Whew.

It's been a busy day!

I won't bore you with the details, but I will say that, inspired by this video



The Wanna Be and I decided we were going to give exercising en masse a shot. If the nuns can take the kids in their care on a four-mile run every day, we can certainly do some sort of group walk/run a few times a week!

The kids were incredibly excited about doing this (God bless 'em!), and I was amazed at how far they were able to run! (Marie, too!) Grace, of course, not having had a nap today, decided this was NOT the time to do any sort of exercise, so yours truly got to carry her the whole way. I wasn't able to run, but I'd like to think that I got an extra dose of exercise just from holding her while I tried to power walk!

I'm telling y'all this not to brag, but to hold myself accountable. I do NOT want to be this out of shape ever again, and scheduling-wise this is the only way I'm going to be able to do anything. (some of my friends are probably reading this saying, "You can always go jogging with us at 5:30 am!" I admire their dedication, but there is NO WAY I could get up that early unless someone's life depended on it..... and even then I'd probably be mighty grumpy and complain a whole lot.)

Hopefully I'll be able to report some sort of success next week!
--------------------------------------------------------------

After everyone went to bed this evening, I sat down to work on getting my coupons and grocery list together for tomorrow. It took a little over two hours, with a break in there to make banana bread for tomorrow's breakfast. (I despise... hate... and loathe banana bread; my family, however, loves it, so there you go.)

As you may recall from posts from earlier this year (like this one, and this one), I am one of those "crazy binder ladies" that you see in the grocery store.

Yeah, I admit it.

Once I saw how much money I could save every week, it would have been a crime for me NOT to go this route. The planning takes some time, of course, but the results are worth it. On a big week -- that is, when I'm stocking up on things -- I'll spend around $200 (that includes all cleaning products, diapers, pet food, etc. EVERYTHING.) It still sounds like a lot, until you divide it out.

I am feeding each member of my family on $22 a week, AND getting enough to share... to stockpile... and to feed us all well.

I believe that's worth the time I spend!

Now, however, this pooped mama is going to bed...