I love resourcefulness and I love quiet poverty.

I don't know if the term "quiet poverty" existed before I just typed it but I'm going to go with it. In my mind's eye the concept is small or crouched down...quiet or drawn in. I'm not sure how to describe it.

But I do know that when I went downstairs just now to make some hot chocolate I was falling over myself in delight as I remembered how I had acquired the powdered cocoa I was using. My dad was clearing out his kitchen in a move and offered me many non-perishables. I took several things and probably have used them all by now (he moved in June) but more than half of the canister of Fry's Premium Cocoa (Makers of Quality Cocoa since 1728!) remains.
A year or two ago when my grandmother offered me a hot bev and I requested hot chocolate, she said she was out of the instant powdered stuff but told me I could indeed make it with cocoa powder. Cocoa powder, granulated sugar, hot water and a smidge of milk- bada bing, you're off to the races. I like it so much better now because I can control the sweetness and I do actually enjoy the some of the bitterness of the raw cocoa.
Last weekend my mum bought soy milk to use in the Thanksgiving meal (and also to have for me while I stayed over that weekend). On Monday evening when I was leaving she asked if I wanted to take the remainder (about half a medium-sized carton) with me. Normally I'd say no because the effort required to not spill soymilk while riding two trains and a bus is not quite worth $4 of liquid. However! I had JUST run out of smilk when I left home on Saturday and was actually lamenting that I'd need to fork over the cash to replenish. I liked the timing. I liked that this cost could be delayed for what is now seven days.

And now I'm drinking the combination of all three of these memories/experiences. It's wonderful. It makes me so happy. Something someone else didn't want, I received for free and place a high(er) value on it. It's a great system.

Also quiet poverty: using 8000 Shoppers Optimum points to get for free a few groceries and the hair mousse that no one would be my friend if I didn't have. It's like someone just GAVE me ten dollars for good things.

I don't mean to put myself under the label of "poverty" and pretend I live in India, homeless and without clean water. I don't mean that. I just mean I often delight in what can be found when we do without or make different choices. I guess it's...the adage: Necessity is the mother of invention. Something like that. It's cool.
That's all, really.