Monthly Archives: March 2026

March in Review

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March has been a strange month. We are settling into a new routine but everything is still a bit hectic and crazy.  Mondays are the hardest!  I am hopeful that by the end of April things will be more stable and we can enjoy May and the summer.  The weather continues to be bizarre at best and crazy at least.  To end the month, we collectively decided to share a cold. I am on the end with just a cough and runny nose, Lily and Matt are starting.  April will bring lots of new adventures and hopefully just as many if not more memories!

Groceries- Goal $800 per month.  We spent $628.20  for the month of March.  This is a huge win for me. We actually cleaned out and turned off the old chest freezer. I also have this week brought the prepared meals in the house. I am very hopefully to stretch our meat and budget until June when we will start the process of restocking.  I am also looking forward to the end of April for strawberry season!   Part of cleaning out the freezer was taking our remaining 3 gallon bags of strawberries that somehow became a block of red and turning into strawberry jam.

Gas- Goal is $400.  Total spent was $562.03 Gas prices have significantly increased due to military operations in Iran. The current price of gas varies between 3.59 and 4.00.  I have provided a tank of gas for Kendall this month as well as two tanks in the white civic. Zach is currently driving the white civic so Matt is still driving the Tahoe to work as well.  I do not see gas prices decreasing in the near future so this is also a category that may need to be increased in June.

Blogging-The goal will be 11 posts per month.  This is actually post number 13 for the month! I am going to count this as a HUGE win!   Things are starting to settle down and I am finally feeling like I can juggle a couple of things at a time.

Debit-   The goal for 2026 will be to pay off the Home Depot Credit card without interest.  This is due in September and is a total of $3380.30   We have been able to completely pay off the new HVAC system. We are working to find the extra money for the Home Depot card. Same  for this month. Kendall wants to pay off her car loan by September which would be HUGE and there is a strong possibility that Zach is going to purchase the white car from us which will add that money back in the budget.

No Spend Days- Goal for 10 no spend days a month. This has again been the last thing on mind this month. I have written down 1 for the month of March. I seriously doubt that April is much better!

Health/Exercise-I am no hanging out between 171 and 175.  Exercise would be nice but still have not found the time for that one.

Monday Menu Post

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This will definitely be one of the slowest weeks of the year!  The reason it is the week before Spring Break!   We only have 1 baseball game this week. In other exciting news, we have finished our part of the Foster Care licensure process. Now we get to wait!

Breakfast- Saturday- Gravy and Biscuits Sunday-  Cereal or Oatmeal  , Monday–Baked oatmeal  , Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday,  Friday,   find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, pancakes and eggs)I would like to make some additional muffins this week but I am not going to promise anything quite yet!

Lunch- Saturday-left-overs  Sunday- Panda Panda  Left-overs are always great for lunches. I am encouraging people to eat out of the fridge this week. We have a ton of food that needs to be eaten.

Dinner- Saturday- Blackstone noodles, zucchini, peppers and onions with skirt steak.   Sunday-I had banana muffins and popcorn  Monday-Parmesan Chicken  Tuesday- Turkey pot pie Wednesday- Ham and broccoli casserole Thursday-Chicken enchiladas  Friday-  Zach is in charge!

Sunday Garden Update

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I have moved all the plant starts from the house to the greenhouse. The reason is that with the wild temperature swings we have been experiencing I wanted to make sure they stay above 50*. I am so pleased with the growth and am hopefully again for a very productive season.

We currently have approximately 50 pepper plants.

15 Amish tomato plants and 10ish regular tomato plants.

And a tray of random marigolds and loffa

It does make a nice shelf view!

Monday Menu Plan

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Another busy week is happening but I am officially starting to count down the remaining days till Summer!  48 school days if you care. Monday- Matt and I have a meeting, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday are all ballgame days. Hopefully this makes time go fast!

Breakfast- Saturday- Eggs how you like them! Sunday-  Breakfast casserole (Dad version) ,Thursday–Baked oatmeal   Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday,   find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, pancakes and eggs)My goal is to make a baked oatmeal for Tuesday morning but we will see.

Lunch- Saturday-finger foods are sandwich’s  Sunday- Mi Cancun  Left-overs are always great for lunches, I made a HUGE Pasta salad for dinner on Saturday so that is a good start!

Dinner- Saturday- Pasta Salad  Sunday-Find it and eat it, I actually had ice cream Monday-Hamburger tacos Tuesday- Taco casserole (yes finally) Wednesday- Cheeseburger soup  Thursday-Chicken nuggets    Friday-  Good question probably hot dogs at ballgame!

Five Things Friday

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  1. The weather has been all over the place. On Monday, Zach and Kendall were out of school due to a high threat of tornadoes.  Tuesday and Wednesday the temperatures stay in the 40s. Today on Friday we had a high of 74. We are expecting a very nice weekend with highs in the 80s. Next Tuesday we swing again into the 50’s and 60’s.
  2. Zach has been working really hard last week he got all the mulch put out for the year. Today, he was able to get our garden bed repaired and filled with paper and dirt.  Next up on his list is to get some pellets and wood shavings in the chicken coop.
  3. The chickens continue to range between 5 and 9 eggs per day. I have been water glassing some eggs for future use. But this week, I have not been able to add to them due to the dirt that is currently covering all our eggs. I am hoping to finish at least two or more gallons this spring. We should have a full solid year of good egg production but next fall/winter may be a slow period again. I have no plans at all to add ANY chickens to the flock this entire year. I may consider .add in 2027 depending on the amount of eggs we have at that time.
  4. I am very hopefully that we can get the heat set up in the greenhouse so that we can move both the peppers and tomatoes to the greenhouse this weekend. I plan to keep the greenhouse going until the first week of May. When after checking the weather, I can transplant out to start growing.
  5. I am going to declare that the white Honda we purchased in January, is officially fixed. It has been running just fine after using that initial tank of gas along with new spark plugs and wires. We are hopefully to get Zach’s truck fixed and running so that it can go up for sale very soon!

Garden Update #1

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This past weekend was BEAUTIFUL!  I was so excited and thankful to get outside and actually see some things growing.

Rhubarb plant that survived the winter!

Garlic plants that have now been transplanted and look like they are going to survive!

Zach was able to spread some mulch . . . . . .

We have worked again on a watering system that is mostly hands free!

Finally we have some pepper sprouts!

 

Monday Menu Post

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This week was scheduled to be a really busy week with three ballgames and a meeting in Mocksville on Monday.  However, the weather has changed and that means plans have changed. We were able to reduce  this weekend.  Matt and Zach helped me empty out the chest freezer in our building. The ultimate goal is to restock it with another cow probably late in the summer. However, I also would like to see if we can stretch the meat we have and use what is oldest up.  We are also starting to run low of most of our “connivence” meals as we are beginning to approach Summer!    I am excited to finally start back in a routine and hope to keep up with blogging and other things more regularly.

Breakfast- Saturday- Dutch boy pancakes and bacon . Sunday-  Bagels from Food Lion Tuesday- mini muffins, Friday–Baked oatmeal   Monday, Wednesday, Thursday  find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, pancakes and eggs)My goal is to make a baked oatmeal for Tuesday morning but we will see.

Lunch- Saturday-left overs  Sunday- Kimonos   Left-overs are always great for lunches and I have a stash of crackers and other snack items as well.

Dinner- Saturday- Matt made smashed tacos on tortilla shells on black stone  Sunday- rotisserie  chicken and scallop potatoes from Costco  Monday-KFC bowls  Tuesday-Baked Potatoes and Salad  Wednesday-Gyro (found pita bread at Costco as well) Thursday- Taco Pasta  from the freezer as well.   Friday- Salisbury steak, rice and green beans

I hope to stick to the plan this week so we don’t end up eating out alot.

Monday Menu Plan

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Things don’t always work out as planned. But you can always keep moving forward. That is the plan for the week.  We have had a couple of rough days so let’s hope things are better.

Breakfast- Saturday- Sausage, Bacon and Eggs. Sunday- Cinnamon Rolls from a can (actually two cans).   Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Friday– find it (oatmeal, omelets, cereal and milk, sausage, pop-tarts ,cereal bars, pancakes and eggs). I did make baked oatmeal last week, and I made some Bacon and egg muffins on Saturday. Hoping to keep things going smoothly this week.

Lunch- Saturday-? a grab and go with chips or left-overs  Sunday- New Mexican Restaurant for lunch. It was good but crowded and loud so don’t know if it will be a repeat.  Left-overs are always great for lunches and I have a stash of crackers and other snack items as well.

Dinner- Saturday- I made a green pepper, onion, steak and Japanese BBQ sauce Rice Bowl. Sunday- Cocktail wiener and left-overs  Monday – Spaghetti Tuesday- Taco Pasta from last week.   Wednesday-Meatloaf muffins and mashed potatoes  Thursday- Hamburger helper  Friday- Have not gotten that far.