I gave up three days worth of food for a girl today — and not just any girl, but my former high school love.
If you have ever faced the situation where you were going to meet an old high school flame that you haven’t seen in years, you already know exactly what I was going through. It is a combination of curiosity and anxiety that can’t be fully described in words and hovers between huge anticipation and total terror on the day the meeting is going to take place.
Of course, there is always the desire to put the best foot forward to show that the choice she made in high school wasn’t a total regrettable event that she would rather forget about — which can be difficult when you have publicly admitted that you are willing to buy tampons to get peanut butter and you play imaginary basketball games in hospital corridors. Add on that you are homeless, without a car and don’t own a cell phone (even if all are by choice) and it’s pretty difficult to pretend to be anything other than you really are…
When I saw my sister later in the evening, I instantly got the third degree on how the meeting went with her wanting to know all the juicy details (even though there weren’t any)
Sister: “So, how did it go?”
Me: “Good.”
Sister: (Shoots the evil sister eye at me because she knows that I know that she wanted more than a one word answer) “Details?”
Me: “What do you want to know?”
Sister: “Did she fall in love with you again?”
Me: “She’s married.”
Sister: “Well that ruins everything.”
Me: “No, it’s all good. She seems happy and I would never wish anything less for her.”
Sister: “No, it’s disappointing because it gives me one less thing to give you crap about.”
Me: “That has never stopped you before…”
So I went through all the details and answered all my sister’s questions until she was satisfied that I wasn’t keeping anything from her.
Sister: “So was it worth seeing her again?”
Me: “Yes.”
Sister: “Even though it meant giving up three days worth of food?” (because I purchased a cup of tea that cost $3)
Me: “It was a small price to pay to catch up with an old friend.”
If you have old friends that you have lost contact with, I would highly encourage you to make the effort to reconnect. It is well worth the effort.
I also made an additional cereal buying run for the local food bank purchasing another 190 boxes of cereal:
This brings the total to 300 boxes (my nieces helped me bring it all inside):
Yellow Cherry Plum Smoothie
After receiving the yellow cherry plums, I had to give them a try in a smoothie. The inside are sweeter than the other cherry plums I have foraged, but the skin still has a bit of tartness that made the smoothie quite refreshing and delicious:
Since I knew it was going to be a long morning buying cereal, I poured myself a quick bowl of the Apple Cinnamon Cheerios before I left.
Toasted Cheese with Pasta Salad
By the time I did get back, I was ready to eat again. I made myself a quick toasted cheese sandwich and ate the rest of the pasta salad I had left over.
Beef Spinach Pasta Salad
I was exhausted by the end of the day and didn’t have the energy to make anything so I defaulted to the leftover beef stroganoff I had. I added some fresh spinach and tomatoes to it and chowed it down. It wasn’t the best tasting meal (although definitely not the worst), but it accomplished the purpose at hand was to quickly fill me up:
This is the current list of food I still have
This is the current list of what I have purchased:
Goal: 100 days eating on $1 a day
Current Money Spent: $76.11
Money Left to Spend: $23.89 ($0.85 must be spent at CVS)
Retail Value of Everything Purchased: $1473.94
The Beginning ::: Day 95: Recruiting Child Labor
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$3 for a tea and catching up with and old friend…well worth the money and the splurge!
Out of curiosity, what is the worst meal you’ve had? (in the past 93 days)
@Anon
Definitely the Lemon Pasta Soup (the taste simply added insult to the injury)
hooray for anyone who chooses to live without a bill generating, brain cancer inducing tracking device otherwise known as a cell phone. if i really needed one i’d just buy a netbook and use skype.
I’ve been following your blog for weeks… yesterday I was eating a quick snack (while catching up on your last couple of days) and thought it would be a perfect snack for you! Pickled eggs!! But you’ll need some vinegar… The basic method is to simply boil the eggs, then peel them and put them in a jar with 50% vinegar and 50% water. Let them sit for a couple of weeks before you try them and they will keep for months. You can find lots of recipes on the net to spice them up a little.
Girls are totally worth giving up three days of food for. 😀
I’m amazed at how much cereal you got! I know it’s not part of this challenge, but can you tell us how you were able to get all of that cereal?
Also, you’ve inspired me not only to coupon seriously but also to blog about it. Thank you for starting this challenge! You’re an inspiration.
I’d like to ask about next situation: let’s imagine you’ve met a nice girl and you ask her out. You are going to some place to eat out. I suppose you pay for both of you. Would it count as a part of your challenge or beyond that? What would you do?
@Janna
Go on a non food oriented date 😉
That’s a good question from Janna and a good response. Can we hear about your non-food oriented dates? LOL. You could cook for her!
Can we hear about your non-food oriented dates? LOL. You could cook for her!
Oh, if I did that I would be going down a very steep and slippery slope where it would be impossible for me to salvage any form of respect (although I am sure it would be quite entertaining to all of you…)
>>Oh, if I did that I would be going down a very steep and slippery slope where it would be impossible for me to salvage any form of respect (although I am sure it would be quite entertaining to all of you…)
You know, cooking together can be fun, too.
After reading your blog I must say that I already respect you for admitting that you can’t cook and for asking a good advice. Usually men don’t admit their lack of knowledge and very shy to ask for help, especially when it comes for “girly things”. For example, my brother would rather burn the eggs with a saucepan than ask me how to cook it properly 🙂
As for a non food oriented date – I’m really curious how could this be? As long as I remember my dates (oh! sweet times 🙂 ) all of them had food or drink.
Since you do not own a car or a cell phone how do you keep in touch with appointments, family, etc? Also are you using your sister’s vehicle to get the food to the food banks and on your shopping trips? Just curious 🙂
It really isn’t that difficult. I visit family a lot since I am always traveling. Most other stuff is done over the computer. I was able to use a number of different vehicles — when I was housesitting, I would have access to the vehicle where I was housesitting. Then I was able to borrow cars from family and friends when needed if I could work it around their schedules.