One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 9 of 2235 - I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

One Hundred Dollars a Month – Mavis’ Weekly Highlights 1/25/2020

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 25, 2020 · 10 Comments

On the agenda for today:

Paint radiator in tv sunroom
Home Depot run for kitchen demo supplies that I tried to get the HH to buy while we were at Home Depot a few days ago but said he didn’t need. Oh, but guess what… he needs them after all. 😉
Donate old fixtures to the Habitat For Humanity ReStore
Find a book to read at the library
Stay off computer for the rest of the day

How about YOU? Do you have anything good planned for today? Do tell.

Have a great weekend everyone,

♥ Mavis & Lucy

Stories, Recipes and General Nonsense From this Past Week

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Have a Wonderful Weekend!

♥ Mavis

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Hungry Hollow Country Store in West Paris, Maine

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 24, 2020 · 11 Comments

On Monday while The Girl and I were headed up to the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum, one of the stops we made was to the Hungry Hollow Country Store in West Paris, Maine. Someone on the blog mentioned the place and well, after a quick search online, I knew we just had to stop and check it out.

Country/General stores in New England are really quite common, and most general stores are run out of old homes, which just makes the charm factor skyrocket in my opinion.

Old wooden floors and shelving, oodles of local products, staff members that not only live in the area but know everything that’s going on in town {and everyone in it.}. I LOVE these type of places!

Too tired to cook? Check out their freezer section. This particular freezer was filled with homemade soups and mashed potatoes.

Local honey and jams.

Need a gift? The Hungry Hollow Country Store has several rooms filled with all sorts of goodies {books, artwork, dishtowels, clothing, candles, pottery, housewares}. But that’s not the best part about the place if you ask me….

They’ve got a living room full of pies and bread and cookies and bars and cinnamon rolls too! Have you ever seen such a place? Seriously, what’s not to love about the Hungry Hollow Country Store? You just can’t find places like this in suburbia, you have to come to Maine to get an experience like this!!

Just look at these ladies! You’d be crazy not to want to buy something from them. That’s Shirley the owner, on the right. She’s 86 and still baking pies {although after running the store all these years, Shirley’s ready to retire and sell the the business}.

Here’s a little snippet I found online about the history of the Hungry Hollow Country Store:

“In 1979, Shirley Damm and her family purchased Colonial Orchard, now named Hungry Hollow Farm, up on the hill off Route 26 in West Paris. In 1984, they opened Hungry Hollow Country Store on Route 26 in West Paris to retail their fruits and vegetables year round. With a whole house to fill, they started with 19 craftsmen on consignment, a few baked goods and their own fruits, vegetables, plants and herbs.

Since that time, they have grown to where the bakery and the ”Heat and Eat” entrees and food have become the major portion of the business. Fresh, homemade food will remind you of ”Grandma’s Kitchen” and you get that food to go! They also carry homemade local crafts, gifts, antiques and collectibles.”

Not only did we leave with huge smiles on our faces, but a few treats as well {apple blueberry pie, a chicken and gravy pie to bake in the oven later, a dozen peanut butter cookies, dried mangoes and a box of my daughter’s favorite tea}.

The Hungry Hollow Country Store, put it on your list!! You’ll be so glad you did.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone,

~Mavis

Hungry Hollow Country Store
28 Bethel Road
West Paris, ME 04289

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Mrs. Hillbilly Checks In On Her Weight Loss Journey to Lose 36 Pounds – Week 4

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 23, 2020 · 32 Comments

Mrs. Hillbilly asked me if she could write a blog post once a week as a way to help keep her accountable on her road to lose 36 pounds this year. I said yes, because I feel she needs YOUR encouragement {and she’s tired of listening to my ideas}. I will be featuring her blog posts each Thursday during the month of January, and then tagging them on to my Goals for 2020 posts after that so we can all keep up with her.

Starting Weight: 186 pounds
Current weight: 181 pounds
Starting Belly Button Circumference 40.5 inches
Current Belly Button Circumference 39.5 inches

Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? I am learning, I don’t NEED to eat in the morning! I am not hungry at all. In fact, if I listen to my body for hunger signals, I have noticed they come around 2 or 3 pm. Isn’t that strange? All this hype about three square meals a day and breakfast is the most important meal to start the day. I fell for it my whole life. Not to mention the food pyramid.

What a sucker! If you look at most small children, they eat until they are satisfied. They resist sometimes with tears and fits NOT to eat more. Why do we force them to eat? Why do we provide soooo many opportunities for snacks and sweets? I remember in my home after school the HB kids always had a snack. And that’s fine if they needed one but now into their late teens, it has become a habit. Eating because it’s THAT TIME to eat, bad bad bad. If I had to do all over again, I would ease up and just relax a bit about how much they are eating and when.

Another thing I have been pondering is why does this intermittent fasting thing seem kinda easy? Then it dawned on me. In the past when I have dieted, I have had to THINK about food all day and into the night. Plan out our meals, count calories, points, fat grams, weight, portion size, what and when CAN I eat.

I was always thinking about food and how to deal with it. What I am discovering is that now that I don’t HAVE to think about it, I don’t. Going about the day’s work, my mind is occupied about other things. Since I am not thinking about food my body apparently doesn’t really want food until it really does. Which seems to be around 2 or 3. Isn’t that crazy!

I also am thinking about keeping my hands busy. If they are busy they are not working as a shovel to put food into my mouth. Ms. Mavis hooks rugs, right? How on Earth can you eat while hooking rugs? She doesn’t, I would imagine. Hence, she only has Muffy to contend with when she gets out of control, verses my, not so little, Tuffy. Which reminds me of one of my 2020 goals, I’ll share them next week, to find a hobby that works my hands. Preferably one that I can make money with. 🙂

So, the story always goes, right? Hindsight is 20/20. Can’t change the past so we move on. Well what and how am I eating now that I have been on this journey? Not breakfast, that’s for sure! And probably not lunch. If I do eat lunch it’s usually a salad.

This is my favorite from our local Wok Teriyaki. Honestly, it’s the dressing I love. I have no idea what’s in it and don’t want to know. I do dip though so I limit my intake of this dreamy dressing. I also will make Caesar salad with shrimp, chicken or salmon. Boathouse Farm brand dressing is the best. It’s yogurt based and I find it in the veggie refrigerator section.

Dinner? I have become more flexible. Originally, I was going to fast all day on Monday and Thursday. Honestly, I accomplished this so far only two times. Because dinner is a family time. I cook for my family and I want to eat, talk and share during that time with my family. So, my fast will be from dinner to lunch on most days with a dinner to dinner on Mondays and Thursdays.

Unless I need to switch it up because something special comes along. Like my HB daughter visits from collage and we go out to lunch. Fun! How could I not go to lunch!

Lunch and Dinner meals this week have been:

Breakfast casserole (I do love savory breakfast food)
Chicken curry with onions and peas and NAAN bread (oops I had one small one)
Asian Chicken salad from Wok Teriyaki
Left over Christmas ham, bean and veggie soup (I have at least 8 containers in
there)
Sushi for two (a dear friend dropped by and surprised me)
5 hot wings, coleslaw and 6 celery sticks with Boathouse Farms (did I say I LOVE
this brand) blue cheese dressing (this was during football games)
Popcorn (I just didn’t feel like much but wanted something and the boys where
busy)
Fasted one evening

I told you this would be a journey and that implies adaptation. Hallelujah!

~Mrs Hillbilly

Bit’s and Bobs for a Cold and Sunny Wednesday in January

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 22, 2020 · 43 Comments

bits and bobs: A random assortment of things; small remaining pieces and things

Ja left this comment on the blog in early January: “My husband’s leg lamp is used in our bedroom year round. I have never thought of it as a Christmas decoration.”

I don’t even know what to say to that. 😉

I’m not a sentimental person, and I don’t keep things just because I made them. Because for me, the joy of making something is in the actual process, not the final product.

So when OHAM reader Susan found the sampler I made for our last house {and later donated when we moved} on Facebook, I just had to laugh. I’m pretty sure if I had picked up a sampler at an estate sale and it was made in 1722, I’d be asking a heck of a lot more than $15 for it. But hey, maybe I’ve watched too many episodes of the Antiques Roadshow.

******************

The same way I store thousands of pictures on my phone to remind myself to make / write / do something later, the same goes for my inbox. I am constantly emailing myself things so I don’t forget them. I’m sure there’s some sort of notepad app or something like that on my phone, but who needs/has time for that?

Yada Yada Yada, Mrs. HB I were talking a while back {I have no idea about what} and then out of the blue she said the phrase who chee mama clothes and it stopped me in my tracks. WHEN was the last time you heard that phrase? High school? It made me laugh so hard I didn’t want to forget it so I sent myself a quick email.

Wine flavored cotton candy in the kid’s Valentine candy section at Target. I was annoyed.

Another disappointment. A taco Valentine’s box. Do schools even let kids decorate their own shoe boxes and pass out candy and valentines anymore? I’m so glad I grew up in the time of innocent Charlie Brown specials and being able to wear my Halloween costume to school on HALLOWEEN. And for Valentine’s Day parties that were held at the end of the day and filled with glorious amounts of sugar. And for making sure I had to remember to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day so I didn’t get pinched.

When playing on the playground {rain or shine} meant climbing the monkey bars, playing tetherball or even nobody’s favorite game, red rover, and hoping that the meany boy didn’t run towards you and break your arm. Or making cootie catchers with your friends and writing the names of boys you liked on them and giggling as you found out if you lived in a mansion, apartment, shack or a house and how many kids you’d have and what kind of car you’d drive. And that being on a team sport meant there were winners and losers and you didn’t get a participant ribbon just for trying.

Or things like riding your banana bike to the grocery store totally unsupervised to buy a Big Hunk and paying for it with pennies. And Normandy Rose jeans. Those were the best. THOSE WERE THE DAYS.

A taco box schmock-o-box from Target. No thanks. Kids these days, they don’t know what they’re missing.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.