In The Refiner's Fire

I don't have meal photos this week but I do have photos of our groceries and the second box of our CSA!  So here goes: CSA First:   Front Row: Left to Right: Peas, Garlic Chives, Garlic Scapes, Dill, Sage Back Row: Left to Right: Lettuce, Spinach, Swiss Chard, Broccoli Not Pictured: 1 lb Strawberries   Groceries Next:    Store #1: Toilet Cleaner $2.19 Mini Pretzels $1.79 S&W Canned Beans 6 @ 10/$6 = $3.60 Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks $1.50 Cracked Wheat Bread $2.50 Chicken Drum Sticks 4.51lbs @ $0.88/lb = $3.97 Red Mango $0.88 Pears 2.60lbs @ $.99/lb = $2.57 Apples 2.33lb @ $1.49/lb = $3.47 Raspberries (dry pint) 2 @ 2/$4 = $4 Blueberries (dry pint) 2 @ 2/$4 = $4 Smart Balance Spread $2.99 200 ct Coffee Filters $1.79   Total (with tax): $35.25   Store #2: 100ct Kleenex $1.01   Total (with tax): $1.08     So what are we eating this week?  Lots of salad - we have lettuce and spinach and Swiss Chard (silverbeet)

Some of my beautiful flowers!  They are making me SO happy this summer! It's been a pretty wild month or so around here and I'm far busier than I thought I would be.  Teaching summer session is brutal - both for me and the students.  Three hours of class each day, five days a week.  Thankfully we're almost done for the summer!  John has been at camp and a retreat with the 4th-6th graders and the high school kids, respectively. He has more trips coming up this summer too.  I was in a bad car accident earlier this month (thankfully I am okay but our car is still getting repaired) and I have been fighting a bunch of other health "stuff" lately.  I'm pretty sure that having a break from work and school and all that will help - not much longer and then I'll get that break! We've been trying to be pretty frugal lately since we're on short income this summer too (like last summer) - I don't get paid when I'm not teaching and with the car and

So, the picture is totally not anything I made (seriously!) but was from the reception for the Confirmation class on Pentecost Sunday a couple of weeks ago.  I have been terrible at taking more food photos lately, so this is it!  Isn't it pretty?   We're into full-blown summer mode here.  The children are in summer day-camp through the YMCA, John is gearing up for the National Youth Gathering and a couple rounds of church camp and I'm teaching summer session classes.  I've been sick more than I would like (including a very painful bout that landed me in the ER) and our weather has been beautiful!  We spent $43 this last week on groceries and our CSA starts mid-week this week.  Here's what we're eating this week: Sunday, June 14, 2015:     Breakfast: Cereal and Milk     Lunch:  Grilled hotdogs and Hamburgers, Buns, Watermelon     Snack: Homemade Slushies (we bought a machine for John a few years ago)     Dinner: Pizza Twists, Tossed Salad, Strawber

Pork roast, sourdough rolls, tossed salad and fruit - I thought the table looked so pretty!  Well, May just flew by here! The children turned a whole whopping 10 years old (how did that happen?).  We had 5 houseguests for a week and 2 for the whole month. We had a dance recital, a choir concert and a band concert. Spring semester ended and Summer session started. And John graduated with his Master of Divinity degree!  (Whoot!) And I spent the entire month sick - first a head cold/sinus infection, then a locked glut muscle, and then a round of the flu, just so it didn't feel left out.  I'm ready for June, I tell you! My parents bought groceries while they were here in May (most of the time) and took us out to eat so many times the children were actually asking to stay home and have me or John cook! Grandma or Grandpa would do in a pinch, but they were definitely tired of eating out! I spent $33.94 on groceries today - fruit (honeydew, apples, bananas, cherries