The past month was very hard for me. I was expecting royalty payment, so I was spending more than usual. But I ended up spending more money than I had on my bank account because they didn't pay me, and I behaved as if they did.

Thankfully, I stumbled upon the concept of spending freeze on Pinterest that very day (without even looking for it!). The idea is to stop all your spending except for absolute necessities, and even for those you have a set budget (very low). You cook from your pantry and cut any spending in other areas as well for a set amount of time (minimum of 2 weeks, maximum 1 month). I used to do something similar every time the money was tight, but it was never so well thought out.


It was a very poor timing for a spending freeze since our daughter's birthday was right in the middle of the spending freeze and my husband had to take a tractor driving test, which costs a lot. There's barely anything growing in the garden at this time of year, and the harvested and frozen produce is almost all gone. But I felt like we really had to jump into the spending freeze wagon. Since I decided on it on a whim, I didn't feel like we should force ourselves into enduring it for a whole month.

Our daughter's birthday turned out really well. I'm planning to write a post about planning a party on a budget, so stay tuned. It was a very low budget and low key party, but usually, this kind of parties turn out to be the most fun.


I didn't set a timeframe for our spending freeze, but I decided we should stick with it for  at least two weeks, which we did. It wasn't really hard. But right after the two-week mark, my family started to put pressure on me (my little one, F, wanted yogurt, the older one, L, wanted spaghetti, my husband was pretty upset one morning because there was no butter), so I decided we should call it a day. If I had been better prepared for this and planned every meal in advance (and especially snacks!), we could have probably lasted longer. Now I know how to better prepare for the next spending freeze (I have to figure out how to do it without defeating the purpose;)).

So, for breakfast, we usually eat homemade bread with butter and homemade jam, which is a very Slovenian breakfast, but we do occasionally have granola, millet kasha or pancakes. Lunch is the biggest meal in our household, and dinner can be anything from cereal with yogurt to a three-course meal. There's a lot of snacking since we have two little kids.

Breakfast

Homemade sourdough spelt bread, butter, and jam

Granola made with sugar (I had no maple syrup in the pantry ...)

Millet kasha with cinnamon, honey and fruit

Cottage cheese pancakes

French plum pie

Oat porridge with frozen raspberries and dark chocolate

Lunch/dinner

Pasta with asparagus and cream sauce

Mashed spinach with stinging nettle and mashed potatoes

Mushroom-potato soup, baked oatmeal

Homemade pizza

Couscous, fried tofu, tomato salad

Couscous salad with lentils, tomatoes, and feta cheese

Buckwheat-lentil patties, green salad

Buckwheat stir-fry with peas, leeks, and zucchini

Mock lasagna with homemade marinara and cottage cheese

Bean soup, millet patties with feta cheese

Pasta Aglio olio e peperoncino

Vegan shepherd's pie, Armenian walnut cake

Baked Potatoes and green salad, strawberries with mint sugar

Tofu burgers with homemade buns

Sauerkraut moussaka

Homemade gnocchi with marinara

Apple pie

Snacks

Grandma's cookies

Apples

Peanuts

Bananas

Nuts


So, here it is. What do you think? Have you tried going on a spending freeze? Would you?

That's a bit daring, putting "the best" in the title about a simple baked oatmeal, huh? Well, I actually thnk tis IS the best oatmeal. And judging by reactions of my family when I served this I am not the only one.

I always used to read a lot, usually switching back and forth between romance/crime novels and classic literature. Then there was serious literature about sociology and theory of literature, of course. But since I've become a mom, I can't read crime fiction to save my life! Just makes me sooo anxious to read about all the things that go wrong ... And I can't seem to muster any concentration to read anything serious after kids go to bed ... So I'm only reading romance novels right now. I know, I know! But they are just so comforting, and they fill me with hope and give me a positive outlook on life. And you need to know that as a literature student, I am very picky (for the life of me, I couldn't finish 50
Shades of Grey and I could barely make it through the Twilight saga), so you can trust me with your reading list;). So here are my favourite romance authors in no particular order.

The Addictive Novel Writer: Lisa Kleypas

When I first borrowed a book by Lisa Kleypas from the library, I was a bit selfconscious. I mean, there was a half naked lady on the cover, clearly speaking about the content to anyone on the bus who might see me reading it. I was a litearure student, shouldn't I be reading Proust and Dostoyevsky? Sure, and I was, but everybody needs a little bit of Lisa Kleypas sometimes. Her carachters are beautifully flawed, always believable and relatable, and also very varied. Some heroines are bold, others shy, every heroine has a different body type and they always have an interesting background. The same goes for the dashing heroes, except they are always very much alpha males. And we need that in fiction, don't we?

I love how she writes her novels in serials, so you get a glimpse of your beloved couple even after their fairytale wedding (here's a spoiler: all her books end in wedding of the couple! I hope that doesn't spoil your reading pleasure;)). Recently I finished reading The Hathaways series of regency romance novels and I began The Travises series right away - I'm about to finish the last book in this contemporary romance series, Brown-Eyed Girl wich takes place in Texas and it filled me with such wanderlust ... I want to go to Texas, now! And when I finish that one, I have to wait for the second book in her new series, The Ravenels (I read the first one before begining the Travises). She just keeps getting better and better! Oh, I have to warn you: there's some violence in her books, and a lot of graphic erotic scenes - but that's really a good thing in my book.

The Most Romantic Romance Writer: Nora Roberts

I can actually remember walking into a library and borrowing my first Nora Roberts book. It was a Born in Ice, the second in the series of three; the summary on the back of the book seemed promising albeit a little cheesy to my literature student self, but then I opened it a - bit sceptically - and was immediately immeresed in the world of Brianna Concannon. I fell in love with the story not knowing that it had two sisters, and when I discovered that it did, it was like Christmas morning. I loved the other two books just as much. I also really enjoyed In The Garden series. What I love about Nora Roberts' books is how her heroines have some bad things happen to them, sometimes like really bad, but then they emerge from them renewed and stronger, each one at her own pace, and they find love along the way. Oh, and another really nice thing: there's always a strong bond between women of different generations. It gives me hope there's always people in the world who want to help.

The Very Smart: Courtney Milan

I only recently discovered Courtney Milan and it was a very pleasant surprise. All her romance books are actually very smart, from what I hear, and that's really not hard to believe after reading The Duchess War. I am very much looking forward to reading more from her.

The Classic: Jane Austen

Well, Jane Austen. Need I say more? I watched the movies first and read her books later, and I still enjoyed them very, very much. For someone whose maternal language is not English, they are not as easy to read as forementioned books, but they are well worth the effort. When I was in University, I thought Jane Austen would be looked down upon, but then a Professor of Poetry once said that her books are so great because there's such a strong realism of emotion in them. And that is still my favourite way to tell why I value Jane Austen so greatly. I found my set od Jane Austen books at a suspiciously small price (I thought the price for the whole set was a price for just one book!), but this one looks breathtakingly beautiful - as it should.

The Playful: Julie Garwood

Beside contemporary romance novels and regency romance there's another subgenre I fancy: the highlander romance novels:) There's just this thing with fictional Scots ... They have clans, they have kilts, they fight a lot, drink a lot and love ... a lot. The first Hihlander romance novel I read was by Julie Garwood. It was very sexy albeit not very realistic (the heroine really enjoyed her first sex, for example) - but who needs realism, right? Soon after I read it I overheard two high achieving (somewhat nerdy, in a good way) high school girls talking about it. "If it is really like that then it must be really really nice," one said dreamily. "It" meant sex, I'm pretty sure. I couldn't help but smile. I just couldn't bring myself to tell them it's not like that the first time ... but it can get there. As much as I enjoy Julie Garwood, I can't read her books one after the other. But there's a whole lot of Highlander romance in the world and my love for it is renewed since I'm watching Outlander (I want to read the Outlander series too, but for now I enjoy watching it sooo much I don't need to read it yet;)).


So, what do you like to read? Who are your favourite (romance or other) writers and most loved books? Do tell, I'd like to expand my reading list! ;)