A Rant on Food

Ok... As you read this, please keep in mind that I am NOT losing my mind, I am just a bit overwhelmed with life and please, please, please don't throw tomatoes at me or stop reading my blog. PLEASE. Also, if you haven't had a chance, take a look and please take part in my 300th giveaway!

Here I go... I am very interested in all the things and opinions on food and nutrition. I have really taken to the whole foods, traditional foods, Weston A. Price, Nourishing Traditions type philosophy about food.

There are so many awesome resources and ideas and blogs out there that deal with foods. Now I have got to be honest, I am struggling when it comes to whole foods the whole time.

I get very overwhelmed if I am busy that morning, look up at the clock and it is lunch time. What am I going to feed my kids?! I know most of you might be saying.. "Peanut butter and jelly, you idiot!" but it's just not that easy for me. My kids have different food allergies and honestly, I get overwhelmed and I shut down. The "simple" answer is often lost to me.

Therefore, I get into this horrible pattern. It goes a little something like this... (This is the conversation in my mind..) "I have NO idea what I am going to make the kids for lunch. It's already past lunch time!" --> "I live a block from 14 different resteraunts, let's just go grab something quick." --> "Tomorrow will be different. I will figure something out tomorrow." I get home, get the kids sat down and we eat the food. I hate how it tastes, but at this point I am so emotionally, metally and physically tired that I just sit in blessed "I didn't have to make lunch" solitude. After a while, it hits me. It hits me that I took part in the dreaded what it takes out and puts in cycle. I took valuable money OUT of my purse and spent our valuable money on putting IN crappy foods in our body. I then begin mentally beating myself down. Do I not care about my heath, my family's health, my wanting a baby? Do I care more about not cooking and being tired more than my family?

On and on it goes... Let me tell you my friends... I am done. I am done with this  vicious cycle of being stressed and overwhelmed about our foods.

I. am. done.!

 I am not going to stress over wheat gluten or not being able to get pregnant due to eating bread (which I was this morning! stressing, totally stressing like crazy over it!).

I am not going to stress over whether my children can eat a peice of cake made from a box for their birthday.

I am not going to stress over feeding them chicken nuggets from a bag or hot dogs once in  a great while (it's got to better than running to a resteraunt for Pete's sake!).

I am not stressing over this anymore. I am going to continue to put the best foods and most natural, whole and nutritional foods into my family but I am not stressing anymore.

I can tell you one thing... If this keeps up, my husband won't have to worry about what he and the kids are eating, he's going to have to worry about finding another wife because I tell you, I am going to have a stroke from high blood pressure due to worrying about what we are eating!

Ok. I am done. Please don't hate me and please don't send hate mail and hate comments. I hope y'all still love me and my crazy psychoness! :)

More ideas of what works for more sane people than me.. click here!

Gratituesday: Just What I Needed

If you haven't had a chance yet, click here for an awesome giveaway opportunity!
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This past weekend was just what I needed. It was relaxing... It was resting... It was a total gift from God.

Friday night, we went over to a game night at a friend's home. It is not normally something we would do but we decided to go anyway. Early that day when I found out this event was happening, I contacted my cousin and she was available to watch our kids ( I am totally weird about who watches my kids but that is a whole different post!).

I fed the kids and Catie came in. Andy and I snuck (is that a word?) off for a dinner date at Panera Bread. We sat and we chatted. We relaxed. And most important, we got on the same page. It was great!

We then went to the game night. It was a lot of fun. We enjoyed getting to meet knew people and play games. We stayed for a while and then headed home. We came home to an quiet house. The boys were asleep!

After a good night's sleep, we all got up gradually and had a yummy huge breakfast. This was the first Saturday in a while that we didn't have to rush off to basketball. After lounging around, we ran a few errands. We decided to have my aunt and uncle over for dinner to eat, play games and let our boys watch the Kids Choice Awards together. Once again, another great evening!

Sunday morning we went to church and praised and worshipped. It was a great service. After, we went to my Grandmother's for family lunch and then home for Sunday rest time.

That evening we went to see the African Children's Choir at our church. It was a great experience! The boys loved and it, as well as Andy and I! Then we went home and had dinner and began to prepare for the week.

God's love and His attention in the details is just amazing to me. He knew the relaxation and rest that I needed and He provided.

We are truly blessed and grateful around here! Have a story of gratitude or just want to read more -- click here!

menu plan Monday

If you haven't had a chance to check it out.... Click here for an AWESOME giveaway!

I was truly blessed this weekend. I have had one of the best weekends that I can remember. I cannot wait to tell y'all about it Tuesday!

For now I have a menu for you!

Monday: hamburgers, oven fries, fried apples

Tuesday: French toast, sausage

Wednesday: homemade pizza, carrot sticks

Thursday: chicken alfredo, salad

Friday: soup, grilled cheeses

Saturday: chicken and dumplings, green beans

For more great menu ideas click here!

Frugal Friday: Groups

If you haven't checked it out yet, I am having an awesome giveaway in honor of my 300ish post! Take a look and take the time to enter!

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photo : Riley Children's Hospital

Have you found a local women's or mom's group? Do you have a play group?

It took my FOREVER to finally take the plunge into groups. I am ALWAYS worried about joining them. I am always wondering if .... I'll get everything that needed to be done, done. Will my kids behave? Will the other kids treat them nice or like them? I have some quirky parenting ideas and some not so popular interests... Will the other moms like me?

A few weeks ago, my friend, Kelly, invited me to a women's group. I was so nervous, but then decided to go. The night of the women's group, Kelly invited me to her play group the next morning. Once again, I was nervous but still went. I had an awesome time! I even met some great ladies (Take a look at Janelle's blog! She is one of the encouraging women I met! She is an inspiration and EVEN a rock climber! Can you say "wow!"?)  and learned that some of the SAHM struggles I am dealing with really aren't as far out crazy as I had thought.

In the past couple of weeks, the groups I have began taking part in have gradually taken over the trips to Targer that I took out of boredom and just wanting to get out of the house. And guess what! When you don't go to Target, you DON'T SPEND MONEY! Isn't that just a novel idea?!?

Take a look around  your area. Are you in a mom's group or women's group? If not, I encourage you to find one. Most groups are free or minimal cost and they save a ton of money by taking your time away from Target!

For more money saving advice visit Frugal Fridays over at Life as Mom.

Around my 300th!

300 POSTS!

That is just unbelieveable to me... I have written 300 (ish!) posts! AND.... Many of you have read my 300 posts!

I have lots of things to share with you all but I wanted this to be an upbeat and not so serious post, therefore I wanted to throw a few things out there!

I wrote 150 things about myself a while back and TRUST ME, that was something else! Therefore, I will not try to attempt that again!

So instead of writing a list of crazy facts about myself, I am going to give y'all a chance to ask ME the questions and I will answer them. I think this could be a lot of fun! AND I am also doing another giveaway!

I started an Etsy business and I love to crochet dish clothes/wash clothes, so let's give them away!

Here's what they look like:

If you want to check out the details, here is my Etsy page. Take a look! Also, when I contact you to let you know you have won, we can discuss your color choice!

Now I haven't decided how many I am going to give away yet so enter as many chances as you can! (Please leave me a comment with each thing  you do.) Here's how!!

1. 
   
   Write me a comment welcoming me back to the wonderful world of blogging!
2. 
   
   Go to my Etsy site and tell me what you like, what suggestions you have, or just well... Go! :)
3. 
   
   Follow One Blessed Mama.
4. 
   
   Follow me on Facebook.
5. 
   
   Follow me on Twitter.
6. 
   
   Tweet and/or Facebook about the giveaway.
7. 
   
   Post on your blog about it!
8. 
   
   AND here's the biggest one... For every friend you get to come and check out my blog, if they visit and comment (with a comment that they found my site from yours), or do ANY of the above from learning about this from you, you will get an extra entry with every entry they do! (WOW! Does that make sense?!?)

So let me reiterate... I have NO idea how many I am giving away so enter as many times as you can! I know you want to!!!

On your marks... Get set! BLOG!!!

Oh... and you have until TAX DAY to enter... April 15th, right?!? :S

I feel...

like an extremely bad friend.

Times are tough around here (I am certain every where) and, honestly blogging is coming up last.

My apologies friends. I pray and hope to be back very soon.

Much love and prayers...

Menu Plan: March 14-20

I am getting back in the eating at home saddle. It's for sure now! I have a story and I will be sharing soon. Eat at home. It's better for you!

Sunday: eat with my parents

Monday:
applesauce bread
LO nuggets, salad
chicken alfredo, green beans

Tuesday:
applesauce bread
grilled cheese, tomato soup
cheesey beef and rice, broccoli

Wednesday (St. Patty's Day!):
big breakfast cookies
LO cheesey beef and rice
Irish stew and beer bread

Thursday:
baked oatmeal
LO Irish stew
soup, salad

Friday:
LO breakfast foods
creamy macaroni and cheese, green beans
egg burrito casserole, fruit

Saturday:
Daddy's in charge (Mommy- "Lifted" Prayer Breakfast)
chicken salad, fruit
chicken noodles, mashed potatoes, green beans

Preparing to Prepare

Preparing to prepare... Sounds a little crazy doesn't it?

Well it is a little crazy... because... I'm a little crazy!

First things first...

I always look into buying seeds and plants first thing. I have got to be comepletely honest with you... It took me a LONG time to be able to grow plants which actually lived and produced fruits... A. Really. Long. Time.

So here are a few questions/suggestions when preparing to buy seeds or plants:

• What kind of climate is your garden going to be in? Is it sunny or maybe shady? Is the area where you are going to put your garden the collector of rain water and will flood out? Where is the best part of your yard to garden or plant?
• Are you a lot like me and really wanted to start plants from seeds but they always died? I wasted a TON of money on seed before I realized that I just needed to master on type of seed at a time. I wasn't a "green thumb" so I had to recognize and not overwhelm or set myself up for failing.
• What kind of seeds do you want? For our family, non-GMO seeds are VERY important to us. We like to know that our food is in it's most natural state. We buy our seeds from Baker's seeds.
• How much do you have budget for gardening? Every year, I do a gardening budget. I like to make sure that growing our own food isn't going to break the bank. It is also nice to see how much you spent compared to how much you saved. It is also important to remember how nice it is in the winter time when you don't have to leave your house if you don't want to because food is already available. So keep track of what you spend in seeds and time.
• READ, READ, READ! There are tons of reviews and sources our there. Read up on plants and planting times.
• Finally, how much time and attention are the plants going to take? If you are a busy person who works a ton of hours and barely has time to take a shower, you are probably not going to want a big garden. Maybe look into container gardening or raised bed gardening.

The challenge for this week is to think about and research what size and type of garden you want and if you want to try and start plants from seeds. Then, look into what seeds you are interested in. Come back Wednesday for the next step I take in preparing to prepare!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Do you know what I am actually good at and REALLY enjoy? Gardening and perserving our food through the summer.

It's hard to believe that it is time to start prepping already, but it is!

I am going to spend a lot of time bringing you ideas that have helped me in various areas of my adventure in gardening and being a good steward of what the Lord gives us from it.

Join me in discussing these five areas:

Preparing: Your home, Your kitchen and Your garden for the planting.

Gardening: All the tips and tricks I have learned.

Harvesting: What's worked for me and my family?

Giving: In my personal opinion, the most important part of the garden.

Preserving: We are going to be trying some new things as well as sharing same old family tricks and secrets.

Come on back and learn some of the joys and defeats of growing your own food!

Dear Poor Neglected Readers:

Dear Poor Neglected Readers:

I am writing to let you know that next week I am back in action! Oh, how I've missed you and your support. Thank you for giving me time to feel and to grieve and meditate. You are the best!

Next week I am going to spend time opening my newly done and updated "Homemaking Binder" aka Mama's Brain in a Binder. I know... Hold down the excitement over there is New York! You have to wait until Monday...

Happy weekend to you!

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Philippians 1:6