Facebook Fast Update

It has been 24 days since I have stepped away from Facebook. How am I doing?

Pretty darned good!

I have discovered that I don't miss Facebook as much as I thought I would. I do miss the updates, though. At work, while walking down the halls, I'll hear teachers ask one another, "Did you see [fill in the blank] on Facebook?"

When they ask me, I have to tell them honestly, "Nope."

Since stepping away from Facebook, I've had to rely on getting my information the old fashioned way - word of mouth.

So, naturally, I am completely out of the loop.

This doesn't bother me as much as you might think, except when I go to church on Sunday and discover that someone is sick or someone has died and I don't know because I don't follow the news on Facebook. Then, I look a little insensitive when I ask what I've missed.

Overall, however, I'm doing okay without Facebook.

And for some reading this, you might be thinking, "What's the big deal? So you step away from Facebook for awhile. It's not that hard; just turn off your computer."

And to you I would say, "You are absolutely correct. It is as simple as that."

But I needed to do this to realign my priorities.

I guess I haven't stepped completely away from social media. I have browsed Instagram (it's quick and easy and virtually impossible to spend more than a few minutes on it a day when you just follow friends). And there have been times when I've shared on Facebook what I post to Instragram. But, if someone doesn't physically comment or like on Instagram, I don't see it.

So who knows all the goodies I'm missing out on. Facebook sends me an email every single day saying I have 35 messages and over 99 notifications. Friends and family have even tagged me (I get email notifications about that because I sensor anything that gets tagged on my page). But I have no clue what anyone has to say - good or bad. Someone could be blessing me out or encouraging me or congratulating me. I honestly have no clue.

Oddly enough, I'm okay about it all.

So, what I have been doing during these past three weeks:

• Catching up on some Bible reading: it's amazing the truths I've been able to uncover
• Keeping in touch with close family and friends via email and text
• Connecting with women from my church (although I would do this anyway, it's kind of nice to get information face-to-face rather than through a social media platform
• Running! Me, who swore she would never run. I'm training with The Boy using a Couch to 5K program. My school is hosting a Tiger Trot on March 8th. I will definitely be trotting (probably at a very slow pace, but I'll be there). Running is me bungee jumping out of my comfort zone. It's something I've never done and it goes hand-in-hand with my Bible study: Disciplines of a Godly Woman. What's more disciplined than training for a run (even if it is just 3 miles?)
• Losing weight! As of this morning, I am officially losing new weight. What I mean is that I weigh exactly what I weighed when I started working this August. What's more, I am only ten pounds from goal! I think that's pretty awesome, in and of itself. I've never reached this point before. It's taken me five years to get this far (let's say I've done a lot of do-overs!)

So, next Saturday, I can officially log into Facebook (did I mention Pinterest put me into protective mode? I've completely freaked out all of my social media sites!) Am I counting down? I can honestly say I am not. In fact, a friend who inspired me to do the fast (although she was doing it for 21 days) reminded me that she was able to go on today. By the way, she was completely unimpressed with what she saw.)

What now? Well, I can tell you that after "detoxing" from Facebook for a month, it'd be counter productive to go back to my old ways. It would be like me getting to my goal weight, only to resume the way of eating that got to me to my heaviest in my first place. (That was almost 200 lbs, by the way) Why would I do that?

However, when you give something up, you have to replace it with something (those quitting smoking chew gum - or eat; those wanting to lose weight substitute healthier snack options; those who want to stop drinking choose other activities). Why? Because if you don't have something to replace the behavior you want to stop/reduce/eliminate, it's going to come back (sometimes with a vengeance).

So what is my replacement activity?

Writing.

Looking back at old blog posts, some of them were pretty good. Others, particularly those I did while I was in school and writing research papers on a weekly basis, were pretty bad. But writing is an art that must be practiced. Back when my posts weren't too bad, I was writing more (journaling, mainly). Now - not so much. Furthermore, Facebook is getting all my wit, sarcasm, and "good stuff". No more. I'd rather put it into blogging.

Besides, I need something to wind down my days. Being productive is a whole lot better than being a bump on a log - wouldn't you agree?

Until next time...

Eat Your Heart Out, Major Coffee Chain

Thanks to my wonderful Man Beast and my Rockin' MIL, I have in my possession, a Keurig. This machine, while initially pricey, is probably the best invention of all time! One might think that individually packaged coffees, teas, and cocoas, would be a waste of money. For those java drinkers who like drinking their Folders or Maxwell House, you would be right. However, if you're a gal (or guy) who likes a little variety in their life or has several caffeine drinkers with different tastes, I'd kindly ask you to reconsider.

Hot coffees, teas, and cocoas are great for winter, you say, but hello - it's 100 billion degrees outside! Yes, yes. It is hot. Which is why I ask you to behold:

The iced coffee - at a fraction of what major coffee would sell them. What you see here is an iced hazelnut with Splenda and 2% milk. If I were to break it down, I'd say it cost me maybe $1 (but probably a lot less). Keurig makes iced versions of their coffee favorites; they are supposed to be more bold and robust. Perhaps. But since I'm not a robust coffee drinker anyway, a lightened version of my hot favorite suits me just fine.

On a hot day when the funds are a bit low, a homemade ice brew is just what your soul ordered.

Enjoy!

***I was not compensated for posting this blog in any way, shape or form. I just like sharing the good things in life!***

Recipe Sites for the Rest of Us

Does anyone besides me find themselves surfing the net some lazy Saturdays, looking for new recipes to feed the family? How many of us scramble at the last minute trying to throw something together? (Me! Me! Especially when I haven't grocery shopped for the week - which happened last week, I'll have you know).

My all time favorite recipe site is RecipeZaar. They're really improved the site over recent months. The layout is awesome and the pages load really quick (unless you're at my school - then you have to wait an hour...but that's a story for another post).

What I like best about RecipeZaar is that you can sort the recipes. My favorite way to sort is by ranking. If it's got allotta stars, then it's the recipe for me! (I tend to rely heavily on tried-and-true recipes. I don't have a lot of time, money or energy to waste on cooking.)

Find a recipe you really like? Save it to your cookbook. It's free! (They do have premium memberships that allow you to create themed cookbooks - but I've had the free membership for several years and it's suited my needs just fine).

I ran across another neat site while reading my local paper this week - FunnySpoon. The by-line reads: The cooking site for real life.

When I first looked over this site, I thought: "This would be good for a guy - or gal - who doesn't know their way around a kitchen." FunnySpoon not only lists the ingredients in recipes, but also shows pictures of the main ingredients. I think this would be particularly helpful if there's an ingredient in a recipe that you aren't familiar with).

Registering with FunnySpoon is free, but I was able to access the recipes without registering. But if you want to register, you get some neat tools at your fingertips: shopping lists, add tips and tricks to recipes as well as rate recipes. Pretty neat, huh?


Until next time...

I [heart] DeDe's Donuts

DeDe's Donuts is a local donut shop here in SE GA. Do you see the collage? Let me explain what you're looking at (my apologies to my readers for not having y'all closer so that you could get the full experience of DeDe's).

Picture #1: Those are three filled donuts and two chocolate glazed - in a sweater box! These donuts are larger than my hand...and oh so delish!

Picture #2: Do you see that big honkin' cinnamon roll? My mouth is completely open and still I cannot bite down on the thing until I smoosh it down.

Picture #3: Think back to your childhood. Remember those plastic Tupperware plates? That orange thing in the third picture - it's a plastic Tupperware plate. The cinnamon roll (see Picture #2) practically filled the whole plate.

I've been in my city since Baby Gurl was four years old. For three years, I fought living here. Both the Man Beast and I hated living here. But eventually, the place grew on us. Sure, we have to drive an hour (about 70 miles) in any given direction to get anywhere, but this is where we call home. And we love it.

Of course, it's the local businesses like DeDe's Donuts that help.

Until next time...

A Little Piece of Heaven

Since we're talking about traditions, sit down and let me tell you a little story about a magical world called See's Candy.

For those who don't live in California, this story might sound very foreign. To those who have visited California or who actually live in California, feel free to add to my story in the comments. I'm sure all my Southern Gals would love to hear from this Yank.

Enter these doors and you are instantly surrounded by sweet smells and clean, crisp sights. The shoppe is black and white (so simple, so elegant). The smells - exquisite.

Walk over to the counter and see a smorgasbord of goodies.

• Gourmet Lollipops
• Molasses Chips (my favorite!)
• Bordeaux
• Dark Chocolates
• Milk Chocolates
• Caramels
  

The list goes on and on and on!

Hershey's? Yeah, you Pennsylvania people have Hershey's and even a park piped with the chocolate treat. But y'all don't have anything on See's.

Godiva, Dove, and Ghiradelli? Sorry, Charlie.

The absolute best chocolate on earth happens in the little black & white shoppe.

But I have a See's Candy Shoppe in my community! you might say. It's ain't all that and a bag of chips.

Oh, nay-nay, I say. Your shoppes probably have pre-packaged goodies. The only shoppes I've been into that has the fresh goodness of See's was in California.

If you find another piece of heaven, please enlighten me!

For the rest of you, do yourself a favor and buy yourself some chocolate this holiday season.

(Thanks, Mom, for the package! My chocolate gourmet lollipop was as good as I remember!)

Until next time...

A Blog Worth Mentioning

As I mentioned in my NaNoWriMo post, I'll be attempting to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Because I'll still have to do things like feed my kids, I've decided that I'll be using my crock pot as much as possible.

Since I don't like to keep good things to myself, I wanted to share A Year of CrockPotting with you. Stephanie's challenge is to use her crock pot every day of the year. (Did you know it's day 293? Who knew?) Here, you will find main dishes, soups, desserts, and drinks - all made with your crock pot!

Here are a few more sites worth mentioning:

Crock-Pot Your Way to Happiness!
Crock Pot Moms

Until next time...

Stimulating the Economy

The Man Beast, the Kiddos and I stimulated the economy today; we received our stimulus check today. It actually served double duty because while we were doing our civic duty of stimulating the economy with our stimulus check, the Kiddos were able to eat a new food - won ton soup.

There is an awesome Chinese food place in town (we actually have two of them...well four total, but two that this family frequents). We usually just go there for lunch. (But only occasionally. We don't stimulate the economy much as we typically don't have a lot of money to do more than buy gas.) But today, we decided to go there for dinner.

When I first saw the prices, I wanted to high-tail it out of there. But then we ordered the food, (combo meals - three sweet & sour chickens and one chicken & broccoli with eggs rolls and our choice of soup - egg drop or won ton)I could see why it was a bit much. The food was a bit much. We ended up bringing home three doggy bags - well, boxes.

There wasn't just a lot of food, it was how it was served, that was most impressive. It wasn't quite family style (although it could have been). We each got one plate with our rice (a lot of rice! Probably two cups, at least!) and egg roll and then got a separate dish with our meat course (again, probably two cups). The soup, of course, came out first. At first, the kids didn't know what to think. But then they ate it. It's good, they said. Yay.

Of course, Baby Gurl didn't get the chance to finish hers before the main meal came out. I believe her eyes were as big as her plate. She munched a bit and pretty soon I heard the very sad, My tummy hurts, cry from my youngest offspring. Her tummy was full, but I think she figures she can get more sympathy if she says it hurts. And to be fair, it probably did hurt after eating all that food.

I jokingly told The Boy that we had to keep 9-1-1 on speed dial tonight since he tried a new food. Last time he tried a new food - mangoes - he ended up in the hospital with a bad case of the hives.

So far, so good.

Spoiled Milk

This Is My Wish - Anonymous
There is absolutely nothing like being jolted awake, realizing that the gallon of frozen milk you left on the chest freezer to thaw has been left out all night. What makes this realization even worse is knowing that you were in said kitchen, not 12 hours earlier, cleaning it up and you walked right past the milk without even thinking about putting it up.

I declare moving hazardous to your mental health. The proof is in the pudding. Or milk. Whatever.

Today, I'm choosing to tackle the den bookcase. I grabbed a few of my book and looked up the ISBN numbers on Cash4Books. With The Man Beast's two text books, I scored myself $42. Granted, I could have made more if I listed them on eBay. (In fact, the Man Beast had a cow when he found out I didn't go that route). But my thinking is this - quick, fast, speedy...did I mention quick? I cannot be bothered with dealing with listings. I wanted it gone now and I chose this route. At least with C4B, they pay for the shipping and they pay me. The best part is the only thing I have to do on my part is take the box to the post office, tape the prepaid sheet onto the box and ship. That's it! I'm done.

This is why planning ahead is such a great idea. If I would have posted the books on eBay back when the Man Beast first mentioned it, when I had time; I probably could have doubled my money. But I didn't. So I didn't.

Lesson learned.

I'm learning. I'm currently reading this fabulous book - Get More Done In Less Time by Donna Otto. The title is pretty self explanatory. An interesting note here is that I put this book on hold at my library over two months ago. I do not believe that it's a coincidence that I got the book the week that I started planning a move.

We all know that organization saves us time and money...but it also saves us sanity. Think about it: how great do you feel after cleaning house all day and waking up the next day to the fruits of your labors? How happy are you? I'm borderline giddy. And it's so stupid really because this is one thing in my life that I really can control.

Nothing makes me happier than when the Man Beast asks where something is and I know exactly where it is. It's really the little things that keeps this chick happy. It's very sad sometimes.

What impresses me most about what Donna Otto says in her book is what she says after she talks about a memo to Jesus from Jordan Management Consultants regarding the 12 men's applications that He submitted for the positions of the 12 Disciples. The Consultants nix every single man except one: Judas Iscariot.

Not one of us is a mistake. We are here for a purpose....

If God of the universe could have chosen 11 of the most unlikely men to carry out a task that changed the world, I am convinced that the same God has given me the right husband, the right house (it's not too small, it's not too big), the right child (she's not too slow, she's not too fast; she's not too fat, she's not too thin), and the very best situation for who I am and who he wants me to be. I am further convinced that I can live an orderly life. I am content with my space and my place.



Get More Done in Less Time, Donna Otto, 1995 pgs. 22, 27

Wow. So often, I like to compartmentalize God. I put Him in a box and take Him out on Sunday mornings and Wednesday evenings. I'll talk to Him more when I'm in trouble than when I'm not. Very rarely do I put God where He belongs - in every single aspect of my life.

I should not do this grudgingly. I should do this willingly. After all, I am not a mistake. I was put here for a purpose. Every single second of my Walk should focus on Him. More importantly, every single second of my life should focus on Him.

Even this move.

Especially this move.

Why not take this Saturday to keep God a conscious part of your day? Talk to Him. Tell Him everything. Praise Him. Even if your Walk is dark right now, count the blessings He has given you. Chances are, once you start thinking about them, your list will grow quite long.

Tuesday's Totals

I've decided that I want to start a new themed day for Tuesday - Tuesday's Totals. Since The Man Beast gets paid weekly and the new sales papers come out on Tuesdays, I'm going to start doing my grocery shopping on Tuesdays. I'll report here on Tuesdays to share any deals I got as well as how much I spent for the week. (My Harvey's has Wednesday-only sales. Some weeks I'll take advantage of them, other weeks, I won't. This week, I choose to take advantage of the 88 cent Food Lion Apple Juice and the 3/$5 deal on Dixie Sugar - I'll only buy one bag as I don't use sugar except for baking, occasionally. I'm out and this is a good chance to stock my pantry. Thanks, Linda)

This week was another week where I used the meat in my freezer to create my grocery list. I'm praying that there is another ground beef sale soon. My supply is dwindling. Next week, I'll be buying ground beef, so I'm just praying it is on sale - a good sale would help).

Oh, and speaking of praying, I prayed before I went shopping today. I actually prayed for patience as the kiddos were on my nerves (Lynne had just informed me that she stepped on her glasses). I was not a patient mom, so I prayed for patience. I also asked God to guide me in my shopping as I only had $60 to shop with this week. (I did $100, but I didn't plan ahead this week and ended up making TWO separate shopping trips for dinner -- this is bad, bad, BAD practice. I highly suggest that those of you who are watching your pennies, NOT do this. Trust me on this. I know of what I speak.) I actually got the idea of praying before going shopping from Crystal over at Biblical Womanhood Online. I think it's a practice I will continue as the week's follow. It didn't hurt and it allowed God into a little bit more of my compartmentalized life. (God, you go here and here...but not here. You all know what I'm talking about here.)

I hit Kroger first. I didn't get as awesome deals as I did the last trip (remember my $1 milk?) but I was able to get some about-to-expire hamburger buns for 69 cents. For the rest, I just shopped the sales. I think most everything I got was on sale or really cheap. (The Man Beast complains about commercial spaghetti sauce being soupy. I've tried the cheap stuff, the expensive stuff...everything is soupy. I'm going to try something new this week -- I'm going to add a bit of tomato paste to thicken it. I'll let you know how it goes).

I hit Food Lion next. I bought some Hamburger Helper that was on sale. (I was at a loss for coming up with that seventh meal, so I just threw in HH as a means to an end. We hardly ever buy it, but since it was on sale, I figured why not. I could have gotten the generic, but I find that those tend to be way too salty. I also bought some corn to throw into the HH because Man Beast likes corn. And I hate to disappoint Man Beast like I did this past week. I committed mutiny by serving him goulash. You would have thought he was dying as much as he ranted about it. Lesson learned -- no more goulash.)

So, all in all, I spent $53 today at the two stores. I'll spent a couple more dollars tomorrow at Harvey's...but all in all, I will have spent $60 for a week's worth of groceries...not too shabby, I think. I'll get better. I didn't use any coupons this time around and I didn't buy any stockpile items. But I'll get there).

Oh, and here is my menu for the week:

Tuna Melts with french fries
Spaghetti with butter bread
Hamburger Helper
Smoked Sausage, Au Gratin Potatoes
BBQ Chicken Sandwiches with Fritos
Fried Chicken with french fries
Tacos, spanish rice and beans (with homemade tortillas -- store bought are no longer an option)

So, how'd you do this week?

A Line is Drawn

The Man Beast calls me today on his cell to tell me that he won't be home until very late.

It's up to me to make dinner.

There's only one problem -- dinner is fried chicken.

Fried chicken is the Man Beast's domain, not mine. And it seems, the children know this.

When they asked when Man Beast was coming home (they usually just call him Dad) and I told them he was going to be late they asked me, "Who's gonna cook dinner?"



Who's going to cook dinner? "I'm going to cook dinner! I am Mom after all. What are my blog readers going to think when I tell them this", I asked them. "I'll tell you what they're going to think -- they are going to think that I never feed you. And they actually have proof!"

It's time I 'fess up to you all right now.

I cannot cook fried chicken. And potatoes. Of any kind. But I swear to you -- I do cook for the kiddos and the Man Beast. Obviously the Man Beast is well fed. His mama fed him well and when we got married 11 years ago, she entrusted his nourishment to me. I promise I do feed my family. I really, really do!

I make a moral decision and decide that the kiddos cannot possibly wait until 10 o'clock to eat. They never eat that late...well, this week at least. No, this is something I have got to do myself.

Well, I did it. Cooked to perfection. Or so I thought.

As The Boy was putting his plate in the sink he asked, "Did you season the chicken at all?"

Obviously, not enough...