My Cat Died pt.2

My Cat Died

I had to put down one of my cats

yesterday. I will write a post or do a video on her. I'm so upset. I had pets as a chld, but this was MY first pet. Rest in peace, my sweet little pretty kitty girl, Maya.

First Time Home Buyer's Blues

Was our offer really that 'insulting?' Or, are the owners unrealistic? We were pretty frustrated. We're over it now and ready to continue our search. A bit nervous that we may not close on something in enough time to take advantange of the $8k incentive.

Budget Bride Has Been Tagged

I was tagged on my YouTube Channel by Ladypradege with "21 Questions." It was fun to to and thought I'd post it on here as well.



here is Lady's Vid:

Our First Home?

We took a second look at the house last night. We brought my mom the first time a few weeks ago when we found this among six we were viewing that evening. This time we brought my in-laws who just returned from vacation. They liked it, too. They agreed that it seems like this was a solid, well-built and well-cared for home. We met the owners for the second time as well. They've lived there for over 40 years and now wish to permanently retire to their second home in Florida. The husband is a retired firemen, which further boosted our hopes that this is a well-constructed, well-wired, safe home

We like its character, too. Since it was built in 1930, it has lots of charm with old wood and leaded glass windows. There will have to be several cosmetic updates including the destruction of outdated wallpaper and carpet. These will be fun (hopefully) weekend projects in the future. I wish the kitchen was a little bigger, but it's definitely 'doable, and better than my 5x5 'kitchen closet' I cook in now at the apartment.

Our realtor is taking her kid to college this week, so we're meeting next week to write an offer. I'm getting pretty excited, and have alredy began my 'mental move-in.'

Our Wedding Photos

Finally, the professional photos arrived in the mail. We saved money and took advantage of a special deal our photographer and the website he publishes on extended to us. Our photographer (who is a friend of my brother so we got a good deal, more on that in a future post on budget wedding photography) publishes to a website that offered all the wedding guests a free duplicate offer for the first 10 days and the last 10 days of the 90 that they would be available to order online.

We would have gotten them earlier if our first order went through. For some reason, whether it was my fault and I didn't click on something, or an oversight on their part, our first order in the first 10 days did not go through. We realized this a week later, as I was stalking the mailman and received an email from the site saying that our cart was still full. We checked the card we used and (thank goodness) it was not charged and the site still had my order unprocessed. We called the company and told us there were two ways we could still get free duplicates:

1) Ask the photographer to re-submit the photos under a 'new event;' therefore, our order would qualify under the first 10 day offer.

2) Wait until days 80 - 90 to order them. We'd get an email from them reminding us of the last minute deal and we can submit our shopping cart then.

We contacted our photographer, and of course we was more than willing to set up another site for us. However, after discussing it with my husband, we thought that waiting a couple of months or so for them would cut on an immediate expense when we came back from the honeymoon (the photographer didn't publish them until we came back and approved them).

We told him that he didn't need to bother to set up a new site. We'd wait until the end of the 90 days to place our order. With that extra time, we were able to fit it into our budget and save for it for a couple of months. Yes, we were getting a little impatient and anxious at the end to get them, but happy that we were able to get a few things paid off on our card before we added something else to it.

Pork Fajita Stew

So easy in the slow cooker, which I swear is a gift from Heaven.

WildTree products used:

Wicked Good Slow Cooker Sauce
Fajita Seasoning Blend
Cilantro Lime Rice Seasoning

Great Dinner Invention with Leftovers - Cheesy Casserole

With some leftovers and Wildtree, I was able to 'wing it' and made a fantastic Au Gratin Potato Casserole with Mushrooms, Ham, and Turkey.

I used:

3 leftover baked potatoes with skins peeled off, sliced, diced, or 'chunked'
two cups skim milk
one cup water
two tablespoons WildTree Butter Flavored Grapeseed Oil, 1/4 cup of WildTree Alfredo Extraordinare.
1/4 (approx.) of grated Parmesan cheese (I just finished off what was left in the container)
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 small (4oz.) can of mushrooms
2 slices of lunchmeat turkey,
3 slices of lunchmeat ham sliced into squares or torn into pieces

Combine all ingredients in casserole dish, cover and place in preheated over at 400F for 40 minutes. Remove lid and keep in oven for 5-10 minutes until the top is brown enough to your liking.

Easy Coleslaw: Low Carb, Low Cal, Low Fat

Coleslaw is even healthier if you make it with low fat mayo. Quick, crunchy and perfect for summer.

Smooth Away - Great for the Honeymoon

Forget trying to get your razor checked at the airport - this products is great on the legs when you travel. Although, I do not recommend it for the bikini area or face.

How to Make Mushroom Alfredo in 10 minutes

This is the same mix 1Xellus1 used in her Chicken Alfredo recipe.

My Husband's First Video

He was a bit shy, but a good sport, indeed.

Our House Hunt

We may have finally found our future home! The search was not without frustration, and to my surprise was not as an enjoyable experience as I hoped it would be. We got so tired of looking at 'dumps' in our price range and beautiful places that were either beyond our budget or a reasonable commute to my husband's job. It was stressing me out BIG TIME - worrying that we won't find something in time to take advantage of the US Stimulus' 1st time home-buyers offer - 8k if you close on a house by Nov 25. It would be silly for us to pass this up.

However, we may have found one. It's a 1930 all-brick colonial that's close to my husband's job, and it even has a separate workshop. This was a 'must have' on our list, as my husband is a machinist and can't wait to finally use the machines he got from an old job that closed and are stored in his parent's basement. This limited our search somewhat, of course. There weren't too many homes with a separate building for a workshop in our budget.

So, we're thinking that this house may be ours. My husband got that 'feeling' as soon as he walked in. I definitely got the best feeling in that house, but I was hoping for a slightly larger kitchen. However, I still have not found anything better after almost a week of additional searching.

We're scheduled to go looking again on Wednesday. If we can't find anything by then to look at then we're going to put in an offer for the colonial - which fits everything on our checklist and happens to be our ideal price.

A RAVE REVIEW for WildTree's Alfredo Extraordinare

1Xellus1, a long time reader, friend and valued customer recently posted her review and recipe using WildTree's Alfredo Extraordinare on her blog What's Cookin'? It's a SUPER EASY sauce mix you make just like mac'n'cheese - only it tastes far better, it's more versatile and it is low-sodium and preservative free.

Just a bit of what she says:

"My family LOVED this! Forget about those prepackaged noodles & sauce mixes. Having the Wildtree Extraordinare as a staple in the pantry is the way to go!"




Read her review and her recipe for Grilled Chicken Alfredo with Broccoli here:


Buy it here:
Large 8oz


Small 3.5oz

The Benefits of Grapeseed Oil

I did not know this until recently, but there is a cooking oil out there that is better than olive oil. A few benefits listed and recorded on video.