Giving up the gift exchange

We have nine children, one son-in-law and one grandchild and....amazingly all four of the grandparents of our children.  Wow.   I also have one brother and his wife whom we have maintained some semblance of a gift exchange for....ever.    So, now that money is tight again, I have decided through discussion with my family and a few others, to give up the whole gift exchange thing this year and hopefully do weird things like play with the games we already have, have a hymn sing or something, read books that we already have, enjoy the rest of the year with less stress and just give up the guilt.   We can NOT keep up with the whole 'have a zoo membership' AND have gifts for everyone at Christmas.   That is just one example.  

I spend SOOOO much time during the year cleaning up all the junk we acquire at Christmas and birthdays that there must be a radical change.   Wouldn't I rather spend the year actually doing nice things with my family instead of chasing all this crap around?   How many dolls, toys, etc. does one family need anyway?    It may be suggested by some that a zoo membership could be the gift of the year but even that has some strings attached to it so no, money will be spent on yummy food, making things together throughout the year and just enjoying each other....hopefully (!).    

Now to return to decluttering my house of all the stuff so I don't have to take care of it anymore and I don't have to look forward to getting more stuff in the future.   Enough already!  

Keeping track

Yesterday, for kicks and giggles, I looked up some calorie counting apps on the frivolous phone and found one that is both fun, guilt inducing and hilarious at least to me.   MyFitnessPal has a data base of over a million different foods, their calories and nutritional content.   You can plug in your weight loss goals, it keeps track of those and the balance of your exercise goals.   You can set reasonable goals for weight loss and exercise.   I was not having a stellar nutritional day so far so the dark chocolate and banana did not make for a great nutritional score board.  

So today I am going to hunt for a financial diet application.   I have the capability to indulge my hobbies too much at times so would like to have a place to report.   Then of course we can do weird things like make a budget and record our expenditures.   Meal planning has made a big difference in the grocery bill.   We have recorded expenses on a calendar before but have been horrible about keeping track of the general status of the check book and such.  

This all sounds very New Yearsy I realize but I have been stuck at the same weight forever and I have never been thrilled with our money spending accountability so here we go.   Onward.   I think I will go boil an egg.  I will leave the dark chocolate to the piranhas who are still sleeping and waiting for the next feeding frenzy.   

A recent article on money spending habits is probably not news to most of you but this concept of looking at your inner brat when it comes to money spending was a good reminder for me.   The article talked about how the author named their inner spending brat after someone they knew as a young person who acted like one.   Juanita wasn't a 'brat' as I don't like that word in reference to kids but......she was a little student who definitely liked her own way so my inner spending  brat will be Juanita.   My spending habits can surely be Juanitaish at times.   Actually too often.    So.....the silly FlyLady has me examining that aspect of my family life and management or lack thereof.    Trying to organize my book habit is daunting so perhaps I should finish reading what I have?    Discipline......is such a challenge.   Books are my biggest temptation next to a sale on cute kids clothes or even mommy clothes.   Hmmmmm.........not too good.    Here ends today's confession.   I will probably kick myself for yesterdays.......

Seminary Clothing Bank

I went a few years back with a friend to the Sem clothing bank and.....um.....yeah.....the childrens clothing  were nice and picked over and looked pretty sad.   In the process of thinning things out in Hornerdom, I always think of that visit and hope not to send yuck their way.   If it is my clothes, I carefully consider if I seriously will ever be that size again, in that season and picture an appreciative Sem wife with something decent to wear.   There are dresses which served during pregnancies when not too far along which went that way.   Childrens clothes.  Hmmm......I cut the reserves in half and hope someone was able to use something.  No.....it was not my sleeper on the Concordian Sister baby.   We get new clothes seemingly with every new baby one way or another and no baby could ever wear that many.   Now we are in the potential stage of downsizing in the clothing etc department so here is  hoping the bank can use more.   If it is yuck, it does not need to dry rot at the Sem.   I did think that some day it would be nice to go to garage sales and pick up decent church clothes etc to keep things fresh there.   I am grateful for how richly we have been supplied with what is needed and garage sales have rocked in this way too.   I honestly can not imagine being at the Sem and strapped for cash and managing.   Hopefully some Sem wife is not crying anymore on Sunday morning wishing for something decent to wear.  It wasn't me which provided it but God's gracious provision for this sinful group of Horners.   I just have always wanted my best cast offs to go to the Sem as I know what a wimp I am and it is pretty obvious why God found it best for me to marry an engineer.......I am just a wimp.    

Depression Era Cooking

We are exercising our creative muscle and simply looking around at what we have on hand in the pantry and then coming up with stuff to make out of it.   There have been some complaints about too many beans (Lol!) of any shape or form so today I am going to take the ham bone out of  the basement and make some potato soup out of it.   I should probably call it Colonist cooking as that is where we are in time in history.   A few kidlets will be sent out to hunt for potatoes.   Sounds like a plan.    We could also call it Economics, Health, Horticulture, Home Ec........desperation.......house keeping.......life.......

I am basically becoming more and more impressed by the lack of a need for cookbooks.    Experience in what works together just helps make the recipe out of my head.    It is the season to throw pumpkin in everything too so am remembering to just throw some in with each recipe.    No one knows the difference and it goes with almost everything.    Last night it jumped in our turkey pot pie, along with the leftover mashed potatoes and shazam!    Yum.    The more carrots the better too.   Perhaps it is orange vegetables which make this difference.   I laugh at recipes which call for 4 to 5 carrots.....um......why?????     Eat more orange stuff......

Poisonous Leftovers

What is it with leftovers that seems to turn my children's stomach?   THey can love and adore the fresh food  the evening before and then the next day will have nothing to do with it even when prodded to eat the same thing.    I have discovered the secret that mothers have searched high and low for, to get their children to eat the dreaded leftovers.     There are two parts to this secret.    The first part is to run out of bread, not make any or buy any, and then make no effort to remember it at the store.    What happens is they have to make something to eat.   But wait.....there is a second part to this relentless problem.   Even when we run out of bread, the kids will make themselves scrambled eggs instead.    Um.....no.....scrambled eggs, a dirty pan, eggs left on the counter and.....a refrigerator which is still the home of the poison.

So what is the secret?   I am sure you are dying to know.   I found the secret when I decided to make up a schedule for the kids which required them to each have a day to prepare lunch for everyone else.   What to do they asked themselves and me.    This is when it started to happen.   Each child, on their special day of lunch preparation, looked at me in disbelief when there was no bread.    I pointed out to them the meals which were already prepared for them and they discovered the amazing ease of heating them up and dishing them out.    There are far fewer leftovers now.   I am relieved.   The fridge is relieved and we spend less on bread.  

I know.....some of y'all do not have leftovers.   We do.   They are poison unless push comes to shove.   Now to just stick to my guns on this despite the BLT's we had the other night.   I personally am not a fan of sandwiches so the lack of bread is of no loss to me.   Evil mother......