Family

What we did without, now becomes an almost obsession

Originally posted 2015-07-20 20:11:27.

As a single mother I struggled just to keep food on the table. I would make grocery trips with the kids stroller and was always limited to the dollar amount spent and quantity because I could only fit so much in the stroller. Now at one point early on we lived maybe a mile or so from the closest grocery store. So it wasn’t so bad that I am complaining about the distance, just a lesson learned in my struggles as a single parent. Life lessons like this never hurt ones soul. They strengthen us more than some care to realize.

Since we went to a lot of doctors appointments I lacked a job that I could speak on that really contributed to our lives. I would try my best to stretch was available cash, WIC and food stamps to last the three of us from month to month. In doing so they ate a lot of ramen noodles and peanut butter. Peanut butter was one of the things the kids enjoyed. Both would eat but Kayla seemed to really embrace it. She would typically ask (more like whine at times but she was a toddler) for it on a spoon. She just would sit there eating it off the spoon with nothing else. Glad she enjoyed it because had she been more choosy and wanting things like kids nowadays want then she would have been out of luck. Dusty, he has always enjoyed pretty much anything you put in front of him. I honestly think I’ve been more picky than the two of them but I think that’s only because as an adult you can do some of those things where as kids sometimes don’t have that luxury. Kayla has pretty much stayed the same with the exceptions of certain foods she just will not touch. Dusty…that boy doesn’t really seem to care. Now he does have his favorites I must say. French fries, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese sandwiches (but he likes to just put it the microwave for about 30secs). He did have daily living skills taught in school but…he just do well when you leave him by himself and he, wants to cook something on the stove or oven. So to give him some independence  where it comes to fixing his food I purchase things like microwave egg rolls, hot pockets, burritos, pot pies etc. I usually try to watch for sales and collaborate those sales with any available coupons. Not in “extreme couponing” fashion but it does have its savings.

I am truly grateful for the life lessons we’ve learned by having to do without. From my days living on the streets to raising two children you tend to look at things a bit different. That piece of bread that had those mold spots that some would just toss in the trash, well we’d just pinch those off and still eat it.

In life some tend to take the simpler things for granted. We enjoy the enjoy freedoms we have whether they are the best for us or not some things in life are best topped with whipped cream and a cherry. Or for those of us there is always this…

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