The people I live with have the annoying habit of eating everyday. Grocery shopping is a lot like doing laundry, in my opinion. It’s never really “done”, there are just various levels of “undone”. It seems that no matter how stringent our budgeting or how carefully I monitor purchases, the groceries always cost more than expected. Personally, I find it extremely irritating that even after spending a small fortune at the grocery store, I get home, unpack it and realize that little of what was just bought can actually be eaten. Laundry detergent, fabric softener, shampoo, toothpaste, conditioner, glass cleaner, cat litter, bleach, soap, toilet paper, etc. all add up, but other than the toothpaste, they aren’t *usually edible. We maintain lists of what we’re out of, what’s running low and special, upcoming items we’ll need. These lists are a tremendously helpful tool. They keep shopping a focused task and prevent me from buying uneccesary groceries, especially pre-prepared, impulse purchases. Unfortunately, the all-important list is often left at home on the counter, along with the reusable bags. And then, on the rare occasions when the planet align and I make it home from the store with provisions we actually need, packed neatly in their environmentally friendly reusable bags, feelings of accomplishment are short-lived because my kids, husband, and sometimes even the cats, descend like a plague of locusts, devouring food as quickly as it’s unpacked. Oft times nutritious, planned meals are thwarted by missing ingredients so I end up throwing together questionable dinners. As a result, I worry about the health of my children. Recently, while grocery shopping this attachment caught my attention.
reads, “Buy This Product to Support Children’s Health”
Whew, glad to know the secret to healthy kids! From now on I’m just buying kibble… I’ll tell the girls it’s cereal. Heck, I was quite the kibble **connoisseur in my day.
Lately there have been quite a few more car ads than normal. While sitting at a red light in Vancouver I spotted this. The “WTF” factor is, admittedly, arguable. On the one hand, it’s really nice that folks with limited mobility can enjoy the great outdoors. But on the other hand, should someone with severe physical restrictions really be out hunting large game? Many questions come to mind… Is The Action Trackchair quiet enough to sneak up on a deer or other animal? What if it runs out of batteries? If the rider shoots something how will he/she retrieve the kill? What are the terrain and weather limitations? Can it out run a bear?
Meet Husky and Snowflake. Both are female rats who reside in a classroom where I work. Surprisingly, I’m quite charmed with the pair, in spite of past prejudices regarding rodents. These ladies are clean, quiet and quite well-mannered. While sitting near their cage one day I felt a tugging on my hair. One of them had pulled my hair through the bars and was playing with it. This caused me to get the giggles, thus distracting nearby students diligently working. I’ve since been relocated to the other side of the room, but even from a distance, their antics are still delightful.
Given our current household demographics, I doubt that we’ll ever have rats of our own. I’m sure that the kitties would love them just a little too much.
Knitting. I still do knit from time to time; however, I hit that place in my DH’s knee-high socks where I seem to knit and knit and knit, but the sock looks exactly the same. Several more needle casualties have also hampered progress. Whenever I hit a knitting wall, I do the most sensible thing possible and cast on a new project. This time I started a Farmer’s Market Cardigan using some Organic Cotton Yarn. The OCY formerly made up a blanket that was 3/4 of the way finished, but my DH made a disparaging remark about the blanket, so I frogged the entire thing after admitting to myself that the blanket was, indeed, quite ugly.
Not much else to report here. School, work and the girls’ activities have us all very tired. We’ve not even turned the tv on to catch the news lately. Reading the local headlines on the computer has been sufficiently depressing and caused quite a bit of WTF, head-shaking. Does this woman really expect us to believe that she tried to kill herself by rubbing Draino on her face? Why not just admit that the do-it-yourself, at-home chemical peel was a bad idea.
* There was the time that my friend, Carmen, and I made pretend Poi (Carmen was visiting me from Hawaii at the time) out of toilet paper, water and seasoning and convinced someone living in my college dorm to eat it.
** At the tender age of four Debbie D. and I demonstrated promising talent as future bakers. We could knock out mudpies garnished with kibble faster than Lucy and Ethel could wrap chocolates. They were quite tasty.
Serendipitous Opportuknitty 
There are many faces of dumb, aren’t there? Hugs to you all.
Mudpies garnished with kibbles? Toilet paper poi? And the family still expects YOU to do the cooking? How about cherries jubilee made with canned grapes? Mom tried that on me one birthday when she was on a bender. As long as you don’t use the cayenne pepper instead of cinnamon in the apple pie, I guess you’ll be ok.
The trackster wheelchair doesn’t need to outrun the bear. It just needs to outrun the slowest member of the hunting party. It would make an interesting history . . . “Mah Huntin’ Buddies” through the years. They start out in their teens, sleeping on the ground and eating cold beans out of cans, staying up all night talking and laughing around the campfire. Then they go through the maturing years as they try to out-do one another with more luxurious contrivances – tent with built-in ground cloth, propane stove, air-bed, electric socks, gourmet freeze-dry, the camper, the RV, Then Frank misses a year because he had a heart attack. He comes the next year just for the company, but doesn’t hunt because the blood-thinners make him dizzy. Bill’s knee goes out on him. Red gets cataracts. Eventually they are just a bunch of old farts who get together at the old spot during hunting season just for the company. And they complain about the teenagers down the hill who are sleeping on the ground and eating cold beans out of the cans, staying up all night talking and laughing around the campfire. You inspire me!
Roxie, You crack me up! I made an “apple” pie using zucchini one year and the family has been leery of apple pie ever since.
Not wanting to open up a can of worms, but if someone is limited with his mobility to the point that he can’t walk then maybe he shouldn’t be packing around a weapon the size of an RPG launcher…
I had the same thought about the do it yourself chemical peel after finding out she had recently had a chemical peel. Just ridiculous.
Meal planning before grocery shopping is the only way I can stick to getting just what I need. And to do the meal planning, I first have to figure out all of the engagements for the week (Volleyball matches on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s, Football game on either Wednesday or Thursday, various meetings…). As such, it doesn’t get done all that often.
With our busy schedules, I often just grab a lump of ground hamburger out of the freezer and make either tacos or spaghetti. I usually have the ingredients for those in the fridge and the kids don’t usually eat sour cream right out of the container. Usually.
TP also makes great car bombs from the 4th floor of the dorm. Tee hee! Poor Kevin!
Knitting some knee socks of my own now….
That’s a smart cardi