Menu's, Monday and More

Hey all, trying to get in the grove here after a major blow=out party yesterday celebrating hubby and son's b-day's.  We were blessed with a sunny  semi-warm day and were able to sit out on the deck sipping wine while hubby grilled and even deep fried some onion blossoms' for us.  The party lasted into the night and I was left feeling amazed at our blessings of friends.  Moving on - LOL

Speaking of the party, most of the food came from a separate budget and not my reg. grocery budget.  K did a couple car jobs and we used that money.  So my total for week three spending in Jan. 2011 on grocery type items was$121.  So right on track.  Hubby and I had decided on enveloping $125 a week for food/paper/pet and house hold items.  I did spend an additional $60 in pet items but was reimbursed by son when he was paid.  That money was put into the gas tank and tithing plate.  I think I mentioned before that our Dollar General Market does a 1cent item each week, with a $10 purchase.  This past week was their brand t.p.  Not the best quality but for 1cent . . . So I made a couple different trips during the week (yes I added them to my total) and scored 3-six packs of cheap quality t.p.  This should get us through to Friday, which is a pay day this week.

I haven't posted a menu in a while, but if your my FB friend you still get to hear about what we're eating! LOL  Here is a look at this week:
Monday ~ Ground turkey Shepard's pie w/ fauxtato topping
Tuesday ~ Beef & Broccoli stir-fry w/pecan rice
Wednesday ~ Cheesy Chipotle Soup (taken to church pot-luck)
Thursday ~Chicken risotto w/broccoli
Friday ~ Turkey loaf w/baked pot and mixed veg.
Saturday~ Crock pot Jambalaya
Sunday ~ Cream of Cauliflower soup and salad

Breakfast usually are eggs cooked in a variety of ways, our favorite is eggs in a hole, oatmeal, and some home made spelt muffins.

Lunch this week looks like this; left overs from party, sandwiches, hot and sour soup, chicken salad and a meatza.

Most of these meals are lo-carb and high protein as we try to get back on track from all our holiday and post holiday/b-day celebrating.  Remember, no white bread, white sugar and mostly dark green veggies.  Oh, we are day 9 with no soda and half/calf coffee.   Well everyone except Z.  He asked everyone he knew for Mt. Dew for his b-day.  Kids.

Blessings, Beth Ann

Nothing new, and that's a good thing : )

Been a pretty slow week here, praise the good Lord. Mostly fighting colds, coughs and snot. Oh, and more snot. Did I mention snot?

Twin dd brought me these 'stolen' flowers to cheer me up. The grow everywhere down here, except my yard - LOL But they do grow in the yard across the street, with the empty house for sale .. . .

Oldest son is holding his own, but we have agreed that he will not take antidepressants for his chronic pain and it seems to be all his neurologist per scribes. I want to try a supplement called D-Rebose with him. It is all natural and I found it while researching a Fibromialgia clinic in Atlanta, closest one to us. I will either have to get it on-line, or see if I can find it in the 'boro as it is not in the 'bury : )

Well we have had the bunny for three weeks now and he seems to love it here, except for the part where we had the vet shave his bum. It is so hot here right now that ds had to hook a fan up to bunny cage to keep him from heat stroke. Bunny loves it! I keep catching him laying in front of the fan and his ears blowing, much like a dog with his head out a car window! LOL

We have also taken in another boarder, a way word dwarf hamster who was on his way to the great outdoors = litterly. No one mentioned he was . . . ill tempered when we took him. Let me put it to you this way, his name was chip and now we want to call him things like vicious Vinnie or malicious Mike. Oldest son seems to think he has discovered a cause for this 2 oz. mutant to be so unhappy. Upon closer inspection (while using sturdy work gloves) it seems he has some type of skin rash. So son bathed him in some special skin shampoo from the clinic and the now newly dubed misunderstood Mike seemed mildly more up beat. Yes I know, only at our house.

That's it for now. Keep counting your blessings, Beth Ann

On the road

It has been a very busy week here at our homestead. So much to do to get ready for our vacation, it rained for the first time in 32 days and then we headed out for a inspirational movie. Fireproof. It was a wonderful movie. It was an awesome movie. It is a must see movie. What else can I say? I will defiantly be buying two copies of this t comes out on DVD. One for us and one for my dd who just got married. If I was made of money I would buy one for my ex and my church as well. If you are married, been married or just thinking of getting married ~ see this movie!!!

I have added the new blog feature, follow this blog, to my site. Please feel free to do so, it is located top right hand corner. I enjoy seeing who is all reading my random thoughts besides my family - LOL Even if you are family, please join in the fun and sign in.

Here is our Minnie Winnie, in her resting place at home. DH had this carport put in special, just for her. In about an hour DH is going to back her up and take her out to get filled up. Great news, gas here is down to $2.99! Never thought I would be excited about that! But it is the cheapest around. DH was in Manchester yesterday and they were still about 30 cents higher, usually they are the lowest in middle TN. We also checked when we drove into the city (M'boro) and they were also 30 cents higher, usually the Wal-Mart is the cheapest there. So we are excited that we can get such a great deal about a block from our house.

We are leaving around eight in the morning and won't be back for almost two weeks. So excited. Hope I have blogged enough this week to keep ya all occupied. I just wanted to get the b-day pics and p. patch pics up before we left, for the family. I know when we get back I will be way to busy and will have a bunch new to share. (busy with laundry - unless we head into Hollywood about 30 miles away to the nearest laundry mat) So please keep us in your prayers as we spend two computer - free weeks on the beach.

Our blue-tick heeler, Hershey, says "follow this blog for beach up-dates in two weeks!" We'll see you then!

Blessings, Beth Ann

Summer Fun

Hope everyone had a great Father's day week-end. The weather here was great, warm and sunny. We stayed home and had a cook out/pool party. We will doing that alot this summer with the cost of . . . "living" so out of control. I actually found it very relaxing, sitting by the pool, instead of running around trying to pack up the RV. We also had a great church service on Sunday as well. Our old Pastor and his family were visiting from South Korea. It was nice to see so many new and old faces. Miss H was there as well. Again, very relaxing day. Tried to take some pictures to share with you all, but then realized it is hard to take pictures of everyone in the pool, if your one of the people in the pool! LOL So here are just a few highlights from the week-end.


Here is DH breaking in his D-day gift, while twin E rolls her eyes at dads enjoyment of playing with fire and food.

Here is our pool after everyone got out, shrug. What am I to do? Wanted to share the shark with you though. It brings a smile to my face, even on the roughest days, when I pull into the drive and see the "fin" circling the pool - LOL

Here is twin E eating a hot dog, man she loves those.

Here are the twins, E & E, playing horsey on big bro Z. What a great big brother!

Here are the twins and they just want to say, Have a blessed day and enjoy the summer!

Blessings, Beth Ann

Old Stone Fort Camping

Here are some pictures from our camping trip last week at Old Stone Fort Campground in neighboring Coffee County (gotta love a place named coffee! )


First day it rained most the time, here is our fire smoldering in the middle of a muddy quagmire.

Here is my oldest ds sitting at our picnic table watching the rain . It is all part of camping.

Here is my DH sitting behind some lovely flowering tree that I found and picked while trying to "get more bars in more locations". We dug out some playing cards that included all fifty states, their capitals and a fun fact. Yes they were real playing cards and we played go-fish under our canopy. The other two cards to make up a pack of 52 we Washington DC and Purto Rico (US territory). Picked they up at the HS conference in OH. Kids had a blast. They love the uninterrupted time with no interruptions.

`

Here is youngest ds hamming it up for the camera. His big sister is behind him counting cards to make sure no one is cheating.

Here is middle dd cleaning up for lunch. DH is going to cook on his Coleman (right side of pic) and there is my Gulf Shores AL cup, mentioned in my coffee blog back in March.

Day two of trip was sunnier, but still muddy if you can tell. DH set up tripod to cook on but the kids commandeered it to dry shoes on over the fire! Here are my two sons Z and E.

Shoes on tripod over fire to dry. Whats for dinner at your house? LOL

Blessings, Beth

In like a lamb

A warm 73 degrees greeting from us here in middle TN! I guess March is coming in like a lamb. Thank goodness, as February didn't end so well for us here at my homestead. Potty training has been tiring and is still going on. I figure if I can out wait them until their 18 then their on their own! ~ LOL Lets see, other news... My friend lent me her bread machine while I am trying to replace mine,it doesn't work any better than mine and she didn't remember this until after she lent it to me and I tried my first loaf. I called and she was like, "oh yeah. Now I remember why I don't use it", or something like that(slapping myself in the head here). Still not sure on the health care thing and had to make a special trip to doc last week, more on that in a moment, and had to use bill money to pay for it. Of course, even with in. we would have to pay out of pocket until deductible is meet and that might not happen if we stay healthy. Big Sigh. Okay here is the skinny on why I have been a bit down this week and haven't posted. My family and I have parted ways with our home school co-op, and in not a so nice way. It is a bit depressing to think these people call themselves Christians and yet the people in charge are morally challenged, lie and are hypocritical. With that said, I am trying to find closer this week and move ahead with what is best for the kids. We have started going back to the Discovery Center (hands on scenic center) and are looking to break off with a few other locale families. The up side is with gas going up we won't be doing that long drive, freeing up our cash for camping, which is a great family outing that incorporates all aspects of learning. I feel this is God's will, as I search back over events. It was truly fortuitous that my ds got hired into the animal clinic recently, a great way for God to teach him biology! God is working in our lives to help us make the most of what we have and looking out for us when we neglect to do so ourselves. Case in point, gas to the co-op. We were going broke making that trip every week and we were starting find that this semesters group of families didn't share our same belief system. God is helping us to hang onto our money for our own family time, and protecting us from worldly views, not christian values. This will all be important with the health care issue. Things are tight as is for us, but with health care deducted on top of this... Well saving on gas will be huge and when the new Zone opens in our sleepy town, DH won't have to commute to work! This could all save us close to $300 a month, the right amount to cover our insurance! Who said God doesn't provide? The trick is remembering that he gives us what we NEED, not what we WANT. That is huge.

Here are the two high points of the past week and the upcoming one as well. First I was disappointed that my women's groups at church had canceled their annual spring outing. It was the first one I could go on since the twins were born. But my bff has been looking on a get away just for us girls as soon as she found this out. Well we settled on a home schooling convention in Cincinnati Ohio. Not to long a drive from here and we will stop at the Hands on Creation Museum in Kentucky on our way. She is bringing her two dd's and I will bring my middle dd as well. My dd is soooo excited! I forget how tough it is for her, being the middle child and all. I am a little nervous leaving my dh and ds in charge for 3 days, but am looking forward to some adult company and faith affirmation on my schooling beliefs.

Secondly, we are going camping this week!!!!Yea!!!! First time this year. Last year we didn't get out hardly at all. We promised this year would be different. When we see how excited the kids are when we go, we know it is worth the time and effort. We will be going to Chattanooga to the Tennessee Aquarium, to make good on the membership we bought last summer when my oldest dd was here with my grandson. I bought my dh a magazine subscription to Trailer Life for his birthday this year, and they featured the TN. Aquarium in their top ten list. Cool huh? Think we will try the Atlanta Aquarium next. Not to far from us and is the worlds largest, housing 3 full grown Beluga Whales, including the oldest at 39 years old.

Well it is now up to 74 outside and the twins just got up from their nap. Think it is time to take them out and let them play our our play fort.

Blessings, Beth Ann

Tax time

A windy greeting from middle Tn. this fine Wendsday. We survived Super Tuesday and Super Twister Tuesday, as the media is calling it. We are so blessed to live here in Cannon Co. Due to the geography of the land, most "bad" weather tends to skirt us. Last night there were over 70 funnels reported through the south, with almost 40 in the northwest of this state. Yet all we saw at our home stead was a brief, sevier T-storm. Today the high winds continue with advisories in affect, but letour thoughts and prayers be with the families of those who suffered loss last night.

Mostly the weather has been wonderful here, unseasonably warm. Yesterday during lunch, a friend turned to me and said,"today would be a wonderful day to go camping". She is another caming nut like me, and she was right - if you overlooked the tornado warnings. It was 70, and our thoughts were definatly not on school or the kids we were supervising. Now with all that said, camping takes gas for our RV - YIKES!!! Our last big trip was the 1st of Nov. 2007, our annual South Carolina vacation. Then the holidays were upon us, then some cooler weather. Due to gas prices, we again will only take one big trip this year. You guessed it! Edisto Island, South Carolina. We are soooo crazy about that place. And I swear I will find a use for the ten thousand sea shells we bring back each year, along with random horseshow crabs, ghost crabs, and other sea life! We will take smaller ones during the year, like Chattanooga yet this month, but we will watch the gas needle. Which brings me to todays topic, wondered when I would get there huh, taxes and what to do with the returns. We are filing ours tomorrow, and will be able to plan what we can accomplish. We tend to get a good size one every year, due to being poor and having to many kids. So we have a good basic idea what we are working with. First thing - Filling Minnie Winnie up, $200 (probably last time before trip in Oct.). Next, making reservations for our Edisto Island trip. Third, fencing in the cat walk around our pool and installing a new gate to keep kids and animals safe. We have a beautiful above ground pool, that is completly decked in and atatched to our screened in sun porch. Now it the time to add the fencing, for safty, and add privicy from our new....neighbors. After all that I am afraid it all goes to bills. Actually could use all of it on bills, but somethings have to be done. We bought our house almost six years ago, and are in the last stages of remodoling it. Our next big thing will be to knock down our exsisting, freestanding, garage and replace it with a new two car garage with an 950 sq. ft. apartment above it. That way we can stop using our RV for our guest house, and my oldest ds will have his own place when he goes off to colleg in four years.

So, what are your plans with your tax money?

Blessings, Beth Ann