Have a great weekend!

No time to write. We're in the middle of the biggest infrastructure project in our family's history.

I must get back to the blocks.

Books With No Pictures

That's what Claire calls chapter books. She cannot read at that level yet. But I read to her from them almost everyday.
I'm currently on the lookout for some good books. She loves the Magic Tree House series, so I can always go to one of those. She also loves Little House books but we've read most of them and I want to make it last. I love reading those books. And I love watching my girls pretend that they are Ma and Laura and Mary.
Soon I'll share some of the books that we've been reading, along with any comments my Kindergartner wants to make about them.

Shopping anyone?

I want to go shopping. Now. And I'm not even half way through 30 Days of Nothing. Not even half way. I was thinking that if I bought something now with my credit card and then didn't pay the bill until after the 30 days, I'd be good. Right? I know, I know. I'm really stretching here.


I did go to Aldi today. Not exactly the shopping I had in mind though. I now have $86 and 17 days left. We really have enough food here, but you know, I found some good deals...




I used two of the Angelfood chicken breasts to make this. The chicken is good. Same quality as any frozen chicken breasts I've bought in a grocery store. The bruschetta chicken bake was a new recipe for me. It came in a Kraft magazine in the mail. It was only ok.

Did I mention that I want to go shopping?

Ever wonder what boiling beer looks like?

No? Well, I'm going to show you anyway...

Why would someone boil beer, you ask?

Remember how I wrote that I would try all the food in the Angelfood box? We try not to waste around here, but I had planned on giving this away. Until my husband saw them.

Bratwurst.

I had never tried it before. And it didn't look appetizing. So I tried it and I think it tastes about as good as it looks.

The verdict here: There are two more links of it in the freezer and that will make two more meals for my husband. He said it was great, would definitely buy it again. Next time I won't boil it in beer before I grill it, I'll stick to water so my kitchen doesn't smell like a brewery.

We also tried the broccoli and pepper combo. There were maybe four crowns of broccoli in the entire bag. It tasted good, but my kids like to eat their "trees", not just the trunks. I would not purchase that again if it was from the grocery store, but I'd eat it again if it came in the package deal.

The girls had leftover grilled chicken for dinner. I was looking at it longingly.

Thou shalt not covet they children's dinner.

Old Mother Hubbard No More

My cupboards are full. And my freezer, too. I picked up the food that I ordered this morning and that, in addition to my Thursday grocery shopping, has filled them up. The plan is to make all this food last for two weeks and only purchase produce and milk.

I can already see the difference that Owlhaven's 30 Days of Nothing challenge has made in our checkbook balance. And I've noticed that I have been thinking twice about buying things, about shopping in general.

I mentioned before that I ordered some food through Angelfood Ministries. They offer a monthly box of food (which is what I bought), prepared meals, and produce and meat specials. The offerings change every month. This month I bought:

1.5 lb. Top Sirloin Strip Steaks (4 x 6 oz.)
2 lb. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast
3 lb. Breaded Chicken Chunks
1.5 lb. Boneless Pork Fillet
20 oz. Supreme Pizza
1 lb. Ground Turkey
1 lb. Cheddar Cheese Bratwurst Sausage
1 lb. Green Beans
1 lb. Stir Fry Vegetables (Broccoli & Bell Peppers)
35 oz. Crinkle-cut Fries
32 oz. Borden 2% Reduced Fat Shelf Stable Milk
7.5 oz. Macaroni & Cheese
15 oz. Pork & Beans
7 oz. Chicken-Flavored Rice & Vermicelli
1 lb. Pinto Beans
One Dozen Eggs
One Dessert Item (which turned out to be a box of chocolate chip cookies)

This is supposed to be enough food to feed a family of four for a week (dinners). I was a little disappointed with the breaded chicken chunks. We haven't tried them, but they just look like little balls of breading to me. But I will try them.

Even if the chicken and the turkey (which I'm also a little wary of just from the packaging) turn out to be a waste, I think that it will still be $30 well spent.

I don't know how well spent, though. So I'm going to check prices and see what I would have paid had I purchased these at our local stores.

The pick up went really well. There was a line of people waiting to pick up their food but it moved really quickly. The volunteers were fantastic, helping people fill up their boxes and bags and searching for boxes for people that neglected to bring them.

I'm still undecided about doing this again for October. I want to actually eat some of the meat to see if the quality is equal to that of our local stores.

Well, I'm off to find some new recipes to try to use up the food on my now well stocked shelves.

Days 11 and 12

I'm happy to say that we made it until payday with the groceries we had in the house. I spent $125.38 today and that includes some items that we definitely don't "need". Now I hope to make this food last until next payday (two weeks). I have $109.88 left in the budget and 18 days left.

I'm not too keen on having Claire ride the bus. She really, really wants to this and I do let her...sometimes. (when I'm sure that my friend's older daughter will be riding). The other day I was driving her to school and she said she met the school dog.

Her elementary school has a school dog that the counselor uses as part of her work. Evidently the dog is very therapeutic for some kids. Claire asked what she does and I tried as best I could to explain the job of a school counselor.

There was a moment of silence and then, "Mom, I think you need to go talk to a council-ate-or."

I tried to remain really neutral about this comment while all these thoughts went through my mind. My daughter thinks I'm depressed or upset. Maybe she thinks I yell too much. Maybe.... So I took a breath and asked, "Why do you think Mommy needs a counselor?"

"Because you're so stressed out about this bus thing."

Whew!

Ten down, 20 to go

Seems like a long time.

I spent $16 yesterday on non-grocery supplies: toilet paper, paper towels etc. I resisted the urge to pick up some other things while I was at the store.

I'm feeling a bit like Old Mother Hubbard. Really need to go grocery shopping. The reason I haven't has nothing to do with 30 Days of Nothing. It has to do with waiting for a paycheck. Now, technically we have enough money to go shopping now. But I really had in my mind that we could hold out until pay day (Thursday).

And we can. It's just that we can't have our first choice in food. There's food there, but it's not what I feel like eating. The girls cannot understand why there are no fruit snacks in the house. Or crackers. Or Cheerios.

There are apples and grapes and carrots. Oatmeal, eggs, and bread. It's just not what they want at that moment.

I think this is a good lesson for our family. Imagine the pioneer families who ate turnips and potatoes for weeks on end because that's all they had. Or families right now in other countries who eat rice everyday because that's what's there. My kids are so used to multiple choices that even though they're not the slightest bit deprived, they feel like something is terribly wrong.

Hmmm