WEEK THREE

Enduring....

WEEK TWO

Happenings from WEEK TWO:

• Sam made a slammin' good pie tonight with reconstituted dried apples, craisins, and a yummy crumb topping. Mmm. MMmm. goodness.

• My dear brother and his wife sent fruit leather and lots of snacks and ingredients for microwaved smores. We have enjoyed these!

• We've had Shepherd's Pie with canned vegs, the fake potatoes, and freeze-dried cheese.

• We've had 7 light bulbs burn out since we started our experiment. I guess I never really thought of light bulbs for home storage. Lesson Learned!

• Last night a family invited us to dinner. Sam and I were giddy with glee, anticipating eating fresh food! They totally delivered. Cucumbers-it's been too long!

What we ran out of this week:

• potatoes

• cough drops :-( and yes, we've needed them this week)

• cheddar cheese

• light bulbs

What we've learned this week:

• Freeze-dried peaches are disgusting. There is just no way around it. We've had multiple brands, and yuck-o to all of them.

• Freeze-dried apples and strawberries are delish.

• Freeze-dried, grated cheese is surprisingly wonderful. It even melts. I could eat handfuls. Think of that crispy cheese that gets grilled to the pan when you make grilled-cheese sandwiches. Yum.

• Powdered milk tastes like chalk dust...Oh wait. I already knew that. Fortunately, the kids haven't even flinched about chugging it.

• A batch of powdered milk with a few tablespoons of cream added makes it so much better. And actually, I like the Kiss of Cream brand, but it is more pricey than the kind we get from the Cannery.

Well, that's week 2!

Lastly, I did enter a store to cash a money order my daughter got from school. WOW! It's amazing what 2 weeks away from any grocery store can do. I was just blown away by all the variety and I salivated on the oranges. But, it's also reset my thinking about what we really NEED from the store, and what we can live without.

OH, and really LASTLY, I forgot that Sam came up with a name for our experiment.

SUPERMARKET MORATORIUM

Halfway there!!

WEEK ONE

Thoughts from Week One:

• I really miss green salad.
• I do not miss going to the grocery store.
• In fact, I feel liberated.
• I would love to never have to go to another store again.
• Life is actually simpler this way.
• More freezer space would be nice (we have only the fridge freezer)
• I like having an excuse when my meals are not so yummy. (For surely, with the proper ingredients, this would taste better!;-)

WHAT WE RAN OUT OF THIS WEEK:

milk
Enter powdered milk goodness (or not so goodness). mmmm....
fresh fruit
Enter dried apples. These actually are yummy.

eggs.

I used the last few eggs wisely. I made brownies :-) and cut them into bite-sized pieces and froze them for the long weeks ahead. We do have egg powder for pancakes or other things.

BREAD!

Oh my-we've been baking and baking bread like crazy. It is a wonderful perk to have yummy homemade bread all the time. After all, if you don't have a lot of food around, you can always make bread and have something to eat.

We've made white bread, multi-grain bread, whole wheat bread, english muffin bread, and sweet cinnamon bread. I have enjoyed this. While I don't like cooking, I do like to bake.

Oh-and the calendar ran out. So, I figured I'd just draw some lines on a 12 x 12 piece of paper and glue it onto the "old" January. I will enjoy my scenic pictures of Italy all over again!

(I might do this every year.)

And last but not least: baby food.

This I am REAlly going to miss. Sure, I can make my own from our meals, but that always takes more forethought and time. And when you're already confined by fewer ingredients, it's even harder. Fortunately Jack is getting old enough for more textures than just pureed.

I have to say I am enjoying this challenge....so far.

And I am looking forward to eating that green salad again.

Until next week!....

New Years Experiment

So, we're doing an experiment. We are not going to the grocery store for the whole month of January. Not going to any store actually. We are stocked up on diapers and such. The thing I'll miss is fresh fruits and vegetables. (I know...this isn't super healthy, but it's just one month, right?)
When we first talked about doing this experiment, I anticipated getting a bunch of fresh food to hold us over the first week or two. Alas, Jan 1 was the day we drove all day from visiting family to arrive home late at night. No stocking up. We had one apple left.
But that makes it much more exciting, right? Stocking up would have kind of been cheating.
So of course I've decided to document it, hoping that will motivate me not to wimp out before Day 10.
Why are we doing this? We want to put our food storage to the test. Find out what we'd miss and thereafter stock up on that. We also want to save money for a month now that my Hubbie is making a career change. (That's sounds better than jobless doesn't it?)

So, Day ONE:
Guess what happens? My curling iron breaks while I'm getting ready for church!
People-I really need this piece of equipment. You see, I can't DO wavy. Only one chunk of my hair goes wavy and the rest is kinky or stick straight. It's a horrible look; let me tell ya. And my vanity won't let me blow-dry it straight cuz I just don't feel finished.
Here's the villainous iron:

Really, what is up with Revlon? Have you noticed how their heating elements just go kaput after not long enough?
Anyway, I went to church and received wonderful news!!
Two friends said they each had an iron the same barrel size they don't use that I could have. Yay!
Another piece of good news: One of these friends said that they know of a sectional someone is planning on getting rid of and WOuld I be interested in it?
WOULD I!!!!!?

These beauties have done us well for almost a decade. And before that, they did other family members well, for-I don't know-maybe 25 years. But, they are really done. I think my friend suggested the new sectional because she had to sit in my couch last time we hosted Playgroup. Yeah-IN my couch. One cushion sinks down about 2 feet when you sit on it.

Anyway, I will keep posting about our adventures, obstacles, temptations, etc. relating to our 1 month experiment. Maybe I should come up with a catchy name for it? Anyone?

Time for Learning

I've been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer skill sharpening. Find out how to write your own curriculum review for Time4Learning.

I had to post the above in order to review this curriculum. I've never done this before, so we'll see how it goes.

sorry for the boring post:-)

I Just Can't

Tonight is one of those nights when I just can't.
You know, there's wet laundry in the washing machine that needs to be moved to the dryer.
And clean clothes that wait on your bed to be folded.
But you just can't.
I should really do myself a favor and pick up the books and shoes and children's drawings of star wars battles and princesses scattered all over the living room floor.
Because don't you love waking up to a clean living room, ready to start the day?
But I just can't.
You know the saying, "whether you think you can or you think you can't, You're right?" Henry Ford or someone really ambitious and perseverant said it. I don't think perseverant is a word, but it should be.

Well anyway, tonight I think I can't so I can't. And I'm enjoying "can'ting".

So I waste time on the computer and eat two granola bars and a handful of chocolate chips because they are the closest things resembling sweets that I have in my house right now.
(I'm on a diet) A handful-or-two-of-chocolate-chips-a-day-diet. The granola bars were an Indulgence because I've been so good lately. Just eating chocolate chips.

Isn't mediocrity blissful sometimes??

Usually when I feel like I can't, I look up homeschooling stuff because I'm a nerd and that's fun for me, or I read a good book. But, I just finished my book a few hours ago and tonight even that sounds too productive for me.

So, I let the can'tness wash over me. And I enjoy seeing the squiggly, red lines under all my misspelled, made up words.

And I just can't go to bed on time even though we just resolved two days ago to go to bed earlier. I have to admit I felt a little discouraged when I woke up at 5 am sharp the first morning of the "early to bed and early to rise" goal only to hear my 6 and 2 year old cheerily carrying on a conversation about spiderwebs. What's the point when it just means two more hours of one-sided spiderweb conversations instead of the quiet, meditative time you were hoping for?
(I did manage to tiptoe past their room and stay downstairs for a 1/2 hour while my wonderful hubby sat on the couch with said children and (as he put it) "just listened".)

Anyway, I'm done can'ting. My heart is willing to can't all night, but my body is weak and even can'ting is taking it's toll. Can'ting can be work too, you know.

So, I can go to bed now.

And I have to confess that I CAN actually move the wet laundry over to the dryer before heading to bed.
After all, I "just can't" do mildew-smelling clothes even more than I "just can't" get off my lazy bum to put them in the dryer.

Good night!

Trusting

Olivia went to school on Monday.
Yes. School school.
I know! It was unexpected to me as well.
I feel....like my right arm has been cut off.

I feel like a duck trying to peel a banana.

I feel out of sorts.

Sigh...

It started about a week ago when I had this nagging, persistent feeling that there was something I was supposed to be doing that I wasn't doing.

I know I'm not perfect, so I could think of A LOT of things it COULD be. But, nothing gave me peace until I prayed and said,
"OK! What is it?"

And clear as a bell:

"Olivia needs to go to school"

Um...excuse me?

But.I.homeschool. WE homeschool! We love it. And this year has been the best year yet!

"Well, Olivia still needs to go to school"

But homeschooling is a good thing, right???

You know all the reasons I homeschool and don't send her to school, right??

Yes, He knows because He knows me.

But He sees something better or best.

Isaiah 55:8-9

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, thus saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

I had my plans.

Yes I did.

And my plans never included public school.

And I mean never.

At least not completely. Sure, maybe sports or choir or band in the upper grades.

But all day, 9-3 school?

Nope. Not for us.

I had my plans.

But His plan is better than the cleverest, wisest, most inspired plan I could come up with.

So what do I do?

I trust.

I trust that everything I see as a disadvantage to public school will work out.

I trust that Olivia will thrive.

I trust that I will be able to "let go" to a degree.

I trust that someday I will understand the WHY.

And honestly, the hardest part hasn't been sending her to school.

It's been hearing all the "Oh-was she falling behind?"

"Oh-was it for the socialization?"

"Oh-that will make everything better!"

Um...

Sorry. But she was AHEAD of the game, and the "socialization" is a DISadvantage in my book, and tell me-How will this make things better when they were already going GREAT?

I've had to swallow my pride.

And keep trusting.

So please don't sound excited and tell me this is a good thing.
I know it's right.

I know it's His will.

But, I'm still grieving.

And trusting...