Eating Out and the B-Word

I have to apologize in advance for this post because I should have pictures and unfortunately I don't.

So today you'll have to use your imagination.

Yesterday I was craving a dinner in a restaurant but we've gotten back on a b-b-budget (that nasty B-word) and are trying to cut WAY back on our eating-out habits. So mid-morning I threw a frozen pound of hamburger in the crock pot and hoped it would turn itself into something delicious by dinner time. I left for a five mile hike through the woods with my two year old horsey-loving boy and my four-month-old crazy puppy. When I came home I found that the Crock pot gnomes had magically turned my pound of ground beef into a five course gourmet meal!

Okay... not really, but wouldn't life be better with Crock pot gnomes?

Or maybe life would just be creepier with Crock pot gnomes...

All of a sudden I had a brilliant idea - we would have a picnic by the river! We could keep in line with our budget AND get to eat out!

So first I want you to picture a colorful photo reel of the pound of hamburger being turned into a pot of chili with the wave of a magic can opener.

Now picture the chili cooking for a few hours - can you start to smell it?

Next image: I'm pouring it into four individual Gladware bowls and topping with twisty lids (which I thought was a brilliant way to transport our dinner - no pouring required at the picnic site and all we had to do was seal our bowls back up and take them home!)

Now comes the fun part - Army Man and I take the top off of his Jeep Wrangler and we load it up with dinner and kids and head out into the woods toward the river. We're lucky to live in Fort Lostinthewoods where nature and beauty abound right out our back door, so we have lots of great picnicking areas near by. The kids played in the playground, we ate dinner, looked for sea shells by the river, skipped rocks, swung in swings, and gained 15 years on each of our lives.

Can you see it? Can you just about feel the wind in your hair as you're driving around with out a roof or a care in the world? It feels like heaven doesn't it?

The humbling part of the whole evening was the thought that we would have missed out on that whole experience had it not been for our b-b-budget. Normally, when we're not being careful with our money, I just throw my hands up and say "I don't feel like cooking tonight, let's go out to eat." We'll sit at a restaurant and try to keep the kids from screaming through dinner before paying way to much for mediocre food and heading back home. Instead, I was forced to get creative and find a way to eat out that ended up being a great family memory.

It gave me just one more glimpse into what it means when people use the term "Financial Freedom."