Day 3 and Day 4!

Well, these last two days have been sort of a blur. Will ended up with an intestinal bleed, and so he went into the ICU unit. he is ok now. We found some stuff that we need to watch and be aware of, but he is ok and home now. But I didn't get the chance to post pics, and I didn't get a chance to download them, or anything to that manner. I also really don't remember what we ate. I do know I didn't go to the grocery store, and that we ate what was in the house, but I honestly don't remember what it was. So tomorrow I will try to catch up the photos. I am just so exhausted. SO after some rest, and such I will post more. Thanks to all who prayed for us, and had us in your thoughts. We appreciate the love.

Day 2

Well today wasn't too bad either, food wise. Today Sabrina decided to cut her hair, because it was "getting in her eyes". Makes sense, but next time as we discussed she will come ask me to help her, instead of doing it herself. So I had to do a fix on her, and as I did so, Nessie wanted me to give her a cut too, so I did. THey both look so cute, and makes their perms look much better. I will post pics tomorrow.

As for breakfast we had cold cereal. THis is something I have a LOT of in our food storage. This is so useful not only for breakfast, but for snacks as well. SO I have a lot of cereal in our food storage. Then for lunch the kids had leftover Spiral noodles with spaghetti sauce and some cheese. THen for dinner dad fed them, since I had Young Women, and they had apple slices, nachos, and baked beans. Not too bad. Then courtesy of Young women, the kids will get cupcakes tomorrow with their lunches.

I dont feel too bad so far with what they have been eating. For snacks they have eaten banannas, and cherries. All of this fresh fruit. I can see that if we were really in a bad way, that fresh fruit would be missed. My kids love banannas. So is there a way of storing banannas in your food storage?? If so, let me know.

Anyway, I'll post some pics tomorrow morning with the kids new do's.

So far so good. We are happy eating from our food storage so far. So far I have what we use.

Day 1

Well, it wasn't bad at all. Except for the fact that I let my kids eat cheese crackers, gummy worms, soda and peanuts for breakfast. But I have a good reason...sorta. Every Tuesday thru Thursday this theater by our home does free movies for kids at 9:30 in the morning. This time it was THE TALE of DESPERAUX. The kids loved it, and I loved it cause it was free. But it is around breakfast, and so I just counted all the snacks I smuggled in with my extra large purse as their breakfast. I know I'm bad to sneak food in, but hey we aren't rich enuf here to be paying 5$ for popcorn, and 4$ a drink and thats just for one kid.

Anyway, lunch we made Corn Dogs, and french fries with koolaide. The kids liked it, and it wasn't that bad for me. But for Sabrina she hates the cornbread on the outside, so I could have just stuck a stick into a regular hot dog and she would have been just fine. She's so funny.

Dinner was BBQ. We had a pot roast in the freezer that desperately needed to be used...date wise...and so I sliced the meat into steaks, seasoned them like steaks, and voila...poor mans steaks. We also had purchased a handful of "new" potatoes at the farmers market, and so I sliced them up, and sauteed them and served it with a side salad. Over all I would say that the first day I really didn't feel bad at all. However I'm sure the closer to three weeks I get, I may be struggling for ideas.

I did realize though that we need to put paper plates and plastic ware in our food storage kit. Since I was bust, I thought I pressed the button on the dishwasher to clean, but I didn't, and so we had no plates for dinner. SO I pulled out a platter and we shared one common plate. It was funny to see, but the kids really thought it was fun. They asked if we could do it again. I don't think so. I think next time I will make sure I see it running before I walk away from the dishwasher. I also got thinking...I hope I have enuf diapers for Isaac at night to get through the three weeks. I may want to get some for the storage area as well. Well I will definitely add those to a list I will be making for my food storage.

I guess I better get to bed, I'm tired, and I have a big day ahead of me tomorrow. My house needs a makeover. So I will attack it in the morning.

Food Storage Challenge...

After reading some information on a food storage website, I have decided to take a challenge. I am going to not go to the grocery store for three weeks. Many people have done this already, and they all have enjoyed the experience, and so I want to see if I can do it. If anyone else would like to take this challenge with me, I would be interested to see how far we can all get, and what recipes we come up with to use what is in our cupboards, freezers, fridge, and any other food storage areas. SO for the next three weeks I will post nightly to let you know what I came up with to eat, and how we are doing with this challenge. I think it will be fun to see what happens, and really let me know if I have the right things in my food storage. I will be going to the store tonight to get WIC (cheese and milk and such) and a few other items such as some fruit, but other than that we will be living solely on our food storage.
So here are the rules:

* No going to the grocery Store after midnight tonight (or the night before you start your three weeks)
* All meals must be nutritious, and be made solely from your food storage
* Post your meals daily on your Blog, and how your family enjoyed it.
* List your ingredients you used in your meals.
* Take pictures if you would like of your creations
* Write a little blurb on how you felt that day

So here I go. Living solely on our food storage. Wish me luck, and I will post nightly how we did for the day.

Mish Mash of Things

Wow, this week has been so up and down and all over the place. I feel like I have been pulled in all directions emotionally and I'm so tired. So forgive me, this will be a LONG post. It is now Monday morning, and I am officially now starting my "retirement" as Will so lovingly calls it. Since finding out about my Layoff, Will and I talked, and we decided that he would find a job as a pharmacy intern now that he doesn't have such a strenuous study regiment, and let me now stay home with the kids, and be able to attend their school stuff, and go to the outings with them, and be more of a mom. I love him for this. I know he will be working 40 hours a week for school, and then being willing to work 15-20 more hours is a lot, and I really appreciate it. So here I am taking my break before I end up starting to reorganize the house.

I guess I will start with the garden. It is really coming to life. We have three different rotations of corn planted (we waited two weeks in between plantings), we have bell pepper plants, tomatoes, jalapenos, and lots of bush beans. We also have Yukon Gold Potatoes. We have strawberries growing like crazy right now. Soon we will be able to harvest our hard work. Will took care of two racoon's yesterday that were sitting in the garden eating it in broad daylight. So he got rid of them.

Then there is the issue of Mom calling us late last night informing us she no longer wants to live with us, and will have Dave and her "friend" Cleo come get her stuff today. I know I am not sad to see her go. She has caused so much chaos in our family that it is hard to be civil. So now anyone who wants to visit will have a full bedroom and kitchen to use while here. So feel free to come and visit. We would love to have ya, and show you the sights.

Then its been really busy with Young Women trying to get things ready for them to go on trek, and then girls camp. Plus learning how to teach the girls in this age range. I really enjoy it.

I then also gave the girls a perm, and it really didn't take. I did everything according to the box, but I guess their hair just doesn't like perms. SO I will have to see what to do now. Maybe I will give them a cute hair cut, and it will help the perm to liven up.

Summer doesn't really feel like summer yet. It has been so cool. I like it, but then again its been raining a lot, so its tough for the kids to do anything outside. I'm probably going to take them to the zoo tomorrow and let them walk off some of that energy. I know I could use the exercise.

I do have to admit that Ive enjoyed these few days home with the kids. Being able to make dinner again for Will at a decent hour. Being able to pick up the house, but most of all being able to spend the day with the kids and play with them. Ive really missed it. Nessie keeps asking me if I haveto go to work, and I say "no honey Im home with you guys now", and she ends up doing a huge dance to let me know she is so glad Im home. Its nice to feel useful and needed.

So anyway, Will started his rotations as well this week, and he is really enjoying the time he has at the Pharmacy. He enjoys being able to come home and not haveto study and being able to spend time with us here at home. He says that this is what he has worked for all through school. SO he is in a good mood all the time, and its been wonderful.

Anyway here is the pics of stuff.....

Our Corn and Peppers

More Corn and Tomatoes

My String Beans

Our Yukon Potatoes

The View of our Garden