And the final numbers are....

So the other day I mentioned how I only had a $20 grocery budget to hopefully make it through to next payday. Here is what I bought at Smith's (top) and WinCo (bottom): 

Care to guess what my total was, and if I stayed within the budget?? The answer is.....

....

....

....

Yes! I spent a total of $17.93! I only used cash, so I'm grateful I came under budget :) Hooray for spending smart (and having recipes to cook from)!! 

Bread and other shenanigans

If you're not my friend on Facebook, or part of the curlynikki forums I participate in, you wouldn't know that today I made Amish white bread for the first time!! Well I've made white bread before, but this is SO much better! I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. 

Here are the two loaves I made today. One is in the freezer, and the other is almost halfway gone (it is THAT good, people). I'm going to have to buy some more white bread flour to make that again (and maybe make more loaves next time). 

Also, I realized today at work that my upper body strength sucks, and I need to get back into shape! So I went searching on bodybuilding.com, and came across this one woman's program that I'm going to use. I can't remember her name, but her initials are JNL. I think it's Jennifer Nicole Lee or something like that. Anyway, I'm going to try her fusion at home circuit workout starting tomorrow (which is hard for me, because when I do workout I like to start on Mondays so I can do the M W F workout schedule, but then I never get around to actually doing anything. But this time I put it on my to do list!). I want to do it three days a week, and mix in some cardio on the other days somehow. I just know that I can be in way better shape than I am now, and if I ever do wear a swimsuit this summer, I want to look awesome in it, dang it! Lol. 

I think that's really all I wanted to talk about... Having this blogger app on my phone really makes blogging handy sometimes, especially when I don't feel like being on my computer. 

Oh! My classes start next week. I'm taking an intro to online classes course (something everyone starting at American Military University has to take if they're doing online classes, even though I've been doing online classes for a few years now), and an African American history class. I'm actually excited about that one, because I was looking up the textbook for it online, and it got really good reviews and it seems like it's not outlined like other textbooks. So I'm interested to see how that class will go. I also test for Staff next week, so hopefully that goes well (3rd time'a a charm, right?). 

Okay now I think that's it. I might be coming down with something... My throat has been sore all day, and it's still sore :/ Hopefully it doesn't get any worse than this. 

Good night/morning!! 

Budgeting!

I think it's safe to say that I fail at budgeting. Well not fail necessarily, because when I decide to keep track of my bills and paychecks and how much will be left over (which isn't always all that much, or anything at all for that matter lol), I do pretty good at budgeting for a good month or so. So! I'm getting back on back with that, and keeping track of bills and paychecks on an Excel spreadsheet. Although (thanks to Google), I did come across a program called mvelopes (http://www.mvelopes.com/). It's basically an online version of the envelope budgeting system that's most known by Dave Ramsey. So! This week, I'm working with a $20 dollar grocery budget. Which may seem practically impossible, but thanks to http://www.budget101.com/ I was able to get a pretty good list and a few recipes! It probably also helps that Smith's is having a sale on a few things I needed to get... So! On Thursday I'll go grocery shopping (my plan is to shop at two stores, Smith's (where I have a reward card) and WinCo), and we'll see if I stick to my $20 budget (which I REALLY will try to stay with, the items I plan on picking up from Smith's have prices on my shopping list)!

I'd really like to stick with my blogging, because sometimes typing really is better and quicker for me than  writing! Also... I might also be addicted to the show How I Met Your Mother... I LOVE this show!!! Thank you, Netflix!

Back to Basics hair challenge

I'm taking part in a hair challenge this summer! It's mainly to (like the title says) get back to basics in our hair care regimens, because sometimes we do get carried away in how we want to take care of our hair. I'm not going to lie, there's so many things we can do! I'll have to go back and get the rules for the challenge, but here are the products I will be using :

Deep conditioner- Shea moistures deep treatment masque

Conditioner: HE hello hydration and v05 island coconut moisturizing conditioner 

Leave-in: garnier fructis sleek and shine

Stylers: Shea butter mix (w coconut and evoo added) for twists/ twist outs on blown out hair; taliah waajid curly curl cream and Eco styler gel for puffs and other "curly" styles 

Oil: Africa's best ultimate herbal oil

Heat protectant: Pearatin fortifying repairative serum

I plan on wearing twists for a week and then twist outs the following week, with washing my hair every two weeks. 

Here are the rules! 

So, here are the rules:

• Only the bare basics should be used with the exception of 2-3 nonessential products. 

• Styling should be limited to 2-3 times a week. 

• List all products you will be using throughout the challenge. These products should be listed as either essential or nonessential. 

• Check in weekly with your progress. 

• While pictures aren't necessarily required throughout the challenge a before and after picture would be nice. 

Bare Basic Essentials include:Oils (such as olive, coconut, hemp, grapeseed, etc), butters (such as Shea, cocoa, horsetail, etc), H2O of course, RO condish (which double as LI's), clays - for those of us who use them, whatever products you use to make your clays and shampoo - for those who use them. 

Nonessentials include:Twisting creams/butters, gels, spritz/mists, serums, puddings, curling creams, pomades, etc. 

Note:Even though oils are considered essentials, please pick your 3 favorites and use those for the duration of the challenge. Or if you're partial to butters, select your top 2 and use those.

Also, if you are taking HSN (hair, skin & nails) vites or Hairfinity, etc. those do not count as essentials or non-essentials; they are merely a personal decision.

This challenge will run from 1 June-1 September.

This challenge came from the curlynikki forums :)