Dave Ramsey is my new friend. I have been working 3 years on finances. I wanted to learn. A lot. I would have done anything to be in a "learn all about finances and how to handle them school." I wanted to learn to live within means without debt. It is amazing that going through 4 years of college I never learned how to do that. It would seem, just like parenting, that this is something we would learn. I am amazed at how little we know about this. How many people do you know that live fully off of cash? No debt? I am aspiring to be, and will be, one of those people. I have had many resources the past few years on finances, but an awesome girl's help who is a great financial coach for Dave Ramsey's program, and Dave Ramsey himself, have topped the icing onto the cake. I cannot wait for our family to call or be at the Dave Ramsey show to talk to him and get to yell...
WE'RE DEBT FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
What all have I learned?
What methods work best for me?
How did I figure out what methods worked best for me?
I want to share what I've learned in posts throughout the next few weeks as well as link to people who have inspired and encouraged me, including Money Saving Mom and Mary Hunt at Debt Proof Living. It's been a long journey and its not close to over, but I know I have learned and I can see the fruits starting to happen.
Joining in with menu plan Monday this week for the first time! I am joining in with I'm an Organizing Junkie! All of these meals are gluten free. If they are not, I will say so in a note *next to it. Some of these are also dairy and egg free. I also don't assign my meals a certain day, but have enough foods in kitchen for all of the meals I am going to cook for the week. If it's a work day or busy day, I try and plan it to be a crockpot or quick and easy meal.
Breakfast for dinner-Hashbrowns shredded and cooked with onion and add cheese after done, scrambled eggs, bacon and strawberry smoothies. I got a yummy smoothie recipe from www.allrecipes.com. It is 1 cup of frozen strawberries, 1 cup of ice and 1 cup of milk and a few tablespoons of sugar/splenda to your liking--(I use Rice Milk), delish!
Caribbean chicken with rice in Crockpot. For this recipe, the marinade did have gluten, so I am using brown sugar and honey Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce which is gluten free and delicious!
Ham-steak, bake beans, corn on cob and scalloped potatoes (Idahoan brand is gluten free)
Pizza (Frozen Red Baron pizzas--I will not eat this nor will my son with multiple allergies--we will eat leftovers or cereal or something fun)
Tacos
Potato soup (crockin girls) trying for the first time.
Salmon patties (crockin girls) trying for the first time. For this though I am making a few adjustments--using ener-g egg replacer and using can salmon instead of Tuna. I am also going to use gluten free cornmeal and some spices instead of breadcrumbs.
Baby back ribs, Lloyds brand-gluten and soy free. Eating with rice and a salad or green beans.
Looking forward to sharing my recipes/meal plan and to be inspired by others as well!
If you love sleep, you will end in poverty. Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat! (Proverbs 20:13 NLT)
As a door swings back and forth on its hinges, so the lazy person turns over in bed. (Prov26.14.NLT)
For a while now, or maybe it's been lifelong, I have not been a morning person. I am aiming to be a morning person, as I want to maximize my time during the day. Morning is so awesome-the sun is rising, birds are singing and all in the house are sleeping. I can take advantage of that time. That is a goal. These are some scriptures that helped me out and I actually put the Proverbs 26:14 scripture in the "name" of my alarm for the mornings. So when the alarm goes off, that is what I see.
Inspired to Action has helped me begin to see why mornings are important in the Hello Mornings challenges. I want to press on and really be proactive now in this, I will share next week how it went this week in waking earlier and what changes I start to see happening.
(Photo credit: Microsoft Clipart)
Are YOU a morning person? Do you have any tips for me or anyone who isn't, but wants to be and who wants to start taking advantage of those sweet morning hours? Please share...
For fathers day I read about a friend on Facebook, Charlotte Seims, cooking country fried steak strips. I knew it was a family fav of ours, but never made it this way and only attempted the whole steak one time. It was a big mess. So I immediately jumped on this recipe and got things together to make it myself. I used some all purpose gluten free flour with smoked paprika, salt and pepper sprinkled on it. Dipped the cut round steak in egg/milk mixture then dipped in flour mixture and cooked in a few tablespoons of canola oil. Then stirred up some package where gravy for some boys in the house. Served with a big salad and it was a HIT! I'll be making this again! Thanks Charlotte :)
Glutened is a term I've heard people mention when they are eating gluten free and they have accidentally eaten gluten. I am now going to use it because 3 times it has happened to me since going gluten free first week of March.
It is a horrible stomach pain, undescribable and not like anything I've felt before, and it lasts 24 hours at the worst and then takes days to feel all the way better. It also leads to trips to the bathroom and I have vomitted, along with major bloating and gas. It is the worse feeling and I do not wish it on anyone.
I think the worst thing is that sometimes it is hard to determine what it is that caused it. I believe the first time it was eating taco seasoning and taco shells, Old El Paso brand, which I read after the fact on their website that it is not in the "gluten free" list of their food items, ouch! Then the second time I feel it was a Wal-Mart rotisserie chicken--which I have had a few times I believe, but this time I feel was the problem. The third time was more minor and happened this past weekend. I ate a gluten free meal from Cedarline-which I purchased at Publix, and it happened starting about an hour after eating that and continued all weekend.
Have any of you been "glutened" and if so what do you think was the cause of it?
I am a perfectionist, no doubt. I am a girl who wants it figured out, all of it. My mind spins around daily trying to figure just about anything out, but I would have to say the thing I try and figure out the most is WHY AM I NOT SETTLED, WHAT IS IT THAT IS MISSING?
I feel a unsettling feeling in my heart usually. I go round and round in my brain thinking, what is it? What do I need to figure out to make this feeling go away??
Well, ya know what, I think I am realizing that there is nothing for me to figure out. For heavens sake I need to let go of control and seek God. I need to change my focus. This is a huge refreshing revelation for me today. It's not like I do not know that. Walking with Jesus since 2003, almost 10 years, I do know that my focus is not to be on myself but on Him...on things of heaven.
Seek His will in all you do and He will direct your paths. Proverbs 3:6 (NLT)
So really as I go through the day, and I really need to work on this daily, starting now, I need to constantly refocus on Jesus.
Heidi Bylsma has said a good tool in helping with this and she sets her timer to go off every hour and checks in with Jesus and asks Him if He is the focus and just refreshes her focus.
None but Jesus. He must be all in all and my total focus...when I do this and when anyone who has asked Him into their hearts does this, we will be renewed and that uneasy feeling that something is wrong will be soothed by Him, the ultimate comforter.
Eliminate and concentrate. This is a term I learned while reading through Disciplines of a Beautiful Woman by Anne Ortlund over the past few years.
Being satisfied. When I am living my daily life and doing things that are not THE BEST for me, then I am stretched and not living as fully as I could be. I do not want to live more living my life NOT at the best. But I still sit, and wait...and don't act. What am I afraid of?
What has to go?
If I eliminate the things in my heart and life that are not clearly THE BEST for me...what would those be...and then after I work on that...what is THE BEST for me and help me concentrate on those things more focused, that is my prayer. In Jesus Name, Amen
I have found some products from Udi's that are so so so good that I have to share them. I went free first of March as a lifestyle change, as I have really seen that it is not beneficial for my body, at least from the knowledge that I have so far and how I feel when I introduce it back to my body, it's not for me anymore. Since going gluten free a few things I missed out on were Pizza and bread-bread mostly to make a sandwich with. Well no longer do I miss those things!
I first found Udi's pizza crust in the frozen food department at a local heatlh food store. I made myself a hawaiin pizza with it, adding bbq sauce, cheese, pineapple and ham. It was so good and it did not taste like most gluten free bread type things (i.e. cardboard), it tasted very good and also had a good crisp to it! Then I went looking for that at our Publix grocery store I found a 3-cheese Udi's certified organic pizza in the frozen food, but no pizza crust. So I got it. I LIKE. So glad I found it!
Then this past week I was walking in Publix by the frozen food and happened to see Udi's white sandwich bread! I said ok, I will try it. I also had gotten some Lloyd's BBQ chicken. That week I ate a lot of open-faced bbq chicken sandwiches on that Udi's bread. YUM! That was actually better than the pizza crust or pizza.
Anyways, maybe that will help someone looking for some Udi's products. You can search on their site where they sell products in your area.
