I found the blog Whole Family Fare about 6 months and I drooled and read the ENTIRE blog in one sitting. The pictures, the food, the life... I loved it all! I pinned a few of her recipes so that I could keep up with the blog. I really liked the Raw Berry Pie. It looked light and refreshing on a hot summer day!
I had some strawberries that were going bad on Monday, so I decided to whip up a quick berry pie. I changed mine just a tad and it was delicious! I'm sure Megan Joy's pie is just as delicious, but I used what I had and tried to adjust the recipe to our likes. :o) The pie didn't survive to the next morning, so it was a hit! I love feeding my family a healthy, wholesome dessert!
Lu's Version of the Raw Berry Pie
For the crust:
1 cup of almond flour (I just used whatever was left in the bag. I didn't measure.)
1 cup of raw coconut flakes
1 tbspoon of raw honey
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
Generous pinch of sea salt
2 heaping tbspoon of coconut oil
Add all ingredients to a food processor and mix until its well blended and moistened. Dump the mixture into the bottom of a large pie plate. Press the crust mixture to the bottom and sides of the dish. The recipe calls for it to be put in the freezer. I think that would work and taste great. My oven was already going, so I thought I'd test it out to see how it tasted with the crust hardened just a tad and THEN put in the freezer. We like crunch! I don't know how long I let it sit in the oven. Until it started to turn a golden brown. It wasn't a hard crust.... it basically browned the almond/coconut and toasted it a bit. Once the crust cooled, I stuck it in the freezer.
The Filling:
Block of cream cheese
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1 tsp of lemon juice
1 tsp of vanilla
pinch of sea salt (I may have forgotten this... I don't remember now!)
Sliced Strawberries (I don't know how many I did) Maybe 10-15 berries? or 3 cups of fruit
I added all the ingredients to the food processor and blended. (Don't leave this on the counter top- stick in fridge until you are ready to pour into your pie crust!) Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust and top with more sliced strawberries.
Yum! Yum! I meant to take a picture, because it was a beautiful and delicious pie!
Showing posts with label Frugal and Simple Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frugal and Simple Food. Show all posts
3/14/12
1/8/11
Chicken All Week?
We don't usually just eat chicken all week. I try to mix our weekly menu with some chicken, some beef and then maybe a meal or two without meat at all. Sometimes what I'm in the mood for, what we have that needs to be eaten or our leftovers don't make my plan work, but we go with it.....
Last week I had chicken pot pie on the menu and never got to it...a week of leftovers. This week we had chicken pot pie on the menu, because I really wanted it and we had all the ingredients for it..... until I used the last of the butter on Sunday.
I had a whole chicken that Hubbie had boiled and gotten all the meat off of it for me and I was determined to get a chicken pot pie made..... but I did NOT want to drag my 3 children into a grocery store for BUTTER! So, each day, it became "what can we make with this chicken!" and here is what we ate....
Monday- we mixed some shredded chicken with BBQ sauce and added sides
Tuesday- we made chicken fajitas with some more shredded chicken, onions and bell peppers YUM!
Wednesday- i had a box of Kraft bake mac(got for free MONTHS ago), so i added some more chicken and broccoli and stuck it in the oven
Thursday- we FINALLY went to a store for the week, bought BUTTER, so we had chicken pot pie! Yum!
So, in 4 days, we fed 5 people on a whole free range chicken($15 each- OUCH!).... with a few days of leftovers for lunches. :o) On Friday night, we did NOT have chicken!
Last week I had chicken pot pie on the menu and never got to it...a week of leftovers. This week we had chicken pot pie on the menu, because I really wanted it and we had all the ingredients for it..... until I used the last of the butter on Sunday.
I had a whole chicken that Hubbie had boiled and gotten all the meat off of it for me and I was determined to get a chicken pot pie made..... but I did NOT want to drag my 3 children into a grocery store for BUTTER! So, each day, it became "what can we make with this chicken!" and here is what we ate....
Monday- we mixed some shredded chicken with BBQ sauce and added sides
Tuesday- we made chicken fajitas with some more shredded chicken, onions and bell peppers YUM!
Wednesday- i had a box of Kraft bake mac(got for free MONTHS ago), so i added some more chicken and broccoli and stuck it in the oven
Thursday- we FINALLY went to a store for the week, bought BUTTER, so we had chicken pot pie! Yum!
So, in 4 days, we fed 5 people on a whole free range chicken($15 each- OUCH!).... with a few days of leftovers for lunches. :o) On Friday night, we did NOT have chicken!
7/2/10
Still In Suspense? Part 2
First part, here. Second part, in this new way of maintaining my sanity when it comes to feeding my family, is to go back to once a month menu planning. I did this for a long time last year and it was definitely nice when the baby was born. I guess we stopped doing this around the first of the year. Just the amount of work and effort it took(and takes) is insane! HAHA! I had forgotten how involved it could be. I didn't want to feed my family the "same boring stuff" because then none of us would want it and we would be tempted to eat out. I wanted new things... things that we have seen and want to try and some variety. I think that is what we liked the most about E-Mealz.. the variety and "newness" so I need to make it a priority, when planning our monthly menu, to add new and exciting menu items.
Well, after researching every cooking blog known to man (haha! of course not really. just about 5-6 of them) and keeping in mind one of our main goals - saving money and simplicity- I have successfully finished with our menu for the meals of July..... after THAT much work, I need a drum roll. PHU-LEASE! ;o)
Now the big part comes.... making the grocery list for the month. I've done it before and I know I can do it... just the task is a tedious one.... making sure I don't miss any ingredients, etc. One of the biggest reasons for doing the once a month menu planning, once a month grocery shopping trip, etc. is to simplify. I love couponing and I will continue to do it, but I need things organized and right now, this area of my life isn't. I have so many things I want to do and so many things that need to get done, I just don't want to spend the majority of my free time looking up deals, printing off coupons and heading to every store in town. If you do the coupon game right, you can do AWESOME, but for me- I have other things that take priority over that and thats just the way I've decided to do it for now. Hopefully in a year, I can get back into it with lots of passion and save oodles of money. My idea is that the less you walk into the grocery store, the less money YOU WILL SPEND. I don't care if its just to pick up a few sale items, you are spending money ALL THE TIME. It gets on my nerves. I know these things will get eaten and we saved money on them in the long run, but its exhausting and it takes up valuable time. All this is after a TON of thought and comparing prices with coupon deals, etc. It just isn't worth the work or time to me at this point.... when I have small children. I think I will continue to follow Publix BOGO free sales because, with coupons, those are REALLY good sales, but its gotta beat Sam's bulk prices, which after doing several hours comparing prices to SALE PRICES with coupons, its hard to beat bulk prices.
More on the bulk pricing next....
Well, after researching every cooking blog known to man (haha! of course not really. just about 5-6 of them) and keeping in mind one of our main goals - saving money and simplicity- I have successfully finished with our menu for the meals of July..... after THAT much work, I need a drum roll. PHU-LEASE! ;o)
Now the big part comes.... making the grocery list for the month. I've done it before and I know I can do it... just the task is a tedious one.... making sure I don't miss any ingredients, etc. One of the biggest reasons for doing the once a month menu planning, once a month grocery shopping trip, etc. is to simplify. I love couponing and I will continue to do it, but I need things organized and right now, this area of my life isn't. I have so many things I want to do and so many things that need to get done, I just don't want to spend the majority of my free time looking up deals, printing off coupons and heading to every store in town. If you do the coupon game right, you can do AWESOME, but for me- I have other things that take priority over that and thats just the way I've decided to do it for now. Hopefully in a year, I can get back into it with lots of passion and save oodles of money. My idea is that the less you walk into the grocery store, the less money YOU WILL SPEND. I don't care if its just to pick up a few sale items, you are spending money ALL THE TIME. It gets on my nerves. I know these things will get eaten and we saved money on them in the long run, but its exhausting and it takes up valuable time. All this is after a TON of thought and comparing prices with coupon deals, etc. It just isn't worth the work or time to me at this point.... when I have small children. I think I will continue to follow Publix BOGO free sales because, with coupons, those are REALLY good sales, but its gotta beat Sam's bulk prices, which after doing several hours comparing prices to SALE PRICES with coupons, its hard to beat bulk prices.
More on the bulk pricing next....
6/30/10
Suspense, Huh?
Well, its the last day of the month and July is here. Seriously?! where did the last 6 months go? Tomorrow marks a hopefully new way to meal plan, budget, grocery shop and eat! It won't be anything drastic, at least I don't think so. I just want simplicity. And the constant need for "something" at the store is driving me batty..... like my kiddos and husband eating more fruit than they weigh! Its insane!
Also, we LOVE LOVE LOVE our E-mealz plans and have enjoyed it SO very much, but if we want to join a veggie co-op, we are going to need to use the veggies that come from the farmer and it more than likely won't go with our plan from E-Mealz. Thankfully, we have printed off every menu for the last 5 months and plan to continue to utilize them. So, anyway, just a few changes going on and our goal is to :
Also, we LOVE LOVE LOVE our E-mealz plans and have enjoyed it SO very much, but if we want to join a veggie co-op, we are going to need to use the veggies that come from the farmer and it more than likely won't go with our plan from E-Mealz. Thankfully, we have printed off every menu for the last 5 months and plan to continue to utilize them. So, anyway, just a few changes going on and our goal is to :
1. Spend less
2. Eat better- fresher, less processed
3. Simplify
I think those are ALWAYS my goals in life... HAHA! Spend less, eat better and simplify! If you figure out that last one, let me know! Ahhhh.... I need to simplify my life! Every time I think I am weeding out obligations and decluttering our schedules, more creeps in and I become the harried monster again! Maybe I need a live-in nanny!!! and cook!!! and maid!!! Then I couldn't possibly be frazzled!
So our first step starts today. We will begin to buy local, hormone free and non-homogenized milk. We went and visited the dairy farm back in the Fall. We enjoyed the visit so much and can't wait to go back. The owners are so very kind and helpful. And the milk is delicious too! Every since then, Hubbie and I have been trying to come up with a way to be able to afford this glorious milk. Its not as expensive as other hormone free brands (believe me, we've checked!) but its still over a dollar more for every gallon of milk we drink....and we only have 4 people drinking milk! In about 2 months, we will add another milk drinker! Anyway, we are going to rearrange some things and start getting this "liquid gold" into our bodies and get rid of the "ole nasty hormone milk".
5/11/10
Maybe He Was Right?!
4/15/10
1/28/10
Menu Planning the Lu Way
I have been meal planning since going all "gung- ho" with Dave Ramsey in January 2006. It always helped me stay on budget. We had a tiny TINY TINY bit of money to use. I dare say the amount. It was tiny! But we made it through without the use of government handouts. Thankfully Bubbie was still on a same amount of table food, formula (sarcastic yeah, that was cheap!!) and baby food. It always helped me to know meals I needed to cook. I knew what nights I didn't have to worry about meals because of leftovers. I worked outside the home from the time Bubbie was born(January 2005) until October 2007, so the majority of our days, we left around 7:30-8am and came home anywhere between 5 and 7:30pm. Menu planning made long days a little easier when I knew what was for dinner after an exhausting and emotional day.
A few local moms have asked me, how do I meal plan? How do I avoid running to the store for the missing ingredient in dinners? Well, I am far from an expert, BUT since I have been doing this for 4 years, I am not new to the menu plan excitement.
1. First off, I always print off a calendar. I use gmail mail and LOVE IT. In the left hand side of the screen, there are a few tabs and one of them is a "calendar" tab. I choose a "month" long calendar and print it off. That way I have the whole month to look at. Even if I don't "menu plan" for the whole month, I still like to go ahead and have events on this calendar- birthday dinners, family over, activities that will keep us out late and MNO so that when that week does roll around, I know how to plan for that week ahead. It also helps so that if I didn't get to that meal one week and I need to fill a day or two on the following week, I know what ingredients I have to make certain things.
2. Go through my pantry and freezer. Lately, after hitting a grocery store or two, every week, for several weeks, we will have a period of a week or two that we can live out of our cabinets/fridge/freezer. Its always a nice thing and the more "stock-piling" I do, the more often this happens. The best thing is that I am still staying within our alloted food budget for each month!
Speaking of stock-piling, I only stock pile things that we use on a weekly basis... detergent, crackers, juice, spaghetti sauce/noodles, tomatoes, granola bars, chicken, hot dogs- you get the point. Our house isn't huge. Our kitchen is about 3x the size of our last one and we actually have a pantry (its really a Godsend even though I complain!) and we do not have a chest freezer (but plan on purchasing one with the very generous gift from my in laws!) so I can only buy what we can hold. If juice is on sale, I'll buy the money amount of what I would if juice weren't on sale... does that make sense? If I had to purchase apple juice for $2 a bottle at Target and it was on sale at Kroger for $1 and we usually use about 4-5 bottles a month, so I usually spent about $8-10 a month on juice, so I would buy anywhere from 6-10 bottles of juice. It'll come out so that we don't have to buy juice for over 2 months AND I saved us $$ for the next month. I'm not a stock piler, to just stock pile. I will not empty the shelves. I am going to leave a few for others out there. I just can't take complete advantage of a good deal. I can afford to pay "full price" for something. Others may not be able to.
4. A local friend recently asked me if I made a trip to the store the day that I plan on using meat in something... I was astonished that ANYONE did this. I guess I just wasn't raised with that grocery shopping mentality. I had two brothers. I was smack-dab in the middle and my mother didn't go to the store very often. She usually purchased what she was going to purchase and then we ate out of the kitchen for however long we had food. HA! It may sound kinda mean, but it was her way of budgeting, etc. She'd buy chicken, meat, whatever she needed to feed the family of 5 for however long and that was it. So, to answer the question, no, I do not wait until the day I need meat, to buy it. I go ahead and buy meat at the store, usually at the beginning of the week or menu planning period. And I keep it simple. Yes, I may not have a TON of variety in my meals, but that is the FPU Dave Ramsey "beans and rice, rice and beans" in me. I think of my meals at simple. I don't think you necessarily need a new meat every night of the week. I also think a meatless meal every week like Sharon does it, is a good idea! It saves a ton of money! But, anyway, back to the meat, when I buy meat or chicken from the store, I divide it into meals. I know everyone in the WORLD has heard me, but I'll say it again, for those local and new readers, I buy 3lbs of "market ground" meat from Publix, divide it into thirds and put in a ziploc freezer bag. Same thing is chicken. Depending on the best deal when I need chicken, usually I buy the bags of frozen chicken breasts. It comes up to be cheaper than the store packaged chicken breasts in the meat section and its easy to use in casseroles.
5. Save yourself some effort- Use leftovers. I don't like cooking every night of the week. My daughter in laws are going to LOVE me for training their future husbands to love leftovers! Ha! Or maybe the boys will hate them!? Better add that to the prayer list for future daughter in laws that are thrifty and use leftovers! It makes my days more stressful than they need to be. Why spend time during the "be-witching" hour, when the kids are cranky, etc, cooking a whole new meal?! I just don't want to do it. I'd rather spend a little extra time tonight so that I can have LEFTOVERS tomorrow! But I really don't spend any extra time on my meals....It may mean you have to double something, so far, for our family, we can usually get a few meals off of a casserole or dinner. I also give small portions, go back for seconds if you want/ need and fill up on the cheap and good stuff- veggies and bread!
A few other tips that I have learned.... soups and stews are cheap and inexpensive way to feed your family. If I buy a roast, on sale, I make sure I can feed the family on it for about 3 or 4 meals. Definitely makes buying that "extra" piece of meat affordable and it also saves a ton of time if you dump the ingredients in to the crockpot before work or heading out on your day as "taxi-Momma".
So, there you have it. My frugal ways to save yourself time and money while menu planning. If you are looking for more of mysnobbish penny pinching blog posts about saving money, go here!
Also, do you have any meal planning tips or money saving ways at the grocery store? If so, comment and share your knowledge!
I'm sure Dave Ramsey would be proud! Maybe one day I'll be a co-host! ;o)
A few local moms have asked me, how do I meal plan? How do I avoid running to the store for the missing ingredient in dinners? Well, I am far from an expert, BUT since I have been doing this for 4 years, I am not new to the menu plan excitement.
1. First off, I always print off a calendar. I use gmail mail and LOVE IT. In the left hand side of the screen, there are a few tabs and one of them is a "calendar" tab. I choose a "month" long calendar and print it off. That way I have the whole month to look at. Even if I don't "menu plan" for the whole month, I still like to go ahead and have events on this calendar- birthday dinners, family over, activities that will keep us out late and MNO so that when that week does roll around, I know how to plan for that week ahead. It also helps so that if I didn't get to that meal one week and I need to fill a day or two on the following week, I know what ingredients I have to make certain things.
2. Go through my pantry and freezer. Lately, after hitting a grocery store or two, every week, for several weeks, we will have a period of a week or two that we can live out of our cabinets/fridge/freezer. Its always a nice thing and the more "stock-piling" I do, the more often this happens. The best thing is that I am still staying within our alloted food budget for each month!
Speaking of stock-piling, I only stock pile things that we use on a weekly basis... detergent, crackers, juice, spaghetti sauce/noodles, tomatoes, granola bars, chicken, hot dogs- you get the point. Our house isn't huge. Our kitchen is about 3x the size of our last one and we actually have a pantry (its really a Godsend even though I complain!) and we do not have a chest freezer (but plan on purchasing one with the very generous gift from my in laws!) so I can only buy what we can hold. If juice is on sale, I'll buy the money amount of what I would if juice weren't on sale... does that make sense? If I had to purchase apple juice for $2 a bottle at Target and it was on sale at Kroger for $1 and we usually use about 4-5 bottles a month, so I usually spent about $8-10 a month on juice, so I would buy anywhere from 6-10 bottles of juice. It'll come out so that we don't have to buy juice for over 2 months AND I saved us $$ for the next month. I'm not a stock piler, to just stock pile. I will not empty the shelves. I am going to leave a few for others out there. I just can't take complete advantage of a good deal. I can afford to pay "full price" for something. Others may not be able to.
4. A local friend recently asked me if I made a trip to the store the day that I plan on using meat in something... I was astonished that ANYONE did this. I guess I just wasn't raised with that grocery shopping mentality. I had two brothers. I was smack-dab in the middle and my mother didn't go to the store very often. She usually purchased what she was going to purchase and then we ate out of the kitchen for however long we had food. HA! It may sound kinda mean, but it was her way of budgeting, etc. She'd buy chicken, meat, whatever she needed to feed the family of 5 for however long and that was it. So, to answer the question, no, I do not wait until the day I need meat, to buy it. I go ahead and buy meat at the store, usually at the beginning of the week or menu planning period. And I keep it simple. Yes, I may not have a TON of variety in my meals, but that is the FPU Dave Ramsey "beans and rice, rice and beans" in me. I think of my meals at simple. I don't think you necessarily need a new meat every night of the week. I also think a meatless meal every week like Sharon does it, is a good idea! It saves a ton of money! But, anyway, back to the meat, when I buy meat or chicken from the store, I divide it into meals. I know everyone in the WORLD has heard me, but I'll say it again, for those local and new readers, I buy 3lbs of "market ground" meat from Publix, divide it into thirds and put in a ziploc freezer bag. Same thing is chicken. Depending on the best deal when I need chicken, usually I buy the bags of frozen chicken breasts. It comes up to be cheaper than the store packaged chicken breasts in the meat section and its easy to use in casseroles.
5. Save yourself some effort- Use leftovers. I don't like cooking every night of the week. My daughter in laws are going to LOVE me for training their future husbands to love leftovers! Ha! Or maybe the boys will hate them!? Better add that to the prayer list for future daughter in laws that are thrifty and use leftovers! It makes my days more stressful than they need to be. Why spend time during the "be-witching" hour, when the kids are cranky, etc, cooking a whole new meal?! I just don't want to do it. I'd rather spend a little extra time tonight so that I can have LEFTOVERS tomorrow! But I really don't spend any extra time on my meals....It may mean you have to double something, so far, for our family, we can usually get a few meals off of a casserole or dinner. I also give small portions, go back for seconds if you want/ need and fill up on the cheap and good stuff- veggies and bread!
A few other tips that I have learned.... soups and stews are cheap and inexpensive way to feed your family. If I buy a roast, on sale, I make sure I can feed the family on it for about 3 or 4 meals. Definitely makes buying that "extra" piece of meat affordable and it also saves a ton of time if you dump the ingredients in to the crockpot before work or heading out on your day as "taxi-Momma".
So, there you have it. My frugal ways to save yourself time and money while menu planning. If you are looking for more of my
Also, do you have any meal planning tips or money saving ways at the grocery store? If so, comment and share your knowledge!
I'm sure Dave Ramsey would be proud! Maybe one day I'll be a co-host! ;o)
11/1/09
7/10/09
Wonderful....Peach Cobbler
I had meant to post my giveaway this morning, but the day has been crazy. The kids have been crazy. Our morning seemed crazy. Our afternoon/evening has been crazy...... I will post the giveaway when I get a chance. Until then, I gotta post this. I think I post this EVERY summer. I've been blogging for 3 summers now and I found this shortly after I started blogging! It is delicious, quick, cheap and easy!!! Check it out!
6/26/09
Challenge for July!
I am sitting at the desk thinking and working VERY hard. I knew this would be a difficult task, but I didn't know it would be THIS hard!
What am I doing, you may ask? I am attempting to make a MONTH long menu plan! Stephanie has been doing this and I always read her posts in complete admiration! I already admire this blogging mom of 3, but I truly admire her now..... I can say with confidence that I have successfully completed my first month long menu plan! Whew! It was a daunting task but done now!
Now the REAL fun begins- making a grocery list, shopping and then.... sticking to it! My flaw is the later! I can buy it and I can make a list (Yes, I am type A and enjoy list making!!) but sticking to it- NO MATTER WHAT my day has been like, is the hard part! I didn't incorporate as many meals with the crockpot as I would have liked. I know this will be easier to do once cooler weather comes to town. Yummy! Just thinking about cooler weather and chili and veggie soup with cornbread..... makes my bones happy!! I really wanted to stick to two meats- chicken and ground beef because I'm buying food for the month- all at once- so didn't want to stock up on a little of this and a little of that, etc. So, I stuck with two basics proteins and planned meals around that. I also have a huge bag of leftover ham from Easter that I decided to freeze. I planned lunches for Saturday and Sundays. During the week? I haven't gotten that far. I know I should and probably will write down a few ideas per week so that I will have the necessary ingredients.
I think having a meal plan definitely cuts down on "what should we do for dinner? talk" and ultimately will help the main goal of the month.... Cut our food budget bill down by $200. Can we do it? I sure as heck hope so! It would be AWESOME to have that extra money to put towards things we want to accomplish and do before Baby Bean comes. So, in order to do this, I broke up our food budget. I gave Hubbie some lunch money every week. I gave the boys and I a little lunch money every week. Then I made sure that our family was allowed to eat out one meal out a week. After that, with the reminder of the budget, I took out $10 a week for essentials- bread, milk and fruit. We are ALWAYS going to the store on Sundays, after church, for fruit. Never fails. Fruit does not last long in our house. (Hubbie has given up desserts and has been eating fruit as his dessert.) So, I took that away and will make sure that every week, we have that set aside.
The rest of the money is grocery store money. With what is left, I plan to go to the store on Tuesday, while the boys are at "school" and do a major shopping trip. I will get anything and everything that I will need. I will go to as many stores as I need to. I have realized that not only have we fallen off the wagon about a lot of things, but we also tend to go to the store more often than we use to. I use to be such a stickler for only going to the store once within a shopping trip period.... I really do think, the more you enter the store, the more you're gonna spend. Hubbie is REALLY bad about this. Whereas we use to make do without something until next shopping trip, he'll just stop and get it now. I hate that!!! We've got to stop it!!! So, I plan to get whatever we're gonna need for July 1st thru July 31st. Milk and bread and, of course, fresh fruits, I can't buy everything we're gonna use, because we don't have a big enough fridge/freezer.
I also think that I'm gonna make food a cash envelope system again. We stopped doing the cash part, but continued with Dave Ramsey's envelope system. We just kept track of what we spent. It wasn't hard because we've been doing it so long, but I do think the cash will hurt more at restaurants and at the grocery store. Maybe it'll stop me from buying the latest and greatest craving!!! Errr....hhmmmm.....maybe I should have added a "Momma Craving" category in the food budget! Ya think?! My hips would thank me if I didn't do this!
So, do you think we can do it?! Please say yes! I pray that its a easy and quick month and that it works out wonderfully. Thankfully I seem to have some energy again...well... at least more energy than I had. I'm pumped about getting the house situated and fixed and cleaned out before baby comes. Maybe I'm nesting early. What am I saying... I am always changing things up!!! Who cares!
Alright, so READY to tackle this challenge!!! Anyone else wanna do it with me?!
What am I doing, you may ask? I am attempting to make a MONTH long menu plan! Stephanie has been doing this and I always read her posts in complete admiration! I already admire this blogging mom of 3, but I truly admire her now..... I can say with confidence that I have successfully completed my first month long menu plan! Whew! It was a daunting task but done now!
Now the REAL fun begins- making a grocery list, shopping and then.... sticking to it! My flaw is the later! I can buy it and I can make a list (Yes, I am type A and enjoy list making!!) but sticking to it- NO MATTER WHAT my day has been like, is the hard part! I didn't incorporate as many meals with the crockpot as I would have liked. I know this will be easier to do once cooler weather comes to town. Yummy! Just thinking about cooler weather and chili and veggie soup with cornbread..... makes my bones happy!! I really wanted to stick to two meats- chicken and ground beef because I'm buying food for the month- all at once- so didn't want to stock up on a little of this and a little of that, etc. So, I stuck with two basics proteins and planned meals around that. I also have a huge bag of leftover ham from Easter that I decided to freeze. I planned lunches for Saturday and Sundays. During the week? I haven't gotten that far. I know I should and probably will write down a few ideas per week so that I will have the necessary ingredients.
I think having a meal plan definitely cuts down on "what should we do for dinner? talk" and ultimately will help the main goal of the month.... Cut our food budget bill down by $200. Can we do it? I sure as heck hope so! It would be AWESOME to have that extra money to put towards things we want to accomplish and do before Baby Bean comes. So, in order to do this, I broke up our food budget. I gave Hubbie some lunch money every week. I gave the boys and I a little lunch money every week. Then I made sure that our family was allowed to eat out one meal out a week. After that, with the reminder of the budget, I took out $10 a week for essentials- bread, milk and fruit. We are ALWAYS going to the store on Sundays, after church, for fruit. Never fails. Fruit does not last long in our house. (Hubbie has given up desserts and has been eating fruit as his dessert.) So, I took that away and will make sure that every week, we have that set aside.
The rest of the money is grocery store money. With what is left, I plan to go to the store on Tuesday, while the boys are at "school" and do a major shopping trip. I will get anything and everything that I will need. I will go to as many stores as I need to. I have realized that not only have we fallen off the wagon about a lot of things, but we also tend to go to the store more often than we use to. I use to be such a stickler for only going to the store once within a shopping trip period.... I really do think, the more you enter the store, the more you're gonna spend. Hubbie is REALLY bad about this. Whereas we use to make do without something until next shopping trip, he'll just stop and get it now. I hate that!!! We've got to stop it!!! So, I plan to get whatever we're gonna need for July 1st thru July 31st. Milk and bread and, of course, fresh fruits, I can't buy everything we're gonna use, because we don't have a big enough fridge/freezer.
I also think that I'm gonna make food a cash envelope system again. We stopped doing the cash part, but continued with Dave Ramsey's envelope system. We just kept track of what we spent. It wasn't hard because we've been doing it so long, but I do think the cash will hurt more at restaurants and at the grocery store. Maybe it'll stop me from buying the latest and greatest craving!!! Errr....hhmmmm.....maybe I should have added a "Momma Craving" category in the food budget! Ya think?! My hips would thank me if I didn't do this!
So, do you think we can do it?! Please say yes! I pray that its a easy and quick month and that it works out wonderfully. Thankfully I seem to have some energy again...well... at least more energy than I had. I'm pumped about getting the house situated and fixed and cleaned out before baby comes. Maybe I'm nesting early. What am I saying... I am always changing things up!!! Who cares!
Alright, so READY to tackle this challenge!!! Anyone else wanna do it with me?!
6/22/09
Get Away From It All....
So, this post is going to be strange to some and its all jumbled up and probably doesn't make too much sense, but bare with me. It is all related and just a basic sense of change needs to happen. Not totally sure in what areas and how or when....but I feel like things need to be changed......
Ever have an intense desire to just GET-AWAY? Not like a vacation, but to start fresh. Get rid of everything and just begin again? Reduce the clutter and start from scratch. I'm sure it would be a very soul-find experience. I have thought about it and think...shoot! everything we have, we really do use on a weekly basis except for some dishes and items of keepsake value.
I rarely watch Oprah, but one day, after waking up from a short nap, the show was on. I quickly pressed the "info" button to see what the show was all about. That particular day was all about people who had fallen victim of the "declining" economy. The reason I refer to the "declining economy" this way is because I think the media has blown it up (and Oprah and t.v. shows like that) to make us worry and fearful. I do think there are a lot of people without jobs. I do think that its bad....but in some places. Not all over the country as the media tries to make us think. I think that is why I loved Dave Ramsey's TownHall event held all over the country not that long ago. He really did have some good answers for questions that people were asking. Anyway, back to Oprah. Oprah did interview a guy that I believe might be a believer and possibly a Dave Ramsey follower...if even for just a short period. The reason I think that is because he almost quoted Dave Ramsey from the Town Hall event. He's statement was that the people in the Depression were the best savers our country has ever seen, because of what they went through and we didn't learn from their example. He said if he could go back, he would change a lot of things and realize that stuff is just stuff. You learn to live without a lot when everything has been taken away. This man is in his late 50's, married, very successful mortgage broker business and had real estate and properties coming out the wah-zoo. When the housing market fell in his area, his business crashed and his home was foreclosed on. He now lives in his office and takes showers at his gym.
His comments made me begin to wonder... we have so much stuff...stuff I am constantly picking up, tripping over or yelling about. Why do I do this? I wanted a bigger house and am VERY thankful for the space. If I just think about our old townhouse, I get claustrophobia. Really...it gives me the willies! And once we moved in, it was great... the space... the extra room... it was fabulous. Now that we're adding no 3, well, the space doesn't seem quite so big anymore. I've tried rearranging it the best I can. We plan for the youngest two to share a room. Not sure how that will work out(considering Peanut is the little boy that needs quiet, dark room with no distractions to go to sleep.... which is why we separated Peanut and Bubbie. Bubbie, on the other hand, takes a hour to fall asleep. He has to adjust himself a million different ways, go pee about 10 times, change his Odyssey cds, reads his books and then FINALLY drifts off to sleep. We, like we have with the other two, plan on keep Baby Bean in our room for a month or two.... but after that..... it will be back to co-sleeping.). A year ago it was...just to get that ONE more room. We were actually blessed with an extra two rooms and now, its like...if I could just get ONE more! I am so silly and typical!
My point was was that this house was great...for a while! Like everything.... it becomes old and a hassle or a bore! Same thing with money. When Hubbie gets a raise, its awesome... a few months later we're looking at each other and saying "what happened to your raise?!" Now, don't misunderstand me, we know EXACTLY where our money goes. We can see each and every dime. We budget and we KNOW. We have no question, but I think we've just gotten slack over the last few months. I guess that isn't entirely bad, but I do think its time to get back on the bandwagon. Sometimes you just need a break from being so rigid and "good" and I was tired. I still am tired, but I gotta find it in me to put the pedal to the metal again. To keep a truckin'. My husband has worked very hard to get to where he is and without God's richly blessing our family with his job, I know we wouldn't be where we are today.
I am not complaining about the amount of money or lack of space or anything...just, again, saying how silly we become. The more we get, the more we want and on and on the cycle goes. I want to stop that cycle. I do get the "i-wants-ies". I have them right now. Things break, we want to replace them. Things begin to look old, we want to redo. I guess I could call myself a pretty typical American.... although, thankfully, we just don't go out and buy it now and slap it on a credit card anymore.
Back to the man, in the Oprah show, he said something about the Great Depression. Got me thinking about seeing this blog not too long ago. I'm sure you've all seen it. Her videos are on YouTube. She is a funny lady. Although, for me, its easier for me to read her website than to watch her videos, but its all got a purpose. If we don't learn from the past, we're gonna be back where they were. The simplicity of this lady's meals and how special certain things were is refreshing. Something about the "good ole days" or how things use to be more simple? Do I want a simple life? Right about now, a simple life sounds wonderful. Away from the mess and noise. Away from clutter and the busy lives. Away from phones and computers and tv. At times, I think we all crave for less distractions. I've had so many distractions lately and I KNOW it isn't about to get any easier. But if I'm truthful with myself, I can't lie. I like living in a nice home that is decorated and looking nice. I enjoy buying things for my kids that make them happy and smile. I know stuff isn't everything and I know it doesn't bring fulfillment. All this is great, but would I be willing and able to make such sacrifices to bring my family to a point to be simple. To me, the meaning of simple, is being off in the country, on a farm with little contact with the outside world, growing our own food....and maybe even homeschooling. This might not be everyone's definition of simple, but to me, that is what I think of. I think of frugality and simplicity at its finest when away from the "world". Things like Bible studies and MOPS groups and constantly going and meeting and just doing... those things don't cross my mind when I think of simple. So, have I really gone and gotten myself in a mess of clutter and chatter and chaos?! Not sure. Maybe that is what my heart and head need to figure out. Maybe that is something I need to search my soul about. I have a feeling, the busier and the more chaotic my life becomes or that I make it become, the less I can hear God. To be honest, I haven't really sat down and MADE time to listen for God. I want to. I know I need to, but I haven't really allowed myself. I go-go-go. We do-do-do. I enjoy it. The boys enjoy it. We have a routine and we all seem to function better with that, but maybe I'm teaching my kids to keep their lives busy and not focus on simple things. This age of my children has its tricky parts, but every age will. I use to think that I wasn't outgoing or enjoyed chatting or being around a lot of people. With MOPS, I have somewhat "opened" up and become a person that I really like. I like having so many friends with MOPS. You can always call a friend and chat or meet up for a playdate and I love that. Is all that part of a simple life? Who defines simplicity?
Its funny, I began to write this post and let it sit in drafts for a few days. Then I came across this blog post. I am sad that she won't be writing anymore, because I really did identify with her and her situation and will miss reading her blog posts, but it was kinda ironic how I was debating on how to live my life more simply, less clutter, "quiet" and here this gal has been contemplating the same question. She and her husband decided that life without a blog would make their home more quiet, less complicated and give her more time to devout to her family. I think that is fabulous. The answer for me....maybe? I don't think I blog to waste time- not that anyone does. Blogging has definitely allowed me to make a little money, win really cool stuff, "meet" and share and be able to identify with mom's like me. When I was nursing Peanut in the early months being able to post and comment and have a connection with ANYONE at MY convience was nice! I can't imagine not having a blog. I know my family enjoys reading it. I enjoy writing in it. I know Hubbie likes me doing it. Its also gives me a place to vent, share, brag and maybe even encourage!
So, I sense changes in the future. I know our future idea of BIG change is building a house on land in order to have a large garden and some chickens, but we aren't there yet. I wish we could, but that is a plan for the future. But little changes can be made between there and now.
I know we need to get back to hard core, gazelle like Dave Ramsey saving and spending and paying off. Like I said, we've gotten slack. We are still doing it...just not intense beans and rice type stuff. We also need to evaluate our food budget and making our food budget smaller and more simple. Not only to save my sanity with a newborn on the way, but also to save money and get us back down to the beans and rice way. I do really well with saving us money. I use coupons and tend not to buy lots of ready made things, but here if I have had a coupon and there has been a sale, I'll buy it. Not that we won't use it, but things tend to be cheaper when you make them from scratch. I guess you could call me a scratch snob, but out of laziness, I've allowed myself to spend money on convienced type items. I need to re-adjust, look at it and see how I can stop doing that and maybe plan my evening meals a little better. I also have been convicted about the amount of eating out we do. We don't do it a lot, but we do spend money on restaurants. Its really easy to pick up food on the way home from a playdate or after church on Sunday when you're ready for a nap. I need to just stop and look and plan better and use my crockpot more! I know I could save a lot of money if I just focused on it better. Now is the best time to make some changes- or at least evaluate our lifestyle- before baby no 3 joins us! I did run across this post and thought... that amount sounds high. Even though the amount gives me some reassurance that we aren't too far off from the national average....its still high and I wanna do this(pull up the e-book # 5- how to feed your family of 4 for $200 a month). I'm reading this book and like....what?! whoa! cool! :)
Not only have we fallen off the wagon by buying convienced items or eating out, but we also have stopped buying as many natural or organice products. We did really well- like the making from scratch and not eating out, etc.- but we fell off the wagon and need to get back on. Part of this has been brought on buy this book. Hubbie read it front to back in a week or two. I have read a chapter or two and I had to stop. UCK! The book really does make you want to go buy a farm and grow ABSOLUTELY everything yourself. Its disgusting....seriously, you have a hard to eating ANYTHING from a can, package or out to eat after reading this. Hubbie has gone so far to try to avoid foods that contain corn. I think not only have we become lazy and complacent, but we also just don't want to invest the money. How can you be frugal, but also be natural/organic? Well....that is a good question. We came up with two solutions.
I do know that we plan to join a CSA- freeze and can 1/2 of the fruits and veggies, buy a deep freeze and start buying meat from a grass-fed, local farmer. Thankfully the CSA we are looking into does off chicken eggs. Not sure how many we'll get and we'll probably have to continue to use some store bought eggs, but its a start. Unfortunately, Hubbie found this today.....
Ever have an intense desire to just GET-AWAY? Not like a vacation, but to start fresh. Get rid of everything and just begin again? Reduce the clutter and start from scratch. I'm sure it would be a very soul-find experience. I have thought about it and think...shoot! everything we have, we really do use on a weekly basis except for some dishes and items of keepsake value.
I rarely watch Oprah, but one day, after waking up from a short nap, the show was on. I quickly pressed the "info" button to see what the show was all about. That particular day was all about people who had fallen victim of the "declining" economy. The reason I refer to the "declining economy" this way is because I think the media has blown it up (and Oprah and t.v. shows like that) to make us worry and fearful. I do think there are a lot of people without jobs. I do think that its bad....but in some places. Not all over the country as the media tries to make us think. I think that is why I loved Dave Ramsey's TownHall event held all over the country not that long ago. He really did have some good answers for questions that people were asking. Anyway, back to Oprah. Oprah did interview a guy that I believe might be a believer and possibly a Dave Ramsey follower...if even for just a short period. The reason I think that is because he almost quoted Dave Ramsey from the Town Hall event. He's statement was that the people in the Depression were the best savers our country has ever seen, because of what they went through and we didn't learn from their example. He said if he could go back, he would change a lot of things and realize that stuff is just stuff. You learn to live without a lot when everything has been taken away. This man is in his late 50's, married, very successful mortgage broker business and had real estate and properties coming out the wah-zoo. When the housing market fell in his area, his business crashed and his home was foreclosed on. He now lives in his office and takes showers at his gym.
His comments made me begin to wonder... we have so much stuff...stuff I am constantly picking up, tripping over or yelling about. Why do I do this? I wanted a bigger house and am VERY thankful for the space. If I just think about our old townhouse, I get claustrophobia. Really...it gives me the willies! And once we moved in, it was great... the space... the extra room... it was fabulous. Now that we're adding no 3, well, the space doesn't seem quite so big anymore. I've tried rearranging it the best I can. We plan for the youngest two to share a room. Not sure how that will work out(considering Peanut is the little boy that needs quiet, dark room with no distractions to go to sleep.... which is why we separated Peanut and Bubbie. Bubbie, on the other hand, takes a hour to fall asleep. He has to adjust himself a million different ways, go pee about 10 times, change his Odyssey cds, reads his books and then FINALLY drifts off to sleep. We, like we have with the other two, plan on keep Baby Bean in our room for a month or two.... but after that..... it will be back to co-sleeping.). A year ago it was...just to get that ONE more room. We were actually blessed with an extra two rooms and now, its like...if I could just get ONE more! I am so silly and typical!
My point was was that this house was great...for a while! Like everything.... it becomes old and a hassle or a bore! Same thing with money. When Hubbie gets a raise, its awesome... a few months later we're looking at each other and saying "what happened to your raise?!" Now, don't misunderstand me, we know EXACTLY where our money goes. We can see each and every dime. We budget and we KNOW. We have no question, but I think we've just gotten slack over the last few months. I guess that isn't entirely bad, but I do think its time to get back on the bandwagon. Sometimes you just need a break from being so rigid and "good" and I was tired. I still am tired, but I gotta find it in me to put the pedal to the metal again. To keep a truckin'. My husband has worked very hard to get to where he is and without God's richly blessing our family with his job, I know we wouldn't be where we are today.
I am not complaining about the amount of money or lack of space or anything...just, again, saying how silly we become. The more we get, the more we want and on and on the cycle goes. I want to stop that cycle. I do get the "i-wants-ies". I have them right now. Things break, we want to replace them. Things begin to look old, we want to redo. I guess I could call myself a pretty typical American.... although, thankfully, we just don't go out and buy it now and slap it on a credit card anymore.
Back to the man, in the Oprah show, he said something about the Great Depression. Got me thinking about seeing this blog not too long ago. I'm sure you've all seen it. Her videos are on YouTube. She is a funny lady. Although, for me, its easier for me to read her website than to watch her videos, but its all got a purpose. If we don't learn from the past, we're gonna be back where they were. The simplicity of this lady's meals and how special certain things were is refreshing. Something about the "good ole days" or how things use to be more simple? Do I want a simple life? Right about now, a simple life sounds wonderful. Away from the mess and noise. Away from clutter and the busy lives. Away from phones and computers and tv. At times, I think we all crave for less distractions. I've had so many distractions lately and I KNOW it isn't about to get any easier. But if I'm truthful with myself, I can't lie. I like living in a nice home that is decorated and looking nice. I enjoy buying things for my kids that make them happy and smile. I know stuff isn't everything and I know it doesn't bring fulfillment. All this is great, but would I be willing and able to make such sacrifices to bring my family to a point to be simple. To me, the meaning of simple, is being off in the country, on a farm with little contact with the outside world, growing our own food....and maybe even homeschooling. This might not be everyone's definition of simple, but to me, that is what I think of. I think of frugality and simplicity at its finest when away from the "world". Things like Bible studies and MOPS groups and constantly going and meeting and just doing... those things don't cross my mind when I think of simple. So, have I really gone and gotten myself in a mess of clutter and chatter and chaos?! Not sure. Maybe that is what my heart and head need to figure out. Maybe that is something I need to search my soul about. I have a feeling, the busier and the more chaotic my life becomes or that I make it become, the less I can hear God. To be honest, I haven't really sat down and MADE time to listen for God. I want to. I know I need to, but I haven't really allowed myself. I go-go-go. We do-do-do. I enjoy it. The boys enjoy it. We have a routine and we all seem to function better with that, but maybe I'm teaching my kids to keep their lives busy and not focus on simple things. This age of my children has its tricky parts, but every age will. I use to think that I wasn't outgoing or enjoyed chatting or being around a lot of people. With MOPS, I have somewhat "opened" up and become a person that I really like. I like having so many friends with MOPS. You can always call a friend and chat or meet up for a playdate and I love that. Is all that part of a simple life? Who defines simplicity?
Its funny, I began to write this post and let it sit in drafts for a few days. Then I came across this blog post. I am sad that she won't be writing anymore, because I really did identify with her and her situation and will miss reading her blog posts, but it was kinda ironic how I was debating on how to live my life more simply, less clutter, "quiet" and here this gal has been contemplating the same question. She and her husband decided that life without a blog would make their home more quiet, less complicated and give her more time to devout to her family. I think that is fabulous. The answer for me....maybe? I don't think I blog to waste time- not that anyone does. Blogging has definitely allowed me to make a little money, win really cool stuff, "meet" and share and be able to identify with mom's like me. When I was nursing Peanut in the early months being able to post and comment and have a connection with ANYONE at MY convience was nice! I can't imagine not having a blog. I know my family enjoys reading it. I enjoy writing in it. I know Hubbie likes me doing it. Its also gives me a place to vent, share, brag and maybe even encourage!
So, I sense changes in the future. I know our future idea of BIG change is building a house on land in order to have a large garden and some chickens, but we aren't there yet. I wish we could, but that is a plan for the future. But little changes can be made between there and now.
I know we need to get back to hard core, gazelle like Dave Ramsey saving and spending and paying off. Like I said, we've gotten slack. We are still doing it...just not intense beans and rice type stuff. We also need to evaluate our food budget and making our food budget smaller and more simple. Not only to save my sanity with a newborn on the way, but also to save money and get us back down to the beans and rice way. I do really well with saving us money. I use coupons and tend not to buy lots of ready made things, but here if I have had a coupon and there has been a sale, I'll buy it. Not that we won't use it, but things tend to be cheaper when you make them from scratch. I guess you could call me a scratch snob, but out of laziness, I've allowed myself to spend money on convienced type items. I need to re-adjust, look at it and see how I can stop doing that and maybe plan my evening meals a little better. I also have been convicted about the amount of eating out we do. We don't do it a lot, but we do spend money on restaurants. Its really easy to pick up food on the way home from a playdate or after church on Sunday when you're ready for a nap. I need to just stop and look and plan better and use my crockpot more! I know I could save a lot of money if I just focused on it better. Now is the best time to make some changes- or at least evaluate our lifestyle- before baby no 3 joins us! I did run across this post and thought... that amount sounds high. Even though the amount gives me some reassurance that we aren't too far off from the national average....its still high and I wanna do this(pull up the e-book # 5- how to feed your family of 4 for $200 a month). I'm reading this book and like....what?! whoa! cool! :)
Not only have we fallen off the wagon by buying convienced items or eating out, but we also have stopped buying as many natural or organice products. We did really well- like the making from scratch and not eating out, etc.- but we fell off the wagon and need to get back on. Part of this has been brought on buy this book. Hubbie read it front to back in a week or two. I have read a chapter or two and I had to stop. UCK! The book really does make you want to go buy a farm and grow ABSOLUTELY everything yourself. Its disgusting....seriously, you have a hard to eating ANYTHING from a can, package or out to eat after reading this. Hubbie has gone so far to try to avoid foods that contain corn. I think not only have we become lazy and complacent, but we also just don't want to invest the money. How can you be frugal, but also be natural/organic? Well....that is a good question. We came up with two solutions.
I do know that we plan to join a CSA- freeze and can 1/2 of the fruits and veggies, buy a deep freeze and start buying meat from a grass-fed, local farmer. Thankfully the CSA we are looking into does off chicken eggs. Not sure how many we'll get and we'll probably have to continue to use some store bought eggs, but its a start. Unfortunately, Hubbie found this today.....
"The National Milk Producers Federation in Arlington, Virginia, will pay dairies to slaughter 103,000 U.S. cows in coming months, says the article, causing milk futures to skyrocket. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is forecasting butter, cheese, and milk prices will be painful in 2010. Consumers can expect milk prices to double."
That definitely won't help our budget of $200 a month on food. Hmmm.... oh well. We can try, right?!
Another change we have a new church. This is probably going to be a major change and readjustment for our life. We have decided to go "church hoppin". The change, I am afraid, will probably be fairly drastic and might even result us to "settling". I say that in the nicest way possible. We've maxed out our options in our "must have" column. I am burned by the idea of another "start-up" church. Not only because one day someone might decide- "hey, the church isn't working out, let's close the doors!" And again, I say that in the nicest way possible and that isn't necessarily what happened, but that is how I feel. Our church was a start-up and it did require a lot of hard work and volunteering. We weren't even some of the start up members and we put in several Sundays a month of work. With a newborn coming and having 3 small children to care for, the possibility of serving in a church isn't going to be plausible for the next year. Hubbie and I both have other commitments. Hubbie would like to serve in an area of music, but other than that, we're gonna be attending church and soaking up as much worship as we can. In the future, when our kids are a little older, we'll help, but right now, a start- up church just isn't what our family can do. All that means is that maybe we need to look for a large "brick and mortar" church that is established, active and BIG. Not an idea either of us are liking at this point, but maybe its what our family needs right now. No matter where we decide to settle, it needs to happen soon. Church hopping with a nursing newborn isn't easy and we want, especially Bubbie, to begin to settle in a new environment. I will say this, in our church hopping, we've definitely been able to see more flaws in our old church. I don't say this disrespectfully, but maybe we've you've decided to stay somewhere, even if it does have flaws, you begin to ignore little things, because- we're making it, or we don't have the people or whatever. Its amazing to see what a church can do with volunteers and a building and commitment. Its been refreshing. The topic of changing churches may not go along with "simplicity" or quietness, but it does for us. If that is all that is rolling around in your mind and every Saturday you have to have the "Great debate" (i.e. which church are we going to tomrorow), it doesn't provide quietness in your soul. I think God is calling us to something different. Not sure if it means something bigger or smaller, but my soul has been uneasy about what we have been looking for. Maybe we are looking for the wrong thing. Maybe we are the answer...not that we are God's gift to a church, but maybe..... just maybe we're the different that someplace BIG or small needs and..... we just really need to be open and waiting and listening for God's call.... which does go back to.... clutter and simplicity and removing things that are going to get in our way of HEARING God's voice.
So, again, I know this post has been so very random. Not sure what my searching will come up with. Maybe it means closing Facebook or my blog or shutting off the computer entirely. Maybe it means digging into the idea of home schooling once again and a more in depth look. Maybe it means downsizing and getting rid of ruthlessly. I do know our food budgetting and shopping will change. Praying that we can find a stand-up freezer at an affordable price and these changes will not only help our budget, but also our lifestyle and health. I want life more simple. I don't know what that means for me and my family yet, but clutter needs to be removed and we need to become focused again.
Another change we have a new church. This is probably going to be a major change and readjustment for our life. We have decided to go "church hoppin". The change, I am afraid, will probably be fairly drastic and might even result us to "settling". I say that in the nicest way possible. We've maxed out our options in our "must have" column. I am burned by the idea of another "start-up" church. Not only because one day someone might decide- "hey, the church isn't working out, let's close the doors!" And again, I say that in the nicest way possible and that isn't necessarily what happened, but that is how I feel. Our church was a start-up and it did require a lot of hard work and volunteering. We weren't even some of the start up members and we put in several Sundays a month of work. With a newborn coming and having 3 small children to care for, the possibility of serving in a church isn't going to be plausible for the next year. Hubbie and I both have other commitments. Hubbie would like to serve in an area of music, but other than that, we're gonna be attending church and soaking up as much worship as we can. In the future, when our kids are a little older, we'll help, but right now, a start- up church just isn't what our family can do. All that means is that maybe we need to look for a large "brick and mortar" church that is established, active and BIG. Not an idea either of us are liking at this point, but maybe its what our family needs right now. No matter where we decide to settle, it needs to happen soon. Church hopping with a nursing newborn isn't easy and we want, especially Bubbie, to begin to settle in a new environment. I will say this, in our church hopping, we've definitely been able to see more flaws in our old church. I don't say this disrespectfully, but maybe we've you've decided to stay somewhere, even if it does have flaws, you begin to ignore little things, because- we're making it, or we don't have the people or whatever. Its amazing to see what a church can do with volunteers and a building and commitment. Its been refreshing. The topic of changing churches may not go along with "simplicity" or quietness, but it does for us. If that is all that is rolling around in your mind and every Saturday you have to have the "Great debate" (i.e. which church are we going to tomrorow), it doesn't provide quietness in your soul. I think God is calling us to something different. Not sure if it means something bigger or smaller, but my soul has been uneasy about what we have been looking for. Maybe we are looking for the wrong thing. Maybe we are the answer...not that we are God's gift to a church, but maybe..... just maybe we're the different that someplace BIG or small needs and..... we just really need to be open and waiting and listening for God's call.... which does go back to.... clutter and simplicity and removing things that are going to get in our way of HEARING God's voice.
So, again, I know this post has been so very random. Not sure what my searching will come up with. Maybe it means closing Facebook or my blog or shutting off the computer entirely. Maybe it means digging into the idea of home schooling once again and a more in depth look. Maybe it means downsizing and getting rid of ruthlessly. I do know our food budgetting and shopping will change. Praying that we can find a stand-up freezer at an affordable price and these changes will not only help our budget, but also our lifestyle and health. I want life more simple. I don't know what that means for me and my family yet, but clutter needs to be removed and we need to become focused again.
4/24/08
Going Green...with Fruits and Veggies
I never knew that washing your fruits and veggies wasn't getting all the "yucky" stuff off. By yucky stuff, I mean, pesticides, etc. On Oprah, on Tuesday's Green Show, the author of Gorgesouly Green, had a Veggie Spray Cleaner. Perfect for our strawberries!
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