Garage sale-ing Saturday AM, for a grand total of $6, I found: 2 pairs of pants, a bat costume  and a space heater (all for C Monster).

I had to keep my lips tightly sealed at one point. Having hosted a few garage sales myself, I like to think I have some experience on the other side of the fanny pack. One of the hostesses at the sale where I found C’s pants was frugal beyond compromise. There was a man there trying to buy  a bag of clothes for his daughter and this saleswoman demanded he pay $35! Her argument was “Do you know how much I payed for my daughter’s clothes?” Ridiculous.

Next, we took a break from bargain hunting and went out to lunch. I have been craving sweet potato fries for about a month (BTW-I’m pregnant!). I found a restaurant near my preschool called The Filling Station that has a nice outdoor patio and SPFs. It was wonderful. It reminded me a lot of Cafe’ Gardens, back home (RIP).

The Filling Station is in this cute downtown-ish area of Winston-Salem called West End. Right around the corner is my new favorite consignment shop, Re-tale. I could let the owner of this place decorate my house. I really think, if I had the money I would have walked out of there with every household/furniture item that was for sale. Instead, with the $30 I did have, I bought a hamper to contain all the sporting equipment floating around our house and 2 cute candlesticks.

Here comes the best part…

On a thrifty kick, I decided to head to Goodwill and look for a shower curtain. That’s right. After 5 months of living here, we still don’t have a real shower curtain. I didn’t find what I was looking for, BUT, I did find a vase/bowl that I had just been eyeing at Re-tale for $2 (it was for sale at Re-tale for $8). I was so excited. I also found a Pyrex lemonade pitcher and a small wooden lamp base that one might find on Apartment-Therapy .

So I didn’t clean or grocery shop like I had intended. But, hey, when I do dust those shelves, now there will be a lot of cute items to decorate them with.

It is now 9:20 AM and Carver is still asleep. I keep going in to check on him because he has never slept for 13 hours before. I need to go take advantage of this by doing something crazy, like getting dressed.

1. With chicken breast side up, pull each leg away from body, then slice through skin between breast and drumstick.

2. Turn chicken on its side. Bend each leg back until thighbone pops out of its socket. Cut through joint and skin to detach leg completely.

3. With chicken on its sdie, pull each wing away from body. Cut through joint and remove wing.

4. Lift up chicken and cut downward through rib cage and then shoulder joints to separate breast from back (save back for stock).

5. Place breast skin side down. Split center bone using a chopping motion, then slice through meat and skin to separate into 2 pieces.

6. To cut breast havles into quarters, turn each skin side up and cut in half diagonally through bone.

7. To divide the legs, turn each skin side down and cut through joints (along with fat line) to separate thigh from drumstick.

8. You should end up with 6-10 parts, depending on whether you divided the breast halves and legs.

Traversing the anatomy of a chicken sounds easier than it is. But if you practice a little, you’ll be guest starring on Good Eats in no time. I suggest buying a couple whole chickens and setting aside the time and counter space to do them both at once. You will have a much easier time with the second one once you’ve practiced with the first. Freeze the parts you don’t use. Or, apply any of these steps to individual pieces and notice how much you save. Last week, I made a pasta recipe that called for boneless skinless breasts and bought double the amount of breasts with ribs and skin for half the price.

And don’t forget to get your free McAlister’s tea today!