Aha moment

You know that moment where you finally come to a realization and wonder what took you so long to see it?  I had that today.
I had big plans for today.  I was going to study.  After dropping my kids off at school, I was going to put a movie in for Sweet Pea and study for 2 hours.  That was my plan.  Well, that was plan B.  Plan A didn't work out. 
If you know me, you know I like to procrastinate.  So sitting down to study is really hard which is why I had a plan.  Then I decided to deviate from it.  Plan C: I was just going to run to Safeway, do some couponing stuff and come home and study.  I really should have stuck with Plan B.  I thought I did pretty well at Safeway.  I was stocking up on tp (.23c per roll which is better than Costco), 3 boxes of tampax for just over $3,(... and man I just realized I forgot to give my yogurt coupons, such a bummer!), plus they were still doing a frozen food thing spend $25 get $10 cat and I had a $10 cat to spend.  I planned it all perfectly.
I came home thinking I did pretty well until I noticed theFoodDay on my driveway.  It never comes on tuesday morning.  If I had known it was coming tuesday morning I would have come home.  What was in there?  A $10 off if you spend$50 coupon.  I could have saved $10!!  That really eats away at me.  Especially when I am trying so hard to save money on the one thing I can save money on, my groceries.
It really has bothered me all day.  Until about an hour ago and I realized something.  Had I followed through on my plan.  Had I been obedient to God.  Because He got me into this class, He wants me to pass, and I really need to study.  I cannot stress that enough.  Had I listened to Him and came home to study for 2 hours, I would have had that coupon arrive and been able to use it before picking Princess up from school.
What I realized in my Aha moment is that I really honestly and truly need to give everything to God.  Everything.  Did you catch that?  Because I obviously need reminding constantly.  Even the things I feel I can have control of like couponing.  That is what I am talking about.  It is easy for me to give my studying to Him b/c I sort of already feel out of control with it.  But couponing is something I have been trying to do by myself.  I have been trying to be good stewards of the money God has given us but haven't been relying on Him with how to really do that. 
So I am going to try really hard to stop obsessing about couponing and give it to Him.  It seems like such a trivial thing to waste His time on but I know that is what He is there for. 

Dinner

Dinner is such a struggle sometimes isn't it.  Today and actually this week has been one of those on the go don't really have a chance to think about dinner until dinnertime kind of weeks.  Add on top of that, the kids have such a limited amount of things they like to eat that it makes it hard to cook one meal because I get sick of the things they want.  So for this season, I sort of am  short order cook.  There are days where I make them try something new and if they don't like it, they can have something else, but then there are days where I just stick with the old standby's (macncheese, chicken nuggets) b/c I just don't have the energy to try.
Today, they got mac n cheese.  But for hubby and I, fortunately, had some frozen parts to a meal and am now cooking a nice taco casserole.  I am so grateful to remember freezing extra things for nights like this, I wish I did it more.  In one freezer I had beans and tomato sauce and in another some already cooked hamburger.  Add some seasonings, sour cream and cheese and we are good to go. 
Here is the recipe that has been given to me and I love:

Taco Casserole:

1 pound ground beef

1/2 can (15 oz) kidney beans, 1/2 can (15 oz) black beans - rinsed (you can use more or less depending on what you like)

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

taco seasoning

1 t garlic powder

2-4 T chili powder

1 C sour cream

1/2 C green onions and tops chopped

1 C cheese

tomatoes

Cook ground beef and taco seasoning

Stir in beans, tom. sauce, chili powder, and garlic powder

heat until it boils - can add some water

Put mixture in  11x7 pan, spread with sour cream

sprinkle with onions, tomatoes, and cheese

Cook uncovered 20-30 minutes in 350 degrees oven

Eat with tortilla chips, salsa and guacamole.

On a side note, I often use more sour cream and cheese but that is because I can't get enough of htem.  It is super easy to make extra and freeze it.

Pray without ceasing...

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says to "pray without ceasing".  Do any of us do that?  Honestly?  Hold your hand up if you do...anyone?  Okay, I do know some people who live this verse.  My mom's best friend is an amazing woman of prayer.  She has prayed for my dad for almost 30 years.  Yes, 30 years she has probably been more consistent with that prayer than I have.  Shameful.  She prayed for her own husband to become a Christian for many many years.  She was faithful.  He is now an amazing Christian, father, leader in their church. It truly has been a miracle to see this man go from nonbeliever to believer.  And that is because of prayer. 
I am going to be honest here.  Praying bores me.  It did anyway.  Oh not the we have a friend in need... someone injured in an accident...Haiti had an earthquake kind of praying.  That praying, I have always been able to do.  Why?  Because it was short lived.  I would say my prayer and then move on.  Those emergency type prayers are not necessarily the pray without ceasing kind of prayer.  Usually, there is an answer that is relatively quick.  I don't get bored with it.  But to pray for someone for 30 years?  And see no answer?  No fruit of your labor?  Is really really hard.  I am ashamed to admit defeat in this area.  That not only have I stopped basically praying for my own father's salvation, but that I have given up on it.
Okay, so this is not where this post was supposed to go.  But here it is.  When you write from the heart, it leads you.  And this is obviously a part of my journey that I have not come to terms with.
If we can embrace and live this verse each day, I think it will transform our lives. 

Prayer Journey

My prayer journey began when I was 8 years old.  The night a man named Richard came into my life and told me about Jesus Christ.  My mom had become a Christian several months before this night but I refused to go to church with her.  Refused to have anything to do with Jesus.  Would not listen.  But this night...funny, I don't remember the specifics, but I know I was broken.  My father had walked out, my world was upside down.  I became the only kid in my class with divorced parents.  My father was my rock.  He was who I leaned on when I was sad, the man I would go to to carry me when I was tired or hurt.  And then he left.  And there was a huge hole.
Finally, on that night I was willing to listen and to pray. To accept Jesus as my Savior.  My Father.  Someone who would never leave or forsake me. 
That was my first prayer.  And I believe back then, I prayed a lot.  I prayed my dad would come home, I prayed my dad would become a believer.  It didn't happen. 
I am not sure if that has affected my prayer life.  Somehow, it seems like it would have.  But I still believed and continue to believe in the power of prayer.  And yet, I have not been consistent with it.  But I am working on it and am going to blog about my prayer journey.  That's the beginning...stay tuned.

Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, for ever and ever.
Matthew 6:9-13

Groceries again...

Since I am going to bore you with more grocery shopping stuff, I took a picture:

I got all of this for...$42.07 which I feel is pretty good.  It could have been a little better and I will tell you why.

The paper towels, TP and bounce ball were $22.47.  If they had had the correct kind of both it would have been a better transaction and I would not have had to buy the bounce ball.  As it was, the tp was on sale for $13.99 + $3 off as an ecoupon and $1 off manufacturers coupon.  The bounce ball had a $1off ecoupon and was already on sale for $4.99.  But I did get a $10 catalina which rolled to my next transaction.  (yes, I actually did 2 transactions in one but asked the cashier first and she was super nice!!) (If they had had the correct sizes of tp and paper towels, I would have only spent $11.98 and gotten the $10 cat so that is a bummer but what are you going to do? It was still a good deal)

Here, I spent $19.60.  This is really where you can see the savings I think.  Disregard the tp and make it 4 milks.  I had a coupon for the cereal buy cereal +milk get $2 off cereal. The cereal was on sale for $2 so go it free, plus got a $3 catalina to spend next time b/c I bought 4 boxes of the cereal. (I didn't add that cat in my above total). The eggs were B1G1 free from a coupon off a facebook promotion.  The Prego was only$1.25 each.  The yogurt and lunchmeat are my splurges b/c I like good quality lunchmeat and good yogurt.  Oh and the toothepaste was $1.49 with store and manufactureres coupons.  I did use my above $10 catalina and still have my $3 cat to use this weekend for a newspaper and probably needed produce.

It is only the 2nd of March and I am going to have a hard time keeping with my budget this month.  I will definitely be using my supply on hand for meals.  I am freezing 2 of the milks so won't need to buy any more of that this month.  We went to Costco which is why I will struggle b/c we spent $100 of our $400 there.  So that leaves me with $75 each week.  That gives me $33 for the rest of this week.  That is actually doable I think unless there is some great promotion that I can't resist.

Normally we buy cheap tp at Costco, but I think it is rubbing my poor little girls bottom raw.  It is about .33c per roll, but the Charmin ended up being .42c/roll so not too bad. (okay it is bugging me a little that my tp and paper towel scenario didn't go as planned but I just need to remember that overall, it was a good trip)

Last month I did stay within my $400 budget and I did calculate how much I spent on junk food, it was $55.  Probably higher than it should be.  I did include in that V8 fusion juice which we will use in smoothies so that is not a horrible kind of junk:-)