Sunday, September 22, 2013

Thankful Sunday--Sept. 22, 2013

I am thankful for fresh mulch.


It is recommended that mulching be done in both spring and fall, and that's what we try to do. Our front bed got mulched last spring and this bed got mulched this fall. That's how we keep up with mulching two times a year. : )



Friday, September 20, 2013

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--Sept. 20, 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
 
STEAKS

Oh, no. The horrors. We accidentally left a box of five steaks in a grocery bag overnight.  The only saving grace was that we paid Aldi's prices for them and not regular grocery store prices. The ruined steaks made the two little tomatoes that also went bad not such a big deal.


This Week's True Food Confessions

Can you guess that I only managed to get pictures of one thing we ate this week?


The week went something like this.

Saturday: Pork roast, mashed potatoes, steamed cauliflower
Sunday : Spinach lasagna, watermelon
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Pizza
Wednesday: Subway
Thursday: Omelets and cantaloupe

When I list it out like that, the week was better than I thought. Most of the menu was motivated by things in the refrigerator or freezer that needed to be used up. Maybe soon, I will have a menu before the next week begins. Maybe.

Until next time...


Thursday, September 19, 2013

Today...

Today I am going to count my chickens after they hatch.


Actually, I'm not sure how many chickens I'm going to count today, but I am going to smile every time I think about this picture of my aunt.



Tuesday, September 17, 2013

A Second Look--September 18, 2013

Tonight there's a nip in the air and a full moon shining. A perfect evening to sit with Ward and talk. This afternoon the air was warm and the sun was shining.  A perfect day to do a Second Look.


Here are some things I saw this week during a Second Look.


The Gerber Daisy is going to bloom one last time.



This is one of two Blackeyed Susans still in bloom.



The sedum is turning a darker pink.



The milkweed pods are opening.



Coreopsis--Yet another flower that only has a couple left blooming.



This spider is snacking on the grasshopper that it caught in its web.



I added some pansies to my front flower beds.




By the light of the silvery moon...



Monday, September 16, 2013

Over or Under

or How do you hang your toilet paper?

Does it matter to you how your toilet paper is hung? Does it matter whether it unrolls from the top or from the bottom? Apparently it does to many people. Advice columnist, Ann Landers, said the toilet paper debate was one her biggest topics over the years. I, on the other hand, never paid much attention to the way toilet paper was hung until I met Ward. After a couple of years of me and my willy-nilly ways of hanging, he asked if I could hang it so it would unroll from the top. That seemed like a small enough request, so I tried to comply. Eventually, I got the hang of it (pun attended) and over the top became my preferred way also. He gave several reasons of why over the top was the superior method--none of which I can remember now. However, I have learned that always having it hung the same way makes it easier to unroll it in the dark. No guessing if its over or under. We have passed this method onto Wally and Theo also.

So all was right with the world until this weekend when someone else was in the house and just happened to install a new roll in our guest bathroom. And guess what? They put it on so the tissue unrolled from the bottom! Oh no. What to do? I decided to sit back and watch what was going to happen next. Would we be able to use up this roll without changing it? Or would one of us not be able to help ourselves and fix it? Well, it took about eight hours until I noticed that it had been changed. I'm not sure who did it, but my bets are on the person who taught me the over the top method in the first place. And if the truth be told, I also felt a lot better when it was "fixed".

Do you have a preferred way of hanging your toilet paper?