Our First Week

Well week one is done. It has certainly been interesting and challenging in a lot of ways. I keep thinking of all the things I wish I had bought before the new year started. There are a lot of things that would have been useful to have. Like I really wish I had bought those Wrap-N-Mats so that I wouldn't have to buy sandwich bags. Brent sees sandwich bags as like groceries, but I don't see it the same way. Do we have to have something to put our sandwiches into? Yes. Does it have to be a sandwich bag? No. I told him I would start saving the containers our food came in to use instead of Ziploc bags or Saran wrap. He wasn't too keen on the idea. I understand why though. I tend to be a pack-rat and save every little thing thinking that somewhere down the road I'll be able to use it (think toilet paper tubes and film canisters piling up). He has had to deal with this inability to throw things out for over 3 years now. He has helped me learn to throw away (though I prefer to recycle or give away) a lot more than I used to and I'm sure he is just having nightmares that I will start stockpiling again.

I also wish I had gotten a Kleen Kanteen because now that we can't stop at convenience stores for drinks I'm going to try to make sure I am more diligent about bring a water bottle with me in case I get thirsty. We only have one Nalgene, so I would have liked to have another water bottle. Oh well, there are always thrift stores!

It's funny...as I am driving along I find myself mourning the loss of being able to go out to eat. Every eatery I see I'm like, oh I wish I could just get some coffee or a little snack. It's quite sad really. I've never seen so many restaurants as I do now. It's like the "you want what you can't have" thing. I remember when I was pregnant Brent and I were eating on the patio and I turned to him and said, "I could really use a smoke." I don't smoke, but just knowing that I couldn't made me want to really bad.

The crazy thing is that even under our new rule of not going out to eat, somehow Brent managed to eat out 4 times last week, and one of those times I was with him. It all fell under our exceptions, but still! That's just crazy! He went out once with the Elders for a breakfast meeting, once with the lead Pastor for a lunch meeting, once with a student from church (this was actually dinner and a movie, but he didn't have to pay for either) and then we both went out with my parents and my Grammy (used a one of our gift certificates). We're really off to a great start! As I said earlier, this will be harder for Brent because sometimes for work he will have to blur the lines. He didn't initiate any of those meetings/outings and it is hard to say no, especially to a student when that is what his job is mostly about...connecting with the kids. I didn't really want to go out to eat with my parents because I felt guilty going out so soon into our experiment, but they wanted to spend time with us and my Mom didn't want to cook which I totally understand after a hard week at work. I would have offered to cook but I hadn't been grocery shopping recently so I didn't have much food in the house. I really hated to have to use our precious gift certificates so soon but I didn't want my parents to feel like they had to pay for us out of pity for our situation.

I just have to learn to be even more prepared. First of all, I have to keep my house clean and food stocked so that if people ask us out to eat we could suggest that they come over to eat instead. I'm such a planner and don't do well with having to throw a meal together at the last minute, but I have to learn to get over my pride and not care if I put together the perfect meal. Brent said that for some of his meetings he might be able to suggest that they brown bag it or I could cook nice meal and send it in with him to share. Anway, this blog is getting a little long so I'll write more later. We'll get the hang of this eventually!