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.