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What I Spent, What We Ate | Plus a small aside about perfect happy lives

Before we get to groceries:

When I posted my bucket list update the other day, a regular and dear reader commented that she was having trouble avoiding the, “envy the blogger’s perfect happy family life” trap, and mentioned she was having a tough summer.

Guys, it bums me out so much that a blog like this isn’t a place where I can share all the not-so-happy-family-life too.

I would love to share more with you all, but man, most of the not-so-happy stuff in my life is comprised of things that are not solely my story to tell.

(Septic problems? Food poisoning? Totally will tell.   Relational stuff? Not so much.)

I just want to be respectful of the people in my life, especially my husband and kids.

 

I do have so much to be grateful for in my life, I really do.   A lot of my life IS happy (and I do think it’s smart to focus on the bright side).

But oof, this last year has been rough on a lot of fronts. Also the year or two before this year, actually.

I’ve learned a lot and cried a lot, I lost weight from stress, and had plenty of personal therapy appointments, but I’m happy to say in many ways, I am a lot better for the wear.

And I’m healthier and freer.

It might not be easy, but God is working in my life.

Still, not every situation in my life is hunky-dory, and it never will be this side of heaven.

Anyway.

I just want to re-throw out a reminder that what you see on the internet is only a partial story (which is as it should be!) and that all of us are dealing with pain and difficulty in some way or another.

It’s just the human condition in this broken world, and we are all in it together.

Our lives are a mash-up of beautiful and ugly and easy and difficult.   And any person you see on the internet, including me, is no exception.

To all of you that are struggling…so much love to you. You are not alone.   And I wish I could sit down and have tea with you and listen to your pain.   I hope you’ve got someone in your real life who can do that.

(Related: “Please write more about the bad stuff!”)

Hmm. I had words to say about this than I thought I did!

Moving on to food, if you’re still with me….

What I Spent

First up: the $25 Hungry Harvest box, of course. Which I did not photograph at all.

Oops.

On Monday, a friend went to Costco and I asked if she could pick up flank steaks for me, and she did! $22 there.

And then I made two trips to Aldi, one for $35.52.

And a second one for $70.70.

Which puts me at $153.22.

However…

I stopped at the produce stand. And they had a bunch of bruised peaches.   So I bought two boxes for a total of $23.

So now I’m over budget but WHATEVER. I have peaches!!!

I’ve been slicing and freezing most of them for future smoothie usage but we’re also eating plenty of them too.

Total for August week one: $176

What We Ate

Monday

I made a Thai beef green salad. And also a blueberry/peach salad because of the oodles of peaches that I bought.

Make hay while the sun shines…..or make fruit salad when the peaches are available.

Tuesday

This is the night I made the pesto grilled chicken pasta salad.

We ate a peach and blueberry fruit salad with that. Not surprising.

Wednesday

Mr. FG and I are gonna have to skip our usual weekend date night due to a schedule conflict, so I emailed him in the afternoon and was like, “Heeey! Want to go out with me?”

(Spoiler alert: he said yes. Lucky me. ;))

So we went and got pizza.

Joshua was out at a goodbye party for a co-worker, and Lisey had eaten earlier with a friend.   So Sonia and Zoe made a homemade cheese sauce for the leftover elbow macaroni for some DIY macaroni and cheese and that was their dinner.

Thursday

Mr. FG went out with our pastor for dinner, so I decided to make Apple Pfannekuchen, except with peaches.

apple pfannekuchen

(Why yes.   We do have a peach theme going on here.)

Mr. FG hates eggy stuff, so we just eat it when he’s not here.

Friday

I’m going out with a friend, so it’s gonna be a buy-pizza-instead-of-make-it night for the family.

_______________

Woo.   That was a very long Friday post.   10,000 points to you if you made it all the way to the end!

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Lori

Monday 7th of August 2017

I find there are two types of blogs I enjoy reading, when it comes to family/domestic stuff: I like ones that focus on finding job in little things (like you do here!) and I like ones that take the ordinary difficulties that moms face and make them really, really funny (Jen Fulwiler comes to mind immediately, but I know I read a few others that are great at that). Or, people who do both, like Rachel Jankovic.

But I'm not sure anybody really wants to read a blog about a stranger's struggles. We might think we want to, but I'm not sure we would.

Kristen

Monday 7th of August 2017

I think you're right. It would get old after a while! At least, if that's the main focus of the blog, it would.

Lori

Monday 7th of August 2017

That was meant to be "joy," not "job." :)

Anusha

Monday 7th of August 2017

Really thoughtful of you to respond with kindness and honesty to that reader who is having a tough summer. "Thank you" for always taking time to listen and write back to your readers. Love your generous spirit and hoping that God always listens to answers your prayers Kristen. You are so genuine !!

Kristen

Monday 7th of August 2017

Oh, I love to chat with you guys! I love that so many of you take the time to leave comments, especially in the current internet climate where fewer and fewer people leave comments on blogs.

sabrina

Monday 7th of August 2017

Every time I read one of your posts like this, I wish we went to the same church and were friends in real life! You just sound like such a great person and frankly, you sound like a couple of my best and greatest friends. The ones you do not see all the time, but just pick right up with when you do because you are so like minded! While it encourages me that you also have "kid issues" or " teen issues" just like me, I love that you respect your family so much not to share them. The bottom line is, our family members are People too. And sometimes, "people" do not mesh all of the time whether it is personalities, or just having a bad day. If I can give a stranger a break for having a bad day, I should be more than giving to those I love... Keep up the good work, my friend!

Kristen

Monday 7th of August 2017

Aww, I'm sure lots of us here could be great friends in real life. If only...

Brooke Hart

Sunday 6th of August 2017

I love your posts, you, and your family . I love your integrity and insight . This is a wholesome , drama free place to sit a while and take a quiet moment. And if I ever get the knack of pizza dough ,it will be delightful .

Bonna Irving

Saturday 5th of August 2017

I used to be involved with a group and I would cringe at what some of the women shared about their teenagers. Yikes it felt so disrespectful to me... Thanks for not doing that! I have a wonderful relationship with my grown daughters and I'm sure part of it is because I tried my best to treat them with the same dignity I wanted to be treated with.

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