My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary last week. It’s a big effing deal at a time when few people stay married to the first person they picked to tie the knot with them. I took them out for a lovely meal at a local restaurant in suburban Philadelphia. (My mom refused to drive into down for dinner to the place we went for their 35th. The Prime Rib on Locust was my first choice because I’ve been jonesing for a really good steak, but it was a non-starter.) I ordered appetizers and entrees for everyone. I selected a 2007 Conundrum half split which was absolutely wonderful. (Some years of it are not as good as others, but definitely the 2007 reminds me of the first one I had, a 1996 I think. Lightly sweet & deliciously fruity.) I also had a glass of pinot noir and an extra glass of Vouvray for my dad. Mom loved it and she asked if we could go there again for Father’s Day. (Sure, I’ve got another $225 somewhere…)

I love my mom, but sometimes she really takes the cake. This time it was money for a new suit for my dad. Really mom? You just asked me to take you out to dinner again AND a new suit for my dad. Which would you rather have? I’m sure it’s money for the suit. And for that dishwasher I know she still needs. And help going to CA for family weddings this summer.

I love my mom. I really do. I know my folks have shelled out a lot of money to help me out and I don’t resent the asking. What really has my head scratching though is the *chronic* lack of funds. It makes me freak out about how their business is going, what they spend money on for house maintenance, etc. I’ve adjusted my financial life to understand that every year I’m going to give my parents $2-5K for various reason. (My sibling and I understand that we’ve subsidized *every* single trip my parents have taken to California for the last ten years if not longer.)

I know my mom is pretty careful about money because they have weathered many economic storms for the last 40 years together. It’s fruitless to lecture someone about buying stuff when you know she’s been buying a lot less and gets everything on sale. Very little around their house is new stuff I don’t recognize. Mom grows a lot of her own vegetables again and she’s pretty happy even reducing her shopping budget. I’m just waiting for a big boom to lower upon me. I have a sinking feeling there is something else going on that she’s not telling me. I know for instance that there were some major house repairs last year because of a plumbing leak into the kitchen which she already had fixed. I’m now *really* curious what remodeling the house will cost so they can get top dollar in a few years.

Gifting, Handouts & Big Life Events is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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Menu:
Turkey (16.5lb that I told Boyfriend would be too small and I was right!)
Cornbread stuffing with Sausages, Green Beans, Apples and Chestnuts
Glazed Carrots
Cranberry Fruit Compote (Boyfriend’s recipe, keep reading for an explanation)
Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes (Boyfriend’s doing)
Sweet Potatoes w/Mini-Marshmallows (My mom asked for them. It’s crazy but she loves them.)
Asian Pears (My parents brought an entire box)
Pumpkin pie (My cousins brought from Bertucci’s, which is pretty good store-bought pie)
Awful Korean puffed rice dessert (My cousins brought that I bagged and gave back out)
Chocolate creme pie (Boyfriend asked me to make)
Two bottles of Hardy’s Grenache/Syrah blend blush wine (perfect amount of sweetness without being too intimidating for everyone to try)

The Gluttony in detail:

I am going to stop making the carrots. They weren’t as popular as everything else. Frick & Frack (my cousin’s husband and his brother) ate everything. Keep in mind they are Korean boys raised in the US, so they eat everything in sight like Americans do, but gain none of the weight. They are still very slender. (Under 30. It might catch up to them, but probably not.) Frick made me happy. He really likes stuffing so he ate thirds! (And he helped out setting the table and pouring the wine without me having to ask!)

The turkey was tented and the stuffing got to 170 degrees. We browned the turkey at the last 20 mins with the convection oven. It was *just barely* dry, but super tender. Lots of compliments, but the browning wasn’t too my liking. We didn’t ‘help’ it along either. But next year painting on a little soy and Worcestershire might do the trick.

Sweet potatoes with the marshmallows was really popular! Of course, that might have been because the un-topped dish didn’t look quite as appetizing with toasted orange zest. The marshmallows are darned cute! Plus I think the table of Korean people really liked it because sweet potatoes are very popular there. I used to eat one for breakfast in the winter. Very nice and nutritious!

Mashed was lovely. I *knew* a 5lb bag was not going to be enough! I told Boyfriend to get two and we can always just eat the rest of the 2nd bag ourselves. But no. He didn’t believe me. He was slightly panicked that we didn’t even have any instant mix in the house to make extra. (Yes, we like instant because you can thicken sauces with it and it is convenient.)

Turkey was a picked clean and there was not enough leftover for Boyfriend’s liking. Again, he underestimated how much Frick & Frack can eat. I think an 18-pounder would have been perfect with a good quantity leftover. As it was, I was picking things off the bone as much as I could and getting nothing. Of course, there was turkey soup for days after that was v. good.

Stuffing. I always make the cornbread on Sunday night and cube it. I like to get it nice and dried out before making it on Wednesday night. It came out totally awesome using my mom’s really weird recipe for green beans, sausage, apples and chestnuts. The only sad part is that the American supermarket has really crappy chestnuts that were half totally moldy on the inside. (Is it me or have they gotten A LOT smaller since we were kids? These were totally anemic!) Boyfriend likes to stuff the bird. I’m paranoid and usually just do dressing. But we did some in the bird and it was super delicious. My mom gave me a yellow covered casserole which was perfect for the 12-15 cups we had of it.

Fruit compote is all Boyfriend. He boils the cranberries with sugar and water. Then cools it down and added chopped apple and pineapple. You can add any fruit. Sometimes he adds oranges. Also he used some Craisins when he boiled it for extra sweetness. It got a lot of compliments. But I have to admit, I kind of like the weird can molded Ocean Spray stuff. I get satisfaction out of mashing my sliced portion with a fork.

Chocolate creme pie was from the Joy of Cooking. I made a little extra of it to fill an 11×7 baking dish instead of a 9″ round crust. Turned out ok, if not a little soft/undercooked to my liking. This also got good compliments. It didn’t LOOK good, but it TASTED good, which is all that matters. Now I can make it whenever I want.

And that is more than you ever wanted to know about my Thanksgiving dinner.

Thanksgiving Food Recap is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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No, not from work this time. Generally, when something good happens, I shout,’Bonus!’

Last night I had dinner with my cousin, her husband, and her parents who are visiting from Korea. (My other cousin’s wife bore their first grandchild, always worth a visit.) Dinner was great and we got to play with their new puppy. At the end of the meal my cousin gave me a little card. I was really surprised it contained a gift card to Crate & Barrel for a healthy amount. She’s so funny.

Considering my cousin and her husband had to scramble to find wineglasses for 6 people, I think I’ll have to round out their 2 champagne flutes with some standard glasses. (Korean black raspberry wine is not too bad. Kind of like a deep, dark Boone’s Farm. Deliciously sweet and jammy as a berry wine should be. And you can get it at the Korean market in VA. It makes a nice cordial.) The card was supposed to be a housewarming present for me and boyfriend and our new place together, but she doesn’t know that we have way more than we need.

So I’m stepping into the weekend with a gift card in my pocket. While it’s no excuse to overindulge in NYC shopping, I do feel pretty good knowing I’ve got something to use for early Christmas shopping.

ps- I have no plans to buy clothes in NYC this weekend. I migh,t because I’m with my friend the fashion designer, but my plan right now is to eat, ride the subway, eat, walk it off, and eat some more.

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I met a woman over the weekend who is temping. Because of her circumstances, she’s making a lot of cookies for Christmas. I think we counted her tally was almost 10 dozen.

As a kid in junior high and high school, I’d bake at least 5 dozen with my family for gifts.

These days, I don’t bother because my small kitchen doesn’t really have room to roll dough out. But boyfriend’s house has a nice counter and I like to bake at his place. I put up two loaves for some folks at work on Tuesday night. We work all over town but someone is planning lunch so I am hoping to finish 4 loaves this week. Three for gifts and one for boyfriend. Hooray!

We’re eyeing some dark bread recipes so if anyone has one, please let me know what you’ve enjoyed.

Other than that, who’s doing holiday baking this year, and how much?

Christmas Baking is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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One of my friends runs a side operation raising angora goats for mohair fleece. She participates annual in a craft fair and some other local artisan marketplaces. Because she’s got the inside scoop, our little crowd took a country excursion on Saturday to some places she recommended.

We stopped at her particular fair which is an annual church fundraiser in Markham. It’s actually quite well organized and the crafts were of very high quality. I was only windowing shopping but I was so impressed with what I saw, that I bought an early Mother’s Day present for my mom and a token gift for boyfriend. In the back of my mind, if I wasn’t hoping to merge kitchens eventually with boyfriend, I’d have bought a beautifully cobalt blue glazed serving bowl. It was perfect for a ginormous summertime salad for one, or for serving salad at the table for two. Of course, I was running late to meet my friends and had very little cash on me. I had to borrow $20 from my friend who was vending to buy something from her!

The church ladies had all kinds of baked goods for sale, like Red Velvet Cake and holiday cookie platters. If you are looking for a holiday treat without having to break out the pans yourself, a good old fashioned bake sale may be the right way to go. I however would feel disingenuous about buying a cake from the bake sale, freezing it for a week and then passing it off at the holiday party as something I made. Tempting, but no.

Later after a terrible experience at lunch, (Which may end up as a post on how NOT to run a restaurant operation. Word to the wise, don’t eat at The Rail Stop in The Plains, VA if you are in a hurry for lunch. Terribly, terribly slow with awfully rude and condescending waitstaff. How can you possibly run out of bread service by lunchtime? That’s just insane, but I digress.) we made a stop at the wonderful Hunt Country Yarn Shop a few doors down from the restaurant. I had never been there, but my friends spoke highly of the owner, Bob and it was worth the stopover to cheer ourselves up with wonderful yarn. However, I was good and bought nothing there. Though the Crystal Palace Panda Silk yarn is hubba-hubba delightful. The fern colorway rocks my boat. But again, I was good whilst my friends were shopping. I’m still on a yarn buying moratorium.

After that, our goat farmer friend pointed us to Archwood Green Barns in The Plains for some holiday craft fun. Hidden Views Farm had two of their cute alpacas on display and there were ponies! Ponies! PONIES!!! If I was a kid again, I’d definitely would have taken a pony ride. He was mega cute with his miniature saddle. There were also a few kids in the paddock, human and goat. I got a special kick out of a kid dressed as a shepherd for the living nativity turn a cartwheel. No money could ever pay for that priceless joy.

The site usually hosts a regular farmer’s market where you can get fresh eggs, milk, butcher items, cypress furniture, handmade quilts, pastries, greenery, Christmas trees, raw local honey, beeswax, jewelry and wine. Again I was very good about doing mostly window shopping, but then I spotted Lanea with a cannoli! Hidden Views raises alpacas, but they had an assortment of wonderful baked goods and MY GOD they had the best cannoli this side of Vaccaro’s in Baltimore. The ricotta was thick and creamy without being gritty with chocolate chips. (We all agree that spumoni is a little weird. How on earth does the fruit get that way?!) The woman fills them right on the spot and because she does not thin out the filling to pipe it in, the shell stays wonderfully crisp enough for you to take home a box for boyfriends left behind. (Not mine, someone else’s.) I was short a dollar after lunch so gratefully a friend loaned me a dollar and I was in pure heaven.

If you are in the DC area, I highly recommend a drive out to The Plains to this holiday market. It’s going on for one more weekend, December 13-14th.

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This year, I got all my Christmas shopping done early because there was very little thinking I had to do. I just threw money around. Kind of awful and artless, I know. But thoroughly appropriate!

1. My mom asked for a new dishwasher. I said, why not get a fridge at the same time so they match? So there was a check for $1×00.00 for two appliances and installation fees. She can now shop at her leisure to get what she wants. I told her to get a fridge with a bottom drawer freezer so she doesn’t have to bend over all the time to get things out of the crisper drawers of her current fridge. Unfortunately, that ups the price a lot on a new fridge.

2. My cousin from Korea got married, so her $500 gift card is a combination wedding gift/Christmas present from me and my sibling. (She lives near me now.)

3. Another cousin from Korea just had a baby. So she gets a Babies R Us gift card and a handknit baby blanket. (She also lives near me now and consults me on what English name to give her kid.)

4. My sibling’s gifts include a gift card for toys for my nephew since I really have no idea what age appropriate toys to buy them. And then my sibling does not have to pony up for any of the gifts listed above, but will share in the gratitude for all them.

5. Boyfriend has asked me for nothing, but I found a small token present for him under $20.

6. This entire time I thought I owed my friends in Boston a wedding gift for missing their wedding, but while they were visiting me, I mentioned something about still needing to get them a present. They told me that I *had* sent a present, a red Le Creuset item off their registry, but I had completely forgotten this, so now I still have money leftover from what was budgeted! YAY!

And since I don’t have to participate in any silly secret Santa office crap, I’m overjoyed with having to buy nothing else for anyone else but me!

At this moment, I just need to think about my sibling’s birthday present in February, a gift for a friend’s birthday in December, another baby present for friends in NYC, my dad’s birthday is in March, and a baby shower/birthday present for a mommy-to-be-friend who shares my dad’s birthday. I am skipping her shower because it’s inauguration weekend and the prudent travel thing to do is not go to New York. But all this stuff can be frugally bought out of my regular budget for the next 3 months.

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I got over $400 in checks last week from my insurance company.

One check was a refund on my auto policy because I paid up the full year and then canceled it for a better rate with another firm.

The second check was for 69% recovery of my deductible from the condo owner above me. My homeowner’s insurance company was able to recover funds from the insurer for the unit upstairs. Yippee! That means my bathroom renovation was $345.00 cheaper than first reported. The final amount is now just a shade over $5000.

This means that I’ve got all the money I need for Christmas now and I can put my 401k contributions back in to place from the last two paychecks of the year. Woo hoo!

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In near-criminal fashion, the basement of Macy’s in downtown DC has Christmas decorations already up (10/26). It’s nuts, but at least it’s localized. They do have all the mannequins in the fancy dress department in red satin. But since their logo is a red star, I guess we can call them Communists and keep on shopping.

Since my mom and pop are taken care of with the ridiculous Christmas present, and I’m taken care of with buying myself a trip to California to see my family. There are really only two remaining gifts to give. One for said family I will visit and for boyfriend. I have a good feeling of what I will spend for both.

The last two gifts I need to get are not really Christmas gifts, but I’m biting the bullet and including it in the budget. It’s a wedding present for my younger cousin who got married this spring in Korea and moved to the US. I feel it only right to pony up some cash and get her the equivalent of what we got for her brother last year. (We, meaning me and my older sibling who are honor bound to give them a gift. Trust me, the amount is a lot cheaper than flying to Korea for the ceremony.)

I have one more gift for my pregnant cousin, which will be a gift card to Babies R Us.

There are a few lingering presents I should buy, like for the friends who got married this spring, but I couldn’t go because of the collapsed bathroom ceiling. Somehow, I’ll fit that in before their first 12 months of marriage pass. And then maybe some small presents for the ladies in my knitting group. (Small means token-small, like $5 each. I’ve thought of making stuff, but I usually feel too busy, not everyone shows up week to week, and I can’t figure out what to get this year.)

Oy vey. Looking at the budget, I’m not sure how to squeeze it all in. I’m liquidating my cash savings down to bare bones to cover my own plane ticket to CA and buy a few of the gift cards I need. I’m considering cutting back my budgeted credit card payments to the bare minimum to meet my revised goal. (And save the extra $400+ to buy gifts with cash instead of credit.) oy oy oy.

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My cousin has in-laws in the DC area. She sent me a text message out of the blue on Monday asking if I was free this week for dinner. Turns out I was! I left work pretty late, but picked her and her husband up and went for a quick bite/drink in Old Town Alexandria, not far from where they were staying.

I love my cousin. She’s really cool. She had a lot of family gossip to catch me up on. Some of it was good and some of it was bad. But at the very least, it was really great to see her and her husband. They’re two of my favorite people.

What’s funny though is that her husband spilled over a glass of red wine onto a little purse of mine. I got the purse as a casual present from a relative. I’m not particularly attached to it. It’s Coach bag and it’s rather small. It hardly holds the things I need to make it through the day. However, my cousin’s husband profusely apologized and said he’d buy me a new one if it was ruined. I told him not to worry about it at all. The bag was a gift from a family member who buys too much stuff.

I was intrigued that:
1. He would offer on the spot to buy me a new one.
2. I was really casual about it since I didn’t pay for it.

The poor guy has no idea these things are close to $150. There’s no way I’d make him replace it. I’m the dork who left it on the table to be spilled on. Plus, I don’t love it so it wouldn’t kill me to lose it. While I love the giver of the purse, she gave it to me rather casually because it was an extra she had in the closet which she never used. While it suits me and is very cute, in a way, I do love it, but I’m really not that attached to it and I don’t quite know why. Perhaps because it is functionally a huge disappointment that I feel this way. Who cares that it’s a real Coach bag? It still doesn’t carry everything that I need and I end up cramming stuff into it all the time. I guess that’s just me though. I shouldn’t look that gift horse in the mouth, right?

My cousin and her husband were very nice to pick up the check for my chili dinner and soda and I was extremely glad to spend time with them. I love driving to his mom’s house near Mount Vernon. They always insist it’s so far and out of the way, but they don’t know that one of life’s pure pleasures is the dark wooded drive there. It’s lush, mature canopy that epitomizes why I love the east coast over California (where they live now).

The moon was full that night and looked like a huge pearl in the sky with a bright reflection on the Potomac. That to me was priceless. (As well has his mom’s clean bill of health post-chemo. I never would have guessed she was sick this past year. She looked fabulous.) (FWIW, my Chinese co-worker reminds me that it’s the Autumn Moon Festival now and I should have moon cake as a treat. But I want green Korean rice cakes with yellow acorn filling. Yum!)

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Every once in a while I have some money to buy art. Not all art is expensive either.

I don’t care much for knickknacks around the house because my apartment is so small. I have a few stuffed animals that I care about for sentimental reasons and some special figurines, but that’s about it. Most are just toys that could be thrown away if needed.

One of my favorite artists regularly shows her work at Artomatic. Her name is Geneieve Lynn of Jade River Studios. I bought a Chinese brush painting of hers many years ago at Artscape in Baltimore. It was for my mom for Christmas. While I was looking at her latest exhibit, I saw some cute small paintings of Chinese Zodiac animals. There was one of a rabbit that I kind of liked. It was reasonably priced in the frame for $30. It would be a cute picture for Father’s Day since my dad was born in the Year of the Hare/Rabbit.

For my father, there’s very little he needs right now since my mom takes care of everything. But I wanted to get him a small treat. In the past, there have been cashmere sweaters, golf accessories, hats, fancy raingear, and ridiculousness. More than anything, a token gift is best now since his stroke. I think a cute bunny picture for an empty spot on the wall is perfect.

Art doesn’t have to be expensive and I’m glad I could pick up an original piece of work so inexpensively. (There are small fees the artist pays at Artomatic, but nothing like a gallery commission.) Sometimes, you’re better off going directly to the artist rather than through a gallery.

ps- If I hadn’t bought the painting, I would have had a No Spend Day yesterday. Hooray for Almost No Spend Days!

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We are taking the off-road vehicle because we’re going to a beach that allows them. WHEE!

It’s not fuel-efficient to take this car, but in the name of fun, we spend extra.

My friends, Mr. and Mrs. Peanut, will be tying the knot on the beach. Very exciting stuff. Mr. Peanut and I met 5 years ago at work. He’s one of my totally awesome co-workers and I wish him all the best. When I first met him, he was kind of a freewheeling kid playing the field. Mrs. Peanut is really nice and I can tell they are going to be mega happy. My old boss will be there too! (He’s still Mr. Peanut’s boss. I left a few months ago.)

I have a super special wedding present for Mr. Peanut. It’s a gag gift, but it’s going to be great and it cost me less than 5 bucks! I’ll tell you what it is when I get back since there might not be internet access this weekend. (Rumor says yes, Gut Feeling says no.)

Have a great Memorial Day holiday!

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The holiday falls within days of my parents’ wedding anniversary. Because I hate getting my mom a Mother’s Day present, so usually I send some flowers or take my folks out to a fancy dinner.

However this year, I found the perfect gift with which my mother should have no complaints. At Eastern Market there are several vendors selling pearl necklaces at really low prices. If they aren’t pearls, they are definitely carved shells with the beautiful natural lustre of nacre.

I found something really cute in a pastelly pink sort of color. It’s about 15″ and kind of elaborate, but still simple. It was amazingly only $25. They had huge 22″ strands that would have gone for thousands of dollars when I was a kid for like $30-50. Really pretty stuff too. There were colored pearls in black, rose pink, lavender, and peachy colors as well as traditional white-cream colors.

I hope my mom likes it. Since the stroke, dad doesn’t really eat much so I hate taking them out to a steakhouse like I used to do. Honestly a pretty necklace is a lot cheaper too.

ps- I am starting a new project today. I’m excited, but I’ll be driving all summer long at $4/gallon of gas. *sigh*

Mother’s Day Present is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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What’s the most expensive present you ever received from or bought for someone not your parents? What about from/for your significant other?

Sometimes I’m surprised when people say they bought their boyfriend or girlfriend a video game console or cellphone. I honestly cannot imagine spending $300-400 on a single gift for anyone. Well, ok, I can. My parents, but I think of that as a totally different league of gifting since they spent truckloads of money raising me and paying for my education. I cannot repay them enough for their 30+ years of slaving in their businesses, but that’s another blog post.

One time, I spent about $300 on a wedding present, but that’s because I was following the rule of spending as much on registry presents as was being spent for each person. The bride had the courtesy to allow me to bring a date, so I estimated and doubled what she spent for each guest. I’ve never spent that much again, short of flying myself to a destination wedding, but a slightly different scenario there.

I got a set of books once from a crazy ex-boyfriend of mine. The boxed set was about $200, but I know he spent about $150 and I was decidedly uncomfortable about the gift for two reasons, 1. It was one of the most expensive things I’d ever received in my life. 2. He was engaged to someone else. (That’s always weird. Like how does a guy justify spending $150 on a set of very esoteric geek books for an ex-girlfriend to his financee? Beyond me what the hell he was thinking.)

I think I spent $200 on yarn once for a gift I was making for one of my best friends. It was a beautiful Italian merino wool scarf in navy and crimson to keep him warm while he was doing his PhD in Boston. He tells me he still wears it and it’s been at least 10 years since I gave it to him. I think he’s lost it by now, but I don’t really want to know if he did.

I am unlimited in my gift giving, meaning I like to buy lots of gifts. But I have to restrain myself. Each single gift might be only be $50 or less. I truly cannot remember the last time I bought something for someone that was more than $100 unless it was a wedding or baby shower present.

So tell me, do you buy expensive gifts for other people, or do you also have a de facto limit as well?

p.s. This post was inspired by a friend’s smartphone. Her boyfriend gave it to her for Christmas. I was a bit shocked. If my significant other is spending that kind of money on me, we’d have to have a talk about what I was receiving. As it is, I know my boyfriend bought my last present on eBay for $20, but that Les Halles dinner was expensive. Somehow food doesn’t count in my mind.

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I just heard that an old family friend and his wife just had a boy. To acknowledge the life event, I sent something from their registry. It was the least I could do. This friend is a doctor and was a great help to me during my dad’s hospital stay in 2006. Even though we’re not really close, I still think of him as a brother in many ways because he’s always there to help when it comes to my parents. Though my sibling and I live far away from him, we always try to acknowledge important life events. I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not know him so I’m really thrilled he’s getting a family started.

I took the time since I was on the Babies R Us website to buy for a baby shower in a few weeks. I figured I should kill two birds with one stone. If you are making a present for someone’s shower, do you buy an additional gift? I personally dislike doing that, but this friend of mine is not someone with whom I trade lots of presents during the year. We give little token gifts, like yarn from our stash or handmade cards. Nothing huge.

I spent about $100 total on all gifts including shipping and taxes. Don’t even ask me what I spent on the gift I’m making. DIY is not cheap but there’s love in every stitch and frankly, I’m so freakin’ smug at the perfectness of this gift (in concept, execution, not so much) that I’m just happy she’s going to love it. (I cannot divulge till after it’s done.)

Now, onto the business of a bachelorette party. Fun as it sounds, it’s out of town and I was balking at going because I don’t know anyone anymore in Boston who has room to host me. Then I read the invitation much more closely. The organizers are getting a crash pad at a hotel. This changes everything. Now I’m only looking at a crazy bar tab, part of a hotel bill, shuttle flight and incidentals.

Very few friends of mine have gotten married. They have, but usually I was living too far away from them to partake in things like a bachelorette party. I think this will be the first big bachelorette party I’ve ever done in my life. The bride is someone I greatly admire and I’ve always heard tons of stuff about her old college friends, but I’ve never met them before. It feels right to do this trip. I just hope that no one else gets married in 2008 or else I am screwed. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to visit my nephews in CA this year with all the wedding stuff that’s planned.

I must remember that life is all about choices. Hard choices, but choices with which I can live.

Babies and Bachelorettes is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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January sucks for retail. Why? Because you want to shop and spend some money, but there is nary a sales person to be found.

Clueless friend and I are shopping and he’s wondering why there isn’t anyone around to ask about opening a display case for us. I then laugh at him and explain that this is the reality of the post-holiday retail season. Everyone has slashed their payroll and cut everyone’s hours.

Why do I know this? Because I learned the hard way. I worked retail in college and January was always the hardest month. I could never get enough retail hours on the clock to make what I needed. I had to keep my library and office work-study jobs to buy my Spring semester books.

*sigh*

Just when I’m ready to spend some money, they won’t let me.

FWIW, I was looking at some allen wrench sets (or ‘hex keys’ but daddy always called them allen wrenches, is that a regional term?) and will now be buying them online through Harbor Freight, piggy backing it off of my friend’s order. Why? Because I had to borrow a set from my lovely neighbors, and I torqued the heck out of the cheap set they loaned me and couldn’t get it back into the case properly, which they couldn’t either when they handed them to me, so it’s ok. But I thought this would be a nice thank you for all the awesome things my friends do for me all year-round.

Excuse Me, Can You Help Me? is a post from: Mapgirl's Fiscal Challenge

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