If Someone Had Said...

• ...That I would be the Mom of five kids in ten years after getting married. I would have said,  "No Way! I only want to have at least three."
  
  However, God planned for me to have five and now with five, I would not change anything because I can not imagine life without them.
  
  
• ...That I would be homeschooling all of my kids through all of their school years. I would have said, "You have got to be kidding, I am just planning on getting them through their elementary years! I know that I have a bachelor's degree in teaching but I am terrible with English, esp. grammar, never took trigonometry, and definitely have not a clue about chemistry or physics!"
  
  However, God is working on my heart and I just may be teaching trigonometry in a year or two! My oldest is only 13 years old and is already doing Biology, Algebra 1 and reading college level books for enjoyment reading!
  
  
• ...That I would be dealing with a parent that has been diagnosed with dementia. I would have said, "No Way! My parents are in relatively good health, aside from being diabetic, they will grow old with all of their mental capabilities!"
  
  However, God has a different plan!  In the last six months, my mom has been diagnosed with progressive dementia.  Before the diagnosis, an outsider looking in would have thought that my mom "wore the pants" in the family.  She did all the bill paying, cooking, managing the household while my dad worked his blue collar job in the auto parts factory.  Now looking in one would find my dad, now retired, struggling and stressing to take care of my mom and everything that she once did with ease.  Also now one will find that I have become their power of attorney and come into their house once a week to help my dad by doing some grocery shopping so there is food in the house, taking care of their finances by paying bills and making calls to companies who are looking for their money to let them know the circumstances and figure out a way for my parents to pay their bills without too much in penalties.
  
  
• ...That after fourteen years of marriage, I would be dealing with a "bombshell" of emotions surrounding my hubby's humble confession of an addiction to lust/p*rn.   I would have said, "How can that be? I married a Christian man with strong values.  You must be wrong!"
  
  However, God showed me that my husband is human and has struggles just like me!  Granted, I have been a naive in my thinking that my husband would have these kind of struggles because I never heard or saw my Dad have this struggle so I just figured that my husband would be just like my Dad. Boy! am I wrong!  God is working on my heart and showing me that forgiveness needs to be part of my story everyday!  God is showing me that my marriage is something that takes work and is worth fighting for against an Enemy that would rather destroy it.

It is so amazing to know that God has planned out our life!  He did that even before we were even known to the world (Psalm 139).  God knows exactly what you and I are going through right now and He knows what troubles or triumphs we will face tomorrow or next week!

Praying today for those of us that are facing troubles that we just don't know if we will make it through them.

Praying today for those of us that really need to feel the presence of God in our lives as we go through the troubles of the day.

Praising God with you for the troubles in our lives we have conquered today with His help!

Praising God today for the all the triumphs in our lives!  Isn't it great that we have another day of life to celebrate!?

...and there you have just a glimpse into my thoughts today!!

Menu Plan Monday 1/24-1/30

It was another week of success with menu planning!  I made it through the week without too much difficulty.   It is amazing me that doing something so simple like menu planning can actually reduce the stress that I feel on daily basis in keeping the household going smoothly.

Not much in the way of grocery shopping this week, however, I did do more shopping than just getting milk and a few perishables like I was originally hoping for this time around.  As for shopping during this week, well I am nineteen cents over my monthly grocery budget so I am going to just get my WIC this week and call it a week.  I have everything on hand for meals and snacks this week so I should be set in the food “department”.

This week’s meals are family favorite meals using what I have on hand in my pantry and freezer.  Thankfully, there isn’t too much going on this week!  The weather has been nice with above normal temperatures for January (meaning above 32°) however, this week we are going downhill in temperatures where we will only be in the teens for highs so back to reality in the Midwest USA!

This week’s lunches that are listed below are for the kids and me! Unless we are having leftovers, our lunches are served with apple slices or carrot sticks along with fruit juice or water.  Hubby usually takes a dinner leftover along with various snacks for his work lunch so I don’t take the time to really plan his lunches. I just take the next container of leftovers in the stack in the fridge that I have prepared ahead of time.

A special thanks to Laura-Organizing Junkie for hosting Menu Plan Monday! Need help with your menus; go check the over 300 other delicious meal plans that have been linked at Laura-Organizing Junkie's site or look down in my right sidebar for my menu suggestion lists!

Sunday (1-24)

Breakfast: eggs, sausage & bacon, hash browns, and cinnamon rolls

Lunch: pizza & pizza rolls

Dinner:  Wendy's (after church)

Snack: snack basket

Monday (1-25)

Breakfast: cereal and donuts

Lunch: homemade TV dinners

Dinner:  smothered chicken served with boiled potatoes and corn and crescent rolls

Snack: snack basket

Tuesday (1-26)

Breakfast:  waffles and sausage

Lunch: sandwiches & chips

Dinner: roast, carrots and potatoes served with biscuits

Snack: snack basket

Wednesday (1-27)

Breakfast:  bagels and cereal

Lunch: sandwich & soup

Dinner:  Chili served over rice and corn muffins as a side

Snack: snack basket

Thursday (1-28)

Breakfast:  French Toast and sausage

Lunch: sandwiches & chips

Dinner:  chicken gravy served with rice, green beans

Snack: snack basket

Friday (1-29)

Breakfast:  cereal and toaster strudel

Lunch: pizza rolls

Dinner:  burgers served with French Fries and fresh carrot sticks

Snack: ice cream night

Saturday (1-30)

Breakfast:  Your Choice

Lunch: ????

Dinner: saucy pork chops served with rice and green peas

Snack: popcorn

Singing Sunday

The Love of God
by MercyMe


The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell
It goes beyond the highest star
And reaches to the lowest hell
The guilty pair, bowed down with care
God gave His Son to win
His erring child He reconciled
And pardoned from his sin

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies of parchment made
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man a scribe by trade

To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky

Hallelujah
Hallelujah 
Hallelujah 

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints' and angels' song

Weekly Shopping Trip--Savings $27.67

Time to be real... I know I have a goal for this year  that I am going to work at only going to the store twice in a month and I am going to lose the "weekly" trips! Well, I didn't stay out of the store this week like I had truly hope to do.  As I was working at thinking through menus for next week, I was finding that I was short on several items to make it through until payday(January 31st).  Looking at my receipts I think there is really one thing that I didn't need to get but couldn't resist because of a good deal.  That one thing would be Sara Lee cheesecake bites, I grab a couple of containers for hubby and I to have some for our date nights. They make for a cheap dessert for two rather than picking up something at the restaurant.

On the bright side of this though, I was tallying my monthly spending for my grocery budget, which includes food and non-food essentials(like paper products, cleaners, HBC) and found that I am only 19¢ over my monthly budget of $600.  I need to get milk this week but I have WIC for my youngest to use for the milk.   So I don't think I did too bad for the first month of the year sticking to my budget!  Now if I can just work at reducing my grocery shopping trips I will be set.

Here is a breakdown of the items I purchased this week:

Family Fare: 

• 2 containers Sara Lee cheesecake bites $4.98
• 3 cans Old Orchard frozen juice concentrate $4.00
• 1 pkg flour tortillas $1.00
• .61 lbs Round Sirloin Tip Breakfast steak $2.13(manager's markdown)
• 1 pkg. english muffins $1.00
• 2 pkgs Eckrich smoky links $4.00
• 3 bottles(64oz) apple juice $5.00

Total OOP: $22.11

Total Savings: $9.30

Total without sales & coupons: $31.41

Save A Lot: 

• 2 cans beef broth $1.26
• 7 cans cream of chicken soup $4.13
• 2 cans light kidney beans $1.18
• 1 box onion soup mix 69¢
• 10 lbs potatoes $1.79

Total OOP: $9.05

Meijer: 

• 3 gallons milk $6.87
• 1/2 gallon buttermilk $2.39
• 2 pkgs jello $1.00
• 8 pkgs pudding mix $4.00
• 2 bottles(64 oz) Meijer genuine juice $4.00

Total OOP (after using a total of $8.00 Catalina coupons off next shopping order): $10.26

Total Savings: $14.30

Total without sales & coupons: $24.56

Wooopss! I thought I was under $50 for the week and then realized I forgot to add in the meat I purchased!
Duthler's:

• 4.07 lbs cube steak $12.17

Total OOP: $12.17

Total Savings: $4.07

Total without sales: 16.24

Grand Total OOP: $53.59

Grand Total Savings: $27.67 plus the savings from shopping at Save A Lot!

Grand Total without sales & coupons: $81.26

This post is linked to: 

• Coupon Super Savers at Coupon Saving Game!
• Super Savings Saturday at MoneySavingMom!
• Shopping Round Up at The Grocery Cart Challenge!

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

I picked up the 30 Day Gourmet Cookbook from the library and have been looking through it and finding yummy recipes.  Even though I haven't taken to freezing any of the main dish recipes yet, I have throughly enjoyed finding new ideas to use with some old favorites.

One of the recipes that I have tried is Parmesan Crusted Tilapia.  Not only did I use the seasoned bread crumbs with tilapia but with some shrimp.
These were easy to make and yummy!

 

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

1 lb frozen tilapia filets (or 1 lb shrimp)
1/3 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. dried basil

3 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
3 tbsp. mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

Thaw. Drain any liquids from the fish. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. In a shallow container thoroughly mix butter and mayonnaise until combined. Stir in seasoning mix until combined. Place crumb mixture in another shallow container. Coat fish/shrimp on both sides with butter/mayonnaise mixture then dip one piece at a time in the crumbs flipping over to coat both sides. Place fish/shrimp on baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until fish easily flakes when touched with a fork.

Notes: Instead of using the butter/mayonnaise mixture, you can use 1 beaten egg with 1-2 tsp. water added to dip the fish or shrimp. Also for the shrimp, instead of baking in the oven, I put 1-2 tbsp. olive oil in a skillet and fried them on the stovetop.  Also if you don't have use italian seasoned bread crumbs, use plain bread crumbs and add 2 tsp. italian seasoning to the plain bread crumbs.

This post is linked to:

• Food On Fridays at Ann Kroeker’s!
• Recipe Swap at The Grocery Cart Challenge!
• Friday Feasts at Mom Trends!
• Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum!