A Week Gone By

This weekend was somewhat tiring. We were not at home for more than a few hours each day and consequently did not eat dinner at home except for Friday night, when we had the Rotini. It was delicious. That one is definitely going on the menu for next month. The scores were in almost perfect harmony:

Rotini:

The Hubs: 8

Me: 8.6

So what have I learned after a week of eating freezer meals? Firstly, next month I will be planning side dishes such as salads, breads, etc. to go with the majority of the meals. Secondly, next month I don't think I will plan freezer meals for the weekends. We are usually quite busy and, oddly enough, I miss cooking a nice dinner on Saturday and Sunday. Don't get me wrong- the freezer meals are good, but they're nothing compared to my usual fare. (I know, I'm so humble. Just ask me.) I still want to be able to cook mouthwatering apple and white wine pork chops. Or Jumbalaya. Or Gumbo. So- next month I will do freezer meals for Monday through Thursday and then have my delicious dishes Friday through Sunday.

In other news, I got a new car this weekend! Now, this may seem like a strange way to go about paying off debt, but I assure you: it fits right into the plan. How is that, you ask?

A long, long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, The Hubs and I had a 1989 Ford F350 that, to make an exceedingly long and painful story short, blew up in Middle-of-Nowhere, Wyoming. We still owed money on said truck, so when we rolled into the Salt Lake Valley completely car-less, we didn't have many other options aside from rolling the loan for the truck into our new vehicle. Fast forward to last week: we were still fairly upside-down in our vehicle. The mileage was getting high, it was starting to have a lot of issues, and we felt strongly that it wasn't going to live to see the day when we had it all paid off. SO- after lots of looking at several dealerships over the course of a few months, we finally found a great trade that, while it would raise our monthly payment, would erase the negative equity we had in the old vehicle and would give us something that would actually last, hopefully well beyond the day when it is paid off. Clear as mud? Good.

So this is what I got:

Its a 2010 Hyundai Sonata. *Sigh* Love. What we save on gas is going to easily make up the difference in our monthly payment. (We have a 60 mile round-trip commute, so you do the math...)

Anyway, just wanted to share my good news. Also, this weekend made me realize how grateful I am for The Hubs' family. I got to see them a lot this weekend and, though I'm not sure what exactly it was that brought this on, I realized just how important they have all become in my life and just how much I have become a part of the family. Living accross the country from all of my blood-relatives is difficult to say the least, but my in-law family makes it much, much easier.

I am done rambling now, kudos for reading this far. Tune in tomorrow for a review of Beef and Broccoli.