The Handmade Christmas

So much knitting in December! This is Andrew's hat made with 100% virgin wool. It was fun learning how to make cables. While the pattern worked up just fine, I couldn't get the gauge right and made it too big.  All of these knitted patterns are on my Ravelry page (talldarkeyes) if you are interested.

I made six of these knitted monogrammed dish wash cloths and they were a perfect project for learning how to knit. They also made great gifts for the grandma's who still wash their dishes by hand.

This hat was made for my sister Rachelle and was the first had I ever knitted. It was knitted in an alpaca blend and came out very soft. I really like the flower accent. 

 My MAJOR project that didn't get finished until Advent was nearly over was this Advent Calendar. I made this up with no pattern using only materials I had lying around so please excuse the poor planning and design. I must say it was VERY frustrating to try to figure this one out with limited sewing skills/design knowledge. It came out all right in the end and we are looking forward to using it next year.

My favorite element was Mary holding baby Jesus. I really wanted to have her holding him instead of him being in the manger because if I had just given birth I would never want to put that baby down.

All of the stars are pockets that will accommodate a slip of paper that will list a scripture related to the birth of Christ as well as a celebratory activity for that day. It might be baking cookies and giving them to a neighbor or for the 24th singing Stille Nacht. I will get those ready for next year and I am excited for the memories I know that this calendar will help our family make.

Christmas Abundance

Per our family tradition we opened our gifts on Christmas Eve morning. Despite our small budget I do believe that this year the gifts were the most meaningful. I can remember countless times as a child (even as an adult) where after the gift unwrapping extravaganza, surrounded by wrapping paper and gift chaos, feeling disappointed. It was a difficult feeling to understand because I often would get at least one gift item that I wanted. Thinking back on it now it seemed like coming down from a sugar high of all the excitement and anticipation. Maybe I am growing up, but this year I cared more about seeing the happiness on the faces of those I gave to.

We follow a tradition of only giving four gifts: something you want, something you need, something to share, and something to remind you of Christ. At least one of those items needs to be handmade. With our $15/person budget here is how we did.

Ravenna received a shopping cart and wooden fruit for the want gift (Goodwill), puzzles for the need (Garage sale), and Candyland to share. To remind her of Christ I made a Nativity scene Advent calendar that I will post pictures of later. We were able to stretch the budget in this case because someone kindly gave us a gift card so Ravenna also got a small tea set.

Andrew's gifts seem small but that is because of them never arrived which was his "want" gift (CURSE you USPS!). He received Penzey's grilling spices to share, razors and the knitted hat for the need and the advent calendar was made for him too.

 Andrew's gifts to me were so well thought out and really kind. For the gift to share he got me a spider plant, for my want a used copy of the Encyclopedia of Country Living, steaks for the "need" he he he, and a really cool carved nativity he commissioned from one of his students. We were delighted to see that Andrew bought me steaks and I bought him steak seasoning!

While this isn't the most impressive Christmas gift showing I am so happy with it. I feel so happy that we succeeded at our goal and nobody felt deprived. This season has been so joyful for me as I busily went about imagining and creating gifts for our loved ones. It also has been so nice to not be very concerned about the receiving. I know we won't always need to be in the position to have a small Christmas budget but I have to say, I think I want to do a $15 Christmas again next year!

Handmade Christmas Linky Love!

As promised here is a rather short list of some of my (recent) favorite handmade gift resources. I will happily add more as I find them (or you send them to me). I have others that I am currently making so I don't want to post them lest prying eyes discover their Christmas gifts!

Make your own vanilla extract! I am totally doing this for myself!
Gifts from Nature are always great with kids.
Inspired Ideas, has tons of cute projects and includes all the patterns and directions!
Knitted Monogrammed dishcloths!
14 free patterns at STC Craft.

Just for fun: given that this is the first week of Advent check out Wee Folk Art's Advent celebration.

The $15 Christmas

This year has been a year of many lessons in frugality. While our 2010 family resolution was not intended to be a penny pinching endeavor it has become that and I am very grateful to have had the preparation. In January we never imagined the negative impact that a new teaching contract would have on Andrew's take home pay, nor the sharply rising costs of insurance and food (have you SEEN the price of butter?!) generally.

Like many Americans a single paycheck just isn't cutting it no matter how frugal we try to be. We are blessed to have some savings and I earn a small amount from babysitting which make up for the difference, but savings won't last forever when there is always a deficit. After Christmas I will need to get a part-time job and the necessity frightens me. Going back to work isn't frightening so much as the need to go back to work despite my tireless efforts to reduce our spending. We live very frugally and just within this past year we have let go of a cell phone, new clothes, a car, cable TV, Netflix, eating out, comfortable thermostat settings and taking vacations all in the name of THE BUDGET. The only thing that we haven't cut back on is food but I am not willing to sacrifice the health and happiness of my family and live on beans and rice. Yet...

With these looming financial pressures Christmas appears on the horizon. After figuring out the budget we decided that we would only spend $150 total which is the smallest amount we have ever spent on Christmas in our entire marriage. After the gift giving list was tallied that left only $30 for me and Andrew but we are excited for the challenge and know we can make it work and still have great gifts! How? Nearly all of the gifts we are giving are going to be handmade/secondhand which we have had a lot of practice doing this year! Luckily for Ravenna, I have been collecting her gifts throughout the year at thrift stores and garage sales but her gifts will also not amount to more than $15.

This post is not written to worry anyone (especially our families) about our family, but to honestly state that we understand the financial pressures of a down economy very keenly; we sympathize with the greater struggles that others are going through and we know we are blessed. Despite a small budget we will be able to find ways to still participate in holiday traditions despite. God gave us magnificent brains and a desire to create. If I can harness those two energies I know I can learn how to use them to give joy to others in a frugal, yet still loving, fashion.

Does anyone else have a frugal Christmas plans? Maybe we can share ideas? I already have a growing list of Internet links with great (frugal) gift giving ideas that I am going to post soon. Handmade Christmas gifts take time and planning so getting started ASAP is a necessity!

Carrot Emergency!

I realized today that I used the last of the carrots in making dinner last night. What to do? I just went grocery shopping yesterday and REALLY don't want to go two days in a row, plus I buy organic carrots and the Country Store doesn't carry organic carrots which means I will have to trek to the Giant grocery store. I hate Giant they are always out of buttermilk (and pretty much everything else I need). But then I realized that I do have carrots! Garden to the rescue! 

Is there anything as lovely as carrot tops? I think they are gorgeous and I really don't want to cut them off. These are Tom Thumb carrots which seemed to do quite well in the shallow beds.

My garden at the end of September is looking much better than it did all summer. The intense heat wasn't good for the seedlings so many died despite my diligent attempts at watering. The sweet pepper plants are also now producing since I discovered their secret and the cherry tomatoes are producing in full force!

This is what I am getting every other day, and doesn't count all the tomatoes that were split because of yesterdays and today's rain. They are so sweet and delicious!

 Look at these beauties! Strawberries in September?! Yes, ma'am! I am pretty sure everbearing strawberries are the best thing in the whole world. How are your gardens doing?

P.S. Infested with tomato horn worms? Check out this post on my other blog.

A Full Freezer!

What you can see: Stock, peaches, and dehydrated milk.

Finally! After a year of waiting we got our 1/4 of a pasture-fed steer! Huzzah! I was unreasonably excited as we pulled into the farm to pick up our meat. How much would we get? What cuts? Even though it sounds silly, it felt like getting a huge frozen Christmas present in all these little vacuum packed bags. Now our freezer is nearly full! In the next few weeks I will be buying five more whole chickens to cut up and divide into parts.

For $430 we got a 1/4 of a steer. You pay by the hanging weight, so before it was dry aged it weighed 130lbs and we paid $3.30/lb. After cutting and packaging we got about 79 lbs. of meat which is 61% of the hanging weight. After all is said and done we paid $5.44/lb.

46 lbs. of Ground Beef

Out of that we got 44 lbs. of ground beef, 2 boneless should roasts (5.5 lbs), 2 sirloin steaks (3lbs.), 2 shin bones with meat attached (4 lb), 1 eye of round roast (1.7 lbs), 3 chuck roasts (8.7 lbs.), 3 Delmonico steaks (3 lbs), 2 boneless rump roasts (4 lbs), 6 t-bone steaks (3.2 lbs), and 1 porterhouse steak (1.6 lbs). We have 6 lbs. of ground beef left from last year as well as one 2.5 lb. beef top round roast. I bought that last roast retail for I believe $7/lb. so I am quite happy with all we were able to get.  I think I will do a price comparison based on the average retail price for these cuts of meat vs. pasture fed and see if we got a good deal. 

Our freezer also contains 7 whole chickens, 1.5 lb. boneless pork chops, 1 lb. nitrate free bacon, 6 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breasts, 6 jars of veggie stock, 2 jars of frozen soup, 2 gallon bags of frozen peaches, 2 loaves of bread, 1 3lb. bag of almond flour, and 1 can of powdered milk. Looking at that inventory I think I need to buy more bacon, don't you?

 

2010 Resolution Update: 4 months left!

The Gigantic Beet!

Here is our update on our resolutions to let you know that we have not forgotten!

• 1) No longer shop at Big Box retailers unless absolutely necessary: We have done pretty well on this. Andrew has needed to buy clothes at JC Penney because he has not been able to find clothing that fit his needs at thrift and consignment stores. We went into a K-Mart to buy some mattress pads because I feel weird about buying someone's soiled mattress pads.
• 2) Strive to buy only US made goods and if we cannot, buy fair-trade items: Buying locally really helps and we are lucky to have many farmer's markets, local tradesmen around here. Unfortunately, aside from food, we haven't really had the opportunity to buy anything new.
• 3) Buy as many used/handmade items as possible: We are doing awesome at this. It has become a habit to look first at thrift/consignment stores before we even think about buying something new. We often go "treasure hunting" as a family once a week.
• 4) Support our borough by attending borough events: We haven't attended any events for a few months because of my pregnancy sickness and later miscarriage putting me out of commission for most of the summer but with Fall quickly approaching I am gearing up to get involved again.
• 5) Grow a small garden and frequent local farmer's markets: Small garden did just O.K. this year but with the weird weather I am not surprised. I learned a lot and next year I will plant VERY differently. We haven't been going to farmer's markets as frequently as I like, but I go to an Amish farm and a locally owned and operated grocery store for most of my produce. Our meat comes from local farmers in bulk so we don't spend much time/money in larger grocery stores.
• 6) Eat-out only at locally owned restaurants: Uhhhh, we haven't done great at this one, mainly because I hate Amish food and had weird cravings all summer.
• 7) Become involved in a community group: No luck on this one either due to my summer being indisposed. I am still looking for something to be involved in.

For the next four months we have the challenge of preparing for Christmas which will focus on handmade/thrifted items and I am anticipating that will be rather difficult. Ravenna's gifts this year are covered as I collected things gradually while thrifting. 

Birthday Banner!

A few weeks ago my friend Hannah asked me to test a pattern that she was going to be selling in her Etsy shop...and I just finished today. It wasn't that I didn't WANT to do it in a timely manner, it was just that I had to do it a certain way. First I wanted to spend very little money making it requiring me to scour thrift shops for suitable fabric which was a success. Secondly, I couldn't find bias binding so I had to make my own. Did you know that 1 yard of fabric makes 72 feet of bias binding? I didn't know that and it took me 2 days of painstaking measuring, cutting, sewing, folding and ironing strips of fabric. Then Hannah's pattern called for machine applique and I prefer to do that by hand which meant it was even more delayed but now it is complete!

Here is a detail of the applique that I did. This is a blanket stitch and it is the first time I used this. Learning is fun! I used three different applique stitches on the letters. Be sure to check out Hannah's Etsy shop and this awesome pattern! Seriously, this was a great pattern to work with; I highly recommend it!

More Thrift Store Treasures!

No, just because I haven't posted any of my thrift store finds lately doesn't mean I stopped thrifting, I have just had very little time for blogging!

I got two of each of these a few weeks ago. I have decided that colored pressed glass is my favorite thing to buy. It just seems so beautiful, especially the lighter colors.

 Do you see what I mean about the colored glass? These were such fabulous deals that I couldn't pass them up! The glasses were 4 for a $1! The blue candy dish stole my heart and I couldn't leave without it.

These are some nice plate shelves I found that I thought I might be able to use to display some of my pressed glass plates but I think they might be too country for my style, even if I did paint them black. What do you think?

And this cute little trivet had to come home with me but not for long. As soon as I saw him I knew he was destined to go to a friend. Isn't he adorable? If it still had him I think I might name him Albert.

My Garden in May

Do you remember what my garden looked like a month ago? Isn't it amazing what one month can do? My broccoli is gigantic, though sadly, one of them died of some kind of wilt. We have been enjoying lettuce and peas and soon we will have beet greens! The summer crops have all gone in, though I definitely want to add a few more peppers, but I will buy those already grown and plant them in the next week or so.

Look in the foreground of the pictures and you can see what look like weeds but are actually strawberry plants! I planted 18 Everbearing strawberry plants and if I am lucky I will get a small harvest in September.

I have two tomato plants in the front garden beds, two in pots in the back and three still under the lights in the basement! Canning tomatoes this year will be a stupendous endeavor!

I decided to plant some marigolds because they are pretty AND they deter pests. So far so good. Here are some things that I have learned recently:

•  Plant WAY more peas! I only planted 3 seeds to begin with and this variety really likes to be close with other pea plants and produces better when it is; plus I didn't plant enough for our enjoyment. These peas are very sweet and wonderful tasting right out of the shell.
• Mulch, mulch, mulch! Right after I plant seeds I really need to mulch next time. The sun just baked my carrot, spinach and scallion seedlings despite diligent watering. I only have 4 carrots, 3 scallions and 5 spinach plants from the initial 20 or so seeds I sowed for each variety!
• Plan on planting garlic rather than planting it as an after-thought after some cloves sprouted in my pantry. They need to be planted earlier. I have two that are going strong, though, so I should at least make up for that.

I love my garden and so does Andrew. Despite the work that it entails Andrew and I really enjoy working in the garden together. Oh! I checked on my composting worms today and they are doing great! I found tons of cocoons and they seem quite happy. I am glad that they are so easy to take care of!

Changing The Way We Eat

A moment of Ravenna for those who read this blog only to see her

Now, for everyone else...

Everyone has their own ideas of what is "healthy" eating or on the other side of the spectrum don't really care what they eat; whatever is cheapest and easiest. Some people follow the fad diets, others are religiously low fat, or high protein. Over the years since my diagnosis with insulin resistance/pre-diabetes DrewCarrie tried many a different diet plan in an effort to stay healthy and feel great.

The first post-diagnosis diet was the diabetes recommended "low fat/sugar; high fiber/protein" diet which meant that I was basically allowed to eat beans and vegetables. I felt miserable and that diet lasted only about a month. When I got pregnant we went on the "fast food/cereal/ice cream diet. This was probably not the best food for a fetus, but I am sure many pregnant women will understand. After Ravenna was born and I found myself as a stay-at-home mom in the lonely state of Wyoming we began the "Mormon Mommy" diet which was based around low-cost meals and jello salads. This was a good learning time for me as I learned to plan menu's and make meals from scratch. I also developed the skill of making bread from a starter culture which was a precursor to my life-changing discovery, but more on that later.

After we moved to Pennsylvania I started experimenting a bit with vegetarian cooking, unfortunately for my Father-in-law. No offense to vegetarians, but most vegetarian meals lack a satisfying flavor and texture and my cooking self-esteem took a huge hit. Then at 15 months Ravenna developed some nasty digestive issues and so began the "elimination diet" saga. We went dairy-free, soy-free, and any other free you can think of until we found gluten-free. While I am not sure being gluten-free made a big difference for Ravenna, it sure did for me and that discovery is what led me to our final destination:  Traditional Foods.

Through the blogosphere I discovered that many gluten-free bloggers also followed a diet based around a cookbook called Nourishing Traditions which lays the foundation for a Traditional Foods diet. Most simply this book says that the way your ancestors ate is the way you should eat and that diet will enable our bodies to function best. That idea really struck a chord with me and given my recent readings of In Defense of Food and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I embraced the idea wholeheartedly. I felt that in all my culinary wanderings, I had finally found my home. With Andrew's blessing, DrewCarrie once again radically changed our diet.

 The "Fermentation Station"

Fermenting Sauerkraut and Water Kefir

To give you a basic idea,  this is what eating a Traditional Foods diet entails for us: 

• Sprouting, fermenting, and soaking foods to make them more nutrient dense and digestible.
• Very liberally using good, natural fats in our diets such as butter, EVOO, palm shortening, extra-virgin coconut oil and even lard (read this enjoyable article if you don't believe me).
• No processed or artificial ingredients especially MSG, high-fructose corn syrup and sugar substitutes
• Buy as many locally sourced, pasture-raised animal products as possible. I learned in my four years in the FFA that the way that you treat animals raised for meat/dairy/eggs does matter very much in the quality of the product. It makes sense to me that it is safer and more nutritious to eat products produced by animals that eat a natural diet and that are cared for in a humane fashion. Food safety is a HUGE problem in the US, mainly because of the way factory farms raise their animals/crops. Yes, I pay more for what we eat but I do so with the assurance that if I have a concern, I can go straight to the source.
• No refined sugar and using natural sugars sparingly. We use Sucanat/Rapadura, honey, maple and date sugars.

This is a very general picture of what we do. If you were to classify this diet into a group I would call this a "whole foods" diet. After gradually easing into this diet for a number of months I am finding my stride. There is a lot to learn (hello! Eating like a Pioneer, people!) but there have been so many rewards so far. I have found that eating a TF diet helps me to feel the best, Andrew loves it and Ravenna's digestive issues have gone away. This is the diet that works best for OUR family. While I believe that most, if not all, people could benefit from aspects of eating a traditional foods diet, I don't believe that it is right for everyone. This works for us and we are very happy!

WORMS!

While this may gross some people out, this is our worm bin. We made it ourselves and it cost us less than $10 using this tutorial. I would have taken a picture of the inside but I didn't think anyone would truly appreciate it, especially the worms since they do not like to be disturbed. Worm composting or Vermiculture is a very simple, economical and fast solution to composting if you: 1) Do not have much space and 2) Do not want to have to deal with the sometimes complex nature of traditional composting.

Worm composting produces the best kind of compost you can get: worm castings. You can't compost with just ANY worms though, you need Redworms, or Eisenia foetida. These little guys eat half their body weight every day and with one pound of Redworms you will have about 5 gallons of worms castings in around two months.

Redworms, as you might imagine, eat organic material. Their bedding is made up of strips of newspaper that have been moistened so that they can breathe. They eat the newspaper. They also like to eat kitchen scraps. They just LOVE rotting organic material. The only things that they do not eat are meat and dairy. As far as pet's go they are very easy and prefer to be left alone to reproduce and eat.

So, does anyone have any questions?

The Garden is IN!

While I realize that having a vegetable garden at the front of your house is not looked highly upon, I persisted and the bed is finally in (per HOA regulations). It was a lot of work to dig out all that dirt and put a raised bed into the ground to please the HOA. Don't you think it would look better raised and painted white to match the siding like I had originally planned? Yeah, I know I need to get over it but it certainly smarts. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to spruce up the yard to make it look more acceptable?

Here are my babies basking in the sunlight. I had weird germination rates among my seedlings and ended up with a bunch of broccoli, almost no spinach and one type of lettuce didn't germinate at all. Today I am going to start my tomatoes and I already direct seeded spinach, vit mache, peas, and scallions.

We also bought supplies to make our worm composter and I bought our worms off of Ebay. I am hoping they will arrive this week so that I can start composting ASAP.

As far as the budget is concerned, we budgeted $200 for this project

• 
  
  $45 went to seeds and starting supplies (these should last 2+ years)
• $42.31 for general gardening supplies
• $110 to build the bed and fill it with "Mel's Mix"
• $11 for supplies for the worm composter
• $30 for worms

Needess to say we went over budget because of the vermiculite and we had a hard time locating compost. Vermiculite is $24 for 4 cu. ft. and we only needed 6 so we have a bunch left over. Does anyone want to buy some discounted vermiculite? It makes a lovely soil mix when combined with equal parts peat moss and compost. ;)

Money, or the Lack Thereof

As you have probably noticed, I have been struggling with budgeting issues as of late. For some reason I cannot get my budget to balance and it always seems to be because of food. I am a sucker for food so trying to stay within the food budget is KILLING me.  Actually, it isn't killing me, but it is killing the idea of a budget.

When Andrew and I were in college and it was just the two of us, we spent $200/month on food and that was back in the days before my endocrine disorder diagnosis and we were eating a lot of processed foods. Now that I actually cook and make many of the things we eat from scratch, I struggle with not being able to keep my grocery bill to that level.

While grocery prices have gone up, I do wonder if it is possible to still eat well and spend less. I have had a lot of people say that we are already on a very small food budget but I recently ran into a number of bloggers who, for various reasons, were eating on a budget of $1 per person/day. In case you struggle with math that is only $21/week for a family of 3! Here is the thing though, the bloggers that I linked to are vegan, another blogger was a vegetarian. It seems like if you want to live on a budget THAT small you need to be vegetarian and in my opinion, being a vegetarian is no way to live a healthy life (no offense to the vegetarians out there). Other people with families are doing it for $50 dollars a week, which I think would be more doable for our family, but I still wonder what things we would have to give up.

So, here is my challenge (you can remain anonymous). Tell me: How much do you spend on groceries per month for your family? With that amount, how well do you feel you are eating? How little do you think you could spend? What sacrifices would that require you to make? I would love to get some ideas of what others are doing so even if you eat totally different than my family, tell me how you eat. Are you a family that eats out a lot, cooks most meals from scratch etc.?

The Dish: March Budget Part 1

Hurray for Spring!!! There is still a lot of snow on the ground but the sun is shining and the high today is 58*F! I am looking forward to the day the temperature climbs past 60*F because, in my mind, it isn't really spring until it does.

Here is how we have done thus far with groceries this month and instead of telling you EVERYTHING we buy I am just going to put it into categories.

GIANT 3/2:
Produce: $22.50
Dairy: $3.58
Grains: $19.89 (I stocked up on rice BIG time)
Baking Goods: $10.88
Canned/Dried: $3.17
Snacks/Cereal: $8.08
Condiments: $27.35 (I know this seems big but I was stocking up on Extra Virgin Coconut oil)
Personal Care: $5.82
Home: $11.09
Total w/tax= $113.58

Weis 3/3:
Produce: $4.62
Dairy:$4.48
Grains: $5
Snacks/Cereal:$4
Personal Care: $8.39
Total =$26.50

Costco 3/4:
Dairy: $11.88
Meat/Fish: $15.99
Baking Goods: $26.73
Snacks: $4.59
House: $2.59
Total w/tax= $61.78

 Budget totals thus far:
Groceries = $172.95-$240= $67.05
Personal Care: $14.21-$20= $5.79
Home = $14.70-$20= $5.30
Dining Local = $17.41-30= $12.59

The beginning of the month always tends to be my big shopping time so I am not appalled by the amount spent on groceries so far. The second shopping trip of the month is usually between $50-75.

February: Resolutions in Review

February seemed to drag on forever with all the snow storms and the subsequent snow-days that shot our routine into oblivion. Having Andrew home so much was wonderful, though! I really love his job as a teacher when there are snow days to be had. As far as living our resolutions I think I can give us a B-/C+ grade for the month.

Things we did well:

• We did not shop at any big box stores for groceries, personal care or household items. NONE. We have done a lot of shopping at our local hardware store and local grocery stores, especially The Country Store.
  
• Ravenna and I had a ball at the local thrift and consignment stores! We really have some great stores only about a mile from our house so when the weather gets nicer we can walk there.
• Despite the no-go from our HOA for the raised beds, I have decided to move forward and build the beds into the ground. So while it won't look as nice, I will still have my garden and be able to follow the square foot gardening method. I have one broccoli plant started and will be starting a bunch more seeds this week.
  

Things we didn't so well:

• Eating out: We didn't eat at any local restaurants this month. Truth be told we ate at the Olive Garden, Taco Bell, Coldstone and Burger King. The Olive Garden and Coldstone were paid for by gift card's so I am not sure if those count.
  
• Andrew had gift cards for JC Penney and Sears so we had to use those. There really wasn't any way around that and Andrew needed work clothes which are painfully difficult to find at Thrift and Consignment stores (I guess guys don't part with their wardrobe as readily as women do?).
• We didn't attend our borough's big "Fire and Ice" event this month, despite the fact that it is one of the biggest events of the year with lots of ice sculptures and a chili cook-off. We wanted to go, but when it came down to it, it was snowing and I wanted to read a book.
• I still haven't involved myself in a community group. With my new calling as achievement day leader and with Andrew's college class my only free time is Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and I am not sure the library will let me volunteer with so few hours.
  

Our grocery budget this month was a real learning experience. I think we could have lived with the budget I made, but I am not sure if we could have eaten so well. When all is said and done, I know we can do better than the $300+ we spent on groceries this month.

This month was unusual in that we had 4 dinner "parties." Normally we have 1-2 so that did put us a bit out of the range of a normal grocery bill. Based upon this last month's spending and taking your advice into account I have revised our budget:

• $240/month for groceries NOT including personal care or household items, but including stock-up items for our 3-month supply.
  
• $20/month for personal care items
• $20/month for household items
• $10/month for clothes for Ravenna: The local consignment store just had a big sale so with $35 I was able to get almost all the clothes I need for her for summer aside from PJ's so I probably won't buy any more clothes until June.
• $200 for gardening (I have decided to do worm composting which is much cheaper to begin with). So far I have spent about $50 for gardening expenses including: seeds, soil, peat pots, vermiculite, and a grow lamp.

So there you go! We are ready to start March with a great deal of optimism. This month will be a big one for getting the garden ready: moving the rhododendrons to the back (the HOA did approve this), digging out the 4'x8' bed, building the garden box into the soil and preparing and filling the box with "Mel's Mix."

The Dish: February Groceries Part 3

After factoring out the Costco diapers and furniture that left me with $21.37 to spend on groceries for the rest of the month. Could I do it? Probably not, but I would certainly try. The day before the big blizzard I went to The Country Store to pick up some necessities which set me back $21.73...ouch! I bought two dozen free-range eggs, 2 lbs. buckwheat flour, natural hot dogs (these were really interesting), pine nuts, 3 lbs. garbanzo beans, brown sugar and 4 lbs of sweet potatoes for .49/lb.! I went a bit crazy buying a bunch of things that we didn't really need.

On Saturday I bought 3 lbs. of crab legs from a local fishmonger for our traditional Valentines Day crab fest: $18.93 I have always wanted to say I went to a fishmonger. I don't know if I will go back there again because the owner was really rude to her employees showing a complete disregard of them or the customers, and that is very uncool in my book. Maybe she was having a bad day though, and as I learned from the Veggie Tales movie that I saw recently, "Everyone deserves a second chance."

Already I was over the budget by $19.29 and there were still two weeks left in the shortest/longest month of the year.

My last trip to the grocery store set me back only $69.29 and that was only food. Oh yes, and we needed dessert for one of our dinner parties, ice cream floats with 7 different kinds of "root" beers to choose from, and that total came to $16.27. Our grand total spending on groceries for the month: $304.85 which is $84.85 over budget. I think I need to do a little tinkering.

P.J. Pant Pajamarama

As part of my resolution to sew something for me I am making pajama pants from Amy Butler's In Stitches. Things are going well so far, but I have met with some annoying things in the book that I don't like, mostly having to do with her terminology and when she says to do something and doesn't explain why. I guess I don't NEED to know, but I want to, because I am learning. Here is one for my seamstress friends: Why is it necessary to press a seam allowance a certain direction?

The book itself is gorgeous and I do really appreciate the handy drawings. So far in this adventure I have learned a number of things that I would like to share with you, so be attentive:

1. When going to JoAnn Fabrics with a 50% off coupon, be sure to double check that a fabric isn't already on "sale" before getting it cut. JoAnn's is pretty tricky about listing which fabrics are only a measly 10-20% off. I think they do this on purpose.
   
2. Don't make that same mistake twice in one trip because you brought your spouse along with another coupon and both of you were equally clueless.
   
3. Cellophane tape isn't a special fabric tape; it is regular, clear tape of the gift-wrapping sort. Thanks, Amy Butler for being so clear on that one. Real beginners like myself, have absolutely NO clue, apparently neither did the experienced seamstress helping me at JoAnn's.
4. The basement floor is not conducive to laying out, cutting and pining fabric. Also, not conducive to happy sewing is having to repeatedly walk up and down two flights of stairs to sew (in the basement) and press/pin/cut in my bedroom. I need to figure out a solution to this one.
5. I am much happier sewing when I am listening to music (particularly to The Swell Season). One of my college art teachers told me to always paint while listening to music in order to turn off the logical side of my brain. I didn't think the same thing applied to sewing, but apparently in my case it does.

Tomorrow I move on to the dreaded BUTTON HOLES! Doesn't that just make you shiver in anticipation? For me, it is mainly anticipation of failure, but as this is a necessary step in learning how to use my machine, I will forge on!

Oh, and when this project is over and done with, I am moving onto super simple and easy draft dodgers for my front door and a felt birthday crown for Ravenna, which will look something like this but probably cuter (one can always hope).

FAIL, FAIL, FAIL

COSTCO! I shake my fist at your wide aisles and free samples! You blind me with your $1.50 Kosher hot dog and soda; you break my resolve with your decently priced "green" and organic items. Gah!

Needless to say I blew it at Costco to the tune of $176.06. Before you think I am bonkers, let's deconstruct the experience, shall we? First we saw a folding chair on sale and since one of ours broke last week, into the cart it went: $12.99. Oh, and we REALLY needed storage shelves and I wasn't able to find any used ones for a decent price: two metal storage shelves $53.98. Then the actual stuff on my list: organic tortilla chips, 4.59; milk, 3.59; butter, 6.99; bread, 3.99; totaling to $19.16 which would have put us right at our budget, but NOOOOOO I had COUPONS! Into the cart went Glide Floss, 9.99; and Oxiclean 13.49. Then add two more impulse buys: ECOS Laundry detergent, $12.59 and poptarts for work, $8.79. I almost forgot the diapers, $39.59. We only buy diapers every four to five months, so this isn't really factored into the budget. Add all that together and 6% tax on the non-food items and we have $176.06.

Even if we remove the diapers, shelves and the chair, we went way over budget on everything else. Sigh. We will use all of these things, no problem, so it is not like I bought things just because they were on sale and they will never see the light of day. I won't have to buy floss or oxiclean for a year and our basement and garage looks much nicer thanks to the shelves. Wow, I feel like such a loser though. I was totally taken in by the Costco siren AGAIN.

Two Weeks of Meals with the Whitlocks

What do we eat for two weeks with those groceries? Here is my menu for the first two weeks of February. I am not sure if you can read it in this format but notice how I divide up our meal plan: Sunday, easy; Monday, meat; Tuesday, vegetarian; Wednesday, poultry; Thursday, vegetarian; Friday, seafood or dining out; Saturday, new recipe or leftovers. This menu isn't totally inclusive because I really stink at side dishes and usually just cut up some fruit or steam some veggies. I try to include a protein, starch, fruit and veggie at every meal, though I usually fail because I really don't like veggies unless they are hidden in something.

For lunches we do some combination of fresh fruit and/or veggies, eggs, peanut butter concoctions, hummus, guacamole or salsa and chips, green smoothies, and sometimes left overs. My favorite lunch is chipotle sweet potato fries and I make them about once a week. Breakfast for Ravenna is almost always either cold or hot cereal and homemade applesauce or a banana. She is pretty picky these days. For me, I make own oatmeal or homemade granola with soy milk. I bake about every other day. Usually I make granola, quick breads (pumpkin, zucchini, banana, apple etc.) and once or twice a week, cookies or another treat.

As I commented before, I stock up on enough animal protein to last about 2-3 months. Last month I stocked up on fish. This month I got ground beef. We still have a lot of chicken left so we might not have to stock up until the middle of March, or whenever it goes on sale. Occasionally I will throw in a steak to keep my man happy but usually I stir-fry it so we don't need very much.

If anyone is interested I will keep up with the "what we eat" posts pretty regularly. I definitely want to do the "how we spend our budget" posts because they help me to not fudge the budget. Eventually I would like a budget conscience to be ingrained, but until then, your opinion matters! Oh, and if you are following the "Food Storage Made Easy" plan, I am still trying to figure out a month of meals that I like enough to keep in my cooking repertoire. Most of the meals that I have planned I have never tried before. Eventually I would like to settle down, but I will probably need to have 3 different menu's depending on the season. Gah! I think too much.