Weekly Shopping and More

First and foremost I must tell you all how I feel about Spring/Summer. I love it, no doubt. However, there is something most, if not all, homeowners face...bugs and critters and other creepy crawly things. It didn't take me long to notice the beetles resting/nesting/breeding/who knows what else on the steps leading up to my house. These bugs are/were doing whatever they were/are doing on the siding of the house. I set the groceries down and immediately called my Master Gardener mom. She quickly assured me that the bugs are harmless, but she didn't know the exact name. We have come to the conclusion the bugs are box elder bugs. After some googling I found out I have nothing to really worrying about. I feel a bit better but still nasty.

ROFL! Right now I am at Starbucks sitting near the window. I am watching a Terminix guy spray for bugs.

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Last night I watched a little bit of the season premier of Extreme Couponing, the newest show on the TLC Network. I serious want to find out where these people live and give them a talk. The families on the show were buying $1,000's worth of items at a normal average grocery store and end up paying $5.00 or something. The crew showed the pantries of these (same) families. The shelves were packed. One family had 15 boxes of Ritz crackers. Yes, it's great you saved $$, but not great you are going to have to throw away boxes and boxes of stuff that went bad. It's almost so selfish.

In defense, I will say the feeling of saving it's amazing.

(Switching gears here) However long long ago this was NOT the case (feeling of "saving").

The MODERN definition of "housewife" didn't appear on the scene until the 18th century (or maybe later). This modern definition declares that "housewife" does most of the cooking, cleaning and makes most of the grocery shopping decisions. This "housewife" used to make clothing, leather work, whatever along side her husband...up until the Industrial Revolution. Factories replaced the need to grow and can fruits/veggies. The man had to get a job (in the "real world") because he didn't need to do leather work etc. The woman could a job to, but was often forced to quit (or not even hold a "steady job") because she had house work...feed children etc etc. The woman/housewife needed to fill a void and needed to feeling something she wasn't getting (intimacy...? perhaps) so along came marketing towards females and the glorious feeling of "saving" and buying things that are really needed. By the way, Industrial Rev lead clothes to be factory made...out of cotton...cotton needed to be laundred (spell check?) more often.

All of this is NOT made up. Go pick up a copy of Radical Homemakers for more. Your view of "house" will be flipped...up.side.down.