Fast From Excess – Our Story II

The week is over and I wanted to share my menu as well as my thoughts about the fast itself.  {You can find information on the Fast from Excess on the event page here.} The very first thing I noticed is that buying food for a family of four gives us a lot more options that just buying for one.  It’s a struggle to balance a peanut allergy but we still ate well and as long as we managed our menu we were not hungry.  As I said in my previous post this is a normal budget for us except I always try to squeeze in paper products and diapers.  Drew and I made sure to budget in our evening snacks but I did refrain from buying a bottle of wine.

Menu

Friday Dinner: Ramen and fruit

Saturday Dinner: Pancakes and bacon, fruit, yogurt

Sunday Dinner: Steak, Fried Potatoes, Bag Salad

Monday Dinner: Kids had Mac n Cheese and we had bean tacos with cheese and sour cream

Tuesday Dinner: Pierogies, bacon, peas

Wednesday Dinner: Fried Chicken Legs, fried potatoes, frozen veggies, kids had cheese sticks and carrots

Thursday Dinner: Mac and cheese and hot dogs, frozen veggies

Also three loaves of bread and a half batch of cookies and popcorn.

Friday was hot dogs again.  Drew worked late and I keep it easy and kid friendly when Drew isn’t home. Tonight is chicken legs in rice mixed with cream soup with a side of veggies.  Basic but so good.  We still have enough groceries left from the week to do spaghetti.  Would have had it already but like I said, I don’t cook for the kids when I know they won’t eat it so I prefer to do kid friendly stuff to avoid the arguing.  That’s why I made sure to buy hot dogs and macaroni and cheese.  It’s the perfect meal to  have when Drew works late.  Stress free. I know that some that participated in the fast eliminated fruits and vegetable but I don’t think it’s necessary to go without.  One just has to shop smart.  We had apples, bananas, and bag salad as well as our frozen veggie stash.

Cereal and milk for breakfast every day. Toaster Pastries on Sunday.  Pack lunches for Sophia while Isaiah and I had yogurt and bologna and canned fruit.  Isaiah loves strawberry applesauce so we’ve gone through a ton this week.  I still have bananas  that are in need of becoming banana bread. I did discover that I didn’t have to buy a few things if I had planned better.  I already had them in the cupboard.  I know the challenge was to live on what we bought but realistically when a family is trying to make their dollars stretch they have to use everything.  It doesn’t matter if it was purchased last week or this week. I did break down and buy Dr. Pepper from McDonald’s about half way through the week (and every day after).  I couldn’t take it anymore.  Surprisingly, I didn’t drink coffee in the mornings and that’s unusual.  I think I was trying to make up for the Dr. Pepper. Drew was much more disciplined than I.  You can read about his experience here and here.

This challenge had me thinking about cookbooks.  Thousands of cookbooks available but not a single one for the poor and deprived.  I make light but seriously, I have never seen a cookbook entitled “Meals on less than 37$ a week”.  There are so many good, nutritious options out there we just need to educate.  We take for granted our ability to make do with what we find in the cupboard but not everyone has that knowledge.  Families buy the prepackaged food because they don’t know what to do with a chicken breast, rice, and cream soup.  And freezers are often empty because, not only do they need to eat all that they make but, there is also a lack of knowledge on what to do with something once it’s frozen.  Or if it can be frozen at all.  I did find this on my internet travels –  Grocery Budgeting for Two: Under $25 a Week has some great tips.  Tips we already follow and I highly suggest like make what you can from scratch…huge money saver.

The most rewarding thing for me to come out of this fast was/is the conversation with my daughter.  Today she will work at the Food Pantry along side her daddy.  I’m excited to hear of her experience and see where she goes with it.

A Fast from Excess – Our Story

The Fruits of our Labor – 2 weeks of groceries

Yesterday we began the Fast of Excess challenge that our Bishop, The Rt. Rev. Todd Ousley, challenged us with this week.  You can find more information here  on the FB Event page, here where our Bishop was interviewed for the Saginaw news, or here is the Times Herald article that was written.  We started our fast yesterday and found it easy since we hadn’t been grocery shopping yet.  My daughter requested Ramen for dinner (she likes the squiggly noodles).  We shopped this morning.  The very first thing I noticed about this challenge is that our budget {$200 for food and paper products, including diapers} already mirrors the average weekly benefit of a family of four {$103.55}.  The difference being that we have cash in hand.  I like to shop once per pay period so we doubled the benefit {$207.10} and set out.  We waited until we got to the store to plan our meals, we wanted to see what was on sale or discounted for quick sale.  Our goal was to cut back where we can and then use the extra money to eat out once or pick up some extra-special coffee one day (most likely Monday).  We could have done better but we faced our own challenges within the challenge.

Our daughter, Sophia, has a peanut allergy.  We have to be very cautious about what we buy.  We are big fans of fresh meat, fruits, and vegetables.  They are safe.  We buy many name brand products because we know we can trust them.  They label their products as nut free.  A barrier we came across is that many generic brands either do not label for cross-contamination/facility sharing or they label that their products are made on the same equipment as other products with peanuts.  As a mom that has had to watch my daughter go through an anaphylactic reaction, I will not take any chances on my daughters safety.  It’s not an option for me.  The name brands can afford to separate their products which makes them safe for us.  So much of what we bought could have been replaced by a store brand if we didn’t have to be cautious of what my daughter consumes.  But we do.  How do allergy parents live off of $103 a week when they have to be mindful of peanuts, egg, tree nuts, milk, soy, etc? The brands that are safe cost more.  Sun Butter is twice as much as regular peanut butter.  Also, I pack Sophia’s lunch for school everyday.   We can’t trust the school lunch 100% but I can trust what I make 100%.  I also try to make sure she doesn’t want to share with her friends so I buy the safe alternatives of a lot of the favored kid snacks.  Many families using SNAP also qualify for free or reduced lunch.  That helps the allergy parents stretch their dollar but how comfortable are they sending their child to school with only a semi-comfortable feeling about what they will be consuming that day?  They can avoid what they know like peanut butter but what about what they can’t see? I don’t feel comfortable taking those chances and I’m sure they don’t either but what choice do they have? This challenge is eating me up inside.

A Happy Peanut-allergy Kid

A bonus for us today was that many things were on sale and ended up being less than the store brand or generics so we were still able to buy our favorite yogurt and cheese products for less then the generics.  We found some great deals on chicken and beef that had been discounted for quick sale.  We were also sure to include flour so that we {and by we I mean Drew} can make bread. Living on a tight budget is nothing new to us.  There was a time in the not-so-distant past that we were making do on much less.  We rarely let things go to waste. I should have taken a picture of my cupboards before we shopped.  The only thing left was a couple boxes of raisins and some ramen.  And my kids don’t like raisins.  There was more, of course, because things get left behind every week but usually it’s baking supplies, spices, soup cans, and the occasional box of baking mix. I’ts not uncommon for us to be down to our last can of chicken noodle soup or black beans  and there is always the freezer…..I can almost always find a forgotten chicken breast and a bag of veggies.  I know that other families don’t have that luxury.  We bake a lot (it’s peanut free) so we enjoy cinnamon rolls and pancakes (except today because we ran out of milk before our shopping trip so we had dry cereal).  And we NEVER let leftovers go to waste.

Total $195.81 / 2 = $97.91 {one weeks spending} with $5.64 left over for milk if we run out. There can be no surprises. That’s nothing new for us but again, we are blessed with cash in hand.  Looking back at our trip there were definitely things that I didn’t *have* to buy. My justification at the time is that I’m taking care of my kids.  But what parent isn’t?

Please protect my kid!

Drew wrote this a week ago describing our very first experience with school.  There is a lot of passion and emotion behind this.  Please protect my kid!

 

 

Happy Birthday!

Today our biggest girl, Sophia Joyce, celebrates her 5th birthday.  She was born into the arms of our loving midwife, Shelie Ross, and never made a sound.  Wide eyed and ready to take on the world. This girl has changed our lives in a way we never imagined.

Born at 8:38 pm, April 11, 2008

8 pounds, 10 ounces

21 inches long

Happy Birthday, Sophia Joyce!

Wordless Wednesday

  A true bond needs no words.

Brothers and Sisters

No one ever talks about the bond between a sister and her brother.  There is plenty out there on sisterly bonds and brotherly bonds but not  between a sister and her brother.  It’s complexities…ease of the early years…disappointments of the later years.  Why is that? Is it because it’s not as easy?

Look at these two.  She loves him and he adores her.  She kisses him goodnight every night and tries to include him whenever she’s playing.  He will follow her anywhere and mimics everything she does.  She loves it now but won’t as much when she’s 10 and he won’t stop repeating everything she’s saying. When she’s 20 and he does it she will punch him in the arm, smile slightly, and call him a name using whatever slang is big at the time.  Equivalent to dork or weirdo.  Most likely she’ll call him an ass because that’s what I affectionately refer to my husband as when he’s picking at me.

I have a sister and a couple brothers.  I’m no expert on sibling relationships though.  Mostly because I have no degree that makes it so but also because I have complicated relationships.  Not complicated as in difficult just complicated compared to other ‘normal’ sibling relationships.   I have an older brother that’s not related to me biologically but I’ve known him my entire life and the only way to explain the relationship we have is to call him my brother.   I have two half-siblings that I have never in my entire life until now referred to as my half-siblings.  My sister is seven years older than me and my brother is nine years older than me.  There are more that I feel don’t deserve a mention.  I’m not punishing them for bad behavior, I just don’t feel like rewarding them for their lack of familial loyalty.  See? Complicated.

So, I’m no expert on what sibling relationships should look like.  I consider my relationships with my siblings to be happy, positive, and sometimes balanced.  I say sometimes balanced because, let’s face it, we’re all different.  Some of us fulfill the definition of birth order, some can relate to The Five Love Languages, and sometimes I look at my relationship with my brother and think, “Yup.  You’re from Mars.” I don’t call my sister every day and last summer was the first time I had seen my brother in seven years!  When we all got together it was easy.  As it should be.  We talked about our happiest moments and our struggles. As if no time had gone by.  I love them.  Very much.  Shouldn’t it always be that easy?  I don’t hold them to a different standard just because they are my siblings.  We are all living life in a different way.  It’s unfair to place your own expectations on someone else.  You either accept them for who they are or you don’t.  My siblings love me and I love them.  At the end of the day that’s all that matters.

So why do we never hear much about the brother/sister relationship? I know people that see their siblings regularly.  Sisters that chat on the phone every day.  Brothers that get together for a beer at least once a week.  But I hardly hear of any sister that talks to her brother every day or meets him for a beer once a week. What happens? I’m starting to think that it’s all up to me.  Not just manners and values but teaching my children how to maintain their relationship with each other.  Let’s face it, boys and girls think and act differently.   There are plenty of studies out there to prove it.  Life evolves and as we introduce new people (spouses and children) into the equation then some of the sturdiest relationships can take a hit.  We spend so much time reading books about men being from Mars and women being from Venus and how that relates to our romantic relationships.  What about all the other relationships in our lives?  I think we’re forgetting that our brothers are men too.  Our sisters are women.  The Five Love Languages will teach us to understand our significant others and our children but what about our siblings?

Sometimes we just need to consider life and the struggles that we all have and how that changes our family relationships.  Life will pull them apart and stick them back together more than once but in the end they will always have each other and no matter how frustrating things get I will always remind them of that.  My daughter will sometimes have to be the mom to her baby brother and my son will sometimes have to be the protector of his big sister but I hope I can always keep things in perspective for them. A good relationship has high points and low points but at the end of the day love is all that matters.

 

29 Minutes…

I have 29 minutes before my time is up for posting today. I was planning out Christmas and found myself looking through pictures of Sophia’s first Christmas. She was so little. This Christmas is going to be a lot of fun. I can’t wait.

History Was Made

I was very happy to see the historical significance of the elections yesterday.

• Tammy Baldwin, first openly gay person elected to Senate.
• Tammy Duckworth, decorated war veteran, double amputee, and now Congresswoman for Illinois.
• Tulsi Gabbard, first Hindu-American in Congress.

These women fought against the odds and never stopped pushing toward their goals. Breaking barriers and opening up so many possibilities for all young women out there. And they are not the only ones. There are so many strong, hard working and independent women out there that chose to stand up and work hard fighting for the rights of women and equality all over this country.

My little girl loves to play dress up now but it feels good knowing that she can dream big and accomplish much because these women paved the way for her.

Update: I found this article tonight that highlights some of the wins of yesterday’s election. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/11/07/best-moments-for-women-2012-election_n_2088589.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

Voting Holiday

Yesterday Drew and I were discussing Thanksgiving plans and Sophia interrupted us to say, “But mommy, first you and daddy celebrate your voting holiday.” Drew and I have been talking about the election almost every day for the last couple of weeks so I’m not surprised she knew. And we do treat it like a holiday. I look forward to her first Election Day as a registered voter.

Get out and vote today. There is still plenty of time. And then celebrate the fact that we have the freedom to vote. Happy Election Day!

On Baptizing My Son

Yesterday we celebrated my sons baptism into the Christian community.  Or as my daughter says, Bath-tism.  Here I have posted my husbands reflections of the day. Just click on the title.