I haven't told you guys about my bizarre new project. Remember last month, my attempt at the 21 Day Challenge? It flopped on day 6. So I've got a new challenge, and believe it or not, I'm almost done. One more week. So I guess I can tell you what it is now. It's a little insane. It's to feed my whole family breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for $10 a day. I don't know how much you spend on groceries, but in my world that's radical. But there is some wierdness that goes on here. But SOMEHOW we're eating better. And several of you are actually kind of worried like we're starving, but we're totally not. I am cooking alot more. The physical work is harder. Nothing comes out of a box. But I can still bake like a wild woman in October. We have money for fruit and everything too. Don't worry. But I'm a FREAK and not a single grape gets tossed. We just eat the same fruits for two days rather than have a variety for a week. We eat the ends of the bread loaf. We eat scrambled eggs for lunch. We do eat a pot of beans every week, but it hasn't gotten old yet. It's working really well. But, of course, I do odd things to make this happen. Odd for me anyway. Freaky planning and number crunching. And eating stuff I don't normally eat. Case in point: Amy is having fun watching me attempt to do this, and directed me to chicken thighs, $1 a pound. So I hunt, I gather. I don't know what you do with chicken thighs or why we never eat them. They look ok. When I ask Brandon he says that it's because they're really fatty. But whatever. We're eating it. So he throws them on the grill at a really really low temp. It's taking forever. He keeps going out to check and it's just not really getting close temperature wise. Come to find out, the thermometer wasn't reading 100 degrees, the lowest temp. It was well past 600 degrees and the peg had gone all the way around and so it looked like it was at 100. Follow me? So I guess you have already seen the end result. The thighs were so fatty that they were actually flammable. And they caught on fire. And they were black black black. Well, my dear husband, seeing the wasted $4.88 (which is essential to The Project) that just literally went up in flames, decided that those chickens should not have been bought in vain. AND LOOK WHAT HE DID!
This is so sick. He really truly scrubbed the char off of the chicken and turned it into a chicken salad using it's repulsive, smoky remains and vegetables that were only half rot in the produce bin. And he actually took that to work and ate it in front of everyone for three days. That's so sweet and disgusting. And for those of you that think that if you scrub it off, it's good as new...IT'S NOT. I tried it. Really gross. So my point is...we're ok. Really. Don't worry about how we're eating. It's totally fine. I'm at $129.18 for 2 weeks of groceries! I am looking forward to a Central Market trip when this whole thing is done. One more week.
*send coffee*
This past weekend was so beautiful. You really couldn't justify being inside unless you had to. So the boys decided to get the garage in shape. Brandon has worked his tail off getting that garage in fantastic shape. Will has been right out there with him for four days. It was Will that prompted the whole thing in insisting that he wanted to drive his car. So that's what he's been doing... for 4 DAYS! Nana just came over and he talked her into "taking her on vacation" in his new car. They went to Canada and back in 3 short minutes.
I DID IT! Day 21! My insane project worked really well, actually. Final Bill:
Here's Molly, of the Fall 09 Collection of Cupitt children. I spent the day documenting the MANY faces of Molly today. I'm saving the super money shot for the birth announcement. Hold your horses and check you mailbox. But not this week. Don't get that excited. You'll just have to get your fix here for a while.
