Inside vs. Outside

I recently read a very timely blog posting about "These Hard Economic Times."  I was actually scheduled to visit the dentist for the first time in many moons, and there was a sentence in said blog posting that opened my eyes.

Americans spend 500 million dollars a year to have their teeth whitened -- not cleaned, just whitened to look nice.

500 million dollars a year on WHITENING?!! How many teeth are rotting inside and gleaming on the outside?!

Like many Americans, I haven't been diligent with maintenance - on my teeth, my skin, my car. Our disposable economy has paved a very nasty road that allows simple maintenance to be overlooked and replacement to happen whenever something shows signs of wear. But yet, we try to keep up an APPEARANCE of new.

Watching Rehab Addict with Nicole Curtis has reminded me of the value in maintaining and restoring rather than replacing. If each of us could think to spend the money on a little prevention, we could improve our culture, society, environment and even our bank accounts.

And what about the bigger picture? Not just our teeth, but our lives?

Money – how many are living the high life, but drowning in debt? Faith – how many souls are gleaming on the outside and rotting on the inside? Parenting, Working, Relationships -- all have very real implications when you think of the truth inside versus what we display outside.

#ForYourConsideration #MusingsofaBroussard #InsideversusOutside #Ruminating #LesliesLeftBrain

Thanksgiving Tradition

I tried not to tell you, but I just can't help myself. I just have to list for you the groceries I bought for $75.12 this year. (That's only $6.89 more than I spent last year. I think I beat inflation!)

50 lbs of turkey
12 lbs of ham
2.5 lbs chicken legs
2 lbs of bacon
1.5 lbs of tilapia
6 bagels
1 bag mini marshmallows
16 biscuits
28 oz Folgers
1 lb butter
8 oz cream cheese
24 oz sour cream
1/2 gal orange juice
1 can yams
2 cans chicken broth
3 cans peas
3 cans corn
3 cans cranberries
4 lbs sugar
3 pkgs pasta
6 cereal bars
15 lbs potatoes
1 loaf wheat bread

And thanks to WIC, I also got:
1 gal and 1 quart milk
18 oz peanut butter
16 oz sharp cheddar cheese
1 dozen eggs
3.5 lbs yams
3 bunches green onion
2 lbs sweet potatoes
3 bunches celery
2.75 lbs onions
2 lbs green grapes
2 lbs red grapes
1 lb carrots
1 lb tomatoes
1 lb zucchini
2 lbs pears
2 lbs cantaloupe

I love grocery shopping :)

I also had a fabulous time Wednesday and Thursday cooking with my teenager. We made a plateful of dishes!

Clockwise from top: black eyed peas, turkey, stuffing, glazed carrots, green bean casserole, mashed topatoes, collard greens, sweet potato casserole and candied yams.

I am very thankful this year!

Superfluous Spending is Stupid Regardless of the Actual Total

Hyperbole often leads to people actually missing the point.

There was this big hubaloo a couple weeks ago regarding whether or not an Administration trip to India was costing the taxpayers $200 million per day.

The local newspaper included a reprint of Thomas Friedman's op-ed piece (with a new title), "Never Let Facts Get in Way of Bashing Obama."

This column does an excellent job of praising Anderson Cooper for finding the truth (a.k.a. doing his job). The column also does an excellent job of pointing out how shameful it was for House Representative Michele Bachmann to have used the information prior to actually checking the facts (and the subsequent use of the misinformation by conservative radio hosts). "All you can hope is that more people will do what Cooper did - so when the next crazy lie races around the world, people's first instinct will be to doubt it, not repeat it."

I agree, people need to check their facts - that's why truthorfiction.com was created!

Unfortunately, the morale of the story - wasted spending - was completely overlooked by the fact that some moron jacked up the figures.

Anderson Cooper was able to find a ballpark figure on how much the President's trip to India DID cost the taxpayers. Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, was quoted as saying, "[This trip] is comparable to when President Clinton and when President Bush traveled abroad. This trip does not cost $200 million a day."

Cooper then pointed out that "Clinton's 1998 trip to Africa - with 1300 people and of roughly similar duration, cost, according to the Government Accountability Office and adjusted for inflation, 'about $5.2 million a day."

If the initial reporting regarding the trip to India would have said that the trip was costing the American taxpayer $5.2 million a day, we could have had outrage at the fact that the President was wasting our tax dollars on something extremely superfluous. Unfortunately, the story became about the exaggeration and about malicious journalism aimed at "bashing Obama."

From what I could tell, he spent two nights in India. At $5.2 million per day, that totals at least $10.4 million.

For whatever it's worth, I am outraged that millions of dollars were spent to send the President to India to talk about economic growth (a.k.a. outsourcing). This could have been done over the telephone.

Please Be Smarter Than the Proganda Thrown at You!

Hope for Our Economy is often the message I see in my local newspaper.

I'm all for keeping a positive attitude, but I think these articles are blowing smoke up our collective asses.

The Yahoo article states that "[Unemployment benefit claims] remain near their lowest level in two years." And because of this, and some other convoluted measure of unemployment benefit claims, there is once again "encouragement for the economy."

Really?!

I'm sick and tired of hearing how unemployment benefit claim numbers are improving, and thus signalling an improvement in our economy. To anyone who has half a brain, these numbers don't mean diddly squat.

Why? Because these numbers don't count a plethora of people.

Who? People who are underemployed.

Anyone who took a pay cut (i.e. salaried workers with furlough days).
Anyone who works less hours than they used to (including loss of overtime).
People who are staying at a job they HATE because there are no better options (Military retention at historic highs).
People who are employed less than their skill level (i.e. working as a cashier at the grocery store rather than an accounts payable clerk).
And finally, people whose benefits have run out. (Please notice the first quote above - "lowest level in TWO YEARS." No one gets benefits past two years, so of course there are less benefits been paid.)

It is annoying that the media and the politicians and the economists think the general population is too stupid to know when they are feeding us a bunch of bullshit.

I wish they would just be honest - America's economy is NEVER going to be what it was, and that's OKAY. But that's really a whole different issue :)

Thanksgiving Dinner is ON!

When I thought about Thanksgiving earlier this month, I was concerned that I might wake up Thanksgiving morning and just not have the energy to cook a turkey and all the fixings. Plus, knowing that my unemp benefits are coming to an end, I was a little worried about the idea of feeding many people for Thanksgiving.

Then, my husband said his co-workers were asking if I was going to cook. Well that just put a little spring in my kick ;) Last year, I so greatly enjoyed providing a meal for some sailors and friends that weren't going to see their families (or just wanted to hang out with us!). I'm really thankful that it impacted some peoples' lives :)

And then today, I opened the Sunday paper to see some AMAZING sales at Ralph's and at Fresh 'N' Easy.

I know this was never meant to be a blog about bargain shopping, but seriously, I am awesome at grocery shopping! I have previously posted evidence of this:

Superwoman
Bargain Shopping

With $68.23, I bought:
39 lbs of turkey
20 lbs of ham
5 lbs rump roast
2 cans evaporated milk
6 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 cans cream of chicken soup
5 cans chicken broth
2 cans beef broth
3 cans vegetable broth
4 cans Hormel chili
4 boxes stove top
4 lbs butter
4 cans cranberries
1 box hot cocoa
3 cans soup

I think we've got Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's and maybe even Easter covered :)

Seriously, Southern California is FULL of transplants! If you don't have family to visit on Thanksgiving, you are more than welcome at the Broussard house :)

Bargain Shopping

So as many of you know, my husband and I do not have boat loads of discretionary income to spend. We pay our bills and we're pretty close to tapped.

Unfortunately, I have a HORRIBLE habit of spending whatever money we have left. I need to stop this, I know. I justify it, because I am always spending the money on food...but we are never in a place where we NEED food. Plus, I always get really really really good deals on food, only justifying my spending more...It's a horrible habit that I need to stop, but before I stop, can I just tell you how much I bought the other day for $53.29?

Sour Cream
Cottage Cheese
3 Yogurt
Tortilla Chips
Pumpkin Spice Cookie Mix
Frozen Raw Shrimp
Cinnamon Applesauce
Blueberry Fruit Juice
Can of Peas
Can of Carrots
Syrup
Bread
Pomegranate Sherbet
Red Tea
Printer (from Wal-Mart)
Haircut magazine (Hey, a pregnant lady is required to change her hairstyle)
10 lbs potatoes
Cake donuts (pregnant, remember)
2.5 lbs Chicken Legs
5 lbs Pork Chops
3 lbs oranges (that I didn't actually get)
4 avocados
1.5 lbs onions
1.5 lbs zucchini
1 bag carrots
2 lbs tomatoes
1.5 lbs apples
3 cucumbers
1 lb nectarines
3 bunches green onions
6.5 lbs cantaloupes
4 lbs oranges (that I did get)
2 gallons of milk
1 box Kix
1 box Honey Kix
1 box Corn Bran Crunch
1 jar super chunk peanut butter

Seriously, am I good or what?! People should pay me to shop for them!

Superwoman - Redeux

My meds are finally working again. We had to up the dose twice, but I am finally Superwoman again. It sux that it took over a month, but I am so thankful to be right again.

How do I know? Well, it is 3 pm and here is what I have done so far today (not necessarily in chronological order):

Made coffee
Fed Brytin
Introduced him to the Muppets
Watched Little Bill (my FAVORITE kid's show)
Fed Brytin
Deep-cleaned my kitchen from top to bottom
Helped Brytin paint a piggy bank
Painted a key holder
Fed Brytin
Sewed a hem into a table runner
Ironed the table runner
Plucked my eyebrows
Ate
Decorated the house for Thanksgiving
Create an art scrapbook of my drawings
Grocery-shopped *
Taught Brytin how to embroider
Fed Brytin
Prepped everything to embroider my apron
Watched a couple football games (intermittenly)

After I am done typing this blog, I will begin to prepare dinner. I am planning to make a chicken braid. I haven't made it in like seven years; I hope Chris likes it :)

*I found a new grocery store called Save-a-Lot. They're not kidding. For $70 I got the following:
Cookie Sheet
2 lbs bananas
1 pkg Rolls
1 pkg Rice-a-Roni
1 lb tub of margarine
1 bag carrots
28 lbs of cat litter
1 bag celery
1 bag shredded cheese
1 no-bake cheesecake mix
2 cans mushroom gravy
2 cans corn
1 can cranberry sauce
1 pkg crescent rolls
2 lbs fig newtons
An 8 lb Ham
1 btl BBQ sauce
1 head lettuce
1 box turkey sausage
1/2 gal milk
1 can mushroom pieces
1 box onion soup mix
2.5 lbs oranges
1 lb onions (that I didn't actually purchase, the bastards just charged me for)
2 cans pears
.5 lbs red peppers
1 can cherry pie filling
8 lbs sweet potatoes
10 lbs potatoes
1 bag pretzels
1 loaf white bread
1 pckg cinnamon rolls
2 reusable shopping bags (I'm NOT green, but this ghetto grocery store charges for plastic bags, so I figured I might as well buy the cloth ones)
4 sticks butter
1 box Stove Top
1 btl Sunny D
5 pckgs Kool-Aid
1 box Tuna Helper
1 loaf wheat bread

Call me crazy, but that is a LOT of groceries for $70

Go Superwoman!!