Blah Blah Blah and More Blah

Really you had to see this coming. After not blogging for a while I just have so much to say.

First off, thank you for your prayers. We're still in the midst of some pretty stressful stuff but I think both Jason and I are feeling more confidence in the Lord. I always believe that He has things under control but sometimes it's hard to make my feelings line up with that belief.
------------------------------------------------
Mom brought us some eggs from their chickens this week. We love that! We can really go through the eggs in our house and it doesn't get much better than fresh eggs!
This is what the carton looked like when she brought it to me...

Notice the rubber band? That was to keep the carton closed.


This egg was the problem. What the heck? That poor hen. I thought that giving birth to a 9 lb 10 1/2 oz baby was bad. But this poor hen birthed something that was like half of her own body weight.
------------------------------------------------
Moving on...
My family loves to make fun of me for my strong affection towards cheese. My step dad has confessed that he actually used to hide the cheese in the back of the fridge so I wouldn't eat it all. Last night when I was contemplating a snack I realized that maybe there is something wrong with me. Is it normal for one family to have this much cheese in their fridge?
I love cheese! All kinds! Your basic cheddar(although I do love cheddar) alone will not do. I currently have cheddar, mozzarella, Laughing Cow, string cheese, havarti and havarti dill. Yum!
------------------------------------------------

I found a great idea on line while looking for stuff to do with the kids during cold weather. It was fun so I thought I'd share. You just put pancake batter in a squeeze bottle of some kind, ours was an old honey bottle, but you could use whatever you have on hand. Then you squeeze the batter out onto the hot griddle in cool shapes or letters. We did our initials and a couple of Mickey Mouses. You do have to be sort of quick while squirting it so that it doesn't cook unevenly. Of course I didn't think to take pictures of the actual pancakes, sorry.
------------------------------------------------

I have to admit that I really want to join in on Jessy's blog carnival. The thing is that I really stink at following rules. So I am going to share some of my Frugal Fridays on Wednesday. Sorry that's just how I roll. Plus, I'm not quite sure I understand how to do the links and stuff.

Here is my first miserly tip...
Grocery Outlet (I narrowly resisted the urge to call it Rainbow Foods, again having trouble with following the rules. It used to be called Rainbow and I liked that name better.)
If you are watching that new show The Middle then you'll appreciate the expired food store.
Not everything that they sell is expired but some is so you just have to check the outdate. Some things expire within a few days but we just take note of that and use those items soon after purchase. Everything there is seriously discounted.
Yesterday I got all these groceries there for forty dollars. It was a total of twenty five items. That may not seem like a super great deal compared to Wal Mart but I like to buy organic and natural foods if I can afford them and at Rainbow those brands are less expensive than the national brands elsewhere. I got Arm and Hammer degreaser and also multi-surface cleaner(100% natural) for $.50 each.

That leads to my next frugal move. Now hear me out on this. Buying food is an investment. If you spend your grocery budget on high sugar packaged and convenience foods you will need to buy more in order to feel full and stay energized. Spending a little more money up front on healthier whole grains, lower sugar foods, fruits and veggies helps me to keep food in our fridge and pantry longer because we don't feel compelled to eat as much and we just simply don't have any fun junk available to snack on when we feel bored.

Also, I just saw a little you tube video about grocery store savings. They said that many items such as Tide laundry detergent are actually a better value because although they are significantly more expensive they are better products. Tide has eight times more cleaner in it than most of the inexpensive laundry detergents. In the long run they end up costing less in your overall budget because they clean better with just one wash and also help to add life to your clothes by limiting the number of times that they will need washed and also removing stains well so that they will not need replaced. I have always bought Tide and been really happy with the way that it cleans and believe me, we put our clothes to the test!

Also, this week we have been really trying to trim our extra expenses. We have called most of the people that we owe money to each month to see if we can somehow lower our payments. You would be amazed at how much money we have been spending unnecessarily! For example, we had been paying $105 each month for our car insurance. By asking a few questions about our policy and reviewing our coverage and making some changes, we were able to cut it down to less than $50 a month! That's a big savings! 52% to be exact.


-------------------

Now for the fun updates.
The kiddos.

Emily is walking!!!!!
I know amazing, huh? She has been in physical therapy for about five months now and has progressed by leaps and bounds during that time, far surpassing the therapist's expectations. When we originally started the therapy they had serious doubts about her walking normally. She has hyper-flexibility in her joints and low muscle tone, that's just a fancy way of saying that she's very bendy and weak and always will be no matter how much she exercises. She is such a trooper and really the therapy is like an awesome playdate every week so I don't think that she has even clued into the fact that there is an agenda. I am so proud of her. It's so cute to see her little wobbly legs toddling around the house.

Katie...
Well she's still Katie but we are working on reigning in her strong willed nature. Please pray with us.

Ali...
Still has shark teeth. I am heading upstairs to make a dentist appointment after I finish this.

Riley...
is a Lego maniac once again. He has kind of gone in and out of his love affair with Legos since he was about four years old. Well it is definitely back on. This is him building a Lego city and then promptly destroying it by shooting it with a Lego gun. Boys are so strange.