Budgeting, yeah it’s a lame topic, it’s not fun. But wanna know what is fun? Your bills being paid, on time, having extra money to “blow” on things that you want whether it be travel, your hair and nails, or race car parts. Looking at you hubby. And the comfort of not worrying what to do each week/paycheck about money. So I’m going to tell you about our budget. It may not work for everyone but it works for us. We have 3 accounts, our savings account we have money set aside for the oh shit, the fill in the blank broke now what. It is our Oh Shit account, we leave it alone unless something major comes up, this month that has been replacing the roof on the shed, getting a new garage door motor and now to replace the sub floor in our kitchen because it some how got wet and buckled. Yeah murphy’s law. We also both have checking accounts. Hubby pays part of the bills, I pay part of the bills and where 1 is short the other is there to pick up the slack or transfer money between accounts. But what is different is we have started where each paycheck (every two weeks) we pull out 500 dollars and that is our money for 2 weeks. This doesn’t include bills but does include groceries, gas, eating out, random store drive bys to “pick up milk” and 50 dollars later you walk out confused as to how that happened. Here’s looking at you Wal-mart. Now since we just started this I will write later about how it goes. But that gives money to all those topics plus money to blow each month or save each month for a bigger item but it also keeps our spending in check. Now I also put back 50 a paycheck for travel, we go out of town twice a year to visit family so that goes to travel and Christmas, it honestly adds up pretty quick. And then we are loosely following Dave Ramsey and making a go at getting debt paid off from smallest amount to largest one. Obvi we don’t follow him to a tee because we save extra, we go on vacations yearly but we are working on paying off debt and if anyone wants a helping hand in making a budget give me a shout because I am lame and enjoy making budgets.

I realize it is only Aug and honestly we have like a month and a half or more of warm weather but I have mixed feelings here. I love summer and flowers and the pool and sunshine and warmth I’m like Olaf, however it has been hot ya’ll, I mean like bake a lasagna in your mailbox hot, Olaf melting by the fire hot! So I’m kinda ready for fall, bonfires, crisp air and early night time so my children sleep. Seriously Momma is tired. I also feel summer is already over cause school has already started, ugh homework.. How do yall feel about this heat? Summer? Fall? Winter? (We live in the south so winter is wet not even in a snow fun way, and 30s so cold but not freezing) Spring? Homework?

Let’s also talk about this food prep thing I have been doing, I cook on Sunday and Wednesday ya’ll, right now with cheer it has been great! Do you food prep? If so anything you want to share?

So I food prepped this weekend. The hubby grilled steaks, I cooked pork chops in the oven, I roasted veggies, cooked rice and quinoa. Portioned out nuts and trail mix, made peanut butter energy balls, and even made yogurt with fruit and bagged granola for breakfast. I was on it! So we ate steaks Sunday night, had plated lunches Monday (me and my bff-er at work) the hubby eats out 5/5 workdays a week. Then last night rolled around and instead of eating another plate of prepped food we just had a salad, it is hot out I’m talking 115 heat index sweating just looking out the window kinda hot. As I write this the AC at work is dripping out of the vents by my desk, I’m in like a tropical rain forest.

So plus side we now have food for tonight and Wed night too! Though I plan to cook chicken Wed night for the rest of the week. Now on to the point of this ramble, Steak. Now I use to not eat steak often it just wasn’t on my list of favorites, but since the hubby has started wanting to grill more (swelter summer heat and aall) and been on a steak kick I have decided the best way I like steak is pre-cut into cubes before grilling, don’t judge. So I cut the steak and marinate it in, dales sauce (low sodium) garlic and pepper. I think it’s great. I’m sure others prefer their steaks much more fancy than me. But it’s yum and makes mah belly happy. Now pictured is steaks and pork chops, roasted veggies, green beans, strawberries, and brown rice and quinoa. Yummy for the week! Also how do you like your steaks? Anything I just have to try?

As i lay down with oldest baby last night, as we talk about her day, her friends, boys in class( that thankfully still have cooties) , her awesome new teacher, and as we are saying our goodnight prayers, i realize tonight is the last night of single digits for my baby. She keeps reminding me she is almost 10. She isn’t a baby any more. What she hasn’t realized yet is she will always be my baby. She could be in the triple digits and still be my baby. But as I lay here I see how much she has grown, I see the young lady she is turning into. She came home today with a letter about a beta club, a club that only her hard work will get her into, not anything I can do to help her. We talked about if she wanted in beta club she would have to put in the work, she would have to study and get the grades. I’d be there to help where I could as she needed it, but ultimately that it was all up to her. I see each new day she is less of a child I helping with day to day activities and more of a young lady that has to do more on her own with me cheering her on.

So, I lay here hoping that I am raising her right. Raising her to be strong and determined. To be courageous and stand up for what she believes in. Raising her to know her worth, her worth when it comes it herself, her friends, and those that she will date. Raising her to adult right through the craziness, knowing I have her back.

And I know full well as she grows that she will make mistakes, but I hope as she grows she knows there is nothing, no mistake, nothing she could do or say that would make me love her less. Nothing she could do that she couldn’t come running into my arms and say, “Momma I messed up” and me reply ” It’s ok lets work it out” .

So yes I see her growing up but I also know she is my baby.

Delicious, warming to the soul, crowd pleasing, make you wanna slap yo momma food! Also side note I would never slap my momma, she would and could take me down.

As I have stated before I love food. I enjoy cooking, eating, trying new foods, making old school gma’s southern cooking. I truly just love food. To me the kitchen is the heart of the home. It’s where friends gathers to chat while momma (me in this case) is cooking, kids lick the spoon after making brownies, momma may or may not also licks the spoon don’t judge me, it’s where the hubby comes and tells me about his day, it is truly the heart of the home.

So, I would like to share a new to me recipe I have started making. Mexican Corn. Yall, omg! I found a handful of recipes off pintrest that I mashed together to make what I make. First you grill the corn, I feel it’s important to grill the corn, it makes the corn a spot on texture for this recipe. Then while the corn is grilling, you are going to want a slight char on it, next you want to mix up the magic. I use mayo, parm cheese and chili powder. I saw a million different things to use, I just happened to have those on hand. It is wonderful. The parm cheese cuts the mayo taste down the chili powder gives it the slights hint of heat without it actually being spicy. It’s just wonderful. If anyone else has a Mexican Corn recipe please share, I would def give it a try. The rest of the pic is steak bites, grilled orka and broccoli, and grilled sliced potatoes.

Let’s talk about this weekend shall we? Mmmkk…MM (my bff buddy) came to the house and kept me up past my bedtime. Let’s be honest I’m down with going to sleep at like 8:30 with the girls, momma is sleepy, so her and I are working on her son’s bday party stuff with my cricut. Shout out to the bday boy!! Big 1 year old coming up!! Anywho, got all that cut and done, I’ll post pics after the party, I then got in a crafty mood and over the weekend proceeded to make the oldest baby a T-shirt and a vinyl sticker for one of her 3 ring binders. Note to self and others, when doing a spray bleach shirt make sure the box between the front and the back is large enough, other wise you have a square shape design. Shirt turned out cute, least I think so. The binder, well that’s a different story, after 4 tries, a handful of mumbled cuss words and finally scrapping half the words, she ends up with “beautiful” written in very petty vinyl across her binder. Cue me needing wine and a nap. To be honest I got wine and to read a bed time story.

Which leads me to this morning, school has started!! I have a 5th grader, cue ugly crying. My hubby says to me this morning, ” Oh yeah it’s her last, first day of elementary school”…why must this be pointed out, more tears as I leave for work.

The most important item in my life FOOD! Ok yeah, yeah my girls, the husband, so important. But food never makes me mad, in fact food makes me happy. Honestly I love to cook. I look to cook for my family, and my friends, and I love the girls in the kitchen with me. So I plan to have several post about food, how to prep it, how to cook it, heck I”ll tell ya how to eat it if ya want. These ideas will be from baking, grilling, the instapot, air fryer, and the good ole oven and stove top. I will show you my fails (there has been plenty), my cute and tasty treats, and even the not so cute and still so tasty treats. If anyone has an idea they would like me to try and cook, I’ll make an attempt at it. The hubby eats most anything, the oldest will at least try anything (to an extent) and littles, well she eats pancakes and peanut butter, with a side of cheese.

I want to also talk about how to adult, I have so many friends that don’t know how to do simple (or what I consider simple) task such as changing a tire, or checking the oil in their car, checking air pressure in your tires. Cooking a simple meal, find and book a car, hotel or air B&B, how to write a check and balance a check book and work on a budget. Any ideas yall think others should know how to do let me know and we will try and figure it out together.

I also want to share when we travel, fun things we do, tips, tricks, and the best places to go, eat, play, have fun.

Let’s talk about what’s happening right now. Our summer is ending! And I just can’t!! School starts back in less than a week. I’m not ready the girls aren’t ready, the husband, ehh he is probably ready. So in less than a week we have to get our lives back together. We have to stop slacking, stop acting like school isn’t steady creeping up on us. We need to go school shopping, and clothes shopping, and have a mental breakdown, and then pull it back together and head to cheer practice. Um yes, I have volunteered to coach cheer for my 5th grader, what was I thinking you may ask? Yeah, I have no idea, I wasn’t. Well tbh I was thinking aww girl time with my oldest baby…I’ll let you know how that works out, we are only on practice 4 so far. Judging by how at 10 she is already acting like I’m the worlds dumbest mother (and meanest, sorry ladies (and gentlemen too) I already got that award, hangs front and center on the fridge) not sure how this season will go. But plus side she knows I’m there to annoy her in all things.

Then we have littles, she is a spitfire that me nor the world is ready for, but I love her and all her bossy, sassy, stong willed 3 year old self offers. I swear I have no idea where all the sass and these strong willed attitudes come from with these girls! It MUST be their father’s side, definitly couldn’t be anyone on MY side. Anywho, she will be starting like “pre” pre-K, not sure what it is actually called but her daycare rocks and they teach her lots. We have to get her ready too, yea more supplies! Honestly I don’t mind buying 4 hundred and 11 pencils, markers, notebooks and paint colors. My babies are well cared for while I work and deal with being an adult.