Monthly Archives: July 2025

July In Review

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I am sad because the end of July means that I am returning to work very soon.  Two weeks to be exact. July was an extremely fun month. Matt and I enjoyed the cruise for the first couple of days of July. Last week was our family vacation at Myrtle Beach. This was very relaxing and very needed!  We all just sat and soaked up the sun and ocean breezes.  In fact it was so good we have already booked the same week for next year!

Emergency Fund- Goal is $1000- $300. I decided to enjoy vacations and not focus on this during this month. I am very hopeful to start adding to this on a regular basis. In order to meet this goal I will need to place $140 each month into the account. Time to buckle down and make this an achievable goal.

Groceries- Goal $820 per month.  We spent $854.80 Although I did not meet the established goal, I did stay under $900 which was what I planned last month. My hope and goal is to reduce this amount for the remainder of the year.

Gas- Goal is $500. June total is $342.29. This does include two road trips so that is a very positive thing!

Blogging- For 2025- the goal will be 10 posts per month. This is actually post number 8 which I am considering a success considering that I was out of town for at least 15 days this month!

Debit- Goal is 200000 total debit for the end of the year!  Still not discussing.

Health/Exercise-No change on the scales this month. I have been walking alot but I want to continue to see some improvements.

Reading through the Bible this year-Today is day 212  and I am on track! This is s huge success!

 

 

Tuesday Thoughts- Camping at the Beach!

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The one rule I stated when we first purchased the camper several years ago was “no beach camping”  I stuck to that for at least three years. But the convivence of taking everything I want together with the cheaper rates that camping offers along with lots of discussion with my kids. We decided to give it a try.

I am a convert, we will be camping at the beach for many trips to come.  I wanted to make sure I had a record of things that worked and things I might do in the future.

I bought a small plastic pool for $10 in April. This worked well as a extra place to wash feet and shoes. We dumped it each day and clean totally at least 3 times. I am going to just use as a shoe catching spot on future non beach trips.

We used the outside shower to rinse several times that just our feet were dirty. We also bought a water hose sprinkler to use to wash off all the beach toys. It was so nice to be able to wash all the beach toys by the camper on the last day. Everything air dried and was put away!

We always keep our bath baskets outside.  But each day before going to the beach we packed our baskets so that no one went inside the camper after going to the beach instead we grab our baskets and headed to the bath house. Even swim suits were washed at the shower and hung to dry!  No extra sand inside!  A huge bonus was that I did not clean any sand from a shower!  The pressure at the bathhouse was high but it did remove the sand.

We placed a “screen room” around the picnic table which was a good spot to keep out bath baskets during the day!  It was also nice to play cards with a few less bugs outside.

Everyone took a turn for vacuuming the camper each night at bedtime. This also made a huge sand difference.

The rain was a big problem with a sand parking spot. Next time we are going to get a concrete pad so that should make things a tad bit easier.

We ended up eating at the camper the most we ever had and we even ate more at the camper than when we stayed at a house.  Ice cream for desert was a treat at least 3 nights but the cost was worth it and much less than meals out.

Monday Menu Post

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I honestly did not realize how busy I was the week before vacation. but two weeks have passed so I must have been super busy. Last week, we were camping at Myrtle Beach. My current plan is to post some of my thoughts and tips tomorrow. But for today, a menu plan is needed!

Breakfast- Saturday-Left-overs or find your own before heading home.   Sunday- Spaghetti scrambled eggs.   Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk ,sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs. The cereal is still a go to and I am planning to make a baked oatmeal for one breakfast this week.

Lunch- Saturday-Bucces Sunday-Spaghetti Monday- Chicken bacon ranch pizza, Tuesday-Friday  Left-overs or what ever you find most days.

Dinner- Saturday-We just snacked alot. I ate the baked potato salad that I purchased earlier.   Sunday Hot Dogs .   Monday-Meatball sliders and tomato pie  Tuesday-Chicken and green bean casserole . Wednesday- Pizza at the swim team party Thursday-KFC bowls Friday- Homemade pepperoni pizza or this may change if we are pizza out. Depends on what is going on.  The other option for me is steak and baked potatoes.

Monday Menu Post

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A menu plan was a must for this busy week. A couple of the kids began complaining last week because It was a sandwich or left over kind of vibe for me. This week is again focusing on adding to the stockpile of easy to prepare meals and canned goods for the school year.

Breakfast- Saturday-Biscuits and gravy.  Sunday- Sausage balls and eggs  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk ,sausage, pop-tarts, and eggs. I was able to find some good deals on cereal last week so that is a hot treat right now. I also purchased some mini muffins for the kids this week as I am focusing on using garden produce.

Lunch- Saturday-Tomato sandwiches  Sunday-Panda Panda  Left-overs or what ever you find most days.

Dinner- Saturday-Million Dollar Spaghetti  Sunday Rotisserie Chicken, stuffing, cranberry sauce and zucchini.   Monday- stuffed green peppers and tomato pie  Tuesday-Taco Pasta . Wednesday- Cheesy Chicken bake  Thursday-Everyone’s Favorite Left-overs Friday- Pasta Salad at the County Swim meet.

Sunday Garden Update

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The garden has required some extra time and energy over the last week. Fortunately it continues to provide a decent harvest each day!  Here is today’s harvest

One of the things we did in the evening last week was to harvest the potatoes. I have already mentioned that it was a HUGE disappointment for me.

Matt has been working on a new bed to replace the old barrel and buckets that we were using. He made it specially so it would be easy to dump the dirt and find the potatoes. It turned out awesome but I am just no longer sure that we need to attempt potatoes again.

Good news is that our cantaloupe plant has taken off in the front. I counted at least 4 nice size balls.

I am continuing to be amazed that the production of our “volunteer” tomato plant in the back of the deck. Other excitement is the fact that we have several watermelons that are forming on the vine as well.

The waxman pepper plants that I struggled with to get started are producing nicely!

Finally for some beauty!

5 Things Friday- 5 Days of the Week

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I anticipated that this week would be fairly busy as it is between two vacations. The garden has produced as well.  What I did not anticipate was that I would drive to Mocksville to pick up a haul from the local farm stand. See below for details.  I am also listing things I did for “Every bits Challenge” as well. This is typical for the month of August but I return to work so that limits my abilities to do some things everyday. I will use these two weeks as the two final weeks of August. This is different but I hope it is helpful.

Monday- We arrived home, picked about 5 gallons of tomatoes and I spent a good couple of hours outside pruning and working on the tomato plants.  I was exhausted!

Tuesday- I decided to work on stocking prepared meals. I made 4 taco pastas and froze 3 for future use. I made the first double batch of Salsa, so excited to use all the ingredients that we already had.

Wednesday- Braxton and I harvested another pint of blueberries and several tomatoes. I also pulled some weeds. We planted some corns in our new planter box and also harvested potatoes. This was a disappointment as we harvest around 5 pounds of potatoes. I also made sourdough bread.

Thursday- After looking at what produce we had, I called and ordered 50 pounds of tomatoes. Braxton and I drove and we purchased a $10 box of cucumbers as well as peaches, green peppers and a watermelon. After picking up this produce, I have been very busy getting things in jars. Another loaf of sour dough bread.

Friday- working on canning and preparation all day. See the final list below. I attempted to make sub buns for meatball subs. They needed to be a bit smaller.

Every Bit Counts Challenge
Salsa 10 quarts and 17 pints
Pickles – 10 quarts of Spears and 12 pints of chips. Spears are a bit salty on first taste, hopefully this improves with time.
Spaghetti sauce -5 quarts and dinner on Friday

Prepared food
4 Taco pastas
4 Million dollar Spaghetti.