Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

There are no words to express the shock and sorrow I feel about the tragedy in Connecticut. My thoughts and prayers go out to all involved. In the meantime, I will march forward, the only way I know how. Writing about simple every day things.

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Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

or How to Make an Easy and Silly Christmas Ornament

When Wally and Theo were little, they made these Rudolph ornaments at a friend's house. We still have several of them many years later. They were easy to make and had just the right difficulty level for two little boys who would rather be running than sitting still for very long to make anything.

They started with a wrapped candy cane and glued two googly eyes and a red pompon on the end of it. They then wrapped a pipe cleaner around the top and twisted it for antlers. Voila! A Rudolph ready to hang on the tree.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Dec. 14, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions.

This Week's Food Waste

I meant to get to the rest of this cheese in a timely fashion, I really did. However, when I got it out to put in the lasagne I was making, it had blue mold in it (and not the good blue cheese kind of mold.) Darn. It had to go.
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This Week's True Food Confessions

We had homemade bread and salad most of the week. To go with this was lasagne, vegetable soup, and tuna mac. Perhaps the highlight though was the seven-layer dip that Wally took to a party. Luckily he brought half of it home and we had it for dinner the next day. Depending on your layers, it can actually be pretty healthy and filling.

 
We had a good week and cooked at home most of the time. It was a struggle a couple of nights, but I was able to overcome being tired and distracted to actually fix pretty good meals. 

Okay, if we're really going to have True Food Confessions, Ward is picking up Chinese as I'm typing this and it's going to taste really good.

Walmart

During this season of shopping, I thought I would address something that has been on my mind for a while—Walmart. Walmart is popular to dislike these days for various reasons. A common complaint is that they come into areas and put small businesses out of business. Also there are cries that they don't treat their workers fairly. I think that some of the Walmart bashing comes from the fact that there may be some truth to the common complaints, but I think most of it comes from the fact that the bigger something is, the easier it is to attack.

I don't know about the every Walmart situation, but I can speak about Walmart in the small town that I grew up in and where my parents still live. First let me describe the area. The town is in a rural setting and has a population of a couple of thousand. It is surrounded by farmland and smaller towns. The next town of any size is about an hour and a half away. The unemployment rate is in the double digits.

When Walmart built a store there twelve years ago, it was a godsend. First there were new chances for employment in a place that desperately needed it. And these just weren't jobs, these were good jobs that actually had the possibility of benefits. Next there were new opportunities for shopping that the townspeople didn't have before. Shopping, that previously they had to travel far to do, was now convenient. This was especially important as the price of gas rose. It was also important for people like my parents who don't drive long distances any more.

And did all of the local businesses go out of business when Walmart moved in? No. The local businesses adapted and provided services that Walmart didn't offer. One of the drug stores now has a delivery service. One of the grocery stores is known for having the best meat in town. And sometimes, people just don't want to deal with the size of the Walmart store, and shop in the smaller local stores. But all of these people are very happy to have Walmart available at other times. They appreciate the low prices Walmart can offer because, as you can imagine in this depressed area, there's not much money to go around.

And what's the Walmart shopping experience like in this grateful small town? Wonderful. You can really tell that people like their jobs and are there to help. The staff is friendly, helpful, and pleasant. When I shop there, I sometimes feel as if I'm stepping into a Walmart that I see in commercials. The customers are also friendly and seem happy to be there. And no, I'm not exaggerating.

If Walmart is so wonderful here, why is it not considered wonderful everywhere? My opinion is that in some places it is an extra option and some places it is not. When you live in a place where you have multiple choices of where to shop, or when you have enough income that you can chose to buy something that costs more because it fits better with your life philosophies, you don't need Walmart. But when you don't have those options of convenience and/or a good income, Walmart is truly a godsend.

A Second Look--December 12, 2012

The weather has been cold recently, enough so, that I came in with rosy checks after doing my Second Look. Despite the cold weather, I found a few flowers that were providing color to an otherwise drab landscape and several birds visiting our feeder.

It seems as if you can find the ever-faithful dandelion blooming any time of the year.

You can see all of the way through this knot hole.

These downy(left) and hairy(right) woodpeckers visited the feeder at the same time. Pretty exciting.

There are two squirrel's nests in this tree.

They look more scraggly each week, but these mums are hanging on.

This picture was taken from Wally's and Theo's tree house. It doesn't get much use these days.

Some birds like to eat these nandina berries.

The view of our house from the back of the yard.

I've got nothing

or I'm tired of wrapping presents

I didn't do a post yesterday, so I thought I would take a break from wrapping gifts and prepare one for today. But I've got nothing. Not a thing to write about. Some might call it writers block, but I call it, I've got nothing.

First I was going to write about Wally and Theodore and what they remember about Santa Claus when they were young. Upon investigation, Wally told me that he doesn't really remember much and Theo told me he wasn't in a contemplative mood. Next I thought that I would do a recipe and feature the vegetable soup I made this morning that turned out quite good. But I have no idea exactly what I put in it or the amounts. That idea wasn't going to work. I also thought about doing a post about how Annie runs away from Wally even though he's not giving her medicine any more. But all I could think of to say was Annie runs away from Wally these days for no good reason.

So there you've got it. I've got nothing to say except, "May your days be merry and bright and may all of your Christmases be white.” 

But wait, there's more (which is hard to do when you've written about nothing.):

--Ack! Every time I try to get rid of the lines at the bottom of the post, another one appears. They're multiplying!

--I think this may be the ultimate example of me avoiding chores by working on my blog.

--“Merry and bright ….” comes from a movie they play a lot this time of year, White Christmas. I'm going to go see if I can find it on TV somewhere as it is a favorite of mine. Another great way to avoid the work at hand. 

Do you have a favorite Christmas movie?