Five Question Friday

1. Groceries are high right now what is easiest way you have found to cut back?
We’ve just decided not to feed the children anymore… which is handy since Jack has decided he only likes eating a few things – mainly toast with Vegemite. Really, we haven’t cut back on our grocery list at all so I’m not really qualified to answer that question. I’ve always been a coupon-user (my mommy taught me) so I just continue using coupons and purchasing things on sale. Though there are some staples we purchase whether they are on sale or not and we’re okay with that.

2. What are the top 3 things on your “bucket list”?
Hmmm… I have to put some thought into that one… let me go check my list.
I’m going to tie #2 and #3 together – hopefully these happen before retirement. I’ve had a story floating around in my head for years now, someday I hope to get it written down and I hope that when I do, it can be successful and I can quit my job. Then I’d go with traveling to and around Europe – at least a month in Europe would be perfect. But the most important thing on my list, at least to me, is have a great relationship with my children and their spouses as adults (seems slightly more important than making sticky toffee pudding).

3. Would you rather give up AC or heat?
I’ve always said I’d rather be cold than warm because you can always put on more layers but you can’t take off your skin if you are stripped down and still too hot. It certainly stinks to be too cold and Michigan gets cold to the point that it would be serious trouble if we didn’t have heat. But we have a fireplace and I’m going to assume we could use that rather than our furnace (the question wasn’t specific) and ultimately we could get a wood-burning stove/furnace set up. But I’d keep my central air – priorities. I hate being hot and sweaty.

4. What’s your favorite cocktail??
There is a bar in Chicago that serves 20-ounce Long Island Iced Teas. You get a class with 10 shots plus a little ice and Coke. Then they give you a second glass full of ice and a third with Coke. For only $6. Can’t beat that when you are 22. But now I’m an adult and have sophisticated tastes (though try as I may, I cannot like martinis) and I’d say that vodka tonics with extra lime and whiskey sours are favorites. And anything my brother, Mike, mixes up at the holidays.

[Side note: My parents, when they VERY rarely ordered a drink, would get a Seagram’s 7 and 7-Up so when I was all grown up and at a nice restaurant, I ordered one of my own. Umm… yuck. Guess I wasn’t all that grown up.]

5. What was your first job & how old were you?
My first non-official job was as a babysitter for my church youth group leaders. When I started babysitting for them, they had two kids (the youngest was a couple of months old) and when they switched to another sitter, they had three kids and the youngest was about 4 or so. Those boys are now all grown up and nearly all in college – I see them sitting in church when I visit my parents and I can hardly believe it – makes me feel very, very old.

My first real job (one that I paid taxes at/for) was at Dunkin’ Donuts where I worked for three years. I started out working out front, behind the counter and ended up in the back, making the donuts. I actually loved that job, it might even top my list of favorites (aside from the 2 hours I spent as a Bath & Body Works employee, of course).

Linking up with Mama M for Five Question