Blogging Away Debt

Let’s talk about food – and a giveaway!…

If you’re anything like me, your poor family gets one of ten meals over and over… and over… and over again.

After a ten hour day, staring down the eyes of three more hours of late night work, I’ve been unable to plan any sort of decent meal.

Take on the crazy notion that I can last two months without dining out and I set myself up for disaster…

Or did I?

I heard an advertisement for E-mealz and decided to give it a shot the same day I promised my husband to say no to dining out. If you’ve never heard of E-mealz, let me give you the quick run-down. E-mealz is a weekly menu planning resource with over 28 menu options to choose from – including meals for two, meals for four, points system meal plans, and a gluten free menu (hint hint to my sister Lizzy and her gluten free child). Once a week I log on, download my menu and my shopping list, make a 30 minute trip to the grocery store, and never think about dinner again until I’m in the kitchen for 30 minutes making it each night.

The menus rotate beef, chicken, pork, fish, and vegetarian dishes and *gasp* force me to try new things.

My sister-in-law (who works late into the night) frequently comes home, drops her bags on the floor, and calls ‘What’s on the E-mealz menu tonight?!? Smells so yummy!’ as she pulls up a barstool and serves a plate.

Weird. I never heard her say that when I made turkey wraps for the 15th time in a month.

I used to spend $120 a week on food. With E-mealz, I spend around $55. I’m not trying to sound like a walking advertisement but it’s hard not to share when you’ve found something that makes a chore easy and reduces your grocery budget by 50%. Membership is only $1.25 a week!

I approached the folks at E-meals and asked them if they would be willing to donate a one month subscription to one of my readers. Not only did they agree, they donated a 3 month subscription to give away AND offered 10% off for all BloggingAwayDebt readers.

How can you win it? Leave a comment and let me know you are interested (make sure to type your e-mail address in the ‘Mail’ slot). I’ll throw all the comment names into a hat and draw a winner on Wednesday night (August 18th). The winner’s name will be posted on Thursday, August 19th.

If you don’t win but are interested in using E-mealz and want 10% off, click the link/photo below and type in the code: savemoney

Please make sure to click the link/photo so E-mealz knows where the referrals are coming from.

And, the recipe for chicken puffs? It’s an E-mealz dinner! Wrap cooked chicken and cream cheese in a reduced fat crescent roll. Cook as instructed on the crescent roll directions. It’s AMAZING!!

Working Toward Recovery…

by Beks

Today was a rough day. I was working and wasn’t able to check your amazingly encouraging comments. 2% of me was worried about what you all would think, 98% of me was worried about whether or not Hutch would pull through.

The vet called to tell us things were going well at 10:00 a.m. By 2:00 p.m., they called to tell us he had taken a sudden and unexpected turn backward. The swelling increased and his breathing was difficult – he would likely pass before the end of the day. They asked us to approve a laser treatment as a last ditch effort to save his life and for 20 minutes I debated whether or not I was throwing good money after bad.

We approved the treatment – even though it was $200 more dollars.

I cried, and cried, and…cried more as my husband drove to the vet after I got off work.

OK, let me take a stress relief laugh moment here – I have cried buckets over this sweet dog. My husband has been the calm, strong, decision maker and hasn’t shed a tear. As I apologized for my excessive crying, my husband said, “Don’t worry hon, I cried today too. They played a replay of Emmitt Smith’s Hall of Fame speech and it really choked me up.”

I wanted to kill him.

“Are you serious? We’re losing our dog and you cried over Emmitt Smith’s Hall of Fame speech? Are you freaking kidding me?!?” I asked as I glared at him while wiping my snotty nose.

“Honey, you should have heard it. He was thanking Daryl Johnston, and man, it was emotional.” He said seriously.

Fortunately for him, I can’t afford another medical bill.

Back to the story – we arrived at the vet and…

the laser worked. The vet was all smiles and told us Hutch’s prognosis was good. Then they brought him out for me to spend time with. His face looked like a crazy comic character (see below – but don’t look if you’re queasy) but he made some big steps in the right direction.

We won’t know until tomorrow if he is officially safe or not (we’re waiting on blood tests and swelling reduction). They have to keep him for another night tonight as the venom moves from his face, down his throat, and into his chest. There is still a high risk for suffocation but the vet seems optimistic.

Thank you so very much for your encouragement. I really, really needed it.

Again – don’t look if you are queasy….

Hutch as a puppy 12 months ago…
Hutch Before

Hutch a few hours ago…
Hutch 8-9-10

Me holding hutch