Life!

WOW! What a crazy busy day I had yesterday. It was a good day, but busy. I needed to grocery shop, but I also needed to find some summer clothes for my upcoming trip to Redding, CA for a conference (of course I looked at the forecast and it's showing showers the whole week...figures!). Typically This is okay, but I seriously do not like combining shopping trips. If I'm grocery shopping, then that's all I want to do, nothing else. The main reason for this is that it seriously takes me a few hours to grocery shop. I know, I know, you probably all think I'm nuts, but I go to 4 different stores (so I can get the best deals) and I have to drive 30 minutes to get to the town where I grocery shop, so it's not like I can just hop in the car and run minutes to the store when I need something. So, yesterday I had to grocery shop and shop for some clothes (which can also take a few hours...oh, and by the way, it did...it's those days that I wish I was so much smaller that buying clothes was easy). I left my house at 11:00 (getting to town around 11:30ish). I shopped for clothes first and then groceries. I didn't get home until 6:00. Now like I said, it was a good day, just a really long one. The weather was beautiful (and that is the type of weather I prefer to shop in, though I was also wishing I was home working outside in the yard). I was successful in the clothing department (for the most part...seriously could have spent more money, but, oh...I didn't have more to spend). I came home with a pair of denim Capri's, two shirts, a pair of cute sandals and a pair of flip flops. The denim Capri's fit great in the waist except they "gap" a bit in the back. The smaller size didn't fit at all, so I went up a size from what I normally wear. They fit wonderfully everywhere else, so I'm thinking of just tacking them a little in the back. I had no success at finding any shorts. Why in the world do they make them either extremely short, or down to the knees? The knees is fine, but I was looking something in between. I also still need a few tank tops and would like to get a new swimsuit for the summer. After the clothes shopping expedition where I dreamed of having unlimited amounts of money so I could buy whatever I saw that I liked, I headed off to the grocery stores. I usually shop at 4 stores. Costco, Grocery Outlet, Gateway Produce (a produce store owned by a friend of ours) and Winco. Every now and then I go to Trader Joes as well. I shop all of these because of the deals I get at each one. Costco is where I buy my bags of chicken, salmon, TP, water, bread and sometimes other things. The latest has been Food Should Be Good Multi-grain Tortilla chips. If you haven't tried these, you really need to! Grocery Outlet has amazing deals on cereal, cheese, sometimes canned foods and crackers. Gateway Produce has killer prices on produce and just yesterday I noticed all these bins filled with items that were slightly damaged but still completely usable. I bought several cans of beans, soup, etc...for $.50 each, a great savings compared to other stores. Winco is the store I do the remainder of my shopping. It is huge, not as fancy as Safeway, it doesn't carry a lot in the way of organic or specialty items, BUT their prices are drastically less than anywhere else (yet comparable with Walmart). Our budget for a family of four is $210 every two weeks and that includes toiletries and cleaning supplies. I try to use organic foods and healthier items, steering away from too much processed foods, thus I must shop frugally and where I know the best deals are. At times I go over that amount, but not by much. Winco's are only found along the I-5 Corridor which makes me sad. I'd love to see one in Bend, Oregon so that when we go on our family vacations I could just shop there.

bin of damaged yet perfectly good products at reduced rates!!!

I arrived home at 6:00 and started dinner (chimichangas, Spanish rice and refried beans) while unloading and putting away groceries. We sat down to eat at 7:00ish. The Portland Trailblazers were playing unfortunately what was to be their last playoff game, so we ate around the TV so we could watch the game. I was so tired by the end of the day. Oh, and I failed to mention that earlier that morning I dropped a TV tray on my toes, so after walking around all day, they were sore, but thankfully I think they're fine!! I also came home to some bulbs that a friends mom gave me. There were dahlias (which are my favorite and sadly the ones I planted last year didn't survive our snow and my wet clay soil, so I was excited to get new ones), gladiolus and irises. I hope to plant them today. I also have some veggies that a friend gave me a few weeks ago that have to get in the ground. I'm not quite ready to plant my whole garden so I think I may just put those things in the ground and then move them later. At least they'll be in the ground and I'll probably plant at the end of next week, beginning of the following week. I still have some herbs I want to buy and a few other starts (peppers, a few more tomatoes and some flowers). There's lots to do outside. Hubby and a friend cleared some trees and branches the other day, and Kat was in her glory driving the church tractor around the property and to and from the church (about 1/2 mile away). We have grass to plant and weeds to whack! I have a few spots I'd like to rototill. I still need to touch up paint on the inside of the house but think I'll save that for rainy days.

bulbs ready for planting!!

Next week hubby and I along with our pastors head to Redding, California for a conference. We leave Monday and come home Thursday. There is a lot going on in the next few days and weeks. Kat has quite a few soccer things happening in order to help her get ready for tryouts, and my grandma is coming in two weeks to visit for two weeks. I cannot wait!! This is my mom's mom and she is the most amazing grandma in the world!! I wish she lived closer (she lives in Florida). I have some recipes to post, but that'll come later. I have some recipes I want to try and hopefully I'll get at least one in before I leave. If not, the ingredients will be waiting for me, in fact, I just hid the macadamia nuts in case someone decided to eat them before I used them. Well, I better go get the house cleaned so I can head outdoors soon. If I don't get back before Monday, have an amazing weekend. With Joy UNquenchable,