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photo courtesy of hostels247.com

Let me start this post by saying we are buying a house. The next thought that comes to mind is…BUDGET!

I would love to be able to go out with my husband for a nice romantic dinner.  Get a babysitter for Anne, go to our favorite Sushi place in Tacoma, WA, maybe even buy a new dress to wear, but let’s get serious…it is NOT GONNA HAPPEN!

Cost of Babysitter: $15.00/hour – $45.00
Cost of Dinner: $75.00
Cost of New Dress: 75.00
Total: $195.00

Instead I am planning a nice quiet night in for our Valentine’s Day dinner on a tight tight budget!

Keep in mind that Anne is only 15 months and still goes to bed around 6:45. We are going to eat very light with her and then have our dinner after she heads to bed.

Our menu:

Cheese-Baked Chicken
Homemade Rice Stuffing
Marinated Green Bean Salad
Homemade petite lemon souffles

Doesn’t that sound yummy!

I am going to post the ingredients and cost here and if you want the recipes leave a comment and I will email them to you!

P.S. If something is listed at $0.00 it is because it is a common ingredient that is most likely already in your fridge or pantry.

2 tablespoon slivered almonds – $1.50
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion – $0.49
1/3 cup uncooked long-grain rice – $1.00
3 tablespoon of butter or margarine – $0.00
1 cup water – $0.00
1 chicken bouillon cube (this is always in my pantry) – $0.00
1 teaspoon lemon juice (also always in my pantry) – $0.00
1/2 teaspoon salt – $0.00
1 4-ounce can chopped mushrooms, drained – $0.79 

Marinated Green Bean Salad

1/4 dairy sour cream – $0.21
2 tablespoons Italian dressing (always in my fridge) – $0.00
1 8-ounce can cut green beans, drained – $1.29
1 tomato, peeled, cubed, and drained – $0.50
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion – $0.49

Homemade Petite Lemon Souffles

2 slightly beaten egg yolks – $0.22
2 tablespoon butter or margarine – softened – $0.00
2 tablespoon sugar – $0.00
Dash of Salt – $0.00
1/4 teaspoon lemon zest – $0.79
2 tablespoon lemon juice (also always in my pantry) – $0.00
2 egg whites (see cost of eggs above)
2 tablespoons sugar $0.00

Grand Total for Staying In: $10.73

Yes, I think we will stay in this year and have a nice quiet dinner at home. Maybe I will even splurge on a couple of candles to put in the candlesticks that someone so generously gave us as a wedding gift.

Happy menu planning!

Let me start this post by saying we are buying a house. The next thought that comes to mind is…BUDGET!

I would love to be able to go out with my husband for a nice romantic dinner.  Get a babysitter for Anne, go to our favorite Sushi place in Tacoma, WA, maybe even buy a new dress to wear, but let’s get serious…it is NOT GONNA HAPPEN!

Cost of Babysitter: $15.00/hour – $45.00
Cost of Dinner: $75.00
Cost of New Dress: 75.00
Total: $195.00

Instead I am planning a nice quiet night in for our Valentine’s Day dinner on a tight tight budget!

Our menu after the jump!

Give Me More

Have you ever tried to read a pattern for knitting and it was a grid with a bunch of funny shapes in them? Every time I try to do that I end up having to start and restart my project about 50 times because I cannot get it right.

Which direction do you read? Right to left or left to right?

What do all the little shapes/symbols mean?

At first it all looked like gibberish to me, but hopefully after almost 8 years of knitting I have learned enough to break it down for you.

Here is a free pattern I found on the web, click on the image to go to my original source:

If I saw this square 8 years ago I probably would have dropped my needles and gone running for a different pattern. Now, however, I have figured out just how to read/interpret all those squiggles.

Starting out it is important to note that when reading a chart you read it RIGHT TO LEFT. The vast majority of us knit right to left so that is how we read our patterns.

The second thing to note is the key at the bottom, it is telling you what the squiggles mean and if someone thought to put it there, they probably thought it was important enough for you to read.

Let’s dissect this bad boy:

One: all even rows (this is assuming that you are being a good knitter and using some form of a row counter) are going to be purl rows.

Two: the squares that have this symbol in them will be knit stitches when working the right side of the fabric.

Three: the squares that have this symbol in them will be worked purlwise when working the front side of the fabric.

Four: When you see this symbol you need to make a yarn over…yes you are going to purposefully make a hole in your fabric. Don’t worry, in the end it will all look very pretty 🙂

Five: This symbol indicates that you are going to knit two stitches together, notice that every time you do a yarn over stitch it is followed with a knit two together, if you are following the pattern correctly you will end up with the same number of stitches at the end of the row that you started out with at the beginning of the row.

The same reading techniques can be applied to any type of knitting pattern with a chart or grid, which are especially common in cabling patterns. I hope this little tip helps you tackle a pattern you have always wanted to try but didn’t have the tools in your toolkit to attempt it. Good luck!

“This is why we can’t have nice things.” I hear/say this a lot in my house. I hear it a lot because my honey is constantly saying it to both Anne AND myself.

I say it a lot because we have affectionately begun to call Anne, “Destructo-Baby”. It is said to me regularly because in the words of my husband…I am a “hot mess”. I like to think this means I am hot and messy, but I’m not sure that he means it that way!

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