“I know you don’t drive in New York…but haven’t you at least noticed the increase in food prices?” my dad asked me. I licked the peanut butter off of the knife in my hand. “Hmm….yeah…come to think about it, my peanut butter WAS more expensive today.”

For my own sanity, I find it necessary to pay as little attention to finances as possible. Money was always at the core of the stress in my family growing up and to combat that irrationally frugal gene in me, I try to swing as far into the ever-indulging and financially irresponsible realm as possible. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t noticed.

The recession HAS affected me. I lost my steady job two months ago. While it was disgustingly easy for me to find new jobs to replace that job, I was still a bit shaken. The supposed millionaires I once relied on for my income no longer could afford me…or most of their staff, for that matter. It seems as though the recession affected them, too, and their ability to buy their dog $30 steaks for lunch (I wish I were kidding about that one).

So I found other jobs and kept on trucking. Metaphorically, of course. If I were actually trucking these days, I’d be even poorer. Read More »

I stopped eating cereal a while ago and just recently had a craving for it. I scanned the boxes in that gluttonous aisle for the perfect thing. Luckily, I was having an ‘I want to be healthy!’ day and I bought one of Kashi’s many delightful cereals- — which has treated my taste buds wonderfully. But my purchase has not stopped me from day dreaming about the sugary goodness I used to ingest daily as a kid.

You have to admit, it’s a lot easier to get out of bed every day when you know a bowl of marshmallows and milk awaits you. Of course kids and adults alike are hooked on this crap — it’s got freakin’ crack in it. And I don’t care that everyone and their mother is outlawing it and forcing kids to be healthier…there is STILL something to be said for eating a bucket of sugar for breakfast, so here’s my shout out to the top 5 most unhealthfully delicious cereals:

LUCKY CHARMS
They’re magically…charming. They say their serving size is 3/4 a cup..and yet most people, myself included, eat at least twice that amount. So…24 grams of sugar in one sitting? Ah. Who cares. They’ve got rainbows and marshmallows and sugar dripping from the cardboard box.

FRUITY PEBBLES
They’ve got fruit in them…right? Right? Okay. Maybe they don’t. But they’re still awesome. PLUS, they’re accompanied by awesome front-of-box graphics. Read More »

Andy Rooney, a super old guy who used to make movies and now just sits in an office and lets 60 Minutes totally take advantage of his oldness, recently ranted about how Americans are carrying “more stuff than they used to”.

The Duhness factor of his rant notwithstanding (I mean, what did people carry around in his day? Keys to a car they powered with their feet?), I decided to take a cue from Jezebel and go through my own purse to see if all the crap shoved inside was stuff I actually needed.

(This is a day when my bag is not splitting at the seems from carrying my giant, heavy laptop.)

1) Burt’s Bees hand cream: Totally needed. Since I can’t ever hold onto a pair of gloves longer than a week, my hands take a beating every winter. Unless I want the skin to rip off, I gotta moisturize at least twice a day.

2) Three tubes of Chapstick: Okay. Three might be an excessive number…but sometimes I want my lips fruity, other times I want serious moisture action, and every once in a while, a little instant caffeine. Read More »