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
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February 14, 2010
Tidbits of Tradition
My Korean brow tamer tells me of a tradition in Korea wherein Valentine’s Day is the day women buy chocolates for the men, and a man may reciprocate by paying for dinner on a Valentine’s Day date. A month later, the tables turn and on March 14th, White Day, men are the gift-givers and must select a gifts to reciprocate to the woman (or not, if his heart ‘clines in another direction). Yet a month later, Black Day gathers up all the singles who didn’t give or receive on either Valentine’s Day or White Day for a mourn-your-singledom dinner with black noodles.
Yesterday was Lunar New Year Eve, and half conscious, I heard some family drop by early in the morning to dispense with the traditional home visits. My cousin and her young children brought back a flood of memories of my childhood. Our family had a set tradition brought from the homeland that’s changed slightly over the years, but not too much. Once upon a time, the Lunar New Year was the Winter Break in our nook of Vietnam. Businesses went dark, families kept their quarrels safely behind their teeth, a set of new clothing was bought (or made) for every individual to wear once they’d literally swept the old year over the threshold.
The lunar celebration spanned at least a week, usually two. Families made house calls. Adults drank tea together, while the children were taught to wish their elders a formal Happy New Year, happiness, health and wealth. Each successful well wisher was rewarded with a red envelope.
That practice came to the States with my family, and I absolutely hated it. Shaking with stage fright, despite only addressing close relatives I spent time with frequently, I would gladly have forfeited the red envelopes and the hoard of cash to avoid mumbling, stumbling, as I followed my glib sib’s silver tongue and brash declarative act, embarrassed and discomfited by the staring eyes.
Once everyone had paid and been paid, food and the gambling! We had kiddy games, die with animals printed on all the sides, kind of like craps. The adults played blackjack, because Grandma loved it, and a complicated card game using tiny colored strips with printed Chinese, because Grandma loved it.
Grandma unabashedly whupped our butts every year in card games, thus thoroughly unseating any notion that gambling could be profitable. And it wasn’t for the sake of teaching us a lesson, I’ll tell you that much, she just liked winning.
Over the years, the practice of parading the children in front of a grinning group of adults has eased up. The nuclear family groups have sprouted entire new branches and bringing the old group together would be nigh-on impossible. But then again, this generation wouldn’t really mind. Born and raised in a highly affirmative environment, they lack nothing, least of all confidence, and claiming the red envelope for showing off is a matter of due course. Kids these days. 😉
Possibly my favorite (for now) part of that tradition is that, in my family, red envelopes are given until you’ve married. At that point, you’re considered a true adult and then become an envelope giver. My friends alternately gripe that it’s a disincentive to marry and that they want to incorporate that into their families. Evidently some families cut you off once you’re earning an adult’s income.
I just smile. There are memories sacred to every family.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to call my cousin and wish her Happy New Year, and thank her for delivering red envelopes I didn’t earn.
Edit: And chiming in for the Japanese tradition, see FB’s comment below, and hailing From Japan With Love:
“In Japan, Valentine’s Day is a bit different. The tradition here is that girls/women give chocolate to guys (girls get a present from those guys in March on “white day” -they get white gifts like white chocolate, marshmallow covered chocolate etc). Also, there is “giri choco” which basically means “obligation chocolate”. Women give chocolate to their bosses or some other important men in their lives-this is expected and has a long tradition in Japan.
But what is a new trend in Japan is “tomo choco” meaning “friendship chocolate” and according to a recent survey 74 percent of women plan to give a Valentine’s gift to a female friend but only 32 percent intended to buy something for a boyfriend. In another survey a chocolate maker surveyed 500 women and 92% said they had received tomo choco from a friend last year. And of these women, only 11.2 percent said they plan to give chocolates to a someone they love.”
February 12, 2010
I’ve got a queue of things to give away, but as we’re well into tax season during which people swear to start better recordkeeping, and it’s still the first quarter of the year, I think it’s practical to start with tools for organization and business.
**You may enter both giveaways, you just need to tailor your entries for each one! I’m keeping track of entries separately so you have equal chances for either prize.**
Free one-year subscription to the upgraded online PearBudget
Value: $36
Co-founder Charlie Park was kind enough to drop by and let me know that all my major objections to the software had been addressed in the online version and offered me a free subscription as well as one for my readers. I encourage you to drop by and try their 30-day free subscription to decide if you like it. You won’t need a credit card for the free trial.
How to Enter:
(One entry) Leave a comment including “Pearbudget,” your name and a valid email address.
Tell me about your current tracking system and what you love and hate about it.
(One entry) Follow me and tweet this ONCE
“Win a Pearbudget subscription from @RevancheGS: http://bit.ly/aV8AMp”
(Two entries) Blog about this giveaway
Link back in a comment to let me know.
(Two entries) Subscribe to my feed (If you already subscribe, let me know in a comment)
And lure in a new reader who would sincerely like this blog and hang out for good times. Actually I have no idea how you’d do the latter, so instead you can regale me with a story about how you would have done, if you could have.
Rules and Restrictions
1. I will select a winner at random using a number generator.
2. My decisions are final.
3. Pearbudget is responsible for changing your account to a free account for a year after I select a winner.
4. Open to anyone with an internet connection.
5. Giveaway closes 11:59 pm PST, March 2nd.
500 business cards from Uprinting
Uprinting’s at it again, so for those of you who still haven’t snagged a set of business cards for yourself or your blog, you have a chance to win a fairly snazzy set here.
The Specs:
Sizes: 2 x 3.5”, 2 x 3”, 2 x 2” (square card) or 1.5 x 3.5” (skinny card)
Paper: 14 pt gloss cardstock, 14 pt matte cardstock or 13 pt recycled uncoated cardstock
Specifications: Full Color Both Sides; Offset Press; 3 Business Day Printing
The ordering process should be pretty simple (though playing with the template designs might take you a while). I was pleasantly surprised when I ordered business cards online the first time around, though it was with another company. If you like, you can check out what other swag and doodads you can order and print online at their site.
How to Enter:
(One entry) Leave a comment including “Uprinting,” your name and a valid email address.
Tell me what you’re going to do with the other 400 cards because, let’s face it, I’ve never given away more than 100 of any set of business cards ever.
(One entry) Follow me and tweet this ONCE
“Win Uprinting business cards from @RevancheGS: http://bit.ly/aV8AMp”
(Two entries) Blog about this giveaway
Link back in a comment to let me know.
(Two entries) Subscribe to my feed (If you already subscribe, let me know in a comment)
Come back and tell me a funny story. (Optional)
Rules and Restrictions
1. Open to US residents only. (Sorry guys! They’re paying for shipping, I don’t have a say in this.)
2. I will select a winner at random using a number generator.
3. My decisions are final.
4. Uprinting is responsible for everything that comes after I pick a winner and tell them who to reward.
5. Giveaway closes 11:59 pm PST, February 20th.
Disclosure: There may be something in it for me in exchange for posting this giveaway, but I don’t know what it is yet, or if I’ll even accept it.
February 11, 2010
In a previous post, Pets and money: where do you draw the line?, we talked about a situation where a family had to choose between necessities and a pet’s health. The woman literally didn’t know how she was going to feed her kids, but with an unemployed husband, she still brought home a sick puppy.
I’m an animal lover, as my “retirement plan” clearly indicates, but I’m also a very practical person as my blog shows. At no point would I ever want to be faced with an either/or situation when it comes to the health of my family, including the furry, wet-nosed and four-footed members.
Knowing what I do about the costs of health care for animals, I could not, in good conscience, take on any more pets without a solid pet fund. Saying that aloud makes me feel like a Murphy’s target was just painted on my back.
I recommend being proactive: get an emergency kit and fund put together. You never know when an incident may strike and if it’s minor, a kit could save you an expensive visit to the vet’s office.
Lemons and the case for an animal emergency kit
So many people think: “it couldn’t happen to me. My pet is calm, quiet, and well-behaved, he/she/it wouldn’t ever need emergency anything.” Once in a while, that’s true. Some pets can go his/her/its entire life without needing more than routine maintenance. It’s a rarity, though.
I’m a mutt-lover. Each of my three dogs were a variation on a Mutt, and only one of them developed truly life-threatening health problems later in life. I was lucky enough to be working at a clinic at the time and he received top-notch care at a discount, but there were times I knew that, as a regular client, I would have been forced to make a final decision based on cost. Even with a 75% discount, I spent more than $3,000 on him on an $18,000 salary. My other two live(d) unnaturally long lives – the chihuahua lasted about 18 years, the large breed mix is still hobbling along at 15 years of age. We probably only have a few, if that many, years left together.
Some people believe in the power of the purebred. They think that good bloodlines are security, a bit of insurance against the run of the mill illnesses that plague mixed breeds, mutts, and scruffy rescues. To some degree, they’re right. They’re very unlikely to get a Parvo Pup from a reputable breeder – though there aren’t any such guarantees if you’re dealing with a disreputable breeder or even worse, a puppy mill.
But the thing purebreds have going for (or against) them is the predictability of their breeds. Labs have hip dysplasia, Dachshunds and other long, low-riders have spinal problems, Great Danes have gastric torsion, white Boxers are highly prone to cancer and lots of it. None of these mean that every purebred’s fate is set in stone, it just means they’re highly prone to specific illnesses.
What you don’t get in that list of “what they’re prone to” is the list of “what else could happen.”
GB: the cautionary tale
My dear friends bought a very Marleyesque dog, we’ll call him GB for the Good Boy he really tries to be. The cost of just bringing GB home was several hundred dollars, a cost that my pound/rescue supporting self will withhold comment on. They spent hundreds on puppy obedience training, a crate, beds, pens, and all the other conveniences.
The trouble started when GB got home. He was so excited and happy that he had to explore everything and everywhere, and everywhere bought him a big swollen bite on the face. It could have been a spider or insect bite, either way, he looked like one of those hugely magnified Hallmark cards. Off to the vet! Hundreds of dollars and a few shots later, his swelling went down and he worked up a rash instead.
For two weeks he was on antibiotics to treat the rash, infected because GB wouldn’t stop scratching at it, and then his immune system went haywire. He’d never had reactions to his vaccines before but after the bite, he was highly allergic to the vaccines and his vet decreed No More.
Life settled down a bit. I was asked for advice on some suspicious looking pink fleshy scabby things on his face, it seemed to be ok. For any other dog. Knowing GB, I sent them back to the vet anyway and sure enough, more meds. Surprisingly, GB was still in the neighborhood of sub $10,000 at this juncture but he’s nothing if not high-achieving.
A few months later, he couldn’t keep anything down. I didn’t hear about it for about a day, but as they became concerned, my phone started to ring. “Something to do with GB? Yes, take him to the vet.”
X-rays revealed that in his love of turf, he’d scarfed a tiny bit of netting with the grass and it had gotten caught somewhere on the way down to form a little net. Like a sieve, this one inch piece of netting cupped and blocked his intestinal tract, only allowing liquid to pass through. Three cups of dog foods a day came right back up. Two surgeries, another $10,000 later, and GB was sent home with orders to gain 20 pounds during recovery.
He’s had other incidents, like chronic ear infections for his love of swimming with his head underwater, but I’m just grateful he made it through his first year.
He’s a big ticket dog, for which a dog/pet health fund would be highly recommended as part of your arsenal as a pet owner. Pet insurance is always a consideration but it can be hit or miss. I think the decision whether or not to carry pet insurance depends on your cash flow, earning and saving power, and the extent and quality of the coverage offered.
On the more prosaic front, GB managed to injure himself again over the holidays, again sending his parents screaming for my help. Luckily, it was one of the easiest things in his medical history to deal with: a broken dewclaw. The dewclaw on a dog is that thumb-like nail that actually doesn’t serve a purpose but to get broken, chewed on, or hung up on things. The canine’s external appendix, if you will.
For that, I just needed a pair of dog nail clippers, gauze, medical tape and some powder to stop up the bleeding. After clipping off the shattered nail, I wrapped him up and sent him, fat-pawed and resentful, on his way. An emergency visit for that would have cost them at least $100 for the late night visit and then a bit more for simple treatment.
I’d recommend having a Pet Kit on hand for some of the more routine things that your pet could require. My own held the following:
1. Nail clippers. Not the ones that look/act like a guillotine, my dogs hated those. The ones that were more like scissors. They’re easier to control and less uncomfortable for the pet. These are good for basic maintenance, and for situations like GB’s.
2. Cotton balls, long Qtips, and gauze. Pets get into stuff, getting scratches, scrapes and all over in dirt, grass and blood. They’re kind of like kids that way. It’s easier to assess the situation when they’re cleaned up. Long Q-tips are great for keeping ears clean, especially if you’ve got a chronic ear infection on legs. (We did.) Water dogs should also have cotton stuffed in their ears to help protect them from ear infections as well – be sure to check with your vet before you do anything like that, though!
3. Medical tape or wrap that sticks to itself. I used Vetwrap which is like a hybrid between Saran Wrap and medical tape.
4. Towels/rags: Always useful after baths, wrapping up the bedraggled, and containing messes (ahem, vomit).
$$$$
As far as a pet fund goes, I’d be most comfortable with having at least $1,000 per pet assuming I’m still maintaining an outsized amount of cash on hand. If not, I’d like to have closer to $5,000 squirreled away per pet. They can borrow from one another but I don’t like to take for granted that they’ll take turns being sick or injured.
Disclaimer: I’m not a veterinarian- I cannot diagnose your pets. When in doubt, please see your vet.
February 10, 2010
Could I have the mic, please?
I must express my sincere thanks to each of you who reads this blog, shares your experiences, and supports me through some of my ugliest, most painful moments.
More than that, several of you whom I don’t yet have permission to thank publicly but would really like to!, were overwhelmingly compassionate when Fabulously Broke and Rina of Gotta Little Space sent out a plea of comradery and community after my post on Sunday. It had been a soul-rending sort of day and I deeply needed to purge the poisons of paralytic despair, never dreaming it would become a call to arms.
FB made the argument for a spot of help better than I ever could have – I couldn’t have justified asking for anything. I trek from today, to tomorrow, to next week, making the best of it. Nobody was compelled, no one was importuned with expectation. But you gave anyway. And you gave with wishes that it could be more, when no matter how much (and never ever “how little”) you gave, the gesture meant the world to me.
I’m not destitute, just heartwrecked. I didn’t have the words, who knows if I ever would, to ask for help for myself but I am blessed with friends who know me well enough to step in anyway.
Because my parents are destitute. They’ve lost the joy and freedom that parents earn after raising two children, they’ve stalled in gear, in survival mode. Instead of pride in a job well done, instead of relishing time-mellowed relationships with their adult children, they’re always fretting. Reliance on their daughter must be crippling her future, they think, and so they pinch every penny, unable to partake in the most basic pleasures in life. Rarely taking good enough care of themselves. Asking, needing yet more from me, was destroying the definitions of their parenthood, shaking already fragile psyches.
It is on their behalf, I gratefully accept these helping hands that aren’t about me, that are about helping people over an increasingly rough road until we can make more permanent decisions. Those decisions cannot be made lightly, they take time and ever-limited resources. Resources like extra gas money for twice or thrice weekly 60-mile round trips to the nearest, properly-equipped adult day care center and the invaluable benefits. Resources like that can buy time, a chance for rest, for solace, for reflection and planning. And time can bring a measure of peace and clarity.
A wise friend said, “if we don’t help each other, who will?”
Though I firmly believe the same, that fact has never before come home with such grace and selflessness. For our good fortune, in this wealth of friendship, please know that this will be put to good use, and will be passed forward.
February 9, 2010
When you’re in pain, the world needs to know. Sorry loves, I’m updating you on the weird developments in my dental world.
All last week, as my
Tweeple might have heard, I was in
excruciating pain. Purportedly stress-related, it was agonizing and frustrating that the pain kept coherent thought at bay and kept me at that high level of stress. Almost as upsetting was the foggy realization that I was spending money on things I a) would normally avoid, or b) had to buy for convenience’s sake. Adding up the numbers is fairly well horrifying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Category A:
Repeat or unnecessary medications: My dad offered to make what would have been my third trip out to the hospital to pick up medications. The pharmacy filled one too many and sent him home with Naproxen, the OTC version of which I already had.
Processed foods: At best I was gumming my meals and even that hurt. I couldn’t take one more day of liquids-only or scrambled eggs so I bought packaged mashed potatoes (just add water!) and Top Ramen. I could just microwave the one, and overcook the other into mush. [Yeech!]
Category B:
Ordered in food: I paid a premium for high-calorie, high-sodium soup because I desperately needed extra calories and my dad can’t handle non-Asian cooking. He means well but he’s only cooks Asian-style and recipes make no sense to them. *sigh* OTOH, French onion soup. Oh yes….
Category C – luxuries, unbudgeted:
One of my close friends, a massage therapist, called me on Saturday at noon with instructions to nap, drink plenty of water and drive 50 miles to see her. She took me to an acquaintance whose background includes physical therapy among other homeopathic disciplines, and we spent an hour and a half working on postural analysis and some exercises. My good ole narcotic had worn off before we crossed his threshold, and the pain level didn’t spike during our session. For five days, pain has exploded as soon as a med wore off… this was nothing short of breathtaking.
She bundled me off and gave me a good long massage (she insists it was only an hour, but I suspect she fudged the time a bit.) I insisted on paying her because her partner is on disability right now and money is tight, but she also insists that the next massage is free. Who am I to argue?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I can think again.
I could drive, I could talk on the phone for short bursts, I can remember things. (Not everything, but it wasn’t a certified miracle.) Pain management is incredible.
The eagle-eyed might notice that, above, my dentist, for the pleasure of making me cry when he thwacked my already smarting teeth with his instrument, gave me a 10% discount on the nightguard. Actually, he noted the discount when he found out that I was paying cash. But still. They both discounted the total price and didn’t charge to expedite the order. (I’d told them there was a chance I had to be out of town the following week for an interview.) Good folks.
We’re not all the way there yet, but lots of deep breathing and judicious use of the painkillers makes an enormous difference. There really seems to be something to this alignment business. If I can, I’d like to see him one more time to help winnow the pain down to less than a daily occurrence and work on my own from there.
February 8, 2010
Many of us who grew up with the mantra Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle may be most familiar with it thanks to the annual Earth Day activities in school where you spent a week collecting cans or brought in stacks of paper you thought your parents were done with for recycling. (Ooops.)
SSB4C made a great point about the misconception that recycling is an adequate cure-all. It’s not free, and it’s better not to use the item in the first place if you don’t need to. But our society runs so much on the Disposable Attitude that I’d like to advocate another form of eco-friendliness: repurposing.
When and where you can: consider a different purpose for an item you’re about to discard.
Containers are the simplest to repurpose. Empty glass jars become coin collectors, storage for leftovers, a temporary home for new plants, a desk organizer for pens and pencils, “hurricane glasses” for tea lights, etc. Creative kids can turn containers in to booby traps, treasure chests, bombs of all sorts.
Does anyone remember the milk jug scoops? When you finished up a gallon of milk, an adult would cut out a portion of the side, and kids could use it for scooping sand (or water during a massively unfair water fight before it escalates to just using the hose).
Or the last of the shampoo in the bottle was diluted for you to make bubbles with. Toilet paper rolls become chew toys for the dogs, cats bat around bundles of old shoelaces with a long trailing lace.
A bag full of my t-shirts, scrubs, scrap materials became a quilt.
What about choosing not to buy things if you can repurpose another item?
I’ve used this former travel pack box of Q-tips as: a wallet sized photo holder (high school) credit card/gift card holder (college), and now a pillbox.
Use glass or plastic jars to grow some herbs on the window sill, or glasses as cookie cutters instead of buying round cookie cutters?
Opt to just microwave your cup of water for tea instead of buying a new kettle like EM?
Use old or mismatched socks as cleaning and dusting rags instead of buying disposable cleaning wipes? I do this all the time to clean my blinds because they fit right over my hand like those cleaning gloves, and I don’t have to grip or anything. Just spray and wipe.
Or use the clean mate-missing sock to make a heating sock? Fill it up with rice and heat in the microwave instead of buying a heating pad. This works wonderfully as a drape across your shoulders too, for a relaxation technique. Though I’m more willing to sacrifice beans (ugh) than edible rice, I don’t know if it heats up just as well.
There are hundreds of ways we can choose to save time, money, resources and some space in a landfill by being a little creative.
February 6, 2010
From the readers
444 Express meets the insufficient funds monster! And has managed to prevent a promotional balance from garnering all the interest from the promo period on a card carrying a balance.
Abigail of I Pick Up Pennies: 1. My MIL is (finally!) quitting smoking. She has been using Kroger brand patches. She went to get another box of the step she was on. Couldn’t find it. Went to 3 more Fred Meyer’s and… nothing.
So she went up to the pharmacy and asked if they had any in the back. He said they were out. She mentioned they were out at 3 other stores. So he made a call. Turns out, they’re not going to make that step anymore.
She asked if he would give her the Nicoderm at the Kroger price. He said he didn’t think he could do that. She pointed out that it seemed unfair to pull the rug out from under people who had started the program with the generic. He thought about it, made a call, and gave her the generic price. Fifteen dollars saved — which is a big deal when you’re on disability!
2. We got Tim 3 pairs of sunglasses (he loses/breaks them a lot) and he wanted to get a case or two to keep them safe. So we headed over to Walmart’s optical store. As we were discussing the merits of various cases, an employee approached us. He had a case — nicer than the ones we were looking at, and it came with a cleaning cloth — that he had been given and wasn’t using. He just handed it to us. (So, okay, this wasn’t us asking, per se. But it was still pretty cool!)
3. At Macy’s the woman in front of us was using a $10 off coupon. I asked where she got it, she told me it was in that day’s paper. When it didn’t work for her, she offered it to us. It was supposed to stop working at 1 p.m. (It was about 1:10.) But we tried it anyway, and it worked. And I wouldn’t have gotten the coupon if I hadn’t asked the woman about it.
Karen – My lease was up for renewal and the management sent me a letter with my rent increase. It was a 6% increase. I have never renewed a lease so I am uncertain if this is a standard rate increase. Due to owning a dog greater than 25lbs and needing to live within a certain radius, my options are limited. I called the property manager and asked why my rent was going up 6%. I was told my rent was under market value and that it would still be under market value with the 6% increase. She asked if I was expecting no increase. I wasn’t however I wasn’t expecting 6%. She said she would look at my lease renewal and see what she could do. She called back and offered a 4% increase instead.
Personal victories
Textbook madness: With only two classes, I shouldn’t complain but I had ordered books in readiness for the new quarter only to be surprised with a different book on the syllabus posted on the first week of classes. Mon Dieu, professor! Why lead me astray so I’ve a useless book at the ready and naught to be used??
I emailed the instructor, hoping with my eyes squeezed shut that it was an old syllabus, that he’d neglected to update the text. Alas, twasn’t the cast. Crestfallen, I glared at the book. I had to find, and price- and shipping-times compare. Like Superman (Prime), like Optimus (Prime), Amazon Prime came to my rescue, the book priced just $2 less than the rental with a two-day ship time.
Unexpectedly, an email pinged in from the instructor. He’d spoken with the course representative and suggested that we touch base for a reimbursement. A few emails and a phone call later, the course representative agreed to reimburse me for the cost of the replacement book. ($63)
But the saga doesn’t end there — I was expecting to hit the road and needed the replacement book to meet me at a halfway point. Thanks to Amazon Prime, I expected to see the new book within a couple of days, but it took me almost 48 hours to realize that the shipping address had reverted to my home address. Cuh-rap. Another round of calls to Amazon to get the shipment rerouted turned into five calls and 16 hours of frustration. Finally, I was offered a $10 discount from Amazon for their inability to help me (and for the previous CSRs lying to me). I spent half of it to get the book shipped to the right place.
Macy’s and the everlasting coupon: Like Bed, Bath and Beyond, Macy’s has become one of those retailers I won’t shop without a coupon. They’re overpriced and reasonable only with a combination of sale, coupon and gift card. Unfortunately, my friends insisted on making an impromptu stop without doing coupon research beforehand. *the horror*
I looked up coupons on my iPhone, and asked the floor manager if they were willing to scan my phone since I couldn’t print a coupon. He laughed at me saying, “You’re just trying to be difficult” and waved off the phone. Instead he manually entered a discount when he rang up the purchase, giving us 15% off every item instead of just 10% off Housewares. Savings: $10.79
Hot Pot and VH’s butcher trick: A friend and I had hot pot plans for dinner, but I was too tired to shop at the Asian grocery store, Trader Joe’s, the produce place, AND Safeway. We needed thinly sliced pork, though, and usually there’s no call for that at a regular grocery store. My only option seemed to be buying pork chops at $4/lb and slicing thin strips off the chops.
Instead, I talked to the butcher at Safeway, explained what I needed and lo, he led me straight to the pork shoulder, on sale for 99 cents/pound and offered to slice it up for me. I should have gotten a few pounds of the pork and frozen it for later at that price! He saved me both an extra trip and 75% off the meat.
As always, every little bit counts! And as always, I welcome your sharing!
