A Financial Fast!

I'm borrowing this idea from Totally Ready. It's a great blog! And a great idea! This is their blog today:

A financial fast for the next month.
Now, that is a great idea. What do we really need? How much do we really spend, and on what? Let’s find out. Here are the rules:

1. You will agree to the following guidelines for two weeks.
2. You will keep a journal and record all the items you wanted to purchase but did not.
3. You will eat all meals at home or brown bag at work.
4. You will pay all bills as they come due.
5. You will only purchase food and toiletries at the grocery store, nothing else.
6. If there is something you absolutely need, besides food or medicine, you will barter or trade for it.

That’s it. Please take the challenge. You can do it. At the end of the two weeks we will share what we have learned. Get that notebook out and get ready to keep a record of what you are doing over the next two weeks. Let’s get going today!

I challenge anyone who reads our blog to try this Financial fast for 2 weeks. I'm planning to start my fast on April 1st when the taxes skyrocket in California!!!!

For other great ideas check out the Totally Ready Blog!
http://blog.totallyready.com/

Join the Rebel Alliance

The week in Review!

This is Eddie cleaning and fixing the freezer last Saturday.
He is so handy to have!
The freezer is clean and working well again!

Yes, I made mac 'n cheese again. I think it had too much cheese this time. Eddie said it was perfect!

Our sad moment of the week! Elder Wilkins finished his mission and went home to Arizona. Elder Choi was transfered to Pickering Ward. We could see him at Stake functions! We will miss them both!

I tag anyone who reads this!

Okay, I read this on someone else's blog and decided it might be fun, so eveyone who reads this needs to do it too on their blog.

Go to whatever files you keep your pictures in. Click on the 6th file and the 6th picture and then blog about it!

Here's mine:

This photo was taken on Sept. 18, 2005. It's in my sister's backyard in Orem, UT. They were having a party for my nephew, Danny who had gotten married the month before in Vegas and was shortly reporting for a year of fun in Iraq. Eddie was already in Utah and I drove up for the party and invited him to come with me. The day before (Sept. 17, 2005) is when we decided to give this relationship-thingy a whirl. From my point-of-view, this day was pretty fun. I had never brought anyone to a family party. We were holding hands and everything. Everyone was tripping out on us. It was pretty hilarious. Eddie's memories of the day are not as cheery, but in time all wounds will heal!

Not my favorite picture! oh well!

Homemade Pizza

Yes, tonight for dinner we had homemade pizza. I found the dough and sauce recipe on-line. It turned out pretty good. I'm afraid of yeast, so I get nervous when I make something with it. I'm getting pretty good at it though. I need to work on keeping my dough thick. I tend to roll everything out too thin. The ends of the pizza hung over the side, so I filled the ends with lots of mozzarella cheese and turned the dough over and had stuffed ends!!!

Pizza Dough:

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons white sugar
DIRECTIONS
1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine 2 cups bread flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine. Beat well until a stiff dough has formed. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F

3. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. Cover with your favorite sauce and toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Pizza Sauce

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
2 tsp ground oregano
1 1/2 teaspoons dried minced garlic
1 teaspoon ground paprika
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
½ tsp basil
¼ black pepper
DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium bowl, Mix together tomato sauce and tomato paste until smooth. Stir in all the other ingredients

I also threw in Italian seasoning.

I used a ton of mozzarella cheese and some grated parmesan too. I had the mini pepperonis. Eddie loves it!!!

11 California Spanish Missions in 5 Days

It started in Ventura at Mission San Buenaventura.
1.

The above shot was from the courtyard.

The one under from outside walking up the sidewalk to the mission.

Next, Mission Santa Barbara. 2.

They don't call it the Queen of the Missions for nothing.

3. La Purisima Concepcion Mission

This is a State Park. It was pretty cool. Lots of animals!

4. Mission Santa Ines

It's right next to Solvang! Who knew?!

5. Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa

6. Mission Carmel

Also known as San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo

7. Mission San Juan Bautista

This mission is right next to the San Andreas Fault!

8. Mission Santa Cruz

9. Mission Nuestra Senora de la Soledad
This mission had just finished mass when we got there.
10. San Antonio de Padua

We almost missed this one. It's on the grounds of Fort Hunter Liggett, an active military base.

11. San Miguel Arcangel

This one was the last one on our trip.

It received major damage in the 2003 earthquake. There wasn't much to see at this one!