Catching up

Do you ever feel like you spend most of your time trying to play catch-up? Steven and I doled the kids out to different people on Friday night and we spent the night with the youth group with our church. I stayed at the church with the girls and Steven stayed with the boys across the street in our old pastoral. We didn't sleep much, but the girls had fun and got to go to a conference and learn about the lord. I was glad to serve, even if I was tired the next day.

We had our town's annual festival also this weekend. Ashley usually dances at it, but since she was with the youth group we just watched my niece dance. We then walked around, ate a gyro and a fried Oreo, and went home. My foot wouldn't allow for much more, but it was enjoyable. We had my sister in law and brother in law over for homemade pizza for dinner. Busy but enjoyable. Now is the catch up time. I made the little kids clean their bathrooms and their rooms since we were not here this Saturday to do it then. I hate it but there is no maid and the week starts tomorrow.

We are doing a women's study at church on Sunday nights. I feel guilty that I am going and not helping Steven, but he said that he didn't mind. I love a good women's study. He knows this and supports me in this. He is a great husband!

BACK IN THE SADDLE

Well, I got the boot off of my foot this week and I am now wearing a brace.  I still have some weakness and soreness in my ankle, but it is doing much better.  I can walk much easier in this brace, so I decided to go the the grocery today.  I went to Aldi because I saw that they had .99 cent pineapples and .79 cent strawberries and I was not disappointed.  We have already eaten one of the packages of strawberries and made a dent in the pineapples.  I also got some other staples:

I spent $48 total.  I thought this was a good price for what I got :  four boxes of cereal, sugar, lettuce, cans  of tomatoes, 2 milks, oil, pasta, chips, crescent roll, and  few other odds and ends.  I still need to go to Kroger.  They have whole chickens on sale and I need some ground chuck for hamburgers.  This is the menu for the week:

Monday:  Chicken wings, mac and cheese, carrots (Emma's request).

Tuesday:  Spaghetti and salad

Wednesday:  Chili

Thursday :  Whole chicken, pasta salad, green beans

Friday:  Chicken/broccoli braid

Saturday:  Pizza

Sunday:  Hamburgers and hot dogs  (Sunday regular)

We eat cereal, bagels, eggs and toast or oatmeal for breakfast.  Some of the kids buy lunches at school and some pack a sandwich, chips and fruit.  Steven and I usually eat leftovers or make sandwiches.

Sourdough Bread

I have been trying to get back into the kitchen after breaking my ankle.  I love being in the kitchen and organizing my home, but the last few weeks everything has been put aside.  I have been wanting to make sourdough bread for a while.  The last time I tried it, it was a flop.  The bread never rose and I hated that all of that work went out the window.  Well, this past few weeks I have been researching online other people's sourdough.  I got many tips and tried it again.  Well, this time it worked.

I haven't baked it yet, but it has risen up nicely.  It is honey whole wheat and if we like the taste I will post the recipe.  I am super excited.  This kind of bread is supposed to be great for you.

I am also trying to make some yogurt.  We have been eating two huge containers of yogurt a week.  That runs about $5.00, but I can make the same amount myself for about $1.50.  I cooked it on the stove and now it is sitting in my crockpot with a towel around it.

The last time that I tried this it didn't set up good.  I am hoping for better results!

Gas Prices

Have you heard that gas prices are supposed to go up to $5.00 a gallon this summer? What is the deal with that? We drive a mini van and it gets 20 miles to the gallon which is good for that type of car. We can't get anything smaller and we actually could use something bigger. We are always taking extra kids to church and other places with us. We just can't afford the gas for a bigger vehicles. We sure can't go any smaller. We barely fit in the van.

I guess this summer we will be staying home more and more. I hate it, but what choice will we have? When we lived in Leesburg we had a pool, but here we do not. My mom has a pool, but she lives 20 minutes away from here. They spend alot of time in the summer at the beach, so we may just stay at her house a few days at a time just so that we can swim and be closer to town for outings. I have also thought about spending some extended time at the beach this summer. My grandma has a beach house and lets us go. We will have to share some with my parents, but extra time in the water would be great! We do live 5 miles from the river, so we can take a picnic lunch and let the kids go swim there. I do worry about snakes. Yuck! I like pools better, but there is not one around here to join.

I don't know why I am worried about summer already. That is four months away.. I guess I should worry about this week first. Like, what am I going to wear to my cousin's bridal party this weekend with this boot on my foot?

Presidents Day

It is Presidents Day today and the kids are out of school. I love these one day holidays. I usually take the kids to the movies or out to lunch or at least to a park with a picnic, but right now with this ankle I really can't take them anywhere. I could take them to the movies, but there is nothing really out right now that we want to see, so we are just going to stay home. I might let them bake and decorate cupcakes later. I don't know. We will just wait and see.

I am babysitting the crew this week again. Luckily, my sister is out of school Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so I will only have him two days this week and the other kids are coming on Thursday and Friday. I will have two days free with no kids. I am going to go and get my hair cut one of the days. I would love to go poking around Goodwill, I will just see how my foot is feeling. I can't walk a long way, only a short distance.

Well, I guess I will get in the kitchen in a little bit and fix these kids some breakfast. I might bake some biscuits for them. That would be a treat!

Shopping with a broken foot

Well, since I broke my ankle I have not been able to go shopping. I have sent Steven to the store a few times to pick up stuff to get us through, but no big shopping trips. I did send him to Publix with coupons and he did pretty good. He didn't like the selection of items that I sent him for (granola bars and fruit snacks) but he bought them on sale with a coupon, so I didn't think that was a bad deal. I can't stand in the kitchen for a long stretch right now, and the kids take the snacks to school and eat them on outings, so I don't think it is a bad thing. It did get me to thinking about what we are eating and what we are spending our money on. Would I be better to make some granola bars from scratch? Would it be better to eat home baked cookies. We already eat alot of homemade bread and scratch goodies, but should they all be from scratch? I don't know the answers to these things, but I am going to think about them.

Steven is going to take Evan to buy a baseball bat and pick up some items for me at Aldi and Kroger. He hates shopping, but hates eating out more and hates spending the money to eat out.

The guys are going to a monster truck show tonight. The girls and I are going to my parents house to cook out. Nothing big. Maybe hot dogs and hamburgers. That is our usual Sunday lunch so I guess I will fix pizza for tomorrow. I think I will bake the crusts today and wrap them and put them in the freezer. Then we just have to thaw them and put the toppings on.

Well, I need to go shower and get moving. I love to lounge on Saturday a little too much.

Time to Reflect

While I have been laid up with the broken ankle I have had time to reflect on things. I was upset when I first broke my ankle that it seemed like no one was really concerned about our situation. With my ankle broken, I couldn't get in the kitchen and cook or do any house chores. I am starting to be able to hobble around the house now, so we are doing some simple dinners and the kids are helping with the heavy housework on the weekends. My mother in law did not even call me to see how I was (she is still angry with me over other issues I guess), two of my sister in laws did not even call me, and some other family members just made some half hearted requests to help us. My mom did bring us a roast and my sister brought us a lasagna and took off of work to keep the baby at home so I could recover. Then, two families from church brought us dinner, and several called and asked if we needed anything. I realized that we live in a selfish world. Most people don't mean anything by it, but they think only of themselves and what they have going on at that moment. We have a bread basket ministry at our church that takes food to those in need, and I try to do what I can to help with that, and even though the church did not do organized meals for us (we really didn't need alot) we were blessed with enough to get us through. We can count on our church family even when we cannot count on our own family. This is when being in a body of believers is nice.

Steven has been doing the shopping. He is not enjoying it, but he has been doing OK. I am hoping that I can walk well enough to shop for myself next week. We will see. I am getting cabin fever so I am hoping I can.