Moving towards 'Normal'

 

 

I am trying to move forward to a new normal....... no not just me but Sir Steve as well.  (though truthfully I think a lot of his attitude has been based on protecting me - dialing down my anxiety)

This weekend was kind of a EUREKA moment when I realized how many small steps toward normal we have taken.

When COVID hit we started ordering take out food on the weekends - supporting our local restaurants we said.  We went from maybe one meal a weekend to ordered in food Friday/Saturday AND Sunday. We were doing more than our part to support local.

Then we had been having second thoughts about renting... (some small problems with our landlord).......... and then he sold the house.  He sold it as an investment property which really doesn't mean a thing because if the new landlord wants to move in to our little home he can simply give us 3 months notice.  GAH!!  We started to seriously consider buying a home.......... one problem we need a down payment and we opted to buy a new bigger better trailer for the country cause we didn't need or want to own a house in the city.  GAH!!

Needless to say we sat down to discuss budgets........ and saving.  Saving every spare penny in the hope that we can buy a quirky (it has to be quirky - both Sir Steve and I don't want a cookie cutter house) lil home in the near future.  

First expense to cut......... ordering in.  It boggled my mind how much money was going out every single weekend on 'junky' food.   I'm not going to lie - making 3 more meals a week was discouraging..... weekends had been my 'time off' ........... BUT Sir Steve loves to cook so this weekend found us both in the kitchen contributing to meals.  Pizza was one of our favourite go to ordered in meals....... I made a 'from scratch' pizza....... the house smelled heavenly while the dough was rising.............. and it wasn't half bad!!  The only problem I had was the crust was crispy..... I'm not a fan of crispy pizza crust - like my crust thick and doughy.  IF anyone has any tried and true doughy crust recipes/hints please please leave me a comment!!!

I made steak subs (ok ok so the meals aren't that healthy!  but they were good and a whole lot cheaper!!)

 We also decided to drive up to our butcher in the country and order a whack load of meat - enough to hopefully get us through the winter.  Ordering that much meat is - yes - an outlay of a large amount of money - BUT in the long run it saves money....... cause I am not running out to the local grocer buying meat on the spur of the moment.  Never mind that the butcher's meat is mostly organic and definitely fresh.  (he owns the slaughter house as well and only sells locally raised meat)

 

So we are taking positive steps forward...... finding our new normal........ and to be honest - even though our numbers are rising and even though I am going to have to get a booster shot after the Holidays - I am feeling calmer and less anxious.  Yay for having new goals - and moving forward........