My Kitchen Experiment

I know gas prices have been soaring out of control for some time now; but, I have to admit it has only been recently that I have noticed a very deep impact on my finances, as a result of this crisis. While it seems the price of everything is going up right now to compensate for the rising fuel costs, two particular areas are really making me wince. Gas (go figure) and food.

As far as gas goes, I can do little things like check my tire pressure once a week, keep a clean air filter under the hood and ease of that gas pedal; but, the only real solution is to drive less. Yea right! There is only so much "less driving" I can do, especially as a single parent who must drive all over the county to pick my son up from whatever sitter I can muster up. The idea of sitting in the house all weekend and staring at the walls is not so great either, so I'm left with trying to group my errands together and stay closer to home to avoid wasting fuel.

As far as groceries go, I think I have a-lot more options. The big dilemma comes with eating healthy and eating cheap. After doing a bit of research on this topic I have come to one conclusion. It you want to eat healthy and cheap you have to sacrifice some time. It requires a bit of planning and cooking from scratch. Normally I look for any way I can find to make things go faster; but, I am in a position where I have to start to look at ways to reduce my cost of living.

So, here is my plan. Obviously I'm not going to make everything from scratch; but, I'm going to give it a good shot. Below is a list of ways I will reduce my overall grocery bill over the next month. At that time I will post again on this subject and let you know the results of my kitchen experiment.

1. I will be laying Coca-Cola and his dearly beloved friend Mountain Dew to rest. That's right, no more soda. Now this does not mean I am quiting soda, just quiting spending money on it.

2. I will bake my own bread. This is time consuming; but, it's soooo tasty and so much better for you, not to mention cheaper. I'm actually kind of excited about this.

3. I will use the whole bird. Chicken or turkey. For one month I will only buy whole birds and use them for lunch and dinner. I will have sandwiches without nitrates or fillers. I will have homemade soup. I will have lean protein for dinner and sometimes even some homemade gravy.

4. I will make every effort to buy what's on sale, especially for the foods I can't make like yogurt.

5. I will be green. I will stop throwing out my quart sized zip lock bags. I will take the time to wash them and let them air dry. They are expensive and it is downright irresponsible to throw them away after one use.

6. I will plan my meals. I will take a list with the ingredients needed to the grocery store and I will make every effort to plan my meals around what's on sale.

That's it! I know there are other ways to reduce my costs; but, I'm trying to start with something reasonable and work from there. If you have any other tips for saving money at the grocery store, please let me know! I'd love to hear what's worked for you.

A Paradox In Uganda Leads To Summer Reading In The U.S.

After reading an amazing and inspiring post from Paradox Uganda I became inspired to start a summer reading list for myself. The post describes the almost Utopian vacation of missionaries in an impoverished, diseased country. It is a vacation marked by lazy days on the beach, home cooked meals and endless amounts of time with family and books. It is a vacation without phones, televisions or tourist attractions. It is a vacation in which their little family read over 100 books in three weeks time. That is inspiring.

I may not be able to hide away in a secluded beach house for three weeks or read 100 books this summer; but, I am challenging myself to obtain a little piece of what they had. Before I had my son, I read with a voracious appetite. I consumed books as if they were the sustenance that fueled my body. If I started a particularly good book, it was not uncommon for me to stay up for 24 or 48 hours reading until I reached the end, only to pick up another book and start reading again. At times I would have 3 or 4 books going at once, unable to keep up with myself. I was an avid reader in every sense.

So, now I'm asking for your help. Do you have any favorite authors or books that I should add to my list? Have you read any "must reads" recently? Is there anything you have read fiction, non-fiction, biography or autobiography that you want to recommend? I want your suggestions.

One last note...follow the link above (1st paragraph) and read Paradox Uganda. Bookmark it. Return to it. That's my reading suggestion for you.

Ten Ways A Father Can Provide Stability For His Child

1. Smoke lots of pot and consume other random drugs in seedy dive bars after hours. (This is a must) All parents should use illegal and controlled substances. It also helps if you are a 5 time convicted felon and have failed at least one random drug test from the Department Of Children and Families.

2. Be sure to take your child to school late or better yet not at all. Do not set alarms and do not get to bed at a decent hour so that you will be able to get up in the morning. That's just bad parenting.

3. Pull no call, no shows for parent teacher meetings. This will really show your child's teacher how much you care. Trust me on this one. The message you send by not showing up will be loud and clear.

4. Only date married women. Then, move the married woman into your home for you child to become attached to. This always works out well.

5. Get the married woman pregnant. Under no circumstances are you to discuss the growing belly with your child. That would be irresponsible.

6. When the pregnant, married woman moves out of your house DO NOT discuss this with your child. It is much better for he/she to wonder why this person just disappeared and where their stuff went. This will make your child feel very safe and secure.

7. When your child's mother figures out what has happened, deny everything. Better yet, lie to her and tell her the married woman is out of the picture and the child is not yours. That way, the mother can go sit the child down and tell him/her that this has nothing to do with him, there is no baby, it's all a big misunderstanding.

8. When you see your child, tell him/her that there is a baby and it is yours. This will help to confuse your child and make him/her wonder what the truth actually is. All of the best parents in the world do this.

9. Now that your child is nice and confused and totally unstable, you should really shake things up by suddenly moving far away for a period of time. This can only help things. Under no circumstances should you have an exact return date in mind. It would not be good for your child to know when to expect you back. Nothing good ever comes from that.

10. Now pat yourself on the back. You are a great dad. You are a real role model for your child.

Five Hundred Twentyfive Six Hundred Minutes....

Out of all the songs in the musical Rent, there is one in particular that always gets me thinking- Seasons of Love. Below are the lyrics to the song, followed by a few musings from me.

Five hundrend twenty five thousand
six hundred minutes
Five hundrend twenty five thousand
moments so dear
Five hundrend twenty five thousand
six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year

In daylight, in sunsets, in midnights,
in cups of coffee, In inches, in miles
in laughter in strife,

In Five hundrend twenty five thousand
six hundred minutes
How do you measure a year in the life

(chorus)
How about Love
how about love
how about love
measure in love
seasons of love
seasons of love

Five hundrend twenty five thousand
six hundred minutes
Five hundrend twenty five thousand
journeys to plan
Five hundrend twenty five thousand
six hundred minutes
how do you measure the life of a woman
or a man

In truth that she learned
or in times that he cried
In the bridges he burned
or the way that she died

Its time now to sing out
though the story never ends
lets celebrate remember a year
in the life of friends

(chorus)

How do YOU measure a year? Do you measure a year in daylights, sunsets and midnights as stated in the song, or do you have some other form of measurement. If I had to be honest, I'd say I probably measure a year in the things I did with Justice, from the big thrill moments in Orlando, to the slower moments picking green beans and studying flash cards with simple words.

When I look at how I would measure a year, I don't think it's necessarily bad; however, it may not be as noble as I would like. Perhaps I should measure a year by how often I followed God's laws or how many good deed's I've done. Perhaps if I measured my year that way, I may not be so happy with the results. Could those moments possibly stack up against the things we've done this year? I don't know, but it 's certainly something to think about.

Below is a video of Idol Gives Back- The 2008 Idols perform their rendition of Seasons Of Love.

Seasons

When I was a child growing up in Philadelphia, holidays like Christmas and Easter were pretty predictable. Everybody went to church in the morning and gathered at my grandparents house in the afternoon for a special meal and dessert. The kids played in the family room or basement while the adults gathered in the kitchen and formal living room for idle conversation and appetizers. Nobody was divorced and there were no rifts in the family, so each year was pretty much the same. I liked that.

As I grew into adulthood, I moved to south Florida and things pretty much stayed the same, except now I went to my Aunt and Uncles house for each holiday. Most of us still went to church and we all gathered together to break bread and hang out. Occasionally the guest list would change to include others who had no family in town or other plans. Again, it was nice and predictable.

Unfortunately my Aunt and Uncle came to a point where their marriage had ended and holiday's began to be more unpredictable. One year we dined in a small efficiency where my Uncle was living, we spent some holidays at my cousins homes, sometimes we cooked and other times we ordered pre-made meals; in addition to all that, the times we choose to eat have varied from year to year. The holiday's have no longer become anything I can count on.

As a single mother I am struggling to maintain some sense of normalcy and predictability for my son in regards to the holidays. I realize that life is like a never ending series of seasons and we have to be able to bend with the changing wind so that we don't break; but, it can be quite challenging at times. I've come to realize that I only have control over certain things and I have to use that to my advantage.

I can control the special traditions my little nuclear family has, like dying Easter eggs and checking the Advent calender each day for chocolates in anticipation of Christ's birth. I can control the importance placed on God and prayer by putting our church and worship time ahead of any gatherings or festivities. I can even control who we choose to eat with, thereby creating a new tradition where we share our holiday with other friends and family who we wouldn't normally get to see. It's a strange season I'm experiencing right now and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it. I don't know what to call it and I'm not quite sure where it's headed; but, I'm hoping for a nice spring when the ground begins to thaw.

Micheal and Michelle's Wedding

Michael Millington and Michelle Gerber were wed on Saturday March 15th, 2008. Below is a video I put together with the pictures I took.

West Palm Beach Paramedic Killed At Wendy's

Yesterday I received a call just after lunch from a friend of mine in Philly checking to see if I was ok. Apparently there had been a shooting at a Wendy's in West Palm Beach and it had made the news there. Now I was no where near the place where the shooting took place; but, I do live in the city and it has definitely affected my community.

A gunman opened fire in a Wendy's for what seems to be no apparent reason, then committed suicide, leaving no note or hint as to why he committed such an unthinkable act of violence.

Rafael Vazquez (pictured to the left) a father of five and paramedic had reportedly just returned to the store to get a toy for his son when he fatally was shot from behind. Three other victims were shot as well, but not killed.

A local radio station covered this story pretty heavily this morning and it really brought tears to my eyes. Friends of the victims called in as well as eyewitnesses and what they conveyed was almost unbelievable. When the gunman opened fire people began pouring out of the Wendy's. People in the drive through abandoned running cars which are still sitting there today- a full day later. From a gas station across the street onlookers watched in horror as they saw the whole thing unfold.

Even as i write, right now, I am listening to Rafael- Ray's daughter Tiffany speaking to Wild 95.5 through tears and grief. Her dad was the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back and ask for nothing in return. He was the kind of guy who was the backbone of his family and loved by everyone who he came in contact with. Even as he was going back into the Wendy's, he was only trying to return a toy from a kids meal that his son did not want, so that some other child could enjoy it.

For those of us who live in West Palm Beach, this hit's a little too close to home. We're used to hearing these kinds of stories from other places like Texas or Illinois - not here. So, how should we respond? As a community what should we do to bring about change and protect ourselves at the same time?

What would you do if this happened in your community?