$ 200 spent in August and we’re not going to spend anymore.  Yes, we’re a little crazy, but we’ve got some big goals and thanks to bulking up we cut our food/grocery bill down in half in the month of July.

For August we decided to make another record.  We shopped at Costco and Good Earth on the 16th and we’re avoiding any spending for the rest of the month.

No, it’s not much, but if we can live off of $200 (nearly $100 of which are diapers, wipes, pull-ups, and tp…and yes, the explorer is officially in training!), then our financial goals seem so much more obtainable.

And isn’t that what we all want?  To feel like we can live on less and still be happy?

Well it’s what we want.  🙂

Meanwhile, it’s raining outside and we had a warm polenta lunch with some fresh delish green beans from the designer’s mom’s garden.  Thank you!

Polenta…don’t you love it?  I think about my sophmore year at BYU when we were taking turns cooking meals each week (cooks in training was more like it).  One morning my rommie Jen, was craving grits.  And she was not getting any sympathy from Amos, Nance and I, who were all raised in So. Cal. and who had not even heard of grits.

Jen managed to get to the store and made us some grits with eggs one morning.  They were good.  I wan’t sure if I’d want them every morning.  But I did enjoy trying something new for breakfast.

Then while studying abroad in Italy one summer, Gayle, Laura, Elizabeth and I took a funicular (ladies do you remember?  was it a funicular?  or one of those disneyland wire buckets?) up the moutain side above Lago Maggiore, (in the same district as Lakes Como and Bellagio).  Seriously amazing place.  Isola Bella (the beautiful island) in the middle of the lake is the home of the town Stesa and the Borromeo palace.  Beautiful gardens, grotto and of course so much history, & artifacts.  But back to the story…

We ate some handmade polenta (all fancifully formed), venison, and yummy fresh local veggies.  I’d never had polenta.  I was charmed.  Yes, I used to buy polenta in tubes, but now making it is ever soo easy.

I’ve posted my green bean creamy herb polenta recipe we ate today here if you’re interested. Enjoy!