Living Dangerously

DAY FOUR: We're still watching our food costs with an eagle eye on Day 4 of the United Way of King County's Hunger Challenge week. Just ask CJ who spent the first few minutes he was up today contemplating his choice in breakfast. He wanted some grapes, so we worked out the math on that. The grapes were $1.69 a pound, and there are 16 ounces in a pound so, that's about 10 cents an ounce. We dished CJ up a "normal" sized serving for CeeJ and weighed it. It was 7 ounces, which mean 70 cents. He thought that a bit steep.

About that time Annabelle emerged from the bedroom. She said she, too, wanted grapes for breakfast. CJ tried to dissuade her. "You don't want to know the cost of grapes," he advised.

Nevertheless, she decided upon a grape breakfast too, which set her back 60 cents.

Fortunately, they went cheap for lunch - a banana and some Goldfish. I'd had a cheap day, too - a grapefruit, a hardboiled egg, and the kids' castoffs/leftovers already expensed to them. Given this, for dinner, we decided to live dangerously. We went out. :0

We decided on the Nickerson Street Saloon - immediately west of the Fremont Bridge. Why there? Four reasons: The kids' meals are only $1.99 apiece (that's WAY less than a McDonald's Happy Meal, even); We had a $30 Yollar certificate to use (which we bought for $15); we went during Happy Hour (cheaper food and drink); they had the Sweet 16 on their screens.

Let's do the math ...
CJ daily total = $3.27
Pop Tart = .12
Grapes = .70
Goldfish = .17
Banana = .29
Cheeseburger & Fries = 1.99
Annabelle daily total = $2.95
Grapes = .50
Goldfish = .17
Banana = .29
Chicken strips & fries = 1.99
Christian daily total = 15.67*
Coffee = .60
2 eggs + cheese = .26
Corned beef and cabbage = 1.69
Carrots = .12
Quesadilla = 6
2 HH beers = 7
My daily total = 15.70*
Coffee = .30
Grapefruit = .33
Hard boiled egg = .08
Burrito = 7.99
2 HH beers = 7
Family Daily total 37.59 LESS $30 cert = 7.59 + *$15 cost of cert = $22.59, which is .59 cents over the daily total BUT, we've been under the three previous days, so we're still definitely on track for the week. So the question is, can you dine out on a limited budget? The answer is a qualified 'yes' - very, VERY carefully.

BTW, if you'd like to see how other Seattle area peeps are managing during the Hunger Challenge, check out the Blog Roll (and yes, MPA is listed!).

CLONE STAMPS AND SUCH: Before Annabelle was even up, CJ was working on a Photoshop project. He found a YouTube video about a Nintendo Cafe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPQutT5LOWM which depicts a menu he fancied. He wanted a print out of it. So, I taught him how to take a screen shot/screen print and open it in Photoshop. Next, he had to do some editing and touchups. I showed him how to use the pencil tool to add letters to the menu (to correct misspellings of whomever created it to begin with). He also had to erase and 'shop over some parts of the image.
When Annabelle got up and looked at the menu, CJ said, "Just remember this - the higher the price, the better it tastes."

I didn't tell him that's not always the case in the world of real restaurants. :)

IT'S A WRAP: Today we FINALLY finished the Singapore Math 2A books.

The last marathon assignment was 6 pages, encompassing lessons from the entire book, including measurements. At one point Annabelle said she needed a tape measure, so I got her one. As it turned out the question was A door is 2 ___ ." The options were ounces, pounds, inches or yards.
After the fact, I explained to the kids they should be able to answer that without a tape (clearly it wasn't ounces or pounds, and an inch was way too small).

Anyway, the kids soldiered through and were so happy when it was done.
AFTERNOON OUT: CJ had a quick dental appointment in the Madrona neighborhood today. We headed that direction an hour early to enjoy a fantastic park out that way.

The pinnacle of the park is this awesome webbed rope climbing structure in the middle. We visited this park about a year ago and I recall thinking at the time that the structure was scary high, and I couldn't imagine my kids climbing it.

Yeah, well, that's ancient history. Today, when CJ saw it, he didn't hesitate.

I was very proud of him (and a little scared!) that he climbed to the top. Not only that, once up there he said, "This is how high Donkey Kong is" and on a second trip to the top, I caught him pounding his chest a la King Kong. :)

The park had lots else to offer.

The kids enjoyed slides, spinny things and sit on and play with me things. :)

PENCIL TO PAPER: After the dentist I was feeling like the kids haven't had a written assignment is months, so I hopped on EdHelper.com and found a poem called "I Think I Want to Be a Kite." I had the kids read it and their assignment was to write five sentences about what it would be like being a kite.

Interestingly (and rather uncharacteristically) CJ was enthusiastic about the assignment. After a couple of minutes he said, "Do you like it how I'm doing fantastic spelling? And I'm making sure I put a period at the end of every sentence." :)

CJ wrote, "I feel windy when I am flying because of the air. I also feel like God because I am in the air. I see clouds when I am in the air. The sky is blue. The sky tells us if it is day or night by changing its color from light blue to dark blue."

Not quite sure where his religious inspiration came from (a YouTube video?), but he definitely completed the assignment with thought and care. Annabelle's answer was a bit more whimsical.

"I do fly! My bro and me swing and we fly! (We go really high on the trampoline too.) I have lots of fun! (I get dizzy.)"

Reading Annabelle's take makes me wonder if a propensity for using parenthesis is genetic. I use them way too often/too much.