I chose the word classics to define my reading goals because I’m not sure that Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, or Sir Conan Doyle would be considered authors of literature. Jane is the original romance writer. And of course Agatha and Conan Doyle are mystery writers. But they are revered. Their books are “classics”. You get a different response from people when you say you’ve read Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) as opposed to The Return of Rafe McKade (Nora Roberts). The same is true in mystery. Reading an Agatha or Conan Doyle book seems more impressive than JD Robb or Janet Evanovich. (BTW… I love Nora/JD, and Janet). So perhaps to seem smarter or just to see what I’ve missed, I decided to read some of the classics.

Today I picked up Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte).  I love the old movie with Orson Wells (he was a looker once) playing the brooding Mr. Rochester. I know it ends well and its a romance, but its Charlotte Bronte so it’s literature or at least a classic, right?

I just finished reading Push by Sapphire which has to be literature. It was just released as a movie (Precious), but I don’t think I’ll see it. It was a very difficult book to read. Its gritty, raw, disturbing, and sad, and yet inspiring too. It’s hard to say how it ends. Its not “bad” because you get the feeling that Precious is going to make something of herself. At the same time she has a serious problem (you can read it to find out what that is) that will affect her life. The hard part in reading the book was in knowing that her story was a reality for many young girls.  If you can get through the book, there is much to think about (another purpose to literature?). But I found myself having to put the book down at times because it was just too intense.

So what is literature? I still don’t know. For me, it’s like that other thing that you can’t define, but you know it when you see it.

But when I start to wonder about the state of the world, I come across a moving story that suggests all is not lost. This was sent to my daughter from my mother and its a must see!

I keep thinking that there must be something I’m missing because its not possible that all the problems going on in Washington are junior high level bickering and backstabbing. And yet that is how I see it. One side doesn’t like the other so they all gather up their bullies, call names, and sabotage any effort to get something done.

Take the health care thing. I don’t see how its possible that anyone from either side really wants people to die from lack of insurance, so what’s the problem? I’m hearing some complain about death panels. Don’t they know there already panels that make decisions about who and what are covered? They’re called insurance companies. They’ve been known to deny or cancel coverage usually right when people need them the most.

Another complaint I hear is a fear of socialism with government run health care. I don’t get that either. We have two programs, Medicaid and Medicare. Both are government run programs. Not only are they accepted, but in fact heaven help any politician that tries to do away with it.

Some worry about how to pay for it. That’s legitimate. But aren’t we already paying? Don’t higher health care expenses have to with covering the costs for the uninsured? And I doubt the government would want to cover everyone since many people already have health insurance.

So I’m back to, what’s the problem? Why can’t the people in Washington figure out a way to help people with health care so that parents don’t have to have a fundraiser to save their child’s life? Instead, one side talks while the other side puts their fingers in their ears and screams “lalalalalalala”. Then other side gets made and holds their breath until they turn blue. Meanwhile people are losing their jobs, homes, and hope.

I feel like the US is on the Titanic heading straight towards an iceberg, but neither side is able or willing to come to some COMPROMISE on how we can avoid it. As a result, We The People Of the United States are drowning and being eaten by sharks (banks…a whole other issue). Its incredibly annoying and so stressful it makes me sick. I wonder if my insurance covers government-ineptness-induced stress?

Recently though the need to redo my budget became a little more urgent. One of my clients dropped a program I managed and I removed Adsense from Work-At-Home Success both of which resulted in a fairly good chunk of change being lost. The two areas I felt I could inact quick change (aside from needless spending) were the cable bill (that’s a whole other adventure…stay tuned) and the groceries.

This time I happened across a video on the local news station’s site about a couple of moms who were teaching others to save money on groceries. Because they had a business, Madame Deals, I invited them to be a guest on the Work-At-Home Success podcast hoping I’d learn what piece I’d missed the first time around. After the interview, I determined that I needed more hands on help so I signed up for their class at the local library.

In the class we learned about coupons (manufacturers vs stores, what the 5 or 9 means at he beginning of the bar code), how to stack coupons, how to “CVS” and more. I kept up pretty well and took lots of notes, but the real test was in the shopping.

I cut my coupons, went online to find more, and checked out the store flyers in my area. This was the first struggle. I felt like I needed an excel sheet just to keep track of which store had what on sale, which doubled coupons and for how much, all to figure out which store would result in the best deals overall. I ended up going to 4 stores…which I don’t recommend but I hope that when I get a feel for normal prices at each store it will be easier to choose one or two in the future. (The ladies at Madame Deals shop only one store… the one with the best over all deals that week).

The result. Well I saved about 36% from what the store would have normally charged. On my own, before trying to save, I was saving 20-30% simply by having a store card. My normal shopping trip is usually $170 to $200 (using the savings card) and this week it was only $130. This savings came partly from coupons, and partly because I was more careful with my list and what I bought. I suppose the big achievement was my CVS trip. I spent $15 saving $3.00 with coupons, $7.00 because the items were on sale, and I earned $5 in CVS money. That’s a total of $15 …which I guess means I got my stuff free!

Clearly I have more to learn but at this point I feel I’m on the right path and just need practice. My goal is to get my grocery bill down to $100 a week. I’ll keep you posted.

I’ve been wanting to update my Vlog with my adventures in grocery shopping and maybe do one on my recent Twilight obsession (yes I’m embarrassed to admit it but I’m into it….thought I can’t tell you why).

All that has been put aside though for things like book signings (I’ll be at the Myrtle Beach Barnes and Noble June 27 at 10 am) and other publicity, keeping Work-At-Home Success up-to-date, starting a new Internet radio show, and so on and so on.