Day 17: Luck and Spirits

Money Spent: $0

Amount in food eaten: $1.90

Breakfast: Cereal ($.25)

Lunch: Mac and Cheese ($.40)

Dinner: Spinach salad (~$1.00)

2nd Dinner: Rice and Chickpeas ($.25)

I think I've mentioned that the gas in the office was off for like a month and a half.  It sucked.  We couldn't cook anything, except in the microwave (and as you may have noticed, I'm not much of a microwave cooker - Mike doesn't even have one).

Well, today when I walked into the office, one of the administrative people in our building stopped me to tell me we'd be getting a "compensation check".  And it was pretty generous.  Um, ok.  My boss told us to go ahead and use the money to buy groceries for the office for lunch.  Ummm, ooookay!

My coworker, Corinne, is also looking to save some money and enjoys cooking, so we had a great time thinking up new cheap recipes for things we can make for lunch and freeze.  Corinne made burritos using my recipe (though she added LIME to the rice... which was perfect) and brought them to work today.  We ordered groceries at the end of the day, which will come tomorrow. Could we have had better luck?  One less meal to worry about for a while... 

I cashed my babysitting check.  I decided I'm going to use all the extra work I'm doing to pay for my food, and my regular job will be for bills and rent and paying back my taxes.

Okay, so now for the spirits...

Lenny, our cat, randomly started acting VERY freaked out about the bedroom in the last few days.  He wouldn't come in there and he would stare intensely at the bedroom before yelping and running away.  Consistently.  And if I was hanging in there, he would sit at the end of the hallway and cry until I came to him. I'm very much an existentialist and don't really believe in spirits, but for the first time since I was a kid, I felt some kind of spiritual presence.  Last night, when falling asleep, I had this really strong sense of a man named David who had a daughter, Emily - those were the only facts I was feeling.  I donno.  It just happened. Mike decided to call his friend Diana, who is a healer, to come check out the space.  

Before she came, I made dough pockets.  This time, though, I did it right.  I used the bottom of our Slap Chop (we got it for $1!!!) to cut out the dough into round disks, and made them with tomatoes, spinach, onions, and Australian cheddar (which I used the garlic press to grate).  I made about 15 and froze them.  They're such a good snack/meal.

Diana sensed the presence in the bedroom (who she said was name David... ahem) and asked him to leave.  She said he told her that I reminded him of his daughter, Emily (yikes...) and he wanted to stay because he liked being around me.  The whole thing was incredible and very interesting, and thus far, Lenny seems totally at peace.  As soon as it was over, he fell asleep. 

 Isn't he cute?

I made some chickpeas and beans (cooked with pepper, onion, and garlic in a frying pan) for Diana after the apartment cleanse, and Mike and I shared some as well.  I don't know if I really believe all this spirit stuff, but it certainly feels much more peaceful here (not to mention that we both felt the same thing).  Whether it's all psychological or there is actually something to it, this space is definitely better. 

And my tummy is FULL!!!!

Day 11 - Sick Day 2: Bread

Money spent: $31.23

Total in food eaten: $4.08

I woke up feeling awful again, so I took the day off.  We've run out of edible-on-their-own groceries, so I dragged my sick ass to the grocery store (Food Emporium) when I finally stumbled out of bed.  I got a nice amount of organic groceries and saved $4.60 in coupons, but I didn't do nearly as well as last week.   The cashier was a little huffy about the coupons and kind of rude, which I found a little weird (especially in my icky state), and Food Emporium's prices are pretty high for organic foods.  I think I'll avoid them when I can, but I was in a pinch.

Organic Milk* - 3.79

Almond Milk - 3.99

Blueberry yogurt* (3) - 4.27

Cereal* - 3.99

Amy's Mac and Cheese* - 2.99

Chickpeas* - 1.94

Apples (2) - 2.14

Burrito - 3.99

Tomato soup* - 2.69

Chocolate milk - 1.69

Total: $31.23

When I got home, I had some yogurt and passed out for a while.  When I got up, I was feeling like I had a bit of energy, so I mixed up some oatmeal bread dough (Click here for recipe) and let it rise while I napped some more.

 dough after 1 hour of rising

YUM

I also made some easy chickpea snacks.   Just rinse and dry chickpeas and lay out on cookie sheet.  Then heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil, garlic powder, rosemary, fresh garlic (diced), and salt in a small pot and heat until it smells amazing.  Pour the mixture over the chickpeas, coat well, and bake on 400 for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes or so. ($2.09, though you can make this cheaper if you use cheaper chickpeas... I wasn't happy with the price of mine)

Any spices you like will taste great!  Get creative.

Uncooked chickpeas, covered in seasoning

Crunchy and zesty - such an amazing snack!

I took it easy for a while, and was starting to feel better. I made Amy's mac and cheese for lunch ($2.99) They sent me a bunch of coupons, so it was nice to have a cheaper frozen meal around.  I can definitely make mac and cheese myself for significantly less, but not when I'm feeling icky.

I wanted to get outside for a little while because it's been a BEAUTIFUL day, so I escorted Mike to Fordham, where his friend Katy came to play him piano for his birthday.  I'd arranged the whole thing, so it was nice to be able to go (I didn't think I'd make it in the morning).  When I got there, my friend Derrick wanted to go check out some Freegan dumpster dive sites we'd found online.  While Katy played for Mike, Derrick and I took a walk to find the dumpster's we'll eventually go on freegan dives to.  Nothing was out yet, but we got a good idea of where to look.

When we got back to Fordham, we got wind of a benefit where there would be food.  Donations were optional, but since it was for Haiti we each gave a few bucks.  Though my Hatian dinner wasn't organic, it was free!  

Rice, beans, potatoes, plantains, pasta, cookies, and some Coke

We even got to stay for a few of my friends' performances, which was awesome!

 Owen and Nadia

 

 Mike Fabano's fabulous guitar

 I'm glad to be feeling better, and I feel like I had a pretty good day for my mission.  Even though the grocery shopping wasn't the thriftiest, I do feel like I've learned where NOT to shop.  I also think I got a few things I didn't need because I had coupons - it's all stuff I'll use and enjoy, but I'm not sure it was necessary.  We'll see how long I can stretch it :)  I do still need to get some veggies, so I'll see if there's any good deals at WF tomorrow.

It'll be a busy day at work since I missed today.  Glad I have oatmeal bread to start my day!