Two days ago I was really frustrated.  Luckily, yesterday, karma was on my side and my world spun right again.  Tonight’s dinner is pizza.  Or at least I thought it was going to be, then I thought it might not be, now I think it’s back on.  I’m really quite excited by the idea because the husband (okay, yes, and I) loves pizza and to be able to make it at home seemed like a real treat.

(Karma?  Pizza?  What in the world does this have to do with online shopping?  Wait, I’m getting there.)

Last week I started my eBay search for a used pizza stone.  Good gracious, almost immediately I found one.  And the bidding time was almost up.  And it seemed really quite cheap.  So I jumped in.  I was going to get my pizza stone and still be out of the house in time to do all my errands.  After a brief bidding war the stone was mine.  I was feeling pretty good because even with shipping I paid less than what a stone would have cost me at Crate and Barrel.  (The only store I could buy new from as I had a gift card.  My rules, remember?)  In fact, I had just bought a pizza stone and peel with my gift card and was going to head right back to return the stone now that I’d found a Compact solution to my pizza problems.

Long story longer, my newly acquired, used, stone arrived.

Unfortunately it was not at all what I thought I was getting.  It was as advertised.  (Not like the time I ordered a used book from Amazon and got the correct title by the wrong author.)  It just wasn’t what I wanted.

I got caught up in the bidding excitement and overpaid for an item that I hadn’t done enough research on to be buying without supervision.

Local thrift store to the rescue.

The large, perfectly flat, pizza stone in the above picture was purchased for $5 (with stand) at a favorite thrifty up the street.  The much smaller, lipped, baking stone was overpaid for and required shipping.  (Sorry, it’s too embarrassing to tell you what I did end up paying.)

Can you see why I was less than thrilled with my initial score purchase?  As the seller did not specifically list this as a pizza stone, merely described it as perfect for baking and making pizza, I cannot fault her.  So for now I will hang on to it.  To remind me of the cost of acting in haste.

Yet somehow, I’ll still be making pizza tonight.  A nice, big pizza.

I really think we’re having pizza tonight because of a decision I made yesterday morning before even going to the thrift store.  I decided to tackle another creative endeavor.  When I let the creative juices flow I am usually in such a great mood.  How could the day not go well from there on?

Here are the wooden bead bracelets I made for the husband and myself.  (Typically husband won’t touch anything jewelry related.  He won’t even wear a watch.  Good thing his wedding ring is such a symbol of love and devotion – no restriction there.)

Wood = Earth.  It’s amazing the sense of calm afforded by connecting with the elements of nature.  I almost feel ready to take on childbirth.  Well, maybe not quite yet, I have to re-arrange the nursery one more time.

I was  over at My Year Without Spending and saw this post about the Australian lawmaker who told a Senate hearing in the Australian capital Canberra that divorce only made climate change worse.  I found it kind of funny.  In a “that’s not really funny” way.  More like a “that’s just ridiculous” way.  That’s just my opinion.  But that’s what you’re here for right?  No?  Oh.  Well, sorry.  You’re going to get it anyway.

When couples separated, they needed more rooms, more electricity and more water. This increased their carbon footprint, Australian Associated Press (AAP) quoted Fielding as telling the hearing on environmental issues.

“We understand that there is a social problem (with divorce), but now we’re seeing there is also environmental impact as well on the footprint,” AAP quoted him as saying.

Such a “resource-inefficient lifestyle” meant it would be better for the planet if couples stayed married, he said.

The concept of divorce being bad for the environment seems like it might be somewhat valid.  But then, so would moving out of your parents house or living on your own at any point in time.  Maybe we should mandate that to move away from home everyone is required to live with at least one other person, be it roommate, friend, partner, whatever.  And should you choose to marry and subsequently divorce  then you can only do so if each party will henceforth take on another housing partner.

It might be better for the planet if couples stayed married, probably because bad marriages might just end society before we have a chance to do in the planet.  Is it just me?

Oh, and by the way, this started with a study done at Michigan State University and published by the National Science Foundation.  (So it’s not just that the Senator is upside down.)

I’ve spent the last hour or so catching up on some reading. The only thing really relevant to this blog was the most incredible tub creation I’ve seen. I really must have that. I’m hoping I don’t have to find a way to make it but if I have to I will. Trust me, I’ll do it. Maybe not this year, or even this decade but I will do it. (I got kinda shorted on that one as we are almost done with this decade but you get my point.)

What I was really reading were blogs written by some great friends of mine. They are all so interesting and different. We each have our own things but I love how blogs let us peak into each others heads and see what’s going on. This blog is typically on the lighter side (just my speed) but this post made me realize I have really been ignoring the big picture recently. If I don’t wake up in time to hear the NPR news and I don’t check any news websites I can really stay insulated. Having no TV is good for the electric bill, keeps my kid from finding out about Sesame Street and we can enjoy people looking at us like we have no running water when we tell them (“What? That’s just crazy. How do you survive?” has been heard more than once), but it also makes it really easy to ignore everything outside of my favorite blogs and people. Maybe I should think about that. I’ll get right on that. Tomorrow.

My husband like to tell people I am a bartender, so not true. I was one, for a while, a long, long time ago. Although it hardly counts if you only serve wine, beer and the occasional rye and ginger. Now I just refer people here. If I ever get to the point where I can drink regularly again (don’t even ask what I mean by that) I plan to try as many things from this list as I can. I can never decide what to have when I do actually get out so maybe I’ll find my perfect match. Is his name Jack perhaps? I think not. But I’ll keep looking. And besides nothing in the Compact says I can’t buy alcohol, that’s practically food right?

I was just talking (texting really, but what’s the difference right?) to a friend about her well-placed clutter. She is one of the lucky ones that gets to live in a Hollywood home with actual character. Which in Hollywood, unless you’re famous, means you have a small (read quaint) apartment/duplex/bungalow not much bigger than my ex-boyfriend’s dorm room. So in a home with character you may choose to live with less open space if you and/or your husband have a liking for big and/or little things. So to her I say, love your stuff and plan for the day when it looks like you have a sparse living room because it’s so big. If that’s your thing. Or just love your stuff because it’s like whipped cream.

Some days I just want to talk about nothing at all. Okay, you’ve probably already learned that’s more like most days. But some days are worse than others. Maybe tomorrow I will think some more about how I can save my family some green. Or save Mother Nature’s green. But today was just about whipped cream.

Thanks ladies!