Trying new things

The new year has brought some changes to our family because our van has hit the end of it's useful lifespan. It's got some sort of leak that is coming up through the floorboard and the oil techs at wally world noticed it had a leak prior to it's service last month. We've switched back to using just the car but it has limited how far we can travel because of issues that it has. The family is trying to adjust but I can sense that folks aren't happy with it. The kids haven't been able to go to the homeschool park days for a while and it does bring me down a bit. I know that Kel really misses being able to talk to other grownups and pass ideas back and forth. It sucks, but at least we can get to the limited places, just can't swing that big payment again anytime soon. We'll sacrifice in the areas we can and see what happens later this year.
Other things we are trying new are some different recipes and a test of the culinary talent. Last night we tried some black bean burgers and they turned out wonderful. Tonight I made my first set of cinnamon rolls from scratch with a scratch cream cheese icing. We also tried an Alex idea for dinner tonight, macaroni and cheese in a broccoli forest. It's different but it was pretty good and always great to see the little ones eating their greens without too much fuss.
Short work week this week with the MLK birthday holiday off and I get a free day for carrying the pager last week. Bonus! :-) Last month I didn't get my pager day because I had to travel and attend a class. Not sure what to do with the time yet, just good to have.