My name's not Mary, but I can be contrary......

and look at my garden grow!

Beefsteak tomatoes

Big Boy tomatoes

Butternut squash, a volunteer plant!

The whole thing.

Grape tomatoes

A bell pepper blossom

Russian White tomatoes; I guess they aren't Communists since they are 'White' not 'Red'

Two volunteer potato plants.  I have no clue whether there are taters under there or not.  I'll find out at the end of the summer!

I'll have to water it tonight, I think.  I wish I'd planted more, then there would be less to weed!  I still have some Swiss Chard seed and lettuce that I might try for a fall crop.  And why did I not plant any beans?

The end down there where the potato plants are needs some serious amendments, like some chicken bedding and composted manure tilled in.  It's very clay-ey soil with lots of rocks.  I've only had that tilled up for two seasons now; there was a small tree there that I had removed in order to expand the garden (because I can't afford to shop at our local farmer's market, oh my I could REALLY get on my soapbox about that!). But from the butternut squash to the tomatoes, it's ridiculously rich and fertile (also grows weeds very well too, unfortunately).

I can't wait to have something to harvest besides herbs!  Soon, soon!

Price Check #4

It's been a while since I did one of these, but then again it's been a while since I made a big trip to the store!  This week I shopped at Kroger, and as always if I don't mention a brand, it's the store brand.

Regular gas is $4.099 a gallon.  I didn't fill up this evening, but I will at some point this weekend.  I have enough shopping points to get 10 cents off per gallon.

Milk, 2%, $2.78 (I wonder if we could make a car that runs on milk......)
Frozen vegetables, 1# bags, average $1.49/bag
Knorr/Lipton Pasta Sides, $1.00
Bush's Baked Beans, Homestyle Recipe, large can, $1.67
Bacon, thick sliced, 1# package, $5.49
Oats, Old-Fashioned, 42-oz. canister, $2.99
Hearty Tomato Soup, Progresso, $1.50
Duchess Fried Pies, $0.50 each
Heavy Duty Aluminum Foil, 50 sq. ft., $3.19
Peanut Butter, 18 oz. jar, $1.89
Salted Butter, 1# quarters, $3.19
Red Potatoes, 5# bag, $4.59
Styrofoam bowls, 30 count, $2.09
Styrofoam plates, 50 count, $1.29
Plastic cups, 50 count, $1.50
Saltine crackers, $1.05
Vermicelli, 1# box, $1.05

I had a bunch of coupons and managed to save a little over $20 on the total bill.  I still need flour but I have to go to Wal-Mart to get that; I buy the 10# bag of King Arthur all purpose flour which is $6.29 there; the 5# bag of the same flour is over $5 at both Kroger and Giant Eagle.

What do some of these things cost where you are?  Flour? Butter? A pound of bacon?  Gallon of milk?  And what's gas costing you nowadays?

'Scuse me while I whine.

I'm a professional tailor.  If it's made out of fabric I will tailor, alter or repair it with few exceptions. Sometimes I get minor complaints about the cost to do a project (sometimes to the point of the person not even picking up the finished work, but that's a subject for another day), because they paid less for the item than the cost to do what is required to make it usable.

But the time required, plus the cost of the thread, machine needle, wear & tear on the machine, electricity to heat up the iron to press it after I've done the requested work (or to run the steamer, in which case there's an amount for distilled water too), is the same whether your project is a pair of $300 Swiss voile sheers from Ethan Allen or a $20 pair of polyester ones from Target, or either one purchased for $6 at a thrift store.

I regret the outward 'unfairness' of that, but the way I see it the client has a choice:  either an item that is unusable in the state in which it was purchased, or an item that is usable for the purpose for which it was purchased.  If you didn't care whether you ever hung the curtains or wore the clothing, why would you bother to buy them in the first place?

Must what goes up, come down?

I sure hope so.  I stopped on the way home from Church this evening to fill up the car, using my Kroger discount card to get $0.03 off per gallon.  I gave the guy in the booth a $20 bill, thinking it would be close but would most likely fill up the tank, since the little indicator needle was at about half on the gauge.

It didn't.  I paid $3.559 per gallon with my discount.

I'd quit driving and ride the bus, but that's not feasible.  Where I live, it takes 3 buses to get to any of the three closest grocery stores in town, and the stop is 3 blocks from my house.  Three fares out and back @ $0.75 each = $4.50.  (No such thing as a transfer here; you pay full fare every time you step through the door of the bus).  And let's say I want to go to the Super Wal-Mart here because I need groceries and non-grocery items.  Here's how I'd have to do it:

Blue Line from stop @ Richwood & Charles at 8:05 am, to Depot at 8:55 am
Green Line South from Depot at 9:30 am, to Wal-Mart at 9:45 am
*******shopping, purchasing only what I can carry in two hands*******
Green Line South from Wal-Mart at 11:45 am, to Depot at noon
Blue Line at noon, to Richwood & Charles at 12:05 pm IF THEY HOLD THIS BUS.  IF NOT:
Blue Line at 2:00 pm, to Richwood & Charles at 2:05 pm.  Sure hope I didn't need any frozen food.

Oh, and if they are willing to hold the Blue Line departure at the Depot so I can transfer, it will probably cost me an extra $0.50.

For this to be worth it to me, gas would have to cost 3-4 times what it does now (but then the bus fare would have probably gone up too, right?).

I sort of like these little exercises in practical economics (like the time a few days ago when it looked like Sudafed was going to become prescription-only and I figured out a $15 package of medicine would end up costing me over $100 in actual money and lost income).

Price Check #3

I shopped at Giant Eagle; this trip I bought mostly staple items.  Where a brand is not specified, I bought the store brand.

Rice, 5# bag - $9.29
Ground coffee, 12 oz. - $5.99
Starbucks whole bean coffee, 12 oz. - $8.99
Mustard, Steel City spicy brown, 8 oz. - $2
Bob's Red Mill Vital Wheat Gluten, 1.5# - $6.99
Robin Hood Flour, 5# - $2.79 (not what I wanted, but it was all they had)
Whole roasting chicken w/giblets - $1.99/# (these were BOGO so I actually paid half this price)
Raisins, 1.5# canister - $3.99
Mariani dried apricots, 6 oz. - $3.50
Dole chopped dates, 8 oz. - $2.99
Oreo cookies - $3

Gas is $3.15 a gallon for regular unleaded.

I got two chickens, one was $11.48 and the other was $11.54 (got the less expensive one free with my discount card).  I mentioned in a post to an online community where we've been talking about food prices that the last time I bought a whole chicken it was close to $8.  I think I haven't bought a whole chicken in a while!

I'd be interested to know how much my readers pay for some of these staple items, and what part of the country you are in (you can just put 'midwest' or 'deep south' if you don't want to be specific about location).  I suspect that the prices for food here are some of the highest.

Price Check #2

Here's another price-check post for you.  I shopped at Giant Eagle.

Pillsbury Flour, 5# bag, $1.99
St. Ives body lotion, 2/$6 (I think this is something like a 16 oz. pump bottle)
Tuna in water, store generic, 4 oz. $0.79
10-grain hot cereal mix, Bob's Red Mill, $3.99
Birdseye frozen vegetables, 16 oz. bag, $1.00
Betty Crocker Snickerdoodle mix, 2/$4
Progresso Tomato Soup, 2-serving can, $2.39
Potato/onion frozen pierogies, store brand, $2
Radiatore pasta, store brand, 1# box, $1.39
Windshield scraper/brush combo, $1.99
Zhena's Gypsy Tea, Red Lavender, 20 bags, $6.99
Ground round, family size pack, $1.99/lb.

Gas is $3.06/gallon for regular unleaded.  Some places in town it's as high as $3.16.

Price Check

This begins what hopefully will be a semi-regular feature here at the Collective.  I go shopping, then I come back here and post prices of stuff I bought.  You get the vicarious thrill of seeing how I spend my hard-earned money, what sort of things we eat, and how much stuff costs here in my neck of the woods.

If you see anything on the list that is priced way different, either higher or lower, than what it costs where you are, feel free to comment and let me know.

So, here we go.  This week I shopped at Giant Eagle, a Pittsburgh-based grocery chain where I have a discount card that gets me in-store specials and 10 cents per gallon off the price of gasoline at their gas station for every $50 I spend.  

Pasta sauce, store brand,  $1.50
Canned carrots, store generic brand, $0.59
French fried onions, store brand, large size can, $3.00
Grated 100% Parmesan cheese, store brand, $3.00
Vermicelli, 1# box, store brand, $1.00
Pepsodent toothpaste, $0.99
Campbell's Cream of Onion soup, $1.67
Salted butter quarters, 1#, store generic,  $2.69
Alberto VO5 hair conditioner, $0.79
Yellow onions, 3# bag, $2.50
Mrs. T's Pierogies, 2# bag, $4.39
Fresh yams, 2.08#, $1.04
Fresh cranberries, 1# bag, $1.99
Boneless skinless chicken breasts, IQF, store brand, 3# bag, $6.99
Milk, 2%, gallon plastic jug, store brand (no hormones/antibiotics certified), $2.68
Sugar, store generic, 4# bag, $2.19
Frozen peas, 1# bag, store generic, $1.09
Pecan pie, Marie Callender, frozen ready-to-bake, $5.99

Gasoline, regular unleaded, gallon, $2.989

All the prices I listed above are with any in-store discount gained by using my card, except for the gas price.  I had 70 cents saved up in discounts so I actually paid $2.289 a gallon. That's not an exhaustive list of what I bought, either; just a representative sample, trying to list something from each department.