http://goodcheapeats.com/2012/12/prepare-to-eat-down-the-pantry-2013-challenge/



Check out this challenge. This is a good way to start the New Year.

My Goals are :

To use up what I have too much of and what I shouldn't have bought to begin with.

Give my pantry and freezers a good clean out, including an easier defrosting in the end.

Use the money I save from not buying groceries for catching up back bills (thanks to medical problems),increase the savings account that has took a huge hit, buy seeds/plants for the garden and buy a new chest deep freezer to replace the upright deep freezer I do not like.

Fresh produce and items like milk,eggs will still be bought but not more than 2 NEW items will be included in any meal.

I will journal what meals we have, make notes of recipes used and whether that should ever show back up on the dining table again.

I will TRY to post every day what we eat and check over at goodcheapeats what others are doing...

care to join me?

Blessed Be Juls

Boxing Day

In the old days this day after Christmas would be called Boxing day. Were the landlord would box up his leftovers and what ever and give it to his workers as a present.

Today even though I am not a land owner I would love to box up the anger and violence in this world and send it to HADES.

I would love to box up the commercialism of Christmas and dump it where it belongs.

I would love to pass out boxes of love, kindness and cheer to each and every one.

But I can only give myself...and pray that it makes a difference to each and everyone whose lives I touch.

Blessed Be

Depression

We have had several deaths and serious illnesses in the family since Oct. I got diagnosed with Crohn's and have to change what and how I eat and how to deal with stress.

Our insurance changed and my treatments for my birth defect are no longer covered. So the choice it go without treatments and be in pain and not able to function in daily life or cut the grocery budget to cover the cost of the treatments.

Grocery budget is getting cut. I do plant a large garden plus 8 4 ft x 4 ft square foot gardens each spring. Right now I have one of those growing lettuces while covered with a tee pee of plastic to make a mini hot house.

So we have made the following choices

#1 we have made is to make sure that we eat daily foods that help lower inflammation and increase our immunity.

#2 that we don't waste food. I have found when I am not able to cook that the veggies in the frig get bad because hubby doesn't do fresh veggies.

#3 that we focus on eating out of the pantry which is huge as I have a year's supply of entrees in it and about 3-4 months of side dishes.

#4 that what foods we do buy are in season for our area.

My 2 deep freezers (one upright that I have a love hate relationship with) and a small chest type are full. Both refrigerators freezers are full also.

Tomorrow I will go through the 2 refrigerators and check what needs used up or if something needs pitched since trash(refuse/garbage, what every you want to call it) goes to the road Monday night for Tuesday morning pick up.

Prayers for all...
Blessed Be

September

I love this time of year. I remember the smell of burning leaves, cool crisp mornings while walking to school and warm afternoons of carrying the jacket or sweater I had to wear that morning.I love the colors of the turning leaves. I love taking down the summer decorations and lighter weight and color of table linen,curtains, blankets etc. and putting up the ones to celebrate this coming season.

This time of year also is the busiest for me. Harvest coming in,planting some fall cool weather crops, fall cleaning (yes I wash walls and woodwork, one room a week which is one wall a day), starting to put the food together for Thanksgiving and cookie dough for Operation Thank You (sends things to deployed troops) and cookie dough for Christmas in to the deep freezer to keep the work load down to manageable.

I hated seeing summer end when the kids were little, I always enjoyed being with them and the relaxed summer schedule we had BUT I enjoyed the shopping for school clothes and supplies because it meant I got some new things also.

I enjoy the foods of fall more than summer, hearty soups and sandwiches, casseroles and roasts.I even plan to go back to baking my own bread.We don't eat much sliced bread for sandwiches anyways, more of tortilla wraps, sub buns and thin bagels.

So here is to the next season coming in and this one going out.

Blessed Be

Rascal

From this at 5 weeks to this at 5 months.

We picked him up at a shelter, thinking a puppy would be good for our older dog that was starting to get a bit lazy as she hit 7. Figured she could help with the potty training and boundaries. That part has worked great. I didn't remember the amount of time a pup takes as it's been over 12 years since I've had one but it does come back. No chew, no jump, outside toy(weeds,sticks, steer crap) inside toy (stuffed toys),down, sit, stay (HA HA) etc. He has learned to beg pretty but I think that is because Kira our other dog already did it when we got her and she begs pretty.Right now he is about 20 pounds lighter than her but her size. It's amazing to watch him grow and learn and some times hard to remember he is still only a puppy when he is standing side by side to her.

I did not die

but I have been fighting my health.My son in law asked how I was doing, I told him I woke up breathing, he said that was a good thing.I told him it depends on the day. He didn't think I was funny.

I am starting the hoop jumping for what I hope is the final surgery for YEARS. I have issues with my sinus cavities being broken and not healed correctly that I have put off getting fixed for about 30 yrs. I had part of the surgery done when the youngest was one. She bashed my face the day after surgery with her hand when she was trying to crawl up on me while I laid on the couch recovering and it hurt so bad that I didn't go back and have the rest of the surgery. I know that is a really bad excuse but it's the truth. It's okay, go ahead and laugh, I do.Since it now hurts all the time like a really bad toothache, I figure I can deal with it.

In the mist of everything else, I talked hubby into letting me get a puppy with the line our older dog would help potty train it. Rascal was only 6 wks when we got him. His mom was pregnant and abandoned, starving so much she didn't have any milk to feed her 11 babies when they were born. ALL of them are fine now and His Extended Hands Sanctuary in St Paris OH has done a great job.  .Rascal has adjusted better and faster than we thought he would...as long as he sleeps against me. Since he doesn't stay "dry" all night, I have taken to sleeping on the front room floor or couch with him. I wake up faster and get him out side (saying the words repeatedly potty outside, business outside, like he understands that)hopefully in time to not have to clean the carpet. I should have stock in carpet cleaning products and steam cleaners.Our older dog, Kira has done very well with him.She's never had a litter and has spent most of her life in a shelter but has shown motherly actions towards him....until he takes her food or chews on her too much or won't let her sleep ...then she takes a FIRM stand. Oh wait that is also being a mother....SMILE. Her and I cuddle together when he finally passes out for a nap and coo over him like we are new parents. LOL.

Meantime, the garden needs to be put in (repeatedly as Rascal digs up what ever he sees me plant).There is work to do on the house, walls to paint, woodwork to refinish, more weatherization (have caulk gun, will travel) to bring those heat bills down more.

AND

I have decided I waste too much in the kitchen and the grocery budget was up to over $600 (food,non-food, and eating out) and that to me was unacceptable.

I think $225 should be good, especially with my pantry and the garden.

We will see.

Blessed Be

square foot gardens

 Dark, dreary and cold...the weather suits my mood and attitude to a tea. Even with ordering my garden supplies and planning this spring's planting.

The last year has been a roller coaster and usually that is my favorite ride but for right now I would love the ferris wheel so I can see off into the distance and see what is coming at me.I think the merry go round would remind me too much of my current recovery process.

Hubby's work was down, then up and then back down causing all sorts of financial issues.Lesson learned, saving the kids might mean drowning yourself.

I had my gallbladder removed. I've had digestion issues since birth only to figure out that 90% of them must have been tied to my gallbladder because they went completely AWAY.

My Mom had shingles with a lot of pain.

Then Dad had shingles with a lot of pain.

AND yes I went and got a shingles shot at the advice of my dad.

My step dad's mail order med company that he uses sent the wrong insulin and almost killed him. AND he was driving when the insulin kicked in and he hit several other cars before coming to a stop. Luckily no one else was hurt and his insurance covered it and the mail order company settled out of court.

Then my brother had surgery on his knee and if he doesn't continue the therapy for the rest of his life,he will lose the ability to walk.Having knee issues in your 60s is on the normal side but when you have a 12 yr old daughter, you need to keep things in good condition.

Then my cerebral palsy and fibromyalgia flared up together mimicking the symptoms of  MS and causing me to struggle to walk.So of to physical therapy that wasn't getting correcting the whole issue so I was sent to a surgeon to see if it was my knee ( both my dad and brother have knee issues)...nope, then they x-rayed my lower back, pelvic, hip and entire leg.Vertebra deformed in lumbar and unknown masses in the bladder area so a CT scan was scheduled to see if I had cancer.

I called my dad to tell him I was going for a CT scan to see if I had cancer only for him to tell me he was going in for hernia surgery.SO I kept my mouth shut about my own issues. He has recovered and changed his diet.Considering he has had throat cancer and is a survivor and has been a diabetic for over 20 yrs and has not taken more that 1 pill a day for it and most of that time 1/2 of a pill, walks 5 miles a day (even after knee surgery), rides an indoor bike, lifts weights and eat 3 balanced and healthy meals and over 35 g of fiber into his age of mid 80's...I didn't ask what he changed.He lectures enough on my eating habits and lack of exercise as it is.

I called my mom to tell her I was going in for a CT scan only for her to tell me before I told her my news that she had a mass and was going to have a CT scan to see if it was cancer.So I kept my mouth shut again.

I did tell my kids and asked that they not tell anyone else until we got mom's results and dad got thru surgery.

Yes, my dad, step dad and mom have ripped off my head for keeping my mouth shut when I did tell them.

Mom has multiple melanoma, she went in for radiation but no chemo of her own choice. Two months later she is in remission and not taking radiation. The last CT scan couldn't find any cancer. She will be taking meds for another 3 yrs.

During that time, step dad had to go on meds for his Alzheimer's caused by agent orange from when he was in Nam.

I went in for surgery to remove the masses from my bladder(no cancer) and to sling it. My doctor asked permission to fix anything he found needing repair while there. Works for me...and it really did work for me, first the shock he got was in the 6 weeks from finding the masses by x-ray to the CT scan the masses had went from the size of a pea to the size of a quarter so when surgery was 4 wks after that( I wasn't having surgery during the holidays) he figured it was going to be worse. They were GONE. Though he end up repairing my bowel while in there instead of making me go through another surgery(and more money spent).That surgery turned out a lot better than any of us planned.

Still, with a acknowledgement of the miracles that have came our way (several times a day) I struggle to recover my strength. Struggle to shake the depression and emptiness that is with in me.I read the Serenity Prayer (all verses) several times a day (okay, I taped in on the wall across from the throne) to keep myself focus that the hard times including my health are just part of the path not the whole path.

Prayers for you and yours, prayers for myself and mine.

Blessed Be Juls

Healing Hearts by Beth Wiseman

Healing Hearts by Beth Wiseman
Beth Wiseman's Amish novellas are available for the first time in one collection—Healing Hearts.
This is the first Ebook I have read and I feel it affected how I felt about the book.
Beth Wiseman did a good job writing each story. I did feel that there was a lot of mundane day to day related and not enough emotions and private thoughts from her characters.
I would suggest this book to a young reader but not anyone that is familiar with the Amish and their way of life.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”