Whatnots and et ceteras

This past week has seen some amazing activity on the worldview-broadening front. Or so it would seem. Call me effusive and enthused, but currently I'm reading through/have read several items of rock-my-little-boat significance.

One book that I highly recommend is How To Be A Budget Fashionista, by Kathryn Finney. It's all about looking, feeling, and being fabulous on a budget. Now, the stuff about Louis Vuitton knock-offs and Seven jeans goes rather over my head, but it's an amazing and insightful read, nonetheless. It leaves me feeling all inspired and giddy and motivated to run around in the sunshine with lemon juice on my hair, wrap my feet up in vaseline and old socks at night, go out and get properly fitted for good-quality undergarments, and purge my closet down to the top ten essential items that every woman should have. If you are a) female and b) wear things on a regular basis then you should read this book.

Next on my reading list is Once A Month Cooking, a concept which I'd always known about but never investigated thoroughly. (I think it's gradually dawning on me that I actually qualify for reading homemaking books.) I won't go to the complete once-a-month model, of course, with chaotic baking day and all, but it's a very good idea to make up twice as much of something, as long as I'm making it anyway for dinner, and just freeze half of it. The revolutionary part comes when I realise that I can divide and conquer - freeze the stuff before I bake it, so it thaws out and bakes up fresh. Reconstituted leftovers are nasty. Plus, the book has some really great recipes in it.

I've also been following the discussion at True Womanhood on the so-called patriocentric view of the family. There are so many angles to this topic as to preclude my commenting on the actual site. Plus it already has 200+ comments on it. My thoughts have undergone a variety of permutations, from the 'Well, that's nice for them and I'm glad it works out for some girls if that's what they and their families want' to 'Oh, my, I know so clearly how this whitewashed view of the One Best Way To Be A Godly Daughter is going to vibe with impressionable young women.' Lots more could be said on this topic, but it probably will be already, by other tongues (hands?) than mine.

Finally, and most excitingly, I've ventured into the wonderful world of mystery shopping. I'd always dismissed this concept as a probable scam or a logistical impossibility, but a lady at church kept raving about the fancy restaurants she and her husband eat at for free, so I finally began to investigate and apply. I must say that the application process is daunting at the first, but promises to be very rewarding in the end. We went out for our first mystery shop last week, and while it took me nearly three hours to compile my report, I'm certain that this is an area of expertise that will improve with time. A dazzling prospect of infinite cheap dates unfolds before us.