Hamburger Help Us - Meal #1

In keeping everyone up to date on our Hamburger Help-Us week, I've decided to share with you some meals we've had on our new budget!  Here's a breakdown of our first meal (the prices reflect how much of the total cost of the product we used in the recipe):

Meal #1 - Pork Fried Rice

Pork Chops - $2.00

Rice - $0.87

Mushrooms - $0.76

Peas and Carrots - $0.32

Leek - $0.50

Egg - $0.17

Soy Sauce - $0.16

TOTAL COST: $4.78

Pork Fried Rice Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 servings of cooked white rice (cooled completely...making this the night before is best)

2 cooked, and sliced pork chops

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1 small can of mushrooms

1/4 cup chopped leek

1 1/2 cups of frozen peas and carrots

1 egg

2-3 Tablespoons of soy sauce

Instructions:

In a hot pan, saute 1/4 cup of chopped leeks,1 small can of mushrooms, and about 1 1/2 cups of frozen peas and carrots in a small amount of oil.  Move the vegetables to the side, once cooked, and scramble the egg in the middle of the pan.  Once the egg has scrambled, add the rice and sliced pork chops and saute until heated through and rice starts to brown a little bit.  Add the soy sauce and mix until incorporated.  Serve with chopsticks!

Hamburger Help US

In my last post I may have mentioned that Tyler and I will be on a bit of a condensed budget while we're in grad school.  I believe I mentioned something about Ramon Noodles and Macaroni and Cheese with cut up hot dogs.  So, Tyler and I are on a mission to eat every meal at home for as long as we can on a week's worth of groceries.  Since we won't have access to the Cafeteria or Chick-Fil-A on campus, we are working on using a week's worth of grocery money to feed us breakfast, lunch, and dinner for at least 7 days...here's our loot from our grocery trip:

Notice the large quantity of store brands...and don't forget the rice!  We'll try and keep you updated on our simulation week!  It's sure to be an exciting time here in Arkadelphia!

Baylor Bound!

That's right folks! It's official...starting this summer, Tyler and I will be Baylor Bears!!!  We have both been accepted to Baylor Graduate School.  We are so excited to be going back to school and especially to move closer to family and friends.  Waco is only a couple hours away (I'm not really sure who I'm clearing that up for) so we'll be half the distance to our families than we are now in Arkadelphia.

 Here's a little information about our graduate programs:

Tyler has been accepted to Baylor's Curriculum and Instruction program.  His program is actually only 14 months, and he starts in June, so he'll be done next August!  Which is crazy...but awesome since we're both trying to be full-time students..it will be nice for him to finish so soon.  This program is very flexible as far as working and going to school is concerned.  It is also a great program because it will allow him to have a lot of choices after he graduates.  He can go back into the classroom, he can become a curriculum specialist in a district, he can go for his principle endorsement, and he can be a reading specialist too!  Tyler and I are so fortunate to have both been accepted into programs that offer tuition remission along with a paid GA position. So Tyler will be working while he goes to school.

I have been accepted to Baylor's Higher Education and Student Affairs program.  Basically, it will prepare me for a job working with college students.  Admission to the program is dependent on your ability to secure a job on campus.  In February, Tyler and I made our way to Baylor's campus for my interview.  After an exhausting weekend of interviews, meetings, and orientation, and an even more exhausting week of waiting, I finally got the call!  I'll be an apprentice in the Student Activities office, and I'll be working with Campus Programs.  My program won't start until August of this year, and it's a two year program, so I'll be in school a little longer than Tyler.

Ever since we've officially made the commitment to Baylor, life has been very different.  It's been a crazy emotional roller coaster.  We've been so sad to think about leaving Arkadelphia.  Even though I'm sure most of you would think "I wouldn't be able to get out of there faster!" we are a little more hesitant about it.  Arkadelphia was ours.  It is where we made our mutual friends; where we found our first church, and where we had our first home.  It will be weird to leave it all behind and start over again.  But we are so happy to be in a new place with new friends and a new home!

Speaking of new home...we started our official apartment search this past week during our Spring Break.  On Monday this past week, my mom went with us and we spent the afternoon in Waco looking at apartment after apartment.  Since Tyler and I are on a very tight budget (full-time students = Ramon Noodles and Macaroni and Cheese with cut up hot dogs) it was a little difficult finding something in our price range.  However, the day wasn't a total flop.  We ended up finding two places that are good possibilities.  One of them is a bit out of our price range, but we can't stop thinking about it!  Right now, since we won't be moving until June, we'll just have to wait and see if it's still available.

So...now we're waiting!  Hopefully we'll have a home soon!  In the mean time, our family is planning our next vacation!  For a more detailed (and brilliantly told) story about the Carpenter Family Vacation 2012, you HAVE to read sister Kayla's blog: http://weirdfamilyandlife.blogspot.com/

All I have to say is...this family is so weird insane crazy AWESOME!!!