Reviewing My Goals

I was chatting with my sister yesterday and asked if her trying out once a month grocery shopping has saved her any money and she said that she had saved about $300 last month. That is awesome! I have talked to a few other friends who are crushing their goal in 2019 and that really inspires me to keep reaching for my goals as well. Keep up the good work friends.

I wrote down 11 things back in December and thought I would share my list and evaluate where I am on them.

1. Continue with healthier eating. I had lost 20 pounds before Thanksgiving and my goal through Christmas and all that good eating that comes with those holidays was to not gain it back. I did just that and and stayed the same through January. I have lost 2 more pounds and hope to continue loosing. Thats still a win in my book. Lets see if there will be 10 less pounds of me in February.

2. Blog more recipes. I think we can say I have done that.

3. Garden, garden, garden and more garden. Thats exactly what I put. So we ordered 29 packets of seeds and have some seeds we saved ourselves from last year, we have the garden spot at my moms staked and are waiting for warmer weather for a neighbor of her to plow it up. Our garlic at home is doing great and we have lettuce. micro greens and mushrooms growing indoors. I think we are well o our way.


4. Cut grocery bill. I cut about $150 off juts by sticking to a budget and I still have $70 in my grocery envelope for deals too good to pass up.

5. Tea parties and picnics. There are two of my favorite things. I have had a friend over for lunch and some of my very own homemade dried rose petal tea with my very own honey. Picnics in January are not easy.

6. Visit more historical places. Havent visited anywhere this year so far but we will make up for lost time when it gets warmer out.

7. Business, business business. I made around $600 last year with my little business of teaching other how to make their own tinctures and selling some honey. I would like to double that this year. So this is one of those works in progress.

8. Make a quilt. I am a few blocks behind but I do have the materials. I will catch up on that soon and plan on having my lap quilt ready to use before the weather gets cold next year.

9. Visit more small eateries and buy more for small businesses. I purchased some yarn from a local shop and its the softest stuff I have ever worked with. I have a few other shops I want to order yarn from and have a little list of places for Mr Ladybug and I to have future dates at.

10. Donate my time and money to good causes. I have made a few inquiries about this and hope to have updates on this soon.

11. Make more things myself. We have some more cheese planned in the future. The colby was amazing! We have our kombuca brewing and I have my first batch of kefir done. I was going to fix rice bowls for dinner tonight and realized we have no homemade sour cream. We have not bought any in 2 months because homemade is so much better. I think we will make a batch tonight to have tomorrow with dinner.

Dont be discouraged if yo didnt even make any goals this year. For many years when I was a mom of three small children my goals were just to keep them all alive, not to leave them anywhere on accident  and still be able to talk in complete sentences. Just the other night at dinner we were talking with our two college kiddos about how for a while when they were small Mr Ladybug worked 60-80 hours a week. That was very tiring on us all. All the kids were asleep when he got home and he was out the door before they woke up then weekends were filled with soccer games. church activities and trying to get in a few minutes of rest before it was time to start all over again. We all have busy seasons in our lives and trying times in our lives. Our goals and our priorities change as we do. So dont beat yourself up if you dont have a list of goals. Just try to enjoy where you are at in life. Even when I look back on the hard times I can smile now and you will too.

First starters, budget blowing recipe, vintage kitchen gadget.

I didnt get my $15 extra from this weeks grocery budget because I got a really good deal on chuck roast and a pork roast and spent it on stockpiling some meat in the freezer. I brought the chuck roast home and grounded some into hamburger and about a pound of it I sliced thin for fajitas or rice bowls. Since only three of us eat beef I only package hamburger into three 4oz servings so we got 5 meals out of this roast that cost $11.75 which is why I have $2.35 on each package since I like to calculate how much our meals cost. I made hamburgers with homemade buns and homemade mac and cheese and we each ate for a dollar each.

I was about $5 under my budget up until Mr Ladybug decided it would be a great idea to try a new recipe we found from our favorite Youtube Channel Townsends. If you enjoy all things 18th century this is a great resource. This little adventure cost us $40. Its a good thing I find that man so cute or he would be in hot water. We had fun making it and it was delicious. We also found a great dry red wine for cooking.  I didnt even know Francis Coppola made wine. azqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq                                                                                                                                   kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiijuzghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhcv m

I have not lost my mind, I just wanted to give you a small taste of my life. I got up to get my bagel and came back to a tiny dog standing on my keyboard. I suppose its a good thing I find the little dog so cute as well.

So the wine is called Claret. from what I read its the same as a Bordeaux but do not quote me on that. I have yet to find a wine I enjoyed in food until this one so I am looking forward to using it in some other recipes as well.

The fun and annoying this about 18th century recipes is the lack of exact measurements. Luckily Townsends gives you are pretty decent estimate on the amounts. If you wish to try to stewed duck this is what you will need.

1 duck                              $16
1 cup claret wine              $14
bone broth                        $2  I used chicken and I plan on making my own in the future
A bundle of sweet herbs   $6 two sprigs each basil, targon, mint and rosemary
3 cloves                             $0
2 shallots                            $1.50
3 TBS butter                      $0  I stockpiled butter during Christmas
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

put all ingredients in a stockpot and cook on open fire or wood stove 2-3 hours.

We did at least have some leftovers to get another meal out of and I will be using the same recipe this weekend to try with rabbit.

We had some pretty dirty bees wax from the hive where the girls decided to go rogue and make some crazy mess. If you dont get it cleaned out they start storing honey and when you start pulling frames you get an icky sticky mess plus you sometimes have to destroy larvae and thats future honey makers.  So Mr Ladybug melted the wax down, put some sawdust he had on his work bench in a paper egg carton and poured the hot wax over it. I  tore off one piece this morning and it started the fire perfectly. We plan on making these all year long as we get bees wax and sawdust. Momma if you are reading this I plan on making you some too.

I love kitchen gadgets but not like you think. My stand mixer is from the early 90's and my coffee pot is late 60's early 70's. It just about broke my heart when the one I had from the 50-60's era died on me. I was so excited yesterday when I had hamburgers to get to use my new tomato slicer that my friend gave me. Look how perfect they are!

 She gave me several things and I have lots of others and will be showing you their uses in future posts. So many of the things I have bought at garage sales have been things people used for decoration. I am a believer in if it doesnt have a purpose why bother keeping it plus it can be decorative and purposeful at the same time.

The Right Tools For The Job

Yay!!!!!! I made my grocery list. it didnt take that long once I actually sat down to do it. I have to do three stores today. I know for some of you this isnt really convenient but I live in a city where this isnt that big of a drive. Before really sticking to this budget thing I would do three stores each week but have changed it to once a month to keep impulse buying down. The majority of my groceries will come from Aldis, with Kroger coming in at a close second since they tend to have some pretty decent deals with coupons every few weeks. Walmart tends to be cheaper on cleaning supplies and I found some decent coupons on the Coupon.com app and was wanting to see how that works out.

A few years ago I wrote a little daily blip in facebook on wearing the full armor of God. I ladybugged it up by changing the breast plate of truth to a ladybug apron, my helmet was a straw hat I wear in the garden and you get the idea. I will have to try to dig that picture up for you if you missed it. I am a real hoot sometimes. Anyway this got me thinking about how I prepare myself for anything that I am about to do. Like if Mr Ladybug and I are going on a adventure that will take several hours is the car I take my heated blanket and snacks. We always have our water bottles and I try to remember tea bags and honey if he happens to stop to grab coffee somewhere I get just hot water. Sometimes we even take a thermos of coffee and I have one for tea.

This is what I need if I am going to be out running errands and shopping for the week. My water bottle and my hot tea. The little caffeine from the tea keeps me civil. The water to keep me from wanting to grab a drink while out. Its very tempting sometimes. My clipboard is a must for my list and to keep my coupons handy. My ink pen to  mark thing off so I dont forget anything and to jot down something if I get a phone call or see something I want to look into later. My diffuser necklace and bracelet. I love smells and associate alot of happy memories with them. Today I need good vibes and happy thoughts as I am around lots of other people out and about so citrus smells like grapefruit, lemon and orange will be in them. I also keep my phone handy to check in with Shopkicks and to see if there are any deals on that app or Ibotta. I normally write them down on my list to make shopping faster.

It may be silly but if you leave the house with a plan and stick to the plan things can run much smoother and faster. Sort of like cooking. Have you ever decided to make something and instead of getting all the ingredients out at once you just get things out one at a time and realize that you dont have something like enough eggs or baking powder?

I only need to be $15 under budget to have saved $100 of groceries this month. I am starting off with only $143 instead of my $150 since Mr Ladybug decided to order whole nutmeg off Amazon yesterday. What am I going to do with him?

Whatever you have to do today I hope you are well prepared and I hope you do it fabulously and with lots of glitter. Life is so much better with sparkles and we need more of that in our lives.

Getting Over that Hump

Happy Hump Day as some people refer to Wednesday. Not only are we halfway through the work week I am almost a whole month through sticking to my budget and for the most part I am pretty happy with the results. We are over in our clothing budget since Mr Ladybug needed some things for work and we bought college gear to support our favorite pep band member. It will all work out fine.

My little jar of Kombucha is brewing just fine in the cabinet and our second fermentation that we got to bring home from class we will enjoy this weekend. In the class the instructor had a book and after looking through it I had to have it. There is so much you can do with this stuff. I had no idea. I can not wait to get enough komucha going so that I can make some of these vinegars. facial creams and even try scoby jerky. I found it on Amazon for $17.85 but with the $10 I got reimbursed from a few of my apps it only cost me $7.85.

Last night we tried a new small batch brownie recipe. They were gooey and yummy but I still like my own recipe better. I will cut my down and try it later and post the recipe if it works.

it makes 4 brownies.

My college kiddos both have long days today. The boy had to be there at 8 and he will be home at 5 to eat dinner then back at school for pep band until 9:30. The girl has to be there at 9:30am and will be there until 9:30pm where both will come home together. So of course this momma worries they will starve to death. The boy eats breakfast before he goes and only needed a lunch but she needs a whole days worth of meals. Yes, i know that there is food on campus but it would cost $20-25 for the day. Thats almost what it costs to feed one of us for a whole week. No thank you!  In the pic below we have yogurt with blueberries and granola, cream cheese pinwheels with pretzels and a cheese spread plus apples and spaghetti for dinner. Lets not forget the homemade mocha ice coffee. Those things are like $2.50 out of a machine. Highway robbery!

She does have access to a microwave and fridge.

I still have not made the grocery menu or shopping list and I plan on going tomorrow at 9am so thats still on the agenda. After keeping the fire in the stove going constantly I need to clean out the ashes. I am still undecided on a fire today but with it looking so dreary, I probably will start one. I need to feed all the outdoor animals earlier and avoid getting soaked in the rain. I also having a friend come to visit thats exciting stuff. Hope you have a great Wednesday too.

Good Tuesday Morning!

Its a little barky at my house this morning. Last night two sheriffs knocked on our door looking for someone. not anyone in my house, and the dogs are still upset about it this morning. Every noise they hear is someone at our front door. Its going to be along day with these monsters. To make things even more fun for the dogs today there is a crew of men next door at the house that caught fire and few months ago. They have knocked out all the windows to replace and are running a generator to power their tools and there is lots of hammering going on.

Last night I was craving cupcakes and I found a recipe that made 4. They turned out perfect! I am really liking this small batch baking kick. Here is the link to find the recipe. For the icing she says to use 15 g of butter thats about 2 teaspoons.

https://www.thekiwicountrygirl.com/small-batch-chocolate-cupcakes/

I have no idea where my cupcake pictures are. So you will just have to take my word that I made them.

On todays agenda is to work on next weeks menu. I have to find a meatless Monday recipe that the boys in the house wont realize is meatless. I need to get the dogs beds washed and mop the floors. I also have firewood to bring in and outdoor pets to feed. Dont be jealous my life isnt quite as glamorous as it sounds.

On the menu today is veggie noodle soup and to appease the carnivores I will make chicken salad sandwiches too which means I will also need to add making bread to my list of things to do today. The college kiddos will be home for lunch today so it will be veggie and turkey wraps for lunch with apple slices and pretzels.

Happy Cold Monday!

Mr Ladybug moved a couple of feeders to the front window and now when I am blogging this is my view. We are so enjoying having these red breasted nuthatches visit out feeders. They love peanuts. They love them so much that Mr Ladybug was holding the feeder in his hand and they landed on it. We are definitely going to try to get a picture of that when its not freeze your face off temps outside.

In its first grow the oyster mushroom log produced about 10 oz of mushrooms. We let the log rest and have now started spraying it again to get another round. They are so tasty. We had some a week ago in fajitas and I put them on steaks last night. I have just enough to make a quiche with the remaining ones. We will definitely look into growing more of these through out the year.

I try lots of recipes off the internet and it makes me crazy at the amount of ones that just dont taste good, like the peanut butter cookies from last week. Yesterday I came across a cheesy scalloped potato recipe and he was using seasoning mixes that I could not find anywhere. Then when I looked through his pictures he definitely had paprika top of his potatoes but nowhere in the recipe did he state to put paprika on the top to help get the brown color. So if you dont like the way people do things you should do them yourself. So here is my recipe and you should have to struggle to find the ingredients or be missing any ingrdeients.

Mrs Ladybugs Semi Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

2 pounds of peeled and thinly sliced potatoes
3TBS butter
3TBS seasoned flour, all purpose will do but seasoned gives it a bit more flavor
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 cup of vegetable broth, chicken broth works too but I have a vegetarian in the house
2 cups milk
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
paprika


Preheat oven to 400 degress. Melt butter in a sauce pan over med hi heat. Once melted add flour, garlic and onion powder. Mix well until everything is mixed in with the butter, Add broth and stir until there are no lumps. Add milk and parmesan cheese. Stir well and continue stirring until cheese is all melted. Once its melted it should be thickening up so remove from heat.

 Layer half the potatoes in casserole dish. Top with half the cheddar cheese and half the sauce.

Add remaining potatoes, sauce and top with cheese.Sprinkle top with paprika.

 Cover and bake 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake 20-30 minutes more making sure potatoes are cooked.

Did you get outside last night to see the Blood Moond Lunar Eclipse? I did and it was so beautiful. I didnt think my fingers or toes would ever thaw but it was definitely worth it. Even standing and sliding on the ice with my twisted ankle thats bothering me this morning was worth it.

Where are the degrees?

Its 15 degrees outside as I type this. I dont know how you feel but thats just not enough degrees for me. Unfortunately I will have to head out to feed my chickens, rabbits and pigeons. Mr Ladybug will fill up the bird feeders and we will bring in enough wood to keep us warm through tomorrow. We keep our house at 65 which is a little cool for some people but if you wear nice warm house slippers and not be dressed in summer attire its not a bad temp at all. So our furnace is not kicking on an its actually 72 in the living room according to Mr Ladybugs fancy thermometer he got for Christmas. Yes I think the wood stove was worth the investment.

Yesterday we went to kombucha class and it was so much fun, We learned alot and got our very own scoby to bring home to start fermenting ourselves. We also go to bring home a blackberry ginger that we created ourselves. It should be ready in a few days to try. I also ordered a book that the instructor had in class with tons of things to do with your kombucha. Expect to see lots more things on this tasty drink.

 After class we stopped for a quick lunch out and then home by 1pm. Mr Ladybug had to run to work real quick this morning but I dont plan on leaving the house until maybe like Thursday on grocery day. Nothing keeps your budget on track like not going anywhere to spend money.

New years weekend I made this little glass dry erase board. I thought it would be cute to hand on the wall and draw something for each holiday that pops up. Unfortunately I can not draw so I use coloring pages that I find.  To make one yourself just take a picture frame, remove the back and glue the glass to the frame. Make sure to use dry erase markers and just wash it off with a paper towel and a little water or rubbing alcohol.

I finally remembered to get a pic of the pancakes made with the mix from a few days ago. The boy has eaten then 4 times so I am guess they are good.

Our seeds came in!!!  If I had seen the mailman deliver them I would have hugged him. I can not wait to get them in the ground but its going to have to get lots warmer outside. We are sitting around relaxing the cold Sunday. I am going through cookbooks I got from the library and may start a Cozy Mystery that I picked up.