Expense Report #20

So yeah, I bought that red shirt. What else did I get last week? A new dog bed, but that's more "household" than "discretionary." The dog may enjoy spending all day lounging on the couch, but she doesn't like sharing it. When we're home, if the Mrs. is sitting on the couch, the dog won't get up there with her; she prefers her usual spot on the floor, between the TV and my chair, so she still needs a bed.

If you're a dog owner, you may want to check out the one we got: it's from Costco, measures 42" across, and has a bolster around half of it. Our dog weighs about 60 pounds, but when she gets on the bed she often curls herself up in a circle, so it's plenty big enough for her. It's filled with squishy polyfill and cedar shavings, so it makes the room (and the dog) smell nice, has inner liners, and you can remove the cover to wash it. It was $40 including shipping from the Costco web site (if you aren't a member there is a surcharge, not sure how much). Commenters seem satisfied; one says they've had one of these for three years.

I ordered a T-shirt from Arcade Fire's online store. The shirt design is one they were selling at their concert a couple of weeks back, but they only had it on a pale green shirt, and that's something I know I wouldn't ever wear. The online store has the same design on a white or heather gray shirt (or a darker gray, but that one ships from the UK for some reason, so shipping costs about twice as much), so I ordered a heather gray one. Shipping from Montreal is about US $6, so the total cost is basically the same as if I'd bought it at the show.

Also, I've finally found a (partial) resolution to the Great Undershirt Crisis of '09-10. Costco sells light gray undershirts, in acceptable 90% cotton//10% polyester, in packages of four for $13. (I think their white T-shirts are the same price, but I can't remember.) They're cut fairly long, so they should stay tucked in reasonably well, the fabric is neither too thin nor too heavy, and the neck is high enough and doesn't droop. The only negative thing is that the sleeves are still cut too long to wear under some of my short-sleeve shirts, but I have other shirts I can wear for that. These are much needed, and I'm sure I'll be buying more of them.

(I've been doing some research and found gray undershirts available in a few other places, so I'm planning a post to update my findings.)