...groceries.
I know: Stop the presses! What a huge deal! It's so exciting, I just mi- zzzzzzzzZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz...
However, I just got done paying all of our bills for the month. Now I'm "white knuckling" about our spending for the next 3-5 days, hoping beyond hope that there are no surprises as far as finances go. This seems to hinge on, above all, our groceries.
Today, plans are being made and flyers are being scanned to really kick our grocery budget in the teeth. This will likely be followed with a week spent canning things like beans and peaches ($0.79/lb this week!) and soups, and exploring the myriad of possibilities that come with whole chickens (cheapest meat by the pound). This is no easy thing, considering my hangups about organic and whole foods and the dietary needs of my autistic son. Coupons for unprocessed dietary staples are few and far between, which is why our grocery budget is so huge.
My goal, God willing, is to cut out budget in half for the next couple of months and get just a tiny bit of money reallocated toward student loans. We're currently shouldering three of them, but one of them may actually be history by the time Christmas rolls around. As soon as that is resolved, I will really feel the power of the "snowball effect" that Dave Ramsey touts in his books as that money is then hurled at loan #2.
But it all comes down to groceries. It is the lone column that funnels away 1/4th of our budget. Everything else, save for a few bills, seems to be nickel-and-dime kinds of things, which can also be pared down as necessary (like restaurant visits, which have all but been eliminated).
Ugh, my kingdom for a chicken coop!!! But that's another rant for another time.
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Windows Clouded and Views Obscured...
As I mentioned at the end of my last post, kid #4 (a diabolical genius) broke my camera. And since cameras are typically necessary for pictures, and pictures are used for windows into my daily life, the window is effectively shuttered until I can afford a replacement.
Springton Manor Farm and Butterfly House
The Parks and Splash Pads
First world problems, right?
Well, in the spirit of all things summer, here is a glimpse into some of our favorite summer haunts:
Longwood Gardens
Springton Manor Farm and Butterfly House
The Parks and Splash Pads
Philadelphia
NYC
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Tasty Tuesday: Happy Hour Special!
I have been reading about several friends' adventures in dropping wheat from the home menu. We've seen how much good it does to take it out of kid #1's diet, and kid #2 seems to be a lot less emotional when he's not had gluten for several days, so I'm beginning to think that there may be a benefit for the rest of us to consider.
One friend over at Learning Late in Life has talked with me a bit about how much better she's been feeling since 86ing wheat and other grains. I've reserved some information and recipe books from my local library that she recommended, and I'm anxious to see if I fit the bill for going entirely wheat free.
What does this have to do with Tasty Tuesday? Well, I love beer. LOVE it. The way people sniff and taste and compare notes of fine wines, I do with beer (craft beers especially, thank you to my longtime, beer enthusiast best friend). She was on the East Coast for almost a year and when she came for visits, she opened up the beautiful world of local and craft beers. It's a real kick in the face to think I'll have to part with that. I can do gluten free (and even grain free) cooking with a minimal adjustment period, but beer will be a big loss.
So I posed the question: What potent potable could I enjoy instead?
Here begins that adventure!
I experimented a little and came up with a winner on the first drink. It's going to be filed away under "stuff to make in a large pitcher when we have guests over this summer." It's pretty, it's delicious, and it eases the pain of separating from beer's embrace. I'll have to try it using tequila or rum later, in place of the vodka.
Attempt #1*
(I'll work on the name later...)
1 oz potato vodka
8 oz lemonade
generous splash of Chambord or other raspberry liqueur
Mix and pour over ice cubes or frozen fruit of choice (I used strawberries and it was amazing).
Makes one serving.
*I'd have posted a picture of it, but kid #4 used my camera as a projectile two days ago, so new pictures may be a few months coming while I save for a new one. I'm hoping to go from point-and-shoot to a DSLR. Oooooooooooooo, it'd be so sweet!!!
One friend over at Learning Late in Life has talked with me a bit about how much better she's been feeling since 86ing wheat and other grains. I've reserved some information and recipe books from my local library that she recommended, and I'm anxious to see if I fit the bill for going entirely wheat free.
What does this have to do with Tasty Tuesday? Well, I love beer. LOVE it. The way people sniff and taste and compare notes of fine wines, I do with beer (craft beers especially, thank you to my longtime, beer enthusiast best friend). She was on the East Coast for almost a year and when she came for visits, she opened up the beautiful world of local and craft beers. It's a real kick in the face to think I'll have to part with that. I can do gluten free (and even grain free) cooking with a minimal adjustment period, but beer will be a big loss.
So I posed the question: What potent potable could I enjoy instead?
Here begins that adventure!
I experimented a little and came up with a winner on the first drink. It's going to be filed away under "stuff to make in a large pitcher when we have guests over this summer." It's pretty, it's delicious, and it eases the pain of separating from beer's embrace. I'll have to try it using tequila or rum later, in place of the vodka.
Attempt #1*
(I'll work on the name later...)
1 oz potato vodka
8 oz lemonade
generous splash of Chambord or other raspberry liqueur
Mix and pour over ice cubes or frozen fruit of choice (I used strawberries and it was amazing).
Makes one serving.
*I'd have posted a picture of it, but kid #4 used my camera as a projectile two days ago, so new pictures may be a few months coming while I save for a new one. I'm hoping to go from point-and-shoot to a DSLR. Oooooooooooooo, it'd be so sweet!!!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Monday's Meme
This has been a favorite of mine for some time now, because it's painfully true:
The good news today is that the kids and I did a pretty stellar job cleaning the house before my husband's return last night from Kansas City. That leaves today to really dig into a project to post for Friday. I may even do two projects!
Hopefully we're also going to get kid #1's evaluation for the district knocked out today. His paperwork is due Wednesday and his evaluator has been out of town for over a week, so we (I) have been thrown into panic mode about getting this done. I'm hoping that her enthusiasm for scanning and e-mailing documents over snail-mailing works in our favor this time around. :-)
Update: The evaluation is done and she said she'd scan and e-mail the write-up tomorrow morning. God willing, I will wake up, print it out, chuck it at the district goons, and go grocery shopping. While our approach to education doesn't really take a break, it'll be nice to not have to worry about this getting done for another year.
The good news today is that the kids and I did a pretty stellar job cleaning the house before my husband's return last night from Kansas City. That leaves today to really dig into a project to post for Friday. I may even do two projects!
Hopefully we're also going to get kid #1's evaluation for the district knocked out today. His paperwork is due Wednesday and his evaluator has been out of town for over a week, so we (I) have been thrown into panic mode about getting this done. I'm hoping that her enthusiasm for scanning and e-mailing documents over snail-mailing works in our favor this time around. :-)
Update: The evaluation is done and she said she'd scan and e-mail the write-up tomorrow morning. God willing, I will wake up, print it out, chuck it at the district goons, and go grocery shopping. While our approach to education doesn't really take a break, it'll be nice to not have to worry about this getting done for another year.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Saturday's Sayings
I did not post yesterday. Truth be told, I was drained. Kid #4 has learned to defeat the fridge lock. We have had it on the fridge for a whole week. The day after we installed it, he broke it by hanging on to the plastic strap that attaches the anchor end to the latching end. Lesson learned, I installed another one at the top of the fridge door. He now pushes over a chair from the dining table and opens the latch the way it's supposed to be opened. He figured out how to operate it in less than a day! Now, his favorite pastime is to flip the tap on our filter jug and let the water drain as he runs away to time out.
Yes, he's 2 and can predict the consequences of his actions to the point that he's in time out before stupid ol' Mommy can even make it to the kitchen to flip off the water. The icing on this pooptacular cake is that the linoleum seam is now peeling and curling right in front of the fridge. It looks super classy.
Pile multiple incidents like that onto a stabbing headache, the sheer horror of the state of the house, and kid #2's UTI, yesterday was a total bust. Out of it, however, came a few gems that I will now share...
Kid #2 (age 7), on his first urinary tract infection:
"My body won't stop telling me to pee!!!"
and
"I feel better, but my body had a pee tantrum."
Also, from earlier in the week:
On our way home from the grocery store, we saw two Mormon missionaries nearby.
Kid #1 (age 9): "Mormons? They're real?!"
Me, laughing hysterically: "Yes, honey, they're real."
Kid #1: "We should probably tell them to be Catholic."
Me, laughing even harder: "Ok!"
Kid #3 (my 5 year old girl), speaking as if they were a couple of puppies: "Aw! Maybe we can adopt them!"
At this point, I was laughing so hard that I started dry heaving and considered pulling the car over until I recovered.
Well, today will now be drowned in efforts to clean the house. The mister returns from his grandmother's funeral tomorrow. We'll have to do Father's Day for him on Monday, with a nice dinner and a simple dessert. But the best I can do until then is make sure he comes home to a clean house.
Yes, he's 2 and can predict the consequences of his actions to the point that he's in time out before stupid ol' Mommy can even make it to the kitchen to flip off the water. The icing on this pooptacular cake is that the linoleum seam is now peeling and curling right in front of the fridge. It looks super classy.
Pile multiple incidents like that onto a stabbing headache, the sheer horror of the state of the house, and kid #2's UTI, yesterday was a total bust. Out of it, however, came a few gems that I will now share...
Kid #2 (age 7), on his first urinary tract infection:
"My body won't stop telling me to pee!!!"
and
"I feel better, but my body had a pee tantrum."
Also, from earlier in the week:
On our way home from the grocery store, we saw two Mormon missionaries nearby.
Kid #1 (age 9): "Mormons? They're real?!"
Me, laughing hysterically: "Yes, honey, they're real."
Kid #1: "We should probably tell them to be Catholic."
Me, laughing even harder: "Ok!"
Kid #3 (my 5 year old girl), speaking as if they were a couple of puppies: "Aw! Maybe we can adopt them!"
At this point, I was laughing so hard that I started dry heaving and considered pulling the car over until I recovered.
Well, today will now be drowned in efforts to clean the house. The mister returns from his grandmother's funeral tomorrow. We'll have to do Father's Day for him on Monday, with a nice dinner and a simple dessert. But the best I can do until then is make sure he comes home to a clean house.
Thursday, June 13, 2013
Thursday's Thoughts: Educational Politics and Bureaucracy
I mentioned it before, but we homeschool. Shortly after we were married, my husband said that our kids would be homeschooled. I was totally blind-sided by that. Both of us had a good mix of public and Catholic schooling from kindergarten through college, so I assumed that our children would have the same. But after long and careful discussion, we agreed that it would probably be best as long as we could do so and still responsibly provide for the family. Lucky for us, with some practical sacrifice and some tough decisions, it has worked out.
Fast-forward a few years and kid #1 was diagnosed with autism. It's a long story, but the shortened version is that our previous school district offered him therapy twice a week at their school that we could work into his homeschooling schedule. They were awesome. But before we could jump into that, we moved a few towns over and into a better-ranked school district. I was pretty stoked at first!
For confirmation's sake, I had to provide them with all of the previous diagnoses as well as make kid #1 available for testing. They also confirmed his autism diagnosis.
Here is where stuff gets aggravating:
This district, ranked best in the state, tells us that they will offer him 30 minutes of therapy classes twice a week and he will be mainstreamed the rest of the time. I told them we were homeschooling, but I could commute him to the classes. They told me that he had to be in regular attendance at a local public or Catholic school in order to receive the therapy. I told them that mainstreaming was statistically harmful to kids with an autism diagnosis and I would not subject my son to that so that 2% of his time in their institutions could be spent getting what he really needs. We registered with their homeschool liaison and have stuck to their ridiculously invasive rules to keep him homeschooled.
What fries me is that he's registered with the district and has a confirmed autism diagnosis. This gives them more funding for their Special Education programs. These are the very same programs he can't use unless he's occupying a desk at their schools.
Furthermore, he has to take the standardized testing required by the district at the appropriate grades (3, 6, 8, and so on). He took it this year, and he blew it out of the water. Guess what that means? The district will be making even more money off of my child.
All of this on top of the taxes they take from us every year.
I am positively mystified that this is how the system gets away with "functioning." They are making money off the back of a kid they refuse to help, and who is thriving without their help.
I sometimes wonder if I'm whiney about all of this. Have I become one who feels entitled to free help because my son has a more and more common diagnosis? I really, truly do not think so. My thought process is more along the lines of wanting every opportunity for kid #1 to have the absolute best chance of a regular life. Not a "normal" life, as I think his father and I will do a good job making that impossible (haha!), but a regular one that involves some close friends, a trusted support system, a learned trade for steady income, the option to attend college, and the ability to objectively reason through situations that arise in his life.
Guess what? I don't have all the answers to making all of that happen. He has the double-whammy of being my first, my "guinea pig" child, and having autism. The people with the district have been trained to specialize in helping kids like mine. It's not like we AREN'T paying for it! Like I said, we pay our taxes, they have his diagnosis on record, and he tests at shockingly high levels. So why is this avenue of help made unavailable to him?
Even if he never gets help from these people, he's doing well where he is and I will never regret keeping him home. It doesn't mean, however, that I don't want the help for him.
Those are my thoughts for today.
Fast-forward a few years and kid #1 was diagnosed with autism. It's a long story, but the shortened version is that our previous school district offered him therapy twice a week at their school that we could work into his homeschooling schedule. They were awesome. But before we could jump into that, we moved a few towns over and into a better-ranked school district. I was pretty stoked at first!
For confirmation's sake, I had to provide them with all of the previous diagnoses as well as make kid #1 available for testing. They also confirmed his autism diagnosis.
Here is where stuff gets aggravating:
This district, ranked best in the state, tells us that they will offer him 30 minutes of therapy classes twice a week and he will be mainstreamed the rest of the time. I told them we were homeschooling, but I could commute him to the classes. They told me that he had to be in regular attendance at a local public or Catholic school in order to receive the therapy. I told them that mainstreaming was statistically harmful to kids with an autism diagnosis and I would not subject my son to that so that 2% of his time in their institutions could be spent getting what he really needs. We registered with their homeschool liaison and have stuck to their ridiculously invasive rules to keep him homeschooled.
What fries me is that he's registered with the district and has a confirmed autism diagnosis. This gives them more funding for their Special Education programs. These are the very same programs he can't use unless he's occupying a desk at their schools.
Furthermore, he has to take the standardized testing required by the district at the appropriate grades (3, 6, 8, and so on). He took it this year, and he blew it out of the water. Guess what that means? The district will be making even more money off of my child.
All of this on top of the taxes they take from us every year.
I am positively mystified that this is how the system gets away with "functioning." They are making money off the back of a kid they refuse to help, and who is thriving without their help.
I sometimes wonder if I'm whiney about all of this. Have I become one who feels entitled to free help because my son has a more and more common diagnosis? I really, truly do not think so. My thought process is more along the lines of wanting every opportunity for kid #1 to have the absolute best chance of a regular life. Not a "normal" life, as I think his father and I will do a good job making that impossible (haha!), but a regular one that involves some close friends, a trusted support system, a learned trade for steady income, the option to attend college, and the ability to objectively reason through situations that arise in his life.
Guess what? I don't have all the answers to making all of that happen. He has the double-whammy of being my first, my "guinea pig" child, and having autism. The people with the district have been trained to specialize in helping kids like mine. It's not like we AREN'T paying for it! Like I said, we pay our taxes, they have his diagnosis on record, and he tests at shockingly high levels. So why is this avenue of help made unavailable to him?
Even if he never gets help from these people, he's doing well where he is and I will never regret keeping him home. It doesn't mean, however, that I don't want the help for him.
Those are my thoughts for today.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Wednesday's Window
Friends of ours bought a farm just before Christmas. They're slowly working their way into all the work and responsibility that comes along with a farm and we are itching to help. They have had us over a few times to meet their growing family of chickens and sheep, which my kids have decided is the greatest thing this side of Heaven.
I agree with them.
This is kid #1, ecstatic to hold a chick and draw similarities between it and a t-rex. He's also a firm believer that "business casual" is appropriate for farm activity. I get the feeling that he will be one of those people who believes there is no occasion that doesn't warrant a coat and tie.
I agree with them.
This is kid #1, ecstatic to hold a chick and draw similarities between it and a t-rex. He's also a firm believer that "business casual" is appropriate for farm activity. I get the feeling that he will be one of those people who believes there is no occasion that doesn't warrant a coat and tie.
These are kids #2 and #4, chasing around some Isa Brown chickens. The chickens were exceedingly patient with these inquisitive little goons, and even allowed a gentle pat or two.
Kid #4, simply enamored with the chicks. His freakish, Hulk-like strength was absent for holding the chicks and he was surprisingly gentle. It was adorable.
It was a welcome day away from the house and a great lesson on the importance of chores well done.
It also convinced me that my dream of having a farm isn't at all crazy. I'm not over-romanticizing the joys of it all as long as I'm willing to do the work. I'm so very willing to do the work! :-)
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