Plan B

No, this post isn't about some form of birth control--although, YEAY for birth control products. Can I get an AMEN! Anyway, this is about our new life path or direction we're taking life or whatnot. We have taken our home off the market and are here to stay for a while longer. We had 2 homes sell in the neighborhood WAY undervalue, and decided that waiting for a warmer market, and a warmer climate...wasn't something we wanted to do with a for sale sign in the front yard. Our realtor, the amazing Stacey(roo) Bowman, of course sided with us on our decision, because she loves me and didn't want me to have a nervous breakdown, and was gracious about our taking the home off the market. I love that she isn't pushy and always supports us.
So now what does life have in store for us? Well, this semester Chris has 9 credits. Last semester he had 3. HOLD ON FOLKS....BUMPY ROAD AHEAD. One class is online, and one is at Weber State Campus. This means...Deb's workout gets bumped to 6am Mondays and Thursdays...and Chris gets to be gone from 8am-8pm M-F (theoretically) He uses about 5:30-7:30 for study time in the evening and comes home to play with the kids about 45 minutes and then help me get them into bed. What other changes? Well, we have felt very strongly that we need to get a food storage system going. Up until this week, our storage consisted of about 100 lbs of oatmeal and 2 cases of beets. Don't you hope you're our neighbor when things get tough. I know. Well, we received a very generous amount of cash as a Christmas gift from Chris's parents. We usually split the cash and have fun with it or put it to debt. This year, we dedicated it to building up a 6 month non-perishable food supply. I may have gone a *bit* overboard...but we'll see. Caselots usually begin in the spring, but this year...they started in the bitter cold of January. With the guidance of my sister-in-law Hilary, Angie, Katherine and Mary I set out to 3 different stores to stock up. Tonight--I am proud to report that we are good to go on beans, corn, cream of chicken, flour, sugar, rice, tomato soup (a favorite of ava), mac-n-cheese, kidney and pinto beans. And can I interject here for a moment and say WHY ARE PINTO BEANS SO FREAKIN EXPENSIVE? I'd like an answer if anyone has one. They aren't tasty. I mean...as far as beans go I guess they'd be my 1st choice, but really? I also scored some quality toilet paper and a really great price. I don't mind doing generic on a lot of things in life...but somethings I won't comprimise on, and the quality of the TP is one. Just sayin. I am wishing I had more freezer space to store Orange Juice, because Macy's has it for 88 cents a can. We got through a can a day here when we are feelin the need for OJ. We have a passionate love/hate with the OJ. Right now, we're LOVING it.
Another part of plan B is for home cookin. Subway, Mcdonalds, etc you're on the alone train to ALONEVILLE boarding at WEST BWEAKIN UP WIF YOU! (homestar love!) Don't be surprised if you get phone calls from me asking for ideas of what's for dinner tonight or if this weeks' price of chicken is a good deal. I have limited cooking experience. My 'cooking' skills are about a 6 or 7, whereas my baking ......is at a like 3 or 4. Let's just say I was almost 17 before I made my first batch of edible cookies...and I'd been attempting from the age of 11. I can kind of make chocolate chip cookies, and that's where the success with baking ends. Chris got me a lovely bread maker last year for Christmas after I begged for one and promised daily homemade loaves of bread. I made probably 5 loaves of french bread, and quit. LAME! So I plan to put the 50lbs of Flour and Sugar I just bought to good use this year. Pray for my family's health through this new phase of our lives.
Since we were planning for Chris to take a leave of absense, the Health Insurance is now coming out of my paycheck. We also decided that my check will now go to an entirely different bank and bank account and every 4 months, we will throw a chunk of money at a debt. First stop? May 7th (my b-day!) paying off our Saturn Vue. Let us pray that May 7 does not also become the day the car dies. It's ok if she dies on my birthday....as long as it's my 30th or later. This will be the first time we'll ever have lived soley on Chris's income. STUPID that we haven't done that all along, but hey...we're stepping off the stupid bus, and boarding ...the smart bus. clearly it's late and my brain is done processing for the time being. It's 11:23pm and I have an 8am workout. 8am. January. I must really loathe myself to go outside in temperatures below freezing.