Gas, Cell Phone and Mockingjay

LAWKI Day 5
August 24, 2010

So yesterday, Day 4, was a yucky day. Not much to do with the whole LAWKI thing, more with not enough sleep and general end-of-summer snipping at each other. It is days like yesterday that make me want school to start. Otherwise I am sad that summer has come to an end.

I think I did 10 loads of laundry. Yuck. Of course, with it now being a new day, I again have laundry to do. Fun. I am glad, however, that I am not doing it by hand. Love electricity.

Day 4 Menu
Breakfast Pancakes
Lunch Soup for some, sandwiches for some, crackers and cheese for some
Dinner Pork Chops and mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, tomatoes from the garden
Snacks eaten all day long: microwave popcorn, blueberries, and granola bars

Day 5 (planned menu)
Breakfast Toast, cereal
Lunch Sandwiches
Dinner chicken pot pie (stretch those last chicken breasts!)

We had our first instance of kids hoarding food. James took the sliced cheddar cheese and hid it behind the tall items in the fridge. I laughed and put it back in the drawer.

For the last 5 years or so, Michael and I have made an honest effort to not let our gas tanks go under ½ full. That way, in a true emergency, we could have one tank of gas between the two cars. We both started LAWKI with full tanks and thought it would be fun to see how long we could make them last. Now however, our hopes are gone. We realized that James still needs to get 15 hours of driving in before his birthday so he can get his license. We might make a trip up to Sheridan or Pocatello to avoid just driving around town for the time.

I just talked to a lady in my neighborhood that buys the meat from a pig and a cow each year. The meat is delivered right to her door, wrapped to her quantity specifications. The prices seem very good, but I am always nervous about how much money could be lost due to a freezer door left open or a long-term power outage. I think LAWKI has made both sides of this debate very vivid right now. I would love to have that much meat stored at my home, but I don’t feel like I can count on electricity during an emergency. Even the windstorm on Sunday left thousands in the Salt Lake area without power.

One solution is a generator, with stored gas to run it. But then we start worrying about keeping and using the gas so it stays good, and the fact that no one in my family has mechanical skills. Would not using it regularly hurt it? What happens if it breaks?

Two other planned purchases that might happen today include another cell phone for the triples. We decided that $10 a month buys peace of mind for us with the kids riding their bikes to school and other various activities. James took over the phone that all of them shared last year during the musical and has never given it up. He is now paying for that one.

The other purchase, I still am debating. Mockingjay, the third Hunger Games book, came out today. I will get it tomorrow at the library, but I have had this on the calendar since April. Ben is dying to get it and read it before school starts. I am torn. I guess if I can get it at Costco where I am buying the phone, then I will probably buy it. I know that I will not go all over town looking for it….unless James is driving and then maybe it will be a justified use of the gas.