Thankful

Thanksgiving weekend came and went way to quickly. Now Christmas will be here in a blink of an eye!  

I've been surfing the web for all things frugal and came across a recipie for homemade orange cleaner on Pinterest. There was tons of them actually. It's so cool, you just save up some old citrus peels and when your jar gets full pour in some vinegar.  Now I'm supposed to let this sit for at least 2 weeks. And then strain out the oranges and mix the liquid with water into a spray bottle and I will have homemade orange cleaner!!  I'm excited to try it and will update you all after I do!

On Friday my mom texted me rather early an asked if I wanted to go Black Friday shopping with her. Now aim not really a Black Friday shopper. Crazy towns of people all fighting over deals. Not my thing, but since it was 7 am and most sales actually started the night before here this year I decided to go ahead and go. I had no money but I helped her find some things for my kids for Christmas :) The best part came at the end though. We walked into Walmart and she told me to pick out a few groceries I needed.  I literally got tears in my eyes. See, we really were running out of everything. My fridge was empty and my cabnits were getting there as well.  I was so thankful!  I didn't want to go overboard so I just got some fresh fruit(which we hasn't had in weeks) ( also where the orange peels came from). Some bread, milk, toliet paper, toothpaste and some crackers. Those little things ment the world to us!  I'm so lucky to have such a great mother!  That would help out like that without me asking. Even though I feel guilty about it. Hopefully Ben will get that bonus we are waiting on so we can stock up on some necessitys. 

I found some fabric in the closet the other day and decided to drag out the sewing machine an make some more cloth napkins for us. We run out daily. I haven't bought paper towels in a long time. We have one roll I have hid in the cleaning closet that I use when we make bacon for draining the grease off. Otherwise it's cloth. I couldn't remember how to thread the needle so I googled it. Lol. Thank God for the internet!

Here is me Jess and Emma te day of Thanksgiving. Can you tell were related?  :) everyone says we look alike!  

Down

Sometimes I think I'm bipolar. My moods are up and down. It's quite ridiculous. I went from feeling happy and warm and fuzzy inside to feeling hopeless and sad. Within a matter if 24 hours. I know part of this is due to my birth control pills. The first week in the pill pack always hits my emotions hard for some reason. At least I recognize  it.  I try to not let my feelings reflect on my family but it's hard sometimes.  

Anyways I'm just bummed and it's all about money.  Not being able to buy presents this year for Christmas. And these stupid bills. And my cabinets keep getting emptier and emptier. And I keep saying Im doing this no spend challenge but in all truthfulness after November nothing is going to have changed. And we still have bills to pay so im not sure how I'm  gonna restock my food supply.  Ugh.  Sorry. Just sitting here on my phone before bed and had to get this out.  I'm not looking for sympathy and I don't mean to be a whiner. It just worries me. And makes me feel like a crap mom. 

Praying things get better !

Kohls and weight issues :(

I had $20 Kohls cash given to me the other day.  It was expiring soon and I wasnt gonna waste it so last night I went into kohls, I also had a $10 off $30 coupon,, so more or less I had a free $30 to use. Very exciting.  I hardly ever buy myself any clothes so I went in with a purpose of buying something for myself.  I really need a new pair of jeans.  I tried on about 5 pairs,, nothing fit right,,, the shirts I tried on that I though might have been to big were to tight :(     All in all it sucked.  I almost cried right there in the dressing room.  I was doing so well with my weight loss I had gotten up to 50 pounds lost and something happened and now I'm only 35 pounds lost,, which means Ive gained 15 pounds,,,, actually Ive gained 3 more and havent logged it into mfp, so 18 in a matter of a couple months...thats not normal.   I have been eating more junk and snacking,,,, I've been depressed about money issues and I'm a emotional eater.  I NEED to get this under control and get back to where I was and lose more.  It depresses me Its like I have to be perfect all the time or the weight just creeps right back on me faster than ever.   Ugh,,, I know I'm whining, but this is a real issue for me.  I need to have this self control over food.  I will get this!!!  I will I will I will I will I will I will
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So I did end up getting 2 shirts,, they totaled 50 but with my coupons and kohls cash I only had to pay 20. I used my kohls card.   So Ben says I ruined my no spending challenge.. Whatever..... I"m still doing it,,, necessity......

Weekend happenings

I'm feeling a tad better today. I'm not that snotty, its just so much pressure in my head and it wont break up!  Life goes on as normal around here though.  The no spend challenge is going strong,, when there is no money to spend it makes it pretty easy :)  Now this weekend is when I will get paid and that is normally what I use to go out and buy groceries, but no this time,, its going to the doctor bills, thats gonna be the hard part but we still have plenty of food.  Sunday morning I made strawberry pancakes!  They were super yummy!

Here is a quick snap of my fridge as of today,  just a hodge podge of stuff in there.  Lots of condiments.. But my cabinets are still plenty full and my freezer has food.

I did a very bad thing on Friday.  I thought I was doing a good thing.  I went through the cabinits and freezers do a inventory and made of list of what we had.  Well when I was going through the garage freezer and counting apparently I sat out one of the bags of venison meat to count what was under it.  Stupid me forgot to put the bag back in and the whole bag got ruined.  6 lbs of ground venison and 1 roast. :(   I didnt know it until the next day when Ben went out and smelled/saw it on the ground :(  I cried!  I can't believe I wasted meat!  I was so upset. We still have 7 more packages of it that I didnt sit out so we arnt out, but now I really hope the boys will get another deer   We really do rely on that meat because I just dont have the money in my grocery budget to buy hamburger right now.   I'll be more careful next time I go through the freezer, thats for sure!!!!!

Sunday I had a baby shower to attend,, the baby had already been born,, Meet Jacelyn.  I will  be watching her when her mom returns to work sometime in January!  I'm excited!  She is so precious and little and sweet!

Saturday was my Grandma Baldridge's 77th surprise birthday party!  It was a great success and she was so happy!  I'm so glad all the family got to share this occasion!

Here' s Jess holding baby Zayden.  He's a  all full of sweetness also! Last night I made potato corn chowder and it was YUMMY!  Everyone liked it.  And tonight we are having burritos made from the pinto beans I cooked in the crockpot last Friday.    Bean and cheese is all you really need and they are still so yummy and very affordable!

Sick :(

I think I have a sinus infection. My head hurts so bad, there is so much pressure it feels like its gonna explode!~   So I want to write but it hurts to bad to concentrate. Hopefully I'll  be back soon,  no spending going on though in case you were wondering, although the whole family got into a big argument about it last night :(

No spend challenge

My house smells yummy!  I've got a crock pot full of pinto beans cooking on low.  Were having tacos for dinner and we will use them in those, but there will be lots of leftovers.  Ill freeze some and we will eat some throughout the week.  Makes for yummy lunches!  I love having things going in my crock pot.  Just knowing dinner is mostly taken cared of makes me feel good.  And normally if anything is in the crock that means we will have leftovers.  I consider leftovers free food Yall!! 

So I decided yesterday our household is doing a no spend challenge for the remainder of the month.  The only thing we will buy is gas for the car and Thanksgiving is coming up so if I need to take something to my moms for that we will have to buy that.  Otherwise no money spending! 
I haven't been spending much money,, only on groceries, but we have some doctor bills that need paying otherwise they are gonna be sent off to collections so my grocery money is going for that!  So really this no spend challenge is more out of necessity than for fun, but everything seems better when you make a game of it right? 

I went through the outside freezer and the inside and went through all the cupboards as to see what I will have to work with.  I think we will be fine.  I made a list(love making list), so it will be easy to keep track of what we have and help me in deciding what to make. 

I'm doing little updates on snapchat, add me on there if ya have it. everdaymomof3
I'm also gonna   update on here

I'm Back?

Back to blogging? Maybe,, not making any promises, but its been calling to me lately with tips to share.  Life has been crazy, but really who's isn't.  Everyone has there own issues within there households.  I think everyone struggles.  We just don't always talk about it.  While at the moment some of my life issues are money and raising the kids, others probably have their own set of problems.  I have to remind myself we don't know what goes on behind closed doors and its okay to struggle.  It doesn't make me any less of a woman, wife, or mother.  It makes me human.  And its ok. I know everything will work out. It has to right?