2010

This is a year-end quiz that Linda over at All & Sundry does every year. It seems like a good tradition to start and a good way to end my 2010 blogging adventures. Also? Finishing up Reverb today.

1. What did you do in 2010 that you’d never done before?
Cooked a Christmas dinner for my family (in January). Turned 32. Ran a half-marathon. Took two yoga classes. Planted my first real garden. Traveled by myself (but not to anywhere new). Ran a faster 5K. Had a wedding anniversary. Became the bread-winner. Bought a bunch of home improvements (two exterior doors, a storm door, a hot water heater, a window).

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don’t remember what my resolutions were but yes, I will make more for next year. (Stay tuned, they'll become public tomorrow.)

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Two people I work with gave birth. I know tons of people who’ve had babies or gotten pregnant this year.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No

5. What countries did you visit?
Does Texas count? It's like a whole other country, I've heard.

6. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?
I will have better health insurance, something I lacked for ten months of 2010. I would like to have a less cluttered home and to cultivate more peace in my life.

7. What dates from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
I’m no good with dates. By 2012 I probably won't even remember what year I did these things. See why this is a good exercise for me? Late March’s half-marathon, Labor Day Weekend’s 5K, Mid-September wedding anniversary and celebrated my parents' 40th anniversary, husband's job loss first Friday in November, Christmas’s sledding.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

The half-marathon. It seems like such an unachievable task when you are back at the fitness level of trying to run for 13 minutes. It takes a lot of training to get from that point to running 13 miles.

9. What was your biggest failure?
I don't know if I'd call it a failure, since it is still a work in progress, but we've had a couple of arguments wherein we are still figuring out how to be better as husband-and-wife.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No. I had a situation wherein everything in my abdomen slightly malfunctioned all at the same time. It was painful and a bit scary playing the "what if" game, but it wasn't serious. As far as the medical community of my community could tell, it was probably the rupturing of a functional cyst on my ovaries, a bladder infection, and constipation all at the same time. (Just in case you wanted those details.)

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Yoga class and race registrations. A new basement door.

12. Where did most of your money go?
Mortgage, Taxes, Home Improvement, Grocery Store, Target

13. What did you get really excited about?
The Wilderness Run (always excited about that) and blogging and book club starting next year

14. What song will always remind you of 2010?
Live and Let Die by Guns and Roses because it was first on my running playlist. Bad Romance by Lady Gaga because it was near the end of my running playlist and I knew I would be close to done with long runs. Freedom by Wham! became my new favorite old song but I don’t know that it will specifically remind me of 2010 in any way. I will remember a particular discussion with my husband about Freedom 90 by George Michael and how things reveal different meanings as you age, learn new information and gain more understanding about the world. I would like to make the disclaimer that I’m not particularly a George Michael fan although the preceding sentences may seem to contradict that fact.

15. Compared to this time last year, are you:

– happier or sadder? Right now I’m probably happier but I’ve had some black moments.
– thinner or fatter? Same-ish?
– richer or poorer? Well, technically poorer but I don’t feel it.

16. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Wandering, wondering, laughing until my abs were sore, running, gardening and yard work, enjoying life

17. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Wasting time online or with a computer game.

18. How did you spend Christmas?
At my parents' house. We got up, had breakfast casserole, opened some gifts, bundled up and went sledding, came inside and warmed up, lazed around and visited family. Great day.

19. What was your favorite TV program?
This year, I watched DVDs of Magnum P.I. and The Office. I caught a couple episodes of Parks and Rec. I also got involved with The Biggest Loser, The Sing-Off (Who doesn't love Ben Folds?), Project Runway, and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, all courtesy of the internet.

20. What were your favorite books of the year?
I can only remember a few books I read this year: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides was the first book I read and probably the best novel. Pretty in Plaid, Jen Lancaster, which I enjoyed much more than Bitter is the New Black.  The End of Overeating by David Kessler was interesting. The most memorable book I checked out from the library was Twinkie Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger and the best audio book I listened to was A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. I really was into nonfiction this year.

21. What was your favorite music from this year?

I was never really in a music vibe this year. Lately it may be Donavan. His greatest hits were in the CD player while I was wrapping presents. Thankfully, I was too lazy to change it. How can you ignore a song that begins with a spoken word lesson about the myth of Atlantis or with the lyrics, "I'm just mad about saffron?" And "Sunshine Superman?" You gotta love it.

22. What were your favorite films of the year?
True Grit, Inception, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Shutter Island (Again, not particularly a Leo fan, these things just happen.)

23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Awkward and Office Space joined me for a tour of a coffee plant and we enjoyed brunch. 

24. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
My attitude. In 2010, I really started to take charge of it. It's a work in progress.

25. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?
Black, grey, and shades of brown. I have my favorite turtleneck from the Gap in black, oatmeal, grey and white. I wear them all the time and I love it. I even wore one during the half-marathon. I've decided I'm bringing purple back.

26. What kept you sane?
I talk to my mom twice a day during my commute. Just a little something to break the monotony.


27. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010.

Probably the most valuable life lesson is that I can choose how I want to feel.

Permission Granted: A Few Days Off

I may not be updating this blog much between now and Christmas. Mostly because I have a deadline for work and I'll be doing a lot of writing between now and the 24th. I expect that I'll have to work after-hours to finish the project. Why after-hours? Because, while I'm at work I'll be writing a grant for the grant writer we hired (who made it clear we'd both be sitting at my desk working on my computer, joy)--silly question. So I'll be writing everyday...just not the kind of writing I'd prefer to be doing.

In the meantime, I'll try to update my Reverb 10 page everyday. I caught up this evening with all my reflecting and manifesting: reflectifesting, maniflecting.

In saving news, I put up the insulated curtains this morning and my nose no longer instantly starts to run when I enter the cold room. Perhaps it was just full of phantoms chased away by the weird khaki-colored curtain that now graces the wall. Or maybe the ghosts were connected to the old, dusty, faded plaid valance that got taken down. One thing's for sure--it's not the light bulbs heating up the room...(see next paragraph...)

Stay tuned for a highly entertaining blog post Husband proposed: LED Light Bulbs! He's super excited about it. I'm super excited that Husband is now telling me what to write about. Maybe he's just trying to keep me from typing about his man-crush on Alexander Hamilton or his plastic man-doll (sorry, action figure) collection. Anyway, I hope you're excited about it, too.

What's It Worth to Ya?

I often repeat and sometimes reflect on thrifty colloquialisms I heard growing up. A couple of them came from my grandma via Mom--"He has more dollars than he has sense" and "It's good to want." But if you ever told my parents how much something was "worth," they would respond with something along the lines of, "Well, you gotta find someone who is willing to pay that much for it."

Like beauty, worth is sometimes in the eye of the beholder. Husband can't possibly understand why I am willing, eager even, to pay money to waste time at a sit-down restaurant. I can't comprehend how anyone could pay money to amass the amount of muscular, sculpted, articulated hunks of plastic painted in primary colors and populating multiple cardboard boxes that hog our limited living space. While he finds absolutely no pleasure in slowing down and savoring food, I get heart palpitations when I have to slow down on shopping errands to inspect the artfulness (albeit mass produced) found in the toy aisle.

This evening I engaged in another ritual he doesn't understand--but that's ok, because he's out looking at plastic man-dolls. A weekend evening + house to myself = Christmas come early. I was supposed to go home tonight. But because of scheduling conflicts, I wasn't ready to leave last night. And if I"m not ready to leave on a Thursday evening, I'm not going home until Saturday morning.

One of my favorite things to do on evenings like this is to stop by the grocery store and spend a lot of money on fancy food. I did keep it under control tonight though--less than $20--and incorporate some ingredients I already had at home. I had some of my favorite things for dinner: Smoked Salmon on Wasa with Laughing Cow, cucumber, red pepper, green onion and tapanade with some white wine my parents gave me. A three course dessert followed: dried figs and feta; Christmas cookies; and my Christmas bonus (three fancy chocolates--I accidentally squashed one on the way home.)

All this was accompanied by trashy tv on my computer (Thanks, Bravo, for the Real Housewives, but I don't think I can handle them anymore.) and a magazine.

There are a couple of magazines that I always am tempted to buy at the check-out line: Real Simple and In Style. Why do they appeal to me? I have no idea. They are both just ways to shill stuff--I'm not talking about the ads either. I mean, I have an adequate citrus juicer that I hardly ever use. I don't need a $67 stainless-steel one, no matter how artful you say it is. Besides, it's good to want.

This month, however, Real Simple's cover promised to help me "be happier" in 2011. I gave into temptation. And I must say, $25 for a nice, low-key evening alone, with leftover food and leftover articles to read? While it may prove that I have more dollars than I have sense, I'll claim temporary insanity. I'm the person who, on occasion, will pay that much for a quiet, solitary floor picnic. To me, it's worth it.

Bits and Pieces

I got a little Reverb writing done during my lunch break Plan to get all caught up on the weekend. I keep Reverb responses in a separate page. The link is over there ----------->

No recipe today. We had a whirlwind evening. It included leaving work early, using a BOGO Sonic coupon, attending a junior high basketball game ($3 for 4 games. If you can stomach watching other people's children playing sports and most importantly if you can stomach the parents, that's a lot of entertainment for just $3.), buying a new hot water heater and insulated curtains (an endcap sale at Target--they were cheaper than I could make them.), and installing a new headlight on my car (Husband did this. I shivered and held the flashlight and made silent prayers that nothing went wrong.. Because 9:30 PM is as good a time as any to change a headlight.). Also, I collected shoes to take home and give to Barber Larry to give to his friend to take to Haiti. No time for cooking and not a lot of time for blogging.

I got a nice, unexpected Christmas bonus--a referral for a friend that turned into some good work for him which turned into a few extra bucks in my pocket. Hello savings account. How long can I keep raking in unexpected money? I swear it's not from pole-work. AND some delicious Christmas cookies from Office Space. She should be the one posting recipes today.

Trash

Being wasteful is not something I aspire to. In this neighborhood, it also costs money. We live in a community that doesn't provide trash service. If you want someone to take your trash, you have to pay a collection service to come pick it up.

I like those towns that offer free curbside recycling and composting and charge you by the bag for trash disposal. That seems like a good way to keep trash down. So much of what we put in the garbage is mindless. We don't have to think about where it goes after we put it in the dumpster or at the curb. But our trash has a life after the garbage truck picks it up. It's not a pretty life either. Way back when I was little, I was in a speech contest and I wrote a speech about recycling. That was over 20 years ago and here is one thing I still remember: landfills aren't designed to allow stuff to break down. Landfill excavations have unearthed 40-year-old newspapers that are still legible. If you've ever left a newspaper in your back window or outside for even a small amount of time, you'd know how ridiculous that is.

So, for starters, we try not to create trash. I use reusable Tupperware-type containers to take my lunch. We use cloth napkins. I'm a fan of the old man handkerchief. I've been known to reuse zipper bags and aluminum foil. We have reusable plastic stuff for picnics. I try to remember my shopping bags. Like most of you, I'm sure, we do what we can and what we can think of to stop trash before it starts.

We try to compost as much as we can, too. Any uncooked, unprocessed food waste goes into the compost bin I made last year, along with "brown material" like shredded paper, leaves, egg cartons, etc. Next spring I won't have to buy soil amendments at the box store because I'll have my own.

We also take everything to the recycling place that we can. It's a hassle but I cart recycling around in my car trunk for weeks until we can make it to the place to sort all our treasures. But it is worth it, to me, to keep stuff out of the trash.

I also research what to do with typically non-recyclable stuff--stuff our recycling place won't take. You can take number 5 plastics and Brita filters to most Whole Foods stores. My running shoe store will take old shoes and wash them up and give them to needy people. If something has value (even if it's only a nickle), we try to put it in a garage sale.

Only at a last resort do we take stuff to the Goodwill or other thrift stores. Here's why: sometimes those stores have too much stuff. If they can't process things, they might end up throwing it in the dumpster. No joke. And that's ok--they're limited by how much storage they have and how much stuff they can sell. But don't think that just because you take something to a thrift store that it is going to find another home. You may have just dropped stuff off for someone else to do your dirty work. (I've heard the same about recycling, too. I have possibly optimistic and limited faith in our recycling place, though.)

And lastly, we don't pay for the trash truck to drive down our street. We have an arrangement with in-laws, who live down the road and also have to pay for trash service. Because we try to keep our trash production low, the four of us can get by with one can a week, saving a lot of money.
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Breakfast: I ran out of time this morning and ate a gas station sandwich $1.84
Lunch: Non-awkward work lunch
Dinner: Free food Mother-In-Law left at our house on Monday.

Total: $1.84

Chicken Enchiladas

This meets all the requirements for comfort food in my book: cheesy, cheesy, cheesy. This is one of my few go-to recipes, along with Ravioli Casserole. We all like it and it's good in a pinch--especially if you have cooked chicken on hand.

Mother-in-law brought over enchiladas last night. Not my recipe but free and delicious. I stole the leftover one and took it to work for lunch today. I think my husband wanted it--he went to Taco Bell instead.


Chicken Enchiladas

2 cups chicken (I only used the chicken from 1 quarter) 75 cents
1/4 c onion  13 cents
small can diced green chilies 98 cents
2/3 can red enchilada sauce 66 cents
2 tablespoons butter 14 cents
1 tablespoon milk  1 cent
3 oz cream cheese 45 cents

4 tortillas 50 cents
1/2 cup shredded cheese 32 cents

Cook the onion in butter and add 1 tbsp of green chilies and cumin. Mix milk,cream cheese, onions and chicken. Spoon into tortillas and roll up. Place in a baking dish. Mix chilies with sauce. Top enchiladas. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, covered. Uncover, add cheese, bake 5 minutes more.

Total:  $3.94

4 servings: 99 cents

The variations are really endless. Once I used a can of refried beans instead of chicken--turkey, beef or pork would work well too. Once I only had 2 oz of cream cheese so I threw some cottage cheese in, too. You couldn't tell the difference. I'm going to use salsa instead of the chilies and sauce because I have free salsa in the fridge.

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Breakfast: Oatmeal, milk, blueberries, and flavored coffee creamer 25 cents
Lunch: Enchilada and chips $1
Snack: Cucumbers, laughing cow, red pepper, tapanade:  $1.31
Dinner: McChicken Sandwich, small fries $2--I know, I know. But at least I ordered off the dollar menu, right?

Total: $4.56

Spending to Save

Let me just get this out of the way: I'm freezing. My toes are so cold. I'm definitely going to have chilblains. My nose is running. I'm washing clothes just so the water in the hot water heater doesn't get to cold for tomorrow morning's shower. (It heats the water fine. It just doesn't keep it hot too well.)

Instead of cranking up the heat, I'm cranking it down. We were going to replace our old original windows on the front of the house. Our house is old enough to be on the National Register...it's just not significant in any way. So, yeah, they're pretty old and leaky. We didn't get new windows bought before the Great Layoff of '10 so we are just going to have to make due.

I know I said I didn't need any more projects, but for the good of our gas bill, I'm making curtains. I finally convinced Husband to let me hang curtains in one room of the house for winter. I'm going to make them for all the rooms. Of course, when I say "I," I mean me and my mommy. Now I just have to go shopping (ugh) for material.

We also bought LED lights for our Christmas tree. Husband sings the praises of LEDs and how much they will impact our electricity bill. I'll believe it when I see it. It might take a long time to offset the costs of the new LEDs. I guess we'll see on our next bill. At the very least, I won the battle over white or colored lights (white!) so I'm ok with it.
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Breakfast: Orange rolls  54 cents
Lunch:  Not-so-Hamburger Helper 63 cents
Snack: Saltines, deer sausage & cheese  36 cents
Dinner: In-Law Enchiladas: Free. I think this was pay-back for the chicken pot pie.

Total: $1.53

Waste Not and What Did We Learn This Week

For all of you who want to bust me for ignoring the "Secret of Adulthood" I wrote about earlier this week, rest assured that I did write yesterday. All my writing time was taken up by yesterday's Reverb 10 prompt. I still don't have it finished and posted yet. Also? I'm being really fancy and tying "This Week's Lessons" into the narrative.

As far as food waste goes, I'm pretty sure nothing got thrown out this week. But, at the same time, impulse food purchases did happen and cause some money waste. The Honor Snack was irresistible this week. Not that the food was good, but I ran out of granola bars to satisfy my afternoon snack desires. Also, we got to see Step-Daughter Thursday morning for about forty minutes before she went to a study session at school. I found out the night before so we had to resort to store-made muffins. Oh, and the $10 meeting lunch.

In big exciting news, the gift cards I ordered with my credit card points for Christmas presents arrived. Unforch, one of them was back-ordered. That operations fail doesn't make a lot of sense to me. But anyway, we might have to go buy the gift-card if it doesn't arrive in time for the gift exchange. Then we'll have an additional $25 to Borders. Not something we really need--just more clutter. But in the scheme of things, at least we won't have an extra gift card to Build-A-Bear.

And, finally, I made Shepherd's Pie yesterday. Except I learned that real Shepherd's Pie is made with ground lamb/mutton. I used ground beef & bulgur. If you get the beef/bulgur proportions right and cook the bulgur enough, it's kinda hard to tell that it's not all meat. I've never had Shepherd's Pie before but Husband deemed it a success, even though he wanted the meat part to be more runny. I deemed it a success because it was another 99 cent potato dish!

Electrical Tape - or - Why I Won't Just Go Buy Some New Danged Boots

A manifesto and a rant combined in one—isn’t this what blogs were made for?

I mentioned in yesterday’s post about how I used electrical tape to hold my boots together. Here is the backstory and the front story and a little more in the middle, as well:

When I was a young naïve spendthrift living in the Dirty South, my roommate came home one day from shopping with a great pair of name-brand high-heeled ankle boots. Unforch for her, one evening of wearing them around convinced her that they didn't fit. I bought them from her. It’s six years later and I’m still wearing the shit out of them. 

They’ve been re-heeled once by my very favorite shoe-guy ever. I don’t know if he’s even in business anymore but he was one of those “I’m open when I’m here” guys. He’d just as soon sew up your black dress shoes with red thread as change the spool on the machine, unless you specifically asked. If you’re a kid and you needed your baseball cleats to last you one more season, he’d probably charge you a quarter or fifty cents for the fixes.

I noticed this boot season that the new heel cap on the right boot was starting to loosen. Tuesday, the glue and the nails gave up the ghost. Off came the heel cap, well before lunch. I tried to pound it back together, without luck. One of my co-workers graciously offered to bring back some super glue when she went home for lunch. Comedy of errors: the glue tube was empty. Staplers wouldn't penetrate the cap but I did have some tape--both industrial strength squishy double stick tape and black electrical tape. As luck would have it, there was a board meeting that afternoon. I just decided that if anyone noticed the electrical tape, it would just be evidence of how I needed a raise.

Incidentally, Husband seemingly fixed my boot. I don't know if the fix will hold, because they haven't been worn yet, but we'll see.

And now for the manifesto...

I wasn't always so anti-consumerism. There were times in my life when my closet was five times the size of my current closet and it was packed full. But with the belated and slow-moving onset of adulthood, I realized that no matter where it came from or how much it cost or how it looks or what you do with it, it's--all of it--is still just stuff. I've eventually decided that, if it ain't broke, don't buy a new one. And if it is broke, fix it. Sure, I like nice stuff as much as the next person, but I don't want a lot of it. I don't want to move to Walden (yet?), but the less stuff I have, the less stuff I have to take care of and the fewer choices I have to make. No buying; less stuff; more life.

And now more ranting...

I sure hope the boots last because I'll be using them a lot more to get back and forth to work after the first of the year. Ironically, boots and a parking pass cost about the same amount of money. I've decided to avoid this O. Henry story and forgo both. After all, I've got a lot of electrical tape left over...
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Breakfast: Muffin 75 cents--I could say "free" because Husband bought them...

Lunch: Not so hamburger helper and cottage cheese 94 cents

Snack: red pepper and Laughing Cow, banana, Oreos $2.05

Dinner: Saltines, deer sausage and cheese 47 cents

 

Total:  $4.21

New Habits

Developing new habits is hard. I'm reminded of this over and over, whenever I have fall off the wagon, so to speak.

I can clearly identify what kept me from blogging both times that I've missed a few days. First, it was the emo-hangover from emo-warfare waged by a 9-year-old. Most recently, this, the second week of the month, is when my habit-change plans always encounter a hiccup. Before you go jumping to conclusions, it's not hormonal. The second week of the month is a busy time at work and it drains me. If I'm not working to meet a deadline of some sort, I'm planning and leading a big meeting of 40-50+ people. When I get home, "being good" is the last thing of interest. Bad tv, junk food, and bourbon seem much more comforting on bad days.

But, you know what I'm starting to realize? All this rationalizing doesn't get me closer to a goal. Rationalizing is just a $5 word for making excuses. And I can’t afford those prices.

I’m super good at starting something and not following through. Missing one whatever turns into missing two, then a week goes by, and that turns into a month. You get the idea.

The same thing happens with spending money and not spending money. It is easy and exciting to make a plan to save. The hard part comes with the mundane keeping up with the plan. That’s because keeping up with the plan is habit change.

There are a lot of tips out there to help people keep their resolutions and change their habits. You can find tons of blog posts, like this one, totally dedicated to helping people plan, implement, and track habit changes. Some of them are better than others. You can consider this post one of the "others." But, that's probably not why you're reading this blog. You're probably reading this blog either because I force you or because you were looking for a chicken pot pie recipe. Nonetheless, here are my top four suggestions for habit change:

1. Don't try to change too much at once. I've read before that we have a limited amount of willpower. For example, dieters are more likely to overspend and people trying to curb spending are more likely to give into other temptations. I believe this wholeheartedly. A few weeks ago, Husband and I were wandering around some of my favorite stores. Our last stop on the errand run for the evening was the grocery store. By the time we got there, all I could contemplate was buying the quickest, easiest, cheesiest thing I could cram into my pie-hole. It turned out to be Hot Pockets. If you tackle more than one habit, try to make sure they are related. Currently, I'm trying to save money and update this blog. The two are vaguely related as stated below 

2. Know why you want to change your habit. I started this blog because I knew I was going to need an outlet to express myself about this uncrisis of becoming a one-income household. (I say "uncrisis" because as scary as it is, we could be a LOT worse off. I realize this and am immensely thankful for it.) I decided to focus more on saving money because because I realized how closely we were to living on the edge. I started thinking about what would happen if our uncrisis suddenly turned into a crisis. I, for one, would rather keep my boots together with electrical tape (true story) and have an extra $80 in the bank than to have new boots and not know how to pay for the electricity.

3. Start with something you're really motivated about. I quit smoking. That is probably the biggest habit change that most people can go through--short of getting off the smack (heroin, not vagina, just to be clear). Your first habit change doesn't have to be huge or difficult, but it should be something that means a lot to you. For me, I know that if I can quit smoking, I can do anything. That mantra helped me start running and complete a half-marathon. (Sidebar: Another mantra that worked for running and smoking was that I can do anything for a minute longer.) Chances are, the success you have in one area and the lessons you learn from that first habit change will motivate you and help you succeed with other changes.


4.  Be accountable to someone else. This blog serves two purposes at once. While I'm not divulging any specific financial information, just knowing that I have to record how much I spent on food for the day makes me more aware of the little unnecessary splurges that we can sometimes fall victim to. Also, since writing this blog is a habit change itself, knowing that I have a few regular readers helps spur me out of the funk of not writing.

I think a good way to sum up this blog is through the words of Gretchen Rubin. While I don't know if I could ever sustain the kind of habit change marathon that she recounts in The Happiness Project, I have taken several lessons and words of wisdom from her work. Rubin records "Secrets of Adulthood" in her book and blog and this one is particularly apropos for me and for this post: "What you do EVERY DAY matters more than what you do ONCE IN A WHILE." Not only does doing something every day reinforce it as a habit, carving out the time from our busy schedules means that this particular whatever is important.
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Breakfast: egg and soft cheese on English muffin
Lunch: Meeting lunch. $10 I don't know why I don't turn this in to be reimbursed. I never have before, though, and I guess I won't start now. 
Dinner: I haven't eaten anything yet.



Total: I may update this later. I just really want to hit "Publish Post" and overcome the blog-post-apathy feeling.
 

99 Cent Potatoes

Sometimes the store had 5 pound bags of potatoes for 99 cents. It is during these times that our household enjoys what I like to call Irish Potato Feasts. Except I'm not Irish and I'm sure the potatoes aren't Irish, but Husband has been called a "thievin' Mick" before so I guess that's close enough. (Note: He's never really stolen anything.)

I used a potato or two in the Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot, Chicken Pot Pie I made awhile ago but now I'm getting serious about potato cooking. Especially since I brought home a metric ton of sweet potatoes from Parents' after Thanksgiving. Do you know what I forgot? The pumpkin I was gonna cook.

This is a recipe I like to call Loaded Scalloped Potatoes. It's like a loaded baked potato, only they're scalloped potatoes. I don't know what the difference is between scalloped and au gratin. I don't need to know, really. They both scared me as a child. Probably because school lunches and church dinners were the only place I came into contact with anything scalloped or au gratin. And during school lunches and church dinners, you must choose wisely. Once at a church dinner Sibling and Friend found a rubber band in a dessert. Pops had a theory about how the rubber band got there--something to do with a newspaper. We call that recipe Rubber Band Dessert at our house. It's good, minus the newspaper detritus.

Despite my scalloped fear, I settled on this recipe because I was going to load it with good stuff. Free ham from Thanksgiving and a box of frozen chopped broccoli. And cheese, lots and lots of cheese. Cheese is always the right choice. I used a scalloped potato recipe out of my BH&G cookbook just to make sure I did the scalloped part right.

Loaded Scalloped Potatoes

1/2 cup chopped onion 25 cents
1 clove garlic, minced 5 cents
2 tbsp butter 14 cents
2 tbsp flour 1 cent
salt and pepper
1 1/4 c milk I use powdered milk for stuff that isn't drinking. 12 cents
1/2 c mozzarella cheese 32 cents
1/4 c Parmesan cheese 21 cents
3 medium potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced 18 cents
10 oz chopped, frozen broccoli, thawed and drained 99 cents
2 cups chopped ham free
1/2 cup cheddar cheese 32 cents

In a pan, cook onion and garlic  in butter until soft. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper. Add milk all at once. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened. Add the white cheeses and stir until melted.


In a greased 1 1/2 quart casserole, layer 1/2 the potatoes, 1 cup of ham, and 1/2 the broccoli, top with 1/2 the sauce. Repeat.

Bake, covered, at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Uncover, top with cheddar and bake 15-20 minutes more.

Total: $2.59

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Breakfast: Oatmeal with cranberry sauce 33 cents
Snack: 1/2 granola bar 10 cents
Lunch: turkey wrap and oreos (from the honor snacks) $1.70
Dinner: Not-so-Hamburger Helper  63 cents

Total:  $2.76

This made about 6 servings so 43 cents per serving. It went very fast!

These Weeks' Lessons

So what did we learn these weeks?

1. I love being at home.
2. Once you get this song in your head, it is there forever. And don't invite In-Laws over for dinner if you want leftovers.
3. I'll have to make this post more vague if I want to share my blog with more people.
4. Only vaguely related to this blog post, when I asked my father about his home remedies for sinus troubles, he told me anhydrous would clear them up. WTF?
5. Black Friday: the downfall of our species or natural selection?
6. Along with snotting eyes, old man handkerchiefs are also good props for proving you're too sick to work.
7. My Thanksgiving turkey tryptophan kicked in a little late. Also? I can spell tryptophan and anhydrous right but I have to think hard to get handle right.
8. The way to In-Laws hearts is through their stomachs.
9. I like to play -- not turn -- tricks. Also, the way to Husband's heart is Alexander Hamilton.
10. I love my grandpa.
11. Flaming poo is the answer to a lot of things.
12. We're crafty people.
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Breakfast: Biscuits, sweet potato and banana, cranberry sauce
Lunch: deer summer sausage and cheese on saltines
Dinner: Pizza and cookies

Total: ?

Waste Not...

*I'm doing my Reverb 10 on a special page dedicated to it. Look over there if you're interested in that kind of thing.------------->

No waste not post on the holiday weekend so I have a lot to catch up on.

Last week the only thing that would have made the list was bacon. Sacrilege. It was moldy. I pulled it apart, slapped it into the pan, and then took a closer look when I noticed a furry patch. How could I have possibly wasted bacon? That is a cardinal sin. Was I saving it for something special? Is this my own Egg Nog Dilemma?

I cleaned the fridge yesterday. I found some other things that should have gone a long time ago. They certainly didn't go bad this week. But since I found them this week, they are:

1/2 a loaf of gluten-free bread. This is old. I tried to help my husband solve his acid reflux issues with an allergen-free test. He didn't last long on it. But that is when I discovered my favorite sweet potato and banana breakfast. So I consider it a success even though the acid reflux is still with us from time to time.

A few green onions and carrot slices. These went in the compost bin. They were from Step-Daughter's birthday party. If I mention when her birthday was, you may be afraid to enter my house.


There hasn't been a lot of other waste in this household, unless you count the run to Steak and Shake. Which I do.

On the more successful side of the coin, we have been practicing our three Rs--recycle, reduce, reuse--in a few different ways.

We had a big jar candle that the wick had burned up on. There was still a lot of wax left in it. We went to the crafty store and got a new set of four long wicks for $2.99. I rescued a roasted red pepper jar from the recycle bin. I melted the old candle wax in a water bath, set a new wick in the pepper jar, poured the melted wax in, propped up the wick with scotch tape and a clothespin, and let it set overnight. Trimmed the wick the next morning. (We have enough to make another candle. You can buy the metal things for the bottom separately at the craft store.) Then we got all the residual wax out of the original jar and washed it. Now we have a new candle and a jar to stash stuff in. The best part? Husband (candle-lover, Alexander Hamilton-lover, girl) won't have to spend good money on a new candle for a long time.

We bought a Christmas wreath on sale after the season last year. During Thanksgiving at Parent's I rummaged through old decor. I found some red satin balls, a string of red beads, and an old holly candle wreath. As of this afternoon, we have a new Christmas wreath to hang outside. I just have to scare up a hot-glue gun to affix the holly and beads. Do you have one you want to loan me?

And lastly...remember green bean bundles? Well, the thing about leftover refrigerated green bean bundles is that you're left with a lot of bacon-infused, brown sugar butter in the bottom of the dish. It doesn't look pretty, but in this house, wasting bacon-infused, brown sugar butter is tantamount to dumping a beer on a fancy computer keyboard or busting out a window--maybe you do it, but you don't feel good about it. So when the beans were gone, I saved the congealed melted butter. I had a plan because I had free sweet potatoes. Sometimes the most heavenly dinner is the simplest: baked sweet potato, melted leftover green bean bundle butter, and a biscuit from breakfast. Now that's what I'm talking about.
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Breakfast: oatmeal, blueberries and milk 11 cents
Lunch: biscuits, sausage and gravy, orange marmalade and apple butter 46 cents
Snack: cookies 30 cents
Dinner: sweet potato, green bean bundle butter, biscuit 10 cents

Total: 97 cents

Sometimes You Just Have to Ask for It

Shortly after we became a single-income family, my renewal notice came for my favorite magazine. I planned to cancel my subscription, then I thought, "You know what, mother-in-law will probably appreciate having this on my Christmas list." She did and my favorite magazine will continue, uninterrupted.
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Before I worked in my current job, I basically worked in my current job. It's confusing, but I was a consultant for a consultant. An independent contractor working on a team of consultants for a company that was quarterbacking the gig. Obvs, this led to my current, non-consultant job. Not only was the pay shit, but I also didn't get paid for all my work. A few months after the gig was over, I resorted to a guilt-trip and got most of what I was due. But not all--so the third thing I did on the Monday after my husband was handed his walking papers (after health insurance and flexing) was e-beg for my money. I didn't get an e-response and expected the e-worst...but a week and a half later, I got a check for about half of what I'm owed.

Sidebar: If you ever run a company, don't make people beg for what they are owed. Oh, and in case you're wondering, no one really cares when employers screw their employees. If you're owed something, no one will stick it to the man for you. If you've exhausted all your other efforts and it will cost more to get a lawyer than you're owed, just resort to flaming poo on their doorstep. 

Same story different dance for a travel stipend I was owed for a workshop I went to. I'm cashing (and saving) checks left and right.
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So the moral of the story is don't work for a company that won't pay you. The second moral is don't count your travel stipends before they hatched. And finally, mothers-in-law like it when you make Christmas easy for them. Oh, yeah, and the title of this blog post.

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Breakfast: Oatmeal and 1/2 banana and milk 25 cents
Lunch: Ravioli Casserole 75 cents?
Dinner: Cookies. What? It's Friday.30 cents

Total:   $1.30

Grandpa's Banana Bread

*I'm doing my Reverb 10 on a special page dedicated to it. Look over there if you're interested in that kind of thing.------------->


My Grandpa was awesome. As grandparents usually are, my grandpa was old. He turned 70 the year I was born. By the time I knew him, he walked with a cane and wore a very natty hat. After my grandma died, he moved a couple blocks from our house. He loved baseball and worked in our garden. He went on our Great Summer Vacations with us. He was an great pitch player and had Ricky Skaggs records. He had cable television way before we did so sibling and I watched old shows on Nick at Nite at his house. He always kept "sody pop" for us--the generic kind that was so full of sweetener it was a can of heaven. He was in Europe during World War II, only went to school until the 8th grade, and always knew what was going on in the news. He was most excellent.

He also baked. Chocolate chip cookies were his specialty. My friend still makes them for her daughter and husband. I haven't made his famous cookies for awhile, but I have been making his banana bread quite alot.

My step-daughter likes banana muffins in the morning for breakfast. The pre-made banana muffins from the grocery store bakery are expensive. These are cheap and easy. Instead of putting the batter in a bread pan like Grandpa did, I put it in muffin cups.

Grandpa's Banana Bread

3 bananas 21 cents
1/2 c oil 16 cents
2 c flour 16 cents
3/4 c sugar 25 cents
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda 4 cents

Mash the bananas. Mix everything up. Put those paper liners in a muffin tin. Fill 2/3. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes or until done.

Total: 82 cents plus muffin liners 16 cents. 98 cents

This makes 16 muffins so they're 6 cents each.
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Breakfast: Banana muffin 5 cents
Lunch: Leftover free turkey and green bean bundles 72 cents
Snack: Granola bar 21 cents
Dinner: I got suckered into Steak and Shake by husband. $5.14

Total: $6.12

Saving Money/Paying Off Debt

I have so many posts to write. They are kind of circular. There is the one about how blessed I am which helps explain why this post is about saving and paying off debt at the same time. I haven't written it yet. But that can't be helped. Just pretend I'm a mystery writer.

So, thankfully, I have very little real debt, but I do owe some people for minor things like a semester of out-of-state grad school tuition and when my car threw a rod during grad school and I had a day to find a new car. I'll call those people my parents because they are.* Basically I have to pay them back into a joint savings account that either of us can use if we really need it. (Mystery solved--you didn't even have to read 246 pages.) Guess who is more likely to need that money. (A new mystery!)

The thing is, since becoming a one-income household, I am doubly-motivated to get the balance up in that account. I'm terrified that the other shoe will drop and we will  be really hurting for some cash. There are a hundred what-ifs I can think of.

So I'm trying to fall back on some money-saving tricks that I developed in grad school to pay off my credit card while living below the poverty line. And can I just take a moment to say that my school is awesome at preparing you for reality. The humanities grad students earn significantly less for their assistantships than the business grad students. Just like real life!

1. Save first and last. One of the advantages of being on a staff of one is that the powers that be can't rationalize paying for direct deposit. I still get a paper check. Hello, 1999, I've missed you! I don't like the personal interactions I have every month with the bank tellers and I want to make them as short as possible. So I hurriedly deposit all but a minuscule portion of my check every month into my checking account. Then I run back to the safety of my computer and transfer some of that shiny new money into my savings account. If there is anything left over at the end of the month, it goes in too.
2. Save anything unexpected. I've been pretty good at getting money owed me out of people lately. I haven't broken any kneecaps and I'm not selling smack (heroin or vagina, just to clarify), but this wasn't regular paycheck money. So it goes into savings, too.
3. Saving Alex. My husband thinks Alexander Hamilton is by far the best looking founding father. I know, right? So whenever I get one, I put him is a super secret special hiding place. All my 10 spots are saved. I do the same thing with change.
4. Rounding up. This was my number one money game in grad school. You know the one. In your check register you just round up to the next dollar. I kept track of all the extra cents and all the money I saved at the grocery store with specials and coupons, too. I used this to make and extra credit card payment every month.

If all goes well, I'll have my parents paid back well before they're 157. Yay, I can't wait!

*The one stipulation of this loan was that if my parents died, I owed Sibling half. They are sticklers on those terms and conditions.
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Breakfast: Banana muffins
Snack: Clementine
Lunch: Stuffed scalloped potatoes
Snack: Granola bar and celery
Dinner: I went to Chili's with Awkward and Awesome. I'm still full. If you're in the mood to go out for a cheap app and drink, check out Chili's website. They have coupons you can print from now til Christmas. We had free chips and queso and those Southwest Eggrolls. Minus the 7 & 7, this cost, like $3.95 plus tip.

Green Bean Bundles

No canned mushroom soup, french fried onion topped green bean glop for me. My green bean bundles have gained wide acceptance among the in-laws as the way to have green beans at family gatherings. Even some of the kids are on board with these beans.

The trick to making them so delectable is what I've come to understand as the food trifecta: salt, fat and sugar. These aren't every day beans. They've been primped. They're special party beans.

Green Bean Bundles
3 cans whole green beans the first instance of salt $1.50
1 pound bacon salt + fat $3.49
1 stick of butter fat + salt 57 cents
1/2 cup brown sugar sugar 25 cents (?)
garlic powder to taste

Cut the bacon in half, lengthwise. Roll up 8-12 green beans in half a slice of bacon. Place seam side down in a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Bring the butter and sugar to a boil. Pour over the green beans.

Bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes.

Total: $5.81. This makes about 24 or so bundles. That would make each bundle 24 cents. Two make a good side dish size serving. Not totally cheap but more impressive and way tastier than green bean casserole.
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Breakfast: Um, a tortilla with ham (free) and a slice of cheese with horseradish. Yeah. 38 cents Not counting the horseradish--it's medicinal.
Lunch: Enchilada  99 cents
Snack: Clementine and  Granola Bar 56 cents
Dinner: Green Bean Bundles  $1.68

Total:  $3.61

'Tis the Season

"Take a look at the five and ten/glistening once again/with candy canes and silver lanes aglow. It's beginning to look a lot like" sinusitis. Ah-ha...this isn't a sing-along post. It's a post about my head cavity problems. 

Thanksgiving has past and Christmas will soon be upon us. That means it is time, once again, for my head to stop up, my eyes to get red and water, and my nose to start its incessant dripping.

The moment it began, I was onto it. Friday night. The throat starts to tighten on the left side. Phantom pressure floats from my nose to the space behind my right eye and them marches across my face. In the morning, my teeth hurt to brush them. Oh, sinusitis, how I've missed you.

In high school, I spent most of American Government asleep. It was not for the lack of entertainment to be had in class. My teacher was delightfully loud and kooky. My fellow classmates climbed out the window and talked about stockpiling guns in the basement of the Catholic church so they'd be ready to take over the world when the Pope gave the signal. It was delightful but I missed out on so much thanks to Dimetapp.

As I've grown older, I've become more averse to taking drugs, especially over-the-counter and prescription drugs. I mean, c'mon, where's the fun in that? Plus I don't think you're supposed to consume alcohol and what would I do without my bourbon? No really ;o notice the wink, normally my symptoms are gone in the same amount of time if I take something as if I don't take something. So why bother?

Well, did you know that your sinuses can become impacted and back up into your eyes and they you start oozing from your eyes? No? It's a pretty convincing sick-day excuse, especially when it starts happening at work and then you have to drive an hour home clutching a tissue to dab at you oozy eye. Even when it happens that week between Christmas and New Year's when no one wants to work and everyone thinks about faking sick--it's still really convincing. Not that that's happened to me before! ;o

This year I'm hoping to avoid looking like I've come down with a mutated version of eye Ebola. I'm trying to attack my tormentor early with some home remedies. Here's my top 10 list:

1. Cultivate a breath stench that would make a corpse flower wither up and die. So far, I've drank apple cider vinegar/garlic-infused hot water, I've eaten raw garlic (mixed with some tapenade to take the edge off) and I've eaten a weird mix of horseradish, olive oil and lemon juice. The apple cider vinegar is gross but I think the garlic makes it better somehow. I rather enjoyed the horseradish. I ate it on a saltine and kept looking for the raw oysters to go with it.

2. Make your husband think you're cooking something that smells good. I think I've pointed out before that my husband always thinks my cooking stinks. So today when I was heating water with pressed garlic to take the steam, he commented on how good it smelled. Let me get this straight, if Imma eat it, it stinks; if Imma make something that is purposely supposed to stink to open my sinuses, it smells good? I also cooked up some ginger water to make a hot compress for my face. (P.S. My microplane is worthless. Garage sale!) I'm also hoping for some unknown benefits for my pores.

3. You should have to run to the bathroom every 20 minutes. Word is, the more you drink, the thinner your mucous is. I use this as an excuse to buy the good flavored sparkling water. Also sage tea. Why sage? I don't know, but it doesn't suck so that's ok.

4. Steal your kid's vitamins. You should probably always steal your kid's vitamins. If they need vitamins, you should be feeding them better foods, anyway. Also, grape seed extract. Why are your kids buying weird supplements? Steal them, too.

5. Poke your eyes out. Sinus massage not only feels good, it is brings a fresh blood supply to the area. Plus, weird red marks all over your face. These will be helpful if you decide to leave work early. You'll look sicker.

6. Pour some salt on that wound? If you're like me, by this time, your nose is all chapped and raw. The last thing that sounds appealing is to snort saltwater or pour it in your nose-hole. But science disagrees with me. I haven't Neti-ed up yet.

7. Give up the good stuff. Dairy, Alcohol, Sugar. Life is no longer worth living.

8. Sleep. Ok, that makes it more bearable.

9. Exercise. Shoot! I just used this as an excuse not to exercise.

10. Carry around a handkerchief until you feel better. A red old man one. They're cheaper than tissues and you can use them to avoid unwanted human interactions. Don't want to talk to someone? Pull out your old man kerchief and start blowing your nose everywhere. 
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Breakfast: Oatmeal, powdered milk, orange marmalade, blueberries
Lunch: Loaded Scalloped Potatoes
Snack: Clementine and granola bar
Dinner: Celery Fancy Snacks and Green bean bundles

Total: Oh, I don't know. I'm sick, give me a break.

Black Friday

Although you may expect that I planned my stops for the wee small hours of the morning to buy the latest toys, electronics, blue-rays, and fuzzy slippers at a steep discount in a big box store because we have less money to spend than we did last year, I did not. Here are the reasons why:

1. Shopping makes me sick. In high school, I used to get really dizzy and gross feeling if we spent too much time in the mall. I am allergic to it. I actually had a name for it: "mall sickness." The only cure is a cherry limeade and maybe a big soft pretzel.
2. I've passed out in a Wal-Mart before and have no desire to do it again in an inopportune time and get trampled.
3. I have experienced a raging case of people-induced claustrophobia before. I get worked up if all I can see around me is people and they're all up in my personal space.
4. On a normal day, I have little patience for people who are blocking the aisle with their carts or talking loudly to their shopping party or behaving badly in general, especially while shopping. It makes me wonder why I quit smoking. (Hint: it had something to do with passing out in Wal-Mart.)
5. I don't enjoy partaking in mob mentality. If I want to be involved in a spectacle on Thanksgiving night, I'll go watch Christmas lights being turned on somewhere.

As much as I enjoy a bargain, I would never go shopping on Black Friday. In fact, I've been cultivating a plan to avoid holiday shopping altogether. I, for one, love giving the impersonal present of a gift card. I like getting them, too. I don't need someone all up in my business, trying to think about what I would like. I also don't want to bother someone to make me a list. And besides, the gift card is the classy version of a wad of cash.

My avoid-holiday-shopping plan involves saving all year...by shopping all year. I use my credit card for every single purchase I make, trying to rack up the rewards points. Then when Christmas rolls around, I thoughtfully sit down at my computer and think long and hard about which store (that has a gift card offer through my credit card) my family members would like to shop at most. Then I push a couple of buttons and voila! Christmas shopping is done.

And everyone is happy. My father-in-law can buy bullets and long underwear at the outdoor store, father can buy drill bits and wildflower seeds at the home improvement store, my niece can make her own stuffed toy and my nephew can have an excuse to browse for hours in the book store before finally making his selection. Shopping for yourself at your leisure is a fun experience. Standing outside of a box store for two hours at 1 AM to try to be the first in line in the hopes that you can get one of the four laptop computers in the entire store is not fun. Just thinking about it makes me dizzy. I'd better quit before I have to make a late night run for a cherry limeade.

Poor Man Fancy Snacks

Happy Thanksgiving! It's the official start of the holiday season. And you know what that means...lots of people coming in and out of your house or you going in and out of a lot of other people's houses. You don't want to be seem an ungracious host or guest. So take some snacks!

I love snacks. Who doesn't? I think every day is snack-worthy, but some people reserve snacks for special occasions. Nothing is more special than the holidays. So you can't just be like, "Ya want some chips?" You should serve fancy snacks. And because I Can't Afford It, and maybe you can't either, try some Poor Man Fancy Snacks.

My favorite category of Poor Man Fancy Snacks is "You c'n put it on a Saltine." (Note: Today everything that is written in quotes has an accent when I say it in my head. Think NASCAR and Busch Light before noon--all in all, a pretty good life. But not cooking meth and losing teeth--those people wouldn't appreciate fancy snacks. They'll be happy with a bag of chips and a bowl of Skittles.) If you happen to be more flush with cash, you can also put these things on fancier crackers, or those little bread slices. You can even put them on vegetables!

Today's "You c'n put it on a Saltine" snack was inspired by black olive tapenade and Laughing Cow cheese. I liked to put this on my celery, but then I ran out of it.

Here's how it happened: Saturday, "as I was gittin' the mustard for my corn dog" I noticed a forlorn half jar of green olives. Then I remembered that I had a few roasted red peppers in oil left in a jar in the back of the fridge. Then the wheels in my head started turning. And ladies and gent, I present to you:

Green Olive and Red Pepper Tapenade

1/2 jar green olives, liquid drained off
1/4 - 1/3 jar of roasted red peppers in oil
couple peeled garlic cloves

Throw it all in the food processor. Dump it back in one of the jars to store. Fin

I don't know how much this costs. Maybe 70 cents for a cheap 1/2 jar of olives. Maybe the roasted red peppers were $1.33. And the garlic was like 10 cents. So $2.13 total? And I probably have 10-20 servings in there so about 20ish cents per serving? The good thing about this is that you can use up things you buy for one recipe but end up with leftovers you don't know what to do with--you can use green olives, black olives, capers, roasted red peppers, anything that is in a salty-briny solution, plus something olive oil-y (or just add some olive oil to the food processor). I think garlic or a little bit of onion is a good addition. 

I like this on a cracker or a crispy vegetable--celery, thick slices of cucumber, etc--with a shmear of cheese. Laughing Cow is great but regular cream cheese works.

And there you have it, your first installment of Poor Man Fancy Snacks--You C'n Put It on a Saltine. I look forward to trying out/making up more Poor Man Fancy Snack recipes in the future. My mom's old Betty Crocker cookbook from the early 1970s is rife with inspiration. I'll have to figure out what to substitute for the MSG some recipes call for, though.
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I'm visiting family for Thanksgiving so I scheduled this to post. I don't know what I'm eating today, but most of it will be absolutely free. Time to camel up!

I'm Declaring Every Day Thanksgiving

I had a different blog post half-written for today, but something happened at work that got me thinking thinking thoughts. It all started innocently enough, with the only man in my office sharing via email a somewhat humorous advertisement for the JC Penney's jewelry counter.

My boss responded, with a "funny" story about how one time her husband got her a vacuum cleaner for Christmas and a toaster for her wedding anniversary. Sometimes it's just better to get nothing at all! Now let's all lol!

Except I wasn't feeling very lol-y. One of my co-workers responded, in a self-deprecating way, that she would welcome the gift of a vacuum cleaner. I didn't respond at all. If I had, it would have been something like, "Oh, yes, that is so funny. I hate it when someone spends over $200 on something that I need and would use, thereby saving me from having to spend that money. I'm so glad my husband doesn't have a job so he can't get me something expensive like a vacuum cleaner. This commercial is so right on!"

The more I thought about it, the more lathered up I got. I'd heard this story once before from the boss. That time, it was prefaced with, "We don't buy each other gifts anymore. If we want something, we just go out and get it ourselves." Well, isn't that a nice thing to do WHEN YOU HAVE THE MONEY TO GO BUY WHATEVER YOU DAMN WELL PLEASE.

Sidebar: I'm trying very hard not to virtually burn my boss in effigy in this blog post. Let me just put it this way, have you ever read GOOP, you know Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle blog where she's all, "My friend Mario Batali says you should only eat mushrooms from northern Italy that have been discovered by midgets who can find them better because they're closer to the ground. At $500 per ounce, these are a bargain!" and "I think everyone should have their own personal uniform. It makes it easier to start your day when you know your style can take you from dropping the offspring of myself and singer-songwriter Chris Martin off at school to a lunch meeting with movie producer and my godfather, Steven Spielberg, at The Connaught Bar to a night out with my very good friend Vince Gill after we sing together onstage at the Country Music Awards. I put mine uniform together with the help of my good friend and fashion designer Stella McCartney." Like she hasn't even imagined that some people can't afford a Christmas get-away to Puerta Vallarta, much less being able to dine in the best restaurants once you're there? On a less ostentatious scale, that is my boss.

Sidebar #2: I also was thinking about how we are so politically correct about everything. Maybe we should all stop and think about being a little more politically correct about money. I mean, if I were to go deaf tomorrow, I hope my boss wouldn't try to share a CD of an amazing Christmas cantata. You know, this is the lady to whom I had to confess that we wouldn't be able to afford to put my husband on my health insurance plan. I didn't say, "We just like to gamble," I said, "We just can't afford it." It's not like she doesn't know. But I'm probably just being too sensitive...

Once I got over being bitter about it, I started thinking about how that commercial paints us, as wives, as husbands, as white middle-class, as Americans. It is pretty awful, if you think about it. The man thinks he can purchase something to make the woman's life easier--a flawed premise, if you ask me. The woman is so ungrateful that she throws the man in prison. Wow, how many people out there would love, love to be able to afford a fancy vacuum cleaner, or any vacuum cleaner at all, or the house to use it in?

So I'm putting my foot down. I may not be able to get this through Congress, but I can get this through to the what four? of you that read my blog regularly. Thanksgiving may very well be the best American invention ever. It deserves better than the fourth Thursday of November. It deserves better than turkey and dressing (and the good macaroni & cheese--you know who you are!). Thanksgiving should be every day. We should reflect on all the many, many, many blessings we have not just on one day, but on every day. If we can't be bothered to marvel at our own good fortune and give thanks for it, we all deserve to be in the dog house.
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Breakfast: Oatmeal and free blueberries (Thanks, Mom, for your hard work in picking and preparing those berries and for sharing them with me.) 11 cents
Snack: Granola bar (I'm very thankful to Smitten Kitchen for sharing the recipe for these granola bars with the internet.) 21 cents
Lunch: Enchilada (How blessed I am to be able to just stop by the grocery store on my way home from work to pick up what I need to make enchiladas for dinner any night I want!) 99 cents
Dinner: Massive Amounts of Junk (I may not be able to afford much, but if I feel the desire to go to the grocery store for some stress-eating foods, I am thankful that I can blast my food budget out of the water and get whatever junky stuff sounds good.) I ate some chocolate covered peanut butter sandwiches that cost about $1.40 and a hot pocket that cost $1.25 and some jalapeno popper things that were about $1.50.

Total: $5.45

And I'm thankful that I have great friends who read this blog, not because I'm the picture of virtue and perpetually upbeat, but because I'm bound to fail occasionally, get down about it, and pick myself up. We all do it. That's just what makes us interesting.

So, a day early and every day after, what are you thankful for?

Chicken Pot Pie

Did you ever watch the TV show Just Shoot Me? Whenever I think of chicken pot pie, I can't help but sing it in my head, like David Cross. It also makes me think of William Hickey when he was on Wings but I can't figure out why.

I've never made a chicken pot pie from scratch before. We used to have those pre-made frozen ones from the grocery store. I hated them as a kid. But I got a little nostalgic for them in college and had them every once in a while.

I made this on Sunday. I didn't really have a recipe, I just kinda winged it. I intended to have leftovers that would get us through until Thanksgiving. Then we invited my in-laws to join us for dinner. I figured at least I'd have something to take for lunch this week. Well, the chicken pot pie was gone by yesterday's lunch. I underestimated its appeal. I think my husband would have eaten the whole thing by himself.

This was really good. I dug in for seconds just because I was afraid there wouldn't be any left to enjoy. Then Monday, by the time lunch rolled around, I was so ready to dig into the pot pie. There wasn't really much pie crust left, but it was still very tasty.

Chicken Pot Pie
1Tbsp and 2 tsp oil,  3 cent
1 pre-made pie crust $1
Chicken from a leg quarter, cooked and cut up 75 cents
1 cup chicken stock free
1/2 leek, chopped 50 cents
2 carrots, chopped I dunno, 30 cents?
2 stalks celery, chopped 8 cents
1/2 pound green beans, bite-size pieces 50 cents
1 cup frozen peas, thawed, 42 cents
2 cloves garlic, minced 10 cents
chicken gravy this cost, like maybe 12 cents?
1/2 egg, beaten, 4 cents

So here's what I did. First, I heated up 1 tablespoon of oil. I had 3 leg quarters that I pulled the skin and most of the visible fat off and I browned (both sides) it in the oil. Then I threw in the chicken stock and let the chicken cook until it was done.

Meanwhile, I cooked the celery, onion, carrots and garlic in the 2 teaspoons of oil. Also I thawed out the peas (and green beans).

When the chicken was done, I took it out of the pan. I threw in some chicken gravy I had made earlier. We didn't eat much of it, so I put it in the freezer. Basically, chicken gravy is just the oil/fat/broth that the chicken was cooked in, plus whatever you want to season it with (Mine had salt, pepper, and marjoram.), plus some milk mixed with some cornstarch. I used powdered milk in my chicken gravy. Keep stirring it until it thickens.

While the gravy was cooking, I pulled the meat off the leg quarters. I cut it all up. I kept the meat from one quarter for the pot pie and put the other meat in two zipper bags in the freezer. (This is a pretty great meal helper. On the way home today, I stopped off at the grocery store and bought enchilada sauce and green chilies. I knew I had everything else to mix up some chicken enchiladas quickly because of the freezer chicken.)

Then mix up all the stuff and put it in a round 2 1/2 quart dish. Put the pie crust on top, brush it with the egg to make it shiny. (Yeah, I saved the other half of the egg for a breakfast sandwich. I can't believe you couldn't figure that out. It's like you don't even know me!)

Then bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Total: $3.84
This is probably about six to eight servings. 64 cents

And you know what the best part is? Making people sing this all day. 
________________________________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal and orange marmalade with clementines 60 cents
Snack: Banana 11 cents
Lunch: Miner's Casserole  54 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 21 cents
Pre-Dinner Dinner: Celery and Cream Cheese-Tapenade 43 cents
Dinner: Chicken Enchilada 99 cents

Total: $2.88

Unexpected Benefits of a Shorter Work Week

It wasn't until my first Friday at home that I started to realize that other savings, besides just gas, tolls and wear & tear on my car, are to be had from a shorter work week. Here is what else I came up with:

1. I don't have to take a shower. Savings: Water, Gas, Soap
2. I can wear my after-school-clothes that I've been wearing after work all week. Savings: Water, Laundry soap, Being able to wear my black pants for another six years before they fall apart.
3. I can avoid temptation from the million coffee shops within three blocks of my office and the danged Honor Snack box. Why does a single serving bag of Cheetos ever cost a dollar? Why didn't I think to extort someone like that?
4. I don't have to put on make-up. Do you throw your mascara out every three months? In theory, I get it, but it also seems like a good way to sell more mascara.
5. I don't have to fix my hair. Savings: Electricity, hair product, sanity
6. I can turn off all the lights and other energy using devices that my husband leaves on. I can also sneakily turn down the thermostat. Savings: Breath I would waste on fruitless nagging.

I'm sure there are many other benefits to this new arrangement and I can't wait to find more of them.
______________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal with peaches 13 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 21 cents
Lunch: Chicken Pot Pie 64 cents
Snack: Clementines and Celery with Cream Cheese and Tapenade  $1.13
Dinner: Grilled Cheese with Turkey 81 cents

Total: $2.92

This Week's Lessons

So what did we learn this week?

1. And, of course, gas prices went down again. As not predicted. Because then I wouldn't have gone on about it in this post.
2. We finished this already. It's delicious!
3. My mom tells me that she used to cut her own hair. With just two mirrors and a scissors. And my dad's help, until he messed up--on purpose.
4. Do not drink and cook and blog. Even with the mistake, the husband is well on his way to eating all this. And he liked how it smelled!
5. What's my line? In case figuring out how to be married isn't difficult enough on its own...
6. I may have paid $7 for popcorn, but at least my drink order isn't pink.
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Breakfast: English Muffin with butter and orange marmalade 28 cents
Second breakfast: tortilla, peanut butter, banana, bacon 67 cents
Snack: granola bar 21 cents
Lunch: miner's casserole 74 cents
Snack: banana muffin 5 cents
Dinner: chicken pot pie and banana muffin 69 cents

Total: $2.64
That's a lot of food. I'm stuffed!

Waste Not

This week it looks like the forgotten food was 1/2 cooked sweet potato. I meant, I'm sure, to have this for breakfast, cooked with a banana. That didn't happen and so, to the trash it goes. In terms of throwing money away, technically I didn't because the sweet potatoes were free. But if you consider that I ate something else instead of the sweet potato, I did waste a few cents.

Here are my two loss prevention strategies:
1) Making a list. This helps me to remember what is in the fridge, going bad, that needs to be eaten. Keeping stuff in the see-through plastic containers is also a helpful reminder to keep edible things out of the trash or the compost pile.
2) Get up earlier or get ready at night. Any day this week, I could have enjoyed sweet potatoes and bananas for breakfast, I just didn't get out of bed early enough and I didn't plan ahead. Usually getting my breakfast and lunch ready the night before is the best fit for me. That way I don't have to think in the morning, I can just grab it and hit the road.

There were some other "waste not" successes this week. We're getting ready to move at work and Whatever uncovered a bunch of stuff we don't need to move and store. It's good and perfectly usable stuff that would have gone to the trash can. I'm bringing some of it home. I'll either use it here or put it in our next garage sale and hopefully bring in a few cents.

In terms of cash wasting, I'm totally guilty this week.
Exhibit A: I bought coffee at the gas station on Tuesday. My defense: I didn't have time to make it at home and had a 12 hour day of work ahead of me. Verdict: Guilty
Exhibit B: I bought $7 popcorn at the movie theater even though I just ate. Plea: Guilty
Exhibit C: I bought a $1 Reeses from the Honor Snacks on Thursday. It was gross, even. Plea: Stupidity.

And now for a contentious "waste not" failure. Yesterday after the recycling run, the husband decided he needed a fancy coffee drink from McDonald's. This is how he wants all his drinks, fancy and frou-frou. I offered to make him one at home but he said he wanted caramel in it. Note: He ordered a regular mocha--no caramel. It cost $3 and he didn't have any cash on him. So guess who paid. I was resentful but I tried to refrain from pointing out that I've eaten for a whole day for less money. Additionally, I had wasted a little over $9 this week myself. I felt pretty smug when he admitted that it was the worst coffee drink he had in a while. I doubt he's learned his lesson, but I will remind him of this vignette to avoid future $3 coffee drinks.

Sidebar: I think men are more comfortable ordering a pink cocktail with an umbrella or a frothy, foamy, sugary, flavored, milky coffee than they used to be. If I stop at the gas station for a coffee--which is few and far between--, I always have to wait for the man in front of me filling up his cup at the cappuccino machine before I can get the regular swill. The husband's theory is that men have "evolved" over time to the point that they can admit they like to drink things that taste good. He, however, can't understand how I can drink bourbon and enjoy it. I just like it--and I have since I'm a kid. 
________________________
Breakfast: oatmeal and peaches free peaches! 13 cents
Snack: granola bar 21 cents
Lunch: I had to do a talky thing for work so lunch was free and so was the husband's! It's like I'm making money--I don't mean by working, that's a "labor of love."
Dinner: Popcorn. Like 15 cents with butter, maybe?

Total: 49 cents

Role Reversal

For much of my childhood, I lived in a one-income household. My mom rocked as a SAHM. I mean, she kept me in stitches--literally. (Except when she made me stand very still and try on a garment that was still pinned together.)

I had some friends whose moms worked. I was both envious of days spent with other kids at "the babysitter's" and confused as to why that was necessary at all. We weren't wealthy. We lived in a rural area in a small town and we did better than ok. We could afford Great American Roadtrips in a rented RV to see Great American Things every few years. Like many kids, we had more toys than we could play with in a day. Sure, I wore my brother's hand-me-downs and rode a brown boy's bike with a banana seat during my early bike riding years, but I kinda thought everyone did.

I don't know if this was the typical one-person-working-outside-the-home 1980s family life. It may have been a little Walton-y. Mom got up early and fixed breakfast. We all sat at the table together, said our prayers, and ate. We made our Halloween costumes ourselves and went 20 miles to Walmart to pick out a pattern and material for Christmas and Easter dresses. We picked strawberries and green beans and peas and corn and tomatoes and anything else that grew in the backyard garden. In the summer, Saturday morning cartoons were always accompanied by shelling peas or snapping green beans, the rest of the year, we folded laundry with the Smurfs and Snorkels. In the winter, we were sent downstairs to grab a jar of green beans or tomatoes or a pack of corn from the freezer. These came out of our garden in the summer and were put up by Mom and were a thousand times better than cans from the store. We knew how lucky we were when we spooned up hot, golden, sweet "real" corn for dinner. We didn't know that the few cents it saved helped us to have such great present bonanzas at Christmastime. Mom ran the house and Dad worked hard, bringing home the check and handing it over to the coupon clipper and sale shopper.

But times, they are a'changing. I know a lot of stay-at-home men, these days. Most have a woman wage-earner but not all. Our neighbor is a stay-at-home dad. Our friend has been out of work for over a year. My friend's ex and my other friend's boyfriend are both unemployed. And the husband. Likewise, the first rider of my boy's bike was out of work for a few weeks. All are or were out of work for different reason. Nonetheless, it's a scary economy and it seems to have hit the men I know harder than the women.

I'm sure it must be hard for the dudes. The husband has been through bouts of unemployment before but I think having a partner that does get up and go to work every day must make it harder. He's much more interested in what happened at my work. He wants to show me all his accomplishments when I get home. (And they are many and somewhat impressive.)

It is hard not to be jealous of those accomplishments because they are so much more tangible than anything I do at work. It's not that I ever wanted to stay at home, although I admit, I get more satisfaction out of gardening and home chores, big and small, than I do at work. But it is kind of hard to reconcile the role reversal of having a stay-at-home husband, even when I hope this is temporary. There are things I expect him to do and to be, because they are the things that (from experience) I expect from the stay-at-home half.

I expect him to be better at the whole idea of home economics. But he's not the most thrifty person. Like when I sent him to the grocery store Monday morning to pick up some lunch meat for the step-daughter and he returned with the cheap lunch meat and the expensive pre-made muffins and flavored milk. Or when he grabs a sandwich with friends and wants to go to the movies. (Although the popcorn was totally my fault.) He's made great strides at curbing his impulse spending on bigger ticket items, but not in the little ways that add up over time.

Also, he's hopeless in the kitchen. I think he doesn't eat lunch and he has no earthly idea what is in the refrigerator. I don't know if: a) he's actually not hungry, b) he just forgets, c) it doesn't occur to him that there is something he could eat in the refrigerator, or d) he can't figure out what to do when he opens it so he doesn't bother. It's probably e) all of the above. I asked him to flip my grilled cheese sandwich Wednesday and he said, "How am I supposed to do that?" with some incredulous panic in his tone. I said, with equally incredulous disgust, "Good grief!" (Or I might have taken the Lord's name in vain.) He figured it out.

Sometimes, I want to come home from work and follow my dad's lead: eat the dinner that is waiting for me, grab a beer, and settle in for some television. But at the same time, boring, plus I know I can't hang a door or do body work on the old car like the husband does. The things that I want the husband to do are the things that I can bring to the table. And I know I would be a wee bit jealous and would flounder to figure out my role if someone were to take over those jobs.

In the end, what I know is that we have to find our own way in this world as a team. It's not about fitting into an outdated prescription. I want to bring home the bacon and fry it and give the husband the opportunity to find a life's work that is enjoyable and fulfilling. And if I can put a dinner on the table that I grew part of in the garden and used coupons to get the rest; if I can make the husband stand very still while I pin up a hem to sew in his pants; if I can dazzle my step-daughter with my crafty costume making skills; and if I can occasionally sit down with a bourbon and a tv show after a hard day's work, then I know that I've learned a thing or two from both my role models and I've made a way for myself that fits me perfectly--even if it is still held together by pins.
______________________
Breakfast: Waffle with butter and syrup 40 cents
Lunch: 1/2 c taco soup and corn dog 93 cents
Snack: granola bar 27 cents
Dinner: miner's casserole and poor man fancy snacks 75 cents

Total: $2.35

The Unfortunately Titled Miner's Casserole

I was having a conversation with Whatever today about the standards are for cheap food. Generally I want something that is made of real stuff, but I'm not above Kraft cheese slices melted into a pot of macaroni. This is what my step-daughter thinks of as "good" macaroni and cheese. Poor thing. So this casserole--and the substitutions I made to the original recipe--is a good example of what you could call my "standards."

I found this recipe from one of the best places to scout cheap recipes--the family cookbook. Well, if you're in my family, that is. My mom made a cookbook for the family reunion one year. It was actually a year-long process that involved gathering recipes and designing the book and having it printed and bound in the pre-FedEx/Kinkos days. It was printed on our dot matrix printer if that tells you anything about the age of this thing.

Isn't Miner's Casserole the worst name ever? It was submitted to the cookbook by Barber Larry. They (yes, it's a couple and that is my nickname for them) are friends of my parents and since this was in the family cookbook, they are also distantly related. I have no idea what inspires the name of this dish. Maybe because it's a gold color? Maybe I don't want to know?

Sidebar: The first time the husband went to my parents' church with me, he left thinking I was related to every church member. This is not the case, but I can see how he made the mistake.

I've made this once before, shortly after the cookbook came out. I used all the "proper" ingredients at the time. It probably took years off the lives of everyone who ate it. But man, it was tasty.

Sidebar: I just noticed that I left the casserole sitting in the oven with the timer running for 55 minutes. Too bad I forgot to turn the oven on. Dinner is delayed for an hour. Effffff!

Miner's Casserole
24 oz cottage cheese $1.88
1/2 lb Velveeta Ok, I love sticky, spongy, glowing orange bricks as much as the next person but I used shredded cheddar, about 2 cups $1.25
1/4 c margarine, cut in crumbs Here I used butter. We shy away from margarine in our house. But no judgment.  28 cents
6 beaten eggs 42 cents
6 tablespoons flour 3 cents
10 oz package chopped frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry, and pulled apart 99 cents
1/4 lb Italian Sausage I added this to make it seem a little more hefty. It gives it a little something extra 75 cents

Mix everything up. Put it in a greased 9x13. Bake one hour. Cool five minutes. Cut into squares.

Confession: I forgot until right now to add the flour. Dang you, bourbon!

Total: $5.60

I cut it into 15 squares so  37 cents for a square.
___________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal with blueberries and some powdered milk I have a bunch of powdered milk in the freezer for bread recipes so I'm starting to use it when I cook. The blueberries were free. 14 cents
Snack: Banana 11 cents
Lunch: Taco Soup 86 cents
Snack: Pretzel twist (free!) and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups From the Honor Snack box. Sometimes it is impossible to resist. But it is highway robbery at $1 per snack.
Dinner: Miner's casserole x2 that's what happens when you wait an extra hour to eat 74 cents

Total: $2.71

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do

Even when it is just with your hairstylist. I really like my hairstylist. She first cut my hair when I took off a mega-ton of inches to donate to Locks of Love. (Why can't I write that donation off my taxes?) She's kept it in shape all summer and fall.

But, I have no money. And when I have no money, one of the first things to go is the regular haircuts. That's actually one reason I grew my hair out in the first place. I couldn't afford the upkeep. I mean, sure, I use a lot more conditioner when I have long hair, but really that is it. I don't use more shampoo. I don't even use the blow drier more. In fact, I probably dry my hair more now than when I had long hair and just threw it in a ponytail wet. (Everyday, because I care about what my co-workers think of my hair.)

Sidebar: I really don't like sitting in a chair that long to get my hair cut. I'll gladly be immobile for any number of reasons (reading, tv, staring off into the middle distance, getting a cavity drilled) but a haircut isn't one of them. I think it's from all the time I spent in rollers as a child. I sported a perm from 3rd grade until 9th. I want my youth back, but not the Little Orphan Annie hair-do.

So getting a haircut just feels too indulgent right now.  But I still need at least one paying cut. (My stylist shapes up the back and thins out the sides for free. I guess stylists consider "preventing mullets" a worthy cause.) So I'm trying to be very strategic about my last $40 haircut.

Sidebar: My husband cuts his own hair. I was tempted to try it. But I won't, the results would probably cost more than $40 to fix. 

I think I'll go in and ask for her opinion. But first, I'll say, "It's not you, it's me."

____________________________________________
Breakfast: Tortilla, Banana, Peanut Butter 31 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 47 cents
Lunch: Taco Soup 86 cents
Dinner: Grilled Cheese and Turkey 83 cents
Movies: Popcorn $7! SEVEN dollars. I could eat for two days on seven dollars! What was I thinking?

Total: $9.47

Taco Soup

Last weekend My Office Space and I ran a 5 mile trail race. At the end of the race, there's soup, which is the perfect thing to warm up with after a long slog through the woods. Out of the many options, I chose taco soup. It was so good. I knew that most of the ingredients it would take were on sale at the grocery store that week and that I had some ground turkey patties in the freezer, so I went home and found a recipe online.

This if very chili-esque, but a nice change from chili. And it's very quick to make, but could simmer all day in the crock pot if you wanted.

I don't remember where I got this recipe from. Most of them were very similar, just with tiny variations. I made some variations of my own.

Taco Soup

3/4 pounds ground turkey. It called for 2 pounds of ground beef. In my opinion, 2 pounds would be too meaty. $2.25
1 package taco seasoning. 50 cents
1 1/2 cups water. I know water isn't free but I'm considering it like salt and pepper and herbs. It would take more time to figure out than it is worth.
1 can mild chili beans. 50 cents
1 1/2 cans pinto beans. I used more pinto beans because of the less meat. I used dried pinto beans but I don't know what that would cost, so canned would cost 75 cents
1 can stewed tomatoes. 80 cents
1 can diced tomatoes. 80 cents
1 small can diced green chilies. 98 cents
1 package ranch mix. $1.47
1 can corn. I used frozen corn but canned would cost 50 cents.

In a large pot, cook the turkey. Add all ingredients.Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until heated through.

Everything together costs $8.55. It makes about 10 cups so about 86 cents a cup.
____________________________
Breakfast: Banana and peanut butter on a tortilla 31 cents
Lunch: Working lunch on the road! (Chicken fried steak, if you must know.)
Snack: Free doughnut!
Dinner: Taco soup and crackers 89 cents

Total: $1.20

Compressing the Work Week

Have you guys seen gas prices lately? Have they gone up as much in your town as they have here? They're something like $2.73.

Sidebar: Liberal Ideology Alert! Please skip down the the un-italic section if you do not wish to think me a "dirty liberal." I dare say there also may be Conservative Ideology Alerts in the future of this blog. I can't be expected to fit into one neat label. I think our (the US's) gas is too cheap. Artificially so--it doesn't take into account the "real cost" of this very useful, very limited, not-very-clean, non-renewable resource. Just because it's there, doesn't mean we have to suck every reserve dry. That's the smug, washed hippie in me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be a sanctimonious hypocrite, I drive a lot more than I should or than I want to. My commute is 45 miles one way. I cringe every time I think about it. I even tried to figure out how to take public transportation. But that involved either driving 26 miles in worse traffic to catch the right bus, or spending a minimum of 3 hours and 48 minutes on public transportation, one way, every day. That is unpossible. It would take less time for me to bike to work. I actually did the math on that, too.

I used to try to predict when gas would go up. I tried to fill up when I thought it was cheapest, only to see it for less the next time I drove by the gas station. It is, as Whatever and Ever Amen has been know to say, like pulling the lever on a slot machine in Vegas--you can hope for the best but never know what you're going to get.

This summer, I talked to my boss about working four long days a week instead of five. I had a feeling gas was going no where but up and wanted to have a back-up plan in case it did. Then the Deepwater Horizon exploded. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I truly believe big oil decided to keep gas prices low to distract the American public from thinking long and hard about our gas-guzzling culture. I mean, an ecological disaster (and an economic disaster for the Gulf region) on top of sky-rocketing gas prices on top of the already existing detractors of big oil could have created big problems for oil, not just BP. So, I continued, like the rest of America, to drive.

I'm glad, though, I designed a escape plan for driving 5 days a week and had floated it past my non-committal, though receptive, boss. The first thing I did Monday morning after the husband was made redundant, was to re-institute Project 4-Day-Week. (After checking on the devilish health insurance, that is.) The deal is, I'll work 4 long days and be available from home on the other. There isn't one day that is set in stone as my "day off." I'm flexible.

I hope this current rise in prices recedes or at least levels off. I know I still may have some options left to economize. I mean, I'm not planning on picking up an unwashed hippie sitting at the entrance to the turnpike and trying to get some gas money out of him any time soon.  But I could try to find a fellow commuter. I used to say confidently, "My next car will be a hybrid," just because I so dislike the act of putting gas into my car. And maybe if I keep this car for 75 years, I'll be able to afford a hybrid! In the mean time, we try to keep my tires properly inflated and not drag around too much recycling in my trunk. I try to drive the speed limit or a little under. But usually I'm guilty of hitting the accelerate button on my cruise control a few too many times. I wonder how slow I could drive on the Interstate before I would piss off the other drivers and trick them into thinking I'm a really young looking 97-year-old woman.

As far as trying to get cheaper gas, I know there are places online like gasbuddy.com that are supposed to compare prices of gas in your area. But gasbuddy.com relies on users to report gas prices and there don't seem to be many users in my area. My grocery store uses some confusing algorithm for giving you a discount on your gas if you bought groceries that day. So I usually try to buy gas on the days I buy groceries. I never know how much I should get back, so I just pull that lever and hope for a win.

Sidebar: I wish gas pumps were more like slot machines. It would make getting gas a lot more fun.
__________________
Breakfast: egg on English Muffin 27 cents
Snack: granola bar 47 cents
Lunch: taco soup 86 cents
Snacks: celery 7 cents
Fake Dinner: Free McD's French Fries
Dinner: sausage sandwich and sweet potato patties 89 cents

Total: $2.56