Over the weekend, I had two great house guests. One is my V-have friend S. The other was her 1.5 year old daughter I. To keep my apartment from being the potential death trap it normally is, I looked around, squatting, hoping to spot the potential hazards. I...
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EBay: The Impossible To Spend Gift Certificate
One of my Christmas gifts was a $50 gift certificate for eBay. I've been trying to spend it for three months completely unsuccessfully. This is probably for a few reasons: 1) I refuse to spend over $50 (what the gift certificate is worth). 2) I have bid three...
In A Car Accident? Get All The Information
So, my friend Sarah got in a car accident yesterday. Don't worry, she's perfectly fine, and the car is running smoothly. But it needs some serious body work. Well, the rest from Sarah: "I was at an intersection turning left, and I stopped short for...
Lasagna Gardening: Gardening For Those Of Us Who Kill Chia Pets
When my friend Paul posted this idea on his Facebook page last week and I thought it was pretty brilliant. Lasagna gardening isn't growing ingredients for lasagna but an easy growing technique that Paul's wife Lorena has successfully implemented. (Those thick noodles...
Using Words To Get What You Want
As I prepared for my last French class tonight, I got to thinking about different if slightly unrelated French topics that I wanted to wrap up tomorrow. One concept I wanted to touch on was the subjunctive which is a difficult verb tense in French for many...
Too Cute Tuesday: Seed Infused Paper
Spring has sprung here like most everywhere else in the Northern Hemisphere. Spring and Maine means snowstorms with 6 inches of snow or less, a fine layer of dust on everything, and eventually, if we wait long enough, flowers. This week, we've combined the...
How Poor Are You? Part II
About four years ago, I did some volunteer work at a local food pantry. My job is interviewing prospective users of the pantry which included an in-depth discussion of the budget and finances. I remember one day having to look up the federal poverty rate and having...
How Poor Are You? Part 1
About four years ago, I did some volunteer work at a local food pantry. My job was interviewing prospective users of the pantry which included an in-depth discussion of their budget and finances. This part of the interview process was to help families find additional...
Why Cross Country Skiing Is Not An Expensive Hobby
I spent last weekend cross-country skiing with some buddies of mine in northern Maine. We were talking about how fun skiing is that how it can be cost prohibitive for a lot of people. And then I got to thinking if that was really true. I've been skiing for a little...