another list

1. learning experience

Adam and I decided it was time to teach our children the value of money. We have friends who give their kids an allowance, a dollar for each year they've been alive so Bella would get $7 a month, and they have seen it pay off as they're deep in the teenage years now. We are starting off small (next year I think we may give $ once a week), but the whole purpose is for them to have more opportunities to spend money so they learn just how much things cost. For instance going to the movies and having them pay their own way etc. It's certainly doing the trick, Bella had her first learning experience while looking through the scholastic book order form. She desperately wanted this diary that I thought was hideous. I told her she'd need to use her money to purchase it, but to keep in mind it was $6.95 so if she bought it she wouldn't have any money to buy anything else with until February. It took her hours to make up her mind and when she finally came to me with her decision she just couldn't spend all her money on one thing because what if there was something else she wanted in the mean time. So Bella's getting it, but Tess is a different story. She wanted something that was $7.95 and she only had $5. Well, Tess figured she would break the bank and go get her money from her piggy bank and throw in 3 more dollars. I guess we have a ways to go with her, but hopefully by the time it counts they will make good decisions.

2. encyclopedia project
After reading Michelle's post about Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life I was intrigued by this book that was inspiring everyone. Although I have not read the book and have no clue what it's about I can't get the concept, or what I believe to be the concept, our of my mind. So after much thought about how I would apply this encyclopedia idea to my life I decided to use this

artist trading card revolver by 7gypies

and fill it up from a-z with thing about my life. It's too daunting to do all at once so I figured it's a great project to do once a week or whenever inspiration strikes. I'm actually quite excited about seeing it unfold.

3. going veggie

Adam is trying a new way of eating, at least for the month of January, to see if it makes a difference. So around here we have been all veggie, all the time. It doesn't seem to make too much of a difference to me until it comes to cooking dinner. I don't have a clue what to make on a normal diet so to limit what I can make and try to find ways to give us protein is proving to be challenging. I made a bean soup the other night that turned into a tragedy. It didn't really look like soup so I thought we could have it over rice, but even that didn't solve the problem. The problem was the flavor...it didn't really have any. Argh! All that time wasted. So if any of you have recipes that you love that don't include meat please share. I need them.