About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
Read MoreAugust 13, 2010
That is an absolutely normal size, average, run of the mill pen. That is a zucchini. Surprisingly, not on ‘roids. Grown in someone’s backyard, visiting friends brought three of those monstrosities to me and insisted I take them. 1/4 of the fat end made 4 servings of this:
I’m gonna be eating free zucchini for a week. Quick zucchini saute recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.
August 10, 2010
While washing dishes, or really just scrubbing at the balsamic vinegar charcoal that PiC managed to burn into my new Corningware Simply Lite, I ruminated on the differences in our buying habits. This was prompted by the new tiny bottle of dishwashing liquid he set out last week to replace the last bottle of three he’d purchased while moving into his last abode more than 4 years ago.
I remember, faintly, taking him to the store and teaching him about doubling and stacking coupons, those many years ago. We bought those three small bottles for pennies on the dollar and I proudly sent him on his way with newfound knowledge of coupon clipping. I had no clue that, as a basically single person (we were LD at the time), he would not finish the stash until I moved up years later.
In total contrast, I’ve always shopped in bulk for household goods. Toilet tissue, any kind of cleaning supplies, detergents, Q-tips: anything that could be used up had to be bought in bulk because 4 people would go through the stash like nobody’s business. I reflexively calculate how many coupons I can gather before a grocery or household run, and figure out how to store it later.
The mentality was that if I was out of something, I had to buy enough for the whole household – never just that I had to replace my own. Besides, anyone with siblings knows that once the irresponsible sibling runs out of stuff, your stuff is toast. It was some form of self-preservation. (So was my well developed habit of hoarding and hiding the stashes so that said sibling couldn’t use it up when I wasn’t looking. MY root beer, dammit!)
It’s a bit disconcerting now when I shop with PiC. In a full-size household, I thought, you buy whenever the prices are excellent because you will need and use it. In a this-size household, I’m having to hold back a bit** and realize that we actually might not use three tubs of detergent before Christmas and that it’s not actually necessary to stock up quite as much as I used to.
**Except when it comes to canned tomatos and cereal. The man consumes as much cereal in a week as I do regular food. If he keeps eating at a 1 (my) bowl to 1 (his) box ratio, I’m going to have to start hiding a stash!
Just another oddity of this stage of my life! Watch, when I finally adjust, we’ll add more mouths to feed. Furry, slobbery, doggery mouths.
August 9, 2010
My high school service award was a $500 savings bond for college.
Our lovely Kiwanians, however, hadn’t really looked carefully at the terms of the bond, or the kind of bond they were buying, and 10 years later, the Series EE bond has only appreciated to a grand total of $374. It’s the sort of bond that takes thirty years to accrue to full value, you see, and so was probably the worst choice for a college fund.
I can’t really decide if it’s worth waiting another 20 years for that bond to mature. Why not cash it out at $374 now and invest it or just put it toward one of my mid-term savings goals?
August 7, 2010
I brought this purse back from my last visit with Grandma three years ago always intending it for a gift. But it never quite seemed to fit the personality of the gals I know. (I was going to give away the Southwest drink coupons too, but I have no idea where they went. If enough people mention they’d like them in their comments, I’ll try to find them.)
P’raps you’d like to help it find a new home? P’raps you would like to welcome this purse into your home?
To Enter:
1. Leave a comment with your name and email address, and who you’d like the purse for. (1 entry)
2. Tweet about this giveaway, include my handle so I can track your entries: “Win a tiny purse from @RevancheGS: http://bit.ly/9SnS2L” (1 entry per day)
3. Blog about it and leave a comment with your link. (2 entries)
4. Bonus entry: Referring another entrant who will credit you for the tip! That entrant has to leave your name in a comment.
The Rules:
1. Enter by Monday, August 16th, 11:59 PM PDT.
2. Winner will be chosen by randomnumber.org and all decisions are final.
3. Winner must respond to my contact email within 48 hours or I’ll choose another winner.
4. Open to U.S. and Canadian readers.
I know you all love the Old Spice commercial (you do, don’t you??).
Evidently he’s gone on to do a few more silly such vids:
And an NYU student’s parody….
August 5, 2010
“They” always say not to save credit card or rewards points, and once again, “they” are right.
Somehow, I lost track of my various hotel loyalty programs and let one of the more valuable programs lapse.
It’s possible I wouldn’t have noticed it even today except I was browsing a lot of online sales and after fussing over a lot of clothes I’d like to order BUT didn’t want to pay shipping for, I came to my senses. If I’m going to spend on clothes, that can’t come out of my regular cash funds! They’re already stretched so it was time to go hunting for some point redemption for the next good sale.
That’s when the brilliant idea to cash in those long hoarded Starpoints flashed through my mind: Starpoints usually redeem at a 1:1 ratio and offer some premium stores like Nordstrom. Blissfully ignorant, I popped into the SPG website and tried to log in. After several failed attempts, I called the customer service number inquiring about my account.
Oh. It had been inactivated.
22,000 points, gone.
It’s been over 18 months since my last account activity and that meant it was fair game for deactivation. In fact, my Starpoints account had gone inactive back in April but I’ve been a little busy not staying in hotels or vacationing, sadly.
!!! I was really ticked at myself for letting that happen, so carefully asked about having the account reactivated which was surprisingly easy. The rep even volunteered the next happy bit of news: I haven’t permanently lost my points yet. They’ll reinstate those points in about 3-5 days.
My hoarding was with the best of intentions: I thought I’d find a way to earn a few more points to maximize my redemptions for up to $250 in gift certificates since I no longer travel and stay in Starwood hotels for work. Regardless of intentions, though, the result was that I almost lost a hefty redemption of $200 in gift certificates simply because I got greedy.
Don’t let your points get stale, redeem them if you’re not earning any more!
August 3, 2010
aka The Poor Hostess.
We had friends over the other weekend. By “we” I mean, PiC said they could come stay for the weekend and then took off on a previously planned trip. I kid, we both agreed it’d be great to see them but he had plans he couldn’t change on the same weekend so that left me with them. And I was fine with that, they’re great fun. But I realized that I’m not only a less than social creature, I’m not a great hostess.
I have this personal definition or image of a good host: you always have fresh linens on the bed, you have all kinds of goodies in the fridge, cook every meal and clear up afterwards letting your guests be entertained at their leisure. Kind of like the best dinner party slash sleepover ever, right?
But realistically, how on earth does a single person DO all that?
I definitely presided over the cooking/kitchen, there were certainly clean linens for the air mattress, fresh towels in a newly cleaned bathroom and I set it up for them but they helped me with the dishes, used their own towels, and fought with me over every bill.
2 to 1, I was bound to lose some of those fights. And let’s be honest, I’m not really comfortable with the predominantly Asian contact sport known as Give-Me-The-Bill-Or-I’ll-Throw-An-Elbow on a number of levels.
Looking at it from the other side, my cousins, for example, have hosted me (I’m nearly the youngest in that grouping) and they paid for everything, took care of everything, and chased me away from the dishes in the long ago past. That’s where I imprinted the idea of good hosting. Then again, when I’ve stayed with friends, I’ve done their dishes (and their roommates’), cleared up any messes, and chipped in for meals and household supplies that I used.
So is this a generational thing? Or am I taking advantage of free labor?
What do you consider good hosting habits?
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