I think Dixie was a thing in the 70's but Abita is pretty much our beer now. I'm fond of their root beer too.

We have a cheapie semi-farmers-market a few blocks from our apartment that has a Wall of Spices behind the cash register. 4-6 oz. bags of just about everything you can think of for 99 cents each. I love it.

And since the food everyone in our household is willing to eat involves a lot of beans, rice, pasta, eggs and dairy, and we're all constant fizzy water guzzlers, TJ's is a weekly staple for us. It's also my go-to work lunch source; I can get a week's worth of tasty and reasonably healthy lunches (mostly repackaged Amy's frozen items) for what it costs to buy a single day's lunch at work. The few times I've forgotten to grab a frozen lunch and had to buy one at the cafeteria recently, it's made me all surly and disgruntled.

That's a possibility, -t. I could bring my yoga clothes to school, change and then run errands or grade a few papers at a coffee shop down the street.

Dan could just be on his own for dinner that night. And I see that there is a 5:30 class at a place between school and home, and there is a coffee shop only 3 blocks away.

They have a beginners Th. class, and also have a 4 pm Sunday class. Hmm. They have a good deal on a new student deal -- $33 for 3 weeks unlimited classes.

Aannddd I think the furnace is off.

Liese, you could try removing a car battery and taking it inside to warm up for an hour or two, then put it back in the car and try to start it then.

That's not a bad idea. I'm going to start with warming up the charger and see where we go from there. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will be outside in the cold at some point, so we'll see about the battery.

I also now have to resign myself to climbing up in the cold attic to look at the furnace. Not that the odds are good there is anything I can do about that.

we're all constant fizzy water guzzlers

I gotta say -- and I am in no way a shill -- buying a fizzy water machine was a fantastic investment, because I, too, drink fizzy water like it's...well, water. After about a year, it paid for itself, and there's the liberal-hippie-greenie good feelings about not contributing to the plastic bottle waste (not all places recycle them), AND it's a freaking joy to not lug full bottles of water home every week.

Yeah, I need to reorder CO2. The boys depleted my supplies last time they were here.

I love our Soda Club beyond reason. It's not quite as nice as the seltzer delivery man (I miss the old-fashioned glass bottles), but it's cheaper in the long run and the Soda Club doesn't complain about the stairs.

I am lucky in that my local TJ's is adjacent to a co-op that sells fantastic local, organic produce. It's one-stop shopping since i can usually get all my staples (bread, pasta, beans, rice, fresh or frozen veggies, fruit) at one of the two for extremely reasonable prices. Dry items like toilet paper, paper towels, detergent, etc come from sporadic runs to costco or a discount place like Big Lots since i have a basement perfect for storing 100 rolls of TP.

The one sad thing about TJ's is that while the prices are very reasonable for what they have...not always there and as we all know when they stop getting a good deal on something they stop carrying it. That makes me sad. Sometimes i do have to run to the Fred Meyer (local chain that's kinda like a walmart but without the evil...they have pretty much anything you could be looking for except the fancy splurge items that TJ's excel at.)

Also lucky with shopping in that my "weekend" is mid-week, so when i go grocery shopping on my saturday i'm actually hitting the market on a Wednesday when there aren't huge crowds. I love that. I cringe at the thought of going grocery shopping on a sat or sun. Been there, done that, still have the emotional scars.

And i love that folks stuck indoors by snowpocalyse are waxing poetic about seasonal JoeJoes. Like starving hostages dreaming about home cooked meals. Except without the starving part.

I want a fizzy water machine SO MUCH. But since I'm the only one who drinks fizzy water, I can't talk Pete into it.

Seasonal JoeJoes! I have half a box of the candy cane ones in the freezer. They are my treat for times of huge stress.