Eating Local

Our family has decided to not eat at any chain restaurants through the end of the year.  This came about for many reasons.  The biggest reason being we eat out WAY too much and the places we migrate to are known for quick-service, drive-thrus!  I absolutely love McDonald's Coke.  Don't know if I've mentioned it before but I'm pretty sure they put crack cocaine in the Coca-Cola.

So our little family sat around the dinner table one night....okay, it was at a pizza place but it was the table where we were having dinner...and defined what exactly Mom-and-Pop, local eating would look like.  We have encouraged our children to always support local businesses their whole lives but we weren't living that out very well.  We decided (some of us, reluctantly) that in order to get our moola a business has to have three or less locations.  This took out my beloved Marion's pizza (aka the aforementioned "dinner table" we were sitting around) and also my bestie Super Subby's. 

The incentive?  Well, we knew we needed to tempt ourselves with something big so we decided at night away at a hotel (with a pool, of course) would be in order.  Everytime we have a real urge to go to a chain, we'll throw the money we would have spent in a jar and use that money to pay for the hotel.  If we can go the whole 5 months without cheating, we'll spend two nights.

Daddy gets to cheat occassionally when the office goes out to eat together and we also had to give Daddy a grace week while he "remembers" our plan. 

Never fear, we are not going to starve.  We live in an area with so many great, locally owned, restaurants, some that we are super duper fond of.  The thing is, we are so interested in quick, cheap, what great coupons we have, etc. that we neglect eating at those great places.  Sounds kind of like our relationship with Christ....He has the best of the best to offer us, but we get so wrapped up in quick fixes for our troubles, we turn to what is quick and cheap - food, drugs, alcohol, sex, work, our homes - instead of seeking Him out and finding His best.

Can't wait to share this journey with you!  We've already remembered our own hometown ice cream place that we've been neglecting for a while.  Poor thing!