Economic downturns make me spend more money
I think that I get panicky that I may not have money to spend in the near to distant future, and want to spend some now, while I still have the chance. Here’s a quick round up of things I have bought that have brought me varying degrees of pleasure:
A record player
Everyone go out and buy one right now! Record players are awesome. All of those albums we’ve been carting around for years can now be played and played and played again.
Records
You probably could have guessed this - but Ulysses and I went out yesterday and bought some more. Because we’re insatiable! I think the stuff we dragged home is fairly indicative of our collection as a whole: Aretha Franklin, Young, Gifted, and Black; Duke Ellington, Such Sweet Thunder [the album he composed for Stratford, Ontario]; Dean [Tex] Martin, Rides Again; Cyndi Lauper, She’s So Unusual; The Beach Boys, Christmas Album; Charles Mingus Presents the Charles Mingus Quartet; A Christmas For You From Phil Spector; Johnny Cash, American IV: The Man Comes Around. (The two Christmas albums are Christmas presents for the kids around here.)
Panini Grill
This is a cast-iron, stove-top pan with a very heavy lid that you heat up and then squash the sandwich with. I’ve been pretty much grilling everything.
The Complete Jeeves and Wooster
Another Christmas present for the kids.
A mat for the front entrance
This place is so tiny! When you walk in the front door, there’s just a tiny little place to stand before you’re in the living room. It’s hard to keep the snow confined to one area and not melting in puddles everywhere. The mat, it turns out, helps a lot. I’d been holding out for the four months we’ve been here to get something I liked the looks of, but finally pragmatism won out. It’s an ugly mat, and it keeps the puddles out of the house at large.