My daughter is home sick from school today and so I decided to make her a very special lunch of grilled cheese (at 10:30 in the morning). I originally offered to take her and her brother out for pizza, but they weren't that into the idea. Although she's home sick, it's more like a day of R&R since she hasn't been feeling great and needs some rest - so I figured going out for pizza wasn't such a horrible thing or like I'd lied to the school when I called and said she'd be home today.

So, while she and her brother are playing Barbies and Ken, I put the grilled cheese on the stove and sat down at my computer to do a little work. About 30 minutes later I'm smelling something like burnt toast and there's smoke billowing around the kitchen. Ah, forgot the small matter of grilling bread and cheese on the stove. Needless to say, there will be no grilled cheese for lunch. I threw the black charred remains of their lunch out on the deck to keep it from continuing to smell up the house, and now it's out there steaming in the frigid air.

Looks like we'll be going out for pizza after all. It's hard to believe that I actually won the eighth grade "cooking" award at Middlebrook School. It's sad to think my culinary skills peaked in middle school home ec class.

I was at the bookstore writing, and when I was done I decided to walk over to Trade Secret and pick up some hair conditioner. The store was pretty crowded, but I chalked up the line of people at the register to Christmas shopping, even though I couldn't imagine that there was very big demand for gifts of shampoo and hair gel.

So, when I finally got to the register to pay for my own purchase, I was confused when the woman rang me up for a whopping $5. The conditioner alone was $8 and I was also buying two nail files. Then I saw it. The sign in the window that said, "Going out of Business - Everything 50% Off." Well, my knees started shaking as I handed over my money. Half off everything in the store? I took my purchases but I didn't leave. I continued to walk around in a frenzy, gazing at the $16 hair lotions and deep conditioning treatments and nail polishes - all half price! I didn't know where to start. My hands reached for anything I could get my hands on, imagine all the money I'd be saving. It didn't matter that I don't use hair gel or molding paste or chunky putty - I was saving money! As I juggled the bottles and jars and tubes in my arms it occurred to me. I wasn't saving money. I was spending money. On stuff I didn't even need. I told myself to take a deep breath before continuing. And then I put all the designer hair products back on their shelves, and heeded the voice in my head commanding, "Step away from the 122 ounce bottle of hair spray." And I quickly turned and ran out the door before I could be seduced by the little bottles of glossing serum.

The lesson here? The idea that saving money requires spending money is a difficult concept to grasp when all you see is the shiny blonde hair, conditioned strands, and magazine ready sassy 'do at the end of the Paul Mitchell rainbow.