Ran a few errands this a.m. First, to our wee neighborhood asian grocery store -- a good 'mom-n-pop' sort of place for reduced-price produce. The shopkeeper there has to truly be one of the friendliest and hardest working people around. Warm and outgoing and always energetic -- throwing rapid-fire quips around in her heavy asian accent like she does. But she's ... oh, how should we say... 'persuasive'? I *always*leave the store with waaaay more stuff than I ever intend to get, ahem. And today was no exception! All I really had in mind were perhaps potaotes, maybe some cabbage, bananas, apples, and carrots -- as well as rice noodles, and tofu. Well, unsuspecting me arrived right after a new shipment came in (plus I was the only customer there) -- and dare I say I did end up with all that I went for, and THEN some. Walked out with snowpeas, leeks (leeks? I never buy leeks!), green onion, organic cauliflower, cucumbers, cantaloupe, clementines, organic lemons ("You take?", she prompts. "Cheap!!"), mango (??), papaya (???), celery, mushrooms, AND.... a $4.99 watermelon (????!!!! How did THAT happen???? I never buy watermelons in winter!!! ). Well, at least I can say we're now totally stocked up in terms of fresh produce, I guess (--the fridge WAS getting a little bare). And, happily for me, everything was very reasonably priced (she even threw in a whole bunch of freebies -- strawberries, blueberries, apples, etc. that were starting to turn that I can pick over and glean). The bananas I got for .20 cents a pound. I rarely see them that low anywhere around here these days so, being as that DH has been hinting that he's been wanting a 'jelly' of some kind for toast -- at that price I stocked up and plan to can a few pints of 'Banana Butter'. The clementine and lemon peels I'll save to candy of course. As for the watermelon (and it's a hefty one) --well, I'm sure it will be delicious. And to offset the cost of that little impulse purchase -- yes, I intend to pickle the rind. (I personally adore melon rind pickles -- but have never attempted to make them myself. Heh, now's the time....).

My next errand felt very good -- stopping at the bank to sign off on a 5 year CD we're putting a little money into. We had a bit of savings that we'd been letting roll over in shorter term CD's for some time now (to keep the money accessible if we should need it, and to perhaps see if interest rates might rise) -- but finally came to the decision to lock it in longer term, for a much better rate of return (we also have a 401k set up through my husband's state job (and a few other little odd and end funds) -- but, I want to diversify). Anyway, here's hoping to do more of this kind of errand in the months and years ahead.....