Failures and Successes

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In the past week, I’ve had one kitchen failure and one tremendous success.

I tried to resurrect the bread dough I had forgotten to add yeast to. The bread raised a little bit but not enough to save it. Also, the loaf ended up entirely too dense and didn’t cook in the middle. It was a complete failure. Next time I’ll make sure to add yeast.

I also found a new method of frying onions. My weight fluctuates because my motivation to be healthy fluctuates. I’m trying to make small changes to my food preparation that will help my body in small ways. Happy Herbivore posted a recipe in which she talked about cooking onions in a skillet using water.

It worked!

Using water instead of oil lowers my fat intake (specifically the trans fats created from heating oil) and it tastes just as good as traditional frying methods. I just filled a skillet with water, heated it on high to boiling, added onions, stirred, and cooked for 4 minutes. That’s it! I’ve done this twice and the first time I had to add some water because it all cooked off before the onions were done. But it worked!

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Done! Complete! Finished!

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I interrupt this normally scheduled Nano time to bring the following important announcement:

We have paid off our lowest balance credit card!!!

I sent the final payment this morning.

We have paid $1,589.25 since August 30th. Our goal was to pay off this card before November 30th and we are 4 weeks early. Wahoo!!!!

If we had paid only the minimums, it would have taken 60 months to pay off this card. Under our current interest rate, we would have paid $403 in interest over the next 60 months. The $403 doesn’t even include the hike in interest that our credit card recently informed us about. Instead, we paid $21.23, for a savings of $381.77.

Hubby and I both need to visit the dentist ($95 each just for an exam and x-rays!) and we’re also planning on diverting some of our snowball into savings. We are very gun shy about employment as we’ve suffered several layoffs in the past 18 months and would like to build up a bigger emergency fund. So we’ll be taking a few days to discuss our next financial goal and then I’ll post about what’s next.

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Kitchen mishaps

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Letting myself get pulled in too many directions is not a good idea.

Today I’ve been doing laundry, which of course means I have to line dry everything. That takes longer. I’ve done most of the dishes, except the ones I dirtied for lunch and cooking. I mixed up dough for a loaf of bread. And in the middle of all that, I’m working on my novel (6,600 words so far!).

The problem with jumping from one thing to another is that sometimes things don’t get done properly because I’m not paying enough attention. What was the problem today? I left the yeast out of my bread and didn’t realize it until after the rising time. Oops. That was the last of my whole wheat flour, too. I can’t buy any more until Friday.

I’m going to attempt something that probably won’t work. I just added the yeast to the dough, mixed it up really well, and I’m going to let it sit for an hour and see what happens. The worst that will happen is that it won’t rise and I’ve wasted a tablespoon of yeast. I’ve made this recipe once before, a no knead whole wheat bread that tasted really good. I made this one Italian style by adding some spices. Maybe we’ll get to try it.

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One. More. Week.

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$699.82 starting balance
– $256.59 snowball payment
+ $8.67 interest
– $164.00 contract paycheck

= $287.90 current balance (82% paid)

Total paid in October: $999.37 If I had realized we were that close to an even thousand, I would have found the extra 63 cents! Oh, well.

I didn’t even realize we could find that much money to send the credit card company. A good portion of that money is from my contract job so it’s too bad that my hours are so unpredictable. It will be hard to duplicate months like October because I can’t predict my hours and I am paid a month after completing the work.

Woohoo!! Another week and that credit card will be gone! Adios. Sayonara. We don’t ever want to see you again!

We’ve also reached another milestone. Our consumer debt is now 50% paid. We owe about $21,000 but we’ve paid just over $21,000. The numbers are way too big and each month doesn’t make much of a dent. But we’re at the half way point and are slowly chipping away at it!

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Blessings of the financial kind

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God is so very good and I am so very proud of my hubby!

Hubby met with his boss today to discuss his job performance and how hubby feels about the company thus far. He walked away with a raise and a bonus! Praise the Lord!

Hubby’s boss also gave him a $50 gift card to the Olive Garden so that hubby can take me out on a date. It’s the boss’ way of saying “thanks and I’m sorry” for taking up a good portion of our evenings and weekends in October. Hurray! We’ve never spent that much money at the Olive Garden. This means we’ll be able to get an appetizer, two entrees, and dessert! What a treat!

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Busy, busy bee

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I think the craziness has already started. Yesterday was busy, busy, busy.

I woke up at 7:30. That’s really late, even for me. I usually wake up between 6:30 and 7:00. The temperature dropped 20 degrees overnight. I had to wear jeans, socks, and a sweatshirt all day! Ate breakfast, sent hubby off to work, and talked to him during his 45 minute drive.

After hubby arrived at work, I settled into work. My contract assignment took two hours. Then I washed all the dishes, vacuumed, ironed clothes, made lunch, ate lunch, and washed more dishes! I washed and hung up a load of laundry. I took a 10 minute break to talk to a friend on the phone. Made dinner when hubby called to say he was on the way home.

Hubby had a last minute work assignment so I curled my hair and then talked to my mom on the phone for a bit. When he was finally finished with work, we left for our date. We stopped by the mall first to spend a $10 gift card I received for my birthday. I found some really pretty lipstick for $10 and the store was nice enough to not charge me any tax. Free!

We drove over to the Phoenix Art Museum and attended a lecture on the newest photography exhibition, a survey of portraits that covered the entire history of photography. The lecture was okay. We learned a bit about the thought process of the curator when she designed the exhibition. We also learned about the history of the most famous Winston Churchill photograph. After the lecture, we browsed through the European painting section and visited all of our favorite paintings. Then we drove home and crashed into bed!

The day was very busy, didn’t slow down from start to finish. I had wanted to work on my Nano prep a bit but never had time. Now it’s almost 3PM Thursday and I still haven’t worked on it!

Tis okay. Making peanut butter cookies for my hubby was way more important. Now that all my chores are complete, the cookies are baked, and the laundry is hung, I need to get to work. Nano starts in three days!

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5 days until the craziness begins…

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National Novel Writing Month starts in five days! I can’t wait to get started but I’m really nervous. The first half of my novel is outlined but the second half is really sparse. I only have one character developed and she’s not even fully rounded. Character development is the hardest aspect of fiction writing, I think.

Plot is easier this year because I’m writing about what it could have been like to live through the plagues of Egypt and the exodus. The overarching plot is already written out for me, though the details of the story are completely open.

I’m trying to focus on finding God through the plagues and exodus. What would it have been like to live in slavery? How would people feel when Moses shows up and says that God is ready to deliver them? What was it like to work under harsher conditions because Moses demanded their release? What was it like to watch the plagues occur and to be affected by a number of them? How would people have seen God through this situation?

I’m sure that everyone’s experience was different, much like it would be if it happened today. My response to God would probably be different than your response to Him which would be different than the neighbor’s response. It all depends on your history, your life experiences, and your attitude toward life. Would God seem mean? Caring? Loving? Would you be scared of Him?

These are the things I want to explore in writing my novel next month. I hope to grow closer to God through the experience as I seek to understand how He dealt with a lost people, a stubborn Pharaoh, and a meek leader.

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2/3 complete

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$703.48 starting balance
– $3.66 half.com payment

= $699.82 current balance (66% paid)

We’re making progress!

This upcoming week, my paycheck will clear the bank and that payment will be sent to the credit card. That should be another $160. We’re so close I can taste it. Thanksgiving will be oh, so sweet because we will be slaves to one less lender.

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Menu planning

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I’ve started working on next week’s menu and shopping list. During the summer, we shop on Fridays after my hubby gets off work so that our cupboards are full for weekend cooking. Now that sundown is earlier, we shop on Sundays. I prefer early mornings but sometimes we don’t make it out the door until the afternoon.

Next week, I want to try Baked Chimichangas. I’m still pushing myself to try at least one new recipe each week. The ingredients in our chimichangas might be a bit different than the recipe calls for but the actual cooking process is new to me.

I’m also researching pumpkins. I’m trying to determine if the regular pumpkins available in stores right now are recommended for cooking. According to most websites I’ve visited, those pumpkins aren’t that good for cooking because they aren’t as sweet and the texture is rougher than cooking pumpkins. If that’s the case, now I have to determine where to buy cooking pumpkins. So far, all I’ve seen are pumpkins for carving.

I want to make pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie… the list is extensive. I love fall and all the seasonal flavors. I just have to figure out where I can the pumpkin and how I cook it! Anyone know where I can get a cooking pumpkin?

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