I know I could go shopping in the evening when Billy gets home from work, but by then I've got to make dinner, get everyone fed and cleaned up, and then I would have to go into town (at this point it would be 6:30 or 7:00) and I'm just done by then. Usually in pajamas and ready to sit on the couch. I love having the evening at home to hang out with Billy and the girls and get a little relaxation time after a full day. There are still times when I do feel like getting out for a bit when Billy gets home and he's always more than willing to stay home with the kids, but in this season of life I seem to have the most energy for that task in the morning, so I just take the kids and we get it done.
Today was a little tricky...Ellie is going through the whiny stage and also wanting to change her mind every few minutes. She was certain she wanted to walk today (instead of riding in the car part of the cart with Piper) so I let her walk. After about 3 aisles she was ready to sit in the cart, so I told her, "Okay, but if I put you in you can't get out until we're done shopping. Do you still want to ride?" And she said yes, so I put her in. Well, within about 90 seconds she was over it and wanted out again, but I said no. Then she gets whiny, and when I ignore the whining she gets even more angry and starts yelling. Typically, reasoning with her works pretty well and she usually does great when we're in a store, but she just had an off day today (don't we all?). I am really working hard on my reactions to my kids' inappropriate behavior and so today, after reasoning and discussion didn't work, I just ignored her. That was SO hard for me. I was boiling inside and wanted to just explode on her. But obviously that's not teaching her or Piper anything productive, so I stayed calm (miraculously). The whole time she was carrying on all I could do was take deep breaths and keep saying over and over, "Lord, you are with me and you have the power to make me not react negatively, please give me self control and help me to just get this grocery shopping done!" She did calm down after a while but never stopped asking to get out (which definitely frays my nerves). Thankfully, Piper was having a good time and stayed chill all throughout our shopping so it could've been so much worse. I wish I could always be so calm and not blow up on the girls, but I'm trying!
Speaking of working on my reactions, this book is why I'm doing that:
In our book club we're currently reading Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions
by Lysa TerKeurst. It's all about identifying our emotions and reactions and then learning how to control them in a more biblical way. Pretty good stuff, I'm about halfway through it and I can really see some good progress in my life, at least with the kids. I am definitely an exploder when it comes to my children, but I tend to stuff down my emotions with everyone else. I am dealing with the exploder side of my personality right now (I think that might actually be easier than tending to the stuffing habit). One thing at a time!Anyway, we got our regular meal stuff and another 15 pound turkey at Kroger, then went to Costco for 5.5 pounds of ground beef. We are still doing well on our budget (I spent about $78 this week) so we are still on track. I'm still factoring in that freezer meal/Thanksgiving week at the end of the month where we won't need to buy as much, so we should be fine for staying at or below our grocery budget for this month.
Our spending in other categories is also improving significantly. We have an eating out budget now, and we were under budget for the month of October and so far doing fine this month. Eating out is still very tempting, but we're feeling it mostly on the weekends now instead of during the week which is good. And we have the budget in place, so we CAN let ourselves splurge on eating out every now and then. We ate at Chick-fil-A on Friday night for dinner and Ellie was so excited. We told her we were going to eat there that night and her eyes got so big and she said, "Ohhhhhhh, we're going to eat at Chick-fil-A!!!" We want it to be something special rather than expected, and it seems like our kids have already made that transition. And other than paying bills, all of our other spending has been made through gift cards (so we don't factor those purchases into the budget).
Our menu for this week:
Breakfast:
Freezer Breakfast Burritos (for Billy)
Oatmeal, toast, fruit, eggs, muffins (for girls)
Lunch:
Sandwiches, leftovers, fried rice with eggs
Dinner:
- Santa Fe Soup, cornbread
- Twice Baked Potatoes, veggies, bread
- Burrito Casserole with rice
- Whole chicken (in the fryer), veggies, bread
- Crockpot White Chicken Spaghetti, veggies, bread
- Crockpot Creamy Tomato Soup with grilled cheese
- BBQ Meatballs, mashed potatoes, rolls
Extras:
Homemade chicken broth
I'm not sure yet if I'll make any freezer meals this week. The burrito casserole is a new recipe we're trying and the author didn't specify if it goes in an 8x8 or 9x13 dish, so we might just see how much it makes and then go from there. We might have some extra chicken that I could freeze for chicken tacos or something like that, so I'm just going to play it by ear.
Now....I think I will go read or do something relaxing for a bit! I hope to have a quiet, calm evening tonight and just enjoy being home. :)
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