Last week was our first week of owning one car.  I.E. Can we be patient and kind enough to each other as we each have to stretch and rearrange our schedules and face our damned American entitlement to certain freedoms?

So far, the answer is yes, we can.

We’ve had fun, actually.  One morning the boys were up early (well, they’re always up early.  Abe has decided to set his internal alarm clock to no later than 9am.  EST.  Yeah.), so we bundled them up in their jammies as drove Hubby into work in the dark. They were so quiet, looking out the window at the cars driving by.

Another day we were scheduled to pick up Hubby after work.  Which was fairly amusing that morning when I was running around, getting children dressed, feeding animals, feeding children, working out, getting ready, gathering stuff for bible study and JJ’s school meaning taking lunches with us, etc.  I sat down, opened my Bible, spoon in hand to eat my Bob’s Red Mill High Fiber hot cereal with rice powder, chopped almonds, blueberries, cinnamon, and ground flax seed.  “So, what are you thinking about the car today?”  Really?  You want to talk about that right.now.?

I sigh, close my Bible, set down the spoon, and launch into a whole schpeel on how I think it’d be good to try living with one car for now, and look at saving up to get a little newer used car, and that the boys and I really weren’t that inconvenienced by it so far, and that there’s a few things we could take care of in the house once we get our tax return, and, and, and, and.  He watched me for a while, quite a while, before interjecting:  “But what I want to know is what are you thinking about the car today?”  I tilted my head, much like a confused puppy:  “I don’t understand what you’re asking me.”

“What.Are.We.Going.To.Do.With.The.Explorer.Today.?”

“Oh, I’m dropping you off at work and picking you up at 5.”  Picked up my spoon, opened my Bible, and ate.

That evening I had scheduled to make a quiche:  mmm, love me some eggy, cheesy goodness.  But I got tired. And I thought:  “Hey!  We’re doing pretty good with our one-car experiment!  We’ve saved some money!”  My automatic thought:  so let’s go spend some (such a good little transplanted Southern girl).  I piled the melting-down kids in the car and drove to Wendy’s.  Ordered six items off of the value menu:  two chicken nuggets (which are now 1.29 – so much for the dollar menu), two fries, two jr. bacon cheeseburgers.  This fed three very happy boys.  Sitting in the silence of dinner, noting that I wasn’t hearing any “yuck!”s or having to give Abe the Hairy Eyeball for dropping his food as an offering for the dog or asking anyone to sit up, sit still, take a bite, now’s not the time to talk about playing Innianna Jones on the Wii, I wondered how long it would take me to hear something, which was said literally ten seconds later:  “Mama, this is the best dinner EVER.”

Thanks.  Thanks, son.  So Dave Thomas, my son would like to thank you for the best dinner ever, with all your transfats and preservatives.  Now I know how my mama felt when in high school we’d badger my folks into getting Wendy’s instead of “making” mom slave over the stove.  But six bucks for one night of no cajoling or whining but rather happy faces and yummy noises:  I can deal with that.

I’ve already deviated from this week’s menu plan due to a) aforementioned eastern standard time children and b) using up last week’s leftovers.

When I had Abe, I was gifted many wonderful, thoughtful things.  But one friend really hit the mark:  Burt’s Bees baby bath products, something I can’t remember for JJ, and The Best of Cooking Light cookbook for me.  Seriously:  does she know me or what?  So, this week’s menu is planned out of this cookbook.

Monday:  Cheese eggs, apples, buttermilk biscuits; Monte Cristo sandwiches (turned into waffle pb’n'j), bananas; Greek Style Shrimp Scampi, Greek salad, garlic bread, applesauce.

Tuesday:  Strawberry orange muffins (turned into Banana Split Surprises due to the early rise and the begging children); Chicken nuggets, garlic fries (turned into Waffle French Toast sticks – hmm:  perhaps I shouldn’t have doubled that waffle recipe Sunday night ); Cheese souffle w/Fresh Corn (but probably will be leftover scampi cause dang!  it was yummy!), green beans, bread

Wednesday:  Spicy pumpkin bread, cheese (which, now that I’ve opened a two pound package of, I’ve discovered that neither child likes Colby Jack.  One likes moz and chedder; one only likes cheddar.  Sigh), peaches; Quesadillas, salsa; Vegetable Lasagna, salad, bread

Thursday:  Leftovers; PB’n'J, apples, crackers, fruit snacks; Leftovers

Friday:  Buttermilk Pancakes w/sauteed apples, sausage; Homemade granola, yogurt; Chicago-style pizza, applesauce

Saturday:  Overnight French Toast Souffle, cheese; Leftovers; Fettuccine and Tofu with Finger-Lickin’ Peanut Sauce

Sunday:  Leftovers; Leftovers; Waffles with Two Berry Syrup, sausage

Sidenote:  so I was looking at the frozen pizza offerings at Freddies the other day to stock up for the Hubby.  I went to grab the standard Totinos Combination pizza box, missing the days when they used to cost 99 cents.  I used to get that and a two liter of Diet Coke all for 1.98:  well balanced meal – ah, the gut rot of college.  Now the standard price is 1.29.  Stinkin’ inflation.  But as I went to grab the box, I noticed something:  it was *considerably* smaller.  I picked up another flavor:  it was bigger.  They’re working on phasing out the bigger boxes.  So now not only do they cost more, but they’ve shrunk the box.  Now that *definitely* is against the American Constitution, I’m certain. 

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