Casey was accepted to a linguistics masters program! We have given it a lot of thought and we both feel that it is the right thing. He is also #2 in line for the TA job. Hopefully, the girl who is #1 will find something better and we can have a little relief from student loans. Oh, and we would actually be able to afford to live somewhere nice and not sketchy.
The apartment hunting is a nightmare! Trying to look at the positive side of that has been pretty rough for me. It is easy to get completely overwhelmed. Thankfully, there is a professor at SVU that went to the same university for grad school. We have some good advice from them and that helps. Sometime soonish we are going to take the 8 hour drive to look for apartments in person, visit the local ward, and scout out the university. The bright side of that is that we can have Bean stay with my Casey's parents. It is such a blessing to have them close.
The one thing that seems to be the most frustrating part of Casey working 3 jobs right now is that we now no longer qualify for EBT. I never thought I would look at that as a blessing, since it is very hard to provide healthy food for a family of 3 on $30 a week, but this morning I decided to look at it a different way. My husband is able to provide enough money so that we can buy our own food. Was it easier to be on EBT? Of course it was. Is it frustrating to go to the store and have to buy the cheapest, lowest quality of everything? Absolutely, but you know what? My husband works hard so that we can have food, shelter, power, internet, phone, gas, and so that we can pay our loans. He works doubles almost every weekend, so that I can stay at home with our son. I am blessed to have $30 a week for food.
How do I do it? I buy a lot of ramen. I always buy meat on sale or in bulk. I hardly ever buy cheese. I don't buy convenience foods. I buy less expensive fruits and veggies (not a lot of berries in our apartment.) I have learned to make a lot from very little. We are certainly not eating poorly in this apartment. I scour pinterest for healthy, inexpensive, filling meals. I make a lot of soups and chili. I will pass on the things I have learned to my children so that they will be able to make a lot from just a little.
So, there it is. That is how I am looking on the bright side of life today.
10 years ago
Okay, I am going to share a recipe with you that costs roughly $6-$8 to make and it makes ALOT, enough for Buck to have 2 huge platefuls, I have a plateful and there is left over for lunch and takes 30 minutes to make.
ReplyDelete1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
1 can of corn
1 cup of Salsa
1 cup cooked elbow macaroni
1 lb of ground beef or ground turkey
1 tbsp Oregano
brown meat with oregano and any other seasonings you want in a large skillet (12" or so) and then drain grease.
Cook 1 cup of elbow macaroni noodles according to package.
Add all ingredient to the meat and stir. I like to add the soup first then corn then noodles and salsa.
Heat until it starts to bubble, and top with shredded cheese (if you want).
Its good, its easy and its quick.