Cupboard needs replenished, but money is tight.

It's going to be a Dollar Tree kind of month because the money just isn't here right now. My daughter took a second job just to have some more money because bills are killing us. Houses are expensive to live in.


This morning I wanted something to eat that wouldn't take long to make that wasn't the same old thing, so I mixed some pancake mix with chocolate Malt-o-Meal hot cereal and made chocolate pancakes. I must admit, they were pretty tasty. Not too chocolately, thankfully, because I'm not a chocoholic like my father was, but just a hint of chocolate without ruining the lifelong pleasure of the butter and syrup. I believe it bumps up the nutrition factor of the pancakes when I add a hot cereal to the mix (I've done oatmeal in the past with success). There's more iron in cream of wheat (which is what I think this basically is) than in the pancake mix plus some of the grain factor from the cereal. Maybe I'm fooling myself, but it was still a nice change of pace.


I've been adding vanilla flavoring to my coffee water before I make a pot and that has worked wonders for my pleasure of drinking the coffee. It never tastes as good at home as it does at the diner or at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts, right? Well, now there's a definite improvement in the overall flavor. It doesn't take much flavoring to alter the entire pot. I'm sure you could do the same thing with any extract if you were of a mind to.


I came downstairs this morning and found that one of the cats (Chloe, I'm thinking it's you!) had torn a hole in the 20 lb. bag of litter and scattered it across the floor - the floor I had cleaned yesterday after changing the litter in the cat box!! I don't know WTH she, whichever she it was, was thinking, but good grief, cat!! The bag of food wasn't far away, but that wasn't touched. Silly little beasts!!


Got all the dishes done today after making my pancakes. I hate washing without a full load, plus we have to pay for water, so why run it when it's not fully loaded. My small pan plus bowl and utensils were just enough to finish filling the dishwasher. I even washed the lid to the recycle since some of the cans had splashed onto it. Great way to get that done!!


Speaking of recycle, tonight's recycle night, so I need to get it together and set out front for pickup in the morning.


Going to Dollar Tree in the morning, so wish me luck finding as much as I can for as little as possible to last until my next check. It's always an adventure, to be sure!