You wanna know why I'm exercising extra these days?
Because my dear Mommy made me this delicious pie for my birthday. (remember the missing recipe card from Grammy's Recipe box? here's the evidence!) And I ate THE WHOLE THING all by myself.
Book updates
Here are my most recent reads with quick impressions:
The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith (part of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series) - hmmm, 'twas just ok. Not my favorite of the series.
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart - a terrific kid book, tho not necessarily something I'd read on my own.
Bone by Bone by Carol O'Connell. O'Connell is one of my all-time favorite mystery/suspense/thriller writers. I LOVED this book. She's an author after my own heart - she communicates SO MUCH in so few words and very quickly develops quirky, unique, smart characters. Added to my favorites list.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows - quite a good read. My only complaint is that I thought there were a couple too many modern cliches/characters that distracted a bit from the WWII era feeling.
I finished The Little French Girl by Anne Douglas Sedgwick and loved it from beginning to end. Added it to my favorites list.
Philippa by Anne Douglas Sedgwick - a worthwhile read, but I didn't love it the way I did The Little French Girl. Kind of a sad book with a sad-ish ending (really the only kind of ending it could have had, given the characters & their actions).
Rant
You all know that the only way out of this market/economy/bail-out MESS is through INFLATION, right? Even *I* (a non-big-picture sort of person) can see that. But still it bugs me that *they* (y'know, *those people*, whoever *they* are) are trying to hide it from me/us. For some reason, they think I won't notice that my dog's food price has risen by $7/bag AND the bag has shrunk from 40lbs to 35lbs. Haven't you noticed that happening at the grocery store, too? Ice Cream is now 1.5qt, not 2qts. Honey Grahams are now narrower crackers and not filled to the top of the box. These things bug me. Why can't everything just stay the same size and have the price rise to whatever it needs to rise to. But no. *They* have to be tricky about it. Rant over.
And now the irony:
I'm a pretty cost-conscious chickie (as evidenced by the rant above). I shop around. I compare costs. I buy as cheap as I can to get the best that I can get. I actually study those dumb tags at the grocery store that break down the price/oz so I can see if the sale item is really and actually a sale. I'll buy stuff (stockpile) before I need it, if I find it at a good price. If time=money, then I waste a whole bunch of time to save a little bit of money. And then after I pay for my carefully shopped-for items, I swing by the coffee kiosk and pluck down $3+ for this silly drink. Frugality, be damned.
11 comments:
we all have our vices, now don't we? You save that $$ on the other things so you CAN get your drink-of-choice.
I'm laughing out loud here Susan! For me, it's that stupid McDonald's Diet Coke that I pay $2.00 for now. And I'm not even supposed to be drinking it at all (because of my kidney stone), but I still splurge every now and then. What a waste of money!
First off, does that pie plate have WORDS on it like a book? It looks like it does. Very cool.
Happy Birthday!
Thanks for the book updates.
And, inflation sucks. And I hate trickery.
Hey, a girl's gotta have their coffee.
And just shows how oblivious I am... I don't notice the changes in weight/volume. When things run out, I buy new ones. Would probably have better finances if I paid attention to those kinds of things.
This is why I LOVE your blog - not only do you have GREAT images and FABULOUS advise on how to get those images - when you do have words, they are GREAT to read.
I LOVE your book recommendations. I have a couple of books on my "to get and read" list because of your blog.
THANKS!
I could go for a slice of that pie right now! As for the rant, my sister got me a box of Fruit Roll Ups, which I hadn't had since we were kids. I wasn't sure if they had shrunk or if I'm just bigger than I used to be when I used to eat them. The irony is true, although not as bad as the lady I knew who bought a new widescreen TV, but didn't pay her electric bill, so they cut her electricity. :)
Oh, I'm *so* with you, Susan! The price increases for Breyers and dog food... it's killing me! And like you said-- you don't even get as much! Oh, it's painful... and so nice to know I'm not the only one :)
I just got a used copy of Little French Girl and I can't wait to start reading it.
That pie looks so yummy.
I remember when they dropped the ice cream size from 1/2 gallon to 1.75 quarts and kept the same price. I was appalled at the trickery. But now, the gall!, to reduce the size to 1.5 quarts and *raise* the price! Now maybe I'll have incentive not to buy it anymore.....or maybe not.
By the way, would love to hear your thoughts on the election/inauguration...but maybe this isn't the place. =)
Rhea -
no words. it's a glass pie dish sitting on top of some papers on my desk :-)
Christi -
do please tell me how you like it!!
Janet -
for shame ... political commentary, *here*??? you must have me mistaken for somebody else ;-)
Is/was that a cherry pie????
I am also a frugal shopper. My husband came home from Kroger the other day with a single bulb of garlic that now costs .69 each instead of by the pound. We are doing most of our food shopping at Super H-Mart now; that's a really cool Asian market that has tons and tons of fresh produce, lots of meats and oodles of seafood. Oh, and the garlic was .99 for 3 packages of 6 each!
Post a Comment