Thankful Sunday--January 20, 2013

Annie is thankful for this sunbeam and so am I.

After many cold and rainy days, the sun is out again--a very welcome sight.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Jan. 18, 2013

 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 was disappointed when I pulled out this piece of cheese and found mold on it. It was going to grace my tuna sandwich. Oh, well. I did manage to eat the last slice from another package before it went bad, though.
Otherwise, I think we're okay in the waste department.
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This Week's True Food Confessions

We did pretty well this week considering we're still trying to gain our footing after several weeks of holidays followed by illness and traveling. In fact, mentally, it still feels like we're in quicksand. Given that, I'm kind of proud that we managed to do some cooking this week. We had easy, but delicious tuna sandwiches one night and another night we had cabbage soup using ingredients from the fridge. We also had a vegetable quiche using the unlikely combination of spinach and peas. However, it turned out pretty good. The different part of this dish was that I made a healthy, homemade pie crust. This was mostly because we haven't made it to the grocery store since we got back and I didn't have a chance to buy the oh so tasty, but bad for you crust.

Now, it may seem interesting that we haven't made it to the grocery store, but Ward did make it to his favorite Chinese restaurant for pick-up and Theo ordered burritos from Chipotle. I have to admit that I enjoyed their take out just as much as they did.

I'm hoping once again for a calm week next week and homemade, routine food.

A Second Look--January 16, 2013

While we were gone last week, we had some unseasonably warm weather with temperatures in the 60s. This fooled some of the plants into sprouting like it was spring. However, the weather has turned cold again and snow is predicted for tonight. Brrrr.

Here's what I found this week during a Second Look.

Daffodils

Crocus, I think that's a flower in the middle of the leaves beginning emerge.

Dried sedum

Crossing juniper trunks

Bone, My wild guess is that it is part of fox's pelvis.

Fungus

Ivy

I put orange slices out for the birds about a week ago, but Mr. Squirrel decided that it would be much easier to eat them from the ground.

Maple tree buds. (That was really the color of the sky. It was raining.)

Today...

Today, I'm going to be like this pancake maker and focus on only one thing at a time and see it through to completion.

This pancake maker was part of the breakfast set up at the hotel we stayed in recently. I was totally fascinated by it and we had a few more pancakes than we really needed just so I could watch it work.

Home again

This past week, Ward and I spent most of our time worrying, waiting, and comforting while we were spending time with my mother, who was in the hospital. Things were not simple. Because of complications, she was in three different hospitals and ended up in a hospital 150 miles from where she started. I felt like we were playing chase with her as we followed her on her circuitous route to different hospitals. However, now she is back in her hometown hospital and stable, and we're back at home. Things are looking up.
 

Lucy couldn't wait for me to empty my suitcase when we got home.