Last week I finally made it to the hairdressers for some highlights and a cut. I’ve been having highlights put in my hair for more years than I care to remember and boy, has the price shot up in the last couple of years. It’s something I only wish I could do myself. I did try coloring my hair once, many years ago. It was such a disaster that I decided it just wasn’t worth being that budget minded.

Writing wise I’m working on an article for Arthritis Today about insurance insecurity, problems with being underinsured and ways you can help pay for your healthcare. Seems like being underinsured is even more of a drawback than not having insurance. Hope you’ll read it; it should be in the January/February 2008 issue.

I was in such a hurry last week that I tore through the supermarket, saw my favorite Stonyfield yogurts were on sale and grabbed five. Today I discovered I’d accidentally picked up a plain flavored one. Yikes, you have to be a real yogurt lover to eat the plain ones. In fact, does anyone eat them ‘as is’? I hate throwing things away, especially food items, so I stood in the kitchen for a couple of minutes thinking about what I could do with it. Here’s what I came up with-

Combine a 6 oz. pot of plain yogurt with-
1 tablespoon vegetable masala (you can get this in the Indian food section of most supermarkets these days. It’s similar to curry powder, but I think it gives a more intense flavor to foods)
2 tablespoons mango chutney
2 tablespoons chopped Vidalia onion

I used it as a salad dressing on the salad fixings from last night’s dinner. And have to say it wasn’t bad; I couldn’t even detect the plain yogurt.

With the holiday travel season in full swing it was good to see that gas prices have actually fallen for the first time since January!


For money saving tips visit www.gardenandhearth.com/Bargain-Shopping.htm