Pioneer week- What???

OK.  Things are not going that well for pioneer week.  Oh, the food has been good- although I'm sure that Ma Ingalls didn't have homemade pizza.  I'll confess, I didn't make the cheese and I'm sure the bottle of Australian Shiraz isn't very authentic either.  V is playing Medal of Honor on the Xbox and J14 is upstairs online- most likely instant messaging her boyfriend.  Probably half the lights in the house are on.  I haven't done very well selling this challenge.  I'm the only one who bought into it.  We did pretty well for the beginning of the week but things have been sliding ever since.   

But let's take stock:

1.  Food.  Except for the cheese for the pizza and the wine for dinner (after surviving this week we deserved it!) everything has been homemade.  The boys survived without their eggo waffles for breakfast and feasted on apple cinnamon muffins and cranberry walnut bread instead. I'm looking forward to making pasta tomorrow afternoon.  We're having spaghetti tomorrow night and I hope to make noodles and homemade ricotta for lasagne for Sunday. 

2. Energy use.  Having much trouble getting everyone to turn off lights!  This is an ongoing problem, though. Later I'll light the oil lamps and candles and V and I will have a romantic candlelight snuggle after the kids have been settled in for the night.  ;0

3.  Conserve water.  Haven't done too bad here. This is an area where we usually don't have much of a problem. V and I are good at short showers and it's usually a struggle to get the boys in the tub at all (LOL- or not really...).  J14 tends to be longer but she's only been in the shower a few times this week.

4. Transportation.  This is an area where we do well most of the time.  I walked home in the mix of snow and rain that has been falling off and on today.  V drives to work and he stopped at the store to pick up more milk and some 'medicinal' rum on his way home (for that late night snuggle).  Generally our driving is kept to a minimum anyway.

5.  Rethink entertainment.  This has been the downfall.  I've been really drained from work this week and haven't had the energy to organize 'alternative' activities.  We really don't watch that much TV anyway and the children aren't allowed to play video games during the school week- only Friday pm, Saturday and Sunday- and then in moderation (aren't we mean parents!).

6.  Watch your wallet.  Not an issue.  I'll confess to buying a Coke the day after the election because I needed some caffeine to keep me going at work. But other than that, the only purchases have been milk, juice and rum- all essentials in this house (oh, and decaf coffee).

Tomorrow is my usual shopping day so I'll need to make my menus for the week and figure out what we need.

OOPS!!! K8 just brought out a 'green slip' from school.  I seems that he scratched another child  while they were goofing around and he missed recess this morning because he 'forgot' to mention that they had been playing.  He has been our trouble maker for several years.  At least we haven't had any emails from the principal this year... yet.