I couldda been disappointed
Payday at the library was Thursday. I still had $70 or so in that account from two weeks ago when the direct-deposit hit, and by 4:00 that afternoon, I was overdrawn by 87¢. Before a debit card purchase cleared, I transferred $1 from my business account thereby avoiding an overdraft charge and racking up a 13¢ balance. No problem making that last for two weeks.
Ah, but what did I get? I caught up the RoadRunner bill so now everything is current. That feels like a good place to be going into the holiday season. Not quite the same as being flush, but it sure beats getting late notices when expecting Christmas cards.
The balance went for groceries. I think I successfully laid in a two-week supply. Well, I had as much as I could carry on the bus without having my cart with me. Rounded that out today.
I had hoped to have a nice, quiet weekend at home. It didn’t turn out that way. Two home computer customers called with problems on Friday. I made back-to-back appointments for this morning and arranged for one to take me to the other and the other to stop with me to get produce that I would have gotten on Friday, had I not had to go out today.
This morning was a mixed bag. Coffee from the Donna Reed Memorial Percolator was offset by dizzy spells. (I’ve heard it already today, “But how could you tell?” so save your comments.) I was back in bed by nine hoping some more sleep would do the trick. It didn’t.
Today is the first beef stew of the season. I’d planned it since scoring a package of stew beef marked-down while shopping on Thursday. It’s been snowy and cold since Tuesday afternoon (yet Tuesday scored a record high of 70° in the pre-dawn hours). The fountain froze Wednesday and has remained so since—thus marking the official beginning of winter. Hence the stew.
The dizzy spells seemed to vanish of their own accord by the afternoon, so with a couple of extra bucks from the morning, I walked over to Montana Mills for a loaf of Grandma’s White Bread and was initally pleased to find the price reduced by 25¢. After tucking it under my arm for the walk home, it felt a little small. Their loaves are now two pounds instead of three.
Twice this week I’d forgotten butter, so I swung by The Corner Store on the way home. All they had was salted, whipped butter. It was either that or margarine, and I was not about to use that on $2/lb. bread.
Whipped butter, by the way, is not a good idea since combines all the disavantages of butter and margarine. Cold from the fridge, is spreads just as poorly as non-flogged butter, which is to say, not at all. Left out, it separates. (Plus stuff grows inside the container.) Still, it’s better than naught.
And the weekend twinkie at the checkout is cute. So cute, that the idea of sex is just, repulsive I guess. It would be like fucking a smurf or something. Although I wouldn’t mind if came over and just sat around looking cute and stuff. Sigh. I bought a couple of brownies just so I could feast my eyes for a couple of minutes more.
Meanwhile, the stew had begun to boil down, enough so that I could add seasonings. It doesn’t neeed anything other than black pepper, and Sazón. And I over-seasoned itbecause I couldn’t quite remember how much—or how little. It’s still quite good—but I can’t wolf down absurd quantities of the stuff. Which, I guess, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Of course, this discovery wasn’t made until later—after a nap, just to see if the dizziness had been sleep-induced. It wasn’t.
As it turned-out this morning, one client was preparing for a church bake sale (“Where?” I asked, taking in dozens of plates of cookies, pies, breads and cakes. “The Church of the Immaculate Confection?”) and plied me with fresh baked goods. Apparently the dizziness was due to a gingerbread deficiency. That or an apricot-tangerine juice deficiency. Either way, it cleared up right after that.
Tomorrow promises to be just as busy. So much for my quiet weekend at home.
