Becoming My Budget's Friend

I am really trying to be better about our food budget and how I use it. We are saving up for a house, and I can easily have food money left over at the end of the month to put towards the house if I just plan a little and spend some time cooking. I would say that I have normally been "money conscious" with my food budget. Much because it was SO easy considering all the really great, inexpensive options we had in our old town. But after moving out here to this one-horse-town.... I pretty much only have one option for grocery shopping. And it is Safeway. That, or sending the Hubs by Walmart,Target, or Costco on the way home from work. I am sure the are other options out there (we do have a Dollar General and a Discount Grocery Store), but I have yet to have time to explore them. All that to say--- Both of those reasons (saving for a house and Safeway, which I think is expensive) encourage and challenge me to get more creative, stretch our foods, and not waste. 

Today I made corn chowder for lunch, as opposed to yesterdays PBJ's. And surprise surprise, we will be having it for dinner, as well. 

I took this recipe from Near to Nothing's blog and revamped it using what we had and made it so that I could eat it. 

I used leftover ham rather than chicken, and 3c. almond milk/ 3c. water. It turned out very tasty, but really runny. So, I added probably 1/4c corn starch and let it simmer for a few more minutes. After it thickened, it was PERFECT!! 

And for dessert tonight, we had a bag of marshmallows that needed to be used up, so I stove-popped some popcorn and made a pan (rather than balls) of marshmallow popcorn. YUM! 

And the best part? I had all the ingredients to both= free meal. Well, kind of. If you ignore the fact that I bought them to begin with... but I was using leftovers completely to make the meal. So, again- Hurrah!

Fridge Busting Dinner

You know when you make a meal that you are just oh-so proud-of? Well, tonight was one of those nights. We didn't have anything extaordinary, just Taco Salad. But for some reason I was very proud of myself for concocting it. As I sat eating, I figured out why. I only bought 1 ingredient towards the salad from my last grocery shopping trip! The rest was from the fridge or pantry! Here is how our salad came together.

Lettuce- from two different types and heads of lettuce, on its last leg. If it wasn't used fast, it would be put in the trash.
Green onion- had some left over from a Chinese Cabbage Salad I had made.
Tomato- had one in the fridge from who knows what, but it probably also needed to be used.
Corn- had a can in the pantry, lovely!
Black beans- soaked and cooked from dry beans.
Taco seasoning- Mixed from scratch, with Jewel's help
Salsa- half a can in the fridge
Tortilla chips- left over from our Mexican take-out the other night... Don't throw those chips away!
AND THEN...
Ground turkey- my on grocery shopping item


Oh the bliss of using up food so that it doesn't go to waste! By budget thanks me.

Last Night: Triumphs and Fallbacks

Last night was quite interesting for us.

 First off--- the triumph--- Rose slept SIX hours!!!! SIIIIIX!!!!! It was amazing! That is the second time within this last week.

But we also had an interesting twist. Jewel woke up about 4 times! She was not cranky, just very VERY awake. The first time was around 1:30. She just started calling and calling for us. Again, not crying or very upset, just awake. So I decided that I was going to go in there and tell her that it wasn't morning time. She took it very well, layed back down and told me night night. So I left. About 5 minutes later she was calling specifically for daddy (he gets her up in the morning.... she no longer even calls my name in the morning). So he went in there, told her the same thing and she went back to sleep. She again called around 3:30 and 4:30. One of those times I went in because she was calling "Mommy! Awake! Jewel Awake! Mommy!!!!" (This is what I have taught her to do when she wakes up from a nap). She was FULLY awake and I had to convince her it was still night time by explaining that it was dark and dark means night night. So she caught on and told me "bye bye. night night. dark.". So I left. But again at 6:30 she started calling, so Robert went in. She was pretty fussy, so he told her that she needed more sleep. And he successfully got her to sleep with him in the rocking chair in her room for about an hour more.

What is causing Jewel's crazy waking up? WHO KNOWS!!! I think she may be teething, getting her 2 year old molars. She also is growing. So I figure either one of those could be the culprit. But- either way... kind of crazy during the night, but pretty funny to look back at later. She was pretty funny with all her callings.

I sure hope tonight is the same where Rose is concerned, but that Jewel actually sleeps through the night.... never really saw that one coming.

Big Sister

Jewel loves being a big sister, and showing Baby Rose all the cool things in life---like her music drum.

One Horse Town

That is what I lovingly refer to my new town as.

 It cracks me up, and scares me just a bit, that I live here now. It seemed much easier to imagine the hubs growing up here, when I wasn't trying to call it my home as well. Now it seems so much harder to imagine an even less expanded area. The hubs was here when the first stop light went up (he was like 16) and when Taco Bell came to town (he was in 5th grade and a horse went through the drive through and made the front page of the paper).

He was telling me the other day that their mall (which is a half hour away in the next town, mind you) consisted of JcPenney and Sears and like 4 other tiny stores. Currently, Walmart is occupying that same building space!!! I have also seen Gap and Old Navy pass through the town, but not stay over the past few years of visiting.... So pretty much my clothing shopping will be at Target, JcPenney, Sears, Dillard's, Foot Fetish and some random other stores. That is, unless I make the trip to Phoenix for a mall or outlets.

I am in slight shock, but I'm sure it will set in eventually and I will learn how to live in a small small town. I do love the peace and quiet, the nice neighbors and family barber, and the fact that the front page of the paper (which only comes out once a week) the other day was a picture of a car smashed by a tree with the title "Car VS Tree". Yes, that was the BIG news that week!

I didn't quite realize the difference in population until I looked it up. The 2010 census showed the population of the town I went to school in (growing up) to be 167,815 and the town I lived in to be 40,971. Whereas the population of the town I now live in is 11, 182. And the population of the "tri city area" is over 95,600. What a difference!

 I always wanted to live in a small town..... now I am. I hope I like it as much as I thought I would!

Human Milk Cow

Nursing, Nursing, Nursing....

I hear it's a full time job. And I'm starting to believe it. With Jewel I went the way of scheduled feedings.... it didn't work out well. About 5 months in she was completely on the bottle. So this time I decided to do some hard core on demand nursing. And hard core it is! I feel like little Rose is just hungry all the time! Such a difference! But I can already tell its working better this time around. Which I am praising God about! 

And everyone says nursing is such a sweet time.... but it comes with its struggles for me. I am a "get it done" kinda person. I love projects and I love completing them! So when I have a baby who is forcing me to sit constantly, not letting me do projects, and eat more than I want, I feel that I'm not getting much accomplished! Butas my wise mother said, the key is adjusting my expectations. I have to find other ways to accomplish things.

 And thus- my accomplishment list looks more like this right now:

* Make sure I'm in the WORD every day... I have no more excuses as I'm stuck here, sitting down. 

* Figure out how to play with Jewel while stuck on the couch

* Meal plan easy meals for when I can cook again

* Find as many freebees online as I can and sign up for them. 

* Learn to crochet and make Christmas gifts

* Read a bunch of FlyLady and understand how her "15 minutes a day" system works and how it will make my house less cluttered

* Organize the house in my head so when the time comes, I will know what to do.

Different than my normal list, but effective none the less in it's own way.

So here's to being a Human Milk Cow! May my sitting be prosperous and may my little Rose get fat! 

Surviving

That about sums up my last few weeks. Rose is now 2 days shy of 3 weeks old. And it has been a tough few weeks. The Lord has been testing me time and time again to trust Him, let go of my expectations, and rely upon His strength and wisdom.

In my mind, any 1 of the 8 major events of my life that have happened over the past two months would have been enough. Living away from the hubs for a month, birthing a child, moving states, moving houses, learning how to juggle two kiddos showing both love and attention, having a trip to the ER in the middle of the night, or the hubs starting a new job. But the Lord must think the hubs and I very strong, because all has happened in a matter of less than two months.

It's been extremely testing for me. I keep on thinking back to 1 Cor 10:13 that says, "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man. And God is faithful, He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way of escape so that you can bear it". And even as I've failed time and time again in my thinking and attitude and actions, I keep on being reminded of 2 Cor 12:9, which says: "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness"...  And that is my daily, hourly, minute by minute prayer. For the Lord only knows how weak I feel and how weak I truly am. And boy, if His grace isn't sufficient--- I'm in one SAD SAD place. So praise God that it IS sufficient!!!! Praise God that there is hope during this still crazy time. Hope that I might still exemplify Christ in my life and actions, that He will receive honor and that I will survive!