Blog Moving

I'm moving the contents of this blog to courtingabandon.wordpress.com. 

Rotten asparagus and other observations on graduate school

Pharmacy school's recent additions to my life: 

Rotten asparagus 

About a month ago I was preparing for block exams on a Thursday night. Having conceded to eating frozen pizza for dinner, I turned our oven on. Minutes later, the kitchen smelled peculiar. Not smokey, really, and oddly enough, not a foul odor. Just peculiar. I opened the oven to find a cookie sheet scatted with withered, four-day old asparagus.

Implications of this discovery:
1. I was saddened by the realization that my oven had gone four days without use. (I was, however, grateful to realize that my oven had been off for those four days. Though I'm sure a fire caused by blazing asparagus would have been hilarious for our insurance agent.)
2. I was disgusted by the idea of rotting (and relatively expensive) vegetables inhabiting said oven for four days.
3. I have not bought asparagus since.
4. I am now slightly curious every time I open the oven. 


The 44-ounce Speedway conundrum

The College of Pharmacy sits next to a Speedway. Their 44-ounce fountain drink is by far the most economical choice if you plan on sipping all afternoon. But I end up guzzling most of a 44-ounce Diet Mountain Dew, which I am certain takes up the greater volume of my abdomen, before a three-hour class set. In hopes of not drawing attention to myself, I try to only go to the bathroom during the tiny breaks we get between professors.

I am certain that I will wet myself in class before I graduate. It is only a matter of time.

Accidentally becoming a spectacle at the public library 

I'm virtually unable to read a campus map (or any map), so I cannot walk to the campus library at UK. Well, OK, it's not just a campus map problem. It's also an "I-don't-want-to-play-Frogger-on-South-Limestone-and-die" problem. I grew up in Hyden. We have two options for main street: in or out. So I generally avoid navigating campus, which hinders my ability to study near my peers.

Jonathan brings me to the Jessamine County Public library on short class days and I study while he works.  I waddle in with my turtle-shell backpack and unload at a large table, books and papers and highlighters sprawled out everywhere. I am an auditory learner, so I mumble to myself (or, OK, talk to myself) when I read. I tend to tune out the entire universe when doing math problems and I scribble all over scrap paper in a quick, erratic fashion out of pure excitement.  (Sadly, not sarcasm.) And if I have my iPod it is blaring Needtobreathe or David Crowder, and I'm fairly certain my math oblivion includes singing along without realizing.

I've realized there are three age groups that frequent public libraries: little kids, their parents, and the elderly. I don't think adults really notice, but children stare at me a lot. They come in with their moms to get Goosebumps books and suckers and give me this look that says, "What are you doing here, loser? You're like 25." Well, OK, they may not think exactly that, and I'm only 24, but they don't seem to welcome my presence. And it's sad, too, because the coolest part of the library is the children's section. I'm hoping to work up the courage to sit in that section one day and spread out all my stuff on a tiny red table and sit in a tiny blue chair. I'm sure that would help with my spectacle creation.

Fish and other mistakes made at McDonald's
In the interest of getting more Monopoly tickets at McDonald's (and thus possibly winning free food for future meals), I ordered the Filet-o-Fish combo even though I do not normally care for fish sandwiches. Serious, serious mistake.

In addition, I had gone inside to get my food, and unfortunately, got confused when trying to exit the parking lot. I drove around the building and found myself facing an angry Buick who was exiting the drive-thru. I quickly backed up and thanked God for the amount of grace that is required to get me through block exam weekend. 

Basic Pizza Crust - An Experiment in Frugality

I'm a cheapskate, and I recently decided that the $0.49 I was paying for pizza crust mix at Save-a-Lot was outrageous. I figured if I could make a cheesecake by myself, I could make my own pizza crusts. And with ingredients that cost next to nothing in bulk, I figured I could do it for pennies.

And I did. I stole my crust recipe from this pizza recipe at Eat Better America.

I made one with white flour for my husband and one with whole wheat flour for myself, adding a pack of yeast to the wheat one per a suggestion in the recipe comments. The thing I liked most about this recipe was that it didn't require hours to rise or some complicated bread-making contraption. I am pretty sure a 10-year-old could make these crusts. And they only take about 15 minutes from start to finish.

The recipe:

Read more »

Mustard, Toothpaste, and Other Things I Don't Need in Bulk

My mother was a kindergarten teacher, so two things were especially true about my childhood: Every moment was a teachable one, and everything we bought was on sale. Consequently, I learned the color red as a toddler when my mother made me help her find clearance racks in Goody's. If I ever got lost, my mom knew where to find me: under a red rack.

Incidentally, I learned peach next, since it was my mom's favorite color. So my assignment grew: Find red racks and look for peach sweaters. But I digress.

I was bred for frugality, and two decades later, I'm eating knock-off Oreos from Save-a-Lot and buying dress pants at the Methodist Mission for twenty cents. 

So you'd think I'd be obsessed with TLC's Extreme Couponing.

And I guess in some respects I am. I've only watched three or four whole episodes so far, but I've already set up my DVR to record it whenever it's on. And I was initially really, really excited about the idea of getting $1,000 worth of groceries for $20.

But tonight I started taking a closer look at what they're getting, and to be honest, it's kind of terrifying.

I watched a lady buy 150 bottles of mustard. That, in and of itself, is completely ridiculous. But her husband, who was helping her shop, laughed and said, "And I don't even like mustard."

What?

You don't like mustard, and you're letting your wife buy more than a lifetime's supply during one trip to Kroger? As much as I love a bargain, and as much as I'm guilty of buying things because they're on sale, there are lines I can't imagine crossing. And a lifetime's supply of mustard is definitely on the other side of that line.

Another guy bought 1,000 tubes of toothpaste and only paid tax on them. Quite admirable, yes, and in his defense he did much of his shopping for charity and troops overseas. He is a wonderful example of how this talent can be used for the greater good.

But that's a lot of toothpaste.

Sometimes when I'm watching the show I think about how obsessed we are with "a lot." It's such a telling thing that even when a show focuses on saving, it still manages to perpetuate materialism. To the point of clipping coupons for and buying 150 bottles of mustard.

And even though God asks that we live simply, He also explains one key aspect of that clearly. We're supposed to live freely, one day to the next, depending on Him for the needs that arise. And we're supposed to travel lightly:

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Matthew 6:19-21