As many of you have noticed, our world really revolves around our hilarious baby. He makes us laugh and he keeps us busy all of the time. I thought it would be a nice change to post something other than baby pictures this time, though, just to prove that we do have lives and interests outside of our baby. Here are a few of my hobbies that keep me busy when I'm not chasing Tom Star around the house:
Couponing
Many of you already know that I am a pretty avid couponer so I won't spend too long talking about this one. I've been doing it now for about a year and I have to admit that we have saved mountains of money because of it. Last March when I started couponing we were living in a two-bedroom apartment and I was about six months pregnant. This March we have a house, a yard, and a baby who eats a lot and poops a lot. We have a lot more expenses than we did a year ago, but we are spending about 54% less money than we used to. This month alone I have used almost $550 in coupons and rebates. It's so dang fun! I went to Walgreens this morning and bought all of this for $2.23 (pre-tax) and walked away with 19 Register Rewards to use the next time I shop there!
I have started my own money-saving blog. I just launched it last week so there isn't too much going on there quite yet, but hopefully it will pick up soon.
Gardening
Since we now have a house and a beautiful backyard I decided to plant a garden in the corner. This is the first time I have ever tried to grow a garden and it seems to be going pretty well so far! You can see in the left of the picture some zucchini plants that are growing really well (I don't particularly like zucchini, but I figured it would grow even in Arizona, so I planted it!) We also have a few broccoli plants coming up, a couple of peppers that decided to sprout, and one cauliflower plant that came up pretty late. We even have a row of carrots that are growing in a shady spot (I didn't plan that one very well). There are still onions and some more carrots and a strawberry plant that we are waiting to see. This year was mostly an experiment for me to see what works and what doesn't. I can already see a lot of mistakes I made in planting things where I did, but hopefully we'll still have a few veggies that grow before the summer sun comes and fries everything and everybody. I am hoping to buy some tomato plants this week because none of my tomato seeds sprouted. The great thing about living in Arizona is that there are two growing seasons so we can try again in September if nothing works out this spring!
Canning
I went to an Enrichment activity last year about canning and was so impressed that I told Ben last summer that all I wanted for my birthday this March was a canner and some Mason jars. He was kind enough to comply with my wishes! The day after I received the canner I went ahead and canned six quarts of chicken. Last week I canned about six pints of turkey and eight pints of Jennie-O turkey sausage I got on sale for $0.80/lb. I am planning to can some strawberry jam in April. Hopefully we'll have a few veggies from our garden that I can can as well! My real desire is to make spaghetti sauce and salsa from veggies and herbs we grow in our garden. Hopefully that will work out! It feels good to can stuff and it really isn't that hard. It takes some time, but it works out if I start as soon as Tommy goes down for a nap and then when he wakes up I spread some Cheerios on the floor. It keeps him occupied for quite awhile! (I know, Mother of the Year right here!) Our freezer is already so full of frozen veggies, leftover meals, and shredded cheese that canning allows us to store even more meat and veggies when we find them on sale. Plus, canning allows us to build up our food storage so we will be prepared in case of an emergency!
Running
I am currently training for my first marathon. It's coming up on May 1! Last week my long run was 12 miles so I have a long way to go, but hopefully I'll be ready! Tommy loves to run with me (I pack him in our red Schwinn jogging stroller). He's usually pretty calm and he falls asleep half the time. I'll have to get a picture of us running together because we do it a lot!
Anyway, these are just a few of my hobbies that keep me busy. Needless to say, I am exhausted by the time Tommy goes to bed at 7:30! I need to make that my bedtime, too:) Here is a picture of Tommy in our backyard because no post is complete without at least one pictures of our cute baby:)
