Day 227: Food & A Lampshade

Posted on | April 15, 2008 |

Daily total spent:  $ 89.13

Today was all about food.  There was no deck contractor payment to make — too windy to stain and finish.  An inevitable expense put off until another day.

Tuesday Morning — $12.90
One of the “treasures” I came away with from my mom’s move across the country was a lamp.  It’s a pretty cool lamp but the lampshade… well, it’s not my thing.

It never occured to me to check Tuesday Morning for a new lampshade — Tuesday Morning’s across the street from my bank so I just dropped in after making a deposit.  My mom asked me to keep an eye out for a garment steamer like the one I bought there a couple of years ago; I’ve seen them since they just don’t have any in stock right now.

Anyway, I wander in, look for a steamer — which, of course, they don’t have – and instead of walking right back out — which, of course, is what I should have done — I start wandering the aisles looking for things I simply can’t live without.  Then, lo and behold, I come across a large array of lampshades.

The lampshade isn’t exactly what I pictured for that lamp but the price was right and it looks good — both with the lamp and with the decor in our bedroom.  But all is not golden in this city of Oz.  No, nothing could ever be as simple as finding just the right lampshade at just the right price.  Turns out, this lamp doesn’t have a harp (that’s that metal thing that curves up around the lightbulb and holds the lampshade).  The current, unacceptable lampshade is the type with the deep metal braces that come down under the bulb.  Ugh.

You know the very worst part of this predicament?  I’ve had a lamp harp, still in it’s package, never opened, sitting around my house gathering dust for at least 5 years, maybe more.  But guess what I did.  I finally got rid of it.  Where, you ask?  I took it down to my mom’s and included it in her massive moving/garage sale.  Why is it that the one thing you get rid of, out of a whole pile of junk, is the one thing you end up needing right after it’s gone?  Double Ugh.

Subway — $2.99
This expense will be entered into my “Food - Dining” budget category but it really should be classified as a “stupid tax.”

Here I was, waiting for the deck guy to show, sorting and washing laundry, avoiding data entry I need to do, and catching up with the blogs in my Google Reader.  Then I read about Kyle’s giveaway contest over at Rather Be Shopping and I decided to write about some of my home improvement experiences.  So I was busy tip-tap-typing away when my eye fell on the clock.  2:50!?!!!  No way!  I was supposed to pick up The Son from class at 2:45 and it’s no less than a 20-minute drive.  Triple Ugh.

Now I did not have to buy to buy the boy three chocolate chip cookies and a medium soda.  I did it because I wanted to.  I did it because instead of being all pissy and mad and in-my-face he was really rather sweet to me when I finally showed up.  I did it because I felt terribly guilty.

I knew he’d be worried.  Kids shouldn’t have to worry about their parents when they’re late; they have every right to be annoyed.  But The Husband and I have continually put these poor kids through the parental-medical-emergency wringer.  It’s just not natural.

So I offered him a 1,000 mea culpas and offered to buy him a treat of his choice.  He picked Subway 

Vitamin Cottage — $20.86
I picked up an extra big bottle of fiber capsules — 100 caps.  The unit price on the bigger bottle represents a significant savings over the smaller bottle I’ve been finding at Whole Foods and the Co-op.

Kroger — $52.38

• Oxiclean — $8.79
• Horizon 2% milk — $4,88 (saved $0.41)
• 2 cartons Horizon chocolate milk — $3.19/ea (saved $0.50/ea.)
• Hillshire Farm sliced ham — $3.50 (saved $0.49)
• Hillshire Farm sliced turkey — $3.50 (saved $0.49)
• Dole orange/peach/mango juice — $2.99  (saved $0.70)
• 2 jars Cascadian Farm grape spread — $2.00/ea. (saved $1.19/ea.)
• 2 jars Cascadian Farm raspberry spread — $2.00/ea. (saved $1.19 ea.)
• Simply Organic garlic salt — $4.79
• Rudi’s organic honey whole wheat bread — $3.99
• Rudi’s organic country white bread — $3.99
• bag credits ($0.15)

Related Posts for Further Reading

• $$: Just Another Sunday in the ‘Burbs
• Day 179: Gas, Gifts, & More
• Day 126: Gas, Flannel PJs, Mouse Traps, and Ground Beef
• $$: Coyote Sighting Edition
• $$: Starbucks, Pizza & an animated Zombie-Hand-in-a-Bowl
• Day 263: Crocs, Lemonade, a Book & Gasoline (ouch!)

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