Speaking of which,

I did win something a few weeks ago!

The Piglet-- what we call the little Piggly Wiggly Super Market in our little town-- has a weekly raffle premium distribution.

Non-winning tickets

Every time you make a purchase at The Piglet, you get a ticket(s). The number of tickets you get per purchase correlates roughly with 1) purchase amount (positive correlation); 2) cashier (D.C. is very generous); 3) amount of chit-chat between you and cashier (positive correlation; we enjoy chatting with D.C.). The drawing is held every Monday morning. Once, I was asked to pull out the winning ticket!

The prize is a gift certificate. Prize amount begins at $50 and, if no one claims to win, increases by $50 each week.

I won $50! There have been a couple of $300 winners!

Odds are I'll win again assuming I don't get hit by a bus any time soon (there are none in my little county) or fall into the Mississippi River when we head to NOLA in a few days.

I've been pondering for weeks what to splurge on. I've come to think corn products with long shelf-lives might be the way to go. Corn meal (freeze it). Frozen corn (I've a good crop but not enough to last all winter). Corn starch (freeze it). Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix (TM). Canned corn. Hominy... .

Any other suggestions?