Back on track

So, we had a week of family visiting.  It was fun, loud, energetic, and definitely not a WW points counting time!  We did spend a while at the park, and hit the pool, so I got some exercise.  I managed to stay under 270 lbs, which is a huge win for me.  Its taken over a year to break through that ceiling.  So, now that things are back to normal, the Hubby and I are back to focusing on our points.

The weather has finally warmed up and now my spring cravings have kicked in.  Fresh fruit and vegetables just make my mouth water, and being as most are 0 points, I do not expect to be hungry much at all!!  Today I hit up the green grocer in a neighboring town and brought home bananas (for 1 point Banana Bread), tomatoes for the Hubby, a small head of cabbage to add to the 0 point soup, a couple of sweet potatoes for my lunches, a big cantaloupe, 1 cucumber and 2 zucchini.  At Kroger, using my gift card (which benefits my church), I got some Vidallia onions and they will definitely be a points blowing meal.  They are best with fried potatoes, and I am going to plan to indulge myself one evening.

I had a fist full of coupons today, and loaded some digital ones on my Kroger card, so I saved almost $20.  That was nice, because I was able to take advantage of a few sale items.  Boneless Pork Ribs for 6.75...a full tray of them!  They are rubbed with delicious spices and currently hanging out in the slow cooker.  That will be a nice meal or 5, since there's a lot of meat there.  I expect I can package and freeze a bit and never miss it this week.  Had a great digital and a paper coupon for Barilla pasta in the blue boxes.  So, instead of 2 for $4 I brought home 4 for $3.

I have a rebate for hamburger purchased at Walmart, which requires me to purchase 6 boxes of Hamburger Helper.  I have coupons for the mixes, so on Friday (payday!) I will head there and take care of that.  Strangely enough there was also a coupon available for a My Little Pony toy, which is the theme of my grand daughters 3rd birthday party!  So those things will happen on Friday.

In the meantime, Here's the break down:

Kroger
2.69  Laughing Cow cheese Swiss ($1 off 2)
2.69  Laughing Cow cheese garden vegetable
1.99  Kroger Shredded Cheese
1.99  Kroger Shredded Cheese (Coupon was $.55 off 2)
1.79  Kroger Cherry Pomogranate "Crystal Light"
1.25  Kroger orange juice, half gallon
0.65  Devils food cake mix (coupon was .40 off one)
3.00  4 boxes of Barilla Pasta (high fiber)
1.00 Ketchup
4.70  Kroger instant oatmeal, (coupon was .30 off, sale was 3 for $5)
0.59  Country Gravy mix
1.68  Broccoli, fresh
5.00  Hillshire Farm Lunch Meat (sale price 2 for $6, coupon $1 off 2)
1.25  Yellow pepper
1.31  Vidallia Onions
1.00  Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce
0.00  Frozen CA mix Veggies, free with coupon
0.00  Can of Kroger soup, free with coupon
1.00  Frozen pizza
6.74  Pork ribs (marked down for quick sale)
0.39  SF jello
0.69  SF pudding mix
0.69  SF pudding mix
2.49  Krogers version of Vanilla Almond Special K
1.19  Saltine Crackers
0.65 one can of tomato soup
1.39  Pureed Pumpkin
0.69  one can of black beans
3.99  black trash bags
0.65  green onions
1.65  taco sauce, mild.
2.06  Big K Coke Zero... was 4 for $3, plus a .55 off coupon on 3 bottles

Okay, here is how it breaks down menu wise:
Lunch one or two days will be pasta salad (high fiber pasta, tuna [from last week], cucumbers, thawed CA veggies and Italian dressing)

The pumpkin and devils food cake mix are for chocolate brownie bites.  Just mix them together with 1/4 cup of water and bake in mini muffin tins for 20 minutes at 350.  Yummy 1 point goodness there. Sometimes thats breakfast for me, sometimes 3 or 4 for snack time around 4 pm.

The ribs of course are BBQ.  A little cole slaw (cabbage, carrots grated up, and some light Miracle Whip), and some home baked potato chips (still trying to get rid of the potatoes from last week, or might be made with the sweet potatoes).

I have FF refried beans, and rice, taco sauce and shredded cheese.  There will be several lunches of that with a side salad.

We have ham and roast beef lunch meat, 3 pt flour tortillas left from last week, and plenty of cheese, also some dill pickle spears.  Lunch will rock here... along with the 0 point soup.

Chicken one night with high fiber pasta and low point alfredo sauce (thanks to the Laughing Cow Swiss Cheese) with broccoli.

Currently cooking up a big pot of tenderized beef stew meat to use this week for dinner as well. 

Burgers, fried potatoes with Laughing Cow cheese Vidallia onions, and green beans.

We have plenty of oatmeal, and cereal for breakfast. 

Things of note:  We did not purchase milk or toilet paper this week.  Having company meant buying extra last week and so we still had plenty.  Also currently still have 1/2 a loaf of bread, so no need to purchase those things.  Still have half a dozen eggs. 

In total the bill was 53.45, after all the savings.  I feel pretty good about that, even tho I did spend another $10 at the vegetable stand.  Healthy food that I look forward to cooking and eating is a blessing. 

Planning is an Art

I have never been good at planning ahead.  Even the simple act of planning what to wear or what to fix for dinner the next day just doesnt come naturally to me.  I am an "in the moment" kind of thinker, so this whole budgeting and meal planning, etc. is just hard.  The Hubby is all about the plan, and doesnt do much spontaneously.  Which is very hard on me :)

We took the youngest Daughter to Lexington to a movie yesterday with a group of people she doesnt see often.  We knew we were doing this for a couple of days ahead of time, but we did not sit down and plan the money flow.  Sigh... its a live and learn kind of thing I guess.

Anyway, since we were there I had thought to hit up GFS for a few meat deals but they were closed.  So we went to Aldi's and they had a few things.  Spent a bit of the budget there:

0.99  Lettuce
1.49  potato chips (hubby has been missing them
2.49  peanuts (yeah, hubby again :) )
1.49  all purpose flour
1.40  burritoes (4)
1.99 cheddar cheese
1.99 swiss sheese
0.99  lemons (2)
1.49  strawberries
4.99  sausage patties (18, precooked)
0.45  instant SF pudding
0.89  potato side dish
0.79  onion soup mix
2.36  canned mushrooms (4 cans @ .59 each - much cheaper than Krogers)
0.12  paper bags, 2
-------------------
total:  23.92

We have decided soda pop needs its own budget, because its killing the grocery budget.  I still have to hit the Kroger website and decide what to purchase in the way of meat.  Everyone has spiral hams on sale right now for about $2 a pound.  I should get one, and something beef.  Also, lost a meal of beef this week because I thawed it out and never got to fix it.  I hate throwing away food.

On the upside, we sat down to watch tv last night and I thoughtlessly filled up a bowl of potato chips.  Took one bite and decided I just didnt really want them so they went back into the bag.  Instead, I had sliced cucumber, radishes and mushrooms with a couple tbsp of ranch dressing.  Much healthier.

UPDATE:  So just finished up at Kroger.  Good meat sale this week.  I saved 13.75 with the customer loyalty card, plus 4% of my purchase goes into the church fund. 
I brought home:
2.00  individual frozen pizzas, for hubbys lunch (2)
4.92 
4.92  ground chuck (2) NOT a deal, but its 80/20 which is more flavorful, and the other meat was cheaper
7.54  boneless pork loin cut into rib sections (from the marked down meat section)
8.64 
7.40  split chicken breasts(2 pkgs)  (99 cents a pound, and they are large enough to make 2 people 1 meal)
0.99  tall kitchen bags, for sorting and storing clothing
------------
36.47 - 13.75 (Store discount) = total 22.72 including tax.

22.72
23.92
---------
46.64, just over the $45 for the week.  I did not buy soup mix for Wednesday night, so I will have to come up with something for that meal at church.

Foiled by Math Again!

I love sales.  I love coupons.  But I am not good at on the spot math problems to use them to save money.  I really need to do more math BEFORE I go to the store!  The 10 for $10 sales are no problem... every item is a $1.  And you dont have to purchase 10 items to get the price.  But the "buy 5 and save $5" really fouls me up.  The items are not all the same price, and so they tossed the budget number out the door.  I did save money, but I spent money too that I had not intended to spend.  On the other hand we have a few things that are more "luxury" items to help break up the monotony.

So this week, all the shopping was at Kroger.  Budget was $45, actual spending was $63.33. I did have a few coupons.

1.00  Nestle water (6 bottles)
3.50  Kroger smoked ham
1.00  Frozen Vegetables
FREE  Birds Eye Recipe Ready Vegetables (Kroger free Friday deal)
1.00  Frozen pizza
3.67  Kroger Pizza *
3.46  Skinless boneless chicken thighs
1.98  Oscar Meyer Bologna (2)*
5.74  Beef Stew meat
2.69  Butter
2.00  Kroger Neufchatel cheese (2)
1.99  Dozen eggs
1.97  Dill pickle spears
5.54  Ritz Crackers (2) *
2.00  Sour cream 16 oz
1.50  Dole Pineapple
  .89  Bar soap (2 bars)
2.89  Crystal Light
1.67  Salad dressing
1.58  Condensed  Soup
1.88  Peanut butter
2.00  Mandarin Oranges (2)
  .69   Vanilla pudding mix
1.00  Pasta
1.08  Sweet onion, fresh
1.50  Cauliflower, fresh
  .69  Green onions, fresh
1.19  Saltines
1.78  Noodles and sauce (2)
1.50  Broccoli, fresh
2.00  Red Potatoes, 5 lbs, fresh
 .99   Mushrooms, fresh (marked down)
1.29  Snow Peas and Carrots, fresh (marked down)
2.21  Red Grapes
------------

There you have it.  I missed getting a tub of cool whip stuff for the fruit whip.  Other than that, hubby purchased his shampoo with the left over money from his hair cut.  We bought 2 large pkgs of bathroom tissue last week on sale at Big Lots (4.45 for 16 double rolls in each pkg).





Monday - went to dinner with family, Asian Buffet.
Tuesday - Baked chicken thighs in mushroom soup and sour cream, steamed broccoli, roasted red potatoes
Wednesday -  church
Thursday - Grilled beef tips (actually stew meat that has marinated),noodles with sauce, Cauliflower  Peas
Friday - pizza, salad, cinnamon tortillas
Satuirday -  burgers, potato salad, snow peas with carrots
Sunday - lemon chicken soup, whole grain rolls, side salad.

Breakfast will be oatmeal (of which we have plenty from the sales previous weeks), eggs and toast, fruit whip

Lunches for Hubby:  soup and crackers, individual frozen pizza, individual frozen Jamaican hot pocket (which I found in the freezer), sandwiches (ham or bologna)

For me:  leftovers, salads

That wraps up this week.  Better go get the chicken in the oven :)

The Intentional Freezer

I am starting to look at some ways to use my freezer to make my life easier, and not just as bulk storage space.  I like the idea that I can have meals already to go, just thaw and stick in the oven or slow cooker.  Of course, I want to start small and build, so this week I want to try making and freezing homemade pizza dough.  Perhaps sauce too.  We do pizza once a week, on Fridays as a rule.  It can get kind of expensive buying pre-made frozen pies, or always getting Chef Boy-Ar-Dee (tho I confess, I love that Chef!).  I want to see if making this stuff myself is cheaper, tastes better, etc. 

We always top with pepperoni and mushrooms.  Sometimes sausage, sometimes ham, sometimes onion, occasionally left over chicken.  Olives are a nice change of pace, but kind of pricy so we don't do that often.  I can get the pepperoni at the Dollar Tree, and occasionally jarred mushrooms too.  That helps keep the cost down.

One year we canned pizza sauce, chili base, and spaghetti sauce.  Frankly, it was nice to have it all premade, but the chili base was the biggest hit. So now I am watching for canned sauce to hit the sale list, because I really dont want to do all the canning yet.  (It is cooler now, so this might be a good time after all... will have to ponder that one!

Anyway, the Once a Month Freezer Meals link on the left is there because this lady has TONS of recipes.  She is on Pinterest too, so check her out :)

Lack of discipline strikes again!

So its Friday, and I am just now sitting down to list Mondays purchases... and I cant find the dang receipt.  However, I can say with certainty that we used the calculator, stayed within $1 of the budget, and my loose change fixed the overage.  We have done well this week, its already pay day and nothing is over drawn, getting turned off for nonpayment, there is food in the house and  gas in the car. 

Ladies and gents, God is good all the time.  And all the time, God is good.  :)

New Budget

What an exhausting process!  But we have cobbled together a budget and a system for tracking all our money/bills/etc.  This is the beginning of the first week, and so once I have it completely figured out I will document the process, in case anyone else needs help and stumbles across my humble blog :)

In the meantime, its grocery day again.  This week we budgeted an extra $10 because we are contributing to the Lenten Study dinner on Wednesday with salad and bread.  So we start with:
Grocery budget (includes $40 food and $10 non food necessities) of $50
Extra for church event:  $10
Total will be $60.00

This week I went to Kroger for the bulk of my shopping.  I did a little at the Dollar Tree. Honestly, its the cheapest place I can buy pepperoni!!
Dollar Tree:
1.00  Swiss Cheese singles
1.00  American Cheese Singles
1.00  Pizza sauce
1.00  Sharpie pen
1.00 Pepperoni
1.00  Wheat Thins
1.00   Lunchable (because I committed the sin of shopping prior to having taken the time to eat anything!)
Total with tax:  7.06  (I threw in the .06 from my existing change)

Kroger
5.88  Pork Loin (actually thin cut pork steaks with bone in)
6.94  Beef Roast
3.00  Grape Tomatoes
1.29  Head of Lettuce
1.70 cucumbers (2)
1.00  Avocado
2.09 fresh mushrooms
6.00  Quaker Instant Oatmeal
0.00   Free Milk special with oatmeal purchase
1.79  Corn meal
2.19  Peach Tea mix
2.00  Individual Frozen pizza (2 for Hubby's lunches)
2.00  4 cans of soup (for Hubby's lunches)
1.00   mandarin oranges, canned
1.17   pineapple, canned
  .69   Pork and beans
3.00  Frozen fish filets
2.69   Vanilla ice cream
1.29  frozen CA vegetables
2.17  antipersperant
Total with tax : 49.50  (+ 7.00 =56.50 which just barely goes over the budget)

I was pretty pleased that we were able to do this.  Hubby went along and did the calculator part of the trip to help keep me on budget.  We did have a mishap with that and lost the total, so that is why we were over 1.50.  Fortunately there was a little money on the Kroger Gift Card, so that covered it.

So now...whats the menu?  This week its built off the shopping and the pantry/freezer:
Breakfast options:  oatmeal, eggs and toast
Lunch options:  Hubby has pizza, soup, we have lunchmeat in the fridge and cheese for sandwiches.  I have a couple of  Michaelinas and plenty of salad fixing.  Pasta salad (previously purchased pasta, italian dressing, CA veggies)

Dinners:
Monday:  Baked pork chops, boiled  potatoes, salad, and steamed asparagus (from a previous shopping trip)
Tuesday:  Banquet salsbury steak with gravy, mashed potatoes, broccoli
Wednesday: vegetarian chili (made by someone else), salad (lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumber, avacado) and cornbread
Thursday:  pot roast, potatoes, carrots, green beans
Friday:  fish sandwiches, rice, mixed vegetables
Saturday:  burgers, tater tots (purchased this weekend), salad
Sunday:  Chicken casserole (hashbrown potatoes, carrots and peas, mushroom soup with chicken)  salad

The optional meal of the week:  Pizza night with salad

We do still have eggs, several dessert mixes, muffin mixes to add to the variety.  Also,  I have a hankering for fruit whip (1 can mandarin oranges, 1 can pineapple [save the juice], 1 box SF instant vanilla pudding, 1 container of whipped topping.  Mix the pudding with the pineapple juice until dissolved, add drained fruit and toss.  Add thawed whipped topping and mix well.  Keep refridgerated).

All in all, not a bad plan :)

Its been a while

Yes it has been a while.  And its been a long cold winter.  Now that spring is coming back, we have to hit the budgeting hard to pay for the heat LOL!  So... Here we go again:

Kroger
1.79  sausage, 1 lb
6.00  Quaker Instant Oatmeal (3 boxes @ 2.00 each + free gallon of milk)
 .68  cucumber
1.99  shredded cheese
1.29  lettuce, 1 head
2.49  butter, 1 lb
2.00  Michaelina's, 2 items
1.99  eggs, 1 dozen
2.00  Kroger soup, 4 cans @ .50 each
Total:  20.23


Save A Lot
4.90  Chicken leg quarters, 10 lbs
1.50   fresh mushrooms
3.24  Oscar Meyer balogna, 2 @ 3 for $5
.52  cabbage, 1.33 lbs @ .39 lb
1.00  celery
1.00  green onion
1.99 Banquet family size frozen dinner
1.99 Banquet family size frozen dinner
1.99  5# red potatoes
  99  saltine crackers
1.63  tomatoes, 1.26# @ 1.29 lb
.98  green beans, canned, 2 items
Total: 21.73

41.73 food total



5.99  bath tissue Kroger
.89  shampoo  Kroger
.69  paper towels, 1 roll Kroger
1.96 slow cooker liners  Walmart
1.76  bread bags  Walmart
Total:  11.29

Entire trip:  53.02


So we started out planning to spend $40 a week for 2 adults.  We failed to consider non food items, so that total may climb to $50 in the future.  Yes we went over this week, but we will have chicken for a few weeks.  Also, currently we have frozen veggies and some other meat in the freezer.

Items I missed (mostly so I remember for next week!):
Mayo or Miracle Whip
nonstick cooking spray

Tis the Season!

We are in the midst of the holiday week. What a great time for our family! We had Christmas Eve at our house, a moving worship service at Ascension, Christmas Day with the In-laws, and the day after with my extended family. It was good to see everyone.

Then we got wonderful news about DH's cousin's wife. She had surgery on Tuesday and a large benign mass was removed from her abdomen. No cancer, thanks be to God. She will recuperate and continue to be the healthy, productive, creative and joyful person we have come to love.

My presents were wonderful. Mom gave me a trip to Paducah to the quilt show this spring! We will travel by tour bus, stay in a hotel, see the show, the National Quilt Museum, the Eleanor Burns quilt tent (a special treat), and many other things. It will be fantastic!! I have to get new shoes in March so I can break them in, as there will be a LOT of walking in those 2-3 days.

I also got a fabulous 6 qt cast iron dutch oven. I have wanted one forever, and this one is going to be put to frequent use. My youngest gave me a huge sack of books (My bedtime ritual requires a bit of reading each night, and books are expensive! I do a lot of re-reading because of it, so new books are always welcome!), a great knife block with very nice knives, a beautiful sand painted ornament for the tree, and a limited edition collection of a capella music by my SIL and her family. They are talented vocalists and the CD is a wonderful way to share the music they have been performing at church and other functions. Oh yes, I got a great gift certificate from my boss, and friend, at the quilt shop. I am so going to have fun spending that!!

We are just so blessed. I admit that 2011 seemed to pass quickly, but I look forward to 2012.

Twas the Week Before Christmas

Well at our house the weekend is really Sunday and Monday due to Hubby's schedule. We had a fairly productive weekend. Though I felt lousy, we got the carpet cleaned in the living room and the hallway. Thanks again to my brother and his magic carpet cleaning machine! The whole livingroom is clean, the tree is in the process of going up, the windows have been flocked with nifty pictures of snowflakes, wreaths, pine trees, and Santa. We got the entertainment center moved to the Daughter's room to hold her game console (a vintage Sega) and the old TV. The rug is out and cleaned for the middle of the living room floor. Tomorrow evening I will wash and dry the Christmas Flannel quilt for the back of the couch, and put the table runner out (that matches the quilt)

We got a bit done to the kitchen, but not as much as I had planned. Frankly, there were just so many things that kept getting in the way. However, the dishwasher was run, many things were put away, and the trash went out. Progress was made, but its slower than I wanted it to be. Still feeling icky in the tummy is keeping me from accomplishing as much as I would like. Tomorrow evening we will attack it, and conquer part of the mess, Wednesday we will finish it up.

The hardware finally arrived for our bed frame. Crazy but true, the whole things arrived without a single screw or nail or directions! I guess we are supposed to put it together intuitively? That is what we will attempt. I am hoping to be able to keep the bedroom door open and show off the bed. We will see.

The In-Laws are back from their cruise. They have been down the Pacific side of South America. I am sure they had fun. Who doesn't have fun on a cruise ship? But I am glad to have them back in the US.

Noteworthy things that happened this weekend: The last of the US troops left Iraq. Kim Jong Il died in North Korea. There is a big time snow storm hitting the Southwest and Central Plains.

I think we have the shopping done. Once the tree is up and the kitchen is clean, I will feel like we can enjoy Christmas. Usually I am at the last minute doing stuff, but this year might just be different!

Counting your Blessings

Well, I guess I should be stressed and worried. The rear axle went out on the car, broke actually. That's gonna be expensive. The house is a mess because its time for the annual crazy cleaning before Christmas, and this year everyone comes here for Christmas Eve. The oven is still not working, so I can't bake cookies.

Crazy but I am extraordinarily happy. This year the shopping is nearly completely finished already! Its getting colder, and we might have flurries. That's a good thing. I think this year I am in a different frame of mind. I am okay with Advent, I have a plan for family gatherings, and I am just so pleased with life. My kids are happy and healthy, my grand-baby is just adorable. My husband is working at a job he likes, and I have a part time one that I love.

Sure things could be better, that's always true. But there is virtue in being content and in knowing, deep in your bones, the real reason for the season. God has blessed us immeasurably, and I am so grateful.

Back to the Beginning

I have been very lax recently about keeping myself accountable regarding the money spend at the grocery. This has to stop or there will be no Christmas at our house! So... I am rededicating myself to getting myself organized.

We had a great mega sale or two in the last month at Kroger and I have stocked up on a lot of things. I did a search for a Pantry Inventory (in all black ink, because the color is shot atm.) and found one that I can use. I have also been checking out some new online resources for frugality. I am adding a link to Frugal Living, a great forum site where there are many knowledgeable people who have good ideas and wisdom to share.

Now I will spend a few hours filling out the pantry inventory. I know we have plenty of food here and we shouldn't need to hit the store for a good 3-4 weeks, except for fresh milk. Though I dislike not having diet cola available, mostly for the caffeine but the bubbles are helpful too when I am fighting sinus issues, it looks like iced tea will be the drink of choice here.

I have the crock pot going. Got a whole fryer for .69 cents a pound today and its baking away with carrots, celery, potatoes, and onions for dinner. Will be yummy and make a fabulous pot of soup for tomorrow too. The dehydrator is working away on celery.

I am pondering how to best reorganize the kitchen storage spaces so that the appliances all have a home. These small things, the crock pot, the blender, the dehydrator, the bread machine, the electric skillet, the electric can opener, I love these things. They do make my life easier. But honestly, I just don't know where to put it all!

Now that Angel Food is no longer operating (*sob*) I have to find a new source for sturdy and unwieldy boxes. My food box boxes have been wonderful for storing canned goods, but I need more than I have.

I have been working on a customer quilt, and working at home on Christmas gifts. I have been checking the Screaming Penny newsletter daily for wonderful deals on quality gifts for seriously less money. I love that email :) Faithful Provisions and A Smart Shopper are also great for sharing gathered deals out on the web and at local stores. I highly recommend checking them out!

Enough for today.

Book Review: 100 Day Pantry

This month when I went to the site to order my Angelfood I found a message saying they will not be doing a September distribution. They have been hit by the financial crunch too, and are reorganizing so they can continue the program. I hope they are able to do so, but I was faced with the knowledge that I have to plan on not having access to the program in the future.

I started looking around for recipes that would let me work with what I do have access to, and found this book: 100 Day Pantry by Jan Jackson. All of the recipes are put together using canned and dried food. They are adaptable to situations where clean water is not readily available. This intrigues me so we are going to give these recipes a whirl and see how it goes. I went to Save-A-Lot and got several flats of vegetables and soups. We have plenty of pasta and rice.

As I try them I will document the results here. Since the massive bronchitis attack ate up most of my summer I was not able to tend the garden as I wanted. We got pretty much nothing, couple of peppers, 3 small tomatoes and a few herbs. I am watching for things to dehydrate, and organizing the cabinets to hold more veggies for soup. Potatoes are going to be big for the dehydrator over the next few weeks.

Got to spend a bit of time with my Oldest and her Hubby Sunday. It was SIL's birthday and we had some ice cream cake to celebrate. The grandbaby was charming and babbles a lot now. It was nice to see them.

Seasons of Life

Its Labor Day weekend. A really busy time for us. Usually we have a birthday gathering for my MIL, and a family reunion. However this year, we had a funeral. My SIL's mother went home to her reward after a valiant struggle with cancer. She was quite a woman. Very devoted to her family and her church.

As a result I have been pondering life and death. Weighty subjects for a mere human, I know. I ran across a quote by C. S. Lewis yesterday, "You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." What an interesting perspective. I think on some level I have always believed this, because cemeteries hold no comfort for me. I don't return to graves to seek a connection with the people I have loved. What is left feels like a shell to me, kind of like a cocoon. Its never been the being dead that worried me, its the transition that piques my curiosity and trepidation.

My oldest came home this weekend for the services and brought the grand-baby. What an amazing cycle God has given us. She is so tiny, so helpless, and yet she grins and all is right with the world. Ginny is be coming such a good momma. I am proud of her.

This post rambles around a bit, but then that is the state of my mind tonight.

Who's laughing now??

Well Irene has come and gone, leaving destruction in her wake. Millions of lives have been disrupted, vacations ended early, homes destroyed by flooding, infrastructure damaged. I am in Kentucky, so I didn't suffer any issues from the hurricane, but it has opened the eyes of some people regarding the necessity for emergency preparedness.

I saw a commercial on CNN suggesting that people should have a 72 hour bag together "just in case". It was great! My family thinks my cousin and I are kind of crazy for storing food to prepare for market instability/disruption. Now I have to tell you, my cousin has a better handle on this than I do. Our life circumstances are different and she is able to invest in her food storage on a much larger scale than I am. And with both hubby and I out of work, we have had to rely on ours more than she and her family have. But boy am I glad that I have purchased and stored up.

So this week, I am blessed to have my Angelfood in the freezer. We had burgers and fries (AF) yesterday with fresh garden tomato. We grilled pork chops (AF) and had mashed potatoes and green beans (AF) the night before. And tonight I opened the 2lb package of chicken breasts (AF) and made some awesome soup (one of 3 chicken breasts, 3 potatoes diced up, and a bag of frozen veggies[AF]) and corn bread (AF).

Now you may not know this about me, but I have a very specific idea of what corn bread is supposed to taste like. Growing up we always used water ground white corn meal. Mom make baked corn bread with buttermilk and an egg that was just to die for! Fish was always accompanied by scalded corn bread (boiling water, corn meal, and an egg). It tastes very differently than yellow corn meal, and I was an adult before I ever tasted corn bread with actual corn kernels in it.

But tonight I have found a way to enjoy yellow corn bread! Not having any fresh milk, or buttermilk, in the house, I used a Jiffy corn bread mix (courtesy of a previous Angelfood purchase), an egg, 1/2 a cup of Magic Mix, and enough water to make a batter. Oh my... its a little sweeter than any corn bread I ever made but it was a real hit here. Hubby crumbled it up into the soup and was mightily impressed. I bet we do this again!

Seems like whenever we are pressed for funds I turn to soup making. Yes its a comfort thing, but its also excellent food thrift. All the left overs can go into the pot and with a little love from seasonings and some broth you have a wonderful meal. I am going back to youtube to check out the dehydrate2store lady's videos on crockpot soups from dehydrated food. I think I need to be looking at what should go into the dehydrator since we have such lovely weather (I load it up and plug it in outside so the heat doesn't tax the AC in the house).

Pantry and Freezer to the Rescue

Well, with the Hubby's unemployment checks messed up, and my paycheck "in the process" of being direct deposited, life is very tight at our house at the moment. So I did an inventory of the freezer, and the food storage, and turns out we will be able to eat. Yes, we have to cook, much to Hubby and my Daughter's chagrin. They don't mind to cook, but its not... well...instant, ya' know?

So this morning it was pancakes, hot off the griddle, and scrambled eggs. Not sure what they did for lunch, but dinner is foil packet grilled flounder and yellow squash (who knew that was in the freezer?), lemon dill rice (with fresh dill from the garden), I will have 2 flounder steaks left over so they will probably be my lunch tomorrow. Wonder what tuna salad is like with flounder? Hmmmm, I'll let you know.

Oh yes, I made a batch of Magic Mix Chocolate Pudding. That will be a nice cool treat later this evening.

My green beans are producing, but only a meals worth at a time. I am thinking that is not going to be a canning project from garden this year. Maybe next year. I will have to buy beans, and I just don't really want half runners. Maybe once I have money again there will be some other types of beans at the farmers market.

Since I have sick for the last 7 weeks I have not been out much. Blood work shows that I have a very low level of vitamin D. Well yeah, I haven't been outside for weeks! No sunshine. But I will have to take prescription vitamin D for 6 weeks and see if it helps. Its no wonder I am worn out, can't shake this bronchitis, and my memory is bad!! I am taking a multi vitamin too with extra minerals. Between the two I should be back in the game in no time. Why not just go outside? Yeah, well I have these brown spots developing on my face from sun shining through my glasses, the humidity is horrific for asthmatics, and so I am not getting out like I usually would.

I did go to the store today and purchase:
medium eggs for .88
1 gallon of milk for $1.99 (marked down due to date, but no trouble for us to get through)
1 package of margarine .78

The other thing the test results showed was that my cholesterol has gotten too high. Not terribly, but enough to take action. The doctor would like me to take fish oil capsules but I just can't make myself do that... ick! So I am going to eat oatmeal every day for breakfast, eat low fat food, and get a bit more exercise. That will be good for me all around. I think I can manage this. We will see. I have read that yoga is better for stress relief than anything else, and stress hormones will raise your cholesterol too. So its Wii and yoga for me...

6 Weeks of Bronchitis

Well, the week after I came home from helping my daughter and son-in-law with their new baby I got sick. At first I thought it was just a sinus infection, sore throat and on again/off again low fever. Two rounds of antibiotics and 6 weeks later I am now on a z-pack and waiting for test results. Its crazy, I can sleep for days at a time, still coughing up infection. I am so ready to be well again. My garden is suffering. I have completely lost all my snow peas and lettuce. The cilantro has gone to seed (otherwise known as coriander), and only the tomatoes and green beans are producing. I just don't have the energy to go breathe the humidity heavy air and take care of them. Its doubly annoying because I finally got hired and have gone back to work. I hate the idea of missing training because I am ill. I don't even have enough energy to do much in the way of posting. We will see how the test results come out tomorrow.

Life altering moments

Its been a couple of weeks since I posted. We were waiting for the arrival of our first grandchild, a precious little girl named Maggie. She is simply perfect. She was born last week after 33 hours of labor. Momma and baby are both doing well.

I was incredibly blessed with the opportunity to be in the delivery room when she was born. It was, without question, the most amazing experience of my life (short of knowing Jesus). Her little fingernails looked like she'd had a french manicure just for her appearance! I do not know how anyone could not believe in God after seeing a baby born. Its the most amazing thing.

Being a grandmother is quite different from being a mom. I was told that by several lovely grandmothers, but until it happens you just don't really understand. I stayed with my daughter, son in law and the baby for a week, and it was such a good time. They were able to rest, I got my baby fix (for the moment), and they are ready to settle in and have some family time.

While I was gone, DH faithfully watered the garden plants for me. The volunteer pumpkin has taken root and is beautifully green, the yellow squash is up, the tomatoes are surviving and the Roma tomatoes I planted from seed are up. They will need more thinning. Tonight I picked a few buttercrunch lettuce leaves, baby snow pea pods, baby radishes, and a scallion. They made a nice little salad.

I am sorry to say my broccoli all bolted, and the spinach is not thriving either. The cauliflower is barely hanging on. I think one of my tasks this week is to replant those sq ft areas. Maybe beets, carrots, and potatoes. We will see. The mint has taken off tho in the pot.

I have had an opportunity pop up that will mean I go back to work, assuming that it is approved higher up the chain. If that happens I will be back to balancing everything again: work, home, quilting, church, etc. Its not that I can't do that, its just a busier life than I prefer to have :) Still, one needs insurance and a regular pay check comes in handy!! DH is trying to determine what his next venture in life will be, and while he does that I am going to go back to work. Should gasoline climb much higher we will have to reconsider, since this would be an out of town, 40 mile round trip undertaking. For the moment I am focusing on being thankful that I had no job for several years and now I may have 2! When God provides, He provides abundantly.

This week I will be: watering the garden, weeding the garden, completing the beading on a sweater and sewing in a modesty panel on a wedding dress, finishing one quilt on the machine now, and finishing another by Thursday, starting work on Wednesday if everything works out. It will be a busy week.

Couponing

I recently attended a class on how to save money on groceries and household products. I thought I knew a lot, but let me tell you, there is always room to learn some more! Andrea Charles, of A Smart Shopper, was the speaker and she brought a slide show. It contained pictures of her "storeroom", info about coupons, and lots of information about drug store savings. I highly recommend visiting her site, because we could have spent an entire day going into more detail than she had time to tell us. A few important things that I learned:
1. Buy on sale
2. Use coupons
3. Use store promotions
4. Shop drugstores

Also: Kroger will double a coupon up to .50 cents. They also do not provide rain checks for items on sale that are not itemized in their weekly ad. Wal-Mart will give the same deal on their store brand that another store offers (Kroger soup = Wal-Mart soup) along with matching prices on name brand items.

Be proactive - you will save money if you stock up when things are on sale. though I didn't have a coupon for it, recently during the mega sale at Kroger I found organic cold cereal for .99 a box. I bought 16. Yes, we feel a bit run over by cereal at the moment, but I don't have to worry about breakfast for a few months. Also we found coupons for pasta ($1 off 2 boxes) and the pasta was on sale for .49 each. You just can't beat FREE!

Coupons CAN work in your favor. Here is an example:

Jiff Peanut butter regular price $2.99
On sale for $1.49
Coupon .35 cents off/doubled $.70
---------------------------------------
Final cost to you: $.79

Yeah, its addictive!

Always get the coupons in the Sunday paper*. If you know someone who takes the paper, ask for their coupon inserts. If necessary buy a copy or two for yourself. I have started purchasing them, taking out the coupons, and offering the paper for free to other shoppers. Cut them all out, because if you catch a sale, have a store coupon, a manufacturers coupon, or possibly both (yes you can use one of each on a purchase for more savings) then name brand shampoo might be cheaper than your usual brand.
*There are no coupons on holiday weekends.

Every month there is a magazine called All You. You can only purchase it at Wal-mart and it has a LOT of coupons in it. On the cover it will give the total coupon savings for that month. Its worth the money.


Now what to do with all these coupons? Andrea has hers in a small-ish note card box, separated by type of item (dairy, meat, condiments, etc) and keeps the ones with the closest expiration dates in the front of each category. After checking her pantry, the sales flyers to see what is out there, and her coupons, she makes a grocery list, pulling the coupons and putting them in a section at the front of the box titled "Use today" or Use at Wal-Mart", etc. She also uses websites that track the coupons (when they came out, what weeks insert had the coupons, etc). Really, go read her site! Its amazing.

In the meantime, the garden is growing. I looked out the window the other day and there was a big, fat groundhog in my yard! So, I did a quick search & found out they dislike peppermint intensely. I don't have peppermint but I did happen to have a bunch of spearmint that my Mom had pulled. So I laid it around the bag garden to ward off the critter. So far it seems to be working. We will see...

All this plus customer quilts! Life is good, even tho it is a bit uncertain right now.

Busy Busy!

Lots of things going on this month. Just got back from a great weekend in Tennessee. We have a cousin getting married and there was a bridal shower. I am so fortunate that I married into a family of people I really enjoy. Now we add another who is just as sweet and kind as the rest of them.

There was also a shower for my oldest daughters best friend. She is a sweet young lady and she is marrying a very talented and upstanding young man. So I got to spend some time with the friends I have made in Richmond. Janie hosted the event in her beautiful new home. Her girls were very gracious, the food was yummy, and I learned a wonderful new recipe for frosting cupcakes! One smaller size cool whip (8 oz I think) mixed into one can of frosting. OMGosh! Its great!

After the shower got to spend the afternoon and evening with the oldest daughter and her hubby. We don't get to spend enough time with them, and so it was nice to just sit and visit. Plus there were baby presents to open - always a plus :)

Today I made more detergent. Turns out that my bucket had developed a leak and I have clothes soaked with detergent... I am going to spread them out with other loads and not have to use more of the batch I made today. Everything I made (that didn't leak onto the kitchen floor) is in the new bucket. Now I will have to mop the floor to get the soap up, but then again, no cleaner will need to be used.

Picked up the comforter from my daughter. Now we can decide on a paint color for the bedroom, and start getting the rooms moved around.

In the meantime, I have also been out to the garden. Picked some more whirly-gigs out of the containers, and checked on the beans. They are just now peeking out. The peas are about 5 inches high, and the radishes are taking off great guns.

What a Weekend!

The weather has been lovely!! Saturday we spent most of the day dealing with outdoor tasks. Hubby mowed the yard - no small task since its rained so much it was getting tall and shaggy! I cleaned up the back patio and worked in the square foot garden. It was full of oak tree whirly gigs! There was a bit of grass in there too. Then I made a trip to Wal-Mart and, using my gift card from my SIL, I purchased flowers and top soil bags. I set up the green beans (4 bags of 6 bush plants) and 2 pepper plants in the top soil bags. I have 2 large pots and 2 small pots of flowers. After that, I watered everything with a diluted mixture of Miracle Grow. Mostly I did that because the topsoil was a lot of sand, and I want to be sure they get a good start.

According to the Farmers Almanac, one of the best days to plant is the 4th of May. On that day we are not supposed to have storms, so I will get more top soil bags and set up the rest of the green beans, the cucumbers, and the tomatoes. I also want to set up a new trellis system for these plants that involves pvc pipe and 6 inch netting. Its like working with tinker toys, you make a 3 sided box with the pvc, poke the 4th side down into the ground, and spread the netting over the top. This is fairly low to the ground, about 12-18 inches. on the corners you use a 4 pipe connector so that later you can add another tier as the plants grow. I think this is so ingenious! Also, I have the bed ends of a baby bed with slats, so I can use that for cucumbers or yellow squash. I have been learning a lot of tips from the My Square Foot Garden site. check it out!

Now, for a little non-personal life update: They just announced that Osama Bin Laden is dead. They have apparently verified this with DNA testing (using some of his relatives to compare it to). I personally am opposed to the death penalty but I have to agree that there are times when someone who is *really* bad has to die. I felt that way about Saddam Hussein and I feel the same way about bin Laden. I hope this will provide closure for families of the 9/11 disaster, the U.S.S. Cole bombing, and all the others who have suffered under the activities of this terrorist.