July 7, 2009

Budgets




Spanish Village, 2009.



Himself: Wonders how one follows up after applying on line. Costco actually has the personality tests online taking almost an hour or so to do. Arrived at Home Depot, they called, contractor called us, appointment made for today. Many apologies. We have had good luck with HD contractor’s in the past.

Herself: Had a very relaxed day.

Reading: Finally back into the newest of the Dresden series.

Balance: Got the grocery shopping done. One week: 42 bucks.

Menus: Chicken, pear, and walnut salad. Baked potatoes and a cheese and tomatoe salad. Chicken, cilantro, and BBQ pizza. Pork chops with baked apples with green salad. Lite sausage, apple, and cabbage stir.

Summer school is ending two months early this year.

It’s not just those who have been laid off who are counting pennies, the state is broke too. The trickle down effect reaches us all with government employees getting IOU’s, and college students finding their classes truncated mid summer.

I must admit that I hadn’t expected to have so few classes to relearn how to paint. Selfishly, I had been thinking the world was rotating in its orbit just as it always had. We who had already crimped back on our spending suddenly find ourselves not spending at all in a world only now adjusting to balanced budgets.

The only thing I really had to buy for this class was paper and a tool box. I’d saved my paints from college and was grateful the moths hadn’t eaten my brushes. Yes, good paint brushes are made from animal fur. No, I was a failure at contributing to the economy for this class. Yes, I need a tube of a nice acidy green so eventually I will be a bring a few of my pennies out into public.

Or will the one tube cost twenty bucks.

I find myself rethinking my priorities these days. Here the budget was planned to include an oil change on the Toyota, repairs on Grumpy, rebuilding the downstairs bath, and a kitchen counter….the bath and kitchen being very worn originals. Our enthusiasm and research for changes on the downstairs half bath have been shelved until himself is once again employed…although the pictures remain up.

I’m always hopeful.

3 comments:

  1. What a lovely little drawing. Just paint and paint and paint and all will be well sooner than you think. Then you can sell all the paintings you did when the world was at a standstill.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your menus sound delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  3. "rethinking my priorities these days." Which maybe we all should have been doing all along. Except that, it doesn't feel good to be forced into this by the economy but by our own decision making freedom. In a crazy, round-about way it's like I felt when I had didn't get invited to that party when I was 19. I really didn't want to go, probably wouldn't if I'd been invited, but I still felt left out because I wasn't invited in the first place. That probably doesn't make any sense to most people, but I think, I hope, you know what I mean.

    ReplyDelete

postcards

Celebration of Life