Grocery Shopping

I started my other blog Grocery Store Plan because I didn't want this blog to become all about grocery store "stuff".  Now I'm finding that my life doesn't revolve around loss leaders since we started shopping differently. Beef and pork are in the freezer from local farmers. I get my Azure Standard order monthly. I will be getting eggs locally as well.  It's a different kind of shopping and doesn't require it's own blog.

I will plan to move my OAMC (once a month cooking) information over here over time as well as any other grocery info I feel is helpful.

Here's what I purchased this week:

The water in this picture as well as the lemon is because I'm going to attempt to make water kefir. More on that in another post.










My ground beef is all gone. In fact almost the entire 1/4 of a side that we got in May is gone. I will be picking more meat up today. YIPPEEEEE SKIPPPEEEE!!!

My ground pork is gone as well. I make 2 pounds of homemade sausage a week so it went fast. I ordered another 1/2 of a pig and should be able to pick that up in the next week or two. I'm looking for a local egg supplier as well. I tried buying them from the butcher shop and EWWWWWWWWWWW I have never had a rotten egg before. $3.50 down the drain (literally)

I wasn't able to go pick up chickens from the local Hutterites so I opted some from Walmart. Not tasty!

The heavy whipping cream is becoming a staple around here! The homemade smoothie is delicious!

I'm still looking for the best economical coffee. We like a dark roast and Dunkin Donuts just didn't cut it.

Total this week I spent about $100. Seems about right since we're out of meat!

Plan to Fail

You know the saying if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail?

It's true with most things in life. What you eat, budgets, exercise, etc. What if you are the person who plans constantly, but NEVER follows through with the plan?

I  love to plan! When I follow my plans, a lot of the time they work out well. When I get out of the habit of following the plan, then they don't work.

Unfortunately, when I have a plan, sometimes I get rebellious. Yes, it's my plan, but that little snot nosed kid in me wants to throw a temper tantrum! That's why I like Flylady so much. She understands that snot nosed kid!

Did you know that homemaking is an art not a science. That's my problem! I function best when I do the same thing on the same day every single week. That didn't happen when I worked outside the home, I'm not sure why I thought it was going to be easy as a homemaker.

I hit on something brilliant this morning! Instead of saying on Monday I'll do blah....Tuesday I'll do blah...I've decided to label days A, B, C, D, E. I don't even attempt any kind of a schedule over the weekend. I know I wash my sheets on Sunday, but that's all the work I plan.

I need to look at my priorities again and figure out what goes/fits together. For the next 6 weeks I'll be attending two sporting events a week. They are usually during the day so I'll need my schedule to be flexible to include these events.

So far I've come up with the following:

• Laundry (whites, work clothes, kids' jeans, towels) This is the day that I have to run the dryer. All other clothes are hung up to dry. In between loads I have about 45 minutes to do something. It makes sense to stamp/scrap/organize pictures during this time.

Ummmm that's it so far. I'm really trying to keep it simple so I'll follow it. I have found with flylady that as long as I commit to changing just one thing I seem to do well. It's when I change absolutely everything at the same time I feel overwhelmed. So maybe that's enough of a change!!!

Sometimes I think I have too much time to think about these things. I always think "if I had a real job"....blah blah blah. I do have a real job - I need to start acting like it! Off to check out flylady's websites for some inspiration. I have the timer set so I don't get too sidetracked!

Let me know if you have any ideas!

Instant Gratification

My rambling for the day....I've mentioned before that I read the forums over at Mark's Daily Apple. I enjoy hearing different perspectives on what we should be eating.

My husband works in the medical profession. He worked as a personal trainer for a few years and he worked as a physical therapy assistant for 7 years. He knows a few things about nutrition. He told me for YEARS that I needed to eat more meat. I simply didn't believe him - I believed if we ate whole grains we were eating healthy.

When I asked him why medical professionals don't always ask about our diet, he said that over time he has found that the majority of the people that come in don't want to be told to eat right and exercise. They don't want to be told it's a virus and it'll go away on it it's own. They want a pill.

Instant Gratification.

They don't want to be told that they have to work on something or make major changes in their life. It's hard to change habits. Eating right is a habit. It definitely gets easier as time goes on. Some people hate to exercise. If you can find something you enjoy doing then it doesn't seem like punishment.

I really don't know where I'm going with this. I guess I'm trying to embrace the food changes in my life and enjoy the journey. I can make small changes that will help me over time. I can't/won't change everything over night. It's way too overwhelming and there are way too many opinions out there. A bunch of small changes over time equals BIG CHANGE.

Taco Omlette Bake

I rambled about making omelet muffins in my OAMC cooking post, but I figured I'd add it to my list of recipes.

This was a huge hit at home. I didn't want to take the time to make individual omelette's one morning so I figured I would throw everything together and make them as muffins. They were great, but I hate washing muffin tins so I think I'd throw them in a pan next time (and make a lot more).

1. With a fork scramble 3 eggs and add 2 T. water (if your kid isn't allergic to milk that would be good too - cream even better!)
2. Fry hamburger and add taco seasoning (the good stuff)
3. Combine eggs, taco meat and whatever else sounds good, cheese, onions, tomatoes, etc.
4. Spray oil in a muffin tin.
5. Add mixture until muffin tin is about 2/3 full
6. Bake at 350 for 8-15 minutes (depending on your oven)
7. Serve with salsa

They don't look pretty, but they were a huge hit! I can't wait to see how they freeze. From 3 large eggs I got 6 muffins. To feed my family breakfast for one meal I would need to use 4 eggs in the future. Serve with fruit and ta daaaaaa - breakfast is served.

One more idea - use 8 eggs. Then make half with taco meat, half with ham and cheese. Serve on Monday and Wednesday.
This recipe is linked to:
Grocery Cart Challenge
Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

My Job

The best part about my job as a homemaker - my flexible schedule.

The worst part - my flexible schedule.

Clothe-A-Kid

Aren't these the most beautimous pictures?

Ah sure honey (my husband would say as he continued to read the newspaper)...what are they?

This has consumed all of my free time and then some for the past few weeks. Last night we had a pizza party to celebrate another great year (is it weird to skim the cheese and goodies off the pizza and throw the crust away, only to eat a cookie later? Hello FLOUR!!! wheat allergy girl) Okay anyway...

A few years ago when we were new to town, the church we attend had a volunteer Sunday where you could see all of the community service projects available. I love to volunteer! Too much sometimes! For a few years I quit everything except volunteering at the school and that was good for me too. While volunteering is good for the soul sometimes you need a break to focus on your family. Wow my focus is all over the place today.

Anyway...my husband signed us up to volunteer for Clothe-A-Kid. I had NO idea what it was or what I had gotten myself into. Notice I said myself...everything happens during the middle of the day so my husband couldn't volunteer.

Kids sign up in July to receive clothes for the first day of school. They also get to go to a fair where they pick up their clothes, backpacks, school supplies, pick out their own book, get their nails done/play basketball and have a little snack. These kids LOVE coming to the fair. We love seeing their happy faces. Shortly after I started the lady who was in charge of the program stepped down and two others stepped up for a few years. Now I am one of three people who lead this team of volunteers. It's a lot of work in a short amount of time. Throw in a week long vacation and it's a bit hectic!

This year we had a lady who was on bed rest, but wanted to help out. She mailed out letters to all of the beauty salons and barbers in town asking if they'd donate hair cuts. Over 280 kids received FREE haircuts! There were girls squealing because they got free hair cuts.

Hoodies are a big deal to kids, but hard to find in this town when our volunteers shop for the kids. I asked a lady who owns a shop downtown if they'd give us a discount when buying hoodies in bulk and she gave them to us at COST! They spent an entire day printing our school logos on the hoodies! They lost an entire day of revenue so they could donate to a great cause.

One of the best things I saw this year was the "teen shoppers". Kinder-5th grade kids have a volunteer that picks out their clothes. 6th through 12th grade meet us at Walmart, they shop and we pay for their clothes. There were two girls skipping throughout the store because they were so excited to pick out their own clothes.

There are a lot of people involved with this program. Area churches donate, individuals, businesses and many grants were received. We figure the cost is over $25,000 to do this.

One thing that we want to do is to provide shoes for these kids. You can't find much in the thrift stores in this area and I can't find used shoes at all. Hopefully one of these years we'll figure out how to provide those.

Volunteering - you think you are doing it to help others, little do you know how much it will impact your own life. If you have been volunteering for a while, maybe it's time to step down and let someone else have the opportunity to serve others. If you haven't been volunteering in a community service project, isn't it about time?

To Do List

Quickly write down 5 things that you want to accomplish every day (mine are not in order of importance):

1. Make my home a better place. AKA: FLYLADY
2. Walk by the creek.
3. Encourage my husband and kiddos. Show them I love them.
4. Study the Bible.
5. Feed my family healthy food.

There you have it - your priorities. Does your husband agree with this list? I'll have to see what my husband says.