I went out on a limb the other day and tried something I had never tried before. It might be pretty pedestrian for the rest of you, but I was mighty pleased with how it came out.
In a crockpot, I mixed a can of black beans, a can of corn, a small can of mushrooms and a small jar of salsa. I didn't drain any of this, just dumped it all in the crockpot. I mixed it and then added 4 frozen chicken breasts and let it cook on low for 8 hours. When we got home that night, I took the chicken out and shredded it (just took two forks and tore it apart into small pieces) and mixed it back in the crockpot. I cooked some rice (4 servings) and added that to the crockpot and mixed everything up. It turned out kind of soupy, so we ate it in a bowl. I added some sour cream on top of mine, and some shredded cheese. It was very good! We both had two bowls and were stuffed full.
I put the crock pot bowl (I have the kind where the bowl and the heating element are separated, which I would recommend to anyone! Easier to clean) in the refrigerator, and took it out the next night for supper. The rice had soaked up most of the water, so I put it in a pot and added a can of chicken broth and some more salsa and heated it up on the stove. Yummy the second time, too!
So, a cheap, easy meal with enough left over for another full meal (for two). Try it!
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Good news on the ambulance ride from over 3 years ago. I had gone skiing in Feb 2007 and blew out my knee. I had to go on an ambulance 34 miles into Denver. If we had had a car, we could have driven in, but we had gone out on a bus, so we didn't have a car. Anyway, the ambulance had been submitting the claim to BCBS for two years now and they had been denying it. They said I used an out of network ambulance company. The kicker is, BCBS doesn't have any ambulance companies in network in Denver. Bastards. Whenever I bring this up, and ask, "So, when I am on my back on a mountain screaming in pain, am I supposed to call you and see what ambulance I am supposed to use? And what would have you told me?" And then I hang up. Again, bastards.
Anyway, I finally got the bill at the beginning of Feb 2009 (a few days after I got laid off). $1285. What bad timing! I called them and told them I was laid off and even with my salary last year we had lost money on the farm and my AGI was only $18,000 last year. She sent me a "financial aid packet" and I filled it out, but lots of it didn't apply. I finally wrote an explanation and copied my 1040 and lay off letter and sent it back. They are going to only make me pay half. So, we have to scrounge up $642.50 somehow this month. But, that's better than the full amount.
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Finally got the phones switched to Nex-tech. That is going to save us about $25 a month, and it only took about 15 minutes to sell the two phones on the local website. Sold them both for $45. Maybe could have made more, but hey, they are out of here.
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Blizzard is coming tomorrow. We spent the day putting fence around an area we used last year that blocks the wind pretty well. We lined up some bales to help block the wind even more. I hope we don't lose any calves. My dad called yesterday to say we should have 6" of snow and 45 mph winds. He then said he once lost 15 out of 30 calves because they froze to death one year, so I've been in a scared mood for a few days now. I hope it doesn't turn out too bad.
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My mom called about a job in Salina...but it is a secretary's job. Should I apply to that? I am not a secretary. Of course, I could be a secretary, but I'm not. Ugh. I've been so discouraged lately on the job front. I got paid today and I have two more paychecks (so another month) and then the severance pay. I don't know if I should wait it out a bit or take anything. I feel like I shouldn't take something if I know that as soon as something better comes along I am going to bail, but maybe that is what I should do.
My MIL said I should balance checkbooks and pay bills for the little old ladies in town. She said people would pay for a service like that, but I don't know how to get started. I already balance our 4 checkbooks and pay bills for us, and I have a pretty good system set up so I never miss a bill, so I know adding some others wouldn't be a problem. I wonder about the liability of it, though.
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I worked on DH's grandma's computer the other day. It was taking forever to start and forever to shut down. I did a virus scan on it, and nothing. I then started shutting down some of the Dell help things, and that seemed to make a difference. I didn't want to go too far because she wasn't there to tell me what she used and what she didn't, but now I know I can pretty much disable all of it. She paid me $10. Feel kind of funny for taking money for helping family.
yummy supper
March 27th, 2009 at 01:43 am
March 27th, 2009 at 06:55 pm 1238180157
March 31st, 2009 at 04:27 pm 1238516822
How did the storm treat you? I keep hearing all about it on the news!
April 1st, 2009 at 06:17 pm 1238609841