Living Within Our Means

This is what my fridge looks like right now.

In 2011, I started working full time.  Before that point, if we budgeted carefully, only went out to dinner on special occasions, and considered our purchases, we had enough money for our needs.  After 2011, we didn't have to worry about budgeting.  If I wanted something, I bought it.  If I didn't feel like cooking, we went out.  I fell out of the habit of checking how much I was spending every month.  Don't get me wrong, I wasn't going crazy; all those years of being a poor college student and thrifty bargain hunter definitely left their mark, but I wasn't being careful either.

Then in late 2012, I got pregnant and started throwing up, so I switched to working only one day a month. The only thing on my radar was survival.  Then 2013 comes and I have this small human who DOESN'T STOP CRYING FOR 3 MONTHS.

At the beginning of this year, once everyone started sleeping through the night, I started thinking, "huh, I wonder how our bank accounts are doing."  Turns out, we were spending at 2011 levels, but only making 2010 money.  Whoops!

We weren't in the red because we had money saved from my full-time days, but every month, we were spending way more than we were bringing in.  I freaked out and launched a family-economy sequester; buckling down, cutting spending, and asking around for someone to watch my kids so I could start working 1 day a week.

I made a food budget of $800 a month.  It's so high because I was including our Costco trip wherein I might buy socks or a new swimsuit or something, and our grocery store has pretty much everything you could ever need (lamps, pillows, huge toy aisle, art and craft supplies, baby clothes).  I have no idea what I bought, but we maxed out our grocery budget 4 days ago on April 26.  I decided I was going to see if we could stick it out.  I did make an emergency run for milk, apples, and bread, but other than that, it's been slim pickins.

We've eaten every piece of frozen meat in our freezer (I even MADE hamburger rolls to avoid going to the store), eeked out soups with questionable bottom-of-the-bag vegetables, eaten several tuna dishes, and forced my family to eat oatmeal when the cereal ran out.

I've learned several things- 1. Wow, food runs out fast when you're not constantly going to the store to replenish your stock. 2. Man, I'm thankful for the grocery store and I don't have to somehow otherwise procure food.

And 3. I waste so much food!  Most of the food we've been eating these last 4 days has been less than perfect.  Let's just say, I've been cutting some brown spots off.  If I had been able to go to the store, I would have totally thrown that stuff out.  Or, more likely, ignored it in favor of the fresher food and waited until it became completely inedible and then thrown it out.

Also I'VE NEVER BEEN THIS EXCITED TO GO TO THE GROCERY STORE!

Almost Thou Convincest Me To Give Up Wheat

I was chatting with a friend the other day, and she told me about how she has all these food allergies that went undiagnosed until she was 30.  How did that happen?  A few doctors suggested that she had food allergies but she didn't believe them because food allergies meant that you got hives or went anaphylactic... right?  Then she started having problems with her gums and her dentist asked her if she'd ever been tested, so she decided to get it done, and turns out, she's allergic to wheat, eggs, corn, soy, dairy, bananas, and apples among other things.

"What symptoms did you have that you weren't sure you were allergic to pretty much everything?!"

*Tired all the time (I'M tired all the time)

*Stomach hurt a little all the time, but not that bad (MY stomach hurts a lot at random times)

*Sensitive skin and always had a rash (I do not always have a rash, but I do have really itchy skin)

*Gum problems (I do not have gum problems, but I do get big ugly canker sores inside my mouth that appear at seemingly random times)

She went on an elimination diet and suddenly felt about a million times better and had so much more energy, no more stomach pain, could fly, etc.

I told her that I had these things, and she said it sounded like I had a wheat allergy.  Bah! I say.  I don't go in for all those pseudoscience food fads!

She shrugged her shoulders and said that there'd be no harm in trying it and that I might feel better.  "Pfffft, you can have my pizza when you pull it from my cold dead hands," I said to myself because that would have been rude to say out loud.

Then I talked to my sister and she told me all about how her husband's doctor put him on a grain-free, dairy-free, fun-free diet along with enough vitamins to justify buying a pill case to lower his cholesterol.  And now he's lost a bunch of weight, feels better, can fly, etc.

Maybe there was something to this?  I decided to give up wheat for a week, and maybe I'd feel better, and if I didn't, I'd know that I don't have a mild wheat allergy.

I started on Wednesday and I felt the same until yesterday afternoon when I hit a wall.  I was so tired, I worked for about an hour to get everyone to take a nap at the same time so I could lay down, and then the baby woke up and I cried.  My eyes were droopy at dinner and I went to bed at about 7:30.

Not the miracle cure I was hoping for.

Dinnertime

I'm not sure where Ethan was during these shots, probably in time out.  He spends a lot of time there, mostly for whining.  He whines SO MUCH.  Yesterday, I was on the phone with the dentist who called to discuss my new teeth I'm getting next week, while simultaneously making Ethan a ham sandwich.  I put Ethan's sandwich on the table, being careful to use the orange plate to avoid a meltdown, when he melted down anyway.

Turns out, he wanted to WATCH me make the sandwich, and I just made it without even asking him if he wanted to watch.  I'm so selfish, I know.  He told me.

Anyway, dinner used to be so awful.  Fights galore.  Lillian doesn't eat anything and was always pissed off that I wouldn't just serve her cheese and crackers for dinner.

I don't care if they eat.  And mostly, they don't.  I'm actually surprised that they gain weight appropriately and have energy to survive on how little they consume.

But they do.  All the kids used to eat-- they ate whatever baby food.  Lillian ate kiwis and tofu as a toddler and Nora used to eat tomatoes like apples.  Then once they had control over their food choices, things started dropping out.

Now they all have their quirks.  Lillian doesn't eat fruit.  At. All.  Nora doesn't like anything that is spicy or has a strong flavor, Ethan doesn't like pizza (?!) or mushrooms.  Evie is taking it to the next level by not eating baby food at all.  She's a few days short of 8 months and will eat about a half a teaspoon of food before pursing her little lips and turning up her nose.

All this hasn't stopped me from making pizza or curry or pasta with tomatoes and mushrooms.  I make it, the kids don't eat it, but we all sit around the table anyway.

Big Island Day 1

We started out our trip on the Big Island.  We stayed at Hale Kai Hawaii Bed and Breakfast, which I would totally recommend.  Our hosts were gracious, the room was comfortable, and the breakfast was delicious.  Plus, we saw spinning dolphins while we ate.

I didn't get a video, but if you go to the 1 minute mark, that is totally what they were doing.

We woke up at about 3 AM in part because of the time change and in part because of the Coqui frogs that make a whistling sound which sounds remarkably like the Old Spice jingle when you are half asleep.  We laid around until about 5, at which time we decided to do some exploring.  We drove down this scenic by-way and my eyes were burning from all the green.  I kept saying, "imagine! a place where things just grow!  all by themselves!"

We hiked down to this little cove which had black slickery rocks instead of sand.  It was really beautiful and romantic... watching the sunrise on a beautiful deserted beach, until it started pouring rain.  We did not bring an umbrella because I'm not sure we even own one and also, in Arizona, we don't mess around with umbrellas.  We get the whole storm over with in 15 minutes.  None of this misting business or raining on and off for an entire day.  So, even if you didn't want to wait until it blows itself out and you did go out with an umbrella, it would be ripped from your hands and/or comically blow inside out.  The point is that we were soaked.

After we hiked out of the cove, we drove out to Akaka Falls, a National Park which doesn't "open" until 9.  Being an obsessive rule follower, I debated long and hard about jumping the fence to get in.  Being that it was only 7, I finally decided that it wasn't likely that we'd get caught and yelled at.

And then it rained on us some more.

We stopped at a little bakery and got some pastries made out of Hawaiian bread.  Mmmmm.

After we dried out a little, we headed down to Volcano National Park, where we learned all about Madame Pele and her fickle ways.  This is a caldera, formed when a volcano collapses in on itself.  Madame Pele was not feeling very angry, so she was just steaming a little.

We hiked through a lava tube, which was pretty cool.  Our hosts told us that you can easily jump the fence at the end and continue exploring (with the help of a flashlight) so we borrowed one... but it was out of batteries.

The active lava was a 6 mile hike across these lava flows.  It would have been cool, but it also would have taken forever.

This happened in 2003.  Tyler thought it was funny, so he took a picture.

Right after this, we went to the village of Volcano to eat some lunch.  We found a restaurant called Thai Thai and oh. my.  It was so delicious... even the waitress was visibly surprised at how greedily we stuffed our faces.  Turns out, fresh pineapple is really, really yummy.

Once we got back to Hilo and cleaned up a little bit, we tried walking around in the downtown area.  Turns out, Hilo is not much for the nightlife.  All the shops were closed, the few restaurants that were open were kind of slim pickin's and it was only around 7 or 8 on a Friday.  Oh well.

I was kind of amazed at how much vacation you can pack in when you don't have to pause for naps or potty breaks or hiking at 1 mile per hour because the kids don't want to get in the backpacks.  Thanks again, Mom for watching the kids!

Albuer... Albuqur... Alberquirk...

We headed up to Albuquerque to see one of our good friends marry an awesome girl.

Here's a little slideshow of our pictures, plus some other stuff we did this month.

Untitled from Amanda Ball on Vimeo.

The funniest part: At the fancy pants luncheon after the ceremony, Patrick said his Bishop asked him why he wanted to marry Sarah, and in a round-about way, he answered because he loved her. The Bishop asked *why* he loved her, and he said he had no idea, but he has eternity to figure it out.

The longest part: The drive home. We sang every verse I could think of (and make up) to The Wheels on the Bus, Old McDonald, , and every other song I know (which if you realize that I'm my mother's daughter, that's a lot).

The happiest part: Watching the look on Sarah's face during the ceremony- she looked like she was going to explode with glee.

The tastiest part: The raspberry sorbet with the lemon cookie is tied with those delicious home-made crescent rolls. I jokingly told the girl helping with the food that I could eat 5 or 6 more, hoping she would bring 5 or 6 more, but she only brought one.

The most well orchestrated part: Sarah arranged babysitting for us during the temple ceremony AND during the fancy pants luncheon. She's awesome.

The best part: Being with a lot of good friends.

This shouldn't be that hard

I was making cupcakes for Nora's birthday (holy crap, she's two). I wanted to halve my cake recipe because I only wanted 12 cupcakes. First item: 3/4 cup butter. I remembered the visual up on Mr. Malloy's wall in AP Calculus that some student had drawn of the denominator of the fraction smashing through the bigger division line and multiplying itself by the divisor. Make sense? No? In this case, the 4 of the 3/4ths would grow arms and smash through the line drawn below it to find the 2 waiting. It would be so happy that they would hug and multiply in a completely plutonic sense to make 3/8ths. (If the two was a fraction, it's own denominator would feel stilted by the numerator's newfound love that it would grow wings and fly up to the three on top of the whole problem, and it's life would have meaning again. Why no, I didn't pursue a career in math, why do you ask?)

Luckily for me, the butter stick is divided into eight tablespoons (eighths!), so I went to go cut 3 tablespoons off. I looked again and thought that 3 tablespoons looked a little small. I looked at my math again. Sure enough, 3/8ths is the answer, so 3 tablespoons.

I could not figure out where I had gone wrong. I puzzled about it for a while, then decided to come at the problem from a different angle: 3/4 cup butter is 12 tablespoons, so to halve it, I wanted 6.

I called my mom to see what had failed in my calculations. We decided that my math was sound but that I had forgotten that a stick of butter (the eight tablespoons in question) is only a half a cup.

And now, I feel dumb.

My Thankamony*

*Only funny if you're Mormon.

Yesterday, I did Sharing Time in Primary (like Sunday School for kids 3-11). We have over 100 kids in our Primary, so it's a little bit crazy. Actually, a lot crazy.

My lesson was about the gifts that Jesus Christ gives us. To introduce the topic I said, "Christmas is about giving......" then waited for the kids to raise their hands and answer "presents." But, a kid in the front row yelled out, "THANKS!"

"Um... I was going for presents, but you can say thanks too."

After it was all over, and my sanity returned, I started thinking about giving thanks, and I have a lot to be thankful for (this list is by no means inclusive):

1. My family. This includes ALL of my ever expanding clan. It starts out with my husband who is more awesome than I can say; includes my children who are healthy as horses, funny, cute, loving, and say besos instead of 'kisses' (Ethan can be included even though he's on my crap list for not sleeping because he is freakin' adorable); stretches out to my mom who, pending her feeling better, is going to watch my girls for 4 days while Tyler and I go to a wedding, and is always there to commiserate and offer good advice; and my brothers and sisters whom I wish wish wish I lived closer to. I think a lot about my family I've never met, my great-grandparents and think about how they had to have been good people, because they passed down their awesomeness to their kids, who passed it to their kids, who passed it to me, and I am free to pass it on to my kids. Thanks guys.
2. I'm thankful for my husband's job that pays for our house and food. I'm thankful that I get to stay home with my kids, even though they drive me crazy sometimes, I wouldn't want it any other way.
3. I'm thankful for the community I live in. We've got great neighbors and as most of us transplants, we're all bent on taking care of each other. Plus, when I see things like this:
   
   
   It makes me really glad I suffered through the 5 months of heat to get 80˚ Decembers.
4. I'm thankful for the neighbor girl who comes over and holds my baby so I can do the dishes and start dinner. She can talk your ears off, and sometimes shows up a little too much, but those 20-minute breaks she gives me are invaluable. Plus, yesterday she showed up with a big bag of brand-new, tags-still-on clothes from the Childrens' Place, in exactly Lillian's size that she says her mom bought last year for her cousin and forgot to mail.
5. I'm thankful that I get to work with the kids at church. It does get crazy, but I love those little guys.

My kids are freaking out, so that will have to be it for now. But I'm also thankful for food, especially this. So. Good.

The Purloined Sandwich

On Wednesday, we had a picnic at the park; I packed peanut butter & honey sandwiches for the girls. Lillian ate everything besides her sandwich, so I took it home and stuck it in the fridge.

Then yesterday, Nora told me she was hungry. I went to the fridge and took out the leftover sandwich. Who could foresee this would happen?

The Purloined Sandwich from Amanda Ball on Vimeo.

Sticking it to the man

Really, I don't have many hobbies. I'm not that crafty and I'm am living proof that not all Mormon women like scrap booking. But, one of the things I do like to do is find ways to stick it to the man.


My MIL taught me how to make my own spreadable butter. She's been doing this for years and the butter industry totally copied her and they now sell this stuff for like $3.50 for a little tub. She should have patented it.

What you do is mix equal parts just-softened butter with canola oil. To fill a little tub like this, I use a cup of butter and a cup of oil. It's pretty liquidy when you mix it, but it sets up in the fridge. Soft even when cold. She uses unsalted butter and adds in her own salt. I just use salted butter and save myself the trouble.


Another way I stick it to the man is my obsession with patching and mending. When we were in school and Tyler rode his bike all over San Luis Obispo, his inseams wore out really fast. I must have sewed up each pair of pants at least 4 or 5 times and added a patch or two before he would buy new ones. His favorite pajama pants are getting to be quite comical. I tried to buy new ones, but The Perfect Pair is hard to find: somehow, the garment industry doesn't think that tall, skinny people want loungewear for their bottom halfs.

This pad got a rip in it the last time I ran it through the wash, and then with us sitting on it, it got a little frayed. Now, it's the lucky chair.

International Waffle Day

International Waffle Day was on March 25th. It's mostly a Swedish holiday, Våffeldagen, that signals the start of spring. We celebrate it because 1. I'm always trying to get in touch with our Swedish roots, and 2. Waffles = easy dinner.





I told Tyler they should start celebrating Våffeldagen at his work. They could have a waffle bar where you could put all sorts of fruit or whipped cream and chocolate chips on your waffles. And then we could just happen to show up around lunch time on that day.