Day 3 of eating below the line

Yesterday started out okay, Maddie and I ate veggie omelets for breakfast around 7:30am. Sounds great right? It did taste good, it just was not enough food to keep me sated until lunch.

To make the omelets, I cut up ONE mushroom, 3 strips of frozen green peppers, and 1 sliver of onion; I sauteed them together with a pinch of salt and pepper. Total it equaled 2 tablespoons of vegetables to split between the two, two egg omelets. I also split one slice of American cheese.

I just wish there was more, more veggies maybe some tomatoes or even some spinach; hey another egg would be amazing. Again, this is something I would normally make for breakfast, just there would be more to it. I'm figuring that breakfast cost roughly $.75 total.

The time in between breakfast and lunch, Maddie and I crafted making teacher appreciation gifts and mother's day gifts. I was easily agitated during this time. Maddie wasn't "listening" enough or was I just hungry? I eventually left the table because of my frustration and cleaned the walls in the kitchen to get my mind off my hunger and my frustration at Maddie, who in reality was being an angel and was doing a great job crafting.

For lunch at noon, Maddie and I had a ham and cheese sandwich with a few grapes on the side. Rob took the leftover lentils from Sunday to work with him. I was still hungry after lunch today. I drank two glasses of water trying to make my hunger subside, but no such luck. Which made for even grumpier mom.  I was dreaming of the Cheetos in my snack cabinet or a nice side salad most of the afternoon. This also made me grumpy.

For dinner I made split pea soup. I used a ham bone in the freezer from my free Easter ham. I'm not sure if this is cheating. We figure it was a free ham from ShopRite, so it shouldn't count. I cooked the soup for two hours and removed the ham bone, which Maddie and I gnawed on like two ravenous beasts. It is amazing how hunger can diminish manners. 

The soup was AMAZING and I don't even like split pea soup! That should tell you something about my level of hunger. I ate two bowls in under 5 minutes. It was the best meal I ever have eaten. I can't wait to have some for lunch today.

Along with my mood, my mental capabilities also lowered throughout the day, having a conversation was difficult, enjoying crafting with my angel was next to impossible,and  reading a book was out of the question; all I could think about was food and keeping Maddie filled with enough food to keep her going and happy. In fact, I attempted to write this post last night and to be honest it made no sense. I was missing words, I couldn't spell simple words, and overall it was illegible.

I don't know how families in extreme poverty do this. Three days in and I'm a hot mess. I don't have the energy to much of anything. Let alone work, gather food or water, or deal with extreme heat or cold that some families around the world have to deal with along with hunger. This challenge is helping me be more grateful and appreciative of the life I do have.