I am now 35 years old. Remember when 35 seemed old? I haven't quite grasped this yet. I was thinking of the differences between 25 and 35 and wondering how my life has changed.
25...Living in an incredibly small 2 bedroom apartment
35...Living in a gorgeous 4 bedroom house that works perfectly for our family
25...I was pregnant with my first child
35...I have three children (9,5,3)
25...I never in a million years would've thought of homeschooling my kids.
35...I am now homeschooling all three kids and talk to others on a daily basis on how they can homeschool too!
25...Working 40+ hours per week with no end in sight.
35...Blessed to be able to stay home to raise our kids.
25...I had been married for three years and did not get along with my husband. The "D" word came up a lot.
35...I have been married for 14 years to the person that I consider my best friend...and I cant' imagine life without him.
25...I'd had it with church and religious people and would never step foot in a church again.
35...Not only has God saved me, but I am actually enrolled in a seminary and almost done with a master's degree in Biblical Counseling.
What a difference 10 years, a husband that works his butt off, and most importantly, God's blessings can do for your life.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Meal Planning - Take 2
Well, last night I stayed up until about 1 o'clock working on this meal planning thing. Let me state for the record, this was not because I had to, but because I've had horrible problems sleeping and was up anyway so figured I'd work while I was awake.
With this e-mealz thing, they give you your grocery list for all your dinners so you just need to add in everything else. I always have problems remembering everything else though. I have a tendency to make my list to the best of my ability and then always end up going back two days later because I forgot a bunch of stuff. Then, of course, I end up buying a bunch of stuff I don't need.
So, back to last night. I made a list of everything we normally buy. I broke it down into these categories: drinks, snacks, breakfasts, lunches, toilettries, cleaning supplies, and extras. Extras consists of salt, pepper, baking supplies (which I hardly ever use), ketchup, mayo, etc., etc., etc.
I'm hoping to type this up into a checklist of the stuff I only buy every now and then and a set list for the things I buy every time. Then, I will be adding it to the e-mealz list to bring to the store. I'm thinking it will take some time on the front end, but once it's set, it will work pretty well.
As far as the dinner menus are concerned, I bought the any-store meal plan. Most of the meals look pretty good. I will have to alter a couple of them. My husband is about as anti-mushroom as you can be and one of the recipes calls for mushrooms so obviously that will change. There's also a recipe with spinach...also something my husband won't eat. Well, you get the idea.
So, my first grocery trip will be on the 31st. I'll let you know how it goes.
With this e-mealz thing, they give you your grocery list for all your dinners so you just need to add in everything else. I always have problems remembering everything else though. I have a tendency to make my list to the best of my ability and then always end up going back two days later because I forgot a bunch of stuff. Then, of course, I end up buying a bunch of stuff I don't need.
So, back to last night. I made a list of everything we normally buy. I broke it down into these categories: drinks, snacks, breakfasts, lunches, toilettries, cleaning supplies, and extras. Extras consists of salt, pepper, baking supplies (which I hardly ever use), ketchup, mayo, etc., etc., etc.
I'm hoping to type this up into a checklist of the stuff I only buy every now and then and a set list for the things I buy every time. Then, I will be adding it to the e-mealz list to bring to the store. I'm thinking it will take some time on the front end, but once it's set, it will work pretty well.
As far as the dinner menus are concerned, I bought the any-store meal plan. Most of the meals look pretty good. I will have to alter a couple of them. My husband is about as anti-mushroom as you can be and one of the recipes calls for mushrooms so obviously that will change. There's also a recipe with spinach...also something my husband won't eat. Well, you get the idea.
So, my first grocery trip will be on the 31st. I'll let you know how it goes.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Monavie
I know some of you know my Monavie story and some of you do not so I wanted to share it here because I've been asked about it a lot.
On February 11, 2007, I started having severe chest pains. I was two weeks away from delivering my third child so this was a pretty scary thing. The pain was so intense, I could not even use the phone to call my husband to come home and get me to the hospital...my six year old daughter had to.
We got to the hospital at 8:30pm. My blood pressure was 220/130 and they were amazed that I hadn't had a stroke. I was rushed into surgery and at 10:15 my beautiful little boy was born by emergency c-section.
Unfortunately, my blood pressure stayed elevated. I was put on medication after medication and nothing brought it down. About a year ago, I happened to mention this to my friend, Mindi who suggested I try Monavie Pulse. I started drinking it right away...2oz/twice a day and within months my blood pressure was normal.
I am now off of my blood pressure medication and still drinking Monavie Pulse to keep myself healthy. My husband is drinking Monavie Active for his joints and muscles and I just started my three children on Monavie m(mun) to build up their immunity before cold and flu season. This stuff is amazing and I am living proof that it works.
My husband and I believe in this so much we signed up to share Monavie with our friends and I would love to share it with you. If you're interested in learning more about it, please contact me.
www.mymonavie.com/amydeace
Meal Planning
I was looking at our budget the other day and realized that we were spending a ton of money on groceries...at least what I would consider to be a ton on groceries. My friend that has five kids...I'm not spending as much as she is, so maybe I'm still ok. However, I would really like to decrease my grocery budget.
I spend a lot of time planning out our menus. I usually do two weeks of meal plans, make a grocery list and go shopping every payday for the next two weeks of groceries. I don't think it's my planning that's lacking though, I think it's the meals I'm making. I think our meal choices are too expensive.
I have little control over my husband's meals. He's on a strict eating regiment during the day because of a health plan he's on and he also has celiac so everything has to be gluten free.
I've been looking for a way to take the stress out of planning dinners though. As you know, I homeschool and am in school myself, so by the end of the day, I really want dinner to be a non-stress thing. I just found a website that I'm hoping will help me with that and I'd urge you to check it out to see if it would work for you. It's Dave Ramsey approved which I found really exciting because you know there's something money-saving about it.
So, the site is called E-mealz. They do the meal planning for you and have a pre-made grocery list. It comes out to $1.25/week which I found pretty cheap for all the time that they're saving you. I just subscribed and downloaded my first two weeks of menus. They look really good and the stuff looks like stuff my kids will actually eat. I'll keep you updated on how it goes, but until then, check out the site and see if it's something you'd like to use too.
I spend a lot of time planning out our menus. I usually do two weeks of meal plans, make a grocery list and go shopping every payday for the next two weeks of groceries. I don't think it's my planning that's lacking though, I think it's the meals I'm making. I think our meal choices are too expensive.
I have little control over my husband's meals. He's on a strict eating regiment during the day because of a health plan he's on and he also has celiac so everything has to be gluten free.
I've been looking for a way to take the stress out of planning dinners though. As you know, I homeschool and am in school myself, so by the end of the day, I really want dinner to be a non-stress thing. I just found a website that I'm hoping will help me with that and I'd urge you to check it out to see if it would work for you. It's Dave Ramsey approved which I found really exciting because you know there's something money-saving about it.
So, the site is called E-mealz. They do the meal planning for you and have a pre-made grocery list. It comes out to $1.25/week which I found pretty cheap for all the time that they're saving you. I just subscribed and downloaded my first two weeks of menus. They look really good and the stuff looks like stuff my kids will actually eat. I'll keep you updated on how it goes, but until then, check out the site and see if it's something you'd like to use too.
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