By the way, I've finished two more books relating to American meals: The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved (don't you love that title?) and The American Way of Eating. Next up may be Gulp by Mary Roach, which my husband saw and brought home to me.
Also, in budgetary news, I recently splurged (with a coupon) on my first 'modern' pair of jeans. Yes, skinny; I've finally caught up with the trends, probably just in time to be outdated. But, a recent exact count of my closet and dresser revealed that fully one-third of my clothes were either from the thrift store, hand-me-downs, or home-sewn. And as I've enjoyed dressing myself more and more from those expanded sources, I feel less guilty when I do need to go retail shopping.
Lastly, we endured our first-ever home appraisal last week, and just got the results today. Let me explain that we are not very handy, and find it very frustrating trying to keep our house from falling apart; so we busted our butts as much as we could to clean, declutter everything, get a few painting projects done, weed, all that. The kids happened to have off school the day prior to the appointment, so we recruited them for as much bathroom-cleaning, vacuuming and window-washing as they could stand. (We figured it was only fair, since they're a major source of the wear and tear, and they were actually pretty dang good sports.) So it's disappointing that our value came in about $20K lower than we expected. I anticipate we'll still get the loan and still save money, but not as much. S. and I commiserate frequently over how being a grown-up is not all it's cracked up to be...I find myself muttering the phrases "It is what it is" and "Onward and upward" with great frequency. But all is well, truly we are lucky and blessed.
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