"To every season, turn, turn, turn..."

So things are beginning to slow a bit here at the ole homestead.  Well at least I am getting caught up.  I have one more thing to make for this holiday, wrap a couple more gifts, and do the final cooking/baking for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  I am hoping to have my check list completed today and can just enjoy the next few days of Christmas. 
So because of that, my plans start to trend toward things I need to do starting in January.  It isn't a New Years Resolution list.  I don't do those.  But there are changes coming.  I have a feeling a season in Dh and my life is changing.  Diva left the nest a few years ago and has since started a nest of her own.  I added a Son in Law and two grandsons in exchange for her leaving my nest.  A positive to be sure.  Now I am looking at Einstein starting Technical college in a couple of weeks.  Rubic will be going down to the same area on those same days and plans to take his GED.  Soon after he is going to be going to tech college.  As a result, things are changing.  We are having to coordinate DH and I going to work, Einstein going to school and Rubic's GED and studies, all with one car.  FUN!  In addition to that, the holidays instill a desire, after much heavy food, to eat and act healthier.  We have added to our home gym and now have one that looks pretty nice.  We have an Elliptical , treadmill, air bike, and free weights.  I should use it don't ya think?   So all of us are getting back on the health bandwagon after our food hangover.  Still no weird diet food.  No artificial stuff, but definitely whole grains, fruits, veggies, lean meats, etc.  In order to coordinate everyone's schedule, still eat healthy and use the equipment (I mean it's there!),  I am needing to change some things I buy.  Packing 4 lunches as opposed to one or two means I need to find items that are quick to pack.  So whole fruits, yogurts, cheese sticks etc. will be on my grocery list; as well as the individual packs of baked chips.  That's for starters.  Most of my baking will have to be relegated to the weekends and so that cuts back on days of mammoth baked goods prep.  Time will be precious.  Gardening season will be upon me in a couple of months and I need to be able to focus on that.  It saves more money in the long run.  I can already feel the gardening bug biting.  I should be starting my cold weather crop seeds indoors soon.  Yay.

There will be other seasonal changes in our life for sure.  I need to enjoy, for now, the presence of our two youngest still at home.  In a few years that may change.  I am past the days of Santa visiting my kids, and I do miss that.  I still enjoy Christmas and all the joy it brings to us.  I think, when the time comes that our kids are on their own; the difference in our Christmas will be the hardest to face.  So in the mean time, I will focus on this and every season and enjoy it to the fullest.

 I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas. 

When it comes to grocery shopping, be ever vigalant

On a day looooong ago ( we won't talk about how long ago), my mother and I went grocery shopping for my first grocery shopping trip as a homemaker.  I remember her words as we exited the car; "Let the battle begin".  Make no mistake.  The grocery stores job is to separate you from as much of your money as possible and your job is to not let them.  Period.  As consumers it is our job to make sure as little money as possible is taken from our wallet for merchandise which, lets face it, ends up in the septic tank.    I have remembered those words over the years, and tried to live by them when it comes to providing food for my family.  That being said, even I have fallen off the vigilant band wagon periodically.  Such a time happened to me this week and I wanted to share what I learned. 

I usually shop once a month and throw in small really good sale purchases if they come up during the month.  Since I shop once a month I will usually grab a few pounds of lunch meat.  I leave one in the fridge and the others I freeze,  The draw back to freezing lunch meat is it ends up kinda watery.  Well the other day I was making lunch for Dh and I thought to myself, "I am gonna drain off the water of this package and weigh it to find out how much it is taking off the over all weight of the lunch meat.  So I weighed the pkg of lunch meat after draining off the extra water and found it only weighed 11.58 oz.  At first I was shocked thinking "I can't believe I lost that much in a 1 lb pkg of lunchmeat!".  Right on the tale end of that I looked at the weight of the pkg and what I used to buy as a 1 lb package was now 14 oz.  So the good news is I only paid $2.99 for 11.58 oz of meat and 2.38oz of water as opposed to paying that for 11.58 oz of meat and 4.38 oz of water.  I am being sarcastic right now.  Neither one is great but I do have a lesser of two evils.  So my answer to this?  I roasted a turkey last night an will use it for lunch meat.  The turkey cost me .59 a lb and no extra added water.  So my being asleep at the wheel maybe will help you as well.  So the lesson learned is to pay attention to package sizes especially when it looks like the sale price is better than normal.  I wouldn't be surprised to find that the package size has shrunk and you are being scalped.  When you think about the price per pound I was willing to pay for lunch meat ($4.13 lb) I could by the round or sirloin tip roasts, cook it and carve it for lunches and come out better!  My Dh will be thrilled with that one!  Always, always, always re-evaluate purchases.   Okay, resume your normal day.  See ya guys!

Thanksgiving is almost here!

It has come around again so fast !  Oh! Uh  if you weren't already freaked out by the swiftly looming holiday season; Christmas is 30 days away from today!  Yikes! 

It is so easy to overlook Thanksgiving as just the beginning of the Christmas season, but we need to take the time before all the black Friday, shopping craziness and remember what we are thankful for and to who we owe that thanks. 

So who do I have to thank?  Well, God first and foremost.  He is my Lord and Savior.  He is my shoulder to lean on. He is my rock to stand on.  I will be the first to say the trials in my life ( and they are small in comparison to others) have been much easier to bear knowing He is there.  While I thank God over all, there are many of "His Hands" in this world deserving of my gratitude.  Those "Hands" take on the form of a friend who gave us a deer and some apples (thanks guys), another friend who in the midst of her own battle with cancer, still took the time to pray with me (love you girl).  They are family always there to lean on or look to for advice, comfort, or a laugh.  They are a church member with a heart for ministry who sees those around him needing help and gives it.  And even better he brings in other church members to bless them with the opportunity to bless others as well.  I am grateful to the men and women who will miss their holiday with family in order to ensure my and my families safety and freedom.  Whether it be as a soldier in a far away country, a police officer in my town, or my local fire fighter, they deserve my gratitude.   I am grateful to Doctors and nurses who will miss the holiday, or at least post pone it for a bit in order to give patients the very best care. 

I am blessed beyond measure...pressed down, shaken together, and running over.  I am fully aware of my blessings and my prayer for this day and the up coming season is that my eyes would be open to those around me needing something, anything.   I pray I am able to bless as I am blessed.  I don't want to spend this season so overwhelmed with things to do that I forget those around me.  Lord I pray for a Thankful heart!

. 

" Hmmm I Wonder" Enchilada Casserole.

So tonight I get home from work and am trying to think of what to make for dinner.  Little by little things started to fall into place and I ended up with a recipe that was popular enough for there to be none left.  So all in all a positive outcome.  I literally was using up odds and ends of things, and trying to make sure veggies were a part of the equation.  It also had to taste good.  What follows is what I came up with:

"Hmmm I Wonder"  Enchilada Casserole:

1 lb ground beef (or chicken or turkey)
1 cup grated zucchini
1 can cream corn
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 ts salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 ts chili powder
1/4 ts garlic powder
1 ts cumin
dash oregano
1 cup shredded cheese (I used a mixture of pepper jack and mozzarella)
2 oz cream cheese
Tortilla chips

I know, bear with me.  Brown the ground beef.  Add the rest of the ingredients with the exception of the shredded cheese and the tortilla chips.  Heat everything through to let the flavors meld a bit.  About 10 min.  Remove from heat.  Spread a layer of tortilla chips into the bottom of a 9X9 baking pan.  Spread about a third over the chips.  Sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese.  Repeat layers using everything up.  Top with a couple of crushed tortilla chips and the remaining cheese.  Back at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Serve with salsa, and sour cream (Or plain yogurt). 

So I dare ya to try it!  DH says it is a dish he would like me to make again.  Good thing I keep frozen zucchini in 1 cup portions.  Betcha this is a recipe you will not find any where else. 
Well off I go to finish up making some apple butter.  See ya next time!

You know the old saying...

"The Good Lord put me here to accomplish a certain number of tasks before I die...Right now I am so far behind I will live forever!".  That is how I feel right now.  I went out this morning to tend to the little chickies, and went by the garden.  There are sweet peas that still need to be picked, shelled, and dried.  I have about half the garden put to bed, but there is still that other half.  The chicken coop needs cleaning out..again.  The house needs a good cleaning and arranging to get ready for the Christmas décor that will soon be up.  I have done no Christmas shopping yet.  I am hoping to start around the 25th.  Nothing, however, can be done until I am done getting things together for a Christmas Market I am participating in at our church.  Part of the proceeds go to a crisis pregnancy center in our local area.  Apple Butter(Check, done), Rice Heating pads(Pads done, covers not done.  Hope to do that today), Butter toffee crunch ( Hope to do that on Thursday), some doll clothes I have finished (Not many, but a few outfits), and Cranberry compote(This is looking unlikely as no one has cranberries on sale yet.  Grrr).  Normally by now I would be sewing PJs for the family.  Not sure if that will get done this year.  May need to think of an alternative.  Still hopeful though.  I think once this next weekend is wrapped up, my focus will be able to go to the holidays and all that entails.  As busy as I get, I still love this time of year.  I know, I'm certifiable. 

I would love to impart some frugal tidbit to you, but alas the well is dry...or at least not very cooperative today.  I am sure in the near future some little tidbit will come to mind, but for right now I need to FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS!  Have a great day!

Pretty day.. Thought I would share

In my last post I told you guys about how DH and I were going into the mountains to catch some leaf watching.  I took some pics of the beauty to share with everyone.  WARNING:  I am not a photographer so don't expect much.

The below two pictures were taken at Dukes Creek falls off of Richard Russell hwy just outside of Helen Ga.

There's Dh playing tour guide.  Such a ham!  Gotta love em though.

I Did Not Yield!

I know, sounds like some great and wondrous thing was accomplished, but in actuality I just made pizza.  Hey but it got you to read right?  Let me explain...

This past week I have been trying to get back into the frugal swing of things.  I am back to making bread and crackers; using up stuff, using more dried beans to stretch my meat supply, things of that nature.   In all of the chaos of the past few months with trips to Fla, the garden, work, etc.; I had taken some shortcuts, been using store bought bread (thrift store), and yielding to the temptation to eat out some.  Now in my defense, it was usually two Little Caesar pizzas or a couple of Subway footlongs for $10.  Still, not a good use of my resources.  So, back to the frugal band wagon.  Yesterday was extremely hard since I was to work the whole day.  I didn't get off work until 5pm and arrived home to find the kitchen a mess.  I grumbled and complained, but loaded the dishwasher anyway.  DH apologized for not loading the dishes.  I need to post here that it wasn't his job to do the dishes.  It was the job of Rubic and Einstein.  Need to work on that one.   But, while in the throws of guilt DH was truly susceptible to coercion for eating out.  In other words, he agreed to go pick something up for dinner.  Oooo I thought about it......long and hard.   But in the end I told myself to just go ahead and make the pizza at home.  Christmas is coming, everyone else's birthday is coming, Car Insurance and tags are due; so that $10 here or there adds up.  So I took the frugal road and feel much better for it.  The pizza turned out great and all were happy with the results.

I share all of this with you because I want to emphasize;  Being frugal is work.  The more frugal you are the more effort goes into it.  That being said, it is worthy of your effort.  Either way I have to work.  I can either leave my home and spend 40+ hours a week to earn a paycheck (In which Uncle Sam will take a sizable sum ((Cause we are rich ya know)), or I can put forth a little more effort at home to save money.  This is the whole concept of "a penny saved is a penny earned".  Saved money is money that isn't taxed by the way.  Knowing all that, I am still human and can easily be lured into taking an easy way out.  Now this is not to say that we can never have fun, but it needs to be fun that is both planned and budgeted.  For instance, we are going to see the new Thor movie next week.  I have budgeted the amount for tickets.  We, as a family, enjoy the Marvel movies at theaters and so make a point to see them as a treat.  We don't buy refreshments there unless we are "Vacationing".  Then it is like a planned amusement park trip and we expect the ridiculous prices.  Otherwise we might have an ice cream afterward or some other such inexpensive treat.  In other words, we pick and choose our battles.

On the agenda today is a trip to the Nora Mills granary in Helen, GA.

We are on our way there today to pick up more wheat berries for grinding.  On the way DH and I will be enjoying the peak leaf watching in the mountains.  Then it is home for lunch and we promised Rubic and Einstein we would go to some thrift stores for them to search for vintage video games.  They are spending their birthday money, so uh...Yay!  I need to put something in the crock pot for dinner.  Can't believe I am writing this post at 4 am in the morning.  Think I am tired now so will probably go back to bed.  Hope you guys have a great fall day.