Wanna Be

I admit it, I'm a wanna be.  I have a list as long as my leg of all the things I want to learn and master.  Even though I'm short , that's still a long list.


I wanna be a better writer.
I wanna be a photographer.
I wanna be a better mom.
I wanna learn to play the piano.
I wanna be well read.
I wanna motivate my Cub Scouts.
I wanna loose weight and be healthier.
I wanna learn how to use my new Silhouette.
I wanna learn Photo shop.
I wanna improve my blog.
I wanna find my long lost ancestors with Ninja family history skills.
I wanna grow a garden.  (I'm not sure I'll ever get that one down.)
I wanna have my food storage.
I wanna be a good cook.
I wanna decorate my home and create a peaceful atmosphere.
I wanna throw parties (not just my kid's birthday parties).
I wanna understand more about nutrition.
I wanna catch up on my scrapbooks with beautiful layouts.
I wanna spend time with my family and friends and not feel rushed.
I wanna appreciate the beauty around me.
I wanna have my own business.
I wanna help others.
I wanna strengthen my testimony.
I wanna finish my Wood Badge tickets.
I wanna celebrate life.
I wanna feel connected to those around me in a meaningful way.


Is that much to ask?  I guess it is, especially all at once.  Since I'm not taking a class this semester, I'm trying to decide where to focus my time and energy.  I think all of the things on my list have merit, it's deciding which is the best use of my time that has me a little dizzy.


Several bloggers have chosen a word to focus on for the New Year.  Last year I chose progress.  It's one of my constant words, but I had to go back and see what word I chose last January.  Several of the items listed above are goals I'll be working on this year and some will have to wait. This year my word is direction.  I need to choose the best direction to focus on and choose a plan to get there. 

The Coupon Caddie

Yesterday, I finished my Thanksgiving shopping.  Even though I went around 2:30 in the afternoon, the store was pretty crowded.  It is good to be ready to start baking pies tomorrow and take advantage of some great deals, like 4-packs of batteries for only 48 cents!

This is how I organize and transport my coupons.  A friend of mine gave me this awesome box because she wasn't using it.  (I don't understand it myself, but I'm very grateful!)  It has 200 tabs, so if I'm looking for a coupon for mustard, it's under mustard - not grouped with a bunch of other condiments.  Besides the numerous categories, it also has handy little tabs to easily flip to the correct category.  It is much easier for me to use than the binder method I was using before.

While I was grocery shopping yesterday, I probably could have sold at least two of these little beauties.  I even gave one lady the website on my awesome coupon caddy, only to find the page no longer exists.  You could do make your own specific categories for the binder method, it just wouldn't have the easy to flip through tabs. An even better alternative is the Deluxe Coupon Organizer II with 80 categories or the Deluxe Coupon Organizer IV with 130.  The list at the top assigns a number to each category.  If I was looking for my deodorant coupons, I'd scan the list on top down to "d" and see that it is tab number 64 is deodorant.  I flip to tab number 64, and pull out my deodorant coupons and look for the brand that's on sale.


Yes, I was stocking up on deodorant and batteries and this handy coupon caddie is a great tool to help me build my food storage and save money!

Favorite Feeds Friday

The amount of cool stuff on the internet never ceases to amaze me!  And these are the things that stuck out to me today - actually this morning!  

• Check out the Bugg's *Special Life for a beautiful summer wrap up.
• For you Shannon Hale fans, pictures of her twins are up!  Congratulations Hale family!
• Did you know Saturday is World Cardmaking day?  Kim at Think Fast shares some inspiration.
• I love Travelin Oma's post about getting older.  It happens to the best of us. 
• Marta introduced me to a new online magazine  The Latter Day Woman.  I'm excited to read more!
• Your Home Based Mom gets into the canning season with a recipe for salsa!  Now I have another entry on my list of things to try!
• 24/7 Moms shared a link to Organized Christmas.  I found this website several years ago and it was pivotal to simplifying Christmas and ditching much of the stress of the season. (Christmas is coming!)

I'd love to hear your interesting stops on the Information Super Highway!

Chicken Canning Fool

In the last week, I've canned 36 jars of chicken. Yeah! I'm have over a third of my year's supply of chicken. I think I have enough chicken in the freezer to do another batch. I also have canning hamburger in my near future. Maybe with the Thanksgiving sales, I can get some ham too. I think the meat is the most expensive part of food storage. While I may not have my year's supply of food, it's nice to know I could live for several months of it!

A Year's Supply

Thanks to yesterday's shopping trip, I can now add Parmesan cheese and taco seasoning to items on the year's supply list! Combined with the brown sugar, chicken bouillon, macaroni, mustard, rice, salt, spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, tuna, white beans and yeast - I'm making progress. It seems like a random list, but if I keep plugging away at a little here and there every month, we'll be set soon enough. I also need to do some serious canning. I have a bunch of meat in my freezer that I'm hoping to can in the next couple of weeks.

Step Two

I finished the second step of my food storage project. I took an inventory of what food I have in my home matched up with what I need for a year's supply of dinners. I now have a list of what I need to buy (hopefully on sale) and how much I need. My goal is to add to my food storage every week. Now I have a better focus on what to buy and what sales to look out for!

I also realized I need to get canning! I've got a freezer full of chicken waiting to be canned. And according to my list I need a bunch of chicken, hamburger, beef chunks and ham canned!

Step One

I've completed the first step of my food storage plan. I have a list of 17 "food storage friendly" dinners (ones that can be made from items in my food storage). I made a tally of all the ingredients that I needed to make those dinners 22 times throughout a year, then figured out the quantity in purchasing amounts. I needed to know how many containers of shortening to buy for my 681 tablespoons needed. The answer is three if case you were wondering.

Now I am ready to proceed to step two, taking an inventory of what I already have on hand and making a list of what I still need to buy. I should probably add breakfasts and possibly lunches to the list at some point too.

Looking Back and Looking Ahead

July was another busy month filled with many of the things I had hoped to accomplish. Once again, I was able to finish 9 scrapbook layouts, I can't seem to do any more in a month. We had a lot of fun with our stay-at-home summer school. I gained a exciting amount of family history information at our family reunion. I finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince to the kids for our book club. I just finished Three Weeks with My Brother today, but I read most of it in July. I finished three more articles for the Homemaking Cottage and worked a little bit on my personal history. Granted, I didn't work on the mending pile and teaching my children to sew. Other projects not only went unfinished, but didn't even get touched. It was still a good month!

Now that August is here, I'll try again to complete 11 scrapbook layouts. I'll keep writing and working on family history. I'll keep practicing the piano and reading. I'll keep exercising and working on my food storage plan. I'm also hoping to put together a photography club for me and some of my kiddos. And through it all, I'll keep you posted on our journey!

More School Supply Savings

Today I made it to Staples. I bought a backpack and will get store credit for the same amount at the end of the quarter. They also had mechanical pencils, highlighters and pens that were free after rebate. I stocked up on:
12 pack post-it notes for $2
4 pack dry erase markers for $1
5 pack of nice ball point pens for $1

I think I'm officially set for school to start!

School Supplies

Usually, back to school time is one of my favorite times of the year. While I'm looking forward to getting back to our routines, summer's ending too soon. There are still so many things I was hoping to get to that I'm pretty sure aren't going to happen!

We hit Walmart and Walgreen's for most of the school supply shopping. A few years ago I figured out to buy a year's supply of things like crayons, pencils, notebook and paper during the back to school sales. It drove me crazy to spend 20 cents on a box of crayons and then need another box in January and have to pay $2! So I now keep a stash of school supplies in a closet. Even if your kids aren't in school, keep your eyes on the sales and stock up. My mom uses those 70 page spiral notebooks. Last year, I talked her into buying a pack of 10 for a $1. I bet she's saved 10 times that amount.

So what did I get yesterday? From Walmart I got:
the crayons for 20 cents,
markers for $1,
colored pencils for 75 cents,
a pencil box for 62 cents,
1" binders for $2.50 and
2-packs of glue sticks for 25 cents.

From Walgreen's:
10-pack mechanical pencils for 39 cents
2-pack big pink erasers for 29 cents
24-pack pencils for 79 cents
2-pack Sharpies for $1.50
dry erase markers 4-pack for $2 (I might take these back because Staple should have these on sale for $1 next week)

Other great deals from Walgreen's but not school related:
baking soda for 50 cents
jello for 20 cents
case of water for $3
mushrooms for 50 cents

All in all not a bad day!

Stocking Up!

Our local grocery store had some good deals before our trip and even more after we got home. Here's what I've been stocking up on: Gatorade, spaghetti sauce, jelly, cheese, granola bars, cereal, paper products (plates & bowls), tissue, mouthwash, salad dressing, water, juice, and paper towels. The juice, water, and salad dressing were even free with coupons! I admit it's an odd assortment of food storage items and some of the items are only good for short term storage, but it helps to keep me shopping from my pantry.

A website I use regularly to help me find these great deals is Pinching your Pennies. http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=5 Find your state's link and you'll be able to select your favorite grocery store to match the store's sales with the coupons available. If you stock up on the items you use while they are inexpensive, you will be able to build up your food storage and save money by shopping from your pantry too!

Motivation

I was feeling lazy this morning and struggling to find motivation to exercise this morning, so I asked the kids if they wanted to go for a walk. I figured they'd get bored pretty quick so it would be a short easy walk, but a walk never the less. When they decided to ride their bikes while I walked, my easy "work-out" vanished! They went farther and faster and so did I. Once again, my children lead me.

We've had a run of things breaking lately, the home air conditioning, the truck, and even the sheets wore out! The truck was the most recent and the dealer's schedule threw off mine. I finally canned my chicken today. It's nice to have more space in my freezer and a couple of boxes full of chicken in the pantry. Here's hoping next week is a little more normal!

Progress

I feel like I'm checking things off "the list". I finished writing thank you notes to the kids' teachers. I'd like to do something more for them. We'll see if I can come up with anything.

My pile of Family Fun magazines that I'm ready to part with is growing. I'm already to 2001! There are so many cute ideas, but I'm not sure I'd realistically get to them. So I'm saving what I think I might use and hope I can find the rest if the time comes. Hopefully, by the time I'm through I'll have enough room to shift things around and all the books will have space on a shelf.

This week, I'm canning chicken. It's about time too, since I only have 2 jars left! I need to get to where I'm actually building up my food storage instead of just giving me a few month supply of chicken. Actually, it's lasted me about 6 or 7 months. So that's not a bad start on my year's supply of chicken.

Time in the Pantry

I like a neat, well-stocked pantry and for the most part, I succeed. No matter what, every few months, my pantry needs a little tidy up. Food doesn't always get put back where it belongs. Things need to be shifted and sometimes food even needs to be tossed (not my favorite). Today I spent an hour tiding up my pantry. I filled in gaps from my overflow food storage in my closet. It looks pretty again, not as full as I'd like - but I can't get the family to give up eating!

For me this is the first step to start working on getting my food storage growing again. I know the logical first step would be to figure out what I need, and then take an inventory of what I have to figure out what I need. Cleaning out my pantry is a mental thing for me. I don't feel so overwhelmed by the job of acquiring food storage when I can look at a tidy pantry and see I have a year's supply of salad dressing, BBQ sauce, ketchup, mustard, oatmeal, spaghetti sauce and so on. Granted its a pretty random list and we wouldn't be eating that great if that's all we had to live on, but its a start. Now I'm ready for the next step, to look through my food storage meals and update my list of what my food storage needs. There's next week's goal!

How are you doing on your food storage? Could you live off you pantry and freezer for 3 months? This week figure out the next step in your food storage plan.