Whoosh, it's Wednesday!

Things are kind of blah lately. Always something going on that I wish I could write about but can't. Zip.

Things are going ok on the gluten-free front. So hard to avoid it. My hands are so dried out from scrubbing them any time I make anything for the rest of the family. I'm trying to be so careful but it is hard. It's even in shampoos and other body care items and not all of them list their ingredients. I think the more I detox, the more I am going to notice that it bothers me. It can take a long time to recover from being accidentally "glutened", like weeks. I don't know how long it will take to get a lifetime of it out of your system.

One of the most concerning symptoms I have is my loss of memory, which is getting pretty bad. It can be very disconcerting to be in the middle of something and not know what you were doing. Or going somewhere and forgetting where halfway there. I haven't memorized a phone number in about a decade. I have tried but I can't. I have to remind myself over and over if there is something happening or of we have to be somewhere and I have to write it on the calender or I'll genuinely forget. It's not just an annoyance; I can't cook unless I'm in the room or I will forget. That is how I have had my past fires. It is scary. I often go to bed forgetting to put something back in the fridge or I forget there's laundry in the washer or to do the dishes. It's not that I'm lazy, I totally forget and often I can't remember. I sometimes call things by the wrong name (like earlier I called the computer the TV). I can't remember things I have just read. I am always having internal dialogue about things I need to be doing, things I used to just do because it was there.

I try to exercise my brain with things like puzzles, suduko, lots of reading, trying to memorize but it seems to be in vain. I need to totally deglutenize.

So what does this have to do with simplifying? Probably nothing except that it's harder than it used to be. It should be incentive to get rid of more as it's less to be responsible for.

We did accomplish something major. We emptied out the old freezer and got rid of a lot of stuff. There was a lot that was inedible so it was tossed into the compost. We gave a friend a ton of food. We are planning after Christmas to get rid of it and only use the newer deep freeze (the old one is still in operation, but is full of grains, veggies and nuts). The new freezer is jam packed with food, almost all of it is meat. I want to get a side of beef so bad but I can see that it is not needed. We have a lot to eat through before we can do that so while eating through our storage, we can save money for meat :)

I cooked a turkey yesterday. It made a lovely broth, enough for two pots of soup. One went in the freezer and I made a pot of turkey soup filled with veggies. It wasn't very big so there isn't as much meat for other things, especially since I keep picking at it. It's good with my homemade mayo, even better on baby spinach with cranberry sauce, mmmmmmm!

I need to get cleaning. We have company coming tonight and it's hard for me to get organized enough to clean.

Weekend!

Have I mentioned I have to eat gluten free? Sticker shock! It is in everything. I can't just eat a hot dog sans bun. I have to source out one that contains no gluten and preferably one that is not potentially cross contaminated by being made in the same factory as something that contains gluten. That's a minor example. It can be in every single thing that does not come out of the ground naturally gluten free or off an animal before it is tampered with. I actually had a mini breakdown when I realized how life changing this would be. It's not a matter of simply avoiding breads, pasta, cereal, ect... It's checking everything.

I don't think I'm going to go the substitute everything route. I want to eat closer to how God wants us to eat, minus the bread part. I also don't plan to heavily rely on potatoes, rice and other starchy things (although I won't totally avoid them as if I were low carbing). I think this is my chance to finally break free of this prison of obesity because I have to. Doctor's orders this time. I cannot think of having pizza or whatever as a cheat; I have to think of it as causing permanent damage to my body that even a bite can make me ill for weeks. It's that serious.

I am going to go more the Traditional Foods route. I have the book ordered through ILL, if they will let me have it (I am bad about picking up my books and sometimes bringing them back). I have been reading a lot online through the Weston A. Price site, MDC and a number of blogs. I have always been drawn to it but feared it for some reason. I can see now the benefit it could be to me if I ate a more nourishing diet.

It is the weekend and the house is a mess. I have had no energy, no get up and go at all. My head always feels like a bowling ball perched on my shoulders and I have been sick off and on, more on than off. Detoxing. I do have house plans for the next week if I have the energy and if I can get Mark to help. The basement is disgusting. The kids play down there and there are toys everywhere. Then we can't get to shelves to put things away. Oh and I discovered an exploded can of pineapple. Lest you think it was sitting in our storage forever, it was only there since May so it could of possibly been in the store when it exploded, but they probably would of discovered it sooner than I did. Now I'm scared of my canned fruit.

I have been spending too much money lately. When I am not feeling well and generally down, I tend to spend. I did get a couple of turkeys for $10 so I can stop looking. Every time I'm prompted to go into a store, I find a good buy. Like when I got 8 packs of 1-lbs turkey breast meat for about $1 each. Or when I got a 5lbs bag of carrots for 99 cents, or all our organic greens which I get half off, ect... It's hard to catch the good deals when you only shop once a week, but overall I know we'd spend less if we do. I need to ice my cards so I'm not tempted to use them.

Ah, two items of good news financially. They found the problem with the car and AFAIK, it should be fixed and not in the thousands of dollars. Second is the kids lost one of their DS's about a month ago. I worried and looked but when I prayed about it, I asked to either know where it was or to not worry about it. I didn't worry about it. I thought about it, since they're expensive and all, but wasn't a biggie. Then yesterday it was on the coffee table. Apparently Shaylee put it in a toy purse for safe keeping, lol! I was relived! I hate it when they lose expensive things.

Well, I need to get the house in order for the Sabbath. I will leave with a recipe. The family loves garlic fingers. I love them too so it was hard making them for the family last night and not having any. When I have more time and energy, I can make cauliflower or zucchini crust ones (much better than it sounds!). But I finally figured out how I made the donair sauce without store bought sweetened condensed milk. I kept tasting it because it was so good:

In a blender, mix 2/3 cup of powdered milk, 1.5 cups of sugar, a couple tablespoons of butter, garlic to taste and 1/3 cup of vinegar. Start blending and slowly pour in very hot/almost boiling water until it reaches the consistency desired (we like ours thick! but it will thicken a bit when it's done so make sure to add enough to dissolve all the ingredients).

If you have sweetened condensed milk, simply add vinegar and garlic to taste. Some places say equal parts as it thickens when it is refrigerated but we like ours really thick!

Randomness

The suspicious exercise trails.

I want to sign this blog up for pay per post in an attempt to make some extra money. My other blogs haven't fared so well. Probably because I wasn't writing enough in them. I think this blog is my best chance :)

Tightening Our Belts

I just got back from the garage. Again. It's bad news. It's leaking coolant and the mechanic can't find where it's coming from and there is no dealership in town. Bad. He has attempted to fix it twice. Both my dad and Mark's parents offered to pay but Dad paid. The mechanic is holding the cheque until the problem is figured out. I'm scared it is going to be a lot and as generous as our parents are in wanting to help, I cannot expect them to shoulder a huge bill. As I told Mark, I hate having all this money spent on something we could easily live without. Yes it would be hard and inconvenient, but doable.

So I have decided we are tightening our belts more, as tight as they can be cinched and save as much as possible. I am going to try to make this a zero spend Christmas. I am going to find more things to sell, everything I can. I am going to stop all shopping except fresh fruits and veggies. We are going to be so tight we squeak. The only things we have to get are boots for Ethan and sneakers for both kids. They have been growing so much and they can't wear crocs in the winter.

It's just so hard on a small income when big things hit. This is why I am leery of ever owning a home. What on earth would we do if a major house crisis hit? Things need repair, replacing and maintenance which we would find very hard. I don't want to rent forever but I would like to be in a more secure place than we are now.

I just have a lot on my mind in addition to all this. I know I need to write in our main blog but there is always a lot of junk going on and I tend to moan about the bad stuff. I want to be more positive and uplifting through our trials. Which reminds me, I am behind on my tithing. Gah, that's probably why a lot of this is happening. I find things go great and smooth when we've been paying our tithing but it seems when we get behind and everything starts to go wrong.

Potato Pancakes

Around here, rappie pie is a very popular supper. Basically it is potato with all the liquid removed which is replaced with broth and cooked with onion and layered with meat (usually chicken or beef, but some people use clams, rabbit and other types of meat). You can buy rappie mix, which is a lot easier than making it yourself. I used to have a juicer I could use to make it but it was sooo messy and time consuming. Then actually making rappie pie is very time consuming and it is so disappointing when it doesn't come out right. I like mine very crispy with some salt pork on top, mmmmm! (ok, I found that pic online. I never think to take pictures when I make something and I had a hankering for rappie)

What I'm getting at is I love rappie pie but it is something we hardly ever have. The premade ones just aren't as good and cost a bit. So to satisfy my rappie pie craving, I like to make potato pancakes.

I found out last night my personal recipe was actually Latkes. I thought that was rather amusing. I used to grate potato and onion by hand but now I use my food processor to grate them. I don't even peel the potatoes; I just give them a good scrub. Then I add some flour, a couple of eggs and a good pinch of baking powder. Next I fry them on the cast iron grill until good and crisp. mmm! Last night I not only grated them but I also ran it through the processor so the mixture was the consistency of actual pancake batter. They didn't even taste like potato pancakes even though I used 4 medium potatoes and 3 onions.

I like mine lightly buttered then half with ketchup and half with molasses, so it's like having a meal and dessert. Mark just likes molasses and butter. The kids won't touch them (although they would probably love the new way I make them if I didn't tell them). Last night I put pure maple syrup on them and oh it was so good! I used to think real maple syrup was a waste of money but I have seen the light, and it is good :). We bought a litre for $13.50 at a fruit and veg stand only to discover the same size and brand was nearly $20 at most of the other ones! We're going to get a bigger jug next time :).

So other than the maple syrup, it is a cheap quick meal. We bought a 50lbs bag of new potatoes for $8.99 and 10lbs of onions for $3.99 so as you can see, cheap!

Christmas Bells are Ringing

Yes, I know it is still more than 3 months away but I have been spending a lot of time thinking about Christmas lately. I think I know all that we're giving as gifts. I have to keep stopping myself as I like to wander around stores looking. Today I was at Walmart as I needed a few things (eek, yes, I'm guilty!). They had something I though the kids would love. I put it in the cart. I took it out. I put it back in. Took it back out. Yes, I did this for a good 10 minutes before I just walked away. It felt good.

We are actually not spending very much money on the kids. I bought them each a mink blanket for their beds, a steal at $10 each. Then we will be buying them some games and stocking stuffers from Shoppers Drug Mart for free as we have nearly $200 in free redemption there. We will wait until there is a bonus points redemption sale (we could have done it this past weekend). We will stretch it further as they want Wii games and I have $10 off coupons. I also plan to make them Cabbage Patch Kids clothes. This will be hard as I hate sewing. I need practice but I hate wasting fabric practicing, but it is a good skill to have.

We have our tree and ample decorations. We have food and I will probably be making lots of homemade goodies, plus we'll have lots of points to spend at Superstore (20k points=$20, we'll probably have $60 by Christmas). We have family gifts planned but I won't write them here as some read these blogs. I think that for the first time since having kids, we may have an under $200 Christmas :D. I have always been one who loved spending tons of money on Christmas. I just love it! But realistically I know we can't. I tend to buy lots of cheap things that aren't appreciated which end up being donated or tossed in no time. I need to buy things that I know will be used and loved.

I find there is a lot of freedom in not worrying about buying enough. I am usually in a frenzy over Christmas, thinking haven't done enough, bought enough, made enough, so on. A simple Christmas gives great peace of mind. I'm hoping every year we can make it simpler and more peaceful.

Monday Blues

Monday is a weird day for me. I love it and hate it. There is always so much more to do since it is the day following the Sabbath. Extra laundry, extra dishes, extra messes, so on. Today was kind of dreary on top of it. I did manage to get a load of laundry dried outside though. I love Monday because it is the start of a new week :)

I have been thinking I need to set clearly defined goals. They talk about it a lot at church. I agree they are needed but it can be hard to define them. I wrote a number of things I wanted to do at the beginning of this blog and have assessed things along the way. Here we go.

I want to simplify. That is pretty broad, I know. I want to reduce the amount of stuff in our home and how much comes into it. I want there to be less stuff for me to have to take care of. I want the kids to be content with less. Less is the key.

I want to tread more lightly upon the earth. I want to reduce the waste we produce and our impact on the earth. I want to move away from packaged food and eat more naturally. I want to waste less and conserve more. I want to green up our lives

I want to be more frugal. I need to be a wise steward over our resources. Some of my frugal practices seem in conflict with simplifying and green living, such as our home and food storage (stockpiling, if you will) and my book collecting. Hmmm.

I can't do it all at once. I am probably in a better place than I was when I started this blog but I need to be more conscientious about my choices. Some things will take time, like the eating. We have a lot in our storage we need to go through. I gave quite a bit to the food bank and have a few more bags to donate. Spending less will take time too but should be something I can break myself of soon. If I want less stuff, why keep shopping? We almost have Christmas taken care of and after that there isn't that much else we need.

I'll probably be sharing a wide range of things in this blog. I hate to narrow it down too much to just being simple living or just being frugality or just being green as I am working through all these things to get to where I want to be. I am no expert, I'm just living through it.