Saturday

Yesterday my husband went to get some Christmas stocking stuffers for the kids and their cousins. There are a total of five "adult children" and four "adults" for a total of nine people for the secret Santa stockings we are participating in with our cousins. He went to the Dollar Tree and found some very nice selections and also put in gift cards to the local movies for our kids stockings that they will be given on Christmas Eve.

My husband also did some grocery shopping and brought the groceries home. The kids absolutely love when he goes shopping because my husband is a snack shopper. He spent his money (we have separate checking accounts and savings) that was left after he paid his bills (he gives me 300 a month towards the household budget). My oldest daughter put her 10 percent of rent money that she pays into the gas tank. My middle daughter bought a large bag of cat food and some cat litter with her 10 percent. I don't care whether they give me their rent money or if they choose to spend it on household needs as long as they are able to contribute. It gives them a sense of ownership, accountability, and responsibility.

My husband bought a gallon of milk, some soda (just to be clear, he went from drinking Coke Cola for years to generic soda which is a bit cheaper, and he does drink water, but he is not going to stop drinking soda so he buys it himself and I don't have to), he bought two bags of potato chips, a package of cookies, two large boxes of cereal, and a couple frozen pizzas. Like I said he is a huge snack shopper and he spends his own money and I don't have to take it from the house budget. He did put gas into one of the vehicles too (which I really appreciate since gas prices are a bit higher in Florida verses Virginia).

I put a eye of round beef roast in the crock pot yesterday. It is a small roast. I put in three large carrots, half a thin sliced onion, a few cut up potatoes, two cloves of garlic, and the last packet of "brown gravy mix" I had. I added a small amount of water. I let this cook all day and we ate a late dinner at 8 pm since my husband and I were out last night in Orlando walking in Disney Springs (which is free and doesn't charge for parking).

I am not fond of eye of round beef cuts of meat. We really enjoy the chuck roast cuts. The eye of round was tough and I felt it was a bit dry. My mother in law bought it when she was here to visit a few weeks ago and she enjoys this cut of meat. I didn't think to call her and ask about cooking times since I have never really had a meal that I didn't like from the crock pot. I am pretty sure if I have this type of cut again to serve the family (I won't buy it as a usual grocery purchase, but I do occasionally buy chuck roast if the price is within my budget) I will have to give her a call. My husband really enjoyed dinner. My kids ate a small portion of the beef and had a bunch of the veggies.

I was thinking that it would be nice to have a beef veggie soup again for lunch this week. There is a small portion of last night's left and I might just give it to my husband for his late breakfast early lunch and get it finished.