$42.81

I went to the store tonite -- I needed an avocado and some caffeine (I can't admit to my poison of choice). I also wanted to pick up some boxed/canned goods for the food drive at my office building.

I put the things I wanted in the front of the card -- the kiddie seat. I put the rest of the stuff in the main cart. There were so many cans - soups, veggies, and sauces. I finally stopped because I was worried how expensive it would be.

It cost me $42.81 in all. Rice, pasta, soup, beans - yes folks, even tuna fish from the veghead - enough food for weeks on end. And it cost $42.81. Made me feel really damn guilty about the $37 lunch Mr. Zips and I indulged in on Sunday. Not to mention the $75 I spent on my hair and eyebrows today.

It sounds Brady Bunch, but I do think this is what Thanksgiving is about. Forget the petty family squabbles, forget trying to hit the gym every day for fear of getting fat. Thank Heaven, God, Goddess, Universe, whatever...... that I don't need to rely on some corporate flunky to mitigate her middle class guilt by buying the food I'll eat for dinner.

Sometimes, it's very very good to be a middle-class corporate flunky.