up and down and back up again

I knew it would be a hard sell to go to the zoo and not spend any money. In a preemptive strike, i loaded our car with snacks, juice boxes, and even a couple of ice cold drinks for the adults. no sooner do we get on the road do I hear, "I'm tired, I need mt. dew." Gimme a break, we just left. I said fine, if you need it so bad, hit up the 7-11 before we get inside the park, I'm not paying $3 for a damn soda. We hit up a gas station, I run inside (knowing full well that if he goes in, the $1 drink will morph into a $3 drink + chocolate bar). I find the smallest fountain drink that we can share-$1-I can handle that, what I can't handle is the .50 fee to use my debit card since I'm not buying $3 worth of crap. So the $1 32 oz mt dew, is now $1.50. Of course, I'm spitting bulletts when I get inside, and my guy seems shocked that it cost that much for that little drink-uh, I did get you what you want, so please don't act suprised that it's more than you thought, or even hint that maybe I shouldn' have given in, I really don't want to hear it". I really need to work better on saying no in the first place, or sticking to my plan better.

The zoo was great, the boys chowed down on all the snacks I brought. The only downside I saw was that I should hav brought more fruit, but considering that we were hitting up the grocery store after the zoo for that purpose, I was okay w/them just having granola bars, popcorn, and sweet pop tarts.

Costco was also a success-give or take. We only walked out of there with milk and apples, but I was rather disappointed in the high cost of fruit w/ the lack of variety. I know we're eating a lot a home, but trying to stretch a dollar into providing multiple servings, and not having rotten fruit pile up, is proving to be quite a challenge. Someone told me about a fruit/veggie co-op in town, and I think I'm going to look into that-we need to up our healthy fruit/veggie supply, but still keep our cost down. I also can't wait for the farmer's markets to start back up-and with th better prices to match too. We did indulge and have lunch at Costco, but considering we only one slice of pizza each, and the boys just shared one hot dog, lunch was much more affordable than having it at the zoo or Mc Donalds.

Dinner was almost a flop, but I saved it-found a curry simmer sauce I had purchased at Trader Joes, and just put that w/ sliced chicken breasts and long grain wild rice. It was a cheap meal, and satisfied my desire for something ethnic. Now if I can only have the same success the rest of the week, my good mood shall continue.