Swiss Family Paulin

So we were kinda broke this last month.

Swhat happens when, all at once, your car goes in the shop for repairs and your dog needs shots/spaying and your bank improves its online banking system, and in the confusion, you find you've sent out double payments for your utilities *gasp*.

So yeah, we were kinda broke last month.

It worked in our favor, though. We had to live mostly off of what we had in our house for two weeks. We even experimented a bit with living "off the land" towards the end there. We ended up cooking a lot more food from scratch (not an ingredient, btw).

I've learned some valuable things as a result, which I will now graciously impart to y'all. That's just the kind of earthy, land-living gal I am:

#1) Never tell your 9 year old daughter she's eating venison halfway through the meal.

#2) Don't be puzzled when the only family member with the stomach to watch the cleaning and gutting of freshly caught fish is the finicky 4 year old.

#3) Don't leave your 2 year old alone in the kitchen with the waffle batter unless you enjoy "toy car extract" in your waffles.

#4) A vital step in making great pizza dough is allowing your children to powder themselves...and the table...and the floor with the flour.

#5) Real whipped cream really IS better than cool-whipped petroleum byproduct. Huh, go figure.

#6) Homemade white bread should be listed with the federal government as a highly addictive substance, alongside crack cocaine and marijuana.

#7) Dogs make great broom substitutes.

#8) Do not be alarmed when you find yourself consuming vast quantities of sweet potatoes, a vegetable you previously loathed (a sign of Vit A deficiency.)

#9) When your daughter needs to bring a treat to school for the class party, and she thoughtfully waits to inform you the morning of the party, send a freshly baked loaf of bread with her to school. Her classmates will be SO impressed and she will come off looking cool and different (You actually MADE your own bread! whoa...), but novelty or no, none of the kids will eat it as there are not sufficient additives/sweeteners to attract them away from the doritos and hohos. It will come back mostly intact because the only person interested in freshly baked bread will be the teacher, so your won't have to bake another loaf of bread to get you through the week. It's a win/win situation!

#10) The last of the tomatoes are still green and it's about to freeze. Oh well, I guess...wait a sec.

Hmmmm.

*flip*

*flip*

Aha, here it is: Fried-green tomatoes. Sure, why not.

*slice slice slice*

*thump*

*plop*

*sizzle sizzle sizzle*

Ouch! hot!

*chew chew*

Oh wow! Mmmmmm!

Yeah, I get it now!

=P