Hair Today with The DOD and Me: November 2008

New Hair Up Do

I haven't posted pic of my new hair styles in awhile. Mostly because I forget to have my hubby take pictures and by the time we remember, weeks have passed and my hair is a hot mess.

Since I'm loc'ing my hair now I don't always know how to wear my hair. Last week I asked my stylist to put my hair in an updo, and she did. So here are the pics.

(please ignore my messy closet)

(and my hubby's messy closet - close your eyes)

Food Bill News

So over on my other blog I started this thing called "Food Bill News" because I wanted track exactly how much money my family spent on food. I called myself having a certain amount of money alloted for food but for some reason always found that we went over that amount. So that lead me to believe that the amount I'd projected that we spent was off. Well, not only was if off but it was WAY off.

I only alloted $500.00 per month for food, sometimes I'd do $600.00. But after I started saving ALL our grocery receipts I was amazed at how much money we spent on food. This is not take out food or food we bought dinning out. This is just grocery store food.

December 2007 was the first month I did "Food Bill News." And November 2008 will mark the one year that I've been tracking our food expenses. Thus far from December 2007 to November 2008 we've spent $22,022.98 on food. *chuckle* Who knew that we ate so much. But I suppose that since we're a family of six, that's to be expected. Not to mention, we only shop at natural grocery stores or stores that carry organic foods.

Anyway, I'll post what the actual total is at the end of November because I haven't totaled out Novembers month yet. I'll not add the Thanksgiving Holiday food because that's being ordered out and is not typical of a normal food month.

Holiday Meal

About a mouth ago I had this "bright idea" that I was going to do Thanksgiving dinner ALL BY MYSELF. Not only that I was going to be fancy with it and prepare the ENTIRE meal based on a sample menu in the back of one of my favorite cookbooks, Southern Cooking. Well after I'd listed out all the ingredients I would need and planned when to buy them, reality kicked in. And I realized that I wouldn't have my mother, father, sister etc here to help do anything. And that I'd probably spend the ENTIRE day in the dayum kitchen and by the time dinner was ready - I'd be mad and tired.

So I decided to do what we did last year, order out. *chuckle* However since we're so far away from family and it's just going to be the hubby and babies and me, I decided to keep the menu simple and not order a turkey because it would just go to waste.

I already put my holiday order in to my favorite market Whole Foods and here's what I ordered;

Beef Tenderloin Roast
Stuffed Salmon Roast with asparagus/crab meat/brie
Maryland Jumbo Crab Cakes (cuz the hubby is a "homeboy")
Whipped Sweet Potatoes
Traditional Herb/Mushroom Dressing
Corn Pudding
Green Beans with pearl onions and mushrooms
Harvest Salad
Fresh Cranberry Relish
Herb Butter
Parker House Rolls
Pumpkin Angel Food Cake
Sweet Potato Pie
Cranberry Walnut Loaf

I thought about making some homemade ice-cream but I have to see how I feel next week. I did want to do a peach cobbler but if I do I'm definitely NOT making the crust from scratch like I usually do. Who knows, maybe I may feel like doing some stuff of my own.

You can check out WholeFoodsMarket.com and click on your city, state and check out the holiday menu in your area. You may see something you like and decide to order it.

Meal Planning

Okay so I'm totally suppose to be meal planning or writing what I intend to cook during the week. But frankly I totally didn't cook half the stuff that was on the menu for last week. Not to mention my super duper picky eater children sort of make that difficult. So last week I only ended up making Tam's Enchilada Bake (vegetarian style) and Mina Ma's Chili. And added Baked Beans and hot dogs, Udon Noodle Soup, Tacos, and CEREAL. *chuckle*

This week I'm going to try and do better. My menu for this week is;

Red Beans N Rice, with Baked Fried Chicken and Corn bread
Spaghetti Bake (with left over sauce frozen in freezer)
"PF Chang Mongolian Beef" with rice
Pancakes and eggs
FREE DAY *chuckle*

So let's see how I fare this week.

What's in My Kitchen

Well instead of my prepping and cooking a week's worth of dinners, I'm blogging *chuckle* - such is life. Since I'm inspired to get my kitchen in order I figured I'd share what I've done thus far as for organizing. My cabinets were organized but my pantry and frig was sort of "anything goes." I took pics of all the different places I get to keep things (as well as forget where I put them.)

My frig