Paid days off ROCK!

Most of us Canadians are off tomorrow for Remembrance Day... I'm very grateful for the paid, mid-week break! And the sleeping in :-)

Sunday I didn't spend or drive. Monday was a no spend day also. Today I was bad though... I went and got groceries (just a few items we needed: oj, crackers, lettuce, cocktail sauce) and threw in a magazine. Have you checked out the magazine racks lately?? I love the glossy covers full of holiday recipes and treats. I think with taxes it came to like $6... ouch. I remember when magazines were like $2 each. Total bill, including the mag and a $2 donation, was $19.60.

I spent a couple hours after work helping my mom can some bar clams. They come in 5 pound bags that just need to be cut in smaller pieces, then rinsed a few times, put into pint-size jars and on the stove for about 3 hours. I did the math and when they're bought prepared like this (as opposed to bought as a whole clam in the shell and having to do all the dirty work) it works out to about $5.60/pint. Bought whole would have saved maybe $1 to $1.50/pint. And if we were to buy a jar from a fish market, it'd be at least $8-10. They are very, very good in chowders, dips and casseroles so definitely worth the splurge once in a while. We still have some from the last time we bought some, so I didn't go in with my parents this time, but my mom said she'd drop off a couple pints tomorrow :-)

I need to give my Christmas shopping more thought as I only have 20 days left to finish!! I'll probably put the tree up on December 5-6th, then I hope to only have to think about food until the 25th!! Stress-free holidays are the way to go!