So... after registering for wedding gifts, two bridal showers, a wedding and so much generosity from our family and friends, we recently determined that we don't have a gravy boat.

Exhibit A:



Need a close-up?



That, my friends, is a homemade pot roast with carrots, onions, potatoes, all the fixins, so to speak. I even lit candles! I was attempting to get my homemaker badge for the day! But there was no gravy boat. Homemade gravy, yes. Boat, no. So I improvised. And we were accurately able to measure how much gravy we had poured. :-P

At Macy's the other day there were these lovely gravy boats on the clearance rack:



Lovely, no? However, please note that I said gravy boatS. Plural. These boats come in a set (fleet? flotilla?) of two. Who needs two gravy boats?! 99.99% of the time, I don't need ONE gravy boat!

I couldn't fathom buying (and storing for all but one day a year) two gravy boats. However, I did find this set on the same clearance rack:



Please refer to the cute lil cream pitcher and sugar bowl hiding in the back of that grouping. This was the set I found. I thought "Hey, that could be a gravy boat the 0.01% of the time I need one and a creamer pitcher the rest of the time!" (And who doesn't need a sugar bowl?) I grabbed that set and ran it over to the price check scanner thing to see how much it was. $15.20?! Not such a terrible price, but this is the clearance rack and the tag on the box only says $14.99! (But this is Macy's and you know how they like to change their prices on a weekly basis...). I took my box, marched up to the lady at the counter and demanded she check the price (noting the discrepancy... and probably politely asking, not demanding). "Why, look at that!", she said. "Well, I'll just give you 40% and an additional 50% for being on the clearance. That'll be $4.88".

Needless to say, I bought the set. And next time I make gravy, I'll be ready. I still don't have a gravy boat, but I've got a solution that works for me!