Stimulus Tuesday

A while back, we finally took in a handful of Maple View Farm milk bottles to get our bottle refunds at Harris Teeter. When we first moved here and started to buy milk from HT, we were disappointed with the way bottle refunds are handled. We were used to how our trusty Lawrence Dillons did it, where you could turn in the empty bottle as you were checking out and then not get the bottle fee for the new bottle. But alas, here we have to take the bottle to customer service and we're given cash in return for the bottle fees. So we always pay bottle fees... But the point is that we get CASH! We almost never carry cash, so it's a special treat.

Jonathan had the brilliant idea to put our $7 to good use and go on a date. He even did the research and discovered a $1.50 movie theater in Raleigh! And he found out that they have "Stimulus Tuesdays" where you can get a small popcorn for just $1 and a small drink for $1! Perfect. This evening we watched Duplicity and had perfectly-portioned popcorns and drinks, all for $7 even. Pretty good deal.

It's also made me start thinking of cheap date options. I did this all the time when we were dating in high school, and we'd go to the park or go ice skating or split a burger basket at Jimmy's Diner... but I think I've fallen out of practice in the creative dating department. Now I'm excited to find more inexpensive, fun things we can do together.

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Summer book reports: High School Confidential was alright... Meh. Look Me in the Eye was well-written and fast read, providing some insight into what Asperger's can be like. The Paradox of Choice is full of good tidbits and summaries of studies, and it was a good reminder for me that over-agonizing about decisions actually leads to more unhappiness in the end even if you choose "the best" thing, but I didn't read it all because it was feeling too much like a textbook.

Next up: The Power of Play, Hothouse Kids, The Elephant in the Playroom, and a somewhat encyclopedic book just for fun.