Back to Basics

Our whirlwind weekend of having all of our children home to celebrate my husband's 50th birthday was perfect and wonderful but over. Now it's back to the basics of our simple, thrifty life. It was amazing having our adult children home. What fabulous people they are. Parenting is hard sometimes, but so rewarding when the children are grown and turn out to be people you would be friends with even if they didn't belong to you. This is the true joy of my life. I believe only two things last forever, faith and family. I'm so grateful for both in my life.

What's for Dinner:
Catching up...
Sunday (Ron's birthday dinner): Trash Bag Taco Salad (from Taste of Home...I cut recipe by a third and                          substituted black beans for the ground beef to make it cheaper and healthier).
                    http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/-trash-bag--taco-salad
Monday: Baked refried bean and cheese burritos. After baked, added lettuce, salsa and sour cream.
Tuesday: Veggie stir fry with cashews and white/brown rice mix.

Today: Potato Soup and Universal Muffins (from Tightwad Gazette)
                   http://baskersfunfoods.blogspot.com/2009/02/universal-muffins.html


Saving Success:
Now that the big birthday surprise is over, I've picked another thing to save for: our vacation to Utah this summer. Having a goal always helps me do better. A few things I've done so far this week to save are:
* made a menu for the week based on simple, healthy foods and what we have in our pantry.
* grocery shopped with a list, only bought what was needed.
* cooked all meals from scratch
*turned off A/C when humidity and dew point lowered (Christy has asthma so when it's humid we turn on the A/C so she can breathe more easily...money very well spent).
*finished birthday shopping for Gid and stayed under budget with thoughtful gifts.
*trying to stay home more and drive less
*working on making dishcloths for the Relief Society Auction. Simple and inexpensive but hopefully, nice.
today:
*ground wheat for this week's baking
*made waffles for the freezer for Christy's breakfasts. MUCH less expensive and healthier than E'ggos.
*Began to alter the dress my dad bought me for mother's day so it fits better.