green meat, the end of summer, disorganization, Old navy, the death of clothing

So, we can’t buy fresh spinach for awhile. That makes me sad. I like fresh spinach.

I know that I am not immune to food-borne illness but I like to think that I am. I grew up with 4 brothers, my mom stayed at home with us and my dad taught at a Catholic school. We lived a pretty frugal lifestyle, so my mom found interesting ways to keep food on the table. She’d buy and serve the produce and meat that was marked down because it was expiring that day. As a family, we’re pretty healthy and don’t seem to be particularly vulnerable to food bugs and we joke that it’s because we built up a resistance over the years because mom served us green meat. Even now, there are lots of people who get grossed out by that idea but to the Kals, it just doesn’t really phase us. I think I can make decisions on my own about whether food is safe. I appreciate the aid of “sell by” or “expires on” dates, but I can make up my own mind, thank you very much. I’m not afraid to throw out things that have gone bad. I sometimes have to pour out the last of the gallon of milk or the end of the sour cream container or the chicken in the fake Tupperware that I forgot about. I know that salmonella (sallyamoola) and e. coli are no joke, but for someone like me who’s in relatively good health, with an uncompromised immune system, and who grew up on green meat, I like to think that when other people might check themselves into a hospital, I’ll just have to sit on the toilet for a little bit.

I saw my breath this morning when I was watering my plants. I guess summer is officially over. I do not enjoy the fall. Fall means the winter is coming when the days are short and I’ll go weeks without seeing the sun. No more sandals. Socks are a necessity. No more summer produce. It’s all downhill now. I know lots of people enjoy the change of seasons but I wouldn’t mind if it was just 70 all the time.

I’ve worked on my gas pumping technique to avoid nozzle drippage. When I’m done pumping and the nozzle is still in the tank, I sort of gently wiggle it, just a little bit. Then I dip the handle down and tilt the nozzle up and then replace the nozzle on the pump. Voila.

You know how they define a recession as a set number of times that some economic factor decreases? Personal disorganization is defined as a period when Colleen is looking for 3 or more things that she has lost. I’m at 2 right now. I lost some foam earphone covers, and some beloved Old navy coupons. I just have no idea where they are, but I know they are somewhere. Grrr.

I am Old Navy’s worst Best Customer. I buy my clothes almost exclusively from their clearance racks (wearing a shirt I got for $2 to work today). About 2 years ago, I finally opened a charge card, even though I had been shopping there since high school. There are lots of perks to having an Old Navy charge card. You get to hear about exclusive deals, and they mail occasional coupons, but the best part is that because I gave them my e-mail address, every time they mail me a bill, I get a $5 off coupon. And there’s no minimum that I have to spend to redeem it. It’s fabulous. So my best trick is to find a $7 jacket and a $4 pair of pants, use two of my $5 coupons, and charge the remaining $1 and tax to my charge card. They send me a bill with another $5 coupon and the cycle repeats.

Now I realize that occasionally I have to buy something full price, or nearly full price. I went to ON last week looking for dark jeans that are dressy enough to wear for going out. (Not that I ever go out. So we’ll just say, dressy enough for casual Fridays at work.) I also needed something I like to refer to as “crap khakis.” These are a variety of khaki pant that I can wear every day to work, spill stuff on, and just generally abuse until they fall apart AND feel no guilt when they die. ON is usually very solid in this department. Thought I was unsuccessful last time, I need to try again soon (coupons that I can’t put my fingers on are expiring at the end of September).

I’m trying to decide what constitutes the death of a khaki. I have a pair with 4 stains – rust spots, unidentified black nastiness, something that crispy and clear, and mustard, and they also have 2 small (pinprick) holes (but none in the crotch or butt). I feel like I could still wear them on Fridays. No?