Boys and Leaves

Mike raked all of the leaves into a big pile and we had so much fun playing in them! Well, the boys had fun playing in them. Mike and I mostly watched, and pulled Sammy out when he got in too deep. Mike made a huge "fort", as he called it, and Griffin made it his temporary home. He didn't want to wait to go outside until Mike had raked the leaves up, but it was pretty cold this morning, so we waited until the leaves were in a pile and then didn't stay out for very long. Sammy already has a cold, poor fellow, he doesn't need it to get worse! He doesn't act sick, he just has a clogged up nose which he tries to wipe on me every time I pick him up. He's getting very good at dodging the Kleenex, too. He starts turning his head away when he sees me reaching for the box!

I went grocery shopping today and spent $160 for about two weeks' worth of food (I may have to go back for more produce sometime in that two week period). Two weeks ago I went shopping and spent $280 and got the same amount of food as I did this time. The difference was that I searched for bargains and I didn't buy organic. Mike and I discussed it and decided that for some things it is worth the extra price to buy organic, but while we still have small children and lots of medical bills we will buy the less expensive food. It is still healthy food, I'm staying away from a lot of the processed stuff, it's just not organic. I read all of the labels and stayed away from hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup, which really limited the foods I could buy since most of the packaged foods have these two ingredients.

I feel good about the food I came home with today! I was so excited that I kept interrupting Mike during the KU game -- yes, KU basketball has begun once again, and I will not be able to get Mike's attention unless KU is winning big time and there is no chance for the other team to win. I wanted to show him all of the great bargains I found... chicken thighs for 88 cents a pound and ground beef for $1 a pound were my best buys of the day. I got Mike a T-Bone steak and some A-1 sauce for it only to find that while I had been out and about today (Mike's going to play in two free poker tournaments tomorrow, so today was MY day off), Mike had gone to the same grocery store I went to this evening and bought himself some A-1 and Heinz 57 sauce. He likes to mix them together and dip his steak into them. We had a couple of Filet Mignon steaks in the freezer, and he had had a hankering for meat (duh! When does he NOT...) and since I hadn't done my wifely duty and purchased it the last time I went to the store, even though he had made the effort of writing a list for me, which will probably never happen again since he went to all that trouble and I didn't even get what was on the list... I forgot the chocolate syrup too... he just went and got it himself! So now we have lots of A-1. Steak, anyone?