Things that we will (hopefully) look back on one day and laugh about:

1. Our bathroom ceiling, our back door threshold, and our laptop are all currently held together with duct tape.

2. 75% of our dinners include some variation of rice and beans.

3. I was able to figure out how to sign Sissy up for the ballet class she has been begging for this fall by piecing together monetary birthday gifts from all of her grandparents to get her tuition paid through Christmas, at which point I'll piece it all together again to (hopefully) get to spring.

4. I sent John out to get a $4 clothes line to hang in the back and he came back with a $18 piece of rope which I went back and returned in order to get the $4 clothes line myself.

5. I have a spreadsheet the shows the cost of every ingredient we have in the house and where to get each ingredient at the best price, and another spreadsheet that shows the cost of all our regular recipes per serving.

6. I follow John around and wave my fist at him yelling, "That glass of milk is 38 cents!!!" and, "Put some of that cheese back--I said a SPRINKLING of cheese!"

7. I have significantly lowered my standards and let the kids "recycle" clothes I would previously have made them throw in the laundry so we can do fewer loads and reduce our water and energy costs.

8. We sit in the dark. A lot.