How’s that for a interesting collection of expenses?  It certainly was a full day.  Here we go with my today’s daily dollar diary entry:

Alternative Care & Supplements — $106.57
I started the morning with a colonic session ($70) and bought a bottle of herbal supplements specifically formulated to give relief for some of my IBS symptoms (most of which are doing much better since starting the lavage treatments).

Wild Oats — $36.87

• 4 large organic boneless, skinless chicken breast halves — $21.25 (we had plenty of leftovers for lunch tomorrow)
• asparagus — $4.71
• organic sliced roast beef — $4.99
• organic sliced smoked turkey — $4.99

I’d hoped to pick up a box or two of Kashi cereal (either Cinnamon Harvest or Autumn Wheat) but Wild Oats (now officially Whole Foods) just raised the price to $4.29 per box.  They’d raised the price and then put it on sale for a very generous $3.69.  Excuse me, but just how stupid do they think we are!!?!  Their sale price is the same as the regular price at Kroger and Vitamin Cottage.  I told the clerk in no uncertain terms that I didn’t like having my intelligence insulted like that and I fully intended to go up the street to the Super Target for my Kashi cereal.  Which I did….

Target — $20.83

• 3 boxes of Kashi Cinnamon Harvest — $3.29/box
• 3 boxes of Kashi Autumn Wheat — $3.29/box

Target — $6.93
It wasn’t until I was in the checkout line that it occurred to me that I should check Target’s offerings in men’s underwear.  With my reusable nylon Chico bags stuffed with Kashi cereal in tow, I wandered back to the men’s department where I found a package of men’s Hane’s briefs in the clearance section.  The package was supposed to contain 5 pair of briefs but someone had opened the package and the 5th pair had either been lost, misplaced, or taken.  So this package of 4 was on sale for a reduced price.

Would you believe that the Great Underwear Search of ‘08 might well be over!?  I kid you not!  It looks like these Hanes briefs might be the proverbial glass slipper.  I’m not going to count my chickens just yet but I am poised to go back to Target and stock up on full-priced packages of briefs if and when The Son gives me the thumbs up.  First he has to thoroughly test them which involves wearing them all day long under his normal street clothes on a busy day away from home.  If they can pass that test, then by golly I think we’ll have a winner.

I’ll tell you what — I never imagined that that elusive brand and style of briefs was sitting under my nose this whole time in Target!  This should really be a lesson to me about my subconscious snobbish ways.

Medical Co-Pay — $25.00
I had to take The Son in for a blood draw so they could re-test his thyroid levels.  Two months ago, during blood tests for a different concern, we discovered that The Son’s thyroid levels were a bit elevated.  His doctor’s office sent a reminder card the other day to bring him in for a re-check.  Hopefully they’ll call back in a few days with news that his thyroid level is perfectly fine — but I’m not holding my breath.  Every single member of both my family and The Husband’s has thyroid problems.  There is no way my kids are going to escape that one.  I hate to see it start so young in The Son.  If this test comes out high they’ll refer us to a specialist.

The Company Store — $104.93
I know I said I was going to wait a year on new flannel sheets for our bed but, well, I guess I lied.   So sue me 

I got an email this morning from The Company Store telling me I could save an additional 15% off all clearance items.  The thought of having two sets of flannel sheets and two winter-weight duvet covers was just too enticing.  I ordered a flannel duvet cover in a fall leaf pattern along with two matching pillow cases (no shams this time).  I also ordered a solid colored queen fitted sheet and two pillow cases in the same solid color.  I’m hoping that the fitted sheet will look good with the duvet cover (I didn’t bother dealing with their customer service rep this time) and that they both look good with my linen-blend bedskirt because that’s the plan.  If everything doesn’t coordinate I’ll have some tough decisions to make.

Speech Therapist — $60.00
Another 45-minute session for The Son with his speech therapist.  I can tell that she likes him and that he feels pretty comfortable with her.  I’m going to have to pull back to every other week before too long but I’m hoping to establish a really good working relationship between them and some sense of ownership in him regarding his assignments before pulling back.  This next week will be a good test since I’ll be out of town and he’ll have to be disciplined if he’s going to have his homework done for his next session.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

There, I gave you all the same thing I gave my family for Valentine’s Day – a greeting.

I don’t really have anything against Valentine’s Day.  Sure, it’s a silly little tradition that lets flower shops, craft stores, greeting card companies, and chocolatiers rake in the dough.  If people want to buy into that, go for it.

Over the years I’ve done my share of shopping for candy and kitsch.  Not so much any more though.  I’m just getting too old and cranky for that kind of stuff. 

Last year I gave my family (The Husband and The Kids) a subscription to Netflix*.  It was a rather self-serving gift though.  I’d been wanting to move away from the Hollywood video scene of driving to the store, spending hours arguing with the kids about what to rent, losing track of when movies were due, and paying late fees for movies I hadn’t even enjoyed.  Ugh.  Since the desire to check out Netflix was sometime in early February, it occurred to me to justify the monthly subscription fee by calling it a Valentine’s Day gift.  I even signed up using the debit card linked to my own personal checking account (rather than use, as I usually do, a credit card that he husband pays).  Even more, I kept it on my debit card for almost the whole year.  Now if that ain’t love, I don’t know what is!

Tonight I made dinner — chicken breasts baked under a white sauce gravy with buttermilk biscuits (made from scratch, naturally), extra gravy, and asparagus spears.  It was quite delicious if I do say so myself.  And more “middle American” in it’s fare (all that gravy) than my typical meals.  Everyone loved it and The Husband assumed I’d planned it for Valentine’s Day.  I saw no point in bursting his bubble by telling him that The Son had chosen the meal back on Monday while making the shopping list and weekly menu.

I could say that I eschew the commercial trappings of Valentine’s Day as a demonstration of my disdain for the crass manner in which corporations have hijacked … yada yada.  Like I said, if they can get the public to fall for it and spend their hard-earned cash on baubles and chocolate, so be it.

In my life, every day is Valentine’s Day.  My husband and kids would certainly agree that I’m not stingy with my “I love you’s”.  Hugs and kisses are never in short supply either.  I demonstrate my love in a thousand little ways every day — in the way I pack a lunch for The Daughter on school days, in the way I search all corners of the earth for comfortable underwear for The Son, in the way The Husband’s underwear and sock drawer magically refills itself and never, ever gets completely empty.  It’s in the way I stay up past midnight plunging our toilet so he can use our bathroom in the morning.  Or the way I sit and watch them all eat dinner in a restaurant, patiently waiting until we get home so I can eat my own bland hypo-allergenic dinner.

The best part is that Valentine’s Day is a two-way — well, really, it’s a four-way — street in our house.  I’m certainly not the only one doling out daily doses of love.  Everyone in our family, even The 13-yo Son, is free with their “I love you’s” and hugs.  The Husband demonstrates his love and devotion in the way he gets up at 6:30 every morning for The Daughter’s commute to school; in the way he never, ever, ever complains or criticizes no matter what I do, don’t do, or forget to do; in the way he gets up every single day and goes to work to provide so generously for his family.  The Son and The Daughter show it in their moments of generosity toward each other, in their moments of solicitousness toward me, and in the way they laugh at their dad’s jokes no matter how lame.

All I can say is, sorry, Hallmark, but cupid lives with us full time.