How could I leave you so long with out posting about food!? I'm sitting on the couch, surrounded by sleeping dogs (one of which wants more than anything to lay his head on my laptop keypad), tissues, skittles, and coffee. Pretty much covers the basics. As most of you know I am constantly checking and rechecking the balance of our food budget for the month or week. I am trying to do this in an effort to save us money by only allowing us $60 a week on groceries. Groceries, I might add, include but are not limited to, light bulbs, milk, bread, dog food, or food for a party we host. I got into some trouble over that one! To my great joy and elation I discovered that although we went over nearly every week in January we came in $20 under last week and this week could either count as January or as February. Which means... drum roll please.... we can put the last week of January's money in to paying off where we went over. It equals out meaning that January we didn't go over at all. Now on to being better with food in February. Plus I'm super excited about buying milk this week since last week we had to do with out. We don't really use milk that often and most of it goes towards those special mornings when I put some in my coffee and then add some of that powdered hot chocolate mix... my own special mocha. I've had to do without this week and it's been difficult.
I never really explained our financial ideas in this blog because I figured that it was pretty obvious but recently it seems that some people still do not get it. Granted I can't trust that everyone I know reads my blog, but for the record here is that entry explaining why we do the things we do. It's rather simple actually. We try try try to only spend $60 on groceries every week because we know that not only is it possible but it will let us use our money to do other things, namely, become financially independent. By independent I mean pay off our debt. Jaime and I hate the idea that we are living off of borrowed money. Being in debt is a tough battle and a long one at that but it would be even longer and tougher if we didn't get rid of it now. Right now we are both working full time and right now we don't have any dependents (besides fur children). So basically all we pay for is food, rent, utilities, insurance, and debt. Well as of two weeks ago Jaime and I finally paid off our credit card debt besides the TV... which we just paid off last week :) Debt that had been piling up for 6 years that we have been paying into, and cutting our food budget to do so, for nearly 3 years. Just imagine what it had been if we just payed minimal payments?
Recently I've been reading a lot about the idea that the Husband is the provider of the household and that the Wife is like a caretaker or something. I think this is a pretty basic and classic example of the American life. However, it's been pressing on my mind more and more the more I hear about it and the more I read about it. Did you know that I actually know people who have a 'stay at home wife' without any kids? Really? And I'm not talking about people who are settled and in their early retirement stages, I'm talking about people in their twenties. To be completely honest I think that this style of life is a cop out. I find it true more and more in the 'Christian' community. (in quotes because I don't believe it's really a Christian thing to do, I think it's a trendy and convenient thing to do) As a believer I believe that God has called me to be a help mate to my husband. I know that eventually when we have a child I will want to stay home and care for them and I have no problem with people who stay at home with their children, I actually think it's a wonderful idea. However... when you have no children and your husband is working over time to support you... how can you not feel selfish?
Again, this is just another jumbled up and confusing post. I guess what I'm getting at is this, your responsibility. Not just with money, but with other things. I personally believe that you should be responsible for the money you spend and that you should try to get things like finances in control before you bring another person into the world. I've heard countless times that the reason you have lots of children is because "they are a blessing" or that the Bible says having lots of children is like having a "quiver full of arrows". None of this in my mind rules out adoption. What do Christian families in China do? The Bible told them to have a quiver full of children and to go forth and multiply but their government said they can only have one child... Maybe, just maybe it's because the Earth is already populated and that by having multiple children is causing more of a hindrance than it is being a blessing. All I'm saying is that when the Bible was all put together after Christ's death the world's population was roughly 190 million. Did you know that that is a little over half as many people living in the USA today? Just the USA. Guess how many people are living on the Earth right now? 6,000 million.
Which brings me to my other point... babies. I'm amazed AMAZED by people who have tons o kids. I was really excited to find out that the Duggar family could possibly be on their last baby. When I see people who have that many children I just think... how could you be so irresponsible? The world doesn't need more people, actually, I think it could use less. Why did the Duggars have to have so many children? Why couldn't they adopt? Did you know that India's population increases something like 20 million people a year? Where are those people going to live? What are they going to eat? I always thought that I would like to have three children because three sounded like such a good solid number. I was only concerned with my children having someone to play with, and us enjoying three little babies. But what I didn't realize is this. Even if we have just two children, thinking, we're being responsible, those children will replace us when we die so we won't be overpopulating the world. But that's not true. Let's say we have those two children. Jaime's mother only had one child, Jaime. But then Jaime and I have two children. It's possible, despite her failing health, that Joan may live to see great-grandchildren because let's face it people are living longer now. My grandparents are great-grandparents now. That means that out of this one woman, 7 will have been produced to replace her before she dies. Out of my two grandparents alone (not counting spouses their children married) guess how many children replace them when they die? 13. That math just doesn't add up.
Christians I believe are blinded into taking the world for granted. I'm sure there are other groups of people I could classify here too but I'm speaking specifically about Christians. I think we view the Earth as something God gave to us for our enjoyment, a gift, a present... or a temporary place for us to live, a hotel. If you think for one moment about yourself as an Atheist, or maybe an Agnostic and then view the world through those eyes what would it look like? Would it be a present from some outer power given to us because we are just so adorable and helpless? I think most people who aren't believers think that the Earth is a place where they just happened to be born, that this is where they are going to live until they die. It's that simple. Why wouldn't we want to take care of what we've been given. It's like that parable in the Bible about the talents. In my opinion we should care for what we've been given like the servant who was given 5 talents and then went out and made more talents with it. I don't think that verse is just talking about money although that's all I've ever heard it talked about. It's about taking responsibility for what we've been given. We just happen to earn money, but we've been given the Earth. What ungrateful children we must look like when we waste our resources. Why are we having more and more children knowing that it will cause other species to die out, knowing that we don't have enough food for them all? Why are people appalled at the idea of a Victory Garden on the lawns of the White House? Apparently some people think that the Earth is here to look good, and I'm proud of the fact that the President and his wife thought they could use it for something good. Did you know that by June of last year they had produced over 100 pounds of produce and counting and that everything in excess was donated to local schools. Why can't we get on board?
Oh the responsibility of the world! People can be so selfish, and I'm not innocent by any means. I think most people just think that by being ignorant of what's going on around them they can be in the clear. Like... why are we at war right now? Is it about finding Bin Laden? Or is it about the oil, and the fact that because there are too many people in the world oil is running short? What can you do about it? Where is your money going? Where could you be helping someone else? What's wrong with tap water? Why buy bottled water when you have perfectly good drinking water. Did you know that there is a water crisis in most of the world and that Americans, who are provided perfectly good water to drink, would rather pay money for it to come in a bottle? Ok ok, I have a Brita Filter.. sue me. But it's a heck of a lot better than bottled water. Plus it's almost impossible to recycle in Alabama! Ugh don't get me started. So for serious, what are you doing to be more responsible?
I'm going to buy groceries for under $60 this week. I'm going to be more responsible with my list so I have 'optional' foods that I can put back if I go over, instead of just buying them anyway. I'm going to attempt to build my own sustainable garden on our porch. More on that later :) I'm also going to be responsible and take a nap to try to get rid of this cold.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
This is not only jumbled but full of complaints.
As my friend, Sarah, pointed out it's been 8 days since my last blog post which is far too long. Can I just tell you the craziness of the last few days has wiped me out. Tuesday I started to get sick and by Wednesday I had a fever, went home sick and slept ALL DAY LONG. Today I don't have a fever but still didn't want to teach the kiddies just in case. I mean, I sound like a man, and I'm coughing and coughing and coughing, my throat is on fire!, so would you really want me around your child? I think not. On a more personal level I have a fever rash. I'm not sure if you're supposed to grow out of this stage or not, it seems rather childish to me to have all these red dots on my chest, but, it's one way for me to say I'M SICK! Only, I'm not going to pull up my shirt to show you, you'll just have to believe me.
This semester I've added four new students to my schedule which doesn't sound like a lot at first but it pulls me up to 20 students in only three days of teaching. I'm still working around 30 hours at Ellis as well as singing at EWTN. Oh and if that wasn't busy enough, my boss at Ellis put me in charge of managing the website... I don't know anything about websites. I know how to get stuff done. I don't know anything about websites... All of this is to say that I'm busy and it really caught up to me this week when I got sick. Nothing is more frustrating than having to cancel lessons when you're sick. You don't feel good and on top of it your perfect schedule of no make up lessons is ruined. Not that it's that difficult to make up lessons, but when four students have taken up all the holes in your schedule it's hard to find places for them. I mean.. who wants to make up a lesson at 7:30 or 8pm on a Tuesday night? Not many elementary students. Enough complaining. The time off from teaching has given me hours of sleep which will hopefully aid in the recovery.
The good part of being sick is that we ate Moe's today. Lauren I do confess I Moe-cheated on you, we'll make up later this next week ok? It's so good to eat some comfort food when you don't feel good. And by we, I mean, my husband and me because he's sick too. lol.. everyone in the Black family is sick, minus the dogs.
Jaime and I watched a movie last night called Stranger than Fiction that brought up a lot of questions about death. If you haven't seen this movie it might be worth seeing, or maybe it's just that I really enjoyed it and everyone else would think it's lame, wouldn't be the first time! This man, Harold Crick, is having his life narrated by a woman writer who is famed by killing off her characters. He finds out about half way through the movie that he is going to die and freaks out, understandably. After seeing this movie I thought a lot about what it would be like to know that you are going to die when it occurred to me that.. duh.. we're all dying. We're all going to die someday. Dustin Hoffman's character brings up that idea. He tells Harold that he's going to die somehow, either in his sleep, of old age, being hit by a car, who knows. I thought that the movie was really well done and the ending of it was very sentimental. Harold Crick goes straight to his death the way that the author, Emma Thompson, had written he would die only she changed the ending so that he wouldn't die, just be seriously injured. She later explained to Dustin Hoffman that someone who would willingly go to their death knowing that they are going to die, well, that's someone you'd want to keep around isn't it? The most interesting part of the movie, to me, was that when Harold knew he was going to die he started to live his life to the fullest. It made me wonder why people don't do that more often since, well, we're all dying.. technically.
I obviously don't have my thoughts all organized tonight :) I basically just summarized a movie plot and said how cool I thought it was. So, thanks for your patience!
So what are we doing with our lives? What am I doing with my life? This is mostly a question pointed at work, nothing deeper :) I mentioned a while back that I eventually want to move to a full time teaching studio. It's such a delicate balance between working my day job and teaching. I can keep up my current schedule for this semester, but I can't keep it up full time! Somethings got to give. Not that I don't mind working 10-14 hour days, I mean, who doesn't like that?!
Oh and on top of that.. (this entry is all about complaining by the way) I've decided to start training for a half marathon. Not that it's really a big deal.. well.. I kinda doubt that I'll be able to complete the whole thing, but I desperately need a schedule with my running or it will just stay the same which is very very boring. So.. working around 50 hours a week plus running four days a week? Emily, I'm very very excited about running with you, don't get me wrong, but right now, in my fever rash craziness I'm a little freaked out :) And for those of you who are worrying about my Moe's eating fascination combined with running... don't you worry about a thing. I had my veggies tonight.
I'm ready for a vacation already. Luckily for me I have two destination weddings to go to this year. Destination meaning.. I've never been there before and it's a destination for me! The first in Kansas for Lynnora!!! College roomie!! I've never been to Kansas and I can't wait! It's amazing to think that by the time she gets married I'll have been married for nearly 3 years.. she had emailed me recently about 'advice' and I thought.. gosh, have I been married that long? It seems like yesterday that we were all in South Carolina... oh reminicing! The second destinataion wedding is going to be in Arizona! My imaginary friend Rennai is getting married and I'm so very very excited to be going to her wedding. Not only going, but wearing the lovely color Grape as a bridesmaid. How exciting to think that the first time we'll actually meet in person will be at her wedding?! What if I'm a man? Rennai, did you ever think of that? We shall see.... we shall see... Right now I think I'll focus on finding some chocolate to eat which I know will make my sickness go away.
This semester I've added four new students to my schedule which doesn't sound like a lot at first but it pulls me up to 20 students in only three days of teaching. I'm still working around 30 hours at Ellis as well as singing at EWTN. Oh and if that wasn't busy enough, my boss at Ellis put me in charge of managing the website... I don't know anything about websites. I know how to get stuff done. I don't know anything about websites... All of this is to say that I'm busy and it really caught up to me this week when I got sick. Nothing is more frustrating than having to cancel lessons when you're sick. You don't feel good and on top of it your perfect schedule of no make up lessons is ruined. Not that it's that difficult to make up lessons, but when four students have taken up all the holes in your schedule it's hard to find places for them. I mean.. who wants to make up a lesson at 7:30 or 8pm on a Tuesday night? Not many elementary students. Enough complaining. The time off from teaching has given me hours of sleep which will hopefully aid in the recovery.
The good part of being sick is that we ate Moe's today. Lauren I do confess I Moe-cheated on you, we'll make up later this next week ok? It's so good to eat some comfort food when you don't feel good. And by we, I mean, my husband and me because he's sick too. lol.. everyone in the Black family is sick, minus the dogs.
Jaime and I watched a movie last night called Stranger than Fiction that brought up a lot of questions about death. If you haven't seen this movie it might be worth seeing, or maybe it's just that I really enjoyed it and everyone else would think it's lame, wouldn't be the first time! This man, Harold Crick, is having his life narrated by a woman writer who is famed by killing off her characters. He finds out about half way through the movie that he is going to die and freaks out, understandably. After seeing this movie I thought a lot about what it would be like to know that you are going to die when it occurred to me that.. duh.. we're all dying. We're all going to die someday. Dustin Hoffman's character brings up that idea. He tells Harold that he's going to die somehow, either in his sleep, of old age, being hit by a car, who knows. I thought that the movie was really well done and the ending of it was very sentimental. Harold Crick goes straight to his death the way that the author, Emma Thompson, had written he would die only she changed the ending so that he wouldn't die, just be seriously injured. She later explained to Dustin Hoffman that someone who would willingly go to their death knowing that they are going to die, well, that's someone you'd want to keep around isn't it? The most interesting part of the movie, to me, was that when Harold knew he was going to die he started to live his life to the fullest. It made me wonder why people don't do that more often since, well, we're all dying.. technically.
I obviously don't have my thoughts all organized tonight :) I basically just summarized a movie plot and said how cool I thought it was. So, thanks for your patience!
So what are we doing with our lives? What am I doing with my life? This is mostly a question pointed at work, nothing deeper :) I mentioned a while back that I eventually want to move to a full time teaching studio. It's such a delicate balance between working my day job and teaching. I can keep up my current schedule for this semester, but I can't keep it up full time! Somethings got to give. Not that I don't mind working 10-14 hour days, I mean, who doesn't like that?!
Oh and on top of that.. (this entry is all about complaining by the way) I've decided to start training for a half marathon. Not that it's really a big deal.. well.. I kinda doubt that I'll be able to complete the whole thing, but I desperately need a schedule with my running or it will just stay the same which is very very boring. So.. working around 50 hours a week plus running four days a week? Emily, I'm very very excited about running with you, don't get me wrong, but right now, in my fever rash craziness I'm a little freaked out :) And for those of you who are worrying about my Moe's eating fascination combined with running... don't you worry about a thing. I had my veggies tonight.
I'm ready for a vacation already. Luckily for me I have two destination weddings to go to this year. Destination meaning.. I've never been there before and it's a destination for me! The first in Kansas for Lynnora!!! College roomie!! I've never been to Kansas and I can't wait! It's amazing to think that by the time she gets married I'll have been married for nearly 3 years.. she had emailed me recently about 'advice' and I thought.. gosh, have I been married that long? It seems like yesterday that we were all in South Carolina... oh reminicing! The second destinataion wedding is going to be in Arizona! My imaginary friend Rennai is getting married and I'm so very very excited to be going to her wedding. Not only going, but wearing the lovely color Grape as a bridesmaid. How exciting to think that the first time we'll actually meet in person will be at her wedding?! What if I'm a man? Rennai, did you ever think of that? We shall see.... we shall see... Right now I think I'll focus on finding some chocolate to eat which I know will make my sickness go away.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Today two different students gave me belated Christmas presents. It's always such a sweet surprise when I receive gifts from my students, especially when they give me Christmas presents on January 19th :) One gave me a sweet card and a Christmas ornament and insisted, a thousand times it seemed, that she had the exact same ornament on her tree at home and that we could share this together. Now all I have to do is pull our boxes of ornaments down from the closet and tuck this away in it until December rolls around again :) The second present I got was a box of really nice chocolates. The brother and sister who gave it to me were so sweet about it, especially the sister. She REALLY wanted some chocolate and I could tell, so I promised if she did a good job in her lesson she could have a piece. Later I discovered that the chocolates she and her brother chose and ate had insides made of a fudged up concoction tasting like liquor. I'm sure it wasn't alcoholic but I couldn't help but chuckle at the idea of my small students eating chocolate and expecting it to taste like a Hershey's bar and instead he got Disaronno or something.
I had the most difficult time waking up this morning. It reminded me of my college days when I would stay out late with friends and wake up with that 'puffy eyed' feeling. Even after Mass this morning I felt like I wasn't fully awake. I got to Ellis and was still so sleepy I was quiet, quiet enough for Mr. Ellis to think something was wrong with me (am I really always that talkative?!). I guess every once in a while it's alright for me to wake up not feeling completely rested. I'll blame it on the mattress. Jaime says I sleep so soundly that there is no need for a new mattress even though it's the most uncomfortable thing I've ever slept on. Unless you count the bathtub... but that was years and years ago. Now Churchill is leaned up against me while I type this, snoring. These dogs love sleeping. His little grumbles are reminding me that I've had one of the longest days of work yet and I should probably just treat myself to some extra sleep.
I've been thinking more and more about taking on more students and gradually filling up my studio, well since I last wrote I've received four new students. Two of which came today. And if it weren't for the awkward 6:30-7pm break I have I would have had 9 back to back students with no chance for me to go home and rest after leaving Ellis. I usually have about 30-45 minutes to run home, grab a snack, play with the dogs, and relax before beginning my teaching, but today, things were hectic. Everything started running late and one of my new students pushed my call time at Hunter Street up by half an hour. I think it was actually easier on me to go straight to Hunter Street to teach, that way I didn't have the down time and then back to work mentality. Because of that I feel very tired right now. Which was to be expected, I mean, you teach 8 students in a day after working since 6:30am you'd think you'd be a little bit tired.
In other news Harry Potter is always in trouble. I can now say that I've dreamed of Hippogriffs and they really do respond better when you treat them with respect. Also, tomorrow is Moe's night and I'm so ready it's not even funny. Jaime said that if he went to Moe's this much he might get tired of it. I want to know how it's possible you could get tired of AMAZING. I mean, he never gets tired of me, right? :) Love you Jaime, I know you like your variety with your food. That's why I cooked you tilapia last night even though I think most fish are sneaky, slippery, foul little sea monsters. Oh and one last thing, I heard the song Poison and Wine by The Civil Wars last night for the first time and instantly fell in love. In the middle of cooking dinner I was so over come that I went to the radio station's website to look up their most recent play list and found it. I quickly returned to the cooking, but not after pulling the song up on YouTube to listen to. If you haven't listened to it you should.
Well the teachers with BMTA are meeting at Ellis early in the morning so I have to get to work before 9:00am or face one very unhappy co-worker. Something about type A personalities, they get personally offended by other people's choices whether they influence them or not. I don't think I'll ever understand it, but I understand enough to not want to work with someone who is continually unhappy. Last time I clocked in at 9:03 instead of 9:00 I never heard the last of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfzRlcnq_c0
I had the most difficult time waking up this morning. It reminded me of my college days when I would stay out late with friends and wake up with that 'puffy eyed' feeling. Even after Mass this morning I felt like I wasn't fully awake. I got to Ellis and was still so sleepy I was quiet, quiet enough for Mr. Ellis to think something was wrong with me (am I really always that talkative?!). I guess every once in a while it's alright for me to wake up not feeling completely rested. I'll blame it on the mattress. Jaime says I sleep so soundly that there is no need for a new mattress even though it's the most uncomfortable thing I've ever slept on. Unless you count the bathtub... but that was years and years ago. Now Churchill is leaned up against me while I type this, snoring. These dogs love sleeping. His little grumbles are reminding me that I've had one of the longest days of work yet and I should probably just treat myself to some extra sleep.
I've been thinking more and more about taking on more students and gradually filling up my studio, well since I last wrote I've received four new students. Two of which came today. And if it weren't for the awkward 6:30-7pm break I have I would have had 9 back to back students with no chance for me to go home and rest after leaving Ellis. I usually have about 30-45 minutes to run home, grab a snack, play with the dogs, and relax before beginning my teaching, but today, things were hectic. Everything started running late and one of my new students pushed my call time at Hunter Street up by half an hour. I think it was actually easier on me to go straight to Hunter Street to teach, that way I didn't have the down time and then back to work mentality. Because of that I feel very tired right now. Which was to be expected, I mean, you teach 8 students in a day after working since 6:30am you'd think you'd be a little bit tired.
In other news Harry Potter is always in trouble. I can now say that I've dreamed of Hippogriffs and they really do respond better when you treat them with respect. Also, tomorrow is Moe's night and I'm so ready it's not even funny. Jaime said that if he went to Moe's this much he might get tired of it. I want to know how it's possible you could get tired of AMAZING. I mean, he never gets tired of me, right? :) Love you Jaime, I know you like your variety with your food. That's why I cooked you tilapia last night even though I think most fish are sneaky, slippery, foul little sea monsters. Oh and one last thing, I heard the song Poison and Wine by The Civil Wars last night for the first time and instantly fell in love. In the middle of cooking dinner I was so over come that I went to the radio station's website to look up their most recent play list and found it. I quickly returned to the cooking, but not after pulling the song up on YouTube to listen to. If you haven't listened to it you should.
Well the teachers with BMTA are meeting at Ellis early in the morning so I have to get to work before 9:00am or face one very unhappy co-worker. Something about type A personalities, they get personally offended by other people's choices whether they influence them or not. I don't think I'll ever understand it, but I understand enough to not want to work with someone who is continually unhappy. Last time I clocked in at 9:03 instead of 9:00 I never heard the last of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfzRlcnq_c0
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
I have much more to speak on today than just these few things but my experimental casserole is in the oven and doesn't have much more time left. It's only experimental because I added chicken and threw out a can of cream of mushroom for cream of chicken and I left out the onion, but I'm pretty sure that when Jaime reads this he'll love me for it. (he hates onions!)
Today I received my CD's from my blogger friend Sea Legs Girl! I can't wait to put them in and listen to them. The most amazing part about it is that one of the songs is Africa which I must tell you, Sea Lets, and the rest of you readers that it was on my wedding CD that we passed out. I love love love that song. And since I was super sheltered growing up (no offense Mom and Dad, NPR is still one of my favorite radio station) I never knew who Toto was until I met my husband. I feel a kindred spirit all the way out in Denmark. Thanks so much Sea Legs!
Teaching started today and I had 100% attendance. I've also been working things out in my head about work and I'll let you in on a little secret, I'm thinking about adding more students. We'll see how that works out, I have to get my ducks in a row first or I'll be working too much, and I get cranky when I work too much.
Thirdly, while I was driving home from teaching I was on Shades Crest Road, the part that goes through the Hoover side of town, Bluff Park? I had the strangest feeling that this road felt more like home to me than anything ever had in Birmingham. Eight years I've been here and finally this road made me feel like I was in Anderson. And it was a good feeling, I can tell you that. It's like all the pieces of a puzzle are coming together and making sense and I love it.
Oh and I guess I should mention that I'm going to Moe's on Wednesday with Lauren and I'm so excited and overwhelmed and even though we just had coffee together last night, Lauren, there is so much more to talk about already! Plus, I'll give a shout out to my friend who I know reads this blog, your facebook status had me laughing and laughing. I could have totally misread it but I hope it meant what I think it means. You are wonderful.
Oh, one more thing!! Quilting - I did a pinwheel block and my are those 45 degree triangles hard to cut out. Anyone who has done this please give me any insight you might have. I bought something to help me cut it with my rotary cutter but without a bigger plan it looks like it would take more time to cut it out than to sew it.. which is true with most quilting but for serious, this is crazy. I should get major props though because I made the one block by cutting out pieces with a paper-whats-it-called-tracing-thingy. I'm very unprofessional, you can tell. Template, that's it! I cut one out of paper and used it. And then I went and bought one of the hard plastic thingy's but it's in a diamond shape, I figured I could use it for several other things but I have a feeling the pinwheel quilt will take me YEARS to finish.
Oh the downside Huxley had major surgeries, fixing and dew claws, and since he's my dog and I'm responsible it comes out of my spending.. yes we have allowances, you've never read my blog before? So I'm too poor to do much of anything, minimal expenses and necessities like sewing products and Moes. Duh. I have a few things sewing wise, a secret project to work on, and I have to pick up a few more items and I can't wait for my allowance to be... full. That's all for now :)
Today I received my CD's from my blogger friend Sea Legs Girl! I can't wait to put them in and listen to them. The most amazing part about it is that one of the songs is Africa which I must tell you, Sea Lets, and the rest of you readers that it was on my wedding CD that we passed out. I love love love that song. And since I was super sheltered growing up (no offense Mom and Dad, NPR is still one of my favorite radio station) I never knew who Toto was until I met my husband. I feel a kindred spirit all the way out in Denmark. Thanks so much Sea Legs!
Teaching started today and I had 100% attendance. I've also been working things out in my head about work and I'll let you in on a little secret, I'm thinking about adding more students. We'll see how that works out, I have to get my ducks in a row first or I'll be working too much, and I get cranky when I work too much.
Thirdly, while I was driving home from teaching I was on Shades Crest Road, the part that goes through the Hoover side of town, Bluff Park? I had the strangest feeling that this road felt more like home to me than anything ever had in Birmingham. Eight years I've been here and finally this road made me feel like I was in Anderson. And it was a good feeling, I can tell you that. It's like all the pieces of a puzzle are coming together and making sense and I love it.
Oh and I guess I should mention that I'm going to Moe's on Wednesday with Lauren and I'm so excited and overwhelmed and even though we just had coffee together last night, Lauren, there is so much more to talk about already! Plus, I'll give a shout out to my friend who I know reads this blog, your facebook status had me laughing and laughing. I could have totally misread it but I hope it meant what I think it means. You are wonderful.
Oh, one more thing!! Quilting - I did a pinwheel block and my are those 45 degree triangles hard to cut out. Anyone who has done this please give me any insight you might have. I bought something to help me cut it with my rotary cutter but without a bigger plan it looks like it would take more time to cut it out than to sew it.. which is true with most quilting but for serious, this is crazy. I should get major props though because I made the one block by cutting out pieces with a paper-whats-it-called-tracing-thingy. I'm very unprofessional, you can tell. Template, that's it! I cut one out of paper and used it. And then I went and bought one of the hard plastic thingy's but it's in a diamond shape, I figured I could use it for several other things but I have a feeling the pinwheel quilt will take me YEARS to finish.
Oh the downside Huxley had major surgeries, fixing and dew claws, and since he's my dog and I'm responsible it comes out of my spending.. yes we have allowances, you've never read my blog before? So I'm too poor to do much of anything, minimal expenses and necessities like sewing products and Moes. Duh. I have a few things sewing wise, a secret project to work on, and I have to pick up a few more items and I can't wait for my allowance to be... full. That's all for now :)
Sunday, January 10, 2010
So first off: GROCERIES! I'm not going to list out everything that I bought because that's awfully redundant. But I will say that we spent right at $56. This is huge for two reasons, first because we bought $10 worth of paper towels, and because I have awesome menu's planned for this week. Pot Roast with a side of veggies, Chicken Cheese and Broccoli Casserole with Zucchini and Potato Bake, the obvious pizza night, Venison Tips with veggies and rice, you get the picture. It's really nice to look forward to good meals. The one I don't want to eat is the pot roast, for no good reason either. Oh and I also got all the stuff to try to make fudge, we'll see how that turns out after it's finished cooling. Something about getting to the hard ball stage? I just know I tried not to make a big mess.
It's freezing here in Alabama, and that is no light statement. It was so cold yesterday that my car door wouldn't open. Plus it snowed and even though it didn't really stick it made the roads icy enough for them to put sand on the roads near where we live. Work closed early and opened late the next day. I brought in my philodendron to try to save them from the cold and I'm not sure I saved much. It's such a strange plant! I have a feeling that there is a lot more alive under the ground than above it so we'll see in a few weeks, they are hanging above the sink draining from being watered.
Jaime told me that when it gets warmer he's going to help me build a vegetable garden on the back porch. We have this huge back porch, 15x16 or something like that. I've read about raised vegetable gardens before and since we're planning on staying here for a while I think it would be a great idea. Here's a website that talks a little bit about it: http://www.frameitall.com/rvgsqr2st.html I'm really excited about it. The last frost will happen some time in early April so I might start some seeds in March or late February depending on what I plant. I would love to have tomatoes, spinach, maybe some sorts of squash or pepper, and I would also love to have some more herbs. Oh and blackberries!
I've been thinking a lot about the purpose of life lately, deep issue I know. Specifically the purpose of the years Jaime and I have right now before us and what to do with them. We had a talk last night about our working situation and what we could do to amplify it. I thought about it for a while. We have very specific goals in mind, pay off our debt, our car, save up a good amount in our savings account in case something happens. I questioned several things about my job situation specifically. Just think of how much faster we could achieve these goals if I changed my job, worked let's say, as a secretary in some law firm or something? I have that versus staying in jobs that I love for people that I care about. We talked through it and I know that there are more options but it brought up a very good question. We're still in our 20's, we have the ability to work simply to make money to get ready for bigger things, a family, a house etc. We have the rest of our lives to live out our dream jobs. So what's more important? I could be selfish I keep doing what I have been doing, or I could sacrifice and truly be a help mate to my husband by pitching in a little bit more. I won't talk about it too much more because we really haven't come to any conclusions but I'm excited to think about what I'm capable of. I know that the work I do doesn't add up to as much money as what Jaime makes. I think that I've always thought of that as the norm since I don't know many people where the wife makes more money than the husband, but for our goals.. that doesn't mean that we can't do that. And it doesn't mean that for right now, while I'm able, I can't work a little bit more. What a good conversation to have at the beginning of a new year!
I feel kinda badly for thinking about money and marriage the way I have. That it's ok for me to not make as much money as Jaime and that that's the way it's supposed to be. I made the excuse that if we're going to have children someday that I won't be making any money because I'll stay home to help raise them. But looking back at that idea it seems so silly! That doesn't mean that I can't make more money now. We aren't planning on having children this year or even next year, so that gives me at least two years to try to make as much money as I can to help hold the burden of not working. Jaime said last night that it's a dream of mine to stay at home and raise our children and it is. He said that I should help make that a reality for both of us by working more and making more money now while I can. Boy does that logic make sense :) Leaving the entire financial burden on my husband is totally unfair and what help mate of a wife wants to do that? I'm not saying that we don't make enough money right now or that I don't work over 40 hours a week right now because I do. I guess what I'm saying is that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and knowing that we are that much closer to our goals makes me that much more excited. Jaime's work will be changing this summer as his grant ends for the lab he's working in now. I'm excited to see where we will end up at the end of 2010, but I'm even more excited to be a team with him, to work together to meet our goals.
Ok enough seriousness, it's time to check my fudge!
It's freezing here in Alabama, and that is no light statement. It was so cold yesterday that my car door wouldn't open. Plus it snowed and even though it didn't really stick it made the roads icy enough for them to put sand on the roads near where we live. Work closed early and opened late the next day. I brought in my philodendron to try to save them from the cold and I'm not sure I saved much. It's such a strange plant! I have a feeling that there is a lot more alive under the ground than above it so we'll see in a few weeks, they are hanging above the sink draining from being watered.
Jaime told me that when it gets warmer he's going to help me build a vegetable garden on the back porch. We have this huge back porch, 15x16 or something like that. I've read about raised vegetable gardens before and since we're planning on staying here for a while I think it would be a great idea. Here's a website that talks a little bit about it: http://www.frameitall.com/rvgsqr2st.html I'm really excited about it. The last frost will happen some time in early April so I might start some seeds in March or late February depending on what I plant. I would love to have tomatoes, spinach, maybe some sorts of squash or pepper, and I would also love to have some more herbs. Oh and blackberries!
I've been thinking a lot about the purpose of life lately, deep issue I know. Specifically the purpose of the years Jaime and I have right now before us and what to do with them. We had a talk last night about our working situation and what we could do to amplify it. I thought about it for a while. We have very specific goals in mind, pay off our debt, our car, save up a good amount in our savings account in case something happens. I questioned several things about my job situation specifically. Just think of how much faster we could achieve these goals if I changed my job, worked let's say, as a secretary in some law firm or something? I have that versus staying in jobs that I love for people that I care about. We talked through it and I know that there are more options but it brought up a very good question. We're still in our 20's, we have the ability to work simply to make money to get ready for bigger things, a family, a house etc. We have the rest of our lives to live out our dream jobs. So what's more important? I could be selfish I keep doing what I have been doing, or I could sacrifice and truly be a help mate to my husband by pitching in a little bit more. I won't talk about it too much more because we really haven't come to any conclusions but I'm excited to think about what I'm capable of. I know that the work I do doesn't add up to as much money as what Jaime makes. I think that I've always thought of that as the norm since I don't know many people where the wife makes more money than the husband, but for our goals.. that doesn't mean that we can't do that. And it doesn't mean that for right now, while I'm able, I can't work a little bit more. What a good conversation to have at the beginning of a new year!
I feel kinda badly for thinking about money and marriage the way I have. That it's ok for me to not make as much money as Jaime and that that's the way it's supposed to be. I made the excuse that if we're going to have children someday that I won't be making any money because I'll stay home to help raise them. But looking back at that idea it seems so silly! That doesn't mean that I can't make more money now. We aren't planning on having children this year or even next year, so that gives me at least two years to try to make as much money as I can to help hold the burden of not working. Jaime said last night that it's a dream of mine to stay at home and raise our children and it is. He said that I should help make that a reality for both of us by working more and making more money now while I can. Boy does that logic make sense :) Leaving the entire financial burden on my husband is totally unfair and what help mate of a wife wants to do that? I'm not saying that we don't make enough money right now or that I don't work over 40 hours a week right now because I do. I guess what I'm saying is that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and knowing that we are that much closer to our goals makes me that much more excited. Jaime's work will be changing this summer as his grant ends for the lab he's working in now. I'm excited to see where we will end up at the end of 2010, but I'm even more excited to be a team with him, to work together to meet our goals.
Ok enough seriousness, it's time to check my fudge!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
All About Food!
Let's start the new year out right shall we? Grocery time! I'm mostly posting these groceries because I came in just above budget AND we got some really awesome stuff. This time I looked in the buggy and thought, now that looks like actually cooking material versus pop in the oven type material.
Russet Potatoes 5 pound bag
Sweet Italian Sausage 1 lb
2 Totino's Pizzas
Ground Beef 1 lb
Fresh Parsley
Bananas 2.3 lbs
Penne Pasta
Carrots
Flour Tortillas
Velveeta 2%
Frozen Sweet Corn
Navy Beans
Pinto Beans
The Cheapest Red Wine We Could Find!
Can of Diced Tomatoes
HUGE 28oz Can of Diced Tomatoes
Large Strawberry Jam
mmm Shells and Cheese... mac and cheese
Roasted Red Bell Peppers
Small Tomato Paste
1 Can Beef Broth
Brummel and Brown Butter
Low Fat Sour Cream
6 Yoplait Light's
Garlic
2 Zucchini
2 Coke Zero
Green Giant Frozen Veggie Mix
Frozen Spinach
Quart Storage Bags
Sandwich Bags
All of this for only $61.24
Not too shabby if I must say so myself. We're having friends over for lunch tomorrow and I'm making Aunt Nancy's Italian Wedding soup which calls for Sweet Italian Sausage. Jaime swears that Sweet Italian Sausage is the exact same thing as Mild Italian Sausage, but I'm still skeptical. It is my favorite buy this week because I never could find it at Walmart so we would always buy it at Publix. This time the Walmart we went to had it, and it was $2 cheaper. Two whole dollars!! I was really tempted to buy more than one but we had to stick to our budget. I'm mostly excited because I can make several actual cooking meals this week. The meals I'm planning on making are: Aunt Nancy's Italian Wedding Soup (there might actually be enough for left overs too!), Some sort of Penne, Chicken, and Feta thingy, I can't remember the name, sounds good though!, Broccoli and Cheese Soup, AND Sausage, Red Pepper, and Navy Bean thingy. Four whole meals?! Crazy. Plus I have enough to make pizzas one night, Hamburger Helper another, and Mac and Cheese, which, let's be honest, I want to eat right this very instant. Not the healthiest, Hamburger Helper, and Pizza etc. but I stocked up on enough veggies to take to work with me and to pair up with those meals so that we're doing well. Plus it really helps to have some just fun meals. In December I noticed that we ate out a lot and I think that had to do with not having fun meals at home. I do love Moe's though.
Other news, the dogs have learned to play fetch with each other by pulling toys upstairs and dropping them down.. bringing them back up... dropping them down. They have also discovered and rediscoverd the nastiness that came out of our vaccum in the trash can. I thought I had it hidden enough so that they wouldn't go after it but I was wrong. Vaccum it up once, pick it up two and three more times because of curious puppies.
I also have gotten two packages that I ordered for quilting which I'm very excited about! I got the book Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! which I absolutely love. I also ordered 2 yards of fabric, a jelly roll of
Russet Potatoes 5 pound bag
Sweet Italian Sausage 1 lb
2 Totino's Pizzas
Ground Beef 1 lb
Fresh Parsley
Bananas 2.3 lbs
Penne Pasta
Carrots
Flour Tortillas
Velveeta 2%
Frozen Sweet Corn
Navy Beans
Pinto Beans
The Cheapest Red Wine We Could Find!
Can of Diced Tomatoes
HUGE 28oz Can of Diced Tomatoes
Large Strawberry Jam
mmm Shells and Cheese... mac and cheese
Roasted Red Bell Peppers
Small Tomato Paste
1 Can Beef Broth
Brummel and Brown Butter
Low Fat Sour Cream
6 Yoplait Light's
Garlic
2 Zucchini
2 Coke Zero
Green Giant Frozen Veggie Mix
Frozen Spinach
Quart Storage Bags
Sandwich Bags
All of this for only $61.24
Not too shabby if I must say so myself. We're having friends over for lunch tomorrow and I'm making Aunt Nancy's Italian Wedding soup which calls for Sweet Italian Sausage. Jaime swears that Sweet Italian Sausage is the exact same thing as Mild Italian Sausage, but I'm still skeptical. It is my favorite buy this week because I never could find it at Walmart so we would always buy it at Publix. This time the Walmart we went to had it, and it was $2 cheaper. Two whole dollars!! I was really tempted to buy more than one but we had to stick to our budget. I'm mostly excited because I can make several actual cooking meals this week. The meals I'm planning on making are: Aunt Nancy's Italian Wedding Soup (there might actually be enough for left overs too!), Some sort of Penne, Chicken, and Feta thingy, I can't remember the name, sounds good though!, Broccoli and Cheese Soup, AND Sausage, Red Pepper, and Navy Bean thingy. Four whole meals?! Crazy. Plus I have enough to make pizzas one night, Hamburger Helper another, and Mac and Cheese, which, let's be honest, I want to eat right this very instant. Not the healthiest, Hamburger Helper, and Pizza etc. but I stocked up on enough veggies to take to work with me and to pair up with those meals so that we're doing well. Plus it really helps to have some just fun meals. In December I noticed that we ate out a lot and I think that had to do with not having fun meals at home. I do love Moe's though.
Other news, the dogs have learned to play fetch with each other by pulling toys upstairs and dropping them down.. bringing them back up... dropping them down. They have also discovered and rediscoverd the nastiness that came out of our vaccum in the trash can. I thought I had it hidden enough so that they wouldn't go after it but I was wrong. Vaccum it up once, pick it up two and three more times because of curious puppies.
I also have gotten two packages that I ordered for quilting which I'm very excited about! I got the book Quilts! Quilts!! Quilts!!! which I absolutely love. I also ordered 2 yards of fabric, a jelly roll of
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