Reflections on Easter

So my Easter church going has been a bit random this year. I did Ash Wednesday at an Episcopal Church, Palm Sunday was at the First Reformed Church, Good Friday was back at the Episcopal church and Easter Sunday was spend at the community church I've been going to the past few months. I think that the Good Friday service was the one that stuck out the most to me this Easter season. John 18 and 19 were read telling the story of Good Friday and liturgy was delivered reflecting on those chapters. I am always amazed that each Easter I learn something new about the Crucifixion. This Easter it was the fact that Jesus condemned to death twice, one by the Jews and once by the Romans and that both sentences were carried out. The Jews condemned him to death by flogging for blaspheme and the Romans crucified Him for claiming to be King of the Jews. This is my 20-somethinged time hearing the passion of Christ, yet it was the first time I've ever heard someone point out that the flogging was in fact a death sentence and not just a punishment. And yet again I am humbled and amazed at what my Savior did for me out of love.

A few of my Favorite things

Sunny days

Baby possiums

Lizards and geckos

Cadburry mimi milk chocolate eggs

Mangos

Bike rides in the woods

Friday nights at home

Mac and Cheese with tuna and mixed veggies

Laying on the beach with a good book

Friends

Flopped Cheese Whole Grain Pancakes

Serves about 6

1 c. Flour, white or whole wheat
1 ¼ c. oatmeal
2 tbs of wheat bran, oat bran, or wheat germ
2 tbs of whole flax seeds
2 tsp of baking power
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tbs honey, brown sugar, or raw (turbine) sugar
1 tps of vanilla sugar or ½ tsp of vanilla
½ tsp cinnamon
2 plus c. of flopped cheese, flopped yogurt, buttermilk or soured milk
2 eggs
½ tsb of olive oil

Put everything in a bowl and mix until combined. Cook in a large frying pan or griddle until you start to see bubbles in the top and the edges are starting to dry bottoms should be golden brown. Enjoy!

Cook’s tips: slightly under cook the pancakes, then reheat them in a toaster for weekday quick breakfasts. Enjoy them topped with honey and peanut-butter for a very filling breakfast.

Why all the funny stuff instead of just Bisquick?

The oatmeal and bran add fiber, which has been linked to preventing GI tract cancers and preventing heart disease. The flax seeds offer Omega 2 and 6 fatty acids, which are usually found in fish and are good for the heart. Olive oil is another source of heart healthly fats. As for the flopped cheese/yogurt…. Its just something I end up with from time to time and use in place of buttermilk. As the saying goes “waste not want not.”

Barrel Gardens, Home Depot and Men

Great title, huh? I now have a garden planted in 1/2 of a 55 gal barrel that I brought back from visiting the folks. It sits on the back of my house where a propane tank use to before everything went electric. Its full of tomatoes, peas (for eating the vines, not the pods!), squash (patty pan and butternut) and I'll add basil and cucumbers once they have gotten large enough to transplant.

So in order to plant my wonderfully little plants I needed to go buy dirt (which I think I hate buying almost as much as I hate buy water). So where does dirt come from? If you answered God, nature or the ground, your wrong! It comes from Home Depot, in the gardening section, right were God left it after He used all He needed for Eve. That being said, I went off to Home Depot to get 6 40 lbs bags of potting soil, some rocks and pete moss for my garden (which is costing me more and more money...). While Home Depot did have the dirt I wanted it was missing one thing... a guy to carry all 240 lbs of dirt out to my car and help me load it. I remember reading once that Home Depot is a great place to pick up guys, I think that they were lying. Also, this is the South, well at least I think Florida is south, so one would think that at least one guy somewhere would offer to help me with my 240 lbs of dirt. Actually, come to think of it, it was rather liberating to take care of my own dirt. Nothing like getting a good work out lifting 40 lbs in and out of a car and pouring it into barrels. Yup, come to think of it, its a good thing that no guy was hanging out at Home Depot just waiting to help me with my dirt cuz if he had I'd have had to go to gym later to complete my weight training for the day:-)

P.S. April is looking like another Month of a $100 since I'll be heading back to the Keys for a week in May.

And its back to the Gov grind... and Spring Break

Yup, that's right, its been 2 months since I last worked for the Feds and I've going back to gov, but this time is State. I've hired by the Florida Department of Health to do some data entry for the next 3 months, until the end of May. I think that its going to be interesing and I'll get to interact (virtually) with the state epidemiology for Maternal and Child Health. Also, there is the added bonus of being able to pay rent and spend a bit more then $100/month for everything.

I'm just one week away from Spring Break, I'll be heading to Key Largo and Miami for a long weekend with my cousin then heading back home for the rest of the week.

Note: I ended up going $20 over budget for last month's challange - living on $100. I figure that that's not to bad.

I'm not trying the $100 thing again since well its Spring Break month and since I got my car some new breaks and a tire rod, I'm already well over budget, but at least all of the strange sounds have stopped!

Broke and still five days to go!

Well I am broke, in fact I am about $11 in the hole:-( But I couldn't not go to lunch with my classmates, I don't eat out unless its with other people and it was great to have friends to enjoy a nice meal with.

I have to say that I am pretty proud of myself though, living on $111 for a whole month is pretty good in my book. I think that I will relax a bit next month (its spring break!), but I'll still try and keep an eye on what I'm spending. More making lists before I go shopping instead of just throwing stuff in my cart thinking "Yeah, I need that" or "That looks yummy!" and then not having anything to cook with it.

My sister gave me a gift card for Christmas and I've decided to spend part of it on vanilla beans. I've never cooked with them before, but really want to since I getting more and more into gourmet cooking and I also want to make my own vanilla extract since I don't use imitation stuff and the real stuff is bloody pricey in the stores.

My NEW diet!

So Spring Break is just around the corner and needless to say, I am itching for a trip some where, preferable some where that requires a passport! That being said, I am thinking about starting on my vacation diet. My vacation diet has nothing to do with fitting into a cute dress or a swimsuit and everything to do with having enough money to actually GO some where. Since I am already trying to live on $100/mo I am thinking that this new diet will be to simply give up eating in order to save more money!

I have a feeling that I won't stick to this new diet and that I'll still end up going on a nice vacation some where fun!

Oh, and I still have my $2 left and am pretty sure that I can make it until March one without overspending. The only good thing about not really have close friends down here yet is that I don't have people that want to go out and do things that cost money.

(and according to the spell checker, this is the first post that I've written without spelling errors!)