Working on the Weasleys

Wow! I'm making some good progress on the Fred & George square. On Friday, I was just at the top of Fred's chin (just where the light grey changes to dark; I'm assuming Fred is the one on the left), and look how far I am now. I just finished row 74 out of 111 (not including the border rows). Please ignore the cat barf on Fred's shoulder; it had already dried by the time I discovered it, and I can't wash the piece until it's off the needles. Luckily the yarn is machine washable.

We did our first big grocery shopping trip since I got laid off. We spent more than I had planned, however I can only think of one thing that we probably should not have bought. Plus, since we went to Costco, many of the items will last us a very long time, such as the ground beef (six 1-pound tubes for $15.99) and the huge bag of frozen blueberries. Combined with the other mini-shopping trips, we're averaging about $106/week on groceries. This is still less than what we were spending before, plus we're not eating out and that's a big savings right there.

Ironically, I think we are eating better now than we were before. Since I don't have to prep my lunch 7 hours in advance, I'll often just whip up a bananananananana smoothie in the early afternoon. Dessert is more likely to be a fruit cobbler (I made a fresh one today using some of the frozen blueberries) instead of cookies or chocolates. Normally a kielbasa will last us maybe two meals; this time, I cut it up in little pieces and mixed it with rice. We got two dinners out of it, plus I mixed some with scrambled eggs to make four breakfast burritos, and we've still got enough left for another pair of burritos. Tonight's dinner is chicken baked in the oven with potatoes, carrots, onion, and garlic, seasoned with fresh rosemary (we have a rosemary plant in the backyard), garlic salt, and pepper. I added some bullion to the pot so the meat doesn't dry out. That's got to be healthier than eating in a restaurant as we normally would do on a weekend, plus there's enough chicken for at least two meals (more if I mix the leftovers with rice).

Lastly for today, I've got a real job interview lined up on Wednesday. It's a three month temp-to-hire position. I really hope I get it; even three months work will be helpful, plus if it becomes permanent that means the end of job hunting. I'm not counting on it, of course, but it's exciting to think about it. Especially since it's just a bit over five miles from home (for those new among the Teeming Millions, my old job was not quite fifty-seven miles away. Yes, that's one-way, not round-trip). However, I think it would be overly optimistic to expect to get a job this quickly. That won't stop me from trying, though!