Sunday, September 27, 2009

Entertainment on a Limited Budget

It's the end of the month, and all of my food stamps have run out. Every spare penny is being diverted to food and rent, as my paycheck still hasn't come through. Yet you have to have some form of entertainment, unless you are to go mad.

Luckily, a theater friend knew of a playhouse that needed an usher one night. In exchange for handing out programs at the door and policing the theater at intermission so that no food or beverages made their way in, I was able to see the play for free. Given that each ticket was $15, this was a good deal.

I also hit up the library for reading material (an unmentionable number of chick lit books and some classics) and DVDs. A few trips to a nearby state park founded out the mix.

How do you stay entertained on a limited budget?

Swine Flu Vaccine

I love staff meetings. Who wouldn't, when you can learn such intriguing things as "We can't require you to get vaccinated, but you cannot come to school for twenty days if there is a Swine Flu outbreak." It seems a little twisted to me. Add in the the little bite that you have to let payroll know, and we're looking at uproar.

So, I get to be a guinea pig for the Swine Flu vaccine when it comes out in October. I'm so excited!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Washington!

Three days after starting the wonderful but long drive, I am finally in Washington. The drive wasn't too crazy, and I loved the mountain passes in western Montana (75 mile per hour roads with curves galore! So much fun!) There was some great scenery at the beginning and end of the trip. The middle was a bit tedious (I'm not a wide open spaces type of girl), but the other scenery made up for it in spades.

I love my town. They have a great public library, very nice people, grocery outlets just fifteen miles away, and awesome hiking trails. My landlady is really into natural foods and products, and composts all kitchen waste. She was having a dinner party with a bunch of friends the night I came in, and invited me to join them. All of the food was vegetarian, which was great! One of the ladies' sons lived in Nicaragua for five years, so we got to talking about Central America, which is always nice. I felt so at home.

Washington has everything I wanted and more: a good public library, food co-ops, water, trees, and mountains. I am in bliss.