This poem is being written in stages to highlight the things I do toward frugal living.
~
I notta.
I think it was 2019 or 20’ when I joined Ibotta.
I don’t buy a lot of name brand products.
The cost difference isn’t (typically) worth the bucks.
$20 in 4 years.
For me, this app was not as it appears.
~
I said a bad word didn’t I? In a ‘I see it, I like it, I want it, I got it.’ world of capitalism, I said a bad word, FRUGAL.
As stated in my little poem above, I downloaded the Ibotta app. A co-worker told me all about it. Showed me all the rebates she was getting. So I thought, I’ll give it a whirl. Because I rarely buy named brand products, the ‘$20 in 4 years’ is what it took me.
When my bestie and I go out shopping together; I have a saying, ‘when in doubt, don’t.’ From shoes to soap, if I have the slightest concern about a product, 95% of the time, I’m not buying it.
I did splurge for my birthday and bought myself this beautiful Patricia Nash purse. Even on sale it was a splurge. Earth Nerds unite. 😉
I always have so many things to be grateful for. Don’t always express them publicly like I should. The glory always belongs to God. Today, I’m shouting and dancing (only in my head).
Monday, (against my will) was kicked out of the exclusive NOVID Club. Covid kicked down my door. Broke down my defenses and River Danced its way through my immune system.
I am grateful it happened this way. It could have been so much worse. An illness that has taken so many lives and damaged thousands more has left me missing a week of work. And Covid Mouth. I can drink out of a straw. 🙌🏻
The 48 hour CDC suggested window of exposure has closed. To my knowledge, no one that I was in contact with Saturday or Sunday has contracted this uninvited guest. God is magnificent!
This little diddy has reminded me that yes, we are all different. Those symptoms that we have all read about and are familiar with don’t happen to everyone. I didn’t loose my sense of taste or smell. Sunday the delicious smell of cooking roast filled every corner of my besties house. And tasted as good as it smelt. No sore throat. This was just another sinus infection. WRONG!
It really was all in my head. And now, my mouth.
If more symptoms come sneaking out of the woodwork, God’s got this right in the palm of his hands.
If there was a biography about you, what would the title be?
How I came up with this title? WordPress/Jetpack does daily writing prompts. The question was: what is the legacy you want to leave behind? (May 24th, 2023) At the point this was written, I had no legacy as it were. No children to pass on my particular set of genes. No foundation to leave behind money that would positively impact anyone’s life. Just a few words written down in a blog. An attempt to stop the words swirling in my brain. An attempt to say the things I didn’t have the courage to say. Express emotions that I utterly hate.
There was an envelope attached to his front door. There was a picture of her house. The back read:
Roses are red.
Are violets really blue?
Come on over,
something is waiting for you.
On her front door was another envelope. The picture was of her back porch. The back read:
It’s getting dark,
which means it’s getting colder.
Follow my clue,
you might smolder.
What was she up to? He smiled as he walked around the house to her back door. There was another envelope. Inside was a picture of the lake. He almost fell down the steps as he ran to his vehicle.
The first thing he noticed when he got to the lake was her jeep. In all the excitement, he hadn’t paid attention that it wasn’t parked in her driveway. She got out as he did. “Come here my dear.” He did. She opened the back door laying a rubber mat on the ground. “I’ll take your coat.” With wonderment, he gave her the knee length trench coat he wore to work. She gave him the everyday coat that he kept behind the door. “Your gloves.” He was full of curiosity. This was exciting. She pulled out a pair of boots he kept by the door. He slipped off his dress shoes. That’s what the rubber mat was for. So he wouldn’t get his feet muddy changing shoes. Then she gave him a thicker pair of gloves, boggin, and a scarf.
He followed her down to the lake where she had a camp fire going. Stew cooking over the flame. What looked like a sleeping bag was laying on the ground to sit on. She had thought of everything. Even some daisies in a vase. He wanted to cry but was afraid his tears would freeze.
“This is nice.” He was smiling from ear to ear.
“Yeah.” She clapped.
They sat there in the cold, under the stars, eating, talking. “This is so nice.” He hugged her up.
“Happy Valentine’s Day.”
She had changed into her p.j.s, when there came a knock at her door. “Come in.” Oscar just stood there for a moment. “What’s wrong?” Concern filled her voice.
He took off his coat. “Reach your hand into my pocket.”
“Which one?” She asked playfully.
“I’m not gonna tell.”
She watched his face has she slid her hand into his pocket. He wanted so badly for her to touch him. But she was doing everything she could not too. The deeper she got, he closed his eyes. She whispered close to his ear. “There’s nothing in that pocket.”
“Guess you’d better try the other one.” His mouth was dry.
She did the same thing. Slowly, lowering her hand. Deliberately not touching him. When he felt her touch the box he said, “Happy Valentine’s Day.”
“O, it’s beautiful.” Big tears welled up in her eyes. She had never really gotten a Valentine present before. “Put it on me.”
It was his pleasure. He took his time. After he fixed the necklace, he trailed his hands across her shoulders and down her arms.
The last thing he wanted to do was go home. “Will you sit on the couch with me and talk ?”
For a moment, she thought he was slipping back into that place.
They sat down. Only one of the lamps was on. Esther was; before he interrupted, going to bed. He sat down first opening his arms for her. She slid into place, snuggling into her favorite spot.
“Esther,” he whispered. A wave of nausea over took him. He was going to be sick.
“Yes dear,” she replied.
Those voices inside him were fighting. With a deep breath for courage here it came, “will you marry me?”
She didn’t move. Which terrified him. You shouldn’t have said it. But you did. Fool.
Dear God, Esther prayed, let me get this right. “Oscar, I’m not saying no. I’m saying not now. Not until the thing I can’t talk about is resolved. If you are willing to wait, I would be honored to be your wife,” she paused. “Someday.”
Oscar didn’t care for Valentine’s Day. It was the day for lovers and he’d never really had a lover. There was Esther and he loved her. But they weren’t lovers. Not yet anyway. He wanted them to be and he was pretty sure she wanted it to.
He wanted to do something special for her but what? He had long since given Esther the keys to his house and his heart. She like wise. He was so afraid that he would have a panic attack while Chet was busy and there would be no one around to help him. That was the ruse he was telling himself.
He could only surmise that since he gave her a key, she gave him one. That wasn’t fair, he thought. She was a kind, caring, wonderful woman. She loved him. He loved her.
He stopped at a jewelry store on the way home. Usually everything was closed by the time he left for home except for a hand full of businesses; but for Valentine’s Day everyone stayed open a little later hoping to get that Valentine dollar.
“Oscar,” Sue greeted him. “How are you today?” He and Sue went to church together.
“I’m good. You?”
“Oh, I’m just fine. Oscar,” she leaned over the counter whispering as if the store was full of people. “Did you hear about Brother Evan?”
“No, what about him?” He acted surprised.
“Well you haven’t been too church in a long time, so why would you know? Brother Evan is gone. Left in the middle of the night; packed all he could get in the back of his truck and left. Lick-a de-split.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, the church is in a horrible state.”
“I’m very sad to hear that.”
She leaned back over to her side of the counter. “So, getting a Valentine for your mom?” Oscar just glared at her. “Hmmm, I’ll take that as a no.” And she left him alone.
He only saw Esther wear that one ring. He was beginning to think this might be a mistake. Especially since he had no idea what ring size to buy. A necklace caught his eye. It was silver, a pair of hands shaped like a V holding a heart. That was pretty.
“Sue.”
“Did you find something you want to see?”
“Yes, I want to see that necklace.”
She handed it to him with a big smile. “Who’s the lucky girl?” He ignored her. She cleared her throat, “have you met the new lady in town? The one that moved into the Morrison home place?”
“I couldn’t help but not.”
“What’s she like?”
Oscar was doing all he could to ignore her.
Looking at the necklace, he wondered how it would look around her neck. How it would hang? Then he remembered one of their highly charged encounters. When he put his fingers at the back of her neck, touching; with his hands around her neck, his thumb was at the nap of her neck. That seemed like a good place for a charm to hang. He took the necklace he held out of the package and measured it against his hand. It was too small. “Do you have a longer chain?”
“Do that again?” Oscar did. “Looks like you want a sixteen.”
He did the same thing to the new chain and it was perfect. “I’ll take it.” Sue just giggled.
“Sue, she’s a very nice person.”
All the way home, Oscar worried if he had done the right thing.
Poetry & More 