Banks and dresser drawers.

When I was a little girl, I used to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house a lot.  Like every weekend a lot.  It wasn't that I wasn't close to my parents or that we didn't get along, because we did, I just had a super strong bond with my grandma.  I remember one weekend I was there, I was looking through her books on a shelf in the front hallway, and I flipped through, and came upon a $20.  Flipped another couple pages, another $20.  I didn't say anything to her, didn't want her to think I was snooping, because I wasn't, I wanted to see what the book was about, because I had forgotten my library books at home- and I wanted to read something.  But Grandma and Grandpa were born in 1910 and 1915.  They were old enough to remember The Depression.  Which knowing that they were teenagers at the beginning of the Depression, it made perfect sense to me that she didn't trust banks.  Neither did Grandpa.  And now, neither do I. 

I honestly don't mean it to sound all DUH DUH DUH.... But, a lot of what I'm seeing, and reading, makes me want to pull every single bit of money out of our accounts, and hide it in the mattress.  (Or the sock drawer, under my .44).  Which is exactly what my grandparents did during the Depression. 

The latest indignity was this afternoon at one of the local Chase branches.  I've never been a huge fan of Chase (they're slightly better than Bank of America, but that's really not saying much.) For those that don't know, Chase is complying with a Federal recommendation to require cash deposits to only be made by the person (or people) who are named on the account.  When I asked why they all of a sudden required ID, I was told, Chomp Chomp Chomp Federal REGULATION Chomp Chomp Chomp.  So I *might* have told her that she looked like a cow chewing her cud because of her lack of ability to chew gum.  Cry baby told her manager, and when I called to complain about her wording and lies, she basically yelled at me for calling her teller a cow.  Um, sorry, didn't say she WAS a cow, said she looked like one.  Huge difference.  Hmm... surprise surprise, she lied to me, and misheard what I said.  As soon as I called them on the whole regulation vs. recommendation, her tone changed.  Not surprisingly, they've been getting a lot of pushback from customers.  Also not surprisingly, I'm one of the few that's calling them on their word choices. Also?  She was getting ready to call me to yell at me for 'hurting her teller's feelings'  Sorry- does it look like I care?  Yes? Damnit, must work on my 'not give a rat's patootie' face. 

So now the fun starts of finding a new bank.  I'm completely over Chase- they're too big now, and don't care about the little people. 

The SUN! The SUN!!

That was just said in Tattoo's voice from Fantasy Island!  I ABSOLUTELY don't want to jinx anything by that title, either.  The sun is shining, the snow is melting, and I'm refilling my depleted Vitamin D supplies.  I'm baking bread, washing clothes, and listing things in my eBay shop.  It's truly amazing what a good day of sunshine can do to your mood, especially after the winter we've had.  I'm hoping we're at the end of it, and we don't have any more snow over the next month or so, however, I know there's usually 'winter's last gasp' right around St. Patrick's Day.  Hopefully, the gasp will be little more than a sigh this year. 

Monday was a make up day from all of our snow.  So Charlie and I decided to do some shopping together.  He needed some cat litter and dirt, and I wanted to go Goodwill shopping at the outlet.  So we hopped in his truck, and headed out.  I got some amazing bargains at Goodwill (thank you $.90/lb) that are washed, and ready to be listed.  After a quick lunch, we headed out to Home Depot.  Honestly, I was not looking forward to there, I didn't think they had seeds out yet.  BUT THEY DID!!!  Whoop!! 

So I ended up purchasing some seeds- black beans, zucchini, and jalepenos.  I'm uber excited, because I haven't ever seen black bean seeds outside of a catalog, and I was honestly afraid I was going to have to purchase them from a catalog or the one place I bought seeds from last year that arrived smelling like an ashtray had been packaged in the envelope for a few days prior to mailing.  THAT was gross. 

I still have several items in two different shopping baskets online.  One at Territorial Seed Company, and the other at Burpee.  Between the two of them, we have about $40 worth of additional seeds that I want to order, and make the husband plant. It's kind of a problem, when we only have a tiny tiny garden.  I'm getting very adept at container gardening, to be honest. 

Groceries and the Garden

I went grocery shopping today.  I'm averaging about $60 every two weeks, which isn't quite what I need to be spending to be able to make it a full 2 weeks between grocery trips.  I think I'm needing an extra $40-$50 to be able to make it.  Right now, I'm making 10-12 days, but the last few days before the grocery trip are painful.  Which, if we could go out to dinner 3-4 days every two weeks, that'd be perfect, but alas, we cannot.  And I don't even WANT to go out that often.  I tell Charlie all the time- once a week is perfect.  Which usually is Saturday if we go to Saturday Mass, or Friday night if we don't. 

Most days I wish I could just go to my perfect pantry and pull out my ingredients that I need to make dinner.  Unfortunately, I can't.  I don't have a pantry, and my cabinet space leaves MUCH to be desired.  I honestly hate my kitchen set up, so I have to make the best of a bad situation.  But anyway....moving along- that's another blog post for another day. 

I am wanting to join Costco again.  I've joined in the past, and it's been useful, but I wasn't using it as I should.  Now, we have a little more cash, and even if I go 1 time a month, it'll be worth it for us.  I want to be able to start putting a stockpile up, not just for the future, but for those last 3-4 days every paycheck when I'm making dinner out of 2 eggs and a box of cake mix.  Sometime in February is my goal to rejoin, which is really only either this Friday, or in two weeks.   I think I might just go down there Friday afternoon, and just get everything set up, maybe stop at the Goodwill outlet as well.  I'm not sure, I dislike getting off work at 12:30, and then having to shove all sorts of stuff into 3 hours before Luke gets home from school. 

The Year the Snow Wouldn't Stop

Or, the year that our children attended school until July, when we should have been out in May.  Here in Central Indiana, we've been hammered with snow and cold.  Last week it was 13 inches, and the polar air cap, resulting in a 3 week Christmas break.  This week, we had one make up day, and yet another 3 inches, and another snow day today, resulting in the last flex day being used.  Truly, the next time we get called for snow, we're going into June.  The snow has to end eventually, right??  At this point, I'm going crazy.  I hate snow- with a passion.  I'm not one of those people that can just sit at home and watch the snow fall.  Ick.  If I have to go out in it, I hate wet pants, I hate wet shoes, etc.  Give me sunny and 75 (thanks, Jake Owen!). 
I have, however, started planning the garden, and Charlie has promised a cold frame at work here soon.  So yay for that!
I *have* been using my time with Luke home wisely though.  I've got him helping pick up the house, and put stuff away.  All I have to do is promise him time to watch his television shows for an hour.  :)  Other than that, he's all about helping pick up and throw away.  I know Charlie has been irritated at how messy the house is, and it is my fault, but I'm trying to get stuff listed on Ebay.  See, I sell used clothes on eBay for extra money.  He likes it, he's cool with it, he just hates the mess I create sometimes with it.