Do these two words even go together?? Probably not. But for the last couple of days, I have been feeling French [can one even say that if they are not, in fact, French?? I do not know]. Last night at a dinner gathering, a friend told me I should live in Paris. I agreed, whole-heartedly. I have not been to Paris in years (since 1997) and since I will be going to the Caribbean in December, I don’t really see a trip to Paris in the immediate future. This fact breaks my heart.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons I have gone back on a budget. Ugh. I hate budgets! But what better time to go on a budget then when you do not actually need to be on one? We shall see. I am really good at being on a budget when I have to be. But I find it rather difficult to be on one when I don’t have to be. We shall see how this works 😕

My new potential Budget:

Groceries: $50 a week

Spending: $30 a week

Gas: $40 a week

Other: $20 a week

Total: 140 dollars a week

I went to the market today, and spent $35 dollars on groceries (I saved a total of $4.66). I had to get a couple of staples which hiked up the price a bit. I did not completely stick to my list (and if I had, the total bill would have been $12 less).

The grocery list was:

• organic skim milk
• cucumber
• red pepper
• orange pepper
• 1/3 pound reduced sodium turkey
• whole wheat bread
• lemon seltzer

The extras that I bought – Chez its (I could not resist, I have been craving them for days!), Olivio, Frank’s Red Hot, Babybel (on sale) and ketchup. My turkey ended up being a TON more than 1/3 of a pound, not quite sure what happened there. I think I brought home around 3/4 pound instead.

After groceries, I went to the gas station and filled up my little Subaru. By using my Stop and Shop card, I saved 25 cents a gallon on my trip to the fill up station. I saved a total of three dollars on my fuel today 🙂

Because I am absolutely horrible at being on a budget, I bought an all-clad french skillet earlier. I am in love with it. I made half a grilled cheese sandwich on it for lunch today:

I added a slice of turkey and a tomato to my half sandwich (the entire time I was wishing I was making a full sandwich!). I threw together a spinach salad with cucumber, tomato and carrots, too. The end result:

My beautiful sandwich:

So lovely and so good.

Back to Paris. Right now I am reading Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard. Because I am on a budget, I had to wait for my book to come in at the Library. I have a weakness for buying books, fiction, non fiction, and cook books of course. My room is FULL of books on the book shelves, and stacks of books on the floor. Sigh. Even though one day I want to add Lunch in Paris to my collection, I’ll settle for the Library’s copy right now. I am really loving it so far. When I am done, I am going to get back to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and Julia’s My Life in France.

Ok, that’s a wrap. Must get back to my reading.

Don’t forget to check in tomorrow!