Things we don't do anymore.

It's funny really, to think of the things we haven't done in a long time and don't plan to do again. Things that seemed so necessary before. This is what happened which got me thinking about the things we've either put aside or changed to be more self sufficient over the past year or so.

Its freezing cold here in Florida. If Florida can get bitterly chilly, we've passed that this week. Its downright arctic here. Emmy doesn't seem to care.

"Mommy, I want...a pop." For some reason Emmy pauses in her two and a half year old speeches, like her brain is processing. We love it.

"I don't have any pops Emmy, it's too cold."

"Mommy, give me...a pop!"

"Emmy, really I don't have any pops."

"Mommy, get...your shoes on....I go shopping." I shake my head and try and redirect her.

This has gone on for a couple days now. Then it dawned on me while I had torn up the kitchen this morning in a futile attempt at organizaiton; I have all the stuff to make juice pops in the cabinet.

This is one of many things we'd started doing without; premade juice bars/pops/sticks, what have you. I picked up the kid sized pop makers at Target for $1 each and they make 6 respectively. 100% juice pops were a staple in my house through this past hotter than heck summer. So, we made pops before nap time. As soon as Emmy awoke they were consumed.

So, here's the running list of things we do ourselves

1. Haircuts, we either don't do them or I do them. Boys get shaved, girls get trims.
2. The above juice pops
3. Ice cream. Gotta love the KitchenAid attachment for that.
4. Breadcrumbs. The heels add up, baby.
5. Dinners out (while this seems to happen infrequently now, we seem to be more and more disappointed in the quality and expense of the meals.)
6. Oil changes (Rob's pretty much always done that)
7. Movie popcorn -shhh, don't tell them I bring our own in the huge diaper bag
8. Regular cooked rice
9. Dehydrated fruits and veggies (read: dried fruit)
10. Alex's flannel pj pants
11. Air Fresheners (ok so this is a strech but I stopped buying the prefilled oil plug in things and now use real incense that you burn. Cheaper and smells better IMHO)
12. Regular popcorn -no more microwave bags

These are necessarily things we're doing without but things we've changed so that our financial and economic impact is lessened. Off the top of my head that's all I can come up with right now. Is it life-altering and world-changing? Not really. But the list is growing, folks. The list is growing.