I’m reading Letters from the Dust Bowl by Caroline Henderson.  It’s a compilation of letters and articles written by Caroline Henderson during the dust bowl years.  She and her husband worked a homestead in Oklahoma. In addition to putting in long days and being as self=sufficient as possible, Caroline and her husband enjoyed reading.  Finding the money to pay for books was a problem though.  As she writes to a friend,

Mr. H. suggested going without supper Saturday and Sunday evenings. . . I thought his suggestion excellent until I reflected that judging from the ordinary state of our appetites, the Sunday and Monday breakfast would probably leave a very small cash balance to be turned over to the book fund.

They were actually considering not eating so that they could buy books?  Wow!  Compare that with my big problem,  Starbuck’s keeps ringing my Peppermint Mochas as Peppermint Twists, costing me an extra thirty cents. There’s nothing like reading nonfiction to put things in perspective.