The other day I joined e-mealz.com, which is essentially a meal planning service. You sign up for a certain number of months and each week they will give you a PDF with 7 meals and the grocery list you need to make them all. The recipes are easy, including "quick meals" and crockpot meals. They have a portion control (Weight Watchers) menu, gluten free, and more. On Cyber Monday they had a 30% off code, for 3 months it came to less than $15 so I took the plunge. I have no idea how it will all go, but for $15, it's worth a shot.
I printed out the menu from last week (Thanksgiving, so it was a shorter menu) and this week and hit the grocery store today with Henry. I'm not gonna lie, it was a little crazy. But when is grocery shopping with a 4-year old NOT crazy? Trying to find Minced Garlic while Henry is asking me to untangle his guy from the cart was not my finest moment. I have NO clue how he got that thing wrapped around like he did.
I was a bit nervous about what the total was going to come to, as groceries in NYC are pricey, but was
PLEASANTLY surprised. I'll post more on what the total is after I pick
up the rest of the meat from the butcher and a few other things from another store. I'm really excited about this new endeavor. We have the meal plan stuck to our tack board so Joe, Katie or I can easily cook. No more of the "What's for dinner?" or blankly staring in the cabinet and ordering pizza! Now we can look at the list and choose something knowing we have everything on hand. YAY!
I'll post more about this as time goes on...I'm very curious to see how it will work for our family.
11.30.2011
11.28.2011
Cruise Money & Awesome Cyber Monday Deals
I just added $353 to our cruise fund! Yay!
On top of that, I've been doing some Cyber Monday shopping today and have spend $11 and gotten 5 gifts for Henry, 1 for myself, 1 for my nephew and 1 for the toy drive at church.
Here is a run down of my deals:
DisneyStore.com: I had a $20 gift card that I received from Disney Movie Rewards (free) and a 10% off code for being a Vacation Club member (our timeshare) and they have free shipping today. We got Henry Spiderman pajamas, a Spiderman action figure and an ornament for myself for a total of $4 after taxes.
Amazon.com: I had $25 from Swagbucks (free) and $60 from loose change we had saved that I cashed into an Amazon gift card. 3 gifts for Henry (1 was $44, ugh!), 1 for my nephew and 1 for the toy drive. Free Amazon shipping because I was spending more than $25. Grand total was $7 after taxes.
I also earned 5% back on my DisneyStore.com order using Mr. Rebates!
It's been a GOOD day! :)
On top of that, I've been doing some Cyber Monday shopping today and have spend $11 and gotten 5 gifts for Henry, 1 for myself, 1 for my nephew and 1 for the toy drive at church.
Here is a run down of my deals:
DisneyStore.com: I had a $20 gift card that I received from Disney Movie Rewards (free) and a 10% off code for being a Vacation Club member (our timeshare) and they have free shipping today. We got Henry Spiderman pajamas, a Spiderman action figure and an ornament for myself for a total of $4 after taxes.
Amazon.com: I had $25 from Swagbucks (free) and $60 from loose change we had saved that I cashed into an Amazon gift card. 3 gifts for Henry (1 was $44, ugh!), 1 for my nephew and 1 for the toy drive. Free Amazon shipping because I was spending more than $25. Grand total was $7 after taxes.
I also earned 5% back on my DisneyStore.com order using Mr. Rebates!
It's been a GOOD day! :)
11.27.2011
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade & the American Museum of Natural History
On Wednesday afternoon I surprised Henry with something...
We were going to...
SKIP HIS NAP!
And instead we went and saw:
The giant Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons are blown up on 77th and 81st Streets in Manhattan, the streets that surround the American Museum of Natural History, so we went to the museum in the same trip!
The beautiful origami tree was up
We walked through the human science exhibits, which Henry took a strong interest in. He was fascinated with the human bones.
After a few missed calls and lots of walking around, we eventually met up with Henry's buddy Jack to see the dinosaur bones.
Joe was also off work by this time and joined us. We naturally found ourselves in the space exhibits, we all really enjoy this part of the museum!
The next day, of course, was Thanksgiving. Joe went into Manhattan pretty early to try and snag us a decent spot for the parade and he succeeded! We had a nice spot in Central Park where we could SIT (*key with a 4 year old!), see the balloons and much of the happenings on the ground as well. And it wasn't too horribly packed! All in all, it was a very good spot. Here are a few highlights.
It was very neat to see these giants float down the street! After the parade we made our way back to Queens, got lunch at a local restaurant and had an enjoyable lazy afternoon. Dinner rolled around and we ate random leftovers and peanut butter sandwiches and scurried out the door to go see The Muppets in the movie theater...which was FANTASTIC!!
All in all, it was a non-traditional Thanksgiving. Not one bit of turkey was had, but we were together, and we enjoyed it...and that is what matters most!
We were going to...
SKIP HIS NAP!
And instead we went and saw:
The giant Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons are blown up on 77th and 81st Streets in Manhattan, the streets that surround the American Museum of Natural History, so we went to the museum in the same trip!
The beautiful origami tree was up
We walked through the human science exhibits, which Henry took a strong interest in. He was fascinated with the human bones.
After a few missed calls and lots of walking around, we eventually met up with Henry's buddy Jack to see the dinosaur bones.
Joe was also off work by this time and joined us. We naturally found ourselves in the space exhibits, we all really enjoy this part of the museum!
The next day, of course, was Thanksgiving. Joe went into Manhattan pretty early to try and snag us a decent spot for the parade and he succeeded! We had a nice spot in Central Park where we could SIT (*key with a 4 year old!), see the balloons and much of the happenings on the ground as well. And it wasn't too horribly packed! All in all, it was a very good spot. Here are a few highlights.
All in all, it was a non-traditional Thanksgiving. Not one bit of turkey was had, but we were together, and we enjoyed it...and that is what matters most!
11.25.2011
Black Friday
Black Friday is almost over, but my deal is NOT! Be sure to check out my Facebook page to see what it's all about!
https://www.facebook.com/notes/brook-wozniak-vacation-specialist-with-mouse-world-travel/its-black-friday/197334803681600
https://www.facebook.com/notes/brook-wozniak-vacation-specialist-with-mouse-world-travel/its-black-friday/197334803681600
11.23.2011
Black Friday
Black Friday is coming and everyone knows what that means....your belly will be full with all the goodness from Thanksgiving and SHOPPING DEALS!
I've been browsing the ads a bit, but nothing we particularly want (and can afford) is popping out, plus I don't want to exactly be in a crowd like the one above. And living in NYC, that is COMPLETELY realistic! LOL So I'll be shopping from my jammies in front of my computer. :)
On top of that I will be offering my own Black Friday deal! Yes, it's true! While I cannot offer discounts on the Disney Vacation Packages themselves, I can offer incentives in other ways. So stay tuned and spread the word - if you send me a referral you will get a $25 gift card when the referral travels!
I've been browsing the ads a bit, but nothing we particularly want (and can afford) is popping out, plus I don't want to exactly be in a crowd like the one above. And living in NYC, that is COMPLETELY realistic! LOL So I'll be shopping from my jammies in front of my computer. :)
On top of that I will be offering my own Black Friday deal! Yes, it's true! While I cannot offer discounts on the Disney Vacation Packages themselves, I can offer incentives in other ways. So stay tuned and spread the word - if you send me a referral you will get a $25 gift card when the referral travels!
10.24.2011
Bad News...Good News
I've got good news and bad news.
The bad news is that we had to completely deplete our cruise savings to pay off a debt that was looming over us.
However...the good news is....we have already MORE than made up for it!
I had $448 over there on my thermometer earlier...now it's $523!
Of course if we hadn't had to use that $448 we'd be close to $1,000 now, but well...life happens, right? I expect to have a few more good amounts coming in before the cruise, and hopefully a few unexpected ones too.
I have much more to blog about - continuing our Disney trip and a LOT of NYC things, but I have to end this here as I have a scrumptious meal of Mac & Cheese on the stove. LOL A goal of mine this week is to post a new NYC update and what's stirring with the family!
The bad news is that we had to completely deplete our cruise savings to pay off a debt that was looming over us.
However...the good news is....we have already MORE than made up for it!
I had $448 over there on my thermometer earlier...now it's $523!
Of course if we hadn't had to use that $448 we'd be close to $1,000 now, but well...life happens, right? I expect to have a few more good amounts coming in before the cruise, and hopefully a few unexpected ones too.
I have much more to blog about - continuing our Disney trip and a LOT of NYC things, but I have to end this here as I have a scrumptious meal of Mac & Cheese on the stove. LOL A goal of mine this week is to post a new NYC update and what's stirring with the family!
10.04.2011
Castle Girl
When I left off, we just got off the Peoplemover and we had those FastPasses from Stephen-the awesome Cast Member. Where to go?
Joe and I had only ridden this on our honeymoon -- and this would be Henry's first flight. And this might be blasphemous to say to other Disney Fans, but while we enjoyed the ride during our honeymoon, it wasn't something that we felt like was a MUST DO. We never felt it was worth getting a FastPass for or waiting in line for....and that line is ALWAYS long!
However! We DID want to ride it, and we had those "freebie" FastPasses. We wanted to do something together, this was the perfect time!! I had zero memory of the ride, other than just thinking it was fine/cute/whatever, so it was like I was riding again for the first time.
Into the line we went! We handed our FastPasses over to the Cast Member who was working the line,o Henry quickly made friends with her. We chatted with her a bit while standing there--and just before we moved on, she handed us back our FastPasses and SEVEN more! They were good until the next day too!
We boarded our ship and were off to Neverland!
And....I gotta say...this ride is GREAT! We loved it! My, how opinion changes once a little one is involved! Henry was mystified with the flying ship and seeing Peter Pan and Captain Hook. He sang "Tick, tock, tick tock!" through the ride after seeing him for the first time.
This was a big hit, and we knew we'd be back on before our trip was over.
But now, it was time to ride It's a Small World just across the path. I believe this ride was down for refurb during our last trip, and even though Henry has ridden it several times, he had no memory of it.
As we were sitting in our boat, waiting to launch, Henry noticed the "castle girl", a Cast Member ride operator up in a little castle bridge above the ride. He started waving at her and blowing her kisses. She responded as soon as she saw him and just played it up with him -- he LOVED it. It was completely adorable.
When we got back to the load area, Henry instantly started waving at his castle girl again. She noticed him and played it up again with him. She motioned to another Cast Member who asked us if we'd like to ride again-and before Joe or I could respond Henry shouted out a "Yes!" So....off we went! And we got our own boat! Henry was ALL GRINS and blew many kisses to his new girlfriend. It was a fantastic magical moment!
After our second spin through, we knew it was time to go. We were all getting tired and it was very late--waaaaaaaay past Henry's bedtime. We slowly made our way up toward the Castle and through it
Once on Main Street we stopped to browse and use our snack credits.
Joe purchased Butterfinger Fudge.
Henry got some jellybeans and I chose a chocolate croissant from the bakery...
I love these things! None of us wanted those things at that hour, but we brought them back to the room for the next day and later in the trip.
We got back to the Boardwalk after 12:00 am. I cannot recall, but I'm pretty certain that hour Henry was fast asleep on the bus! Joe and Henry went straight to bed, meanwhile, your crazy host did a bit of Facebooking and computer work until 1 am.
Finally, the end of our first full day at Disney.
Yes, we are only done with the first full day. Can you believe that? 12.5 more to go!! I'm thinkin' I need to pick up speed...just a bit! LOL
Joe and I had only ridden this on our honeymoon -- and this would be Henry's first flight. And this might be blasphemous to say to other Disney Fans, but while we enjoyed the ride during our honeymoon, it wasn't something that we felt like was a MUST DO. We never felt it was worth getting a FastPass for or waiting in line for....and that line is ALWAYS long!
However! We DID want to ride it, and we had those "freebie" FastPasses. We wanted to do something together, this was the perfect time!! I had zero memory of the ride, other than just thinking it was fine/cute/whatever, so it was like I was riding again for the first time.
Into the line we went! We handed our FastPasses over to the Cast Member who was working the line,o Henry quickly made friends with her. We chatted with her a bit while standing there--and just before we moved on, she handed us back our FastPasses and SEVEN more! They were good until the next day too!
We boarded our ship and were off to Neverland!
And....I gotta say...this ride is GREAT! We loved it! My, how opinion changes once a little one is involved! Henry was mystified with the flying ship and seeing Peter Pan and Captain Hook. He sang "Tick, tock, tick tock!" through the ride after seeing him for the first time.
This was a big hit, and we knew we'd be back on before our trip was over.
But now, it was time to ride It's a Small World just across the path. I believe this ride was down for refurb during our last trip, and even though Henry has ridden it several times, he had no memory of it.
As we were sitting in our boat, waiting to launch, Henry noticed the "castle girl", a Cast Member ride operator up in a little castle bridge above the ride. He started waving at her and blowing her kisses. She responded as soon as she saw him and just played it up with him -- he LOVED it. It was completely adorable.
When we got back to the load area, Henry instantly started waving at his castle girl again. She noticed him and played it up again with him. She motioned to another Cast Member who asked us if we'd like to ride again-and before Joe or I could respond Henry shouted out a "Yes!" So....off we went! And we got our own boat! Henry was ALL GRINS and blew many kisses to his new girlfriend. It was a fantastic magical moment!
After our second spin through, we knew it was time to go. We were all getting tired and it was very late--waaaaaaaay past Henry's bedtime. We slowly made our way up toward the Castle and through it
Once on Main Street we stopped to browse and use our snack credits.
Joe purchased Butterfinger Fudge.
Henry got some jellybeans and I chose a chocolate croissant from the bakery...
I love these things! None of us wanted those things at that hour, but we brought them back to the room for the next day and later in the trip.
We got back to the Boardwalk after 12:00 am. I cannot recall, but I'm pretty certain that hour Henry was fast asleep on the bus! Joe and Henry went straight to bed, meanwhile, your crazy host did a bit of Facebooking and computer work until 1 am.
Finally, the end of our first full day at Disney.
Yes, we are only done with the first full day. Can you believe that? 12.5 more to go!! I'm thinkin' I need to pick up speed...just a bit! LOL
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