Frugal Living

My online friend Aunt B at http://rainbowchristianhomeschool.blogspot.com/ is going to be sending me a book soon about Frugal Living. Now, I'm going to admit to you that I *need* lessons in that.

My dad used to say that "it's only money." I grew up without any idea about how to manage money or worry about how to pay for anything. Ahh... That little respite from reality was niiiice. Of course, I went off to college without a clue. I had not taken the initiative to learn things like "how to do laundry" or, how on earth do you know what chemicals to clean the sink with? My first apartment roommate was in absolute horror that I *never* cleaned the toilet or sink, or vacuumed. Eh, it didn't occur to me. It didn't bother me so much that the algae in the toilet whooshed back and forth with each flush like seaweed. Just as long as *I* didn't have to clean it. You don't think I'm reaching in there, do you?

Once, I decided that I would like to cook some spaghetti. My neighbour says that you boil the noodles and then add the sauce. I could do this! I had a nice, big and probably very expensive pot with two little handles. I put in the water, and when it boiled I added the spaghetti. I let it boil for oh, say, about half an hour. That should be good. OK, I've turned off the stove and when the spaghetti cools a bit I will add the sauce.

Except the spaghetti didn't turn out well once it cooled. It kind of turned into a disgusting JELLY thing inside the pot. It was all gooey and... sliceable! It was obviously a bad brand. I threw away the pot (you didn't think I would touch all that goo and then wash the pot, did you??) with the spaghetti still inside. So I had no pot to try again for quite some time.

Now, once D and I were out of college and in our OWN apartment things changed. I have learned how to set the oven to 400 and put the frozen french fries in. I have learned to make toast. I can heat corn up from the can and even add a little pat of butter for palatability. I am GOOD. I also know how to drain spaghetti noodles and even make a garlic-y bread from a store bought French loaf now.

Yay for me!