Bits of randomness (jerky, Ready, Set, Simplify, and goals)
Before we get to that, I wanted to tell you that last night, I realized that in yesterday's Q&A post, I should have asked you guys to chime in with your advice about dealing with negative comments. I know a number of you have blogs of your own, and I'm sure you have some good thoughts to share. So, if you didn't already, add your voice to the comments!
(I was going to say something right here like, "on to the topic at hand!" but really, since this is a random post, that paragraph above should feel right at home.)
I recently received 3 free bags of Oberto jerky to sample...one bag of beef, one bag of BBQ pork, and one bag of teriyaki turkey jerky.
I go back and forth with how I feel about beef jerky. Sometimes I love it, and sometimes I think it's right on par with shoe leather. But, my kids love jerky, and since it's not sugary or refined, I don't mind if they eat it.
The Oberto jerky ingredients are pleasingly simple and real, which makes for a happy me. And it's tasty...my kids and I managed to eat all 3 bags in short order. Our favorite variety was definitely the turkey jerky. It seemed a bit more tender, and the mildly sweet teriyaki flavor was so good.
__________________________________
I recently helped my friend Elizabeth, of Ready, Set, Simplify., switch her blog from WordPress.com to a self-hosted blog. That all went smoothly, but her subscription service before was through WordPress.com and we were unable to export the list of email subscribers to her new subscription service.
So, if you were one of her subscribers, hop on over to her blog and get re-signed up! (the sign-up box is on the right-hand side...just scroll down a bit.)
And if you weren't one of her subscribers, you could always become one...Elizabeth posts about her journey to simplify and declutter her life (and sometimes, I show up on her blog!)
___________________________________
MoneySavingMom often posts a list of 10 goals for the week, and I thought I'd give that a try myself.
1. Paint new sample color on my living room wall
I already stopped at the store and picked up another sampler..I just need to roll it onto the wall!)
2. Finish editing photos from my shoot with the W family.
I want to get them done and delivered.
3. Finish money report for November.
I'm a little late getting it done because I was waiting to see what Mr. FG's new paycheck amount was after taxes.
4. Figure out a new budget with Mr. FG.
As I mentioned before, he got a raise with his promotion, and we need to sit down and talk about exactly where the extra money will go.
5. Update Quicken.
Yes. I am still not terribly fabulous at this.
6. Post review/giveaway for Cook's Illustrated's new cookbook.
I know you guys are anxious for me to get that done!
7. Get Sonia started with piano lessons.
The poor girl has been anxiously waiting for me to do this since September, and I have not made the time for it. So, I'm publicly committing to getting this done. Hold me to it!
8. Try having computer-less mornings.
I've been trying to get all my blog posts done and scheduled at night, so there's not really a reason for me to hop on in the morning. Plus, there are all sorts of reasons for me NOT to hop on (like, I have to cook dinner, exercise, shower, do family worship with Mr. FG and the kids among a zillion other things).
And there's always the fact that hopping on to check email can speedily turn into 15-20 minutes.
9. Make a blog plan for November.
I never stick to these entirely, but having a month's worth of ideas planned out does help to make blogging easier.
10. Figure out a new time for Bible reading.
I used to do this early in the morning, but since our schedule has changed, that's not working so well. I'm still getting prayer time in (I do that while I go for a walk in the mornings) but I want to work Bible reading back in too. I think maybe I'll do that at night before Mr. FG comes home or something.
Next week, I'll let you know how things went with my goals.
____________________________________
Today's 365 post: Stick Men
Joshua's 365 post: An Orchestra Trio
Your goal post is very timely for me........I've been reading the blog "Moving to Portugal" for a little while, and she posts monthly & annual goals. I've been good about creating daily To Do Lists, but somehow I end up losing the forest (small/medium/large goals) while focusing on the trees (daily To Do List).
On Saturday I created a goal list for the month of November and then figured out what I need to get done each week in order to accomplish them. This planning also helped me be more realistic about what could get done this month. I have a real tendancy to underestimate how long it takes to do some things or I create mega lists and then get discouraged.
Good luck with this week's goals and I hope you will report on them next week!
My favorite is #7. Why? Because I started piano lessons last night. Sonia and I can be beginner buddies!
Kristen, curious question. How do you track money/spending etc when Quicken is not updated? Brian updates ours at least once a day, sometimes more (I kid you not, he is a freak) - if you don't keep Q updated, how do you know where your finances stand?
That's not a judgement of any sort, I really would like to know 🙂 I am hopeless at tracking money myself, and am thankful that my husband is somewhat obsessive about it LOL
Well, I do figure all of that out when I do our monthly money report...it's just not necessarily all recorded in Quicken.
I wish at least one of us here was obsessive about Quicken...that would help! lol
I at I mean is -- you only balance it out once a month? Is that right? I'm curious as to how you stay on track if you don't know your balance or whatever day to day - or do you guys use a different method for daily stuff? Forgive me if you've posted about this before and I've missed it 🙂
I didn't comment yesterday but did want to chime in today by saying I loved your advice of considering the source. A person that needs to make themselves feel better by flaming another person on a blog is in a bad place. Hopefully they will get past it soon as living in that sort of toxic state is an awful place to be.
I'm going to take your advice and have a rough blog plan for this month as I'm trying to use my blog as a way of keeping myself on track for the things that I want to do for Christmas with my wee one. We're really trying to make sure that we keep with the spirit of the season and not the things, things, things.
This week-must get my Christmas cake on the go.
Thanks again for helping me with my blog move! And thanks for sending your nice readers my way! I just added a Subscribe tab at the top to make it a little easier to find. 🙂
I've been thinking about doing a goal post myself. This week a big one is getting ready for a yard sale on Saturday! I also need to work on budget stuff, computer-less time, and Bible time.
Oh, and I really need to work on being a better "god zombie mombie."
My goal is to paint also.
Just curious, when you walk and pray, do you pray out loud or to yourself? I like to pray when I am doing things too, like when I'm driving or shopping. I do this out loud. I find I can concentrate more when I say my prays out loud.
Anne, I pray when I'm doing things like that, too! If no one is within hearing distance, I talk out loud. If people are closer by, I pray silently. But you're right, I can concentrate better when I pray out loud.
For me the biggest downside to jerky is cost, plus the Nitrates. I have recently purchased a cheap Nesco dehydrator, we love it. My son is on a low carb diet and needs lots of high protein snacks. I can make pounds of jerky in 4 to 5 hrs. I use my own spices and leave out the curing salt, using sea salt instead. Not quite as long of a shelf life, but we have never had any go bad, and the taste is amazing.
I think I mentioned this in a comment here but I'm not sure: homemade is almost infinitely cheaper. I made some jerkey with fancy, expensive Happy Beef by the piece from a farmer's market. Even that was cheaper than Oberto-type from the supermarket. No need for curing salt (aka Pink Salt, aka potassium nitrite, aka that which makes pork belly into bacon).
What kinds of spices do you use? And roughly how much per pound of meat? I've never made jerky before, but it sounds intriguing.
Here's one of my recipes. Because I don't make jerky often enough to reuse the marinade I make enough to about half submerge the meat, and turn the container over to redistribute during marination.
Common Modern Wet Marinade
This is gleaned from a sampling of jerky marinades. It has less soy sauce than many.
2 parts soy sauce (or more)
2 parts worcestershire sauce
2 parts steak sauce
1 part liquid smoke
spices: salt, pepper, garlic, horseradish
Goals, I need goals, lol. Thanks for a needed bit of inspiration this morning 😉
I'll be re-subscribing over at Ready, Set, Simplify - didn't realise there was a prob with subscriptions - so thanks for that. It's made me a little nervous actually as I am researching how to get feedburner on my wordpress site, and I was already a little apprehensive about playing around with it (it's all DIY over at Simply Being Mum)! I know it's two different things but maybe I'm looking for an excuse not to do it?
As for jerky - it's not really something we have over here, but it does look like leather to me 🙂 - Oh and piano - Sonia is a very patient little girl :)! I'm keen for my 6 year old to start lessons - but I can't teach her! boo! The school have mentioned they may look at it so fingers crossed. We are even considering a rather extravagant purchase of a digital piano - I know... very unlike frugal ole me!
On the store bought jerky. (in this case free) I did not double check the Oberto brand but most jerky is covered up in MSG (even many local yocal vendors use it for preservation and addictive purposes) for those of you avoiding that vicious cycle you might try making your own. We make ours in the dehydrator or oven (when its cold weather). We are fortunate to have a variety of wild game in the freezer or purchase as natural as possible when on sale from a whole foods store or butcher. We have tried many flavors, black pepper, crushed red chile, powdered green chile or jalapeno, lemon, and plain with sea salt. To prepare - it is easiest sliced with an electric knife while frozen. PS keep the dehydrator away from the dogs and when finished you better hide some because the family makes fast work of devouring it.
For Mellisa who asked about spices, I just sprinkle it over the sliced meat, that is about 1/4" thick. We prefer alot of flavor so I am generous with the application. No pre packaged seasoning as most have ingredients in them that I stay away from. We live in NM so chili is easy to come by, even powdered. You probably could find powdered jalapeno or habenero. Plus there are plenty of SW sites on the net to order from. If you are up for it, take fresh green chile, roast, peel,dry it then powder it. I suppose you could do something similar with canned or frozen. The lemon is just fresh squeezed directly over the meat. Recipes do exist to mix ground meat and partially freeze slice and freeze, but it is messy and time consuming - we just like the other better. You will know by looking at the meat if it is dry enough and that depends on what type of equipment you dry it with. As a child my dad rolled the strips of meat in black pepper and hung in on the barb wire fence till the donkey decided he liked it too. If I ever have enough to store I use a vacuum seal treatment on the bag or jar.
I looked at Oberto's website and it lists sugar as the second ingredient. So, I decided not to try it.
I just read an article that mentioned that the Marines only give their people three areas of focus because their experiments say that's all one can handle. Why do we give ourselves so many? Do we think we can do more than the Marines? 🙂
Kristen,
I like the idea of ten goals for the week. I hate getting to the end of the day and feeling like I've accomplished nothing. I am w/you on #2, #8, #9 (this goes along w/#2), and #10.
Hi Kristen,
re quicken, haven you tried YNAB? http://www.youneedabudget.com/?gclid=CLTV2KyVqKwCFWRNpgod03BDeQ. You could even have a free trial and maybe ask them for a discount of the full price (I got three friends to sign up and got a big discount).
I've been using this for the last 3 months after using Quicken and MS Money for the 10+ years. What a difference, you can even have YNAB to your phone, so that when you are at the shop you know how much is in your budget for that particular category! It took me a while to get my 'head' around the different way of doing things. Quicken does everything arrears but YNAB does everything in advance. It has made a HUGE difference in our spending!
Just a thought :), love your blog!
Hanneke
I love random posts days! Actually, I'm digging most of this.
I like the idea of weekly goals. Loved and appreciated the advice about nasty commenters. Also, a big fan of jerky. Although, I've designs on making my own.
Thats a Win. Win. Win. Sometimes you gotta keep it random.