New for us

Good Morning! Or should I say, as I'm typing this it is morning. A couple more cups of coffee and it will be better. I have done a load of laundry, swept the kitchen, loaded the dishwasher and have it running, cooking chicken leftovers in the crockpot to make some chicken broth, and just got finished eating a bowl of cream of wheat. Now it's time to go to my real paying job.
But, I just wanted to share that Jeff and I got a new used car. We traded in the van...which was on it's last leg and got a Hyundai Santa Fe (used of course). It was a turned in lease...it is a 2009 and is still under warranty!! The cool part is we got it for just a little over what we were paying for our van. We got a better interest rate for less years than the van. Wow! I was freaking out because I knew the van was getting ready to "go" in several areas...and I was adding up all the repairs in my mind and then this fell into our laps. It was MORE than I had hoped for in a used car...more than I expected. I feel so blessed and I thank God for sending this our way. So, now we continue to plug away at kicking all this debt out of our lives with a car still under warranty that is dependable. Wow! That's really a piece of mind for me!

This and that...

As usual I start this post out with an apology for not posting in a while. I must confess that I have become quite addicted to facebook. The time I would usually spend updating my blog, I now spend on facebook. I hope to change all of that. Less time on facebook and more time to blog. But, I won't increase the time that I spend on the computer, so if I slip up and spend more time on facebook, then no updating blog. I refuse to increase my time on computer to do both. It's a personal decision that I had to make. I do not want my time with the Lord or with my family to suffer.
Now, with all that said...this morning I made my menu plan for dinners. I have went online to find different ideas. I tend to get stuck in a rut when cooking dinners. At the end of the day the last thing I want to do is think too hard about dinner. I like to pre-plan and have everything together where it's a no brainer. The dinners need to be cheap but healthy...hmmm, that's not always easy. But, I am very excited with garden season coming up! The down side is I only have room for a small garden, the good news is...fresh fruits and veggies are a lot cheaper during this time! I am on the lookout for meatless recipes where I can utitlize all those veggies!
This year I would also like to learn how to can. I have wanted to do this for a couple of years now...maybe this is the year! Fingers crossed! But, of course I will be freezing some fresh fruits and veggies, starting with strawberries! They are in season now....but keeping my family from devouring them before I can freeze them is a different story! Lol!
My stockpiling of food is going pretty well. I still have a long way to go, but I am doing a lot better than I used to. My goal of having 3 to 6 months of food on hand is still not met...I guess I have maybe 3 weeks worth stockpiled. But, I am still plugging away at it...slowly!
This weekend I was able to go to GW boutique (GoodWill)and find some great things. I found Autumn 2 shirts(one from Izod and the other from Children's Place)and a pair of jeans and capris from Old Navy. I even found Trent 2 pairs of shorts and a pair of jeans...I can't remember the brand of those. And lastly, I found Jeff a pair of Lee brand shorts. All of this for $24!! Love GW!!
Little things like this make a huge impact on your budget. If I was to go to a store and buy this...could you imagine how much I would spend?!
So, there you go a quick update. Hopefully I will stay on top of my blogging!! Until next time.....