Our "MUD RUN" - Nuestra Carrera en Lodo

Today ... is a special day...  It's mother's day and I happen to have the privilege to have been born in a wonderful family with the best mom ever... and ... it's also special because it's my sister's birthday! She is turning ... well... who's counting? Right?? So... This is for them!

---- OUR "Mud Run" ----

While I see so many people... voluntarily submit themselves to mud runs... I can't help but think of MY FAMILY... and our own adventures!


We lived in a rural area in Mexico for a few years.. The romantic idea of "chickens and goats" (not even our own but the neighbors') running through our big piece of land (a bit bigger than 2 acres) really enticed my parents... The land was cheap and the house seemed nice when we bought it... In that house we lived through some of the hardest (financial) times of our lives growing up and some of the most wonderful and REALLY WEALTHIEST (not financially) times as a family too! It was our very rural "piece of heaven"  (and to be honest, anywhere we lived was always a piece of heaven, not because of the place but because we were together and because singing praises to God was always, ALWAYS happening wherever we were). Sometimes we had no electricity or even gas inside the house... so neighbors thought we were always 'partying' because we were outside cooking beans and cactus on a grill and of course... singing... always singing!


We had no running water there, the streets were not paved... and this is when THE MUD comes in.. oh the mud!!! every time it rained!!  we would get deep in the mud (sometimes knee deep or even deeper if anybody happened to fall) it was thick, it was heavy and it was hard to walk in it... Many times we had no car and when we did... well... it would get stuck... backs were hurt while trying to push it out of the mess (did I happen to mention that our car, when we had it, had no "reverse"?) and even feet were trapped under the tires of the car when it managed to slip out of the mess...

I took this picture from the internet, because I don't have pics of our own, a very common scene!

Because we had no running water, we had to wait for "la pipa"  to get our containers filled up with water, sometimes "la pipa" wouldn't pass... most times the water wasn't that clean so we used it mostly to "flush the toilet" with buckets...

"La Pipa"

 So many times my dad would carry big containers (yes, like the ones people use in mud runs to take pictures with),  my dad would fill the containers up and bring them to the house (no time -or camera- to pose for a picture of course)... My dad carried most of them but my mom wouldn't wimp out of it and my sister... being only as young as 10 years old would gather all her strength to help carry too! Sometimes we had a car, many times we didn't ... so we would either travel long distances with those containers of water in the car or even walk a lot with those containers... filled with water... all to be able to wash dishes, clothes and take ... well... I can't say baths... and I can't say "showers" either for obvious reasons... but we would use buckets to "wash ourselves"

We would do all this whether the weather was nice or not.. if it was rainy season sometimes we would fall in the middle of the mud while carrying buckets of water... sometimes the containers would end up spilling... sometimes we would lose a shoe that would end up trapped in all that mess... and yet... I think we always found a way to  laugh about it! We actually became "really skilled" at the whole "mud thing" ... we knew where to step and the balance we had! Was pretty impressive! We would do this daily of course because we had go to school, work and church, miles and miles away from home... sometimes with a clean change of clothes in plastic bags for when we finally made it to our destination.

I can say I've been in many "MUD RUNS" with my parents and siblings! Sometimes it felt like a "permanent and endless" mud run... But I am happy to say that by the grace of God nobody ever quit! There are so many stories I can share of our "Free and involuntary MUD RUNS" ... We never had to register to join any of them... Life just brought them to us... We didn't get to take any pictures either... but they are forever burnt in our minds and souls.... They became part of who we are... and they make us appreciate every single thing and not take it for granted.

Today the special recognition goes to my mom and sister... Who... being the princesses and ladies that they are... They were tough and strong through it all and they're still going through their race with a smile in their faces!

Thank you Mom for being such an example to your daughters! The only reason why we could go through all that with such peace and joy and not even have a "bad memory" about it is because of your constant prayers and content attitude!

My mom and me!

Thank you sister for being the best sister of all and for showing your teeth to adversity... both literally and figuratively! I am proud of YOU! And I am glad we went through all that TOGETHER! As best friends! With you in my team is easy to get to the other side!

My sister and me!

 Happy Mother's Day Mom!.... Happy Birthday sis!

Thank you Lord... for washing us clean from the mud... in every possible way!

MUD RUNS help you bond with your family FOR SURE!!!

----------- TRADUCCION --------------

Hoy es un dia especial... Es dia de las madres y resulta que yo tengo el privilegio de haber nacido en una maravillosa familia con la mejor mamá del mundo... y ... es también un día especial porque es el cumpleaños de mi hermana... Ella cumple... Bueno... eso no se dice.... verdad? Este post de hoy es para ellas!

--- NUESTRA CARRERA EN LODO ----

Al ver a mucha gente inscribirse voluntariamente en carreras en lodo... no puedo evitar pensar en MI familia y nuestras propias aventuras!

Nosotros vivimos por un tiempo en una area rural en México... La romantica idea de gallinas y cabras (que ni siquiera eran nuestras, sino de los vecinos) corriendo en nuestro terreno (de poco mas de dos acres) realmente atrajo a mis padres... El terreno era barato y la casa parecia comoda cuando la compramos... En esa casa vivimos algunos de nuestros tiempos mas dificiles en cuanto a finanzas en nuestra vida y algunos de los tiempos mas maravillosos y ABUNDANTES (no financieramente) como familia. Era nuestro "pedacito de cielo rural" (y para ser honesta, en cualquier lugar donde vivimos siempre fue un pedacito de cielo, no por el lugar sino porque estabamos juntos y porque cantar alabanzas a Dios fue una constante en dondq quiera que estuvieramos. Algunas veces no teniamos ni electricidad ni gas dentro de la casa... asi que los vecinos pensaban que eramos unos fiesteros porque a menudo nos veian cocinando en el asador (frijoles y nopales) y por supuesto siempre... siempre cantando!

Ahi no teniamos agua corriente y las calles no estaban pavimentadas... Es ahi donde comienza nuestra carrera en el lodo! Cada vez que llovia terminabamos enlodados (algunas veces hasta las rodillas o aun peor si nos caiamos) era un lodo espeso y pesado en el cual era dificil caminar... Muchas veces no teniamos un automovil y cuando si teniamos se atascaba, hubo espaldas lastimadas y hasta uno que otro pie apachurrado tratando de ayudar a que el carro saliera del lodo (por supuesto nuestro carro no tenia reversa)

Como no habia agua corriente, teniamos que esperar a que pasara "la pipa" para llenar nuestros contenedores y pila de agua, a veces no pasaba la pipa y la mayoria de las veces el agua no estaba tan limpia asi que solo la usabamos para "bajarle al baño" con cubetas...

Tantas veces mi papa tuvo que cargar botes (si, como los que usan en las carreras de lodo para tomarse fotos y verse muy "fortachones"), mi papa sin mucha pose llenaba los botes y los traia a la casa... MI papa cargaba la mayoria de ellos pero ni mi mama ni mi hermana se rajaron jamas... Aunque apenas tenia 10 ella tambien le entraba con todas sus fuerzas! Algunas veces, teniamos coche y muchas veces no... asi que teniamos que viajar largas distancias con esos botes famosos en el carro o aun caminar cargandolos... todo para poder lavar trastes, ropas y bañarnos a cubetazos.

Todo esto lo haciamos cuando el clima era favorable y también cuando no lo era tanto... hubo ocasiones en las que nos caiamos en medio del lodo y a veces se nos terminaban vaciando los botes... algunas veces se nos quedaba un zapato atrapado en medio del lodo y aun asi encontrabamos algun modo para reirnos al respecto! De hecho nos volvimos unos expertos en todo eso de caminar en el lodo... sabiamos bien donde y como pisar y que buen balance teniamos! Era digno de verse! Todos los dias teniamos que ir a la escuela, trabajo y 3 veces por semana a la iglesia, kilometros lejos de nuestra casa... algunas veces teniamos que cargar con ropa limpia en bolsas de plastico para cambiarnos cuando llegaramos a nuestro destino.

Puedo decir que he participado en muchas 'carreras en lodo' con mis padres y mis hermanos! A veces se sentia como que estabamos en una carrera "permanente e interminable"... Pero me alegra decir que por la gracia de Dios nadie se rindio jamas! Hay tantas historias que podria contar de nuestras carreras "gratuitas e involuntarias"... Nunca tuvimos que pagar un quinto por ellas! La vida simplemente nos las regalo... Tampoco pudimos tomar fotos... pero las memorias quedan para siempre en nuestras mentes y corazones... Son parte de quien ahora somos y nos ayudan a valorar cada cosita y no dar nada por hecho.

Hoy el reconocimiento especial es para mi mamá y hermana... que... siendo las princesas y damas que ellas son... fueron lo suficientemente "duras" y fuertes a traves de todo eso y aun lo son en su carrera que siempre enfrentan con una sonrisa en sus rostros!

Gracias Mamá por ser tan gran ejemplo a tus hijas! La unica razon por la que pudimos atravesar por todo eso con tanta paz y gozo y no tener malos recuerdos al respecto es por tus oraciones constantes y tu contentamiento.

Gracias hermana por ser la mejor de todas y por enseñarle los dientes a la adversidad (literalmente y en sentido figurado). Estoy muy orgullosa de ti! Y estoy agradecida de haber pasado todo eso juntas! Como mejores amigas! Contigo en mi equipo es facil llegar al otro lado!

 Feliz Dia de las Madres Mama! Feliz cumpleaños hermana!

Gracias Señor por lavarnos del lodo! En todos los aspectos!

Las carreras en lodo de veras que unen a la familia!

 © Paloma K.

How-to-start couponing tips and the basics!

So... today I thought I'd share with all of you how I do my couponing, I just recently started but I almost can't believe I never did it before!

Let me tell you some of the misconceptions I had about couponing:

1. It's like begging (oy!)
2. It's like stealing (oy! OY!)
3. It can't make that much of a difference unless I am a "crazy hoarder"
4. It's just for unhealthy items or things that I don't really need/use
5. It's too hard

Those 5 things I mentioned are probably only the "top five" of my long list of reasons why I didn't coupon before... Some of them you might laugh at and think I'm kidding or you might just feel identified and realize that you've had those thoughts as well...

But... I went to my library and started looking for books on the subject of "home management" and finances... The couponing topic came up and it caught my interest... Plus at the same time a dear friend of mine started posting pictures on fb and information on the things she was purchasing and how much she was paying after the savings/coupons.

So... about 2 months ago I started my journey into the couponing world and I am sooo thankful! What a great way to be a good steward of the resources God's given us! What a great way to also help my hubby with the load of the finances of the home. I used to want to get a "work from home" kind of job and I soon realized that I am now "making more money" (or at least saving it) for my family and I have my own schedule, ability, etc... and stress-free! (I find the coupon clipping actually quite therapeutic!)

So these are the basics that I suggest if you want to begin:

1. Start buying the Sunday Newspaper (if possible, get a subscription and it will be cheaper)
2. Save the "Coupons.com" and "couponmom.com" sites on your favorites (They are not paying me to advertise or anything like that... I just really, REALLY like them), "The Grocery Games" is a great site too but you have to pay for it and there's no real need to do that... couponmom.com does the same for you and it's FREE!
3. The couponmom.com has a tutorial video on how they recommend you to organize your coupons, it doesn't require you to cut and clip all your coupons but I have discovered that I actually like going through them all, cutting and clipping them, organizing them in a binder so I can actually take the binder with me to the store and that way I never miss a great deal! So... that takes me to my next point
4. Make your own binder... I got a 2" Binder to begin! And over 30 baseball card divider sheets plus some dividers with tabs to organize my coupons by category.

These are the categories *I* use... you can make/add your own accordingly:

1. Produce
2. Snacks
3. Breakfast Cereals and Bars
4. Nut Butters and Jellies
5. Pasta/Rice/Soups
6. Condiments/Salad Dressing
7. Drinks
8. Frozen
9. Dairy/Eggs
10. Baby
11. Cleaning
12. Paper Products
13. Vitamins and Medicine
14. Oral Care
15. Hair Care
16. Deodorants/Shaving
17. Soap/Body Wash

Of course you can add whatever else you need... like Pets, etc... or even divide the categories into subcategories... It's YOUR BINDER... and it's YOUR brain... Customize it the way it makes most sense to you!

Maybe you won't even want to organize by category but by expiration date... (keep the expiration date in mind when placing your coupons in the binder, make sure it's in a visible place so it's easy for you to go through your binder and get rid of expired coupons).

I also suggest you go through your grocery stores coupon policies (i.e. You can't double coupon in Texas), also, make sure a "deal" is a real deal... sometimes there are some brand name items that are on sale and you have a coupon that you don't want to waste and still generic brand might be cheaper... or viceversa.. you might be surprised to find that some brand name products end up being cheaper in some instances when you match a sale with a coupon!

Make sure you get your "store cards" (rewards or loyalty cards) from whatever store you shop from... Check out the website of your store, you might be surprised to find the extra savings you can get online, Kroger and Randall's have a great digital-coupon program, you just load your coupons to your card and voila! The savings appear automatically when the cashier scans your card at the end!  And some of those stores also offer discounts on "Gas" after you get a certain amount of points in your card... Just yesterday we saved .30 cents per gallon of gas and we filled our tank knowing that we saved at least 5 dollars! (5 dollars is a lot of money, especially when couponing!)

My other tip for you is to avoid making a trip to the store out of "need" ... I mean, sometimes it might be inevitable... but those are the trips that hurt your pocket the most! Always plan ahead, make your lists, do your "homework" the sites I recommended do a lot of the hard work for you! Have your coupons ready and buy things when on sale! Stock up on those items that you can stock up on! And get a membership for stores like Costco or Sams (I recommend Costco the best) for items that no matter how cheap you'll find them in your regular grocery store... they'll never "beat" the price of these two! The items that I ALWAYS buy at Costco are:

- Toilet Paper (forget about the number of rolls per package, etc... make sure you know how much you are actually paying PER SQUARE FOOT!) - Marathon 48 roll package in Costco is THE best deal so far!
- Paper Towel (the price should also be calculated per square foot) - I love the Kirkland Brand
- Extra Virgin Coconut Oil and some Nut Butters (no sugar added!)
- Chia Seeds, quinoa and Hemp Hearts (yes, you can still eat healthy stuff and save money)
- Kerrygold grass-fed butter - if you're buying grassfed butter and you love Kerrygold as much as we do buy it at Costco, it is usually cheaper than in your local store (unless it's on sale).

And don't let a great deal pass even if you are "not needing" to buy an item! You'll be so happy next time you need a new bottle of shampoo and you can go to your very well stocked up cabinet for a bottle that you paid mere cents for!

And I guess that's it for now! You can do this! You're not begging nor stealing! (I still think things can be taken tooooo far) but... couponing allows you to make better use of your resources and even get a pair of earrings with the extra money... hey! Use a coupon and discount for those too!!!)

Just on Saturday we went to three different stores...  it was great to see the savings afterwards! I save at least 40% on each trip. It is a great feeling!

I'll be sharing more tips, secrets and maybe even some offers/codes too!

©  Paloma K.

Disclaimer: I am not getting paid or compensated by any of the sites/stores mentioned in this post. These are my opinions.

The Coffee Shop is back!

Hello Friends! It's been a long, long, LONG time... I've going through a journey of what some would call 'self-discovery'.

Life happens, things change, children grow, knowledge increases, you freak out, you settle back down, etc... and that's pretty much what's been happening with me! In all this I have been wondering what I can blog about! It is crazy! This blog started with coffee... wanting to talk about it, wanting a cup of it and for sure wanting to share it with all of you! Then, things evolved and I realized that even when coffee would still be present, I wanted to widen my horizons and be able to talk about everything... and by everything I guess I meant "mostly food" because I was obsessed with it... and by mostly food It seemed to be "basically desserts" ... and then the kids came... motherhood hit...



No comments (Mother's Day 2014)

and I continued to blog... but the blog ended up becoming more a "what I baked today" ... and in my constant need to express myself I ended up with several more blogs... one to write about my very unique and fun marriage (I'm a Mexican and he's as white as you can get) so I ended up with a blog named "You're bread, I am tortilla" (or something like that), another blog to express my gratitude towards God for His presence in my life and His mercies towards me (Gratefulness Journal) and in the trying to stay true to my roots I ended up with another blog (but now about Mexican cooking) named "Cooking with Fire"...  and as the weight from all that amazing dishes became a BIG issue I then created yet another blog that I will not mention here but it talks about my journey towards a healthier weight... and yet another one, my latest blog was even a couponing blog (because yes, I became a couponer) ...... see how crazy? It's been basically a lot... and I've changed a lot... also my relationship with food has changed a lot as well (no sugar for me and only occasionally for my family! (Who would've thought???)  but... then... blogging just stopped! As things changed and I realized I couldn't keep opening blogs for every single idea that crossed my mind  I just stopped and realized this is the blog where I always come back... but I still love communicating and expressing and sharing... So I am trying to re-gain those of you who are still out there and still wanting to know about me and what's going on over here... and I look forward to updates from all of you to know what's going on over there... in your lives!

I still love cooking and I still love taking pictures!

 

Cooking classes... just a dream! they're expensive! It would be a fun date though!

I still love coffee and I still love talking with you! Whoever you are! I definitely need this space where I know I can connect with others! Thankfully I have lots of IRL people that are always there... but there's just something about a virtual space that allows you to connect with people that otherwise you would never even know exist! I want to make sure I stay here... in spite of all the changes! I'll be in touch with all of you! I guess I put myself and the blog in a box and I felt like I could only talk about 'a specific thing' here... I guess I forgot what I always said this blog would be... Just like a COFFEE SHOP... where we can talk about everything and anything going on in life! Whether we agree or disagree.. it will be ok! We're just here for coffee and to have a good time! We can get into the nitty gritty of the issues happening even in the politics if you want (blech! that can get ugly!) or we can just talk about the new shade of color on your carpet because of that grape juice your kiddos spilled!

 

Ah! Life! keeps moving, keeps changing, we change with it as well... But here we are... come and have a cup of coffee with me! you might want dessert with your coffee... I will too! (just sugar and gluten free, please)



Coffee always present, even when camping!

Ah! Home, sweet home! It's so good to be back!

Your friend... Paloma.

© Paloma K.