Tuesday, November 1, 2011

30 Days of Thankfulness

Okay peeps... my plan is to blog each and every day this month of ((thanksgiving))  about what I am thankful for in my life.  I have a ginorrrrrmous list... so I'm sure each day there will be a few items included in the post.  Without further ado...

Day 1:

Today (and everyday) I am thankful that we have food on our table.

Newsflash:  This economy sucks.  We are barely making it.  And I don't mean to bring you a sob story this Tuesday morning.  But money is tight.  Like, suuuuuper, duper tight.  If I told you our grocery budget you'd laugh (well maybe not laugh, because that would be kind of cruel and none of my readers are cruel :).  

Basically, we have the same menu each week, and going over a couple of dollars on the budget means the difference between paying a utility bill or not. 

Here's our menu:
-oatmeal for breakfast
-pb &J for lunch (usually with goldfish and fruit snacks)
-and for dinner we alternate with tacos, sausage and rice, spaghetti and hot dog/hamburger grill out night.

Okay- side thought- what a great idea this is to write out what we are thankful for, because just writing that makes me feel silly for feeling angry with our situation! 

This town is full of homeless people.  I've blogged before about how heartbreaking it is to see them begging for food or work. 

About 20 times a day (maybe more) I silently curse our money situation.  And yeah, I'm embarassed to admit that...  but it's hard to not get what you want or what you think you need all the time!  Be honest, it is, right?? 

When I'm at the grocery store with my list, calculator and coupons, I'm constantly grumbling to myself about how I wish we could have this or that, but instead I steer toward the canned goods to make another  dinner of red beans and rice.  Yes, it would be awesome if we could afford the $6.00 gallon of organic milk... or the premium ground chuck... or those lovely organic tomatoes that call to me every time I walk past them.  But the reality is, its not in our budget.  At all.

BUT... our bellies are full.  And for that, I'm thankful.




"And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:19

3 comments:

Manda said...

Ashley, you are not alone. Trust me when I say this, if I eat spaghetti again I might puke. But you're right, I'm grateful we have the pasta.

jane said...

I comend you for not only dedicating a blog post to each day of thankfulness but in doing so realizing while things may be difficult at times there is still A LOT to be thankful for. Puts things in perspective.

Leslie Collins said...

After I quit working, we definitely had to re-arrange our budget quite a bit. I was used to going to the store w/out a budget and that is definitely not the case these days. BUT, you are right...our bellies are full and that is definitely something to be grateful for. :) I like the idea of doing 30 days of thankfulness.