I’m not much of a fashion person. I’m too tall for most off-the-rack things, so finding pants that go down to my ankles is a challenge, and all my long-sleeve shirts magically transform into 3/4 sleeve shirts when I put them on. And I’d rather spend money on books or food than pay for custom tailoring. Which would be rather silly, really, since I don’t have an office job, don’t have co-workers to impress, and would probably ruin things with all the urban homesteading I attempt. Shopping is depressing for me because things always fit so badly. Retail Therapy is …
Yes, you can say anything you want with statistics. But I’m going to post this anyway: (Image from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine’s Good Medicine via The Consumerist) The American government subsidizes (makes it cheaper for a farmer to produce, and thus for the consumer to buy) meat more than other food items, despite the same government’s official recommendation that we all should eat more of the things it’s not encouraging the producers to produce. This article has some good points about how the chart above visually distorts the data. But I think the point that the chart makers …
We took a little jaunt down to California for Easter with family. My grandfather was celebrating his 90th as well as Easter (he was apparently born on Easter, too) and got to do it surrounded by all available descendants. Caitlyn was exited by the trip, but extra-enthusiastic at the prospect of spending time with her cousin. The tissue paper from some Easter gifts was a big hit. We took Caitlyn down to the beach and watched the waves off West Cliff. There had been a bit of a storm the day before, so there were some good ones crashing into …
Sometimes I wish I didn’t care. That I didn’t know what I know. So I could drive wherever guilt-free and buy whatever stupid plastic toy the kids are clamoring for now. So I could enjoy cheap food and cheap clothes and worry more about whether my hair looks good then the list of ingredients of my shampoo. So I didn’t have to prepare speeches on Why I’m Not Buying That. So that I didn’t evaluate Need vs Want every time I feel the urge To Buy Something. It’s not that I actually want more stuff; I want less stuff in …
I’m still venting about this, apparently. In returning to the airport for our flight home yesterday, we had to stop and return the rental car. For some reason (flu, warm weather, whatever), most of Budget’s staff had called in sick. This meant that we had to stand in line, at the counter, where nothing is ever fast, in order to complete the transaction instead of the check-in-and-you’re-done thing that usually happens really fast in the parking lot. Which, in turn, made us later than we wanted to be when we got to the actual airport. Where we discovered we were …
I’m not sure what went wrong, if anything. Maybe I’m short on patience. Maybe this is how the cookie crumbles. But I don’t have nearly the number of pea seedlings emerging as I should. Of the three rows of spinach I seeded back in February, there are 2 little plants. It’s been so warm this spring, I figured for sure I’d have better results than this. Maybe I didn’t water them enough, forgetting that all this warm weather meant it wasn’t raining. In the p-patch, there seem to be only two asparagus crowns left. I can’t find signs of the …