More fun at the pool

Last Friday Lydia and I were invited to go swimming at Ben's boss' house. The office where Ben works is actually in the basement of the house, so Ben was able to come swimming for a little bit with us on his lunch break. We didn't get to swim for very long , since Lydia was getting tired and practically falling asleep in the floaty, but we had a good time. Incidentally, I was very meticulous about putting sun screen all over the both of us, except I missed the spot in between my double straps so I have a sunburned "X" on my back. Hee hee!

Ben's boss' wife, Jill

A Birthday Party!

Last Saturday, one of Lydia's "friends" turned a year old and we were invited to a birthday party! Lydia wasn't too sure what exactly was going on, but she had fun watching everyone. Also we got some good pictures :)

Lydia sitting with daddy; the birthday boy eating cake

Lydia's hair curling in the humidity.

Sitting with daddy, wearing the fun birthday hat!

Fist ... yummy ... better than cake ;)

All the moms with their kids

Look everyone, I still have blue eyes!

Lydia gave Joshua some foam letters for the bathtub

Happy girl!!

Buy me some peanuts and craaaaacker-jacks!

Last week Ben and I had the amazing opportunity to attend a Braves' game. One of our friends had tickets but got sick last minute so he gave us his tickets. My in-laws were available to take Lydia, so we were very fortunate to be able to go. It's always fun to have a date with my hubby, but it's become especially precious to have that time since the baby was born. A night out comes few and far between for these new parents! It was hot, humid, sticky, and very very fun. It did rain a little bit, but we were under the upper pavilion so we didn't get wet. The trade-off, however, was that there was NO breeze. The Braves won 1-0, and it was very exciting! On the way home we stopped at my favorite ice cream place, Zesto, and I got my favorite chocolate-vanilla soft-serve twist. Mmmmm yummy!

Our view of the field

Atlanta's ace, Tim Hudson, more affectionately known as "Huddy" around our house.

Right-fielder and rookie Jason Heyward, "J Hey", as we like to call him :)

This is what I get when I ask my husband to take a picture. Instead of letting him take a picture of me objecting to the picture, I decided to make a ridiculous face instead.

Ok that's a little better!

Friday night fireworks!

On being frugal ...

For some, being frugal is a necessity; for others, it is a choice. For me, it's both. After going from two incomes to one income after Lydia was born, it wasn't too hard to pare down the budget. Most of what I was making at my job we were using to pay off my car, which we did in March. Since then, we're debt free, other than our mortgage and my student loans ... ugh ... Since I'm the one that does all the shopping at my house, I'm also the one that sets the budget. This works out pretty well since I'm definitely not a spendthrift! I guess that comes from my heritage of second-hand store clothing and layaway. With the advent of summer and after receiving our first electric bill, I started to feel a little uneasy about my budget. I looked it over and sighed at all the non-negotiables: mortgage, student loan payments, utility bills, taxes, and health insurance (big ugh!), and I started to wonder where I could possibly cut back. Then I looked at my grocery budget. I had always thought of my grocery budget as a little bit sacrosanct. I love to cook, and have both a fascination and an obsession with trying new recipes. My grocery budget was always a little generous, so that I could afford to buy all those ingredients to make that special dish, or just whatever looked good at the store. I had no interest in alternating between pasta or rice and beans every day. However, with an open mind, I sat down and read through several books from the library and came out of the experience surprisingly energized and confident about being able to cut back on my grocery expenses. For starters, I have set a goal to reduce my grocery spending by about 15-20% this month without sacrificing nutrition, and so far I'm doing pretty well. In order to accomplish this, I have several smaller rules for myself that I'm trying to abide by. Here are some of them.

1. Stop throwing away food. When I really thought about it, I couldn't believe how much food I was throwing away! Leftovers, rotten produce, etc. Now, I do my best to eat all my leftovers, even if I have to make them into leftover soup. Also, I've stopped buying all sorts of produce, just to have it on hand. If I'm not going to use green onions in more than one recipe, I don't buy them until I can plan for at least 2 recipes that week that require them.

2. PLAN PLAN PLAN. This goes hand in hand with rule #1. Gotta have a menu for the week, and gotta try to use items that I buy in more than one recipe.

3. Go meatless 1-2 times per week. Not only will this save money, but everyone could use a little less meat on their plate.

4. Beans, beans, everywhere! I've resolved to use beans at least once a week. Not only are they cheap, but they are high in protein and fiber!

5. Make it yourself. I'm trying really hard to avoid processed foods. I never bought a lot anyway, but now I have even more incentive to make things from scratch, especially snacks. I've been making my own granola bars and muffins, and also plan to cut my own carrot sticks and string cheese. Bottom line: when it's already cut or comes in a small package, you're paying a premium for it. Obviously this is time consuming and may not work for every schedule. But for myself, I'm making it work because I want to save money.

6. Batch cooking. This idea struck me as a huge "duh" when I thought about it. If I'm going to cook something that I know we like, why not double the recipe and freeze the rest for another meal? Tacos, meatloaf, casseroles ... the possibilities are endless. Cook it once, eat it twice. That's my new motto.

7. Be a savvy shopper. In order to be a savvy shopper, you have to know your prices. Recently I started a price book which has helped tremendously. I went to the cheapest store around, Aldi (LOVE that store), and wrote down the prices on the stuff I normally buy. Then I know when something is really a good deal elsewhere. For example, I've concluded that with a few notable exceptions, it is almost never a better deal to buy something at Sam's Club, than to buy the generic brand at Aldi or Walmart. Another dirty secret about buying in bulk: sometimes buying in bulk means that you consume in bulk. Think about it next time you're shredding that cheese you bought in bulk. Do you shred extra just because you have a whole block of it? I was a bit guilty to realize that I do that. It's that "oh hey, well I have a whole bunch of this so I'll just throw in a bit extra" attitude. And let me say this about coupons: I use them, occasionally. But I get my coupons for free (courtesy of my mother-in-law), and I only use them on things I would already buy and typically in conjunction with a sale. Publix loses money on me when I use my coupons. Thank you Couponmom.com! Luckily I live in an area when stores are close together and I can go to multiple stores on a weekly basis. If your stores are far away from each other and you, you might not have this luxury.

So, you might be thinking that this seems like a huge hassle. Why do I do this, all to save $50-$75 a month. First of all, in my budget, that's huge. Not to mention, when I save that money it's still mine at the end of the month. I can do whatever I want with it! I love that feeling of power and accomplishment, knowing that with just a little bit of extra effort, I can have some extra cash to put into my savings account, buy a couple of things we've been needing, or just put it away for a family vacation. That's why I say that being frugal is both a necessity and a choice for me. I thought I would be sad when I decided to cut down on my grocery budget, but the truth is, it's just a new challenge for me and so far, I'm enjoying it.

Finding the time

How do you find the time to do everything? As a new mom I have struggled to find the answer and honestly, I'm still looking! I guess it probably all comes down to prioritization, but I just want to get it all done. Here is a list of some of the things I am currently working on or wishing I had time for:

*practicing the piano for my Primary calling

*finding new music for my choir calling

*painting the cabinets and the trim in the master bathroom, in preparation for painting the walls

*reading cookbooks to get new ideas for recipes

*finishing Atlas Shrugged

*keeping up with Braves' baseball

*keeping up with the laundry

*making sure the kitchen is clean

*getting energy to clean the other bathroom (someday)

*keeping my files organized

*vacuuming the front room at least every few days (darn cat)

*researching cost of putting new carpet in the house!!!

*pricing new tires for the Explorer

*going Visiting Teaching

*trying to find time to shampoo the couches

*going through the boxes and boxes of my stuff my mom brought me from home

*blogging ... occasionally

*facebookery

*archiving digital photos onto CDs and my external hard drive

*going to the gym, at least twice a week

*doing an exercise video at least another couple of times a week

*grocery shopping

*putting up pictures in the baby's room

...

All of this and more while taking the time to play with, feed, and diaper Lydia. Whew! It is really true that a woman's work is never done. Looking at that list, I actually feel a little better about all the things I haven't finished. Still, I recognize that no matter how little else I do, being a mom,and being here for my baby is the most important thing I do!

New Friends

Lydia has a couple of new friends. The first is a Minnie Mouse plush toy that Ben's boss and his wife brought back from Disney World last week. It has little bells inside so it makes a fun jingly noise when we shake it! She loves how soft it is.

Lydia's other new friend is Kisya. I noticed yesterday that Lydia was staring at the cat, just following her with her eyes wherever she moved. I called the cat over and showed Lydia how we pet the cat, and she was so excited about it that she giggled. The cat is really very sweet and gentle which is good. We haven't gotten to tail pulling yet though ...

No, for now we're just trying to eat the cat's tail.