Day 5: Thursday, February 18

     Last night I went to bed with the idea of making pancakes for breakfast today.  I didn't announce it ahead of time, because pancakes take prep time, and if we were running late with getting dressed, etc, I didn't want to be committed to it or, conversely, give it up and make everybody disappointed.

     I did make the pancakes!  And they were cheap.  Everybody loved them.  The idea came to me after yesterday's mush experience.  Although I grew up eating hot cereal every day of the week except when my mom wanted to sleep in on Saturdays, my kids aren't expecting that very often, and so I don't want them to feel that this food experiment of Mom's is going to mean hardship---deprivation---endless mush.

   The pancakes did chirk(sp?) them up a bit.  The whole house smelled great.  The problem was that breakfast took longer than usual, because of griddle time, and messed with our schedule.  I can only cook twelve small pancakes at a time on my griddle, so everybody can't be served at the same time unless I skip the devotions to fix them, or cook the hotcakes beforehand and serve not-so-hot pancakes prepared before 6:30.  I'll have to cogitate on that problem.

     All of the younger kids were ready on time today, no problem.  We had the lunches made last night and ready, too, so that wasn't a stresser.  The late breakfast caused some stress on the older girls who like to have some time after breakfast to blow dry or curl their hair, so we all felt their stress...
 
     Usually Saturday is our pancake day, because there aren't time pressures, so maybe we'll have pancakes again tomorrow.

     At the end of the day, as I was adding the supper totals in my journal, I was disappointed to find I had over-spent for the first time.  It wasn't a big number, just 12 cents, but it felt miserable.

      I had miscalculated when adding up the midday totals, and so I included some applesauce for dinner when I found some "extra" money I could use up at the end of the day.  Everybody loved the applesauce, and we were remembering about canning it in the summer when we had our German exchange students.  Nobody was sorry about eating yummy sauce.  Only I, in my private sorrows, was feeling like I had failed the day.

    I have some few pennies left over from other days, so I might still come out ok for the week.  I can.  I will.

     Here is a look at what the Boothmans ate today:

breakfast menu:  pancakes, syrup or jam, butter, tea

Breakfast  Total:  $1.55

pancakes: 1.10
(I'll put the awesome recipe on my new recipe page)
syrup@  .02per tbsp:  .10

jam, 2 tbsp: .06

approx 1 cup milk for tea:  .13

(this was the number I forgot to add in, which messed up my daily total)

sack lunch menu:  Lentil soup over rice, carrot sticks, high pulp orange juice

Lunch Total:  $3.93

lentils .72
1.5 lb rice: .96

6 carrots: .66

1/2 gallon juice:  .99

pretzels@ 6cents/bag of 16:  .60

(the kids requested some snacky item to eat when they feel starved at morning break, so their stomach doesn't growl in the class period before lunch, so the pretzels fit the bill)

 afternoon snack menu: popcorn and carmel corn

Snack Total: $.62

12 oz popcorn kernels:  .35
6 tbsp oil: .18

1/2 cup sugar: .09

Here's Trudy with a half-eaten bowl of kettle corn.  The 12 oz of popcorn made 3 of these huge bowls full, plenty of munching power, really a lot of snack for the price!  We saved 6 ziplock sandwich bags packed full to feed the basketball twins and Rodger before supper.

  

supper menu:  tacos with homemade tortillas, salsa, lettuce, cheese, applesauce

Supper Total: $4.02

hamburger meat: 2.00

1.2 head iceberg lettuce:  .42

4 oz shredded cheese: .56

8 tbsp salsa: .32

21 homemade tortillas: .32

applesauce: .40

Today's Total cost:  $10.12

     The tacos were awesome.  We're not professional tortilla makers, but Emily and Christiana and I had fun making them on the griddle, and they were a bit crunchy, so we ate them more like tostadas, with the shredded lettuce making them beautiful. 

     Christiana has a tortilla press, which Noah found and the kids tightened up the bolts, but flour tortillas must be rolled rather than pressed, so I'll buy some masa and we'll use it next time.  Rolling out tortillas took way too long right at supper time, so, never again, unless I account for the time and start earlier!  Dinner was about an hour late, which encroached on homework time, and so the tortilla project was another lesson.  I must prepare ahead more if I am to keep up on my project without having a rebellion in the ranks.  Homework is not optional, so the gitls must have time to get things done, and trying to do your math on an empty stomach while waiting on supper is not the best way to accomplish it.

    
We are living it and learning.