motivation

I had a burst of motivation when I got off work, I completed a trade to have my eyebrows waxed and then traded for a pair of hiking boots. I came home and helped Phillip move the fence panels next to the gate so the trader can pick them up easily tomorrow. I fixed some dinner and then loaded the dishwasher....I then made the fatal mistake for getting anything accomplished. I sat down on the couch and there I have remained. I have been watching the munchkin play and telling him we need to get a bath but I have been unable to convince myself to get up and get anything else done.

Reading up

I have checked out a huge number of books from the library on blogging so I will soon have this figured out. The plan is to be able to post pictures of my purchases and receipts on the specified tab so that I can use this tab for my other random thoughts and life events.

Where are the extra hours that I need each day? Tonight we had beans and cornbread which I had started in the crock pot this morning. The time I bought with this ended up going to sorting boxes from the garage. The garage is nowhere near cleaned out but I guess since it is the last area other than the yard that we have to conquer I should feel some accomplishment. Unfortunately I think any sense of accomplishment will not be felt here until it is all done....then started over!

behind

I feel like I am continuously running behind, like I can never do enough in one day to catch up. When I get home tonight I will have to post the receipt totals from my milk runs. I went to see my man Bon Jovi with friends last Thursday so the honey and munchkin were on their own for dinner. It is an annual event for my friends and I to see a concert, generally Bon Jovi if he is in the area. It is an awesome tradition which we will be keeping up forever!!! Anyway, you needed to know this I guess so I could justify taking Friday off work. I worked on cleaning up my house and yard on Friday so my BBT group who was coming to my house on Saturday for a swap would not think crazy people had moved in and trashed everything. Annoying point on Friday was some repairmen in the neighborhood running new electrical lines thought telling me 12 times that they made mowers that ran on gas was funny. First time haha after that annoying. I did manage to do some awesome herbed pork chops in the crockpot and paired that with asparagus and mushrooms. Saturday the swap occurred at my house with a disappointing turn out but I will survive because my house was clean!!! This however did not allow my OCD brain to rest, I decided since all the basics were done I could start tackling the bigger projects that had been on the back burner. I made a beeswax candle....did not turn out great. Beeswax burns hot but does not hold that heat so the center burned while the outside stayed formed. I will try this again but just dip them as tapers or use multiple wicks. I also made beeswax scented bars for home burners and have some peeps testing those. As soon as they give me their opinions I will know if they are viable or not. Sunday I made the decision to do 1 thing outside and 1 inside each day and that would hopefully keep me caught up. I am drawing a blank of what I fed everyone on Sunday night but I do not think it was anything overly elaborate. Monday was back to work and I was not really feeling good so I fed Phillip my pizza left over from lunch and Logan had grilled cheese. Tuesday after work I went to the library to pick up the blogging books I requested and still have not had time to read. After that I met someone from BBT for a trade which is still in my trunk by the way. For dinner  I made Terriyaki chicken in the crock pot, paired that with rice and a stir fry of mushrooms, asparagus and carrots that I still had in the fridge. By Wednesday I am realizing that I am emotionally drained but life goes on, I swept and steam mopped the floors after I fixed dinner which was fish sticks and creamed corn. Did I mention I am feeling drained? Last night a friend was over helping Phillip replace one side of our fence so when they were done we had spaghetti and then Phillip took a shower and went to bed. Tonight I have not even thought through what will be for dinner but I think I might make a fried rice using the leftover rice, stirfry and chicken. We will see what jumps at me when I get home.

The 3 ring circus act continued at my house last night. I ran by the library on my way home and then to Kroger to rent a carpet cleaner. I am having a trade group swap at my house this weekend and did not want to scare anyone with my dirty carpets. Once home the munckin wanted to show me the Rainbow Chard we planted...they are his plants if you ask him and they have just broken through the earth. He is so excited and once I joined him to peer at the plants he started petting then and talking away to them. I let him play outside while I started dinner which was yummy meatloaf muffins and homemade mashed potatoes. The Rachel Ray idea of making meatloaf as little muffins instead of a giant loaf has revolutionized my life. Meat loaf is now only 20 minutes from start to finish instead of an hour and a half. I used a pound of ground angus I bought on clearance for $2.00 and mixed in an egg from my friend's flock as well as some carrots I also bought on clearance and some mushrooms from the co-op. I added bread crumbs I had on hand and some whipping cream that was hanging out in the fridge. They were quite tasty and the mashed potatoes were the perfect side. I used potatoes we had from the co-op which were to small to serve as baked potatoes. After dinner we cleaned up the dishes, turned on the dryer and started cleaning carpets. By the time I was done with that which even though it is only 3 rooms it is draining it was time for the munchkin's bath and bed.

While at Kroger I did take a spin by the clearance bins and came home with some Kotex and Always products. They had them marked down and I had coupons so I came home with 3 packages of pads and a gallon of milk for $6.15 which was a steal since the hygiene products were the double sized and I will not need anymore for probably 6 months or more. I know TMI but it is reality and they figure in my grocery budget. This brings my total to $177.26  leaving me $22.74 for milk the rest of this month.

I really think I am getting to old to be this busy! I am always trying to get one more thing done each day and there is still something that does not get accomplished. After work yesterday I went to sell a rocking horse for a friend to another friend , then completed 2 trades which netted me a tunic top, some shorts, 2 vintage hankies and some free range eggs from a friend's flock. I then trucked home and walked the dog which I am doing more for some exercise than anything else. After dog walking duties I snuggled with the munchkin and then dinner where we tried a new recipe from pinterest. We had grilled chicken thighs and cheesy zucchini rice which was adequate. I think I will make it again but it was not something that was so tasty as to make it in regular rotation. After dinner there was clean-up, bathes, puzzles with the munchkin, 2 loads of laundry, pick up of our bedroom floor and vacuuming. I think I sweep and vacuum up an entire dog every couple of days, I am actually surprised he is not bald!

SOOOO for a synopsis of the expenses related to dinner. I made 3 chicken thighs which came to $1.00 ( half of an organic pack I bought on clearance for $2.00) and the cheesy rice which I do not have an exact figure on but I used a zucchini from the co-op basket, 1 cup of rice which I traded for, some parmasean cheese which was in the grocery total for this month and some chicken broth which was in the fridge left from a previous recipe. I think overall it was a good, inexpensive dinner.  I also have a dozen eggs which were gifted to me from my friend for going between trades which did not put me out since I also had trades with the parties involved.

I should update what the menu looked like over the weekend so everyone does not think we are eating beans and rice for every meal in order to keep the total low. Friday night I went home and made beef short ribs on the grill and served those with navy beans. The short ribs were a disappointment which I will need to contact Kroger about. The saw at the meat counter must have been dull since the bone splintered into the meat. We survived by having sandwiches and using the bones to make beef stock in the crock pot. I used up some celery, onion and shredded carrots from a past co-op pick up. I made the stock in the crock pot overnight so I did not have to babysit it, Saturday morning I strained it and popped it in the freezer for a future meal. Saturday I picked up the pizza after much activity during the day and then Sunday we had leftover roast from lunch (potluck at church) which I chopped up, reheated with BBQ sauce from a local source and served on the remaining hamburger buns from last week.

This weekend was crazytown at my house!!! I had so many commitments and a 3 year old tagging along. He is a pretty good sport for all of the stuff I put him through. I did make another grocery store run on Saturday since my honey decided that despite our schedule he needed to smoke a roast for the church potluck. This resulted in me spending $21.95 at Kroger and $33.80 at Sprouts. Our fridge and freezer are busting at the seams at the moment so I will only be picking up milk the rest of the month. I also sold $10 worth of the asparagus I picked up from my co-op and I am trading some for a dozen tamales tomorrow night. Over the weekend I also sold some honey and lemons I had at the house which will take another $5 off my monthly total. This puts the total at $161.11, but to be fair I will make it $171.11 since I was to tired to cook on Saturday night and bought a pizza at Papa Murphy's.

The current total for the month is $120.36 but I already have a commitment to purchase some of my overrun of produce which will reduce the total. I will keep the tally going.

Ok, Here is the picture of my receipt from Wednesday night. I had a picture of all I purchased but accidentally erased it from my phone but the list is as follows:

2 gallons of milk
1 gallon apple juice
3 2 quart containers of Cranberry Juice
1 package of Ball Park Franks
Bananas
1 package beef ribs
6 1pound packages of ground beef

I went by last night and spent $1.29 on some Hawaiian Hamburger buns.

Wednesday was the night of torrential downpours here and it ended up taking me twice as long to get home in traffic and then a stop for milk so for dinner we had pigs in a blanket with black beans. Thursday night I made hamburgers.

Until I can figure out how to move items under the correct tab I will just post here. I do not have a receipt for my first grocery purchases of the month but I will put the tally here

$30 for 2 whole pasture raised chickens from a local family
$57.00 on fresh produce from co-op. Some of this I will resell or trade for other items we need since I will not use it all.

I am going to make a stop by Kroger on the way home since I need some perishables.

As for what we have been eating, Sunday we ate at Grandma's house so I did not need to make anything. Monday night we had nachos with taco meat, beans, cheese and sour cream. Tuesday night we had homemade Beef Stroganoff using left over roast.

grand plans

I always have grand plans and then run into road blocks....I am constantly findind out how little I know. Latest issue is trying to learn how to post under the great tabs I created. Since I have been unable to figure it out on my own I have started picking the brains of friends who blog and I am also requesting a ton of books from the library.