This week's drugstore shopping

Firstly, I need to clarify. When I asked people to please give credit to others, I was referring to bloggers. Quite a few times I've seen bloggers mentioning things on their blogs (that they've learned from others), without giving credit to the person they got the information from. It's a simple matter of mentioning the blogger or linking to their page. It's as if they're are passing the information off as their own ideas (might not be intentional). I don't make money from blogging (You'll notice that I don't have ads). By linking to fellow bloggers that we learn things from, we are not just acknowledging (thanking) them, but also driving more traffic to their blogs. Why not help them earn a little more too. Nobody's obligated to share information with anyone else. Many bloggers have a wealth of information, so let's be thankful for them. Please don't be offended by what I'm saying or get mad at me. I'm just a firm believer in doing the right thing. 

I only shopped at RA this week. Here's what I got:

2 x 92 oz Tide $25.98

1 x Downy 12.99

6 x Crest toothpaste B1G2nd 50% off  24.69

Less Tide DQ (3.00)

Less Downy DQ (3.00)

Less Crest DQ (2.00)

Less 4/10 Mailer Q (4.00)

Tax 3.58

OOP $55.24 - Paid with BC, so zero $$ spent

Earned $35 BC ($15 WYS $50, $20 - 2 x $10 WYS $30 P&G) + $5 BCC (Bonus Cash Challenge) Crest

Total earned - $40.00

My OOP would've been lower, because I have a $3 Tide pods DQ, but I won't waste good money on pods that limit the amount of loads I can use it on. I can get 2-3 times the amount of loads by using liquid instead.  I don't even know what this Downy is for. I had to google it. Why are manufacturers forcing so many different products on us? It's all just a money making business. I wonder why I'm not getting $ off CATs at my stores. Everyone else are reporting getting those (I've shopped different locations). 

RA has been luring us in with those $15 WYS $50 BC deals every week. However, I found that only one of my local stores are great. I've had this deal go south at 2 other locations. At one store the manager refused to scan the Q (the reason she gave was completely wrong. She had it mixed up with the $ off Qs where your total has to be over the Q amount after DQs. The BC deal doesn't work the same way. Whaddya know. The RA rookie (me) was actually right 😂 I contacted CS both times and they added my BC to my account. I was beginning to think I'm at the wrong store, because this crap normally happens at Wags. The funny part is that Wags has been working well. Imagine that! 😂

Anyhoo, the RA deals have been great. I'm over the Duracell batteries now. We have lots of free batteries. BF might think that I've lost my bloody mind with all this shopping. I will just tell him that we'll never lack anything. Need deodorant? toothpaste? body wash? batteries? electric razor? hairdryer? snacks? office supplies? 😂 Just check the stockpile, cause mama aka the shopping fairy provides everything 😁 Mama provides scratch made meals, dessert, lunch, clothes, shoes, accessories etc You name it, I've got a deal on it 😂 I'll provide things before he can even think of needing it 😂I need to get a wall sign that says 'There's method to my madness' and hang it in my pantry/stockpile room when I move 😂 I actually do have a spare hairdryer and a few other items (not much). I think I paid $5 for for the hairdryer/blow dryer at Wags a few years ago. Call me crazy, but I'm so very thankful that I bought all these things years ago, because we are now having to pay exorbitant prices for poor quality products aka junk, cause they don't last. I'm glad God made me buy these things, even when it didn't make sense to me. It all makes sense now! We can seriously go for a few years without buying/needing anything other than groceries (well besides things I need for my house). That gives me peace of mind. Things are so bad in the world and it's going to take years before it gets better. 

Well, RA has another $100 GC MM deal next month (starting Sunday). Check your ads for gc selection. I'm in. I'll take that free $100 any day. I haven't spent a single penny OOP at RA in ages and have managed to add to my stockpile and earn Ibotta & P&G rewards. The funny thing is that Staples sent me a Q (about 2 weeks ago) for $5 off a case of printer paper (which I need), but I forgot to use the Q then didn't want to pay full price. Now I can just buy a Staples gc, earn the free BC and use the gc to buy my paper. 

I had some RRs to burn at Wags last week, so here's what I got.

2 x Tresemme shampoo $12.00

4 x Crest t/p 16.00

3 x Musketeers chocolates 2.97

Less Tresemme DQ (5.00)

Less Crest DQ (6.00)

Less RRs (13.00)

Tax 1.68

OOP $8.65

Earned $7 WC (WYS $25) + $11 RR ($6 Crest, $5 Tresemme)

I bought the candy as fillers (it was the lowest priced item I could find), so that my DQs would all apply. It worked great and I gave the cashier a candy bar. I planned on the OOP, so I could earn the $7 booster rewards. 

Wags has their bonus days event again next week. They haven't given a list of events/deals yet, but the ad doesn't look as promising to me. I do know that I need to stock up on cleanser. I keep running out of cleanser, because the drugstores never keep much in stock. I'm now using face scrub. I don't like to use scrub daily. The deal isn't the best yet (B1G2nd 40% off), but I need the items and I have tons of rewards to still use. 

I went shopping yesterday and whoa on the grocery prices! There seem to be price increases every time I go to the store. I'd sure like to know how much 'regular folks' (people who don't shop sales and/or coupon) spend on groceries. The drugstores pay for 99% of our HBA and cleaning supplies, so I mainly spend money on groceries. I'm at an average of around $500 p/m (2 people. that's about $8.33 per person per day), but we do eat very well. I absolutely will not skimp on food. You can take everything else away from me, but I refuse to fill our bodies with junk. I know that some people spend more than our daily amount on just a fast food or takeout lunch. DS doesn't eat school lunch. He prefers to take his own food, because he gets much better food at home. I'm so thankful for coupons & drugstore deals. I might seem over the top at times, but we are well provided for, while saving ourselves $$$. I don't want to know what it would cost us if I didn't coupon. 

That's my shopping report for the week...lol

Have a great evening peeps!

Menu Plan Monday & Jockey

UPDATE : Try code JOCKEY20 to score an extra 20% off your purchase. I don't know how long the code is good for. 

I know 😂 Food & undies don't go together, but I don't have the time to write 2 separate blog posts. It's been one of those days when things go wrong, that's why this post is so late. 

Monday : Roti & chicken curry (uh oh. somebody forgot to add salt to the curry 🤦😂)

Tuesday : Beef stir fry with brown rice

Wednesday : Same as Monday

Thursday : Same as Tuesday

Friday : Mexican night. Maybe carry out for DS. Will see what he prefers

Lunch : Chicken with salad. 

Breakfasts : PYO - Eggs, cereal, toast (wheat bread, raisin bread, chocolate brioche), bagels with cream cheese, breakfast sausage, breakfast burritos, flat banana oatmeal muffins 😂 (we'll still eat it. not wasting anything)

There's always a wide variety of fresh fruit, veggies & salad fixings available

I didn't cook yesterday and the muffins flopped. I think the baking powder was bad (I used a new container), even though it only expires next year. DS needs to get back to baking so we can have fluffy muffins again. I make darn good muffins myself, but there's nothing I can do about bad ingredients. The muffins never rose. This is my 'no fail' banana muffins. They always turn out great. 

I made roti, cause it's one of DS's favorite meals. I wasn't in the mood to make it (it takes work), but it turned out great. Probably cause BF knows how to make my day 😄💓 This day was crap, but he always makes me feel better. Then I checked my RA account and saw that they added $20 BC for the latest cluster. Then my rotis turned out great (I'm not too good at making rotis), so things were getting better. 

I wanted to make lasagna for tomorrow, but then realised that takes work too (we make ours with bechamel sauce instead of ricotta & other cheese), there's more carbs involved, so I settled for stir fry. Besides, I can eat it for breakfast too after my workout. Can't do that with lasagna. Well I can 😄, but it will defeat the purpose of that workout. 

JOCKEY

I'd like to say a big Thank You to the Anonymous commenter who mentioned Jockey undies on one of my older posts. I wore Jockey for many years, but then stopped for some reason. I think it was because of the quality. Well, after she mentioned Jockey, I decided to check it out again, because the ones I wore before were 100% Cotton. After some searching, I ended up on the Jockey website. Guess who found the lowest price ever on Jockey undies. $6.99 for a 3 pack. That's the lowest price I ever found Jockey for. I'm going to add bullet points below, so the details are easier to read. 

• Only select styles & sizes are on sale. I've seen both Regular & Plus Sizes on Sale, so click through to see what's available.  
  
  
• Search by your favorite style or just search All Women's Underwear (the site is a bit weird about displaying ALL sale items).
  
  
• Click on the item and then click on the tab that say More Colors on SALE. Easiest way to see the sale items. 
  
  
• Shipping is free at $59, so purchase enough sets so you don't have to pay shipping. 
  
  
• You can join their Rewards program. It adds up fast. When you reach a select level, you'll qualify for FREE shipping. 
  
  
• Don't worry about that Spin & Win wheel. Those Qs don't work on sale items. 
  
  
• However, they had an extra 20% off code when I purchased my items. You might want to wait, but I would advise against it. Sale items usually sell out fast - especially at this price. 
  
  
• Yes, I'm advising you all to stock up now, before Jockey ends up using microfiber, polyester or recycled fabric on their undies too. Ya never know.
  
  
• Don't forget to go through Rakuten for extra cash back.
  
  
• This is my favorite brand to wear. Y'all know by now that I'm a Cotton girl 😊 You bet I stocked up. I don't want to wear that cheap junk fabric they're forcing on us now. I have standards 😂
  
  

Also, I'd like to respectfully ask everyone to please give credit to fellow bloggers when you learn something from others. I always give credit where credit is due - even if I get information from an Anonymous commentor.  I've noticed that some bloggers don't do this when they learn something from myself or fellow bloggers. I'm not asking this for myself. Anyone who knows me know that I shy away from that whole 'pat on the back, spotlight on me' business. I'm asking this, because we learn so much from each other. Its the right thing to do. Without this great community, we would never have half the information that we do.

Question - times are tough & we're all trying to save wherever we can. Is anyone interested in some good, easy, newbie friendly drugstore deals? I can try to post the good deals at the beginning of the week if anyone is interested in saving a few dollars while stockpiling every week. Well, here's one or 2. 

Wags

Arm & Hammer detergent $1.99 each. Some stores enforce limits, but you can check different locations if you'd like to stock up. I've been spoiled with free Tide (my preferred brand) at RA 😂 I might have to get more this week. It's FREE! Sluggy will understand 😊I need to post my drugstore hauls sometime.

There's also a glitch on Dial foaming hand soap. Buy 2 @ $5.00, earn $4 RR. Glitches don't last long, so I'm not even running out for this deal. Besides, the big Softsoap refill bottles last way longer. I use a big bottle for an entire year by using a foaming dispenser. Those bottles normally cost around $4-7 (depending on where you shop), but I got mine for free with drugstore rewards. 

Have a wonderful evening peeps!

This & that

As I mentioned before, Friday was a good money day. Here's what I received

• $10 BC from RA after that big cluster at my local store. Manager was wrong & I was right. Whaddya know. Had another cluster at RA this week. 
  
  
• Received $20 Chicos semi annual reward. What to buy?
  
  
• Received $10 PG rebate from a Wags or RA deal (can't remember which store)
  
  
• Redeemed for $20 Walmart gc from Ibotta and used it at Sams. I always get Walmart, because it works at both stores. I don't know if a Sams gc will work at Walmart.
  
  
• Redeemed for another $5 PG gc. I've been getting Target, since they still have a wide variety of retailers available (not just coffee places) and I can use it towards Christmas gifts. There's was something else I received, but I can't remember. 
  
  
• Found that it's cheaper to order Arby's for DS online, than go through drive-thru. Arby's sends mailer Qs from time to time, but those Qs are one time use. We used to get the bacon chicken swiss. Then I saw that they have 2/$7 original chicken sandwiches in the app. So I signed up and they also give you various offers like $$ off . 
  
  Well, as I checked all the ad-ons, I noticed that a cheese slice costs 79c each. WTH?! I buy cheese at Sams and it comes to around 15c/slice. So I add my own cheese, cucumber and sometimes red onion to the sandwich. I also keep a bottle of Arby's sauce. So the carry out costs less and DS is still happy. Score for the mama.
  
  
• Ordered a Christmas gift for DS, so I'll just take $26 out of my Christmas fund (or just keep track of my spending and deposit all the money once my shopping's done). He's already given me his Christmas shopping list, so I'm just waiting on good deals on those items. 
  
  BF should give me his Christmas list too, cause I hate last minute shopping. Otherwise, I'll just throw on a pair of 4" heels & put a bow on myself 😂 Easy peasy!
  
  
• I'm a bit stressed (maybe a lot) because we have 2 months to figure out our birthdays. Actually, we have less than a month, so that I have time to plan & execute. I'm stressed, cause I'm having a milestone birthday. The last time I had a party for a milestone birthday, was my 21st. I did have a big party for my 24th birthday. That was many moons ago. We always had family get togethers for our birthdays. We loved making a whole day of family time out of anyone's birthday. My mother's family has always been very generous. Her one sister would order & pay for custom cakes for our birthdays. The rest of us would all plan the menu and figure out who makes/brings what (our family's huge).  The men handled all the booze and we'd all hang out till late. It was always one big potluck party. 
  
  
• I decided to stock up on more underwear for DS. The ones I bought recently were from 2021, so not the best older quality, but still good enough. I didn't want to buy more, but my gut kept telling me that once that old inventory's gone, I'm gonna be stuck buying the cheap, poor quality ones. So new undies it is. 
  
  Please pay close attention when purchasing clothing or ordering online. I'm seeing a lot of retailers now have clothes, underwear & sleepwear made from recycled fabric. YET!!!!! The prices keep increasing. As my friend Lori mentioned in the comments, 'it's a good thing we have everything we need'. We have lots of good/great quality clothing that I bought at 80-95% off. I'm so very thankful. Please be mindful of your purchases. Buy quality items, even if it costs a little more. Buying quality means the items will last so much longer. 
  
  
  I also ordered this shirt for DS. If you're familiar with the brand, you'll know that it's a bit pricey. The thing I love about this brand, is the cuffs.  Many of their shirts usually have a different print when you flip over the cuff. So unique! 
  
  
  
  
  
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• Look at the price of this shirt. I paid $20 for it! That's 90% off! DS knows that it's best to leave the shopping & styling to mom, since I'm the resident shopping queen & fashionista 😂Plus it's in my favorite color and I love paisley. DS can wear it (untucked) with jeans and loafers or boots or with chinos and dress pants (tucked) and boots. I love these Chelsea boots. They easily double as dress shoes. These are genuine leather boots. I paid $80 for it & he's worn it for a few years already. I always save our boots or high end shoes boxes. People will pay a little more if you sell your shoes with the original box. 
  
  Notice how I placed the boots on top of the shoebox paper? I'm such a germaphobe 😂 (I'm just protecting the cover from the germs/dirt on the soles). I'm not one of those people who have you remove your shoes before entering my house though. I absolutely hate that! We don't do that in SA. South Africans would feel insulted if you asked them to do that. We know that people & relationships are far more important than your house or any other material thing. Besides, most people know to wipe their feet before entering your house and/or not make a mess. We had rugs both inside & outside the front door. Tons of people visited us, but our house was always spotlessly clean. I swear my mother would've made a good drill sergeant 😂 I'm a little worse than her though....shhhh don't tell anyone😂 I'm a bit of a perfectionist, but I'm no Suzy homemaker (no disrespect to those who are homemakers and like to clean). I had a maid (it's what we call them in SA)/housekeeper & gardener. I went out & brought home the bacon. I'll gladly put in 12-16 hours at the office, than clean house every single day (not that I'm afraid of cleaning or mind getting my hands dirty). Everyone in my family (male & female) had chores & we all knew to keep the house clean (I did most of the cleaning & cooking though). So that's what we did. 
  
  
• As I was browsing New Arrivals at WHBM, I noticed that waistcoats (vests as Americans call it. A vest is an undergarment/underwear to me. We wore it as kids. Looks like a tank top) is in style again. I'm not referring to the vests people wear as outerwear. I'm referring to the waistcoats that's part of men's 3 piece suits. I LOVE waistcoats. It's so sexy when a man removes his jacket/blazer and and you see the shirt & vest (got to have a tie with it). Throw in some cuff links too. Whoa baby!!😂 My father used to dress like that and so does my BF 😍 It's so classy!
  
  Well, guess who owns 2 vests/waistcoats? I've had them for about 25 years. Bought it in SA and never got rid of it, cause I love these items. I'm now soooooo glad that I held onto them, cause they're back in style and the quality of new items is so poor lately. 
  
  Way back, I used to wear blouses with ruffle cuffs to work. My colleague had the ruffle front shirt/blouse. We'd add a black blazer (we wore suits to work - corporate job) to that (buttoned) and you'd see her ruffle front sticking out and my ruffle sleeves sticking out from my sleeves. It was very trendy back then. You can do the same with a vest. Here's a look of what I'm referring to. This blouse contains both our styles. I have a few blouses with drama/unique sleeves that I can do the same with. 
  
  
• The zipper on my bra mesh bag broke. This is the 2nd bag it's happened to. So I grabbed all my bras, placed it into a pillowcase, tied the end and threw it into the wash. Easy peasy. I'm going to see if I can sew snap buttons onto those mesh bags, so I can still continue to use them. I really like those bags, because it's lined. The zippers are a problem though. 
  
  
• I noticed a hole in the side of my athletic shoes, so I pulled a new pair of shoes from the stockpile. Well, the new brand (different from my regular brand) isn't my favorite. It's not as comfy as my old shoes and it made my feet sweat within half an hour. I don't have sweaty feet. I'm so glad I still have 2 new pairs of my old brand in my stockpile, but I'm saving that for nicer weather. Now I need to search for an altogether different brand. Sigh. I'm so very happy that I bought DS several pairs in our favorite brand. He's good for several more years. 
  
  
• I know I'm in the minority, but I'm not an Amazon shopper. I know that Amazon is way overpriced on many things. Well, I bought some bathroom accessories from Macy's about 2 years ago (I didn't buy the whole collection) and the collection is now discontinued. I found the rest of the items at Target (3rd party seller) and decided to wait for a price drop. Well, the set went OOS too 😭 Then I saw that the same seller had the set on Amazon too, so I added it to my cart. Well, I just couldn't bring myself to order the set. 2 Days ago, I decided to just buy it before it sells out again & noticed that it is now $10 less than before. Sometimes procrastination works in my favor. I didn't think twice about ordering the items. But as I checked out, it displayed shipping options and I clicked on Free shipping. Except, it came up with Prime and I don't want Prime. I don't even shop on Amazon. Ugh!  So I had to go back to my cart, mess around with that and back to checkout. Got the right Free shipping option and checked out. Phew! I don't fall for that Free trial. Amazon has my CC info and will just start billing me once that trial ends. No thanks! One less thing for me to worry about. 
  
  

That's all I can think of for now. 

Have a wonderful weekend peeps!

Menu Plan Monday

Feels like I just posted a menu plan. The days are flying by again. Not cooking all my meals last Sunday really threw me off. I couldn't find puff pastry sheets at Meijer, so I bought the shells. I knew this was a mistake, but bought it anyway. Yeah, I only got 3 individual chicken pies/rolls out of those. So I stopped at  Kroger the next day, found puff pastry and made my chicken rolls. This was Wednesday. Cooking every single day isn't in the cards for me, unless I'm making slow cooker meals. I got my act together this week and made some things to eat.

Monday : Pesto chicken casserole, pan fried potatoes with onions & peppers, veggies

Tuesday : Slow cooker beef, onion & peppers in gravy, mashed potatoes, veggies

Wednesday : Same as Monday

Thursday : Same as Tuesday

Friday : Carry out for DS, Mexican for me

Breakfasts : Carrot ginger muffins, omelets, breakfast sausage, bacon, toast, cereal, lemon blueberry pancakes, bagels with cream cheese. PYO (pick your own) breakfast

Lunch : Leftovers or protein from freezer with salad

There's always a large variety of fresh fruit, veggies & salad fixings available. 

I'm really in the mood for comfort food. I almost bought a roast today, but decided against it. 

DS once again didn't want to bake and the muffins aren't as light & fluffy. They taste great though. 

I haven't made tomorrows main dish yet. I'll just throw everything into the slow cooker tomorrow morning, bake more chicken breasts - I marinated the chicken earlier so it needs to sit overnight (I do all this before DS leaves for school) and make mashed potatoes in the evening. Other veggies are already cooked. 

I've been making myself nachos or burritos with the taco meat and homemade beans and pico for Friday dinner. I just pull the taco meat from the freezer, thaw and assemble my meal to heat & eat. Easy peasy.

I bought a pumpkin pie at Sams last week. I do this every year, because I've got to 'taste test' the pie (that's my story & I'm sticking to it 😂). Well, the pie didn't taste as good as it normally does. There's definitely not enough spices in the pie and I hate just eating plain pumpkin (I'm not even a pumpkin spice fan. I don't mind it, but it's not a big deal to me. I need my pumpkin pie though). I can't quite determine what is missing (it's not just one spice), but it wasn't that good. I cut that big pie into 12 small slices and froze half of it. That keeps me from eating the whole pie & gaining weight.

I need to write some more shopping posts (I'm behind). I'll try to get those done this week. I had a good money day on Friday. Don't you just love it when the mail brings cash or rewards. I don't even know what to buy myself, because I don't need anything. I guess this is a good problem to have 😂 More on that in another post. 

Have a wonderful week peeps!

A tale of twins

Hi everyone

I'm taking a break from the normal shopping/cooking posts today. After mentioning twins the last time, I went and did some research. I never thought much about twins, other than the fact that I've always wanted to have a set of twins (until the Dr told me that I might be expecting twins when I was pregnant with DS), because it's cool 😂, especially since we had lots of twins in the family.

Well, I learned some interesting things. It turns out that twins genetics are carried by females & not males. So if twins run in the father/husband/male partner's side, it won't influence your chances of having twins (not unless you carry the gene). Also, older females (over 35) are more likely to have twins, due to hormonal changes as you near menopause. 

Identical twins come from a single egg that is fertilized by a single sperm cell, which then divides into 2 embryos. Fraternal twins are 2 different eggs, each fertilized by a different sperm cell. So I'm guessing that older females are more likely to have fraternal twins. 

Okay, some of this don't make sense to me, because of my own family's history. I mentioned before that we have twins on both sides of my parents' families. 

Mother's side

I have 2 sets of twins cousins. One of the twins (female) had a set of twin male babies. I have no idea where the twin gene comes from on this side of the family, because it's 2 of my mother's brothers who had twin children. 

Father's side - the more influential side 😂

This is the side I know more about, because my grandmother was a twin. She had a twin sister. They were Rachel & Anna. I don't know anything about grandma's twin's family tree (we do know the family, but I don't know if they have any twins). 

So, the twin gene skipped 2 generations in my father's family. No twin children or grandchildren for my grandmother. I wonder if it's because males dominate that side of the family (there's way, way more males than females. I actually knew that I was having a son, without checking the gender when I was pregnant - genetics & gut feeling) Mmmmm - food for thought. 

I have 2 cousins who each have a set of twins. 

Cousin 1 - Female. Has twin boys

Cousin 2 - Male - Has 4 daughters. One set of twins and 2 single daughters. One of the single daughters has a set of twin boys. 

This is where science gets confusing for me. I don't know about Cousin 2's wife's family history, but I don't think they have any twins in her family (nobody's mentioned it). So how is it that my male cousin ended up with 2 generations of twins? I can understand his single daughter having twins, because the twin gene is carried by women and my grandmother's genes were obviously passed down to some of us females (mind you, both cousins who have twins are my father's brothers' children. So the gene can be passed down to a female through a male parent, but the male himself can't have twin children - at least that's what they/experts say. Guess we proved them wrong 😂)

There's more! My oldest brother is married to a twin. They have 2 sons, one of which has a daughter. Yes, single kids, single granddaughter. So they have twins genes in both of them (SIL is a twin and my brother has twin genes from both parents' families).

So how is it that my male cousin has 2 generations of twins and my brother who has an abundance of twins genes, don't have any? That thing about only females carrying the twin gene doesn't add up for me. Not according to our family history. One thing's for sure though. Twins don't always skip a generation. Sometimes it skips two and sometimes twins will end up having twins. We're proof of that 😂 I wonder if there is testing available that will tell you if you're likely to have twins? 

Well, it was at least interesting to learn about how twins are created. Sadly, my grandmother didn't live long enough to see all/any of the twins that come from her genes. She was aware of our other gene though, but that gene comes from my grandfather (DS, my middle brother & I got this gene. My nephews & nieces all have this gene and so do some of our cousins. My immediate family got a heavy dose though). 

The other thing I'd like to learn more about is what nationalities we are, since we are of mixed race (more research to do. Someone once told me that I have an inquiring mind. They're right, of course 😊). I know that there's DNA testing available for that, but I don't trust sending off my personal info to those companies. Wasn't there a breach of some kind at 23&Me? (I could be wrong, but I know I've read some negative things about that kind of testing before). 

I've tried to research our history, but don't have nearly enough information about our family. My paternal great grandfather is said to have been American (looks like I came full circle, cause guess who's American too 😊). We're not quite sure about this, but my mother told me about it before I moved here. I only have one cousin left who knows about this, but those who knew have all confirmed it. I have a theory about this (there's more involved). I'm not doubting that he was American, because my grandfather had a very American name (It's not common for South Africans to use). My father was raised with very strict British ways though and so were we. That's where the confusion comes in. I still have that theory 😊

I know a bit more about my mother's family. Definitely a good/big mix there. The European gene dominated in my maternal grandmother's family. I've met some of her sisters when I was small and they were all light skinned (like Hispanic whites) with sleek hair. My grandmother (who I loved dearly) always complained that she got the worst hair of her sisters. I feel her pain, because my hair is like hers 😂 (neither kinky, nor sleek. I've got curly hair), while my mother & one of her sisters had much nicer hair (sleeker). I'd like to know more about our genetics, because my mother spoke German (which she learned in high school - I think). This wasn't so unusual, because German was offered in high schools (to whites & coloreds - people of mixed race) back in the day. Please remember that it was compulsory for us to speak both English & Afrikaans (Dutch) - which we learned from the time you start talking, so we had our education in both languages. I learned German when I was in Primary school (middle school). One night after I got home from German school (I attended the German school to learn the language - long story), I was in my parents' bedroom and I remember my mother started speaking to me in German. I had to pick my jaw up from the floor, because I never knew that she spoke German. We all knew that my father was the smarty pants, so it was a huge shock to me. I don't even think that any of my siblings know that our mother was fluent in a 3rd language (I told y'all we're private & like to keep a low profile). I remember her mentioning something about a street name's meaning while we were out one night. I never knew that we were surrounded by streets with German names.  My young mind never made the connection (because Dutch & German languages are so similar), that I assumed that it was Dutch. I know better now 😂

So, back to our heritage. We know that we are part Dutch (always South African of course, but we have a mixed bag of genes). However, the French & Germans (big German population) settled in CT too. So we might have some other European genes mixed in too (I do know a small amount of French too - not much. French is way different from other European languages. Most European languages are similar, so it's easy for me to understand. That's why I understood half those Swedish Christmas cookie names that Kim wrote about. It's because I know both Dutch & German). So, if anyone knows of a safe company to do DNA testing with, please feel free to let me know in the comments. 

Besides Kim, does anyone else have twins in their families? Do you know where the gene comes from? 

Now you've all learned a lot more about me :) There's still many more layers to me.

Have a wonderful weekend peeps!

Menu Plan Monday

Hi everyone

It turns out we got school germs after all. Saturday morning DS woke up with a runny nose & I had a scratchy throat and sore/stiff body. So we stayed home for the day. I tried to take a nap, but had so much on my mind, I just tossed and turned in bed. We had vitamin C loaded smoothies after lunch & guava juice with dinner. Saturday night we both took flu pills and had an early night. DS slept for 12 hours, but I woke up hours before him (habit). Yesterday, he felt a bit better, but not 100%. He didn't want to bake muffins or go out (I normally take DS out to dinner on Sundays), so we decided to go to Romania (remain here - stay home 😂 It's a Cape Town thing). I really didn't mind, because I was in a fog all day. I did a bit of cooking, baked the muffins and samosas, did laundry, then went back to bed and slept for a few hours. Then we had an early night again and feel a lot better today (all that sleep helped a lot). DS feels great, but I'm not 100% yet. 

I made an omelet for breakfast and could tell that something tasted off. It was the cottage cheese. I stopped eating the omelet and settled for toast. I now think that it was probably the cottage cheese (not the black beans) that made me sick the last time. I don't even like cottage cheese (I only eat it for extra protein in the morning), so I'm happy to skip it. I'd rather eat an extra egg or yogurt (which I love). Here's our menu plan for this week:

Monday : Chicken curry and rice with beetroot salad

Tuesday : Chicken roll with salad and veggie side (pick your veggies)

Wednesday : Same as Monday

Thursday : Same as Tuesday

Friday : Leftovers for me. Carry out for DS

Breakfasts : Bran apple muffins, french toast, eggs, toast, cereal

Lunch : Protein from freezer with salad or leftovers

There's always a wide variety of fresh fruit, veg and salad fixings available. 

I didn't finish all the cooking yesterday, because I need puff pastry for the chicken roll. I need to head out to the stores in a little while, then I'll complete the cooking later. 

I cooked a lot on Labor day, so there's other things to eat too. I made a big batch of beef pie filling and froze that in portions. I made a big pie for dinner last week and also mini ones for school lunch. I can just pull filling from the freezer any time I want to make more individual pies. I have some pie crusts. Same with taco meat. I made a big batch, beans in the instant pot, fresh pico, so I made some burritos to freeze. I had burrito and salad for Friday dinner. No money spent and no junk eaten. 

I have to admit though, that I'm getting a bit tired of figuring out meals. Does anyone ever feel that way? I hope the BF knows that he's gonna have to give me meal ideas in future, even if it's just his favorites. I really don't mind doing the cooking, but I'd like input on the menu. 

Have a wonderful week peeps!

This week's odds & ends

Hi everyone!

It's been a crazy, rough week with back to school & appointments and things going wrong. The holiday threw me off too. I spent most of Labor day cooking, then washed my car. The drugstores were a pain too. I might need a break from them, but I have oodles of rewards to use. Sorry, no pics. I've had a sinus headache for most of the day. I just want to go sleep so I can feel better, but I can't take an allergy pill (Wal-act) until bedtime, because it contains sleep aid. 

• Received a $5 reward from Chicos. I don't even know why I receive so many rewards, cause it's not like I've shopped that much (with my own money) this year. Next month it's semi-annual rewards, then birthday rewards. I don't even need anything. 
  
  
• Bought sale peaches & strawberries. Still had some kiwi too, so I washed, sliced & froze everything for smoothies. I haven't seen really good peach/nectarines sales this summer. Meijer usually have it for 69c/lb for weeks on end, but not this year. 
  
  
• Stocked up on some canned goods and cereal at Walmart & holy sticker shock moley. I can't keep up with grocery prices anymore. You know things are bad when Meijer has lower (regular) prices than Walmart on some things. 
  
  
• Did my annual Dunkin Donuts coffee stock up at Costco. They have it on sale once a year, so I always buy 2 containers (45 oz) for $15.89 (got 3 this time). This is enough to last me a year, cause I mix it with some decaf that I buy at Sams (Costco doesn't sell decaf, just regular). Meijer has the 30 oz DD on sale for $16.99 next week (reg $18.99). Walmart's regular price is even higher. This is why I stock up at Costco. I get 1/3rd more for the same price as Meijer's sale price. Crazy. I don't shop at Costco much, but the membership is worth every penny (their fee is much higher than Sams too). They didn't have my regular guava juice, but guava/passion fruit/orange mix. Yummy!! I love passion fruit (granadilla as we call it), but it's so hard to find here. 
  
  
• I'm so annoyed at my realtor. I gave them all the specs for what I'd like (sq ft, exact location, etc) when we started this journey. I keep getting notifications of houses that are older or too small or not in the areas I want. One is for a neighboring city that's not the nicest area. I never even told them that I want anything in that area. I've told them about it numerous times, but I still get notifications. I hate having my time wasted like this. We currently live in a very nice area (best part of our city) in a nice size house. Why would I want to live in a smaller, older house, just because it costs less? I have very high standards. When I do a job, I deliver in the best possible way, so I normally expect others to work the same way as I do. I can understand if someone makes a mistake once or twice, but please don't keep making the same mistake over & over. It drives me nuts!
  
  
• I'm so far behind this year. Someone mentioned purchasing Christmas gifts & I'm over here having a panic attack 😂 I normally have 70-90% of my Christmas shopping done by this time. This year is different, because I don't even know who's supposed to be on my list other than DS & BF. I already know what DS wants, so that's easy. I have no clue of what to get BF. I have some ideas for other things/surprises, but not Christmas gifts. I'm gonna need some help from his family or he can just tell me what he wants. I'm easy. All I want for Christmas is to be in my new home with my guys. If BF just wrapped his arms around me and told me how much he loved me, my Christmas would be complete. I really don't need any more stuff. I just want to be happy. I would like a stocking though. I've never had a stocking and want to experience what it's like.
  
  There's so much I need to get done. It's all 3 of our birthdays. BF & my birthdays are less than 2 weeks apart. How cool is that? We could just have one big celebration for both of us (the frugalistas will like this 😊) or we can just celebrate every day from my birthday until his 😂🥳 Plus it's our favorite holidays too, so how do I plan for all this? I mean, the planning & shopping is no biggie. That's my area of expertise. I just need his input on things, so I know what to do. 
  
  
• Drugstore report. CVS was fun and worked better than expected. RA was a cluster. I was in shock, because RA normally works great. Wags was fine, but something did go wrong. I stopped at 2 stores today to check their 90% off summer clearance. The first store had a whole aisle of empty shelves. Somebody cleaned out the clearance section. Like seriously?!  I only found 3 baby things. The 2nd store had already begun to replace the clearance section with Christmas goodies. I was in such shock, I forgot to purchase the Wayfair gcs I wanted - at both stores. Ugh! I'll have to write another post about the drugstore deals. It wasn't pretty.
  
  
• I found another great sale (sorry can't mention store in case they read my blog) and wanted to order some items as a gift. I'm just unsure of how they would feel about receiving a gift from me. I don't want to ruffle anyone's feathers though. I'm a giver. If there's an occasion or I see a need, I just go ahead and try to bless others. Heck, I don't even need an event or excuse. Sometimes I just give, because I want to make someone's day.  My family understand this & they love it, but not everyone's as receptive. So I don't know what to do. My thing is 'when in doubt, don't do anything'. I'm torn though.

I think I need to make a to-do list (I usually just file everything in my head) and then tackle those tasks. I hate being this unorganised. I like to have all my ducks in a row & get holiday shopping done early, so I can enjoy a stress free holiday. Besides, I like to find the best deals too. 

I will respond to comments & catch up on reading everyone's blogs soon. I think I'm going to sleep for an hour or two. I hope I'm not getting sick, cause back to school usually brings school germs. 

Have a wonderful weekend peeps!