I spent part of today cleaning out my clothes of old clothes. Tomorrow I am going to go through my drawers. A sort of purging, I guess you could say. I don’t know what to do with these clothes, since most of them are good. They aren’t rags or torn or stained. They are just clothes that I don’t wear anymore for a variety of reasons. Which is just embarrassing because it’s emblematic of my crass consumption. I read on ABC an article that talks about where your clothes go when you donate them. They -don’t- go to poor families for free. Anyway, we’re spendingRead More →

Grades have been posted. Tomorrow we are leaving for Pass-a-Grille, Florida. We are staying at Inn On the Beach. It’s a delightful bed and breakfast with excellent management and reasonable rates. It’s across the street from the beach, so no fumbling with parking meters. I have a new bathing suit. I’m looking forward to reading Harry Potter on the beach.

An article ran in the paper a couple years ago about an obese cat who liked to eat waffles and the diet and exercise plan that the family put him on. I’m reprinting it here (illegally) because it’s very funny and also very meaningful to me. We have a saying in our family now, derived from the story. The first time we used it was when we were car shopping and I felt uncomfortable looking at one of the Toyotas because of how much money it would cost. The husband said, “Dip the waffle in the milk, Laura. It’s ok.” So now this is whatRead More →

My husband bought a new Aerio sedan, white this time. My husband wrecked the car on Friday. By Wednesday, we had the deposit on a new car! Progressive rocks! We also have the honor of being the first people to wreck a 2003 Aerio. This might be true or not, but that’s what the Progressive adjuster said. He said they didn’t have the value of the car in their database. We got lucky. Progressive said since we had made only ONE car payment, they would pay the manufacturers’ suggested retail price of the vehicle, based on our purchase agreement, rather than the street value ofRead More →

Woohoo! We bought new cars! We bought his and hers matching Suzuki Aerios. Mine is a yellow, hatchback, standard. His is a blue, automatic, sedan. Jag colors. It’s so exciting. I had great fun watching him negotiate with the car sales people. What a riot. He is so smart about it and good at it. I’ve been surfing the net to learn more about my Aerio. When we were in the midst of shopping, I read a bunch of stuff on line to help us make the decision. Since then, I’ve learned that all these reviews are really just “preferences” like movie preferences. But hereRead More →

On June 28, my husband and I bought our first home. Yes, we are a little late in the game, but we don’t want to grow up. Buying a first house was a stressful and time-consuming experience, just as everyone warned. I didn’t believe them. Then we were in the thick of it. Then we learned. Folks told us we would collect a number of stories about house-buying. They were right about that as well.

For instance, the alarm company ripped us off while