Up to the Challenge

WE DID IT! Today marked the final day of United Way of King County's Hunger Challenge week.

During the five-day challenge we have been on a budget of $22 a day for food (the maximum amount our family would qualify for on the state' Basic Food program. According to DSHS Secretary Susan N. Dreyfus (who also took the challenge this week) one in 13 people in the state of Washington uses the DSHS Basic Food program. That stat shocked me.

Our family learned so much this week. The kids' did a ton of math, and not only did they have their knowledge about the value of coins reinforced, they acquired the knowledge regarding the true value of money. Money is what keeps us fed and clothed and housed. They also had their awareness raised about how many people - from Haiti to here in Seattle and everywhere in between - battle hunger.

During the challenge, for the first time, the kids experienced what it's like to manage a budget and make tough choices that come along with that reality.

For me, there were numerous "ah ha" moments. One was that pocket change can mean a meal for a family. Another is that our family wastes waaay too much food. (For example, I resolve to never dump another container of yogurt down the drain because it went uneaten and past its due date.) And now if someone asks me how much a week our family spends on food, I could give them an informed answer.

While we had no trouble making budget this week, I can't help but think of the weeks where it would be a real challenge - for instance when there's a birthday or holiday meal to prepare. It makes me realize that you'd HAVE to be under during normal weeks to have a war chest for those special days (of which there are many).

To celebrate our successful completion of the challenge, we splurged with a Papa Murphy's pizza (thankfully, I had a $3 off coupon for it!). Here are our Friday totals:

BREAKFAST = $2.53
CJ = Pop Tart & dry Cheerios = .20+.19 = .49
Bee = Cheerios (.28), milk (.12) = .40
Me = Cheerios (.28), milk (.12), coffee (.37 ) = .77
Xtian = Cake (.50) & coffee (.37) = .87
LUNCH = $3.83
CJ & Bee = yogurt (.67*2) = 1.34
ME = Vege Chili = .89
Xtian = Vege Chili (.89) + apple (.29) + banana (.25) + soda (.17) + = 1.60
DINNER = 11.42
Papa Murphy's pizza = 10.99
M&X salad (.25 lettuce, .08 green onion, .10 tomato)= .43
SNACKS 6.13
Bee = orange = .19
CJ & M = banana =.25*2 = .50
Kids = pretzels = .20
Kisses = .25
Sharps & Barley Pop = 4.99
TOTAL: $23.91, which is $1.91 over the daily budget, but we have been $3-6 under every other day, so I figure we started with some in the kitty.

I will sing the Hunger Challenge out with: "Hunger Strike." It has been going through my head all week. Performed by Seattle grunge rock superstars, its music video was filmed at Discovery Park, right here in lil ol' Magnolia! (I could point out exactly where each shot is

SUPER MARIO SUITE: Friday morning means Musikgarten, and this week the kids' homework was to practice holding their glockenspeil mallets properly (pinched between thumb and forefingers, palms down, arms and elbows up).

We turned their morning mallet practice into a game. They took turns thumping out the beat of a video game theme and the audience had to guess which game it was. If we were stumped (which was almost every time) the musician would give us a clue. It's funny how something as simple as that turned boring homework into something so fun that they didn't want to quit playing it when it was time to go to music class.

The big news of the day at music was they both got their very own glockenspeils, complete with a handy dandy carrying case. Exciting stuff!

VALUE BUBBLE: So we're in one of our favorite places in Seattle - the Ballard Valu-Village - this afternoon and as we're cruising between the backpacks and beat up furniture, CJ starts to lag a little and I say, "C'mon Dude, hurry up." CJ doesn't say a word, but I hear a male voice respon, "That's OK, you can call me Dude." I look over to find it's a dude with a purple beard. He looks harmless enough, so I smile and chuckle and we continue on. A couple aisles later I'm ready to leave the store and I say to CJ, who's lagging again, "C'mon Cutie!"

As soon as I said it, I thought, "Oh crap. I suppose purple beard guy ..." and sure 'nuff I hear the now familiar voice say, "And you can call me Cutie, too. I get called Cutie all the time."

Oh Lord.

At that point I note that the man is dressed in purple from head to toe, to match his beard, presumably.

Next 'Cutie' asks me if he can show the kids a trick. "Um, OK ... " I acquiese with a fair amount of trepidation. Purple Cutie Dude breaks out a small bottle of bubbles and blows a bubble about the size of CJ's fist. It floats down and right when it's about the level of the kids' faces, the guy grabs it and in a flash presents it to them on his palm. The bubble has "magically" become solid.

Needless to say, the kids were amazed and enchanted. Here they are in the middle of Value Village, getting their own private magic bubble show. Purple Dude blew two more bubbles - smaller this time. He grabbed each of them and "transformed" them into little clear little stones with stickers on them - a heart for Annabelle and a snowflake for CJ. They were THRILLED.

I told Dude that now the kids were going to expect to see him every time we go to Value Village and he said he performs at nearby Carkeek Park all the time and he gave me a business card. Turns out we had met the (semi) famous Gary Golightly, a/k/a Bubbleman. Apparently he's a hit on the birthday party and park circuit. His Web site is pretty interesting reading, including his "bubbleosophy" and his "autobubbleography."

CJ desperately wants to go see his performance at the park. We'll see what we can do to accomodate him. ;)

MOON SHINE: Tonight's full moon - the first full moon of 2010 - will be the biggest and brightest full moon of the year. And we won't be able to see it, because there's 100 percent cloud cover. "Aw man!" Annabelle groused when told what she'd be missing.

"How can we get rid of the clouds?" CJ asked. I told him he was out of luck.

Why is tonight's full moon so special? As I read on Space.com, on average, the moon is 238,855 miles (384,400 km) from Earth. The moon's orbit around Earth isn't a perfect circle, rather it's an elliptical. In each orbit of the Earth , the moon reaches this closest point to us, which is called perigee. Once or sometimes twice a year, perigee coincides with a full moon, as is the case tonight. That makes for a bigger and brighter full moon (about 14 percent wider and 30 percent brighter) as compared to the rest of the full moons this year.

Another interesting factoid: The first full moon of the year is called a wolf moon, a term that has its roots with American Indians, who apparently believed wolves were howing at the full moon on cold winter nights.

TURN ON YOUR HEARTLIGHT: Tonight was a family movie night. We'd finally be watching E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. We talked a bit about what 'terrestrial' means, and how someone/thing that's extra-terrestrial would be not of this earth.

We have an E.T. storybook and I got it out to read it to the kids but as I flipped through it, I realized that would really ruin the magic of the movie, so I told them they'd have to wait until after the movie to read the book. Naturally, that prompted them to spend the balance of the afternoon trying to sneak peeks at the book.

I did play Neil Diamond's E.T.-inspired song "Heartlight" for them on YouTube to help tide them over.

The movie was a hit. (How could it not be? It's sweet, sad, funny, clever, and has aliens!)

Even though it was a happy ending, Annabelle cried at the end, of course.

Hungry, Hungry Hippos

PLAYING CATCH UP?: We're on Day Four of the United Way of King County Hunger Challenge and the kids seem a bit hungrier today than they have been the past three days. They're asking for snacks more frequently and asking for more even after they get those. Though they certainly haven't been nutritionally or calorically deprived this week, I can't help but wonder if today is some delayed reaction to them having a little bit less than normal the past three days. ... Mercifully, we've been under budget ($22 per day, max) every day so far, so giving them that extra handful of pretzels or apple wedges wasn't a problem.
I took some time today to remind the kids why we're doing all the coin counting and food rationing this UWKC "Hunger Challenge" week - that it's because we're taking part in an event that helps us and others learn more about hunger experienced by our fellow earthings.

The kids both asked about the hungry people in Haiti, and I told that that the need there is immense and immediate, and that we'd donated to The American Red Cross to try to help, but I also made sure they realized there are people very close to home who are going hungry, too.
Then I asked the kids how they thought they could help hungry people.

CJ: "To help the hungry I would buy stuff for people." (The stuff including yogurt and Cheerios!) Annabelle: "To help the hungry I would make a giant ovan (sic) and bake cookies."

I think they have the right idea. :)

POCKET CHANGE: This morning, while walking to the library, I put my hand in the pocket of a coat I don't wear much and felt some coins. I quickly pulled them out to see how much treasure was there. "Twenty six cents!?" I thought excitedly. "That's a meal!!"

Funny how just three days of a "Hunger Challenge" has changed my way of thinking about pocket change. Prior to participating in the event, I wouldn't have given the 26 cents a second thought. Heck, I probably wouldn't have even given the coins a first thought. They would have just been along for the ride in that pocket for eternity. ...

And I'm not the only one with a heightened appreciation for the power of penny pinching. As she rounded up 67 cents to pay for a late morning treat, Annabelle remarked, "Boy, that yogurt is an expensive snack." Though just a kindergartener, she already realizes that at 25 cents, a banana is a bargain for a tasty, filling snack as compared to the yogurt she chose.

WHO SAYS THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH?: Today, Christian and CJ both had leftover spaghetti for lunch. Though it wasn't technically free (I counted the cost of it in the totals for last night's dinner), it didn't count against our $22 budget today - hooray!

Of course, this hammers home how important it is to eat leftovers when you're on a budget. After all, the best way to save money is by not spending it in the first place! And I have to admit it also reminds me that although I am so proud of how our family composts all of our food waste, that I should be less smug about our compositing and MUCH more careful about not wasting any food to begin with. ...
Thursday, by the numbers:
BREAKFAST = $2.53
CJ = Pop Tart & dry Cheerios = .20+.19 = .49
Bee = Cheerios (.28), milk (.12) = .40
Me = Cheerios (.28), milk (.12), coffee (.37 ) = .77
Xtian = Cake (.50) & coffee (.37) = .87
LUNCH = $2.93
CJ = leftover spaghetti, cost factored into last night's meal = FREE!
Bee = .20 bread + .13 cheese = .33
ME = Progresso soup = $1.69
Xtian = leftover spaghetti (cost factored into last night's meal = FREE!) + apple (.29) + banana (.25) + soda (.17) + Bugles (.20)= .91
DINNER = $4.23
Bacon (2.99) + Bread (.50) + Lettuce (.05) + tomato (.25) + mayo (.10) + apple (.29) + mustard (.05) = 4.23
SNACKS= $8.41
Kids = yogurt (.67) * 2 = 1.34
Me = Cheese stick (.25) Kids = pretzels (.25)Kids = cookies (.17*2) = .34
Kids = Three Musketeers (.12*2) = .24
Adult Malt Beverages : ) = $5.99
GRAND TOTAL: $18.10 (under budget by 3.90, even with a sixer of yummy Mud Slinger Spring Ale by Red Hook)
And now, we return to "regular" MPA programming ...
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HE WAS A GOOD EGG: Today marked the last day of Great Eggspectations, a series of experiments we've been doing with a chicken egg.

When last we left our egg, he was shriveled and showing his age. We'd put him in vinegar and watched his shell be eaten away. He'd been immersed in corn syrup and lost water due to osmosis. Then, yesterday he'd been dunked in a H20 in hopes of a rejuvenation. And sure 'nuff, water had made its way back through the membrane and our lil' egg was plump again!

However, Good Egg was showing signs of strain. He had stretch marks so large that you could peer through to his yellow yolk center.

Apparently CJ had grown quite attached to the egg during the two weeks we spent with it. He was visibly upset watching the egg ebb, down the drain.

"It looks like a popped balloon," observed Annabelle

IN OTHER NEWS: Today was also library day and ballet day, both fruitful as usual.

My laugh of the day came this evening, when we stopped by QFC. They were getting rid of anything with the Seahawks ( a/k/a losers :( ) logo on it. The kids desperately wanted a Seahawks car window flag, but there was no price on it. Because of Hunger Challenge week I'm in hardcore spendthrift mode and I tell them that if they want they flag, they would have to ask a QFC employee about it, and they couldn't have it if it was more than a dollar.

Well, as you might imagine, the cashier rang it up for $1 at Annabelle's urging/pleading. :)

Thrilled at her victory, "It's for the Seahawks vacation!" she declared. Ah, youth. What I see as a miserable season, she views as a longer vacation. :)

Halfway Through "Hunger" Week

ADDING IT UP: "How much do I owe you?" Annabelle mumbled through her first mouthful of Chocolate Cheerios this morning. Excellent! Clearly the idea that every morsel has its price has caught on.

We're on Day Three of the United Way of King County's "Hunger Challenge," and have volunteered to feed our family of 4 for less than $22 a day, the maximum amount we'd be eligible for under the state's Basic Food Program ("food stamps").

So far, so good! We've been around 30 percent under budget for the first two days and haven't suffered a bit. In fact, we haven't altered our diets hardly at all, the biggest difference is we've been doing a whole lot of math to track our expenses.

Today's "happy" totals:
Breakfast = $2.24
CJ = Pop Tart = .20
Bee = Cheerios (.28), milk (.12) = .40
Me = Cheerios (.28), milk (.12), coffee (.37 ) = .77
Xtian = Cake (.50) & coffee (.37) = .87
Lunch = $3.81
XTian = Chicken (1.50), banana (.25), apple (.29), Bugles (.20) soda (.21) = 2.45
Kids = hot dogs (.50) buns (.36) ketchup (.05) = .91
Me = 1 c. rice(.30 ), 1 egg (.135 ), 1 green onion (.07) = .505
Dinner = $5.23
Bee, CJ, Mom & Dad = Spaghetti noodles & meat sauce = $1+$2.25 = $3.25
M&X = salad = .50 lettuce + .25 tomato = .09 green onion = .84All of us = olives = .89
Bee = banana = .25
Snacks = $4.83
Bee = Orange .19*2 = .38
CJ = Banana = .25
CJ = goldfish = .25
Me = orange, banana = .44
Kids = pretzels = .20
Kids = 4 Kisses = .20
Me = 2 Kisses = .10
Kids = cake dessert .50*2= 1
Sharps "beer" .67*3 = 2.01
GRAND TOTAL: 16.11 - Yahoo! under budget ($22 max) again!

ALL SHOOK UP: The devastation in Haiti has been all over the news - including public service announcements during children's programming that CJ & Annabelle watch. Clearly, an earthquake unit was WAY overdue here at MPA.

Today, I turned to a favorite - BrainPop - to see what they had to offer and sure 'nuff, they have an earthquake unit. We watched the film (which, in the wake of the Haiti disaster, they have made available to even non subscribers). During the video (which we watched twice, and paused many times), the kids took notes. They learned what causes an earthquake, including that pressure and the earth's plates are involved. And they found out that there are three kinds of earthquake-related waves: P waves (the fastest and first, the compress and expand solid and liquid rock); S waves (they cut rock and radiate both horizontally and vertically); and surface waves (the slowest and most dangerous).

CJ & Annabelle demonstrating "horizontal" and "vertical"

I also thought the United States Geological Survey might be a good resource, and boy was I right!

They had a list of dozens of links to explore (certainly more than we could get to in a day, many outside the USGS world). We chose to start with the USGS's own "Earthquakes for Kids" site, and the kids opted to check out "Earthquake ABC."
I'm here to tell you, this was not your typical "A is for apple" ABC story. Written and illustrated by kids, this version was all about keepin' it real. Such as, "A is for aftershock ... an aftershock could kill people." And H? Well H is for "Help" and the drawing shows four people trapped in earthquake damaged buildings, all crying for help. What about K, you ask? "K is for KILL" (yes, all caps by the author). "Earthquakes kill people by smashing them and having heart attacks."

No sugar coating here, no siree. An earthquake is as serious as a heart attack (just ask Sven, author of the K page, eh?).

So, when CJ and Annabelle were done crying (just kidding!) we talked about the safest spot to go in our home in the event of an earthquake (that would definitely be the beefy new entry area, not the 100 year old duct-tape-and-spit construction part.

AN INVITATION: Months in the making (because of my foot dragging), today I am, at last, a "Confirmed Member" of the Seattle Home School Yahoo! Group. I was able join after sending SHG an email yesterday detailing our attendance at the park play date. In response, I got an email invitation to join the group. I'm looking forward to poking learning more about resources other people are utilizing.

OSMOSIS EGGSTRAVAGANZA: In the seemingly never ending egg experiment, today's action involved fishing the egg out of its corn syrup bath and seeing how it had changed since we dropped it in there this weekend. When we immersed it in the syrup, we'd just taken it out of a 3-day vinegar bath, which ate away its hard shell. The egg was now squishy and held intact by a membrane.

Well today, the egg looked downright deflated. Why? That would be osmosis, I explained to the kids. Although the egg's membrane is intact and looks solid, there really are tiny spaces between the membrane's molecules, and water from inside the egg escaped out into the syrup.

Today, when poking and squeezing the egg, we could actually feel the yolk inside - it felt like a little ball. Cool!

But we're not done yet! Now the egg is in a water bath. We're going to see if it plumps back up via osmosis again.

CRASH BANG BOOM!: Today we read a trio of picture books, including "Snow Sounds, An Onomatopoeic Story". Great concept for a book and it presented a perfect opportunity to introduce the kids to the term onomatopoeia, or a 'the reference of a word to a sound resembling the pronunciation of the word itself, e.g. "whizz," "thud," "thump," "hiss," "moo," "quack," "hoot," "howl," "whack" ' per yourdictionary.com. An onomatopoeia is a part of speech we all use all of the time, but so few people know (or remember) what it's called.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?: Here's a photo of Annabelle presenting me with a bouquet of daisies. That she picked. In our park. Today. As in January.

And yesterday when we were at a park in Wallingford, I was walking around, sniffing the air like a bloodhound, going, "What's that smell? What's that smell?! It smells like flowers. ..." Soon, I located the source of the scent - it was a blooming cherry tree and some "springtime" flowering shrubs.

Funds with Food

PAY UP: This is Day Two of our United Way of King County (UWKC) Hunger Challenge, during which we're living on a budget of $22 max per day (the amount our family would be eligible for if we were on the state's food assistance program).

This morning, CJ and Annabelle both opted to have a banana and Pop Tart for breakfast. The banana cost .25, and the Pop Tart was .20. I told the kids they each owed .45 for breakfast, so they scurried off to find the coin jar to round up the funds.

It took a few tries, but eventually they made 45 cents out of a combination of coins.

This "show me the money" drill went on all day long - every time they had a meal or a snack. It was a great exercise - really reinforcing their coin value and addition skills, all the while hammering home that everything that passes their lips has a price tag attached.

According to a Hunger Challenge email I got from UWKC this morning, in Washington state, 112,000 households now meet the federal definition for hunger. And, not surprisingly, rates of hunger are higher in households with children - there are more mouths to feed.

Last night as I was lying in bed waiting to fall asleep, my stomach growled. That caused Christian to chuckle and ask, "Hungry?"

To be honest, I was hungry (not starving, mind you, but I certainly wasn't full). The reason my stomach was growling was because yesterday I was so worried about making budget, that I didn't eat a whole lot. Why? I wanted to make sure that the kids had enough food.

I'm sure there are many parents in Seattle, in Washington state, in the United States and the world 'round who go to bed hungry every night. It's their trade off for having children who go to bed with bellies that aren't as empty.

Here's our food munchin' number crunchin' Day Two:
Breakfast = $2.19
CJ = Pop Tart & banana = .20 + .25 = .45
Annabelle = Pop Tart & banana = .20 + .25 = .45
Xtian = Cake & coffee = .50 + .37 = .87
Me = 1 c. Cheerios + 1/2 c. milk & coffee = .28 + .07 + .37 = .42
Lunch = $2.63
CJ = Peanut butter French toast = 1/2 egg, one slice bread, 1/2 t. sugar, 3 T. peanut butter, syrup = .07+.10+.02+.05+.08 = .32
Annabelle = French toast = 1/2 egg, one slice bread, 1/2 t. sugar, 1 t. margarine, syrup = 07+.10+.02+.02+.08 = .29
Xtian = 2 pieces chicken, banana, apple, soda, mini Musketeers = 1 + .25 + .29 + .21 + .12 = 1.87
Me = Peanut butter toast = .10 + .05 = .15
Dinner = $3.63
CJ & Annabelle: hot dog, bun, ketchup, a few Tostitos, cheese = .50 (2 hot dogs)+.26 (2 buns)+.16 (4 T. ketchup)+.18(chips) + .125 (cheese) = $1.22
Xtian = two hot dogs, bun, 1/2 can chili, onion, chips, cheese = .50+.13+.45+.05+.18+.125= $1.43
Me = one hot dog, bun, 1/2 can chili, onion, chips = .25+.13+.45+.05+.10 = $.98
Snacks = $6.61

CJ & Bee pretzels .10 * 2 = .20
CJ & Bee goldfish = .17 * 2 = .34
Me = Hershey's Kiss = .05
CeeJ & Bee = piece of cake = 2 @ .50 each = 1.00
Sharps "beer" = 5 (between X & me) @ .67 a can = $3.35
Xtian's coffee from Wendy's = $1.67 (More than his dinner! Bad! Bad Christian!)

Drum roll please ... Day Two total: $15.06 Yes! Nearly $7 (and 32 percent) under budget!

HITTIN' THE BOOKS: I have, for the most part, forsaken the bulk of the first grade math and language arts worksheets and books that we have. Frankly, they're just too easy for the kids. So, this morning, I pulled out a "bridge" to second grade book, thinking it would be a little more challenging. And it did require a tad bit more knowledge/thinking. CJ was working on a test-type sheet that included spelling, consonant blends, and finishing sentences. But one of the exercises was asking him to write the numbers from 51 to 100. I looked at it, looked at him and told him, "Skip it!"

From time to time (often, really) I have to remind myself that one of the BIG benefits of our way of doing things is that we do not have to waste time on busy work. Why in the world should CJ be writing numbers from 50-100 when he's known how to do that for a year plus, when his penmanship is great, and when there are a gajillion other things he could be doing learning?

ARE YOU SITTING DOWN?: If you've been following along at home, you know that for days-months-weeks now I've been promising/threatening to take the kids to the weekly Tuesday afternoon park play date thingee that's a function of the Seattle Homeschool Group. For whatever reason, at 10 on this sunny morning I remembered that it was a Tuesday. A park day. I decided that today WOULD be the day.

Per the group's newsletter, the event was supposed to start at noon at Wallingford Park. So, we left home about 20 til, and pulled up right at noon. I look around and see several parents or caretakers, all with babies. I mean like infants/young toddlers. Yeah, well, no doubt they're home schooled, but so is every kid their age. Hmm. I'm just about to conclude it was called off and that I didn't get the memo when a young mother (wearing a baby and holding a toddler) asked me, "Are you part of the home school group?" I said, "Nope. It's our first time here," but told her we came because we saw the park date in the group's newsletter. It turned out the woman did have a girl who appeared to be about 6 tooling around the park. So there we were, the two newbies and our kids and the neighborhood folk. At about quarter 'til one I was readying the kids to leave when a couple of honest-to-goodness "official" home school families show up. (I guess the cool kids come late. I should have known!) So we stuck around for another 10 minutes or so and CJ did get to play with an 8 y.o. boy for awhile.

It was a great park and I'd definitely take the kids back there again just for that. I'm wondering what kind of turn out is "normal" for one of their park days. As I said to the other newbie mother, "If you don't go out on a day like today in Seattle, that means you don't go out much." I would think that if they do get a decent turn out, a day like today would bring it. ... But what do I know?

I did chat very briefly with an honest-to-goodness group member, and I think that now qualifies me to apply to be in their Yahoo! Group and get emails/announcements. Maybe that's where the real action is. ... Time will tell.

Are We Up to the Challenge?

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Today marks Day One of our family's participation in the United Way of King County's Hunger Challenge.

Unfortunately, there's a whole lotta hunger here in the US. In fact, according to a New York Times story from last November:

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans who lived in households that lacked
consistent access to adequate food soared last year, to 49 million, the highest since the government began tracking what it calls “food insecurity” 14 years ago, the Department of Agriculture reported Monday.

The increase, of 13 million Americans, was much larger than even the most pessimistic observers of hunger trends had expected and cast an alarming light on the daily hardships caused by the recession's punishing effect on jobs and wages.

Our challenge this week is to live on the amount we'd receive if we were relying on the state's Basic Food Program (a.k.a. food stamps). Following the program's guidelines, that would mean $22 a day for our family.

I volunteered the family for the challenge for a couple of reasons, the first one being that if someone asked me how much our family spends a week on groceries, they'd be met with a blank stare and a very uninformed sounding, "Uh ..." followed by a stammered, "don't know."

Secondly, I thought it would be a fantastic opportunity to teach the kids about budgeting. Obviously they'd be learning that everything you put in your mouth costs money, from the 50 cent piece of fried chicken to a 5 cent Hershey's Kiss. For that same reason, I knew it meant we'd be doing a lot of math this week, and working with money, which is also great.

Lastly, I think that it's a good lesson in empathy (which is one of the Challenge's goals). It should give us pause to think about people who are doing this not as an experiment or by choice, but out of need.

Though I don't have a good (or any?) handle on what we spend on groceries a week, my prediction is that we'll do OK. Why do I think that? Well, I'm already a fairly hardcore coupon-clippin', bargain hunting shopper. A 'clearance item' queen, if you will. ;) But who knows, maybe my perception is completely out of whack. ... Time will tell. I do know this - I am ever so happy that neither Christian nor I have a $10 a day Starbucks habit. ...

In anticipation of the challenge, I scoured ads and made some judicious choices about this week's eats. Today, we hunted and gathered many items. My goal was to include some protein, calcium, grains and fresh produce.

This afternoon we spent a good long while weighing and calculating and labeling, coming up with serving size costs of some of the foods that are eaten frequently in our home. Some things were easy. We knew a container of yogurt was 67 cents. Some things - like bananas - took a bit more work. I walked the kids through the process of determining a per-banana price of 25 cents (we paid 59 cents a pound for bananas, so we divided the bunch's total price by the number of bananas in it).

Other items - like pretzels - took even more consideration. (We bought a 15-ounce bag at the dollar store for $1. We put a bowl on the scale, noted its weight, and then added pretzels to it until we got what equalled a 10-cent serving.)

It was a lot of math for the kids (which is a good thing!), and they also got practice writing prices.

The Challenge is definitely raising awareness around here. For instance, at lunchtime when CJ was about 2/3 of the way through a container of yogurt, he announced, "I'm done, Mommy."

When I replied, "OK, but that's the last thing you'll have until dinnertime," he suddenly rallied and finished it.

Also, when at the grocery store today, I found myself watching every item being rung up, to make sure the price was right. It occurs to me I don't do that enough at all. I should be doing that all the time.

So how'd we do today? Not bad, not bad at all! ...

Breakfast = $1.87
CJ = banana and Pop Tart (.25+.20) = .45
Annabelle = Chocolate Cheerios in milk (.28+.125) = .41
Me = banana & piece of toast + margarine = .25+.10+.01 = .36
Christian = peanut butter toast = .20 + .20 + .25 = .65
Coffee = .60 coffee + water
Lunch = $4.04
CJ = yogurt .67
Bee = yogurt = .67
Me = banana = .25
Xtian = rice & chicken wings = .45 + 2 = 2.45
Dinner = $3.44
CJ = 1/2 apple, 1 cup rice = 19.5 + .30 = .495
Bee = 1 piece chicken, 1/2 apple, 1/2 cup rice = .50 + 19.5 + .15 = .845
Me = 1 piece chicken, lettuce, dressing, rice = .50 + .25 + .30 = 1.05
Xtian = 1 piece chicken, lettuce, dressing, rice = .50 + .25+ .30 = 1.05
Snacks = $6.45
CJ & Bee & Me = 1 dark Hershey's Kiss each = .15
CJ & Bee pretzels = .40
M&D pretzels = .40
Cake (2 slices - A&C) = $1.00
Sharps .67 a can * 5 (2 me, 3 Xtian) = $3.35
Becks NA = $1.15
Drum roll please ... and the total is $15.80 ($6.20 under budget)

And now, we will return to regularly scheduled MPA programming ...
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MEASURING UP: This morning while I was out and about, Christian got the kids started on some table work. On tap this morning: measuring. First they did some workbook sheets on the topic, then they forayed out into the real world. They were instructed to find five objects, measure them in inches, and then write the objects down along with their measurement.

You might as well have asked CJ to design and construct an experimental aircraft. (Wait, no, that's not a good analogy. He'd probably TRY to do that.) Anyway, CJ was a total space. I mean waaaay, out there, beyond dwarf planet Pluto.

So I suggested he go to his room and have some alone time to contemplate whatever it was he needed to think about and when he was ready to finish the work, to come on back out. (I also suggested that he clean his room while he was contemplating!) About 15 minutes later he emerged. His room was spotless (I kid you not!), and he sat down and finished his work within two minutes. Amazing.

GOOD EGG: Our days-long "eggsperiment" continues. This weekend we fished the egg out of the vinegar bath to find out that, indeed, its shell had completely dissolved. The egg was soft and round, its white and yolk encapsulated in a membrane. Swollen and squishy, the egg was actually bigger than when it was encased in its shell.

With our shell-free egg, we began an osmosis experiment. Per instructions in "Science in a Bag," we stuck it into a bag filled with corn syrup. Now, we're monitoring it for shrinkage. ...

THE BLOOM IS OFF THE "DOJO"?: Tonight was Tae Kwon Do for the guys. They are in the last week of a month long commitment/experiment. Apparently on the way home CJ announced that he's tired of it. His dad countered that it's not realistic to expect it to be easy, that it's hard work and that only after the hard work would the reward (oooh, colored belts!) come. At that, CJ apparently made noises about sticking with it. We shall see. ...