Took a bit of a break, but I'm back :)

I had a very difficult & busy month.

First dd got sick & spent a week in the hospital (that alone was stressful in itself), then to make matters worse, it rained/stormed so hard the day she was released that we had a major power outage. It took 7 days for the electric company to get things going again. 

Thankfully all is better now :)

One plus is I'm hoping our electric bill is shorter due to the lack of use (1 week in the hospital & 1 week w/o power).

Another advantage is I found just how far I can go when having to make due without.

We had no lights, so I bought mini solar lights ($7 at Wal-mart) and a few flashlights - and the solar lights were BRIGHT, lol.

I had to buy a few battery operated fans (it was hot & humid that week here in Texas), so no A/C.... but the battery operated fans worked well with the open doors & windows (we live in the country & our nearest neighbor is about 1 mile away). We had one screen door that had to be mended (b/c of the dogs, lol). 

I have lots of mirrors of varying shapes & sizes, so I "redecorated" a bit, lol. After rearranging my mirrors, I was able to use one flashlight to light the kitchen, livingroom & part of the master bedroom :)   I loved science as a kid & used light refraction (I think that's the right term) to help illuminate my home.

We used our outdoor grill everyday :)    We had to give away most of our fridge & freezer contents (mostly meats). But we heated water for coffee, oatmeal, etc on the grill, cooked veggies on there, just about everything. We used mesquite wood that grows wild here, so there was no charcoal cost or anything.

The *best* experience (IMO) was learning when to quit. Normally the housework (cleaning, cooking, lesson plans for my kids, etc) starts when I wake up & throughout the day (with breaks of course) till bedtime. With the power outage, I learned when the sun goes down, it doesn't matter if I haven't detailed the kitchen. I can push spot cleaning the crayon smudges till the next day. Come sunset it's time to relax like DH, lol.

Although I haven't kept ALL the habits, I have kept some (the solar lights, more fan use instead of the A/C,  more grill use - just not for everything, and when to call it quits for the day).

Meal Plan September week 1 :)

A little late... it was a super long weekend ... but here's my meal plan for this week

Monday
Breakfast: Cereal
Snack Broccoli
Lunch PB&J
Snack Fruit smoothies
Dinner Bow-tie pastas
Tuesday
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Snack : Animal crackers
Lunch: Mac & cheese (w/ meat & veggies)
Snack: carrots
Dinner: Frito Pie
Wednesday
Breakfast: cereal
Snack : Fruit smoothie
Lunch: PB&J
Snack: Apples & caramel
Dinner Bow-tie Pasta
Thursday
Breakfast: Breakfast burritos
Snack : Goldfish
Lunch: Mac & cheese (w/meat & veggies)
Snack: Fruit smoothie
Dinner: Crock pot Cream-o-chicken
Friday
Breakfast: Cereal
Snack ; Apples & caramel
Lunch: Grilled cheese
Snack: Fruit smoothie
Dinner: Goulash 




I have all the goodies already in my pantry & freezer! YAY! Total cost for meal plan this week: $0


So what now?
Well, I did go to the grocery store & decided to restock my deep freezer. Although I have enough for my meal plan, I like to keep it well stocked. Plus, knowing I was going for the sole purpose of restocking the deep freezer (& knowing I had everything for this week) it helped curb the impulse to "splurge" or buy junk food.


So this week I spent a bit more than usual. But I bought enough to restock the basics for the month (at least on the meats, which is my biggest budget hurter). I looked for the best sales (esp. the buy 1 [meat item] get 8-9 sides free! at HEB (a local store here in Texas)).


Beef Fajitas (2)
Tyson Fun nuggets (2)
Eye of round steak (2)
BNLS Loin chops (7 pieces/pk  - 2 packs)
Chicken Drums
Salmon (2)
Chicken Breast-Cilantro (2)
Chicken Breast- Teriyaki (2)
Chicken Breast- Lemon (2)
5lb ground beef (2)
BNLS SKNLS Chicken Breast 4lb bags (2)


Re-stocking the deep freezer full of meats for 1 month: approx $100

September!

Well today was the first day of September. It was a wonderful day. The weather is cooling off (still hot here in Texas, but cooling off).


Yesterday I started a big project. I'm cleaning out my storage area behind my home. I got through about 1/2 of it. I spent all day yesterday & all day today sorting, purging, reorganizing & cleaning. A lot of the things in storage were donated to the Salvation Army. It was wonderful. Some of the stuff was brand new, but was put into storage when I first moved here but never had the room to put them. The rest is mainly furniture that I no longer have room for, so that'll be a quick purge (hopefully this weekend)


This year I hope to get an early start on preparing for winter. Last year, we had roughly a week of snow (a couple of days here, a few days there). 


I look around and see what seems like an never-ending list of to-do's. For me it helps to have everything written down (printed from the computer), put into a sheet protector & cross off things as I go (it gives a feeling of accomplishment).


This month (before the weather REALLY starts to cool down) I hope to:

• Touch up the children's bedrooms (I just painted them, but they got messy's & crayon on them already, lol)
• Give my home one more good purge (Winter = Christmas= more clutter)
• Check window seals (last thing I want is to find a leak & be fixing it during a storm)
• Wash windows real good before the rainy weather hits
• Finish bathroom remodeling (ok, more my husband's job, lol)
• Have car checked (I like to get everything checked before the summer & before winter hits)
• Pack up summer clothes & unpack winter clothes. Hem any gently used clothes. Recycle "heavily loved" clothes (dish rags, etc)
• Clean the fridge - a good deep scrub down
• Clean the deep freezer. - I have a stand up deep freezer. But same basic principle. Clean, toss old/frost bitten foods, defrost freezer, re-fill & organize. I also got long (1 wide & a couple skinny) bins. I keep meats in one, frozen fruits in another & frozen veggies in yet another. I also keep extra loaves of breads at the very bottom because the grocery store is a good 30 miles away & that's a good drive for just a loaf of bread, lol
• Pantry - (I just got done with this one earlier (: yay ) - I have a large pantry so I go a bit over board on my pantry organization.  I have a lower level (w/ 2 shelves) & an upper level (also w/ two shelves).The bottom lower level has cereal, pancake mixes, rice, (grains basically). The top lower level shelf has canned veggies on the left & canned fruits on the right (Fruits & veggies level).The bottom upper level has beans, canned tuna, peanut butter (proteins/meats on the right) & evaporate milk/ pediasures/ shelf stable almond milk ("Dairy Group"). The top upper level (furthest from everyones reach too, lol) has cake mixes, frostings, chips, etc ("sweets" group") on the left .... and (not on the food pyrimd) the right side has drinks (juices, teas, etc).