Merry Christmas!!!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I want to start by saying we are very blessed and thankful for the blessings and the place we are in right now.

This year because we were so blessed I wanted to help others out. We were able to "adopt" three children from an angel tree and get them a Christmas. I hope it made there lives a little happier. I also was able to be an LDS Angel for a LDS mom group I am in on CafeMom and sent a Visa giftcard to a lady whose family was struggling. However she probably won't get it until Monday or Tuesday since I didn't get the address until Tuesday night.

On Thursday Grandma and Papa Mitchell came over then Paul, Margaret, Margaret's mom, Kimra, Tony, and Devon came over for a big dinner. I must say I was pretty proud of my self for it:) I made my first turkey and it turned out yummy and juicy. I made mash potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, rolls, and a relish tray. Mom brought a cheese ball and stuffing. Then the others brought drinks. It was all yummy.





Our family picture.


Then we made graham cracker houses. Donny and Italia took the stucko approach. With a tropical flair. Italia kept saying that her house needed more bananas.
Christmas morning I was too excited so I woke everyone up at 8. Then we waited to go downstair.




This is Italia walking in the room checking out her loot.You can't see them but on the floor are Zhu Zhu pets and she was intently watching them move around their little play house.



Donny and Italia got a joint gift....The Wii. This is them boxing. Don't mind the toys scattered around, we had a wonderful Christmas.

saving money on groceries

Earlier today when I started this post I thought of a lot more ideas. By the time I got done writing all the fluff I couldn't think of as many. If I think of them I will post more later. This is long but the ideas are at the bottom and if you do anything to save money on food let me know.

When people find out I coupon they always say, "Man I need you to teach me how to do that." Which is great. However, saving money on food and groceries takes more than couponing. And even though couponing is grea to fully get the effect of coupong it takes planning, time, research, patience, and practice. So if you don't want to or can't do those things it may feel you have no hope in saving money on grocery shopping.

Wrong. There are many tricks to saving money on groceries that don't take coupons. So here is my list of tricks. ( after some background) I try to do these things but I am not perfect and sometimes I get in a rut and have to get myself back on the money saving train.

I want to give you a little background of what I use to do and how far I have come. when Donny and I first were married I usually went groacery shopping every other week. I would spend about $150-200 every time. Plus we went out to eat a decent amount as well. I usually bought my lunch at work because my store was in the mall's food court and it was just way to easy to buy to much. Donny usually took leftovers or frozen type food to work.

I like to cook and try new things so it was very common for my grocery list to be a mile long and many of the recipes I tried I had to buy every ingredient even spices so my home cooked meals where not very price effective.

When I was prego we grabbed a burger way too much because after work or school I was usually to tired to cook. After Italia was born the eatingout for lunch stopped because I was no longer working. I probably only went grocery shopping about every 2 to 3 weeks spending about $200 each time. Also I would usually hit Costco when I was out and pick up some grocery items there, which I don't know if I have ever left that store without spending $100. the burgers continued though:)

When we moved into my parents house while we where building I spent a lot. We didin't literally pay rent so I bought the groceries. I was buying for 5 people and doing a lot of specialty buying. I was not caring what we bought or how much. I didn't have to. I was buying stuff for Donny to take up to the mine and then buying stuff for everyone at the house. I started coupong here and got some great deals but those were seperate trips not the normal grocery shopping and most of it was toiletry not food items. I was shopping every week and spending $200+. so once we moved into our house I couldn't do that anymore.

Now I go on a big grocery shopping trip $200+ about every three months. I do maybe $50 dollars a week on fresh produce and coupon shopping. Every now and gain I do a bigger food storage purchase but those aren't set. My pantry is never empty and my freezer is always full, th eonly thing that goes empty is the fridge. I can always make a dinner if I tr. Italia might not like it but she never likes anything I fix lately. We could live off our food propbably close to a year. We could eat well for 3 months.

Somethings I do to help food stretch.

I really try not to go tot the store for one item that I am missing. I have made meals missing an ingredient or improvising it. I use to not make the meal unless I had everything perfect. Now even if itwould be better with sour cream I will still make the tacos or what ever it is because if I ran to the store I am sure it would be at least a $20 trip.

I rarely by food specially for Donny to take to the mine. He takes leftovers and things I got on a good deal with couponing.

Even if it seems we are out of food aka the fridge is low I will try to creat something from what we have even if it wasn't a planned meal.

I try to do a food storage recipe every couple days they are usually cheap and it is important to know how to use your food storage other wise what is the point in having it.

Donny is out of town a lot so what I tend to do is make one meal for me and eat it for a couple of days. When Donny is home that is when I try my food storage recipes and any other recipes that I want to try.

When I do try new things that I have to buy a lot for, especially if you have to buy a whole package for a small amout, I try to find other recipes that call for that ingredient and try them to so I kill two birds with one stone.

One common thing I do is make breakfast burritos. Eggs, flour tortillas, and cheese are the most important ingredients and the cheapest, I usually have them in my fridge.

Shop the sales. Buy in bulk if you can that way you can take advantage of things on sale longer than when they are on sale.

I am not brand loyal. I buywhatever is cheapest even if that means not using a coupon. there are some things that the brand makes a difference but most things are about the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewmy_8AKkZw

Okay so I can't figure out how to post the actual video here but you have to watch this.

It is hillary weeks singing a song about a Mom's day it is great.

a fun christmas song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28GUU1YbP_E

watch this it is great

Santa Visit

So last Saturday was Grandmas work breakfast with Santa so we went. Italia went upstairs with Grandma to find Santa to bring him down to breakfast. And when Santa walked in the door he greated her with "hi Italia" she was quite shocked at how he knew her name.:) If you can't tell Santa is Uncle Paul
She held his hand the whole way down then was the first on his lap. She didn't really like him when all the other kids where around but loved him when she was by herself.

Christmas Eve

Just to let everyone know if anyone wants or needs a place to go for Christmas Eve dinner and/or activities is invited over. Lots of good food for sure. Dinner probably around 5 oclock.

Exercising....

So I am trying to change my exercise philosophy.

Before I felt if I can't do it all the way all the time for the right amount of minutes then why do it.

But now I realize that unless I completely stop eating or only eat lettuce I am not going to lose weight with just diet.
I can do a very restrictive diet for a short amount of time but I can't keep it up.

I just like food to much I also like cooking and baking so its not easy to totally avoid it.

I came to the conclusion I have to exercise. I have no choice in the matter if I want to lose weight and be healthy.
I also know most likely I won't be exercising 4 times a week for an hour. But I can try to do more than I did before.
I hate exercising when I feel pressured I can enjoy exercising but I have to get past all that past emotional issues I have against exercise.

So what have I done?
I signed up for an adult dance class. It is once a week for an hour and they provide the babysitter.
Some days I get a good workout. Somedays mainly just good stretching.

I also try to go to zumba...a latin style dance aerobics.
I love zumba, even if I feel like I can't walk afterwards :)
I am never sore in the morning though.
I really stretches my bad hips and that is why I feel like I can't walk.
The class is offered Monday and Thursday nights at 8pm.
I go when Donny is home. I seriously would go every night if I could.
I really need to find a babysitter for when he is not home.

Anyone know a babysitter in my area.
I have lost weight.
I am not exactly sure how much because I don't know for sure what I was at when I started.
I believe I have lost more inches than weight
I am in a size smaller pants.
I notice all my clothes feeling looser or fitting better.
I have even worn some clothes that haven't seen the light of day for more than three years.
I am not trying to get skinny over night.
I am trying to change my views and life style to a more healthy active one.
I also want my weight loss to remain with me not just to gain it back as soon as I stop thinking about it so I am doing it slow and stead...thats what wins the race right!