Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Not-death, resurrection, and taxes

"I'm not dead... I'm feeling better... I think I'll go for a walk..."
"You're not fooling anyone, you know."

I am recovering, sort of. Now I just feel like I have a garden-variety cold. Mr. S. has a sore throat but has "decided to fight." He's taking one of every vitamin supplement in the house, and rummaging through the pantry looking for cures. "How about coconut milk, is coconut milk good for a cold?"

Well sure, if it's mixed with crushed ice and pineapple juice and rum, and served in low latitudes. Which is to say, no.

The girls are coughing but not feverish anymore. They need to rest a lot, but forced rest makes 'em cranky. Bean is perkier; she can go to school. Peanut is going to have some serious couch time.

So that's our status.

Easter came and went much the same. None of us was well enough to manage church. Mr. S. colored eggs with the girls on Saturday. Bean was concerned that they might not be feeling well enough for a protracted hunt, so she had him leave the Easter Bunny a note: "Dear Easter Bunny, Please hide the eggs easy. Bean and Peanut are sick." At bedtime she asked him "what does the Easter Bunny look like? Is she like a regular bunny?" Oh! She really does believe there is a bunny that does this stuff. I imagine she will experience some righteous indignation at her eventual enlightenment. Hopefully we can mollify her by letting her keep the Peanut fooled. When Peanut finds out, she's not likely to mind so much.

Also in the spirit of the season, we submitted our tax stuff. Getting it all together occasions a general review of how much we've spent and saved, and whether it's more or less than previous years. Oil and gasoline have eaten up more money despite our stinginess with them. However, we've done better with electricity and some other things. I noticed a huge savings on groceries, accounted for by my shopping less at Stop&Shop and more at Trader Joe's. I'm so glad Trader Joe's came to Cape Cod.

And with that: more chicken soup.

4 comments:

  1. Ok, I know what that site is - I have clicked on it, experimented with a variety of arrangements, and was done with it. Now it is just annoying, so why do I keep clicking on it?

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  2. Not sure if you have this accessible out there at the end of the world, but we call Chicken Pho (Vietnamese) a miracle worker when it comes to colds.

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  3. Trader Joe's is cheaper than Stop&Shop? Really??? (You *must* have more restraint than I do.) Would you mind elaborating some on what sorts of things are cheaper? I'm very curious.

    I'm glad to hear the plague is subsiding!

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  4. Jude - one thing Cape Cod lacks is Chicken Pho. That kind of thing makes me homesick for the Pioneer Valley. Sniffle!

    Hi Anon. I guess it depends what kinds of things are on your TJs list, but my staples from there include eggs (huge difference from S&S), milk, bread, bananas, spaghetti sauce, chicken broth, olive oil, condiments, spices, peanut butter, yogurt, frozen peas, fish sticks, and frozen blueberries. Oddly, sour cream and butter are more expensive there, so it comes down to the balance between knowing prices and not driving yourself crazy with comparison shopping if you're burning the savings in gasoline anyway.

    Of the fewer-added-ingredients genre (i.e. peanut butter with no corn syrup, no-salt marinara that actually tastes good), I find TJ's products are very frequently the better deal.

    It does take some doing to get out of there without chocolate and English toffee and gelato and caramel popcorn. Sigh.

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