The Price of Being Cheap

I don't know when I'm going to realize that being a cheapskate really doesn't pay off. It almost NEVER does. Why don't I just get that fact through my head and buy for quality instead of price?? Not too long ago I bought a jug of apple cider. It was not the usual brand of apple cider I buy, it was the Marsh brand. It was cheap so I bought it. When I got home and drank a glass I was unable to drink it because it was soooooooo nasty. It was like they'd combined a little bit of apple juice with a lot a bit of sugar. It was WAY too sweet for my taste. So now I have almost an entire jug of nasty apple cider in the back of my fridge, and that very day or the next I went out and bought the brand I'm used to. So I ended up spending much more money than I should have. Then today I was out of Tang so I had to go to the store and get some (I will tell you why in the next paragraph.) Again, I went to Marsh, and again, I bought the Marsh brand of "orange drink mix" thinking it was just as good as Tang for a cheaper price. I got home and opened the container: WRONG!!! It doesn't even LOOK like Tang! It doesn't smell like Tang!! Marsh Brand Orange Drink Mix is nasty! As nasty as the Marsh Brand Apple Cider!!!! (Hmm... Maybe I should just quit buying Marsh brand?) So now I'm really tempted to go back to the store and buy real Tang, in which case I will have wasted even more money. Arg. I'm so angry with myself.

So, about the Tang. A looooooooong, long time ago my brother started making up this drink mix that he called Russian Tea that he got from the Schafer's. He brought home a jar of it or something. Anyway, it was deeelicious. Some years later I remembered its deliciousness and asked him for the recipe. It's a dry mix. Some Tang, powdered lemonade, sugar, instant tea, cinnamon and cloves. For awhile I would make huge quantities of this mix--I kept it in a plastic lidded pitcher. It was awesome. One whole winter while I worked at Latitude Zero I would make hot water in the coffee maker and drink Russian Tea aaaaalllllll day long. It was the best winter ever. (Actually, that's a lie; that was the winter that the L-0 furnace was broken--the amount of tea I drank was really just for survival.) Okay, so last weekend at the Feast my drink of choice was the Spiced Tea from the booth whose food I can hardly pronounce, let alone spell, but it's those donut-y kind of things that are so delicious that John Mooney buys us for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. Anyway, they also have coffee and spiced tea, and the spiced tea is orange and it tastes a lot like Russian Tea. SO... I came home and made some. And some more. And some more. ...... until I ran out of Tang.

Russian Tea is supposed to be very orange. The tea made with the Marsh Brand Orange Drink Mix is not orange. It's dark brown. And it smells bad. And I haven't got up my nerve to taste it yet, but I bet it tastes bad too.

Boo.

Joe and Pat Mooney are in town!! This is very exciting. They are such nice people; I'm excited to see them. We're going up to the cottage for dinner with them tonight and I (inspired by Laura!!) am making apple dumplings to take with us! This is partly because I had an amazing amount of uneaten apples in my fruit bowl, and partly because Martin and I didn't get any apple dumplings at the Feast. The problem is, I've never made apple dumplings before, and I've never made an apple pie either, so I wasn't exactly sure how to make up the fruit filling. I guessed. We'll see how they turn out. Yikes.

Last night was the first night I've actually WISHED for television. The storms coming through our area were moving so fast that the radar couldn't keep up. I was being kept up to date by my sister, my parents and the Cooks, but even when Tara called to say all the storms had passed the radar had them just barely coming into our area. I felt so lost. *sniff* BUT, we all survived even though Martin didn't want to get out of bed to save his own life. And it didn't throw me into labor either, so I guess I'll just have to look forward to next Friday when my next chance comes.

Isn't this a gorgeous fall day? I'm so glad the leaves are turning and it's cold and cloudy and so great. I love fall!

Oh my gosh. I wish all you blog readers could know my precious Theodore in the intimate way that I know him. Yesterday I was lying on the couch being lazy and he came up to snuggle me. He kind of rolled over on his back and OOPS! Out came a little tooter!! This made him sit up more, in surprise, which squeezed his little belly tighter and just made more gassies. It scared him so much he jumped off the couch and ran away!! Hahahahaha!! He scares himself with his own wind!!!!! I've never known a cat to pass gas before, and he does it all the time. Sometimes you just pick him up and he's like a honky squeeze toy. What a weirdo! Martin says it's because he eats too much and that I shouldn't share all my meals with him the way I do. That's what Martin said to me last night and this afternoon he called to tell me he'd gotten a Free Medium Fries coupon from McDonalds and he was going to take me and Baxter for fries.

WHO'S THE SPOILED ANIMAL!?!?