Mama raised a frugal girl

Finally ventured into the new Holt Renfrew in downtown Calgary today (mainly to collect the deposit from a potential new tenant) - holy freaking mother of dog!!! Recession??? Really?? Someone should tell all those people walking out of the Tiffany's store with the little blue bags, or the ones paying almost $300 for a dress that's already been MARKED DOWN 60%!!!!!!!!!!! And I don't care of they are the real deal Blahniks - I'd rather spend the $475 on rent!
Mama really did raise us to be frugal...Dad was a construction worker, and did not make tons - he was thrilled when he worked for a company that offered benefits, for crying out loud. Mom worked part-time doing data entry, but we never really knew that money was tight. We camped every weekend (more so to stock up on fish for the freezer, as I have now figured out in retrospect), mom learned to and made all of our t-shirts growing up. She even learned how to make blue jeans, as my younger brother was very hard on his! We ate out at high-end restaurants, but only after we collected enough bottles, pop-cans and metals (copper was huge back then!) that we then returned to the depots for cash. We always had a garden growing in the summer, again, if for nothing else than to keep us in potatoes for the winter. We even went to far as to plant on an acre of land owned by the farmer we bought eggs from - we ate a lot of potatoes that year!!! Clothes shopping was done at Woodwards or maybe the Bay. We usually shopped at Woolco (Walmart now) or K-mart (when they existed in Canada) for everything else. If we were really tying on the hog, we shopped at Eatons! But rarely...they were hugely expensive, even back then. So, no, I don't shop at Holt...I will most likely never shop at Holt. Even if I were to win the lottery (fingers crossed, because I really want a house and a yard and a weekend place in Canmore!), I think it would be hard for me to plop that kind of money down for something I can get for a fraction of the cost elsewhere.
In fact, I've always thought money doesn't equal taste. Take the "ladies" in Holt today...way too tight leather leggings, 'boyfriend' shirt and far too much makeup for 10 women, let alone the one wearing it...just because the "Real Housewives" is such a hit, does not mean we have to emulate them. Trash is trash, even when holding a platinum card!
I spent some of my Christmas money at the new Rocky Mountain Soap Company - bought some more of the Mandarin body butter before it's gone for the season, as well as another lip balm. Then when I was talking about my allergies, and my disappointment that they didn't make a cream in that scent, the girl introduced me to another citrus cream that is light and perfect and I loved it so much I bought two! Not a floral note to be found, and look, I can still breathe! And to thank me for buying two (one was half price), they gave me yet another mandarin body butter and lip balm to enjoy. Shocking that they couldn't open before now, because they couldn't get approval due to the construction. Ummmm...did the inspectors actually look in the hallway of where the store is??? I think downtown Beirut looks in better shape!
Spent some time wandering around the construction zone that is our downtown mall, and then hit up Safeway for some forgotten groceries (can't have turkey, or roast beef for that matter, sangies without the tangy zip of Miracle Whip!) before heading home.
On top of the four loads of laundry, cleaning the kitchen and the walk, I'm feeling okay exercise wise today. Even the food was healthy, as I broke out the blender for a Green Monster. Except I almost forgot the green part!! Looking at it, thinking "this doesn't look right"....hmmmmm...oh, yeah, spinach! Dinner is in the oven (turkey roast), and I have a small cornucopia of veggies to roast as well, to enjoy on the side...carrots, sweet potato, brussel sprouts and maybe regular potato. Yum!
Early to bed, as it'll be early to rise tomorrow for work. Good news is with everyone else taking the week off, it'll be quiet and peaceful and I can get loads done with little to few interruptions!
Later,