Well, maybe not “speed” so much as fully caffeinated coffee and trying to type it up quickly so I’m still posting this in the morning.

My adventures for the week involved meal planning, which thus far is turning out very well, my grocery bill nearly cut in half (with use of coupons) of what it would normally be without the planning.  The dishes for the week were Caj-exican (that’s Cajun & Mexican smushed together) Rice and beans with sausage, roasted chicken and veggies with biscuits and gravy and cowboy chili (a mix from the fine people over at GFreely) with cornbread.  I also made those brownies, cinnamon raisin muffins and banana muffins that I talked about last Sunday.  There are plenty of the baked goods still in the freezer as well as some cherry crisp I made mid-week (mostly so DH wouldn’t eat the brownies for evening dessert, saving them for lunches instead).  This weeks meals are planned out with tonight and Thursdays dinners being “out and about” meals – for which I’m researching today before we leave.  It is SO MUCH FUN having to avoid all that delicious gluten!  That was sarcasm.  As much as I love a good salad, it gets to be tedious having them usually be my only option when dining out… unless we go to a steak house.  Mmmm steak.

Give me a tiara and the right shoes and I could rule the world! (taken at Re Threads)

Okay!  Enough about food for now.  Beyond meal planning, I also filed my unemployment claim, wrote blog posts, took photos and yesterday went and spent some time “Thrifty Shopping” with my good friend DazyLady, in Milwaukee.  I picked up a sweet, dark-brown, suede jacket for $7.50!!  We also discovered the most upscale Goodwill we’d ever been to down in the Third Ward at Retique.  KID YOU NOT!  Goodwill prices and… the place is awesome.  I think my other favorite place was Re Threads, because it also did not have that “smell” that is associated with Goodwill.  Sorry… Goodwill, I love ya… but your stores DO have a certain “funk” to them.  I also learned that it appears many of the thrift shops in the Milwaukee area offer 20-50% discounts off of their regular prices on the weekends, which is how I got that suede jacket for $7.50 – even at $15 it would have been a great price!

Today is another Milwaukee adventure.  A few months back I learned that one of my favorite musical groups of the last couple years as well as my current “girl crush”, Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, would be playing at the historic Pabst Theatre.  I immediately purchased tickets, informed DH that he was welcome to come with me or, if he wasn’t interested I’d surely be able to talk DazyLady into the other ticket.  DH is not one for large crowds, but he’s been game to go to Farm Aid with me as well as seeing Halestorm play at The Majestic Theatre a couple of years ago, so he said he’d go along.  He hears GP & the N’s music so often that I hope he enjoys hearing them live as much as I know I will.  The opener is Langhorne Slim, I’m unfamiliar with, but will be listening to this afternoon.

Can you tell that I’m in a near-state of giddiness?  Maybe that’s still my runners high… or the coffee?  Not sure, but I am going to be getting more happy as the day progresses, and then I’ll hit my “it’s cool” chilled out mode as the concert starts.  Cool like The Fonz. “Ayyyyy!”

I hope you all have a fantastic Sunday!!