weekend pickthrough- recalibrated edition.

i would like to thank you all for being patient with me this week. my spring fever has shown no real signs of waning, but i am becoming accustomed to it in a way that is making it possible for me to function again. the answer appears to be the swingset on the eastern promenade. if it’s been a while since you’ve had a good solid swing, i can not recommend it highly enough. don’t forget to look up. it still feels exactly like flying.

along with a series of small naps with my dog and and the consumption of an entire bag of pepperidge farm chessmen, i also managed to finally organize and update my coupon stash for the first time since february. it was really tragic to have to recycle so many great deals. i really do need to pay attention again- for a while. my preble street donation bucket is looking very bare these days.

maybe this week i’ll even crack open my walgreens cherry now that the new marginal way store is open… has anyone out there been yet?

chances are that all your easter candy is gone now… except for one of these. thank sweet jesus that the folks at the hairpin are problem solvers.

the sadistic truth about women’s clothing sizes. (i do love an infographic, even when it fills me with rage).

who is this mysterious asian woman?

how did i make it past 30 without ever reading this?

i’ve got 2 tickets to paradise. and by paradise, i mean the former yugoslavia.

ooh, free local music.

you had me at “cupcake stuffed“.

18 clues you’re anti-feminist piece of crap.

a hearty high five to the person who wrote this truly inspired review of paul’s food center on yelp.

drop off times for SWAPmaine have been released! (early drop off= FREE ADMISSION).

did you know that chicago dogs has a veggie dog?

thus solidifying her place in the pantheon of awesome moms, my mom sent me this link this morning.

narcolepsy.

you may have noticed that i haven’t posted in a few days. i don’t know what’s wrong with me, i just keep falling asleep.

if i were lindsay lohan right now, i would check into a rehab facility for exhaustion (except for the fact that i’m not actually addicted to cocaine and just using it as a cover story). anyone who knows me well knows that i don’t really care much for sleep and avoid doing it at all costs (i average about 4 hours a night in general). i don’t know if it’s the crazy SPRING FEVAH i’ve been rocking, or me just getting old… but i’ve been partaking in a scandalous 8+ hours a night for the last week.

i feel quite perky, but the blog is suffering. and for that, i apologize.

i really did start  a weekend pickthrough on sunday night about how i forget that every time i post something in the “cheap eats” category,  it gets posted on portland food map. and then all the local foodies flock here to tell me what an assmunch i am, and how i don’t know anything about food.  it even featured a picture of really big oranges…

then on monday, i almost posted something about how i felt about the whole bin laden situation… but then i felt like this wasn’t the right place to do that.

anyway, here it is already wednesday, and i still have nothing to show for it except dewy rested skin.  not sure what the rest of this week will look like yet… i have a big burlesque performance on saturday that i’m totally unprepared for. and then of course i have to figure out something nice to do for my mom… so i can’t promise content-palooza or anything. that said, i’ll try to get it up for at least a post or two before the week is through. maybe. in my absence, perhaps you should ready every single archived installment of savage love… or at least just spend some quality time zoning out to the shiba cam.

stripping.

so i read this really excellent article the other day about how to be a better photographer, which is weird because i don’t have any particular aspiration to be a photographer. yeah, i know that my blurry and poorly lit iphone photos totally blow, and i’m at peace with that. but what was great about the article was that it actually wasn’t about photography at all. it was about simplifying. the basic message being that all the high-tech gear in the world won’t make you a better photographer. her advice was to put everything away except your most basic camera, and just take as many pictures as you possibly can. strip away the distractions and reconnect with your craft.

well, i think it’s finally time for me to reconnect with my financial crap, i mean craft. lately i’ve been doing nothing. actually wait, i’ve been spending like a crazy person (i went to swap out a pair of shoes in the wrong size this weekend and accidentally ended up with yet another new pair. that’s 5 in the last 2 weeks for those of you who haven’t been paying attention), have more than an entire month of unclipped coupons,  skipped the last two baking days, and haven’t balanced my checkbook since 2009. SERIOUSLY NOT GOOD.

but before that, i was attempting to pull off every deal in town much to the detriment of both my wallet and my cabinet space.  i got burnt out and gave up. i got spring fever and i wanted new toys. at some point, i lost sight of the reason why i started this whole blog situation in the first place.

a quick assessment of the last 2 weeks of my checking account- i’ve spent $342.40 on eating and drinking out (oops), and i’m $413 in the hole for next month.  shit. shit. shit.

time to do the financial strip tease:

forget the pointless deals and baking days and hours spent on intricate schemes resulting in a freezer full of hotpockets (still fat FYI). remember the debt, the nest egg, and the new roof. it’s time to get back down to basics. i spent my hungover sweatpants sunday clipping and sorting my long neglected coupon stash (shamefully, many had already expired), and formulating an actual grocery list.  i decided to lay off hot pursuit of the uberdeal, and do something i haven’t done in a long time- just buy what i need. i planned five simple dinners, and some work food designed to prevent me from heading off to the coffee by design every day (after the last few weeks, my mayorship should be pretty much sealed). i used the coupons that i had, and even found an abandoned $10/$100 catalina at the register. $69 even (heh) split with the boyfriend, is only $4.50 over my weekly $30 budget, with no immediate reason to freak out and buy the whole world.

deep breath. keep going.

some pretty sweet shaw’s deals that i noticed while i was there:

pretty much all of the near east couscous & rice pilaf is $.99 right now.

tribe hummus is $1.99, and there’s (at least in falmouth) a $1/1 coupon blinker hanging out right there. i got 3 because apparently hummus lasts until july, and HELLO, $.99 hummus.

most of the kashi cereal is on sale for $2.49 this week, and if you still have any of the $1.50/1 from the vocalpoint healthy heart bonanza, $.99 fancy-pants cereal could be in your future.

mojo bars are on sale @ $.99 each, and there’s a recent mambo sprouts $1/3 coupon floating around there making them $.66 each. also, they’re fucking delicious.

there’s a tearpad (again, in falmouth) for free tomatoes when you buy 2 fresh express salad blends.

p.s. don’t look at that bag of doritos.

weekend pickthrough- colorectal exploration edition

let’s just be clear here,  i have insane SPRING FEVER. i’ve been wandering to the eastern prom and looking wistfully at the ocean. i’ve been listening to the same two songs on repeat for days. i’ve been fuzzy and stumbly and all over the g-d place. thus, this weeks pickthrough is similarly scattered but also excited for sun dresses and bubble tea, and pretty much ready to rock and roll.

the newly facelifted library is finally revealed (and it’s magic).

bummer alert:  the world’s saddest cookbook.

become an expert of ferreting out fake experts.  step by step instructions on how to call bullshit on a guru.

central mainers dust off your drinkin’ shoes and get ready to get tipsy on local beer and make questionable decisions at central maine brewfest on saturday!

after all my yammering about how unqualified people should step away from the glue gun (at least for gift giving purposes), i present to you the single most beautiful crafting blog that i have ever encountered.

if you don’t know whether he’s come or not, YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG.

the SUPER COLON comes to maine. but why not portland yo?

saturday is record store day, with kick ass FREE events happening at bullmooses and other record stores all over the state. i also remember a sweet swag table from last year. wear something with big pockets.