Cooking and Cleaning Day

I have less than one week to get my house in order and get some bulk cooking done.

See, there's this guy that will be coming home and I want to spend all my free time gazing into his eyes. OK that will never happen since we have 3 kids and never have any free time, but one can dream.

I am SO stinkin' excited about seeing my husband. I think I am finally getting used to being a truckers wife too. This past time he went out has just flown by, which is GREAT!

I actually got some time off last week. My oldest was out of school Thursday and Friday, so on Wednesday we loaded up and headed to my dads house. We won't be able to make it to my dads for Thanksgiving so this worked out perfect for us to be able to spend some time with him. All the girls love it there. He has a great big yard where they can run around and get out all the built up energy. By Saturday, they just wanted to lay around and watch cartoons.

Mission accomplished.

But now my house is a mess and I am running low on groceries. I try to only shop once a month now since I absolutely HATE it. We do make mini-runs for milk and eggs but that's it. It's been over 4 weeks since I have set foot into a grocery store and it feels great!

I have about 2 weeks worth of meat left in my deep freezer. I plan on putting most of that in the slow cooker in the coming days for easy but delicious dinners. I recently purchased a slow cooker e-cookbook and it is FILLED will great sounding recipes.

I love to cook, but have come to the conclusion that I am just not that great at coming up with new recipes. I will gladly pay for someone to do the thinking for me.

This week I plan on making some granola, pigs in a blanket, homemade hot pockets, homemade pasta sauce, home made buttermilk bread and also some date muffins.

I have been on the lookout for a waffle maker and a large electric skillet. There are tons of them out there but I have yet to find one that I like AND that is reasonably priced. My kids are always asking for pancakes and waffles for breakfast but I really, REALLY don't like having to make the mess and take the time everyday. I make double and sometimes triple batches of pancakes so I can freeze the rest. Triple batches of pancakes in a frying pan takes a long time. LONG time.

So my list grows and grows for convenience items. I should go to the Salvation Army store. It's where I've bought both of my bread machines, numerous baking pans and my electric mixer.

OK... going to cook and clean. Care to help?

It's that time again...

... Home time!!

I love home time.

Love it.

But...

it always takes some adjusting on our part at home. Like big adjustments.

Just about the time I get into a good routine and get the kids on a good schedule that works for everyone, it's home time again.

Now don't get me wrong. I love my husband and I love having him around, I just don't love having to adjust.

I'm lazy.

Whatever.

Really, I just don't like to be bothered with it.

I'm not a fan of change.

Why change something that works? Right? RIGHT???

On the other hand, I love my husband very much and want him to be as happy at home as possible. So, we change things up a little.

You know, being a truckers wife really is like leading two separate lives. For approximately 9 months, I have been a single parent. The other 2 I have been a parenting team with Chris. It's hard enough on me, I can't imagine what a pain in the rear it must be for the kids.

I really wish there was somewhere online that allowed me to meet up with other truckers' wives. Just to see if they go through the same thing as us. I'm sure they do, but it sure would be nice to actually hear someone say it that has been or is going through it.

(I know there are places online to meet truckers' wives. I used to be a part of them. I don't want to sound mean or conceited, but a lot of them were just as foul mouthed and raunchy acting as some truckers. Is that normal?)

Anyway, I am getting way off topic which was..... home time! I nearly forgot.

Home time is next week. My house is a wreck and I need to do some bulk cooking. I have laundry to do and dishes to wash. You'd think I'd get off my behind and do some work.... Sheesh... don't I get some time off?

Budgeting

It's a pretty common occurrence for my friends to call me up and ask me if such and such is a great deal down at the wall-to-wall mart or the grocery store. I am a certifiable penny pincher.

I am. Really.

I even have a whole 'nother blog chronicling my life as a penny pincher. I cut coupons, I buy 4 or 5 Sunday papers just for the coupon sections. I am that lady in front of you at the grocery store checkout that has a coupon for everything. I am also the one that can buy $200 worth of grocery for less than $50.

BUT... I had my husband to help me. We have 3 kids. I am but one person. My coupon clipping time has been cut down considerably and my shopping time even more. See, when you have 3 kids, you want to get in the store and out of the store as fast as possible.

Shopping with 3 kids is kinda like herding cats.

It's difficult, lengthy, but is possible.

This year has been a struggle for me.

I like order.

I like budgets.

I like assurance.

I LOVE consistency.

OK quit laughing. I know this is the wrong profession for Chris to be in if I like all those things. I have budgeting software that hasn't seen the light of day since November 2009.

I feel like a lost puppy wandering around looking for something, anything to come in and swoop me up and show me the way.

I do need to pat Chris and I on the back for a moment. We paid off our car last week. 6 months early too! We could have paid it off last February when we got our tax return, but we needed that money to live on until he got a steady paycheck.

Steady paychecks have pretty much been nonexistent since he started in January. It has definitely been hard to get used to and actually still is. Last week he had an awesome check, this week... well... he will be lucky to get 1/4 of the amount he made last week.

Now that our car is paid for, we have no debt other than our household bills. And since getting on the budget plan with our electric company, those bills are pretty consistent from month to month.

I'm gonna pull out the ol' budgeting software and give it another go. I am also gonna try to prioritize my time more so that I am able to clip those coupons more!

If you don't hear from me for a while, send backup.

Are you a canner?

I have only canned once in my life and it was this past spring. I made strawberry jam. It was/is delicious.

Like, the best jam ever. Never mind that it has about 6 cups of sugar and lots and lots of strawberries.

I am pretty sure the reason is was so good was because I made it.
Me.
In my tiny kitchen. 

OK, yes it was the delicious strawberries and sugar that made it good but who cares. Not me. I won't be buying the stuff at the store again.

Homemade jam is so much better. Aaaaand I know what is it in.

Have you ever noticed how hard store brand jams and jellies are to spread? I guess I never noticed until I made my own. They spread without ripping the fresh bread to shreds.

I bought a bunch of green beans at the store over the summer while they were cheap and I had ever intention of canning them.

I ended up throwing them away.

All 10,000 lbs of them.

Actually only about 8 lbs but still... that was like 6 bucks worth of beans that I could had made into food for my family.

The reason I didn't can them was because I don't have a canner. I wanted to purchase one but then realized I would need an expensive one since we have a glass top stove. I can't use those cheap ones on glass top stove.

Who knew? Apparently not me.

I could have improvised with a large stock pot like I did for making the jam, but my pots just weren't tall enough to fit jars and still have them covered with enough water to ensure proper sealing.

Fast-forward to today and low and behold I found a place in our city that will help you can food!

Here is a little exerpt from their website.

... the Canning Center provides an institutional kitchen environment.  All equipment necessary for canning is provided onsite.  Users provide their own ingredients. 

... The client list includes Duval County residents, boaters, various churches, people on restricted diets, non-profit organizations within the city, the 4-H School Enrichment Program and other governmental agencies.

It's not free, but if a large group of people got together to make food for their families to share, it would totally be worth it. Like a co-op type thing.

The canning center provides ALL the equipment to can. All you have to do is bring the ingredients and jars. How easy is that??!!

They also occasionally have workshops that teach people how to can soups.

Depending on whether or not I break down and buy an expensive canner, I may just give this place a try. Our kitchen is small tiny and it was a little cramped while I was canning the jam.

It would be a nice change to actually cook in an industrial sized kitchen!

I may never want to go back to my little tiny kitchen. (when I say tiny, I mean it. I have less than 3 ft of counter-top space.)

Signed,

Hopelessly needs a bigger kitchen and flat bottomed canner