Wordless Wednesday- Pool Fun!
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Monthly Archives: August 2022
Tuesday Thoughts- Updates
- I am going to turn off the heat lamp on the chickens tonight. Last night, I heard them several times and they woke me up. Today they have been sleeping most of the day. They are around 3-4 weeks old today. I k now they will let me know if they are cold, but I enjoy my sleep way to much to have chickens wake me up!
- Speaking of chickens, the current topic for discussion/ debate… should I go ahead and purchase 2-3 more older chickens they will begin to lay eggs in the next couple of weeks? I can buy either a dozen eggs or a chicken at this point for the same price. I already have the everything to support the chickens so they would be the only expense. I am concerned about everyone getting along up front…….
- I have spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen today. I used 2 pounds of sausage and a dozen eggs to make up additional 9 breakfast today. I made up 25 omelet bags and 16 breakfast “hot pockets”
- We harvest enough apples from our apple tree to make a batch of apple butter! First real harvest from these trees that we planted several years ago!
- We have earned 3/4 the money we need to purchase a new sun shade for the beach next year by selling on Facebook marketplace. I also have several items listed on ebay so hopefully we can easily meet this goal.
- I have been sent several “free” offers this month. Including $20 at Belk’s, which I used Monday to purchase a sweater and holiday shirt. I have $20 for Lane Byrant which I am going to use either this week or next and $25 at Old Navy. Hoping for a few more for my birthday!
- I have been focusing on spending 15 minutes a day in the garden so that I don’t become so overwhelmed. Between Kendall and myself we have cleared the blueberry bed of weeds again. The garden beds are staying weed free as well. I have pulled up several squash and bean plants in order to clear out space for some fall gardening, I also with the help of Matt added dirt to a couple of beds! My goal is to plant on August 15th which is 2 months before our expected first frost date.
- Because the house has not had a good cleaning in several month. I told the kids that we are increasing the expectation to 8 chores a day for the next 2 weeks. The goal is to get everything super clean before heading back to school.
- 9 days of summer break left!
Monday Menu Planning and #Everybitcounts
The return-to-work countdown is on! I have less than 2 weeks. I am going to focus on getting as much stored up as possible in the next 2 weeks. I also want to try several different recipes so that I can see if they work. I am also going to be trying to get ahead with several easy breakfasts. We are putting away a couple of pancakes at a time when we make them. I am also planning to make omelet bags on Tuesday morning while making breakfast!
Breakfast- Saturday- Pancakes Sunday- Cheddar cheese sausage balls and eggs. Monday- Homemade bagels Tuesday- Omelets Wednesday Thursday and Friday- find it oatmeal, cereal and milk, French toast sticks, bagels, breakfast burritos and pancakes.
Lunch- Saturday-BLTs Sunday-Don Juans Monday- Sumer lunch Tuesday- Summer lunch which included squash, zucchini, cantaloupe and strawberries. Wednesday- Eat out as we will be back to school shopping. Thursday- Leftovers or sandwiches, Friday-salad.
Dinner- Saturday-Chicken Bacon Ranch Pizza. Sunday- Baked Potatoes, Monday- KFC bowls Tuesday Philly Cheese Steaks Wednesday- PF Changs for my birthday Thursday- Cube Steak and lots of sides Friday-Sloppy Joes.
Every Bit Counts Challenge- It made sense for me to include this with Menu planning as they are both food related.
Friday August 5th-Salsa
Saturday August 6th- Pancakes and Sausage Balls
Sunday August 7th- Forzen bananas
Monday August 8th- Tomato Sauce
Official food preparation count: 58
Breakfast count: 22
Spaghetti Sauce: 25
Salsa: 3 full batches (I would honestly like to make 2 more of these but we will need to wait until I get another batch of Wax Peppers in)
Tomato Sauce: 13 1/2 cup portions and 2 1 cup portions (I would like to have 12 cup portions before moving to diced tomatoes)
5 Things Friday
- Shout out to myself! This is the 8th day in a row that I have posted! And the 5th post for the month of August on the 5th!
- I am finally feeling back to normal this week which means I am starting to catch up on all the things I planned to do this summer! This really does help my mood and energy level to finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.
- We are continuing to harvest from the garden! This week, I planted some pumpkins and have hopes to start a fall garden including lettuce and spinach in the next couple of days! We are also starting to plant some things in the chicken coop area which will make it both pretty and functional!
- I have been wanting to list things on Marketplace and Ebay all summer and today was the official day to complete. I have 5 active listing on Ebay and 7 on Facebook marketplace. I know we have at least 2 additional listing to make on Marketplace tonight. The goal for this clean out is $250 to purchase a pop-up sunshade for beach use next year.
- The chickens are continuing to grow. We have turned off the heat light. The book we have been following said to start decreasing their constant temperature by 5 degree this week. The set point would be 75*. The air in our house is currently set at 74 for the day and 72 at night. So we decided to go ahead and try without the lamp. They did great last night so I am going to continue. We also are trying to get them outside at least a couple of hours a day right now. I hope to move to daytime outside next week with full time outside the next week. Because it is summertime, this is a much quicker and easier process. Even when going outside full time the plan is to have them in a coop each night just to start that training process. A very sad update, this afternoon one of the chickens (Gummy) died. We had been watching her closely today as she moved to the corner and was sleeping. Not quite sure why it happened but we cleaned and cleaned the cage so hopefully this will be the only lost.
Every Bit Counts
One of the YouTube channels I really enjoy “3 Rivers Homestead” has this challenge for the month of August. It is specifically for preserving food for the winter. I know that when I return to work in two weeks that this might not be possible, so I started this challenge a week early. For more information read here Monday Musings
Tuesday July 26th- Sloppy Joes
Wednesday July 27th- Taco Meat
Thursday July 28th- Salisbury Steak
Friday July 29th- Made a second batch of Salsa
Saturday July 30th-Shredded Zucchini and Squash
Sunday July 31st- Made protein muffins with remaining ham and eggs.
Monday August 1st- Spaghetti Sauce
Tuesday August 2nd- Additional Chicken pot pie filling- will need to only add crust.
Wednesday August 3rd- 4 dozen ears of corn some frozen with husk on and some off and 2 packages off the cob.
Thursday August 4th- 2 bags of carrots from our garden.
I am very excited with moving forward.
Official food preparation count: 58
Breakfast count : 20
Spaghetti Sauce: 25…… I am going to work on doing a couple of batches of salsa but may also add another batch of spaghetti sauce in the future depending on how the tomatoes continue to produce!
I do have plans for sausage balls and banana muffins this week as well!
Wordless Wednesday – Chicken Introductions
Finally meet the chickens…. To follow their adventures, check out their Instagram @mothercluckersnc
Gummy
Doodie Head
Fluffy Butt
Dixie Chick
Fruity Pebbles
Cowgirl
Menu Planning on Tuesday!
The focus this week and for most of the month of August will be no food waste! I am working hard to find ways to use what we have and are growing but also to save a little each day for the future.
One explanation- we have been getting breakfast at Biscuit King on Saturday morning which allows us to get outside and get a couple hours of work in prior to it getting unbearably hot.
Breakfast- Saturday- Biscuit King Sunday- Sausage and eggs on the Blackstone as we did not have electricity. Monday- Smoothies Tuesday- Homemade Everything bagels Wednesday- Breakfast burritos Thursday- find it in the freezer, which includes muffins, French toast sticks, bagels, breakfast burritos and pancakes. Friday- Banana muffins
Lunch- Saturday-BLTs Sunday-Greggs Monday- Leftovers Tuesday- Summer lunch which included squash, zucchini, cantaloupe and strawberries. Wednesday- Eat out as we will be back to school shopping. Thursday- Leftovers or sandwiches, Friday-salad.
Dinner- Saturday-Cheddar Bacon Burgers. Sunday- Roast Beef sliders Monday- Spaghetti with homemade sauce. Tuesday Chicken Pot pie Wednesday- Insta pot hamburger helper. Thursday- Pasta salad Friday-Steaks and baked potatoes.
JULY In Review
July was a different month to say the least. Kendall and Lily spent a week in Orlando Florida at a national youth conference, followed by a week at the beach for all of us. Next up was outpatient surgery for me followed by two weeks of recovery. Our spending was definitely different, and I was not able to develop a new budget, but I still have a little over 3 weeks before returning to work full time! August is much more laid back and relaxing!
Groceries– budget amount is $200 NOT Met! $318.24 before the cow. We spend a today of $31.81.44 including 659# of beef. I am continuing to think around $700 a month with any excess to be placed in savings. We did use savings to purchase the meat so for the remainder of the year we will try to replace any of that we can.
Auto/ Gas. My goal is $400 a month. NOT met! $ 548.74. Prices have started to decrease, and this did include gas for the generator that we ran for 6 hours when we lost power.
Cash Envelope system- I was doing excellent until the last week. Now it is back to cash for us!
Blogging- 15 post per month. This is post number 14 for the month. I have been much better at posting on a regular basis. Just need to squeeze in one additional post. I am really excited to keep this so close again this month! Especially given the fact that I did not post on vacation
Exercise days- NONE
No Spend Days- ummmmm what ? I honestly have not been keeping track of this. I am giving myself a pass on both Exercise and No spend days due to my surgery this month,
August should be a much slower month with plenty of time for relaxing!