Moments of Fame

Dollar Frugal hosts the Carnival of Personal Finance this week, with a funny Wizard of Oz them. Funny’s lament about getting practice for “early retirement” (read “layoff”) while still on the job (more or less) appears in this edition. The latest installment of Aryn’s series, “That Makes Me Stabby,” which has been running at Sound Money matters, is titled Over-Reliance on Retail Growth. Many of these essays are hilarious; all of them make good points. IMHO, this one is very thoughtful and makes some astute observations. Speaking of astute, over at Bible Money Matters Peter reflects that sometimes the best decision doesn’t seem to make financial sense. Another original observation comes from Michael James on Money, whose proprietor ruminates on the financial lessons he’s learned from poker.

Funny was amazed and pleased to see the the rant about cleaning up after the cleaning ladies appear at the Make It from Scratch Carnival, which appears this week at I’ve Got a Little Space to Fill. As usual, this round-up has some great recipes. In a hurry and feeling penurious? Check out this incredibly easy and economical recipe for crock-pot chicken stew, from Pseudo Life, Real Mind. And oh my goodness, over at Woman Tribune, here’s one for poppy-seed noodles. My mother used to make those, only in the good old days women used butter instead of healthier olive oil. And speaking of OMG, you’d better take a look at Ginger Won’t Snap’s post—and amazing pictures!—of her latest silversmithing adventure, in which she learns to do lost-wax casting. I want to do this!!!!!

Broke Grad Student hosts this week’s Festival of Frugality, with a winsomely funny theme about the advantages of being single for Valentine’s day. Funny’s calculation about the cost-effectiveness of riding the light-rail train to work (or not) appears here. In this line-up, I really enjoyed LAL’s rumination about whether frugality comes naturally to some people. Money Ning has some smart things to say about “free” offers and suggests ways to avoid scams. SuperSaver has a highly bookmarkable article about lowering one’s property taxes. Wish I’d read it a year ago…

Image: Carnevale di Viareggio 2008: Uer Iz de Parti by Sailko at Wikipedia