Potatoes O'Brein

A freezer friendly plant based breakfast. How could breakfast get any better than this?

Potatoes. I'm not a huge fan of potatoes, however hubby and the kids are. I'll make them once in awhile since they really aren't that bad for you. They just need to be cooked the right way.

After purchasing large potatoes at the farmer's market one weekend, I diced them and boiled them for freezing. I also did so with bell peppers and onions.

First off, cook the potatoes in water in a large skillet or pan. I couldn't quite them brown since they kept burning and sticking to the bottom. I'm not sure how to get the potatoes that lovely brown, so next time I will try browning/baking in the oven. to get them that lovely brown color.

After trying to brown the potatoes, add the peppers, onions, and mushrooms. You can also add the canned Anaheim or jalapenos to it for more flavor.

Even though it wasn't brown, it was still good. The family ate it all up and wanted more. This is a great breakfast that you can make a double or triple batch to freeze for later. Talk about a filling time saver!

DIY Woman

Don't you mean handyman? Nope. I can do anything if I am motivated enough.

After 3 years of not having the grout finished in our kitchen under the trash can, I decided it needed done. Hubby asked me to clean the grout lines so he could "finish" it several times and I obligingly did so. Only to find out he was "too tired" or had bigger projects to complete. We had to replace these two tiles due to shorter cabinets in our kitchen remodel.

Sitting on the fridge was the small tub of pre-made grout. Awesome. The rest of the tools were in the garage. A grout float/trowel,  large grout sponge (dish sponges will not work), and bucket with water (to rinse out sponge several times).

To be honest, filling in grout was quite easy.

Tools needed

 Take the spade looking tool and scoop the grout out of your bucket like ice cream.

 Fill in grout lines. Make sure you fill them in well and overfilling is good to do. Just watch out for air bubbles.

This is what you'll end up with after you get your grout in your grout lines. Seriously easy.

 I couldn't touch my camera after this step. Sorry! Take the grout trowel and swipe it sideways at a 45 degree angle. This helps push the grout down and get the air bubbles out. Don't worry about getting the middle of the tiles dirty. This will be cleaned off with your sponge in a few hours.

Wait a few hours (many people say 12-24 hours). I let mine sit for 3-4 hours. I'm very impatient- I wanted it done! You might as well move onto another project for the time being. Me? Laundry is always a huge project in my house.

Since I know you waited your proper length of time, all you have to do is take your sponge and wipe in circles on top of the grout. You will need to rinse your sponge and possibly refill your bucket several times. I had to since my bucket was so small.

After sponging your tiles and grout to the perfected level, stand back and admire your hard work. I know I did!

My phone doesn't take the best pics. This picture was taken one week after I filled in the grout.

Aren't my grout skills magnificent? See- I really can do anything if I put my mind to it. What's next?

I realize the kids could have helped with this project, but I needed to learn how to do it first.  They will definitely help next time!

Bakersfield. One Week. No A/C until 4:30.

Life at the Depot is H-O-T! No A/C Hot!

I'm always looking for new ways to cut our budget. I mean hubby works really hard for his money, so why shouldn't he be able to enjoy it too? Other than eating out. I'm currently finding ways to cut our food, gas, etc. budget. I asked hubby how else can we cut our expenses? I'm willing to do anything. Our highest bill after the mortgage and car payment is *dun* *dun* *dun* PGE. Not a big surprise. Alright. We've downsized. I don't vacuum everyday anymore. I only run full loads in the dishwasher and clothes washer. I refuse to hang clean clothes outside- especially with dust and dirt blowing 365 days a year. We'll figure out a way to get those lower, but for now, the a/c has been running non-stop since we got it fixed (and we never go lower than 78 degrees).

Even if it means turning off the a/c on 90+ degree days to save money, I'll try it. Yesterday was our first day. It turned out to be 97 degrees. That's actually not too terrible. The a/c would kick on at 6pm, mostly for the kids getting ready for bed.

How did our first day go? Well, unfortunately, we didn't go for a walk as a family. It was a bummer, but that's okay. The kids and I didn't go outside to get any yard work done like I wanted to, but that's okay. I'm not a huge fan of yard work, but it looks so much better when you do. Plus the yard waste bin was overfilled waiting to be emptied.

So instead of going outside to enjoy the fresh crisp morning air, the kids watched a movie. I'm not a big fan of watching tv all day, but I did promise them they could watch television if their room was clean. Surprisingly their rooms were clean! For once...



The kids never complained about being hot so I didn't either. They had 2 cups of watered down kool-aid while I had ice water and one sweet tea (after dinner). We weren't dehydrated or bored. So I'm really hoping we can cut down expenses aka PGE.Half a day with no a/c, good so far!

It wasn't until I started cooking dinner that it really got hot in the house. Our kitchen receives the western exposure of the sun so even if I don't cook, it's hot in my kitchen every afternoon, even when I don't cook. I was tempted to pull our standing fan in the kitchen, but decided I would just go outside where it was much cooler to start the grill. I still had to boil carrots and put the au gratin in the oven. Whew. I think au Gratin uses the most energy when cooking. We don't usually eat carbs and I can't get myself to just throw the food out of our pantry. We bought it, so we might as well use it.

Hubby came home around 4:45 and complained it was hot. It was hot outside and it was hotter inside. He couldn't stand it being so hot, so he left the searing kitchen to the not so cooler living room. The a/c turned on at 6pm (after dinner was done cooking). It was so nice to have that cool air! I didn't check the temperature at 6pm, but any temperature was cooler than the kitchen!

So day 1 (Monday) was a success! I decided that Day 2 we would cook outside to see if its more comfortable. Who doesn't love grilled food?

Sidenote:

Hubby's office is usually set at 70 degrees, so when he comes home he wants to be comfortable, not too hot nor cold. It really is hard to save money when you are on two different ends of the budget/expenses saving goals. He just cares that we get the bills paid and I am really trying to save money anyway I can. We'd have more disposable income if I worked, but I truly believed that family comes first no matter what. If I only had a job...