Stacie's Ramblings

We made it to Friday! How has your week been going? I'm sharing some the things this week that brought a little joy to me.  Reading  I just finished Elin Hildebrand's, What Happens in Paradise. Oh my word, it is so good and ended with a cliff hanger. I'm off to the library to pick up the third book in this trilogy.  Drinks I opened up this bottle of Joel Gott wine this week and it has become a new favorite. I picked it up at Sam's Club and it's under $20 a bottle. I have also seen it at several liquor stores as well. It is balanced and great on it's own or paired with a steak dinner. I will definitely buy a few more bottles of thi! YouTube I have been binging cleaning motivation videos on You Tube while doing my elliptical workouts in the evenings. Some have some great tips on organization, cleaning hacks, etc. This weekend I need to do a deep clean and wash the windows. Some people do spring cleaning, but I really feel the need to reset the house for fall and

  This post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to buy something we may earn a commission. Thanks. I'm continuing my Thrifty Thursday accountability series on what I have done to save money this week or ways I have made extra money this week. Saving on Things I have Bought Needed some pet supplies, so I noticed Chewy.com had a free $30 gift card offer with $100 purchase on some items. What I needed was included! I also went through Rakuten  for 1% cash back and used my AMEX card for another 1% cash back.  Used a $5 off $50 purchase coupon at the grocery store to purchase groceries this week. My AMEX card offers 6% cash back at grocery stores, so I earned some cash back as well.  Avoiding Spending I have been bringing leftovers from home to work for lunch every day.  We have also been eating out of the freezer to save on going to the grocery store.  Earning Money Scanned all my receipts into  Fetch   I sold 4 items on eBay in August this month; I'm cleaning out my

I have shifted a few of the meals from last week to this week due to our unplanned events last week. The horse accident needed an evening trip to the vet, so we had 10 pm pizza one night. Another evening, my wonderful mother in law brought us dinner. We ate really well last week and I did not mind altering the meal plan. Here's what I am planning to make for dinner this week Monday   Grilled steak with a garden salad Tuesday   Salsa Verde Shredded Pork on Tortillas Wednesday Leftovers Thursday  Chili  Friday  Enchiladas Saturday Spaghetti Squash with Homemade Marinara  Saturday Shrimp Scampi. H-E-B sells premade cooking sauces and a friend was raving about the scampi sauce. I picked some up this week for an easy meal. 

It's Friday! It has been really warm this week and we might get some rain this weekend! How has your week been going? I'm sharing some the things this week that brought a little joy to me.  A Salon Appointment  I try to go every 6 - 8 weeks and get a partial foil highlight and every other time, I get a cut too. The cut was long overdue. I use purple brightening shampoo once a week or so to keep away the brassy tones.  A Clean Garden My summer garden was done and the plants were dry and crispy. The drought and heat really made gardening difficult this year. I cleaned it all up and now I am ready for fall planting! I LOVE starting with a blank slate! Podcasts I have listened to The Lazy Genius, hosted by Kendra Adachi, for a several years now. I get so many hacks for how to better streamline my life, home, work life, social, etc. Her latest episode #275 What's Saving My Life Right Now has something for everyone. Kendra gives such great advice for optimizing your life to find

It's Monday, so that means it's time for another weekly meal plan. My husband did a little shopping over the weekend so we already have meat thawed for some of our meals.  I have a grocery pick up planned for today with salad ingredients and a few other items to round out our menu plan. The fresh ingredients will be used in meals at the beginning of the week and I'm still pulling things from the freezer for the end of the week.  Monday - Beef fajitas with all the fixings Tuesday - Grilled NY Strip steaks with salad Wednesday - Easy Greek Salad Thursday - Slow Cooker Salsa Verde Pulled Pork Friday - Instant Pot Sausage Peppers & Onions Saturday - Dinner Out Sunday - Grilled steaks with green beans and Caesar salad What is on your menu plan for the week? 

  Welcome to Friday finally!! So, I've been reading a lot of blogger's Friday Favorite posts and they have a lot of photos throughout their week. I must admit I am the world worst about remembering to take a photo! Part of it is because I put my phone down as soon as I get home unless I need it for a dinner recipe and the other part is my iPhone really needs to be upgraded. I currently have the iPhone 10 and the camera quality is not nearly as clear as the newer phones. I'm holding out for the next Apple release which is rumored to be next month; fingers crossed I can upgrade then!  So, without further ado I do have a few things that have been my favorites this week I can share with you! Favorite Technology  Facebook addiction has been something I have been drying to conquer for the past year. It's difficult, especially when I need to look up a menu or store I am looking for and they only post on Facebook. I'll end up reinstalling the app on my phone to "just l

It's Monday and I'm sharing my meal plan this week. This week took a little more effort as I have been procrastinating using things out of my freezer. Inspiration does not come easily when I do not a Pinterest worthy recipe photo to inspire me! How many of you can relate? So, here are a few ideas I have put together using the ingredients I have in the house. What are you having this week at your house? Monday - Beef fajitas with bell peppers and onions on keto friendly tortillas. Tuesday - Oven baked catfish and sautéed shrimp with a side salad Wednesday - Grilled pork chops with bacon and cheddar mashed cauliflower  Thursday - Grilled chicken salad with ranch dressing Friday - Grilled steaks with a side salad Saturday - Out to eat Sunday - Spaghetti Squash with Rao's marinara 

  It's Friday!! Hooray!! It's been a long week as Sunday night we returned back from Las Vegas, so I have been playing catch up all week. Since I skipped last Friday, I have to catch y'all up.  Horses We were in Vegas last Wednesday - Sunday for a horse show. My husband bought a new horse in October and he has been with a trainer. This is my husbands third show with him and he is such a wonderful horse. We have been calling him Badger, but I'm not sure it really fits. When he first came into our lives, he was pretty stand offish. He'd been a horse on a working ranch and had not really been loved on. Now he's a total love bug and a big pet!  Reading I have been reading Elin Hilderbrand's Winter in Paradise this week. I LOVE it and will continue this series. I believe there are 3 books in the series. The main character, Irene, lives an idyllic life with her husband and 2 grown sons. Her husband travels often for work, but she get's a call on night that tu

Can you believe it is August already? It seems summer has flown by and before long we will be putting out the pumpkins and fall decor galore!  Every month I sit down and plan out what I would like to accomplish for the month. I try to break down my goals into categories with one or two specific categorical goals. Without further ado, here are my August goals.  Social As adults we all lead busy lives and sometimes we have to actually plan social events. My August goal is to do at least one thing in person with a friend. This can be meeting up for lunch, going to an event, etc.  Mental As a reminder to slow down and limit screen time, I want to read two physical books this month. I currently have Elin Hilderbrand's, Winter in Paradise, on my list to read and will likely read the sequel.  Financial I have made two goals in this category. The first goal is to put an extra $1,000 toward my vehicle loan. I am so close to paying this one off and it will be the first time in my life I have