Hurry up...and wait

After a greatly productive morning, here I sit.

What a wonderful weekend we had! Kraig's parents drove in for the weekend and arrived just in time to watch Kate so we could go to a high school football game by ourselves. We saw three of our boys play football and another march with the band. And they won.

Saturday morning, Kraig and I went to participate in our church's monthly outreach. Last month we collected school supplies for the poor school district in town. This month we were able to help glean produce from a couple different farms/orchards for a local organization that helps feed hungry people. Two weeks ago a group picked peaches. Saturday, we picked apples. Approximately 6,000 pounds of apples! It was hard work, but we had a lot of fun. Over 30 people from our congregation were there to serve. Saturday evening, we went to a Japanese hibachi-style restaurant for dinner with Kraig's parents. YUM!

Sunday was Youth Sunday, an it was fantastic! The teens are responsible for every aspect of the service, from leading worship to preaching and serving communion. They did a fantastic job. It was great to see their excitement and passion.

Sunday night, I helped put together set lists for the upcoming month. Then I went to a Mary Kay party with some ladies from church. A college student in our congregation is just starting to sell it, and we were glad we could be there for her first party. Kraig had "Halo" night with a couple guys, so Kate went with me. Lucky for me, Kate won a door prize:) It was a nice evening.

Yesterday I went grocery shopping. I had looked through the ads and noticed the most expensive grocery in town was having a great sale on several meat items. After shopping for the rest of our groceries, I headed over to check out the sale. Not only was there a sale, but I happened to be there just about the time the manager was marking down items. I ended up with 10 pounds of 80/20 ground beef for $1.40/lb. I got 7ish pounds of bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts for $.88/lb. I also ended up with a whole roasting chicken that was on sale for like $.60/lb.

We ate the roasting chicken for dinner last night. It was delicious. I'm always amazed how moist and flavorful you can get them. This morning I got up with the intention dividing up the rest of the meat and freezing it. I read a friend's blog, however, about how she was experimenting with Once A Month Cooking. She had put a ton of cooked, frozen food in her freezer. So I was inspired. I took last night's chicken carcass and made homemade stock. I took 4 of the chicken breasts and de-boned them for later. I have three breasts in the crockpot for tonight's taco meat. I've browned almost 5 pounds of ground beef with onions and garlic. Soon I'll be browning the rest of the ground beef for taco meat for tonight and for the freezer. Once this was done, I realized I'm OUT of freezer bags, so I'm taking a break. I need to get the chicken either in the freezer or cooked and in the freezer, but I haven't decided yet. I can't wait to see it all in the freezer. It's been super easy and I know it will save me a ton of time in the future. I'm hoping to post pictures tomorrow!

It's Life Group night. Rather than the usual 4, however, we'll have 7 tonight! It's a little much for our small dining room, but it's worth it to visit with friends. We're having tacos & fajitas for dinner. Chocolate & peanut butter fondue for dessert! YUM!!

Back to the kitchen!