Losing Control

I haven't blogged in almost a month! The last month or so has sorta been a roller coaster. There have been ups and downs and the biggest thing I learned - and I'm still learning and trying to accept it - is that I can't control everything in my life. It's hard for me - I'm a planner. I love having a plan and I would love to be able to plan for everything in life. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. There are just some things I don't get to control (my grandmother's health, unexpected bills, other peoples' actions/reactions, appliances breaking, etc.).

That said, we are doing the best we can and trying to make the most of things.

My grandmother is doing very well and we were able to take her 80th birthday beach trip on February 20th. It was great to see the beach and spend time with family we rarely see. We gave her a memory box - we all wrote our favorite memories of her and put it in a special box. We took turns at the beach reading the memories aloud and we all really enjoyed hearing each others memories. I am so glad to have her back to her old self and out of the hospital.

We finally got our sewer bill. The City of Irondale and the City of Birmingham were "fighting" over Irondale's sewer services so they just didn't bill us for a while. I got home after work to find a $200 sewer bill in the mailbox. Ouch that hurts.

If you start to notice a weird smell around us it's because we can no longer dry our clothes. Our dryer died. It was very old and it was bound to happen eventually, I just wish it would have happened some time after tax season! SEE I want to be able to plan when my appliances die! The weather isn't exactly warm enough for a clothes line so looks like we will be headed to the laundromat this weekend. If you know of anyone getting rid of a dryer please call us!

Our microwave also died. Martin was devastated because this means no more microwave popcorn! We had gotten the microwave as a wedding present so it lasted a year - how long are they supposed to last? That didn't seem like very long to me.

Not having a microwave has actually been sort of blessing (although, I would still like to have one eventually). It has forced me to cook new things in new ways. I have been trying to save money on groceries by reading all of the mailers and cutting coupons. The combination of a limited grocery budget and no microwave has made me start cooking things I have never cooked before. Last weekend I made "refried" beans from dried beans. Normally I would have bought canned beans and stuck them in the microwave. This was a little more time consuming (but not much) but they turned out very well AND were a ton cheaper than buying the cans. It makes a lot so I can freeze some for future meals.

Winn Dixie has been having great specials on meats so I have definitely been stepping out of my comfort zone. I have discovered chicken thighs (skinless) - they have MUCH more flavor than the breasts and if you buy it skinless it is still healthy. I have also cooked pork chops and even chicken with bones. I used to be a ONLY boneless/skinless girl but once you realize how much money you can save by buying it with the bones and how it adds flavor you'll never go back (well, I will for somethings).

Last Sunday we had snow and this time it was real snow! We had about 5-6 inches at our house. It was absolutely beautiful. I spend the day baking and cooking and Martin and I watched movie after movie. It was a wonderful, lazy day. Even the animals were lazy with us!

These pictures were taken before the "real snow" hit. This is what it looked like early on. I didn't take any pictures of it when it was at the most.

Hopefully I'll be back to normal blogging soon.