An Update

Well... I am blogging, and it's not a meal plan! I just felt like I should give an all-over update on our lives. Hopefully I can get at least 2 sentences worth. ;)

I cannot believe it is time for the holiday again already. They're not kidding when they say, the older you get, the faster time goes. Though I also think the saying for stay-at-home mom's, the years are fast, but the days are slow, is applicable as well. I kind of live my life looking forward to the next big event (currently, Thanksgiving visit with Anthony's family), or even just the next exciting activity out of the house (currently, going out with friends for dinner and a movie on Friday)! The days seem to be dragging on to those.

I think I should treasure each and every day more, just for being a day that I get to spend with my girl. I try to do fun things with her, but I guess I get easily bored with toddler activities! :) So does anyone have any toddler craft/activity blogs or websites that they follow? If you do, PLEASE pass them on!

Speaking of Bailey, I was just comparing her with an old picture the other day and it really dawned on me, that she is not a baby anymore. But I love the young lady that she is turning into. She is very polite and usually well-behaved. I haven't been pushing potty training a lot, but she is making some progress. She is definitely over her fear (or maybe just resistance?) of sitting on the potty.... maybe to the opposite extreme! :) Now she loves to sit on the potty and read books. She'll sit there for the longest time, often producing no "results" but at least she is getting comfortable there. Yesterday she pooped (first time!) and peed in the potty! I really love watching her learn and grow. I'm so thankful that God chose her for our family.

In the "grocery game" department, I am still going strong. I may have my best month, savings-percent wise, to date. I am at about 70% savings for the month, and I shouldn't have much more shopping to do since we will be spending a few days with Anthony's family, and because I am so well stocked up.

I've started going to Martin's on Tuesday mornings, when they clearance their meat, and that has been SO helpful. Then I just plan my meals around whatever meat I can find. It has also forced me into buying things I would not normally buy, because it is just too good of a deal to pass up. We have been eating a lot more pork lately, which I think Anthony has enjoyed! These chicken-fried pork chops in the slow cooker that we had last week were REALLY good! Highly recommend trying those. :) Though, if they are very thick, which ours were, make sure to cook them the whole 8 hours at least. I cooked mine for 7 hours and they weren't quite done so I popped them in the microwave to finish them off. Anyways, I hope my meal plans bring you soem good suggestions, and if you have any recipes you love, please please please pass them onto me!

And finally, it looks like there is finally an end in sight for Anthony's grad school. I believe he has decided to go with the research paper option instead of the class work option. This will cut his time down by at least one semester, maybe more. So it looks like he should be done by May of 2012, which is still a while, but I'm glad there is a light at the end of the tunnel now.

We cannot wait until he gets the extra pay for finishing that. Our finances are probably the tightest they have ever been right now, due mostly to Waynesboro cutting back on extra things they pay for (as well as not getting expected pay raises). Anthony has always done so many extra things for the school, and in the past has gotten paid for them, but due to their finances being tight, they had to cut some of those things out. So for now, I try to avoid looking at the checkbook balance because it stresses me out, and instead just trust God to provide for us. He has always done so in the past, and I know he won't stop now.

Well, there you go. That's the latest with us. Hope I didn't bore anyone! :)