It has actually been a pretty good Monday. My good Mondays are probably very different from most peoples, but I count even the minute-est things that run smoothly a bonus.
I got up an hour early. Because Celeste got up an hour early and none of the other kids were up, it forced me to get up too, since a 1 year old left unattended in a house by herself is just asking for a disaster.
I had rice pudding for breakfast and it was already made. We are really low on groceries due to a Costco trip (more on that later) so I made rice pudding with almond and coconut milk (no regular milk in the house either) in the slow cooker overnight. I made a quick blackberry sauce to put over it and voila!
We actually practiced piano lessons the day before our lesson. That is a first as usually I'm working with the kids ON the morning of our lesson. Yes, this should be done every day so things are practiced for the new lesson, but this is how things go in our house right now. We're lucky to be getting TO lessons and that we have found A teacher in Kalama. One small step at a time!
I read poetry to the children. Me, who lacks ability to appreciate most poetry, took a big step and read some for our reading time this morning. We started with nursery rhymes and ended with some longer ones about spring from Childcraft book #1 (Poems and Rhymes). Whew. Should be good for another few months. Thankfully Luke and James told me that they have both read through that whole book on their own time, so that warmed my heart. They were more familiar with some of them than I was. Another plus for having good books in the house and quiet reading-on-their-own time each day.
Long division and reducing fractions are starting to make sense to the 4th grader. Borrowing is catching on with the 2nd grader. Elise was bored in her reading lessons (as usual, no matter how interesting the books we read are) although her penmanship is fabulous. Isaac was busy building stuffed animal houses out of boxes and Celeste was busy pestering/distracting the big kids throughout (stealing pencils, climbing on chairs and then tipping over, needing Mom while she's trying to teach, etc.) Things are looking up!
My throw-together salad from the pantry for lunch was actually good (I'm horrible at winging it and usually they flop) Mini macaroni, canned chicken and a can of fruit cocktail (more pantry staples) with a bit of mayo. The kids gobbled it up.
Celeste took her nap early (because she got up so early), so now at quiet time she's wandering the house looking for disasters to create. I think we'll have to get outside for a walk today instead. It was pouring rain during our normal walking time, so now later when we should be reading (and it's sunny) we should get outside. Pent up energy from kids in the day leads to fighting and too much craziness in the evenings.
Here's the Costco story. We tried it again on Friday. 7 items = $70. That will just not do the budget any good. The crowds were horrendous (every till was open, lines at all of them). I know, now people will probably tell me that Friday isn't a good day at Costco either, so what day is? Here's the math from one item. Normally a brick of Tillamook cheese is 2 lbs for $6.50 (at Winco). At Costco, you get 2.5 lbs for $7.99. The added 1/2 lb is added to the side rather than the end, so you eat a bit more with every slice and your brick is gone in the same amount of time as a 2 lb brick. If that extra 1/2 lb was added to the length, then at least you'd get a few more slices out of a larger brick, but this way, you do not. I don't know of anyone who would take the time to slice their cheese thinner to make up for the added width on each slice. They just have to go and buy more at the same rate they would with a 2 lb brick. Make sense? So, I don't think we'll be heading back there any time soon. To quote my sister's neighbor, "You eat really good for a week and then starve the rest of the month because your grocery budget is gone." Yes, indeed! Hence the beans and macaroni and all the other canned food I'm using up because I spent way too much at Costco (buying only things like cheese, peanut butter, bacon, butter, coffee, etc). Sigh. Back to WinCo we go. I am going to try Amazon Prime for my pantry stuff this month though, as we have that now... I will keep you posted how that goes.
