Snap Shot Sunday -- Birthday Edition

I forgot to bring my camera, so I apologize for the cell phone quality pictures.  I did my best to fix them, but meh...what can you do.

This week, my sweet boy turned 10.  I can't believe he's 10!!  My girlfriend made the lego cake.  Isn't it awesome?  She's so talented!

Here's my son enjoying himself in the pool.  This picture is so important, because as of last summer he wouldn't put his head under the water.  He's been taking swimming lessons all year, and they have paid off so much.  Look at him...completely unafraid of the water!

Linking up today over at Ni Hao Ya'll!

Food Journal Summary

This was the second week of being primal, and my food blog has a great detailed list of how my second primal journey has been going.  This week was particularly hard because Wednesday was my son's birthday, which of course involved cake.  I made the cake myself, and of course tasted it.

Monday:
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, and 2 cups of coffee with half and half.
Lunch: Chicken leg, leftover lamb, and an apple with almond butter.
Dinner: Shepherd's Pie sans crust

Tuesday:
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, 1 cup coffee with half and half
Lunch: leftover shepherd's pie, side salad
Dinner: pulled pork with sautéd cabbage

Wednesday:
Breakfast: two cups of coffee with half and half
Lunch: Pulled Pork
Dinner: Shepherd's pie, pulled pork

Thursday:
Breakfast: 2 eggs, and two cups of coffee
Lunch: Last of the leftover shepherd's pie
Dinner: Pork Stew

Friday:
Breakfast: coffee
Lunch: Pork Stew
Dinner: Chicken breast with mushrooms

This week only two pounds were lost.  Two pounds is a good start though, don't want to loose too quickly.  Overall I have lost a total of six pounds in the last two weeks.  Hopefully this trend continues. :)

Tightening the belt loops

Lately our budget has been on our mind.  Last year when we moved from Colorado to Maryland, we went from a two person income to a one person income.  We thought it would be simple, because we also went to two households to one.  Generally speaking you'd think that would be a simple adjustment and that money would be fine.

Well, it wasn't.

Initially when we moved, we enjoyed living together again under one roof.  We went to Niagara Falls for our tenth wedding anniversary.  We weren't frivolous with our money, but we weren't exactly careful either.  Around August, I told my husband we needed to cut back a little.  We were depleting our savings, and that made me nervous.  Then it hit us.  A $1,500 car repair to get the car licensed in Maryland.  Our tenants in our old house called, the air conditioning wasn't working...luckily it didn't need to be replaced, but that was another $900.  Then the wham-o.  My car started making a horrible racket.  That was $2500.  Then my husband's car again.  Luckily that was only $500, because we refused to get the other $3,500 of work done.  Bottom line, he needs a new car.

So here's what we've done so far to tackle this budget problem:

1. Food Budget:  We have set a strict $120 a week for food.  We use cash at the grocery store, and when we're out, we're out.  We typically set a meal plan and buy all our food on Sunday.  We go through what's on sale at our normal grocery store, and consider getting what they are offering on our weekly sales.  This is additionally hard now that we're strict primal.  We eat a lot of meat, and we used to get strictly organic meat.  Not right now.  It's not in the budget.  Neither is eating out.
2. We've trimmed back our cell phones.  It wasn't much savings, but it boiled down to roughly $30 off our cell phone bill.
3. We're only using our credit card for gasoline or absolutely necessary online purchases, AND we're paying it off every month no matter what.  Honestly, we've always tried to pay off our one and only credit card every month...but this will make it easier.  It's our goal to bring our bill down to less than $1000 a month.  It hovered between $2,300-$3,000 a month before.
4. We've pulled our kids out of swim class.  This was a hard one.  They have a wonderful teacher, and the classes are one on one.  They have done so well, it was a heart breaking decision for us.  The good part is, we can sign them back up when life has gotten back to normal.  That's going to save us roughly $150 a month.
5. Not going places unless it's a planned trip, and completely necessary.  My husband's car is on it's last legs.  He only drives it to work and home.  There are days when I don't go out at all, and since I homeschool my kids we keep busy at home with our school activities.
6. Offset the cost of heating oil by keeping a fire in our wood stove going.  Heating oil is expensive.  Serious sticker shock this fall when it cost us $900 to fill the tank.  Holy cow, I should have listed that in our scary expenses up top.  I keep our heat low, and our family room toasty with a nice fire.  I went in with my neighbor a few months ago and split two cords of wood with him.  My cord will likely be gone by the end of the winter.

What do you do to save a few?

Food Journal Summary

On Tuesday I started a strict primal diet, and I'm keeping a regular food diary on my food blog.  For the next few weeks, I'm going to do a weight loss weekly summary...unless I forget and stop.

So this week, being a pseudo week one I started the week off with shame.  I stepped on the scale for the first time in about a month.  I never completely went off the primal diet.  I still stayed away from grains and legumes, but I didn't keep my sugars and carbs in check and I gained some weight back.  Ten pounds actually.  Hard cider and chips.  It's my weakness.

Back on the wagon though, as of the first with the goal to loose 30lbs.  So here's what I ate starting on Tuesday:

Tuesday:
Breakfast -- 2 cups of coffee with a dash of half and half in each.
Lunch -- 1 bratwurst, side salad with home made garlic balsamic vinaigrette
Dinner -- Chicken quarter with roasted carrots, and a side salad.

Wednesday:
Breakfast -- 2 cups of coffee with half and half, 2 scrambled eggs
Lunch -- Chicken quarter with roasted carrots (leftover from last night's dinner)
Dinner -- Turkey Hash with a side salad

Thursday:
Breakfast -- 1 cup of coffee (Turkey hash leftover for brunch)
Lunch -- Shredded Turkey and salad.
Dinner -- Deer Chili

Friday:
Breakfast -- 2 scrambled eggs, topped with chili and avocado slices 2 cups of coffee with 1/2 and 1/2
Lunch -- Taco salad (or chili salad)
Dinner -- Roasted chicken and salad


This week was a great start with a 4 pounds lost in 4 days.  I'm sure most of that was water, but I'm still encouraged and hope it's a continuing trend! :)

Soaring with Spelling -- A Curricula Review

This year both of my kids have been working out of Soaring with Spelling as a part of the overall Language Arts curriculum.

So far, I've been pleased with this curriculum for my children.  I think we'll continue to use this program so long as it's successful with them both.  Each lesson begins with a pretest.  It's an assessment test to see if the student already knows the words being worked on this week.  This is great, because my son initially had weeks that he scored 100% on the pretest, and when he did, he was allowed to skip the week, and move on to the next.  My daughter however has been stressed by these initial pretests, and cries when she doesn't do well on them.

The lessons each take roughly 5-10 minutes long each day.  With my daughter, I've had to add extra flash cards occasionally when words seemed slightly hard for her.

One thing that perhaps would have been helpful is a placement test.  My son probably could have gone ahead a level in their program...where my daughter may have benefitted from an easier book.

Overall, I think if you're looking for a secular spelling program for your children this program is appropriate for a student who is not in need of any remediation and who is on target for their grade level.

New Year's Resolution

I always make New Year's Resolutions.  It's always possible to better yourself, and I think it's important for my own personal growth to make a goal each year to be better than I am right now.

It's been one hell of a year.  The sad...my grandmother died, my dog died, and I moved from Colorado and left so many people I loved deeply. Then, I moved back east to where I'm originally from, with the perk of able to see my family and my best friend on a regular basis.  I went from financial stability to ending the year with financial fears and problems that must be corrected.

I met last years goal.  I put my condition into remission.  I wasn't even sure I could do it.  I lost fifty pounds.  I really did.  That with moving out of the mountains and back to sea level I believe put my condition into remission.  I get random flair ups now and then, but I live with out medication.  That is nothing less than amazing.

My husband and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary this last year.  This was also a miracle.  We separated in 2010.  Living apart for more than a year.  When I moved to Maryland this passed May, we finally put our family back under one roof.  We were at the brink, and put it back together.

I got chickens, and a new dog.  Chickens.  They're so super fun.  I will have to post pictures of them soon.

This year.  I hope this year will bring happiness.  Better financial stability.  My goals this year, are not as far fetched as last year.  I hope to loose just a bit more weight.  Maybe just 30lbs this year, instead of the staggering 50 that I lost last year.  I hope my marriage thrives.  I hope my children continue to grow and develop beautifully.  I hope to make new friends in my new town, and maintain old friendships...I need them.

Do you have goals for this year?  I'd love to hear them.

Potential Return

Well, I started a few more blogs in the last year.  None of them ever picked up the traffic this blog had.  With all the posts I've done on other blogs, this blog while continued to receive more views every day than all my other projects combined.  There must be something to that I suppose.

I plan on continuing my food blog.  It's a resource for me anyway to have a nice online list of all my recipes.  If someone else enjoys it, awesome.  However this blog seemed to be my way of connecting with other people.  So...I may continue...or I may not.

I won't begin though until after the new year...if I begin at all.  I'll likely end each post with...this may be my last!  I may never write again...

We'll see.  Maybe I'll never get started.  Who knows...I might.

If the world ends tomorrow, it's been fabulous knowing you all!