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Finally did a master list of all the stuff I buy regularly at the grocery store. Went to the nearest Hy-Vee so that I could see for myself how many of these items had a store brand equivalent in the hope of saving me some money. I had been buying name brands mostly because it is easy to check them on a database to see if they are gluten free; with store brands, you have to physically read every single label.

Luckily, there was an electric cart available. Unfortunately, the control tended to stick, which caused me to either run into things, go really fast or not go anywhere at all. But I put up with it because I only had the energy for a single trip.

I was in that store for TWO HOURS! But I had a page full of notes as to what Hy-Vee items I could switch to. And I found specialty items I didn't even know the store carried.

For instance, I came across all kinds of fancy rice: basmati, jasmine, arborio, and four kinds of gluten free risotto. And there were ingredients for Asian stir fry like fish sauce, spicy pastes and coconut milk. I'm going to try to cut down as much as I can on the health food store shopping because the prices are higher there than at the regular grocery.

In other news, Dan has sprained his left arm AND has bronchitis. We thought at first he had a broken bone because it was swollen and he has osteopenia. But he's got it in a splint now, and it feels better when he wears it.

As for the bronchitis, we're pretty sure he caught it from a family member at Easter. His mom was getting over a cold, and our nephew was recovering from pneumonia. Weird thing is, with me on immuno-suppressants, we thought for sure I would catch something, but Dan did instead.

Finished making templates for tax deductible medical expense charts and used them to create charts for 2008. And I've got all this year's info thus far in there already. Will be soooo much easier to itemize my deductions when I file next year's taxes.

The saga of the soggy basement continues. On Tuesday, a carpenter is going to start ripping out moldy drywall, insulation and a cabinet in the area that had flooded. Don't know how messy this will get or whether it will affect my health at all, but I may start spending more time upstairs while all this is going on, which may mean I don't make any blog entries for awhile, so don't anyone freak out if I vanish.

Don't really have a timetable for posting reviews of the movies I've been watching on the DVR. I'd like to get it done before Tuesday's carpentry chaos, but we'll see. Should probably take care of some more mundane matters like getting the checkbook caught up first.

Better fill up my jug with Hy-Vee brand drinking water and go get some sleep.