Like many folks these days, Brainiac and I are trying to be more mindful in how we spend our increasingly limited discretionary cash. Some changes were a long time coming and we're grateful to have the kick in the pants to take care of them. Other fiscal adjustments are more nuanced and may not even look like much to the outside observer but are making quite an impact to us personally (I recently learned that I can buy four bottles of nail polish for the cost of one manicure! Laugh if you must, I will merely smile the smug smile of someone whose nails look fantastic at a fraction of the usual cost + a bottle of Seche Vite). For shorthand we might call these line items NO and MAYBE.
We have a third category, let's call it YES, in which we have, if anything, expanded our spending. You might think of it as covering anything which could be considered tool-like. Under this rather large umbrella we placed things like chain saw (although now unnecessary because Brainiac trashed picked and repaired one from a nearby posh 'hood's curb - can you say score?), printer ink, drying rack(s) and so on (I should point out that the YES list isn't really a license to spend, it's really more a wishlist of practical items for which we are willing to exchange actual money, although we hope the situation doesn't actually come to that). Anyway, last week I indulged my inner spendinista in a highly responsible way by purchasing an item off of the YES list. What did I buy? How about a quiz? I'll give you three hints. My purchase:
1) Relates to the, uh, theme of this here blog,
2) Requires me to read a gauge (Brainiac cracks up at this one), and
3) Enables me to can non-acidic foods like broths or plain green beans.
So what do you think I bought? Oh, here's a bonus fourth hint: It just might be more fun that all those bottles of nail polish.