Bits and Pieces -- while I finish up elsewhere

*A wonderful new (to me, at least) blogger is worth visiting: http://www.remodelingthislife.com/ . Watch Emily and their family work through remodeling their home...and a bunch of other things. She has had some excellent posts on when frugality is NOT the best option: something I need to hear.

*Boiled eggs and pizza are the breakfast of champions. And lots of hot coffee.

*Now that Dave's out of town on business all this week (a rarity), I am reverting back to my old schedule: stay up until 1 a.m. or so, sleep in until 8. I am just a nightbug -- after all, you can get so much done, and peacefully. No people calling, no kids running around. Much of my writing has been done in the dead of night.
The funny thing is that Dave loves this schedule, too -- but his job demands he be there at 6 a.m.
I wouldn't be surprised if we reverted to it permanently when we 'retire.' Whatever -- and whenever --that is.

*Roses on the bush are especially lovely early in the morning, and during dusk. Somehow the light changes the color around the petals' edges, and makes them glow. I wish I could get this effect in a quilt -- maybe an overlay of a sparkly chiffon around the edge? Or just a slight outline of machine quilting in hologram thread? You wouldn't want to do much...hmmm.

*I found a great way to bargain -- stop doing anything! I practiced it yesterday to buy a hammock stand for $60 off Craigslist, instead of $75. (The seller had bought the stand for $140 a year ago.) Here's what you do:
*Stand there, looking at the item.
*mention any flaws you see, no matter how small.
*look down at your feet...kind of stub your toe in the dirt and push it around.
*say nothing.
*wait.
Eventually, out of frustration, the seller will often cut some money off their original offer. What they're doing is telling you a closer number to the amount they really will accept. Now YOU counter, with an offer lower than theirs. Eventually you'll both arrive at a figure. And I guarantee, thanks to the Great Delayer, that it will be lower than what you planned to pay.

Dave is a champ at this. We paid approx. $1500 less for our Cherokee than we'd planned, for example. I didn't do as well this time around -- I got impatient and spoke first. But I would have paid at least $5 more for the stand!

*The unexpected is wonderful. 'God things,' we call them. Oldest daughter and I had a rare leisurely lunch in Denver yesterday at a little French restaurant called Le Central. We stepped outside, to see a little card with a red bull's-eye on the sidewalk -- a $50 Target gift card! No one in sight, and the restaurant was deserted. No one to ask.
Daughter has been living on the cusp lately, and $50 to her is like a million bucks right now. Definitely a God thing.