gswarfield

So, this month Grant and I decided to try the Angel Food Ministries. Since we are trying to live on a very limited budget, we decided to participate. For those of you who don’t know what it is, it is an organization that wants to help keep families healthy with a more balanced diet. This organization makes foods more affordable for anyone. They buy in Bulk and non name brand items which they then sell to families frozen. You can order online and you chose a host site, and once a month you go pick it up from there. Grant and I got the regular box, and it is supposed to feed a family of 4 for one week. It costs $30. So it feeds Grant and I for a little bit over2 weeks, but I planned the meals so they will be spread out over a month.

As you can see in the picture above, most of their food comes frozen which makes it easy because you can either use it right away or use it as a base for a month and just add whatever other things you need. I know that some people say it still isn’t as cheap as coupons,but I honestly haven’t been able to find very many meat coupons.

Here is their Menu for the Next Month which I think Grant and I are going to sign up for again. We think it is really cool especially for the price. Also, one could also pay with food stamps if they needed.

If your interested, or for more information go to:
http://www.angelfoodministries.com/

So every once in a while I get a huge chocolate craving, now I am not a huge plain chocolate eater, so most of the time that means that I don’t just want a Hersey bar. The problem with this is that most of the chocolate that I like is not that cheap.

Toffifay has to be one of the all time favorites that I grew up with. I know that they sell it at Walgreen’s, but I am not sure which other sites also sell it. Well, the other week, they were selling it for

But anyway, I have always been a sucker for peanut butter cups mainly Reese. Well, last year I branched out with these great value peanut butter cups. They are soo great you have no idea. They are not the least bit healthy, but they taste Great!! Well, the other day I really needed chocolate! Grant and I had groceries to buy, so we took a longer drive to Wal-mart just to make sure that we got these chocolates too. We get there get all of the groceries, then we go to the candy aisle to get my yummy goodness, and they don’t have them!?!!?! I was sooooo disappointed! We looked again, I was almost on the verge of tears because I had expectations of being able to have them. There wasn’t anything else I wanted, so we decided to go check out. I was definitely feeling sorry for myself and moping while we were in line, and then as I was helping grant unload the cart onto the conveyor belt, I saw TWO bags of my peanut butter cups!!! Grant had found two bags and hadn’t said anything. At first I was a little annoyed that he didn’t tell me at first, but then I was just happy to have my chocolate! ;p

Mia and Ally are two of the coolest kids that I know.. I might be a little bit biased,but who cares!?! Since I don’t know any that age I can’t help it. Anyway, one of the coolest things about living with Tanya and Wilson has been getting to know the girls more than just seeing them once or twice a year. I tried to hang out with them, but sometimes I was glad that I wasn’t their parent because all kids can get annoying at times.

So, I don’t know if many of you have watched the movie Blood Diamond that came out in 2006. It is a great, but gorey movie. In this movie, they show truths about the diamond market, and all about blood diamonds which basically means that in some places in Africa, there are still slaves working in diamond mines. In these mines, they mine diamond which are then smuggled into the system.

One of the great lines that Leonardo Decarpio says in this movie is that the only reason that these people are dying is because of the demand for these stones. The demands that mainly Americans make. Most people in other countries, are not expecting diamonds as our culture seems to.

So, don’t get me wrong… I wanted a diamond too!!! But I couldn’t live with the fact that someone might have died for a dumb rock… so, i decided to do some research. Now, there is no way that every diamond is a blood diamond, but I wanted to be sure that mine was not one. I found a few online websites that sold different diamonds, but a lot of them looked really shady.

Finally, I stumbled upon engineered diamonds. Most people don’t know about them yet, but they are grown in a lab, meaning that they are perfect and don’t have the flaws that all natural diamonds have. They are not quiet as strong as natural diamonds but there is a .9 difference in strength. The nice thing about them, is making them in a lab is a lot cheaper, so that made me feel a lot better knowing that my engagement ring with wedding band that is over 1 carat was under $1000.00. I have had my ring for over a year and am very satisfied, and the best thing is that you don’t need ring insurance!! They will replace your diamond if it falls out, is messed up, etc.
So, here is one of my favorite eternity bands that they sell, now I won’t get it for years most likely,but I can dream! ;p

But their website has some beautiful jewelry on it, they do any custom stuff as long as you can draw or explain what you want. Now, obviously that makes it more expensive, but in jewelry terms, I would see them as pretty inexpensive. Also, their diamonds are considered green, and that is why this company made this years Miss Universe 2009 Crown.

So here is their website if you are interested!!!

http://www.diamondnexuslabs.com/

Grant and I had our one year anniversary about one month ago. Ours was August 9th! We had a great time, we went to a restaurant called Manwells which we had a gift card too. We went to Barnes and Noble and got a book, and we also got Cheesecake Factory for dessert. I had a great time, it was so much fun getting dressed up, and especially getting to wear an awesome dress that I had gotten at the thrift store for $10.00 that Grant had not seen yet. We were definitely trying to keep it small because we shouldn’t be spending a lot of money, but it was still great! We both still cannot believe that it has been one year.

We actually celebrated our anniversary on Friday rather than waiting until Sunday, and boy am I glad that we did!!! Grant got sick Saturday around noon, and was in bed with a high fever, chills, and a bad headache until Tuesday. I guess sometimes it pays to be early. Also, we told the Amaros about this encase they want to try this some time to make sure their anniversaries cannot be ruined anymore!