Thursday, March 7, 2013

Grocery Shopping

I had a wonderful time checking out a new food store today. I kept on hearing about Doris' Italian Market, and, well, being of Italian decent, I decided to check it out. Now I did get some wonderful buys, but I was disappointed that it was such a speciality store that the most basic grocery items were either marked way up (see canned goods) or not in existence (see juice or milk). What did this mean for me? It meant that I was now forced to also shop at Publix or elsewhere. Our budget allows for $100/week, but I always try to stay around $80-$85 total. Feeding a family of four with one in diapers and another in "Night time underwear" gets pretty pricey in today's economy. Not to mention trying to feed us healthy and stretching items out so that we're not hungry is tough. I did already have some vegetables in my pantry and refridgerator when I started, but I did still manage to get enough items together to make us seven full meals for the week, including our traditional Saturday morning breakfast with eggs. Here is the breakdown:

Doris'

Bananas =.84
Strawbeerries = 2.00
Blueberries 16.oz. = 2.99
Cucumbers = .50
Chicken ravioli 16 oz. =5.99
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts 5 lb. = 9.16
Beef for stirfry = 5.14

TOTAL = $26.62

Publix

Stove Top Chicken Stuffing = 2.19
Stove Top Chicken Stuffing = 2.19
Zitirigati =1.49
Rotelle = (free-the Ronzoni brand pastas were bogo)
Publix milk 1% gal = 3.75
Publix pasta sauce = 1.79
Publix pasta sauce = 1.79
Cream of chicken soup (small can) = 1.34
Cream of chicken soup (Large can) = 2.59
V8 Splash Berry juice = 2.69
V8 Splash Berry juice - 2.69
Can of peas & carrots = 1.59
Can of peas & carrots = 1.59
Publix large eggs = 1.99

TOTAL = $28.01

Had to go back to Publix for forgotten items:

Perdue short cuts (chicken strips that hubby eats in his lunches) = 4.99
Perdue short cuts = 4.99
Heinz beef gravy = 1.59
Starlight mints (my weakness) = 1.67

TOTAL =  $13.35

GRAND TOTAL = $67.98

I admit some of the meals aren't too healthy, what with the cream of chicken soups, gravy, and pastas, but some of them are! And we have fresh fruits for our cereal in the morning or cut up for snacks. And my favorite buy of the day? Well that would be the 5 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts from Doris' for $9. 16. That's 3 meals right there!!! And the chicken is fresh, doubled, and costs 1/2 of what it would anywhere else!!!

So, that's my brag for the day! Happy shopping!!





Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Honor

While looking forward to my youngest son, I have been reminded of many things regarding honor. More specifically honoring one's mother. Exodus 20:12 says "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you."

Last week was mother's day and my son brought home all sorts of really sweet "gifts" that he had made during the week in his Kindergarten class. One of them was a card. But he had crossed off the word mother and wrote cat. He wanted to celebrate "Cat's Day" instead of "mother's day". I found this to be very humorous, since I know that he has a special bond with his cat. I had to joke that he must've gotten tired of honoring his mommy by the time he made the card.

What exactly is honor? Let's look at a definition. According to dictionary.com, honor means high respect, as for worth, merit, or rank. So we are to look at our mothers with high respect. The question to ask ourselves as moms is are we worthy of that respect? What have we done to deserve our children's honor? Just giving birth to our children is not enough. Are we caring for them emotionally, physically, and spiritually?

What are you doing to live up to that honor?

Monday, March 22, 2010

Upgrade

Last night our son said something both humorous and poignant. He said that when he upgrades he'll be a man. Oh if it were only that seemingly simple.

How many of you moms wish that you could upgrade the version of you that looks and feels younger? A version that had the unending energy of your children to keep up with them, clean the entire house, run errands for your hubby, bring your kids to therapies, cook dinner, and still have the energy to spend intimate, quality time with your husband before peacefully falling asleep without crashing into bed. Sounds wonderful,doesn't it?

Well, let's not forget that we're princesses of our Most High, Lord, God, and Savior, Jesus Christ! Ephesians 4:22-24 NIV says "You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." John 3:5 NIV says "Jesus answered, 'I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.' " By our choice, governed by our God, we have been upgraded to be more like Him.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

God's Amazing Love

Well, things have certainly changed a whole lot since my last post. God has certainly been working in my life. I've learned that prayer and trust in the Lord can lead to true healing. And I've learned that God is willing to give us the desires of our hearts when they align with his will for our lives. Psalm 34:18" The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." So four months later I find myself pregnant!!! Psalm 34:3-4 "Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears."