Right now I am slouched in a chair with a cat on my chest, while Alex showers and the dulcet tones of Bach's Toccata and Fugue ring through the house. I remarked to Alex today that I haven't posted a blog in weeks. Possibly even months now. He said it was because I didn't have anything to say. I disagreed. I have plenty to say, I just don't know how to say it anymore.
I've had a nice week of vacation and I still get Monday off before having to head back to work at the bank. We lost two more people, and then my boss underwent a surgery, so I had a period of 2 weeks where I earned plenty of overtime. I am grateful. I really am. I just have an odd way of showing it. I love the people who come it. I have trouble with the people who work there.
The garden is completely dead now, and I haven't had a single day where I have been able to go out and clean it up. This bothers me. On the days where I have time to do it, it's either raining cats and dogs, or it's freezing cold. We had our first snow on Thursday. I finally dug out all the remaining potatoes and they were an absolute success this year. I will most definitely continue to plant that same variety in the coming years. I retrieved about 6 dozen potatoes over the course of the summer and autumn, from 7 plants. And they made the most wonderful soup I have ever produced in my kitchen.
The Etsy store has enjoyed a nice holiday rush and I've introduced several new designs to the shop in the last few weeks. I even managed to get a box of business cards printed! Definitely keep checking the Facebook fan page for promotions, coupon codes and free shipping specials.
While antique hunting in New Buffalo, MI this week, my husband and I stumbled upon an old buffet and china cabinet set. How fortunate for us that the seller had her entire booth 50% off and was taking offers! We ended up paying a total of $106 for this new piece of furniture, which will be residing in my kitchen by Tuesday of next week. I won't call it beautiful just yet. At the moment, it's quite hideous. It was filthy, covered it grime, spilled God-knows-what dripping down it's cabinet doors, painted a lovely shade of baby pink with ancient country floral wallpaper pasted into the china cabinet, but by Golly, if nothing else, I have an eye for the POTENTIAL! I see a gorgeous piece of furniture for my kitchen as soon as I slap some new paint onto it! I spent the better part of this evening washing and scrubbing, dismantling and sanding. Now my fingers are torn apart from sanding grit, my lungs are full of paint particles and I am exhausted. I can't wait to get that baby into my kitchen and start filling her up with my things.
I spent 5 hours on Thursday turning roma tomatoes into sauce. It was rather disappointing work. I only managed to get 3 pints out of all that time! Talk about irritating! I made some beef jerky as well, and as I happen to have some frozen salmon in the freezer, I am giving some serious thought to trying fish jerky. Honestly, it sounds pretty disgusting and God knows what the kitchen will smell like afterwards, but I have heard my hunter friends say that it makes a great snack and has essential nutrients.
I have been recently addicted to The Walking Dead on AMC. It's messing with my brain a little bit though. Now, instead of simply preparing for the economic meltdown, I am also preparing for the zombie apocolypse. I'm not entirely sure that they are two different things. What I do know is that I really need to add more canned goods to the pantry and make even more serious efforts in next summers garden. My 40 tomatoe plants did not produce nearly as well as I had anticipated and I got a single serving of green beans from 6 plants. Not exactly thrilling I must admit, although my potatoes and corn were magnificent and I did get a nice crop of cucumbers. I plan to make much better use of trellises next year as well.
So there's the recent news. I will be posting pictures again fairly soon, as soon as the hard work for the new furniture is complete. I am giving serious consideration to returning to school. Not college though. I have decided college was utterly useless. I am considering trade school. Whether I take technical drafting again, start some agricultural studies, or learn carpentry, I see honing my skills and passions in the near future.
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label economy. Show all posts
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
We Have Food!
"WE HAVE FOOD!"
That's what I hope to say when our economy goes belly-up, the America dollar plunges to worthless and no one can afford food anymore. Or maybe I was listening to a doomsday prophet again. I shouldn't do that.
Anyway, I've been working pretty hard on the pantry and emergency food storage. I'm kinda proud! I think right now, we could probably live for a week on what's in our pantry. It will be better after this growing season. Now what we really, really need is a chest freezer. Everyone in my family had one. It's a critical piece of food storage equipment and we really need to make the investment.
I cored and sliced 8 flippin' quarts of strawberries! Good Lord, when that was over, my hands were frozen, numb and stained red, but I have 2 big bags in the freezer and one in the fridge. (One that is now half empty because I used half of it to bake a pie tonight.
I bought 3 pounds of rhubarb at the market last week, and also used about half of it to bake pie tonight. The other half I sliced up and stuck in the freezer. Vegetarian Times had a 5 recipes to try with rhubarb in the May/June issue. There has to be a use for it besides pie! Alex won't touch it of course, so it will be up to me to give the ol' college try.
Tonight I choked down a pork chop, again, and decided that I am probably heading back to my vegetarian diet. It's hard to eat in my house. Alex, my sweet hubs, is deathly allergic to poultry, so we never eat chicken or turkey. Unfortunately, he is also a picky eater, so he won't touch a veggie with a ten foot pole. (Pretty sure I've mentioned this predicament once or twice before.) But he will willingly eat carrots, when prepared right, corn, potatoes, bell peppers when served with stir fry, and celery (but only raw with peanut butter). He has occasionally been willing to try other things, but by and large, he turns up his nose and frowns at my kitchen adventures when asked to taste-test. I'm not really sure if I am craving my vegetarian ways again because the garden has been so mouth watering, or if I am truly tired of eating meat, but either way, I'm collecting my vegger recipes together and getting ready to plunge into meatlessness soon.
A few updates from the garden:
The corn is almost waist high due to more excessive rainfall. (My waist, not a normal human's waist. So the corn is about 2 and a half feet tall.) I've only actually watered my garden once this year. The rest of the time, it has rained and then I have been sure to mulch with grass clippings to keep the moisture in.
I am going to go out and dig for a few new potatoes tomorrow. No, I really just cannot wait, its THAT urgent. :) I will leave the rest for a main crop, but I think since I have 7 plants and all will produce about 10 pounds of potatoes, we'll be okay this winter minus a few.
It's been chilly again all week. The summer solstice seemed to mock us here in Northern Indiana. My tomatoes, while flowering, have stalled in their growth again. I really need four or five good hot, humid days in a row to get the growth restarted and the fruiting process going.
Got the opportunity to hand-pollinate the zucchini this morning. Hooray for plant sex! (ROFLOL) 3 zucchini plants, all flowering, only one with actual fruit, but that fruit looks like they will be real winners.
I planted a new variety of cucumber a few days ago - a pickling gherkin. I have never liked dill pickles in my life, but strangely, I will eat sweet gherkins, so that's what I'm going to go with. I also planted some large-podded shelling peas, and I planted a LOT of them. I am really hoping for several pounds of shelled peas in the freezer for the winter.
The green beans are still small and weak. This is so strange to me because beans are supposed to be so simple to grow! I have successfully grown amazing things in this garden and the easiest veggie of all is giving me trouble?? Where is the justice?
The garden will eventually be completely overtaken with several kinds of squash vines. Yes, I am aware that I 'could' go and pull them out and I will do so eventually. But right now seeing the gorgeous green leaves makes me smile. I simply cannot bring myself to pulling them out. I purposely planted the zucchini and the pattypan squash. But the pumpkins and the gourds were not intentional and they are getting quite out of hand.
I am experimenting with a type of melon. I planted the seeds - quite late I might add - and I am more or less hoping for the best. If our growing season extends into October, as it sometimes does, I will probably have a few melons. But I am not wagering any money on having prize winning melons this summer. But wait until next year....
I will have a handful of ripe red raspberries in about a week.
My sunflowers are being devoured by earwigs. Time to break out the diazanon - which is a repulsive, but effective way to get rid of them.
I pulled a carrot out of the dirt two days ago. It was still a little short, but a perfect shade of orange and quite sweet, with just the right amount of bite.
That's what I hope to say when our economy goes belly-up, the America dollar plunges to worthless and no one can afford food anymore. Or maybe I was listening to a doomsday prophet again. I shouldn't do that.
Anyway, I've been working pretty hard on the pantry and emergency food storage. I'm kinda proud! I think right now, we could probably live for a week on what's in our pantry. It will be better after this growing season. Now what we really, really need is a chest freezer. Everyone in my family had one. It's a critical piece of food storage equipment and we really need to make the investment.
I cored and sliced 8 flippin' quarts of strawberries! Good Lord, when that was over, my hands were frozen, numb and stained red, but I have 2 big bags in the freezer and one in the fridge. (One that is now half empty because I used half of it to bake a pie tonight.
I bought 3 pounds of rhubarb at the market last week, and also used about half of it to bake pie tonight. The other half I sliced up and stuck in the freezer. Vegetarian Times had a 5 recipes to try with rhubarb in the May/June issue. There has to be a use for it besides pie! Alex won't touch it of course, so it will be up to me to give the ol' college try.
Tonight I choked down a pork chop, again, and decided that I am probably heading back to my vegetarian diet. It's hard to eat in my house. Alex, my sweet hubs, is deathly allergic to poultry, so we never eat chicken or turkey. Unfortunately, he is also a picky eater, so he won't touch a veggie with a ten foot pole. (Pretty sure I've mentioned this predicament once or twice before.) But he will willingly eat carrots, when prepared right, corn, potatoes, bell peppers when served with stir fry, and celery (but only raw with peanut butter). He has occasionally been willing to try other things, but by and large, he turns up his nose and frowns at my kitchen adventures when asked to taste-test. I'm not really sure if I am craving my vegetarian ways again because the garden has been so mouth watering, or if I am truly tired of eating meat, but either way, I'm collecting my vegger recipes together and getting ready to plunge into meatlessness soon.
A few updates from the garden:
The corn is almost waist high due to more excessive rainfall. (My waist, not a normal human's waist. So the corn is about 2 and a half feet tall.) I've only actually watered my garden once this year. The rest of the time, it has rained and then I have been sure to mulch with grass clippings to keep the moisture in.
I am going to go out and dig for a few new potatoes tomorrow. No, I really just cannot wait, its THAT urgent. :) I will leave the rest for a main crop, but I think since I have 7 plants and all will produce about 10 pounds of potatoes, we'll be okay this winter minus a few.
It's been chilly again all week. The summer solstice seemed to mock us here in Northern Indiana. My tomatoes, while flowering, have stalled in their growth again. I really need four or five good hot, humid days in a row to get the growth restarted and the fruiting process going.
Got the opportunity to hand-pollinate the zucchini this morning. Hooray for plant sex! (ROFLOL) 3 zucchini plants, all flowering, only one with actual fruit, but that fruit looks like they will be real winners.
I planted a new variety of cucumber a few days ago - a pickling gherkin. I have never liked dill pickles in my life, but strangely, I will eat sweet gherkins, so that's what I'm going to go with. I also planted some large-podded shelling peas, and I planted a LOT of them. I am really hoping for several pounds of shelled peas in the freezer for the winter.
The green beans are still small and weak. This is so strange to me because beans are supposed to be so simple to grow! I have successfully grown amazing things in this garden and the easiest veggie of all is giving me trouble?? Where is the justice?
The garden will eventually be completely overtaken with several kinds of squash vines. Yes, I am aware that I 'could' go and pull them out and I will do so eventually. But right now seeing the gorgeous green leaves makes me smile. I simply cannot bring myself to pulling them out. I purposely planted the zucchini and the pattypan squash. But the pumpkins and the gourds were not intentional and they are getting quite out of hand.
I am experimenting with a type of melon. I planted the seeds - quite late I might add - and I am more or less hoping for the best. If our growing season extends into October, as it sometimes does, I will probably have a few melons. But I am not wagering any money on having prize winning melons this summer. But wait until next year....
I will have a handful of ripe red raspberries in about a week.
My sunflowers are being devoured by earwigs. Time to break out the diazanon - which is a repulsive, but effective way to get rid of them.
I pulled a carrot out of the dirt two days ago. It was still a little short, but a perfect shade of orange and quite sweet, with just the right amount of bite.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
No longer completely useless...
I DID IT!
I landed the job! I am now employed again and I am praying that this time I can handle this job.
I'm going to be a bank teller for our local 5/3 Bank branch. Part time, and it looks very promising that this one is going to work out well. And this time, I actually have an offer letter, and I have accepted it. It happened very fast - first contact call on Monday, hired by Friday. All pending on a background check, but seriously, I have nothing in my background. My background is as boring as a tree stump.
I am excited to begin, and I am even more anxious to remind myself that I am not useless. I allowed a lot of people to make me believe I was a failure - no one that I love of course - but people that I had to come in contact with. I do not have thick skin, and honestly, I don't want to ever bother growing thick skin. I believe my feelings are essential to who I am - I feel deeply and personally. Now that does create some drama, but it also helps me empathize.
I am not longer a failure! Woo hoo!
Of course, the piano lessons and the Etsy shop will continue. I will probably just do fewer promotions with the Etsy shop and I am not likely to take on too many new students. Wedding season is around the corner, so I am filling up the Saturdays!
If we can get the debts paid down, we might go on vacation this year. :)
I landed the job! I am now employed again and I am praying that this time I can handle this job.
I'm going to be a bank teller for our local 5/3 Bank branch. Part time, and it looks very promising that this one is going to work out well. And this time, I actually have an offer letter, and I have accepted it. It happened very fast - first contact call on Monday, hired by Friday. All pending on a background check, but seriously, I have nothing in my background. My background is as boring as a tree stump.
I am excited to begin, and I am even more anxious to remind myself that I am not useless. I allowed a lot of people to make me believe I was a failure - no one that I love of course - but people that I had to come in contact with. I do not have thick skin, and honestly, I don't want to ever bother growing thick skin. I believe my feelings are essential to who I am - I feel deeply and personally. Now that does create some drama, but it also helps me empathize.
I am not longer a failure! Woo hoo!
Of course, the piano lessons and the Etsy shop will continue. I will probably just do fewer promotions with the Etsy shop and I am not likely to take on too many new students. Wedding season is around the corner, so I am filling up the Saturdays!
If we can get the debts paid down, we might go on vacation this year. :)
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Still Searching
I still do not have a job.
And my husband is getting very nervous and high-strung about it.
And that affects our marriage because when he gets high-strung, he tends to wave his arms, stutter, and grab my wrists. It's very off-putting and makes me shut down. Then we can't talk because he's freaking out and I am imploded. One of those little things that they warn you about when you get married that you don't believe.
We are not destitute. We do not have immediate needs. We have food every day, and even if we didn't, we could go to his family or mine for any meal.
But it's very depressing to not be wanted. To feel like you aren't qualified or deserving of a certain position because so many other people with the same qualifications want the same job.
Good news and a good job offer would be very welcome right now.
This economy is bad, but I don't think it's as dire as the media claims. Great ideas come from jobless people. They get creative. Very creative.
My motto until I have real work again is "Necessity is the mother of invention."
I wish the ground would thaw.
And my husband is getting very nervous and high-strung about it.
And that affects our marriage because when he gets high-strung, he tends to wave his arms, stutter, and grab my wrists. It's very off-putting and makes me shut down. Then we can't talk because he's freaking out and I am imploded. One of those little things that they warn you about when you get married that you don't believe.
We are not destitute. We do not have immediate needs. We have food every day, and even if we didn't, we could go to his family or mine for any meal.
But it's very depressing to not be wanted. To feel like you aren't qualified or deserving of a certain position because so many other people with the same qualifications want the same job.
Good news and a good job offer would be very welcome right now.
This economy is bad, but I don't think it's as dire as the media claims. Great ideas come from jobless people. They get creative. Very creative.
My motto until I have real work again is "Necessity is the mother of invention."
I wish the ground would thaw.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Just Some Things
What a week. I hope I hear from my new job soon about when they are officially going to hire me and start their training courses. I had a call last week, to tell me that they don't know when it's going to start yet and am I still interested, but haven't heard from them since. Being at home all the time is kind of messing with my head.
I've been crocheting like a crazy person here lately! Seriously - a crazy person. Yep - part of being stuck in the house and not working. However, I am getting ready for a handmade/vintage bazaar that will be held on April 10 in S.B., so it's not necessarily bad that I am being a bit crazy about it. I am also in communication with a fellow blogger who does promos and giveaways for handmade goods and shops to be a featured seller in the next few months. Giveaways always attract potential customers.
I have been working out some new baby shoe designs, beyond my tiny Chucks, with some success. Alex's big contribution to the effort has been to suggest that I attempt the classic Vans skater shoes in mini crochet scale. Not a bad idea really. I've also been working on tiny Mary Janes with flowers on the toes. I hope to have them available soon, but with my freehand designing, it's always a process of trial and error.
So back to the studio I go to run yarn through my fingers until they are dry and stiff with hopes of completing a finished product or two today. If you ever loved me, share my Etsy.com shop with your friends. :)
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Rare Negative
It is a rare occurance that I give anything a bad review. I am certainly a glass-half-full person, and when I have bad experiences I tend to just go about my business. The world can do with a few less opinions is my stance.
However, I do feel like it is necessary to put this out into the ether. We will not be frequenting any movie theatres owned by AMC ever again. Not because of a particularly bad experience, but because our Showplace 16 theatre, formerly owned by Kerasotes, was recently bought out by AMC and their prices shot skyward. We simply cannot afford to see movies at that theatre anymore.
We first noticed it when we paid $16 for 2 regular tickets last night to see 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader'. It came as quite a shock because we normally pay $14.50. So the ticket prices had gone up. But that was nothing compared to the snack bar.
Alex and I have a system when it comes to our movies. We always go on Sunday night - fewer people. We always go early - never later than 8 pm. We are part of working America and we get up to go to our jobs in the morning. And we usually get 2 drinks and popcorn to share because we could get that particular combo for $11.50. Not anymore. AMC has their own 'combos' and they even gave them fun and exciting monikers so you're blinded to the absurd amount of money you're paying for them! (Please note there is a large amount of snark in that comment that can't be portrayed in font.) A large drink and bag of popcorn - the 'Producer's Pack' - is $12.75. For $15 you can get another large drink! A small soda is $5.50 and a small popcorn is $4.25. Candy is $5.
And there was a huge line at the snack bar.
Now, I know that this is where they make their money, but shouldn't there be a reasonable line? And they wonder why people sneak things in. I can buy 24 cans of soda for $5.50. I can pop two or three pounds of popcorn for $4.25. This is the Midwest - and Indiana to boot. Don't we have enough problems with our economy?
I'd really LOVE to know who looks at a failing theatre, in a city that is plagued by homelessness and unemployment, and says, "Let's RAISE the prices so that it will become profitable again! After all, everyone LOVES movies and loves to go see movies!"
I might feel better about it if they had bothered to clean up the theatre when it was bought out. Sorry AMC, a 20 foot tall sign on the side of the building does not qualify as 'cleaning up'. Showplace 16 is still the ghetto dump that it has always been, right down to the peeling paint and the broken doors in the ladies rooms. If you're going to charge me more money, at least put some effort into it.
We do love to see movies. We are on a pretty strict budget. We don't get to go to the movies all that often. But we left a theatre last night that was a mediocre experience at best. The movie was wonderful, but tainted by the fact that we had put out $40 (a week's worth of groceries for us) to buy 2 tickets, a bag of popcorn and a drink. I can only imagine what it must be like for my friends who have children.
We will no longer be frequenting any AMC theatres. Fortunately there is a Cinemark theatre on the north side of town that still offers more reasonable prices for now. We can still get our adult tickets for $14 and our popcorn and soda for less than $10. And when the prices go up? Well.....going to the movies is a luxury we'll probably go without. After all, isn't that why Movies on Demand and Netflix exist?
However, I do feel like it is necessary to put this out into the ether. We will not be frequenting any movie theatres owned by AMC ever again. Not because of a particularly bad experience, but because our Showplace 16 theatre, formerly owned by Kerasotes, was recently bought out by AMC and their prices shot skyward. We simply cannot afford to see movies at that theatre anymore.
We first noticed it when we paid $16 for 2 regular tickets last night to see 'Voyage of the Dawn Treader'. It came as quite a shock because we normally pay $14.50. So the ticket prices had gone up. But that was nothing compared to the snack bar.
Alex and I have a system when it comes to our movies. We always go on Sunday night - fewer people. We always go early - never later than 8 pm. We are part of working America and we get up to go to our jobs in the morning. And we usually get 2 drinks and popcorn to share because we could get that particular combo for $11.50. Not anymore. AMC has their own 'combos' and they even gave them fun and exciting monikers so you're blinded to the absurd amount of money you're paying for them! (Please note there is a large amount of snark in that comment that can't be portrayed in font.) A large drink and bag of popcorn - the 'Producer's Pack' - is $12.75. For $15 you can get another large drink! A small soda is $5.50 and a small popcorn is $4.25. Candy is $5.
And there was a huge line at the snack bar.
Now, I know that this is where they make their money, but shouldn't there be a reasonable line? And they wonder why people sneak things in. I can buy 24 cans of soda for $5.50. I can pop two or three pounds of popcorn for $4.25. This is the Midwest - and Indiana to boot. Don't we have enough problems with our economy?
I'd really LOVE to know who looks at a failing theatre, in a city that is plagued by homelessness and unemployment, and says, "Let's RAISE the prices so that it will become profitable again! After all, everyone LOVES movies and loves to go see movies!"
I might feel better about it if they had bothered to clean up the theatre when it was bought out. Sorry AMC, a 20 foot tall sign on the side of the building does not qualify as 'cleaning up'. Showplace 16 is still the ghetto dump that it has always been, right down to the peeling paint and the broken doors in the ladies rooms. If you're going to charge me more money, at least put some effort into it.
We do love to see movies. We are on a pretty strict budget. We don't get to go to the movies all that often. But we left a theatre last night that was a mediocre experience at best. The movie was wonderful, but tainted by the fact that we had put out $40 (a week's worth of groceries for us) to buy 2 tickets, a bag of popcorn and a drink. I can only imagine what it must be like for my friends who have children.
We will no longer be frequenting any AMC theatres. Fortunately there is a Cinemark theatre on the north side of town that still offers more reasonable prices for now. We can still get our adult tickets for $14 and our popcorn and soda for less than $10. And when the prices go up? Well.....going to the movies is a luxury we'll probably go without. After all, isn't that why Movies on Demand and Netflix exist?
Thursday, December 9, 2010
The New American Dream
It's December!
My gardening books and journals are being opened and studied for the coming year. By February there will be cabbage and broccoli seedlings in the greenhouse to put out in the garden as soon as the ground thaws enough. I've been researching tomatoes and peppers, because 2011 is going to be my magic year!
2010's garden was good. I grew a lot of new things that I was really very pleased with. I grew some new herbs that made it all the way through November. I grew cayenne peppers and lots of squash - that I didn't get much fruit from, BUT I learned a lot about how to grow and care for different varieties of squash. And I had 4 large pumpkins! I am definitely making the list of things to try in the coming year.
I am researching a gardening method called Grow Biointensive, also known as "Mini-farming". Since I live in the city on a 40 foot lot that both of my next door neighbors have encroached on from both sides (making my lot more like 36 feet) I don't have a lot of room. And our house faces the west, so we really don't have a lot of sun, except on the side that faces the south. I am going to try to remedy that this year. I do, fortunately, have two long strips of dirt, about 3 feet wide and 25 feet long that are a good size for the intensive gardening method. One of those strips is full of white quartz landscaping rocks - which are hideous! - but I am planning on moving those rocks to the north side of the garage, when there is no sun.
I have been hearing the whispers of the "Old Way" for about a year. Every Autumn I feel this little voice inside of me begin to nudge "Provide....hold back.....preserve....provide! Winter is coming!" Sometimes I wonder if there are mutant squirrels sending ESP messages to my brain, but then again, there IS a little farmgirl deep down inside of me. Grandpa and Grandma taught me the importance of food preservation. Yes, on occasion, I do turn on the political talk shows, and I was shocked to hear 3 out of 5 political pundits talking about the costs of food rising and how we should be teaching ourselves food storage and preservation because a time may be coming that food in the grocery store isn't affordable. And that is just good advice in general! Everyone should keep at least an extra week's food in storage, but I have challenged myself to find a way to store 6 months worth of food for us.
Hooray for the Midwest!! Do you know how much I love living in the Midwest? I can ride my bike to a Farmer's Market. I can drive 15 minutes in any direction and find a berry farm. There are 4 apple orchards within a 45 minute drive from our house. And I have learned the locations of 3 small local butchers. Put that in your pipe and smoke it all you Big City Folks. When you can't afford your food, we 'yokels' in the farmlands will be just fine.
Okay, sorry, that might have been uncalled for. My best friend is visiting from Los Angeles, and when the two of us get on a rant about the spoiled lives of those on the West Coast, the feelings sometimes last for days afterwards. Either way, we still get a chuckle out of mocking the 'big city folks'. :)
Anyway, this week we're going to make and can pasta sauce and applesauce. Alex told me last week that he's tired of canned Italian. Particularly, one night I had boiled the spaghetti noodles and unceremoniously dumped half a jar of store brand marinara over them and stirred. His actual words were "That's not made with Love". This seems to be a new kick my husband is on. He can apparently tell when the food I make doesn't have my Love in it. And of course, being the picky little turd that he is, he doesn't like it, eats half of it and the pushes it back across the table at me. So I am on a quest to create my own recipe of pasta sauce that has the special, and obviously necessary, ingredient of Love in it, that Alex will eat.
I gave our household an ultimatum this year - reduce the grocery costs to $50 per week. I am proud to say that we have done it! For my 2011 New Year's resolution, I would like to reduce it even more! I would really like to get it down to $35 per week and stop buying store bought canned goods altogether and try to stick to fresh produce and ingredients entirely.
To the kitchen! It's time to bake Christmas cookies!
My gardening books and journals are being opened and studied for the coming year. By February there will be cabbage and broccoli seedlings in the greenhouse to put out in the garden as soon as the ground thaws enough. I've been researching tomatoes and peppers, because 2011 is going to be my magic year!
2010's garden was good. I grew a lot of new things that I was really very pleased with. I grew some new herbs that made it all the way through November. I grew cayenne peppers and lots of squash - that I didn't get much fruit from, BUT I learned a lot about how to grow and care for different varieties of squash. And I had 4 large pumpkins! I am definitely making the list of things to try in the coming year.
I am researching a gardening method called Grow Biointensive, also known as "Mini-farming". Since I live in the city on a 40 foot lot that both of my next door neighbors have encroached on from both sides (making my lot more like 36 feet) I don't have a lot of room. And our house faces the west, so we really don't have a lot of sun, except on the side that faces the south. I am going to try to remedy that this year. I do, fortunately, have two long strips of dirt, about 3 feet wide and 25 feet long that are a good size for the intensive gardening method. One of those strips is full of white quartz landscaping rocks - which are hideous! - but I am planning on moving those rocks to the north side of the garage, when there is no sun.
I have been hearing the whispers of the "Old Way" for about a year. Every Autumn I feel this little voice inside of me begin to nudge "Provide....hold back.....preserve....provide! Winter is coming!" Sometimes I wonder if there are mutant squirrels sending ESP messages to my brain, but then again, there IS a little farmgirl deep down inside of me. Grandpa and Grandma taught me the importance of food preservation. Yes, on occasion, I do turn on the political talk shows, and I was shocked to hear 3 out of 5 political pundits talking about the costs of food rising and how we should be teaching ourselves food storage and preservation because a time may be coming that food in the grocery store isn't affordable. And that is just good advice in general! Everyone should keep at least an extra week's food in storage, but I have challenged myself to find a way to store 6 months worth of food for us.
Hooray for the Midwest!! Do you know how much I love living in the Midwest? I can ride my bike to a Farmer's Market. I can drive 15 minutes in any direction and find a berry farm. There are 4 apple orchards within a 45 minute drive from our house. And I have learned the locations of 3 small local butchers. Put that in your pipe and smoke it all you Big City Folks. When you can't afford your food, we 'yokels' in the farmlands will be just fine.
Okay, sorry, that might have been uncalled for. My best friend is visiting from Los Angeles, and when the two of us get on a rant about the spoiled lives of those on the West Coast, the feelings sometimes last for days afterwards. Either way, we still get a chuckle out of mocking the 'big city folks'. :)
Anyway, this week we're going to make and can pasta sauce and applesauce. Alex told me last week that he's tired of canned Italian. Particularly, one night I had boiled the spaghetti noodles and unceremoniously dumped half a jar of store brand marinara over them and stirred. His actual words were "That's not made with Love". This seems to be a new kick my husband is on. He can apparently tell when the food I make doesn't have my Love in it. And of course, being the picky little turd that he is, he doesn't like it, eats half of it and the pushes it back across the table at me. So I am on a quest to create my own recipe of pasta sauce that has the special, and obviously necessary, ingredient of Love in it, that Alex will eat.
I gave our household an ultimatum this year - reduce the grocery costs to $50 per week. I am proud to say that we have done it! For my 2011 New Year's resolution, I would like to reduce it even more! I would really like to get it down to $35 per week and stop buying store bought canned goods altogether and try to stick to fresh produce and ingredients entirely.
To the kitchen! It's time to bake Christmas cookies!
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Economic Situation
Alex and I went shopping at the mall yesterday to get some Christmas present ideas out of the way. His mother sent us a text that said "Xmas Blacke gloaves. Isotnrs". So we ran it through the 'Crazy Mother Text to English' translator app and decided she must be telling us that she wants black Isotoner gloves for Christmas. That put us right in the middle of J C Penney's in December, which is generally something we try to avoid at all costs. But they sent us a coupon, and Alex needed another shirt for praise and worship team dress, so we took a deep breath and made the 45 minute drive to the mall. 45 minute drive. Did you know we actually only live 4.1 miles from the mall?
While shopping, we came across some rather hideous scarves and hats in the Junior accessories department. And I say hideous because I love handmade goods and we have lots of handmade scarves and hats and mittens, and when I see scarves and hats and mittens in a departments stores that look like they were handmade 10 years ago and then donated to the Hope Rescue Mission and then salvaged off of a homeless drunk, sent to a Chinese laundromat for dry cleaning and then wrapped around a hanger and marked with a $14.99 price tag. And I can't even upload A PICTURE of them for you to see because the pictures are protected by the Penney's website and I am computer illiterate. So go to the department store websites and type in 'mixed media scarves' and see what comes up and see if I'm lying! American Eagle and Aeropostale stores had similar pieces, and for about $29.99. The scarves and hats are UGLY. They are like the worst kind of handmade, and I saw teenagers wearing them. What have Chinese manufacturing deals done to our sense of aethetics?
I love handmade. I support handmade completely and utterly with all of my being.
I refuse to purchase something in a mall department store that looks like it was handmade. If it looks like my niece made it as her first crochet or knit project, I will not spend money on it.
Buy handmade. Support crafters who offer great products at fair prices. The economy WILL recover.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
No Regretsy
If you know me personally, you know that on and off, I have a little Etsy shop where I occasionally attempt to sell a few of my handmade odds and ends, and when Alex has had enough of my estate sale shopping and thrift store splurging, I also resell my vintage accessories and home decor.
http://www.lpeekdesigns.etsy.com/
Please visit. Mark me as a favorite. Recommend my stuff to others.
He's been on vacation this week and has thusly been forcing me to clean 'my room'. That's the spare room that functions as my sewing room, art studio and sometimes even my office. He has given strict instructions to me that I throw it away or give it away. That's how some friends got to go home with boxes full of scrapping supplies. That's also how I managed to sell 3 vintage purses on my Etsy shop in the last 24 hours. At $5 a piece, because they simply have to be out of the house. I believe I am getting the short end of the stick here.
So I have heard about 'Regretsy' before. Occasionally I also have moments when I am shopping on Etsy and I find a listing that makes me say WHAT THE F***? I say it just like that too - with the asterisks. Because I don't care for profanity. It makes my tender heart cry a little. Good Lord, I wish I had come up with this idea first! What a treasure trove of insanity! This stuff exists. And the people who make this stuff exist too and (gasp) might have reproduced already. God save us all.
Just go there.
I recommend the WTF Alchemy Request section. Mostly because the most devout of us will discover new people to pray for. Regretsy.com You won't regret it. You won't, I promise. I am a woman of her word.
And in other news:
I was rejected for two more jobs. But I put in two more applications. Where it will lead, I can only pray, but every morning I wake up thanking God that we're alive, healthy and our house payment was made for this month.
I've been more creative lately after going through a drastic and wicked dry spell. I'm pretty sure my insurance job had something to do with it.
I've been practicing my tattoo art. If there are any ladies out there who are uncomfortable with the gents stabbing them with needles and putting ink into their open wounds and would prefer the gentle touch of a 5 foot tall redhead, call me in about 3 months. By then I should be apprenticed with Ron, the Master.
Hey guess what? I'll be baking up the Christmas goodies all weekend! Can't wait to get started.
Hanukkah starts tomorrow! 8 craaaaazy nights!
I love the holidays.
http://www.lpeekdesigns.etsy.com/
Please visit. Mark me as a favorite. Recommend my stuff to others.
He's been on vacation this week and has thusly been forcing me to clean 'my room'. That's the spare room that functions as my sewing room, art studio and sometimes even my office. He has given strict instructions to me that I throw it away or give it away. That's how some friends got to go home with boxes full of scrapping supplies. That's also how I managed to sell 3 vintage purses on my Etsy shop in the last 24 hours. At $5 a piece, because they simply have to be out of the house. I believe I am getting the short end of the stick here.
So I have heard about 'Regretsy' before. Occasionally I also have moments when I am shopping on Etsy and I find a listing that makes me say WHAT THE F***? I say it just like that too - with the asterisks. Because I don't care for profanity. It makes my tender heart cry a little. Good Lord, I wish I had come up with this idea first! What a treasure trove of insanity! This stuff exists. And the people who make this stuff exist too and (gasp) might have reproduced already. God save us all.
Just go there.
I recommend the WTF Alchemy Request section. Mostly because the most devout of us will discover new people to pray for. Regretsy.com You won't regret it. You won't, I promise. I am a woman of her word.
And in other news:
I was rejected for two more jobs. But I put in two more applications. Where it will lead, I can only pray, but every morning I wake up thanking God that we're alive, healthy and our house payment was made for this month.
I've been more creative lately after going through a drastic and wicked dry spell. I'm pretty sure my insurance job had something to do with it.
I've been practicing my tattoo art. If there are any ladies out there who are uncomfortable with the gents stabbing them with needles and putting ink into their open wounds and would prefer the gentle touch of a 5 foot tall redhead, call me in about 3 months. By then I should be apprenticed with Ron, the Master.
Hey guess what? I'll be baking up the Christmas goodies all weekend! Can't wait to get started.
Hanukkah starts tomorrow! 8 craaaaazy nights!
I love the holidays.
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