watching Kdrama on Netflix! We are almost done with “Our Beloved summer” and “Rain or Shine”. We’ve been enjoying both shows.

Have a great night friends! Stay safe:)

Hi Friends! How’s your weekend? We stayed at home most of the time because it’s still very cold outside:( It was sunny but still cold in my opinion! My In laws visited and did a little baking with Mia. Last time they spent time with the kids was last NYE. We did our grocery shopping for the week, and I think we are doing good sticking to our budget:) Planning does really help and we stick to our list 80% of the time!HA. It’s hard shopping with the kids because Mia puts things in our cart without me knowing and when I get to unload our groceries there are things that definitely were not on our list. Oh Well!

I like it when I see the specific savings that we got! I didn’t include all the things we got here but we got more things for our pantry like sugar, and baking goods. Hubs has been baking lately so our baking ingredients are depleted and need to be restocked.

I love this photo of Matthew and Hubs! Before shopping photo:)

After shopping, we ordered Chicken wings but they messed up Hubs order!Ugh. He wasn’t happy at all.

Hubs experimenting chocolate chip cookie! the kids love it because they are the “cookie testers”.

I made Mississippi pot roast for tomorrow’s dinner! This is so quick and we really like this recipe. We normally just pair it with mashed potatoes or rice.

I’m feeling good with my budget this week friends! We got everything we need for our meals this week!

Meal Ideas this week:

Pot Roast

Tacos

Chicken/Asparagus stir fry

Beef stew

I don’t plan for breakfasts and lunches because we usually eat the same thing!

Take care friends:)

Hi friends! Happy Friday:) It’s been a rainy day here and the kids and I have had a cosy day of watching videos (the wizard of OZ), reading the Farmer Boy (Laura Ingalls Wilder),snacking on cheese and crackers too! I’ve been watching videos about the No/Low Buy spend on youtube, and I’ve decided to join the fun because I’m really tired of the cluttered/too much stuff in the house (usually after a major holiday). I’ve been decluttering since last year but I still have a long way to go and I’m not giving up. This is really the main reason I want to do this! Less stuff=less stress!

Hubs and I are debt free (except for our house mortgage) and we would like to keep it that way! As I do this I know it will benefit my family financially too. We have financial goals this year so with discipline and work, it’s possible to achieve them all!

I enjoy reading and I plan to read the books I have before buying more. Some of the books I want to finish in the coming months!

I did a little inventory this week of what we have. This is the lists that I made and I’m sure I missed something but this is a little guide for me to have. It’s been a while since I bought shoes/candles/essential oils and I really have no plans to buy more. I’m including them in the list just to remind myself of what I don’t need to have. I will never sacrifice my family’s health just to save a couple of dollars in the end! Health is wealth friends:) It’s important for us to have quality supplements(ingredients matter!) most of what we see in the grocery stores are not the best quality,thus they are cheap. My kids don’t have lots of summer clothes so I know we will be shopping for them when the time come. Hubs too will be buying new clothes for this year!

So far this week , we’ve cooked at home and used what we have in the freezer and pantry. We did stop at Mcdonalds yesterday because Mia always gets a treat after school on Thursdays and she wanted McDs.

That’s it for now friends. I hope you can join me in this little fun challenge of low spend and more savings!

Going to prepare dinner for the fam and enjoy a Friday night here! Stay safe:)