One Week, Zero Dollars

Starting on November 1st (i.e. after rent/bills are paid) I am going to try to spend a week without spending a single dime. I will cheat and go to the grocery store right before the week starts, but I don't think this is really cheating, since it will still mean I am eating only at-home meals. I am also going to take the bus, which is free for students, instead of driving and using gas. I think it will show me how often I spend little bits of money (coffee at school, lunch with friends) without thinking.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Registries, part ii

Registering certainly gives you a new window into the ridiculousness of modern American life.

I'm not saying I didn't almost register for this, but behold:


A toaster-coffeemaker combo!

Not even the kitchen gadget lover in me could abide this:


A waffle cone maker. Unless you run your own ice cream shop, I'm sorry, no.

Also, as of last night we had registered for most of the essentials and even some silly wishful thinking things, and we had 35 items. Supposedly I need to multiply that by nearly 10 times to have sufficient selection for our guests. 10 times!! I don't know what I can come up with to need. No wonder people register for waffle cone makers!

WHY

DOESN'T ANYONE COMMENT ON THIS BLOG?

I know you are reading it!!!


FJEOWHFUejrifapeaytpfeuj!!!!!!!!?!?!

ahem.

i promise to be much more professional in the next post.

Registry Rage

Last weekend, we went to register at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I have to tell you, I have been SERIOUSLY looking forward to registering since I first heard of the concept. The zapping of things you want with a scanner! Zap zap zap! For the materialist in me, I always felt a Christmas-morning-esque glee when I thought about registering.

And then reality. Oh, reality.

I think registering may have been my closest encounter thus far with the WIC (Wedding Industrial Complex--common parlance in the wedding blog world, just so you know). The WIC is basically the evil empire that tries to sell you ridiculous and expensive things under the guise of etiquette and "but it's your one big day!"

So. This registering. We had a consultant, I guess. The person who set up the registry, and she told us about all the things that we now NEED, now that we are getting MARRIED and starting our LIFE (I thought I had one...already?). I think all that needs to be said about the experience is this:

"You'll want to get about 6-8 towel sets per bathroom."

Yeah.

The zapping was still fun, though.

Reciprocity Pie

So back in the summer, two far-too-generous friends took me to the airport so early in the morning that it was not even close to being light outside. The Baltimore airport. While we lived in DC. I promised them baked goods in return.

And then I worked 12 hour days and lived in a house with a truly disgusting kitchen and no pie pans. So for months their good deed went unrewarded. But finally, yesterday, I made them raspberry pie.

I used the standard vodka crust with this recipe from allrecipes, with the butter omitted and cornstarch instead of tapioca. Maybe tapioca was what it needed, because it was YUM, but it also left a raspberry soup behind in the pie pan and was generally pretty messy. There is a lot of water in raspberries I guess.

But still: I made pie! I made good on my promise! We drank wine and ate pie and talked about boys, so all was well.

I just ate an entire carton of raspberries in the span of five hours.

There are 4 cartons left in the fridge (what? they were on sale for $1 at Kroger!). I wonder if they will survive to become pie later this week.

More Airport Poems

Awhile ago I posted a poem from the Indianapolis Airport. Here is another one. I don't know why I am so fond of these things, but I am. I just love the romance of flying.

for now you're flying
over quarry lakes, green water
where stone was once cut
for the Empire State,
the nation's capital, buildings
all over the world
aspiring toward sky
deep and blue
as you, heading away
or back, thinking of the people below
living their lives
above bedrock
formed from the silt
of ancient seas,
on prairie plowed flat
by glacial ice. And though
you are of that swirling earth below,
for these few moments
you float
with some small time away
from the matters you're going to,
the places you've left behind.

- Joseph Heithaus