The Big Challenge

Yesterday was the day to begin some challenges in my life. If you read my post yesterday, you will see that I have pledged to blog everyday this week. However, our family started another challenge yesterday as well.

We LOVE to go out to eat and do it very frequently! It is probably one my favorite things to do. Quite often there are special occasions that warrant it: birthdays, anniversaries, date nights, friends or family that are visiting, etc. However, lately we have used reasons like "It's Tuesday" or "I am wearing clean clothes" or "The Sky is blue" as a reason to go out. Really, who can blame us....who doesn't like having someone else cook exactly what you want and then deliver it to your table. :-) It is especially good for me because I am not the most skilled when it comes to being in the kitchen. More often that I care to admit, I have made something that was so disgusting that it was thrown completely in the trash. So eating out is just easier and more convenient.

Yesterday afternoon, I approached Mark about a challenge for us to not go out to eat for the next 3 weeks unless it was absolutely warranted (in a travel situation, a legitimate celebration, etc.) He immediately pulled out his phone and started to call 911 because he was certain that I must be having a stroke or some other neurological crisis because I would never suggest such a thing. :-) However, I was of sound mind when I suggested it and Mark agreed. I know this will be a challenge for both of us, but hopefully we can do it. We will save money, eat healthier and be proud of our accomplishment. If we don't meet the challenge, there will be some shame involved, but at least we will have eaten some delicious food. :-)

ON A TOTALLY UNRELATED NOTE....I had already written most of this post when we had to leave to go to Mark's softball game so I saved the draft. When we came home, we were all sweaty and gross from the disgusting heat so we turned on the water to give Anna a bath before she went to bed. Once we turned on the water, we discovered that we did not have any hot water. I started thinking about how inconvenient it was going to be to have to take a cold shower and how miserable that would be. I started getting really irritated and upset at the prospect of that. Then I was struck by the fact of how self-centered and spoiled I am...there are people all over the world for whom a cold shower would be a great luxury. So, I have no idea how long we will be without hot water, but if I have to take cold showers for a week I will try to remember how incredibly blessed I am. Anyway, I know this has nothing to do with our eating out challenge, but it was on my mind as I finished the blog post.

See you tomorrow!