Car Free Week

Wow... we have been car-free for a week. Granted, this was forced upon us. Still, it's nice to know that we can pretty much get around without a car. There have been some problems, however.

Timing is a bit of a problem. For me to get to work, I need to either ride the scooter or take the bus/bike. Either way, it's between 30-45 minutes. Even in a car, it takes about 30 minutes because of traffic. If I ride the scooter, I get to work stressed out, extremely hot, and gritty. The bus is better, but timing is a bit of an issue. Also, it takes C some time to get home from work. About 15 minutes, and considering traffic, it might actually take him longer to drive than to ride his bike home. The problem is that for my sanity, I need to leave home before he gets home. This week we finally fixed up some nice babysitting which gives us a comfortable margin of error. Is it worth the money? Definitely. I may not be saving any money by not using the car, but I needed a little bit of time before work and C needed a little time after work, so that we weren't always flying to/from home.

Groceries. I'm finding this is a big problem. I just REFUSE to buy all my groceries at Expensive Mart. I could take all the kids to the HEB in the bus (at least a 1/2 mile walk each way plus the bus ride, or 2 buses... painful), but I just can't. I'm not that strong. I'd rather eat pasta every day.

Our refrigerator is looking pretty bare. We're out of fruit. We're out of vegetables. The only reason we have milk is that we bought it at Expensive Mart. There's just not that much to eat anymore. Pasta with jarred sauce, sprinkled with cheese. A different shape of pasta.... some eggs.

What do you think? Is it even possible to take all the kids to the store? My plan is to go to the store as soon as we get the car back.