Muffie's Place

TGIF

2011-04-21T18:53:00.000-04:00

I know the title is confusing. I know today is Thursday but it is my Friday at work. We have had a wild week. Much of the southeast of the US has had typical spring weather this past week...t-storms, rain, hail and those dreaded (and dangerous) tornadoes.

Actually this all started a couple of months ago when our car bit the dust and refused go one more mile. It sitting in the yard dead. We have been without a car payment for 10 years and really didn't want to go that route, we are trying to stay out of debt and save for retirement. So we had saved and saved and had hoped to buy a used car and pay cash for it. The one we wanted the guy would not deal and he was asking way too much for the car (more than it was worth...yes we did our homework) so we gave up and stopped at a car lot and was thrilled when they had a Jeep Liberty, the only thing it was way more than we had so that meant financing. Guess what since we have had no active credit for the past 7 years we have no credit. We found out that bad credit is better than no credit. We were financed as first time car buyers so that means higher interest rates. I almost fainted when I added up the car payment and the increase in the car insurance (yes the insurance almost tripled - full coverage is expensive even with a good driving record) so now we have an extra $500 coming out each month. Here I was looking so forward to being able to quit working next year after the boys were out of college. Nope have to work to pay for the new to us jeep. Thank goodness it is only financed for 36 months.

Saturday arrived and all hell broke loose and well you may want to get a cup of coffee and get comfy this could take a while. Through it all I can say we have been truly blessed beyond measure this week and not just with the new to us jeep.

Tornadoes...winds of mass destruction. People look at me funny when I say give me a hurricane any day over a tornado. What they don't realize is with a hurricane you get several days notice and you can grab your stuff and run. With a tornado well you are lucky if you can make it to a safe room or a storm shelter. So yeah give me that hurricane any day.

Saturday evening we lost power and did not realize the weather around us was as bad as it was. So we were kind of lax-a-daisy through it. I didn't panic until the lights came back on and we started getting weather reports. My baby (ok so he is 21 one but he is still my baby) was right in the path of a HUGE tornado and he was an hour away. God was gracious and son was safe.

We were in total shock when the news reports started pouring in and there was mass destruction all around us. Five miles south of us a whole community was destroyed as well as several businesses and warehouses. Twenty miles west of us the same thing at national chain hardware was destroyed as well as several other business. Five miles north of us and all the way to where son was destroyed. It looked like a giant had come through with a large weed eater and whacked the tops out of trees and twisted them, kicked roof tops off and flipped cars and truck. But we just had a few limbs down at our house and garbage cans blown over. God was gracious.

Yesterday #2 son tried cooking and had a kitchen fire and again God was gracious and all was spared. No that is not our house that is just what I was imagining on the way home after we got the call that smoke was pouring out of roof. We will need to replace the vent hood and paint (the kitchen was next on the list to paint any way it just got moved up a couple of months). The cabinets will need a good scrubbing inside and out as well as everything that is in the cabinets. Everything in the kitchen is covered in smokey soot. But no major damage. What has to be done will be less than the insurance deductible. So we apply the elbow grease ourselves. The only clothes that will have to washed are the ones that were waiting to be folded. The bedroom doors were closed so the bedrooms were spared from the smoke. I can not sing His praises enough...God was gracious. No lives were lost and we still have all of our possessions.

Now that you have seen how stressful my week has been, and today is only Thursday, you understand now why I am so happy that today is my Friday.

You might be a terrorist if....

2011-04-05T11:55:00.000-04:00

No this is not a take on Jeff Foxworthy's "You might be a Redneck." I read an interesting article today on another blog. It seems that some of us have gone from being a self sufficient / survivalist to being classified as a terrorist.

WARNING: This has put me in a bad mood and I get on my soap box towards the end. It is things like this that just irritate the fire out of me. Suffice to say the more I read the angrier I got.

You might be a terrorist if….

Expressions of libertarian philosophies (statements, bumper stickers)
Second Amendment-oriented views (NRA or gun club membership, holding a CCW permit)
Survivalist literature (fictional books such as "Patriots" and "One Second After" are mentioned by name)
Self-sufficiency (stockpiling food, ammo, hand tools, medical supplies)
Fear of economic collapse (buying gold and barter items)
Religious views concerning the book of Revelation (apocalypse, anti-Christ)
Expressed fears of Big Brother or big government
Homeschooling
Declarations of Constitutional rights and civil liberties
Belief in a New World Order conspiracy

And if that is not bad enough then you might be a terrorist if….

Groups that hold the anniversaries of certain dates as significant such a Ruby Ridge, Waco and Hitler’s birthday
Oppose abortion, support gun rights and are affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan
Are fearful of big government, espouse support for the Constitution and want to kill police officers
Groups that collect firearms, survivalist books and explosives
These extremists read books such as Patriots, One Second After and The Anarchist Cookbook
They are religious zealots, reading the book of Revelation, speak of the second coming of Christ and plan mass murders to summon the end of the world
These people grow their own food, raise livestock and plot attacks on commercial food production facilities

And are you ready for this you might be a terrorist if….

Believe the Second Amendment gives you the personal right to own a gun.

Former military or law official

Now my questions are…

Am I a religious zealot because I read the book of Revelation but I don’t plan mass murders, I don’t believe that will summon the end of the world and I believe that murder is a sin.
Am I a terrorist because I homeschooled our children because we were in a horrible school district and I wanted them to be able to read and write beyond a third grade level?
Am I a terrorist because I grow a garden and want my own livestock but have no intentions of plotting an attack on commercial food facilities, heck I don’t even know where a commercial food processing facility is?
Am I a terrorist because I oppose abortion and support gun rights but am not affiliated with the KKK?
Am I a terrorist because I fear economic collapse especially with the way the economy is headed? (I personally think I would be a fool not to entertain the idea of economic collapse)
Am I a terrorist because I do not like big governments and I support the constitution but some of my best friends are police officers and by no means do I want to kill them?
I am more of a constitutionalist than I am libertarian so does that make me a terrorist?
Is my son terrorist because he former military even though he is considering reenlisting?

This is like saying all minorities are on welfare and getting food stamps. It is like saying that if you live in public housing you are trash and should not be allowed to breathe the same air as those that work. It like saying people that have large families are only doing it for the Medicaid, food stamps and other benefits they might qualify for; don’t they scream racist and racial profiling when these ideas at batted around but is the above the same thing?

I for one do not like labels, and personally I do not care to be labeled as a terrorist when all I am doing is trying to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table and do it within the legal confines of the law. I was raised to not be beholden to anyone especially the government. The motto of my house growing up was if you don’t work you don’t eat. Even if meant all you did was sweep the floors. I can remember at a very young age my mother putting the ironing board as low as it would go and teaching me to iron dollies and pillow cases and that was my job then she added other things like pants and blouses and skirts until the point came when ironing was my chore. Why should I be labeled a terrorist if I want to feed my family food that they are not allergic to and does not send their blood sugar or blood pressure through the roof? Why should I be labeled a terrorist if I am not taking from the government but am giving my fair share?

Love my King of the Grill

2011-04-03T17:36:00.000-04:00

Hubby was awesome today. After church he grilled everything he could get his hands on so now we have dinner and lunch for the next 3-4 days depending on if I can stretch the roast for 3 meals.

He grilled shrimp, steaks, chicken and a roast. I put potatoes and onions in foil and we had shrimp and steak for lunch. So now we have chicken for BBQ baked potatoes, fajitas or quesadillas(probably both) and Caesar salad. We have steak for fajitas and shrimp for quesadillas.

The roast hasn't been cut the coals died before it was finished. He actually tossed it on the grill frozen. So it is wrapped in foil and I am going to put it in the crock pot on low either Tuesday or Wednesday before I leave for work, that evening we will have roast, creamed potatoes and asparagus. Then we will have fried rice, and roast beef sandwiches, if (and that is a big if) I can squeeze one more meal out of it maybe beef and bean burritos.

I love days like today when my grill king goes to work. Makes my week a whole lot easier, even if it means changing up the menu. I will do it in a heart beat if means less prep time in the kitchen and more time with him.

A True Wife

2011-03-28T20:12:00.000-04:00

"A true wife makes a man's life nobler, stronger, grander, by the omnipotence of her love 'turning all the forces of manhood upward and heavenward.' While she clings to him in holy confidence and loving dependence she brings out in him whatever is nobles and richest in his being. She inspires him with her courage and earnestness. She beautifies his life. She softens whatever is rude and harsh in his habits or his spirit. She clothes him with the gentler graces of refined and cultured manhood. While she yields to him and never disregards his lightest wish, she is really his queen, ruling his whole life and leading him onward and upward in every proper path. -JR Miller

Gardening Muffie's Way LOL

2011-03-22T16:56:00.000-04:00

Ok so I have been struggling to come up with something to use for my square foot garden this year. I really don't want to invest in the timber or bricks to make a raised bed since we rent and will not be staying here after this lease is up. I am getting antsy the days are getting longer and warmer and I want a garden. Then I hit upon a brilliant idea but some else had already come up with it so I am officially stealing it.

I am going to line mine with landscape paper so weeds will not grow up through the drain holes I drill.

I have to buy one for the dog anyway. We have a 100 pound black lab and he loves water so he is getting a pool this summer. So what is one or two more especially since I will have FRESH MATERS!!! and cucumbers and lettuce and bush beans. Ok so you get the idea. I am ready for fresh fruit and veggies.

Grocery Store Survival

2011-03-18T11:00:00.001-04:00

Well earlier this week I posted my household notebook. Today I am going to show you my grocery shopping survival notebook. To tell you how much I detest shopping - I had rather scrub toilets than go shopping – that is any kind of shopping unless it is to a nursery or the garden center at Home Depot or Lowe’s. I love plants and I could spend hours up hours and mega bucks on plants. Good thing hubby always with me when I go to garden centers.

I have tried everything when it comes to coupon clipping – envelopes, those little expanding filed folders, a basket, a file box. Yes I have tried it all and still was not successful coupon queen. That was until a friend showed me her system - I copied her (Thanks Kayla.) It consisted of a 2 inch 3 ring binder and baseball card sheet protectors and it worked for me; however, hubby said his fingers were to fat to get the coupons out so he would never use them unless I was around and got them out for him. So I remade the pages using CD sheet protectors, not as happy with them as I was the card protectors, they tend to fall out if the notebook is turned upside down. HOWEVER, hubby likes this set up better and is using the coupons, so I will deal with it if it means he will use them. This was a little more of an investment than the house hold notebook but it has paid for itself in savings already. I did add a few extras to my binder that she didn’t have but hey that is just me.

My survival Notebook

Tools of the trade - pens, pencils, calculator, post-it notes

These are the new pages. Like I said not as thrilled with them but hubby likes them and if he will use the coupons it makes it all worth while.

Now this is actually copies of what is in the household notebook. I do this for two reasons -
1. So I will only have to take one notebook with me.
2. So I will have the sheets with me at the store. I take copies of the store's price list so that I can up date it and I also like to have the inventory sheets so that if I run across an unadvertised special and I can check and see if I need the sale items.

Well I hope this helps you, gives you some ideas a motivates you to clip coupons and save save save!

Happy Clipping
Muffie

Our Household Notebook

2011-03-14T13:36:00.001-04:00

Many moons ago I had a household notebook but we stopped homeschooling, then we moved and well let’s just say the past few years have been not as organized as previous years. A few days ago my darling husband was home sick and he cooked dinner. Well he pulled items from several different meals that I had planned which prompted a unplanned trip to the grocery store. He was not pleased and said I must post the menu so if he cooks he knows what to cook. He went one step further and told me he expected me to get my household notebook back out and start using it…Household Notebook? Oh heavens I had no idea where that notebook was or if it was even still intact. So to stay in my hubby’s good graces I started searching online. I found two sites that had printable forms www.organizedhome.com and www.avirtuouswoman.org It took several days but I now have my household notebook back. It is not as awesome as my previous one but hey it is a work in progress. So here are some pictures to give you an idea of what my notebook looks like and what all I have in it.

Even I can read that LOL I didn't take a picture of the spine but it has a label that says Household Notebook that can be seen across the kitchen.

This is for those times we leave the kids home alone. Ok put down the phone and no one panic. Our "kids" are college students, our baby just turned 21. So now you see why I put that as the first page. LOL

May daily To Do list. I don't use this as much as I previously did. Since I work outside the home I have my calendar at work. I can't wait to be ONLY a "housewife" again. :-)

The menu planner that he wanted. Guess I will have to get used to using it again.

My Freezer and Pantry Inventory sheets. And I have already discovered a problem. My freezer inventory sheets are too dark for pencil. I have recopied them on to lighter colored paper and pencil shows up just fine now.

What these are used for is to record every thing in the pantry and the freezer. I used tick marks but not in groups of five. I use one tick mark for each one (like so - |||||||||||)then all I have to do is erase one tick mark. This helps with shopping and also lets me know how much food I have in the house at any given time.

This my friends is a life savior. This is where I keep a list of food I normally buy like mustard, mayo, flour, sugar, etc and I write the price per store. I have five stores I shop from - Food Lion, Kroger, Aldi, Sav-A-Lot and IGA. This way when I am in a certain store and I know we need something I will pick it up. It also helps to see how food cost are rising.

I have a page of for family birthday and anniversaries. I have a zipper pouch behind this with birthday cards and anniversary cars, stamps and a pen. That way I can be sure and send out birthday cards and anniversary cards on time.

I even added our address book to this binder. The whole purpose of this binder is to have everything at your finger tips. It is also a must in an emergency situation where you have to grab and go.

This is something new I am going to try. Since all the nieces and nephews are grown and have their own families I decided to add family information sheets. There will be one sheet per family member with their sizes, favorite teams, favorite colors and other gift buying information. Hopefully this will help take the guess work out of gift buying (or at least some of it)

OOOO AAAHHHH pretty tabs and look at all the colors. Yes I used lots of colors and every section has a tab so hopefully hubby will be able to find what he is looking for - hopefully?

Now these are check list that kept in file folders laying around but have decided that I am going to keep them in the notebook. These are check list for the first aid kit, packing list for when we go on vacation, picnic and camping packing list. And the one that has saved us before the "before we leave" list. This way I will have them at our finger tips and will not have to look for them.

Now as I said at the beginning this is a work in progress. The original picture was a two (2) inch binder but have since moved it to a three (3) binder and added a pencil pouch in the front. I also put a larger zipper pouch for bills in there along with the check book. This got it off the computer desk. In the back I have added zipper pouches for each of us and put copies of our birth certificates, immunization records, and a disk of pictures. I have also added zipper pouches for insurance. I also have a zipper pouch for tax forms and have the last seven (7) years there. I did all this for the simple reason we live nine hours (9) and three (3) states away from our families. If anything happened and we had to leave under emergency conditions I can just grab the binder and go it will have everything we need and I can sort the details later.

As soon as I get my coupon notebook revamped I will post pictures of it.

Have a wonderful and blessed day
Muffie

Observing Daylight Savings Time

2011-03-12T16:46:00.000-05:00

For those of us observing daylight savings time

don't forget to set your clocks forward tonight. I for one detest this springing forward and falling back. Why can't we just leave well enough alone.

Food Rotation

2011-03-12T15:31:00.000-05:00

So you have bought your first bit of long term storage food and you found an out of the way place to store it. Now what? Well take a deep breathe grab and Sharpie marker because the fun has just begun. Now you have to rotate this food.

WHAT?!?! But you said it was long term storage food!

I said take a deep breath. Yes it will be your food storage but you still need to rotate it so that when you do need it you won't be eating stale food.

Here is how this works. You buy food you normally eat store it and then when you buy more food you put it behind the food that you already have and pull the oldest out and put in you daily rations. See not so hard.

Here is what I do when I bring food into the house. I go to my storage area pull out the oldest food of what I just bought put it in my cabinets for us to eat during the week. Write the date I purchased the new food on top of the can (at least the month and the year) and put it in the back of my storage. It would make life so much easier if I had one of these

but I don't so I had to come up with a plan. Since I usually buy at Aldi or Sav-A-Lot I get their flats and use them between my cans it makes stacking a lot easier. Not only that but it is easy to lift two flats and put another one underneath; keeps things nice and neat. Just be sure and spray any cardboard with roach killer before putting it in your storage pantry. Don't want bugs. Also to make things pretty and to give the flats some extra added support try covering them in contact paper. That way they will hold together better.

Now each week as you buy an extra can or two you will see your long term storage grow and before long you will have you "every day pantry" and your "emergency supply" pantry.

When will I know to use the emergency supply...well when remember when the car broke down and you had to choose between buying groceries and getting the car fixed...well it would have been nice to have an emergency supply then. Or what about now that one of your incomes is no more. Yeah now would be a good time to have an emergency supply.

A good time to rotate your stock is during the holidays when everyone is doing food drives for the local food pantries. Or your children need can goods for the food drive at school. In our area they have certain days that you take so many can goods and get in the State Fair free.

The bottom line is food is a good investment. I don't know if you have been paying attention but food is going up daily along with gasoline. Before long we are going to be facing buying gas or buying food. Seems we have been here before doesn't it. The last time gas was $4 a gallon I would have loved to have a well stocked pantry. It would have given me much needed peace of mind.

But isn't this hording?

No hording is keeping stuff and never using it. This is simply buying and storing and using and buying more. Our social welfare system is seriously stretched to the max. The government pays out more in aid to people in the US than total income earned. It is about to break people and when it does it is not going to be pretty. So for your family's safety and your peace of mind I hope you plan and prepare and store at least three (3) months worth of food, more would be better but three months you will be able to stay put and avoid the ugliness.

Step Two in Preparedness - Food Storage

2011-03-11T16:29:00.002-05:00

Ok so Cathy has her bug out bags made now so YAY Cathy! She was surprised at what all she

already had. So she really didn’t have a big cash layout for bug out bags.

Now she wants to work on long term food storage. I suggest that she start with 30 days at a time and build from there. That is what I did. Where a lot of people go wrong is they will buy a case
of this and a case of that and not really have the makings of a full meal. My suggestion to her is to make a list of 30-45 meals and buy the supplies need to make those meals and to set them aside. That will be her base for her long term food storage. She can then continue buying as things along the way or hit a mega sale or two and stock up on certain things. However try to keep things in balance. You don’t want 200 pounds of white rice and nothing to go with it.

Now I want to look at shelf life of canned good and staples. By no means is this a complete list and its information that I have found online. Freeze dried food have a longer shelf life than dehydrated food. Oh and it is best to store in the natural state. Example – flour only has a shelf life of 5 years (unopened) but wheat (yes the whole berries that need to be ground to make flour) has a 30 year shelf life. I am 48 so 30 year shelf life sounds pretty good to me.

Flour - 5 years
Wheat - 30 years
Spaghetti - 8 years
White Rice - 30 years
Split Peas - 8 years
Mushroom Pieces Freeze Dried - 25 years
Potato Chunks Freeze Dried - 25 years
Green Peas Freeze Dried - 25 years
Apple chips - 7 years
Peach slices Freeze Dried - 25 years
Blueberries Freeze Dried - 25 years
Applesauce - 7 years
Apple Slices Freeze Dried - 30 years
Banana Chips - 7 years
Cheese Powder - 15 years
Non-Fat Powdered Milk - 25 years
Apple Drink Powder - 3 years
Baked Potato Cheese Soup - 8 years
Kidney Beans - 30 years

Now these shelf lives are under optimum conditions with the food stored in proper containers inside Mylar bags with O2 absorbers and around 68 degrees. Here is my thought on metalized liners for buckets or Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers. They don’t cost much and if you are going to invest money (which will be a lot of money over time) in food with long shelf lives then invest in the needed supplies to keep it fresh the longest. You can’t bet the metalized liner

for buckets for less than $3 a piece and a 10 pack of large oxygen absorbers for $10. Take the time and invest the money, this could mean the difference between starving and being fed. Not only that but it will help keep bugs out of your food. Never ever – let me repeat that NEVER EVER store grains like rice, wheat/flour beans etc in the boxes and paper bags they come in at the store. You will have bugs for sure.

Let me give you a little run down on the amount of grains that are suggested per adult

Wheat - 150#
Flour - 25#
Corn Meal - 25#
Oats - 25#
Rice - 50#
Pasta - 25#
Total Grains - 300#

Shortening - 4#
Vegetable Oil - 2 gallons
Mayonnaise - 2 quarts
Salad Dressing - 1 quarts
Total Fats 25 pounds

Beans, dry - 30#
Lima Beans - 5#
Soy Beans - 10#
Split Peas - 5#
Lentils - 5#
Dry Soup Mix - 5#
Total Legumes - 60 pounds

Honey - 3 pounds
Sugar - 40#
Brown Sugar - 3#
Molasses - 1#
Corn Syrup - 3#
Jams - 3#
Fruit Drink, powdered - 6#
Flavored Gelatin - 1#
Total Sugars - 60 pounds

Dry Milk - 60#
Evaporated Milk - 12 (cans)
Other - 13#
Total Dairy - 75 pounds

Baking Powder - 1#
Baking Soda - 1#
Yeast - .5#
Salt - 5#
Vinegar .5 (gallons)

And that is just staples, it does not include fruit and meat and other vegetables. So this will be an on process and a large monetary investment. So protect your investment.

Come back Monday. I am going to show you what I have been working on this week. I finished it today but do not have my camera at work to take pictures.

Preparedness 101

2011-03-08T14:04:00.000-05:00

Since we “spring forward” this weekend I checked my stash of batteries and was shocked to find that those 2 legged mice had been in them again. So I thought while I was doing my “spring” prep check and checking the stuff in our BOBs I would take a look at other stuff. I had a friend call during the midst of me upside down in a tote checking things out and she said “you know I have been thinking about doing that but I don’t know where to start.” So these next few weeks will be just for her. I don't want her caught like this

Where to start? Well there is really no beginning spot to really start I am going to just cover it all the best I can.

First of all we will start with Bug Out Bags. I know I have done one post on this already but there is some much more available I thought I would do a new one. FEMA suggest 72 hours well that is a good start but I lean more towards the 5 day storage. If there was anything I learned from Katrina it was it takes time to get people in where people can’t get out of. Did that make since if not you will figure it out. It takes more than 3 days to get basic supplies to a disaster area. So here is a “suggested” list and by no means is this a complete list.

1. Backpack or an easy to carry bag that you can stuff everything in.
2. Two changes of clothes. Don’t forget socks and sturdy shoes. Remember Snakes.
3. Toilet paper. You can always find a place to potty but you won’t always find TP.
4. Sleeping bag and pillow. If you have to leave you are going need something to sleep on.
5. Flash light with extra batteries.
6. Cell phone and charger. A good car charger as well as a wall charger.
7. Cash – if there is no power ATMs will not work and there is no telling what you might need cash for. I suggest $100 in 5s and 1s a well as a roll of quarters. Remember more the better, but anything over $100 I would do in 10s and 20s
8. Prescriptions – DO NOT forget these.
9. Glasses – if you have spare pare it wouldn’t hurt to pack them so you will have them in case the ones you wear daily break.
10. Rain Poncho or rain suit.
11. Work Gloves. Several good pair of heavy duty work gloves are a must
12. Note pad, pen, pencil
13. Address book – even if you have your cell phone be sure and have a hard copy.
14. Map of your local area. A GPS system is good but again battery operated.
15. Knife, fork, spoon. I would suggest the camping set that clips together.
16. Baby wipes and hand sanitizer (would also add powder helps with the chafing in the heat)
17. Several garbage bags, zip lock bags
18. Radio (solar, hand cranked or batter powered)
19. Walkie Talkies – extra batteries. These are must. Be sure to invest in a good set. These will serve you well on many occasions.
20. Multi tools, a good knife, DO NOT LEAVE HOME WITHOUT THESE
21. Feminine products. Yeah I know but it never fails mother nature arrives at the worst possible time.
22. First aid kit. This does not have to be fancy but a good one never the less. Make your own. Again DO NOT LEAVE HOME WITHOUT THIS.
23. cards, puzzle books, travel games, books and magazines to help pass the time
24. Personal hygiene stuff – tooth brush, tooth paste, deodorant, etc.
25. Personal documents, birth certificate, marriage license, insurance papers etc. It is also good to have family pictures scanned to disk so that if you loose them you will have back ups.
26. Animals now unless you are going to a friend’s for family you have to think about your animals. Most shelters will not allow animals unless they are service animals. So think about food, water and care for them.
27. Food and water for 5 days.

Now let’s look at #27 a little more. Food and water for 5 days may not sound like much but you think 1 gallon of water per person per day. That is 5 gallons just for one person. You will need more if you are pregnant or nursing. FAINT!! I know that is a lot of water but you must have water. We get around the extra water by taking baby wipes to wash with. But we still need it to drink. I have not come up with a good solution to this. Other than buy the 2.5 galls jugs and put them in your car. Now for the food- You will need for this to be food that can be eaten cold and out of the can. So let’s look at some options for food… (remember think high protein…energy food)

Milk – There is now shelf stable milk you can buy and it stores well for about 6 months.
Crackers – there is a wide variety of cheese or peanut butter crackers.
Nuts or trail mix. This is fast energy.
Fruit and pudding cups, these do not require refrigeration.
Canned spaghetti, tuna, jerky etc Remember must be pop top or pack a can opener. Tuna in the pouches are good they don’t take up much space.
Peanut butter, I noticed you can now buy peanut butter in pouches.
Granola bars
Gum
Pop Tarts

Individual servings of cereal
Snack pack of chips
Dried fruit, fruit roll ups, raisins.
Juice boxes
Also powdered drink packages would be good for variety. You can get individual packages that you add to a 16oz bottle of water. They come in variety of flavors from Kool-Aid, Gatorade and lemonade. You can even get juices like cranapple and crangrape juice.

A lot of people like to buy MREs so that they have everything they need. The only thing with an MRE they are like 3000 calories and you only need one a day unless you are really burning the calories.

There is so much out there you just have to look. Just be sure and get ready to eat food that does not require water or preparation. Oh and remember you want it in hard packages. There is nothing worse than trying to eat crushed and broken crackers.

Freezer Friendly…

2011-01-06T08:59:00.001-05:00

Another freezer friendly recipe is spaghetti. I will share my husband’s recipe with you if you promise not to tell. We make this in large batches and then freeze in 2 cup portions. I also use this in my stuffed shell recipe that I posted yesterday. We cook this in the crock pot all day.

1 pound ground beef
1 pound Italian sausage
1 large red onion
1 large white onion
3 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried of parsley
1 teaspoon dried of oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 large can (28oz) crushed tomatoes
2 15 oz cans of diced tomatoes (do not drain)
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 large green bell pepper diced
1 potato

Brown ground beef and sausage drain (I rinse the meat with hot water before adding it to the crock pot to remove grease) and add to crock pot, sauté garlic and onions until just about tender add to meat. Add mushrooms, bell pepper, seasonings and tomatoes to crock pot and stir. Scrub potato leaving skin intact, cut in half and add to crock pot. The potato will absorb the acid that causes indigestion. Set crock pot to low and cook for 8-10 ours. Now I skim any additional grease from the meat off during cooking and discard it.

Either serve or let cool and divide into portions sizes for your family and freeze. If you can this also cans great.

New Year New Post

2011-01-05T16:35:00.002-05:00

So 2011 came in with a bang and I am so far behind on blogging it is not funny. So we discussed foods from biblical times compared to now. This year I am focusing more on Once A Month Cooking (OAMC) so for the next few weeks I will be posting recipes for dishes that my family likes and is freezer friendly.

Today's recipe is stuff shells.

1 large jar of spaghetti sauce
1 box of large shells (cooked according to directions)
1 16 oz container of small curd cottage cheese
1 16 oz container of Ricotta cheese
2 cups Parmesan or Italian blend cheese (save one cup for topping)
3 garlic gloves minced
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

Pour 1/2 cup of sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish and spread with spoon. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all cheeses (expect one up Italian blend that has been reserved for top) in a bowl with garlic and seasoning. Spoon into cooked shells. Placing in a single layer in 9x13 pan. Pour remain sauce over the stuffed shells and top with Italian cheese. Bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbly and cheese is melted.

To use as OAMC stuff shells and freeze. When I freeze my shells I place them on a cookie sheet and cover them with plastic wrap. Then once they are solid I place them in zip lock bags.

When you are ready to cook the dish pour sauce in 9x13 pan and line pan with single layer of stuffed shells top with remaining sauce and Italian blend cheese. Bake at 350 to hot and bubbly. The shells freeze really well.

HINT: Save the Italian cheese from when you were stuffing shells and freeze it with the shells. Cheese freezes just fine.

Fruits and Nuts

2010-12-13T16:46:00.002-05:00

So we have covered grains. Next on our list are Fruits and Nuts. Not only do fruits lower both bad cholesterol and high blood pressure they are highly effective virus fighters. They help stabilize blood sugar and suppress the appetite without robbing the body of necessary nutrients. They can also prevent constipation or help treat diarrhea. Many fruits and nuts go a long way in help fighting cancer also.

Some of the more common fruits and nuts from Biblical times are apples, dates, figs, and grapes. Nuts were usually just owned by Kings. They usually had walnuts, almonds and pistachios groves.

Date Nut Bread

8 oz chopped dates
1 ox dried cranberries
½ cup brown sugar, packed
¼ cup softened butter
¾ cup boiling water
1 egg, well beaten
1 tsp baking soda
1 ¾ cups flour (plain)
½ tsp salt
½ cup chopped almonds or walnuts

Mix dates, cranberries, sugar, butter and boiling water in a large bowl. Stir until butter is melted and sugar well integrated. Let cool, then beat in the egg.

Sift together baking soda, flour and salt. Add to mixture, stirring, not beating. Fold in nuts.

Put mixture in a lightly greased pan and bake for one hour. Cool on rack for 10 minutes, then remove from pan. Serve when completely cool.

Barley the Heart Grain

2010-12-02T14:15:00.003-05:00

Forgive me please for missing yesterday. I left my research information at home and then when I got home I totally forgot to type it up and post it. So today I will post about Barley.

So there were no can openers, no freezer, no microwaves and no drive-thru restaurants during bible times. Yet the people were probably healthier than we are today. Why? Well their food was fresh and in its most natural state.

Barley is among the earliest known and most nourishing grains ever. It was the staple food of the masses. The fact that barley is mention so often in the bible shows that the people consumed large quantities of the grain.

Even today barley is still an important food throughout the Middle East. Between the barley and the low fast high roughage intake this may account for the generally low rate of heart disease in that part of the world. Barley is know as “medicine of the heart” That’s because it is full of beta glucans which is a type of fiber that can lower cholesterol.

Barley is also good for people who suffer chronic constipation. Doctors have had patients substitute barley flour for wheat flour in making bread and most of the patients that consumed at least three serving a day were cured without any further medical treatment. As soon as they stopped using barley flour and went back to wheat they became constipated again.

The hull-less waxy variety of barley contains the highest amount of beta glucans. So look for “un-pearled” when you shop for barley. You may have to request it at a health food or bulk food store. You are most likely to find only pearled in your average supermarket.

The Staff of Life

2010-11-30T08:59:00.001-05:00

Well as promised I am back today and the topic is wheat. I know you are probably thinking wheat how is that eating healthy? Well let’s take a look at some things. First the wheat that from the biblical times is no where near like the wheat we use. Most of us buy bleached white self rising flour. That is not what people used to eat.

The people of Biblical times ate the whole grain. They would gather the wheat, then thrash it to get the wheat berries off and then the way they would glean it would be to lay it on large sheets and toss it in the air and the shaft would blow away in the wind and the berries would fall back on the sheet. That my friend is what they ate…the WHOLE berry.

They would eat it raw or cracked. They would take mortars ad pestles and (which back then was basically two rocks) and grind the wheat in to flour so they could make bread out of it.

Even those of us that buy wheat berries and grind our on flour are still lacking compared to their flour. You see they got the outer shell of the wheat. Our wheat berries have that removed it is called wheat bran. Don’t get me wrong whole wheat flour is better than bleached flour and grinding your own wheat is better than buying whole wheat flour. What I am trying to say is our “modern conveniences” have (in some cases) done us more harm than good.

Tomorrow we discuss other grains.

Eat to Live or Live to Eat

2010-11-29T09:06:00.002-05:00

As the New Year approaches many of us are thinking about our new year’s resolutions. Many will vow to loose weight, start exercising, save money and the list goes on. My one and only resolution this year is to remove fillers and preservatives from our diet. That is no little task…have you read labels lately?

Actually the research has been a daunting task. There is page after page and website after website of information. So I have come up with the best solution I could find. Eat the way they did in Biblical times.

Between now and January 1 I will be sharing the changes I plan on making to our diet and why. This will be a year long process. There is no way I can just change our diets overnight. Not only will it be costly but our bodies would rebel. So for the next 30 days or so I will share what I am adding and what I will be replacing.

Come back tomorrow for the first item…Grains

Happy Birthday USMC

2010-11-10T10:39:00.002-05:00

Today USMC celebrates its 235th birthday. So from a Proud Military Mother (USMC and US Army) THANK YOU to all that have served or are serving no matter the branch. To their families THANK YOU!

A Real Housewife

2010-10-25T11:15:00.006-04:00

I don’t watch reality TV because it is not reality it is scripted just like the rest of Hollywood. Hollywood as well as some of the talking heads in the mainstream media like Bill Maher would not know reality of it slapped them upside the head. I don’t watch talking head shows either. Again it is not reality it is their opinion just like this blog is my opinion. Any way someone sent me a link to a Fox News article (http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2010/10/18/patrick-dorinson-real-housewives-maher-reality-tv-idaho/) and the link to Bill Maher talking head show where he blast conservatives (http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/video.aspx?v=hdSUprSUqG)

Well I will have to agree with the writer of the Fox News article Patrick Dorinson. The TV show Real Housewives is not me no way no how. First of all I do not drink, nor would I ever think about cat fighting in public. I don’t live on a ranch so I am not like the housewives in Mr. Dorinson article but I do work full time, I do all the cooking, all the grocery shopping, most of the laundry, our boys are grown so they do their own laundry. I pay the bills, and still find time to call my mother once a week - we live 9 hours and 3 states apart and last but not least there is hubby time in there as well. I don’t have manicures or pedicures, my hair is not in the latest fashion style cut nor are my clothes the latest fashions. We pinch pennies and always have more month than money.

I couldn’t agree more Mr. Dorinson, people don’t want reality they want fantasy so they can escape their own reality. I would like to see Hollywood and these talking heads survive a week in reality

Car Kits

2010-10-15T10:26:00.002-04:00

As the seasons change people think of time changing, replacing batteries in smoke detectors and clocks but I also think about rotating emergency supplies. This last week made a list for a young couple that is about to get married. My husband and I have been acting as mentors for them in the ways of preparedness. We were discussing first aid kits for his truck and he asked what we kept in our car so I made him a list. I just thought I would share it with you.

FOOD (Non-Perishable) - Power bars, peanut crackers, jerky, hard candy, pop tarts, dry fruit, nuts, etc. Think high protein fast energy and you will be good; remember this is going in your car or truck and it will get hot so chocolate is not what you want, it will be a nasty mess if you ever need it. Remember if you pack cans you will need a can opener and a spoon or fork. This will need to be rotated frequently due to heat.

WATER- you will survive longer without food than you will without water. If it is just you then I suggest a 6 pack of 16-20 ounce bottles. Stop and think about this if you plan on walking away from your vehicle you will need to carry water with you and you will not want to tote 4 or 5 bottles so it might be nice to have a canteen in your car so you can pour water in it that way you can tote easily.

SLEEPING BAG or BLANKET (wool is best) - For combating shock and for staying warm if you end up in a snow bank. Mylar "space" blankets are also good "extra" insulation and they don’t take up much space. The only thing is you will sweat with those mylar blankets so be careful when using them. You will not want to get all sweaty then have to get out in the cold and be wet from sweat.

SHOES or BOOTS- Sturdy sensible boots or shoes that you can hike in or walk in bad terrain in. A pair of heavy socks should be stuffed in each shoe. If you are a female you will not want to walk away from your car in heels. Also if you have to push your car out of the mud or snow you do not want to do that in heels either. You want your feet dry.

MATCHES- in waterproof container, you can never have too many matches. We have been saved many times when we go camping and get there only to realize that we had no matches in our camping gear but there were matches in the car.

FLASHLIGHT- with spare BATTERIES and BULBS. I can not stress this one enough. Please if nothing else make sure you have water and a working flash light at all times. The little LCD ones that you wear on your head are awesome. They free up your hands so you can change a tire or repair a hose. Not only that but it works a headlight (no pun intended) so that people will see you walking on the side of the road.

FIRE EXTINGUISHER - An ABC type, I never would have thought of this but my husband and I were driving my mother’s car and we passed a car that was on fire. My husband stopped was able to help before the fire department got there because my mother had a fire extinguisher in her car. Who knows maybe that car was saved to drive another day.

FIRST AID KIT- Purchase one at auto or drug store, or build you own with what you need. Always keep an updated list of prescription with the RX number from the bottle and pharmacy incase you need to get a few extras to get you through until you get home. Have pills, etc. in approved containers (my mother saves her last prescription bottle just for this reason. Once every three months my mother rotates her stock by using her last prescription bottle, then put them inside ZIP LOCK bag. If you use a liquid medicine, use separate bag from pills. Fishing tackle boxes are awesome for this because of all the little divided trays.

FIRST AID ITEMS
First aid hand book - You never know when your mind will blank and you can’t think straight. It happens especially when that is your spouse or child laying there.
BANDAGES- Assorted- Sterile Adhesive Bandages, Plastic/Cloth – be sure and include knuckle and finger tip bandages also.
2" Sterile Gauze Pads
4" Sterile Gauze Pads
Triangular Bandage
2" Sterile Roller bandages
3" Sterile Roller Bandages
TAPE- Please make sure this is hypoallergenic adhesive tape or silk tape.
SISSORS- Folding Scissors
TWEEZERS/MAGNIFYING GLASS- splinters happen
STITCHING- Needle and Thread (maybe a few buttons too)
CLEAN-UP- wet ones, baby wipes, you get the picture.
Antiseptic
Petroleum Jelly
Assorted Safety Pins
Cleansing Agent or Soap (hand sanitizer is good but there will still be times that you need good old fashion soap and water)
Latex Gloves (you can buy a small box of 50 gloves for a couple of dollars, I keep one in the car because my husband likes to use them if he has to check the fluids and he is dressed up that way he doesn’t get grease all over his hands.
Sunscreen (SPF 30+) be sure and include chapstick with sunscreen also.
Skin Lotion
Burn Cream – never know what you might touch under the hood of the car that is hot.
Preparation H – don’t laugh it reduces swelling and gets rid of the itch from bee stings and bug bits.

NON PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
Aspirin/Non-Aspirin/Ibuprofen/ETC
Anti-Diarrhea Medication
Antacid- Liquid/Tablet
Syrup of Ipecac (Use only if directed by DR or PCC)
Laxative (yes even for the car – we were traveling with family one vacation and our boys were riding with another family member who allowed them to eat gummy worms almost the entire trip and needless to say the boys needed this when we got where we were going.)
Activated Charcoal (Use only if directed by DR or PCC)
Cough Drops
Motion Sickness Tablets
Tooth Ache Kit
Nose & Eye Drops (well at least the eye drops, I have had to use these on trips)
THINGS YOU NEVER THINK OF…
Eye glasses
Eye glass repair kit – you never know when a lens will fall out. Trust me on this one.
Feminine products
Condoms / Birth Control (again think camping trips – enough said)
At least 72 hours of every day prescription meds like blood pressure medicine – this will need to be rotated on a regular basics. You never know when you are going to be stranded away from home. Or if you have to evacuate and you are gone longer than what you planned or you just simply forgot to pack your prescription meds.

PORTABLE RADIO- Portable AM/FM (or AM/FM/TV/Weather,etc) radio, with SPARE BATTERIES. If you leave the vehicle, you will be able to keep up on news and weather effecting your situation.(DO NOT store batteries in this radio, and have SPARE set in separate zip lock bag) The windup radios are ok but you have to wind them once or twice a month for them to stay in working condition. But they are better than nothing.

MAPS – Keep a recent (last 5 years) local map in your car. That way you can find alternate routes home. Let me stop right here and say topical maps are best if you can afford them. These are also a wise purchase of areas that you frequent. Also state maps stop at those rest stations and pick up your free map.
.
NOTEBOOK- A small pocket size notebook or scrap paper that you save from your printer with pen and pencil in a zip-lock bag.

ZIPLOCK BAGS- Extra Gallon or quart bags, a dozen or so will be handy.

GARBAGE BAGS- 2 of the 45 gallon, or 33 gallon. (white or yellow bags would be best because they will be reflective in the rain and dark) These can be used for rain suit by cutting hole in corners and center of top of bag for arms and head. They can protect you and your property.

FLARES- Note- put in large zip-lock bag. NEVER IGNITE A FLARE if GASOLINE is dripping from wrecked vehicle or near dry grass. Use a couple rocks to keep it from rolling on pavement, or use an approved holder. Large folding reflectors are also good. I personally prefer the reflectors. But flares are better at night; however, in some states flares are illegal.

CLOTHING- Old COAT...Thrift stores are my favorite places to shop for emergency clothes. That way I don’t feel like I am spending money we don’t have for clothes we may never use. No I do not rotate these in the car. Simple reason we can wear jeans year round. Be sure and have leather work gloves in pockets and a beanie or toboggan or what ever you call the knit cap you wear on your head. You will need a change of clothing also be sure to include underwear and socks. Just in case you get wet. Also a belt just in case you are not wearing one to begin with. A long sleeved COTTON shirt is good for summer with sleeves rolled up, and is good over existing shirt for layered warmth in winter. Those space bags that you suck the air out of work wonders for this. In the pocket of the coat make sure you have a whistle, mirror and life savers (got to have a way to keep your mouth moist)

SIPHON KIT from Auto Supply Store to siphon gasoline into approved container to add gasoline to empty tank.

Approved container for gasoline. Just think if you have to hike to get gas you will need something to put it in. So pick one up for $5-$6 at your local Wal-Mart or auto store instead of $15-$20 at the gas station when you are desperate.

DUCT TAPE- Stored in a baggie, along with ELECTRICAL TAPE, and couple "extra" Band Aids. Reflective tape is also good to have just in case you are dressed in dark clothes.

WATER or COOLANT – I know I said water earlier but that was for you this is for your vehicle. Minimum of one gallon – two is better.

OTHER FLUIDS – This is like brake fluid, oil, transmission fluid, windshield washer fluid. You need at least one bottle of each.

WIRE CLOTHES HANGER- 2 minimum. Yeah I know these are hard to find now days but stop by your local cleaners and ask them for one.

PAPER GOODS- Box or Tissue some loose tissue in zip lock bag and/or full box or travel size packet I try to keep the last little bits of toilet tissue on rolls and squish them flat and store in zip lock bags. There have been several times we have been traveling and where we stopped did not have toilet tissue.

TOOL KIT Minimum...Pocket Knife with can-opener/bottle opener, cork screw/ 4" blade, etc., Water-pump pliers, combo needle-nose/cutter, diagonal cutters, phillips and standard blade screwdriver, 6- twist ties from garbage bags, roll of electrical tape, piece of "medium" grit sand paper and a zip ties all sizes... SUGGESTED... large standard screw driver for prying or a small crowbar, 8" crescent wrench, vise-grips, set of metric and standard drive wrench ratchet kit, combination metric/standard box/open wrenches, carpenters hammer(a sectional box with assorted nails and screws) safety glasses or goggles.

HOSE CLAMPS – keep a variety of gator clamps. What I mean by gator clamps are the ones that you tighten with a screw driver not the clamps you squeeze with pliers.

CASH- in a baggie 10 ones and 2 fives, along with 5 dollars in nickels, dimes and quarters (pay phone – cell phones don’t work every where).

JUMPER CABLES- be sure they are long and heavy duty.

CAR KEYS- Extra Set OUTSIDE of the vehicle and not in the trunk.

PAPER TOWELS- Roll or couple of CLEAN RAGS

FIX-A-FLAT - Compressed AIR with goop to fill hole

DISPOSABLE CAMERA- w/FLASH- for taking photos at accident scene

ADDRESS BOOK- or short list of important phone numbers (DRS, INSURANCE, with policy numbers auto/medical,

EMERGENCY LIST people to call to take care of you in case you can not tell anyone and the car is searched.

MEDICAL INFORMATION- In envelope with LARGE LETTERS "medical information" put in things that the EMERGENCY ROOM doctor will want to know including MEDICAL INSURANCE INFO.

DECK of CARDS- solitaire or card game might pass time.

FOLDING CHAIR- you never know when you will need one. (Those fold up umbrella chairs don’t take up much space.

COPY of FAMILY EMERGENCY PLAN- Out of State Contact for separated family check-in, etc.

Store as much of this in a back pack that you can grab from your truck or car and walk away with, make sure that the first aid kit, food and clothes are at least in a good heavy duty backpack, along with your emergency information and matches.

Save your dryer lint it makes a good fire starter.

Constantly evaluate what you have in your kit. Check condition at least every 6 months check condition of food and water.

Water...can't live without it.

2010-09-23T09:02:00.002-04:00

Well this past weekend I had a real eye opener. We have a well that supplies our water and it was having issues, we lost water Saturday and did not get it back until Monday afternoon. For 48 hours we were with out water and it was not a good feeling. We went through what water I had stored, which was ten (10) gallons rather quickly, it was all gone before bedtime Saturday night. Then we went looking for more. Because the county is laying new water lines everyone’s water had been brown so they had bought up just about all the water. Needless to say we had problems finding water.

By Monday afternoon my house was full of unhappy campers and I realized real quick that the suggested one (1) gallon per person per day was no where near enough; especially when you drink more than a gallon of water a day. My husband works outside and usually drinks two (2) gallons of water a day himself. We hardly ever have sodas in our house we just don’t drink them. By Monday afternoon we were all physically ill. We were sick of sodas, and sports drinks. We wanted water we were craving water. It is not that we didn’t have water, over all we bought something like twenty (20) gallons this weekend and then refilled the empty bottles at a friend’s house, but it was the fact that we knew we could not have it anytime we wanted it. We were all grumpy because we could not get showers, we could not flush, dishes piled up even though we used paper plates and cups, dirty clothes couldn’t be washed all in all we were miserable.

So the lesson learned is the meager one (1) gallon a day that is suggest to be stored per person is no where near sufficient. So I am working on a new storage plan for water. I will need clean water for cooking and drinking, bathing and brushing teeth. However, I can use rain water or gray water for flushing. My clean water will need to be stored in clean, odor free and BPA free containers. The flushing water will be stored in garbage cans outside. I am purchasing the large rolling garbage cans that have the lock down lid. This water will be used only for flushing the toilets.

If you have animals like we do don’t forget to store water for them. We had to share our water with a dog and two cats.

Needless to say I will not be caught like this again.

New Game Plan

2010-09-14T14:26:00.002-04:00

Now that summer is over and we are back to normal…well as normal as my family can be LOL. I am going to force myself to do a modified version of once a month cooking. When I get home in the evenings the last thing I want to do is cook. It is not that I don’t know what I am going to cook I just don’t want to head straight to the kitchen. So I am going to force myself to start cooking once a month.

First step is the menus. That is not too bad considering I sort of make a menu each month. Actually I make a list of 30 dinners, 10 lunches and 10 breakfasts (breakfast and lunch is for weekends only.) Lunches during the week are leftovers from the previous evening’s meal. Week day breakfast are usually grab and go foods. My guys have to be up several hours before they will eat. They have always been like that even in school, so I always have granola bars, pop tarts, fruit, and other easy to grab and go foods for them in the mornings.

Step two…the grocery list – this is usually not too bad either considering I am an organize freak when it comes to my pantry and cabinets. Plus I do try to keep inventory list.

Step three …shopping – Can we skip this step? Anyone want to go shopping for me? I hate shopping and no not just for groceries either. I did not come equipped with the shopping gene that most females have, clothes, shoes, cars, food, name it if it involves going to the store (any store) and going through racks and racks of stuff, shelf after shelf of stuff I detest it all.

Step four…unpacking, sorting and storing of food. This is where I wish I had a huge walk in cooler like in restaurants. I could just put everything on the shelf cook then store it.

Step five…prepping. Yes the slicing, dicing and chopping. Not to mention the 20 pounds of ground beef to be browned and the 5 chickens to be cooked and deboned.

Step six…assembling the dish and storing it.

Well folks there’s my game plan now just to make it work. Wish me luck.

The Red Marble

2010-08-23T13:49:00.004-04:00

I just came back from lunch and was greeted with a jammed copier. If you have read any of my other post and comments you know that the copier here at work is the bane of my existence. In other words I HATE the copier. I am stressed today trying to meet dead lines and I have personal issues going on that refused to be left at the door when I walk into work. So it has been an over all very trying day.

After un-jamming the copier several times and replacing parts I flopped down in my chair and started going through emails. The first one I openned was a slap in the face. I don't normally read those chain emails that are passed around 9 out 10 times I don't even open them they just get deleted. But this one wasn't an attachment and it was from a co-worker. Not thinking or check the subject line I opened it and well the rest is history.

*************************

I was at the corner grocery store buying some early potatoes. I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily appraising a basket of freshly picked green peas.

I paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas and new potatoes.Pondering the peas, I couldn't help overhearing the conversation between Mr. Miller (the store owner) and the ragged boy next to me.

'Hello Barry, how are you today?'

'H'lo , Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus' admirin' them peas. They sure look good.'

'They are good, Barry. How's your Ma?'

'Fine. Gittin' stronger alla' time.'

'Good. Anything I can help you with?'

'No, Sir. Jus' admirin' them peas.'

'Would you like to take some home ?' asked Mr.. Miller.

'No, Sir. Got nuthin' to pay for 'em with.'

'Well, what have you to trade me for some of those peas?'

'All I got's my prize marble here.'

'Is that right? Let me see it' said Miller..

'Here 'tis. She's a dandy.'

'I can see that. Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like this at home?' the store owner asked.

'Not zackley but almost..'

'Tell you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next trip this way let me look at that red marble'.. Mr. Miller told the boy.

'Sure will. Thanks Mr. Miller.'

Mrs. Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help me.. With a smile she said, 'There are two other boys like him in our community, all three are in very poor circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever. When they come back with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides he doesn't like red after all and he sends them home with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange one, when they come on their next trip to the store..'

I left the store smiling to myself, impressed with this man. A short time later I moved to Colorado, but I never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their bartering for marbles.

Several years went by, each more rapid than the previous one. Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends in that Idaho community and while I was there learned that Mr. Miller had died.

They were having his visitation that evening and knowing my friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of comfort we could..

Ahead of us in line were three young men. One was in an army uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits and white shirts....all very professional looking. They approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by her husband's casket. Each of the young men hugged her, kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her, and moved on to the casket..

Her misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one; each young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand over the cold pale hand in the casket. Each left the mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes.

Our turn came to meet Mrs. Miller. I told her who I was and reminded her of the story from those many years ago and what she had told me about her husband's bartering for marbles. With her eyes glistening, she took my hand and led me to the casket.

'Those three young men who just left were the boys I told you about.. They just told me how they appreciated the things Jim 'traded' them. Now, at last, when Jim could not change his mind about color or size.....they came to pay their debt.'

'We've never had a great deal of the wealth of this world,' she confided, 'but right now, Jim would consider himself the richest man in Idaho.'

With loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her deceased husband.. Resting underneath were three exquisitely shined red marbles.

The Moral: We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds.

*******************************

Ouch....

Off to find another box of tissues and go humbly back to my desk and do my work now.

Contented Enough to be Delighted?

2010-08-13T09:42:00.001-04:00

Wow I didn’t realize I never finished this and much less posted it. I have been in overdrive trying to get ready for school starting back. I work at a university and classes begin here next week, faculty came back yesterday so my personal “stuff” went on hold.

Over the past few months I have been really out of sorts. I my mother told me it was the Gypsy blood running through my veins (I am Irish there are no Gypsy blood on either side of the family.) I told her it is really not that I just want a place of my own. My husband lost his job several years ago and that caused the old domino effect and we lost just lost everything including our house. Since then I have felt out of place, before I could knock out a wall or rip up carpet now I can’t it is no my house. I have said all that because I wanted to share something I was reading; part of my bible reading the other day was Psalm 37 well I got hung up on verse 4...Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

According to Merriam Webster delight means...

1. a high degree of gratification : joy; also : extreme satisfaction
2. something that gives great pleasure 3. archaic : the power of affording pleasure

What I should say is I got hung up on the word "delight"

I really dislike when I get hung up on a word or verse it takes weeks to mull it over and work it out.

I guess the big question really is do we really want what we think are the desires of our heart.

One of the next bible readings was I Timothy 6:1-6 where it talks about false teachers and contentment. It made me realize that in order to be delighted in the Lord we had to be content with ourselves. Because if we are not content with where we are we will not focus on the word.

According to the dictionary content means:

1. satisfied with what one is or has; not wanting more or anything else.
2. British . agreeing; assenting.
3. Archaic . willing.

So according to these definitions in order to be I have to be satisfied in order to have gratification.

Hummm thoughts to ponder.

No such thing as "NORMAL"

2010-07-21T13:48:00.002-04:00

I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as normal. I long for days to be a “normal” person just skipping though life without a care in the world but my common sense will not allow it. I look around at all that is happening in our world and it is all I can do not to load my family up, leave all the creature comforts (like running water, lights, computers, refrigerators etc) behind and find a cave somewhere to live. Go totally off the grid and get lost in the woods. You are probably thinking this lady is nuts. But am I…seriously look around you.

The government keeps putting out hype that employment claims have dropped but the fact of the matter is most of these people are not finding jobs they have just exhausted their benefits and are dropping off the unemployment rolls.

We hear all the time that the housing market is turning around but yet there was a story in the main stream media yesterday (July 20, 2010) stating that new housing hit an all time low in June.

Grocery prices are out of control. Seriously have you looked at what you are purchasing lately? Did you notice that a quart of mayonnaise is no long 32 ounces but is now 30 ounces but you are still paying the 32 ounces price? Same with ketchup, peanut butter, margarine, even the cereal boxes are loosing weight but the boxes are not shrinking. The bottles and jars have changed shapes so as not to give the decreased weight away. That the marketing strategy, make it look like you are getting the same amount but you are not. Yes grocery shopping has become an art lately.

Those of us that can not afford a new car are being punished in my opinion. Gas prices are on the uphill climb again and it has nothing to do with the two oil spills, the one in the Gulf of Mexico and the one in China. Not only are gas prices increasing but look at all the tax breaks and rebates for new cars, electric cars and hybrid cars. This is not just on prices either but insurance cost, with the new GPS they can locate your care if it is stolen. They are not making the old size of tires any more. That’s correct if your car takes 195/75R you can’t find them unless you buy used tires. And now they are talking about increasing taxes on oil to help pay for the clean up in the gulf. Guess who is going to cover that bill. Not the oil companies but you and me and it will not be just at the gas pump but in every day items also.

What can we do? Well we are going to have to become smarter shoppers. READ LABELS! Stop running to the store just to grab an item or two. Clip coupons, hit those sales, and buy in bulk. Plan plan and plan some more. Take advantage of those tax free weekends many states have in August just before school starts. Take advantaged of those sales at the end of the season. Buy next year’s summer clothes in August and September. Don’t let Hollywood or the “Runway” decide what you will wear next year. If you have to make a big purchase like a large appliance, or a car shop around. Compare prices, haggle, and don’t be afraid to walk away if you are not happy. Remember it is YOUR money don’t let anyone make you feel bad that you don’t spend it.

Need a computer now is a good time to shop. With all the back to school sales you are bound to find a good deal on one that fits your needs. Don’t let the salesman talk you into the high end product. Decide what you need and what you will use your computer for, remember less is sometimes better.

Are you going to have to make a large appliance purchase wait if you can; most large appliances are on sale around tax time. Start now shopping for what you want then watch for sales.

What about a car? Are you going to have to buy better set of wheels? Well don’t buy new. Look for used car with low miles. You can find some that still have most of the warranty left. Contact your bank and see what the value of the car really is, it is never what they are asking. The new models come out after Labor Day so around the holidays is a good time to look for a car. The dealers are desperate to clear their lots and they usually have fairly good holiday deals.

I am not even going to touch on the number of “recalls” we have had lately; nothing is safe from food to baby beds. **sigh**

Yep that cave is looking better and better.

Sales, Sales and More Sales

2010-07-16T11:26:00.003-04:00

It’s that time of year again, if you have ventured into any store you will notice the shelves filling up with school supplies. Now is the time to stock your home office with supplies, buy those school supplies for those donation boxes that will be set up at church and many places of business. It is also a good time buy your plastic storage totes since there will a good supply of them since they are essential to college life and if you need a computer start shopping now.

This year more than ever before I am on the hunt for great bargains. I have a few things on my list other than your average office supplies. I want larger backpacks for our 72 BOBs. We are all adults so it takes a little more room for our supplies that the average school back pack has. This is just for our personal items like a change of clothes, hygiene and first aid items and other items for each individual person. This bag is not for food; the food and water are in separate bags. So I am hitting sales and thrift stores looking for large back packs. I am also on the hunt for a net book. I do not want a lap top I want a small net book that I can take with me where I go. I do not do a lot on my personal computer (that is hubby’s domain) other than surf the net and store pictures of the family. I am on computer all day at work and when I get home the last thing I want to do is sit down in front of the computer or answer the phone. So a net book will serve my needs.

A net book will allow me to search for a recipe on line and have the computer in the kitchen where I am cooking and not in the living room where I to run back and forth or holler the ingredients back and forth with hubby or one of the boys. I am working on getting my recipes on CDs and a flash drive so a net book will be perfect to pop in a flash drive and search my recipes. It will free up major shelf space in the kitchen too. No I am not getting rid of the hard copies of all my cookbooks those will still have shelf space but these are handwritten recipes or recipes I have copied off line and they are in 3-ring binders on a shelf.

Many states will have a tax free weekend coming up the end of July or the first of August. Any thing that is considered “school” related can be bought on those weekends tax free. That is when I plan on buying my net book. Right now I have found one as cheap as $229.00 I am hoping I can find one around $199.00 during the tax free weekend.

Happy Shopping….

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-03T17:52:00.002-04:00

Hope each and everyone of you have a wonderful 4th in the most awesome country of all. There is no place like home. I know this country has problems but we still have some freedoms and we can still enjoy them. God Bless each on of you.

Next week I plan on getting back to writing and keeping this updated better. Over the past two weeks I have spent a week with my mother and a week of vacation at home with all my boys. They were all home from the various parts of the country where they had been stationed. #1 son is officially out of the army and home. Now we just have 3 1/2 years left for son #3 to finish his contract. But we are enjoy this week, this is the first time we have all been together in over a year. Hopefully later this year we can will have a family reunion.

Mom and Dad what have we done?

2010-06-14T15:16:00.001-04:00

When I was growing up you didn’t get trophies unless you won. Now days everyone gets trophies whether a team has the best record or the worst record everyone that signs up to play gets a trophy. There is nothing to strive for. Have you told your child no and meant it? If you said no last week is the answer still no this week? Just what are we teaching our children? We have gone out of our way to level the playing field and make everyone equal. But we can not do that. Little Johnny does not run as fast as Little Sammy and Little Raphie can’t hit the ball and Little Frankie - well he doesn’t like playing ball and he is only the field because mom and dad paid the fee. God created us in HIS image He did not create us equally. He gave each and everyone a different ability. If we were created equal we would have exactly the same, look exactly the same, speak, act and do every thing exactly the same. But are not the same we are not equal to each other either. I struggle with math but my husband is a walking calculator. I need a pencil and paper he does the problem in his head. We each have different abilities. I am an organizer, my husband whether he admits it or not is a teacher. We have three boys each is as different from the others as night and day. It amazes me they all three have the same parents, raised the same way but turned out totally different. Are they equal no…#2 son is a computer whiz, #3 son is a politician and #1 son has a heart for the underdog. Did they all have the same opportunities…yes. Did all three take advantage of the same opportunities…no. Are they all good at the same thing…of course not. Are they equal? Well let’s look at the definition of the word equal

1. Having the same quantity, measure, or value as another.
2. Mathematics Being the same or identical to in value.
3. Having the same privileges, status, or rights: equal before the law.
4. Being the same for all members of a group: gave every player an equal chance to win.
5. Having the requisite qualities, such as strength or ability, for a task or situation:
6. Adequate in extent, amount, or degree.
7. Impartial; just; equitable.
8. Tranquil; equable.
9. Showing or having no variance in proportion, structure, or appearance.

According to these definitions then I would have to say no they are not equal and I can not make them equal. They do no have the same strengths and abilities. They do have variance, proportion, structure and appearance. Same quantity, measure or value…hummm well there are days I value each one more than the others. Like the day my computer bit the dust, son #1 & #3 were totally useless. Even they call their brother to fix their computers. Do they have the same privileges, status or rights equal before the law. Again no one son made some bad decisions and now he is paying the price. He doesn’t have some of the privileges that his brothers have.

I work in a college and I see the “me’tude” all the time. It is all about me, I am privileged, I get what I want when I want it and it doesn’t matter what you say. We have done our children an injustice. We have raised them to believe that they are the best; the brightest, the most beautiful person and they deserve having everything at their finger tips. We have given them everything. They have had to work for nothing and we wonder why they have such low self-esteem. We have taken their sense of accomplishment their sense of achievement away from them.

With nothing left to strive they hit a brick wall when they go out into the real world where it is dog eat dog and cat fights on a daily basis. They are lost and crushed under the heel of someone stronger, brighter, and more beautiful. They do not know how to color outside the lines. They can not think outside the black and white areas. There is no creativity. Maybe that is why there has been no great and wonderful invention in the past few decades only improvements on older models. They do not know how to think out side the box. We have done wrong by them by trying to make them all in to round pegs so they would all fit in the same round hole. But some are not round pegs they are square pegs and need the opportunity to fit in their square hole. What we need to strive to do is give each child the same opportunities, and allow them to succeed or fail at these opportunities. What happens if all his life Little Frankie was pushed through school groomed to be a businessman but what he really wanted to do was be a missionary doctor. But because he was pushed to be a businessman we missed out on a cure for HIV. Or if he was pushed to be a businessman and he really was wanted to be a welder. He is a horrible businessman and is talked in to cutting corners on a project. But as a welder his welding would have been top notch and would have kept a bridge from collapsing and killing thousands. We need to realize not everyone has the “smarts” to be a businessman or a welder or even a ditch digger. Not everyone is university material.

It doesn’t matter the color of your skin if you want something so bad that you are willing to work for it then you should have the opportunity to pursue your dreams. But if you are going sit back and be a knot on a log and not put forth the effort to use your abilities then in my humble opinion you should not expect people help you make sure you get your dream. It is your dream not theirs if you want then you must work for it.

I need to pray for America like this...

2010-06-09T10:44:00.005-04:00

I received the following prayer in an email this morning. It has been attributed to Rev. Billy Graham and Paul Harvey. However, this prayer burst into the consciousness of American in 1996 when Rev. Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate. It is not entirely all of his own crafting but rather a version of Bob Russell’s prayer offered at the 1995 Kentucky Governor’s Prayer Breakfast in Frankfort. Although, I do not believe Bob Russell’s version drew the attention or the actions that Joe Wright’s version did. I will have to say I have read both versions and we need more prayers like this today.

When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done.

We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.

We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.

We have killed our unborn and called it choice.

We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.

We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.

We have abused power and called it politics.

We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.

We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen! “

The response was immediate, one legislator walked out during the prayer in protest. Another legislator admonished Rev. Wright and the conservatives as being intolerant. Rev. Wright was unaware of the controversy that he caused until his secretary called him on his car phone asking “What did you do?” Central Christian Church, where Rev. Wright is pastor, logged over 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church received international requests for copies of this prayer.

Hurricane Season already?

2010-06-08T08:34:00.001-04:00

I received an email from friend that follows my blog and she chastised me for not updating it more. I know shame on me. So with June here I realized it was now hurricane season. I am so behind it is not funny. So I started looking at our supplies to see what we would need in case one hit the east coast.

Since we are inland about 2 hours we will not take the full brunt of the storm. We will have the spin off tornadoes winds and rain. I will have to prepare differently now for hurricanes than when we lived in the Panhandle of Florida. I pulled out my trusty notepad and started making notes. The big issue is electricity and the loss of it…this will effect us a great deal since our house is totally electric and we have a well. Loss of electricity means loss of water. I store some water but I have never stored enough water to sustain our household. I just don’t have that kind of room. I have to get creative.

Drinking water will be bottled water and the blue water jugs that are made especially for storing drinking water. This will be used for cooking, animals, and drinking. Now for the toilet and bathing I have decided that if it holds water and seals it will be used to store water. That includes garbage cans, new cleans ones of course, empty 2 liter soda bottles and empty cat liter buckets.

I know you are probably shaking you head wondering why I am storing so much water well like I said we have a well loss of electricity means loss of water. If the storm does a lot of damage we may not be able to get out for a week or two and if we can’t get out how is anyone going to get in?

Now that I have covered water, I moved on to cooking and feeding the guys. We have a grill and a camp stove so I need to be prepared and have fuel on hand. Our grill is charcoal so I added charcoal and lighter fluid (we use a lot of this during the summer any ways since we love to grill) also I added another small propane tank to the list. Instead of buying a bunch of little cans I would like 1 or 2 large tanks it will also be cheaper. Also to the list I added matches and lighter sticks. Never can have too many of them.

Next I checked the stock of batteries and realized that the battery monster had struck and all of my batteries were gone. (I am sure you have batter monsters at your house. I have 4-2legged battery monsters in mine they are known as husband and sons. They use the batteries but never remember to add them to the list to replace.)

Next on the list was lighting. We have several oil lamps and several battery powered lanterns. I have a good supply of oil and wicks but added new 6-volt batteries to the list and replacement bulbs.

I left all the “outside” stuff to hubby. He is in charge of making sure we have everything we need to clean up outside. His list is not as long as mine. Mostly it was more gas and oil for the lawnmower, weed eater, chainsaw and new gloves for everyone.

That leaves just food. If we loose power for an extend period of time we will have to cook and eat everything in the freezer and refrigerator first. If we have to leave our home we will need to take food and water with us. It is suggested that if you have to leave your home that you take at least 72 hours or 3 days worth of food and water with you. I would suggest that you take 5 days worth of food and water with you. The less dependent on aid you are the better your chances of survival are.

Let’s face it folks. Those in charge of aid are human they need rest just like us; they have lives out side of the office just like us. Not only that but it is not easy work organizing and moving thousands of people and supplies. I have worked in service organizations long enough to know that NEVER are all the “i’s” dotted and all the “t’s” are crossed. Humans are not infallible they will stumble and if you are depending on another human to take care of you in a crisis well don’t expect perfection and don’t expect the aid to be right there Johnny on the spot. It is not … I repeat… IT IS NOT going to happen that way.

Ok off my soap box and moving on. Food, it is summer it is hot and we are all going to be ill and cranky if we loose power. Let’s face it a/c has spoiled us. So I will need quick easy to fix meals that require no refrigeration. There is so much available from pop top cans and power bars to freeze dried meals in single serving portions. But remember you are in a crisis, if you have small children they are going to be ill and cranky just like you because they too will be out of routine. Keep as much comfort food available as possible. If you children are like my boys they are not big on junk food but love fruit. So I keep lots of canned fruit ready for when they need something quick.

Oh and don’t forget the can opener!

The world's oldest job....

2010-05-09T13:37:00.002-04:00

From one mother to another….thank you . Thank you for investing time in your children. Thank you for caring enough not to give in to temper tantrums. Thank you for caring enough to say no and mean it. Thank you for going that extra mile with the homework. Thank you for the tears that have been shed, and the prayers that have been voiced. Thank you for hanging on when you could have let go and for letting go when hanging on would have been simpler.

Motherhood is the toughest 24 hour job, no pay, no day off, sometimes it is unappreciated. I have attempted to resign from the job several times before but with no avail; I am tied to this by by my heart strings.

A mother’s job is never done, there is no rest for the weary. There are tears to dry, joys to share, hugs to give, kisses to get, and most of love to share.

So happy mother’s day.

Crossing Borders

2010-05-07T11:03:00.004-04:00

Received the following in an email and thought I would share it. Especially after I was floored last night when I read that five students were told to turn their shirts inside out. It seems these five students wore shirts on May 5 that symbolized the US flag.

LET ME SEE IF I GOT THIS RIGHT!!!

If you cross the NORTH KOREAN BORDER ILLEGALLY you get 12 years hard labor.

If you cross the IRANIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY you are detained indefinitely.

If you cross the AFGHAN BORDER ILLEGALLY you get shot.

If you cross the SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY you will be jailed.

If you cross the CHINESE BORDER ILLEGALLY you may never be heard from again.

If you cross the VENEZUELAN BORDER ILLEGALLY you will be branded a spy and your fate will be sealed.

If you cross the CUBAN BORDER ILLEGALLY you will be thrown into political prison to rot.

If you cross the U.S. BORDER ILLEGALLY you get...

1 - A JOB,
2 - A DRIVERS LICENSE,
3 - SOCIAL SECURITY CARD,
4 - WELFARE,
5 - FOOD STAMPS,
6 - CREDIT CARDS,
7 - SUBSIDIZED RENT OR A LOAN TO BUY A HOUSE,
8 - FREE EDUCATION,
9 - FREE HEALTH CARE,
10 - A LOBBYIST IN WASHINGTON
11 - BILLIONS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF PUBLIC DOCUMENTS PRINTED IN YOUR LANGUAGE
12 - AND THE RIGHT TO CARRY YOUR COUNTRY'S FLAG WHILE YOU PROTEST THAT YOU DON'T GET ENOUGH RESPECT

I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE I HAD A FIRM GRASP ON THE SITUATION...

National Day of Prayer

2010-05-06T16:28:00.004-04:00

2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV) if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

The following is 2 Chronicles 7:14 according to Shirley in other words this is how I read it. I noticed it quoted a lot today since today is the National Day of Prayer but I wonder how many of us have really stopped to think about what it REALLY says.
if my people who are called by my name – That means Christians who are saved by Grace Washed in the Blood – Redeemed. To me this does not include non-believe. Why? Well because God was specific in this verse He said ‘if MY people WHO are CALLED by MY NAME…a non-believer can not be called a child of God.

John 3:16 & 17 - “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

See this verse if for God’s people who are called by HIS name.

I know that if I call one of my boys by the wrong name they will not answer much less come when I call them. Why because they do not think I am talking to them.

humble themselves- I thought I knew what humble meant but I looked it up, I am using the verb tense – to lower in condition, importance, or dignity; abase; to destroy the independence, power, or will of; to make meek: to humble one's heart.

So this means I need to lower my perceived importance status, get rid of my independence and my strong will.

Ouch that means I have to come down off my pedestal out of my ivory tower that I have set up for myself

and pray and seek my face – I know I do not stay on my knees long enough and I fail many time to stay long enough to seek His face much less hear his voice.

and turn from their wicked ways, - Here is the deal breaker…AND TURN FROM their wicked ways…to me that means go right or left or pop a U’ie – leave what you are doing that caused you to break fellowship with God move away from temptation flee…TURN get back on the right path and don’t go back to doing that “stuff”

then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land – well lookie there, there is that 4 letter word…THEN – adverb- meaning next in the order or in that case; as a consequence – If I humble myself, pray and seek God’s face and turn from my wicked ways THEN GOD will hear me in heaven and will forgive my sins and heal my land.

Have you ever oiled a hinge? Well growing up in an old house we had to oil the hinges to keep them from squeaking when we opened and closed doors. I learned after a while that you could put oil on the hinges but until you worked that oil down inside that hinge would still squeak. The only way to work the oil inside was to open and close the door.

We are like hinges that need oiling…the oil...humble ourselves, working the oil down in the hinge…pray and seek and turn…the blessed peace when the hinge is well oiled…God will hear, forgive and heal.

Did you get that? God WILL hear my prayers, WILL forgive my sins AND heal my land

Now I will make some people angry with this next statement, but this is my belief. America is in the toilet because of Christians. Yep that is correct I said it. We are in the toilet because we as Christians have failed. We have lowered our moral standards, we have become complacent with our lives. We only want to hear the good stuff we don't want to hear how God is a God of wrath and how He will allow us to fall into the hand of the enemy. God that is written about in Matthew to Revelation is the same God that was written about from Genesis to Malachi. God did not change from the old testament to the new testament. He only made a way for us to have eternal life. So if God removed his hand from the Children of Israel because they disobeyed and turned their back on him what makes us think that God will treat us any different.

Kudos to Arizona

2010-04-26T11:19:00.002-04:00

I normally don’t do this and I try and stay away from political stuff here but this needs to be said loud and clear…..Kudos to Arizona, I stand and applaud you.

You maybe asking what are you talking about well this past week Arizona’s governor signed up holding the US constitution on illegal immigration. But there are those that are screaming that they can’t do that that they are over stepping their rights. Just like they are saying states can not opt out of the mandatory health care that will double or even triple the amount the state will have to pay for Medicaid. So when I received this email this morning I thought it was very appropriate to add this to my ramblings for the day.

Legal vs. Illegal

Joe Legal works in construction, has a Social Security Number and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted.

Jose Illegal also works in construction, has NO Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 cash "under the table".

Ready? Now pay attention...

Joe Legal: $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week, or $52,000.00 per year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax; Joe Legal now has $31,231.00.

Jose Illegal: $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600.00 per week, or $31,200.00 per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes. Jose Illegal now has $31,200.00.

Joe Legal pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $24,031.00.

Jose Illegal has full medical and dental coverage through the state and local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.

Joe Legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or welfare. Joe Legal pays $500.00 per month for food, or $6,000.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $18,031.00.

Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps and welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.

Joe Legal pays rent of $1,200.00 per month, or $14,400.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $9,631.00.

Jose Illegal receives a $500.00 per month federal rent subsidy. Jose Illegal pays out that $500.00 per month, or $6,000.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $ 31,200.00.

Joe Legal pays $200.00 per month, or $2,400.00 for insurance. Joe Legal now has $7,231.00.

Jose Illegal says, "We don't need no stinkin' insurance!" and he still has $31,200.00.

Joe Legal has to make his $7,231.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc.

Jose Illegal has to make his $31,200.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, and what he sends out of the country every month.

Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work.

Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.

Joe Legal's and Jose Illegal's children both attend the same school. Joe Legal pays for his children's lunches while Jose Illegal's children get a government sponsored lunch. Jose Illegal's children have an after school ESL program. Joe Legal's children go home

Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same police and fire services, but Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay.

Do you get it, now?

If you vote for or support any politician who supports illegal
aliens...You are part of the problem!

It's way PAST time to take a stand for America and Americans!

Now here is my story, I work at a private college making 21, 222.96 a year before taxes. I get paid once a month which is 1768.58. Out of that I pay for short term disability which is 12.78, BCBS insurance 40.00. I haven’t started my retirement back so officially this is all I elect to have taken out. Now Medi/FICA get the most 132.23, NC state gets 53.81 and because I claim 4 dependents Uncle Sam doesn’t get anything out of my check (he gets it all out of Paul’s check and at the end of the year and that will change next payday because we will no longer claim one of our son’s so Uncle Sam will start taking some out of my check which will probably be around $50) My rent is 650.00 a month, my light bill is over 200.00 a month (total electric house) phone/internet 105.00, car insurance 205.00 a month (x4months) (but I only pay one of those the boys pay the other 3 payments) we take our own garbage to the dump to avoid $50 a month garbage bill, and we have well water. Gas is 2.79 +/- a gallon. And to make this even worse starting in 2014 I will have to pay taxes on what my employer pays for form my insurance and they wonder why I am so angry and cling to my religion and my guns.

My take on earth day.....

2010-04-24T13:08:00.002-04:00

I know this is late and I am sorry. But it was a crazy week at work and on top of all of that the power steering pump went out on my car. OMG I miss my Ford Escort still kicking myself for getting rid of that car. Any here is my take on Earth Day....

Genesis 1: 26-31

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And
there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

From Webster's dictionary: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dominion
Main Entry: do·min·ion
Pronunciation: \də-ˈmi-nyən\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English dominioun, from Middle French dominion, modification of Latin dominium, from dominus
Date: 14th century

1 : domain
2 : supreme authority : sovereignty
3 plural : an order of angels — see celestial hierarchy
4 often capitalized : a self-governing nation of the Commonwealth of Nations other than the United Kingdom that acknowledges the British monarch as chief of state
5 : absolute ownership

Webster's states supreme authority / absolute ownership. So if you have dominion or absolute ownership of something and it is yours what will you do with it?

Happy Earth Day.

Is your hut burning?

2010-04-15T12:53:00.003-04:00

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, 'God! How could you do this to me?' Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! 'How did you know I was here?' asked the weary man of his rescuers. 'We saw your smoke signal,' they replied.

The Moral of This Story:

It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.

Hot Dog...Problem Solved!!!

2010-04-13T13:28:00.003-04:00

So I had a duh moment last night when we got home from work. Ants have taken over the few containers I have outside with cucumbers in them and I was having trouble keeping them watered. As we pulled into the drive way last night it hit me. Ok so nothing literally hit me but I realized one way to keep the ants out of my pots and keep them watered…a child’s wadding pool. You know the round hard plastic ones. Well I am on the search for a couple I am going to pot everything in the black plastic pots you get when you buy large bushes or trees. I have a secret supplier, my husband works on the grounds crew at a college and he can get those by the dozen. I have 2 dozen sitting in my front yard now just waiting to be filled with soil. Any way I am going fill them with garden dirt and set them in the swimming pool so all I have to do is add water to the pool in the morning before I go and on the really hot days add some when I get home from work…Hot Dog problem solved. I may have a container garden after all.

Hot tub? No boiling pot...is it too late to jump?

2010-04-08T01:54:00.002-04:00

We have all heard that if you toss a frog in boiling water, he will jump out. But if you place a frog in cold water and slowly turn the heat up it will float there quite placidly. As the water gradually heats up, the frog will sink into a tranquil stupor, and before long it will unresistingly allow itself to be boiled to death.

I am not sure if this really works. I wasn’t going to try it and find out. First of all I don’t touch frogs and secondly I didn’t want one loose in my kitchen. But I am almost 100% positive that this technique works with people. I believe that we are all sitting in a big pot and the water is beginning to boil.

Why do you ask well it is because we have not taught this those that have graduated from high school in the past 30 or so years to think for themselves. Our education system is broke and we have allowed it. We have allowed this system to teach the test…don’t color outside the lines, don’t think for yourself. Just remember what I say and then spit it back at me come test time. I remember when I was a kid in school they didn’t want the parents there…no we will take of your baby just drop them at the door and pick them up there.

I know you are probably rolling your eyes wondering what in the world has gotten me on this rip roaring tare. Well I work at a university and today I had a student tell me that our situation today (the economy, loss of jobs, stock market nose diving, high prices, uncontrolled government spending) was all GW Bush’s fault. Now I am not a die heart Bush fan so I can see where “some” of that is true; HOWEVER, no one seems to remember that as Bush was taking office the first time he warned us that the stock market was headed down. That we had to do something about these toxic loans floating around out there. No one seems to remember that the Clinton administration is the one that started those toxic loans. Clinton’s thing was every American should own their own home it would be could for the economy.

So here we have sat for hundreds of years in this pot of water and now we are starting to boil but we have gotten used to the temperature and like it. Our government crossed the line and stepped out of it boundaries and we chant “Yes We Can” for the first time in history social security is paying out more in benefit’s a month than they will take in and here we sit in this pot chanting “Yes We Can.” Our president just signed a health care bill that steps WAY OVER the line of government control and many of spoke out and said NO we don’t want it but did DC listen NO does DC care NO so here we sit in this pot of boiling water and this generation that is coming up is bowing down and worshipping at the feet of those on Madison Ave because they can not think for themselves. We have told them for so long no don’t think just listen and spit back what we say on the test. Well it is test time and guess what they are spitting back exactly what they are being told “Yes We Can”

We have to break this vicious cycle. We must force those coming up to think for themselves. To dig for the facts, to go outside of the main stream media and find the answers for themselves. They must learn to read between the lines not just repeat the words. Parents what have we done?

Got Spring Fever and had to plant....

2010-04-07T13:08:00.001-04:00

Well I am pushing my luck. This past weekend I went ahead and put out 5 cucumber plants and planted several types of herbs. Since moving north I have a hard time waiting until Mother’s day to plant. I am used to planting on Good Friday. At least I am using a container garden this year so if I see where we will have a freeze I will move them into the kitchen for the night.

I still have 5 sweet banana pepper plants and 12 squash plants but they are still in starter trays. The pepper plants are only about 2 inches high they will need to get a little bigger before they are moved out side. The squash plants are just now starting to sprout. I have 4 okra plants, 4 bell plants and 4 Roma tomato plants that are in starter trays. The okra seems to progressing nicely and will probably go in larger pots this weekend but the tomato and bell pepper are not doing much. I was hoping that the starter trays would be ready to transplant by the end of the month but it doesn’t look like it.

Still have to plant sugar snap peas and bush beans, but will need to make homemade earth boxes for those. Need to find more dish pans before planting the rest of the herbs. I like using dish pans because they are just the right size and you can stack them and make an attractive hodge poge of herbs. I want to try those bags that you plant tomatoes in and let them grow upside down. Don’t know if they work or not, I have heard mixed reviews on them.

Sorry I don’t have pictures I will get them posted soon.

Grandma's Apron

2010-03-22T10:38:00.002-04:00

This weekend I ordered a couple of apron patterns online then this morning a dear friend sent me the following email.

I don't think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath because she only had a few. It was also because it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and aprons used less material. But along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men folks knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

REMEMBER: Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron - but love...

Well I have done it! I figured out what I want to be when I grow up....

2010-03-12T08:53:00.003-05:00

a mushroom farmer. Hey don't laugh. Actually I am going back and getting my degree in sustainable agriculture and maybe even an advanced degree so I can teach. I have started the process of going back to college. Ok so right now it is just looking for the right college but that is better than what I was doing six months ago. I am ___ well I am old enough and I have always put my family first. I have seen hubby through college, the boys have all had the opportunity to go to college and now I have a couple of decades to do something before I retire.

You may ask why go back to college? Why agriculture? Well America is (in my opinion) in deep dodo. We can not sustain ourselves. We import way too much of our food. What food we produce has been altered to make better…yes we can rebuild this seed we can make it stronger better…oh sorry flash back to the 6 Million Dollar Man…I know I just dated myself. Anyway I feel that I need to be more responsible for myself. We are citizens need more community gardens and victory gardens. I know we can’t grow everything here but just think about this if you have a half acre and you grow 25% of your food what that would do. You are probably saying it will bankrupt our country and other countries…NEWS FLASH….WE ARE BANKRUPT!!!

I am not a radical tree hugger I am an environmentalist. Yes there is a difference. Let me share my beliefs with you. I do not believe we can/or own the land that we live and work upon. I believe we have been entrusted with its upkeep and maintenance. I believe we must give back to the land what we take from it. It is just like caring for children. You are going to feed and care for your children. You will do your best to see that they have have the very best you can give and provided in return you received their undying love, why well they will choose your nursing home when you are old and drool on yourself. LOL The land is like that also mistreat it and you will receive nothing love it and care for it and it will reward you. Generations survived off this land before I arrived and I hope to leave the land that I am responsible for so that generations after me will survive. We (all nations not just America) have become a disposable society...use it throw it away. That is not the way our ancestors lived. They used it and then reused it for something else. They did not take without giving back. They couldn’t because they were dependent on the land. And whether we realize it or not we are even more dependent on the land than they were.

I stand in awe of Jules Dervaes and what he has done on his 1/10th of an acre in California. http://urbanhomestead.org/journal They amaze me at what they are able to accomplish and that is my goal. No I don’t need a degree to do that but I would like to go on and teach people how to do that. So hopefully this time next year I will be a student learning as much as I can about the one thing I love to do…playing in the dirt.

Thinking Outside the Rows!

2010-03-01T15:12:00.002-05:00

Let me give you a little background to this blog. Hubby and I were discussing our soon to be empty nest and we both agreed that we would indeed downsize. A nice condo or townhome or even maybe a truck and 5th wheel but then my thoughts turned to my garden. Gardening is my escape, my way to relax. So I got to thinking about how I planted gardens when we lived in student housing, or apartments before. I started jotting down notes as I remembered things that I had done. This is sort of my way of organizing those notes.

There are several options open to those of us that live in small places. One option is container gardening. You will be surprised just how much you can grow in containers. If you have a cat or know some one that does and the buy the buckets of cat litter this is a perfect way to recycle them. They are just the right size to grow a pepper plant or even a tomato plant. How about plastic totes. Those 15 gallon totes that you can pick of for $3 or $4 are perfect for bush beans, squash, or cucumbers. What happens if you plant vines instead of bushes well just stick a trellis in the bucket and let the vine grow up the trellis.
Or better yet plant it upside down in hanging basket with herbs or lettuce on top.

Let me stop right here and say DO NOT USE POTTING SOIL. Why because potting soil is too heavy for most garden seeds. If you must use potting soil use 2/3 potting soil and 1/3 sand, it will help with drainage.

That’s correct go vertical! Make your own planting bags. Pick up one of those cheap 50 cent reusable bags that all the grocery stores are selling and fill it with dirt and either cut circles out of the side for plants or plant from the bottom. I have strawberry plants that I intend to plant this way and hang them on a shepherd’s hook that is stuck in a huge planter and the front yard. That way I can cover it with netting and keep the birds off of my berries and I can plant herbs and lettuce in the planter. The water that will run out of the strawberries will water the herbs and lettuce.

I have learned that with container planting to think outside the row…like with lettuce I can use one of those long rectangle planters and just harvest the leaves. Every 10 days I can sow more seeds in on top of the lettuce that I already there. Because by the time the new seeds come up I will have stripped the old leaves clean. Same goes for those big planters and litter buckets. Just plant a seed every 10 days and you will have a continuous harvest all summer.

Don’t be afraid to be adventurous. Have old shoes and they are too worn out to give to the Goodwill well turn them into herb planters. Just drill drain holes in the soles (unless they already have holes in them) and plant a few seeds. Then make a display like you would see in a shoe store window of with your herbs. It will be a conversation piece for sure. How about old Tonka trucks? You know the ones your kids out grow before wearing them out. Those dump trucks make good parsley containers.

Need some way to start seeds but don’t want to spend money one those little tabs that expand when you add water? Well make your own using news papers. Take the newspaper fold in half long ways. Roll it around a plastic cup allowing about 1/3 of the sheet of paper hanging over the open end of the glass. Now fold the hang over into the glass and slide it off. Then fold the inside edges down overlapping them so they hold the dirt in. There now you have a starter cup. Fill it with garden soil (remember no potting soil because it is too heavy.) Now put your cups in a sturdy tray and start your seeds. Since you are using newspapers then when you transplant your seedlings you can plant newspaper and all. I always squeeze the bottom a little until it pops open then plant it. The newspaper will help put nutrients in the soil especially if you are reusing an old pot and old soil.

The trick to container gardening is water. I would suggest that you visit a garden center and get the gel beads to put in the soil that holds the water and slowly releases it. It will prevent water waste and daily watering.

Don’t forget to be sure and drill drain holes in any container. I never drill mine on the bottom I always drill mine about 2-3 inches up the side (depending on the size of the container) That way the plants will have some type of water supply but will not drown when it rains.

Want to plant green onions radishes and even baby carrots? I have found that if I use those plastic starter trays like what you buy Pansies in I can plant continuously in them. I will have 3 trays of like 24 little trays and I will plant seeds weekly and as I harvest I plant in a seed in its place. Dishpans and disposable pans make wonder planters for these also; they are shallow and make harvesting a breeze. Just do a square inch garden instead of a square foot garden and plant a green onion, radish or carrot per square.

Container gardening also allows for extended seasons. You can recycle those empty milk jugs just by cutting off the bottom and setting it on the containers over young tender plants. Just remember to remove the lids so that it will have air circulation. Not only that but you can move these to the corner of a room and install a grow light and grow herbs, lettuce, and other salad items year round.

Remember just because you don’t have a yard doesn’t mean you can not grow a garden…THNK OUT SIDE THE ROWS!

Is y'all Southernness Showing?

2010-02-15T10:44:00.003-05:00

Southern women know their summer weather report:
Humidity
Humidity
Humidity

Southern women know their vacation spots:
The beach
The rivuh
The crick

Southern women know everybody's first name:
Honey
Darlin'
Shugah

Southern women know the movies that speak to their hearts:
Fried Green Tomatoes
Driving Miss Daisy
Steel Magnolias
Gone With The Wind

Southern women know their religions:
Baptist
Methodist
Football

Southern women know their cities dripping with Southern charm:
Chawl'stn
S'vanah
Foat Wuth
N'awlins
Addlanna

Southern women know their elegant gentlemen:
Men in uniform
Men in tuxedos
Rhett Butler

Southern girls know their prime real estate:
The Mall
The Country Club
The Beauty Salon

Southern girls know the 3 deadly sins:
Having bad hair and nails
Having bad manners
Cooking bad food

More Suthen-ism's:
Only a Southerner knows the difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit, and that you don't "HAVE" them,

you "PITCH" them.
_____

Only a Southerner knows how many fish, collard greens, turnip greens, peas, beans, etc., make up "a mess."
_____

Only a Southerner can show or point out to you the general direction of "yonder."
_____

Only a Southerner knows exactly how long "directly" is, as in:

"Going to town, be back directly."
_____

Even Southern babies know that "Gimme some sugar" is not a request for the white, granular, sweet substance that sits in a pretty little bowl in the middle of the table.
_____

All Southerners know exactly when "by and by" is. They might not use the term, but they know the concept well.
_____

Only a Southerner knows instinctively that the best gesture of solace for a neighbor who's got trouble is a plate of hot fried chicken and a big bowl of cold potato salad.

If the neighbor's trouble is a real crisis, they also know to add a large banana puddin'!
_____

Only Southerners grow up knowing the difference between "right near" and

"a right far piece." They also know that "just down the road" can be 1 mile or 20.
_____

Only a Southerner both knows and understands the difference between a redneck, a good ol' boy, and po' white trash.
_____

No true Southerner would ever assume that the car with the flashing turn signal is actually going to make a turn.
_____

A Southerner knows that "fixin" can be used as a noun, a verb, or an adverb.
_____

Only Southerners make friends while standing in lines, ... and when we're "in line,"... we talk to everybody!
_____

Put 100 Southerners in a room and half of them will discover they're related, even if only by marriage.
_____

In the South, y'all is singular, all y'all is plural.
_____

Southerners know grits come from corn and how to eat them.
_____

Every Southerner knows tomatoes with eggs, bacon, grits, and coffee are perfectly wonderful; that red eye gravy is also a breakfast food; and that fried green tomatoes are not a breakfast food.
_____

When you hear someone say, "Well, I caught myself lookin'," you know you are in the presence of a genuine
Southerner!
_____

Only true Southerners say "sweet tea" and "sweet milk." Sweet tea indicates the need for sugar and lots of it -- we do not like our tea unsweetened. "Sweet milk" means you don't want buttermilk.
_____

And a true Southerner knows you don't scream obscenities at little old ladies who drive 30 MPH on the freeway.

You just say,"Bless her heart"... and go your own way.
_____

To those of you who are still a little embarrassed by your Southerness: Take two tent revivals and a dose of sausage gravy and call me in the morning. Bless your heart!
_____

And to those of you who are still having a hard time understanding all this Southern stuff....bless your hearts, I hear they are fixin' to have classes on Southernness as a second language!
_____

Southern girls know men may come and go, but friends are fahevah !

Now Shugah, send this to someone who was raised in the South or wish they had been! If you're a Northern transplant, bless your little heart, fake
it. We know you got here as fast as you could.

Penny Pinching - Tight Wad

2010-01-25T14:17:00.003-05:00

Ok be honest have many of you have seen the commercial for the new Lysol no touch hand soap dispenser. You know your liquid soap pump has germs right? GIVE ME A BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes I know it has germs but I am getting soap to wash my hands with. What is wrong with washing the soap pump in breach water once a week? Hello people where are your brains….The companies crack me up. I know there will be a lot of people that go and buy these and to those people I think I would probably say “You have money than brains!”

So for those of you that have way more month than money here are a few tricks….

Stretch that thick liquid soap by adding 1 part water and 2 parts liquid soap. Still gets the hands clean it will just be easier to get out of the bottle now.

Sick family? Trying to save money and still use the dishwasher? Don't worry about using the hot dry cycle just add a cup of bleach to the dish washer it kills the germs and you can still use the cool dry setting. Plus it cleans those plastic bowls.

Air Freshener…1 cup vinegar and 1 quart water mix in spray bottle and you can spray your shower, your furniture, the beds, anything. The vinegar is great in the kitchen it cuts those “kitchen” odors.

Air Freshener…1 cup green alcohol and 1 quart water mix in spray bottle and spray. I use this in the bathrooms. I also use it to spray when I see people heading down the drive it gives the house a minty fresh smell.

Laundry just doesn’t smell fresh well instead of fabric softener add vinegar to your rinse water. It is wonderful in those bath towels and kitchen towels that just don’t smell clean no matter how much you wash them.

Tired of paying big bucks for laundry detergent? Well make your own…here’s my recipe.

I saved a store bought laundry detergent bottle that was at least a gallon and used the following:

1 quart Water (boiling)
1 cups Bar soap (grated)
1 cups Borax
1 cups Washing Soda

- Add finely grated bar soap to the boiling water and stir until soap is melted. You can keep on low heat until soap is melted.

- Pour the soap water into a large, clean pail and add the Borax and Washing Soda. Stir well until all is dissolved.

- Add 3 quarts of water, stir until well mixed.

- Pour in laundry detergent bottle. Shake each time you use it (will gel). Use ¼ cup of soap.

I use this with liquid bleach or powdered bleach for colored clothes with no problems.

Watch for more money saving ideas.

I was out voted....

2010-01-07T08:29:00.021-05:00

So the chicken chili was voted down but have no fear I have a family favorite that I am going to share. I call it Italian Beef Noodle Casserole. I even took pictures along the way; however they looked a lot clear on the camera than they did after I burned them to a CD.

1 pound ground beef – browned and drained
1 bag of egg noodles cooked and drained
2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese - divided
2 teaspoons of parsley
2 teaspoons of oregano
2 teaspoons of basil
5-6 cloves of garlic diced
1 onion diced
1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes
1 9x13 casserole dish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook noodles according to directions on package. Brown ground beef and drain return to pan add onion and garlic and brown. Stir in seasonings (if you have Italian seasoning you can use 2 tablespoons instead of the 2 teaspoons of each of the above seasonings. I just didn’t have any Italian seasoning on hand) Add crushed tomatoes, noodles and 1 cup of cheese, mix well. Spread beef and noodle mixture in 9x13 pan and top with remaining cup of cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and slightly browned.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cook noodles according to directions on package.

Brown ground beef, and drain. I go one step further with my ground beef I rinse it with hot water after I drain it just to remove as much grease as possible.

Dice onion

Add to ground beef

I didn't have any real fresh garlic so I used a couple of extra. Normally I would only use 4 cloves of garlic if it was fresh.

Dice or mince the garlic.

Add to pan with ground beef and onion.

Ok you can call me a tightwad but I refuse to pay $1.35 for a can of crushed tomatoes when I can get diced tomatoes 2 for $1 and crush them myself.

I love my mini food processor. It was the best $10 I spent in a very long time. Actually this one is about worn out I really need a new one. Maybe Santa will bring me a new one next year if I am a good girl LOL

I always use a big mixing bowl to mix everything in because my pan is never big enough and if I just pour it all in the 9x13 pan I don't get it all mixed very well.

Now add ground beef, onions and garlic

Add drained noodles.

Add 2 teaspoons of parsley, oregano, and basil. If you have Italian seasoning you can just add 2 tablespoons of it instead using the parsley, oregano and basil. As you see I had to use the store bought spices. We have been below freezing here at night and my spice tub got left out side so now I have no fresh spices. I am so disappointed.

Add 1 cup of cheese. We like cheese so I tend to add more.

Pour in your 9x13 pan and top with remaining cup of cheese. Like I said we like a lot of cheese so I tend to use more.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

And then quickly take pictures because they have already grab plates and flatware. Yes I had to fight the guys off in order to get this picture. Nick was complaining the whole..."what is with all the pictures of food?" You would think I never feed them.

2010 Already?

2010-01-05T14:49:00.001-05:00

Wow I just realized today was Tuesday, January 05, 2010 and I had not posted since New Year’s Eve. We are in the proverbial deep freeze here in the south. The night time temperatures have been down in the teens and only the mid 30’s during the day. The wind chill has keep the temps feeling more like the 20’s though. Everything is frozen and probably will be that way for the rest of the week. BBBRRRRR what a cold way to start to start 2010. Yikes 2010 that looks funny…I remember seeing cartoons when I was a kid that had us riding in flying cars by the year 2000. Boy I am glad that hasn’t happen, people have a hard enough time driving cars on the road can you imagine what it would be like if we all had flying cars? I think I would opt to keep the one that rolls on the ground, I don’t like flying.

I know I am rambling so back to the point of this post…HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you and your family rang in the New Year safely. I am not sure if 2010 has an optimistic out look or a gloomy out look. The unemployment rate is off the charts, housing sales dropped 16 percent. Oh and GMAC is getting another 3 billon dollar bailout. The health reform bill passed so socialist health care is just around the corner whether we like it or not. All the while my health insurance at work is getting worse and worse…I won’t bore you with the details all I will say is OUCH!

I am not one to make New Year resolutions so when I was on face book and everyone was posting their resolutions I said that I resolved to be nice to one person this year. They all laughed and said that wasn’t a resolution and they all knew I would be nice to more than one person so I had to come up with something else. I cheated…I stole my friend Teresa’s resolutions (she said I could)… so I resolve to live a half of year…I am going to get rid of half our junk, I am going to pay off half our debt and I am going to spend half of what I did last year on “stuff” and if I have time I will loose a half of a pound. I like that thanks Teresa.

I promise tomorrow’s post will be better. I am making homemade bread tonight so look for pictures tomorrow. Tomorrow nights dinner is chicken chili so I will have pictures and will post the recipe.

Good-bye 2009...HELLO 2010 !!!!!

2009-12-31T13:54:00.003-05:00

Well as I sit here writing this there is roughly ten (10) hours left in 2009. I don't know about you but I can't believe this year has come and gone. It has been a rough year and a year of change but it has not been good change. Our family has faced a lot of ups and downs this year so I am looking forward to 2010 and a new beginning. I hope the end of 2009 finds you and yours on the upside and that 2010 brings in a new beginning for you.

With the beginning of 2010 also comes hope. Not the hope and change that Washington DC is selling but REAL hope and change...

1 Peter 1:3-9 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls..

So from my family to yours...Happy New Year!!! May 2010 bring you happiness, joy, peace, good fortune and most of all hope and change from the Lord Most High.

Chocolate Attack

2009-12-30T14:21:00.003-05:00

Over the past year we have been living on a very tight budget. Which means I haven't been buying the little extra stuff like brownie and cookie mixes that you just add an egg and half cup of oil and poof you have brownies/cookies ready for the oven. Today I am working from home because they are stripping and waxing the floors at work; around 2:00 I went on the hunt for something yummy. OK so I was having a chocolate attack and there was nothing. Not even any chocolate Christmas candy; actually there was never any chocolate candy in the house, it seems that all three of my boys prefer the gummy bears, sour gummys, and skittles...(it must be just a girl thing LOL). I am not saying they don't like chocolate they just prefer the sour gummy stuff. So being the cook from scratch girl that I am I pulled out my trusty recipe file and dug out my chocolate-peanut butter chip- walnut brownie recipe and made a double batch. Now these brownies are not for the faint at heart or anyone counting calories/fat grams or any of that other stuff.

Basic Brownie Mix...
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of butter/margarine soften

Shift flour and mix in all of the above ingredients.

Add 2 eggs, a teaspoon of vanilla half cup of chocolate syrup and 8 tablespoons of oil mix until moistened.

Now comes the fun part....

Add a half cup of each of the following in any combination:
peanut butter chips
white chocolate chips
chocolate chips
walnuts
pecans
M&Ms
peanuts
peanut butter

Bake in a 9x13 pan at 350* for about 35-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan then cut into squares.

What I really like about this recipe is you can mix up the dry ingredients and store them in an air tight container. If you choose to do this then omit the butter/margarine.

To use dry brownie mix:

Lightly spoon 2 cups of mix in to mixing bowl add:
1 egg
half cup oil
fourth cup chocolate syrup (you can omit the chocolate syrup by just adding an extra egg.)
and any other add ins that you want mix and cook in a 8x8 pan for 30 minutes at 350* or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan then cut into squares.

What I usually do is take quart freezer bags and put 2 cups of mix add the chips and nuts then store in the freezer. That way the boys can just add two eggs and ½ cup of oil and bake.

Sorry I don't have a picutre. I forgot to take one before we cut them. I promise to do a step by step with pictures soon.

Faulty Faith?

2009-12-29T15:38:00.003-05:00

Sunday morning we visited a new church and was slightly disappointed that the regular pastor was not there. He had had a death in his family so he was away. Anyway they had a really nice fella there speaking and he said something that caught my attention...”faith that fails at the end is faulty from the beginning.” This little statement made me stop and review my faith. Was it failing? Was it really faulty from the beginning. I don't think so but I do know I have stumbled along the way. I am sure many of us have stumbled, tripped and fallen. With all that is happening around us those of us that are believers and followers of Christ know that time is getting short. We can't quit now; however, we feel beaten down, run over and worn out. We have fought a good fight but there are still battles to go. So with that thought in mind I went in search of encouragement and a reminder....

(ESV)Revelation 20:7-10 : And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

See the war is already won. We just have to hang on and keep the faith.

(ESV)Luke 17:6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

2009-12-24T11:23:00.001-05:00

From my family to yours....

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Dreaming of Gardening in December

2009-12-22T15:45:00.002-05:00

I haven't been able to get out of bed much the past two – three days and so I really don't have a topic that I want to share. I know many of you are preparing to celebrate Christmas so you are probably not reading many blogs any way. However, I wanted to share a little bit of gardening advice with you.

Gardening? But it is only the second day of winter we still have five – six months to go before we can plant a garden! Exactly and if you want good seeds then you had best order early. I learned the hard way. So far I have received two catalogs and I can't wait for the others to arrive. I want to get my order in early this year. I missed out on many of our favorites last year because I waited to late (February) to order. So my goal this year is to get my seed order in before January 15th.

We love squash, green onions, broccoli, brussel sprouts and beans. We have a small yard so I use the square foot garden technique Last year was my first year to use it and as with anything it was a learning experience. I plan on using it again this year but with a twist. I am not sure I want to plant the tomatoes in the square foot garden I may plant them; in buckets. This year I will be adding dwarf (or patio) blueberry bushes. I will also plant strawberries again this year but I plant on planting them in the hanging bag. I also plan on planting cucumber next to trellis this year. We are going to use the square foot technique with the 3 Sister technique hopefully we will have better luck with the corn this year.

Well I am headed back to bed and dream of my fresh veggies and fresh berries. Hopefully in a couple of days I will be able to stay up longer so I share with you some of my other gardening hairbrain ideas..

Snow? Hurricane? Fire? Equals Empty Grocery Store Shelves!

2009-12-17T10:40:00.001-05:00

Wow it has been really crazy around here lately. I work at a university and I thought after school was out and the kids went home for the holidays things would settle down, well that hasn’t happen, if anything it has been even crazier than before. It has taken me three days to write this one post I truly hope it makes sense to you.

Our government suggests that everyone have at least two weeks worth of food on hand at all times. I can understand why, most grocery stores only have a two day (if we are lucky) supply food but that goes extremely fast in the event of an emergency. I don’t know if you live in a weather volatile area or not but we live a few hours from the coast and when they say hurricane here the shelves are empty before night fall. So my words of advice for you are…NEVER EVER WAIT TO HAVE AN EMERGENCY TO BUY SUPPLIES.

Your emergency meals do not have to be fancy meals but they need to be meals that are easily prepared with limited water and power supply. A camp stove would be a good thing to invest in along with several cans of propane. Our house is total electric and we have well water so if we loose power we would be totally helpless if we didn’t have an emergency plan. Oh and remember the can opener.

Make a list of easy meals that do not require refrigeration or a lot of water to prepare. Then start buying things slowly. Even if you have two days worth of emergency food on hand you are better prepared than most people. If disaster strikes it takes 3-5 days for help to get to you depending on how devastated the surrounding area is, so you will need to be prepared to be own your own for at least 72 hours that is 9 meals. If you have to leave your home during this time you will need to be prepared to take these 9 meals with you so don’t forget the plastic forks and spoons.

I have a medium size rolling bag that I use for our emergency food supply. I have everything I need in there so all I have to do is grab it and go. It sets on two cases of water. Our meals are things like beef stew, the lunch packs of tuna that comes with the packs of relish, mayonnaise and crackers. There are beef jerky, pop top cans of fruit, beanie weenies, granola bars, juice boxes, and pop tarts. I also the shelf stable milk and little boxes of cereal. I have bags of trail mix, dried fruit, nuts, and chips in a can. I also have individual packs of drink mix to add to the water for a variety. I also have sweets packed like, cookies, mints, and gum. I packed each member of my family’s favorite candy bar. I also have a can opener, plastic spoons, forks and knives, napkins, wet wipes, and paper plates in this bag. Think about living in a dorm at college and you can picture my emergency food bag. During an emergency I try to make life for my family as smooth as possible. It is the little things that make a stressful situation seem a little less stressful.

I rotate the food twice a year once in the spring and once in the fall. I usually do it the weekends that the time changes; the same time that I change the batteries in my smoke detectors and clocks. This is also the time of the year that I check my pantry for food that is not being rotated fast enough and I donate it to the food bank.

When the boys were little and we lived seven hours away from family I always kept bags packed with clothes just in case we got a call in the middle of the night and had to leave. They were kept in the hall closet with our emergency food. One time we had to evacuate and I was so glad that those bags were ready. We got a knock on the door at 2:00 am and there had been a wreck a couple of blocks away and a chemical truck was involved. It was leaking chemicals and we had to leave our home. We quickly grabbed the boys, our bags and emergency food. It was nice because we were gone in less than 30 minutes. Not only that but when they woke up they were able to get dressed for school, eat breakfast and still go to school. Of course they didn’t think it was so cool but I did.

I will have to admit now that they are older and on their own I am not that organized. Oh I still have my emergency food bag but it will take me a little longer than 30 minutes to get out of my house if we had to evacuate.

Think about it why would you have to leave your home…weather? fire? chemical spill? What is another reason you would have to leave, just how fast could you get out of your home and to safety? Once you arrived would you have to fight the crowds to get food for your family or could you stake claim to the corner and set about keeping your children entertained?

Keeping the Hunger Monster at Bay

2009-12-12T09:51:00.003-05:00

Today I thought I would share with you some ways that I kept the hunger monster at bay when my boys were younger and could eat a month's worth of groceries in a matter of days.

If you have growing children that can not be filled up the first item that you need to keep on hand is pasta and lots of it. Whether it is just plain elbow macaroni, or the “fancier” pasta like shells, bowties, or spiral macaroni or just plain macaroni and cheese. Pasta is filling and cheap. It is easy to turn a box of pasta into a filling meal or snack.

Lets start with macaroni and cheese...a box of macaroni and cheese, a can of tuna and a can of green peas make a filling snack or meal. I have served this as one of those Saturday afternoon meals when we are having a lazy day and I knew we are going to grill out or have a big meal later that evening.

Another way to serve mac& cheese is to bake bologna in the oven until it curls in to a bowl shape then fill it with mac & cheese and serve with fruit and raw vegetables My boys called it the eatable (their word for edible) bowl.

Wait don't throw out that last little bit of chili. Cook a box of mac & cheese and stir it in the chili and you have chili-mac.

Do you have a can of cream of mushroom soup and a box of pasta? Well you have the makings of a great snack. Cook a box of plain pasta (if you have frozen broccoli add a cup when the pasta is just about done.) When pasta is tender drain pasta and broccoli; stir in a can of cream of mushroom soup and serve. This makes a wonderful side dish for a regular meal also.

A quick and easy chicken noodle soup – a can of chicken broth, a can of water, cup of shredded cooked chicken and a box of cooked pasta. If you want a creamy soup add a can of cream of chicken soup. This recipe is a good one to build on. If you would like to add canned vegetables add them right along with the broth and chicken.

Make a pasta salad using powder ranch dressing and mayo. Peel and dice a carrot and two celery sticks add to large bowl. Thinly slice 4 rings of red onion cutting rings in half so that you have half circles. Break the onion apart and add to carrots and onions. Cook a box of pasta. While the pasta is cooking mix ¼ cup of mayo (or Miracle Whip) and a pack of ranch dressing powder set aside. When pasta is tender drain and add to bowl with vegetables stir in ranch dressing mix. I sometimes add shredded chicken or thin strips of beef to this, it makes a wonderful light lunch meal.

Oh how about those Ramen noodles can't forget those. Those are quite boring and really not that appealing but you can turn boring into a inexpensive meal with just a bag of stir fry vegetables Boil water as directed but do not add noodles just yet, instead add the pack of frozen vegetables cook 2 minutes then add noodles cook as directed. Have a little piece of meat left dice that up and throw in and you have a wonderful hot and filling meal for less than $2. Don't like the Ramen noodles or too high in sodium for you well then make your own. Use Angel Hair or Thin Spaghetti noodles. Bring water to boil add noodles and frozen vegetables cook until pasta is tender. Drain and add soy sauce or teriyaki sauce and enjoy. (HINT: you want your vegetables crunchy)

Remember pasta is a great way to stretch a little bit of something to feed a lot of folks. The only limit to pasta is your imagination.

Short Cuts in the Kitchen

2009-12-11T12:59:00.003-05:00

Proverbs 31: 10-31
10 An excellent wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. 11 The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. 12 She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. 13 She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. 14 She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. 15 She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens. 16 She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. 17 She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. 18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. 19 She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. 20 She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy. 21 She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet 22 She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. 23 Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land. 24 She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant. 25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. 27 She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. 28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: 29 “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.” 30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. 31 Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

You are probably wondering what Proverbs 31 has to do with budgets and grocery shopping. Well it has everything to do with it; as a wife, mother, and a Christian women this is a model for me. If I was only a tenth that this woman was (sigh) but I have something to strive towards. So I look how she managed her time and compare it to how I manage my time.

Now that you have bought groceries and you have them home you are wondering “How am I going to have the time to cook and serve all of this?” Well that is what today’s topic is about…”Short Cuts in the Kitchen” I am going to give you some tips to make meal preparations quicker and easier.

First of all when I get home from the grocery store with meat I do not just stick it in the freezer. I look at my menu and see how I am going to serve it and then divide it accordingly…

Ground Beef – if I am going to serve meat loaf I will go ahead and make up the meat loaf and freeze it so that all I will have to do is set in the refrigerator the night before then when I get home from work put it in the oven and let it cook while I am preparing everything else. If I plan on serving something that calls for a pound of browned ground beef like chili or spaghetti then I will brown the ground beef and divide it into 2 cup portions and freeze each portion in its own freezer bag.

Chicken – If I plan on making pot pie, chicken quesadillas or something else that calls for cooked chicken I will go ahead and cook the chicken debone it and then divide it in freezer bags accordingly.

I do the same with vegetables. I will dice onion and freeze it. I will wash broccoli and cauliflower and divide it out in to gallon bags. I go ahead and wash and scrub my potatoes and wrap them in foil. This also stops my guys from eating the food before I get to cook it. I have a cabinet just for “snack food.” They know what ever is in the cabinet they can eat anytime day or night but they have to stay of my pantry.

As the week progresses and I drag home after work I can easily throw together dinner because of having the bulk of my prep work done. Usually within 30-45 minutes (depending on cooking time) we are sitting down to dinner.

Yes I give up a few hours on Saturday to do all of this but if it means feeding my family healthy meals with in an hour of arriving home then I have no problem doing so. This is also a great way to get the kids involved in cooking. They can wash the potatoes and wrap them in foil for you. Or they can write the date on the cans so you can go ahead and prep everything else. I had a little chopper when the boys were younger that they would use to chop stuff up for me. It had a plunger that you just pushed down and it chopped onions in just a matter of minutes. Hubby loves helping me. Here lately it has become a time that we can talk about things, we have had some interesting conversations in the kitchen over raw meat and veggies. Seriously though get your family involved there is a lot they can do.

#1 Budget Buster

2009-12-10T08:35:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we covered the beginnings of a budget. Today we are going to discuss the #1 budget buster…FOOD aka Grocery Shopping. I personally detest grocery shopping. It takes me a couple of days to get ready to go grocery shopping and then the actual day of shopping is an all day thing for me. This area will either make or break your budget. Let me give you my “Top Ten Rules” for grocery shopping…

1. NEVER EVER shop on an empty stomach. I promise you if you will eat a peanut butter sandwich before you go shopping you will spend less. Why? Well you won’t be tempted to put every thing that looks yummy in your grocery cart.

2. Make out menus and plan your meals. Not only will this help you to shop but it will take a lot of stress off of you at 5:30 when you walk in the door from work. Or if you are a stay at home mom you won’t be opening the refrigerator/freezer at 4:00 and think to yourself what am I going to cook. Don’t forget to plan your snacks also. A lot of snacks can be made cheaper than buying prepackaged snacks.

3. Check out the weekly sales. A lot of your big stores have their weekly sales on line just visit their website.

4. Buy in bulk. If you plan to use ground beef in more than one of your meals then buy the large family pack instead of the small one pound packages. It is usually 10-20 cents cheaper per pound that way.

5. Don’t be afraid to buy reduced meat. Take it home and freeze it.

6. Don’t be afraid to buy store brand or off brand items. I promise you that if you use a brand of cream of chicken soup that is different from the name brand advertised on TV your dish will still turn out just as good. Better yet learn to make your own homemade cream of soups. If you must buy name brand items use coupons and if at all possible hit those double and triple coupon days. There are several website that you can download coupons from. Be sure and watch your expiration dates.

7. If at all possible shop alone. Take this from personal experience. I am the mother of three boys (four if you count their dad) and I always spend $25-$50 less if I do not take them with me. Now that the boys are older my husband goes with me he is a big help. He is my walking calculator…me I need paper and pencil…he just works it out in his head.

8. Check your inventory sheets of your pantry and freezer. This way you will know what you have and what you need.

9. If you shop several different stores keep a note book of items that you regularly buy and the price of that item from each store. That way if it is on sale at one store you can check your note book to see if it is a real sale or not.

10. Don’t be afraid to ask the manager if they match local competitor prices, if they don’t thank them and put the item back (that is if you don’t need it for the meal that night). You may come out cheaper by going to the competitor and getting the item. This is a hot button item. I start at one side of town and work my way across town. I know which stores will match and which stores will not match. Again this goes along with keeping the notebook of prices. Don’t run all over town picking up just one item you will spend more in gas that way. So devise a plan of action. Although, with today’s economy more and more stores are matching competitor prices you just have to ask. If they see you putting the item back most managers will match the sale just to keep your business.

Now on with the plan….”How to Plan Your Menus” – Do an inventory of your pantry and freezer. Date everything with today’s date. Then as you add stuff to your pantry/freezer just write that day’s date on it. This helps to avoid waste as you get your pantry and freezer better stocked and remember first in first out.

Sit down with your family and ask them what their favorite dish is or what would they like to eat in the next week or two. Be sure and plan special meals like birthday dinners or holiday meals when you are doing your menu.

Next draw a calendar and list your meals. I started out using a big desk top calendar but have progressed to a spreadsheet. I have a friend that has her meals planned out on index cards and each month she just lays them out and rearranges them then stacks them in the order that she plans to use them. As she uses them she moves the index card to the back. Try different ways find out what works for you.

Now that you have your menu planned make a list of everything you will need to prepare each dish. Don’t forget to include every little item like salt, pepper and other seasonings. OK, remember your inventory sheet? You will check that against your list of needed items to prepare your menus. Mark off the items that you have on hand. Congratulations! You now have your shopping list.

Wait, there is one more step, check your shopping list against the weekly sales ads to see where your better deals are. Again this is where your notebook comes in handy.

See what I mean grocery shopping is a big deal and it will either make or break your budget.

Let me say something about the inventory list. This is an on going project, as you use an item remove it from the inventory list or reduce the number that you have. That way you will know what you have on hands at all times.

More Month than Money?

2009-12-09T09:52:00.003-05:00

I figured hubby and I would be better off today than we were when we first started out. However, with the economy in the tank and the dollar dropping like a lead balloon we are back to square one. So taking into consideration that I have been down this road before I thought I would share with you my refresher course from the school of More Month than Money.

First of all BUDGET!!!

Ok so I hear the groans already but it has to be done if you want to survive this melt down. I know it seems overwhelming so let’s start at the beginning. It will take a couple of months to get in the groove of things but you will be glad you did. First step keep those receipts. I know some environmentalist are cringing at what I am about to say but it is important for you to see where the money is going so get those receipts even when you pay at the pump for gas or buy a soda in the convenient store. At the end of the month add them up. Now in month two STOP USING THE DEBIT CARD (don’t faint on me now it is just getting good.) You read correctly DO NOT use your debit card. Many people (myself included) swipe the card and never give one thought to the balance and when the bills come due I am always short. So we get allowances. Hubby and I get X amount of dollars each week for junk food and little items for when we are at work or better yet when everyone at work decides to go to lunch at the last minute. Once that money is gone well we do without until we get our allowance again. It makes us think twice before buying that soda out of the drink machine at work. If like us you have to have direct deposit to get paid then go to the bank and cash a check for just the amount of you allowance and not a penny more.

Now that you see where your money goes lets move on to the budget. I would suggest that you contact your electric company and get on budget billing. That is where they average your bill over a year and that is what you pay; some months it will be more than you use and some months it will be less than you use. But here is what it will do for you…it will give you a flat bill each month. Say the average of your yearly bill is $150 that is what you will pay each and every month. You can check with the gas company I believe they do the same thing. Look at landline phone bill plans. Do you really need the whole package? Can’t you just get an answering machine and pay $5 for caller id? If you have a cell phone do you really need a land line if so can it be just a phone line with no perks? You would be surprised at what you will save. What about your cell phone? Is your contract up for renewal? Can you get a better deal and better service elsewhere? If like me and you do not use the cell phone (seriously right now mine is in my purse and the battery is dead) how much would you benefit from a pay as you go phone? I have a simple phone it’s not the walkie talkie phone, or camera phone, can’t search the web on it nor can I listen to music. It cost me $10 a month for 50 minutes I get to keep the minutes I don’t use. But seriously do you use/need all the perks on your cell phone. I am not saying do away with your phones but think long and hard about what you really use and what all you are paying for. What about cable or satellite TV? Can you get it cheaper? What about internet can you get a better deal by switching to DSL and dropping your cable down to basic or going with satellite?

Back before direct deposit was required to get paid we would cash hubby’s check and we would divide it out among envelopes labeled rent, lights, water, food, medical, gas etc. As I got each bill I would take my envelope and go pay the bill. We were lucky enough to live in a small town where everything was close and I could easily go and pay the bills. Even when after moving to a larger town I still used this method and I would just buy money orders and mail the bills in. I had a little accordion folder that was labeled by the month that I kept my envelopes in and as I would pay the bills each month I would move the envelope to the next month and at the end of the year I would paper clip each month together and then put them in a larger envelope together and write the year on the front and file them away.

The money that was left over would go into a savings account so that when we had car trouble or the washer broke or some unexpected expense come along we would have a little bit of money. Yes were did go out and we did take vacations so not all hope is lost.

My challenge to you this month is to save those receipts.

Howdy Folks

2009-12-08T15:50:00.002-05:00

I have been encouraged by my co-workers to start this blog. Why I am not totally sure, but they seem to think that I have something to offer. As a matter of fact Lou named the blog - Muffie's Place - her nickname for me is Earthmuffin because I like “natural” stuff.

I enjoy cooking from scratch, quilting, scrapbooking and finding things in the thrift stores and giving them a new life. I hardly ever buy anything new. I had rather have a good ol’ hand-me-down that has been around than the newer stuff that falls apart in just a week or so. You see I am the mother of 3 boys and I learned really quick new is not always better. Although the boys are grown and off to college I still like to find a gem in a thrift store and restore it.

I am captivated by the pioneer lifestyle and strive to live a simple life even in this dog eat dog world that we live in. I was a child during the 60s so I have seen the arrival of color TV, cell phones, computers, laptops, microwaves, and much more actually more than I care to think about. I remember getting up in the mornings eating breakfast and heading outside to stay until the porch light came on. We road our bicycles without shoes or helmets, skated with out elbow or knee pads and drank from the garden hose.

Through this blog I will share simple recipes that fill empty bellies and hollow legs of teenage boys for little money. I will share gardening secrets that I learn. I will also share ways to turn someone else’s junk in to a treasured family piece. I will also encourage you to live a frugal lifestyle and share my secrets of having a well stocked pantry.

Just to give you fair warning I am from the deep south where we like our tea sweet, our fish fried and we say Hi Y’all and Y’all come back now ya hear. We are deep rooted in our faith and cling to our guns.

So pull of a seat there and join me on the front porch of my life and enjoy a class of ice cold tea...sweet tea that is….