My 911 post

I decided that the day cannot continue without my comment on the 9/11 attacks.  I had dropped my oldest child at pre-school for the morning and my one-year-old and I went to my aunts house for a visit.  When I got there she told me what had happened and while we were watching the TV we saw the second plane hit the towers.  Until then I really didn't understand that we were under attack.  I thought a plane got off course and hit the tower.  We live in Georgia, far from New York, but I was immediately afraid.  I didn't know if there would be other attacks or what to do.  I ended up going to my mom's house and waiting for Ashley to get out of school.  We then went home and I don't think the children and I went anywhere for about three days.

When I think about how frightened I was, I can't imagine how it was in New York for those people who had to live through that.  The Lord helped many people get though those days and I am assuming he still is.  I don't think you can live through an event like that and come out the same.  Our county changed that day.  I always wonder why some people are so full of hate, that they would die so that thousands of others could die.  It is something I hope I never understand.

God was with us and those people who suffered.  The attacks are the results of evil and not God.  He has helped us though, and will continues to help us.  He is the only one who can help.

I hope that you spent this day is church and praying.  If you are not a Christian, then my hope is that you will find a church and see how much you need him.  God is the only way to peace!

My dad picked pears from the tree at my Grandma's house last week.  Today I canned them.  It took a couple of hours but I ended up with 10 quarts and three pints of pears.  These will be great this winter.  These pears are really hard and the only good way to eat them is to cook them.

Aren't they pretty!  I am hoping for another batch to can up.  If I get another batch that might be enough for the  winter.  I have plenty of greens beans, squash, and salsa for the winter.  I am going to do a batch of applesauce if I can get apples cheap enough.  I love having fresh canned fruits and veggies around in the winter.  They taste so much better than what you can get at the store.

Aldi shopping

Well, with a quick trip to the beach and baby sitting all week I just made a quick trip to Aldi to get some stuff we needed for the week.  They had hamburger and hotdog buns for .25 cents a pack and milk for $2.25 a gallon.  I shouldn't need to go out again until next week, unless I make a trip to publix tonight to get some sale items.  It will have to depend on my stamina by then.  Here is a picture of what I got.

I spent around $63.00.  Not too bad!

Beach Snack Foods

Well, I told myself that I would not spend any money at the beach except for gas, but when we got here I realized that we needed a few more supplies than I imagined.  My parents are on a low carb diet, which has been great for their heath, but doesn't really work for a bunch of kids.  There were no crackers or chips to have with lunch, nothing for the kids to snack on, and no bottles of water.  The water here is really gross (Florida water), so that was mostly a need.  The kids also love shrimp, and taking them out to dinner at a seafood restaurant will cost an arm and a leg, so I went to a local place and got 5 pounds of shrimp to cook tonight.  The shrimp was $20.00 and and the trip to Wal-Mart was $40.00.  I will just take the difference from my food budget for next week.  I have plenty of supplies at home and will only need mild and some fruit this week.  We will just make a trip to Aldi on Wednesday.  Well, we are going to the beach.  Bye and happy Sunday!

Weekend trip

The kids and I decided last night to make a long weekend trip to the beach.  My grandparents bought the beach house in the 1960's.  My grandma is 95 and doesn't go to the beach anymore.  My parents spend alot of time there and asked up to join them this weekend.  I did go shopping and spent $30 at publix and $50 at Walmart.  Some of the Walmart money were videos to watch in the car and some candy to eat on the way.  Anyhow, I still stayed within my $100 for the week.  We will probably buy some shrimp at the beach and cook it.  We are not going out or buying anything extra while we are gone. 

When we travel we will bring out big cooler and fill it with drinks and snacks.  It saves a ton of money to not have to stop at a convenience store.  We will stop and get fast food, but we don't buy drinks and share fries so it is not that bad.  When we travel we always stay where there is a kitchen, or we camp and cook over the fire or the camp stove.  It is so much cheaper for us to rent a cabin or a condo and cook then to rent two hotel rooms and have to go out.

Have a good and safe weekend.  May the Lord bless you!

Glad for Friday

I am glad tomorrow is Friday and I only have one little baby here tomorrow.  I need to go to the grocery store, so I will post a picture tomorrow of what I bought and how much I paid.  I have only spent the $18 I showed you this week, so I should have plenty to spend to get what we need.  Well, we gotta to Wal-mart to get some note cards.

My favorite money saving book.

I guess the book that made the biggest difference in the way that I view frugality and saving money is the Tightwad Gazette.  She embraces frugal living, does some very innovative things to save money.  Now, I am not saying that I do everything that she does in the book, see does some really far out stuff, but I thing she has many good tip and recipes.  It is a book full of resources, that I tend to refer back to time and time again.  I have the link to the book on by sidebar, just in case you are interested in purchasing one.