Bible Reading Plan

I have always had a hard time w/ being consistent in reading the Bible. I've always had quiet times spent in the Word and prayer but I'll have a week where I'm really good about it and then the next week not so good. This year with being at home for the first time I just realized I don't have a good excuse.. not that I ever had a "good" excuse and so I sought out looking for a Bible Reading Plan. With Matt's help I came across the Discipleship Journal Plan. There are 25 readings a month which allows you some makeup days as well. The plan takes you through the entire Bible in a year. I know we have just begun February but for the last month I have been consistent in waking up and spending time in the Word. Matt is reading through the same plan so it has been a good way to keep each other accountable and to talk about what we are reading currently.
I always struggled, especially in my teen years feeling like I couldn't "hear" God, like He wasn't speaking to me. This would always make it harder for me to be diligent in reading the Bible. I'm learning now though by being consistent and actually reading and taking a deeper look into God's word that He is speaking to me in various ways every single day.

This post isn't supposed to be a "way to go me!" post in anyway.. more just an encouragement to anyone out there who struggles in this area like I have. This time I have with just the Lord and I is now one of my favorite parts of the day. I look forward to reading and feel like in some ways that I'm reading the Bible for the first time all over again.

Today I was reading in Exodus and was just taken back when God tells Moses that He is the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob.. the God of the Bible is still our God today. Even though I know that.. sometimes it is just amazing to think on.

How do you schedule your daily quiet time with the Lord? What are you reading right now?

Project 365: 25-31/365

25/365: Gracie was laying on her blanket w/ her toys while I was in the kitchen. She started fussing but then quieted down pretty quickly. When I went into the living room she had rolled herself over on top of all of her toys.. too cute!


26/365: Gracie, her daddy and Aldo... spending a little time together:)


27/ 365: Gracie was rolling all over the floor and rolled right up into her blanket.. it was very cute:)


28 & 29/365: I messed up and completely forgot to take any pictures!! I was so mad at myself! So this picture isn't from the correct date but it is a pic I took this week... Sausage, red pepper and spinach frittata.. Delicious!
Here is a link to the recipe. I did a few things differently just b/c it was what I had on hand. I used ground sausage and shredded cheddar cheese.


30/365: My dad came to visit this weekend so Gracie got to spend some time w/ her Grandpa:)


31/365:Matt and Gracie after church. Gracie wore her Christmas dress..I wanted her to be able to wear it one more time before she outgrew it!

Warning: HUGE POST! Break down of my $50 Grocery Trip/Meal Plan

Matt and I decided to try and cut our grocery bill in half for the next two weeks. We normally budget $100 every 2 weeks. This $100 is for not only our food but also our household items.

First I looked through items that we already had in our pantry and freezer. It is amazing what accumulates there and what you already have that you are able to make meals from. I knew we wouldn't be eating something fancy every night, but who really needs to eat that way anyways?

This is my meal plan for this week and next...

Saturday-
Breakfast- Pancakes from scratch.. no Bisquick needed:)
Lunch- Sandwiches and tomato soup (we still had lunch meat)
Dinner- We had chicken tacos w/ homemade tortillas and cream corn that I made from a can of corn and a little cream cheese that we already had.
Sunday-
Breakfast- Eggs and breakfast potatoes
lunch- Sandwiches and chips
dinner- sausage, red pepper and spinach frittata w/ apple slices (we already had the sausage and spinach in the freezer)

Monday-
Breakfast-leftover frittata w/ toast
lunch- ham and cheese tortilla w/ chips and salsa
dinner- Beans and cornbread

Tuesday-
Breakfast- a little splurge- Matt had Bible study w/ a couple guys at McDonalds this morning so he brought me something home:)
Lunch- leftovers or another sandwich
dinner- mixing leftover beans w/ some potatoes and cheese to make burritos w/ rice (not the fancy kind... just plain rice:))

Wednesday-
Breakfast- eggs, bacon and toast
lunch-leftover burritos
dinner- Chicken stirfry w/ veggies and rice ( already had some veggies in the freezer)

Thursday-
breakfast= cream of wheat
lunch- leftover stirfry
dinner- shepherds pie w/ homemade biscuits ( 1/2 beef used for the pie and the other 1/2 for our pizza Friday night- a lot of times you don't need to use a whole pound for meals.. even only using 3/4 a pound and putting a little bit back each time will add up for future meals)

Friday-
breakfast- eggs and leftover biscuits, maybe bacon
lunch- leftover shepherds pie
dinner- homemade pizza w/ hamburger and maybe some red pepper and onion (had a few onions leftover still)

Saturday-
breakfast- probably pancakes again.. normally what we have on Saturday mornings
lunch- leftovers or a sandwich or sometimes just a snack depending when we have breakfast
dinner- probably will eat out, my dad will be in town... we usually eat out once a week

Sunday-
breakfast- something fast most of the time.. I might make muffins from what I have in my pantry since my dad will be here..
lunch- usually sandwiches or again something easy..
dinner- chicken and rice w/ either a veggie or bread

Monday-
breakfast- cereal or cream of wheat
lunch- leftover chicken and rice
dinner- Breakfast for dinner! depends on what we have at this point- maybe eggs, biscuits and gravy..

Tuesday- again probably cereal or cream of wheat.. or maybe some waffles I have in the freezer
breakfast- oatmeal or something similar probably- possibly leftover biscuits
lunch- peanut butter and jelly and some chips or fruit
dinner- chicken pot pie w/ homemade bread ( I made homemade chicken pot pie last week and froze half of it.. so we are going to eat the rest of it)

Wednesday-
breakfast- eggs and toast
lunch- leftover chicken pot pie
dinner- pasta w/ veggies and chicken, homemade garlic rolls (I will be making the pasta as well and the sauce will come from some tomatoes I have frozen in the freezer)

Thursday-
breakfast- cream of wheat
lunch- leftover pasta
dinner- I'm on my own.. I'll probably just look around, maybe have some scrambled eggs:) Matt is going out of town and I'm not that particular:)

Friday-
breakfast- probably cream of wheat again.. lol can you tell we like that stuff?:)
lunch- not sure.. my mom will be here! since I will be going to the grocery store the next day this is when I usually just start looking around and eating whatever.. Since I don't have any children eating yet I am still able to do this without feeling to guilty:)
dinner- probably out

~So.. basically I plan on making a lot of my bread items from scratch- pasta, pizza dough, rolls, biscuits, tortillas.. although I did buy one bag of tortillas just to have around for roll-ups or snacks...
~We just buy bags of white or brown rice and eat that.. sometimes I fancy it up and sometimes I don't...
~I make my beans from a bag of pinto beans and this recipe from Pioneer Woman.. DELICIOUS! and such a cheap dinner!
~also, make use of your freezer!! stock up when frozen veggies are cheap or chicken or whatever... freeze extra muffins, breads, dinners, soups.. its so nice to have in a pinch or when you decide to try and stretch your budget!
~also.. we don't buy a bunch of junk food or pop.. I do always buy tortilla chips b/c I love chips and salsa! I also like to have crackers on hand to have w/ some peanut butter for a snack or granola bars, yogurts, popcorn, fresh fruit..
~in my freezer I also usually have extra desserts such as cookies or as of late little mini homemade apple pies.. SOOO GOOD!

Here is what the rest of my grocery receipt looks like:
eggs- $2.08 (18.. and we still had some leftover from the last shopping trip)
tortilla chips- 1.78
tortillas- 2.18
can of pineapple- 1.14 (for a pineapple upside down cake I'm making for our church group)
Applesauce- 1.42 (snacks!)
pizza sauce .92
cream of mushroom .88 (more than I normally pay!)
tomato soup .58 (always have tomato soup in the cabinet for a fast meal!)
milk- 3.08
sour cream - .94 (I have the best recipe for sour cream pancakes.. they are delicious! I'll post sometime)
cheese- 2 packages @ 1.98/each
grapefruit- 4 for .33/each
bread- 1.38 ( a price match deal!)
apples- 4 lbs for .69/lb (another price match deal!)
2 red bell peppers (2 for $1- price match)
flour- 1.28 (price match)
potatoes 1.88 (10 lb bag of russet- price match)
maple bacon 2.50 (this was a price match also.. but I usually like to pay no more than $2 for bacon)
bag of frozen chicken breasts- 3.88 (price match- great deal!)
can of corn .38 (price match)

In addition we spent about 8 dollars in household items...
our total came to 46. 56 leaving us just few dollars to pick up some extra hamburger at our local meat market.

This post is huge so I'll leave it at that for now. Hope it was somewhat helpful!

Grocery Shopping Techniques

I used to be really serious about trying to save money at the grocery store, clipping coupons like crazy, checking the ads, going to multiple stores... and now I'm trying to get back into it. The only difference is now we aren't receiving the Sunday paper and I have a little one and so going to multiple stores just isn't as easy or convenient. The last two shopping trips I have made have been to Wal-Mart and I decided to try out this whole price matching thing. The first time I was successful at saving money by price matching ads but it was a little hectic going through the check out. This last time I had a much better system. I put a basket inside my grocery cart and all items that I wanted to price match I put inside the basket. Then before I got in line I organized myself so that items from the same ad were by each other, etc.. Before I go to the store I also circle the items I plan on price matching so that they catch my eye a little easier. Using these new techniques made the check out much quicker and much less hectic.

I still feel like I can do better though and I'm going to try to get better at getting coupons offline. I'm also considering trying to go to Aldi- a discount grocer- to get some of my groceries. SO here are my questions.. what are your techniques for saving money and grocery shopping and if you are an Aldi shopper, is it worth it? What do you buy there? I tried Aldi once before when we first moved here and had a really bad experience. lol. I didn't have any quarters to get a cart and no bags to put my groceries in and I just felt lost and out of my element. But I keep hearing that I MUST give it another try. So should I?

Project 365: 18-24/365

18/365: Not a great pic of me.. but here's Gracie and I after our day out together. I didn't have Issac (the little boy I babysit) today b/c of the holiday.


19/365: I made this chocolate cinnamon cake for our Community Group tonight.


20/365: Gracie in her very first cloth diaper!


21/365: Gracie and Issac enjoying a little tummy time..


22/365:Friday night after a long week... a little computer time before we went to bed:)


23/365:We all went to the grocery store today and I was able to buy 2 weeks worth of groceries for $50! We aren't going to be eating steak every night but we certainly aren't going to go hungry either. We had a goal to spend only half of our normal grocery budget so that we could send the other half to help w/ meals for people in Haiti. After realizing now that we can do it I will hopefully be able to cut our regular grocery budget down some each week...


24/365: Gracie and I went on a walk w/ some friends from church this afternoon. It was a little cold but it was soo nice to get out and get some fresh air!

For Danielle:) and anyone else interested...

My friend Danielle asked me some questions about which type of cloth diapers I am using and so I thought that I would just post real quick about that and my experiences so far...

I have some Indian and Chinese prefolds and a couple Bummis covers. I also have some flats but I have no clue how to fold them yet! My friend recommended the prefolds and flats to me because of how inexpensive they are and since you can use them w/out having to get different sizes all the time. I purchased everything from Little Lions. I might also try and use cloth wipes but haven't ventured there yet.

Gracie has been in cloth diapers for 2 days and so far so good:) Only one time did the cover get dirty and nothing has ever gotten on her clothes. I'm getting the hang of the folding and using the snappy and it really doesn't take that much longer to put them on. Even Matt has been helping some:) It gives me some sort of satisfaction every time I put a cloth diaper on her since I know that I am saving money! We haven't used cloth diapers at night yet.. it might be fine but I would like to get a more absorbent cover first before we start that.

I did my first wash load yesterday. This is how I did my cycle based on what my friend told me. 1st cycle just a cold rinse, 2nd cycle a warm wash and 3rd a final cold rinse... They seemed to come out completely clean. I have a nylon bag that I use to line a kitchen sized trashcan which is where I keep all of the dirty diapers until I'm ready to wash. I'm hoping to be on an every other day wash cycle w/ the diapers. I was told that until they start solids you dont have to mess w/ rinsing the diapers yet. When we hit that phase I plan on getting a diaper sprayer which I hear are great!
The main thing I need to get figured out is just a little better system. With using cloth diapers I feel like there is a little more going on in the changing process and I really wish I had a changing table to keep everything on and stored. Before we mostly just used our bed w/ a changing pad to change diapers. I'm hoping to find something used and inexpensive that could serve as both a dresser and a changing table in Gracie's room. I started searching on Craigslist yesterday.. hopefully I will come across something.

If anyone else uses or used cloth diapers what was your system? I would be curious to know. Also which detergent did you use to wash the diapers? From what I hear it is important to use one free of perfumes, dyes, etc... Did you use cloth at night also? Any other tips or suggestions?

Just some thoughts...

Its been almost 5 months since I stopped working at my job. (It's gone by so fast!) Most days now I am at home caring for Gracie and the little boy I babysit. Right now Matts car isn't working very well, seems like every time he takes it somewhere he ends up getting stuck so for the most part he drives my car. (plus I don't know how much I'd be getting out w/ a 2 month and a 4 month old anyways!) A lot of people ask me if I'm just stir crazy and truth is I have come to enjoy and appreciate this much simpler, quieter life.
I was talking to Matt yesterday about how much less I am "wanting" things. I used to be in and out of stores all the time, mostly just window shopping but I would leave thinking that I needed this, this and this for the house, for my wardrobe, for my kitchen.. I just never realized how much stores and ads get to you, how they make you feel so dissatisfied with what you have.
THe past 5 months have been a great time of reflection for me, a time to really see and think upon the person that I am and the person that I want to become. I am Gracie's mom. It's still crazy to think about. I love my mom, have always looked up to her, always asked her for advice and have watched how she handles situations. Now I'm going to be that person to Gracie. It has really made me take a step back. I know that she is still very little but I am already seeing that she is growing so fast and it will not be long before she starts imitating the things that I do.

I am only 4 months into it... but wow.. being a mom is pretty incredible!