Ehhhhh, I’m twitchy about chicken, so I would toss. I left a frozen pork loin out the other night on the counter while I was getting dinner put away and forgot to stick it in the fridge. I personally thought it was too warm by morning and tossed it, although I realize we were probably more likely to get sick from employees handling the prepared rotisserie chicken I picked up to replace it.

Nuts.com. It’s not cheaper, but most of the nuts at Costco and elsewhere (except almonds) have cross contamination concerns. It’s one of those foods we have had problems with in the past. I can get nuts I’m certain are GF from there. And the shipping is ridiculously fast. I ordered at 4:00pm central time yesterday, it was shipped from the east coast about 5 minutes after my order, and was on my porch by 10:30am this morning. And the shipping was free! Half the time it would take me longer to find clean clothes and both shoes and go to the store!

This actually worked for me today when I ordered materials for the kids' science! Yay! ********** I have spent just under half of my grocery budget this month, but that includes enough to make meals for the rest of the month AND online orders for nuts and gluten free baking ingredients for the holidays and beyond. I'll use the rest at the processor for venison (hopefully, not looking good today), stocking up during Thanksgiving sales (finally, Aldi!), and milk/eggs.

I just had the generic white oval sticker with the flag, the only kind I've ever had. I was out and about yesterday with kids at various activities/appointments, and from what I could gather, more decorative/attractive stickers usually came from nicer suburban neighborhoods. If I stop and think about it, it bothers me. On the one day where everyone is supposed to have an equal voice, you walk out with a sticker showing what class of neighborhood you were able to vote in. On the other hand, they all pay more property taxes than me. ?

We got an Amazon toy catalog a couple days ago. I didn't see a code, just handed it over to the kids for handwriting practice, er, wish list composition.

Oh my goodness, the bingo amendment made me laugh. I have no idea how I voted on that because I still can't make heads or tails of it. I can't say I spend enough time hanging out in bingo halls to make an informed decision. I've been once... being surrounded by smokers on oxygen tanks scared me a bit. And a couple of those marijuana proposals: "So we're gonna legalize and tax medical marijuana. It'll probably cost $10 million, but we might make $10 million. And with that $0, this state will cure cancer!" Sounded like an answer to a beauty pageant question.

I was a 911 dispatcher before kids. Small-ish town, so I dispatched city and rural fire, ambulance, city police, campus police, and county sheriff. Answered and sent my people out at the same time (no separate call takers, we worked phones and radio together), both emergency and non-emergency calls. Ran criminal histories, updated reports, entered warrants, sent sergeants with obnoxious attitudes to remove dead birds from the road. A bit of everything. Fun, frightening, hilarious, sad, boring, and anxiety-producing. Professional and calm under duress, with a dash of inappropriateness to take the edge off. I loved it, but I don’t think I can go back to it now. I still have dreams every couple months about going back. I live four hours away now. It would be a bit of a drive.

It’s 15 or 20 feet (can’t remember exactly) from the entrance door, at least here it is. My polling place is the library, so the edge of the sidewalk, between the door and the parking lot, had people standing with signs. The whole grassy area was fair game. Filled with signs.

Wow, it's amazing how much money you don't spend when hackers steal your credit card number and you don't want to use cash while you wait for the new card. I did spend a dollar and change on a bottle of soda for DH. No other groceries, no other shopping. I will have to dig out another card to get gas in the morning, but so far we're doing good. I made a grocery list and menu to cover us until 11/18, plus a couple extra soup and pasta dishes in case we need it. Hopefully I can stick to buying only perishables and the couple shelf-stable staples (say that five times fast) we are out of, except for stock-up level sales. I baked to use up some odds and ends this weekend: GF pumpkin spice scones, apple cream cheese stuffed French toast, and two batches of chewy granola bars (white chocolate cranberry and chocolate drizzle). DH washed his phone, argh. So much for "no irregular expenses" this month. He might try to see if he can manage just on his work phone for a while.

I think this dishwasher is the one we have, except ours is white. I run between two and four dishwasher loads a day, zero problems with it. We got ours from Lowe's, for more than $448, and had to special order it since they didn't have it on display or in stock.

Frivolous, impractical, must-spend-it-all-immediately? Probably a truck, a custom-built board gaming table and chairs, and a comfy over-sized chair for reading and napping.

After the third year in a row of missing either the Thanksgiving or Christmas family dinner, I now only offer to bring packaged, non-perishable food to holiday meals. And I figured out that someone always brings the same dish as a family with young kids signed up for, because one of those households isn't going to show up due to illness. We have a medically fragile child in our extended family who was hospitalized for several weeks after a "mild" stomach virus, so we stay away if even one of us is or has been under the weather. DS10 is still sick. I guess we're skipping all activities today too. "Darn," she said, halfheartedly, and wondered if she should bother showering if staying in sweatpants all day... And fraudulent charges showed up on my credit card this morning. Looks like a no-spend weekend, unless I want to use cash. And I don't. @mommyoffive, or anyone else with Spectrum/Charter internet, have you seen anything about the Spectrum mobile plans they just rolled out? $14/month per GB and unlimited talk and text. I'm considering getting a line as a "house/kid at drop-off activity" phone, and if it works well, switching myself over with a new phone (still using an iPhone 5S, which I suspect is an iOS update or two from flatlining). It's a Verizon MVNO, I think. We're on AT&T, but running into several situations where we can only get a service signal on DH's Verizon work phone. Wondering if I could talk them into an internet discount if I add a wireless line. Hmm....

We're starting off November with illness. Not fun, but from a frugality point of view, we certainly spend less when we are stuck at home. So far it's only DS10, but it's only a matter of time before the rest of us come down with whatever plague this is. I just want to get this over with now and not during an actual holiday like every. other. year. Beyond that, I don't even know. The grocery sales were terrible this week, probably a good thing I over-bought the last couple weeks. The "pre-Black Friday sales" are not at all tempting. I do have $25 in Kohl's cash and rewards to spend, probably on a new work dress shirt for DH. After pulling out the stained/torn/not fitting ones, he's down to a daily choice of blue, lighter blue, blue with stripes or blue-gray. If I can find a maroon one, I'll use up the rewards for that. He looks good in that color of shirt. ? Still pretty meh about Christmas shopping. I don't even know where to start on that. Bah humbug?

We don't have sidewalks or streetlights, and there are lots of cars trying to pass through crowded streets during trick or treat time, so I can't imagine not going out with them. Especially in costume (one of my kids was in a homemade Minecraft costume he could barely see out of). There were unaccompanied kids from about age ten and up. They were mostly obnoxious jerks. There were also parent-supervised kids from age ten and up. Those parents were mostly obnoxious jerks. I always forget how many people still smoke around kids until October 31...

I’ll be that person and say that I despised our Bosch. Part of the problem was that it had no heated dry cycle. Energy efficient I guess, but we have to run it 2-4 times a day and it was always a slimy sauna in there, even if we left the door open between cycles. I guess I could have wiped the whole thing down, but I can’t bend over like that without vomiting (and that would have probably been cleaner than whatever was growing in there daily). We had to replace the sprayer arms yearly. And when the dishwasher guy pulled it out to put in a new one, the pump was busted and starting to leak. Which apparently makes it turn on and off randomly on its own like a haunted appliance. We only had it about 5-6 years, but didn’t even use it for about two years at the end. Replaced it with a Maytag and it’s fine. Heated dry + hard food disposal makes me happy. Only gets stuck on gunk if I forget to top up the vinegar or forget to scrape potato goop or something.

I have a fever-puking kid, too. But he doesn't *just* vomit. First, he wakes up with an illness-induced night terror, then gets up and spins around the room panicking (and possibly hallucinating), and finally fire-hoses it in some random direction. Usually the opposite direction of the barf bucket. This is why we have vinyl flooring.

I had a near perfect ACT score in math and a 5 on my AP Calc exam. I was incredibly unprepared for college level work though, and would have done quite poorly in a college-level science course. I did get a degree, but didn't do well in non-major courses. I didn't know how to read for information, didn't know how to study, didn't know how to write an academic paper, and quite frankly didn't know anyone who did. I was raised by a tired single parent who still does not know what "NPR" means and votes based on who's better looking, so I had no hope of passing my Political Science Methodology course at age 19, even though I went to every single class. I didn't know high schoolers had to read assigned books in English courses until I started posting on this board. We did slideshows set to popular songs in honors English. Every year. I was good at taking tests. That only goes so far. Apparently.

I'm hilariously over-budget on everything this month. Everything. I forgot that every year, once the first freeze of the season hits, I want to bake and roast all the things. Last night I made avocado brownies (avocados were $0.49/each at Aldi) and banana chocolate chip muffins, and right now I have a pork butt ($0.99/lb this week) slow roasting in the oven for dinner tonight. It smells so, so good in here right now. Apple cider donuts (recipe from a GF donut cookbook) is on the schedule for this week. We have a fully stocked freezer and pantry, I finally found hunting boots for DS10, sports and field trip seasons are almost done (less gas), and I'm done with buying all the much-needed storage for the basement. Here's to a less spendy November... except for Christmas shopping. On this week's menu: - Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Baked Beans, Roasted Potatoes/Carrots/Celery - Leftovers (it's a 7lb roast, we better have leftovers!) - Taco Tuesday - Cheese/Ham/Crackers/Raw Veggies, Chorizo Cheese Dip and Chips (Halloween night, the kids are always too hyped up to eat much) - Chili 3-Way, Brussels Sprouts Au Gratin (brussels sprouts are on sale at Aldi this week), and Brazilian Cheese Bread - Zuppa Toscana Soup, leftover Brussels Sprouts and Cheese Bread - Frozen Junk Food (won't be home, the kids and spouse are on their own) - Chickpeas and Rice, more Brussels Sprouts?

Yep, Rodelle brand. According to my receipt, it was $5.99. How much is it at Sam's? We're thinking about getting my mom a Sam's card so we can use both stores without having to each carry both memberships.

Yogurt, for sure. The rest of the things I make from scratch are probably cheaper than store bought gluten free versions, but the same price or even a bit more than the cheapest you can find without food restrictions - spice mixes, BBQ/pizza sauce, granola/granola bars, baked goods, those little crunchy mini tortilla strips you put on soups and salads. Oh, and refilling foaming hand pumps with hot water and a couple squirts of dish soap. Much cheaper than buying the foaming soap refills.

The parking lot was packed when I was there today, but I didn't have to wait in line for gas for very long, and I walked right up to a checkout lane with no line. I almost didn't go because Saturday is usually beyond my crowd tolerance, but I was out of cocoa powder and wanted to make avocado brownies. Like, now.

Next to the word "diabolical" in a dictionary, there should be a picture of a gift-wrapped Leap Frog fridge magnet set... with extra batteries. My older two had one of those that, um, "disappeared under mysterious circumstances." Soon after my youngest was born, I was yard sale shopping with my mom and found another one. Both my mom (who buys everything and doesn't mind noise) and the seller (who was trying to, you know, sell it) tried to dissuade me (the minimalist who pukes with repetitive noises), but I bought it for DS anyway. I blame postpartum brain. Anyway, he only played with it a couple times, in his room with the door shut, and then declared that he knew all the letters and sounds and didn't want it anymore. I am ever so grateful.

If it’s the Gluten Free Cafe or something brand, it was very thin/watery when I used it several years ago and had an odd taste to me. Even accounting for it not being condensed, I couldn’t get it to work in a casserole. But maybe it’s gotten better over the past few years! Or there are more brands available now. I usually just whip up a homemade cream of chicken condensed soup and use that since I’m the only mushroom lover of the family anyway.

Aldi has both GF stuffing and GF French Fried Onions. Well, they will probably have the onions back shortly before thanksgiving, they were out this month. You’ll have to make GF cream soup from scratch but that’s pretty easy. I’ve tried a few homemade GF stuffing recipes and none of them were that good. DH would rather have the processed stuff anyway.

I have a bucket list. It's a list of things I'm going to put in the bucket at the end of the driveway on trash pickup day once I have grown children who move out and stop wanting to save every little sliver of cardboard or chunk of plastic they've ever run across.