Sunday, February 1, 2009

Here I go - new start

Well, here I go. New start and all. I am taking steps to change my life and here is where I will post about it.

First, an update since the last posting.

I tackled the fabric stash and then some. Gave away on local freecycle group 16 black trash bags stuffed full of fabric, 10 plastic grocery bags full of sewing patterns, a few music books, some shoes, a table cloth, and two trash bags full of men's clothes. The fabric that I did keep is now neatly stored in a manageable amount of plastic bins all in the area hubby delegated to me in the garage. Oh, and I found my big pressure cooker for canning. I finally have the living room all cleaned up and presentable now, along with the dining area and kitchen. Three rooms down, several more to go. I also got my aquarium all cleaned out finally and redressed. It is so pretty and clean now. OH MY GOSH! what an ordeal that was. The catfish had dug in to a fake plant he had managed to turn over and had grown after going in. We tried everything to get that guy out. Hubby ended up taking him to the workbench and with a dremmel tool broke the plant open to remove him, getting finned for his efforts. Broken fins, out of the water for way too many minutes, was sure he would be found floating the next morning. He is still swimming around. I bought a new smaller aquarium and filled it with the old water and put the fish in it while we did massive cleaning on the big one. I think it is 35 gallons, the big one that is. The new one is only ten. I figured that it would be easiest on the fish to just move them to an aquarium that had the water they were used to, as opposed to trying to catch them - bag them - float them - then release them. I am happy to say I did not loose one fish.

I am not sure now what to do with the smaller aquarium, am thinking about turning it in to a saltwater set up, it takes so long to start though as you have to let the water set for about 6 weeks before you can add fish. I am however going to discuss it with the people at the pet store because they sell this stuff called instant sea. Salt water fish are so much more colorful, brighter and bolder colors, so much more expensive. But, that size tank would only hold about three fish anyway, saltwater fish, maybe 5. May just leave it a regular tank and get some regular fish, maybe some of those really neat looking koi type goldfish with the long wavy fins.

Of course hubby has no idea that I actually am planning a third aquarium, unless he goes and reads this. What can I say, I love aquariums, the sound is peaceful, they are easy to take care, and something very relaxing about watching them swim aimlessly about. If I ever find a mermaid for my big tank I am getting her
.

Since hubby got that nasty carpet in the hallway pulled up and the wonderful wood laminate floor down, it is so nice now that our socks and feet stay clean when we walk down it. Of course that also means that now you can hear anyone and everyone that walk down the hall, especially Kit, whose little claws just clickty clack as he heads this way or that. Unless he is running, he hasn't quite figured out yet that the new floor is a bit more slippery than the carpet, sometimes he just bounces off the wall to make his turn. Kind reminds me of old time pinball games.

Pop the flippers make the puppy bounce to the left, pop the flipper he goes to the right. Depends on which way he is headed.


I have listed some books for sale on Amazon.com and have actually already sold a couple. I also found this great website called
Paperback Book Swap where you can post paperback books you want to get rid of and can get ones you would like to read. NO MONEY is involved. No one is buying, no one is selling. You agree to pay media rate postage to send a book you have that some one requests, they pay the same to send one you would like to you. I have over 50 romance novels and have listed and boxed them up and they slide under the bed, out of the way. I figure no one wants to pay for old ones on eBay or Amazon (the automatic shipping cost is more than the book is worth) and would have to mess with listing, hoping some one wants them and still have to have them stored. This way, I can just list them all and then find some I want to read. It is not just romance, all kinds of genre of paperback books. They have a group for CD and DVD swaps as well.

I do however have some craft type hardback books to go through and thin down and those will be listed on Amazon as well. Am going through all my cookbooks and cooking magazines in an attempt to come up with some dinner ideas as well. I am renewed in my goal of menu planning since hubby has offered to help with cooking evening meals a couple of times a week and seeing that daughter J does some as well. They all get home way before I do and with a little bit of planning this family may just get to have the evening meal before 9:00 pm again. We really need to change our spending habits or we are going to be in trouble quick and since I admit that we eat out way too much (SHH! Don't tell hubby I just said that) the easiest way to cut the budget back is by reducing the spending.

Planning a menu not only makes wise use of time it also reduces the cost of food. You know what you are going to have, when you are going to have it, are able to shop the sales to maximize your purchase dollar, so it makes sense. Hubby stated that he only cooks steak, burgers, and tacos. I came back to that stating that there was three evenings a week. Oldest son, if we can get him home that is, cooks great chicken fajita and Parmesan chicken. Hubby said that if I would leave a recipe or directions, set the meat in the fridge the night before so it can thaw, he would see that it gets cooked. That means he will tell daughter J what to do. She is 12 and needs to be learning. When I was her age I would come home from school and make dinner for my parents and I. My dad always stated that I should write a cookbook "100 Ways To Cook Ground Beef" as I was always making casseroles. I grew up on them and left overs. My family is spoiled and not so big on casseroles and will not eat left overs at all...if they know it is left overs. Maybe I should make a day of the week to be casserole day, could even post the recipe to this blog. Maybe so, "100 weeks of casseroles" that would be almost a week of dinners right there. Well, between hubbies three recipes, son's and then a casserole. If I can get my act together and make them ahead, then J can just pull it out of the freezer and pop it in the oven when she gets home from school. That would really help since two days a week she has activities of an evening and it is hard to get dinner for her before she goes, but is late when she is done.

I may have to give that some more thought.

Back to the subject of organizing, I have the latest version of MasterCook on it's way, first order was lost the replacement is supposed to arrive tomorrow. MAN Amazon was great about this one. At any rate, the program will save your recipes, generate a meal plan from your recipes, generate a shopping list, you can even generate a pantry inventory and it will automatically check for the items on your shopping list and leave off what you have on hand. Nutrition analysis of each recipe as well as cost analysis will be great for the trimming of the budget and the waist.

Speaking of which, a local radio station is having their own version of Biggest Loser. I managed to get in to the group interviewed, but would seem that since I did not get an email notice yesterday that I did not make it in to the final 20 for the contest. I am really disappointed at this, more than I thought I would be. The contestants are doing a program with a fitness place and will get 4 days a week with a trainer and nutrition plan set up for their body needs. The contest will last 12 weeks, the winner (or the biggest loser) will get $2,000. Now, those interviewed that did not make the contest are offered the same program, at a fee (large fee) and will follow everything the contest does. At the end of that, of those on the program, for a fee, the one loosing the most weight will get $500 which more than pays for the cost of the program. I am really considering doing the program. On one hand, I cannot get that much time with a trainer at my gym for any where that low a cost. The nutritional plan or diet is worth a lot to me as well as I don't know whether I need to cut carbs, increase carbs, cut fats, good and bad fats, count calories, or just what. While it is cheaper than something like Nutrisystem or Jenny Craig, it is more expensive than Weight Watchers. The thing with buying the food is I still have to fix meals for my family, there fore doubling my food cost. WW is great in that sense, but some of their recipes would break the budget for sure with all the roasted red peppers, almond milk, sun dried tomatoes and such. Why is it that low fat, fat free always seems to equal no taste and cost more? And when talking about the budget tightening, can I really justify the cost of doing the plan? Okay, do I need a personal trainer? No, but would sure help me be more effective with my work out and supportive of my goals. Do I need diet planning? Absolutely, but there may be cheaper methods. Our church just started a new class for nutrition management (weight loss or diet in other words) called First Place. I have done this program before, was pretty satisfied with the results. The cost is a little high, but not nearly as high as the contest program, especially when you factor in that I am already paying for a gym membership and the contest program is through another gym. One that has significantly less hours of operation. The gym I belong to is also the same gym my daughter in law belongs to and since her work hours are about the same as mine, and since she has classes (college to be a preschool teacher) after she gets off, we could work out together later in the evening after I have gotten dinner ready. It is a lot to consider before making a decision of which way to work this. Not working it is not an option, I need to loose 70-75 pounds, in a healthy and realistic means. This is when having the meals cooked up ahead of time would be very beneficial. There is a place in town where I can go and put together meals for the freezer, for a substantial cost, which I can do on my own, if I just knew how.

Maybe now would be a good time to pull out the cooking for the freezer cookbooks I have on the shelf along with the once a month cooking and fix it and forget it crock pot cooking as well. Which I didn't really need to buy since I can Google an overwhelming amount of the same type recipes. I am pretty sure those books are sitting right next to the budget homemaking and organizing your home books (like Sidetracked Homemakers) am pretty sure they are right there with that journal I made with the help of Fly Lady.

Okay, enough is enough, I have a huge brain swimming anxiety attack going and need to go decompress.

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