October 15, 2007
I love it when a lunch plan comes together. I confess that I’m terrible at bringing lunch because it involves, oh, thinking ahead, being creative so I don’t have the same things over and over, you know, that kind of thing. Invariably, lunch is just dinner leftovers, which gets really old and boring.
But last week I did really well. Over the weekend, Vons had their salads BOGO ($3.79). That might not be the best price because I couldn’t find a coupon. Regardless, I needed to bring a salad for our grilled steak dinner on Saturday so I went ahead and grabbed two Fresh Express Pacifica Vegetable salads. They’re great! They have the 5 types of salad greens, sugar snap peas, roasted soy nuts, and sunflower seeds. So let’s say that was $2 for the salad. I also bought two mild cheddar blocks on sale for $1.50 each, and picked up another onion. Turns out I already had onions, but that’s ok, I’ll end up using it eventually.
I brought the salad, sliced and diced onion and a tomato, a few eggs, and cheese to work. The eggs, onions, cheese and tomato slices were breakfast for a couple days. This afternoon I put together the salad with the onion and cheese (I’d eaten up all the tomato this morning) and made my own thousand island dressing with the condiments we already had, and voila! Three delicious salads: one for me, the secretary, and Little Boss. And then the secretary toasted up a little chicken pizza and split that with me.
We girls are all feeling under the weather so we did spend $4 each on a big bowl of soup, but we’re going to buy a bunch of canned soups for the winter and leave them here in the office.
Next time, I’ll remember to add my canned corn, bring more tomatoes, and maybe even a cucumber. Buying prepackaged salads has always seemed a bit on the pricey side, especially if I was the only one eating them, but split it two or three ways and it’s still 66% less than buying at $7 salad here!
Salad: $1.75
Cheese: (will last for weeks, I’ll add it to almost everything) $1.50
Onion: (dozens of servings) $1
Corn: (4-6 servings) $0.50/can
Tomato: (if the birds stop eating them, homegrown) $0
Cucumber: $0.80
About $5 for three salads? Mmm…. yummy crunchy salad.
June 27, 2007
As I get closer and closer to the date of my own little Mecca, you’d think I would be gleefully planning each day, girding to do battle with the masses of people who’ll be attending Comic Con this year. Most especially, you’d think I would be hoarding my pennies more fiercely than ever to maybe add a little somethin’ to the miniscule budget ($200: food, parking, gifts for 4.5 days). Heck, I’m not even sure that I should be spending THAT much in the wake of some recent revelations!
You’d think. How I wish you were right! Because you’d be wrong. Oh, so wrong. The programming for Comic Con is still not available, and so I’ve not got a program to obsess over.
In its place, my obsessiveness has grabbed hold of my acquisitiveness left over from that weekend jaunt to Macy’s and now I’m restraining myself from yearning after adorable summer clothing the likes of which I can only imagine would be wonderful for our lunch reception aboard the USS Midway, or for the lectures of Salmon Rushdie and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Surely, surely you say, such intellectuals wouldn’t be interested in my attire if they even gazed in my direction. True, but I can’t help but want to make a good showing anyway. It’s not for them, it’s for me. Hah! That makes it even harder to stand firm. And NOT BUY. Lord, give me strength to resist!
“Anything I spend now only takes away from Con.” (Repeat 10, no, 100! times.) Where’s someone to browbeat me into obedience when I need him/her??
I know, this is not the most dire situation. But, still.
February 1, 2007
So I’m back on that cable thing because Time Warner cable drives me batty (their lack of customer service, hour+ hold times, the whole bit.)
My goal is to find a suitable replacement (again, this is mainly for PaDucky’s benefit because Lord knows I haven’t watched tv in months) with a much longer term, preferably a year. I’ve used the DishBuilder feature to pick the programming package that suits my needs.
Option 1:
~ $19.99 Dish Family: I get a very basic package. 8 children’s channels, a few basic news channels, etc.
$$: This is the most basic package they have and does not qualify for any discounts or their “$100 rebate.”
Total: $240/year, as long as they don’t change the price on this package.
Option 2:
~ $29.99 America’s Top 100: I get most of the channels that I’m looking for, though I still don’t understand why I can’t find Bravo ANYwhere.
$$: With the $10 discount for ten months, this package will cost $19.99 for ten months, and then default to the $29.99/month. That’s about the same price as the current cable deal, and an ok top price that I’m willing to pay per month.
Total: $260/year.
The thing I really don’t get? The option to choose your local channels for an additional $5. Um, don’t I already get those? I don’t mean with my current cable company. I mean for FREE. Don’t I? Don’t we all? Does any Dish Network customer know what I’m missing here?
