My Poem (again)

Paul Part II

I walk towards you every day
In my mind I stop, I turn
Keep my awkward thoughts at bay
My blush becomes a trait unlearned

I'm unfettered in my heart
Reaching out to take your hand
And so we'll never be apart
No matter where our feet may stand

Now we always walk together
My mind can see it silver clear
Our hands are intertwined forever
Their former distance not revered

If only I could take that chance
And not be perpetually paralyzed
My real speech a neurotic dance
This dream a realm to be disguised

Weekly Menu Plan!

I haven't gone grocery shopping yet, but I plan on getting it done tomorrow. I'm going top go in between my last class at the college, and picking up the baby from preschool. I'll actually be ALONE...A rare treat! I'll probably spend the whole time just wandering around the store, pretending I'm on vacation.:P Here is my menu plan!

SUNDAY
Black beans with rice
Tomatoes
Avocados

MONDAY
Oatmeal with walnuts and raisins

TUESDAY
Swedish meatballs
Roasted carrots w/maple syrup

WEDNESDAY
Chicken pot pie
Tomato/cucumber salad

THURSDAY
Mexican lasagna

FRIDAY
Leftovers!

SATURDAY
Pita bread
Hummus
Tomato/cucumber salad
(Bumped from last week)

New challenges

I found out last week that my ex-husband is losing his job. He is currently in the Air Force, but they have decided to fire him. I'm hoping that I convinced his First Sergeant to wait until Summer, but even if I did, my ex-husband's bad conduct might force the First Sergeant's hand. This is a serious blow, because my children and I still rely on military benefits, and of course, child support. I'm anticipating that both benefits and child support will disappear the second my ex-husband is kicked out. At first, I kind of panicked about this, but really...I don't have the luxury of giving into panic, so I tried to pull myself together and come up with a plan. Here's what I've come up with:

SAVE UP $8000 TO GET ME THROUGH THE SUMMER
If the First Sergeant can delay the firing until June, I will (hopefully) finish up my pre-requesites by the end of Summer quarter and be able to get a job while I wait for my program to start. I would need $8000 to get me from June to November. I say November, because I might not get a job right away. The unemployment rate in Augusta is pretty high right now. I feel pretty confident I can come up with tthe $8000. My tax refund alone is almost $6000, I'm getting a Pell refund of $300, and I have my new babysitting job. The lady I babysit for is paying me $300 on February 5. That is $6600 right there! I will get one more Pell refund before June, which will bring me to $7000. I will get paid (hopefully) $750 from babysitting between now and June, and I plan to save $600 of it. That brings me to $7600! I'm sure I'll be able to save that last $400 somehow. *sigh* there are always a few places to cut corners, even in the strictest budget. If I can avoid tapping into my long term savings before I find a job, I'll have enough money to get me through school...No matter what my ex-husband does.

GET MORE EVENING AND WEEKEND BABYSITTING CLIENTS
The more extra money I make, the better, especially in the Summer. If I can get just one more child to watch, that would bring my income up to $500 a month. I wish I could watch kids during the day, but school is more important than money at this point.

FIND OUT HOW TO GET MORE GRANT, OR SCHOLARSHIP MONEY FOR SCHOOL.
Luckily there are a lot of federal and state programs out there to help single moms go to college. President Obama has promised to increase Pell grants and other assistance for school. I know a lot of people consider these programs to be "welfare" and "socialist," and maybe they are. The way I see it, though, is those same people are usually devout christians...Doesn't the Bible say to help each other, and that we're all children of God? Wasn't Jesus all about giving to the poor, and needy, no matter how they got that way? It doesn't seem to me that wanting poor people, especially poor CHILDREN to starve and die in the streets, is a very christian attitude.

Well there it is, my plan to (hopefully) avoid disaster.

My end of the grocery cycle improve meal!

Today I just couldn't think of what to make for dinner. My fridge held 2 gallons of milk, 4 apples, 3 turnips, a pound of swiss cheese, some leftover spaghetti sauce, some leftover pasta, and 5 pounds of carrots. I did not feel inspired by these items. What I wanted to make was Greek meatballs, pita bread, hummus, and a salad, but I didn't have the right ingredients! I ran out of tomatoes a day too early, and I couldn't find a good meatball recipe. As I felt sorry for myself, I started a batch of granola bars.
I wish I could say that I was suddenly hit by awesome, frugal inspiration, but that's not what happened. In reality, I moped around, listened to the same song about 500 times ("Don't Come Around Here No More"), and then finally put something together. Here's what I came up with!

LIZ'S DEPRESSED DAY CASSEROLE
About 1/2 pound of cooked, short pasta
2 Tbsp butter
1 can of evaporated milk
1 can of tuna, drained
2Tbsp flour
1 bag 12-16oz frozen vegetables
1/3 pound of swiss cheese, shredded
1/2C breadcrumbs

Heat the oven to 350. Melt butter in a saucepan. Add frozen vegetables and cook until mostly heated through. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly for about 30 seconds. Add the evaporated milk and cook, stirring constantly until almost boiling. Add the cheese and stir until just melted. Remove from the heat. Place the pasta in a greased 9x13 pan. Add the cheese mixture and stir to combine. Add the tuna and stir to combine. Mix the breadcrumbs with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle over the top of the casserole. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes.

The good news is, this casserole turned out really good! We had 4 pieces of garlic bread left, so we ate the casserole with garlic bread and drank the last of our sparkling cider with it. I will definitely be making a version of this in the future. I still have a ton of evaporated milk and pasta in my pantry.:P

Happy grocery shopping with kids!

Now that I'm a single mom, I ALWAYS end up taking my three kids to the grocery store with me. Sometimes it is more fun than others, and sometimes it is definitely a chore. Here are some methods I have come up with to ease the potential pain!

I PACK A "TREAT BAG"
I pack a paper bag with "treats" for each of my kids. I say, "Treats," because really...it's usually just healthy snacks! A typical "treat" bag would probably include, juice, cereal or popcorn in a baggie, carrot sticks, and maybe a cookie if I had baked any. My kids go CRAZY over these. Having these snacks for them drastically cuts down on the fighting, whining, and screaming that seems to inevitebly occur at the most embarrassing moments. Sometimes I pack a "treat" bag for me, too!:P

I SAY WE CAN BUY ONE SPECIAL ITEM
This is exactly the same principle as the "treat" bags. I pick two items (that I want to buy anyway) and I let my kids pick the one they want. Last time we shopped, it was frozen ravioli on sale, the time before it was sparkling apple cider that has 100% juice. If they start misbehaving, I threaten to not buy the "extra" item.:P

I TRY TO TAKE THEM SHOPPING ON SATURDAY MORNING
This way, they aren't overly tired and the store isn't especially crowded. An even better time to shop is Sunday morning, but I always need to go shopping by Saturday. I obveously need to plan that better!:P

I'm lucky in that my kids actually enjoy grocery shopping. Packing treat bags turns it into kind of a fun, family outing. The kids just sit in the cart and munch away. Grocery shopping day is always my favorite day, because it means we're going to get some new food to eat. We never go hungry, but sometimes I just get so tired of the food we have in the house. I can't wait until the first week I get to spend $105, instead of $80! I plan to stock up and plan all kinds of awesome feasts. I'm sure that first week will have an interesting meal plan.:P

Weekly menu plan and an update

It's been a while since I posted a meal plan. That's because I stopped planning meals, much to my chagrin over the past few weeks. I've been really stressed out about a lot of things, but I'm finally trying to get back on track. That's the great thing about falling off the frugal wagon...You can always climb back on. Anyway, here's my meal plan for the week!

MONDAY
Egg salad sandwiches
Oven fries
Cucumber/tomato salad

TUESDAY
Spaghetti with crock pot meatballs and sauce
Peas

WEDNESDAY
Pasta E Fagoli
Beer bread rolls

THURSDAY
Pita bread
Hummus
Cucumber/tomato salad
Greek style meatballs

FRIDAY
Leftovers!

SATURDAY
Crab and corn chowder
Beer bread

SUNDAY
Ravioli with leftover tomato sauce
Green salad

I got a babysitting job recently that will pay me $250 per month. I'm hoping to use $50 of that to pad my grocery budget. $105 every two weeks instead of $80. I think it's going to make a HUGE difference! I'm going to use the other $200 to build up my savings. Every $2000 I save is another month where I won't lose my house, where I won't have to apply for welfare. Every $300 I save is grocery and gas money for a month. Every month that passes brings me closer to getting my degree, and starting a job that will save my children and I from poverty. I just have to get from here to there.

Frugal weight loss!

I wouldn't normally do a blog post about weight loss, but this weight loss actually fits my overall frugal blog theme! 5 months ago, I was weighing between 145 pounds on a good day, and 148 pounds on a bad day! I'm only 5'2", so either one of those weights is WAY too heavy. This morning I got on the scale, and I weighed 131 pounds. That's a weight loss of about 16 pounds! I'm really pleased about this. I don't really know why I had gotten so overweight before, but at least it's finally going away. Now here's the part where my weight loss fits into my frugal blog theme.:P I lost all of that weight just by being frugal! Here's how:

I STOPPED GOING OUT TO EAT
I really think this is the #1 reason for my weight loss, because it's not like I have really been counting calories at home, or anything. The really strange thing is, it's not like I went out to eat all of the time before! When my husband lived with us, we went out for dinner maybe once or twice a week. Since he has left, I just haven't been able to afford dining out. I just can't believe the huge difference that eating at home has made...In my waistline AND my wallet!

I TRIED TO FOCUS ON MORE NUTRITIOUS FOODS
Nothing forces you to think about what you eat, like having a tiny grocery budget. I only have $80 to buy groceries to feed 4 people for 2 weeks. I have to really think about everything I want to buy. I want to make sure my kids get all of the vitamins they need. "Extras" like chips, soda, and pre-packaged meals, just don't fit into my food budget. I make all of our meals from scratch, because I really can only afford the basic ingredients. When we eat snacks, it's usually carrot/celery sticks, homemade granola bars, yogurt, fruit, cereal, eggs, or homemade corn chips with avocado salad. I actually kind of snack a lot. Maybe if I didn't snack so much, I'd lose even more weight!:P

I ATE SIMPLER MEALS AT HOME
When my husband lived with us, dinner was kind of a big, family event. I used to serve meat, at least two side dishes, bread and a dessert almost every day. Not only is that expensive, it's a lot of calories! Now I serve much simpler meals. Sometimes we'll still eat a grand feast, but more often we'll just eat soup, or chili, or a casserole, or breakfast for dinner. I find that my kids actually enjoy the simpler meals a lot more than the elaborate ones I used to make. Simpler meals also have the added bonus of making you lose weight!

I've tried to lose weight before, on Weight Watchers, or on some other diet plan. I would lose weight, but it always seemed so hard! This time, I wasn't really even trying to lose weight, I was trying to save money! I guess frugality was the answer all along, as it so often is.:P