happy at home

DAY 13 AND A MOMMY TRIUMPHToday we ate:

Breakfast: We went out with friends for donuts
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: PB & J, apples, water, carrots, raisins, homemade marshmallows

I knew that the hubby would be hunting this evening. The house was relatively clean (and I wanted it to stay that way), so I decided to take the boys to the park for a picnic. We met friends there, and spent two lovely hours playing frisbee, football, soccer, blowing bubbles, running in the grass, playing on the playground, and having a picnic. I wanted to insure that my boys were worn out by the time we headed home, so we had several timed races too, just to get them running a little harder. :)
It was very hot, but we all had a nice time. We don't really have grass at our house, since our lot is very wooded, so it was great to have a big expanse of grass for them to run on. As it cools off, I hope that we can meet and play with many more friends at the park in the evenings. We stayed until the moon was out and three little boys had heavy eyelids.

I am almost halfway through the month, and, for the most part, this challenge has been a great experience. I am really learning a lot, finding new ways to be frugal, and am just generally more mindful of all that we have and enjoy. However, I will admit that I feel like I have spent A LOT more time in the kitchen these last two weeks. I also think about/plan for/prepare food more often. I am feeling a little burned out on food (just a little). Now that the discount food store is closing (and food costs continue to rise), I think it will be very hard to keep my spending to $200 a month on a regular basis without a lot of work. It would be nearly impossible if I had to purchase diapers and cleaning products. I feel pretty confident that I could (and will) keep my spending under $300 a month, without nearly as much effort as I am spending to keep it under $200. But, even only spending $200 this month, there have still been plenty of non-necessary food items that I have purchased and/or made. Homemade marshmallows aren't exactly essential!

Here are the new (to me) items that I whipped up in the kitchen this week:
-Marshmallows
-Chocolate Syrup
-Cinnamon Rolls
-Egg Rolls

The marshmallows tasted pretty much like normal marshmallows. Not nearly as amazing as I had anticipated them being. I did like the square shape though. Yesterday afternoon, one of the boys asked for hot chocolate with marshmallows. Another child glumly replied that we didn't have any chocolate syrup...or marshmallows. I thought for a moment, then said that I could probably make both of those. The look of awe on their little faces was positively priceless.

Cost of homemade marshmallows: $1.25

Cost of homemade chocolate sauce: $1.00

Having your children think you're a super hero: Priceless

:)

*Creative Commons image from Cadesa on Flickr.com