Am I the only one who didn't know that chicken that is bought in the grocery store contains water? Apparently the packaging of most brands (merely speculating) states that it contains up to ten percent of water. But who pays attention to that? I never did. Now that my dear husband has pointed that out to me, I'm sure I will look for it next time I go to the grocery store. I promise this has a point. Usually, I try to do most of our families grocery shopping for an entire month with one trip to the grocery stores. Every month we shop at three stores, Walmart Super Center, Kroger, and Sam's Club. Last year I thought that I made some kind of huge discovery by purchasing our chicken in bulk from Sam's. Their chicken breasts are gigantic. And they are alway $1.99/lb. Every once in a while Kroger will have a sale on chicken breast for the same price, however, it comes in individual (approx.) pound packages, where you can get it at Sam's in greater than five pound packages. I'm not sure how much Walmart charges, I just remember that it always seems like it is expensive, and the bags of chicken don't seem like they are worth the freezer space. So, back to the big packages, I always separate it before it freezes. One breast is definitely larger than one serving sized portion for two people. I trim the breast and cut it in half, and then put the now two pieces in a freezer bag. Two of the big packages of Sam's club chicken will feed our family with an allowance for dinner parties for a month filled with mostly chicken based dinners for a month. Even though the chicken breasts from Sam's shrink a pretty substantial amount when it is cooked the $1.99 is usually the best deal on chicken.

Anyhow, today was kind of hellish. I watched a friends baby today in addition to two of my own. Oh wow, three kids in diapers sure does a number on the trash that just sits in your pantry until someone in the house decides to take it to the big trashcan outside. Ewww! Maybe tomorrow I will get lucky and it will go away. Anyways, coming from someone who is not 100% sure that she is cut out to be a stay at home mom, two babies and a toddler is rather overwhelming. If I wore hats I would tip them to the women who are blessed with the kind of love and patience that is required to endure such almost torture if it lasts for anything longer than seven to eight hours alone. But hey, I survived. I will drag myself into tomorrow to face the little, sometimes painfully loud voices that will fill my living room tomorrow. If anyone loves me and reads this, please swing by to give me a 30 minute break to get something accomplished, maybe get a shower. If not, I understand, showers aren't that important anyways, especially when the only place you have to go is back to the same living room with children who can't tell you that you smell bad.

Lessons learned:

-In order to maintain a low budget monthly grocery bill, shop at several different stores. If you have to trim back some spending, the extra time used to plan and travel is completely worth it.
-buy chicken in bulk, repackage it and then freeze it.
-Lastly, babies do not require mommies to shower everyday, unless the mommy is breastfeeding. Not that I'm speaking from experience, but it seems like it would be like not washing a bottle. Which is disgusting.