So I still haven't written about it, but we made it through last month under budget by a few dollars. Yay! I think that we're just going to stop calling these things no spend months and just make that our budget and attempt to save a little bit and maybe actually try to pay some things off. I was amazed the other day when watching the news they were talking about how they are going to raise the stipend that people get for food stamps or "nutrition assistance" to something like $425 a month for four people because the $375 they're getting is not enough. I was just stunned. It opened my eyes to see maybe there really is a need for what I want to do in educating people about nutrition, health and environment and that it doesn't have to cost a lot. There is a need for true nutrition assistance out there! Also it was quite the reminder that I live with a very different view than most people. I guess prepackaged food does cost a lot.
I have a serious weakness when it comes to certain things and those certain things at a discount is the most difficult thing in the world for me to pass up. Particularly those things that I've been looking for for some time. So completely ignoring the fact that I'm not suposed to submit myself at the foot of temptation, I was browsing through Craigslist. I was looking for those things that are always on my list: pavers for the back yard, educational books to help Kaylee, an instrument for her, dehydrator, commercial batch freezer, you know, the normal stuff. I usually don't find anything I'm looking for or anything I'd be remotely interested in so I figure no harm. But not this time. I find a girl who is selling a ton of health, nutrition, environmental and spiritual books that are all in great shape, all individually priced at $2-$7 each... what am I supposed to do? Well, I wrote her and asked if she'd give me a discount if I got them all. What else could I do? She said she'd give me 10% off, so I got them. So essentially I have completely blown my April budget, we can't eat this month... I spent all the money on books. Crazy thing is that J's excited about them too, there's lots of good stuff in there on things we've been interested in looking into. Poor Kaylee is going to relive that week in January when I was reading the Twilight books and she kept saying "Mommy no read" and shutting the book on me just to get some direct attention. And then she's going to have to deal with us trying out all kinds of new raw foods. (We got about half a dozen raw food books.) I am so addicted to books, and buying books. I've got so many on my shelf that I haven't read yet, and I just got a whole new box full. This is not going to help me get my studies done! This isn't going to make me focus on all of the hundreds of other things I need to get done! But yet I'm like a crack fiend that keeps going back for more, at least this time I'm fired up about books that at least realate to what I'm supposed to be studying. I think I can somewhat let the novels go for a few weeks now and shift my attention for awhile. Fiction was an amazing break though that I love!
I finished Angels and Demons by Dan Brown the other day, it was another one that kept me up half the night reading because I couldn't put it down. I love how in depth it went with art and history, it was a puzzle and that made it so fun! J's reading it now and is already half way through. I keep saying I should let him read these books first, because he flys through them, but it's so much fun to talk to him as he's progressing through and see his reactions and frustrations as the story unfolds. I wish I could read like he does sometimes.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Saturday, March 21, 2009
still not motivated
I have no will to write, I'm stuck in the prospective that nothing that's going on right now is news. I'm also excessively tired and any 'free time' I have I just don't want to do anything at all. I guess perhaps I'm just not meant to be a blogger... or a journaler or diaryist or whatever you want to call those who are able to cognitively collect their thoughts at the end of each day and then look back and reflect on them, gather wisdom and share that with others. I used to really embrace that part of life, and loved it, now for some reason I'm just over it and just want to carry the truely important experiences/lessons with me and just let the past go. I haven't decided yet if this is completely true or whether it is a good thing or not. Perhaps I just need to work harder at it and re-embrace the writer within... or not, I guess we'll see in time.
The no spend month is going pretty well, although I am pretty sure that it's going to be extended for a few more months, maybe until farther notice, with each month having the same budget. I've barely made a dent in the freezers even after having a "party." (if you can call it that - I'll explain below) I've realized how much I am addicted to shopping and how much of a hold that it still has on me after the trip to the grocery store today. I'm also totally disgusted with myself being so consumed by the consumerism aspect of shopping and "finding deals" especially after a recent talk I atteneded about just such a topic. I'm especially upset and disgusted with the way food is sold and viewed in society today. I hate being so out of touch with where it actually comes from and knowing the carbon footprint it carries after being trucked across the world to arrive on my plate. It's almost upsetting to me that it doesn't cost more than it does with all of the energy expended for it to get here. Not to mention how old it must be by the time it gets here and what it must have gone through. I'm saddened too with how it seems like we can do so little just being one family, even if we don't buy produce that is trucked from other countries, fish that are on the endangered list, meat, eggs, dairy from factory farms etc. there are so many other people who still do. Does what I do or don't do have any impact at all?
So off my soapbox, maybe...
My freezers are still out of control, I've done a few stupid grocery store trips for things that we may or may not have really needed. And we have about a week left and $55.33 left to put gas in the cars and who knows what else. So yes, it's more than doable, this budget, it will be extended until my addictions are broken and we get into the habbit of living in this world and not of it in a way that most people don't tend to think of existing. I feel like that's my new calling. Maybe it doesn't actually matter if we make any impact, but rather if we are just following what God has called us to do.
So it being March, we celebrated PI day on the 14th. We made about 5 pies, and a pizza, and invited over a bunch of people. We made the turkey and it turned out amazing! After a day and a half in the brine and a slow roast under a turkey triangle that bird was so tender and juicy it was so awesome and flavorful. And true to us, only two of the people we invited over actually showed up. So we had a ton of food. Which is essentially what we've been eating this past week. Here are a few pictures. (can someone teach me how to put these things in there without so much trouble?It keeps putting them on the top of the post so they have to be pulled down to wherever I actually want them and the cursor disappears too - ACK this is not fun!!! Sorry people, you're only getting three.)
I've got some other pictures here, of various other things from the past few months. But PI day was fun, it turned out to be a nice relaxing time with awesome people. I'm actually really happy not more showed up as I am not an entertainer. I don't know what I was thinking in the first place even having people come over at all. Craziness I tell you! The blueberry rhubarb pie is still the best, and I think I may have perfected my GF pie crust this time. And in the middle of a no spend month too... what is wrong with me? Anyway, I've got to close as I'm being beckoned to spend some time with my amazing husband. I'll try to either be better about this whole writing consistently thing for real. Or I'll just put out some regards to the few who want to know about my life, and I'll write you guys emails instead of attempting to publicly humiliate myself by writing here.
The no spend month is going pretty well, although I am pretty sure that it's going to be extended for a few more months, maybe until farther notice, with each month having the same budget. I've barely made a dent in the freezers even after having a "party." (if you can call it that - I'll explain below) I've realized how much I am addicted to shopping and how much of a hold that it still has on me after the trip to the grocery store today. I'm also totally disgusted with myself being so consumed by the consumerism aspect of shopping and "finding deals" especially after a recent talk I atteneded about just such a topic. I'm especially upset and disgusted with the way food is sold and viewed in society today. I hate being so out of touch with where it actually comes from and knowing the carbon footprint it carries after being trucked across the world to arrive on my plate. It's almost upsetting to me that it doesn't cost more than it does with all of the energy expended for it to get here. Not to mention how old it must be by the time it gets here and what it must have gone through. I'm saddened too with how it seems like we can do so little just being one family, even if we don't buy produce that is trucked from other countries, fish that are on the endangered list, meat, eggs, dairy from factory farms etc. there are so many other people who still do. Does what I do or don't do have any impact at all?
So off my soapbox, maybe...
My freezers are still out of control, I've done a few stupid grocery store trips for things that we may or may not have really needed. And we have about a week left and $55.33 left to put gas in the cars and who knows what else. So yes, it's more than doable, this budget, it will be extended until my addictions are broken and we get into the habbit of living in this world and not of it in a way that most people don't tend to think of existing. I feel like that's my new calling. Maybe it doesn't actually matter if we make any impact, but rather if we are just following what God has called us to do.
So it being March, we celebrated PI day on the 14th. We made about 5 pies, and a pizza, and invited over a bunch of people. We made the turkey and it turned out amazing! After a day and a half in the brine and a slow roast under a turkey triangle that bird was so tender and juicy it was so awesome and flavorful. And true to us, only two of the people we invited over actually showed up. So we had a ton of food. Which is essentially what we've been eating this past week. Here are a few pictures. (can someone teach me how to put these things in there without so much trouble?It keeps putting them on the top of the post so they have to be pulled down to wherever I actually want them and the cursor disappears too - ACK this is not fun!!! Sorry people, you're only getting three.)
I've got some other pictures here, of various other things from the past few months. But PI day was fun, it turned out to be a nice relaxing time with awesome people. I'm actually really happy not more showed up as I am not an entertainer. I don't know what I was thinking in the first place even having people come over at all. Craziness I tell you! The blueberry rhubarb pie is still the best, and I think I may have perfected my GF pie crust this time. And in the middle of a no spend month too... what is wrong with me? Anyway, I've got to close as I'm being beckoned to spend some time with my amazing husband. I'll try to either be better about this whole writing consistently thing for real. Or I'll just put out some regards to the few who want to know about my life, and I'll write you guys emails instead of attempting to publicly humiliate myself by writing here.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Welcome Back Lisa
Alright, so I've again failed at blogging, but I'm motivated now and all ready to make another attempt at it. There have been various things that I got excited about sharing, but never found the time to do so. So now I've escaped one of my weekly commitments for the next month, and am going to designate that time to focusing a few hours on school and some time towards sharing what is going on in our lives here.
We're all ready to start another no spend month here, so I figured it's the ideal time to start writing again. We're doing this no spend month a little different, we've got an absurd amount of random things in the freezer, so the focus this month is on clearing out the freezers and pantry as opposed to simply a non consumerism and money saving motivation. So I'm sorry, but if you're looking for great ways of saving money on food, my journey this time probably won't help too much. I looked at what we spent this month on groceries and was disgusted with the total, so that was also part of it. There is just no justifiable reason that a family of three needs to spend anywhere near $600 for food alone in the shortest month of the year. We're taking our total for what we spent on gas this month instead, and using that alone as our total spending goal. It just happens to be the same as what we designated as our goal for the last round. $250.
So the changes - J has got to learn to start taking the bus again. Lisa has to stop going to the grocery store every time she is bored and especially not when she is bored and hungry! And Kaylee is going to have to learn that she can't live her entire life eating nothing but popsicles, pancakes and blueberries. Nor will she get me to drive across the state just to go to play area, we're going to have to find something acceptable and entertaining to do around here, and probably me more than she will have to be content with that.
Another thing that may or may not be worth noting is my goal as part of lent and my need to regain a little of my health, to take my need for a rotation diet more seriously. This means we can't eat the same thing every day. The main things are going to be rotating grains and proteins, the fruits and veggies, I've decided are pretty much impossible with our limitations right now.
Speaking of limitations... We (Kaylee) can have turkey again, and the occasional potato. Yay! So that helps too. This is totally embarrassing to admit, but we have a Turkey in the deep freeze that has been there since before Kaylee was born, I'm almost afraid to cook it, but I'm going to try and see how it goes... hopefully the freezer burn will not be too bad after a good brine and roasting. I looked through and the dates on most everything else don't go pre 2007 so that's good, but still, there really shouldn't even be things in there from 2007! Ugh, I'm so disgusted with myself! Rotate, rotate, rotate, I think that might be my new mantra for this year.
We're all ready to start another no spend month here, so I figured it's the ideal time to start writing again. We're doing this no spend month a little different, we've got an absurd amount of random things in the freezer, so the focus this month is on clearing out the freezers and pantry as opposed to simply a non consumerism and money saving motivation. So I'm sorry, but if you're looking for great ways of saving money on food, my journey this time probably won't help too much. I looked at what we spent this month on groceries and was disgusted with the total, so that was also part of it. There is just no justifiable reason that a family of three needs to spend anywhere near $600 for food alone in the shortest month of the year. We're taking our total for what we spent on gas this month instead, and using that alone as our total spending goal. It just happens to be the same as what we designated as our goal for the last round. $250.
So the changes - J has got to learn to start taking the bus again. Lisa has to stop going to the grocery store every time she is bored and especially not when she is bored and hungry! And Kaylee is going to have to learn that she can't live her entire life eating nothing but popsicles, pancakes and blueberries. Nor will she get me to drive across the state just to go to play area, we're going to have to find something acceptable and entertaining to do around here, and probably me more than she will have to be content with that.
Another thing that may or may not be worth noting is my goal as part of lent and my need to regain a little of my health, to take my need for a rotation diet more seriously. This means we can't eat the same thing every day. The main things are going to be rotating grains and proteins, the fruits and veggies, I've decided are pretty much impossible with our limitations right now.
Speaking of limitations... We (Kaylee) can have turkey again, and the occasional potato. Yay! So that helps too. This is totally embarrassing to admit, but we have a Turkey in the deep freeze that has been there since before Kaylee was born, I'm almost afraid to cook it, but I'm going to try and see how it goes... hopefully the freezer burn will not be too bad after a good brine and roasting. I looked through and the dates on most everything else don't go pre 2007 so that's good, but still, there really shouldn't even be things in there from 2007! Ugh, I'm so disgusted with myself! Rotate, rotate, rotate, I think that might be my new mantra for this year.
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