Organic on a Budget

I have a new blog.  I’ve made a lot of changes, as of late, with what my family eats.  I want to incorporate more organics, but I still want to stay within a cheap budget.  This new blog is for planning and tracking of these changes.

Check it out!  Let me know what you think.

journal entry

I had a miscarriage on the 21st of last month. I was just shy of 8 weeks. It wasn't as awful as I had thought it would be. My friend Heather brought a pot of yummy (!) chicken soup by after I told her I didn't need dinner brought to me. In fact, she called me about an hour after we initially spoke that day and said, "I'm bringing some chicken soup over in spite of you. It will be there in about an hour." Thank goodness for good women who ignore the naive assertations of others. By dinner time I was hurting. And that soup was good.

Travis and I were definitely disappointed. We were looking forward to our perfectly planned April baby. *sigh* We'll see when the next one comes.

So last week was all sleeping and napping and trying to get one thing done each day other than a shower. Sometimes that one thing was a nap. Other times I was slightly more productive.

I've been looking for a great voice teacher for a while and I finally found one. Mary Beth Felker has a studio in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle. She is helping me with my exact problems and I've already made great progress. (According to my ears. Trav says he can't hear what I'm talking about.) We had our first "performance night" since I started there. It was fun to get up on stage and sing my two songs. I did "If I Ain't Got You", by Alicia Keys, and "I Told You So" a la Carrie Underwood. It was fun, and my confidence has increased greatly.

Last Friday we finally went on a real date. It was planned for the previous Friday but things, er, interrupted those plans. We went with two other couples to the Kingfish Cafe in Capitol Hill. It was really, really good. Except the monstrous piece of cake that we all shared for dessert. I'm picky about cake, and really, it was overbaked. Dry, hard. HOWEVER!!! the caramel whip cream that they had on top was GLORIOUS! I will certainly be doing that in the future. Yum! The food really was pretty good, with huge servings. I had an entire huge dish of gumbo to take home with me. I was looking forward to it for lunch the next day. After that, we went to the Space Needle where we finally all picked up the super annual passes that each couple had bought this past February. (Great deal: One adult +1 guest pass for $30 annual pass. FYI, for two one-time passes for adults costs $32. Yeah.) The views were lovely, but had to be cut short a bit as two of us had babysitters to get home.

It was a great night.

The next day I tossed my gumbo in the trash. My guts hurt so bad! They hurt for two and a half days. ugh! I was really worried that something other than food poisoning was at fault because it was just pain for so long. And then I *ahem* found out that it was just food poisoning.

In better news, the Zauggs came for a visit last Thursday and my parents came over the weekend. It was great to have family come and visit. I taught a successful Gospel Doctrine lesson (success defined by people telling me that the lesson was very useful for them) and was able to enjoy time with my folks.

What I’ve been busy with

Well, I’m quite a bit progressed on Bev’s quilt.  It’s a twin size, with plenty of drape.  We just bought the girls a bunk bed, so it’s going to just be smooshed up there, I guess.  Oh well.  It’ll still be lovely.

Here is a close-up of the horses.  I have outlined 6 of the 10 now, and I’m doing it in dark brown.  They look terrific, and Beverly is very excited whenever I pull it out.

A large interruption occurred last month.  We went on our first real “road trip” as a family.  We’ve done long drives before, but this was our first multi-destination vacation.  It was a learning experience, and overall quite positive.  I’m looking forward to doing it again (in a bigger vehicle).  Click the picture to see a full album.  We stopped in Missoula, MT, Salt Lake City, UT, McCammon, ID, Emigrant Springs, OR, Astoria, OR, and Ft. Steven’s State Park.  Fun, fun, fun.  Whew!

View Full Album

Albertson’s and Catalinas

One of my favorite deal blogs, Utah Deal Diva, alerted me to another great deal at Albertsons.  Here’s what I bought:

4 pints Breyer’s icecream (on sale for $1), using these or these coupons, plus the doublers from the paper (which I’m told you can get at customer service, too).  FREE, plus a catalina for $4 off of 5 klondike items (Breyer’s pints, too!).

On the next purchase I bought:

• 9 bottles of Kraft bbq sauce (because I use it a lot)
• 1 tub of Kraft mayo (because I’m out)
• 5 pints of Breyer’s icecream

Paid:  $7.40 and got another $4off5 for icecream and 4 single $1 catalinas.  MORE than I paid.  Oh, and I had a coupon for one thing of mayo.

Today I had time to go again before the sale is over.  I stocked up on the same things because the bbq sauce and mayo are great to have in my pantry.

• 5 pints icecream
• 8 bottles bbq sauce
• 2 tubs mayo

Paid $7.90, got the same catalinas ($4off5icecream, 4 x $1)

Because I’m going to be out of town until the $1 catalinas expire, I went ahead and used them.

• 5 pints icecream
• 1 box Wheat Thins (for our road trip)
• 4 Top Ramens (for our camping trip)

Paid:  $.99 (essentially, the Ramens).  I also received another $4off 5 catalina that is good until October. 

All told?

• 19 pints icecream
• 17 bottles of bbq sauce
• 3 tubs mayo
• 1 box of crackers
• 4 Top Ramen

Paid:  $16.29

Saved:  $81.67

Debabblings: Organizational Planner Giveaway!

Debabblings: Organizational Planner Giveaway!

My friend Debra is giving away a neat-o planner on her blog and has a code for 10% off at the store where the planner is from.
Check it out!

Projecting

My house is a bit turned upside-down right now.  Travis finished the crown molding (at long last!) in the master bedroom, and it’s my job to fill the nail holes and seams and then paint it.  Of course, I also need to do that in the sewing room, and a bit of touch up in the girls’ bedroom. 

 

During this time of upheaval I decided to completely reorganize our home.  The project first started with the idea that our condo would be at the beginning of the construction schedule (long story) and therefore ready for sale at the end of the summer.  Things changed and we’re back at the tail end.  So, I’m repacking the closets with the freshly packed boxes and trying to fit in us all in the condo in such a way as to make the eventual moving easier.

 

In my search for a New Level of Organization I headed to Goodwill to seek treasures to help me home-ify my condo.  We’ve been here for three years with the expectation of moving, that I haven’t really settled here.  I’m finally printing pictures from our trip to Portugal last year and putting up a collage in the sewing room.  I came home with a new project to do today, and another for some other day.   

 

This bit of lovely fabric was $0.99 and the nearly new corkboard was $5. 

I used an office stapler (because I haven’t organized my stuff enough yet to justify buying a staple gun!).  Felt pads keep the staples from scraping the wall.

 

 

 

 

 

I may embellish it with the whole ribbons-criss-crossy thing and center tacks, but I’m not sure.  Right now I just love the splash of color on my wall.

What do you think?

 

Do you Kroger?

If you shop at a Kroger affiliate (in my case, QFC), then you should check out Cellfire.com.  Fill out the info, click the coupons you want to use, and they get saved to your club card!  No printing or fussing.  They get done automatically when you swipe the card. 

Most of the offers for my store are processed foods, but there were a few that I picked.  (Who doesn’t like brownies?)