The Reader Digests | Lettuce

"It is said that the effect of eating too much lettuce is 'soporific.' I have never felt sleepy after eating lettuces; but then I am not a rabbit." ---Beatrix Potter, The Tale of The Flopsy Bunnies

Well, Ms. Potter, I can tell you that I have my own theory about why lettuce makes you sleepy!  It is boring! Tasteless! I know some people enjoy a good crunchy salad, and I do too, but it better have more of everything else, and minimal lettuce. (I guess I should interrupt this blog and mention that none of these views are adopted by SSJCPL in general - the library promotes healthy eating of all veggies, including lettuce. It's just me who doesn't like it! Which makes my clean eating endeavor that much harder.)

However, it is true that lettuce does have sleep inducing qualities, other than being boring. Lettuce contains lactur carium - a substance that sedates the nervous system.  In fact, back in Ancient Greece, lettuce was enjoyed after the meal. That is until a very mean and sadistic emperor named Domitian decided to switch up the order and serve the salad before the meal.  You see, it was illegal to fall asleep during the long meal with the emperor, which often lasted many hours. The penalty for sleeping could even include death.  Most people would be surprised by the idea of using lettuce as torture, but not me!  A big lettucey salad sounds like a lot like torture to this blogger!

www.organicgardening.com

Lettuce creeps up in many of our books. Rapunzel finds herself taken captive because her expectant mother craved rapunzel or lamb's lettuce in the witches' garden.  Way to go, thieving parents.  It is a huge part of The Flopsy Bunnies, as mentioned above, and Peter Rabbit (which also includes theft).  And of course, you can find it as an ingredient in many recipes. 

And to be fair, I suppose lettuce can be enjoyable.  It is certainly refreshing and crunchy.  It definitely adds a good crunch in a sub sandwich.  Plus, it's healthy.  It has very low calories, and is a good source of vitamin K, C, A, folates, and beta-carotine.  It also contains good amounts of minerals like iron, calcium, magnesium, and potassium.  Okay, so maybe lettuce isn't boring after all, but I certainly won't be stealing it any time soon!

The Reader Digests | Clean Eats

It seems like the minute I turned 33, my metabolism decided to punish me.  I used to enjoy eating pretty much whatever I wanted and saw small to moderate weight gains, but nothing too substantial. Apparently, at 33 - for me anyway - it's all over.  Which is really irritating, especially since my blog is all about food! 

So I sought out new diets and eating habits to try and find a good balance that would allow me to eat pancakes, pizza, sushi, and burgers every once in a while, still maintaining a healthy weight. I came across "clean eating."  This diet trend has received much attention in recent years, espoused by

Photo courtesy of www.amodelrecommends.com

celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Beyonce.  It can go from very extreme liquid diets (juice fasting) to simply adopting an awareness about the content and purpose of the food we enjoy.  I chose the latter, because as is obvious from the title of this blog, I like to eat.  Plus, I work at a library and can't afford a $500 juice cleanse pack (Sorry Gwynnie, it's just not happening) and I hate cleaning my juicer. Also, the idea of detoxification hasn't been scientifically proven.  Mostly though, I really like to eat.  

So what is clean eating?  Here are some very basic principles, which I sometimes try to follow:

• Eat simply.  Stick to plants, meats, whole grains like rice and whole wheat.  Try not to eat things out of a box.
• Choose food with a manageable amount of ingredients. If you are eating something with 20 lines of strange ingredients that you cannot identify, that's not so good.
• Eat smaller meals more frequently.
• Remove chemicals and processed foods from your diet.

  

  Photo courtesy of laurenknightfitness.com

• Limit saturated fats.
• Reduce alcohol (1 drink per day) or eliminate it if you can.
• Replace coffee with green tea (I don't do this!)
• Watch sugar intake.  Sometimes even seemingly healthy food like yogurt can contain mostly sugar.
• Some people supplement with probiotics and extra vitamins, but doctors should always be consulted before adopting a diet like this.

 If you want to learn more about "clean" eating, check out some of these books:
Clean eats : over 200 delicious recipes to reset your body's natural balance and discover what it means to be truly healthy / Junger, Alejandro.

 The quick & clean diet : lose the weight, feel great, and stay lean for life / Alexander, Dari.

Clean food : a seasonal guide to eating close to the source / Walters, Terry

 The Chefs Collaborative cookbook : local, sustainable, delicious recipes from America's great chefs / Jackson, Ellen

The Reader Digests | Science Experiments

Can we eat science experiments?  An exploding volcano model, maybe not - but science experiments made out of food, yes!  In honor of this year's summer reading program, Fizz! Boom! Read!, I present science experiments you can eat (and what we learn from them)!

Discuss the properties of proteins by making egg whites.  According to Vicki Cobb's Science Experiment's You Can Eat, this is a great way to discuss how

germanfood.about.com

the shape of protein molecules plays an important role in determining the reaction.  Egg whites' proteins are like "tiny balls of yarn" and dissolve in water because they are so compact. Beating them = unraveling the yarn. Whoa! Slowly beat in some sugar, which mixes with the water in the egg whites, drop them on a cookie sheet, and heat them in an oven at 175 degrees for 1 hour, then turn it off and leave them in overnight.  The meringues are dried, leaving hard egg whites and sugar.  Yummy!

www.npr.org

Another fun and easy experiment in the book discusses oxidation of fruit.  Take an apple, slice it in half, and place a sliced kiwi on the cut top of one side, leaving the other side of the apple bare (or put a sponge on top).  Which side ends up brown?  This is a great way to introduce the idea of oxidation, and the effects of vitamin C on the browning process.  Make a fruit salad using apples, peaches, and bananas, and mix pieces of one vitamin C tablet (or lemon) on one side and leave the other plain.  What happens? Does vitamin C slow down the oxidation process?  What if you leave part of it at room temperature and put the other in the fridge?

Oh, and could flying pies be a physics lesson?  Definitely!

Of course, the best part about food experiments is eating them afterwards! Visit the library for more books about science experiments with food and don't forget to sign up for our summer reading program beginning on June 1!

The Reader Digests | Pie!

Who doesn't love pie?  I don't know any librarian that doesn't love pie! That's why this summer, we are going to eat pie! Yes, pie!

We are so determined to keep our kids reading this summer that a few dedicated, brave, and perhaps a little hungry library staff have volunteered to get pied!

What is getting pied, exactly? This is getting pied....

You are probably wondering what this is all about.  

Who is going to pie us?  

KIDS, that's who!  

Children at the Chavez, Manteca, and Ripon Libraries will get a chance to pie their library staff under these conditions:

2,500 total books must be logged and read by children at the branch during this year's Summer Reading Program! (Fizz! Boom! Read! June 1 through July 31)

The person must be a child who has completed the program and turned in their reading log.

After 2,500 books are read, the child's name will be drawn at random.

"The Pie-ing" (Doesn't it sounds like a horror movie?) will take place at the last children's Summer Reading Program event at each branch, on July 31.

Kids will pie either Suzy at Chavez (she likes Banana Cream!), Rena at Manteca, Melinda at Ripon, or Tara at Ripon (I'll take Coconut Cream please!).

Starting June 1, read those books and bring on the pie, kids!!! Yummy!

The Reader Digests | Coffee, Coffee, & More Coffee

Someone asked me earlier today how I can fit all the things I have going on into my schedule. I would love to say I am Superwoman, but the truth is I just get very little sleep. I do homework after my kids go to bed and usually turn in around 1 a.m., sometimes later.  Then I get up and go to work the next day.

So, how do I do it? It's coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.  I spend an inordinate amount of time (and money) at Starbucks. It's like "Cheers", except sometimes I get a little embarrassed that everybody there knows my name. And they only serve coffee and tea - at least, for now.

However, I remember the first time I went into a cafe. It was so intimidating. All those weird names for coffee - lattes, cappuccinos, macchiatos. What does it all mean? When I was a new coffee drinker, I wished someone had told me how to order

courtesy of cornerofthecafe.com

coffee, because there were many times I got something that just wasn't good. I hated holding up the line trying to figure out what I wanted (and doesn't it seem like they are getting longer?). I am no coffee snob, but I also don't want to look silly trying to order a cup of coffee.

So here's a little U.S. coffee menu explanation (If you were in Italy it would be a different ballgame, plus you would say caffe!):

Espresso - finely ground coffee served in shots.  More concentrated and darker than regular coffee.

Cappucino - Foamed and Steamed Milk over Espresso.  Dry means less milk, more foam.  Wet means the opposite.

I love you too!!!

Latte - Espresso with  steamed milk.

Mocha - Espresso with steamed milk and chocolate.  It can be white chocolate as well.

Machiatto - Espresso with a small amount of steamed or foamed milk added.  Baristas at many cafes use this drink to make designs, or latte art. Some also add caramel or hazelnut, to make flavored macchiatos. 

Americano - Espresso and water.  This is similar to a cup of brewed coffee. 

I'll end this post with some interesting coffee caffeine facts!

• Espresso drinks usually have less caffeine than a cup of brewed coffee.

• Light roast coffees generally have more caffeine when brewed by volume, and there will be no difference in light or dark roasts' caffeine levels if brewed by weight.  This is because caffeine is lost in the roasting process, and the more the bean is roasted, the more it expands.  The light beans are smaller after roasting, therefore can be packed in at a lower volume.

Want to learn more about coffee?  Check out our coffee book collection!

The Reader Digests | Green Eggs and Ham

I've said before that I don't discriminate against food, but unfortunately the rest of my family kind of does.  My husband will try new foods, but there are a few things that he absolutely does not like (even though I've never seen him try them).  One of those things is sushi.  So, when we started expanding our family one of my goals was to introduce my kids to new foods - and to create a little sushi connoisseur, like me!  It started out great.  When my oldest daughter (now 5) was a  toddler, I gave her rice, seaweed, eggplant, ginger, soy sauce, soy beans, and fish.  She loved it all. 

Then something terrible happened.  I don't know when it happened, or why, but one day it just stopped.  No more unique and exciting foods.  She started eating only macaroni and cheese, pizza, chicken nuggets, pasta with alfredo, and surprisingly, tri-tip.  She would rather go to bed hungry than try something new. I had to start hiding veggies in her food. Her pickiness got to the point that we started lying to her!  I got really good at hiding foods under sauce. Chicken? "It's tri-tip!"  Shrimp? "It's tri-tip!" Broccoli? "Ummm...tri-tip???"

"Enough!", I said.  I decided that she and I were going to have special storytime. One all about trying new foods. It started promisingly with Green Eggs and Ham (which I am proud to say she read to me!).  We talked about how important it is not to knock something before you've tried it.

We followed this with The Sandwich Swap, about two little girls disgusted by each other's food at lunch time.  Everyday, one watches the other eat a hummus sandwich and the other eats a PBJ sandwich until they finally break down and admit they think each other's lunch looks disgusting.  Chaos ensues, but all is resolved in the end. So, my daughter started talking about different foods and how she would like to see what they taste like.  This storytime idea was totally going to work!

I ended with a special humdinger of a book that would surely convince her that she just had to eat sushi with me!  Yoko, by Rosemary Wells, about an adorable little kitten who brings sushi for school lunchtime and is teased by the other kids at school. That is until the teacher assigns everyone to bring an international food so they can all try something new.  And of course, little Yoko shares her sushi and makes a new lunch buddy.  It's great book about acceptance, tolerance, sensitivity, and giving everything (and everyone) a chance.  It also makes me VERY hungry for sushi.  We finished the book and discussed how important it is to try new things and experience all types of food.    This was my moment, I asked her if she wanted to go to sushi with me.  

"No," she said.

"Why not?  We just talked about trying all these new types of foods!"

"Because we read Yoko at school and I tried it at international food day and I just don't like it."

Okay, it's genetic, but I still have my youngest!

The Reader Digests | Fried Chicken and Waffles

One of my favorite things about traveling is discovering new places to eat.  About a month ago, I went to Phoenix and was looking for something close by the ASU Downtown campus.  Lo and behold, Lo-lo's Chicken and Waffles was just down the road. Now, I had never tried this fried sweet and salty combo before, but I'll try pretty much any food once - no food discrimination here.  My friends thought it sounded gross.  Really, what's odd about it?  We eat chicken fried steak for breakfast, we dip bacon in maple syrup, we pair fruit and meat all the time, and we coat pretzels with chocolate. So, what's so weird about fried chicken and waffles?  Nothing! It's delicious!  We all loved it!

Lo-lo's....yummmmm

Where did this scrumptious creation come from?  Who was the genius who put this together for the very first time? Well, according to The History Kitchen, the first chicken-waffle mixers were the Pennsylvania Dutch.  However, the first FRIED chicken and waffles were served up at the Wells Supper Club in Harlem, New York around 1938. And the fried part is key, in my opinion.  Ann and John Wells served up the delicious combo to late night diners such as Sammy Davis Jr., and Nat King Cole.  The meal was perfect for binner, dreakfast, supfast, or brupper - the meal between dinner/supper and breakfast. I have no idea if any of those are real terms, but if someone takes them, I said it first!

The book was adapted to film - twice!

The Wells Supper Club closed down after a 40-year run, but you can still find plenty of chicken and waffle restaurants all over the United States. Some of the closest to SSCJPL are Gussie's Chicken and Waffles (SF), Home of Chicken and Waffles (Oakland), and Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles (LA Area).  

And, you can even find Chicken and Waffles in the library!  Pick up a copy of Mildred Pierce by James M. Cain, a 1941 book about (among other things) a single mother during the Great Depression who successfully opens up chicken and waffle restaurants in the LA area. Or, pick up a couple cookbooks about fried chicken and waffles and make some of your own! 

The Reader Digests | Free Hamburgers

What is better than a hamburger?  A FREE hamburger. 

I love anything free, but I was inspired to write about hamburgers this week because SSJCPL is giving out free burgers! Sort of. I mean, librarians haven't turned the info desks into grills or anything like that (but that would be pretty awesome). What I do mean is that SSJCPL is participating in In-N-Out's "Cover to Cover" club. Kids - ages four to twelve - can sign up for this club at any SSJCPL library location. The rules are simple: read five books by April 12, get a burger! And kids can read 15 books for a total of three burgers!

The program got me thinking. I know that I am a fan of burgers, but from where (not what) do burgers originate?  Many people think that hamburgers came from Hamburg, Germany and it is true that is where hamburger, or ground beef, was first introduced. However, hamburgers, the ones we know and love, beef in a bun - or, if you are watching your carbs, lettuce - were first enjoyed at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904! The easy, cheap, and tasty treat was quickly adopted as one of America's all-time favorite foods! We have added plenty of variety to our burgers over the years. People use different meats or meatless patties, a wide array of condiments, other toppings, and different types of breads (or lettuce).

So, here are my personal "burger awards". I would love to hear about your burger awards in the comments section!:

Favorite homemade burger: Beef burger with jalapenos, salsa, guacamole, and cheddar cheese.

Most unique burger: Gott's Roadside Ahi Burger

Best fast food burger: In-N-Out! I went to college in the Midwest and every time I came back to California I always put In-N-Out on my list of places to visit. The fact that they give kids burgers for reading makes them even more cool! 

The Reader Digests | Blogging, Take Three!

Alrighty, I'm not going to beat around the bush here.  It has been a long time since I have blogged.  I actually forgot how to log on to our blogging site.  That is how much time it has been!  

So let's review my blogging fails...

First, I tried the Short Attention Span Challenge and I couldn't keep it up. It was too, well, challenging.  But truthfully, it's because I went back to school (after this post) and I just couldn't do all those projects combined with working full-time, parenting my kids, and grad school every week. 

Then, I tried Miss Moneypennypincher's money-saving blog.  Here's the deal, I ran out of money-saving ideas.  I guess if I was Suze Orman or Dave Ramsey, I would have more than a blog at ssjcpl.com (not that there is anything wrong with that, mind you!).

If you won't, then I will!

Now (and hopefully forever-ish), I am undertaking a whole new blog!  And here is the premise:

Do I eat food? Yes.

Do I like food? Yes.

Can I talk endlessly about food? Yes!

Sounds like an obvious "blogging win" to me!

My new blog is The Reader Digests! Yum!!!

Every  Friday at 2 p.m. 

Miss Moneypennypincher | Greeting Card Chuckles

Yesterday was my birthday and one of my very creative coworkers made me a handmade greeting card with a silly joke in it.  It got me thinking how much I spend on greeting cards.  

I try and buy the sets they have at Costco for $19.99 but sometimes I want more than a generic birthday/wedding/baby card.  I want something hilarious.  So, I take myself to the nearest greeting card store and find a fantastically funny card for WHOA!!!!! $3 to $6?  Even more for a "singing" card? What?!  I look through the cheap cards, but alas, nothing sticks out.  

Why don't I just make the card myself, as my amazing coworker did for me?  It's personal.  It saves money.  And let's be honest, we have some pretty funny joke books at the library, if I say so myself.  Check one out - free!  Give a joke card to everyone you know!

Courtesy of crazyleafdesign.com

Here's a few...

For your teacher:
What is a light year?
A year with very little homework!
Except your homework is fun (and I really want an A)! Thanks for being awesome, my "favorite" teacher!

For your doctor:
What did the grasshopper say when it hit the windshield?
"If I had any guts I'd do it again."
Thanks for taking such great care of my guts, Dr. ______!

 For your librarian:
What books did the owl like?
Hoot-dunnits!
You're the best librarian around!  Thanks for always figuring out what books I need - even when all I know about it is that there is a girl and maybe a dog or possibly a cat in it.

 For Thanksgiving:
Why should you never talk like a turkey?
Because it's bad to use fowl language!
Especially when you have a mouth full of potatoes!  Happy Thanksgiving!

Miss Moneypennypincher | The Cost of Garage Sales and Legos

I have collected a lot of garbage treasures over the years.  The worst part, is that even when I try and get rid of it, I think, "I could make money off some of this!  I need to have a garage sale and sell it!"  Then it goes in the garage, in a box, where I forget about it, until the next time I clean out my house and find more junk treasures that I collected.  I am sure this stuff could be useful to someone, but the thought of the time and planning that goes into a garage sale is overwhelming to me.  And really, is it always worth it?  

I love sitting in front of my house selling boxes and tires! So fun!

Let's say I have a two-day garage sale,  I make $500 in profit.  I spent the day before planning and pricing all my items, and putting up signs or promoting, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.  I also paid my kid $50 to help me.  I open my garage sale at 8 a.m. (ignoring all the crazy garage sale fanatics who showed up at 6 a.m. and knocked on my door) and close at 2 p.m.  So, how much did I really make?  $25 an hour (18 hours of work).  That's pretty good, but I also have to factor in with the cost all the fun things I could have been doing - going to the park, spending quality time with my husband and family, reading a great book, learning a new skill, or just recharging for the busy week ahead.  Those are all important things too!  

I'm not saying garage sales aren't great.  I'm not saying you shouldn't have one. What I am saying, is that sometimes, it's worth it to just donate the items to charity. If you itemize your taxes, you might get quite a bit of that money back - and you hardly had to do anything!  Lots of places could use your stuff.  Teachers need good books, and crayons, and paper.  The Homeless Shelter is always looking for a range of things to use in the shelter or sell in the thrift store.  

And the library is looking for Legos.  WHAT?  Legos?  I mean books right? Well, yes we still need books, but we also really need Legos!  .

If you happen to have a box of Legos in your garage, and you planned on selling them, consider donating them to the library for the Ripon Branch's Lego Club (you don't have to come to Ripon to drop them off, we can send them from your favorite branch).  Why a Lego Club you might ask? This club - for tots through teens - is a great way to encourage fine motor skills, inspire the next great engineer or architect, promote books AND learn through the power of play!  So come on in, and donate your clutter Legos!

Learning | Amy Stewart's Non-Fiction

I love getting book recommendations from customers.  

One lady, Donna, always seems to be reading things that look interesting to me. We often talk about the mystery books we like.  Recently, she checked out a book that was not a mystery: Amy Stewart's The Earth Moved: the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms. I admired the cover, and mentioned that I had always wanted to learn more about earthworms. (Seriously, who has not wondered why they come out of the ground when it rains? I always feel sorry for the ones who stay on the sidewalk and die.  And what's the difference between an earthworm and a nightcrawler?) I checked out the e-book version.

Donna encouraged me to look for other books by Amy Stewart, too. It turns out that Stewart specializes in writing non-fiction books. 

Reviews of Stewart's work tend to use adjectives like "witty" or "quirky." She wrote her first book after she moved from Texas to Santa Cruz, California. She always dreamed of having a garden. So she set about transforming her tiny 1200 square foot yard into one. She researched the subject of gardening by doing it (not unlike my fellow blogger, Tara, in her Short Attention Span Challenge.) 

Stewart shared her personal experiences, and lore she discovered along the way. I love the quotes she included from old gardening books. I also enjoyed hearing how others shared heirloom seeds with her, especially the story about the little tomato her grandmother sent in the mail. Then there was the time she hired some men to dig in her yard and amend the soil; after she explained what needed to be done, she grabbed her gloves and shovel, and proceeded to work alongside them, all day long. All of that work resulted in From the Ground Up: the Story of a First Garden.

Glancing over the list of Stewart's titles, I realize they all are somehow related to gardens and pests, botany and bugs.  She has an eye for interesting facts about plants and insects. From the Ground Up and Flower Confidential: the Good, the Bad and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers have chapters which should be read in order because of their logical progression.  As mentioned above, the first book is her own story, so it is written as a first-person narrative.  

The other books are equally interesting, and the chapters are organized in a logical heirarchy, but reading the chapters in random order would be no problem. These are the kinds of books I like to read in a doctor's waiting room, or an airport. Here's a sample from Wicked Bugs,  on page 94, under the "Destructive" section, in an entry called "The Gardener's Dirty Dozen:" "They may not change the course of civilization. They might not spread the plague or send villagers fleeing for the hills. And they've probably never been implicated in a murder--although they do inspire murderous rages. These are just some of the pests that drive gardeners mad."  

I, for one, am glad Amy Stewart is able to share her interests so eloquently.

Miss Moneypennypincher | Musical Stylings

There are many ways to listen to music these days, with some great free options.  I myself, often listen to Pandora, the radio, and my personal music library.  Sometimes though, when I am shuffling through multiple songs - often times from different genres - it doesn't always seem like I am getting the "full story" from musicians I like, or think I might enjoy more.  And it's true.  Not all, but certainly a good number of albums really should be enjoyed from start to finish.  We (some library staff and I) came up with a list of some of our favorite albums and artists just off the top of our heads: Exile on Main Street, The Lumineers, Elephant, Abbey Road, Dark Side of the Moon, Mumford and Sons, Bruce Springsteen, American Beauty.  Listening to a few songs from the album are okay, but listening to the whole thing, all at once, is a different experience entirely.  However, albums are expensive.  The cheapest ones I find are usually still $9.99.  I don't want to shell out $10 for an entire album only to discover I didn't like most of the songs, or worse yet didn't like the whole thing.  

 Once again, the library comes to my rescue.  I can check out music here, figure out if I like it, and decide whether I want to commit to making that purchase.  One time (okay maybe more than once), I listened to every album by The Black Keys in order, some albums requested from SSJCPL and the others through Link Plus - a great way to find some more obscure stuff.  Listening to albums in order reminds me of reading books by a specific author in the order they were written.  It gives you much more insight into the person (or musicians) who wrote them.

"Why don't you like my overplayed song, Tara?!"

Not only that, I don't know how many times I have purchased a single song or CD thinking, " I could NEVER get sick of this!", only to listen to it over and over, and over again for weeks, until I never want to hear it again.  There are some songs I want to listen to again about as much as I want to stick nails in my ears.  I am not going to embarrass myself by calculating how many songs in my library are like that, and how much I have spent on them total (but I am pretty sure it is at least $500, easy).  However, I will never get sick of The Black Keys, ever.  I bought every single one of their albums.  They passed the repeated listening test, hands down.


Of course, I am not suggesting you take our CDs home and burn them (either with a fire or with a computer), because that is illegal, BUT, use the library to make sure that you REALLY want to download that song, or album, before you commit to spending that $9.99 on it. 

I want more suggestions though.  What is your favorite album to listen to from start to finish? 

Miss Moneypennypincher | Book Traveling

This week I should have been thinking of great ways to save you money, or maybe embarked on a new Short Attention Span Challenge task, but I have been so incredibly engrossed in this book, The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson, it is leaving me unable to think of anything else but getting back to the book.  This is the most recent Pulitzer prize winner (and actually part of another one of my personal challenges - reading all the novel and fiction Pulitzer Prize winners).  The story is about Pak Jun Do, a North Korean orphan turned professional kidnapper, who loyally serves the "greatest country in the world" and the "supreme leader", Kim Jong-il . The book has plunged me into the mysterious and horrifically dark world of North Korea, and as far as I know, a book is probably the only look (difficult as it is) that I will ever get. 

As it is now, North Korea is not on my list of places to visit, but the book's explicit description and the author's attention to detail makes me think about some other books that have done the same thing: taken me to another place or time.  Unless I win the lottery or achieve immortality (I wonder which is more likely?), I will not be able to visit all the places in this world that fascinate or interest me.  There are not enough resources to make that happen.  However, books can get me close.  Isn't it amazing how we can take each other places, by accurate details and description of a setting?   

So anyway, this post might seem random, I am going from Pulitzer Prize winners to North Korea to descriptive settings.  I can tie this back to economics, I know it!  Here we go...My point, readers, is that you can travel into the library and use books to take you places, free! (P.S. I also checked the book out for free---saving myself around $14. Just thought I'd throw that in there too.) 

Here are some suggestions from library staff:

Ulysses by James Joyce (June 16, 1904 Dublin, Ireland)

My Antonia by Willa Cather (late 19th Century, Nebraska)

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Afghanistan)

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (The Great Depression)

Fires of London by Janet Law ("You feel like you are walking through the suffocating and confining blacked-out streets of WWII London during the 1939 Blitz. It also evocatively explores the seeding underground of London life." available through Link Plus)

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (Texas, late 19th century)

Into Thin Air by John Krakauer (Mount Everest)

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende (19th century Chile and San Francisco)

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (17th Century Delft)
Winter of the World by Ken Follett ("I have been in Germany as Hitler takes power, in the homes of the rich and famous in the U.S.  I have been in the Parliament of Great Britain.  And, unfortunately, the brutal chambers of the SS.  The world is changing right before my eyes and the way people and nations are impacted takes your breath away")

Redwall by Brian Jacques This is fantasy, but here's a great quote from the author.

"In our imaginations we can go anywhere. Travel with me to Redwall in Mossflower County."

Miss Moneypennypincher | REALLY Cheap TV, Contract Free

I hate cable.  I hate how much they charge.  I hate how arbitrary the prices seem.  It really burns me when you sign up for a promo price and then the promo period ends and the price goes up, but I'm pretty sure the cable company made money either way.  I know I am a cheapskate, but I just really hate cable.  And I really hate cable contracts, because there is nothing worse than being FORCED to pay someone with the threat of a cancellation fee.

So, I cancelled cable.  For a couple days my family was in shock, but here's the thing:  I use the library.  We have free DVDs. My kid can watch all the Thomas the Tank Engine I want her to, and my husband and I can rent Skyfall for our weekend movie, free.  Plus we all read (shocker!!!).  So, we made it awhile with no cable.  Then How I Met Your Mother and Modern Family started up in the fall, and football season began, and I knew I had to figure out how to get TV cheap, without contracts.

This is what I did:

Courtesy of blurokr.deviantart.com

I kept the internet service in my home. (It was $19.99 per month)

I bought a digital antenna (it was about $36). +
I bought a Roku, a device to stream internet onto my TV.  ($94.99, even cheaper if you have a warehouse membership) +
I signed up for Netflix app on the Roku (no contract) $7.99/month +
I signed up for Hulu app on the Roku (no contract) $9.99/ month +
I got a Playon subscription for $39 per year (it was on sale, no contract required. This is a great way to watch HIMYM, since CBS is not available on Hulu.) = 

If we did this for only a year, calculating the price of the Roku device, and the Playon, we would pay $31.22 per month for TV.  No contracts required.

For any show that we absolutely MUST have (like Mad Men), we can buy them per episode ($1.99) on the Amazon App on the Roku.  We don't have to have a cable contract for the whole year just to watch one show.  Plus when our shows are not on, we can cancel Hulu, cutting an additional $7.99 out of our budget.  We can still catch TV, through the digital antenna.  Netflix is also optional, since the library carries most movies and television shows, either at the library or through Link+.
To put this in perspective, it is predicted that in 2015, the average cable bill will be $123 per month.  Not internet, just TV.  With that price, someone can save approximately $92 per month by streaming TV and using the library for free DVDs.  You can get $1104 back in your pocket every year just by changing the way you watch your TV.

 Knock Knock
---Who's there?
Will
---Will, Who?
Will you take me with you on your family vacation that you got to go on because you just saved $1104???  You will?  YAY!!!!  I can't wait!

Miss Moneypennypincher | Don't buy junk!

My husband likes to joke that I spend more time researching the things I buy than actually using the things I buy.  I guess he has a point.  If I spend my money, it is going to be on the best of something.  There is nothing worse than purchasing a piece of junk.  One of my favorite research tools is Consumer Reports, the magazine that researches and reviews pretty much everything, from juicers to Jaguars.  Growing up, I remember my family subscribed to the magazine and got it every month (and I always thought it was SO boring!).  Now that I have a family of my own, I find myself using the magazine all the time to make sure that I am spending my money wisely.  But, the magazine is not free.  Having access to all that info costs money  What if it is money you don't want to spend?

Once again, the library is at your service!  Perhaps the most obvious way you can access Consumer Reports at the library is to come in and look at the magazine.  Many of the libraries keep copies in the reference section, so that they cannot be checked out.  It's here for your viewing pleasure.

However, maybe you don't want to drive to the library and just want to access the magazine from home.  Should you shell out the $30 a year to get access to consumerreports.org?  You could, OR you could hop onto the library website:

Drag your cursor over "research"

Select "Databases"

Click "All databases"

Click "Masterfile Premier" (and then enter your library card number and PIN)

then "Publications" and type in "Consumer Reports".
Look over on the right ---every issue since 1991.

Voila!  Free access to Consumer Reports from home, for free! You just saved between $6.95 and $30!  Plus, you can use the money you just saved to buy something awesome!  Enjoy!

Joke of the day:
How do you make a money pizza?
----With all the dough you just saved getting Consumer Reports for free from the library!!!