30 Days of Nothing – xangelle.com

Hey! What’s up With You?

Well, actually – that should read “What’s Up With Me?”

Basically just take the past year and hit rewind and and then play again, and all that whining about being tired. Yah! That again.

Siah is cutting his molar’s and it’s about as fun as it sounds like it should be. We’re back to the up every hour thing, and it’s getting old.

I feel bad complaining about it, because I’m not actually complaining about the fact that Siah wakes up and that we go to get him (our choice – I know) It’s more just the “feeling tired” as a result of our choices.

I’m not ready to make him cry it out – although some nights I’m so darn close. I’m still in the “so thankful that he’s alive and here and with us” and sometimes it feels sureal……like the years of the immediate and intense pain from the loss(es) and grieveing couldn’t be seriously over.

I think that as much as I’d like to be able to post here every day or at least even just during the week….until Siah starts sleeping through, I figure there’ll be up swings of energy and down swings of tiredness.

How about you? Do you or did you let your kids cry it out or do/did you go to them when they wake/woke up in the night…..or do/did they just sleep in the bed with you?…..which kind of makes the other options moot then, doens’t it?

In other news, I have failed FAILED miserably at the 30 Days of Nothing.

The good aspect of the FAILING MISERABLY part of it is that – I have EVERY receipt from this month so far, and at the end of the month – I’m going to go through them all and figure out a “decent” or average grocery budget and then one month….”maybe January – it’s typically a tight month anyway – Hmmmmm, I’ll have to give that some more thought” I’ll actually do it with a specific number and all in CASH. I really think that would make a HUGE difference.

And now for some really funny news,

I bought the kids some plastic or foam or whatever material those craft pumpkins are made from. Yah! I bought some of those craft pumpkins for the kids. I thought it would be fun to cut them up and then to see see how the kids “craftiness” improves each year. It should be fun!

But….Jeremy had to name his.

He comes into my room this morning, and shows me his pumpkin that has only one eye cut out so far, and he informs me that his pumpkin’s name is “One Eyed Willy”.

Then he asks me what happened to Willy’s other eye and how come he only has just the one eye…..

Yah! Gotta love that kid!

But…kids are home fro+m school+++++++++9+- (Siah was helping me to type – he’s so helpful like that)

So, as I was saying, the kids are home form school, and I gotta go and figure out a snack, and also – DINNER….AAAAWWWWWKKKKK!

Mindless Blatherings

I really should have gone shopping this week – we are OUT of fresh fruit and veggies but I’ve been trying to stretch things a bit this week, and to use up some of our frozen or canned stuff and…..well….here we are. It’s Friday and I did spend – well dangit – I can’t find the reciept.

I’ll have to find the recipet and then I can update…it was approx $50. I bought a large block of Sheep Cheese.

There is a part of me that is feeling a little bit pressured to hide things like paying a large amount of money for cheese when that money could be someone else’s entire weeks budget for food.

At the same time, I’m not trying to live anyone else’s life. We have made some choices for our life (and health), and some other choices were made for us (allergies, intolerances, etc) and we have to live with (and within) our choices.

Yes, I do buy speciality cheese, but not all the time, and we ration it out. I won’t be apologetic for the choices that I choose to make. So….that’s that.

That’s the deal with being open about stuff, and then dealing with the reality that you make choices that are different than others, and then dealing with your preception of what others might be thinking based on your choices.

It all comes down to judgment doesn’t it?

It’s amazing how judgmental we can be, and I think that we expect the same kind of judgment to come to us that we dish out. I hate judgment. It sucks! I try hard to not judge, not that I’m always perfect at it, but I try.

Okay – I could get all deep here, but I was just trying to whip up an update about how we are doing and what’s going on, and I’m getting all sidetracked…

I blame it totally on the downstairs renters. They are totally blaring their music right now and all I can hear is the thump, thump, thump of the bass in whatever song they are listening to. It’s AWESOME!

They’ve had a party every night for the past week and a half and it’s getting old. We’ve asled them to be considerate of the fact hat we have a family living upstairs, and then….that night they are still going strong at 4am. IT ROCKS! In SO MANY WAYS!

So, I’m tired! I’m also wondering how this fall/winter/spring’s cold, wet, dark, rainy season is going to affect me. I can feel the tiredness already starting to hit. That sucks, too!

Alrighty, well, now that I’ve spread my love and cheeriness all over the Internet – I think that I’ll just be done now.

Don’t forget to check out the store and to ENTER THE GIVEAWAY! Click here to read about the details.

And seriously, if you’ve never commented here or are lurking and unsure about de-lurking….come on….I won’t bite. I promise! Well, maybe only a little bit and only if you ask me to.

Someone has to win, and it might as well be you. Right?

Falling Off the Face of the Planet

Hey! How’s it going? Did ya miss me?

It’s been a busy, crazy, wonderful, terrible weekend.

How ’bout you?

On Friday we went over to my sisters house for a fun night with friends….Saturday night Siah was up from midnight until 3am barfing – although this time I think it might be the flu. I finally got to bed around 4am (so much fun). Sunday we had Thanksgiving with my side of the family and on Monday we had Thanksgiving with Jon’s side of the family. Today, Angelica is downstairs in her room barfing.

IT’S BEEN AWESOME!

I also spent more this weekend than I probably should have. SUCKS, eh?

Well, it breaks down like this….

Entertainment (this could have totally not happened- Bad, bad, bad!) – $90.79
Gas (We got $22.02 free gas – YAH Superstore!) – $78.31
Groceries (Thanksgiving extras included) – $250.90

So that’s were it stands and the total for the month is $650.35. AAAAAWWWWK!

I’m gonna try and reign it all in again this week- get things back on track! It’s a good eye opener for me to see it all laid out here and to have to be accountable to you all. It’s just “keeping it all real“, eh?

Thanks to Cool Mama and Lala for your comments. I appreciate your honesty.

I had never even thought about the “guilt” side of it. It’s amazing how we view things through our own “grids”…through our own struggles and strengths and pain and….and…..well, it’s just interesting to hear that you felt or feel that way. I never got that message from the book, but then again for me…it wasn’t exactly about the “book” per se as about what I took away from it all after reading the book. I guess that’s more the case…the book made me think, and I got really exited about what I was thinking or feeling that I could do or feeling stirred up to do.

Regardless, I love hearing what you all are thinking. I love to hear different points of views. I think that when you are able to hear what others are saying, it helps to “round out” your views or even to challenge or strengthen your beliefs and convictions.

I am feeling rushed and pressured today because I have to go and help out at the school at lunch time today, and that just throws my whole day off just slightly….just enough to make me feel rushed. So, I think I’m gonna wrap this up for now.

I’ll leave you with my two most favorite moments from this weekend.

#1 My dad tearing up when we (the family) gave him and mom their anniversary gift – an overnight trip to Harrison Hot Springs

#2 My dad telling the story about the time that he hooked Grandpa Kennedy in the nose with a fish hook when they were fishing and the hilarity that ensued as a result. He (and we) were laughing so hard as he was retelling the 40 year old story. It was amazing.

What was YOUR most favorite moment from this weekend?

Thinking Important Thoughts

I was standing in front of my hallway mirror plucking my eyebrows this morning….well, actually I had stopped in front of the mirror to look at myself….I forget what I was originally stopping to look at….I guess my own beauty just absolutely stunned me into forgetfulness! Ha Ha Ha Ha HA!

Anyway, I noticed that I had a hair growing out of my chin….gotta love those rogue hairs….so I went and got my tweezers and figured that while I was there I might as well spend a few moments weed wacking at my eyebrows. Those suckers were taking over my forehead!

While standing there tweezing and thinking about how I hate plucking my eyebrows – I actually thought for one moment, “What if I just kept going and tweezed them ALL out? Then I would have to pluck even less often than I currently do…….”

Yah, I know! Can you even believe that I thought such a hideous thought? Can you imagine how weird I’d look with NO EYEBROWS!!!! Frankly, I’m a little surprised that the thought even crossed my mind. I quickly finished up and then “stepped away from the tweezers”.

In other news, I bought some yarn yesterday – $12.58 – for a birthday present.

I’ll show ya what I made next week after it’s all finished up.

Total is now up to $230.35.

Moving on…..I asked a question on Tuesday and I’m thrilled that Lala answered.

My question was…

“What is your position on people who are down and out asking for money?”

Lise’s answer was……

â€¦ sometimes I do judge, if I am being honest, if people are really doing all they can do to earn a living. BUT I have so appreciated the gifts to us when we have had hard times and Jason gives regularly, itâ€™s his gift! for me, if I have the cash and feel to give, then I do .

I ABSOLUTELY love the fact that she was honest about sometimes judging. I do the same thing.

This wasn’t a trick question to show how good or bad anyone was or is. I was really interested in what you all thought.

I do wonder, sometimes, what they are going to be doing with the money, and honestly – I’d rather take someone into the closest restaurant and buy them a meal….even if it’s more expensive that just giving them the $3.48 that was in my wallet.

I read a book over the summer and it really got me thinking.

The Irresistable Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical
by Shane Clairborne

It’s not even that I agree with or buy into ALL of what he says, but that I had to re-think my already shifting position on people.

People who need to be loved. People who are just like me.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what we “NEED” and what we “DESERVE” and what we “WANT”. How do things 3 things influence us? What is that I actually need? Why do I think I need it? Why do I think that I deserve something? Do I really deserve it? What makes me more deserving than my neighbor or a leader in my community or the homeless guy on the corner? Do I really need something or do I just want it? And is my wanting it reson enough to have it? Do I need excess?

So many things to think about?

In reading this book and really starting to think about different things, I started to want to just make a difference to the person in front of me. I might not be able to change the world, but I could possibly make a different in “someone’s” world.

It’s way easier to just throw money at someone and run away. It’s more difficult to “see” the hurting person in front of you and to “see” their pain and to recognize that they are no better or worse than you. It could be you. A few different choices made, and it could be you.

Would you want to have to live with the constant distain and disgust of those walking around you? Would that inpsire you to want to do something different with where you are at?

I know what it’s like to feel so down and discouraged that I had no energy to move from the dark place that I was into a better place. It took love and encouragement and someone loving me just for who I was and loving me where I was at, and in spite of where I was at, and just loving me and walking along side of me lending love, support, encouragement, a shoulder to cry on, an arm for support, an ear to listen to….It took LOVE!

I want to be able to show love. Even if it means stopping for 5 minutes and sitting down and just chatting and letting someone know that I see the real person. Asking their name. Finding out their story. I might not have the money to give every time I run across someone, but I can always give love.

I don’t have all the answers, and I don’t always have time…and sometimes, I just don’t have the energy. But I want to! I want to be able to give and share and love!

If you haven’t already read it, I’d suggest that you read the book. Not so that you can agree with everything in the book but see what stands out for you….see if it suggests some change or even if it just makes you think……

If you have read it, what did you think? What ways has it changed your thinking? Did you like it? What really stood out to you? Or did ya just not like it or care for it?

Let me know what you’re thinking?

Little Things

I knitted up this little kimono over the past fews days.

I’ve made a few of them for Josiah….done up in cotton yarn. I love the simplistic almost earthy look and feel of the cotton kimono. I’ve worn them on Siah with his little brown yoga pants and I think he looks so cute.

Someone I know has just recently had a baby boy, and I wanted to give them something. It so easy to just go and buy something from the store. You should be able to find something that they might like, and even if they don’t like it – no worries – they can take it back and exchange it for something they do like.

Nowadays, it feels like people don’t like giving, and some don’t like getting, hand made gifts. I think that’s because everyone’s tastes differ, and unless you know the person really well – it’s hard to know if they will like what you are giving.

I think that it’s often times hard to “put yourself out there” and to say that “I really like this and I’ve made it and I really hope that you like it”. It’s almost like giving a piece of yourself, and if you have any insecurities, then you are just hoping that they won’t take “that piece of you” and throw it in the garbage.

In trying to continue on with our “30 Days of Nothing” and in being aware of the money, time and effort spent, I made this little kimono. The yarn cost $2.99 and I bought it a bit ago. I spent probably 10 hours in total making this, and I think I am at the point, within myself, that regardless of whether it is appreciated in the same way that I appreciate it – I will not get my worth or value from that.

This doesn’t mean that I’m wanting to give gifts without regard for the recievers thoughts and opinions. I want to try and give things that others will like, but if it’s not their MOST FAVORITE GIFT EVER – I won’t be devestated. My crafts don’t define me….they don’t give me “worth”.

I’ve also had a hard time with the fact that what I make seems so “insignificant”. I mean, come on, $2.99 for a gift. How cheap is that? Or if I made some cards for a gift….I just glued a few scraps of paper together….that’s not really that great of a gift. It’s just all in my mind. I’ve been hung up in my mind. I guess that some of this is an indication of what I think of myself and how much value I have placed on myself and on my time and even on my creativity.

Ummm, that would be…”Not very much!”

I think that I must be growing up some. I’m by no means “there” yet, but I’m coming to terms with the fact that I have value. I’m slowly coming to terms with the fact that my time has value and that the creativity inside of me – even though some of it comes easily to me – that doens’t diminish that there is still worth and value.

But all of that comes back to me realizing that “I HAVE VAUE!” I’m still working on it, but I think it’s slowly sinking in….or at least parts of it are.

Here are some pictures of the little sweater. I’m still hoping she likes it. It was fun to make a tiny one. I only wish I had some labels made up. These are way too much work to be able to recoup costs – I’d have to charge you a million dollars just for one, and then they’d never sell at that price, but I’d still love to make some up in my “throw away time”….. that’s time spent sitting in the car driving into Vancouver (its an hour’s drive from here) or in front of the TV in the evenings….and to be able to give them away for fun. I’d love to have some little lables that said “petite singe” It means “little monkey” It would be fun to embroider a little monkey head somewhere on the sweater…just me dreaming….

Anyway, here’s the kimono….

Isn’t it cute?

It’s Nice and Convenient, Like That!

So today is day 7 of the 30 Days of Nothing – or whatever it is that we are doing. It’s so convenient that the day number matches up with the date of the month….means all I have to do is figure out what the date is today and we’re good to go.

I thought that I’d take a moment to explain my reasoning behind doing this.

There are so many others in the world who do with so much less than we have on a regular day-to-day basis. I don’t even necessarily mean me as in our family personally. I was meaning “us” as in North American but yes – even us personally, too.

We are not rich by “normal” standards, and yet we live comfortably. Sometimes more comfortably, and other times it’s a bit tighter….

There is also so much waste. It’s sickening to think that we throw away food, clothing, toys, books, etc. without a second thought when others are going without. Even people here in our cities and towns are going without proper food and clothes and “stuff”.

It’s the sheer amount of our “stuff” that get to me. I’m guilty of it too. “Oh, I want that. I deserve this. I need this.”

I’m not saying that “stuff” is bad or that if you need or want or desire something that you don’t have the right to go out and get it.

I’m just wanting to be “AWARE”. Aware of what I need, and what I want and what I have and what i can give.

I want to be able to have extra to give away. I want to have spent less money on crap that I didn’t really need so that I have the extra to buy a hot chilli and a sandwich from Tim Hortons when the guy in the parking lot at Michaels asks me for money. I want to not be so consumed with being busy that I can’t take a moment to walk across the parking lot and get something for him.

I want to be able to give. To give money, support, time, a shoulder to cry on or an ear to just listen. I want to be able to see the person behind the outstretched hand.

I want to not be so consumed with myself and my own needs. I want to be aware and so SO thankful for what I’ve got and for what I’m able to give.

So, this month is me taking account of what we’ve got. Taking advantage of how blessed we are, and trying to be wise with how I spend my money and my time and my energy. It’s about me making sure that what I buy is what we need, and not a waste.

Having said all of that, today I easily doubled my money spent so far this month. But it was money well spent.

We hit the Farmer’s Market and bought $79.41 on Fruit and Veggies. In case you were paying attention, I’ve already bought 10 pounds of apples this month, and so I figured that I’d just get ’em, for cheaper in bulk and so I bought 20 pounds of apples today. They won’t go bad at my house before they get eaten and I expect that they will last for the next two weeks. I’ll need to stash half of them away or my kids will plow through them way too fast. I also got bananas, broccoli, purple cabbage, celery, carrots, cucumber, grapes, oranges, pears, snow peas, peppers (red, yellow and orange), potatoes, plums, acorn squash, butternut squash, yams and zucchini. I also bought a bag of pot barley, some natural tortilla chips and some roasted salted chickpeas.

It seems like a lot to spend on fruit and veggies, but remember that this is primarily the bulk of what we eat.

Then I stopped at the grocery store and picked up some more Almond Milk, Ener-G Egg Replacer (I’m wanting to bake, but I’m trying to not eat eggs right now until Siah settles himself down – allergy wise), Raw Cane Sugar, a 3 pack of Pork Roasts, and some Lean Ground Beef.

The Pork Roasts had 3 in a pack (like I previously mentioned) for $11.62. That’s less than $4.00 in meat for our family for a meal, and there should be leftovers. And the Lean Ground Beef was $1.87 a pound and that’s a great price.

The Egg Replacer, Almond Milk and Cane Sugar were not absolute essentials, but if we want anything to “snack on” then I have to make it, and I can make a whole lot more by buying the ingredients – even specialty ones than if I just went and bought a snack AND…Siah can have some too – that way!

So, at the Grocery Store, I did exactly $36.01 in damage. Combined with the amount that I spent at the market it brings our monthly total up to…….$217.77. Nice!

In meal related news, I realized that I didn’t post the meals from yesterday and so you’ll get another 2 for 1 right now.

Monday’s Meals
Breakfast – Eggs and Toast
Dinner – Grilled Chicken, Baked Potatoes, and Peas (Geli cooked tonight so we were lighter on the veggies than I’d have liked)

Tuesday’s Meals
Breakfast – Eggs and Toast
Dinner – Ground Beef and Gravy over Brown Rice Noodles mixed with Peas & Broccoli (We had run out to the market and were late getting home and so I threw together what I lovingly refer to as a “Garbage Meal”)

And……Actually I have the next three days meals planned out and so here they are “In Advance” oooo I’m doing good.

Wednesday’s Meals
Breakfast – Cereal
Dinner – Roast Pork with Roast Potatoes and Yams, and Roasted Mixed Veggies

Thursday’s Meals
Breakfast – Super Porridge
Dinner – Chicken Stirfry over Brown Rice with veggies

Friday’s Meals
Breakfast – Eggs and Hashbrowns
Dinner – Lentil Soup

Apparently, we eat a lot of eggs and a lot of apples. What can I say?

Well, I’m off to finish off a few new necklaces and then I’m headed to bed.

I’ll leave you with a question….

What is your position on people who are down and out asking for money?

I’ll share my thoughts on Friday.

More with the WICKED FUN-NESS!

AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGH!

So, have I ever told you about how I thought that allergies were (rolls eyes) “ALL IN YOUR HEAD”!

I mean, there are just so freakin’ many of them out there now and it feels like every time you turn around another kid is showing up at a school with some weird freaky allergy, and making life all sorts of difficult for everyone else. I mean, SERIOUSLY, the nerve of that child….come on people….don’t be so stupid and inconvenient. I have a life, and I want to live it free from your allergies…..

Oh, I imagine that it might not be a picinic for you either, but come on…don’t make my life more difficult. I want to be able to enjoy life and have a peanut butter sandwich wherever I please.

What was that?

Oh….I guess you just want to be able to “just enjoy life”. I guess I can understand that.

See, when Siah was 6 weeks old he started getting eczema on his head. I had it checked out because it seemed different to me than normal cradle cap. It oozed and he would lay beside me in bed at night and scratch ALL! NIGHT! LONG!

What tiny infant scratches and scratches and scratches…especially at cradle cap. Hmph! Seriously!

So anyway, we dealt with ever spreading, oozing eczema, and vomiting and bloody mucus-y poop (that was my favorite). Once we identified that it was dairy and soy and eggs and all sorts of other various things, and I cut them all out………VOILA! Healthy Baby! It was AWESOME!

So, now I have spent the last year stressing about protecting my baby from other “stupid” people who don’t belive that allergies are “real”! Yah, that’s a lot of fun!

Payback, eh?

But, Saturday night/Sunday morning with the vomiting, and Sunday night with the bloody poo, and then today……OH TODAY!

Well, more realistically we are talking about tonight.

I gave Siah some chewed up cashews. I’ve given him cashews before with no problems – that I knew of. I gave him one mouthful. and then a second mouthful and then a third…which he spit on the floor. I chided him for being a cheeky monkey and cleaned it up.

About 5 minutes later I noticed that he had a reaction around his mouth. It was red and rashy and SUCKS! So, I got a rag and tried to wash it all off – all the while stressing about what it was doing to his insides – if this was the reaction on the outside, and praying that beause his system was already just recently compromised from the recent reaction, that we wouldn’t have an even bigger reaction.

I noticed that he was rubbing his eye, but didn’t think too much of it.

5 minutes later, there was noticibly WAY MORE eye rubbing and the eye was redder and puffier and nothing could disuade him from rubbing. It was obviously a reaction . I think that he must of had some of the cashew got on his hands and he rubbed it into his eye.

Here it is, and understand that the pictures does it absolutely no justice. It looked worse than it did here……and the mouth was WAY better than it was originally.

I sent Jon out to get some Benadryl. We gave him some and the eye has started to settle down some and he’s not scratching like he’s trying to eradicate it from his head – That was fun, let me tell you.

I’m stressed about more bloody poop and vomiting. I’m also freaking about what else is “out there” that he might react to. That part of life is fun.

So, Here I am stressing about Siah……Stressing about Allergies…..Stressing about not knowing……Stressing about what to expect….Stressing about what to do….

I HATE STRESSING!

And, in the middle of all the drama….he’s still just so darn cute and happy.

And…in other news…..I had sucessfully avoided that stores today until tonight…..when we added $8.40 on Bendaryl to our monthly spending bringing the total up to…..$102.35….stupid allergies!

Ammendment to Day 4 and some WICKED FUN!

So yesterday, we did end up needing to pick some food up and that birthday present that I mentioned.

Jon and the kids went and picked out the B-day present while I put Siah to sleep for his afternoon nap. They spent a bit more than I would have, but it’s still okay. The Model Airplane and Cement Glue cost a total of $17.78 which brought our total to $51.95.

Then we needed to pick up some stuff that I hadn’t thought of in my bleary eyed stupor when I posted yesterday. I had made a list and stuck to it except for 2 things…..rice cakes & cereal….both things that the baby can eat.

I needed to pick up some non-dairy butter because Siah has a Dairy Allergy and while some of the family can use butter, it makes it difficult to always be on top of everyone to not share their popcorn or toast and I have to be extra dilligent about what goes into Siah’s mouth and what has dropped on the floor so, it’s just easier in our family to get the non-dairy spread. We use Earth Balance. It is DELICIOUS and it is actually cheaper than organic butter by $2 for the same amount of “spread”. Another bonus is that I can use it in my baking just like butter and the baking comes out just as good as if I’d used butter….no weird spreading or greasy texture.

So, we went to Pricesmart and I decided that if the prices weren’t GROSSELY inflated compared to Superstore that I’d just pick up what I needed there and save the gas money.

So, we got Almond Milk (for myself and Siah – he can’t handle large amounts of soy either…more on that in a moment), bananas, 5lb bag of apples, Earth Balance Spread, Puffed Kamut Cereal, Rice Cakes, 10lbs Potaotes, Espresso Coffee Beans…..all for $42.00.

So that brings our total up to $93.95.

While I was at the store I realized that there were a few more things that we need. I need some more veggies – celery, peppers, lettuce, zucchini…..that kinda thing, but I’ll get those next week at a local Farmer’s Market, and Brown Rice. On the list they go!

Saturday’s Meals:
Breakfast – Grand Slam Breakfast (eggs, hashbrowns, mini pancakes, farmer sausage)
Dinner – Coconut Curry with Tofu over Brown Rice

Sunday’s Meals:
Breakfast – Oatmeal with Soy Milk
Dinner – Veggie Chicken Soup with Brown Rice

So, I’m pretty certain that we are staying away from the stores today, and for more than one reason.

Onto the the “WICKED FUN” aspect of this post….

Siah had an allergic reaction to something last night and I spent the whole night cradling and cuddling him and then holding him over the top of a bucket while he retched his little guts out.

Yah, he spent the whole night either puking or dry heaving.

It was EXACTLY the same as the two times when he had some dairy tinged probiotic when he was 2 and 3 months old minus the watery diarrhea – so last night was only half the fun it could have been.

It was awful and finally around 5am his stomach was finally settled enough that he wanted to nurse and then he fell asleep until 6am and then nursed again, and so far everything has stayed down. Jon let me sleep until 11am, and then I nursed him again and he is sleeping right now.

I think that it was the tofu…..

– POST BREAK –

I had to stop posting to take a “potty break” (either this is a SUPER LONG post or I’m just a really REALLY slow typer) and when I went into my ensuite to take care of business I realized that my bedroom door had been shut, the blinds drawn, and there was a lump under the covers. Xandra is dressed in a beautiful princess dress, and is under my covers..all the way under the covers watching a movie on her iPod. When I asked her what she was doing, her response was that it was warm and dark in my room, and especially under my covers and that she was just relaxin’….what a little sweetheart!

– RESUME POST –

I think that it was the tofu and I knew that he couldn’t handle big amounts of soy, and in my excitment to “try” a meatless meal – I never put the two together…stupid me. Do you know the guilt that racks you knowing that you most likely caused your son to have a brutal night? It’s not fun! NOT! AT! ALL!

So, I’m tired, and hoping that I can snag one more nap today sometime. We skipped church today because I wasn’t getting up and I definately wasn’t taking Siah anywhere. So, the other two kids are bored and Jon has just settled down to have a “video game tournament” with them.

I’m going to go and have another coffee and try to wake up….fun times, people, FUN TIMES – I tell you!

Day 4 today and all is well!

Well, yesterday had its difficult moments.

I did go out to the store and spent some money on something business related, BUT….it was totally necesary.

What wasn’t necessary was the Subway sandwich combo that I needed because I had been very bad with my time and ended up with a major blood sugar low, BUT….I didn’t get it. I wanted to. OOOOOOHHHHHHHH! How I wanted to! I managed to resist by asking Jon how much lunch for the two of us would cost, and when he said $14, and I knew that I could go home and make $2 worth of soup for the two of us (plus baby) – well, we just drove home. I’ll admit, though, if I could have justified the expense somehow, I would have – and I was trying to figure out a way to justify it. I was trying REALLY hard!

I made it past that temptation and carried on with my day.

Just for posterities sake (and to get it over with)

Thursday’s Meals
Breakfast – Eggs and Toast
Dinner – Vegetarian Chili & Brown Rice

Friday’s Meals
Breakfast – Eggs and Toast
Dinner – Veggie Stirfry with Chicken over Rice Noodles

Today we have to go and buy a birthday present for a 10 year old boy. I’ve already determined that we are going to Michaels with their 40% off coupon and getting a present for under $20 which means that it will be around $10 with the coupon.

Aside from that I don’t have anything on my Shopping List right now and so my total spent still stands at $34.17, and for us – that is pretty mch a miracle….even though it is only 4 days into the month….let’s see how well I’m doing at the end of the month.

***< STORE STUFF >***

I mailed out the first few orders yesterday – so a huge THANK YOU to all who bought. It feels amazing to have this working out. There are just 3 more days in the buy 2 get the 3rd (of equal or lesser value) for free sale – so if you were thinking of getting in on that deal…that was your reminder.

***< /STORE STUFF >***

Yesterday was a bit of a rough day for Siah, he seems to be falling over quite a bit, and I’m not sure if he’s just getting more confident or if he’s fallen one too many times and I need to take him back to the chiropractor for an adjustment.

He really smacked himself up good yesterday. He was playing by the block box and bopped up and down and smacked his lip on the corner. Then he started screaming – A LOT! and the BLOOD….oh my goodness the blood. When I got close enough to check things out there was a split on both the inside of the lip and the outside of the lip and it looked like he had put his little razor sharp bottom tooth right through his bottom lip. NASTY!

So, it bled…he cried….I mopped up blood and tried to comfort him, but I imagine that it hurt brutally bad. You can see the bruise under or inside the lip all the way through from the inside to the outside. It looks awful, and if it feels as awful as it looks, is it any wonder that he was up as much as he was last night. Fun times, let me tell you, FUN TIMES!

He also managed to fall over and hurt himself about 4 other times yesterday, but just general bumps and hurts – nothing major like the lip. Poor little kid – or maybe I should say poor mother….he is seriously a crawling machine and it takes a ton of energy to just stay on top of him and to make sure that he hasn’t made it up on top of the fridge to get to the cereal boxes, eh Momma?

Well, I’m gonna go and started cutting up the potatoes to make our BIG SATURDAY MORNING BREAKFAST. We usually eat a big breakfast a bit late on Satuday mornings, and it is both breakfast and lunch. Today we are having hashbrowns, eggs and Farmer Sausage. YUMMY!

First of Many – but not too many, I hope!

Yesterday, being the first day of our 30 days of Nothing…or at least, Not Very Much, required that I go shopping.

Nice, eh?

I was supposed to go nd pick up a few things on Monday and I ran out of time, and then same thing on Tuesday. It was stuff that was necessary, but we just made do without it.

So, yesterday I picked up $36.10 worth of groceries. I had coupons for $1.93 and so my total spending for yesterday was $34.17.

I picked up a 2 L of Soy Milk, 5 lbs of Carrots, Broccoli, 3 Dozen Eggs, Yams, a 1 kg bag of popcorn, a 5 lb bag of apples, some bananas and some plain Ruffles Chips.

Not very much by my standards seeing as a shopping trip could easily be $100.

I made a list, and only bought what was on the list. I’m thinking that’s what I’m going to do this month. Just shop from the list….let the list be sacred. Nothing that isn’t on the list.

We’ll see how that works out for me.

I don’t have an actual amount that I’m aiming for. I think that I’m actually aiming for as little as possible. I’ll admit that I’m a bit nervous that without a number to focus on that I won’t “WIN!” but seeing as there are many varied reasons for me doing this….it is just going to have to work this way. I will MAKE it work, right?

I think it will be interesting to see “what” I buy, and so I’m gonna list it all down…I realize that it could get boring, but that way, you’ll know what kinds of food we buy in our house, and for some of them, I’ll even explain “why”.

Like the chips for example….why would I buy chips when I’m not supposed to be be spending any extra money.

Well, I dont buy snacks for my kids. I don’t buy cookies. I don’t buy “fruit by the foot” or granola bars or any other packaged kid lunch friendly snacks. AND….the Ruffles Plain chips are Potatoes, Safflower Oil and salt. Only 3 ingredients…. my kids take a small baggie of chips every other day, and it’s a treat for them….so – I buy them from time to time….this was one of those times.

My In-laws were over for dinner on Monday night, and bought some roast chicken for dinner. Thanks, Mum & Dad! I boiled the carcass and used the bit of leftover meat to make a BIG pot of soup. We had that for dinner last night, and I have another meals worth of soup in the freezer for whenever I need it.

We are going to be doing 2 meatless dinners a week, to help cut down on the costs, and I’m thinking and debating on whether or not you want to know what we ate for our meals…..maybe I’ll just put down breakfast and dinner seeing as the kids are at school and you really don’t need or probably care to know that I had a sandwich or salad for lunch.

So, yesterday’s meals…

Breakfast – Super Porridge (Oatmeal, Flax, Buckwheat, Pecans, Pumpkin Seeds, Millet, Teff & Brown Rice)
Dinner – Chicken, Rice & Veggie Soup with Garlic Toast.

On to other things…..I was laughing to myself and then Shash mentioned it…..I’ve started the 30 Days of Nothing, but at the same time, I’ve opened a new store encouraging you to buy my stuff. Ironic, no! Oh well, The bad thing about this is that I’m not doing my Christmas Shopping this month. AWWWWK! I guess that I can PLAN what things I want to buy and where from and then I can get it all done in November easily ad quickly….that’s the goal at least.

Well, off to plan out the rest of the weeks meals, and to tidy my house…..oh, yah – check back later today and I’ll try to update the latest few new items into the store….it’s not happenning right now…even though I promised.

One last thing….I recognize that things aren’t perfect around here, and so if you see things changing or links moving around or if there are things that aren’t working properly…just know that we’re working on it, and if you notice something, please feel free to mention it to us….we want to get things running as smoothly as possible.

Thanks!