Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Snow day, budgets, dog treats, Revenge, and butter. My life is so interesting.

|| Today was a snow day! A fun and perfectly timed snow day, as I have a bit of a cold and was supposed to have a Chemistry test this morning that I did not study enough for. My college has only had 3 or 4 snow days in the past 10 years, so this is quite a treat. It also means that my adventurous husband it skiing fast down a snowy mountain and will eventually have to drive down a steep icy mountain so I'm hoping he stays safe today. Our Subaru is quite a badass in the snow, so I'm not too worried.

So far today I haven't done too much. I've finished up a post about eating paleo that I will post in a day or two, read a gazillion blogs that have lit a fire of inspiration in me, and sat in front of my heater drinking fresh juice and health tonic in the hopes that I will recover from this cold. This is by far the easiest cold I've ever had, so things are looking good!

|| One of the blogs that inspired me the most was Northwest Edible Life and how her family did a 'no-spend' month. Vince and I are pretty good about being frugal, but the past month or two have gotten out of hand, grocery-budget wise. We are such food people and love making delicious breakfasts, lunches and dinners regardless of whether or not things are on sale. We buy ingredients that we are in the mood for. I think in March we need to crack down, meal plan again and write up a grocery budget. Also, I want to do some more homemade things for Roxanne, specifically dog treats. The chicken jerky we used to buy her that was literally just dried chicken and nothing else added was suddenly pulled from all the shelves, and we're left with the Dogswell Vitality brand. It's about $16 for a 15 ounce bag, and a bag lasts us about two weeks. It is from cage-free chickens but they are made in China, so I'm not sure how reliable that is. Instead I'm going to try some dog treats, like dried sweet potatoes, meat balls of some sort with pureed veggies, and drying my own meat in the oven. (Although not the organic meat I buy! Sorry dog, we can't afford that.) I'll let you know how that goes, and if you have any recommendations, let me know!

|| New favorite snack of sorts: mashed banana, raw cream, dried coconut flakes, and pumpkin spice. Holy hell.

|| I started watching Revenge two nights ago and it's sooooo good. So many people have recommended it and said that the first few episodes are kind of cheesy, but I think they've been amazing so far and have to contain myself from watching all of them today. Have you started it? If not, it's streaming on Netflix and if you have it, you totally should.

|| Working out is so awesome. I sound annoying, I know, but it is. I've been going a minimum of five days a week and try for six and I'm still so pumped about it. It's so exciting to be putting my hair up in the morning and realize that my arms? HAVE MUSCLES. I signed up for a weight lifting class that is every Saturday in March, and I can't wait for it to start! The other day I didn't have time to get to the gym but still wanted to do a workout, so I pulled up a yoga video on youtube. I haven't done yoga in a long time so it was a nice reminder that I can get a workout in without going to the gym and also that my body felt wonderful afterwards. There is a yoga class offered at my gym so I might try that out to see how I like it since structured classes work better for me most of the time.

|| Sneak peek at some upcoming posts regarding homemade toothpaste, deodorant, and raw butter!


|| Now I'm off to make some paleo lemon poppyseed tea buscuits, but with orange instead of lemon!

12 comments:

  1. Lemon and poppyseed is a combination -to die for-. Seriously. I had to be physically prevented from scoffing the muffins I made >.< Sounds like you've got lots of exciting things coming up, can't wait to hear about them all!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If I had lemons at the house, I would definitely be making lemon poppyseed ones! After you posted about your muffins I bought some poppyseeds and am excited to use them now!

      Delete
    2. I had lemons not oranges! Dur. So good.

      Delete
  2. I'm am obsessed with Revenge - so good!! Hope you feel better soon :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. If I were rich I'd basically pay you to cook everything for me. LOL. I love that you're going to try the no-spend thign!! I'm lucky I live with a family who only buys/eats organic food, and Swedes don't eat nearly as much meat as Americans, so it's more of a vegeterian paleo than anything else....but still, it would be interesting to try a month of cracking down (too hard for them to do with two small children, lol) on finances.

    Please just transfer your love of cooking paleo to me now. kthx. Also get well soon!!!! This is the sickest I've seen the world, EVERYBODY here and there are walking buckets of bacteria.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wish everyone were rich and I could just cook for them! Haha I'd so love to get paid to cook.

      Our main problem is that we eat everything organic as well, and we eat a lot of it! We eat mostly veggies and they are so expensive here. (Honestly, it'd be cheaper to eat more meat, even if it's the grass-fed stuff because veggies cost so much!) I think once we start making kombucha at home instead of paying 2.50 a bottle our bill will shoot down! haha

      And YES. Everyone around me is sick! I was all self conscious about sniffling my runny nose in class today until I realize that almost everyone around me was sniffling too!

      Delete
  4. I got one of those snow days! I remember going into an hour-long class when flurries were starting and coming out to snow almost up to my knees! The next day was the day the entire city shut down and it was so exciting!
    I do menu planning now too and it's actually really weird to me to imagine ever going back. I spend probably half as much on groceries and nothing ever goes bad this way!
    Yay, so glad you're liking Revenge! I love it so much and I can't wait for the second season to come out on DVD so I can finish it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think I've had a snow day until this week! I remember when the city shut down though and I was working at the library. I was so pissed because I waited at the bus stop for over an hour, walked a mile in the snow on unshoveled sidewalks, worked for an hour, then the city decided to close everything. As if they couldn't have closed 2 hours previously! So dumb yet kind of exciting haha

      I hope I get your attitude for meal planning! We never really waste anything because we just juice it if it's close to going bad, but it'd be nice to have to NOT do that!

      I don't want to keep watching Revenge because I don't want it to end! haha

      Delete
    2. Ha ha, Ryan worked for the bus company at that time as maintenance and security at the bus stops. He got yelled at all day long for the buses not running!

      Delete
  5. I am so excited to hear about your homemade toothpaste. I have a friend that makes her own tooth powder (rather than a paste) and I am waiting on her recipe. I'm also excited to hear about your deodorant. The recipe I was using made a really awful texture that I couldn't get over, and it made weird stains on all my clothes. Now I just rub a bit of coconut oil on my pits, followed by a bit of baking soda. It seems to do the job.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yay, I'm glad you're excited! I love all of the products I've made so far. I had problems with a couple deodorant recipes too but love mine now. I'll be sure to share them soon!

      Delete