Sharing Perspective - Mommy

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A quick post today ...

A photo Alia took of me at Pier 39 in San Francisco ...

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Sharing Excitement

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It's Thursday and I managed shop for the week's meals and then to stay out of the grocery store all week long !!

This is an accomplishment, believe me.

We ran out of milk two days ago. And we have zero laundry detergent.
But there's only .19 cents left in the grocery budget this week so I didn't buy either.

Tomorrow is a new week.

I'll be buying a bigger milk.

One of my goals for groceries this year is to . STICK . TO . OUR . BUDGET . !!!
I'm on track !
One week down ... 40 some to go !

Our biggest goal where food is concerned is to not waste.
I hate throwing away food.
There are too many people who don't have any for us to be throwing any away.

We've been doing well.
We've been eating all of the leftovers and so far have only had to toss a rotten lemon
and some noodle salad that went yucky ...

I'm interested what you all do ...
Do you have an allocated amount for groceries each week ?
What do you do when you run out of something but there's no money left ?
Do you go buy it or do you wait ?

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Sharing Second Hand

Look what I found the other day.

Pretty dishes from a second hand store.

For my food photography.

Like these ...



I love 'em ... the plates ... especially since the lot of 'em only cost me a couple bucks !

Pop on over to The Beans Blog to see what else I've been cookin' and photgraphin' ...

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Sharing Lunch Time Thrills

One of my favorite things as a kid was getting notes from my Mom in my lunch box.

Didn't happen all the time, but when it did, I was THRILLED !

I love being able to write notes to my two ...

I draw pictures for Alia and write little notes for Jono ... just to encourage him through his day !

Sometimes, in the car on the way to school, they open up their lunches to see what's in them.

On one occasion, they found their decorated napkins.

I was watching in the rear view mirror.

( I was watching the road too ... I've got TWO eyes you know !! )

anyhoo ... when they found their napkin notes their little faces lit up !!

Guess it's THRILLING for them too !!

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Have you been over to The Beans Blog lately ?

Do stop by soon and check out our What's For Lunch series ...

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Sharing Menu Plans

One thing that really helps me in keeping my life simple is menu planning. I plan for a week at a time. I try to shop for a week at a time as well, but that doesn't always work. This week, I'm determined that it will ! I even got a can of fruit salad so that we can eat that at the end of the week when we run out of fresh fruit !

I have been planning menus for many years now. I can tell such a difference in the weeks that I do plan to the weeks that I don't. Our budget, nutrition and my sanity all suffer when I don't plan our menus !

Planning once a week means I am in the grocery store less. I love to grocery shop but I tend to spend more than I need to each time I go in. The fewer times I go in, the less I spend ! It's true !

Planning once a week means I am not stressed about what to eat each night. It means we eat out less because there is always something yummy on the menu ... I am the one planning it, after all !

Planning once a week means I can plan ahead for days that I know are going to be busy. Those days usually have a meal in the crock pot cooking away and ready when we all get home !

Planning once a week means I am able to plan nutritious meals for my family. I don't get stuck in a rut of cooking the same old un-healthy fall back meals night after night !! It also means that I don't need to feel guilty cooking homemade pizza most Friday nights for our family 'pizza and a movie' tradition because I know we've eaten healthy all week long !

Planning once a week means I can plan inexpensive meals as necessary to help keep the budget under control.

In January, I started posting my weekly menu plans to my cooking blog ~ The Beans Blog. You can pop over and check out what we're eating this week by clicking HERE. Keeping my menus online has been very helpful as I can go back and look at what we've had previously. I participate in Menu Plan Monday as well. A great resource for planning menus. Bloggers world wide link in each Monday at a website called "I'm an Organizing Junkie". There are over 300 posts each week. I probably visit 10 or 12 each week just to see what's cooking ! I have found some great blogs that way ! And some great meal ideas.

Planning menu's takes a little bit of time each week, but the peace of mind, the savings in both money, sanity and time make it well worth the effort !

"You do not like it. So you say. Try it ! Try it ! And you may. Try it and you may, I say."
~ Sam I Am, Green Eggs and Ham ... Loosely Quoted !!

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Sharing Cookies

Alia and I spent this afternoon baking choc chip cookies.

Want one ?

You might not believe it but what I'm going to tell you is true. Something major has changed in the life of our family since Saturday.

If you know my family in any capacity, you'd know that we are a happy family. We enjoy being together. We enjoy life. We laugh. A lot. What you may not have known was that for some time there has been a tiny seed of dissatisfaction eating away just below the surface of my skin !

What was it ? I don't know. Not specifically.

On Saturday, I chatted with Rory about a couple of things I thought would be good to change. He agreed and we started straight away. Two simple things. 1.) We all work together at night to clean the kitchen up after dinner. 2.) We don't watching TV in the evenings anymore. I'd say we'll still do our family movie on Friday nights but we'll see ...

Who would have thought that those two small changes would bring about such big change in an already happy, well adjusted family ? Not me ... but they have !

Our evenings are so relaxed. We aren't rushing to get the kids into bed, or to plop ourselves down in front of the tube. We are more focused on enjoying the meal and our time together. We are less rushed and therefore less impatient.

After the clean up we've had time, most nights, to play a game.

Waking up in the morning to a clean kitchen totally changes my outlook on the day ! After our morning bike ride, I'm not rushing about trying to pack lunches in a dirty kitchen that I may or may not get cleaned before lunch time ! Actually, tonight as I type, the kitchen is clean and tomorrow's lunches are ALREADY PACKED !!

Another unexpected result of the changes is that I'm consistently eating breakfast now ... and am able to sit and chat with the kids or read my book for a spell while I do. This is MAJOR for me ! I've always struggled to eat breakfast ... let alone sit and eat !

Is there something in your life that has you dissatisfied ? What small change could you make ? You never know, it may just be the big change you need ...

Oh, there's the washing machine beeping at me that it's finished. I need to go hang up the last load of laundry for the day and then I'm going to go join my husband who is reading in bed. I have four books on the go at the moment and I'd really love to read a bit of each before it gets too late !! I'll tell you what I'm reading soon ....

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Walking Towards Simplicity

Truth be told, one of my biggest dreams is to live simply. To leave the hustle and bustle of the times we live in ... and to bring people with me !

In an effort to move towards this dream and after talking to Rory about it, we're making a few changes around here.

Let me tell you about last night. We had homemade sushi for dinner. Do you know I love doing meals like that ? I put everything prepared onto the table and then each person makes their own. It causes us to slow down. We have to wait 'til one person is done with the thing we need. There is no shoveling of food into mouths. There is talking, laughing, even a few tears when Alia bites her own finger ! But then laughter again when Rory teases her that he can see why she wanted to eat her finger, it looks yummy, can he have a bite ?

Part of growing up in my family was having to stay at the table until everyone else was finished. I know it was part of my Mom's growing up too. I remember going to Grandma's house and having to wait 'til everyone was finished. She, Grandma, used to tease us by eating corn on the cob one piece at a time !!

Staying at the table, waiting for everyone else to finish, I think it's important. We encourage the kids to talk. We talk. We ask questions. They respond. They ask questions. We respond. We have always done this but I am trying to make more of a concerted effort these days as I'd become a bit hurried myself lately.

Doing the dishes together. All of us. Not something that has ever happened (regularly) before. Oh, we've taught the kids how to empty the dishwasher, and they have been clearing their own plates from the table since they learned to walk but to actually all pitch in 'til the kitchen is clean, straight after the meal ... nope.

Working together last night, the four of us, and waking up to a clean kitchen this morning ... I am sure I don't have to tell many of you how wonderful that was.

Playing games together. We love it. We've bought a few good ones the past year or two. Ones that can be played while our kids are young and also as they grow older. A few of our favorites are Jenga, Phase 10, Uno, and Monopoly.

Last night we played The Dice Game. Such a fun game. Tomorrow I will teach you all how to play ...

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