new home owners...meet your neighbor: mr. recession and his wife, record high oil prices...

(some days...it's strictly a color thing with me...)

i'm becoming quite a social recluse; not by choice but by force. see, lately, it comes down to gas or food.

the thought of driving half way across town, burning up three, or so, gallons of gas round trip in order to buy lunch at a restaurant, would cost me about 30.00. or, i could put that money toward food...30.00 at the grocery store can go a long way. same with going out at night...three gallons of gas, plus food costs and a bar tab...yeah, that will run upwards of 50.00. which, take that and combine it with my previous 30.00, and you have about our whole grocery bill for the week...or, i could go out twice...yeah, see why i've become a bit reclusive...? not by choice but out of necessity and i'm ok with that, really. i think i'm pissing people off but i can't help it...trust me, i would rather be out with company and the five year old, than stuck inside, alone with the five year old any day...or better yet, out by myself with friends.

it's not that i can't ever go out but i really have to be careful in my choices. we invested in a couple cool new sprinklers that serve both as lawn waterer's and play toys. we got a hand me down grill for free that came with some charcoal, got the grilling utensils for a gift and are planning to take a friend's old patio furniture...so we're set in that department anyway...being outside beats inside any day. i'm happy with my ability to find contentment in not being able to do it all. when/if gas goes down, if i start making more money or if we win the lottery i will be more than happy to shift again, but right now it's just not easy...i feel like it's kinda time to hunker down for the storm so-to-speak. i enjoy our neighbors very much, a ten-mile radius holds nearly every service we could need and our best friends are 15 miles away...(and they're broke too, so roasting wienies over a bonfire is perfect). but unfortunately, i still have people in my life who take this whole lack of quality time personally. (they seem to be the settled ones, no kids or apartment dwellers too may i add.)

sorry guys...really. you're MORE than welcome to come over here though :)

squeeeeeeeeze. there...buttoned.

(i have recently learned that t-ball is the most chaotic sport in the world...)

well, i'm getting to the point where my pants don't seem to slip on with the same ease they used to...so, i think i need to cut back on the crap. i found this diet plan yesterday...i think it's like an old farmer's one or something, but it sounds solid...

"Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card."

i think i might be able to adhere to that one for a bit. i've been thinking about switching my dinner to bread and wine anyway so that would work, right? (i finished the book down and out in london and paris rather recently...great read...lots of bread and wine. oh, i have one more thing to say about that book but i'll say it below, out of the parenthesis. long parenthesis annoy me.)

i think cheap wine, farmer's market bread...and maybe some goat cheese here and there, when possible would be ideal... all of that would cost me about fifteen or twenty bucks a week max. see, something has to go with my recently renewed love for red wine...i think it will be food. hmmm...that sounds bad huh? well, i can't afford them both and since wine seems to treat my stomach much better than a plate full of edibles does in the evening, i think it's time to try it. (late evening food does not sit well with me when i sleep...and with our schedule's, i'm always eating late.) by the time i get sick of this diet i'm willing to bet my pants won't be feeling so snug either...perfect.



oh yeah...the down and out in paris and london thing i wanted to mention...for the past eleven years, i have worked in and/or around the restaurant/hospitality industry...and apparently, nothing has changed...even all the way across the atlantic on this side of the world. seriously, that book was set in the 1920's in paris and london and the social structure of the industry and employees, common employee complaints, customer issues, management, etc...are all the same. the flooring and lighting (though i have worked through power outages) and cleaning methods are better now, along with the ease of acquiring the food but still...i loved that book for so many reasons but that was a really unexpected, but fun, parallel to ponder.

yeah, i nerded out there a bit but oh well...i'll leave you with one of orwell's closing thoughts because it's a good one...

"At present I do not feel that I have seen more than the fringe of poverty. Still I can point to one or two things I have definitely learned by being hard up. I shall never again think that all tramps are drunken scoundrels, nor expect a beggar to be grateful when I give him a penny, nor be surprised if men out of work lack energy, nor subscribe to the Salvation Army, nor pawn my clothes, nor refuse a handbill, nor enjoy a meal at a smart restaurant. That is a beginning."

i had jelly beans and coffee for breakfast...

...and i think this is all i have left in me tonight...

ewww...wait, no, not the jelly beans and coffee...just the energy to post that one lousy pic. i have eggs and soy chicken in me too because i just ate them...

*sigh*

(i love rainy days when there's flowers)

if i were more like you, would we be closer or would you be worried and sad for me...? please really ponder that... really think about that question...


*deleted...*


i have two relationships in my life this blog that this blog could apply to. it's sad they are so similar, but it's very typical, very textbook if you will, that they are the two i can't seem to shake...

on the bright side...i am eating the most incredible salad loaded with soy chicken right now...it's wonderful and i'm just about ready to turn on run lola run :)




(i went back and clicked delete a couple of times...i don't want to deal with the backlash i get when i tell the truth to you...)

blink is so great...can't get enough...

(two of my best friends who somehow deal with me...the other two somehow cope too...weird)

(last nights conversation was so incredible...stopping to blog would have been asinine...)

so, without further adu...a blog:

yes, i understand the need for moderation.

i understand the importance of limiting yourself.
i get it.
i really do.

but then, every now and then, i forget all about it and eat, oh, let's just say, an entire row and a half of fig newtons in one days time. they were both lunch, and dinner (and a snack or four in between) two days ago.
i am still paying for it today.

i think the problem started when i saw them at target, in the target brand...they were cheap and they are my favorite--and so i decided i needed to have some at that very minute. obviously, i went completely overboard due to the excitement of finally getting my figgy little fingers on some. even the thought of them is enough to make my stomach convulse. i wonder if all that outside shortbread stuff is in one big clump in there? that would explain so much of how i'm feeling. and then all those figs...how many figs did i actually consume i wonder...? gross.

on an equally gross note...my foot. it hurts. every time i walk i swear i can feel the skin tear a little more. it's awful. it's ooz-ey too. one time, when i was little, i was barefoot (i think half of my issues are that i'm always barefoot) and i stepped on a piece of glass. it was terrible. i bled a lot and that thing took forever to heal up. hopefully this one won't take as long...seeing as how i don't have a shard of glass jutting out of the bottom of my foot this time.

so yeah...that's where i'm at right now. i feel bad for my friends who put up with me sometimes.
oh well, i keep them somewhat entertained...and repulsed i spose.

did i go too far...

i didn't play croquet due to splitting the bottom of my foot open and having no feeling in my toes. ya know, when i think about it...the fact that i was too injured to play croquet is pretty lame.

it was all my sister's fault though...we were playing keep away and she checked me in mid-air and i came down on a brick...i felt my skin pop like the june bug my best friend squashed last night...my guts didn't pop out though, just my blood.

gross.

meant to post these yesterday...

...oh well, it made today's post quite simple.