Cats don't eat this.

So I'm a pushover. Mija has quickly learned, if she follows me into the kitchen and meows, I might let her have something of what I'm making.

Unlike my former felines, these two are picky. They won't eat just anything I have. And, many times, Mija will take a bite and decide it wasn't what she was expecting. Yet she still wants to smell it even if she's decided previously that she hates it.

I went grocery shopping over the weekend. I was out of everything. At Whole Foods, where I bought meat to last me into next month, they had loaves of this cinnamon bread next to the check-out. It's a favorite impulse purchase point. Put something enticing at the register and people will probably snap it up. Well, it looked good and smelled wonderful so why not?

After coming home and putting everything away, I sat down to work on my finances and brought a couple slices of the bread, with tea, into the office. Of course she wanted to see what I had. I think her left ear says it all. She sniffed, gave me a look that would curdle milk and left. If Pilchard sees that Mija gets to sniff something, she's right on Mija's tail to have a whiff. Pilchard didn't even smell it. One look and she went back to lying on the settee.

The bread was incredibly good, by the way.

Beverage: Water

Deb

This vexes me. #8

Packaging.

You know this kind. This is the kind where it's in a sealed package and the ONLY, ONLY way to get it open is to cut it. If, heaven forbid, you have purchased the wrong item, you have irreparably damaged the packaging. And if you are not careful, the opened edges are razor sharp and will cut you.

It matters not that the entire thing can be recycled. I think this is an egregious example of packaging gone wrong. You can see how I had to mangle this package to remove the camcorder battery. All the time I'm doing this, I'm hoping that I got the right battery for the office camcorder.

I'd like to know if batteries really are shoplifted in such quantity that they need to be this over packaged.

Beverage: water

Deb

Another recommendation.

I love this stuff. It's more, much more, expensive than the Kraft mac and cheese, but honestly, it is so much better.

I bought a box years ago. I saw it in Whole Foods and I like the taste of white cheddar. We called it "farmer cheese" because farmers often made this kind of cheddar and didn't have the orange additive. It's got a different flavor than orange cheddar.

Homemade mac and cheese is a much loved comfort food. I make mine with Velveeta which is probably as far from "organic" cheese as you can get. But it melts evenly and, when cool, doesn't solidify into a stringy mass as I find real cheddar can.

This box cooks up the same as the Kraft kind but you mix the cheese sauce in a mixing cup and add it to the cooked pasta. I also add peas and, brace yourself, diced Spam. What can I say? I like Spam. With these things added, it makes a hearty and comforting meal that reheats wonderfully the next day.

Unless you eat the entire pot full over the course of the evening.

Beverage: Blackberry sage tea

Deb

May be the TMI post.

Doesn't look very interesting or appetizing, does it? It's a skin scrub I received from my friend, Melody. She made it. It's used coffee grounds and baby oil and probably other stuff that I've forgotten. She listed the ingredients the year she gave several of us this for Christmas. She said it was the most delicious exfoliant she'd ever used, plus, it was all natural.

I've had this for a couple years. I put it under the bathroom sink, intending to use it once I had finished with the exfoliant currently in the tub.

Well, as things usually go, it got shoved behind things under the sink. In the summer, I did a clean out of everything in the bathroom and tossed a bunch of things that were way beyond expiration dates, the ear cleaning solution for Penney who went over the Rainbow Bridge in 2007, is a for instance. I found this and moved it to the front of the cupboard intending to give it a try.

It's time to perform the female ritual of leg shaving. I remember reading that although guys shave more often unless they are bearded, women shave more surface area. I find it helps to rub the gams with exfoliant before taking a razor to the skin. There is less chance I am going to nick or cut myself. I usually use this, but at $20, it seems kind of extravagant, particularly when I'm trying to save money any way I can.

I had a small container of lavender scented exfoliant that I used up and then I dug into the coffee grounds. It was a bit solidified, after being under the sink for a couple years. I added a bit of water to it to make the consistency easier for spreading.

Whew! It did smell like coffee. And was it gritty! It felt almost like rubbing sand on my skin. But the result was absolutely wonderful, soft, smooth skin.

This leads to the fact that it's Clinique Bonus Time, the time when I can get a bunch of sampler-size freebies by buying Clinique skin care or make-up items. I was looking through my stash and I actually don't need anything this go round of Bonus Time. Plus, this stuff is expensive. I used up the facial moisturizer they make that I like, but I bought some at Target that is proving to be just as nice for, well, this means math so give me a second.

9/47 = n/100, I think is the formula.

Doing the math says that the new stuff is 19% of the price of the old. I can live with that. In fact, I can live with all my skin care being 19% of the price of what I currently use. That extra change in my pocket means I am closer to being back on my feet. That those feet would be nicely exfoliated is an extra bonus.

Beverage: Blackberry Sage Tea

Deb